June iiNews
editor's note
My, how time flies when you're having fun. If I'm ever bombarded with gamma radiation from a botched lab explosion, I've got my fingers crossed that I'll walk away with the power to control time. Seriously, who wants to be a hulky green super hero with limited speech?
I was out walking the dog last night pondering on the subject and realised later that I'm not alone. Scour the web and you'll find lots of other nerdy writings – just look up time emotion paradox.
I think what really drives home the fact that the year's zipping by, is that it's almost 'that time of the year' again – tax time. While most are getting chirpy about the fat cheque heading their way, I'm dreading the fact I'll have to sit down to crunch some numbers – all the more reason to learn to fast forward time.
Time also has a habit of speeding up when we're extra busy. All kinds of exciting things have been happening behind the scenes at iiNet HQ, and we're all very excited about next month. I won't let anything slip for now, but stay tuned – we've got something very shiny and cool to share.
Wrapping up news for this month, we welcome another batch of additions to the Freezone. We inject even more quota into a bunch of broadband plans, share more legit ways to use up your monthly quota, before shining more light on uploads and downloads. Our resident gaming connoisseur picks apart Prototype while this months' Tech Tip helps you fight more than a cold. Scroll down folks! There's loads to go through.
As usual, if you'd like to share any of your thoughts about iiNews – questions and suggestions – send through an email to iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au.
I'm off to find a tax accountant! Until next month!
Swee Au-Yong
iiNews Editor
iiNet news
ABSA Currie Cup & Air New Zealand Cup – coming soon to Freezone
If you're a fan of rugby or the Haka, have we got news for you! Coming to your iiNet Freezone next month, you'll see the addition of some new games to keep you cheering.
Thanks to our good friends from FOX SPORTS, rugby fans can now catch loads of On Demand ABSA Currie Cup and Air New Zealand Cup action (from the 2009 season), from early July. Catch at least 2 ABSA Currie Cup matches and at least 2 Air New Zealand Cup games each round. More info, coming soon.
All iiNet Broadband and Naked DSL accounts come complete with access to the Freezone; meaning you can enjoy as much Freezone activity as you like, without having to worry about your monthly quota. Find out more about the Freezone.
Broadband plan quotas - bigger and better!
Good news! We've increased monthly download quotas for most of our Residential Broadband plans. The best part – these upgrades come with no strings attached and are completely free – you won't even need to lift a finger.
If you're on one of our broadband plans eligible for the upgrade, you'll already have received an email with all the upsize details.
If you're not signed up or just want to see how quota limits have changed, take a look at our Broadband plans or Naked DSL plans.
Freezone with Snapfish and get 50 FREE prints!
We're happy to be introducing a new iiNet Photo Centre powered by our friends from Snapfish!
Based in the Freezone, the iiNet Photo Centre will be a one-stop shop where you can store, share and print your happy snaps.
As an iiNet customer, you'll be able to take advantage of FREE unlimited photo sharing and storage; prints from as little as 15c (plus postage) delivered to your door; and heaps of other exclusive offers. Take a look at some of the special deals chalked up ahead:
July – discount on selected sizes of Canvases
August – Father's Day gifts – mugs, stubbie coolers, commuter mugs, sport drink bottles, etc.
September – discount on selected photo books
To sweeten the deal, you'll even score 50 free prints* to get you started when you join now.
Time to get snap happy!
*50 free 15x10 cms prints by mail or pickup order. Postage and packing charge applies for mail order.
Make your home a Megaplex with iTunes
If it's been a while between iTunes visits, you really should stop by and take a peek at what's new. 24/7 access to movies and 'commercial–free' TV shows makes your house feel like a cinema Megaplex! Renting a 'weekly' or library title will cost you $3.99, 'new releases' are just a couple of dollars more or you can purchase films to own from as little as $9.99.
Once you've chosen a film and watched it, you can then get a bit 'six degrees of Kevin Bacon' and search the movie summary screen for flicks featuring the same actor or director. You can also choose more titles by clicking 'Viewers Also Rented', which is handy if you liked a particular movie but aren't quite sure what to see next.
With a range of popular TV shows available in iTunes just a day after they air, your TV guide becomes a great liner for your kitty litter tray! iTunes lets you watch what you want when you want and iiNet customers can download quota-free via the iiNet iTunes Store in our Freezone.
If you can't find what you're after in our Freezone, you can still head directly to the Apple iTunes store to make unmetered purchases.
business news
SIP Trunk with iiNet and Fonality
We're pleased to announce that business telephony specialists, Fonality, are now on board as an iiNet approved agent. For customers, this means you'll now have more choice when hooking up an iiNet SIP Trunking service.
To warm up this new relationship, we've worked with Fonality to rollout a few deals to help you save with SIP Trunking. Find out about Fonality's special iiNet offers on a range of business–grade VOIP solutions.
Hold on a sec – what's SIP Trunking again?
In a nutshell, SIP (Session Internet Protocol) Trunking (like a tree trunk) is a business grade voice solution. The technology allows you to have multiple lines, with all calls running through your internet connection instead of a standard landline. Learn more by reading one of our older articles about SIP Trunking or figure out how it works.
If you're all about homework, take a look at some of the savings comparisons we've calculated or visit our SIP Trunking page. From here you'll also be able to find out how switching over can help your business save and say so long to flag fall fees.
Have a question? Feel free to call our priority Business Support Team on 13 24 49, or send them an email at bizsupport@iinet.net.au.
CeBIT wind up and winner
Here's a quick thank you to everyone who said 'Hello' at the CeBIT Australia business exhibitions last month. Australia's largest tech–trade–fair gave us a chance to share our latest business solutions, designed to help you save.
As part of the fun, we gave CeBIT–goers the chance to win a pretty cool prize pack. We're happy to announce that Gordon Andrews from St Leonards, NSW, was our lucky winner.
Congratulations Gordon! You're now the proud owner of a shiny new Xbox 360 console; a cricket bat signed by the 2003 Australian cricket team (thanks to 3 Mobile); and one of our Belkin 4 port wireless modems. We'll also be hooking you up with a year's worth of iiNet broadband – free!
support & services
Geek Speak
Don't know your VOIPs from your DSLs? Feel embarrassed at dinner parties when the conversation turns to Fibre To The Node? Like to know what all those techie terms mean? Well look no further...
Geek Speak is here to help turn technical internet jargon into plain and simple English. We understand not everyone is a net nerd, so each month iiNews will publish a Geek Speak topic to give you a hand. If you have any feedback or would like to suggest a new topic just email us at geekspeak@iinet.net.au.
What's an upload? What's a download?
When you hear people talking about quotas and internet usage, they're usually referring to the amount of data they're able to upload and download. Uploads and downloads affect the amount of quota you have each month. Depending on what plan you're on, the amount you can upload and download is different.
It's safe to say a download is anything you receive over the internet. Each time you use the internet, whether you're viewing a page, streaming a YouTube clip, or even opening an email, you're chewing up data and making a download.
Moving right along, you can think of an upload as the opposite of a download. Uploads come into play when you transfer data from your computer onto the internet. If you're an online gamer, use web chat or load photos to sites like Facebook, chances are you're generating upload traffic. Every time you hit 'send' or 'post', you're also sending data into cyberspace which means it pays to keep an eye on the size of emails and attachments.
If you're big on online gaming or streaming media (such as music, videos and football matches), it's likely that you'll chew through a load of data. If you're an iiNet broadband customer, you'll have unmetered access to the iiNet Freezone meaning you're free to enjoy more. Make the most of your monthly uploads and downloads by checking out unmetered Freezone content – there's loads to keep you entertained without making a dent to your quota.
For more information about uploads and downloads and how they affect your quota, visit the iiHelp article all about quota and shaping.
Techtip: How to fight a virus with Dane Nattrass
With winter in full swing and H1N1 flu still hyping the media, it's probably safe to say that Codral sales are up, along with our guard against infection.
Unlike their biological counterparts, computer viruses aren't more likely to strike during certain seasons. Digital viruses can hit at anytime and if you don't know what to look out for, they can spread in the blink of a mouse click.
With viruses becoming more sophisticated and smarter than an iPhone toting 10 year old, even Network Engineer types can fall victim to Trojans or worms.
Sitting at home one night, I was going through my daily emails when one arrived from my sister, subject–lined 'holiday photos'. Now, if I was a more cautious person I would've checked before I opened a file called photos.zip.pif. If I were a thinking man I would've realised my sister hasn't been jet setting in the last 2 years. So, without more thought, I opened the file and bam! Within moments my antivirus software was in red–alert, reporting that a program was spamming everyone in my contacts.
Fortunately, I have virus protection and was able to clean up the problem quickly. If you're living life on the edge with the other 47% of users who surf without virus protection, it might be time to sort out a backup plan.
Find out what do to if your computer is infected and learn how to protect your computer from viruses.
If you're looking to enlist the help of virus protection software, checkout the four main players in the game: AVG, McAfee, Symantec and Trend.
Both Trend's Micro HouseCall and McAfee's Free Scan give users free online virus scanning via your web browser. Both scan quite thoroughly for threats; however tend to lack the ability to remove the virus. That said, McAfee and Trend are great if you think you have a virus and you need to perform a once off scan to confirm. Both sites also tell you how to remove the virus manually and offer you marketing propaganda on their trial products.
AVG is another popular and free anti-virus provider. Instead of using a web browser, AVG installs an application on your computer which can be used long term to protect against threats. A word of advice though – the free version of AVG doesn't protect against threats as they arrive on your computer – it just detects and cleans it after you're infected!
If you're looking at shelling out some hard earned on virus protection, there's plenty of big name providers with great offerings. They work in the same way that AVG Free does with the ability to detect a problem as it's entering your system, setting up road blocks to prevent it from spreading.
If you're looking to do extra homework, learn how computer viruses work. Otherwise, take a minute to think about your virus protection the next time you pop an extra vitamin C.
competitions
Music giveaway
Thanks to our good friends from The In Sound From Way Out we've got another big box of music to giveaway. Up for grabs this month, you'll find 10 prize packs featuring Blur, Moby and old favourites, the Beastie Boys.
Blur
Midlife – A Beginner's Guide To Blur
Blur are back on tour and they're giving the world an education in Britpop. While greatest hits albums are a dime a dozen, Blur's Midlife is more of a career highlights package – with less of a focus on number 1s. 25 songs have been pulled from Blur's seven studio albums including 'Popscene', a track only ever previously released on single. Introduce Blur to your kids and reminisce about your wild misspent youth.
Moby
Wait For Me
The inspiration for Moby's ninth album, came from hearing a British Academy of Film Television Arts (BAFTA) speech delivered by film director David Lynch. After hearing the speech, Moby decided he would create an album and not be motivated by how the public would receive it. The artist describes his new release as 'a quieter, more melodic and more mournful' record. Keep an eye out for the video to the first single 'Shot in the Back of the Head', which was directed by Moby muse David Lynch.
Beastie Boys
Ill Communication
In a music industry heavy with hip hop, there's still no one who sounds quite like the Beastie Boys. Ill Communication is the group's fourth record and a 'must own' according to countless music journalists. Originally released in 1994, the album is famous for singles like 'Sure Shot', 'Get It Together' and of course 'Sabotage'. Now Ill Communication has been re–mastered and re–released to bring 'Beastiemania' to a new generation of fans.
To put yourself in the running to win one of these prize packs, email competitions with 'June TheInSoundFromWayOut Comp' in the subject line. Don't forget to include your username, full name and address, with the answer to this question: iiNet's new Photo Centre is powered by ? Entries need to make it in before 5pm (WST) Friday 10 July, 2009. Good Luck!
games reviews
Our gaming cohorts from Games Warehouse have teamed up with us again to bring you our June games review and another $100 voucher to splurge on gaming goodness.
If you can picture yourself winning and spending this voucher, email competitions with 'June Games Warehouse Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to include your username, full name and address, along with the answer to this question: Name one of our new Freezone additions due for July by 5pm (WST) Friday 10 July, 2009.
Gamer's 2-minute review
Ho–hum, another sandbox game. More cause for excitement and apprehension as we're all too accustomed to being let down by this alluring genre more often than not. This month, Prototype – a handsome step towards sandbox nirvana in a sadly uncomfortable shoe, as worn by GTA4 and Just Cause. The shoe of cruel under delivery. Hush and I'll explain.
Prototype is set in New York in the early days of a nasty viral epidemic, kicking off around and heavily involving your protagonist, Alex Mercer. Alex has been infected in some invasive form, against his will, and you pick up in his shoes at the start of his city–wide quest to find and murderise those who did it to him.
Trouble is, Alex doesn't really know where to start. Thankfully, his infection happens to have turned him into a formidable, shape shifting bioweapon – able to sprint up the side of buildings, punch tanks, throw whole cars and fly–jack military helicopters. This is the core premise and huge draw to Prototype – you're as superhero as they come, with some seriously mad comic book powers. The city literally throws an army at you, and you'll gladly meet them en masse.
With these powers under your belt, you'll sprint, leap and glide through Manhattan looking for clues (literally killing and absorbing pedestrians to gain snippets from their thoughts) and taking on the local military or plague–ridden opposition along the way. As you progress, you gain experience for causing military hassle and level up your hero in countless different areas – different weapons for your shape shifting hands, greater agility, different vehicle–jacking proficiencies... it's a formidable upgrade system when it gets going, so much so the 360 controller literally doesn't have enough buttons to make all your unlocked moves viable.
At full strength, you can toss cars aside and seconds later clear the roof of a skyscraper to glide halfway across Central Park. This in itself is delightful comedy and doesn't age immediately, though despite a strong story element the gameplay does plateau about halfway in. It feels like Assassins Creed all over again, in that anyone watching will think the world of your amazing skill when in reality, you're doing what you did last mission, and the fifteen before that – holding down the 'run' button and pointing the stick forward.
What I'd have liked to see from Prototype was some variation on the mission structure, rather than 'run/fly to X and blow everything up'. There's little lure to take detours, true the city is completely open plan but it doesn't properly reward you for stepping off the beaten track – just more buildings, more streets filled with panicky citizens, tanks, choppers and mutants. The upgrade system is nice but it's all breadth and no depth, in that you don't need to consider how you're beefing your guy up when it's highly likely you're going to end up with all the moves soon anyway.
Ultimately, Prototype is still a decent release to whet the appetite of today's sandbox enthusiast – it's only crime is variety over time. Fans of Crackdown should feel all too at home and in general, it's at the high end of reasonable... just not great.
site scan
Enjoying your quota with Sandy Lim
In case you're not sure what to do with your ration of quota this month, we thought we'd share some of our favourite download sites. Find artist–direct tunes; free old–school and slightly–less–new–school games; and daily software giveaways. The best part, as usual: it's either free, or cheap, but always legit!
Bandcamp
The concept is simple. Step one – artists upload their tunes to Bandcamp. Step two – you get easy access to fresh new tunes. Artist pages come with full streaming tracks which you can purchase for cheap or in some cases, a price you decide.
Liberated Games
Liberated Games is an online catalogue of games made legally available for download by their developers. This means they're free to own under their respective 'liberated' licenses.
Giveaway of the Day
Just like Zazz and Catch of the Day, this site offers a one-day-only download deal for free. All software is adware-free, spyware-free and fully licensed. All you would ever pay for are any future upgrades and technical support.
For a bigger picture, check out our Legal Downloads Guide in the Discoveryzone, or enjoy some of the legal entertainment in the iiNet Freezone or iiNet iTunes Store.
