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August iiNews

editor's note

Shinhatsubai (or shin-haht-sue-by) is what the Japanese have named the obsession for all things new and shiny. At iiNet HQ we haven't been immune to New Product Syndrome. In fact, we've been busy in the iiNet Labs crafting a new gadget for you. If you haven't heard already, we've welcomed someone new to the iiNet family - we call him BoB™. On top of our new friend BoB™, there's lots to talk about this month, so let's dive right in!

We've added a few extra feathers to our cap - ACOMMS Commitment to Customer Service award; ATA's WA Teleservices Centre of the Year and WA Teleservices Manager of the Year. If you've got an extra minute, check out the proud iiNet badges of honour we've collected.

We've updated our mobile website with a fresh new look and features; introduced mobile toolbox; and kicked off some comps for EPL football fans. Plus of course, there's our usual bag of giveaways to explore and some site picks to help keep your finger on the tech pulse.

Don't forget, with Father's Day sneaking up, there's still time to sort out your photo gifts from iiNet's Photo Centre. You'll need to place your orders before Thursday 27 August 2009, to take up Snapfish's 25% discount.

Finally, congratulations to Pete Martin (of North Beach) and Suzanne Smith (of Doubleview). You've both won double VIP passes to see Ben Lee with WASO. Daniel Kirk (of Gwelup), we'll be in touch with you real soon to deliver your VIP How Gimquat Found Her Song Family pass.

That's it for now, see you next month!

Swee-Ying Au-Yong

Swee Au-Yong
iiNews Editor

iiNet news

BoB™ is here
We told you there was something exciting coming and here it is... Australia - meet BoB™.

BoB™ is the brainchild of a special collaboration between iiNet and our tech developer friends, Belkin. The slick little box packs all your home phone and internet needs into one neat package. The best part, it uses 'plug and play' technology to make getting connected super simple.

To help you learn more about BoB™, we're breaking with tradition and uprooting Geek Speak from the Support section for this edition.

Geek Speak - what is BoB™?
BoB™ stands for broadband in a box... sort of.

In a very neat nutshell, it's an all-in-one box for your internet and phone. In fact, BoB™ can look after your entire home network. It gives you wireless at up to twice the range of most wireless modems. Or if you prefer wires, you can connect up to 4 computers - laptops and videogame consoles too.

BoB™ works with both Naked DSL and broadband. The multi-tasking black box supports up to 3 separate phone lines, 5 telephone handsets and 2 VOIP accounts. To help you fall in love with BoB™ even more, there's no setup required - it's all done automatically as soon as you get the unit online.

The smart little unit also doubles as a mobile phone or mp3 player charger; gives you access to the iiNet Freezone and lets you chat to friends with great call rates.
All in all, BoB™ is here to make life a little bit simpler.

Check out what Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Smarthouse, ARN and TopNews are saying about BoB™.

Geek Speak is here to help turn technical internet jargon into plain and simple English. If you have any feedback or would like to suggest a new topic just email us at geekspeak@iinet.net.au.

New look iiNet mobile website
We'd like to say a big thanks to everyone who's provided feedback for our iiNet mobile website. Since we launched in October last year, we've made some drastic cosmetic changes and tinkered under the hood to add more fun and functionality.

To try out our improved mobile website, you'll need to visit http://iiNet.mobi with your web-enabled smart phone. Once the page loads, you'll be able to set up email on your phone; learn about products; download iiNet's jingle; use our wireless hotspot locator and even access the new mobile toolbox.

So, next time you're on the bus, waiting in a bank queue or waiting for the spin cycle to end at the laundromat, 'take a wander' through our mobile website and see it for yourself! Whether you've got an Apple iPhone, Blackberry Bold, Android, Symbian (Nokia E & N Series) or other next generation smart phone, our iiNet Lab results show you'll have no issues loading the site.

If you're keen to share any comments or feedback about our mobile website, we'd love to hear. Send a quick email to mobilefeedback@iinet.net.au.

Mobile toolbox from your phone
As part of our recent iiNet mobile website upgrades, we've added mobile toolbox to the site.

Think of mobile toolbox as your on-the-go DIY iiNet account manager. By accessing mobile toolbox, you'll be able to keep tabs on your volume usage; set up a vacation message on your email; edit your contact details; or access the Speed Connection Manager to tweak your connection profile settings.

Accessing mobile toolbox's a cinch. Just plug https://iinet.mobi/toolbox/ into your web-enabled mobile browser for a beeline.

FOX SPORTS coverage of the English Premier League - Football Tipping and Fantasy Football comps
Barclays English Premier League is back in the Freezone this month! We've teamed up with FOX SPORTS again to bring the 09/10 season to iiNet customers, unmetered and at no additional cost. To make following 'the league' even more fun in 2009, we've developed a Football Tipping and Fantasy Football comp for iiNet customers.

Even though the season has already kicked off, there's still plenty of time to register for both games. If you choose to enter the competition mid-season, you simply start with the average score of all teams entered.

How does Football Tipping work?
Tipping is easy - simply predict the win/lose/draw result of each match during the season and receive points for successful tips. Tips can be entered any time prior to the kick-off deadline for the match.

If you're new to Football Tipping, it's probably a good idea to run over our easy-to-follow Tipping Game Rules.

Tell me more about Fantasy Football...
Fantasy Football's a little more involved. The basic idea is that you're awarded a 'Fantasy Budget' to create your own 'Fantasy Football Team'. Your teams' players all receive points for their real life performance.

If you're new to Fantasy Football, the not-so-complicated Fantasy Game Rules will help you warm up. Once you've got the rules down pat, you can polish your skills with our Hints and Tips.

What's at stake?
The highest scoring Tipper and the highest scoring Manager at the end of the season will win themselves a 50" Full HD Plasma TV and Xbox 360 each! There's also a stack of other great prizes on offer too, like the Team of the Month and the League of Leagues Champions.

So jump online and register now! Game on!

business news

Last month our friends from LatestBuy shared how iiNet's super-fast broadband and phone solutions are helping their business to grow. This month, we thought we'd sit down with bloo's Company Director to find out their story.

A few words from bloo...
I'm Brian Gillette the Company Director of bloo, a WA based online business directory. bloo currently has over 109,000 business listings in WA and is looking to expand nationally within the next 12 months. I guess bloo's unique selling point is that it saves you time. No more searching through hundreds of company listings from the USA before finding one in WA - only to discover that WA refers to Washington!

From day one the internet has been mission critical to our business. iiNet was a natural choice because I think iiNet and bloo share similar ideas in the way we do business. There's no greater relief than knowing you're going to be treated how you expect to be treated - if that makes sense.

Ours is a great story to tell. We were in different premises 12 months ago and had a smaller VoIP solution that was just servicing half a dozen phones. Sebastian, a member of the iiNet Customer Service Team, was looking after us at the time and was having trouble getting to the bottom of a VoIP problem.

This Customer Service Representative could have washed his hands of the issue but instead, he was so determined to make us happy that he offered his own personal VoIP modem for us to use indefinitely! It worked - we kept the modem for a few months and it never missed a beat. To date, this is probably one of the best examples of customer service I've ever come across.

Thanks for sharing bloo! If you're planning on being in Perth on 1 September 2009, bloo are pulling small and medium businesses together for a bloo Business Seminar. By registering for this event, you'll get to hear from two of WA's most respected business pioneers - John Hughes and our very own Michael Malone.

If you think you'd be interested in sharing how iiNet's products and services are helping your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just email iinetbusiness@iinet.net.au, with 'Business Case' in the subject line, and we'll be in touch to share more info.

competitions

Music giveaway
Thanks to our good friends from The In Sound From Way Out we've got another big bag of music to giveaway. Up for grabs this month, you'll find 10 prize packs featuring Paul Dempsey, Arctic Monkeys and Aussie rockers JET.

Paul Dempsey
Everything Is True
The first solo release for Something for Kate's lead singer, Everything Is True is a real DIY affair. Paul Dempsey writes, sings, co-produces and plays every instrument on his solo debut. The single Ramona Was a Waitress was recently released on iTunes. Next month Paul hits the road, so check his MySpace for dates.

Arctic Monkeys
Humbug
Internet darlings the Arctic Monkeys are back on the radar with album number three. Interestingly all tracks on Humbug, except four and seven, were produced by Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Making the album gave the band a 'road-trip' across the US, with tracks laid down in LA, the Mojave Desert and NYC.

JET
Shaka Rock
It's been criticised for it's title, artwork and trite lyrics but JET's third album Shaka Rock gets back to the roots of this Melbourne four-piece. Listen out for the Pink Floyd-esque use of a choir of shouting kids on album opener KIA (Killed In Action) and the My Sharona style riff on She's a Genius that has tongues wagging.

To put yourself in the running to win one of these prize packs, email competitions with 'August The In Sound Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to include your username, full name and address, with the answer to this question: Which new iiNet product combines internet and phone in one slick little black box? Entries need to make it in before by 5pm (WST) Friday 4 September, 2009.

games reviews

We've changed things up a bit this month. Thanks to our friends from Games Warehouse we'll be reviewing a round-up of arcade titles from Xbox LIVE and giving away three 1,500 point cards to blow on Xbox gaming.

If you'd like 'in' on this Xbox action, email competitions with 'August 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: What URL will you need to enter into your web-enabled browser to access iiNet's mobile toolbox? by 5pm (WST) Friday 4 September, 2009.

Gamer's review - Xbox Live Arcade roundup
So you've got yourself some Microsoft Points... now you want to spend them. Thing is, you don't want to just blow it all on avatar hats (like I did). Worry not good folk, I've hand-picked six of the best from Xbox Live Arcade in handy bite-size form:

Braid
The most essential purchase from the arcade catalogue, Braid is a head-breaking course in mucking around with the mechanics of time - forwards, backwards, folding and duplicating. Every level introduces more temporal tomfoolery - solving each problem is a genuine rush of satisfaction.

Rez HD
Rail shooters aren't everyone's cup of tea, but they don't often come as tidy as this - Rez is a modern realisation of an old classic, an audio-visual ride through five worlds where every squeeze of the trigger contributes in rhythm to the overall techno-ambiance. Lovely and immersive, despite its simplicity.

Trials HD
Guys on motorbikes driving over things really fast. That's about it, and it's downright awesome - the comedy that falls out of the simple physics of trying to steer your hapless rider over piles of debris is second to none. Finishing a track is satisfying; spectacularly ditching your rider like a ragdoll even moreso.

A Kingdom For Keflings
There's something very soothing about this one, with simple 'harvest & build' objectives and no time limit or consequence for your actions. Tend to an army of friendly little people as they gather tools to build and grow their town. No competition, no violence, just straight management at a relaxed pace.

Duel of the Planeswalkers
If you're not familiar with Magic: The Gathering, this probably won't ring your bell so much. For those that have dabbled in the uber-nerdery that is M:tG, this is an extremely accessible and rigid implementation of the game you know and love, featuring online play and a variety of solid theme decks. One for the fans.

Prince of Persia
A fantastic re-visit to the game that started it all - back to the original Prince of Persia, remastered and tweaked for the latest generation of gaming consoles. Newcomers will appreciate this one for what it is, while older fans will nod with chin-stroking approval at how the old has become new once more.

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Technology for Today with Sandy Lim
Thanks to BoB™, we're all excited about smart technology this month. Read about super-swish gizmos, industry news, and grab some web gadgets for use on your own site.

Google Gadgets
Gadgets are little pieces of cool online content that you can add to your website. They're made by enthusiastic Google users and shared free of charge.


ZDNet
Getting more serious here - updates, downloads and previews of hot new developments in software, hardware, web tech, communications and the IT industry at large.


Gizmodo Australia
This blog features cool technology concepts, internet quirkies, plus news and reviews on consumer electronics. It's one of the most popular sites amongst geeks today.