sign up now

November iiNews

editor's note

Hoolie doolie, we've got a jam packed edition this month! Let's not waste any time - hold on to your seats, we're going to take you on a very quick drive by of this month's lineup.

First up, we've kicked off our inaugural Get Animated animation comp. There's excitement brewing on the home front with our Perth Open Day just a few sleeps away, we've been making big headlines and big waves on the industry stage, and we'll take you through our first run of Geek Speak to help you cut through the tech-tape. But what we're really excited about this month is the addition of unmetered Xbox LIVE content to our growing Freezone.

It's all here folks. Make sure you set aside plenty of time to check out the links and our handpicked Site Scans for this month.

Until next time.

Swee-Ying Au-Yong

Swee Au-Yong
iiNews Editor (iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au)

news

Xbox LIVE now part of Freezone
It's a good year to be an online gamer. We've had some huge releases (check out this month's bumper games review) and now thanks to our special deal with Xbox 360, we're offering unmetered Xbox LIVE content to all iiNet broadband customers. This means you can download demos, get that new Aerosmith pack for Guitar Hero and make sure your console software is up to date, all without worrying about quota limits.

Here's some quick FAQs to take you through the deal:

So I can download ANYTHING from Xbox LIVE and it won't count towards my quota?
That's right, all files downloaded through Xbox LIVE - demos, song packs for Guitar Hero, video trailers for games, console updates... they're all part of the iiNet Freezone, which means they won't count towards your monthly quota.

Is there anything special I need to do to get this unmetered content?
No, because you're an iiNet broadband customer, downloads from Xbox LIVE simply won't affect your quota.

So go on, get gaming! We'll see you on the Xbox servers.

iiNet in the News
It's been a big month with big headlines. No doubt, you'll have heard something in the news about the NBN (National Broadband Network), ISP Internet Filtering or the recent allegations made by AFACT (Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft).

With debates raging about the federal government's proposal to introduce ISP filtering, the industry being divided over Senator Conroy's NBN plans and the David-Goliath battle we're about to take on, we're sure you'll be curious about where we stand. If you're keen to keep up on iiNet's position on all these big issues, visit our Media Information page. We'll be updating this site with new information as it rolls out.

iiNet Get Animated competition
This month, we officially launched our inaugural iiNet Get Animated competition. As part of our partnership with Sydney Festival 2009, Get Animated offers budding animators 5 minutes of fame and the chance to win some very cool prizes, including a trip for two to France!

Take a look at our neat Get Animated website. For all our creative types and aspiring animators, you'll find everything you'll need to get an entry sorted for this year. Competition entries close 8 December, so get in quick. If you're curious about this whole animation business but not quite ready to create your own short, we've also bundled some handy links to get you on the right path. We've even created a Get Animated Facebook group. Go on, let's be friends!

Have any specific Get Animated questions? Shoot an email through to getanimated@iinet.net.au and we'll be happy to find an answer for you.

Roll out the welcome mat - we've got a new Sales Team
New to the iiNet customer service lineup, is our dedicated Sales Team. Chances are, the next time you call up or enquire about one of our Residential or Business products, you'll find yourself talking to one of these friendly folks.

Our Sales staff are full bottle on all of iiNet's products and services. Think of them as a specially trained team, committed to helping you find the right solutions to meet your every day needs.

So, if you're keen to upgrade to a new plan or need help deciding if a new service is right for you, get in touch with our Sales Team on 13 19 17 or e-mail sales@iinet.net.au. We promise they won't make you buy dodgy steak knives.

iiNet WiFi now in Starbucks
We've got some good news for coffee lovers! We've teamed up with our friends at Starbucks to provide Wi-Fi services to 20 Starbucks stores across the country. All stores are located on the east coast of Australia in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Check out the full list of stores here.

As a special bonus for being an iiNet customer, you'll receive 100Mb of data to use per month in Starbucks Wi-Fi hotspots. All you'll need is your iiNet username and password to log on. Find out more about connecting to an iiNet Hotspot.

Open Day 2008
It's that time of the year again! We're opening our doors on Tuesday 2 December, 2008.

Open Day is a once-a-year opportunity to check out what goes on behind the scenes at iiNet's headquarters in Perth. We'll be presenting seminars on a broad range of topics, running workshops and our staff-guided tours through our Perth operations.

If you're keen to find out more, visit our Open Day website and read up about the lineup. If you're in Perth and haven't signed up yet, you'll need to book in - now! Spots are being snapped up fast and we'd hate for you to miss out.

Don't live in Perth? Can't make it in on the day? No need to feel left out. We'll be posting all the presentation materials and seminar footage from the day on to the web after the event.

If you've got any more questions, email openday@iinet.net.au and we'll be happy to help.

Christmas & Boxing Day opening hours - iiNet support
Christmas - it's just around the corner. Our contact centres will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Day and operating on reduced hours throughout the holiday period (see below for full details).

  • Wednesday, December 24th - 6am to midnight (your local time)
  • Thursday, December 25th - Closed
  • Friday, December 26th - Closed
  • Saturday, December 27th - 8am to midnight (your local time)
  • Sunday, December 28th - 8am to midnight (your local time)
  • Monday, December 29th - 8am to midnight (your local time)
  • Tuesday, December 30th - 8am to midnight (your local time)
  • Wednesday, December 31st - 8am to midnight (your local time)
  • Thursday, January 1st - Closed
  • Friday, January 2nd - 24x7 support resumes at 6am

While we know you're used to 24/7 support, we hope you'll understand that our iiNet staff love Christmas as much as you.

From what we've seen from the past, the holiday period over Christmas is pretty quiet. If you do have any issues with your Internet service (between backyard cricket matches and opening pressies), you'll have access to our iiHelp knowledgebase and your comprehensive set of DIY tools in Toolbox.

business news

SIP Trunking - coming soon
If you have multiple phone numbers in your business, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) Trunking could be the best thing you've never heard about, and it'll soon be available to iiNet Business customers.

Requiring an IP PBX (Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange), SIP Trunking delivers business grade voice services over the internet, cutting many of the regular costs associated with PSTN or ISDN telephony.

SIP Trunking can bring significant cost savings to your business because:

  • All your calls are charged at much cheaper VOIP rates; and
  • You're only charged for the lines needed to deliver the best balance of concurrent calls for your business - that's bye bye to rental fees on idle lines.

If you have 10 different numbers within your business, the chances of all 10 of those lines being engaged every second of the day (with incoming or outgoing calls) would be pretty slim. At most you might find that only 4 numbers are in use at any given time (that's 4 concurrent calls). With a standard PSTN phone service, you'd be paying line rental for each of those 10 lines. With SIP Trunking however, you'll still have your 10 extensions, but only pay rental for 4 lines.

Watch this space for more information about SIP Trunking, and be sure to visit our business homepage for more details once it's released.

ATUG Broadband Awards for your business
The Australian Telecommunications Users Group (ATUG) are holding their 3rd National Broadband Awards. Designed to raise awareness of the benefits of broadband, the awards focus on the successful and effective applications of broadband in categories such as Business, Government, Community, Sales/Marketing, Agriculture, Education and Health sectors.

If you're interested in showcasing how your business has effectively used its iiNet business broadband, you'll need to read up on all the small print from the ATUG National Broadband Awards website. Award nominations close on 10th February 2009.

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 specific questions you'd like answered, just email us at geekspeak@iinet.net.au.

How big is a gig?
It's pretty big. A gig - a nickname for a 'gigabyte', works out to be around 1000 megabytes, or about 1 billion bytes. We use 'bits' and 'bytes' to describe how we measure things like file sizes, computer memory and download data.

In Australia, your broadband provider will give you a 'quota' of data, usually measured in megabytes or gigabytes that you are allowed in web traffic (uploads/downloads) each month. Let's put this info into practise...

One gig is about 16hours of your favourite MP3 music files. It's about 1 movie download or 3 hours of watching TV over the Internet. When it comes to web browsing, a gig lets you surf about 500 regular websites (and yep, just looking at a page means you're downloading).

If you'd like more info, here's a few handy locations:

  • Take a quick 2 minute test to find out how many gigs of quota is good for you.
  • To find out what cool downloads iiNet customers have access to, without their monthly quota being affected (that means gig-free), visit our Media Lounge.

hardware review

Netgear ReadyNAS Duo
An all in one fileserver PC represents quite a serious investment in space, sound and power, all of which are fairly valuable commodities. With this in mind I set out looking for a featured network storage device and found the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo.

Network storage has been in regular use for a while now, and represents a means which businesses can centralise their data to make it easy to back up and secure - especially since the cost of hard drives and storage has shrunk considerably over the last 2 years, and network storage devices have become more readily available.

Just like any appliance you purchase it to do a specific job, however other attractive features are:

  • The device is considerably smaller than a computer case, being just a bit taller than a box of tissues and shaped about the same.
  • It is just a fileserver, meaning that although it has a 300Watt power supply attached it generally only uses about 110W (according to the product documentation)
  • This device like many other network storage devices incorporates RAID technology which duplicates your data over additional hard drives, effectively meaning your data is protected against the loss of a single hard drive.
  • As a note though the entire assembly isn't protected against fire, theft, burglary or act of electricity.

Since this device only has capacity for two drives it is highly likely that it won't sustain my data hoarding forever. Fortunately Netgear have foreseen this pitfall and come out with the ReadyNAS NV+, which can take up to six drives and is able to incorporate data from my ReadyNAS DUO.

Network storage provides a means for always on storage that everyone attached to your network can use. My unit was easy to use and I wouldn't give it up, although... I am considering getting the NV+.

competitions

When Kate and Brad find themselves grounded by fog on Christmas morning, their holiday plans morph into the monster family-focused holiday they had gleefully avoided. Out of obligation they trudge to not one, not two, but four relative-choked festivities. As Brad (Vince Vaughn) counts the hours to when he can get away from their families, Kate (Reece Witherspoon) is starting to hear the ticking of a different kind of clock.

To celebrate the Australian release of Four Holidays on 4 December, Roadshow Films have given us 50 national double passes to give away. For your chance to get your hands on a double pass, email competitions with 'November Four Holidays Movie Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to provide your username, full name, address and answer to this question:
Name this month's exciting new addition to Freezone?
by 5pm (WST) Friday 5 December, 2008.

November Musichead promo
Thanks to our friends from Musichead, we've got 10 Musichead packs to giveaway featuring Paul Kelly, Tina Arena and the new High School Musical 3 album.

Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly
Songs from the South

A follow up to his '97 volume 1 release, Kelly's Songs of the South Vol 2 takes listeners through an Aussie soundscape, which paints a grand picture of campfires, the surf, love and more.

Tina Arena
Songs of Love & Loss 2

In her second album lamenting over love and loss, Tina Arena dusts off old classics (Elton John's "Your Song", Split Enz' "I Hope I Never" and The Carpenters' "Close to You") and breaths fresh life into them.

Disney Music
High School Musical 3: Senior Year

In the third High School Musical installment, you'll find the kids from East High singing and dancing their way into senior year, all to a very sugary pop beat.

To be in the running for one of our 3 CD prize packs, email competitions with 'November Musichead Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to include your username, full name and address, along with the answer to this 'fill in the blanks' question:
iiNet officially launched its inaugural ______ ____________ animation competition this month
by 5pm (WST) Friday 5 December, 2008.

Thanks for your Free Love
We've had a good three months of Free Love and now that it's over, we'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who's played their part. Just because we're fresh out of Apple goodness right now, doesn't mean you should stop spreading the love. With all the new Freezone additions and upgrades to accounts recently, there's never been a better time for your friends and family to connect with iiNet.

Check out the happy snap our September winners (Carol and Lynn) sent in!

"Thanks so much - I thought iiNet was awesome enough to recommend to everyone even BEFORE there was a prize involved... so now they are better than awesome!" - Carol Boyle & Lynn Mittendorf

Finally, we'd like to congratulate David Clouton and James Simpson, our lucky winners for October who walked away with two $2,500 Apple prizes (the latest iMac, an iPod with a bundle of iTunes and the awesome Apple TV).

games reviews

We've teamed up again with Games Warehouse to bring you a whopping four monthly games reviews and another $100 voucher to splurge on gaming goodness.

If you fancy winning and spending this voucher, email competitions with 'November 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:
Our iiNet contact centres will be closed on Christmas day - True or False?
by 5pm (WST) Friday 5 December, 2008.

Gamer's 2-minute review
Fallout 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) is pure, familiar immersion - fans of the series so far will relish the journey from early life in the vault through to emergence into the shattered post-apocalyptic world, conjuring up memories of emerging from Vault 13 in Fallout 1 more than 10 years ago.

Being a first person shooter as well as an RPG, Fallout 3 is a departure from the turn based movement of the previous games, although they've managed to capture the feeling of the old targeting system with VATS which surprisingly fits well into the feel of a live-action game. As an adventure title, the ongoing quest model lends itself well to an open-ended landscape, although there are numerous FedEx moments early on as you travel some distance for a variety of simple dialogue quests.

Quests generally have a non-violent solution for the main objective as well, however random encounters and resistance in actually getting to the objective usually require work on some form of weapon skill, ensuring the live-action component stay interesting throughout.

My only gripes with Fallout 3 were the wooden character animations and distinct Bethesda moments (think Oblivion, painted brown, armed with guns). That said, as a standalone game it's quite playable and offers a decent serve of replay value - A top outing for fans of the Fallout series, or even fans of Oblivion.

Gamer's 2-minute review
Epic Games return with another blockbuster release, as Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) kicks the door in and stamps its authority all over the 2008 gaming schedule. Retaining the core 'duck and cover' elements of the original, it's a downright cinematic action ride from start to finish - blunt, frank, honest and simple: if you own a 360, you need this disc in your tray.

Game Designer Cliff Blezinski made it very clear he wanted GoW2 to feel like a 'movie you play', which is traditionally the kiss of brown death in terms of any game's playability - movie-like qualities have never really tended towards the immersive or interactive end. Gears however, plays like an 8-hour reality horror flick. The story is bloody and over the top, and you'll love every indulgent, brutal minute of it.

Cooperatively it's at its best. Two human players are a must, as a number of 'you man the guns, I'll take the wheel' moments dish out action that cannot be won by one player alone. In one scene, both players must carry a box-bomb like an esky full of beer, one free hand each as they fend off nasties in the dark. It's simple, clever and addictive stuff that'll have you either high-fiving or gleefully trying once more again, with feeling.

GoW2 is the sensory overload your 360 has always wanted, and the game by which others will be measured for months to come. Purchase and win.

Gamer's 2-minute review
In a very small nutshell, Fable 2 (Xbox 360) is just like its predecessor - only richer. Beautiful artwork and a gentle ambiance set the scene for your hero's unfolding tale, coupled with rich voice acting and script-writing, It's not unlike a childrens' story for big kids that's just as fun to watch as it is to play.

The first thing I noticed was how easy it was to get stuck in. RPGs in general turn me off because of how much you have to learn before even thinking about doing anything fun. But this is a game for dippy punters like me: three simple character stats determine whether your hero is adept at fighting, shooting or spellcasting. Golden breadcrumbs guide you through quest adventures, and one button takes care of interacting, jumping and fighting - well, three buttons depending on what sort of fight you're after, but even then, it's preschool-easy. All this makes for a game that's easy to pick up, easy to play and easy to stay engaged in.

As in the original, the series' famed cornerstone of 'good vs evil' doesn't seem to make much difference here, but adds that entertaining nicety to buff the fantasy aspect of play.

All in all, it gets two thumbs up - but only when I've put down my controller.

site scan

They say that everyone is born with some sort of creative talent. This month, we've collected a handful of sites to help you work the room with yours. First up, a photoshop you can afford, followed by a practical application for all that inspiration. Finally, get your feet wet in the wonderful world of animation.

Pixlr
Pixlr is a free online image editor that runs right in your web browser - just hit the jump in link to get started on the drawing, painting and photo manipulation. You won't find the full gamut of graphic design tools, but there's enough on hand for steering your creative drive. NB. You'll need to have Flash installed (that's free too).

Zazzle
Zazzle brings you bags, hats, ties, shirts, shoes, skateboards, mousepads, mugs and more - all customisable with your own designs. The site provides an easy-to-use design tool to personalize your product for purchase. When you're done, you can make a few bucks back by sharing your design with other online shoppers in the Zazzle marketplace.

RollerMache - Animation
Finally, if you're really game for some creative endeavours, try your hand at animation. ABC Kids TV's RollerMache explains in simple terms the principles of animation and how to go about making your own. Clicking around the site will also turn up tidbits on storytelling, storyboarding, character development and creating props and sets.

All you quick learners still have 4 weeks left to submit something to our Get Animated competition for a chance to win some great prizes.