Microsoft ices heated developers
Posted on 6-Jul-2018 20:16 Articles, Computing, by Pat Pilcher
Microsoft may be in for a case of post-purchase dissonance after paying US$7.5 billion (NZ$10.8 billion) for GitHub to then stand accused by its community of being complicit in Trump's Mexican border travesty.

Framing Facebook: It’s not about technology
Posted on 14-May-2018 16:02 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
Put aside for one moment the recent headlines. Forget about Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg facing politicians in Washington. And park everything you’ve heard about Cambridge Analytica. There are problems with the way most media organisations report Facebook. It’s something no-one ever talks about. The first problem is that media organisations are not disinterested external observers. […]Framing Facebook: It’s not about technology

Apple, Android, phones and productivity
Posted on 5-May-2018 16:57 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
People get exciting about phone features. Productivity is more important yet often overlooked. My work involves looking at a lot of new phones. Most are premium Android phones. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one that I couldn’t recommend. Within limits they are all good. The last was the Huawei P20 Pro. It could […]Apple, Android, phones and productivity

Huawei P20 Pro review: Best Android phone, best camera
Posted on 4-May-2018 11:12 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
The Huawei P20 Pro is 2018’s top Android phone by a healthy margin. You won’t find a better combination of camera, hardware, performance and value for money. Anyone who has watched the razor market will recognise what’s going on with phones. First phone makers added a single camera to handsets. Then it was two; one […]Huawei P20 Pro review: Best Android phone, best camera

2018 iPad: More iPad, fewer dollars
Posted on 30-Apr-2018 19:13 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
Apple’s sixth generation 2018 iPad is a bargain. In New Zealand it costs NZ$540. For many people it is all the computer they will ever need. Sure, there will be people who consider it dull next to the swept-up iPad Pro. It doesn’t have as many features Yet it does one important thing that, until […]2018 iPad: More iPad, fewer dollars

How Google can seize Microsoft Office crown
Posted on 14-Apr-2018 11:08 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
As Microsoft refocuses to chase enterprise cloud opportunities, Google has an opportunity to lead the productivity software market. It has taken a decade, but now G-Suite can challenge Office. Almost every office worker of my generation spent years working with Microsoft software. For a while Windows was, in effect, a monopoly. Any other operating system […]How Google can seize Microsoft Office crown

How back office transformation drives IRD efficiency
Posted on 12-Apr-2018 21:15 Articles, Computing, by Donovan Jackson
With the Inland Revenue Department undergoing a massive systems upgrade, transformation of the back office is among the central raisons d'etre.

iPod laws in a smartphone world: will we ever get copyright right?
Posted on 12-Apr-2018 21:13 Articles, Web media, by Jonathan Cotton
Innovation-unfriendly laws prevail as A/NZ lawmakers struggle to keep pace with technology.

Windows no longer Microsoft’s main focus
Posted on 13-Mar-2018 07:47 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
Since taking over as Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella has remade the company. What was a PC giant is now a cloud and enterprise computing giant. And that has implications for Windows. Microsoft’s latest financials underline the change. In the three months to December 2017 the company’s revenue was almost US$29 billion. Of that, what Microsoft […]Windows no longer Microsoft’s main focus

Why phone makers are obsessed with cameras
Posted on 11-Mar-2018 12:25 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
Every recent high-end phone launch has focused, sorry about that, on the device’s camera. Likewise, phone promotion or marketing always pushes cameras to the fore. Samsung launched the Galaxy S9 in Auckland last month. The company invited journalists to an open plan restaurant. There, Samsung invited journalists to photograph the chef preparing food. The menu […]Why phone makers are obsessed with cameras

Shipments tumble as NZ phone upgrades slow
Posted on 2-Mar-2018 11:48 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
IDC says New Zealand phone shipments dropped 14.5 percent in unit terms during 2017. This is the first year-on-year decline reported in this country. A total of 1.60 million phones shipped in 2017 compared with 1.87 million in 2016. A phone shipment is not the same as a sale. Shipments count the number of phones […]Shipments tumble as NZ phone upgrades slow

Oppo R11s: high-end Android, budget price
Posted on 27-Feb-2018 16:27 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
Oppo released the R11s, a low-cost Android phone about three months after Apple’s iPhone X emerged. On the surface, the R11s resembles the iPhone X., so that’s quite an achievement. There’s no question what inspired Oppo’s engineers. The R11s has a similar physical design and a software overlay that makes Android look like Apple’s iOS. […]Oppo R11s: high-end Android, budget price

Foodstuffs to trial digitised shopping trolleys
Posted on 21-Feb-2018 18:27 Articles, Internet of Things, by Donovan Jackson
Auckland-based software company IMAGR is launching its Smartcart shopping solution at Four Square Ellerslie.

2018: The year of zero-login, smart cars & the biometrics of things
Posted on 21-Feb-2018 18:25 Articles, Internet of Things, by Jonathan Cotton
With 2017 seeming like just one long string of security breaches against consumers, companies and even whole countries - and with the login-process still an enormous pain in the behind - can we just get some innovation happening in identity authentication please?

Time to take Apple’s iPad Pro seriously
Posted on 12-Feb-2018 16:54 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
CEO Satya Nadella has turned Microsoft around. It is relevant again. Things didn’t look that way when he took over the company. His switch of focus to the cloud was timely and has been a huge success. Much of what he says and does is sensible. Much, but not everything. In November, Nadella made a […]Time to take Apple’s iPad Pro seriously

Dragon Professional for Mac V6: Near perfect dictation
Posted on 9-Feb-2018 08:26 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
You have to hand it to Nuance. The latest Dragon Professional voice recognition software is impressive. So is its business model. Dragon’s software is expensive by today’s standards. A single user licence for Dragon Professional version 6 costs US$300. You can buy a PC for less. Keep in mind both Apple and Microsoft include voice […]Dragon Professional for Mac V6: Near perfect dictation

Slingshot offers unlimited gigabit fibre for under a ton
Posted on 25-Jan-2018 13:51 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
It is an aggressive price move from Slingshot. The company has thrown down the gauntlet to larger service providers who already complain about margins. Offering the cheapest option is vital in a market like New Zealand where consumers tend to buy on price more than any other criteria. Spark charges $40 more for a service […]Slingshot offers unlimited gigabit fibre for under a ton

Spark doubles down on wireless broadband
Posted on 24-Jan-2018 15:44 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
For over a year Spark has pushed fixed wireless broadband as an alternative to fixed-line internet. Spark sells fixed wireless products using its own label and its cut-price Skinny brand. From a customer point of view the two services are identical. Skinny is cheaper. The cheapest plan is NZ$40 a month. At NZ$85 Spark’s own-brand […]Spark doubles down on wireless broadband

New Zealand's IT industry in 2018 and beyond
Posted on 22-Jan-2018 12:50 Articles, Computing, by iStart
International Data Corporation (IDC) has made some predictions for the New Zealand IT industry for 2018 and beyond.

Introducing your new workplace headache: Gen Z
Posted on 22-Jan-2018 12:45 Articles, Web media, by Jonathan Cotton
The new (est) breed takes a different approach to tech than their Millennial predecessors.

New Zealand hits peak broadband data
Posted on 18-Jan-2018 12:21 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
Chorus’ network hit its 2017 peak at 9.25pm on December 10. The broadband network was delivering 1.328 Terabits per second. We once measured large amounts of data in terms of books or towers of compact discs between here and the moon. This time Chorus says the peak was the same as 260,000 HD video streams […]New Zealand hits peak broadband data

Nova 2i: Value, not excitement from Huawei
Posted on 17-Jan-2018 09:02 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
You don’t need to spend the thick end of NZ$2000 to get a decent phone. The NZ$500 Huawei Nova 2i gives you three-quarters of a modern high-end phone for a quarter of the price. Huawei offers powerful high-end phones. Unlike its rivals it also offers credible choices for those of us who don’t want, or […]Nova 2i: Value, not excitement from Huawei

Less news in Facebook News Feed revamp
Posted on 15-Jan-2018 13:15 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
Facebook will drop traditional news stories from the News Feed clean up his company’s act. Mark Zuckerberg says the goal is to clean up the social network making it a force for good. The move is overdue. While there are many things wrong with Facebook, matters came to a head when unfriendly forces meddled in […]Less news in Facebook News Feed revamp

Why New Zealand needs a chief technology officer
Posted on 6-Jan-2018 13:59 Articles, Bill Bennett, by Bill Bennett
Politicians are rarely good with technology. Nothing illustrates this better than the 2011 parliamentary debate over the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Act. A lot of nonsense was spoken at the time. The NBR described the debate as loopy. That was kind. It was obvious the MPs had no idea what they were talking about. […]Why New Zealand needs a chief technology officer

All I want for Christmas is a new EV
Posted on 19-Dec-2017 19:54 Articles, EV, by Donovan Jackson
Futurist reckons ICE cars will be obsolete in under a decade. He might just be right...