Public Address - Hard News (Home)

The cap doesn't fit | May 30, 2006 11:01

The Internet NZ report Comparison of OECD Broadband Markets is a robust and useful insight on what's actually wrong with New Zealand's broadband market. The Stuff story sums it up: we don't pay a lot in international terms, but we get very little for our money.

The factor that most clearly sets us apart from other developed countries is the almost universal application of low monthly data caps, meaning that the meter is always running on broadband Internet use here.

Given that the Southern Cross Cable is in the black - the $US950 million in loans raised for its construction was paid off last October - and is still running at only around 40% of current capacity, it's hard to see what the problem is.

Our upload speeds are also a pretty nasty story. But, as Internet NZ president Colin Jackson points out in his blog, the factor the report couldn't measure - because the information is withheld by Telecom - is contention rates. Your provider can promise you any old speed - whether the backhaul capacity at exchanges actually exists to give you anything like that speed in the real world is another matter entirely.

I had a little insight into that over the weekend when Wired Country (or, as Juha likes to call it, Weird Country) went on one of its mysterious walkabouts and I was obliged to fire up my reserve DSL connection to get some Internet stuff done. Sheeeit. Is this what Telecom DSL is actually like?

(Tip: if Sky comes in and installs a MySky box and your JetStream stops working, unplug the MySky box from the phone socket. MySky decoders are a major cause of line sync issue on DSL connections. And you don't need the box plugged in unless you're using Sky Box Office anyway.)

So maybe now it gradually starts to get better. A number of the invited guests to Webstock last week made a point of including in their presentations "what took you so long?" comments with regard to our recent telecommunications unbundling news. They were genuinely horrified at the lack of competition in broadband service in New Zealand.

Ben Goodger (who, I gather, would probably be an Act voter if he stuck around here long enough to vote) made the most explicit commentary on what he regarded as a move towards competition. He said, roughly:

- Lack of inexpensive broadband is an opportunity missed
- Affordable broadband ensures access to the kind of high-quality new applications that people elsewhere enjoy.
- And it encourages developers to build those applications for New Zealand and the world.

"We are a gifted, hard-working people," he concluded, and we deserved a shot at developing for the world.

The bandwidth situation in Wellington was initially not so as to impress our guests. The opening workshops on Tuesday had to go forward without connectivity, because CityLink (of all people!) had done something untoward with its routing and there was no connectivity at the Town Hall. Fortunately, that was cleared up quickly, and the venue had first good wired Internet then free WiFi restored for the duration.

Meanwhile, back at the Museum Hotel, the free WiFi in every room was extremely elusive. Kelly Goto had to decamp to the lobby to send some emails. After I checked in, there was a brief flicker of in-room WiFi, but then it was gone. There was an ethernet router on the desk, so I plugged it in and the right lights lit up, so I called reception and asked if I could use that. Yes, if I came down and got a network cable.

"Would you like a red one?" asked the young lady on the desk. How sweet.

After a bit of arsing about obtaining another login and password, wired Internet to my room was running quite well - except for the times when the DHCP server popped up messages saying I couldn't have the IP address it had given me because it had already given it to someone. Hmmm.

The Daily Telegraph's story about the White House re-writing Tony Blair's big foreign policy speech at Georgetown University - requiring him to change the script on climate change, Iran, the IMF and the World Bank - is extraordinary if sadly unsurprising. The paper followed it up with a blistering editorial headed Once again, Mr Blair puts America first.

It had to happen: in response to news of the Haditha massacre, one of the knuckle-draggers at Little Green Footballs brought out Orwell's "rough men" quote (which, according to the Orwell FAQ, Orwell never actually said, although he did express similar sentiments) by way of justification. Back in the real world, there is talk that the marines involved could face the death penalty, but blame must surely go higher up than the men who departed so horribly from human decency that they slaughtered women and children as they cowered in their homes. The Guardian story over the weekend had an interesting quote:

British soldiers currently in Iraq said they were anxious to distance themselves from the Americans but that Iraqis did seem able to make a distinction. One private, who did not wish to be named, said: 'We are given an education: the Americans get shown how to use a gun. The Iraqis know the difference.'

It's hard to imagine how things could go more wrong than this, but it would be unwise to bet against it.

On a happier note, the bloggiest of the Herald's contributors, Ana 'Sideswipe' Samways, has gone and got herself a blog, along with Stephen Shaw. Do check out Spare Room.

And, finally, after that bizarre fog-bound final, Nic Jones - who led pretty much from the start - has taken the honours on the Public Address Virtual Super 14 leader board. Check it out and see who you beat. And Nic, I'll be in touch soon with a little prize for you …

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Whack-a-mole | May 26, 2006 12:44

Okay, so now the Google Video copy of the Telecon mash-up has been DMCAd too. The person who uploaded it got the standard letter: "Hi, Google was notified that your video "Telecom commercial spoof" allegedly violates the copyright of others. According to our policy regarding copyright complaints under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), we are removing the video in question .."

Let the game of whack-a-mole continue, then. There's at least one torrent file of the clip abroad, but I'm not going to link to it here, because I have a terrible feeling I'd be doing the devil's work if I did.

I did my 8.30am rabble-rousing at Webstock today, and it seemed to go down quite well. I enjoyed myself anyway. I stuck around to hear Ben Goodger talk about the Firefox project, and I'm very glad I did.

Ben has been around to since Tuesday, with his fiancée, and he came to dinner with the other speakers and organisers on Wednesday, but I hadn't actually heard him say a word until he got on the stage. When he did, it was immediately clear that this guy has a brain. It was an hour of clarity and consistently interesting content, beginning with the crumbling of the Netscape dream and concluding with a little peek at the Firefox 2.0 alpha. What a top New Zealander.

Speaking of dinner - wow again. We went to Kai in the City, and it was anything but a plastic tiki experience. The food was more or less traditional (hangi, piko piko pesto), but plated as top-notch restaurant fare. I am a demanding consumer of whitebait fritters, but the whitebait fritters they served were the best I've had since I was a kid on the West Coast and we ate bait straight out of the Taramakau River. Plus, I had muttonbird, which reminded me of lamb stuffed (Two Fat Ladies-style) with anchovies. Not bad.

I had a chat to the owner, Bill Hamilton, over the course of the evening, and he struck me as a very decent bloke. Another top Kiwi. There was also quite a bit of singing, as captured in this video by Doug Bowman. That's Bill with the guitar.

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Evil Telecom tries to shut down critics | May 24, 2006 10:41

This just in: Telecom has contacted YouTube and demanded the removal of all instances of the 'Telecon' mash-up. Clicking on the links brings up a message saying: "This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Telecom because its content was used without permission."

Well, using the content without permission was rather the point, wasn't it? Perhaps this was inevitable, but it's also a pretty stupid move, and a demonstration of the ease with which America's copyright law can be used to suppress criticism.

So the headline that I said on Monday Telecom would not want to risk ('Evil Telecom tries to shut down critics') now stands at the top of this post ...

The people who uploaded the clip have received standard emails from YouTube warning them that:

Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account. In order to avoid future strikes against your account, please delete any videos to which you do not own the rights, and refrain from uploading additional videos that infringe on the copyrights of others. For more information about YouTube's copyright policy, please read the Copyright Tips guide.

Oddly enough, the mash-up is still appearing in searches, which reveal that it passed 35,000 views on YouTube alone.

You may wish to rush over to Google Video and grab your downloadable version while you can.

I do look forward to seeing what happens next.

No Right Turn has a lovely fake letter from Rodney Hide to his constituents, explaining his frequent absences from Parliament ("However, great news! I have made it through the third round of Dancing With the Stars!"). The only thing funnier is the party stalwarts commenting below it, gamely insisting that his TV publicity stunt is "constructive".

Nearly as daft as the fake letter is Rodney's actual press release:

This Thursday, ACT leader and competitor in TV One's current hit show, "Dancing with the Stars", Rodney Hide and his dance partner Krystal Stuart, arrive in Christchurch to drum up support for viewer votes.

Some may debate his dancing ability but you've got to give the former Cantabrian credit for his efforts in campaigning for votes or is there a hidden agenda in the timing of the Canterbury visit?

Rodney confesses he's a Crusaders supporter through and through, and is looking forward to catching up with some of the players after training on Thursday as the red and blacks prepare for this weekends final in Super 14.

Well, how lovely for him. But given that you and I are paying his salary, shouldn't Rodney spend a little more time doing something that looks like his job? Especially given that he is a party leader and his only other MP is off on soldiering duty? And doesn't the above verge on taking the piss?

Perhaps I just don't get it. I freely confess, Dancing with the Stars means nothing to me. For that matter, I haven't read The Da Vinci Code, or seen the movie, and I can't understand why I should actually want to. I also thought the Toyota Rav 4 ad was tawdry and unfunny and it would actively make me not want to buy a Toyota Rav 4, even if I did happen to be in the market for a wankermobile. So perhaps I'm not the best judge of these things.

BTW, as Mirage Media pointed out, when Paul Holmes and Leighton Smith blathered about the nanny state after 19 complaints about the Rav 4 ad were upheld by the Advertising Standards Complaints Board, they'd have been better off complaining to their own employer, which, via the Radio Broadcasters Association (which is a member of the Advertising Standards Authority) helps shape and apply advertising standards. Yes, the ASA is a self-governing industry body. Nothing to do with the government. And the ad was in clear breach of the industry's own standards – it wasn't even close. But if windy radio hosts and Wayne Mapp want the standards changed to allow prime-time advertising to depict people trying to kill and injure each other in easily-emulated ways, they know who to lobby.

Anyway, I certainly can't complain about my hotel room. It has broadband, four comfortable chairs and nearly enough power points. And it has a balcony with a view of the harbour. I'm here in Wellington for Webstock, where I'm making the 8.30am speech on Friday and chairing a panel at the other end of the day. And, consequently, I'll be in this room working pretty much all day today.

Why? Many years ago, I had a crack at stand-up comedy. I went quite well the first time, not so well the second. It genuinely hadn't occurred to me that what you needed to do was work up a routine and stick to it (I didn't know about "heckle lines " either). I had the idea that you wrote a whole new thing every time you got up on stage.

I kind of still do. I'd accept a lot more talking business if I could get a routine and stick to it. But it's just not me. I think that's one reason I've never warmed to PowerPoint. It makes you say the same thing the same way every time. So I'm still working out what the content guy should spend an hour saying to a web standards crowd. Bonus, though: the organisers are taking us out to dinner tonight and I'm having the muttonbird.

Anyway, I'd best carry on with that. Meanwhile, I do quite like that Dixie Chicks song, which they played on Letterman.

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