OCEANIA
AGRIBUSINESSOCEANIA
Setting export sights on Europe and beyond
The avocado industry is testing technology to prevent fruit ripening in transit that it hopes will open up markets in Europe.Two thousand trays of fruit were exported to France in December packed in shipping containers fitted with... Read More | View Original Article
Hackers claim Symantec would pay $50,000 extortion
Source code hacker claims Symantec offered hush money. Read More | View Original Article
Exclusive: Canon slashes Aussie jobs
Local workers booted in restructure. Read More | View Original Article
EMC rolls out PCIe Flash-based storage
'Project Lightning' makes its debut. Read More | View Original Article
No relief for iPhone theft victims
Replacement phone won't protect iMessages from thieves. Read More | View Original Article
No relief for iPhone theft victims
Replacement phone won't protect iMessages from thieves. Read More | View Original Article
Telstra investigates blocked email issue
Hundreds of BigPond customers unable to receive email. Read More | View Original Article
Gore Hill facility to be 'fully operational' by April. Read More | View Original Article
Australian finance site hit by DDoS
Australian finance news website Money Management yesterday fell victim to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack that sent its website offline. The site remained offline at the time of publication, but Money Management did post this morning that it had referred the case to both Google and the Australian Federal Police. Read More | View Original Article
Hipstamatic busted for plain text log-ins
It has been revealed that popular iPhone photography app Hipstamatic is storing its log-in details, including usernames and passwords, in plain text within the app's preference list file. Hipstamatic is an app for Apple iOS devices that allows a user to take a photo and apply a retro feel to the image via the use of filters and other post-processing techniques. The app costs $1.99 on the App Store. Read More | View Original Article
Symantec confirms hacker extortion
Symantec has today confirmed that email correspondence between the company and a hacker, in which the company attempted to confirm the theft of its source code and offer US$50,000 to stop it from appearing online, did actually occur. Symantec was reportedly held to ransom for its PCAnywhere source code. (Credit: Gunpoint image by Jason Ralston, CC2.0) Read More | View Original Article
Macquarie expands shared tech team
Macquarie Group hopes to extend the successful creation of a shared services function within its Macquarie Securities Group (MSG) and Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) group out to the rest of the organisation. In 2010, the group started sharing some of the technology systems between the two divisions of the organisation, including derivatives and treasury product Calypso as well as trading and investment product Fidessa. That saved $20 million "from the get-go", deputy managing director Greg Ward said in an operations briefing today. Read More | View Original Article
Pilot sues Virgin for being iPad Luddite
A pilot allegedly damaged his back carrying a 18kg flight bag full of charts and manuals. Now he's suing Virgin for $1 million worth of medical expenses and other costs, such as getting someone to mow his lawn and wash his car, because he thinks the airline should have made the charts available in a format he could read on an iPad. I don't like his chances. Read More | View Original Article
Phishing scam causes Telstra email woe
A phishing scam has led to a number of compromised BigPond email accounts being used to transmit spam, which has caused some email addresses to be blacklisted, Telstra has confirmed. Read More | View Original Article
Robotic mining worth its high cost: Rio
Mining giant Rio Tinto has concluded that the benefits of introducing automated aids on Australian mining sites, including remote-controlled trucks, diggers, extractors, loaders and shippers, would far outweigh the sky-high cost of purchase, testing and installation. Rio Tinto added that the new equipment would bring improvements in staff turnover, workforce health and safety, and lower the environmental impact of work sites. Read More | View Original Article
Optus unveils NBN small business plans
update Optus has announced a range of National Broadband Network (NBN) plans targeted at small businesses, starting at $59 per month. (Screenshot by Josh Taylor/ZDNet Australia) Read More | View Original Article
3D printer produces new titanium jaw
An elderly woman has received a replacement titanium jaw that was fabricated using a 3D printer, an operation participants say demonstrates the potential of patient-specific body implants. Surgeons decided to replace an entire jaw of an elderly woman made using a 3D printing technique. (Credit: LayerWise) Read More | View Original Article
Facebook meets with activists on privacy
As Facebook prepares for its $5 billion initial public offering (IPO) in the US, European representatives are meeting with student activists from Austria regarding complaints filed by the group over how the company handles private information. Read More | View Original Article
Wolfram Alpha Pro launches this week
Wolfram Alpha is expanding its knowledge database - at least for those who sign on to the new Wolfram Alpha Pro platform launching this week. Wolfram Alpha creator Stephen Wolfram explained during a conference call on Monday afternoon that "instead of being an anonymous drive-by experience, in the Pro experience, people can log in and get much more involved". Specifically, Wolfram broke down the new capabilities that will be seen on Pro in two categories: output and input. The output features include: Read More | View Original Article
Hard-drive shortage raises PC costs
The bill of materials to make PCs and laptops has crept higher each year, according to Barclays Capital estimates. In a research note, Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes said that the hard-drive shortage caused by flooding in Thailand is likely to squeeze margins for PC makers. Based on comments from Western Digital and Seagate, hard-drive prices are anywhere from 30 per cent to 40 per cent higher, said Reitzes. Read More | View Original Article
HTC disappoints: 'we dropped the ball'
Mobile-phone maker HTC reported fourth-quarter results and first-quarter forecasts far short of analyst projections overnight, while the company's CFO admitted that the recent range of 4G/LTE-enabled smartphones isn't quite up to scratch. HTC Velocity (Credit: HTC) Read More | View Original Article
Top Hollywood studios sue LimeWire
With a frown on his face and holding his head in his hand, LimeWire founder Mark Gorton appeared depressed last May as he sat in a New York courtroom. That frown is likely to make a reappearance as top Hollywood studios kick off legal action against LimeWire. Mark Gorton leaving court in 2011. (Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET) Read More | View Original Article
Politics biggest DDoS motivator: Arbor
A survey by Arbor Networks has shown that service providers dealing with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks believe them to be ideologically motivated, rather than financially motivated or acts of vandalism. Read More | View Original Article
Milk price inquiry hangs in balance
Consumers worried about the price of milk will find out this month whether a parliamentary investigation into the high-profile issue will resume or get the can.The retail price of milk has become a hot topic, with a Consumer NZ... Read More | View Original Article
Smartphones overtake PCs in shipments
Analysts predict Windows will extend the lead. Read More | View Original Article
Apple, Samsung butt heads over iPhone patent judgment
Apple 'free-riding' on 3G patents, Samsung claims. Read More | View Original Article
in brief Email for some Telstra BigPond customers may not be reaching its final destination, with the company investigating a delivery issue that has been hitting the company since the weekend. The issue is believed to be affecting at least several hundred users, who are currently not receiving email, while senders receive bounce back notices for emails sent to the BigPond addresses. Telstra told ZDNet Australia that the issue had started on the weekend and has been affecting a "small number of BigPond customers". Read More | View Original Article
RIM hands free PlayBooks to Android devs
Hopes to up apps in App World. Read More | View Original Article
