This newsletter has been designed to maintain links with customers and provide an information service for internet users generally.

Please visit us at http://www.engadineweb.com.au and signup for this monthly newsletter.

Review old articles in our Newsletter Archive

Editorial

I like the sound and price of the new Seagate 1 TB hard drive and I am also looking forward to the announcement of a 2 TB drive for backing up...

Bruce Beresford, Manager & Editor

In this Issue:

• Featured Site - Blush Design & Graphics
• How to fully degunk a PC to get rid of crapware
• Beware of Dodo's "free" broadband
• Low on speed, high on cost
• Seagate announces first 1TB drive
• Quotes of the day

Featured Site  

Blush Design & Graphics

As a young, growing business Blush Design endeavours to provide our clients with fresh ideas and creative concepts for all your Design, Print, Web Design and Sign Writing needs.

Our competitive prices and fast high quality results have guaranteed customer satisfaction and launched us into the market with spectacular results.

Whether you run a corporate business or work from home, we know how important your business image is to both you and your clients.

Blush Design can create a look for your business to suit your needs, whether you are wanting to refresh your corporate image, or even if you are launching a new business and want to grab the attention of all those prospective clients...

From logo design through to print, installation or delivery, we have it all covered!

Let us use our Fresh Ideas & Creative Concepts to help grow your business too...

Visit the Blush Design & Graphics website...

How to fully degunk a PC to get rid of crapware  

Crapware slows your PC to a crawl, often causes instability and crashes, eats up valuable screen real estate, and may even border on malware. Yet it inevitably finds its way onto your computer -- and may even come WITH your computer when you buy it. George Ou explains how to use a couple of free tools to deliver a one-two punch that eliminates crapware and improves the performance of your PC.

Read the article, and don't try this at home unless you are sure of what you are doing. TechRepublic 25 June 2007

Beware of Dodo's "free" broadband  

Cut-price ISP Dodo had some exciting news yesterday: free ADSL2+ broadband!

The press announcement simply mentioned that customers would need to switch their home phone over to Dodo and the only cost would be a $32.90 line rental fee.

Sounds pretty good, we thought. Everyone has to pay a line rental fee anyway and most of us are being reamed to the tune of about $30 a month.

"The Australian public has been charged excessive fees for high speed internet access for too long and Dodo is putting an end to this," said Dodo's managing director in a statement.

"The US and UK have had free broadband services available for the last couple of years."

But then we looked at the terms and conditions of the offer. Like many "free" deals, there is a nasty sting in the tail (several actually.)

The "free" broadband offer only includes 150MB of usage. That's long enough for -- get this -- 50 seconds of downloads at full ADSL2+ speed.

After the initial 150MB, downloads are charged at $0.18 per megabyte. The next 150MB will cost you $27.00.

Even worse, the 150MB you do get "free" is "split 50% between 9am and 1am and 50% between 1am and 9am". So you only get 75MB of usage during waking hours before the chargeable megabytes kick in. apc 22 June 2007 >>> more

Low on speed, high on cost  

AUSTRALIA has the second-slowest broadband speed in the developed world, according to the latest international comparison by the OECD.

Australia lagged behind Turkey and Greece, and only just pipped the Slovak Republic.

The review shows that not only is Australia's broadband among the slowest, but its telephone services are also among the most expensive, particularly for small business.

Telstra's maximum broadband speed has increased since the OECD survey was conducted in October last year, rising from 1.5 megabits a second to up to 24 megabits a second.

However, leading nations such as France, Italy, Sweden and the US offer speeds that are between 30Mbps and 40Mbps, while Japan and Korea offer speeds of 100Mbps.

The OECD review also highlighted the cost of telecommunications services. For Australian small businesses, phone and internet costs are the third highest in the world.

A bundle of telecommunications services that cost a business $36,000 a year in Australia would cost $14,000 in the US.

A home office with fixed-line telephone costs of $950 a year in Australia could get the same service for $300 in the US.

Small business communications costs in Australia are about 40 per cent higher than the OECD average. Only Poland and the Czech Republic are more expensive.

Labor telecommunications spokesman Stephen Conroy said the cost of telecommunications charges for small business was a disgrace. "Small businesses are being held back from developing, exporting and innovating because of the high costs they face in Australia," Senator Conroy said.

Consumer fixed and mobile telecommunications costs are in the most expensive third of the developed world.

A spokesman for Communications Minister Helen Coonan said all telecommunications costs in Australia had come down by 26 per cent since 1997 and it was recognised that Australia's vast distances and low population density created challenges.

The OECD stressed the importance of introducing competition. "Markets with healthy levels of competition have led the introduction of innovative services and appealing pricing packages," the report said. AustralianIT

Seagate announces first 1TB drive  

Seagate Technology is serving up its first 1-terabyte hard drives.

The company announced today that it will offer 1TB hard drives for retail and enterprise, beginning in the third quarter of this year.

The Barracuda 7200.11 (right), priced at US$399 (AU$470), will have up to 32 megabytes of cache, a five-year warranty and a reported sustained transfer rate of 105MB/s.

Seagate also revealed an update to its enterprise-class Barracude range with the Barracude ES.2, boosting the capacity from 750GB to 1TB.

The amount of information that can be stored in a 1-terabyte drive is equal to turning 50,000 trees into paper, according to researchers at the University of California at Berkeley. Hitachi shipped its first terabyte drive two months ago, for the same price of US$399.

Local pricing and availability is yet to be announced. ZDNet - 26 June 2007

Quotes of the Day  

Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat. John Lehman (1942 - ), Secretary of the Navy, 1981-1987

A lie told often enough becomes the truth. Lenin (1870 - 1924)

Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address. Lane Olinghouse

I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. Marie Curie (1867 - 1934)

Brought to you by The Quotations Page

Have any questions relating to the internet or your computer? Let me know and I will research an answer and use this for future entries in our newsletter. Pass on your questions via the Enquiry Form on our Web-Site or send me an email.

If you have a friend or associate that you feel would benefit from receiving this newsletter please forward it to them for their review...

You have received this newsletter as you are an Engadine Web Services Customer or you have subscribed via our web-site.

To Unsubscribe from this newsletter 'click' the link and send an empty email...