Contents:
Adam in the Spotlight
Adam Internet wins ACCC support in access battle with Telstra
Customer Service Upgrade
New Home
ADSL and AdamDirect Contract Pricing
New Business Solutions Hosting Plans
Australian Broadband Survey
New Standard Form of Agreement to be released in February
Adam Internet and the Variety Bash 2008
Relax on
the River Murray, raise money for Variety
Win free tickets to advance screenings of The King of Kong
Frontlines: Fuel of War Wallpaper
Competition
BodyTalk Health with Phil Sheldon
Weblinks
Hot Tips
Did you
know?
Welcome to the January / February edition of Newsbytes, the bi-monthly Adam Internet newsletter, and to a brand new year.
Some keen-eyed readers may notice there was no Newsbytes for December / January. This has allowed us to pull the Newsbytes release inside a single calendar year. As such, some of the press
releases, press coverage and information contained within this January / February edition of Newsbytes were released late last year.
Newsbytes will keep you updated on what’s happening at Adam Internet, provide hints and tips for getting the most out of your connection and let you know of any specials or new services you may take advantage of.
If there’s anything you would like to see in Newsbytes, either as a feature or as a regular
column, please email newsbytes@adam.com.au
ACCC sets terms of access to the ULL and line sharing service
LSS battle to continues: Telstra appeals ACCC ruling
Adam Internet named fastest moving IT business in SA
Adam Internet on radio - regular appearance
Adam Internet Managing Director, Scott Hicks, will be appearing as a regular guest on Phil Sheldon's Weekly Show on radio station 5AA. On the latest show, Scott and Phil discuss tech trends for 2008. The show is available for download via [this link] (select "Save As..." when the dialog box pops up) and you can subscribe to the Phil Sheldon podcast through www.philsheldon.com.au.
Adam Internet wins ACCC support in access battle with Telstra
Following a three-year access dispute
with Telstra, Adam Internet has received a favourable final determination from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in relation to the pricing of Telstra’s Line Sharing
Service (LSS).
The subject of legal argument since 2005, the new LSS prices applied by the ACCC will level the playing field within the ISP market and enable Adam Internet to compete
fairly with Telstra.
The savings made by Adam Internet as a result of the ACCC decision will be passed on directly to customers, decreasing initial set up fees on new ADSL accounts by up
to $50. The ACCC determination will also assist Adam Internet in freeing up funds for investment in enhanced customer care and additional network infrastructure.
However, despite winning
the support of the nation’s competition regulator, Adam Internet now faces a further battle in the Federal Court of Australia, after Telstra lodged notice of its intent to appeal the ACCC
ruling.
The full press release can be downloaded from Adam Internet [here] .
Customer Service Upgrade
Adam Internet has finished rolling out a new high-tech telephone system, capping a long list of improvements made throughout 2007. These improvements include a large-scale fit-out of Adam Internet’s call centre, the purchase of an additional floor of central Adelaide office space, the creation of a dedicated sales area, and the establishment of a new residential sales team.
These enhancements further confirm Adam Internet’s commitment to service excellence and the company’s dedication to ensuring its ongoing investment in South Australia.
The development of Adam Internet’s client care facilities – along with the introduction of a state-of-the-art CISCO IP phone system - is helping staff meet the immediate needs of customers and allow us to gain a greater understanding of your future expectations.
The upgrade has doubled the capacity of our call centre and enabled the development of a new technical support laboratory for the testing of customer equipment and diagnosis of equipment faults.
The full press release can be downloaded from Adam Internet [here] .
New Home ADSL and AdamDirect Contract Pricing
As of the 21st of January, 2008, Adam Internet has updated the contract pricing of all new Home ADSL and AdamDirect signups as a result of the ACCC victory mentioned above. The new contract prices include savings of up to $50 for ADSL set up costs and up to $25 for those customers using Rapid Transfer services.
The new pricing for Adam Internet contracts can be found [here] .
For more information regarding Adam Internet Home ADSL services,
please visit the website at www.adam.com.au or call the helpdesk on (08) 8423 4000.
New Business Solutions Hosting Plans
New hosting plans for Business Solutions have been released as of Monday the 7th of January, 2008. These new plans include more competitive pricing, larger hosting space, wider range of features, and better flexibility.
All plans now include the following as standard;
- Server Scripting (PHP, PERL, Server Side Includes) for interactive content such as order form, site search, photo gallery
- MySQL Database for online storage of data such as price lists, membership lists
- Traffic Stats so you can monitor the number of hits to your site, where the hits are coming from, plus search words and more
- Online control panel access so you monitor disk/bandwidth usage, set up parked domains, view logs etc
- Includes additional Parked Domains so you can have multiple addresses (Australian, English, German, USA) for the same site
- Includes Spam Filtering for all your domains
A new range
of "Advanced Hosting" plans has also been released, which provides the ability to host a secure site for credit card transactions and also offers the protection of spam and virus
filtering.
A full list of plans and services can be found at the [Adam Internet Business Solutions website]. For more
information, please call Business Solutions on 08 8423 4020 or email business@adam.com.au.
Australian Broadband SurveyEach year, Whirlpool.net.au hosts the Australian Broadband Survey to provide Australian broadband consumers with the opportunity to voice their opinion on their experiences with Australian ISPs.
We at Adam Internet encourage all South Australian broadband users to complete the survey and have your opinion on the state of broadband in Australia expressed.
The survey takes less than ten minutes to complete and closes on Thursday the 31st of January. Detailed results from the survey are publicly displayed on Whirlpool.net.au thirty days following the closing date.
Further information regarding the Australian Broadband Survey http://whirlpool.net.au/survey
New Standard Form of Agreement to be released in February
Over the past few months, Adam Internet has been reviewing the Terms and Conditions (T & C’s) under which
we supply our customers their services.
This review has resulted in a major overhaul of these documents and in February we will release to our customers a new Standard Form of Agreement
(SFOA) which will provide more comprehensive coverage of the terms and conditions, our obligations to you as our customers and your obligations to us as your Internet Service Provider. The new SFOA
will be common for all services and will be launched with a Product Schedule for each individual service, such as DSL and AdamTalk, our Voice over Internet Protocol service.
The new SFOA
will be a larger document than our current T & C’s, as it will provide comprehensive up to date details of all the conditions for all services. Of importance is the fact that the new SFOA
has been developed to ensure there are no terms and conditions that disadvantage customers when compared to the current T & C’s. In fact, the new SFOA coincides with changes that are to
the benefit of customers such as reduced sign up fees for new customers and reduction of the Network Access Fee to $45.00.
Customers will be notified of the SFOA launch in early February and will be provided a summary document of the SFOA, whilst the full SFOA and
related schedules will be posted to the website once released.
Adam Internet and the Variety Bash 2008
Adam Internet is proud to announce we will be participating in the South Australian Variety Bash
for the second consecutive year. Last year, Adam Internet and Car ADAM were the second highest fundraising Bash entrant, contributing over $104,000 to children in need and we hope to smash that
already significant figure this year.Opening our 2008 fundraising season will be the first of our annual movie nights courtesy of Wallis Cinemas. The special screening will be the fourth instalment of a classic series rejuvenated, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The date is currently unconfirmed but we’ll keep you posted.
2008 will also see the return of our fun and successful Friday 13th Gala Fundraiser event. Last year our Adams Family themed dinner party raised over $20,000 and once again, we hope to do even better this year. We’ve got plans for themes and activities, with more information to be revealed in the coming months.
Variety HistoryVariety was started in the USA in 1928 by a group of Vaudeville performers who found an abandoned baby girl in the stalls of their theatre, and has since grown throughout 14 countries worldwide.
Variety began in South Australia in 1983, with the first Variety Bash held in 1989. Over the past 16 years, the Variety Bash alone has raised a phenomenal $17.87 million for sick, disabled and disadvantaged South Australian children, thanks to the generousity of its valued supporters and sponsors.
For more information on Variety - The Children's Charity, visit www.varietysa.org.au.
Relax on the River Murray, raise money for Variety
Last year, Murray Darling River Holidays helped raise funds for Adam Internet’s Variety Bash effort through a special offer for Adam Internet
customers only. This year, Murray Darling River Holidays are extending their great offer from summer to the entire year!If you’re looking forward to relaxing anytime this year, whether for a weekend or even a few weeks, why not consider a riverside holiday alongside the Mighty Murray River and help raise funds for Variety – The Children’s Charity.
Murray Darling River Holidays are again offering to donate 10% from each holiday package to Variety – The Children’s Charity when you mention Car ADAM at booking. This exclusive offer covers bookings for the Lock 9 Lodge, able to accommodate 12 people with amazing features including a large Entertainment Barge suitable for wining, dining and relaxation, while a 12 seater party boat is also supplied for leisurely river cruises. The Elphicks lodge is also available, accommodating up to 8 people and located on a pristine section of the river and includes not just a Party Boat but also six canoes, two aqua trikes and two paddleboats.
Visit www.murraydarlingriverholidays.com for more information and don’t forget to reference Car ADAM when booking to ensure a 10% donation goes to Variety – The Children’s Charity and Adam Internet’s Variety Bash fundraising.
Win free tickets to advance screenings of The King of
Kong
Thanks to DENDY films, Adam Internet and GamingSA
have 50 passes to advanced screenings of The King of Kong to give away.
Billy Mitchell, hot sauce mogul and named the “Gamer of the
Century” in the 1980s, scored 874,300 points in Donkey Kong—a record many thought would never be beaten. After stumbling across this record online in 2003, Steve Wiebe—a high school
science teacher—perfected his game every night when his family went to bed and not only surpassed Mitchell’s record but ended up with 1,000,000 points, a score all thought was impossible.
Steve quickly became a celebrity in his hometown. Meanwhile, Billy Mitchell hatched a plan to reclaim his fallen Donkey Kong record…
For your chance to attend a special preview
screening of this amazing and hilarious documentary, simply send an email with your full name, postal address and phone number to competition@gamingsa.com.
The first 25 email entrants received win a special double pass to an Advance Screening of The King of Kong on Wednesday the 20th of February at Greater Union Marion. The following 25 email
entrants will win a single pass to a Sneak Preview weekend screening of The King of Kong held on the 23rd and 24th of February at Greater Union Marion.
For more information and clips from
The King of Kong film, visit www.billyvssteve.com .
Frontlines: Fuel of War Wallpaper Competition
THQ Australia, THQ International and KAOS Studios have been kind enough to provide us
with two copies of Frontlines: Fuel of War (FFOW) on PC and five t-shirts. Two lucky winners will receive a prize pack
consisting of a copy of FFOW and a “Drone to Kill” limited edition t-shirt, with three runners up receiving a “Drone to Kill” limited edition t-shirt.
To win a copy of Frontlines: Fuel of War and a “Drone to Kill” t-shirt, polish up your photoshopping skills because we’re holding the
‘GamingSA Frontlines: Fuel of War Wallpaper Competition’. You’d better get your creativity on quickly though as the entry submission deadline is Friday the 1st of February,
2008.
GamingSA Frontlines: Fuel of War Wallpaper Competition details can be found at [www.GamignSA.com/forums].
FFOW is a military-themed infantry and
vehicle based, open-world first person shooter brought to us by KAOS studios, whose former projects include the original Desert Conflict mod for Battlefield and whose members had a role in the
R&D team for DICE’s Battlefield 2.
Set in a fictional near future based upon the headlines of today, FFOW brings players into the world's next great war. Two powerful
superpower alliances emerge amidst the battle for what’s left of the world’s oil supplies, the Western Coalition (U.S./E.U.) or the Red Star Alliance (Russia/China).
Players
assume the role of the frontline soldiers waging the key battles in the flaming battlefields of modern war. Choose to play on either side in up to 64 person online multi-player battles, or to assume
the roles of individual soldiers that play key roles in an intensely cinematic single-player campaign. FFOW features a high-tech array of realistic near future weapons, combat vehicles, and
professional specialisations drawn from real world military designs for the near future. It is the ultimate experience of high stakes, fast paced, easily accessible modern warfare.
A full preview of the multiplayer beta can be found [here] .
Frontlines: Fuel of War will be available on PC and Xbox 360 mid-late February.
BodyTalk Health with Phil Sheldon
As you are reading this we are well and truly into the New Year, and most of us have probably given up on our often hastily proposed and conceived New Year resolutions. Now it’s one thing to give up on perhaps a poorly thought out resolution such as “I need to lose weight this year” or “I need to get fit this year”. How were you going to do that anyway, eat less or go on a boring restrictive diet?
So what is my answer? I will come to that but first I propose a question: What about the big picture? What about the rest of your life, not just 2008. Now we know that our lifestyle really is the major determining factor in how well and how long we live. A long life is one thing, but not so good if it’s full of sickness, your days only punctuated by visits to the Doctor and your hours of the day marked out by your medication. A long healthy productive fun joyous life relatively free of disease surely is what we should be aiming for.
Wellness seems to encompass all of those important variables that we need to consider when it comes to our individual lifestyles. Diet, exercise, peace of mind, happiness, love and the essence of life, the very spark of JOY itself. These vital components are what we all need to consider. Moderation in all things, including moderation; it is a wise person who reflects upon the middle course when traveling life’s many roads. So be good eighty percent of the time and you can be a little naughty twenty percent.
Deal with stress, find ways to dilute its toxic effects. Try; meditation, exercise, regular long walks, listen to relaxing music, take up a hobby, paint, do pottery, sew, help others less fortunate. Eat more vegetables, drink more water, don’t smoke, consume moderate alcohol, learn to love, consider the planet, don’t hold grudges, be able to admit you are wrong, be able to say sorry, learn to hug the ones you love, appreciate what you have don’t dwell on what you don’t have. Be in awe of the cosmos and remember in an average handful of sand there are about 10,000 grains and there are more stars out there than all the grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth.
© Phil Sheldon MSc
www.philsheldon.com.au
www.optimalessentials.com
Weblinks
Avoid Internet fraud! - http://www.fraud.org/internet/ - read through these excellent tips on how to spot fraudulent emails and websites.
Need help finding information? - http://www.virtualsalt.com/howlook - tips on how to search for information more efficiently online. Old but still useful.
Is the information any good? - http://www.virtualsalt.com/evalu8it - tips on evaluating the credibility of the information you find on the Internet.
Hot Tips
Windows Vista tip:
If you don't want certain programs or applications to run automatically on startup, there's an easy way to disable them.
- Click Start
- Type msconfig in the search box
- Click Continue in the User Account Control to continue
- Click on the Startup Tab
- Uncheck any boxes in the "Startup Items" that you wish to disable or click the Disable All button (not recommended)
- Click OK
Mac OSX tip:
If you run across a cool website and want to email that site to a friend, probably the fastest way is to press Command-Shift-I. This opens Mail, and inserts the Web URL into the body of your email. Now all you have to do is type the recipient’s name, enter “Check this site out” in the Subject line, and click Send.
Did you know?
Apple recently released a new product called the MacBook Air, the first commercial laptop available in a pure solid state form. What is solid state and why is it important? Solid state means that the MacBook Air has no internal moving parts or mechanics aside from the keys and case hinge. As a result, you could drop it, or juggle it and there'd be no worries about the precious data inside being destroyed. The Air is making waves, however, as it's the slimmest laptop available on the market to date, at less than 2.0 centimetres in height and with a 13.3 inch screen, it can fit inside an A4 envelope.
However, the MacBook Air doesn't come cheap, with a non-solid state version starting at $2,499 and the solid state costing a mammoth $4,338, it might be out of the average users grasp. The laptop also lacks a CD drive, substantial storage capacity and ethernet port (Air uses wireless networking). Instead requiring external devices such as USB CD/DVD, USB harddrives or other wireless networking solutions to fill the gap. Another short coming is that the sealed case provides no access to the battery pack, meaning that once your battery is charged that's all you get until you find another power point. You can't keep a spare battery.
Is the MacBook Air ahead of it's time or the perfect portable computing solution? Only time will tell.
Visit www.apple.com/au/macbookair for more information.