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Finland Moves to Guarantee Universal Internet Access {Switched.com}
Oct 16th 2009 5:14AM The number 287 per 1000 inhabitants is a bit wrong actually, most broadband connections are shared by e.g. a family.
The latest (30.6.2009) figure is a total of 2,243,900 broadband connections, for a population of 5,326,314 that is a broadband connection for every 2.4 persons. Considering that families usually have just one connection for the whole family, the majority of the population does have broadband access already. One should note that of those broadband connections 664,300 are mobile so there is some overlap (DSL at home, mobile at summer cottage, ...) although quite a few have moved from DSL/cable to mobile for good.
For most telco's the minimum speed for a DSL is already 1 Mbit/s (or for double the price get full-rate ADSL2+) so I think the only problem in this legislation is the rural areas where DSL may not be available and the mobile would still be at GPRS speeds. 3G isn't widely available at the rural areas. The telcos have been moving rural landlines to mobile and the customers haven't liked that.
The 2015 and 100 Mbit/s is the real challenge. I don't see it happening at larger scale, fiber is coming to the new areas and city centres and cable TV offers 110 Mbit/s but that's pretty much it. Some rural areas are building local fibers but a lot of people live between cities and countryside.
Failure to launch: Apple bungles Snow Leopard distribution in New Zealand {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Aug 29th 2009 7:03PM I'm not sure if I understand all these rants.
The fact is that whatever Apple or most other american manufacturers do, the press announcements are true only for the major markets in the US. If you live in New Zealand, Singapore, Italy, or any other "fine but not a major market" place you get things at some point.
For example I know a lot of people who are trying to get iPhone 3GS from the local selected carrier. Many of them have paid for the phone in the online shop but no one, not even the customer service, can tell when they might get the phone. And it's definetly not "max $199" phone. The real price for iPhone 3GS 32G is around 900 USD, it just gets subvented everywhere.
If Snow Leopard is announced to be available on 28th August, outside of walking distance to real Apple Store you will get it in about a week. I was suprised to see the UPS courier 28th afternoon with the Snow Leopard but that was never guaranteed (plus I paid extra for the delivery, about 30 NZD).
I would like to read about Apple in NZ but I don't see the point when you expect Apple things to happen in NZ like they happen in US. Apple is no different from other companies, they treat rest of the world like shit and don't care that half of their business comes from them. (No, I don't live (yet) in the NZ)
Confession: I hate my Apple TV {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Aug 6th 2009 5:57AM I have to disagree -- a bit.
We like our Apple TV's a lot. One by the projector in the home theater room and one in the living room connected to the 50" Sony LCD. Both are connected through wired ethernet, makes life a lot easier with these "you never know how much is streamed" devices, although the iTunes machine in the living room is through PLC ethernet.
There are plenty of faults; it's really not FullHD, it's not super fast hardware, there's very little content outside of a few english speaking markets, and you need to be careful what you feed to it.
AppleTV requires a lot of discipline. We have our music library all-Apple Lossless, with covers and decent genre settings. Apart from rentals from iTunes we never drop any video files directly to iTunes but through the magnificient VisualHub that takes any file and makes is fine for AppleTV and iTunes. We keep the information, covers, video tags in order.
We did a plenty of travel recently and the travel pictures make a nice screen saver on the ATV.
Anyway, it's not a perfect product by any measures and Apple could do a lot more with it. But for organized a/v viewing that can be used by even the dummiest guests, it's pretty good product.
PS. We haven't noticed such a lack of colours and quality through HDMI or component video.
Why I'm not buying an iPhone 3GS in New Zealand (spoiler: it's not Apple's fault) {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Jul 16th 2009 3:23PM The wifi hotspot / 3g router used by the mifi services is available without contract from e.g. Expansys. Just buy your favourite data plan from your favourite carrier and install the SIM card.
Many countries offer pre-paid data plans that save you a fortune when travelling.
Why I'm not buying an iPhone 3GS in New Zealand (spoiler: it's not Apple's fault) {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Jul 16th 2009 10:34AM I think the subject is wrong. It _IS_ Apple's fault.
With the iPhone Apple is following the US-oriented carrier subsidized model instead of making the phone freely available for all the carriers.
If they'd make it freely available, it would be possible for any carrier to offer it with their services. In most parts of the world you're stuck with the carrier Apple has done the deal with and if you don't like that carrier, you loose.
NZ happens to be one of the few countries in the world where you can actually buy unlocked iPhone without contract. I was thinking of buying the iPhone 3G from NZ earlier this year but as the new model was just coming, I didn't. Now I'm using iPhone 3GS in Finland but the phone has been bought from Italy. At 720 euros or 1570 NZD it wasn't exactly cheap but that's the _real_ price for iPhone 3GS 32G hardware.
I do hope that over the next year or two Apple will get it's head out from the place where sun doesn't shine and free the iPhone.
Engadget's recession antidote: win one of 100 Microsoft Windows 7 pre-order discount codes! {Engadget}
Jun 25th 2009 1:12PM why not me?
Worldwide Mac: Using the iPhone in New Zealand {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Jun 15th 2009 9:17AM Actually it's amazing how few countries offer the iPhone with unlimited data. When the iPhone 3G was announced here in Finland, the chosen carrier used the same data packages for both Finland and Sweden. Perhaps they were the norm in Sweden at the time but totally out of the world for us -- I think they got a great deal less iPhone customers than they could have got with decent pricing, nobody queued for the phone nor there was lack of availability.
Today the iPhone has the same options as any other phone although it's still not available as unlocked, non-contract phone.
The price for the pre-paid iPhone at Vodafone NZ is quite decent, one of the lowest to get an unlocked, free of contract iPhone.
It's a pity that Apple is still focused on the US networks with the iPhone hardware. 900 Mhz 3G would be very important for sparsely populated countries like NZ (or Finland for that matter). It would also be useful in the US but..
What I see, looking from the other side of the planet, the problem is NZ is that they usually follow what's happening and how services are offered in Australia. To gain some advantage they should e.g. look at NZ-sized countries in Europe (US is too different).
Worldwide Mac: getting online in New Zealand {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Jun 14th 2009 11:17AM We are also considering moving to the NZ (love the country and the people) and if I were a kiwi, I'd find the current state of NZ internet quite embarrasing. My opinion would apply to any other country with similar situation so no offence to kiwis or NZ, we still love you even if we have to go 10 years backwards with our internet needs ;-)
This is 2009 and in any major city one should have adsl2+ access available at reasonable speeds. If there's cable network, a 10+ Mbit/s service should be available with plans to go for 100+ Mbit/s (if not yet available). Fiber to the home is nice and should be made possible to any new housing area.
The internet service should simply be non-capped. There are appliances out there that will automatically throttle or cut customers who abuse the T&C with their p2p traffic.
I don't buy the reasons that much; there are plenty of countries with similar population with decent internet access. The location I can sort-of agree with but there's a few submarine cables out there and upgrading the capacity of those fibers shouldn't be totally out of the question.
I think the NZ government should first invest money in getting the international capacity to where it should be in 2009 (if that's the problem) and start a trend of uncapped access services. Getting fiber to the homes would be the next priority when the groundwork is done. Fiber at home is useless if you're capped at some low amount of traffic.
The very same is true with 3G data access (usb dongles, smartphones, built-in in laptops, ...). As long as you have per megabyte pricing, it's a niche product. The change will happen when you introduce flat rate.
I wouldn't look at the amount of time spent on-line statistics. It's good that it's low as people spend the time doing something more useful like enjoying the amazing nature of NZ. But still it doesn't mean I don't want to have a decent internet access when I need it, for pleasure or work.
PS. Anyone interested to share experiences about moving to NZ / planning to move to NZ, don't hesitate to drop a line at ojala at iki.fi
A tennis court with a great view; just don't fall off the edge {Gadling}
Aug 20th 2008 2:59AM Actually the hotel main entrance is just below the helipad, though the shape of the hotel is curved so it really depends where the ball flies to. It could just hit the water, bounce from the hotel front somewhere, or fall at the hotel entrance and car park area. I'm pretty sure they moved the Rolls Royces and other cars elsewhere for the game ;-)
Out of the country? Try the Havana Club {Gadling}
Jul 22nd 2008 5:40AM I remember reading that in addition to Cuban Havanna Club the cuba libre drink tastest the best with mexican coca cola.
We've been to Cuba a few times and on the first trip I bought a 15-year-old Havanna Club from Havanna -- I was wondering a bit about the steep price. That rum was actually made in the US (and sold in Cuba), I later bought a real cuban 15-yo Havanna Club from Spain.
