How to check Apple iPad 2 availability at Doncaster Shoppingtown

I dropped into the Apple store at Doncaster Shoppingtown to check the availability of the Apple iPad 2. The staff member told me there was a web site on a sign in the window where you can reserve an iPad 2 and if you are lucky you can come into the store and pick up the iPad 2 the next day.

Reserving the iPad 2 isn’t a purchase, but it doesn reserve a unit for you.

According to the sign if you are interested in an iPad 2 you should try to reserve one at 9pm. If you’re lucky you’ll receive confirmation.

I’ve been checking the site for nearly the past week at various times (mostly quite a while after 9pm) and so far I’ve only seen stock on one night and just a couple of models.

 

For those interested the site is: http://www.apple.com/au/ipad/reserve.

Good luck.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Alert: Crystena Skae - do you know Brian Tracy?

I received an email from Crystena Skae with the subject do you know Brian Tracy. I don't know this person and I don't ever recall communicating with them and my systems don't indicate the sender is using a known email address.

I decided to check where the email was sent from which from what I can tell is California in the United States.

I consider this type of email to be unsolicited spam and would suggest if you receive such an email you delete it. If you continue to receive emails from people you don't with to receive emails from and you have control over your domain and email, you may wish to add a filter on the mail server which results in emails from the sender to fail. This approach works as long as the sender continues to send emails using the same emails.

What I do is I use OzEfilter to delete the email at the mail server before I collect the email. OzEfilter shows me a list of emails on the mail server from people I don't know. Most are spam or malware. I can then hit the delete, deleting unwanted emails and then proceed to download wanted emails. This is a great time saver and has saved me from the tedious task of deleting over 60,000 emails I would have normally received in my email client.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.justlocal.com.au/  

Apple iPad 2 cameras are a bit of a disappointment

Since I couldn't easily find out the size in megapixels of the Apple iPad 2 cameras, I decided with the help of some friends to determine the megapixels of the cameras. As it turns out I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed with both the cameras.

I don't know why Apple didn't provide higher resolution cameras. Maybe it was cost. Maybe it was to keep the iPhone ahead of the iPad. Maybe it was to keep some features to be released in the iPad 3. It doesn't make sense to me but ultimately it was their choice. I was really keen to get an iPad 2, but now I'm not so sure.

I'm not an Android fan as I feel the fragmentation and the customising by vendors will make it difficult to move to later versions of the operating system. I read recently the Samsung Galaxy Tab wouldn't be able to be upgraded to Android Honeycomb (not confirmed) so already we may be seeing equipment without a future on the market.

Microsoft doesn't seem to be saying much and I'm not really sure what to think of HP's WebOS, which I'm not sure if it will be available in Australia.

So really picking a tablet is exceptionally hard.

Whilst the iPad 2 might still get my money, as time goes on it becomes a hard choice. No ability to plug in external memory. Lower resolution cameras. No HDMI output. No USB connection. A great browser but it doesn't provide the ability to upload files from the browser which for me is a feature I'd really miss.

I think Apple really has to rethink its strategy or the sheer force of the many major hardware suppliers might just enable Android to become number one in Australia.

So if you're thinking about getting a tablet, the middle of the year is when we'll see quite a few new products on the market. By that time Apple iPad 2's will probably also be much easier to get. Perhaps patience is a virtue after all.

For those interested in my findings on the Apple iPad 2 cameras this is available in MyAnswers solution 2090.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

Alert: You have reached the limit of your email quota

I received an email today with the subject You have reached the limit of your email quota and since it made me pause for a moment to check it out I decided to check the email out further.

If you receive an email like this don't just assume it applies to you. In this case  the following rather generic message was in the body of the email.

You have reached the limit of your email quota.
You will not be able to send or receive new mail until you boost your mailbox size.
Click the below link and fill the form to upgrade your account.

The link did not relate to any site or email facility I use.

I'd suggest deleting this type of email. At a guess it is simply a way to lead people to pay for something there is no requirement for.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

Alert: Domain Renewal Group domain name expiration notice.

I and my clients each year receive a number of letters from businesses trying to get domain owners to switch to them. The wording is usually done in such a way as to make the person concerned. For example having Domain Name Expiration Notice as a bold heading at the top is enough to concern people. Over the years I've a number of clients ringing me concerned their domain is expiring. I've also seen a number of businesses respond to the letters not realising the are actually changing their supplier.

If you receive a letter like this you should place it aside and contact the business who is assisting you with your domain and make sure you receive confirmation it will be renewed. If you are managing your own domain, you should be aware this most likely isn't a letter from your current supplier.

In this case the domain was a .com domain and the current price I can easily get the domain registered or renewed for is around $10-$15USD per year. The offer in the letter is to have it renewed for 3-4 times as much.

The lesson here is not to overreact to letters like this. They are generally designed to elicit a response as all marketing it. Put the letter aside and contact your current supplier. Just pausing for a moment will save you money and possibly grief in the future.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/  

Alert: Google AdWords: Ads have stopped running!

I received and email today (which I'd normally delete at the mail server using OzEfilter, but let through) which I decided to review.

The text in the email stated in big green letters  We stopped running your Google ads this morning (Wednesday, 13 April 2011).

You should delete this type of email if you receive one as it is a phishing attempt. Clicking on the link will send you to a site not run by Google.

If you ever receive an email you may think is from Google, open your browser and go to the site by entering the URL. That way you won't be tricked into revealing your logon details.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.justlocal.com.au/

MyAnswers: Should I add Google advertising (adsense) to my web site?

The following MyAnswers solution 2093 is now available:

I'd like to earn some extra money from my web site. Should I add Google advertising (adsense) to my web site?

Click here to obtain the solution.

Click here for related solutions.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz

What was Apple thinking when it designed the Apple iPad 2!

I spent some time today checking out the iPad 2 in the Doncaster Shoppingtown store. I can say that there are aspects which to me a below what I expect from Apple.

I was looking at the white iPad 2 and to me it looks like the white was stained. Perhaps it is just the way the light hits it, but it looks like the white colour you'd see from something that has aged.

The second point is what were they thinking with the grey aluminium back. An all white or all black unit would have looked very classy. But now it just looks like a black or white front on a grey back.

The screen I was looking at also had patchy areas of darker areas along one edge. I've heard of the yellow light issue, but the screen wasn't consistent. I've attached a photo so others can see. Perhaps the demo units in the store get a bit of rough treatment, but I actually think that is good because it shows how good the units will stand up over time.

The reason I wanted to check out the iPad 2 today was I haven't been able to find information I could rely on about the resolution of the cameras. I did some testing and was really disappointed with the result. One person in a JB Hi-Fi store told me they're the same cameras as used in the iPhone 4 and that is simply not the case. Or perhaps I should say if they are, they're operating at a much, much lower resolution. The Apple store attendant didn't know and even after reading the specs on the online Apple store I still didn't know.

On the other hand I'd just tried a Windows 7 tablet (which I wouldn't buy because I think other units will be better) and since Windows 7 on a tablet had been given such bad coverage in the press I was very pleasantly surprised with the unit.

It is much easier to be surprised when our expectations have been lowered, but with Apple I expect so much more. To me it really feels like Apple cut back on the iPad 2 and could have delivered much more.

I really do think the Apple iPad 2 is a great unit and when I see my web site on the unit it looks fantastic (OK except the text tips don't work because mouseovers don't work) and that makes me want to buy a unit. But there's always something that stops me.

In the past it has been the inability to upload or from the browser which is a standard feature of every browser that I know, the lack of external memory, the need to have another computer to transfer files with iTunes. Yes no Flash is an issue because there are so many sites that use it, but I suspect that will change over time.

If these comments sound negative it is only because I was disappointed with what I found. That's OK because at least once you know, you can factor that into your decision. For example I prefer the black which to me will look cleaner and not have that tarnished look. The patchy screen I think would be covered by warranty. I can live with a grey back and once I know the camera resolutions aren't as high as I'd like, well so be it.

To show that I'm not entirely negative I was also showing another customer how great the PDFs look. I have excerpts of books from Australian authors (which are available from the http://www.book.justlocal.com.au/) and I use the PDFs to test various devices. So far I feel the iPad makes them look the best out of the tablets.

I also recently tested the Samsung Galaxy Tab in Optus store at Doncaster Shoppingtown and in portrait mode the PDF text wasn't readable and the browser malfunctioned a number of times displaying my main web site. So to me, the Apple iPad is still ahead, but the restrictions designed into the iPad, plus these latest things that niggle me, suggest that I should wait and stick with my trusty netbook and iPhone 3GS for the time being.


Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

MyAnswers: Apple iPad 2 camera resolution isn't stated in the specifications.

The following MyAnswers solution 2090 is now available:

Something didn't seem to be sitting quite right with the Applie iPad 2 and the new cameras. When I checked the web site there were no figures about the resolution so I decided to investigate.

Click here to obtain the solution.

Click here for related solutions.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz

Alert: An Important Message from Dell Australia

I received an email which appeared to be from Dell with the subject An Important Message from Dell Australia, so I decided to investigate. Over the last couple of days I've noticed the company Epsilon in the USA, which is a permission based email marketing company (emailing out on behalf of some 2,500 companies) was hacked and some of the companies mailing lists may have been obtained by others. Epsilon reportedly sends out around 40 billion emails a year, so as you can appreciate the number of contacts in the client mailing lists would be massive.

So far it has been suggested that about 50 companies of the 2,500 may have had their mailing lists hacked.

What that means for consumers is the potential threat of what is called a "spear phishing" attack. Phishing is where you receive an email which tries to trick you into revealing your information. We are all used to seeing emails like this supposedly being sent from banks and other financial organisations, but it isn't limited to just financial organisations. It could just as easily be a web mail account, a social networking site or any well know brand. However a phishing attack generally doesn't identify you personally.

With a spear phishing attach the chances of getting past the person's guard increases considerably because it can contain your name and perhaps other information such as the reward points you've accumulated to give the email credibility.

In the case of this email from Dell, to the best of my knowledge it is legitimate. Every link in the email resolves to a Dell site. I should add I haven't done business with Dell for a number of years so keep in mind your details may still be active even years later. The email came from New York. Dell in my opinion would be better placed if they localised their emails and sent them from the country where the person is doing business.

With a cursory check of the email I was only able to say the email looks legitimate. There is always the possibility of those with the mailing list sending a hoax email, which would be little more than a nuisance. Further investigation of the source of the email shows it is from Epsilon, which would mean the email is almost certainly legitimate. The fact that is was sent by Epsilon and to me I thought it was Dell, shows just how easy it is for anyone to send an email on behalf of someone else and making it look legitimate. That is after all the service provided by email marketing companies.

Other companies that have so far been identified as having the compromised mailing lists that I recognise as relevant to Australia are: JPMorgan Chase, Citi and Target. However I don't know if this is relevant to Target Australia. It may not be.

I haven't included the full list here as I believe the company collating the material which others use should get credit and the only way that takes place on the internet is if you link to their information. The following is a link to a site which has collated a list of brands. I don't know if their list is theirs or whether they are simply reporting other people's material without credit to the source, but that is their choice.

You will notice that Dell is not on the list as of writing this blog entry.

What this does mean is we'd all be advised to be even more careful with emails we receive that contain links. The added credibility of malicious emails being directed to a named recipient with additional supporting information is indeed a concern.

Full credit to Dell for taking swift action.

With JustLocal my policy is not to have email lists available via the internet. I don't use mailing list companies as there is no way anyone can ensure systems can't be hacked. This causes considerable inconvenience for me, but I do this out of respect to those on my mailing list.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

Alert: BPay and Easter Bank Holidays April 2011

My bank recently alerted me about the extended period of bank holidays with Easter this year.

Easter this year goes from Friday the 22nd of April through to Monday the 25th of April. Banks have for as long as I remember always added an extra bank holiday at the end of Easter to include the Tuesday. With Anzac day falling on the 25th of April, which is already a public holiday, the bank holiday for Easter is now on Wednesday.

That now means banks will be closed for nearly a week. I actually find that quite amazing.

Why this is important is for anyone doing a BPay transaction (and other bank transactions) if you make a payment or transfer after close of business on Thursday the 21st, your transaction may not be made until nearly one week later on the following Thursday or Thursday night.

I've been caught by this before with BPay and a credit card payment. I missed the due date for payment (if I recall correctly I'd returned from holidays). I thought that was OK as there wasn't much on the account and I'd incur a small interest fee. I paid on the Friday night before the period for late payment. However what I didn't take into account was the following Monday was a public holiday and so even though I thought I'd paid in time, I didn't realise since the Monday was a bank holiday the payment wouldn't be processed until the following Tuesday which meant I'd paid late and incurred a $35 fee.

With a large period of consecutive bank holidays there is a high chance of tens of thousands of Australians being charged with additional bank fees simply because of the way the banking system works.

I once worked out BPay could be making millions of dollars, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars simply by holding over money that has already been paid but not forwarded to the recipient because of non-bank days. BPay processes billions of dollars of transactions a year. With two of every seven days being a non-bank day, plus the public holidays and the additional bank holidays, that's a lot of money sitting in BPay's account making money. I have no problem with BPay making money, but not when it is at the expense of consumers. We can purchase using bank services any day of the week and the money goes effectively immediately. But when we make a payment the money is taken from our accounts immediately, but that money often doesn't get paid to the recipient that day or the next, or in the case of Easter this year, up to nearly a week later.

In this day and age of 24 hour banking it is time this area of banking was reviewed by government. It has certainly cost me money in the past and I'm sure it has cost Australians hundreds of millions of dollars in unwanted bank fees and charges.

More recently I had another situation where a bank sat on the money, which I believe is for their own benefit. I have a Westpac Mastercard and had paid for another person using my credit card online and they were going to pay the money direct from their bank account to my credit card. I wanted the money cleared from the card as I was going on holiday. The person went into a Westpac branch on the Friday and made a direct withdrawal form their Westpac account and paid my Westpac Mastercard.. I would have expected since it was all done internally with Westpac the money would have been received immediately. The money did not appear on the credit card until the Monday. Had this been the coming Easter period, I wouldn't even be sure now that paying a credit card direct over the counter on the due date, means the credit card has been paid on time or not.

Everyone complains loudly about the excessive banks fees, but I think if you make a payment on a given date it should now be accepted as being paid on that date and not days later. The banks already do this on purchases that come through days after the purchase, so there is no reason it shouldn't apply equally to payments.

So this Easter if you have a bill or an amount that needs to be paid around that time, make sure you pay early.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Stephen Smith computers hacked.

The following news article should be a reminder to all of us that even the top people in Australian government can have their email accounts compromised.

“Gillard's parliamentary computer, along with those of several cabinet ministers including Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith were believed to have been compromised, News Ltd newspapers report”.... Read More

For obvious reasons we aren’t provided with the full details of how their computers were hacked and whether or not it was their computers or just their email accounts. But what is important is for all of us to decide the level of risk associated with keeping material online and easily accessible not only to ourselves, but potentially to others as well.

Government ministers will have the best resources available to them which far exceeds the resources available to most small and medium sized businesses. Most businesses unwittingly (and without their knowledge or control) provide others with details of their infrastructure making it easier for hackers and criminals to be quite specific in how they target a business, government department or individual. With knowledge you can reduce your attack profile on the internet. You can’t eliminate your attack profile because as we’ve seen even the biggest companies in the world (such as Google) haven’t been able to prevent others from hacking them, but you can reduce your exposure.

Computing as with life is full of compromises. As we move more towards cloud based services do ask questions and keep in mind the compromises you are forced to make. Many online services do not provide important logging information that would immediately alert you to a possible online attack. Many computer professionals believing they are assisting their clients by providing the latest tools and technologies to give them remote access to their systems and may in fact be potentially exposing their clients. If you can log on remotely, then it is possible that someone else may be able to as well. Make sure you know the increased exposure with each piece of new technology and that you ask the questions you need to ask.

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Apple iPad 2 Australian pricing details

Apple have now announced local pricing for the iPad 2. The prices are as follows:

iPad 2 with Wi-Fi
16GB model $579
32GB model $689
64GB model $799

iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G
16GB model $729
32GB model $839
64GB model $949

All prices are recommended retail including GST.

The Apple iPad 2 release date is Friday 25th of April at 5pm. Online sales via the Apple store start at 1am.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

Focus on Western Australia

As I travel around Western Australia on a short break I thought I'd share some of the sites with JustLocal readers. I decided to take a panorama of the Bell Tower near the Swan River which is located on the Swan River in Perth.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au/6069

Alert: We stopped running your Google ads this morning

I received an email with the subject We stopped running your Google ads this morning. I decided to check this email further.

This type of email is a phishing attempt. The first clue was there was no email address in the To field. Checking the headers of the email showed it was a public email address I use on a site and most likely used because of Google ads I display on the site.

There is a link in the body of the email. The address is not to a Google site, but is similar enough that some people may not be careful enough when checking if the link goes to a valid Google site.

As with any link received in an email, a better approach if you are in doubt is not to click on the link, but to open the browser and type in the site you wish to go to. That way you can't be tricked by a phishing attempt you receive via an email.

You should delete this type of email.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

MyAnswers: Outlook message "The spelling check is complete." but I can see spelling errors

The following MyAnswers solution 2081 is now available:

When I type a new email message in Outlook 2007 the spellcheck never works. When I click on the spellcheck button on the toolbar I get the message "The spelling check is complete." but I know there are errors in my spelling that aren't getting picked up.

Click here to obtain the solution.

Click here for related solutions.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.MyAnswers.biz

Alert: Apple iOS 4.3 update may cause billshock for some iPhone users

For those with an iPhone using 3G data plans to access the internet, make sure you keep an eye on your data usage this month, or your hip pocket may pay the price.... Read More

- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

Optus alwayswin, but I didn't feel like a winner with Optus this time

I decided before recharging a family member's Optus prepaid mobile I'd change one of the MyTime numbers. I always feel the Optus split between your account on one site and other functions in MyZoo to be very confusing and unnecessary.

This time I managed to work through everything (after an excessive amount of time) and got to the page with the five current numbers, but no apparent way to change the numbers.

I decided to call their support and dialed 555. This had really gone on far too long and it was time for some human assistance even if I had to wait on that lengthly queue. I found to my surprise one of the options was for changing the MyTime numbers. Great I thought. The web site provided led me to same page on the Optus site with still no way to change the five numbers. I tried the second option of calling the 1300 555 002 number (cost of 27 cents) and followed the prompts. Whilst it was painful having to put in all five numbers and not just replace one with a new number, I did get there in the end.

With the amount of time wasted I was seriously contemplating throwing out the Optus prepaid service for another service. I can't believe others can work through the maze Optus puts in front of us.

I certainly didn't feel like a winner this time, but perhaps when I play the alwayswin game it will feel  like it was worth the effort. I almost smile at that thought because I can pretty well guess the type of prize I'll end up with. It's all a bit of fun.

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/

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Internet Explorer 9 release date

The information I’m now reading on the internet indicates Microsoft will be announcing the release of Internet Explorer 9 on the 14^th of March at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (SXSWi) in America.

Internet Explorer 9 will only work with Vista and Windows 7 and not with Windows XP. I’d estimate that around 50% of people are still using Windows XP and this will be a thorn in the side for those people including myself. I use Windows XP on a netbook because when I purchased the netbook the other option was Windows Vista and to me the performance would have been substandard. Microsoft’s approach is most likely to encourage users to upgrade to Windows 7 but I think Microsoft is no longer positioned strongly enough for this approach to work. For many people I expect it will alienate them even further towards Microsoft. This doesn’t mean you should rush out and support other browsers as those browsers come with their own limitations and issues. As your computers age you’ll replace them and at that point in time you’ll have access to Internet Explorer 9 if you are a Windows user.

 

Whilst I won’t be able to start testing Internet Explorer 9 until early April, when I do and when I find issues I’ll post solutions to MyAnswers (www.MyAnswers.biz).

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au

 

 

Alert: Free Movie Voucher Reward Available Now...! : Ref No : 1702324 - Standard Bank

I received this email tonight and since so many people worldwide were tricked by the Apple iTunes free gift certificate, I thought I'd let others know I received the email with the subject Free Movie Voucher Reward Available Now...! : Ref No : 1702324 and don't bank with Standard Bank. It is thus a pretty obvious phishing attempt.

There are also a couple of clues in the body of the email indicating it isn't a bona fide email including poor capitalisation, poor punctuation and poor grammar, which would not be seen in a communication from a professional organisation such as a bank.

It is suggested you delete this email if you receive one.

If unwanted emails are a problem for you, request a FREE evaluation copy OzEfilter (offer expires end of April). Delete unwanted emails at the mail server before they reach you and inflict costly damage to you or your computer. You can read more about OzEfilter at http://www.ozefilter.com/. 

Kelvin Eldridge
http://www.onlineconnections.com.au/