April iiNews

editor's note

No time for well polished segues this month, we've got too much to get through.

First off is the new look iiNet site. Our web team have been wanting to give www.iinet.net.au a makeover for a while now and this month we let them loose. Check out the news article below for more details on what we've done.

Next up is the new broadband plans. Last week we launched a revised broadband line up and removed the need to take a bundle to get the fastest speeds on broadband2+. Check below for more information or just check them out at www.iinet.net.au/products/broadband/

To go along with our new look site and new plans, we've got some new iiNet TV ads making the rounds at the moment. We think they're pretty entertaining, so if you want to check them out head over to http://www.iinet.net.au/about/media/tv_commercials.html and have a laugh.

Anytime movies. It's been a long time coming, but now all iiNet broadband members have access to digital quality movies on demand . If you're starting to think your local DVD store is a little too passe for the 21st century, Anytime on Volt will be right up your alley. Read more in "news".

This month's feature story is a beginner's guide to web forums. We look at what they are, why they are useful and take a crash course in forum etiquette, annoyances and list some of our favourite haunts.

Also this month we look at what mobile phone company 3 are up to (and why it's of interest to iiNet members), Niaal takes on Tiberun Sun, a massive F.E.A.R. games giveaway thanks to Sierra, I check out the new French flick Priceless, virus alerts and of course much more.

Get in there.

Mark Welker
iiNews Editor

 

inbox

"I really enjoyed your newsletter, especially your brief mention of Web 2.0. As you said there is a lot of online interaction happening nowadays, and I have recently come across a very helpful tool to manage all the online video content, it is called Democracy. I just wanted to point it out to you and the team."

- Phree, NSW

"Your storm warning was good but should have been sent as a 'special edition' emergency alert to all members during the storm season. It also didn't go far enough.

Just turning off your computer isn't enough because a lightning strike can fuse all the wiring in your building or area. You will lose everything plugged into a wall socket.

As a matter of habit, I turn off my computer and pull the powerboard plug from the wall and the telco cable from the modem, whenever my computer isn't in use, or when a storm is approaching.

Turning your computer off instead of leaving it sleeping also saves electricity. I was surprised how much power standby uses."

- Deborah, NSW

"As someone who has been using a browser since Mosaic and Netscape 1.1, I found your short history of browsers somewhat different to the way I saw it.

Microsoft DID NOT "come out a clear winner in market share with its aggressive strategy of innovation and progress." It came out a clear winner simply because it gave the browser away, whilst Netscape was purchased, and they put it "in your face" with every copy of Windows. Aggressive - yes, innovative - hardly, progress - debatable.

As someone who was happy with Netscape at the time, I found it funny that Microsoft at one stage was crowing about getting 45% of the browser market nearly two years after they started their campaign. Two years of all sorts of dirty tricks and still didn't have half the market! Even whilst Netscape floundered with the buggy version 4.7 it could hardly be called innovating."

- Andrew, TAS .

Send your newsletter views, news and suggestions to iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au

news

Anytime on Volt
Here's one more reason to need broadband: Anytime on Volt.

In association with Fairfax Digital, we were thrilled to help launch the Anytime on Volt movies on demand rental service late last month. Anytime on Volt delivers full screen digital quality movies straight to your desktop using your broadband service. New release rentals cost around $6 and you get 24 hours to view your movie once it's finished downloading.

There are hundreds of titles to choose from, including all the usual suspects such as Drama, Action, Comedy, Horror, Family, Sci-Fi. And if you're worried your movie watching is eating into your monthly quota, don't be: iiNet members get their Anytime on Volt movies "unmetered". Which means you can download all you want without taking a hit to your monthly download quota.

For more information, visit our Anytime on Volt info site.

new-look website
You may have noticed in the last week that our homepage www.iinet.net.au is looking a little different than usual.

We decided to treat ourselves and our customers to a bit of a web makeover. Fingers crossed, things should be looking a little fresher, a lot simpler and a touch cooler than usual.

You'll notice there's a new addition to our navigation bar: my ii.

The "my ii" page we developed, and will continue to develop, as an exclusive homepage for iiNet members. Whereas new customers need tools and information unique to buying broadband, iiNet members have needs of their own. Many make the iiNet site their default homepage so stuff like news, weather, support tips and member competitions are more important.

By splitting www.iinet.net.au into two sections we're able to provide a better solution for both groups. The "my ii" page contains most of the elements that used to get squeezed onto the iiNet homepage, and it will grow over time to include more useful content based on your feedback.

We hope that our members will see the benefits of switching their default homepage to the "my ii" page. If you'd like more information on how to do this, instructions for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari are included below in tech tips. It only takes 30 seconds to update.

If you have any feedback regarding the my ii page, please shoot it through using the online feedback form on our contact us page.

new broadband plans
Last week we released a revised version of our broadband plans suite. The new plans include a redeveloped set of five "home" broadband plans and three "business" broadband plans.

The main benefits of the new plans are:

  • broadband2+ customers now get speeds "up to 24,000kbps" without the need to bundle;
  • new "up to 8000kbps" broadband1 plans;
  • increased quota on all broadband2+ unbundled plans; and
  • a reduced price 1500kbps speed plan on broadband1.

You can see the new plans at http://www.iinet.net.au/products/broadband/

It's up to you whether you want to make the switch, but if the new plans take your fancy you can upgrade online through toolbox at any time or by calling us on 13 19 17.

3 X-Series service
If you've popped into a 3 store lately you may have noticed their new service called X-Series.

X-Series combines the mobility of a mobile phone with the possibilities of the Internet. Among many other things, X-Series allows you direct access to files on your home PC from your mobile phone.

This means you can look through your holiday pics on the bus, access your business files, listen to your home playlist while you're at the gym, stream home videos and much more.

Now if X-Series sounds like your thing, then being an iiNet broadband customer is a very good thing. In order to get the most out of X-Series file transfer you need a fast upload speed. On broadband2+, uploads go up to 1000kbps. That's fast.

And best of all, iiNet won't count the stuff you access via your X-Series mobile towards your home broadband quota.

That's good news huh. You can find out more about the X-Series service by heading over to the 3 X-Series homepage at http://xseries.three.com.au/xseries/

 

support & services

tech tip - changing your default homepage
Your default homepage just not doing it for you anymore? It's a quick and easy change to update your default homepage in your browser.

Below are instructions on how to change your default homepage to the new iinet "my ii" page. It differs slightly from browser to browser, so check out the instructions relevant to you below.

Internet Explorer

  1. Go to "Tools" then "Internet Explorer"
  2. Under the "General" tab you should see a "homepage" field up the top
  3. Copy the following address: http://www.iinet.net.au/myii/ and paste it or retype it into the homepage address field
  4. Click Ok
  5. The next time you open your browser your homepage should default to the new my ii page

Firefox

  1. Go to "Tools" then "Options"
  2. Click the "Main" icon and up the top there should be a "Startup" section
  3. Ensure that the drop down box after "When Firefox starts" is set to "Show my home page"
  4. Next to "Home Page" copy the following address: http://www.iinet.net.au/myii/ and paste it or retype it into the address field
  5. Click Ok
  6. The next time you open your browser your homepage should default to the new my ii page

Safari

  1. Under the "Safari" drop down menu go to "Preferences..."
  2. Click the "General" icon.
  3. Delete the contents of the "Home Page" field and type or paste the following address in: http://www.iinet.net.au/myii/
  4. Close the "Preferences" window.
  5. The next time you open your browser your homepage should default to the new my ii page.

frequently asked questions - premium pack

What is the premium pack?
The premium pack includes everything a small business would require to get connected: static ip, business support, 20 email addresses and reverse DNS lookup. The premium pack can be bundled with any of our currently sold business broadband plans.

What requirements are there to get a premium pack? Do I need an ABN/ACN?
You need an active currently sold business broadband2+ or business broadband1 account to get the premium pack. To receive a tax invoice, you will need to enter your ABN number upon application. However, an ABN/ACN is not required to receive the premium pack.

I'm a residential customer - can I still get a premium pack?
No, at this stage you can only add a premium pack to a business broadband plan. However, our business plans are available to any customer, residential or otherwise.

I'm already on a currently sold business plan, can I add a premium pack to my current plan?
Yes you can. The business pack is available on our current business plans. You can upgrade within toolbox at any time. Please note that if you change to a plan with an equal or lower broadband monthly cost than your current plan, you may be charged an administration fee of $19 for the plan change.

For more information on the business pack see our business broadband page.
 

security watch

top 5 viruses reported to Sophos in March

  1. Netsky
  2. Mytob-M
  3. Sality
  4. MyDoom
  5. Bagle

List provided by Sophos. Remember, all iiNet plans come with industry leading Sophos email anti-virus and Ironport spam protection that is automatically kept up-to-date with the latest virus threats. However, to fully protect your system, we recommend that you use our email anti-virus in conjunction with a personal anti-virus product such as those listed on this page.

 

feature story: beginners guide to web forums

Last month we looked at a number of alternative browsers out there and why you'd consider making the switch. This month we continue along the online interaction and self expression path by taking newcomers through the virtual communities thriving inside web forums.

Web forums are hardly new. They are a distant relative of the old bulletin board system (BBS) the net first became famous for back a couple of decades. They operate on similar principles with discussions grouped into subject areas where members post thoughts, questions, opinions...

They are virtual communities; gatherings of like minded people sharing their experiences in an organised manner.

While real time chat applications such as Skype and MSN Messenger take the limelight, web forums, with their simple click and stick interface, remain just as popular and useful as ever. Forums allow you to share similar experiences, learn through others mistakes and act on individual recommendations. For example you can go into the digital tv Australia forum and get LCD TV recommendations from the people who actually shelled out the cash for them. Where else could you get blow by blow "out of the box" commentary (with pictures) on how they set their TV up, how to get the best picture, and warnings for other potential buyers.

There is a forum for almost every special interest or hobby you can think of, and the strength of each is defined by the nature and contribution of its members.

Becoming a member
Most forums are public and allow you to view most, if not all, the "threads" or discussion topics in the forum. Creating your own discussion, or replying to an existing one, usually requires you to join the forum by setting up a simple username and password. The majority of forums you come across are free to join, though some special interest or business forums require you to pay a monthly or yearly subscription.

As with any community, there are certain standards of behaviour that are expected with an online forum. Membership comes with responsibilities, even if they are on the voluntary side. When it comes to most things online, sharing is caring, but this is only partly true with web forums. Sharing is essential, but what you share requires consideration.

Netiquette
Firstly, don't confuse a forum with a chat room. Punctuation and correct spelling are often the first casualties in chat rooms, as participants converse at a rapid pace to try to maintain the illusion of a real conversation. This is where "you" ends up being "u", "see" shortens to c, and "anyone" finds its place as "NE1".

In a web forum, keeping pace isn't so much of an issue. "Posters" (people who reply to or post new messages) are encouraged to edit, spell check and revise their paragraphs before clicking submit.

If a post is too short, too long, illogical or riddled with spelling mistakes, other members will often disregard the question or meaning of the post altogether and decide instead to organise an adhoc English lesson for the poster.

There is the "Edit" button of course, but this is for emergency use only. In a forum you are part of a community and as a result, your posts contribute to or detract from that community.

Think about what you are posting, as it doesn't just disappear once you close the window.

Heads of state
The Internet may be a place for self expression, but express too much in the wrong place and you'll quickly find yourself being moderated.

Moderators are members of the community granted with the ability to hit the delete button on you should you stray too far off topic. They are empowered by the often omniscient higher being: the Admin.

Risks
Forums don't have many risks unique to them. Take the same precautions with forums as you would for the rest of the Internet.

Posters should always be aware that they are participating in a public space, and anonymity is not always absolute.

There is an issue with spam bots trawling forums for email addresses left in signatures or made public by posters. The general rule is if you're going to make your email address public, online or otherwise, be prepared for it to be used - and I don't mean just by your friends or family.

It is a good idea to create a unique email address or mailbox for using in places such as chat rooms and online forums. That way if it starts to get hit by uncontrollable spam, you can easily move on without having to inform your whole extended family.

For those who want to create their own forum
One of the most popular (and free) forum creation tools around is phpbb. You've probably seen heaps of forums around that use this free forum package. Installing requires a hosted domain with a few software requirements (see here ). For a quick and simple forum setup without the system requirements, check out Google groups at http://groups.google.com/

Some useful forums (a quick Google search will turn up many more):

Next month: Widgets

 

iipeople

staff img staff profile

Name: Katrina Lewis
Title: HR Administrative Officer

What does your current role involve?
Human Resources is a constantly changing and fast-paced environment that requires you to be flexible and adaptable whilst also remaining positive and helpful. I work with employees and managers on dealing with various HR issues, including workplace policy and procedures, employee conduct and performance, employment law queries, payroll entitlements and ways to make our HRIS systems automated and better serve our customers - our employees!

What did you do before you came to iiNet?
In my last job I worked as a legal secretary in the employment and industrial relations law department of a law firm. During my time there we dealt with a range of issues such as termination disputes, industrial action, enterprise bargaining, occupational health and safety and the introduction of the Work Choices legislation.

What is the best thing about working at iiNet?
Of course everyone is so friendly and fantastic but one of the best things about working for iiNet is that all employees have the ability to speak up about the ways in which the company could improve and there is a forum for them to be heard and rewarded. I think giving the people that actually do the job a voice is a vital part of being an innovative and industry leading company.

Your favourite website?
www.bestflights.com.au - I love visiting new places and Best Flights have discounted airfares and regular newsletters.

customer img customer of the month

Name: Peter Jensen
Location: Mosman, NSW
Account type: broadband2+ with phone
Customer Since: 2006

Describe your typical day of living online?
My daily activity revolves around the computer and its connection to a large range of clients and friends, using Skype (both plain and video), E-mail and even the plain old telephone including Fax. I am an architect and planner but my particular interest is the changing nature of business operations, particularly in relation to the spatial freedom that the high speed broadband has allowed.

Apart from communication demands, the computer is a fundamental element of my business operation and quite simply, I could not function without its assistance. Like quite a lot of small scale business consultants, I tend to undertake projects in concert with other consultants and for this, liaison via the Internet saves time and money and provides an immediacy of connection which is hard to replicate other than by direct physical access.

The best thing about broadband for you?
Research which forms a vital element of my work, takes inordinate amounts of time, particularly if it involves conventional access to hard copy data and libraries. Recent additions to the armoury of available data like Google Earth make the life of a planner of urban development much easier. But, in addition, all the statistical data available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics represents a gold mine of information to support project analysis.

Without doubt, the particular element of Broadband is its capacity to access research data and find new sites at high speed. My download demands are relatively low, except when architectural documents are transferred, but high-speed access is seen as a vital time saving feature of my access to the Internet.

Your favourite site?
As a recreational cyclist, knowing what the weather is likely to do is very important so access to the local weather radar is frequent and there is an icon on the browser navigation bar for this site. The ABC and BBC sites are also frequently accessed for up to date international news. In the same context, finding out what speed one's broadband link is running at requires a consistent testing engine and I tend to use testmy.net as one of the best.

Interested in being our next customer of the month? Send your details to iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au.

 

competitions

copying beethoven tickets
competition It is Vienna, 1824. Beethoven (played by Ed Harris) is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist (Diane Kruger) is urgently needed to help the composer finish in time for the scheduled first performance.

Copying Beethoven is an imaginative exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on the Ninth, and features a 10 minute re-creation of the Ninth Symphony.

To celebrate the release of the film on April 19, Hopscotch films have kindly passed on 20 double passes to giveaway to iiNews readers.

To be in the running for this prize, please email competitions with "Beethoven Competition" in the subject line, and provide your username, full name and address by 5pm WST, April 24, 2007, along with the answer to this question: what is the web address of the new homepage for iiNet members? ( hint: you'll find the answer in the "news" section)

Copying Beethoven is rated PG.

zodiac tickets giveaway
competition Based on the true story of a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay Area and taunted authorities in four jurisdictions with his ciphers and letters for decades, "Zodiac" is a thriller from David Fincher, director of "se7en" and "Fight Club."

Hunting down the hunter would become an obsession for four men, an obsession that would turn them into ghosts of their former selves, their lives built and destroyed by the killer's endless trail of clues.

We've secured 50 double passes to Zodiac starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards, and we want to give them away to iiNews readers.

To be in the running for this prize, please email competitions with "Zodiac Competition" in the subject line, and provide your username, full name and address by 5pm WST, April 29, 2007, along with the answer to this question: Name one of the movie titles available for download using the Anytime on Volt service? (hint: the full list of titles is available at http://au.anytime-tv.com/ )

Visit the official Zodiac website. Zodiac is rated MA.

F.E.A.R. games giveaway music
You may remember a while back Niaal took a stab at the PC release F.E.A.R. and came back a new citizen of brown trouser town? (if you missed his review, take a peek here ).

Well the folks at Sierra have been busy prepping F.E.A.R. (short for First Encounter Assault Recon) for re-release on the Playstation 3. Come April 26th it'll be unleashed on a new horde of unsuspecting gamers.

First a bit about the game:

F.E.A.R. is an award winning first person shooter with a unique blend of highly stylised combat and supernatural horror. The PS3 version features:

  • Multiplayer support for up to 16 players
  • Instant Action Mode - New arcade-style mode which tracks player progress via leader boards for the PLAYSTATION Network
  • Exclusive PS3 level and weapon

To celebrate the release of F.E.A.R. on PS3 next week, we've got 5 copies of the game to giveaway to iiNews readers. Plus, Sierra didn't want anyone missing out, so they also handed over 5 copies of F.E.A.R. on Xbox360 and 5 copies of the Gold version (original + expansion) for PC to giveaway. Nice.

To be in the running for one of the games, please email us one of the following three subject lines (choose the format you're interested in):

Make sure you provide your username, full name and address and do it by 5pm WST, April 26th, 2007, along with the answer to this question: What does F.E.A.R. actually stand for?


entertainment

game review 2 minute games review - Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC)
with Niaal Holder

I have a history with this month's feature. Back in the early 90s, I steered trikes and quads to a painfully slow victory against the Sardaukar in Dune II . Then in '95 Command & Conquer was flavour of the day, despite it's flame troops' frustrating tendency to explode half your army. '96 introduced us to C&C: Red Alert and the endowed commando Tanya, who just wasn't fit for the military. Not that anyone noticed. Shortly thereafter, RTS went frisbee mad in Tiberian Sun.

Post-Y2K, Generals: Zero Hour pushed my smile button for many a wasted evening of pamphlet dropping, toxin peeing comedy, and then... nothing. Quiet, for a loooong time. Until this day.

To summarise - the Command & Conquer franchise has always defined and powered the RTS genre, and Tiberium Wars is the shiniest and newest exponent of said franchise.

Let's break it on down now - we're looking at three playable sides here kids: The GDI are the good guys, the clean and decent, slow, heavy hitting army. Why go round things when you can, instead, blow an enormous and righteous hole through the middle? The Brotherhood of Nod provide a counterstrategy that usually involves stealth, nippy laser jets and all sorts of insidious tomfoolery to frustrate your opponent. Then there's the Scrin, with their amorphous alien technology redefining 'tank spam' for it's quick turnout of confusing shock and argh.

Fans of the series will instantly recognise what TW has revived and polished for its latest instalment. For gameplay, we see the return of the 'build first, place second' construction model that harks back to older generations in the series. This is a notable deviation from Generals , and renews exciting situations of attack and defence, where literally any piece of land can instantly grow a tremendous pair of nod turrets and cut your boys to bite-size chunks.

Additionally, units can be combined to more devastating effect for surprise tactics - a Scrin tank, not normally geared to shoot it out with a rocket trooper, can now merge with Buzzers (a swarm of razor like bugs) who will happily nip over and whup anyone stupid enough to stroll by in a pedestrian fashion. GDI Snipers now act as recon for artillery Juggernauts, who use the Sniper's eyes to shoot all the way across the freaking map provided the Sniper is in range of the target, and not being smacked about. Even the Nod have combo upsizing, as the Beam Cannon buggies can push their lasers through Obelisk towers, bounce them off the bottom of Venom jets, or even combine themselves into one base-meltingly evil laser beam of king pwn.

The single player campaign also has it's ruddy glow, in traditional style you pick a side (Nod or GDI to begin, Scrin later) and stroll through a series of specific campaign challenges. It's standard fare but as many a new user has found, the difficulty level ramps up quickly (Act III - Croatia, anyone? My heavens), with the side-challenges offering accessible replay value.

Alongside this, the cheesy cutscenes are back! Say hello to Michael Ironside, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Billy Dee Williams and Josh Holloway as they ham you through the plot and confuse you in a gumbo of sci-fi cameos. Good fun, despite a disappointing lack of glowy spines.

Multiplayer is where it's at though, and the standard of competition is understandably high. EA have ramped up the 'gaming as a viewable sport' motif, offering not only some refined access to all scale of multiplayer deathmatches, but also access to inbuilt VOIP and commentary features to make it not only fun to play, but fun to watch.

In time, this one is going to raise the bar for all - it's fast-paced, accessible RTS combat, and a great foundation for an expansion in the near future, please EA please give us an expansion. It's also pleasantly surprising to see a game of rich visual quality not require a nuclear reactor for a video card - TW seems to run quite well on mid-range setups.

For now, while it doesn't do anything high-fivingly new, it does what it does with such vigour that you can't help but enjoy it.

movie review movie review - Priceless - Rated M

I have a weakness for the charms of French romantic comedies. Their unassuming manner, stripped back storylines and focus on characters rather than canned laughter, hooks me in every time.

But what I like most about French comedies is their timeless nature. A film like Priceless (the french title is Hors de Prix ) could easily be confused with a film shot 40-50 years ago save for a few costume choices and car models.

Irene, played by Audrey Tautou ( Amelie , A Very Long Engagement ), is a high class escort, paying her way through life with someone else's money. At the beginning of the film, Irene's financial backing comes from rich industrialist Jacques, who plans to make Irene his newest wife in just a few weeks.

But when Irene is caught making babies with a mild-mannered bartender Jean (Gad Elmaleh) thinking he's a wealthy suitor, the marriage is called off. Irene, now penniless, must find a new gold mine or face life on the streets and no more Gucci shoes.

Jean is determined to make it up to Irene, but, lost without her former extravagances, Irene teaches Jean a lesson by quickly converting his life's savings into a bunch of clothing tags and half eaten caviar.

Pretty soon both are penniless.

Irene expertly finds herself another paying suitor pretty quickly, while Jean more stumbles upon his new vocation when a wealthy widow, Madeline, picks him up out of curiosity and installs him as her latest "paid-for" pet.

The two begin to compete for their respective partner's attention (of the credit card type) and Irene quickly passes onto Jean the dummies guide to milking your partner dry. The inevitable question is asked, how far is each willing to go to secure a future, and which future is more valuable: love or money.

As Irene, Tautou really has to work hard for our affection. Her character is vain, demanding, vindictive and manipulative. She lives off the excess of others and cares little for the emotional connection many invest in a normal relationship.

In any other film, this character would suddenly change when confronted with a particular situation and the audience would be spoonfed the revalation that "yes, she really is good on the inside". Priceless does not ask this. The change in Irene over the course of the movie is so subtle that it's difficult to tell whether she has changed at all, or whether as an audience viewing her day to day life, we have come to accept her by understanding her motivations.

Gad Elmaleh returns with another understated loner role, much like his previous effort La Doublure in which he played a love-struck valet thrust into a high society adventure. His constant distant facial expression can get a little annoying at times, but as the innocent of the story it's great watching him slowly wooed over to the dark side by Irene.

A movie bound for the American re-make mill, so see it as was intended first.

 

site scan - family history

www.naa.gov.au
The National Archives of Australia has a great introduction to family history - use it as your jump off point for Australian ancestry searches.

www.findmypast.com
findmypast provides access to the Births, Marriages and Deaths registry for the UK from as far back as 1656. It allows you to search for ancestors and turn up anything from newspaper clippings and immigration lists, to military and land records.

www.aiatsis.gov.au
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies has a Family History Unit that can assist anyone of Indigenous heritage with their family history research. The Unit specifically assists Link-Up caseworkers in family tracing and reunion for members of the Stolen Generations.