SuperHappyDevHouse

What we suspected for some time is real: TiVo sales in New Zealand are disappointing. The New Zealand Herald reports industry sources saying only 2,000 TiVo units were sold in New Zealand since launch, about five months ago. Hybrid TV, the local distributor, of course says this figure is not accurate but won't disclose the real numbers. At launch Hybrid TV planned to sell 120,000 TiVo within five years in New Zealand.

Compare this to Sky TV, which added about 6,700 new subscribers per month for the six months to December 2009. That includes having to pay a subscribption for the services, which are free with TiVo.

Now let's see the problems:

TiVo is only available through Telecom New Zealand stores. People don't buy TV sets or content boxes at Telecom stores - there needs to be a shift of tectonic proportions for this to happen. People go there to buy phones. Until Hybrid TV sells TiVo through HB Hi-Fi, Dick Smith, Noel Leemings, Harvey Normam there will be no chance for them.

Then TiVo offers Caspa, a legal movie download service. The service gives users unmetered download of purchased content. At 1.2GB for a two hour movie the unmetered download is a great idea. But it is only available if you use Telecom New Zealand as your ISP. Hybrid TV should offer Caspa to anyone and everyone. It will use 1.2GB of one's Internet connection to download a movie. Live with it. I do this all the time with Apple iTunes. If they can offer unmetered through Telecom New Zealand, fine. But don't limit consumers to that only ISP.

Next is the lack of Prime and Maori TV EPG. I don't blame Hybrid TV too much on that, it might be the people on the other side playing dead. I mean if I don't see Prime on my EPG I don't watch Prime. As easy as that.

Then comes support. From what read on Geekzone people have very bad experience with their support being inexperienced or not having answers. I can't attest to that, since I never had to use their support.

Lastly their desktop application. What an absolute piece of software (PoS). I have a TiVo review unit here, and I couldn't get any of my own content from my desktop or Windows Home Server into TiVo - either too slow to copy or not copied at all to the box. Worst user experience ever.

The TiVo experience on the TV is quite nice and I am sure users would quickly get used to that. But the whole package is broken and until Hybrid TV fixes these things TiVo won't be a third option between Sky and myFreeview|HD.

UPDATE Another thing that's wrong with TiVo in New Zealand: just read the comments below and you will see someone who doesn't know if TiVo is HD or not, and if it's DVB-T (Terrestrial) or DVB-S (Satellite). A lot of people probably thinks TiVo is a service on its own right, without realising it requires Freeview|HD coverage.

[  ] Apple iPhone
[  ] Symbian
[  ] Windows Mobile
[  ] Windows Phone 7
[  ] Palm Web OS
[X] Android
[  ] Maemo

Some comments:

- Windows Mobile is on its way out and nothing will really turn it around anymore;

- I haven't personally played with Windows Phone 7 but I don't like anything I've seen so far - Microsoft needs to give us a good surprise because my hopes are low;

- By the end of the year Symbian is going to power low end smartphones, or very high end feature phones;

- Palm is going to die very soon;

- Maemo gives me the impression of being is a good platform, from the little I've been playing with in the last few days - but lack of software will be a problem. MeeGo (Nokia and Intel) should get a lot of attention from the companies behind the effort (Nokia and Intel) but it will take some time to happen;

- Android is where things will be hot, but the fragmentation worries me - the platform may end up going the way of Windows Mobile with so many different models.

What do you see in the future for smart handsets? What platform you think will go up or down, and why?

Earlier this week I went to Sydney to attend the Nokia Forum Developer Conference 2010, invited by Nokia Australia/New Zealand. I have to say it was my first event with Nokia and it was interesting to see 300 developers discussing the current state and future of Nokia's smartphone strategy.

Present at the event were Emile Baak, Managing Director Nokia Australia and New Zealand, Purnina Kochikar, Vice Pesident Forum Nokia and Developer Community, Jan Ole Suhr, Founder of Mobileways.de and developer of Twitter client Gravitiy for Symbian.

Being a developer conference the push was obviously about creating content and applications that get the customers to enjoy their devices - and buy those little bits of magic called software and content. Nokia says there are more than 1 million downloads every day from their Ovi software store, which is now available in 180 countries, with integrated mobile operator billing in partnership with 60 operators.

It is obvious Nokia is pushing the QT application and UI framework, seeing it's cross platform (Symbian, Maemo, desktop) which would allow developers to scale their efforts even more. The company also said their main commitments are "increase total addressable market", "commit to open source", "combine mobile and web technologies" and "lower entry barrier to developers".

Jan explained how a one man company created one of the most used Symbian software these days, #5 in the top apps in Australia. He recommended developers try their software in different handset models to get the real "feel" - which is interesting because Nokia gave one N97 Mini to a lucky developer, when I thought they should have distributed those to everyone in the room, like Google did at MWC with their Google Nexus One.

Nokia gave some numbers too. For example in the last quarter Symbian represented 44% of smartphone shipments in the world, with BlackBerry behind at 20%, Apple iPhone in third with 12.8%, Android with 7.2%, Windows Mobile 7.2% and then the rest - which I guess is Palm and other Linux-based smartphones we never hear of.

But really, the question in the back of my mind is "will Symbian turn into a entry level smartphone OS, or will it be sold as a upmarket feature phone OS?". Only time - and Nokia's efforts will tell. Nokia counts more than one million daily downloads from their online application store, but how many more people have no idea their phones are actually "smart"?

Here is an update from Nokia on this: "We have multiple platforms to serve different purposes and address different markets. Symbian is more successful than ever in bringing smartphones to the masses: it has more than 40 per cent of the global smartphone market. Symbian is our choice for smartphones and we in fact see it deploying even more widely as the technology required to run it trickles down through the portfolio."

The Nokia Forum is running the Calling All Innovators competition, now in its third year. Prizes are US$30,000 for 1st spot, US$15,000 for second and US$5,000 to third - this is for each of the four categories. So far there are 27 Australian entries and six New Zealand entries.

In the afternoon Nokia hosted a press event to introduce the press to a couple of things. First was the MeeGo initiative with Intel announced last month, that will see joint efforts from these companies to develop a product based on both Maemo and Moblin platforms. And then the Nokia N900 Maemo 5 smartphone/tablet computer release for Australia, which will see the device available in stores soon. There isn't a release date for New Zealand yet though.

Nokia couldn't say which operators would carry the device, but seeing the Nokia N900 is a 900/2100MHz 3G device it won't work on Telstra NextG network. And it won't work on Telecom New Zealand XT network either. This is a bummer because everyone at the press event received a loaner Nokia N900 and I mainly use Telecom XT. I am using the loaner device here in New Zealand with a 2degrees SIM card, and it works really well on that network.

Which also brings us to the "review" side of the thing. I got the device on Tuesday, and Nokia confirmed I have it for a couple of weeks. I can say though so far that it's a very clever device, fast and had quite some fun using it - installing new applications, finding some features, etc. It worked flawlessly with my Microsoft BPOS Exchange account and in a matter of minutes I had my emails, contacts, calendar all synchronised over-the-air.

Because I haven't had that much time with it yet, I suggest you read what other Geekzone users are talking about it - a few people in our community bought the Nokia N900 as soon as it was released in Europe and the U.S. a couple of months ago so there are some knowledge on how it works, what to expect, etc. Check this very good Nokia N900 review, and follow the discussion in our Nokia N900 users thread. I will post my own review later.

Now for the "facepalm" moment... Some "journalist" present at the press event commented after seeing the Nokia N900 is a combined touchscreen and slider device: "You [Nokia] have no presence in the smartphone market at all. It's been proven by Apple that people want touchscreen devices, so why do you enter the smartphone market with this device?"

A friend pointed me in the direction of a little piece of code behind the official site for the Senator the Hon. Stephen Conroy, Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate.

This is a screenshot of his website today (click for a larger version):



Notice on the right hand sidebar a "tag cloud" with the most discussed topics on that site. Now let's look behind the scenes on the code used to create that "tag cloud":



Oh, look... If the topic is "ISP Filtering" then the Hon. Stephen Conroy doesn't want you to know about it. You can still click on any tag though, go to the search page and enter the term "ISP Filtering" to find the content you want, but obviously there shouldn't be any hint that such a topic exists.

Now you understand why I think we shouldn't have a national Internet filter in New Zealand. You don't know for sure if any future government would change the rules behind the scenes.

(By the way, I hope using the website as an example don't put me on a "persona non grata" list in Australia...)

Some Twitter users reported the account that has been used to post notes of defamatory and sexual harassment nature (as posted here).

Those posts were very personal and abusive, including names of employees and some very sick comments.

However Twitter support failed to recognise this as a threat and replied with a canned response to those who submitted a support ticket:




What a Twitter #fail. I just hope Telecom New Zealand notify the police, and spend some of its lawyers' time to pursue this further.

Shame on you Twitter.

UPDATE: After some review, the appropriate Twitter team decided to remove that account. Thanks to all involved, and Twitter for reviewing it.

Folks, there's someone on Twitter who doesn't know better and is currently on a harassment campaign against Telecom employees.

The tweets are of a personal nature (including comments on female employees and of a sexual nature), highly NSFW.

While I firmly support people criticising a company, I think it's wrong to make it personal and go on employees and their personal lives. I also think it's wrong to make it behind anonymous comments.

If you are a Twitter user, could you please visit http://twitter.com/deadcaseyjohnsn and click the REPORT SPAM link?

Note I am not giving a link here because that page doesn't need Google juice. Also note all tweets are highly NSFW - even the mild ones.

TUANZ blog post of the day says "Impound Reynold's Passport", and Ernie asks the government to retain Telecom New Zealand CEO Paul Reynold's in the country.

IANAL, but aside from the fact that no legitimate government would ever keep a foreign citizen's passport with no legal grounds and a judicial order issued on the breach of some law, the headline is sensationalist at best.

But then Ernie continues "Reynolds' handling of the crisis this week has been magnificent. He's fronted this issue at every step. He's been direct and honest. He's shown very genuine empathy in talking about the inconvenience, distress and cost the issues have imposed on customers. He hasn't ducked the questions - he's answered, fully and from the heart, every time."

Yes, I agree with that sentence. But that headline asking the government to retain someone in the country - the equivalent of arresting someone - without legal proceedings?

Seriously? As I said, a sensationalist headline. When I read it on my RSS reader I thought "surely not"?  I understand it's more of a "he's doing a good job, keep him here" and not a "XT is fubar, keep him here"...

Today I've noticed this ad in one of our pages (already blocked the advertiser of course):



It sounds too good to be true, right?

First you have to realise that 028 is not a free number (I have blanked out the rest of their 028 number). So while you might get a "free" call to some country, you still have to pay the call to their access number. New Zealand 028 numbers are charged like mobile phone calls, so they are not cheap.

In these cases it might actually be cheaper to simply call the international number from your mobile. Unless you too have an 028 number, supplied by 2talk. Calls from 028 numbers to other 028 numbers are free - this is the best case scenario.

As pointed out by Steve in the comments, here is the catch: the company can carry very cheap calls to international destinations, but instead of offering a free access number in New Zealand, it offers a 028 number, which is charged at mobile rates - so they make money on the difference.

As I said, it might be cheaper to just use your mobile to call those international destinations instead.

Adobe Photoshop turns 20 on 19th Feb 2010. The impact of Photoshop is everywhere – billboard signs, magazine covers, major motion pictures, even the logo on the coffee cup you drink out of every morning. All have likely been touched by the software. Adobe says over 90 percent of creative professionals have Photoshop on their desktops and today Photoshop is used by professional photographers, graphic designers and advertisers, as well as architects, engineers and even doctors. Back in 1987, Thomas Knoll developed a pixel imaging program called Display. It was a simple program to showcase grayscale images on a black-and-white monitor. However, after collaborating with his brother John Knoll, the two began adding features that made it possible to process digital image files. The program eventually caught the attention of industry influencers, and in 1988, Adobe made the decision to license the software, naming it Photoshop, and shipping the first version in 1990. Over its 20-year history, Photoshop has evolved significantly from a simple original display program to a popular application that has over 10 million users worldwide. Here is the team discussing the original Adobe Photoshop 1.0: And here Kevin Connor, Adobe's Vice President of Product Management, talking about how Photoshop has impacted the world:

Last year I posted a few Geekzone Browser and OS stats, mainly as a response for a request from NBR's Chris Keall. I just thought looking at the numbers early in the year (and later again this year) will be fun, so here are a couple of interesting numbers charts/tables. We are looking at numbers from more than 700,000 unique visitors in a 30 day period.

First is the % of browser by visits to Geekzone and I am surprised that both Internet Explorer and Firefox are down. A few months ago Firefox passed Internet Explorer as the most used browser to access Geekzone, but now they are both in the same % level - and both down. Not surprising is Google Chrome, which seems to be up 100% since the last time I looked at it:

 

Just for an idea, of those using Internet Explorer, 59.40% use IE8, 26.89% use IE7 and 13.65% still use IE6.

Next is the % of Operating System by visits to Geekzone. I haven't published these numbers before, so I can't compare. There's a distinct lack of mobile browsers here since we launched the Geekzone Mobile and we automatically redirect those mobile users to the new site. But no surprises here:

 

Now let's look at Geekzone mobile, which runs on its own domain and obviously has a much smaller user base - we are talking about 30,000 unique visits a month. First the distribution of mobile Operating System:

 

And now another interesting one, the distribution of users through mobile network access (although I have no idea where Google got that "Service Mobile Corporation" from, but it seems WHOIS for those visitors don't have a specific mobile operator name). From here I see a few more Telecom users access our site from a mobile device than Vodafone users do:

 

UPDATE: someone pointed out that "Service Provider Corporation" is how Telecom is identified in some speedtest.net reports, so if this is the case it pushes Telecom mobile users numbers even higher than those from Vodafone.

After the (small) glitch affecting SMS services on Telecom XT this week I asked their people for an update and here it is:

Obviously the reason we're doing the [external] review is to ask those questions - what's going on/where is the problem - but there's also a whole lot of planned work going on at the same time as the review is underway. Naturally the results of the review will feed into this, but we're getting on with things in the meantime, all of which will help to improve user experience.

Paul talked a fair bit about this at our Q2 results last week, here's a summary of what he discussed at the results preso:

. We're increasing the RNC processor capacity
. We're regularly installing updates to the software to improve resilience
. We also had some things in the plan as the number subscribers on the network grew. This is all going to occur over the next few months which will further improve resilience and the customer experience
. We'll also be adding two more RNCs by March - another one in CHCH and another one in AKL
. We're adding more fibre backhaul
. We're adding more cell sites, and we're amplifying some cell sites too

Alongside that we've gone absolutely microscopic on the operational management of the network, which is being continually monitored right down to cell site by cell site level at the very highest levels of the company.

As Paul's said - XT was built to be a world class network and that's what it needs to be - we're determined to get it there and it's absolutely the number one focus at the company right now, as you would expect.

Microsoft has removed the wraps from one of its most guarded secrets, unveiling Windows Phone 7 Series, an operating system for mobile that promises to make it easier to work through your mobile and social life. While the company has demonstrated the software, we can't buy any handset yet because those are still at least nine months away.

Windows Phone Series 7 introduces Hubs that guide you through different use cases. In each Hub you can browse through it and change how you see information. Data is constantly updated in the background - your music, photos or social networks are constantly updated, with this being reflected in the tiles.

The new phone also ditches the old ActiveSync (Windows XP) and Windows Mobile Device Center (Windows Vista and Windows 7) in favour or Zune software. And Microsoft promised Zune Marketplace will be available wherever Windows Phone 7 Series is officially sold.

This is a move from an application centric interface to a more activities and social centric interface. Will it work well? Who knows, as I said an actual product is still nine months away. Developers will get a lot more information at MIX10.

Does it mean the death of Windows Mobile as we know it today? It appears not, according to istartedsomething, that reports both Windows Phone 7 Series and the current Windows Mobile will co-exist.

I also received some interesting information today that points in that direction. For example people buying apps from the Marketplace for Windows Mobile know that it's currently limited to a specific geographic region and developers paid to have their apps listed in different regions. This limited the reach of applications. Well, no more, since Microsoft is making it easier for developers to list their applications by removing additional listing fees. Once the application is listed in the marketplace (with its $99 fee) it can then be listed in any region for free.

Also users will have the option to browse the marketplace catalogue for other regions, with prices listed in the user's own currency. This will improve the catalogue vastly, because since launch users could only see apps available in their own regions, limiting the offerings.

These changes, plus what istartedsomething reported earlier, seem to point that Windows Mobile will continue in the market for some time, while Windows Phone 7 Series comes to life.

I will be attending the Cloudcamp Wellington (26 March 2010) and seeing there is a Cloudcamp Auckland (26 February 2010) I decided to post a reminder here for you guys.

These events are half-day unconferences about cloud computing, software as a services, and related topics.

Geekzoner Ben Kepes is organising the events (in Australia and New Zealand).

UPDATE: As noted in the comment, the Google Barcamp Wellington is happening on 25 March 2010.

For the last few years I have been telling people I meet that Internet users "browse by search". Basically some (a lot) of Internet users have a search website as their homepage and have no idea what the address bar in the browser does. These users fill the search field with a company name - or a URL even - and hit the first link in the search results.

What happens next is strange: people completely disregard any signs - logos, text - and treat that page as their final destination.

I know it, because every second week or so the last few years I have been receiving emails from people trying to sort their problems with either one of the big telcos in the country (Telecom New Zealand or Vodafone New Zealand). Those queries go from a simple address change, to account cancellation, some even with full credit card numbers asking to have their accounts paid with that card.

Every time I receive one of those I pass it on to the appropriate company, copying the sender.

People seem to completely ignore the www.geekzone.co.nz in the address bar when in fact they were looking for Telecom or Vodafone. They completely ignore there's no Telecom or Vodafone logo anywhere in our pages. They completely ignore common sense and provide personal information that I could use for other purposes if I wanted to be bad.

Today ReadWriteWeb (RWW), one of the top technology blogs around, found out about this "problem". They posted about a project to integrate Facebook friend into a user's AOL IM account and in a matter of hours they received a couple of hundred comments of people complaining about their Facebook login problems.

Never mind Facebook pages are blue and RWW is red. Never mind the address bar showed www.readwriteweb.com and not www.facebook.com.

It looks like RWW found out what "normal" people already know: the Internet is hard for users. Perhaps because RWW reports on technology that is sometimes way ahead of what average users actually consume, they seemed surprised by this discovery. One sentence from their post on this is the sum of all:

"Users dont't care about what you care about."

In other words, all those cool sites, mashups, technology glitter are great for the tech heads, but they are not what your average Internet users care about.

Think about this when creating your online service. Make it too cool or complicated and people won't use it. Make it simple and it might have a chance to stand out in the middle of all the other services that show up every single day.

UPDATE: Want to see other posts where people "don't get it"? Check "Skype Free Credit" for an idea.

In an interesting story, The Next Web is telling us about a slip in the Vodafone UK Twitter account. A Vodafone UK employee with access to the company's Twitter account posted "VodafoneUK is fed up of dirty homo's (sic) and is going after beaver". Screenshot on the right, since the tweet has since been deleted (obviously).

Since then someone behind the VodafoneUK account has repeatedly posted "We weren't hacked. A severe breach of rules by staff in our building, dealing with that internally. We're very sorry"." in response to queries from its Twitter followers.

This reminds us all that the power given to employees that face the public are much bigger than before. It's easy to see someone snapped under pressure, or after a more "demanding" customer asked one too many questions. But still is not an excuse for public displays of "affection".

 

 

Apparently advertising standards in New Zealand wouldn't allow a company saying anything bad about a competitor's service or product - even if it's true - so a TV ad like this one wouldn't be produced here:

It won't matter anyway, because in terms of coverage, both of our largest mobile operators claim to have us covered - almost completely.

For example, Telecom New Zealand has a XT mobile network that "covers 97% of the places Kiwis work, live and play."

Vodafone New Zealand also operates a rather large network, even though the blurb on their website is quite confusing: "Our 3G Broadband (HSDPA) network currently covers areas in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Whangarei, Whangamata, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Napier, Palmerston North, Nelson and Queenstown. If you're travelling outside 3G broadband areas, our 2G (GPRS) network will cover 97% of the places people live and work in New Zealand. Please note, however, that you will experience considerably slower speeds when connecting onto the GPRS network. We have 97% coverage of where people live, work and play in New Zealand."

I have asked Paul Brislen to clarify this, so the official short answer is "We have 3G coverage (including 3G Extend) to 97% of the population. We also have 2G coverage to 97% of the population." (actually his email provided a lot more information). So I'd say they have us covered too.

Now my question to you. If those two giants can't compete in coverage, then what features would you use as a selling point if you were in charge of the marketing for these companies? Post in the comments below (and yes, "We operate a reliable network" will probably appear in the replies).

UPDATE: At the risk. Even if you work for one the companies - or the other - your anonymous comments are welcome on this post. It's about fun and trying to find something worth in all the marketing blurb we are bombarded with.

In the last couple of weeks we have seen a series of articles in our mainstream media about "bill shock". A "bill shock" happens when you travel overseas and get a surprisingly large bill on your mobile usage.

I do not have sympathy for people who claim "bill shock" because people know there are roaming charges involved when you travel. When you arrive in another country both Vodafone and Telecom send SMS warning users of different costs for voice and data connections. You signed a contract that says you have to pay for roaming costs.

I don't like the mobile data roaming costs as anyone else. I think our telcos simply make as much as they can - it's unbelievable a mobile operator in the U.S. can give their customers 5GB of mobile data for a fixed price, but charge visitors something that (adding up the margins) comes to $10/MB. The mobile data roaming prices are a joke.

But there's something else that local companies will have worry more and more with the adoption of VoIP solutions - the old telephone fraud.

Just to give you an idea, a company has a digital PBX. For some reason it's not completely secure and some crooks find it. These people then enter their own configuration in this digital PBX and create a "company" to sell cheap calls to China, Korea, South Africa. They sell some calling cards around and publish their "access number". Callers buy these cheap services, call the access number and after the dial tone enter the number they wish to call and get connected - all using the unsuspected company's digital PBX over their VoIP lines.

Companies may find this after a month or so, when the first bills come in. But by then they suffered under a constant stream of outbound calls and have to pay for it.

This is kind of tricks work with new digital PBX systems, but also with older ones. An unsecure route to an outside line, a non-secure voice mail access and things can be done, easily.

This is being discussed on Geekzone here, and shows an interesting series of questions:

• Should the telco monitor your usage and contact you if patterns change (a la credit card companies?)
• Should the telco be responsible for a misconfigured VoIP installation that their technicians are not involved with?
• Should an insurance be required for telephony services now?
• Should insurance companies charge less from companies using VoIP installed by certified technicians?
• Should the telco "forgive" the bill and simply pay for the calls that are not their problem in first place?

What do you think?

Microsoft has released a small update to Windows Mobile, its phone operating system. Windows Mobile 6.5.3 is a step ahead in the "facelift" of this smartphone platform, and the latest update brings the following new features:

• Capacitive touchscreen support
• Platform to enable multi-touch
• Touch controls throughout system (no need for stylus)
• Consistent Navigation
• Horizontal scroll bar replaces tabs (think settings>system>about screen)
• Magnifier brings touch support to legacy applications
• Simplified out-of-box experience with fewer steps
• Drag and drop icons on Start Screen

I am told the native browser performance has improved, with decrease in page load time,  better memory management, pan & flick gestures smoothed, and zoom & rotation speed increased.

The OS comes with updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1), and support for Arabic read/write document.

The update in itself is a small release but it should bring the venerable operating system closer to current consumer markets. The first handset with the new operating system is the Sony Ericsson Aspen, just announced.

Screenshots below - click for larger versions:

   

I have been using TelstraClear cable modem services for many years, in its many different "brands" - Chello, Saturn, TelstraClear - and really enjoy having a plan that provides me with consistently good speeds and reliability (but don't try calling their customer services line).

Digital media in all its different forms is now part of many families every day life. Here at home we are able to rent and buy movies from iTunes at any time and have those quickly delivered to our media center. We have two VoIP lines at home, being completely POTS free. We have 100GB+ of online backup stored at Mozy servers - including all those iTunes movies, music, family photos and short movies captured with our Flip video camera. We have six computers at home, and we work from home.

This is all possible because we subscribe to a TelstraClear 80GB cable modem plan with good download and upload speeds - and frequently go over the cap. I don't mind paying for the service when it provides me with the means to exercise my freedom - freedom of work, freedom of play.

A few years back, Dr Allan Freeth, TelstraClear CEO was quoted as saying "the main result of faster broadband links to the home may be more downloads of pornography and movies rather than improvements to productivity." This was also reported on Computerworld.

That statement made then InternetNZ Executive Director Keith Davidson jump with a release saying "Dr Freeth's view that true high-speed broadband available at home is not important for New Zealand's future is not a view we share. High speed broadband - 100mbps and more - is vital to New Zealand's future" .

So what? The Internet is for Porn (safe for work except for the word "porn"). But try watching this short movie on a TelstraClear connection - even a fast 10Mbps connection - and you might have problems. Actually since just before September last year people started reporting problems when accessing YouTube clips over a TelstraClear connection.

This problem is still going on, and while TelstraClear have very quietly admitted there's a problem, it seems the solution is not coming any time soon.

Could it be that politics of peering are involved in this? Peering is a very sensitive subject within TelstraClear. Dr Allan Freeth remarks were "Peering has become an extremely emotional issue, as noted in the recent Internet NZ report, which also noted there was no evidence of market failure. Our decision was a commercial one - we need to earn a return for the use of our assets. While some people believe the Internet is 'free', I can assure you my shareholder doesn't see it that way. Organisations that have content they want to supply to end users can buy a service from us, which is tied in with the cost of national carriage. This is still more cost effective than international bandwidth."

A lot of an ISP traffic goes to all of Google's properties. YouTube is probably the biggest one of those services and to help reduce traffic, Google does peer locally with larger ISPs. It basically comes to this: Google is clever and wants free (or low cost) distribution of its content. To this end they enter an agreement with larger ISPs and colocate cache boxes.

Of course if your ISP don't have one of these boxes then your traffic to Google's online properties needs to find the content somewhere else. In TelstraClear's case it seems this traffic goes all the way to the US and back.

There are local YouTube caches in New Zealand, with other ISPs. But the problem then is back to the peering camp. It seems TelstraClear rather have a lot of traffic going out over international connections than to have it flowing locally and pay for it to a competitor.

If this is not the case, I'd love to see an explanation from TelstraClear - something I feel they owe their customers. To me it comes down to YouTube access through TelstraClear is crippled and the way the company acts is disrespectful to their paying customers.

Microsoft will start pushing this promotion tomorrow (1st February), but it is already available so if you would like to be in to win an all paid trip to Los Angeles to attend the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference then read on:

"Microsoft would like to get to know NZ developers better so that we can better cater resources, training and events in the near future. We would like NZ developers to fill in a brief survey. Every completed response will go into a draw for a chance to win an all expense paid trip to the next Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. Terms and conditions apply."

The T&C and survey are here.