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Google Launches Play Games

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Alex Angove

Among the tonne of stuff that Google dropped on developers and the tech community during the I/O 2013 event is its new and widely-expected cross-platform, unified Play Games service. Play Games will feature on Android, iOS and Chrome, providing a single and unified user experience across not just multiple devices but multiple ecosystems.

The Play Games services include:

  • Cloud Saving
  • Achievements
  • Leaderboards
  • Multiplayer

By far the biggest (and our favourite) of these four is cloud saving. From now on, any game that has been linked to the Play Games service can upload saved games, characters and game-states to the cloud, finally providing users with a single gaming experience no matter what device they’re playing on.

This means that users can be playing a game on their Android smartphone or iPhone, save it, and switch to a tablet or vice-versa whenever they want without having to start again or juggle various accounts. So long as the Play Games service on each device is linked to the same Google account, this is all as easy as opening the game and hitting Load or Continue.

This kind of cloud storage has already been employed by services like Xbox Live and Steam and it’s high time that it came to mobile devices. After all, mobile gaming now accounts for a massive chunk of video game activity globally, with the number and consistency of casual gamers increasing every day as smartphones continue to proliferate and the quality of mobile gaming and network coverage improves.

Another great facet of this is that users can delete a game, or buy a new device, only to re-download it and continue on where they previously left off. Anyone who’s ever deleted an old game to spare a bit of storage space, only to want to return to it months down the track will see the value in this.

So what is required on the user-end to enjoy this new service? Android 2.2 Froyo or above. That’s it. Play Games will be rolled out to every Android device with 2.2 or higher. That’s pretty close to every single active Android handset and definitely every Android tablet in use right now.

The cherry on top that we keep coming back to is that this isn’t and Android and Chrome-specific service; it’s also available for iOS users and on Chrome. Cross-ecosystem compatibility has been dying out in recent years, with Google, Apple and Microsoft all trying to make their own specific devices work better within their contained ecosystems in order to encourage brand loyalty. It’s great to see Google bridging the gap, even in this small way, with a service that’s bound to make a lot of people happy, even if they don’t realise who’s behind it.

Achievements and Leaderboards should be pretty self-explanatory. The achievements system allows players to earn points based on in-game tasks and challenges and Leaderboards allow friendly competition between friends, or can show the user their global public ranking for the game. Leaderboards are shown through Google+ in a much more aesthetically-oriented manner than one would generally associate with the concept. Still, it’s based on Google+ which currently only has 130 million active monthly users, as opposed to Facebook which has closer to one billion.

Multiplayer could definitely be a lot of fun if Google does it well. The problem with Multiplayer games is that they require a stable and a fast connection. With 4G LTE proliferating the ‘fast’ part isn’t a problem. Still, stability will be key.

Allowing users to compete against one another casually on their phones via a central Google hub has great potential. Rather than a poorly-coded and under-supported 3rd party server system, Google has a vested interest in making this work. Goodness knows Google has the server space and bandwidth necessary. We’re confident that multiplayer will at least be usable, despite an embarrassing failure to actually demonstrate the feature during the IO presentation.

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Google ‘All Access’ Takes on Spotify

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Alex Angove

One of the bigger announcements at Google I/O 2013 was Google’s new All Access service. All Access is a subscription-based streaming service being launched initially in the US for $9.99 per month and eventually elsewhere for what will hopefully prove to be comparable prices.

The closest pre-existing comparison that one can draw to All Access, and indeed that is being drawn constantly around the web, is with Spotify. In fact, Spotify may be in a bit of trouble here. All Access seems to offer most of the services that Spotify does, except with a few improvements here and there.

Admittedly there seem to be a few areas where Spotify holds its ground such as collaborative playlists and the fact that it exists on a desktop as a stand-alone program/app rather than as a browser-based player. All Access also relies on Google+ for its social media side, where Spotify links with the overwhelmingly more-popular Facebook.

Still, without having even used All Access it already looks to be a great first-generation music subscription service.

Aesthetics and UI

The All Access UI actually looks great. The default scheme appears to be a white background with an orange theme, backed up by some very contemporary-google-esque borderless rectangular and square images.

Clear, sharp angles, dominant images and large text all make for a stylish look that some have compared to Windows Phone 8. Whether or not Google took leads from the once-called Metro UI here isn’t important. What is important is that it works. Too often Android apps end up looking very utilitarian, focusing on function rather than form, when there’s no reason not to focus on both. With more useful apps that actually distinguish themselves with aesthetic style Android could start appealing to an even greater audience than it already does.

There’s no hint here that All Access will start any kind of design revolution like this within Android. But it’s at least a refreshingly pretty little app that looks easy to navigate.

Explore

Explore is sort of the Start menu and general hub of All Access. Explore is split up in to 4 tabs that can be swiped between horizontally:

Recommended is a feed of suggested artists, playlists and custom radio stations all targeted specifically at you, based on the kind of music and artists you’ve been listening to.

It’s similar in many respects to the What’s New screen in Spotify, except that it also appears on the smartphone app and includes not just new albums, but suggested playlists, songs and even auto-generates personalised radio stations.

Featured is also suggested content like Recommended, but doesn’t look like it boast as much personalisation. Currently popular or trending songs, albums and artists are displayed here. It’s kind of like the Recommended section, except content is filtered by popularity.

New Releases, as one might expect, is a section dedicated to new music. Once again this is personalised and will favour showing the user new releases by their favourite artists, or from genres that they frequently listen to.

Genres is pretty self explanatory. This tab is a list of over-arching genres that scrolls vertically. Once within a genre, the user can flick between the Subgenres, Featured and New Releases tab. As one might expect Featured and New Releases in this instance are just a genre-specific version of the higher-tier basic displays.

Radio Without Rules

Anyone familiar with Spotify, Rdio, Pandora or even Sony Music Unlimited (SMU) will know what kind of radio stations we’re talking about. For those who don’t, modern streaming services often offer the ability to pick an artist, genre, album or song and hit a ‘Start Radio’ button, or something similarly titled. The service then generates a personalised ‘radio station’ on the spot, based on the original track, album, artist or genre that was picked. It’s a great way to find new music that suits your tastes, or even to just get away from your everyday tunes for a taste of something different.

Usually users have the option to skip tracks, vote tracks up or down, add tracks to playlists and even skip backwards to played tracks. Where All Access differs is that it gives much greater control than any of the competition in handling these radio stations.

Not only can users skip tracks, add tracks to playlists, favourite, dislike and share tracks from All Access radio, they can peak ahead to see what’s coming up and manually adjust the radio. Swiping to the left and holding shows a peak of the next track. But even better, a vertically-scrolling list can be opened from where users can swipe to delete tracks and even tap and hold to rearrange them, so a favourite song spotted down the road can be set as the next track without restarting the whole station. Google calls this “Radio Without Rules”. We call it a great feature that we expect to see picked up by the competition very quickly.

Listen Now

As mentioned in the demo, sometimes you just want to play your music. Listen Now is a screen kind of like Recommended, except it’s generated entirely from your own content. Your most recently listened to tracks, artists, playlists and albums are all there. There are also some pre-generated radio stations based on what you’ve just been listening to.

In case anyone was wondering, it is possible to pair your pre-existing music library with All Access. One small foreseeable problem is that this ‘library’ was only mentioned in terms of the Google Music locker. Locker, for the countless folk who have never used or heard of it, was what Google offered before All Access. It’s essentially a cloud-based storage locker where users can store up to 20 000 songs. So that’s a handy feature for people who’ve already used locker, but it’ll be interesting to see if a good-old hard drive full of MP3s can also get some All Access love, or if things need to be a bit more official.

All Access Cost and Availability

Surprisingly, Google didn’t mention a free version of All Access. Most folk were counting on a tiered system like Spotify’s, where users get limited access with ads for free, or more premium services for a paid monthly subscription.

All Access looks to be a paid-only affair. The good news is it’s only $10 per month with the first month being free, which is on par or cheaper than most of the competition. The bad is that, while it’s already launched in the US, it’s probably going to take some time to make it overseas.

Users who sign up before the end of June this year will also receive the service for a reduced price of $8 per month moving forwards, which is a clever incentive to snatch up those umming and ahing potential customers quickly, as well as getting users from other services to sign up early, just to see if they prefer All Access to whatever they’re currently using.

So far All Access looks like it will definitely provide a lot of competition for both Spotify and Microsoft’s Xbox Music. We don’t particularly think Spotify is in too much trouble just yet, as All Access doesn’t seem to have a free option, might be restrictive in what music you can bring to it yourself and is synced with Google+, rather than Facebook.

More likely it’s Xbox Music that could take the bigger hit, although All Access could take a while to make it to the Windows Phone market, which would at least secure that user base for Microsoft.

At the very least All Access looks like a pretty good music subscription service and should provide some good competition with the current big names.

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Nokia Lumia 925 Unveiled

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Alex Angove

After the modest global success of the Nokia Lumia 920 last year, Nokia is soon to follow-up with the release of the next in line: the Lumia 925. Rather than a totally new device, the 925 is being called more of a ‘new take on the Lumia 920’, while also taking the 920′s place as the new Nokia flagship.

Nokia has addressed the criticisms of its bulky Lumia 920 physical design. The Lumia 925 is lighter and thinner, weighing in at just 139g and with a much smaller profile of 8.5mm, compared to the 185g and 10.7mm of the Lumia 920. This is the kind of difference that doesn’t sound like much on paper but believe us, when you hold two smartphones in your hand with these kind of opposing specs you can immediately tell which smartphone you’d prefer in your pocket and in your life.

Unfortunately the problem of the height-and-width-to-screen ratio doesn’t seem to have been fixed. The Lumia 920 was roughly the same size as its contemporaries like the Galaxy S III, except with a noticeably smaller screen. This meant unfortunately thick bezels that detracted from the overall great look of the 920. The Lumia 925 boasts almost identical measurements in height and width, leading us to believe that this will continue to be an issue. Still, the weight and thickness of the 920 were definitely more immediate problems, so at the very least Nokia is tackling physical design flaws in order of importance.

Continuing on the theme of physical design, the Lumia 925 has moved away from the polycarbonate casing that has come to represent the Lumia line. Instead, Nokia has instead gone for an aluminium frame this time around, with the polycarbonate still making an appearance on the rear of the device. It’s an interesting approach to aesthetic design that is already being congratulated as being one of the more stunning that anyone has seen in the last 12 months. Unfortunately the only colours that we’ve been shown so far are white, grey and black with Nokia not showing off, nor hinting at, any of those vibrant colours that we’ve come to really know and love.

Instead Nokia seems to be going with colourful protective cases. Granted, covering a colourful phone with a case means that no one sees the vibrant liveliness underneath anyway, but it’s nice to have manufacturers going with something other than white, grey, black and occasionally metallic silver.

Despite the lack of eye-catching colours, the Lumia 925 still looks great in terms of pure aesthetics and is noticeably less-bulky than its awkwardly large predecessor.

Unfortunately, the Windows Phone OS is holding Nokia back a bit in terms of hard specs. The 4.5 inch AMOLED display on the 925 still boasts a 768×1280 resolution. The dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 CPU is still ‘good enough’ on the WP8 OS, as is the 1GB of RAM, but it’s not Good Enough in terms of competitive edge and marketing. WP is a more closed ecosystem than Android, so less specs are required to do the same job. However, when Android is in its second generation of quad-core power-phones and you’re still fronting dual-cores, it’s not going to go very far towards luring in new users.

Of course the 925 has 4G LTE support, wireless charging, 16GB of storage on-board storage and 7GB of Skydrive. The 2000mAh batter should do pretty well and of course Nokia’s abundance of cool accessories will all support it.

The PureView 8.7MP camera has reportedly seen some improvements over the 920’s. The Lumia 920 definitely had one of the better cameras on the market when it was released, especially in terms of low-light shots. But it still had trouble with fast autofocus, light bleeding and random blurring. As such the 920 still couldn’t quite compete with the iPhone 5, but at least it was up there, leaving Nokia in a position to keep up or even move ahead of the pack. It’s good to see that camera-centric focus continuing through.

This means that the PureView on the Lumia 925 could very well be an even better camera than we’ve yet seen from Nokia, which would be saying something.

There are also some new camera modes, such as Smart Camera. Smart Camera captures ten images at once, allowing the images to be edited retroactively with Action Shot, Motion Focus and Best SShot. Hipstamatic’s new Oggle app will also be available on all Lumia devices, including the 925, allowing users to share through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr.

The Lumia 925 definitely sounds like the best Windows Phone we’ve seen yet, but other than its visual appeal and camera improvements (with the camera improvements yet to be judged), there doesn’t seem to be much over the Lumia 920. The 925 should be enough to keep WP moving along as a viable option for smartphone shoppers, but it’s probably going to need something a bit more ground-breaking if it’s going to compete with the HTC One, GS4 and the fast-approaching iPhone 5S in the global market.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini Leaked

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Alex Angove

Pictures of an alleged Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini have surfaced on the web, along with purported specs. As far as rumours go, this is certainly one of the more believable new hardware stories we’ve seen leading up to Google I/O. The pics turned up on Chinese service Weibo courtesy of user PunkPanda.

So far the specs are a 4.3 inch display, dual-core 1.6GHz CPU and an 8MP camera. No word yet on pricing, availability, RAM or display resolution.

If we were to guess we’d suggest that 1GB of RAM, a medium-to-high-end price-point (say around $500 for the phone outright) and a 720p display. Although if Samsung is going for a more budget approach a qHD (540×960) resolution and lower price-tag could easily fit the bill.

The reason we think this device’s existence is plausible is simple: Samsung is no stranger to pushing out ‘mini’ versions of devices. The GS4 is already sure to do great sales in the high end of the market, despite there being some great competition from the HTC One. Now that those sales are basically locked in, there’s no reason for Samsung to now turn its attention to the more mid-range customers. Granted, the Galaxy SIII is still in a prime position to snatch up those who are after a cheaper handset, but a newer model with that “S4” moniker is going to sound a lot better in a marketing campaign than last year’s offerings.

If it does end up being a real device from Samsung, we don’t expect it to make too many waves. Mid-range handsets seldom make headlines (unless they’re a Nexus), so the GS4 Mini, if it exists, will likely be little more than a solid Android device with a great cost-to-quality ratio.

Sources: Weibo via Ausdroid

 

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Sony Xperia ZR Announced

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Alex Angove

Sony Xperia ZR underwater (700px)

The Sony Xperia ZR is the newest addition to the Sony Xperia Z line. Despite the Xperia Z being one of the most impressive devices that we’ve seen from Sony, it’s been struggling to contend with the HTC One and Galaxy S4 in reviews and in public appeal. The Xperia ZR has the potential to bring some of the same features to the mobile market, but avoid competition with the One and the S4 by possibly being targeting a slightly more affordable area of the pricing spectrum.

The original Xperia Z boasted both impressive specs and water resistance. It was the first time that a company’s flagship had been focused on durability, rather than hardware and features. The Xperia Z is still a powerful device with 1080p display and other modern accoutrements, but as far as software features go it’s lacking compared to its two main rivals: the One and the GS4.

The Xperia ZR is even more water resistant than the original Xperia Z, meaning that it can still attract folks who are after a modern smartphone with enhanced durability. Where it could do better than its older sibling is that, with slightly reduced specs, Sony is in a position to add a more tempting price-tag to sweeten the deal. This way the Xperia ZR would be directly competing with less feature-intensive smartphones than the HTC One and GS4, while still offering Sony’s new water-resistant experience on a solid smartphone.

The main problem here, however, is that the ZR really does feature ‘slightly’ reduced specs. As in barely. The CPU is a powerful quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4, paired up with an Adreno 320 graphics processing unit (GPU). 2GB of RAM should keep the Android 4.1 OS running smoothly, but storage is just 8GB. Luckily there’s a MicroSD slot that supports up to 32GB of expandable memory, although at an added cost.

Sony Xperia ZR-r

The display is a 4.55 inch (also referred to as a 3.6) 720p of the TFT variety, offering 323 pixels per inch (ppi). Oddly, the camera is a 13MP shooter. We say oddly because we were expecting a toned-down 8MP shooter in order to keep costs low, but this makes a bit more sense after one sees Sony’s targeted ad campaign at the bottom of the article.

The Xperia ZR also supports 4G LTE, but of unspecified bandwidths. Hopefully it’s enough of the major ones to cover most or all LTE regions. There’s no mention of battery size or life expectancy, but the 10.4mm profile likely indicates a decent battery.

So the Xperia ZR seems like it’s basically just a slightly smaller Xperia Z, except with less storage, a smaller screen and a lower resolution. But it does have one key feature. Not only is the ZR designed to be durable against water damage, it can actually take pictures and record HD videos while under water. It’s much closer to being ‘water proof’, in terms of every-day usage such as in swimming pools or accidental droppage, than its ‘water resistant’ sibling; the Xperia Z.

It seems a little odd that Sony would release two such similar phones; the Xperia Z with slightly better specs and the Xperia ZR that take’s the Z’s main attraction, water resistance, and does it better. Obviously Sony wanted to get the Z out of the door before the HTC One and GS4 made their debuts. But a high-quality smartphone that actually functions, rather than merely survives survives under water would definitely be enough to catch the attention of the public. This is especially so if said device had the entire marketing weight of Sony behind it and was not instead sharing the limelight with the Xperia Z.

Even with its water-centric operations we feel that the ZR is going to need a lower price point in order to compete with the One and the GS4. If it had the same great specs as the original Z then Sony may be in with a chance in direct competition, but with the path that’s been taken it’s likely far too much of a niche market to make too many waves.

At the very least it’s great to see manufacturers working on new ways to enhance the smartphone experience. Be it hardware-based with the new ‘ultrapixel’ camera, build quality and stereo speakers of the HTC One; feature-software-based with all the new features from the GS4; or durability-based as with Sony’s new Z and ZR approach, we’re just happy to see something other than a specs-war for once.

We do hope that the Xperia Z and ZR end up at least doing well enough to keep Sony in the game. Lately Samsung has been dominating the Android competition, with only HTC looking like it can even almost keep up. We’d hate to see competition in the marketplace lessen and, while Sony’s approach is very niche, it might be enough to keep the ball rolling for now.

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ANZ Cuts Interest Rates By 0.27%

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Tara Donnelly

Well played, ANZ.

After three of the big four banks passed on the Reserve Bank’s 25 basis point rate cut to customers earlier this week, ANZ Bank has exceeded everybody’s expectations by cutting its own standard variable rate by 0.27 percentage points.

The cut means that ANZ’s standard variable rate will be 6.13 per cent from next Friday May 17, which is equal to the rates offered by competitor NAB. Variable rates for ANZ’s small business lending will also decrease by 0.25% per annum from next Friday.

Today’s surprise 0.27% reduction is the first time a major bank has slashed its interest rates further than RBA rate cuts since 1997.

ANZ has announced that the cut was due to a fall in funding costs for the bank, with Australian chief executive Phil Chronican declaring it great news for ANZ customers.

“While competition for deposits remains strong, our overall funding cost position has allowed us to reduce variable mortgage rates by 0.27 per cent per annum.

“This decision reflects ANZ’s approach to reviewing retail lending rates each month which includes an assessment of our overall funding costs, and I’m pleased our mortgage customers will see a benefit this month.”

Phil Chronican, Chief Executive Officer, ANZ Australia

ANZ customers with an average home loan of $280,000 will save around $60 each month thanks to the interest rate reduction.

Until today, NAB has enjoyed having the lowest mortgage rate of the big Aussie banks for almost four years, with 46 consecutive months as the cheapest. However, this latest move by ANZ is a clear bid to undermine NAB’s strategy to maintain the lowest advertised mortgage rates and set itself apart from the other big banks.

ANZ has announced previously its intentions to review lending interest rates each month, and to separate its own pricing decisions from those of the Reserve Bank. ANZ hinted last November that this approach may result in decisions that surpass RBA rate cuts.

Today’s announcement will shine a further spotlight on competing institutions that decide to hold back full rate cuts from customers in the future. The major banks have been under increased pressure to start passing on full RBA rate cuts to their customers, as lowered international funding costs and increasing profits have caused the public to lose patience with the banks’ ‘times are tough’ defence.

To review, here are the new standard variable rates for the major banks:

If today’s rate cut announcements have you thinking about buying a home  - or you’re considering refinancing your current mortgage – you can compare interest rates here.

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ASIC Teaching Teens About Bill Shock

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Tara Donnelly

We’ve talked before about the challenges parents face when it comes to picking a suitable mobile phone and plan for their children. Mobile phones are a great tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, as well as for entertainment and quick access to vital information, but their use requires responsibility and maturity in order to avoid sky-high bills each month – character traits that aren’t normally associated with tweens and high-schoolers.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has recognised that with the prevalence of mobile phones among children and within schools, education about the financial costs of owning these devices is becoming increasingly important. The Commission has launched a serious of interactive multimedia activities aimed at students in years 5 to 8, to help young phone owners understand what their mobile use really costs them (or costs Mum and Dad).

There are ten activities available to students, each focusing on a different issue of mobile phone ownership:

  • Choosing a plan: How to understand the differences between types of plans, and to pick one that matches your needs and budget.
  • Calls, messaging and browsing: What is meant by the included value of a plan, and how much it costs to make calls, text or browse the web.
  • Social media: How much data is used by uploading and downloading videos and photos to social media, and how this affects your bill.
  • Premium services: What premium services are, how much they cost and what to do if you’re asked to subscribe to one (or subscribe accidentally).
  • Mobile phone advertising: The tricks advertisers use to promote phone plans, and why these can sometimes be deceptive.
  • Security: Types of scams and malware, and how to keep your phone secure and protected.
  • Entertainment: What in-app advertising is, and how playing mobile games can cost you a lot of money.
  • Advertising: How subscribing to promotional offers or entering competitions can give advertisers access to your personal details and data.
  • Mobile credit: How prepaid plans work and how to avoid wasting credit.

The programs take students through different scenarios, in which they can try out activities such as choosing an appropriate phone plan or advising a friend on how to stick to their credit limit. Students will be able to see the consequences of their decisions and rate how they feel about their choices after each module.

ASIC hopes the program will prevent mobile phone bill shock, which is an all-too-common problem among Australians under 25. In a survey by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, 43% of 18 to 24 year olds questioned admitted to overspending on their phone plan an average of three times a year. 23% of those surveyed overspent by $50 to $100, and 15% by $200 to $499.

ASIC Chairman Greg Medcraft said the Commission understood the potential expense that can be incurred from using essential but costly technology, stating: “We need to teach young people to use their mobile phones responsibly now, so they can make more confident and informed decisions, prevent costly mistakes and avoid falling into debt later in life.”

Having played around with the activities on the ASIC website, we found them to be a wealth of important but frequently overlooked information – and not just for young adults. Tutorials on issues like premium services, mobile security and how to break down the included value of a plan are concepts which many adult phone users still struggle with. Parents and teachers may also learn a thing or two by completing these activities with their children and students.

And although there is an element of ‘dorky older person trying to relate to the young people’ about the language and design, overall the programs are relatively embarrassment-free and engaging enough to keep even pre-teens interested, and the activities take into account factors such as peer pressure that are likely to influence the decision making process in young people.

While the program is intended for use in the classroom, as part of ASIC’s wider-reaching MoneySmart teaching program, activities are free to download online for students and their parents at ASIC’s MoneySmart website.

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Google Glass Presenting Legal Issues

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Alex Angove

With any new technology there’s bound to be a period during which society figures out how to react to any potential and perceived new possibilities and even threats. Those of us who were around for the advent of the camera phone will remember well them being banned from public restrooms, schools, and even museums, concerts and other live events.

Eventually the sheer proliferation of cameras in feature phones and smartphones made it implausible to ban them from most locations. Event organisers, too, realised that dodgy YouTube uploads filmed on a smartphone simply can’t compete with a professionally recorded and edited video with proper sound and as such were no threat to sales. Even after ten years of continued heavy market demand for better smartphone cameras it’s still impossible to get any kind of quality video recording of a concert or any event with any level of background noise.

Unsurprisingly, it appears that Google Glass is going to have to go through the same kind of treatment until both the law and our culture can figure out exactly what to make of it.

Reports on the internet have been filtering in slowly of US Google Glass users being booked for using and even just wearing Google Glass while driving. Of course, using any media or communication device while driving is exactly the kind of distraction that the law wants to avoid, but whether or not users should be used for simply wearing Glass is a much more interesting question.

Whether or not the reports are true, the issue is a valid one.

There are two sides to the argument:

  1. If Glass is turned off/disabled then there’s no harm in wearing it while driving. A person should be free to wear their own property if there’s no chance of causing harm or notable offence to others. Wearing Glass while it’s off could be compared to keeping a smartphone in your pocket while it’s not in use; that’s simply where it’s intended to be kept. Just because you are aware of notifications as they roll in doesn’t mean you’ll drop whatever you’re currently doing in favour of responding.
  2. The problem with Glass is exactly where it’s intended to be kept. It sits on your head, just above the eye, no matter if you’re using it or not. There’s really no way for a police officer to tell if a driver is interfacing with Glass or not at a distance. Police would not only have to pull over every person they saw wearing Glass, but test to see if the unit was off and even if it had been turned off within the last few seconds. This would waste a lot of time for everyone and it’s an easy enough process to turn Glass off while pulling over without the cops noticing. What, then, are the police to do?

Apparently the more tech-savvy  members of law enforcement are only booking those that they see interfacing with Glass while driving, which is totally understandable from where we’re standing. But the greater majority of police can’t be expected to know the ins and outs of a new technology that almost all of them have no access to and, frankly, isn’t yet wide-spread enough for there to be justifiable cause for the expense and time required for a training program.

It’s doubtful that Google Glass will be completely banned from being worn by drivers. Or, if it is, it’s likely to be a few contained instances and not banned on a large scale. Assuming that Glass technology becomes as pervasive as Google hopes, asking folks to take off what may be their only pair of sunglasses just because those same glasses have a Smart Device function may one day sound ridiculous to an even more tech-reliant culture than our current one.

Another reported instance of Glass wearers being ‘discriminated’ against is in Vegas casinos. Caesars Palace, one of the more famous locations in Las Vegas, has banned Google Glass before even encountering an instance of anyone wearing it through the casino.

This time around it’s not because of the communication services of the device, but because of its ability to record video and sound. In fact, Caesars Palace has warned that any gambler caught wearing Google Glass could be facing arrest.

The rule isn’t limited to Google Glass; it’s actually a blanket ban of all video recording devices for any and all gamblers. In this instance we feel that the ban is fully warranted, as the casino has a right to protect itself and its patrons from anyone trying to cheat the system. But once again, it does have some interesting potential implications moving forward.

All computer-based technology gets minimised. This is a rule that will not be broken. Another is that our society will continue to adopt and adapt computer (or ‘smart’) technologies in to more and more things as time passes. There are already smart watches, smart fridges, smart TVs etc, assuming that one day Smart Glasses won’t be a thing is probably naiive, although a future in which they proliferate could be further off than Google hopes.

In the even that Glass does take off and we start seeing copycat products from various other manufacturers and, eventually, even new operating system developers (we’re looking at you, Microsoft), asking someone to ditch their glasses might be a bit more tricky, especially if those glasses have the added feature of allowing them to see. Still, like we said that future, if it’s to come at all, is probably far enough away that the question can be interesting without actually yet being important. For now we feel that casinos and other areas in which any and all recording equipment are banned are well within their rights to include Google Glass on lists of forbidden gadgetry.

What we think we will see is a re-hash of the toilet/washroom fear of people taking candid pics and/or videos that we saw way back when smartphone cameras hit the market. Perhaps a ban around schools (especially in the far more cameras-around-schools-paranoid culture of this decade over the last).

We’ve also seen places like Fort Lee ban texting while walking, after an increase in the number of absent-minded pedestrians being hit by moving vehicles. The potential for an extension to Glass-style technologies is definitely possible, especially after we’ve seen the same thing already happen to drivers. Such restrictions in public would obviously render Google Glass totally useless and we doubt we’ll see anything that harsh. Still, before texting while walking was banned we said the same thing about that and look what happened. Glass as the added advantage of allowing the user to see where they’re going while interfacing with it. In fact, that’s pretty much the whole point. But tech literacy has never been a pre-requisite for tech-targeted legislation.

Many of the bans will are likely to be short lived, pending the level of success that Glass sees in the market, and things should balance out to a happy medium somewhere down the line.

For now, Google Glass remains a mystery to most people, as only a very select few of users have been able to access/afford the new tech. Most people haven’t even seen it in action, us included. So, on a personal note, we hope those possible bans are held off just a while longer. At least until we can get our hands on a unit and take it for a spin.

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Banks Pass On Full RBA Rate Cut

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Tara Donnelly

Happy news for homeowners – three out of the big four Australian banks have passed on the full Reserve Bank rate cut announced yesterday, with the fourth likely to follow suit.

The RBA cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points to a historic low of 2.75 per cent. This is the first time the rate has been below 3% since the Reserve Bank began setting monetary policy in 1990, and is the lowest cash rate in Australia since 1960.

National Australia Bank was the first of the majors to pass on the full rate cut to customers, lowering its standard variable home loan rate to 6.13%, starting Monday. It will also be cutting its business lending rates by 25 points.

The Commonwealth Bank’s standard variable rate will drop to 6.15% from Monday onward, and Westpac’s standard variable rate will be lowered to 6.26% from May 20th. Westpac-owned St.George will also slash its standard variable rate by the full 25 points, to 6.24%.

ANZ has yet to respond to the RBA’s move, but is expected to announce its decision Friday. Spectators agree that it’s likely the bank will follow suit and match the response of the other banks in order to remain competitive.

Some of the smaller financial institutions, including Bank of Queensland, uBank, ING Direct and Suncorp, have also passed on the full cut to borrowers.

It’s the first time in 17 months banks have lowered interest rates in line with the RBA’s decision, and it’s a move that has been welcomed across the board. Treasurer Wayne Swan said the rate cut was ‘thoroughly deserved’ by Australian households and families. The 25 basis point reduction will, for example, save Australians financing their home with NAB around $62.50 a month in interest on the average $300,000 home loan.

All of the big four banks held back delivering full interest rate cuts throughout 2012, citing higher funding costs and uncertain global banking conditions. Despite better economic conditions all-round, the banks are still arguing that times are tough, with credit growth at record lows and competition for deposits intense due to high prices. However, with the banks expected to post record profits this year and borrowing costs for banks undoubtedly improving, the big four are under increased pressure to match the RBA and reduce interest rates.

Prior to the Reserve Bank’s announcement, there had been speculation as to whether the cash rate would be reduced. The RBA shadow board voted for rates to remain steady and advised the Bank to wait until next week’s budget, in order to better assess the economic outlook for the near future. However, RBA governor Glenn Stevens announced in a statement that the bank’s Board:

“…has previously noted that the inflation outlook would afford scope to ease further, should that be necessary to support demand. At today’s meeting the Board decided to use some of that scope. It judged that a further decline in the cash rate was appropriate to encourage sustainable growth in the economy, consistent with achieving the inflation target.”

Overall, it seems that along with low inflation, the combination of rising unemployment, a strong Australian dollar, lowered demand for credit and an all-round lacklustre economy – at least, outside of the mining sector – probably pushed the Reserve Bank’s decision.

Economists believe the cash rate is likely to remain steady over the next few months. Hopefully, the rate cut will stimulate a boost in economic activity, and provide a little relief for both current and prospective homeowners.

If you’re considering purchasing your first home, or re-evaluating your current mortgage, check out our home loan comparison tools to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

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Telstra To Send Overseas Data Alerts

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Tara Donnelly

With bill shock from international roaming still affecting thousands of Australians each year, consumers have been frustrated with the lack of solutions offered by mobile providers. Now, Telstra has announced it will be taking action to minimise bill shock experienced by customers using their phone overseas.

The telco is introducing a new SMS usage alert system for customers using their Telstra device internationally. Under the new system, SMS alerts will be automatically issued to customers for every 20MB of data they use outside of Australia.

The company is hopeful that the new alerts will empower Telstra customers to more effectively manage their data use when travelling. Telstra has stated that it understands its customers often don’t ‘fully appreciate’ the amount of data that is consumed by typical web browsing and downloading, and that many are unaware of the high cost of using data through mobile roaming.

However, there are a few details not covered in Telstra’s initial press release that warrant a closer look. The introduction of usage alerts may be of benefit to some customers, but we’re skeptical that this initiative is going to be all that effective in preventing bill shock overall.

Assuming a customer has not purchased an international data pack before heading overseas, any data used outside of Australia would be charged at a standard rate of 1.5 cents per kilobyte. By the time a customer reaches 20MB of use, they’ve already racked up a bill of over $300.

Even purchasing a 20MB data pack will cost you $29, which, in comparison to the cost of data within Australia (customers can purchase 3GB of data domestically for $30), will be considered ridiculous by most consumers. Although Telstra has also doubled the amount of data included in their add-on international data packs, 20MB still doesn’t get most smartphone users very far; and even a more reasonable amount of 1GB will cost Telstra customers $550. What’s more, customers won’t be automatically cut off when they use up pre-purchased international data allowances – they’ll simply be charged at the standard rate for any excess megabytes.

Telstra has also confirmed that there can be a delay of ‘up to 24 hours’ in alerts being sent. Customers are advised that there may be a lapse between when the alert is sent, to when the international carrier sends it to a customer, and when a customer receives it. So, disappointingly, the 20MB usage alerts are unlikely to be received by customers in real time – meaning that you could easily use up well over 20MB before receiving an alert from Telstra.

Another problem for customers wanting to keep an eye on usage is that you are unable to monitor data use through Telstra’s website, or smartphone app, for any data used outside of Australia. So, customers wishing to stay on top of their usage may need to download a third party data monitoring app (and even this won’t necessarily give accurate and up-to-date readings).

Finally, although the new SMS alerts will be available in most countries Telstra has roaming agreements with, customers will not currently receive alerts for any data used in Hong Kong.

It’s a positive first step for Telstra to introduce this system, and hopefully other providers will soon follow suit. But the problem for most customers isn’t necessarily they aren’t aware of how much data is costing them overseas; it’s that the data is costing them such an exorbitant amount to begin with, and there’s no safety net in place to cut off customers after a certain point. While the SMS alerts may be helpful to some customers, realistically it’s just a ‘Band-Aid’ solution to an issue that no-one seems willing to try to resolve.

Until the problem of the ridiculously inflated price of using data internationally is addressed, it’s still up to customers to be pro-active when it comes to preventing bill shock. If you’re planning on travelling and are concerned about taking your smartphone, read through our detailed guide on how to prevent bill shock when using your phone overseas.

Image credit: mikecogh via Flickr

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