NBN, free wi-fi and crazy, crazy apps

19/11/09 posted by Liz Niland

A man with a hand in the biggest Australian internet issue this year, the National Broadband Network (NBN), has said he doesn’t think there will be enough demand to ensure the project’s financial viability. As reported in Australian IT, Telstra boss David Thodey said, “We offer a large number of high-speed access technologies today and I think we would be lucky to have even at the home, with ADSL2+, 5 per cent of our customers on 20Mbps (download speeds).”

If the $43 billion NBN can be implemented to achieve such high-speed access at a more affordable price, and to areas that cannot currently enjoy even our standard broadband services, it will surely be a worthy investment. And given the internet advancements of our fellow global onliners, something must be done to bring more of Australia up to speed.

The federal government should take a note from local authorities in Swindon, England. With a “wi-fi mesh” accessible across the town, residents are able to avoid charges for connection and line rental. The $1.8 million project will offer a limited amount of free access with users able to upgrade their service for a cut-price rate. The whole network should be up and running by April 2010.

And finally, from the what-will-they-think-of-next iPhone department, come two fresh apps. Too lazy to blow out your own birthday candles? Try the Blower. Blowing air out your iPhone’s speaker, the app can even “refresh your skin during hot summer nights”. Hopefully used just for the novelty factor - and not for self-diagnosis or professional use - iStethoscope Pro has hit the app store offering you the opportunity to hear your own heart beating. You can even email your iPhone-generated spectrogram to your friends.