September iiNews
editor's note
So here's Spring - symbolic of grand, positive change and fresh starts. Sadly the most positive change I manage at this time of year is the slow transition from jeans back into shorts and thongs (applause).
There's a little more gusto here within the iiNews team though - it's time again for our annual Readers' Survey, and we're excited about change. While we've got a decent view of things we want to do to improve our monthly newsletter, it's customer feedback that really makes things happen.
This compeitiion has now closed.
Moving ahead, there's plenty more to talk about this month with the launch of iiHelp, Naked Business plan quota increases and iTunes movies hitting our Freezone. We've also packed in heaps of reviews and competitions to get stuck into, plus another 'web school' tutorial for the extra-keen.
Always a pleasure to have you with us, let's get stuck into September.
Niaal Holder & Swee Au-Yong
iiNews Editors (iinewsfeedback@iinet.net.au)
news
iiHelp - dig into our support knowledgebase
iiHelp is up and running, ready to help you hunt down the support information you're after.
By heading to iiHelp, you'll find handy links to articles that'll answer simple questions with minimal time or fuss. Think of it as a collective iiNet brain, which you can pick your way through for friendly support knowledge.
Our iiHelp knowledgebase will continue to grow as we add material over time. Start by clicking on the browse iiHelp by topic button once you're onsite, then choosing from the categories listed. For example, if you're having problems with your broadband connection, check out the broadband support section from the list of topics.
It's worth noting that this is pretty much the same source of knowledge that our Customer Service and Support staff use; our brightest sparks have given each article their nod of approval. So give it a go! Here's some extra pointers to get you started.
iTunes Movies in Freezone
Off the back of last month's bumper Media Lounge add-ons, we're happy to announce that iTunes Movies have made it into Freezone territory.
As Australia's first ISP to offer unmetered downloads for iTunes purchases, iiNet members get VIP access to the iTunes Store (Australia), accessing some of the latest TV shows, over 4 million songs, music videos, audiobooks, Pixar short films, iPod games, and now movies - all quota free! This means anything you buy from iTunes, including movies, won't count towards your monthly download quota (Podcasts exempt), so there's no need to worry about shaping.
For $3.99 (inc GST), silver screen fans can rent standard-definition library titles and pay $5.99 (inc GST) for new releases. For a little bit more, HD movies are available to rent directly from Apple TV.
So, take advantage of iiNet's speedy ADSL2+ broadband network and thumb through the iTunes titles available today.
iiNet WiFi network grows
We've got some good news for customers who like their Internet 'on the go'. Through our partnership with Tomizone, there's been an exciting leap in the size of our wireless network in Perth. This means Perthies will encounter more iiNet WiFi Hotspots throughout the city CBD.
For everyone outside the State of Excitement, there's no need to feel left out - our friends at Tomizone have just hit another milestone, exceeding 1,000 active Tomizone Hotspots in locations all over the globe.
As bonus for being an iiNet customer, you can surf the web for free (up to 100MB a month) on one of these hotspots. Just keep an eye out for the Tomizone logo or any 'Tomizone_iiNet' access points that show up on WiFi enabled devices. From there, all you'll need is your iiNet username and password to log on.
Find out more about connecting to an iiNet Hotspot.
iiNet 1000 Hour Day Expedition draws to a close
They've done it! After hauling, paddling and dragging their way over hundreds of kilometres, Chris Bray and Clark Carter finally completed their trek across the Arctic Circle.
The boys gave themselves 100 days to finish the challenge but crossed over the finish line in just 70. With fate throwing in a few curve balls (cancelled air evacuation, AWOL trawler skipper, mother nature), getting off the island proved to be an additional challenge, forcing the pair to clock up another five days.
Thanks to a passing mining tug, their 75 days without a shower finally came to an end last month, when the ship's friendly skipper agreed to let the boys hitchhike back to civilisation.
We'd like to give the guys a huge congratulations for completing their expedition. They dreamed a dream and by their own efforts managed to get the support from family and friends (we fit in the friends category) to make it happen.
Catch up on the last few days of the adventure by visiting the iiNet 1000 Hour Day Expedition site and stay tuned for the documentary coming soon!
business news
Naked Business plan quotas upsized
Good news! On the tail end of last month, we injected extra quota into most of our Naked Business plans. The best part - this upgrade hasn't costed your business a cent!
If you're already signed up to one of our Naked Business plans eligible for the upgrade, you won't need to lift a finger to enjoy more download quota. We've taken care of everything for you.
If you're not signed up or want to see how quota limits have changed, check out our Naked DSL Business plans. Otherwise, chat to someone from our Business Priority Support Team on 13 24 49.
support & services
Broadband for Beginners
Our Broadband for Beginners workshops for October aren't too far off. Held at our Adelaide Terrace office in Perth, these workshops have helped internet newbies find their way around the web.
Workshops come in two modules:
- Module 1 - If you're brand new to the internet this workshop is for you. Topics include general information about the internet, finding information, online shopping, local entertainment, online radio, and video sites such as YouTube
- Module 2 - Following on from Module 1, this workshop is for people wanting to dig deeper into internet offerings. Topics include online banking, travel and booking holidays, communities and networking, online music stores such as iTunes®, and internet security
If you're keen to sign up or think your nan, uncle, sister, dad or that nice lady down the road could do with some help, you'll need to jot down our next workshop dates:
- Wednesday 1 October (Module 1)
- Wednesday 8 October (Module 2)
Both sessions run from 6pm to 8pm and are delivered by iiNet staff.
To register, email courses@staff.iinet.net.au with your name, contact phone number, email address and workshop preference (Module 1 only, Module 2 only, or both Module 1 and Module 2).
hardware review
ASUS EEE PC
We're told good things come in small packages. To put that adage through its paces this month, we're road testing one of the strongest players in the pocket rocket market - the ASUS EEE PC.
Designed to meet the challenges of the One Laptop Per Child program, the EEE PC delivers a small, inexpensive laptop, capable of withstanding youthful rough and tumbles. Presenting itself as an alternative to the XO laptop, the makers of the EEE PC have ensured that their Lilliputian solution also caters to astute punters, hunting down ultraportability without the hefty price tag.
The unit weighs in at a throwable one kilogram and at the size of a healthy paperback novel, it's super easy to pack for light travel. But don't be fooled by the EEE's pint-sized packaging and toylike appearance. This pip-squeak PC packs a practical punch, loaded with all the functionality you'd expect for your day-to-day operation. So saying, I've put it through its paces with different operating systems and applications, switching the operating software over to Windows XP and the Office 2003 suite to good effect.
The developers have loaded the unit with a custom Linux operating system, simple to use thanks to its point-and-click graphical interface. Sticking with Linux saves on precious storage space which becomes a scarce resource, especially when you're only sitting on about 4Gb of storage (standard with the earlier models, like the one we've played with - a 701 model).
The ASUS also comes preloaded with about 40 applications, which help to make work, play and connecting to the world a piece of cake. The latter is made especially easy with the built in web cam and WiFi connectivity.
While the EEE PC is a bit slow compared to its larger and more souped up cousins, newer models come shipped with a solid state drive (SSD), not a hard drive. The folks at ASUS reckon SSDs are a fraction quieter, create less heat and also need a little less power to run. As an added upshot, SSD technology also helps to milk an extra hour out of the unit's battery life - handy for those on the go.
It comes as no surprise, that the EEE PC's keyboard has also 'taken one for the team' - sacrificing size to keep the unit compact and tight. The keyboard is incredibly tiny and not so great to use if you have hands larger than a ten year old. Even without chubby fingers, expect to spend a little quality time getting used to the cramped keyboard - you'll get real familiar with those delete and backspace buttons. Nothing you won't get the hang of after a few hours, but worth keeping in mind.
One of the coolest facets of the EEE PC is the enthusiast community that comes with it. Sadly, I didn't really have a chance to scratch the surface in the time I've had my EEE. However, I suspect that the community exists because a) the EEE is a cleverly designed pocket dynamo; and b) it's a fraction of what you'd usually expect to pay for a laptop. ASUS have lowered the bar on price, to give more people access to EEEs, therefore opening the door for more people to play and enjoy.
Tipping the scales in the 'value for money' stakes, the EEE PC's size and portability, in concert with its utility capabilities, makes it a fantastic solution to tinker with at home or for people on the move. Just remember, the EEE is not (and has never claimed to be) a desktop or multimedia replacement - but it is a stable and featherweight computing solution, making it 'easy to learn, easy to work, and easy to play'.
Thanks to Dane Nattrass for resisting the urge to throw our 'throwable' EEE laptop.
feature - HTML and CSS
We've done a fair amount of HTML groundwork to date, so far it's been a fairly direct and straightforward ride. This month I'm going to rock the boat a little as we take an early look at Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS.
This one might require a couple of laps to understand - while it's not a particularly difficult concept for the brain to grip, it often carries a bit of 're-learning' for folks who've just graduated from HTML basics. To understand why, let's have a brief look at what CSS is and does.
Sheets that Style
A Cascading Style Sheet, more commonly called a CSS file, is a document (the sheet) we write and attach to an HTML document to give it style. To give that some context, we use HTML to build the structure of a webpage, while we should use CSS to improve the presentation. Think of it like this: If HTML were a naked person, CSS is how we'd tell them to put fashionable trousers on.
When we talk about style, we refer to the various aspects of formatting that might be applied to text, images or whole pages to improve their presentation. At this stage we'll only busy ourselves with text formatting, as it's an easy way to start and a great way to shoehorn an understanding of the more complicated stuff down the track.
Finally, they're called cascading style sheets to describe the way they handle any complicated or conflicting styles they might encounter - only really relevant for large CSS files, or mixing multiple CSS files. It's completely safe to ignore that part of things for now, so don't worry if that didn't make sense.
The reason we choose to specify all these styles in a separate file is primarily for efficiency. If you're building multiple webpages, it's far easier to get all of them to read from one common style sheet than it is to go through each of them and tell them how they need to look individually. Having the styles separate from the HTML pages makes things a lot easier to maintain overall.
So drawing again on our nudist analogy, if you wanted ten people to put trousers on it'd be far more efficient to hold up a big sign to them saying 'PUT ON YOUR TROUSERS NOW' than it is to go and personally dress each one in trousers.
Elements of a style sheet
We're not going to delve too much into details of preparing a CSS file this month, but we should have a look at one briefly to see what we're playing with. Here's a very simple CSS file:
p { font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; }
a { color: magenta; }
That's all a CSS file is - a series of formatting and style notes for your browser. It doesn't need a header, it just wants to be laid out cleanly as above and saved as a '.css' file. Now looking at the elements of that code, you can see that we're adding font styles for 'p' (which from our previous html lessons, refers to 'paragraph' or <p> tag), then applying styles within the curly brackets. We're also changing the colour style for 'a' (no prizes for guessing, that's the <a> tag from last month), again within the curly brackets.
Essentially what we're doing with CSS is providing your browser with 'style notes' for when it presents an HTML page. So where the browser was looking to the HTML document to determine screen layout, it uses CSS to determine style and presentation once the HTML is in place.
While CSS can get a whole lot more involved, that's the overarching concept - declare an HTML element you'd like to add styles to, open a curly bracket, add some styles, close the curly bracket. You can throw as many styles inside those curly brackets as you like, it just comes down to what you'd like things to look like. Next month we'll look at more of those styles in detail, like font, colour and borders, but for now we'll use what we've got above.
Now, attaching this to one of our existing HTML documents (from past lessons) is a piece of cake:
<html>
<head>
<title>css test</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="fancy.css">
</head>
<body>
<p>This text is in Arial font, <a href="www.iinet.net.au">this link is pink</a>.</p>
</body>
</html>
You've seen most of this before, but that 4th line in is what we want to stare at: a link tag, that tells the HTML document how and where to read our new css file. A link tag associates another file with this one, it forms a link between the two.
Looking further, the rel attribute tells the HTML document what sort of link we're making (in this case, a stylesheet). The type attribute tells the document how to 'read' the contents of the new link (so here, it will try to interpret CSS via text). The href attribute then tells the document where the new CSS file actually lives - which in this case, is right next door to our HTML document (as we've covered in the past, a relative address). Copy the code above into notepad and save it as 'plain.html', then go copy the CSS code from earlier into notepad and save that as 'fancy.css'.
If you save both of those files into the same folder or location, opening the HTML document in your browser should show off the lovely new styles we've added.
Checkpoint
That's where we'll stop for this month, all nicely set up for next month's lesson. We've learned what a CSS document looks like, how to save it and how to link it to an HTML document. If you want to stretch your legs a bit, try creating two or three HTML documents, and linking them back to the same CSS file we've made. You can also try making changes to the CSS file - changing styles or even adding other elements you might be able to style.
Next month, we'll run headlong into more style and formatting options that might add some spice to our otherwise bland HTML pages. See you then!
competitions
No one believes that Trevor Anderson is on to something. The science professor's unconventional hypotheses have put him on the fringe of the academic community. But during an expedition in Iceland, Trevor and his teenage nephew, Sean accompanied by their beautiful local guide, Hannah make a breakthrough discovery that launches them on a thrilling adventure into the unknown.
As their journey takes them deep beneath the Earth's surface, they travel through never-before-seen worlds that bring them face-to-face with surreal and unimaginable creatures, stretching the bounds of the visionary scientist's own imagination.
To celebrate Australian release of Journey to the Centre of the Earth on September 25, Roadshow Films have given us 50 double passes to give away.
For your chance to score a double pass to this eye popping 3D feature, email competitions with 'September Journey 3D Movie Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to provide your username, full name, address and answer to this question: What new iTunes downloads have we added to Freezone this month? by 5pm (WST) Friday 3 October, 2008.
You Am I - Dilettantes
After holing themselves up in a warehouse for two months, Aria Award winners You Am I are back with their eighth studio album, Dilettantes. The album opens with the title track tricked up with acoustics, followed by signature rockers like Eramus.
Thanks to our friends at www.musichead.com.au, we've got 10 copies of Dilettantes to give away.
To be in the running for a copy, email competitions with 'September Dilettantes Music Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to include your username, full name and address, along with the answer to this question: Name the new knowledgebase we've just launched, to help you find support information? by 5pm (WST) Friday 3 October, 2008.
Keep on spreading the love!
First off, congratulations go out to our August Free Love winners - Bart Doedens and Jeremy Gourley. We had a feeling you'd enjoy your Apple goodies. Here's a short and sweet note from Jeremy...
"... the Apple Prize pack arrived and it's amazing!! Thank you so much for everything and keep up the awesome work. I love the speed and service I'm getting with iiNet. I should have changed over months ago but then again, I may not have won this amazing prize pack. Many thanks..."
Thanks to everyone else who's helped us spread some iiNet love recently. We've decided to roll all of the August entries we've received into the next two draws, so you'll still have a chance to win.
So, if you've already spread the love, don't stop now! If you haven't had the chance yet, here it is - we've still got four more $2,500 Apple prize packs to give away over the next two months. The packs include the latest iMac, an iPod Nano (with a bundle of iTunes to put on it) and the awesome Apple TV.
To join the race you'll need to help us spread some free love about our ADSL broadband products. Simply tell your friends about iiNet broadband and Naked DSL through our online referral form.
Get a friend to sign up and you both go into the draw to win an Apple prize pack. That's $5,000 worth of Apple goodies to share between you and a friend. So go on - help us spread some love.
September entries close on Sunday Thursday 25 September 2008 at 23:59. October entries close October 31 2008.
Competition terms and conditions - Privacy policy
entertainment
This month we've teamed up with Games Warehouse to bring you our monthly games reviews, and as a sweetener we're giving away one $100 voucher to splurge on gaming goodness.
If you fancy winning and spending that voucher, email competitions with 'September Games Warehouse Competition' in the subject line. Don't forget to include your username, full name and address, along with the answer to this question: Name the worldwide WiFi network which lets iiNet customers surf 100Mb a month for free? by 5pm (WST) Friday 3 October, 2008.
Spore - PC, Mac
Trying to review Spore in 500 words or less is like trying to catch an elephant with a butterfly net - the best I can do is swish around at the chunky bits and hope a decent synopsis pops out. 450 words now, good work Niaal.
Spore wants to do something very special - capture the full evolution of a species and put you in control of it, developing a cell organism with a long-term goal of conquering the galaxy. From simple beginnings adding limbs to your land-walking beasties through to tweaking their civilised culture and architecture, you're constantly in charge of the aesthetics.
The scope of this premise is formidable, so it need to do something pretty special to pull it off - which for given values of special, it does. The game intersperses creative input between five bite-size phases: cell, creature, tribal, civilisation and spacefaring. Each phase has its own controls and interfaces, skipping from side-scroller to third-person, RTS and quasi-RPG; each is easy to grasp and intuitive to direct.
Playing Spore religiously for a solid week however, the secret under the hood becomes apparent. End to end, this game has breadth and ingenuity... it just doesn't have any substance beyond what you contribute yourself, through the creature, building and vehicle editors. Don't get me wrong, those creative aspects are downright amazing, but two or three swift laps through from start to finish exposes the lack of gaming depth. Once you tire of creating and building, you're pretty much done with Spore.
Each game phase plays out similar regardless of whether you choose carnivorous or vegetarian, warfaring or economic. While the methods may differ, the actual goals and mechanics of the game are identical: you're vying for control and whatever conquer method you choose is best served en masse. As a result, the core gameplay will only carry a week or two worth of shine for your seasoned gamer - at time of writing, my Spore buddies have all dropped off the recent activity roster... nothin' but tumbleweeds and elevator music.
With the negative out of the way though, the creative elements of this title are outstanding. Whatever you create in game can be shared with the world, to be added to other players' games as they play. Stuff I've built now populate planets new players are just starting out on, a genuine thrill and a drive for me to make fun stuff (like my BEAR CAVALRY). And for every toilet-humour thrusting beastie created, someone else has made something clever, intricate or hilarious to run afoul of.
Spore is a masterful 3D modelling canvas and creative networking community. If you like to make stuff, this is your game. Just keep in mind that as much as the game elements are initially engaging, they won't stand the test of time alone.
Too Human - xbox 360
Buried below the mess that is Too Human lays a decent game screaming for daylight. Silicon Knights' latest offering is a sad tale of a game so near, and yet so amazingly far from viable.
The intent behind the title is clear but the outcome doesn't make the grade in a number of ways. Take the story: In a bleak cybernetic future you play the part of Norse god Baldur, as he and his pantheon pals battle armies of robotic ne'er-do-wells. Norse mythology, cyberpunk, large-scale warfare - great potential for intrigue, yet Too Human's storyline still manages to be predictable and uninvolving.
Turn now to the gameplay itself and on face value Too Human really should pack a hefty wallop: it's a 3D action RPG, with five customisable classes, skill trees, equipment gathering and stat management. It has the core components of a pleasure-grind RPG, the sort of title we're screaming for on 360. In a strange combo of design flaws however, all of the above is rendered null and void.
Combat, for instance, is unnecessarily leftfield. Instead of swinging swords with a button-press as you might expect, you use the controller's right stick to initiate attacks in the desired direction. Sounds great, but as this is a 3D romp that stick is now unavailable for the more desirable task of controlling the game camera. To compensate, it attempts to 'guess' where you're looking; sadly it doesn't do a very good job. All too often, it couldn't show me where I was getting hit from before I died, choosing instead to zoom out, pan or spin rapidly.
Dying however, doesn't mean much in Too Human. When mobs take you down, a tediously slow Valkyrie pops down to take your spirit to Valhalla (and spit a revived copy of you back into the fray). The whole transition is unskippable, takes about 30 seconds to finish and happens all the freaking time. It happens so often that the game actually gives you an achievement for dying over 100 times. Some rough math tells me that in the course of my 10 hour parley with Too Human, about an hour of that was spent watching the death animation play over and over. It's a horrible, horrible design decision and it flat out ruins the experience.
Add to this there are only four long, broad, straight and plain levels filled with thousands upon thousands of the same monsters, and you're starting to get the idea. Leveling up to take these guys on would be far more interesting if a) they didn't all level up with you, therefore nixing any advantage you might have had; and b) more exotic and powerful items weren't level-restricted, allowing them to be used well before they become utterly redundant.
As Silicon Knights are high-fiving and planning the next two titles in the trilogy, I'd like to think they take on a little feedback and don't muck with stuff that works. Give me back my camera, make leveling mean something and for flip's sake, if I have to watch that Valkyrie one more time...
site scan
With chirping birds heralding the onset of Spring, we're all about making a fresh start this month. First up, some plain-speaking info about this season's favourite allergy, followed by some shrewd pointers for spring cleaning your home and lifestyle.
hayfever.com.au
Get to know the allergy that's keeping you inside. Run through the basics of hay fever, including causes, diagnosis, managing symptoms and information on available medications. There's also a brief guide on keeping a low-allergen garden, for enthusiasts willing to brave the springtime outdoors.
Help Me Clean - Find A Cleaning Tip
Did you know - you can remove the musty smell from an old book by leaving it in a bag with scrunched-up newspaper? Help Me Clean is a cleaning tip shop, full of handy tricks for getting your spring cleaning underway. Check out their green tips too, for simple homemade solutions for household problems.
21 Easy Hacks to Simplify Your Life
Zen Habits presents their collection of easy workarounds to help you cut down on unnecessary stress factors. Once you've cherry-picked your favourite hacks, click over to the site's beginner's guide for more suggestions on achieving your goals and making your day work for you.
Thanks to Sandy Lim, owner of a long-haired cat she swears is low-allergen.