GarryP

Trunbull was responsible for gutting the NBN and putting in place a bunch of moron yes men. Abbott might have wanted a different policy from the ALP just to say he was different, but he wouldn't know his ethernet cable from his ongoing costs. And Trunbull could have dumped NBN-lite when he knifed Abbott (and the country would have cheered), but he didn't ...

Trunbull's legacy will be "slower, later, more expensive".

astera

Yeah, I agree that he could have changed Abbot's policy around. Any sensible person knows that there is no way around the fact that hi-speed internet is going to be a vital part of every country's infrastructure, even more so governed by the simply notion that unlike the water or gas pipe it will need to be kept at constantly-changing, world-class levels in order for a country to be regarded as part of the developed world.

Even the rollout speeds of NBN in general are just ridiculous by any standards. I would have expected 95%+ of downtown Sydney to be all within reach of a fibre-to-the-home connection a year ago or even earlier. As it stands the broadband availability map looks like an April Fool's joke...

Beoz

Tablet? What are they?

GarryP

Thing is, when Trunbull got his greasy paws on the NBN and implemented Order 66, it was just ramping up the FTTP rollout. Now, it wasn't fast enough or managed properly enough, but it was scaling up to a faster rate. Even today it outstrips the FTTN rollout by a massive amount. And the FTTN has been shown to be more complex and time consuming since you have to arrange for powered nodes all over the place (and the planning regs, agreements, etc.) Fibre is just laying the fibre, job done, future upgrades built in.

If you look 5 years down the line, we are going to be talking about at least one of the FTV providers going to the wall, much more on demand TV (will be the norm probably), 8K HDR TV, VR/360 deg CAVEs, etc. And we are still not going to have an NBN that can reliably do 25Mbit, and that will cost stupid sums every month.

NSFW, but on point :

knockoff nige

Westworld is totally worth watching if you haven't started it. Anthony Hopkins is as good as ever.

GarryP

Just got the Blu Ray delivered here to Oz. $38 for the Planet Earth II AND I (7 disks) and about 9 days end to end.

Nine are talking about showing it, probably with adverts every 10mins, "sometime in 2017" ....

Amazulu

So, Amazon Prime has officially launched in Australia

It may be good it for the initial USD2.99 6 month trial but after that is not worth the bother:
Limited content - a fraction of the US site
The usual Amazon bullshit of limiting what devices it will play on - not many in other words
Amazon not releasing the Fire TV or stick locally - and still not allowing them to be shipped outside of the US. This is ridiculous, Amazon want you to use their, excellent, streaming solutions but won't sell them outside of a few, limited countries. So they are selling you a service that you will struggle to use - why bother? Netflix plays on everything

https://www.primevideo.com/

Edit:
This is a worldwide launch for Amazon (ala Netflix about a year ago) not just Australia

Swerv-o

I can't see the list of supported devices, but I am guessing that my Linux based Media PC isn't going to cut it?


S

Swerv-o

Ah, looks like it requires a bespoke App which won't run on my HTPC, so I'll move on from this instantly.

Next...


S

Amazulu

You can play it through a Chrome or Firefox browser. I do with the US version

Ultimately though, Amazon need to release their Fire devices internationally. I don't know why they don't, they'd make a killing

GarryP

Amazon Prime Video only really makes sense as part of the overall Prime membership. You can pay $9pm for prime video, or $99pa for overall prime membership - that gives you Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Books, and 2-day delivery, same day in metro areas. They want you signed up to the lot.

Supported devices are here : https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/ontv/devices

Of course, as far as Australia is concerned, we are only likely to get that once they properly launch here in July-Sept next year. They are likely to put out both Fire and Echo when they do - making it a much better proposition.

Amazulu

Ah, looks like it's only supported in Firefox (which I use). Seriously though, why is all this compatibility shite still an issue in 2016

Firefox for Linux will soon support Netflix and Amazon videos | PCWorld

knockoff nige

Amazon need to ramp up Kindle production and design. Great devices that struggle to become more popular because they are not easy to get from day one of release due to small amount produced. Echo and fire are not for me. The Amazon button things to order toilet roll or bread by pressing a button on magnet would make your house look pretty tacky.

GarryP

Kindle have plateaued in sales. There won't be much change there (though I can see Kindle getting Echo functionality). Don't ignore Echo - it might well be their killer product going forward. You can even get it to read Kindle books to you, or listen to audio books via it.

Amazulu

Echo (Alexa) is an awesome device - and with the soon to be integrated with Sonos option will be even better. We all use it

Fire TV is the best low-cost, small box streaming solution available today IMO. Everything plays on it and the interface and voice search function are great

Agree about the Amazon buttons. They are just plain silly