superciliousness

So we hear today that the plan is for the 'new' Tcard to run in parallel to existing ticketing systems to avoid past problems. The plan is for their to be a trial period where commuters would progressively switch over to electronic ticketing (or avoid it if you are one of the losers on the new pricing regime - although the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal will be asked to develop a common fare structure. They have already said that new prices should be based on a flag-fall and a distance based charge - and have criticised the level of discount available for periodical tickets - which could see people from Newcastle and the Blue Mountains paying much more for their tickets. Given these are both ALP voting areas - it will be interesting to see how a risk adverse Iemma government will respond to that kind of suggestion. 

Of course the Garnaut Report got handed down today, but even before that we had some senior bureaucrats out talking up how everyone has to be encouraged to use less energy. Indeed water restrictions have proven that we can make drastic changes to lifestyles in order to save the planet - with most households using one third the water they used just a few years ago. Time to focus on energy consumption now eh? 

But on the same day we have news that V Australia has launched the sale of tickets - with flights from SYD and BNE to LAX taxes inclusive of $1699. This at the same time that we hear that British Airways is flying many routes with 25% of seats empty as fuel levy ç prices start to bite. That is only going to have impacts on their frequencies and I guess we will soon hear of yet another airline laying off staff as their response.

Anyway.. the week has been a tough one - but with new staff starting on Monday I decided to make everyone chip in for a bit of a working bee this afternoon to get offices cleaned up, storage sorted out and the like. I took the opportunity to get my office back in order again after a couple of particularly nasty weeks - and made a bit of symbolic move by removing the picture of JP that I have had up in my office the last couple of years. I'm not sure of how I feel about having to do it - but I guess it had to be done. Hmm. 

My MSN account is chockers with people who I don't know and who I never chat with so I have decided to make a bit of a change for my sanity. So, if you are reading my blog and you want to update your MSN list press the add button now:

superciliousness[AT]live.com

I will discontinue using my old account sometime in the next few days.

So Optus is now the first carrier to release the full detail of their iPhone plans (while Telstra has put out a media release they are keeping the fine print close to their chest). Indeed the fine print on the Optus plans is worrying some people - given it is several pages long. Making some paranoid includes statements like:

Your data allowance does not include services such as Voice calls, Voice Mail, International SMS, premium and Third Party SMS, Optus iZoo and Third Party content and applications, 1300, 1900 and VPN data usage. If you are able to access such services, your use of such services will be charged at prevailing rates.

To be honest I am not even sure what this means. How will they differentiate between 3G bandwidth used through Safari or Optus iZoo and other applications? Seems difficult to manage. And what is the prevailing rate? I guess we will find out shortly as more people ask questions over the coming weeks -  but I'm guessing they are saying if I use a third party application on my iPhone it won't be for free - because that service may charge me a fee which Optus has no control over. Maybe.

While in the US they provide unlimited data plans, this isn't the case here (at least to date), with the maximum amount 1Gb under Optus' higher cost plans - and then you are stung $35 for every 100Mb you download. Currently I have a 100Mb limit on my first generation iPhone and I - on average - hit about 70Mb a month on checking my email every 15 minutes, the occasional bit of MSN via meebo and some web surfing. Sure it is likely that I will surf some more on a faster connection and might even VOIP (fring for example allows you to Skype from your iPhone) if the data thing isn't an issue - but I can't see myself using 1Gb/month through my phone - so one of the cheaper plans will be fine for me.

Join me in the queue next Friday eh.

Today was my mum's birthday - and despite the logistics of trying to get her a decent gift (mail is only delivered a couple of times a week), I managed to do so. Gave her a call after work - and everything seems to be doing pretty well at the moment (on that side of the family at least).

After work today I went to watch the new Academy Award winning The Counterfeiters which tells the story of Operation Bernhard under which the Nazis planned to destabilise the British economy by flooding its market with forged GBP - based on the memoir of Adolf Burger who was one of the Jewish forgers who they used for the plan. It is easy to see why this won Best Foreign Language Film - and it is well worth checking out if you get the opportunity.

Was interested to read that the anti-virus vendors are getting ready to release new Mac products as Mac OS becomes more attractive to virus writers now that around 8% of the worlds computers are Macs (almost 16% in developed countries). Companies like PC Tools are bringing out mac versions of their product quickly to capitalise on the growing need for Macs to get added protection and have cutely named the product iAntiVirus. Maybe time to install something.

My boss was on a plane all day today, so I decided to take a day in lieu and try to get my head around a few things but at the end of the day I headed off to check out the new M. Night Shyamalam flick The Happening. It stars Mark Wahlberg - for whom my estimation has risen significantly over recent years. But I have to ask why Mark would have agreed to do this film after having read the script. It is just attrocious. The major problem is that the ending is such a cop-out; without Shyamalam putting any effort into his trademark twist. Not even worth checking out on DVD in my opinion.

The rest of the country appears to have caught up with my pessimism of the last few months, with a survey out today revealing that consumer confidence levels have crashed to their lowest levels since the recession in the 1990s. The number of people who think their working conditions will get worse has doubled in the last six months - from about 18% to 43% - on the back of soaring petrol prices and interest rate hikes. What will be hilarious though - is that many people in the electorate will blame this on the Rudd government; even though the problems of today can be squarely levelled at the direction that the Howard government took the country and world economic effects not under the control of any one government. Lets hope that not everyone falls for this kind of idiotic logic.

On a more fiscally responsible note we hear that Renault is thinking about importing a $10000 car into Australia form next year. The car is current sold in South America as the Dacia model Sandero - aimed at young buyers; but with people wanting to tighten belts it might get a wider market. Renault will open its first right hand drive plant in Romania; and it is also planning for a South African plant to start building the car - some of which are likely to make their way to Australia - but with a Renault badge (in case you have never heard of Dacia - its a Romanian car company - owned by the French giant).

Hmm. A new financial year - lets hope it is a better one that the last. July is always a 'taxing' time in more areas than one - with lots of annual bills like car registration and green slips due; the possibility of having to pay more tax and the like. Lets hope that the pay rise (and 11 months of backpay; and counting) that I am due finally comes through in this new tax regime that will already see my pay packet bulge with an additional $42 or so.

We learn today that Seven is going to hobble a number of the features on the TiVo before they release it here at the end of the month - and then will require us to pay for a software update early next year to 'fix' the features they have hobbled early next year. The price: $699 and only on sale at Harvey Norman and Domayne. So what will Australian's miss out on? Home networking features which allow you to transfer music, photos and video from your computer to the box; the ability to transfer your recordings to another computer or iPod; and no movie of music download stores. They have made the argument that this is to reduce complexity of the device at launch - but that is a load of shit - they are just trying to work out how to make more cash out of the thing. Is it still worth buying in the meantime?

Of course, Qantas has also launched its revamped frequent flyer program today too - with the addition of features like Any Seat and points plus pay to give the 5 million members access to more seats (at a significant cost by all accounts - a little under twice as much for a seat in 3 months time).

Back to work - even though this morning I really didn't want to go in. Events of the last few weeks have meant that time to think over the weekends make me very reluctant to head into work on Monday mornings. I might even plan for a day off this week if I can manage one. The day was actaully very busy - but with most of it at my desk trying to catch up on stuff. We will have to wait and see if this gets me anywhere in the long run.

After work I headed off to Greater Union because I had one more voucher that had to be used before the end of the financial year. This time I went to see Get Smart which was actually quite fun (but then again I really did enjoy the 1960s TV series when I used to watch it in re-runs as a school kid). If you are into comedies it is well worth going and checking out.

The news of the day is that Telstra has signed a deal with Apple that will allow the carrier to launch the iPhone on July 11 - the same day as Optus and Vodafone - not on July 22 as previously predicted. They have also stolen a bit of a march on the other carriers in that they have launched their pricing. All subscribers will be required to to sign up to a two year plan - which start as low as $30 a month with an upfront cost of $279 for the 8Gb model and $399 for the 16Gb model; but if you sign up to a $100/month plan you will get the phone for free. If you live (or travel extensively) outside metropolitan areas - there are some real reasons for signing up with Telstra; but these plans don't give any detail on the data allowances which traditionally have been very expensive with the carrier. Will have to wait for more detail (and the offerings from the other carriers) to see if they are competitive.

Loads of things have changed in the last week so why not put a new face on the website as well. Hope you find it easy to use.

Hmmm.. I have a bit of a thing for boys with solid legs. So Sam Perrett from the Roosters could definitely make it onto the short list.

Before heading off for the day (road trip!) I headed off to Greater Union to use one of the last vouchers that I have to see Kung Fu Panda. I am a bit of a fan of Jack Black, and this was no exception - all good fun stuff. A good distraction for the start of the day.

We read today that NSW MPs are plotting to kick Morris Iemma out - because of his very lacklustre performance in the polls. That will only get worse with the Sun-Herald/Taverner poll today saying that the Opposition would win with a 56-44 two-party preferred landslide if an election were held today - a similar result to that which wiped out the ALP when Unsworth lost back in 1988. Over a third of those surveyed who said they supported the ALP at the voting booth last year - said that their performance had been 'poor' since that time. Morris is seen as the best of a bad bunch, but is this just going to be a case of getting rid of the leader because of fears for their seats in the face of the privatisation of electricity which is a significant bit of reform which will bring in badly needed dollars for infrastructure investment? And who are the alternatives? Only 28% like the idea of John Watkins at Premier, 23% like Carmel Tebbutt - even though she is currently on the backbenches having taken some time off from the Ministry to be with the family. Interestingly they are both members of the left-wing faction of the party - whereas Iemma is from the 'right'.

It's been a super long day. I need some sleep before work tomorrow.

Often when something seems to good to be true - it is because it is. Queensland Police have issued a warning against using the Tickets2cheap.com website to purchase tickets. Some Australian's have been caught when they purchased some amazingly cheap tickets from the website - which is run from South Africa - only to have their tickets cancelled before their flight. It appears that the scam is that they require you to pay for your tickets via Western Union (even that sounds difficult enough to make me give up on the cheap ticket); they then purchase them using stolen credit card details and as a result are often cancelled by the time you come around to fly. Ouch.

I'm currently not in the rental market (or even better the buying market), but you can always dream. The SMH ran an article today which was entitled To find a place to rent, take a week off - which pretty much sums up the situation - but only if you want to rent in the city fringe. The Real Estate Institute of NSW has found that vacancy rates throughout Sydney are currently about 1%, but within the 10km range of the city it is closer to 0.3%. To make things worse, rents have increased an average of 8-9% on renewed leases and 11-15% on new leases in the last 12 months. But the Tenants Union of NSW says people shouldn't go offering loads more money to secure a place - because 6% increases are more the average for the city (why then did my rent increase by about 14% this year). The thing I hate about inspections at the moment is the fact that you can't go out and check out a place with an agent on your own these days - you have to battle with the hordes - not good for a boy with an anxiety disorder like me! Haha.. not really. 

Am I the only one who is seeing the lost opportunity of the new Federal ALP government? Today we hear that the Rudd team is divided over exactly what to do with the looming Garnaut Report - primarily because they are worried about pissing off some of those people who voted for them because of increased prices under an emissions trading scheme. This is the kind thing that has paralysed most Labor governments - scared of being turfed out by Kennett and Greiner who embarked on unpopular reform campaigns. Some in Cabinet want to be fair with the program - while others want to exclude some greenhouse gas producers - like the agriculture sectors. There are even some people like Bob Carr who are starting to push the nuclear energy barrow. Just where are we heading? It was important to get rid of John Howard - but the new lot seem a little directionless at this point. A lot of work is going on - with no real result.

After a long day at work (for a Saturday) I'm heading off for a birthday dinner for a friend tonight. All good - I need a bit of a distraction.

He is such a babyfaced assassin (a mighty cute one at that), but those of us in Australia will know South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan from his having been coached in Melbourne. Now his coaches are saying he is likely to break the 400m freestyle record of Ian Thorpe at the Olympics. If he does it will be South Korea's first swimming medal.

A full on day yet again. I actually went into work a little bit late because I was on for a little bit of a late shift. All in all it was a long day.  

I was interested (and not at all surprised) to read that the International Association of Public Transport thinks that the NSW Government is a pack of deadshits. At the World Cities Summit in Singapore - they came out to say that Sydney has a very bad reputation for treating the management of transport companies in a way that they 'don't feel safe'. Primarily this is all about the Tcard - saying that these kind of ticketing projects always fail when there is no teamwork between politicians, bureaucrats and the contractors. The government responded by saying that companies from around the world are lining up to invest in the North West Metro project - so their reputation can't be that bad. We will see I guess. They seem to cock up just about everything else. 

You have to love some of the love being thrown at Singapore Airlines. I read an article today that implied that Singapore is at the cutting edge of providing new technology in its planes - almost implying they are the only ones who do so. Personally, having flown SIA not too long ago - I really question all the hype about their service and equipment. Sure they are good - but it all ends up on the experience of your flight. My flight was uneventful - but the service was no different to that I have experienced on Emirates, Cathay or Qantas for that matter. In fact, I have to say that the best and near worst experiences I have had have been on Qantas. Jetstar manages to maintain a fairly low standard - but you expect that.  

Still on the airline theme - it was interesting to read that the RAAF have come out this week to say that commercial interests need to temper their expectations for Newcastle Airport. This is because commercial flights at NTL actually use the Williamtown RAAF base runway - which is home to four fighter squadrons - and the RAAF think that is is reaching its capacity. This is in stark contrast to recent recommendations that said it should become the second international airport for Sydney, complete with a high speed train link back into the city.  

After work I headed into the city to Oxford St to meet up with Chris who had flown in from Melbourne today. Was good to catch up - but I have to admit I was looking forward to hitting the sack after a very very busy week this week. So I hit the M5 and headed home - bed beckons.