Telstra offer a self install kit

Telstra have another crack at the small business market with a new offering.

AustralianIT reports that Telstra will be offering a small business network self install kit that includes a domain name, two managed Exchange mailboxes and a wireless router.

It certainly sounds like an interesting product. The small business market is seriously overlooked and this is the sort of product small business owners love.

I can see a few problems though; the cost of Telstra's plans, ongoing support and domain name problems.

Choosing domain names is going to be fun. A lot of small business owners don't understand the rules for choosing .com.au names and don't appreciate that most good dot com names are gone. I expect Telstra's support people will have some serious headaches with this.

The cost of Telstra's plans is another major drawback. Telstra are never cheap for Internet access and the proposed entry level plan of $55 for 500Mb of data is recipe for small business bankruptcy.

Ongoing support is the deal breaker here. Telstra's previous efforts in this field have left small business owners on hold and frustrated for many hours.

This product will take a lot of supporting and hand holding. To make it a success, they'll have to be sharp on both marketing and support.

Telstra's moves in the small business market are well worth watching. It looks like competition in this space is going to heat up and if Telstra can do it right, they'll be in the position to grab the best market share.

You are not anonymous

The story that every single page of the latest Harry Potter book was photographed and posted to the web is fascinating on a number of levels.

First, who the heck has the time? This book has a lot of pages. Obviously some people at Scholastic have cushy jobs.

The more compelling point is the news that the poster didn't strip out their EXIF information before posting. This means the camera's maker and serial number are there for the world to see.

As the Electronic Frontiers Foundation points out, it's not just digital cameras that live your electronic fingerprints everywhere; mobile phones, printers and web browsers do a good job as well.

While it's not impossible to be anonymous it takes a lot of work. When I read some of the things people do on the net, I'm amazed they think they have some sort of anonymity.

Wireless USB is coming.

The news that Dell and Lenovo are releasing wireless USB equipped laptops will have those who hate cable clutter rejoicing.

Wireless USB is one of these technologies that's been promised for a long time but never seemed to arrive. With this announcement, it looks like USB devices without wires will be common by Christmas.

This is good news to a lot of computer users. Many people loathe the clutter that comes with a personal computer.

All these technologies have teething problems, so we'll probably see some frustrated people in the next few months. But as the prices drop and the technology is bedded down, we'll see more devices and more people buying them.