Dog and Bone News

The real problem with BlackBerry is the cost.  Read More

How much are free calls between your staff members really worth?  Read More

As with most forms of cyber-crime, PABX hacking or ‘phreaking’ goes largely unreported, with many businesses unwilling to risk any damage to their reputation by admitting compromised security.  Read More

As was widely reported some months ago, Research in Motion, the company responsible for BlackBerry, had announced that it was developing a multi-platform upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), which would allow it to integrate with both iOS and Android devices via a single interface.  Read More

Apple has today released the latest iteration of their mobile operating system: iOS5. This new update - which is free - is available for the following devices: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod Touch (4th Gen), iPads. In order to download it, simply connect your device to iTunes. Read More

Apple's annual announcement of the latest iPhone is always an event not to be missed, unless you don't care about iPhones, in which case it can be merely hard to avoid.  Read More

Our trials - and thank you to those who participated - have concluded that this service can prove valuable for several reasons. Firstly, we have found that staff members are far more mindful of using their mobiles responsibly when they are aware that their use is being monitored. Of course, most organisations monitor usage as a matter of course, but the monthly SMS reminder works amazingly well. This has served both to decrease misuse, and to curtail excessive use, particularly out of hours. Secondly, this service assists management in allocating costs, without it having to be reported by section managers. Read More

Some months ago I sounded off at the news that Optus was conducting the first Australian trials for a commercially-available femtocell unit. The original article can be found here. For those not up to speed, a femtocell is a portable low-power mobile base station that sits in your house or office, and carries mobile calls across your broadband connection. By deploying one of these units, you can gain stellar mobile coverage where before you had little. At least, that's the goal. As was widely discussed at the time, and remains true now, extensive studies have demonstrated that beyond a certain point of data usage it is cheaper for a carrier to simply give users a femtocell, since they save more by moving traffic off the mobile network, and on to someone else's fixed line data network. Unsurprisingly, Optus have chosen against giving them away for free. The audacious model whereby customers must pay to fix inadequate coverage remains, not to mention the privilege of reducing congestion on Optus' network. Read More