tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84147989636891079732024-02-21T22:46:17.709+11:00Andrew Calvin - law, information technology and rantsCommentary, thoughts, ideas, cranky rants and more on information technology, law, politics and telecommunications <br><a href="http://au.linkedin.com/in/andrewcalvin/">LinkedIn</a> | <a href="http://calvin.it">calvin.it</a> | <a href="https://plus.google.com/107663051060911824195">Google+</a>Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.comBlogger271125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-23626887302067301232016-06-10T11:57:00.003+10:002016-06-10T11:57:57.131+10:00Lawyer scam<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
You might be interested in the latest email scam I received. Lawyers are often targeted with these and while the story differs (debt collection, family law settlement, purchase transaction...) the scam is the same - the lawyer ends up out of pocket and in trouble with the trust account inspector.<br />
<br />
What would have happened is that:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>we would have received a cheque from a purchaser to deposit into our trust account;</li>
<li>told by our "client" to deduct our professional fees; and</li>
<li>remit the balance to the vendor.</li>
</ul>
<br />
If you do your job properly and ensure true cleared funds are available then you'll get a letter from your bank telling you the cheque is fake or has bounced.<br />
<br />
However, the "client" will badger you to remit the balance from your trust account as soon as you have <i>provisional </i>cleared funds. Weeks later perhaps, because the cheque might be a foreign one, the provisional clearance will be withdrawn, and you now have paid a scammer a lot of money and you have no recourse. You've also probably breached the trust account rules because you've 'used' other client funds to pay out of the trust account or the trust account is now overdrawn.<br />
<br />
You won't breach professional responsibility by ensuring you have true cleared funds in your trust account despite your client telling you it's urgent, unless you've already agreed to remit the funds before they're properly cleared.<br />
<br />
The language of these emails is usually a bit of a giveaway - poor English, too much detail to make it sound legitimate, unnecessary detail and use of inappropriate terms. Finally, if you inspect the email headers the email address will be a variant of a real person's name but at a free account such as gmail or hotmail.<br />
<br />
Of course, both Anchorage Marine Holdings Pty Limited and Kramer Marine Services exist, but are <b>not in any way at all involved.</b><br />
<br />
Steer clear.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Sent:</b> Friday, 10 June 2016 3:59 AM</span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>To:</b> XXX</span><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><b>Subject:</b> Re: Hello</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span><br /><span lang="EN-CA">Dear {XXX} ,</span><br /><span lang="EN-CA"> </span><br /><span lang="EN-CA">We appreciate your prompt response. Our Company is selling a “200' x 48' x 10' Deck Barge and 1,500 hp Tug Combo” to a buying company in Australia. We need a lawyer that will help us draft the sales & purchase agreement for the transaction. As part of our reason to hire your firm is to prepare the agreement that will form a more legal framework in this process, so that our company can take any legal action against any payment default, hence it is going to be a cash transaction. I have attached the Barge images and description for your review, Please advise on your rate, retainer/legal fee and forward us your engagement letter/POA for us to review and if satisfied I shall have it signed and email back to you, sales price: $1,127,820 ( One Million One Hundred and Twenty-Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred and Twenty Dollars).</span><br /><span lang="EN-CA"> </span><br /><span lang="EN-CA">Kindly, see below the proposed buyer’s name for your conflict check:</span><br /><span lang="EN-CA"> </span><br /><u><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Anchorage Marine Holdings Pty Ltd</span></span></u><br /><span lang="EN-CA">Suite 15 North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia</span><br /><i><span lang="EN-CA"> </span></i><br /><b><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 14pt;">Best regards,</span></i></b><br /><i><span lang="EN-CA"> </span></i><br /><b><span lang="EN-CA">Robert Rush,</span></b><br /><b><span lang="EN-CA">Kramer Marine Services</span></b><br /><b><span lang="EN-CA">36 Osborne Crescent,</span></b><br /><b><span lang="EN-CA">Oakville, Ontario, L6H 1G1 Canada.</span></b><br /><b><span lang="EN-CA">Phone: <span class="gc-cs-link" id="gc-number-1" style="color: #0033bb; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" title="Call with Google Voice">813-642-6418</span></span></b></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></blockquote>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-CA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Scam email.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-43372178367852557022016-02-15T17:00:00.000+11:002016-02-15T17:34:11.155+11:00Giving notices under a contract<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9R-a7ImkPZlx501bJV6cctia3sQroC5-V1uonzgV85WJPHimhPu5S0Tf1Tk_4H0L_sttIIChVRAInNmvKmkeT-sJrBIsd-sMMEC_Ic6YY0vwCtNF6iKOgecXjBifnstO3OkzRbZgO1Q/s1600/antiFlash-icons-env-800px.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9R-a7ImkPZlx501bJV6cctia3sQroC5-V1uonzgV85WJPHimhPu5S0Tf1Tk_4H0L_sttIIChVRAInNmvKmkeT-sJrBIsd-sMMEC_Ic6YY0vwCtNF6iKOgecXjBifnstO3OkzRbZgO1Q/s200/antiFlash-icons-env-800px.png" width="200" /></a></div>
In-house lawyers with standard contracts should review the Notices clauses in their contracts since Australia Post changed its delivery guidelines.<br />
<br />
Most contracts have a clause that says that notices that need to be given under a contract will be deemed to be received, if posted and received in Australia, after three days. However, <a href="http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/domestic-letters.html" target="_blank">Australia Post has changed all that.</a><br />
<br />
If you put a regular (currently $1) stamp on a letter for domestic delivery, then Australia Post says it will be delivered within 2 to 6 business days from the day after posting.<br />
<br />
Note that Australia Post says "Delivery times apply from the day after posting".<br />
<br />
If you add 50 cents you can send a Priority letter which should be delivered 1 to 4 days from the day after posting.<br />
<br />
Action you need to take: Do your contracts allow sufficient time for delivery of postal notices? If you need to respond within a very short timeframe you don't want to lose some or even all of that time because you simply haven't received it. You may want to specify that notices must be sent at least by Priority letter, and deem receipt 4 days from the day after posting. You might even require a faster service option such as email, but make sure that clause is properly drafted as well.</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-53199361915350349282016-02-09T12:42:00.000+11:002016-02-09T12:44:12.447+11:00State Owned Corporations may need to take care when changing approved material lists of products that may be used in a utility network<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class=" flex_vbox" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.1.1.$SITE_PAGES.$ip3mn.1.$comp-ijm20py8.0.0.$child.$0.1.$1.$7" id="comp-ijm20py8_SinglePostMediaTop_MediaPost__0_0__type_MediaPost" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex-direction: column; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.01em 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 630px;">
<div class="s16" data-proxy-name="MediaLabel" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.1.1.$SITE_PAGES.$ip3mn.1.$comp-ijm20py8.0.0.$child.$0.1.$1.$7.$0" data-width="630" id="comp-ijm20py8_SinglePostMediaTop_MediaPost__0_0_mediaText" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div class="s16_richTextContainer s16richTextContainer" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.1.1.$SITE_PAGES.$ip3mn.1.$comp-ijm20py8.0.0.$child.$0.1.$1.$7.$0.0" id="comp-ijm20py8_SinglePostMediaTop_MediaPost__0_0_mediaTextrichTextContainer" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; height: 783px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 630px; word-wrap: break-word;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyxNuetprabs7pBSHuH4o8pzJR8YcjsvrFtoJu96IqUPXJiHK2v5stR5-tdHJwEWBZoFnAERa8NwZ67cdGkWYoejtksfqsBCLU6O2gZ-qwsiEcdxx73Ld5kh0YYi-payBHzsMd3ZxEXaE/s1600/fre-sonneveld-powerlines-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyxNuetprabs7pBSHuH4o8pzJR8YcjsvrFtoJu96IqUPXJiHK2v5stR5-tdHJwEWBZoFnAERa8NwZ67cdGkWYoejtksfqsBCLU6O2gZ-qwsiEcdxx73Ld5kh0YYi-payBHzsMd3ZxEXaE/s200/fre-sonneveld-powerlines-large.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Many power, gas and water utilities maintain lists of products that are approved to be used on their network. Contractors may only use products from these lists when connecting customers or building or maintaining infrastructure. Could a change to such a list give rise to a cause of action by a supplier whose products were removed?</div>
</div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
In a recent interlocutory judgement, the Supreme Court of NSW held that a supplier had shown that there are serious questions to be tried in relation to whether the electrical utility’s decision to remove products from its list:</div>
<br /></div>
<ol class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1.3em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
is an administrative decision which is reviewable on the grounds of denial of procedural fairness, or improper purpose; and</div>
</li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
could form the basis, together with representations made by the defendant to the plaintiff, on which the plaintiff is said to have relied, of a promissory estoppel such as would prevent the defendant acting on the decision in accordance with its terms.</div>
</li>
</ol>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
In <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2016/34.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Power Grid Cables Pty Ltd v Endeavour Energy</a></span></span> [2016] NSWSC 34 (8 February 2016) Justice Adamson refused the application for an interlocutory injunction, but nevertheless found that there were serious questions to be tried.</div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
A competition issue was also raised, but the court wasn't ready to deal with it in the interlocutory hearing:</div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; margin-left: 40px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In these circumstances, it is unnecessary to form, or express, any view about whether there is a serious question to be tried whether the defendant’s conduct is otherwise unlawful on the ground that it infringes the prohibition on third-line forcing. In any event, it will be necessary to consider whether the proceedings, or some aspect of the proceedings ought be transferred to the Federal Court as it involves a “special federal matter”: ss 3 and 6 of the <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2012C00477" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-vesting) Act 1987</span></a></span> (Cth).</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2015C00327" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Competition and Consumer Act 2010</span></a></span> issue will be an important issue for utilities, as they have an obligation to ensure the reliability and safety of their networks in a cost-effective manner. It seems unlikely from a policy perspective that State owners would permit competition issues to interfere with those obligations. It seems equally unlikely that the courts would find that it is a form of third-line forcing, but the decision will provide welcome clarity.</div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #2a2b2c; font-family: avenir-lt-w01_35-light1475496, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
The substantive hearing on 2 March 2016 is likely to be of great interest to Australian utilities and their suppliers.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class=" flex_vbox" data-reactid=".0.$SITE_ROOT.$desktop_siteRoot.$PAGES_CONTAINER.1.1.$SITE_PAGES.$ip3mn.1.$comp-ijm20py8.0.0.$child.$0.1.$1.$8" id="comp-ijm20py8_SinglePostMediaTop_MediaPost__0_0_def_20_true" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; flex-direction: column; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0.01em 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 630px;">
</div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-21083359161201213002016-01-27T08:31:00.001+11:002016-01-27T08:35:41.437+11:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Australians have access to a number of on-demand video services, such as Presto, Stan and Netflix, and these are changing the way we consume video entertainment.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5c3e71cea2424496b3a706320832eaff.jpg/v1/fill/w_356,h_237,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/5c3e71cea2424496b3a706320832eaff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5c3e71cea2424496b3a706320832eaff.jpg/v1/fill/w_356,h_237,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/5c3e71cea2424496b3a706320832eaff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Netflix in particular has a global reach, and you may not know that your "Australian" Netflix account is really a global account, and the content you see varies, depending on what country you're in when you log in.<br />
<br />
Netflix will happily let you use your account all over the world, but if some content has not been licensed for a particular country, then you won't even see it in search results while you're in that country.<br />
<br />
It's all about maximising investment in creating content, which is obviously usually a sensible idea. If you pump capital into something, you're usually doing it to get a commercial return.<br />
<br />
Here's an example; <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/miss-fishers-murder-mysteries/" target="_blank">Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries</a>, made in Australia, funded by the ABC, Film Victoria, Screen Australia and AII3Media International, and shown on the ABC. But here's the issue: Seasons 1, 2 and 3 are available on Netflix in the USA, but only seasons 1 & 2 are available on Netflix in Australia.<br />
<br />
Why? Because Netflix hasn't been able to obtain the geographic rights to make season 3 available in Australia. Why is that? I don't really know, but I imagine it is because the rights owners such as the ABC wants to exploit season 3 further in Australia, before licensing it more cheaply to Netflix for Australian viewers. The ABC probably doesn't see any particular value in trying to exploit the USA rights itself, and has let Netflix and possibly others do that instead.<br />
<br />
As you can see, Netflix doesn't make these decisions - the owners of the rights decide where Netflix can exploit the content. The contract between Netflix and a content owner will no doubt have a clause in it requiring Netflix to use best efforts to prevent content being watched in unlicensed countries.<br />
<br />
Some customers of Netflix are aware of these geographic restrictions, and use services such as <a href="http://www.getflix.com.au/" target="_blank">Getflix</a> to convince the Netflix servers that they are in another country. A Getflix customer can (at least for the time being) be in Australia but appear to be in any of about 20 countries. It also works in reverse, so you could be in Vietnam (where you can't watch Netflix at all) but appear to be in Australia.<br />
<br />
Is this geo-dodging legal? It's probably not a breach of the Australian Copyright Act 1968, because simply watching a streamed video at home is not one of the rights controlled by copyright law here. Copyright is more about copying, reproducing, performing publicly and adapting works. The Act does deal with broadcasting and unauthorised decoding of subscription broadcasts, but Netflix isn't a broadcaster within the technical meaning of that term.<br />
<br />
So it might not be a breach of legislation to do this, but it is most definitely a breach of your contract with Netflix. Clause 4.3 says:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
4.3. You may view a movie or TV show through the Netflix service primarily within the country in which you have established your account and only in geographic locations where we offer our service and have licensed such movie or TV show. The content that may be available to watch will vary by geographic location and will change from time to time. The number of devices on which you may simultaneously watch depends on your chosen subscription plan and is specified on the "Your Account" page.</blockquote>
<br />
You should note though that using, say, Getflix is not the problem - the problem is watching something that is not licensed in your geographic location.<br />
<br />
If Netflix catches you breaching the contract, it is entitled to give you notice of the breach, and its intention to terminate the contract if you don't remedy the breach by stopping watching videos you shouldn't be watching.</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-90057020142900910922015-10-27T09:08:00.001+11:002015-10-27T09:08:07.895+11:00Ingress, exercise & in-app purchases<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've played <a href="http://ingress.com/" target="_blank">Ingress </a>(ingress.com) for a year or so now, to encourage me to walk. Some people find it very social, whereas I don't interact with other players at all - this is about me getting some exercise. I've walked 284 km as at the date of writing and have reached level 9.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJJjZ-F4dQRH57ndfqSVTTK1Sh98inxY3xhl2Dk4Q50JyS_22VXQuzicHCZz1eh-BE_A-d6xiud3e60_AUJZMbdhIF-EgFI3XPbt1p8qxhuEqqwFzOmW2P-kO3OBZP5UCuCN6Sr4iIII/s1600/IMG_0407.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJJjZ-F4dQRH57ndfqSVTTK1Sh98inxY3xhl2Dk4Q50JyS_22VXQuzicHCZz1eh-BE_A-d6xiud3e60_AUJZMbdhIF-EgFI3XPbt1p8qxhuEqqwFzOmW2P-kO3OBZP5UCuCN6Sr4iIII/s320/IMG_0407.PNG" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
Today I noticed the Android version asked for permission for in-app purchases. <a href="http://www.nianticproject.com/" target="_blank">Niantic Labs</a>, which used to be part of Google, is doing some interesting things such as teaming up with Pokemon to produce a similar game (I assume it will require players to walk/bike/move around to physical sites to catch Pokemons). Pokemon will have a pay-for element, and as many have anticipated, it seems Ingress will too.<br />
<br />
I've seen concerns on the internet about this, but I trust that Niantic will do this well, and it won't be a "pay to win" type of game. The other difficult balance will be between people at higher levels already as compared with those new to the game who might have to pay to level up at the same speed as the longer term players.<br />
<br />
Anyway, if you need some encouragement to get walking and see the world, I'd recommend Ingress, whether or you not you're interested in the social aspects of it!<br />
<br /></div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-91016737773712683292015-10-06T15:38:00.001+11:002015-10-06T15:40:04.086+11:00Samsung phones and a Renault Megane RS 250<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have a Samsung Galaxy Alpha phone, which I have come to really not like at all. It has had many issues, including simply not working for more than an hour or so at a time on the Optus network in Australia (an insider at Samsung Australia confirmed that it's a known issue).<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I waited for the launch of the Nexus 5X and 6P in late September 2015 to see if I wanted one of those, but ended up ordering an iPhone 6S+ after the Google announcement. However, I'm still very happy with my employer supplied Nexus 5.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I really hate the Alpha now. It's slow, it's aggressive at terminating apps in the background in a way that my Nexus 5 simply doesn't, and today it killed (well, rendered unconscious) the radio head unit in my Renault Megane RS 250!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've used this phone with the bluetooth in this car for 6 months without issue. Today though, while I was driving I went to switch from AM radio to bluetooth. It wouldn't change. I stopped the car and shut everything down - didn't fix it. I turned the radio off, and then it wouldn't turn on again. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I rang Renault (North Shore Renault at Waitara, to give them a plug, because they fixed this for free without an appointment), and the first question asked was "Do you have a Samsung phone?"</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
He advised that if a Samsung phone tries to download its contacts to the car, it will sometimes crash the head unit. The phone asks if it can download them during the pairing procedure, and I have always permitted it, despite it never actually downloading them (which is a fail all by itself). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So 15 minutes in the workshop for a reset of the head unit, and it's working normally now. Renault cleared all the bluetooth pairings, so I made sure when I paired it again that I cancelled the address book download. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yet another black mark for Samsung and the Galaxy Alpha - although the service manager said that all Samsungs including the S5 and S6 do it as well.</div>
</div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-16563622239903558552015-07-01T09:21:00.001+10:002015-07-02T09:03:56.983+10:00Samsung Galaxy Alpha SM-G850Y - Lollipop now available<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Bii7k_OhJsx-LJ2jM9yPSzxvwnFmZ_AnEvf8B9NLYPhLFXax321UFuSHqiP0GvMqkGEgzcH0NnrWA2030I-RCcmn_kKV2nwEJAGVXUXRUwMyYA_LUzztjQDCMibtTXednUIbm-6Qr-o/s1600/Screenshot_2015-07-01-08-52-56.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Samsung Galaxy Alpha SM-850Y running Android Lollipop 5.0.2" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Bii7k_OhJsx-LJ2jM9yPSzxvwnFmZ_AnEvf8B9NLYPhLFXax321UFuSHqiP0GvMqkGEgzcH0NnrWA2030I-RCcmn_kKV2nwEJAGVXUXRUwMyYA_LUzztjQDCMibtTXednUIbm-6Qr-o/s400/Screenshot_2015-07-01-08-52-56.png" title="Samsung Galaxy Alpha SM-850Y running Android Lollipop 5.0.2" width="225" /></a>I bought a Samsung Galaxy Alpha SM-G850Y some months ago and still have mixed feelings about it. It's not a terrible phone, but it does seem to be a phone in search of a reason for existence. Its screen is clearly not as good as a Nexus 5 (1280x720), although the battery life is about the same.<br />
<br />
It wasn't particularly cheap, and I really didn't think it would ever be upgraded to Lollipop, since the SM-8G50Y model is a bit peculiar compared to other SKUs. For example, the SM-G850S has been receving the upgrade since mid-April 2015. I understand the reason for this is that <a href="http://www.techspot.com/review/910-samsung-galaxy-alpha/page3.html" target="_blank">some SKUs</a> have the Exynos 5 Octa 5430, but others have a Snapdragon 801.<br />
<br />
However, today (1 July 2015) I was notified of the availability of an update from 4.4.4 to 5.0.2 (although at the time of writing the generally available version of Lollipop for, say, my Nexus 5, is 5.1.1). The download was about 850 MB and the process took 35 minutes.<br />
<br />
There are only a few obvious changes, but I'm looking forward to having better notifications. Sadly it doesn't have "Screen pinning" which I use a fair bit in certain situations, but it does have Smart Lock (although "Trusted voice" isn't available for my language) which is also very useful.</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-41923290786886824482015-06-23T12:01:00.001+10:002015-06-23T12:01:09.325+10:00Iceland and data security<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 2010 the government of Iceland decided it wanted to
create a haven for new media that would be at the forefront of data security in
Europe and perhaps the world. Since then the many data centres have been built
in Iceland. Why would you store your data in Iceland? Deutsche Wella recently
did a video piece on the topic.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although an island, Iceland is only a few hours away from
major capitals in the West. As an island it may be that it is less susceptible
to large-scale physical attack on data centres (although to be fair, I’ve never
heard of one occurring anywhere). Iceland has renewable energy, and one would
imagine that cooling might not be too expensive even in summer. Verne Global's facility has a Level 3 connection, providing direct connectivity to many
countries. Iceland might be also considered as being physically between Europe
and the United States. The government of Iceland has partially funded
development of these data centres, and it has some of the most stringent data
protection legislation anywhere in the world — don’t forget that this is where
the Pirate Party was founded, as well as the forerunner of the International
Modern Media Institute, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative. Both these
organisations have had the aim of protecting and promoting freedom of
expression and the freedom of information.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Iceland has an interesting piece of legislation — the Act on
the Protection and Processing of Personal Data, number 77/2000. The purpose of
the act is to promote the processing and collection of data in conformity with
data protection and the right to privacy. The Icelandic Data Protection
Authority can enter any premises where personal data is being processed without
a court order. The purpose of these powers is to ensure compliance with the law.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A proposal being pushed by activists is a right to “data
asylum” which might position Iceland as a data privacy haven. The International
Modern Media Institute (IMMI) and its predecessor have been promoting legal
frameworks for privacy in Iceland for five years, and Hörður Helgi Helgason , the
ex-CEO of the Icelandic Data Protection Authority, has recently been named
chairman of the steering group of the IMMI. Unfortunately, despite the high
profile support to put Iceland at the forefront of data privacy, there is still
some way ago.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-37703254349020691412015-03-26T20:34:00.001+11:002015-03-26T20:34:42.797+11:00Australia meta data laws pass through parliamenthttp://mobile.news.com.au/technology/online/abbott-governments-metadata-laws-pass-parliament/story-fnjwnfzw-1227280196550Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-85960634197523362882015-03-03T23:44:00.001+11:002015-03-03T23:44:50.618+11:00OS X 10.10.3 beta<p dir="ltr">Meh. It does photos differently. Don't worry about it. Seriously.</p> Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-33761016272933265182015-02-10T18:31:00.001+11:002015-02-11T10:11:59.731+11:00Microsoft Outlook on Android<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">
A lot has been written in the last week about the rebadged software now known as <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.outlook" target="_blank">Outlook</a>. I have to say that most of it is uninformed and some of it is wrong. Bloggers are being very charitable to Microsoft for some reason - but actually it's just not that great. Why? <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Before the announcement of the acquisition by Microsoft I did a short roundup (<a href="http://blog.calvin.it/2014/11/exchange-email-applications-for-android.html">http://blog.calvin.it/2014/11/exchange-email-applications-for-android.html</a>) of Exchange clients and I settled on Nine. It certainly isn't perfect, but it's <i>way better </i>than the new Outlook product. In fact, I wrote this blog post in it, and you might notice it's in <i><b>rich</b></i> text - something Outlook can't do.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It just goes to show that a lot of blogs don't even look at the product - they either regurgitate press releases or other site's reviews.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Not much has changed since I was once complimented by a magazine editor for actually playing the games I reviewed.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-74316949961020526612015-01-20T17:39:00.001+11:002015-01-20T17:53:03.617+11:00Downgrade Nexus 5 from Lollipop to KitKat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/4vN4rXa1jN2kTEBpDa9xpXMS3xyNHgB67xNn2L9XWJyx_H2xgT4R9rNJhQv_mx3FSEw=h900" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/4vN4rXa1jN2kTEBpDa9xpXMS3xyNHgB67xNn2L9XWJyx_H2xgT4R9rNJhQv_mx3FSEw=h900" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
Yesterday I downgraded my Nexus 5 from Lollipop (5.0.1) to KitKat (4.4.4). Why?<br />
<br />
I've actually got two Nexus 5 phones. One is my work phone which has always been on KTU84Q, which is the special 4.4.4 image for a few carriers (including Telstra) in Australia, and the other was on KTU84P, for which I receved an over the air update to 5.0 and later 5.0.1. I have a 2013 Nexus 7 which is on Lollipop after an OTA upgrade.<br />
<br />
As a result, I've had ample opportunity to compare 4.4.4 and 5.0.1, and it's clear to me that I not only prefer 4.4.4, but it's <i>better </i>than 5.0.1.<br />
<br />
<b>Problems with Lollipop</b><br />
<br />
Audio on Lollipop over Bluetooth is problematic (at least it is with my Renault <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=megane+rs+250&newwindow=1&espv=2&biw=1264&bih=1287&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9vm9VI71KMKNmwWs_IHYAg&ved=0CCIQsAQ" target="_blank">Megane RS 250</a>). Waze and Google Maps voice prompts don't play - they just stop the music playing.<br />
<br />
Bluetooth handover from car to phone is 5-8 seconds, rather than about 2 seconds under KitKat.<br />
<br />
When listening to FM or AM radio, the Nexus would send the odd short noise to the radio head unit, like it was trying to force a Bluetooth connection, but not following through.<br />
<br />
The quick access to WiFi and Bluetooth in Lollipop from a swipe down is different in behaviour to KitKat - in KitKat you can either toggle WiFi or Bluetooth, or choose a new WiFi network or Bluetooth device. That was taken away in Lollipop - you can only turn them on or off.<br />
<br />
Battery life... this is a bit like talking about unicorns, but I had a suspicion that battery life dropped off with Lollipop, and now after a couple of days back on KitKat my battery life is restored. However, to be fair, I haven't put back every single app onto my phone since the downgrade, so it is possible that one of those apps is responsible (but I doubt it).<br />
<br />
BeyondPod started behaving badly - the shortcut controls from a swipe down often didn't respond at all, and BeyondPod would become uncontrollable.<br />
<br />
There were regular "pauses" on the phone generally, where nothing would happen for a few seconds.<br />
<br />
The things I've mentioned above were clearly enough for me to downgrade, although I'll leave my Nexus 7 on Lollipop so I stay in touch with what's going on with the OS. However, I can add another reason - Lollipop didn't offer any substantial advantages that outweighed the inconveniences in the interface.<br />
<br />
I should say that none of these issues arose on my work phone that had stayed on 4.4.4.<br />
<br />
Despite the absolute rubbish you read on so-called tech news on the web, a lot of phones haven't had Lollipop pushed to them - I have a feeling Google knows that there are issues with it. Trust me, you don't really need the minor conveniences that Lollipop gives, and the "<a href="http://www.gottabemobile.com/2014/12/01/nexus-lollipop-problems-fixes/" target="_blank">tech tips</a>" that some sites give to fix Lollipop problems on a Nexus 5 really don't have a foundation in fact and are simply based on hope.<br />
<br />
<b>If you want to downgrade?</b><br />
<br />
You should probably just <a href="https://www.google.com.au/search?q=downgrade+lollipop+to+kitkat&oq=downgrade+loll&aqs=chrome.0.0l2j69i57j0l3.5351j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8" target="_blank">search </a>for the answer, but the short version is:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>you'll be completely wiping your handset, which shouldn't be a problem if you use it properly (i.e. let it back up photos etc and not have the <i>only </i>copy of anything on it), but...</li>
<li>if you use Google Authenticator or any other two factor authenticator you should migrate them to another device or use a different second factor (SMS etc)</li>
<li>you'll need to download some stuff - the<a href="https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images" target="_blank"> image file</a>, ADB drivers from Google, and the ADB Tools</li>
<li>you'll need to understand how to boot the phone into recovery mode and it's a little more fiddly than you think</li>
<li>you'll need to spend some time manually reinstalling your apps</li>
</ul>
<div>
Once you've done something like this then it's not so hard, but it's not exactly entertaining. For me - the downgrade was worth it, and I'll hold off any further upgrades till I have a better sense of what's happening.</div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-52518077363392917832015-01-03T18:45:00.001+11:002015-01-03T18:46:13.876+11:00Consumer Refund Directive<p dir="ltr">If you sell into the European Union you should find out more about the Consumer Refund <u>Directive</u>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">http://www.techtimes.com/articles/23710/20141230/apple-offering-14-days-refund-policy-in-eu-for-itunes-app-store-purchase-why-not-the-us.htm</p>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-29062554702515949502014-12-20T12:57:00.002+11:002014-12-30T15:23:59.746+11:00CloudHQ review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Having recently returned to private legal practice, it's been an interesting time to think about best practices for data storage, information capture and document management. While there are a number of enterprise grade products that would be excellent single repositories for email, documents and notes, there are other options that work well with a bit of thought.<br />
<br />
I recently came across <a href="http://www.cloudhq.net/" target="_blank">cloudHQ</a>, which reminded me of <a href="http://www.ifttt.com/" target="_blank">IFTTT</a>, but goes much further and has far greater application for a business user. Both products act as the glue in the middle of various cloud services, such as allowing <a href="http://www.evernote.com/" target="_blank">Evernote</a> to exchange data with <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox</a>, but cloudHQ integrates more deeply and with greater functionality.<br />
<br />
As a very long-term Evernote user, I have a lot of data there, and it is very easy to create notes when out and about with a mobile device . As a lawyer, making a file note contemporaneously with a conversation can be very important, and on mobile phones Evernote is really the easiest place to do that. In fact, using the IFTTT Android channel, a note is automatically created in Evernote every time I create or receive a phone call on any of my Android phones. It captures the phone number, caller name if possible, date and time and length of call. I can then add to that note any notes that I need to make.<br />
<br />
Where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cloudHQ" target="_blank">cloudHQ </a>comes in is when I want to take the data out of Evernote and put it into the file system. We operate with virtual desktops which are securely hosted and provide our law firm with great flexibility in where we work and how we work. Evernote has many great features, and Evernote for business is coming along well, but our current source of truth is the file server that is part of our virtual environment. CloudHQ will automatically either copy or sync my Evernote notes into <a href="http://www.dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox</a>, <a href="http://onedrive.live.com/" target="_blank">OneDrive</a>, <a href="http://drive.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Drive</a>, <a href="http://www.box.com/" target="_blank">box</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDav" target="_blank">webdav</a> (just to name the file system products) as Word and/or PDF files continuously. It happens on the cloudHQ servers so my bandwidth is not affected, and it can be a one-way or two-way synchronisation.<br />
<br />
A nice feature is a form of versioning, where cloudHQ will automatically save previous copies of documents before overwriting with the latest version. Evernote does not automatically version documents, and you have to rely on it simply creating a new version from time to time, over which you have no control. That doesn't really work for lawyers - we need certainty over how version control works.<br />
<br />
Outlook email is not solved with cloudHQ, but Gmail and Google Apps are very nicely integrated. I personally have a Google Apps account, so I can do backup emails with that account under the premium plan, where it will back up or migrate all emails into Evernote or the file system (Dropbox, OneDrive et cetera) or another connected service. CloudHQ also permits two-way or one-way sync of just a single label.<br />
<br />
Even where sync is two-way, you can choose whether or not to replicate deletion of files and folders. This let you have hybrid models of backup rather than simply synchronisation. The output for emails can be HTML, text, PDF, EML and others. Attachments are also exported automatically.<br />
<br />
The control panel for managing your synchronisation pairs is easy to use and gives you a great deal of control over synchronisation. Events are logged and viewable, and synchronisation can be paused without deleting the entire rule.<br />
<br />
There are many use cases for cloudHQ, and whether or not it is valuable for you will depend on what you need. I find the ability to get data out of Evernote without any effort into a file system folder is really valuable, because it lets me use Evernote for what it's good at on mobile devices without ending up with multiple repositories for my important client data.<br />
<br />
I think cloudHQ is well worth a look.<br />
<br />
(Disclosure: I may receive a discount from cloudHQ for writing this blog post, but that was not the purpose of this post nor did affect my evaluation of the product.)</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-77992841520635079072014-12-15T21:35:00.001+11:002014-12-15T21:39:18.172+11:00Sydney exclusion zone 16 December 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you work in the Sydney central business district, the NSW State government has issued a map and details of an exclusion zone around the Lindt cafe. Since I work one day a week in Martin Place next to the zone I thought I'd share it:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-UzJZdvmWuVa0fsXxfqC2AdFuV030Ketku1KkYAKpnP_5aECsXFX9BTi9EEO2Fwbdg-zXMhXFgkJ1zEi8JR6SNhoWHoRdspj-aylp2QIPtlcTWafzpoYKeEmPmrYxtvu0BxuY8ACRK4/s1600/ScreenClip.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd-UzJZdvmWuVa0fsXxfqC2AdFuV030Ketku1KkYAKpnP_5aECsXFX9BTi9EEO2Fwbdg-zXMhXFgkJ1zEi8JR6SNhoWHoRdspj-aylp2QIPtlcTWafzpoYKeEmPmrYxtvu0BxuY8ACRK4/s1600/ScreenClip.png" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Details of zone: </b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nsw.gov.au/exclusion-zone-sydney" target="_blank">http://www.nsw.gov.au/exclusion-zone-sydney</a><br />
<br />
<b>Map of zone: </b><br />
<a href="http://www.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/martinplaceexclusionzone.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/martinplaceexclusionzone.pdf</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-35690365690281988852014-11-29T19:11:00.004+11:002014-11-29T19:11:53.274+11:00OS X force quit - fail<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm happy to be corrected on this, but today I had an app that misbehaved on Yosemite, and the Force Quit... command didn't interrupt the misbehaving application nor the operating system. The force quit dialogs sat behind the errant app, and couldn't solve the problem.<br />
<br />
Maybe I'm naive, (I doubt it) but an operating system should give the user control to manage every running app on the system. OS X does not. (Windows is better, but not as good as it should be).</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-89858371092535893922014-11-22T15:57:00.000+11:002014-11-22T15:57:10.328+11:00Exchange email applications for Android<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Over the last few days I've done a quick review of a number of Microsoft Exchange email clients for Android. I like to keep work and private life separate, and in Lollipop this has become harder when using the default Gmail and Email applications. After an upgrade, my corporate Exchange account was combined into the Gmail application, and that isn't what I wanted.<br />
<br />
So I did a short review of the following apps from the Play Store:<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>AcquaMail</li>
<li>MailWise</li>
<li>Accompli</li>
<li>CloudMagic</li>
<li>Nine</li>
</ol>
<div>
(I also did a review of BlueMail, which is not an Exchange client, but worth mentioning - see below)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>These are all good applications</i> - lots of work has gone into them, and I could live with any of them. Clearly though, I wanted to work out what was best for me.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The application I think I will purchase? <b>Nine</b>, but it wasn't easy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Your use-case may differ. This is not about the "better app"; it's about what works best for me.</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Nine</h2>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>clean interface, nice to look at</li>
<li>threaded email conversations</li>
<li>rich text HTML body</li>
<li>rich text signature</li>
<li>works offline</li>
<li>two widgets - one that shows recent emails, the other that shows unread count and starts the app</li>
<li>can compose and "send" while offline and it will send when back online</li>
<li>cons</li>
<ul>
<li>I missed the neat integration in CloudMagic with Evernote and Todoist</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
CloudMagic</h2>
</div>
<div>
no rich text - dealbreaker</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>clean interface, nice to look at</li>
<li>would do the job for me except for the "Cons" below</li>
<li>had very neat integration with Evernote, Todoist, Trello and a number of other useful apps</li>
<li>Cons</li>
<ul>
<li>no rich text</li>
<li>doesn't work offline</li>
<li>no threading</li>
<li>didn't always sync fast enough for me</li>
<li>a bit slow to display inbox because it goes to a cloud service</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Acquamail</h2>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>did the job</li>
<li>nice rich text in email and signature</li>
<li>cons</li>
<ul>
<li>interface was not my cup of tea</li>
<li>wasn't obvious how to get to subfolders</li>
<li>no threading</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
Accompli</h2>
<div>
no rich text - deal breaker</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>good interface and showed cc/bcc without any extra clicks</li>
<li>has threading</li>
</ul>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
MailWise</h2>
</div>
<div>
No rich text - dealbreaker</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Nice interface</li>
<li>threading</li>
<li>cons</li>
<ul>
<li>no rich text</li>
<li>I didn't like the way it handled an email with no body text but had an attachment - wasn't obvious that there was an attachment</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
BlueMail</h2>
<div>
While I'm at it, I should mention I tried BlueMail before I realised it didn't do Exchange - however, I was impressed with how it worked with my Google Apps account. It's quite a good Gmail client, and it has some features that help you turn emails into sort-of to-do tasks. Well worth a look!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-12648430117846153982014-11-20T20:06:00.001+11:002014-11-20T20:18:22.637+11:00Android 5.0 Lollipop - early issues<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="mobile-photo">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #663366; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTfl_xykpL9KErJWU4Yxx9PvN410J_NxSzpg0zP6XkcFHpdDb80q29jw9n3ZSvUsFe3EYZJ_w12eQq7NpCaZefcq_uEEXtNR4e22Jsoj-5Y9JPnnYFoobHEhixr4sCcq8pRY36uv4Myc/s1600/Screenshot_2014-11-20-20-16-09.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTfl_xykpL9KErJWU4Yxx9PvN410J_NxSzpg0zP6XkcFHpdDb80q29jw9n3ZSvUsFe3EYZJ_w12eQq7NpCaZefcq_uEEXtNR4e22Jsoj-5Y9JPnnYFoobHEhixr4sCcq8pRY36uv4Myc/s1600/Screenshot_2014-11-20-20-16-09.png" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
I've had the over-the-air update to Android 5.0 Lollipop for 36 hours, and I have a few observations:</h3>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color: #663366; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default">
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Skype stopped working until uninstalled and reinstalled</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My Nexus 5 lost its APN settings (carrier is virtual mobile network operator TPG, which resells Optus in Australia)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">No obvious effect on battery life</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In two apps a dialogue box has stopped working - I can't connect in FinchVPN, and I can't install the latest beta of Waze. In each case, the relevant button doesn't work and I have to click cancel.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Some things take more clicks - e.g. changing the wifi network manually or getting into Settings</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Notifications on the lock screen are pretty cool, but you need to change the notification settings for apps that tended to sit in the Notifications area in 4.4.4, such as Skype or Lightflow</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Do Not Disturb is a nice touch but not completely intuitive to set up</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I had read reports that there would be a single app for mail that did both Gmail and Exchange - that's not correct. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Messenger is much better for SMS than Hangouts</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Bluetooth settings now have not only Phone Audio and Media Auto, but also Contact Sharing, which reduces a dialog when connecting in a car.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">There are plenty of bugs, such as the button bug above, and sometimes checkboxes don't respond, such as when changing the profiles of a paired Bluetooth device</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Summary</b></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default">
<span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #663366; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I'd say it's worth upgrading, but don't do it on the morning of a day that you really need your phone to work completely as expected!</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-71869423470248021242014-11-08T13:51:00.004+11:002014-11-08T13:51:44.708+11:00Long term review of the MacBook Air mid 2013<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Although I have used Macintoshes professionally since System 6, I by choice use Windows computers since Windows 7 - working in enterprises means that I need to use Windows apps, and I don't need cross-platform-aggro. Having said that, I have a 2013 MacBook Air and a 2013 MacMini (with an aftermarket SSD and aftermarket 8 GB RAM - the Mini is unusable if you don't do this).<br />
<br />
Even on Yosemite I don’t really like the Finder. It's ok, and I can live with it, but as an operating system shell it has a few faults. Windows 7 does too (don't mention Windows 8 or 8.1 - but the Windows 10 technical preview might one day be as ok as Windows 7).<br />
<br />
So, I have a MacBook Air 13" mid 2013 model. I really, really like it. It's, given the present state of the art, the best laptop out there for my use case.<br />
<br />
I don't use Boot Camp. I boot into OS X 10.10, but have Parallels 10, so I can use Foxit Phantom PDF Standard and Microsoft Office 2010 (2013 really annoys me). I use Foxit because OS X Preview bloats file sizes badly, and Foxit has a bunch of other abilities.<br />
<br />
The battery life of the Air is a standout. I can easily take it out for a full day's work of 8-10 hours without worrying about the battery. As of November 2014 I can see that battery life is waning by maybe 10-20%, so a refurb will definitely be required at the 2 year mark.<br />
<br />
The screen is very nice, the size of the whole machine is just right for a portable computer, and the weight is great for a machine of this power and battery life. The power brick isn't huge, it has Intel 5000 graphics and a backlit keyboard. Time Machine works well to back up the whole disk including the Parallels files. WiFi is reliable and works on 2.4 and 5 GHz. Recharging is surprisingly fast. The speakers are fine for watching YouTube or listening to internet radio in a hotel room.<br />
<br />
An AUD$20 DisplayPort to DVI cable means I can use a second screen with just about any monitor. It also works fine with my 27" Thunderbolt Display and a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter - all very easy to use.<br />
<br />
Some foibles of OS X annoy me, but they aren't the MacBook Air's fault. I really like Chrome shortcuts on the desktop in Windows, which aren't available on OS X.<br />
<br />
I won't bore you with comments about everything about the MacBook Air mid 2013 - it's a laptop that has all the things that come along with laptops.<br />
<br />
My conclusion - after 16 months with the MacBook Air mid 2013? It's the best laptop I've used or owned.<br />
<br />
(c) 2014 Andrew Calvin, Sydney Australia</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-43198690249709484592014-10-30T23:25:00.000+11:002014-10-31T09:02:08.079+11:00DropBox or OneDrive?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have, as a university student, a 4 year subscription to onedrive for four years for USD$100. That gives me at least 1 TB but that might be "unlimited" given the news of this week.<br />
<br />
I don't think I will ever use it. Why? I don't trust it. I buy 100 GB of storage from Dropbox for a lot more, but it works better. Today I did some testing of file creation and editing on two well-connected sites (using TeamViewer to test) and Dropbox created and updated files within 5-10 seconds, OneDrive didn't update some changes at all, and most of them took a minute or two to propagate. That's not going to work for collaboration in a fast workflow.<br />
<br />
Sorry Microsoft, but this is a system I can't trust based on simple testing, and the one attraction (offline files) doesn't work that well on Windows 7, and you know I'm not going to upgrade to Windows 8.x or 10 just for that.<br />
<br />
It's got a long way to go before it's a trustworthy solution.</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-6284245224944189742014-10-17T13:37:00.001+11:002014-10-17T13:52:27.189+11:00Making file notes of phone calls while on the go<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The problem: You receive a phone call while on the go, and you really should make a written file note of what was said. You try to remember to do it when you get a chance.<br />
<br />
One solution: I use a Nexus 5 Android-based phone, and am a heavy Evernote user. I don't use Evernote as my main practice management tool, but it does have its advantages. The ingredients for the solution are:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="http://www.evernote.com/" target="_blank">Evernote</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/nexus/5/" target="_blank">Nexus 5</a> (or any Android phone)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ifttt.com/" target="_blank">IFTTT</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JAbPMWnzoek/VECByIw4xBI/AAAAAAAAaic/fCAFpHem07g/s1600/screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JAbPMWnzoek/VECByIw4xBI/AAAAAAAAaic/fCAFpHem07g/s1600/screenshot.png" height="295" width="320" /></a></div>
IFTTT has a nifty way of connecting a multitude of online services, and it solves this problem by creating a new Evernote note whenever I receive a phone call on my mobile phone. I can then type the note there and then, or when I see it later in Evernote I'm reminded to type up that file note. The file note is pre-populated with as much information as is available from the phone. I just add my own text at the end and email the note to my main system.<br />
<br />
Of course, if you use Evernote to run your practice then it's just a matter of moving it to the correct notebook.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-10076902915586761142014-10-02T13:43:00.001+10:002014-10-02T13:43:59.340+10:00National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Australian Senate has passed the <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/bills/s969_aspassed/toc_pdf/1417820.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf" target="_blank">National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014</a>. It has a lot of interesting amendments
to various pieces of legislation such as to the<i> Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979</i>, which
gives it a framework for ASIO affiliates who may be consultants or contractors
to the organisation. It also allows for secondment to or from the organisation,
and one presumes that if an employee is seconded to an overseas intelligence
organisation, they retain their powers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bill is quite long and has many interesting provisions
in it, so I’ll just note the couple of issues for now and perhaps come back to
the bill later. There are a number of provisions around computer surveillance,
which may be of a particular computer or a computer on particular premises, or
a computer associated with a person, whether or not the person’s identity is
known. In appropriate cases it permits adding, copying, deleting or altering
other data in the computer, but this should not materially interfere with the
operation of the computer unless it is necessary for the purpose of the
warrant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bill also has quite a number of provisions in relation
to how a surveillance device warrant may be issued and attempts to achieve a
fairly high bar before a warrant will be issued. Such a warrant can authorise
removing say, a clock, inserting a device into it and then returning the clock
to the premises. Even electricity cables may be tapped, and I understand that
there is some technology available that can provide intelligence from power
cables.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many of the activities set out in the bill may be done upon
authorisation by the Minister or the Director-General, rather than a judge.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-88476743774827231202014-09-25T16:59:00.001+10:002014-09-25T16:59:40.145+10:00TPG v NBN - TPG a clear leader<a href="http://m.afr.com/p/technology/for_whom_the_tpg_bell_tolls_nbn_hHp4opBAsLNiVnhM1VSpbI">For whom the TPG bell tolls: NBN competition heats up</a>: (source - Financial Review)<br /><br />
<br /><br />
So TPG is now offering 100 Mb down, 50 Mb to selected developments in Sydney, such as my mate's place at Millers Point. Unlimited data, plus calls at that speed, all for about $60!<br /><br />
<br /><br />
That leaves the NBN for dead. There were some machinations, it seems, at the ACCC about whether or not TPG could do this, but it's definitely up and running as my buddy's smile proves.<br /><br />
<br /><br />
I've done a bit of analysis of the cost and access to the National Broadband Network before, so I'll keep this short and remind you that those 100 Mb speeds that have been advertised to you by the previous Labor government in particular are Tier 5 speeds - most consumer plans are Tier 1 or 2, and they aren't any better (and probably worse) than existing cable from Optus. The Tier 5 costs are very expensive indeed compared to TPG's current offering.Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-45219596794482067892014-09-02T10:06:00.001+10:002014-09-02T10:07:28.915+10:00Microsoft Matter Center for Office 365 for Law Firms & In-house Counsel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Claim: <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2014/aug14/08-18mattercenterpr.aspx">Microsoft Matter Center for Office 365 boosts law firm productivity</a>:<br />
<br />
<br />
I've used SharePoint for many years, and was even on stage at the launch of SharePoint 2007 in Sydney & Melbourne, courtesy of a joint project with my law firm and Microsoft. SharePoint has its place, but it's not won me over as a true document management system yet.<br />
<br />
Office 365's incarnation of SharePoint takes us a lot closer - and Matter Center might tip the balance for me, although I reserve judgement until I can get substantial hands-on time. It relys on OneDrive for Business, which I do currently use, and I have a few reservations about it at the moment. The software isn't as mature as DropBox, and it shows in a few clumsy ways.<br />
<br />
I plan to do a full review of Matter Center for Office 365 in the not too distant future.<br />
<br />
<br />
Andrew Calvin</div>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8414798963689107973.post-58293999263426585692014-08-28T08:04:00.001+10:002014-08-28T08:04:26.461+10:00Lawyers blog better<p dir="ltr">Kevin O'Keefe correctly explains that lawyers' blogging is good for the dissemination of news...</p>
<p dir="ltr">http://abovethelaw.com/2014/08/can-lawyers-cover-events-better-than-mass-media/</p>
Andrew CAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443659752296536124noreply@blogger.com0