I have a few of them at the steel mill where I work. Every so often we throw one of them in the electric arc furnace to clean the lint out of them.

I don't know about anyone else, but I found it very disturbing when police shoot an unarmed woman with child (okay, you could consider she was armed with her car) and the response of the people who run the country is to applaud and congratulate them on the outcome. I personally cannot think of any situation in which someone shoots and kills someone else in which applause is an appropriate response. Recognition of duty, and perhaps somber soul-searching as to why it could happen is warranted, but applauding the unfortunate outcome is not.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology still uses a dial-up modem for its Electronic Field Book (EFB) to supply the daily observations. I think it uses something like Kermit or XMODEM to transfer a series of data files containing observation results generated by a program running in DOS on a laptop. Its antiquated, but it works. I've asked some of their software guys if they would consider a web-based submission tool, but there isn't a perceived need nor resources to implement it. We use it twice a day at the marine rescue base I volunteer at.

The new iPad supports 700 Mhz and 2100 Mhz.

Telstra "4G" is 1800 Mhz 3GPP LTE, so no love there. Telstra is shutting down its 2100 Mhz UMTS network in favour of its 850 Mhz UMTS/HSPA "NextG" network.

Optus has 'successfully' trialled a 700 Mhz 3GPP LTE network in Bendigo, Victoria, which the new iPad could theoretically connect on. The 4G network which Optus is trialling around Port Stephens, Newcastle and Lake Mac is 1800 Mhz. Optus however does own 2100 Mhz spectrum for UMTS and HSPA.

Australia's mobile carriers are basically waiting for the 700 Mhz spectrum that has been used to analogue TV transmission to date to be freed up and auctioned off.

I don't know why I bother, I can only get EDGE at work anyway :( Something about working at a steel mill seems to degrade the signal.