Picture and Stickers Status in Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp
Today, I got updates from Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger. The major change in these updates is to allow the user post a status with picture and stickers. This feature is in Snapchat before. This is a kind of social media feature. Facebook is social media, that is making sense to have this feature, but Whatsapp is an Instance Messenger, it is to have this feature, that is a bit strange. Moreover, a lot of contacts in Whatsapp are not my friend, they are my clients. This is not good to share my personal status. I need to change my privacy setting, I selected my friends can view the status(I have to select them, one by one, so far, I cannot find a way to select a group of friends in one go), thus this feature in Whatsapp is not very useful for me.
The fastest speed home broadband -NBN
I came from Hong Kong. The high-speed internet is an essential item at home. A lot of my friends in Hong Kong got 100Mbps internet at home, some of them got 1Gbps. What Even I have heard about the fastest speed is 20Gbps in Hong Kong, that is crazy. I believe Hong Kong is the highest density of optic fiber networks. In contrast, Australia population are more density. Even in the urban area, the population is less density than Hong Kong. Thus, we need to spend money on the infrastructure, but fewer people can use, comparing to Hong Kong.
I have used ADSL2+ for 10 ten years. Normally, that is 6Mbps download. Nowadays, even 4G is faster this speed. Recently, NBN is finally available in my area. Then I ordered an upgrade from ADSL2+ to NBN. The NBN I can have is the best option which is fiber to the premise. That is not using the old copper telephone line. Therefore, rewiring is required. The NBN Co. Technicians did wiring from outside my house to my living room where my router is siting. Then they installed an NBN box which is a kind of optical fiber modem. Finally, my router and phone need to connect to this box. Then I got the fastest speed broadband is 100Mbps download, 40Mbps upload. Well, I need to pay $30 extra per month. Unless, I only can get 12Mbps download and 1Mbps Upload.
That is a bit downside to use NBN, we have to use VOIP over NBN, the old copper phone line will be phased out. In Australia, if the area has NBN, the phone line will be phased out within a year after the date of NBN activated in your area.
This Special for IT Person
As a person who works in the IT field, what items are on specials this week doesn't sounds very related. But this week, there are a lot of good stuff which our IT people will like. Firstly, Woolworth marked down a $10 Optus pepiad SIM to $2.Wow, 80% off That SIM can have unlimited calls and SMS for 5 days and 500 MB data each day. Moreover, Coles has 20% off on the $30,$50,$100 iTune Gift Card and marked down a $30 Optus Prepaid SIM to $10. That is more than half price. This sim can have a monthly plan with unlimited calls and SMS for 28 days with 3GB data. If you activate it before Feb 2017, Optus will give you 3GB bonus data too.
I tested Mac Book Pro with Touch bar in Apple Store
Last Saturday, I went to Apple Store. I found there is a new Mac Pro book with Touch Bar. I had a play on that. I love touch bar. It can turn in the virtual keys, for example, when I need to change the volume, it displays a slider bar to come to the volume. I can slide the bar. This action we cannot do that with the volume. But if I buy one, I will use it as the main computer. I will use an external monitor and keyboard; that is not 100% useful for me.But that is very think and lightweight. That is very easy to carry around.
Robot Pepper
At the early of this year, I visited Japan. I saw a Pepper Robot in the mall. I tried to talk with him in English. I do not think he can understand. But when I tried to shake hand with him, he can understand and shake hand with me. That is cute. I think his AI can read human gestures.