'The One Percenters are stealing your Wi-Fi': Girt by CNET podcast 62
5G is coming, but 1Gbps speeds are coming sooner; get ready to bow to your VR overlords; and meet GoCar. It's Uber, but for Uber.
In sudden, but sadly not unexpected, news, the decision was made this week to shut down the majority of Dick Smith stores around Australia and New Zealand. It's a crushing blow for the once-great brand and we'll be keeping a close eye on how it all shakes out moving forward.
Australian mobile networks have been in the news with Optus trialing what it calls a 4.5G network, while Telstra is promising upgrades to its 4GX offering that will see 1Gbps speeds available in select capital cities later this year. But Telstra is already talking 5G and its set to trial the new network tech at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018. How fast is 5G? Well in very careful testing environment, Telstra has seen data download speeds of 11Gbps.
Australia is also set to get a taste of in-air Wi-Fi. Qantas will have Internet on domestic flights from 2017 thanks to the NBN satellite network.
This week you'll have witnessed the amazing reaction to the photo of Mark Zuckerberg strolling past a horde of VR goggle-wearing attendees at the Samsung press conference during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Our own Seamus Byrne was there and discusses being part of it along with the other key moments of MWC.
Uber, the ride-sharing app, is getting a competitors in Australia with GoCatch launching its own app called GoCar. Lacklustre name aside, this could disrupt the eternal disruptor as well as push the remaining States and Territories that are still on the fence to work on changing ride-sharing legislation.
LG has managed to break the mould of the repetitive flagship phones by making the G5 modular. Yes, you'll be able to buy new modules such as a better camera or even a mini-HiFi...but will you want to?
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Want to know more?
Australia loses its Dick
Goodbye yellow brick stores: Dick Smith to close with 3,000 jobs gone
5G and sky-high Wi-Fi
Telstra will trial 5G in 2018 (but you'll still get a big speed boost this year)
Qantas lets you tweet from your seat with help from NBN
MWC's VR world
Facebook wants to put the 'social' in virtual reality
All the ways people freaked out about this insane Zuckerberg VR photo
Everything else from MWCNeedCar? GoCar
GoCatch takes on Uber, launches ridesharing in Sydney
LG tries something new