National broadband innovator Internode is the first company to offer chumby®, the breakthrough Internet device, in Australia.

Launched today, chumby constantly streams your favourite parts of the Internet to its 3.5 inch colour touchscreen. Streamed content ranges from weather forecasts and sports scores to eBay bids and your favourite online radio stations. Needing only a power outlet and Wi-Fi coverage, chumby provides friendly, touchscreen-based access to Internet content in the kitchen, the lounge, the backyard or on a bedside table.

Once configured and registered, chumby displays a constant stream of your favourite widgets – tiny applications that are downloaded to appear on the device’s 320x240 pixel screen. Through the chumby website, you can personalise chumby to display whatever you want: News items; surf reports; traffic details, jokes or even job ads.

Around the size of a coffee mug, chumby is soft to hold and easy to use. Internode is selling chumby in Australia for $299 (including GST).

National broadband company Internode has announced it will waive setup fees for customers who sign up for a 24-month Internode ADSL plan. 

Available for any new customer - including a new ADSL service, a churn or transfer from another ISP - the free setup offer applies to all Internode ADSL broadband services including ADSL Standard, Plus, Extreme ADSL2+, Naked and NakedExtreme. An early cancellation charge of $199 applies to the 24-month offer.

Alternatively customers can select a one-month contract if they prefer, and pay either a $39 churn or a $129 setup fee, with no early cancellation charge.

Internode managing director Simon Hackett said the fee-free option was to meet the needs of customers who preferred low up-front costs for a broadband service. “Internode has a very low customer departure rate - most customers stay for many years after signing up with us,” he said.

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IT professionals’ advocacy group SAGE-AU has proposed a three-pronged plan that can protect families from objectionable Internet content without slowing Internet performance to a snail’s pace.

SAGE-AU (the System Administrators Guild of Australia) is a not-for-profit professional organisation representing system administrators in Australia. System administrators are the technology wizards who keep computers and networks working, including much of the Internet in this country.

SAGE-AU President Donna Ashelford said the Federal Government had been widely criticised for the current incarnation of 'Labor's Plan for Cyber Safety'. “The proposed plan, which aims to filter and block objectionable material in a compulsory manner, is not technically sound,” she said.

Australia’s plunging currency has delivered an unexpected benefit to Australian information security company CQR Consulting as it prepares to launch a direct presence in the UK.

CQR Consulting Director Greg Inge is moving from Australia to England to head up the new office where he will recruit staff and oversee several major contracts won by the company.

CQR Consulting delivers independent information security services, without the need to sell hardware, software or other technology services. The Australian-owned company provides an “honest broker” for organisations often caught between the competing claims of incumbent vendors.

CQR Consulting has won a significant contract with Reed Elsevier to design and deploy an international business continuity programme for the global publishing giant’s operations.

Greg Inge said CQR would use the UK as a “beachhead” to Europe. “We’ve had a serviced office in the UK for several years, used by our Australian staff,” he said.