{mosimage}Bigpond, the self-called Internet experts are a joke.



My fiance recently sent out 20-30 email invitation to our wedding using Google Mail and because of that, she has now had her email address blocked by Bigpond. After ringing them to find out what was the problem, the Telstra employee advised that our address has been blocked for sending spam (the invites). Their advice was that we talk to our ISP, even though, we had informed the guy we used GMail, so there is no ISP involved. This just goes to show that Bigpond employees don't have a clue what they're talking about.



There is a lesson to be learned here. Don't sign up with ISPs like Telstra Bigpond.



Updated 10/4: Telstra have confirmed that Google's mail servers were blacklisted by BigPond for being used to distribute spam and have hit back at Google saying that "Google had approached BigPond about the issue last Thursday but did not immediately take steps to address it."


Ah, so now Telstra are saying they knew about the issue, but still fobbed us off when we rang up about the problem. This is Telstra's typical support at work, their "talk to the hand" attitude.

{mosimage}"Security company Kaspersky claimed that Vista's User Account Control (UAC), the system of user privileges that can be used to restrict users' administrative rights, will be so annoying that users will disable it.



Natalya Kaspersky, the company's chief executive, said that without UAC, Vista will be less secure than Windows XP SP2. "There's a question mark if Vista security has improved, or has really dropped down," she said to our sister site ZDNet UK at the CeBIT show in Hanover last week."



Click here for the full story.

{mosimage}The 10.4.9 Update is recommended for PowerPC and Intel-based Mac computers currently running Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.8 and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes or compatibility updates for the following applications and technologies:

• RAW camera support
  
• Handling of large or malformed images that could cause crashes
  
• Image capture performance
  
• Mouse scrolling and keyboard shortcuts
  
• Font handling
  
• Playback quality, and bookmarks in DVD Player
  
• USB video conferencing cameras for use with iChat
  
• Bluetooth devices
  
• Browsing AFP servers
  
• Apple USB Modem
  
• Windows-created digital certificates
  
• Open and Print dialogs in applications that use Rosetta on Intel-based Macs
  
• Time zone and daylight saving for 2006 and 2007
  
• Security updates
  

"The project is a film version of the Jagged Alliance series, which will be produced by largely unknown Hollywood-based multimedia entertainment company Union Entertainment.


The Jagged Alliance series tells the story of an elite group of mercenaries who undertake a variety of missions at the whim of the highest bidder. The film version will focus on such aspects as the cutthroat relationships between the characters, who must rely on but can never trust each other."

The Jagged Alliance series started in 1994 as a turn-based strategy DOS game, and has so far spawned five sequels. There is currently a Jagged Alliance 3D game for the PC being developed by MiST Land South and was due for release in "early 2006." This project failed to materialise, but it is still "under development," according to the release.


A Jagged Alliance 2 version for the DS has also been announced.



Click here for the full story.

"Back once again, with Episode 2 of The DS Show. This episode is dedicated to GDC 2007 - Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and other news."