Friday catchup: 5 big tech things you might have missed this week

 

And by that, we mean there's an HP TouchPad and Palm Pre phone used as props in this music video, while a comatose Dr Dre is monitored in a futuristic lab by doctors in white coats. The scene is made more ridiculous by the in-your-face use of the HP logo. Otherwise, who knows, people might think it's that other tablet. Welcome to the world of non-Apple tablets, so futuristic they appear in the future, so small that you can hide them behind a pencil and a small boy won’t notice them (see the video here). For all this, the US version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is barred from going on sale in Australia for the moment - while allegations of patent infringement are sorted out.

 

 

 

Unless you live in Coffs Harbour - then perhaps give that a second thought. Coffs Harbour is one of these nine locations next in line to be connected to the National Broadband Network, with work starting this month, and first services connected in a year's time. We're not so sure about assertions that wireless is any "better" or worse though. In fact, we glimpsed a wireless USB modem capable of 100Mbps (if a carrier eventually offers a service this fast). The plan is for some centers like Tamworth and Darwin to depend on wireless in the future, with the government planning to have up to 12Mbps speeds available by 2015. Oh, and just because there isn't a huge amount of people using the NBN just yet, don't think it won't be popular. As Communications Minister Stephen Conroy points out, it's not as though you'll have a lot of alternatives.