As Apple Inc prepared to roll out 4 million pre-sold iPhone 6 mobiles to cashed up consumers willing to pay a massive premium for their product; Mozilla Corp, the non-profit foundation behind Firefox is launching an open source operating system for smartphones targeting a totally different market segment.

I must admit, I am a fan of the Google Chrome web browser as my account is linked where I can access my personal account on any computer. I really like the Android open source system used on most non-Apple smartphones and tablets. I use the Mozilla Firefox browser at work and reckon it is really a pretty good and intuitive operating system. Following on from Google’s lead, rival tech company Firefox has also developed open source software to power mobile phones.

When I inspect the analytics of this particular site, I note with interest approximately 65% of internet traffic is Google Chrome, 20% is Firefox, 6% Internet Explorer, 4% is OS;FBSV 3% Safari and 2% Opera, Mobile Safari, CriOS and other systems. Now this is open to change daily and only an indication although trends have emerged over the year this blog has been running. Based on this information, one might assume the rising popularity of Firefox is eclipsing Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as browser of choice.

I am also guessing the dominance of the Google Android operating system for smartphones accounts for the 65% majority. One expects this to last for the next decade or so, we really can’t project any further forward than that. Searching the net, a 16GB iPhone is listed for sale at $869 (non-plan) and a whopping $1249 for a 128GB non-plan smartphone on the Apple Store website. The low-cost Firefox powered smartphone seems to be receiving mixed reviews currently, the phone is fairly simple to use by all accounts.

Two Firefox powered smartphones have been released in India, the Intex Cloud FX and single-core processor Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1 are 2G and not 3G enabled phones. The INR 2299 ($43 AUD) Spice Fire One Mi-FX 1 is very competitively priced with further roll-outs in regions planned for the future. What I am guessing is the take-up of cheaper smartphones in developing markets will lead to pressure on margins of the established players in developed markets as Firefox powered handsets improve.

The term ISIS/ISIL is interesting, ISIS stands for Islamic State Iraq and Syria whilst ISIL stands for Islamic State Iraq Levant that really takes into account their wider regional ambitions of Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan.

The UN is using the term ISIL and could be possibly seen as not wanting to be in direct conflict with Syria causing military action to escalate. The French are refusing to use either term as they believe the term state gives them some type of legitimacy.

This is not a mob I would like to be in conflict with over there, the concern for many nations is returning fighters trained as terrorists seeking to inflict their way of life on our shores.

The conflict in Syria appears likely to escalate; we have now seen a United Nations Security Council resolution. I initially thought not as the five permanent members of the security council rarely agree on terms. The Russians have supported Syria for a long time, the Chinese didn\’t look like acting against Syria with protagonists saying this is just an issue concocted by western media to justify military action against Syria.

With the UN Security Council recently passing a unanimous resolution to address the growing threat posed by ISIL – the game has changed. This is not a manipulation by western media because we all know both China and Russia are two of the five permanent members of the Security Council with veto power, these two permanent members are not western nations.

There are ten rotating non-permanent members representing the regions of Africa, South America, Europe and Asia. Iraq has invited foreign nations to fight ISIL on their soil with Arab states joining the fight. The issue is not so much Iraq but Syria as the Assad regime will not allow military operations in Syria. Will the United Nations Security Council pass a resolution allowing the coalition of nations to take military action against ISIL forces in Syria? I wouldn’t have thought so.

It is being debated by some members of the community that ISIL does not constitute a threat to the citizens of Australia, that we should just let them go at it in their part of the world while keeping quiet and they will leave us alone. This line of thinking is naïve at best and dangerous at worst. ASIO has reported they have lost track of about 60 odd people travelling to the conflict areas, they are suspected of training and fighting with the ISIL forces, they will at some stage return to the shores of Australia if not killed in action. They are now unsure exactly who they are and where they have been.

Just recently, two police officers were stabbed by a person of interest in Melbourne as he voluntarily came into a police station for questioning, he had already had his passport cancelled. Whilst shot and killed by the officers, he had lunged at the officers wounding both, he had in his possession a longer knife, one presumes for decapitating the slain officers and an ISIL flag folded up in his pocket. It is believed he was to upload the pictures of the decapitated officers to social media draped in the ISIL flag.

The graphics posted on this page are very confronting, I make no apologies for this as these images are freely found on the internet under a basic Google isis search. For a bunch of people seeking to take the world back to the dark ages, they are amazingly proficient in the use of social media. Beheading and crucifixions are taking place in public places to encourage public viewing and one supposes to take photographs and video to upload.

ISIL are using such images as a measure to subdue people through fear, being shot is immediate while beheading is a slow excruciating death.

The image of the James Foley beheading has been confirmed as correct, a number of other images are yet to be confirmed but are still being reported whilst a large number have the ISIL flag in the background to confirm the identity of the group. An image of a beheaded girl in a blue dress has been circulating for a number of years and is thought to be taken in Syria and committed by the Assad regime. It is though this is done to encourage western governments, chiefly being the United States to intervene in the conflict.

I was sitting on my lounge chair on Saturday watching the highly disappointing AFL grand final capitulation and the post-game medal presentation. The young boy who handed Hawthorn Luke Hodge his premiership medal told him “you are my hero” and it got me wondering, do we have the wrong priorities when selecting heroes?

Having never met the guy, I have no doubt Luke Hodge is a good guy, we all know he is a splendid captain and exceptional footballer. However, he is a footballer first and foremost; he is not a scientist, a doctor, engineer or lawyer. These are the people making a difference in society, not sportspeople, they are lightweight entertainers.

He is not quietly researching bio-medical solutions, tackling the big issues of eradicating the world of preventable diseases, a civil rights activist or fighting poverty. Yes, I understand the club requires players to perform community service as part of their contracts, this is a positive outcome for the community in some respects.

There are a worthy number of worthy unheralded heroes in the professions such as science, engineering and medicine to name just a few. I only hope we change our priorities as a society placing less emphasis on the achievements of sportspeople and more on the achievements on our unsung heroes. Sports is escapism, this is just entertainment, it is not art, it is training and application of skills admittedly to a high level.

Netscape was an early innovator in the fledgling internet technology industry. Before the internet boomed and became a part of everyday life, Netscape was the first mover as an embryonic search engine providing technological services for content providers to customise web content. Now, with so much user generated content on the web, it is almost incredulous to fathom that in the early 90s, business enterprises existed purely to generate web content.

The Netscape web browser, the then dominant browser in terms of market share, lost the majority of that share to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer during what was belatedly described as the first of a number of browser wars. Following immense competitive pressures, consumer usage of Netscape fell from over 90% market share in the mid 1990s to less than 1% by the mid 2000s. A number of strategic decisions led to Netscape’s rapid demise including the charging of consumers a monthly fee to use the browser.

The decision by Microsoft to load Internet Explorer for free on all new Windows powered computers pretty much rendered Netscape’s business plan obsolete. Interestingly, American and European authorities launched anti-trust action against Microsoft following massive anti-competitive competitive breaches.

The action undertaken by both American and European authorities against Microsoft saw regulatory authorities winning large settlements forcing Microsoft to reveal source codes or face further fines. The damage however had already been done to Netscape, it was a case of too little, much too late.

Netscape, credited with developing the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol securing online communication with SSL technology is still widely used to secure internet communications. JavaScript, the highly successful client-side scripting of web pages, another Netscape innovation, is still the most widely adopted programming language.

Netscape was a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ exchange; floated in 1995, the stock was publically traded an until 1999 when it was acquired by America Online (AOL) in a pooling-of-interests transaction. The deal, ultimately worth $10 billion USD involved complex cash and script transactions ensuring Netscape technology was utilised by a dominant internet business.

Shortly before the AOL acquisition, Netscape released the source code for the browser creating the foundations of the Firefox browser with the Mozilla Corporation coordinating future future development of the browser. Mozilla fully rewrote the entire source code with all future Netscape releases based on the rewritten code, the protocols now power the successful free-to-download Firefox browser.

One could argue that while the Netscape browser is now an almost forgotten relic of internet history, a number of innovations outlived the initial product forming the basis of contemporary online software. The product life cycle of the information age is relatively short, the initial challenge was how to not only develop the technical aspects of the business but how to develop a sustainable business plan generating revenues to finance the research and development providing a return on investment. Out of the ashes of Netscape rose Firefox, technically the best of the current browsers with the strongest technical protocols.

Greyhound is an excellent business, yet why do they have to rip off clients with an $18 gift fee? I am now a fan of Greyhound after catching numerous buses across America, unfortunately I only had four weeks, there was so much more I wanted to see.

It is amazing though, to book a ticket for another person will leave you with an $18 gift fee. I learned of this after not unchecking a box. I have to ask, under what circumstances would a gift fee be warranted? This fee discourages customers from patronising your business instead channeling potential customers to rival bus companies such as Megabus, trains such as Amtrack or even airline travel in certain circumstances.

I made a mistake booking a ticket online, I was overcharged so when I brought my concerns to Greyhound staff on the day of my departure, they obligingly organised a cash refund on-the-spot. I must say, this immediately endured me to Greyhound, my normal experience is a fight to the death for a refund. But why charge such a fee in the first place when you risk driving customers away for very little benefit?

The lessons of history must be highlighted so as to not be repeated, this is an excellent display to remind us of a period of time when the world sunk to the depths of depravity. We have learned from textbooks and video the reach of the Nazi party, their organisation and objectives.

Really, as a world community, we haven’t learnt that much, the current regimes are just far less organised. This is why we need to analyse and review, this is where we learn from history, this is an outstanding museum that educates us on the horrors of evil regimes. 

The topography of terror in Berlin is the former Gestapo and SS headquarters, this was demolished after the war and used as a dumping ground for the reconstruction and later a car park. Naturally, it is painful as a nation to keep returning to a period of history that most would much rather forget. However, the Gestapo and the SS were mandated with subduing the population and the museum provides some interesting insights into the period.

I was lucky to attend the Australian Rules Football junior Grand Final fought between South Coogee, regarded as overwhelming favourites and Jandakot Jets on Sunday the 21st of September 2014 at Fremantle Oval. This is the home ground of the Fremantle Football Club, better known as the Dockers, a leading AFL professional football team.

My nephew, Samuel De Jesus was deemed fit and selected to play despite only just recovering from a severe bout of the flu. He was able to train during the week ending up winning plenty of contested ball throughout the game.

The South Coogee Football Club, undefeated throughout the season was pitted against the fast running Jandakot Jets who have shown to be very competitive and capable. During the finals series, Jandakot proved to be more than capable of causing a major upset to the red hot favourites.

Fighting to the end and never giving up, the Jandakot Jets made the most of their limited scoring opportunities kicking 4.0 (24) with South Coogee booting 9.9 (63) to remain undefeated during the 2014 season to become 2014 premiers.

The conditions were wet and slippery, the rains started just before bounce down with the showers increasing as the game progressed. The day before, a record September day of sunshine saw the mercury hit 36 degrees Celsius, Sunday was a whole different issue.

Marking the ball was extremely difficult under such adverse conditions, moving the ball forward from every contest was slow with no team breaking the game open.

Plenty of packs developed around the ball, there was plenty of stoppages with the umpires calling play-on at every opportunity. When kicking out from goal, the old style huddle saw players breaking into space with set plays.

The handball was the key to success under such trying conditions, moving the ball out of congestion and into clear space paid dividends. Fast ball movement, run and carry and kicking long didn’t work, the team that quickly adapted to the conditions was the team that was going to dominate.

 

The game was broken open in the final term, Jandakot was still in with a big chance halfway through the quarter with South Coogee belting through a host of unanswered goals to finally shatter the aspirations of the Jandakot players.

Evan Speigel, a product design major and Reggie Brown were both Stanford University students when they developed an application for a product development unit they were studying.

According to the Shapchat blog, Bobby Murphy who was studying mathematical and computational science at Stanford was brought in to write the source code for the application. Their first project, Future Freshman failed to gain traction; however, they found they worked well together. The next project presented to the class, the mobile app that shares photographs then disappears in a matter of seconds received a less than positive response from class members.

They felt not only would people not use the app, the only ones that do would use it for sexting; as it happens, it is pretty close to the mark. A concern is the major user demographic is below the age of 16; Snapchat Inc does not condone the use of the app for pornographic use. Speigel stated in the company blog that stories of job hunters undertaking emergency de-tagging of Facebook photographs before job interviews provided the inspiration for the development along with editing blemishes out of photographs to be uploaded to the internet.

Instead of photoshopping photographs on a personal computer, photographs taken with smartphones can be immediately edited and uploaded on Android and iOS devices. I love studying entrepreneurial ventures knowing full well that I will not be investing my own funds in such a start-up after losing plenty of money in my own eCommerce start-up. It is of some concern that Snapchat Inc does not have a revenue stream, yet funding of $13.5 million from Benchmark Capital was confirmed in February 2013 valuing the company at $60 to $70 million.

Facebook Inc then made an offer of $3 billion that was rejected by Speigel with Google Inc making an offer of $4 billion to acquire the business, a further $50 million was required in venture capital, one supposes to keep the business solvent. In a move resembling the Facebook fallout; co-founder Reggie Brown, sidelined from company ownership over a yet undisclosed dispute filed a lawsuit for loss of earning potential.

Further significant issues include photographs don’t actually disappear and can be saved and/or retrieved, the collection of personal data and then the security of the data collected. I don’t use the app, I am however at a loss to how a business requiring significant venture capital with no revenue firstly receives acquisition offers of up to $4 billion and secondly has the audacity to decline acquisition offers by the leading tech companies in the sector.