Month: August 2012

Hills exhibits at Integrate 2012

Posted on by Andrew Morse

The moment you walk into Integrate 2012, the Hills brand grabs your attention. On the floor in front of you are large signs directing you to the massive exhibition stand in the centre of the hall.

In association with InfoComm events which span the globe, Integrate is Australia’s largest event showcasing products for sectors including Audio & Lighting Technology, Digital Signage, Education, Entertainment, and Information & Communications Technology.

The large central exhibition stand showcased a multiplicity of brands and products from Hills.

Hills Sound, Vision and Lighting (Hills SVL) is a leading distributor of intuitive integrated solutions of pro audio and audiovisual products, with offices and warehousing facilities across Australia and New Zealand. Hills Antenna & TV Systems is a leading manufacturer and supplier of an extensive range of consumer products and television reception and (MATV) receiving and distribution systems throughout Australia and New Zealand. Both are divisions of the Australian listed company Hills Holdings (ASX:HIL).

Hills SVL distributes the comprehensive range of Hitachi projectors and the award winning StarBoard interactive whiteboard, and is exclusive distributor of the Panasonic video conferencing range.

Innovative brand projectiondesign has developed solutions for defence, medical, command & control and simulation. At Integrate 2012, Hills SVL Group demonstrated a full working underground mine simulator using projectiondesign.

The display included the new XDS Series of professional speakers from Australian Monitor International (AMI), and the Green Light integrated energy management control solution from Crestron.

Digital Tsunami has delivered photography and video (of InfoComm Asia in Hong Kong and ISE in Amsterdam) for AMI; photography, video and website for Crestron; a photographic and video studio installation for HillsAntenna; websites for DGTEC and Signalmaster (New Zealand); and multiple websites for Hills SVL.

Social Networks for Business

Posted on by Andrew Morse

Why are so many infographics based on social networks and business?

Simply because social networks are so critical to marketing and the numbers just keep increasing. Plus, they make for great visuals!

This infographic from the folks at SDL | SM2 concisely presents and evaluates the top nine social media networks for business.

Companies are increasingly utilising YouTube as a highly cost effective global broadcast platform with an inbuilt search engine and social distribution network.

LinkedIn offers access to over 160 million professionals around the globe (and their companies).

Brands, from a range as diverse as major film studios and philanthropic organisations, are creating and maintaining Facebook pages for their products and services, to access a global market of almost one billion consumers.

Pinterest, Twitter, FourSquare and others may seem, (and may be), peripheral to your marketing strategy, but an informed understanding of social media and an effective custom strategy is critical for every business.

(click to zoom)

Source  SDL | SM2

 

 

The End Hunger Report released

Posted on by Andrew Morse

In front of Parliament House, Canberra today, an authoritative report was launched on the largely hidden issue of hunger throughout Australia. Photographs of faces of food recipients highlighted the issue.

The End Hunger Report was commissioned by Foodbank Australia, with analysis undertaken by Deloitte Access Economics. The report presents data from a survey of the 2,500 welfare agencies which sourced food from Foodbank in 2011.

Welfare and community groups reported an increase in the annual demand for food of between 12-30%. Their highest percentage of food relief (75%) was provided to low-income families, compared with 68% to households of the unemployed and 66% to households of single parents.

Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said that food relief for low-income households “helped families get themselves back on their feet”.

Amongst the report’s other findings was the statistic that in 2011, two million Australians failed to attain the United Nations World Food Summit definition of food security as “sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”.

“It is a call to action,” Foodbank chairman Enzo Allara said “Foodbank can and will do more.”

Foodbank Australia is the nation’s largest hunger relief organisation, offering a logistics conduit between the food industry’s surplus product and the welfare sector’s need. In 2011, the organisation provided sufficient food for 32 million meals via thousands of charities and community groups across Australia.

As a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, Digital  Tsunami has supported Foodbank since 2000 on a pro-bono basis. This support has included the development, hosting and technical support of web presence at national and state levels.

View or download The End Hunger Report

Thinner, Lighter, Longer, Faster, Crisper. The iPhone 5 Pentathlon!

Posted on by Andrew Morse

Coming so soon after the conclusion of London 2012, the superior attributes of the iPhone5 resemble nothing less than a physically appealing Olympic pentathlete, who has dominated in multiple events.

The technological refinements which have made this combination possible, will contribute to the continued appeal of the brand, and the extraordinary financial growth of the company. iPhone sales are the major revenue generator for Apple.

Is the iPhone 5 just the latest version of an exceptionally successful smartphone?

Yes.

From the inception of the company, design was always fundamental to Apple’s driving force, Steve Jobs.   Aesthetics, kinetics and functionality are all integrated into objects which are engagingly tactile. The use of touch both in holding and manipulating data in the iPhone is a perfect examples of this.

Apple has developed a fervent following amongst designers who appreciate the value of excellence and love to use beautiful and practical products.

To indicate the continuous and rapid refinement of technology and consequent operational procedures, Digital Tsunami coined the brandline “Communications Evolution”.

It is a term which describes both the solutions we offer and the continual and dynamic changing of the global business and social landscape.

Ref: apple.com/au/iphone/design/
apple.com/au/environment/ 

Can your site be found without ‘www’?

Posted on by Andrew Morse

All domains have ‘records’ for redirecting traffic to the servers on which email and the website are hosted.

For the website “A records” need to be created for the domain both with and without the triple w, so that the website will be found by visitors on http://www.domain.com and http://domain.com.

As browsers allow insertion of the domain only (without http:// or www), it is important that these records are set up.

If you want all prospective visitors to locate your website, you cannot afford to be without both.

Advertisers rapid response to dashed sporting hopes

Posted on by Andrew Morse

Within hours of his injury at the first hurdle at the 2012 London Olympics, Liu Xiang’s (刘翔) sponsor Nike, had press ads in China newspapers, praising his spirit of competition.

Sports sponsors select winners, likely winners and high profile events precisely in order to associate their brands with success. Negative outcomes (especially cheating, or unacceptable social behaviour) will usually prompt their dropping of sponsorship contracts.

Within a short time of the race, a million posts on Liu Xiang appeared on the Chinese microblog Weibo, reflecting both his celebrity stature and the hopes he carried on his shoulders.

Advertising creatives are paid to be clever and insightful. Nike’s ad agency Wieden + Kennedy perfectly responded to the nations’ collective anguish with a print ad, which ran in many Chinese dailies.

Continuing a campaign theme of ‘Love sport’, the ad consisted of Liu Xiang’s face and Chinese text (translated here):

Love competition.
Love risking your pride.
Love winning it back.
Love giving it everything you’ve got.
Love the glory. Love the pain.
Love sport even when it breaks your heart.

Just Do It.

This positive approach not only reflects a perspective of sport beyond medallion wearers, but demonstrates the acuity and agility of great advertising.

The partnership of a client and an advertising agency is one which can generate brilliance in communication. A quick-witted creative is complemented by a brave and responsive client prepared to react immediately to capitalise on dramatic circumstances.

It reminds me of a print ad which appeared during the Louis Vuitton Challenge Series prior to the 1995 America’s Cup.

On March 6, halfway through a tough race, the 12 metre racing yacht ‘One Australia’ broke up. In the 2 minutes before the boat sank, all crewmembers quickly removed their seaboots and leapt from the deck. They had no time to don their rarely-worn life-vests. Photographs of the event dramatically showed yachtsmen jumping from bow and stern.

“It’s all about adversity,” stated the team’s veteran skipper, John Bertrand. “We’ll live to fight another day.”

Competing New Zealand boat ‘Black Magic’, was sponsored by popular Kiwi brewer Steinlager. The next day in the New Zealand press, with an ascerbic humor even this Australian yachtie can admire, a double page ad stated boldly

“There’s only ONE thing that goes down faster than a Steinlager”!

All I can say is,  ‘Love sport’!

The Future, from Adaptive Manufacturing to Utility Fog

Posted on by Andrew Morse

Wanna see the future?

The researchers, scientists, strategists and futurists at envisioningtech.com have  created a comprehensive infographic of future technological developments to the year 2040.

The timeline projects emerging technologies in the categories of AI (Artificial Intelligence), BioTech, energy, GeoEngineering, interfaces, the Internet, materials, robotics, sensors, space and UbiComp (ubiquitous computing).

Presented by Michell Zappa as a keynote at the Global Futures Forum in Washington, D.C., many of the technologies of today will be familiar (Cloud Computing, Inductive Chargers, Near Field Communications).

However, as the timeline advances, the terminology becomes less familiar and vastly more intriguing (ExoCortex, Travelling Wave Reactor, Adaptive Manufacturing and Utility Fog).

Source: envisioningtech.com

Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
           

 

Hackers inject malware in servers around the globe

Posted on by Andrew Morse

Hackers are selling malware online which can be use to attack a vulnerability on popular webserver administrative tool Parallels Plesk Panel.

Brian Krebs, respected ex-Washington Post journalist and security blogger of krebsonsecurity.com, has stated that “Hackers in the criminal underground are selling an exploit that extracts the master password needed to control Parallels’ Plesk Panel”.

The malware is spreading rapidly and is currently ranked 4 in the world for online threats. With a noticeable spike in detection 0n July 18, Parallels Plesk Panel Compromise was detected on servers in 153 countries in July. AVG reports that there are currently 6,331 websites in 34 countries which host the malware.

On ZDNet, Michael Lee raise the question whether this is the result of hacker capitalising on an earlier Exploit (repaired in February) or if this ” Zero Day” Exploit is a new development.

If your website displays an alert or the malware is detected on your server, ask your IT support team to immediately replace the infected javascript files and install the Plesk vulnerabilty patch.

Parallels Plesk product information

IMPACTED PLESK VERSIONS

Parallels Plesk Panel 9.5x and 10 include this vulnerability (no prior versions have that component). Parallels Small Business Panel 10.2 is also affected.

OVERVIEW OF THE VULNERABILITY AND EXPLOIT

A flaw in the popular ProFTPD FTP server potentially allows unauthenticated attackers to compromise a server. The problem is caused by a buffer overflow in the pr_netio_telnet_gets() function for evaluating TELNET IAC sequences.

ProFTPD bug report:  http://bugs.proftpd.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3521

DETAILS ON THE VULNERABILITY AND EXPLOIT

ProFTPD is capable of processing TELNET IAC sequences on port 21; the sequences enable or disable certain options not supported by the Telnet or FTP protocol itself. The buffer overflow allows attackers to write arbitrary code to the application’s stack and launch it. Updating to version 1.3.3c of ProFTPD solves the problem. The update also fixes a directory traversal vulnerability which can only be exploited if the “mod_site_misc” module is loaded. This flaw could allow attackers with write privileges to leave their permitted path and delete directories or create symbolic links outside of the path. The module is not loaded or compiled by default.

Sources:
http://www.parallels.com/au/products/plesk/ProFTPD/
http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/webthreats/info/parallels-plesk-panel-compromise/
http://www.zdnet.com/hackers-leverage-plesk-panel-to-attack-websites-7000000651/
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/07/plesk-0day-for-sale-as-thousands-of-sites-hacked/

Shooting sailing aerials at the 2012 London Olympics

Posted on by Andrew Morse

Shooting footage of Olympic yacht-racing is always a challenge. Yachts are usually too far away from land for even the longest lens, and all other camera platforms are far from smooth, whether from boats off the course but on the waves, or helicopters 500′ away or 1,000′ above (to eliminate downdraft from affecting the yachts).

The only solution to eliminate intense multi-directional shaking of the camera, is a gyroscopic mount. A pioneer in the use of gyro mounts for yacht-racing is cinematographer Laurence K Gilbert of Aerial Marine.

When I first met Laurie, he was shooting aerials of the 1987 America’s Cup for the world ‘pool’, as I filmed a television commercial with the eventual ‘Auld Cup’ winner, Dennis Conner.

Our collaboration on that project (exchanging dupes of his aerial race footage, for dupes of our close-up crew coverage shot on-board the New York Yacht Club’s “Stars and Stripes” on a lay-day), and drinks in dynamic Fremantle bars, initiated a 25 year professional relationship of filming, sailing and friendship.

Laurie shot the OOCL Etchells World Championships in Hong Kong which I produced for the world pool. His coverage has included every type of sailing vessel from windsurfers to supertankers.

He has filmed (and photographed) around the globe on television, corporate, commercial and feature film projects. He has used gyro-mounted cameras in the Mediterranean, TransPac race from California to Hawaii, and in Olympics off the coast of China (2008) and Korea (1988).

Laurie’s footage contributed to a Golden Rings award presented by The International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Best Coverage by the Host Broadcaster at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

In the 2012 London Olympic Games, Laurie is shooting with a carbon-fibre bodied, externally mounted, gyroscopic camera, amongst a fleet of 4 helicopters. Few cameramen in the world are more qualified.

Photo: Laurie K Gilbert