Why Pay More?

The Australian government is finalising the terms of an inquiry which will look at why we seem to pay more for hardware, software and downloads than other parts of the world. Even taking into account the relative strength of the Australian Dollar against its US counterpart, we pay around 10% more for Apple hardware, for example, 67% more for some iTunes downloads and a whopping 75% more for some versions of the Windows operating system.

The aim of the inquiry is to force companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Adobe to explain why their global pricing strategy leaves Australians paying more for their products than people in the US or UK. There are suggestions that it is due to Australia being a small, isolated market, which would certainly cover physical products to some extent, but it doesn't really account for the cost of downloads which can, and should be, mostly unaffected by geography.

You can read more about it HERE

Business IT did a 'shopping basket' comparison a couple of months ago, and you can read the results HERE.

Skydive!

A few months ago Alan won a parachute jump with Skydive The Beach in a Facebook competition.

Today he did it; a tandem freefall from 14,000 feet.

See the pictures here:

Alan Skydives The Beach

The Moral: It's amazing what you can win if you get involved with social media.

IWIB Awards - 2012

We are pleased to announce that on Friday Catherine received a Highly Commended in this year's Illawarra Women In Business awards, in the Best Home-Based Business category.

Here she is getting her certificate:

And you can link to the rest of the photos HERE

Congratulations to Catherine, and to all of the finalists and winners. It was a great event, and a true celebration of the marvellous women who work in our local businesses.

(Pictures by Shimmer Images)

Wi-Fi In Wollongong

This is good news:

Free Wi-Fi For Crown Street Mall

One obvious downside, though, is that it makes it easier to treat stores as 'showrooms' - looking at items in stores, then using the 'net to see if the same item can be found more cheaply elsewhere (or even ordered online at lower cost).

However wider access to the internet is generally a good thing, and the council are to be applauded for this initiative.

MARCH NEWSLETTER

MARCH NEWSLETTER - Now available on our website at www.abcomputertraining.com. It contains lots of useful information on setting up a network and articles on initiatives encouraging seniors to get connected and even the Pony Express. Take a look!

Hawks Tickets Now On Sale

Tickets are now on sale for the Wollongong ahm Hawks game three semi-final match against Townsville on Saturday night at WIN Entertainment Centre.

More details HERE

Central Parking

I'm not sure how this is going to affect things for us, but Wollongong Council does seem to be making themselves unpopular.

Mind you, the idea of a city centre that doesn't charge for parking, even off-street, is pretty much unheard of in the UK. Parking in Australia's pretty easy generally speaking.

Hawks!

Good luck to the Wollongong Hawks in their semi-final agianst Townsville tonight.

Full details here.