Tasmanian power utility Aurora Energy has announced plans for what is believed to be the first large scale commercial trial of Mitsubishi Electric's 200Mpbs broadband over powerline technology.

Wearable technology being developed at an Australian university could dramatically improve the effectiveness of disaster relief operations by creating a 3D interactive control room, linking relief coordinators to the disaster site.

Communications systems vendor, Avaya, has announced the Australian launch of the first phase of its enterprise fixed mobile convergence (FMC) applications, jointly developed with Nokia.

Security vendor, GFI Asia Pacific, has released an access control plug-in for Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server to allow real time monitoring of the sites users are browsing and the files they are downloading.

Secure email vendor, Cleartext Pty Ltd, has teamed up with wireless broadband carrier, Unwired (ASX:UNW) to market an Australian developed anti-malware system to Unwired customers.

Mobile content and technology company, HWW Limited (ASX: HWW) and local mobile content development company Loop Wireless have launched what they claim is the world's first purpose built mobile comics site.

Communications products vendor NetComm (ASX:NTC), has released an Ethernet-over-power adaptor that allows networking of computers and peripheral devices over standard electrical circuits in the home or office.

Organisations can now tie printing to each user's building access card using software that was first developed in Australia to run inside Ernst & Young's multifunction devices. Canon Australia has released the Australian-developed software application that offers organisations secure network printing.

Contact management software vendor Sage ACT a software application to link the ACT! customer and contact management database wirelessly with handheld devices operating on the BlackBerry platform.

Storage media provider, Verbatim Corporation, has announced plans to support the development of both Blu-ray and High-Definition DVD (HD-DVD) recordable and rewritable media. Both formats are expected to begin shipping in early 2006, when high-definition drives and recorders are expected to be released.

Australian retail technology vendor Beonic has unveiled what it claims is a world-first system to improve customer service - by giving early warnings of customer queues to store managers.

Printer manufacturer, Canon Australia, has launched what the company claims is the first web browser to be designed to run on multifunction devices.

Open source solution vendor Cybersource has launched a new range of diskless Linux PCs which the company claims is the answer to the security and administration issues bugging nearly every desktop user in the business environment.

LCD TV shipments will outstrip plasma shipments from 2008 onwards, according to a new report from IDC.

Flash technology inventor, SanDisk Corporation, has introduced a proprietary content processing technology designed to let students download and store textbooks, novels, learning tools and more on a USB flash drive. The product, FlashCP aims to create a “digital backpack” that weighs grams instead of kilograms.

Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, has unveiled a range of new products designed to enable consumers to setup wireless networks and activate Wi-Fi security features with the push of a button.

Broadband over Powerline (BPL) technology has taken a step closer to commercial reality with the first successful Australian trials of VoIP phone calls over a BPL network.

Optus is offering an integrated corporate email service on the Treo 650 smartphone, which allows mobile users to wirelessly access and manage email and calendar information while on the move.

Security vendor McAfee, Inc., has unveiled its McAfee Entercept support for Linux. The McAfee Entercept server agent now supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, in addition to existing platform support for Windows and Solaris.

Telecommunications vendor Ericsson has introduced a newly developed GSM system for aircraft, allowing airplane passengers to use their mobile phones on board commercial flights.

Olympia DUALphone

$220

The Cordless DUALphone is a cordless telephone that can be connected to a normal telephone socket and a USB port on a PC. The display shows whether your friends who also use the free Skype VoIP system, are online. If they are, you simply have to press the appropriate green button and talk to them for free – no matter where they are in the world.

Yahoo! Australia & NZ today has announced the beta release of a new email photo-sharing feature called PhotoMail (http://au.photomail.mail.yahoo.com) which is available for free from Yahoo! Mail.

Linuxvendor Red Hat plans to release  a directory server based on Netscape technology within weeks.

While Telstra continues to emphasise the reliability of the PSTN, an
Australian business continuity specialist has implemented an IP telephony network at a client site for disaster recovery purposes.

Sydney-based online search engine developer, Mooter, has launched a contextual advertising solution, which enables online publishers to provide targeted advertising aligned with their content. Google provides a similar solution with its Google Adsense product.

It had to happen sooner or later but the dominance of the Yellow Pages brand in the business directories market is under threat in the wake of the online search engine explosion. Throwing out an early challenge to Telstra's long standing business directory is a new online site called Phonebook located at www.phonebook.com.au. Others are sure to follow.

Notebook vendor Toshiba has released a new range of notebook computers for the consumer and small business markets, including its first tablet model for the retail sector.

Microsoft has unveiled the successor to its wildly successful Xbox games console, with the release of the Xbox 360, throwing down the gauntlet to its Japanese games hardware competitors. However, the real story for Microsoft is likely to come later, when it inevitably releases new high margin games software to go with its new device.

Consumer internet telephony vendor engin has launched an upgraded version of its consumer VoIP system engine Voice Box, called engin Voice Box Series 2.

Security vendor, Symantec, has released a public beta version of its latest internet security package, which includes spyware and adware protection for home users.

Jabra A210 Bluetooth adaptor

$89
 
Hands free mobile communications brand Jabra, has launched an innovative product that enables owners of non-Bluetooth compatible phones to take advantage of the wireless technology.

Canon Australia has unveiled a software development platform for creating information and imaging solutions for its range of multifunction devices (MFDs).

BenQ DV3250

$2799

www.benq.com.au

Finally, a large screen LCD TV has hit the market at an affordable price. Consumer electronics vendor, BenQ, has set a new low cost benchmark with the release of an 81cm wide screen LCD TV at $2799.

Canon Pixma MP 780
$599
www.canon.com.au

Canon's new Pixma multifunction range adds desirable new features to the category, making this a more 'multi' function unit than ever before.

Ministry of Sound - StikAx handheld music mixer
$249
www.stikax.com

Here's a device that is truly different – it's a handheld device that'll turn you from music listener into music maker, even if you've had no prior experience!

Maxtor Shared Storage Drive
200Gb $449, 300Gb $549
www.maxtor.com.au

Portable hard drives are all the rage these days, especially as capacity has increased into the hundreds of gigabytes yet prices have still fallen. Maxtor, along with Seagate, Iomega and others have been releasing a range of drives, but this new model has some pretty cool features.

BenQ JH300
$399
www.benq.com.au

Are you still recording TV to a temperamental video cassette recorder? Sure, we all watch DVDs, but prices have fallen so much for DVD recorders and blank discs that turfing the ol' video recorder is a great idea.