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Bill Bennett
Freelance journalist.
Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.
His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.
Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here.
If you want to support his work, you can make a donation to his PressPatron account.
Bill Bennett - Latest News [Page 38]
Review: Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Android's new champion
Sunday, 4 September 2016, 5:36 pm | Digitl
Packs every feature you might want in a phone and then some. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 at a glance For: All the features: camera, display, design, virtual reality. Against: Expensive. TouchWiz. Maybe: You’ll love the stylus or ignore it. Likewise iris ... More >>
Huawei: Let a thousand clouds blossom
Sunday, 4 September 2016, 5:34 pm | Digitl
Two years ago Huawei, a Chinese maker of telecommunications systems, said it wanted to be the world’s leading information technology company. More >>
Slow path to smart cities: Huawei Connect
Sunday, 4 September 2016, 5:27 pm | Digitl
“There is no such thing as a smart city solution”, says Huawei’s Joe So. More >>
Review: Huawei P9, premium phone at a sharp price
Wednesday, 24 August 2016, 2:41 pm | Digitl
Huawei’s latest flagship phone scores on build quality, camera and fingerprint scanner. Huawei P9 : At a glance For: Design, high-quality build, camera, USB-C. Against: Android skin Maybe: Battery life, screen resolution Verdict: A top-notch ... More >>
Skinny Broadband sweetens fixed wireless internet deal
Wednesday, 24 August 2016, 2:34 pm | Digitl
Skinny Broadband has dropped the cost of a fixed wireless internet connection. From today it costs 20 percent less. The price is $52 a month for 100GB of data. More >>
More gigacities coming as fibrecos ready October launch
Wednesday, 24 August 2016, 2:32 pm | Digitl
Enable Networks, Northpower Fibre and Ultrafast Fibre plan to launch gigabit wholesale broadband services in October. They say they will offer download speeds of 1Gbps with uploads running at 500Mbps. More >>
Review: Dell Inspiron 13 5000
Wednesday, 24 August 2016, 2:30 pm | Digitl
Dell sent a sample computer with a non-working trackpad. This meant we couldn’t do a full review. Here’s what we learned about the machine before it went back for repair. At a glance For: Laptop, can work as a tablet. Keyboard. Against: Heavy ... More >>
NZ Fire Service, Motorola, Spark team to develop firefighter
Friday, 19 August 2016, 5:35 pm | Digitl
Motorola Solutions and the New Zealand Fire Service have developed a new two-way radio for fire fighters. More >>
ComCom investigates backhaul competition
Friday, 19 August 2016, 5:33 pm | Digitl
In one sense the Commerce Commission’s move to investigate backhaul comes at a time when the sector has never been more competitive. Yet that’s not how everyone see things. There are issues that may need resolving by a regulator. More >>
NZ phone market 2016Q2 — Apple stumbles, Huawei leaps
Friday, 19 August 2016, 5:29 pm | Digitl
Four brands dominate 2016 phone sales in New Zealand. Chayse Gorton, IDC associate market analyst, says Samsung, Apple, Vodafone and Huawei make up 87 percent of the market. That's almost nine out of every ten phones sold here. More >>
Why consumer PC sales will never rebound
Friday, 19 August 2016, 5:26 pm | Digitl
Personal computer sales peaked in 2011. In that year businesses and consumers bought around 360 million personal computers. IDC puts the number at 352 million. Gartner says it was 365 million. Consumer PC sales were about half the total. More >>
Hybrid sales still need kickstart
Friday, 19 August 2016, 5:24 pm | Digitl
It is a stripped-down computer with a touch-screen, sound and wireless connections. But there is no keyboard. It does many, but not all, the things laptops do. More >>
Trustpower misleads with untrusty broadband ads
Friday, 19 August 2016, 5:23 pm | Digitl
Trustpower's $49 unlimited broadband offer always looked too good to be true. It turns out, it was too good to be true. At BusinessDesk Paul McBeth reports Trustpower to plead guilty over misleading broadband offer. More >>
Main data theft threat is inside, overlooked
Monday, 15 August 2016, 12:05 pm | Digitl
Despite companies spending billions to protect systems from external threats, data theft continues to climb. More >>
New Zealand looks overseas for tech skills
Monday, 15 August 2016, 12:00 pm | Digitl
Overseas readers wanted to know how New Zealand is filling its tech industry vacancies. Here is my story published earlier this year in London-based Computer Weekly. More >>
Datacom surges to a billion
Monday, 15 August 2016, 11:54 am | Digitl
The Wellington-based technology company reported 13 percent revenue growth to a shade over NZ$1 billion. It is the first New Zealand technology company to pass the billion dollar milestone. More >>
Apple's ageing Mac line-up reflects bigger picture
Thursday, 11 August 2016, 2:16 pm | Digitl
Apart from the 2016 MacBook, Apple's entire Mac line is overdue for a refresh. Sam Byford at The Verge caused a stir last week writing; “ Apple should stop selling four-year-old computers ". More >>
Consider government open source, don't mandate it
Thursday, 11 August 2016, 2:14 pm | Digitl
Act Party leader David Seymour wants the New Zealand government to consider open source software. More >>
Struggling Fairfax enters low-margin broadband market
Thursday, 11 August 2016, 2:11 pm | Digitl
At Business Day Fairfax journalist Tom Pullar-Strecker writes Stuff to enter the broadband market with Stuff Fibre . It’s a clumsy headline, but a safe bet managers would not allow the sub-editor to write a better one. More >>
Marine survey as Hawaiki cable build nears
Thursday, 11 August 2016, 1:28 pm | Digitl
A submarine cable is just talk until the ships start moving. Hawaiki expects the trans-Pacific cable will be delivered by mid–2018. More >>
