Tax cuts and more broadband: good week

(This is the Online column, written for The Southland Times)

It’s been a good week all round for the average punter, with the long-awaited tax cuts finally hitting our wallets and now the news that Telecom is offering customers more bang for their broadband buck.

As part of the roll-out of ADSL2+ technology, which brings New Zealand broadband into line with much of the rest of the world, Telecom business and residential customers will get significantly increased monthly data allowances (in some cases more than double) and can look forward to faster uploads and downloads.

And never fear, even if you live in an area where ADSL2+ isn’t yet fully deployed, you can still enjoy the increased allowances.

If you’re one of those broadband users who gets throttled back to oh-so-painfully-slow dialup speeds every month because you’ve used up all your monthly allowance, this is fantastic news. Much like the tax cuts, it’s been long awaited, but hopefully the wait has been worth it.

It’s  always good to hear of a Kiwi doing well on the international stage, even when that Kiwi is a robotic beastie.

The Trons, a robot band created by Hamiltonian Greg Locke, has grabbed the attention of German car-maker Mercedes-Benz.

The band is being flown to Paris to launch the new model Mercedes-Benz after a PR person for the company spotted the internet phenomenon on You Tube.

If you haven’t seen the Trons in action yet, check them out on You Tube or MySpace.