From toilet selfies to intoxicated calls to an ex and an obsession with food photography, Circles Life, reveals the latest in mobile phone behaviour of Australians

Circles Life, one of Australia’s fastest growing digital telcos, surveyed Australians aged 18-35 to understand today’s mobile phone behaviours and attitudes. In true Aussie spirit, questions around toilet selfies, intoxicated phone calls and risqué texts were met with startling honesty, as well as some more topical subjects around the cost of living, with half of the respondents considering switching carriers in search of cheaper phone plans.

More than half of Australian adults could not go a day without their mobile phone. In fact, one in three Australian adults would go without sex for a week rather than their phone for a day, and one-quarter would go without a car for a week. 

Women were more likely to sacrifice sex for a week rather than their phone for a day (37% compared to 27% men), while men were willing to forego brushing their teeth (15% compared to 8% women) or showering (12% compared to 7% women) rather than sacrificing sex for a week, for their phone.

When it came to cringeworthy phone faux pas, Circles Life research also revealed that, 61% of Australians admitted to taking a call or selfie on the toilet; 41% have accidentally screenshotted a conversation and sent it back to the same person; 37% have called or texted an ex while intoxicated and 26% have texted or sent a risqué picture to the wrong person.

Commenting on the findings, Genevieve Brock, Head of Marketing at Circles Life, said: “The mobile phone has become an extension of Australians’ own self, so it was important for us to jump in and understand what is shaping phone usage and behaviour to help us design better mobile plans for our customers and Australians more broadly. We found that almost nothing is off-limits regarding mobile phone usage for younger generations”

Other shockingly common mobile phone behaviour from the research findings included:

• 73% of Australians have had to wait before eating until a photo of the food has been taken, and close to half (49%) have asked someone to wait before eating so they could snap a photo.
• Around one in five think they’re known for sharing private messages or inappropriate content.
• More than half of Australian adults play video games at least weekly, with a quarter playing daily. Half believe that playing video games has improved their problem solving and technical skills.
• On average, Australians spend 3.6 hours a day on their phone; more than a third spend over 4 hours each day on their phone; and almost a quarter are spending more than 5 hours a day on their phone.

While the findings have brought to life the fun and quirky facts and behaviours of Australians, it has also brought to light the cost of living pressures for people.

Australians pay an average of $63 a month for their mobile phone/data plan, and when asked about phone bills, more than a third feel their phone bill is too high. Half (50%)  of those surveyed have considered switching carriers because of cost of living pressures, and 68% are tired of phone plans getting more expensive each year.

D-Link has launched two versions of its new D-View 8 Network Management System, the Standard Edition (DV-800S) and the Enterprise Edition (DV-800E). These powerful software solutions for comprehensive network management offer users scalable, high-precision network monitoring and traffic management and enable them to easily categorise and manage third-party devices via a customisable dashboard for a real-time network overview at a glance.

“As networks become larger and more complex to manage, D-View 8 provides network administrators a clear choice with its advanced features and a best-in-class visual representation of your private, local or global network deployments.”, says D-Link ANZ MD Graeme Reardon. “Providing a tailored management solution for multi-site networks, D-View 8 offers end-to-end manageability of business network infrastructures of any size.”, he continued.

Whilst the Standard Edition will meet many market requirements, the Enterprise Edition provides several additional and even more powerful options supporting 5000 nodes (over the Standard’s 500), multi-server and multi-probe deployment, High Availability, REST API, sFlow Analyser and more.

Both Standard and Enterprise Editions provide intelligent management for your private network, enabling you to monitor multi-vendor devices and control everything from servers to applications. D-View 8 also provides simple, cost-efficient management to enhance network security, reliability and optimised performance making it a must-have platform for organisations with high traffic and high bandwidth needs for applications such as multimedia, mobile and cloud applications.

D-View 8 provides Proactive Network Monitoring to prevent outages by utilising immediate diagnostics to resolve network issues quickly. There are also customised alerts and actions to optimise your business networks and centralise management for remote locations to help business operations run smoothly.

D-View 8’s customisable dashboard also provides for better-informed decisions as its drag and drop dashboard widgets give users easy access to visualised network analytics that matter most to any business. This in turn means users can react quickly to network events in order to enhance operation efficiency, ensure system availability and minimise network downtime.

For comprehensive monitoring and efficient troubleshooting, you can quickly access vital information across all network nodes such as link interface, device connections, sFlow data, device details, visualised topology and rack view to quickly identify and resolve network issues.

D-View 8 also enables users to reduce total cost of ownership and simplify deployment with batch configuration, and schedule automated maintenance tasks such as firmware updates, file backup, and restore operations. Users can also easily compare configuration files using baseline file comparisons.

The D-View 8 Network Management System also allows users toseamlessly integrate third-party devices with templates for device management, configuration, customised categories and panels.

D-View 8 Network Management System key features

• Versatile Network Management Software

• Real-Time Network Analytics

• Role-Based Administration

• Intuitive Dashboard

• Centralised Reporting

• sFlow Analyser (D-View 8 Enterprise Edition)

• Inventory Management

• Batch Configuration

• Firmware Management

• Service Monitoring

For a full comparison of the Standard vs Enterprise editions visit.

Availability and Pricing

The new D-View 8 Network Management System Standard and Enterprise Editions are available now from www.dlink.com.au (RRP AU$5799.95 and RRP AU$12,499.95) and from all D-Link certified partners and resellers.

Uniden has released the App Cam Solo Pano wire-free smart home surveillance device offering enhanced features for homeowners looking to prevent crime and deter criminals both at home and when away.

The new dual-lens App Cam Solo Pano with 3K resolution is a 100 per cent wire-free Wi-Fi and spotlight-enabled security camera that is built to discourage criminals, day or night and function for prolonged periods without needing to be recharged. The powerful 440 Lumens Spotlight will ensure the whole area is light up when a person or vehicle enters it frame.

The long-lasting rechargeable battery has 120 days of standby time without being plugged in. Homeowners who opt to connect their App Cam PANO to a Uniden solar panel (Included) will receive non-stop power, with the battery recharging during daylight. This makes it the ideal security companion for those who want the peace of mind that anyone within 30 meters and 170-degree radius of the camera will not only be caught on video but alerted that they have been seen, and the homeowner notified.

The 170-degree wide field of view is the result of the App Cam Solo Pano’s powerful twin lenses. Users can easily view what their App Cam Solo Pano is capturing remotely from any smartphone device, controlling the two displays at the same time via the Solo App to have a 170-degree wide field of view outside their homes.

If an intruder enters the field of view, the camera immediately activates thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), which gives the App Cam Solo Pano the ability to distinguish between a person ,vehicle and animal. The camera’s rapid wakeup accurately alerts homeowners through immediate notifications while at the same time reducing false alarms.

Uniden’s Thermo Sense is an advanced feature that detects motion from people as opposed to movement from trees, further reducing false alarms and giving homeowners the ability to act quickly, triggering a siren alert or broadcasting a personalised voice alert if the spotlight is triggered or motion detected. Users can also immediately notify the police when needed.

The powerful motion-activated spotlight is supplemented with colour night vision, which is enabled through a CMOS sensor. With the passive infrared sensor (PIR sensor) spotlight built into the camera, clearer night vision is captured – in colour – up to 30 metres.

A motion detection record saves all motion events, including AI-detected events, on a micro-SD card or Uniden Cloud for later playback. The App Cam Solo Pano Kit comes with seven days of free backups and cloud storage, although this can be extended through paid plans. This allows users to stream the camera in real-time or view, record, and playback videos at 3K (6MP) resolution, comparing videos, alerts and motion detection over an extended period to identify repeat intruders or to provide video footage to police for identification purposes.

Key features of App Cam Solo Pano

• 100% wirefree over Wi-Fi
• Dual Lens – Double The Coverage
• Solar power compatible (Solar Panel Included)
• rechargeable battery with 120 days standby time
• low-battery notifications
• rapid wake-up
• colour night vision
• 170° viewing angle with dual lens and dual view
• thermo sense technology
• 3K (6MP) resolution to view, record and playback video
• SD Card and 7 days free cloud backup and storage
• weatherproof design
• AI intelligent alerts
• customised voice-recordable alerts
• siren alert trigger
• motion detection record
• privacy masking to black out areas within the camera’s view
• black out areas within the camera’s view that you don’t want to be recorded.

Uniden App Cam Solo PANO RRP: $599.95 AUD

Visit www.uniden.com.au

Master Builders Australia has today released its latest new home forecasts to 2026-27 which shows the nation is falling behind in meeting its housing targets.

Overall housing starts sit below the 200,000 per annum needed between 2022 and 2025, dipping to its lowest over 2022-23 before rebounding in 2026-27 says Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn.

“The current environment is a difficult one for the industry marked by rising interest rates, robust cost pressures and labour shortages. Despite this, the total volume of construction activity grew modestly (+1.5 per cent) to $215.1 billion during 2021–22.

“Whilst detached housing and renovations are stable or steadily growing off the back of the COVID stimulus boom, medium to high density remains hardest hit. This segment is more sensitive to interest rate fluctuations and is still recovering from the absence of inward migration over the past three years. Even before the pandemic, higher density dwellings were in decline.

“The challenge will be to make sure that we put downward pressure on building and construction costs to increase output.

“At present these challenges relate to supply of housing, workforce shortages – particularly key trades, bottlenecks in the market for key building materials and products, and increased costs from regulatory changes,” said Ms Wawn.

Alongside the forecasts, Master Builders has released its priorities on Delivering the housing needs for all Australians which outlines the key housing policy areas that need to be addressed by all levels of Government in order to achieve sustainable and affordable housing outcomes.

“The dream of owning and investing in housing is underpinned by a fair and equitable desire to improve social, economic and productivity benefits for the country. But in the current climate of economic uncertainty many are seeing this aspiration become too far out of reach with flow on effects across the economy.

“Struggles around housing affordability have persisted over many decades but with state, territory and federal governments committed to addressing the challenge, this key policy area needs to be at the forefront.

“While this represents a challenge, it also provides a real opportunity for bold reform to be advanced and for business and the communities in which they operate to be unshackled.

“The Federal Government has announced an ambitious plan for housing which is supported by Master Builders, and we will work closely with them to ensure the most effective levers are pulled and are practically implementable by the industry.

“To achieve better housing affordability in the future, changes need to be made to the way we do things, now and over the long-term.

“To address these pressures, Master Builders recommends responses around housing supply, the construction workforce, supply chain risk and cost pressures, simplifying regulatory settings, and providing taxation settings that support investment in housing and productivity,” said Ms Wawn.

Australian small businesses are being warned to brace for continuing labour shortages this year as staffing woes continue to impact operations across a range of industries. Phil Parisis, Head of Product and Sales at My Business, the country’s largest business organisation, says one of the biggest issues facing SME owners in 2023 will be how to attract and retain staff.

“For many small businesses who managed to survive COVID, these ongoing staffing shortages are the final straw,” he says.

“Whether it be being forced to reduce opening hours, having to put growth plans on hold or being unable to keep up with customer demand, the labour skills shortage is having a huge impact on workplaces across the country,” says Mr Parisis.

“A recent survey of our members found 77% of them have found the quality of job applicants average or below for the advertised role. They’re struggling to find the right people.”

Industries expected to continue to feel the brunt of labour shortages in 2023 include hospitality, retail, transportation and construction.

“As a small business owner, recruitment can be overwhelming, not only does it feel like larger organisations have a greater pull power and the ability to outbid workers but there’s also the additional responsibility of having to correctly onboard new staff and ensure everything is above board,” he says.

“Here at My Business we’re trying to make recruitment easier for SME’s by making things simple with tailored recruitment checklists and legally drawn up contract templates for hiring new staff.”

Mr Parisis offers these tips for small business owners on how to attract and retain staff in 2023:

Give them equity.

“Think about involving your people in the business through an employee share scheme. These are now easier and much cheaper to put in place than previously and they’re a great incentive to attract quality job candidates that relieves the pressure of having to offer competitive salaries. By allowing your employees to share in the growth and success of your business you’re also giving them a reason to stay.”

Be flexible

“Staff these days value flexibility so don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Don’t just offer remote or hybrid working but reconsider non-traditional working hours and be open to job sharing.”

Be human

“People want to work for businesses that care about more than money. Small businesses have a huge advantage over larger organisations because they can take advantage of their flatter organisational structure to make their staff feel cared for and valued.”

Benefits

“Re-evaluate what benefits you’re offering staff and what they cost to the business. Some of the most popular benefits you could offer are also cost effective such as shorter Fridays during the summer months.”

Personal touch

“During the hiring process make sure you respond to all your applicants. Help make them advocates for your business even if they don’t get the job.”

Master Builders Australia invites women with up to five years experience in the building and construction industry to apply for the 2023 Women Building Australia mentor program.

The program runs over nine-months commencing on 28 March with applications closing on 28 February.

“Mentees will be paired up with established industry leaders in the industry to access support, encouragement and advice through a mentorship relationship,” said Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn.

“With monthly engagements, program participants will also be required to attend the program launch, mid-program review and end of year wrap up.

“The building and construction industry is one of the largest sectors in Australia. During November 2022, there were 1.29 million people employed in the industry working in over 445,000 construction businesses.

“However, women currently make up only 13.6 per cent of the industry’s total workforce. Three in 10 professionals in the industry are women by only 3.5 per cent are building trades and technicians.

“The industry is missing out on the skills and talents of half the population by not attracting more women into trades.

“Improving the attractiveness of the industry to women presents a massive opportunity to increase the pool of potential workers and this program is one of the many initiatives through Master Builder’s Women Building Australia to assist,” said Ms Wawn.

Rebecca Bishop and owner of Elite Building is a mentor in the program: “I loved watching my mentee grow so much during our time together. Being a mentor helped me to grow and learn new skills too.

“We need more women in construction. I recommend the program to all women who want to build their network, feel less alone, develop better communication skills, work on themselves, feel more confident and make some new connections and friends,” said Ms Bishop.

2022 program participant Laura Stevenson, a carpenter by trade, said: “My mentor Tara who has many years experience in the industry was really great at giving me some insights on how to navigate it all and some ideas about the future.

“I was just starting off in my career and unsure at first of what I wanted in the program. I’d highly recommend this program to anyone starting out even if they felt unsure like me as it was nice feeling to work with someone who just gets it,” said Ms Stevenson.

Ms Wawn said the industry is making progress. The gender pay gap is declining faster than average. The proportion of women in all occupation groups, except administration, is increasing.

“There are more female trades and technicians in construction than ever before and the number of females commencing a trade apprenticeship has more than doubled in the last five years,” said Ms Wawn.

Women Building Australia is supported through a Federal Government grant and delivered through Master Builders Australia aimed to attract and support women to succeed in the building and construction industry. It includes a range of initiatives including career expos, a female led business register, business resilience training and a dedicated harassment and discrimination support line.

For more information and to apply for the mentorship program visit: www.womenbuildingaustralia.com.au

From bushfires, floods, lockdowns, inflation and labour shortage, Australian businesses have faced unprecedented challenges in recent years. In 2022, Australia also recorded the largest quarterly rise to the cost-of-living index since the September 2000 quarter^[1], with many economists predicting a recession for Australia in 2023. Despite these obstacles, new research reveals that half (48 per cent) of small-to-medium businesses are looking to expand this year, even while they believe there is a risk of recession.

The findings were derived from an independent survey commissioned by business loan comparison site Small Business Loans Australia. Respondents were 210 business owners and senior decision-makers across the full SME spectrum: micro (1-10 employees), small (11-50 employees) and medium-sized (51-200 employees), as well as a small percentage of large SMEs (more than 200 employees). The full survey results, including breakdowns across business sizes and states, can be found here: https://smallbusinessloansaustralia.com/growth-in-recession/  

Small Business Loans Australia asked respondents if they had focussed on growing their businesses in the last four years – three of which were hugely challenging for most businesses – and if they will grow their business this year. Surprisingly, the highest proportion of respondents (48 per cent) are focussing on growing this year. This is more than twice the proportion of respondents (22 per cent) who focussed on growth in 2022. 

The smallest proportion of businesses actively growing was in 2020 (just 20 per cent) and 2021 (17 per cent). Also surprising was the small proportion of businesses (18 per cent) who focussed on growth in 2019, before the pandemic.

Small Business Loans Australia analysed responses across the states and territories. Businesses in Western Australia demonstrated the highest growth, with 88 per cent of businesses having focused on growth at some point since 2019, followed closely by 86 per cent of businesses in New South Wales. From 2019-2020 West Australian businesses saw the most significant growth, chosen by 36 per cent of SMEs in 2019 and 28 per cent in 2020. In 2021 Victorian businesses focused on growth more than those in any other state, chosen by 22 per cent whilst South Australian businesses came out on top in 2022, chosen by 26 per cent. Businesses in the ACT were most confident about growth in 2023, with 60 per cent of businesses specifying they will use this year to focus on growth, despite a potential recession.

More than half of businesses in Queensland (52 per cent) and New South Wales (51 per cent) will focus on growth this year. Micro businesses are predicted to be the most positive about growth in 2023, sitting at 50 per cent, compared with 48 per cent of medium sized businesses and 37 per cent of small businesses. 

Alon Rajik, Founder and Managing Director of Small Business Loans Australia, says: “It is promising to see that almost half of the country’s SMEs consider 2023 as a period of growth for their business. Our research indicates that regardless of a potential economic slowdown, SMEs will continue to be resilient against hardship and confident in their ability to weather tough economic periods, after they have survived a series of unprecedented global and economic disruptions.  

“The challenges of the last three years, while putting a strain on so many businesses, motivated many to change the way they operated and to innovate, which steered many toward online trading and away from traditional shopfront selling.

“With the risks of a recession, however, businesses are best to make smart financial choices when expanding. When seeking financing to facilitate growth, it’s a good idea to shop around to secure low interest rates and fees.”

Epson has added 4K resolution to its newest generation of compact, efficient, ultra-lightweight, high-lumens 3LCD projectors. The new EB-PQ2000 projector series is on show at stand 3J100 at ISE this year from 31 January to 3 February.

The new 4K EB-PQ2000 series builds on the success of Epson’s PU2200 range of high lumens 3LCD projectors which are 60% smaller and 50% lighter than their predecessor (EB-L20000U), offering significant size and weight advantages, as well as easy installation and set-up, simplified maintenance, exceptional image quality and eco-advantages.

Epson’s latest 4K technology has combined its patented, state-of-the-art 4K Crystal Motion, panel thermo-control and double micro-lens array technologies to achieve optimal clarity.
 
The new range offers custom-built 4K graphic processing, with the latest chipset providing significant improvements in operating frequency, memory bandwidth and data transmission for a seamless 4K experience.
 
The EB-PQ2000 series also offers additional versatility and is compatible with the ELPEC01 optional camera unit, which provides the benefit of upgraded assistance techniques, such as built-in simple stacking and blending. In addition, Epson’s free EPPT software gives the user access to even more features, including geometric correction, colour calibration and multi-projection assistance tools.

Each projector in the EB-PQ2000 Series is supplied as ‘body only’, without a lens, giving the user the option to design and build the best, most optimal projection solution for the right application using Epson’s existing range of 4K high quality lenses without a change in throw ratios.
 
In a time of increasing energy and logistics costs, the range offers significant environmental benefits including lower power consumption, significantly reduced packaging requirements with a lower carbon footprint as the reduced weight and size means the projectors are easier to store, transport and install, saving on warehouse space as well as labour and delivery costs.
 
All models in the range include functionality that enables simple installation, stacking, lens flexibility and control. The range includes in-built processing for PC-free stacking and blending which means two supported projectors can be stacked to double the brightness or blended to specific aspect ratios without need of external computerware. Additional features include NFC functionality for simpler installation, enabling communication between projectors and NFC-compatible smartphones, even when the projector is off.

Epson projectors have become the industry benchmark for quality and flexibility, saving installation time and shipment costs and reducing environmental impact for the important and growing high brightness projector market segment.

This new series of projectors also answers the market need for more compact, space-saving, lighter, reliable and versatile high-lumens display solutions.