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What’s the best way you could waste time at work? How about dealing with computer problems or printer paper jams?

According the the Dick Smith Productivity study, the average office worker spends more than two working weeks a year dealing with technical issues and it’s mostly thanks to old technology.

The study revealed that over 2/3 of Australian workplaces still used a fax machine and just over 52 percent of employees claim that their boss is too stingy to invest in new equipment…even if it means improving productivity.

If you run a small business there are some good tax incentives for buying new equipment up to $6500, check with the ATO or your tax professional.

Additionally, you’ll find more information on the MRTAXMAN website.

Last weekend in Melbourne, AVerMedia launched their latest HD Video Game capture device, the “Live Gamer Portable”.

Here’s my report from the event as featured on GameArena.

<script language=”javascript” type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.gamearena.com.au/res/2007/javascript/functions.js”></script> <script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.gamearena.com.au/res/2007/javascript/flashplayer/ufo.js”></script><div id=”GA_embed_video_68068″></div><script>{initVideoPlayer(“http://media.gamearena.com.au/gamearena/video/weeklyupdate/Bigpond_Games_Weekly_Update_ep_336_May_17_2013_HD.medium.mp4″,”false”,68068,309,521,”",”GA_embed_video_68068″)}</script&gt… Read more

One of the more novel and more many, useful, features of Apple’s iPhone is Siri, the talking personal assistant that can help you do almost anything via voice commands.

Well now Android mobile devices have their own personal Assistant with a free App called “Sherpa”.

Sherpa can help you search for information, make appointments, send messages plus post to social networks and even make payments with PayPal.

Sherpa also uses a proactive learning system so it will get to know what you like and what your habits are to deliver better results from requests and searches.

Sherpa is available as a free download via Google Play.

If you plan on taking your mobile phone with you overseas, now’s the time to protect yourself against an unexpected high usage bill on your return.

It’s commonly called “Bill Shock”, but if you’re armed with the right information, a massive phone bill is easily avoided.

First things first, check with your mobile provider on exactly how much a mobile call will cost to make and receive while overseas.

The same goes for data charges, but in most cases it’s simply better to switch off the data roaming feature of your smartphone and simply using Wi-Fi for internet connectivity where available during your trip.

Telstra has introduced an SMS alert system designed to minimise bill shock by keeping customers informed of how much data they are… Read more

What do you think of when you hear the word Robot? Possibly those featured in movies Star Wars?

Well they’ve certainly been an inspiration to those in the robotics field, but according to Dr Jonathan Roberts from the CSIRO, it could be some time before we have a robot like C3PO ,R2D2 or Wall-E.

You can see some of the latest robots in development by the CSIRO here.