Who wants an Android tablet? Wholesale order

A few weeks ago i asked if anyone was interested in an android tablet if I could do a wholesale order and get them cheap. I got a fairly overwhelming response, so i looked into it more.
I have decided on the Zenithink ZT-180 Android to import, and i have worked out the prices to be approximately $350 each. This takes into account, purchase, shipping, GST, and hopefully any other hidden costs.

Specs:
Operation System Android 2.1 (upgradeable to 2.2)
LCD display 10.2″ TFT display,1024*600 Resistive screen (sorry, nobody is making capacitive yet)
CPU ARM11 1Ghz (This means it will probably never run flash/shockwave! – still better than an iPad!)
Memory DDR 256MB
Internet support WIFI:USB port
USB for web camera
I/O ports DC in Power
Earphone
RJ-45
TF
1*USB 2.0 Host port
1*USB 2.0 OTG port
Touch screed Resistive
Audio Built in stereo speakers 1w*2
Built in mono recorder
LED indicators Power; charging
Key-press Power on /off 1 key
Volume 2key
ESC 1 key
Max battery time Wi-Fi on :5 hours
Wi-Fi off:7 hours
Power adapter 220V Input 9V DC Output ,2A
Office software Word viewer
Excel Viewer
PowerPoint Viewer
PDF Viewer
Image Viewer
EDIT Tools Microsoft WordPad
Microsoft Spread Excel
Network Correspondence QQ,MSN,Skype
Internet Internet Explorer
Audio MP3,WAV,WMA,AAC,AAC+,WMA record.
Video 1080P MP4,1080P AVI(XVID,H.263,DIVX),
1080P MKV,1080P RMVB, RM
Photo JPEG,GIF
Game Support all Android Editions,Games
Language Multi-Language

There is NO 3G or GPS, however there is an optional extra for this available online.
When ordering I am also ordering a leather case for them (included in the $350) which has a keyboard built in.

If you are interested in one of these for approximately $350, please read on.

IMPORTANT!

I will be buying them online in a large portion from an unknown company, whilst I will do everything in my power to make sure i dont get ripped off (its my money too!) there is a slim chance that this may happen. The money is in escrow so I’m fairly sure we’re ok on this front (they don’t get my money until i get the goods)

Payment must be made up front as I do not have the funds to cover everyone elses items!

There is no profit made anywhere in this for me. The price may vary depending on currency conversions at the time and any other unknown fees incurred. If its under the $350, then you will get any leftover. If its more, then I’ll let you know (though I can’t imagine it will be much if it is).

Ideally I need a minimum order of 15 of these before its viable, I can still do it with less, however the buying power is lost somewhat.

Yes you can search around and see other prices on ebay etc, you will find there are a few people that list these at around $220-$300USD each without the leather wallet/cover thing, however i suspect that having the leather cover is probably something most people will want (we can opt for or not either way).

Most android tablets from china are cloned, which leaves the Market unusable, this is fixable, I’ll do it myself and upgrade it to 2.2 if necessary before passing them onto you. You are welcome to take it as it is and do that yourself if you want

So, you still want in?

Email me: liz at velofille dot com

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Who owns your phone number & Details? Directory Services?

Recently a court ruling went through in Australia which , by itself, wasn’t a massive major, but it was enough to make the news. A website called ‘Local Directories‘ was taken to court by  a company called Sensis which is a subsidiary of Telstra Clear because they copied the data from the Yellow and White pages of their directory services and then put it on their website.

The court ruled that whilst the databases on both sites was identical, it wasn’t owned by Sensis, and they did not create it (ie it was not an original works) and so they could not copyright it. The Judgement was “None of the Works were original. None of the people said to be authors of the Works exercised “independent intellectual effort” or “sufficient effort of a literary nature” in creating the Works.”

This made me curious and brought me back 10 years ago when a databases did the rounds in NZ containing a CSV rip of the NZ phone book. It was incomplete and only contained Auckland phone numbers, and more than one person (off the record) laid claim to doing the original scrape/rip.

I’m guessing most people are thinking ‘this is all very benign’ and ‘what’s the big deal’ about now, hang on, i’m getting there. What if somebody now took the data from the phone book, and let you search by street name, suburb, or even phone number (reverse phone book anyone?). According to this new ruling, not a heck of a lot!

So to try a proof of concept i hunted about and found that old Auckland rip from 10 years ago, imported it into the database, munged the data so no names/addresses/phone numbers matched up correctly and put it on the web.  You can see that here http://velofille.com/phbook/ .  I see that http://www.whitepages.com/ provides a reverse phone number lookup already (search the number, find the address), which is a little dodgy, however this is only for USA by the looks.

Now, are you beginning to see the problem with the court ruling? Whilst its great to finally track down who owns that number who calls you at 3am and hangs up or does deep breathing, or even ringing all your neighbours on the street when the music is too loud. What happens when salesmen decide to cold call an entire suburb? or the creepy guy next door rings you to tell you he can see you through the gap in the curtain? What happens when this information is used for something not so nice?

Whilst this originally was an Australian ruling, and Australian problem, much like internet filtering and a lot of other things, these things have a way of happening in NZ. Already Yellow Pages are taking Auckland company Image Marketing Group (IMG) to court saying it obtained details of over 300,000 businesses from the Yellow Pages and re-sold the information via its own products.

Now, in my mind, and in a perfect world, surely *i* own the right to my own personal data, in which case surely they have to pay *me* to use it on their website in the first place? There is no one major company any more doing only phone and yellow/white pages any more, I can have my phone provided from one place, and white/yellow pages is now an independent company.  So this led me to wonder ‘who is paying for this information?’ .

Whilst their Privacy Policy page says they promise to not sell your data to third parties without disclosure, they do say they retain the right to use it in any “Yellow Pages Group companies”. So does this mean if they decide to start up a Marketing company they will use that data? or any other company they decide to start up? Its no secret they are not making much money at the moment, and their Terms of Service page also does state “If you require a comprehensive list of New Zealand businesses for commercial or marketing purposes, we have other services which will better meet your needs.”

Also, I see that in their Terms of service page they state “You are allowed to manually access the Directory, to make a copy of the results of any searches made in the Directory, and to use those results, provided that none of such access, copying and use is for the purpose and in the course of any business, or for the creation of your own commercial database”. So going by these guidelines am I allowed to copy the entire database, and put it on my own PERSONAL website without making profit or being a business? And if somebody copies the data of my personal website for commercial use, well … that’s a whole new can of worms isn’t it?

Now factor in that Brendon Battles is the director and shareholder of IMG. This guys is really fairly famous for making millions via spamming, and was once reported to have once sent 50 million spam emails per day.

So, where do you stand in the scheme of this? Is it time they started paying *us* for information they are sharing and making money off? Let me know your opinions!

Tags: address, brendon battles, directory, hack, phbook, phone, reverse, services, whitepages
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Linux/Tux Keyboard For Sale – Oxfam Fundraiser

As most people may (or may not) know. I’m doing the Oxfam 100km walk. We need to raise $2,500 to donate to Oxfam to take part, plus our entry fees.

Thanks to a lot of people we have $870 at this time, which is fantastic, but only 35% of the way there! Since I have a few cool toys I no longer need, I’ve decided to sell a few things here on my blog. I’m using my blog because other sites like trademe will a) take a cut of the proceeds and b) you can deposit the money right onto our Oxfam account and i post it to you, and I have a fairly high technical/Linux following who will be more inclined to want it.

So to start it off, Im selling this AS NEW Linux Keyboard. Its a standard decent keyboard with low profile keys. The standard Windows key is non-existant and has been replaced with a Tux Key. Other than that its fairly average.

I was given this by a visiting person from Zareason who make and sell these along with other Linux specific hardware. I opened it, tried it, then never actually used it. If i can find the mouse I will throw that in as well (though its just a normal mouse). You can view the keyboard specs and more pics here http://www.zareason.com/shop/product.php?productid=16206&cat=251&page=1

So please place your best bid in the comments. You can make as many as you want and fight it out. Bidding stops when the  nobody has bid for more than 2 days or when the trailwalker starts early April (in which case i hope like heck you pay!).

Tags: bid, keyboard, Linux, oftw, oxfam, sale, trailwalker, tux, walk
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