IPv4 stands for Internet Protocol version 4. This is essentially a number similar to 192.0.2.235 used to identify individual nodes (such as servers or mobile devices) within the Internet.

What is IPv4 depletion?

IPv4 depletion is a result of all IPv4 addresses being allocated. Currently this only means that those addresses have been allocated to regional bodies for further distribution. Many companies have a large unused allocation still available, webqem are among those companies. We are not close to running out of IPv4 addresses.

When IPv4 was deployed as a standard 2³² (roughly 4.3 billion) addresses were allocated. This was deemed to be more than enough for the users of the Internet at this time (mostly military or university).

With the proliferation of the Internet in the late 80′s concern began to grow that these addresses would begin to run out.

The future. IPv6

There was nothing unexpected about the depletion of the IPv4 address range. The Internet community have been planning for this for quite some time.
While we are OK for now it always pays to prepare for the future and in 1998 a new protocol was finalised; IPv6.   This protocol takes into account the massive growth of the Internet allowing for 2¹²⁸ addresses which is 3.4×10³⁸ or 340 undecillion addresses.
As the IPv4 addresses are used up more and more hosts, providers, manufacturers and ISP’s will move to this new protocol.

How will this affect you?

The short answer for the vast majority of Internet users is “not at all”. The good news is most computers and mobile phones already support IPv6 and have done for a number of years. It’s been a part of windows XP since 2003 ? The bad news, most home networking products like wireless routers and ADSL modems do not support IPv6.  It will also mean you will be forced to upgrade from Internet Explorer 6 but that can’t be a bad thing can it?

Will internet addresses look any different ?

No, sites will still have the same type of address styles ie. www.yourdomainname.com.au

Do I need to re-register my existing website address or will it stop working?

No. Internet address registrars will convert your website to run an IPv4 and IPv6 number in parallel probably sometime after 2012 but it could be even further away given the first global test of IPv6 by Google, yahoo and Microsoft is scheduled for June 2011.

So how do I  register a website on this new address space?

Simply contact your DNS provider when they become available.

Larger organisations should have a plan for moving to IPv6 if they don’t already have one, many ISP’s can help with the transition process providing IPV4-IPv6 transition packages.

For more information on IPv4 depletion see this Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv4_address_exhaustion

Adobe has released Presenter 7.0.6, why should you upgrade? The “The Update will install Adobe Presenter 7.0.6 patch on top of Adobe Presenter 7.0.5. It provides fixes for connect issues and also the limited support for Microsoft PowerPoint 2010.”To help you out, Philip Roy from Massey University has created a tutorial. When you’re done upgrading have a look around the Massey eLearning site, it is full of useful tips and tricks around using Adobe Connect.

Adobe has released Presenter 7.0.6, why should you upgrade? The “The Adobe Presenter 7.0.6 Update will install Adobe Presenter 7.0.6 patch on top of Adobe Presenter 7.0.5. It provides fixes for connect issues and also the limited support for Microsoft PowerPoint 2010.” To help you out, Philip Roy from Massey University has created a tutorial. When you’re done upgrading have a look around the Massey eLearning site, it is full of useful tips and tricks around using Adobe Connect.

Just occasionally, clichés are perfectly apt.
And this is one of those occasions. In a merger that really is a case of “the whole being more than the sum of its parts”, two of Australia’s most experienced web and print software companies have become a single, powerful entity.

On July 1, Formstar Print Technologies merged with Webqem, pooling resources and talent to create a formidable team of over 40 highly skilled individuals.

Having operated independently over the past decade, the pairing is a natural fit. Both companies share similar processes for improved business processes, core skills and the same development tools platforms.

To help you make the most of this upgrade, this offer also comes with 2 FREE one day training courses (valued at $1749).

The Adobe K-12 School Site Licenses allow installation rights for 250 or 500 school-owned or school-leased computers regardless of school enrollment size. K-12 school site licenses also come with valuable DVDs of curriculum and training materials to help educators implement career and technical education programs around design, web, and video programs.

Take advantage of this great offer now and contact us here at webqem.

Adobe has found an issue with the Connect Pro 7.5 Installer that can delete the entire drive on which Connect Pro is being installed. This issue affects anyone who has downloaded the version 7.5 license trial between November 3rd and November 17th 2009.

Adobe has advised customers to immediately cease any further installation of Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro version 7.5 and to delete the Installer program containing Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro version 7.5, as applicable. The issue occurs if you select “cancel” during the file copying step of the installation process.

For more information on this, please carefully read this technote released from Adobe, to see if your current version is affected by this issue. Contact webqem if you require more information about this issue.

Adobe have just released a significant update for the their Presenter 7 software moving it up to version 7.0.5. It is the third update to Presenter 7. This update addresses a number of issues, and provides a number of enhancements across the entire product. Some of the areas this update addresses include: PowerPoint conversion, audio editing, inserting flash and video content, and quizzing, just to name a few.

If you own Presenter 7 software, we highly recommend that you upgrade your software as there are about 50 resolved issues and more than 10 enhancements. Updating is really easy, all you need to do is go into the Presenter software and go to the automatic product update system (Adobe Presenter help-> updates). Otherwise you can visit the Adobe Presenter product update page, which has a file ready for download and installation – its only 4.4MB so you will have it in no time.

A full list of resolved issues and enhancements are available online.

If you couldn’t make it… we missed you!  If you did make it – thanks for coming and sharing our birthday with us!

Thankfully we dismissed the photographer early in the evening… so those of you who’d rather not be reminded of what you can’t remember… fear not… and check out the pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/webqem :-)

Lawn Bowling Gurus

The global financial recession did not deter the collective group of supporters from digging deep with over $200,000 of much needed funds raised!

Special guests included Phil Kearns, George Gregan and Matthew Bourke, who candidly shared their career highlights with an attentive audience and Sir Nicholas Shehadie who on the contrast shared with us all what it was like to be a Wallaby in the 1940′s and 1950′s.

It was an extroadinary event organised to perfection, can’t wait for the 2010 rugby long lunch!

It was a fantastic event held at the Hilton Sydney raising approximately $250,000 for breast cancer research. Highlights of the day included a moving account of Antony Shaw’s 245 KM Marathon des Sables run, a Q & A with Wallaby’s coach Robbie Deans and former Wallaby’s player Phil Kearns, and the chance to win an A3 Audi – lucky winner Robert Lattuca took away the grand prize.

Guests were treated to a three-course meal, champagne, and a plethora of items to bid on, all in the name of charity. Three of our very own webqem staff took home prizes from the business card draw and auction items. It was a moving and memorable event held in the name of an extraordinary cause.

While the two will be manning a booth at the Expo, Larry is also part of the speaker line-up – presenting the topic “Rapid E-Learning with Adobe Connect Professional” on Tuesday afternoon.

webqem has recently opened offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Auckland.

The International ITC Expo is one of the largest information & communication technology exhibitions in the region with product and service providers exhibiting from 18 countries and regions. Details for the International ITC Expo can be found online at http://ictexpo.tdctrade.com/index.htm

This version also includes hardware acceleration for better performance on multi-core machines.

A HD gallery has been launched to help demonstrate the capabilities of the new version of the player, it’s well worth checking out at http://www.adobe.com/products/hdvideo/hdgallery/

Flash Player 8 has better video compression algorithms (codecs), which are being utilised in this update to Connect for improved quality screen sharing during live meetings.

Another benefit is that Flash video files (FLVs) compressed with the Flash 8 codec are now better performers when served up as content from the Adobe Acrobat Connect server. Connect can stream FLV files, detecting user connection speeds and optimising performance on the fly, with better quality visuals coming as a result of the codecs used for Flash 8.

While there are a number of applications available for compressing video into the FLV format the majority, especially the freeware and shareware variety, are still only using Flash 7 compression. Adobe ship a Flash Video Encoder with Flash CS3.

Yes, we finally outgrew Office #2 and have moved on to Office #3. With twice as much room at over 350m square, we no longer have to work elbow-to-elbow!  Hooray! It’s a rather spiffy, brand new building on Military Road, not far from the old office. Pop in and see us sometime.  The new address is:

webqem pty ltd
Level 1
130-132 Military Road
Neutral Bay
NSW 2089

You can find all our details and a map on our website, of course.

I have to tidy up the code to make it presentable and compatible with Flex 2.01 but expect another announcement in the near future.

*** Updated ****

Mike no longer works at webqem, and unfortunately there will be no further news on the barcode reader.

We’re a relatively small team (15 people) and we have a lot of fun doing what we do for some of the biggest names in Australia including realestate.com.au, Virgin Blue, Land Rover, SEEK, Yahoo!7, E*TRADE and Allianz, amongst many others.

• Do you like the thought of working on varied projects from large corporate sites and web applications to funky flash sites and online advertising creative (Probably all in one day)?
• Do you want to work with a company that will value your talent, reward you and give you the opportunity to really make a difference?

If this sounds appealing and the following is TRUE of you:

• You can send us some examples of YOUR great work to look at and prove to us you know the difference between good and bad interactive design
• You can demonstrate a sound understanding of both usability design and visual design
• You think that sloppy mistakes and typos should be punishable by firing squad (read: ‘Attention-to-detail a must have’)
• You are a highly effective communicator with both colleagues and clients
• You think that initiative is not an optional extra
• You have a sense of humour

- then please get in touch. Email your resume and, vitally, your online portfolio to jobs@webqem.com.

The Forrester report analyses the internet offerings of the five largest retirement income providers here in Australia.

The report specifically mentions MLC’s Retirement Savings Gap Calculator, a Rich Internet Application (RIA) that webqem built for MLC to help site visitors understand the potential of proper retirement planning. Clear useability and graphics aids were identified as instances of how the calculator exemplified best practises.

Adobe Connect Enterprise Hosted services have automatically been updated to Service Pack 1.

Read about the details of the changes and bug fixes available in this Service Pack.

Thanks to Robin for running the competition and congratulations to the other entrants for producing such high quality apps and if you are entering the Adobe developer derby, best of luck.