As we watch Winter’s grip falter and fade, it’s a good time to consider packing away your ugg boots, heaters and… USB coffee warmers. No really.

In a world of gimmicky gadgets, I love how many bizarre things you can plug into a USB port nowadays…  You have more practical gadgets like web cams, fans and the aforementioned cup warmers, as well as USB foam missile launchers, desktop finger drum kits and BBQs – which come in at the fun-but-completely-ridiculous end of the spectrum.

It makes you ponder who exactly comes up with these ideas… and who gets behind them to make the dream a reality.

We’d love to hear about any weird and wonderful gadgets you’ve come across in your travels – perhaps one of them will be perfect for another reader.

In the meantime, take a squiz at this month’s newsletter – it’s packed full of helpful info, some exciting new plan options, two movie competitions and all the usual suspects.

Happy reading!

Now that our shiny new Business mailbox quotas are in full working order, it’s probably time for a few folks to reassess their current plans. Don’t worry – we’re not going to get all ’salesy’ on you, just giving you all the information you need to pick a plan that best suits you.

If you’re still on a Business plan with a 100MB limit and you find your mailbox fast becoming clogged, then perhaps one of our new Business Pro plans would be a more sensible option. They come in packs of 1, 5, 10 or 30 email accounts with increasing discounts, depending on how many you have.

We have two Business Pro plans on offer:

• Business Pro 500MB ($65 per year for a single mailbox)
• Business Pro Plus 1GB ($75 per year for a single mailbox)

Both of these plans come with a suit of added benefits, including:

• No set-up, hardware, support or licensing costs
• Connection to Microsoft Outlook and Apple’s Email  (through MAPI and iSync)
• Free anti-virus and anti-spam protection included (worth $119 per year)
• The ability to share folders, tasks, documents and calendars with other people
• Webmail access
• Search for keywords within emails and attachments
• Support for major hand-held devices, including iPhones

You can find more information about our Business Pro plans on the Westnet website: http://www.westnethosting.com.au/email/.

Proving that you can be internet geeks and rock legends, Westnet’s band Churn (comprised of staff members) pulled out all the stops at the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation’s Boardroom Blitz – a corporate charity event that raised a whopping $80,000 at this year’s August 9^th event.

The competition was tight, with six bands strutting into Metro City (complete with groupies, oh-so-hot stage set-ups and music industry big-wigs to judge the talent), all vying for the coveted winner’s title.

Strangely, Westnet’s Churn didn’t look out of place next to the Police Commissioner’s band The Filth, iiNet’s soulTrain, an all-mum band aptly named Muthaz, Axis Financial Group’s Axistence and last year’s winners The Big Kahuna (Hawaiian).

While Churn didn’t place in the top rankings (the winner’s title went to iiNet’s soulTrain, with the Police Commissioner’s The Filth taking out second place), it was claimed in a Perth Now article that their cover of The Living End’s ‘Prisoner of Society’ was the best song of the night.

Westnet also trumped everyone when it came to aesthetics, taking out the ‘Best Rock Styling’ award. That’s pretty impressive considering the spandex, cowboy boots and oh-so-much leather on display throughout the night.

Thanks to all the staff members who took part in the name of charity – we look forward to seeing an even bigger audience next year!

Most people have heard the term ‘web hosting’ bandied about, but many don’t know what it actually means – here’s a handy guide to get you up to speed.

If you’re looking to have a website of your own, it’ll need to be hosted on a web server to make it visible to others. Without hosting, there’s no way for people to see any of the pages within your website.

Web hosting is a way of giving your website and email a ‘home’ on the internet. This home is where your website is stored.  Web hosting simply means storing your website files on a public server and can be combined with email services, as well as registration of a domain name. A domain name (such as westnet.com.au) is a unique name that you can choose (if it hasn’t already been taken by somebody else) for your website – your own slice of the internet.

When you type a web address into the address bar of your browser (such as www.google.com.au), your browser sends out a request to ‘find’ that web page. The request is sent over the internet to the web server where the page is hosted, where it attempts to load it.

Web hosting servers obviously cost a bit of money to set up, configure and maintain, so providers owning these servers typically charge a monthly or yearly fee for  web hosting services.

To find out about the web and email hosting plans that Westnet offers, as well as our domain name services visit here.

Listening to radio streams over the net is fast becoming the norm – it’s a simple way to listen to music from around the world without having to pay for it. So we thought we’d give you the lowdown on what radio streaming is all about and how you can make use of it.

Radio streaming works by transporting audio data over the internet, then reassembling it to sound as it should at the user’s end. ‘Streaming’ is a way of downloading live media, allowing you to use the first part of the ’stream’ before the last part arrives. Common audio formats (which you’ve probably heard of) include MP3, Windows Media Audio and RealAudio.

An internet radio stream is much like normal radio – you can choose the station, but not the songs that are played. The advantage to internet streaming is that there tend to be much more specialised music genres available to cater for all sorts of tastes.

As a Westnet customer, you have access to stacks of stations via the Westnet Freezone – so they don’t count towards your monthly download quota. You can find anything from internet versions of your favourite over-the-air broadcasts (eg. ABC’s Classic FM), to internet-only stations dedicated to the latest electronic music.

To begin your own streaming experience, make sure you’ve got a common media player (such as Windows Media Player, Winamp, Quicktime or iTunes) installed on your computer.

Then simply head to the Westnet Freezone Radio page (http://www.mywestnet.com.au/freezone/radio/) and click on the ‘Click here to listen’ link next to whichever station takes your fancy.  This will open up your media player and automatically connect you to the radio stream.

Happy listening!

The special offers don’t stop once you become a Westnet member; in fact, they come through thick and fast! For updates and full details on great pressies like unmetered content through Westnet Freezone and RSVP, simply hit up this page!

Westnet and Sony Pictures are giving members the chance to win one of 25 in-season double passes to see Julie & Julia, a unique comedy about how one woman’s journey became another’s inspiration.

Before Julia Child (Meryl Streep) became the world’s first celebrity chef, she was just a woman searching for her calling in life. In 1948 her husband’s job has brought them to Paris, and with her indefatigable spirit, she yearned for something to do.  She enrolls in the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and embarks on a journey that will change American home cooking for ever.

Fifty years later, Julie Powell (Amy Adams) was feeling the exact same way.  Pushing 30, living in Queens and working in a cubicle as her friends achieve stunning successes, she seizes on a seemingly insane plan to focus her energies.  Julie decides to spend exactly one year cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and write a blog about her experiences.

For your chance to win one of 25 in-season double passes to Julie & Julia, simply click the ‘Enter’ button in the Westnet Newsletter in your inbox. Entries are limited to one per Westnet username. The competition closes at 12.01am (WST) on Thursday October 1^st 2009.

Westnet and Roadshow Films are giving Westnet members the chance to win one of 30 in-season double passes to see SHORTS, a quirky family action-adventure packed full of unexpected twists and turns.

The latest installment from filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, creator of the Spy Kids trilogy and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, Shorts features big names like Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, James Spader and Jimmy Bennett.

The story unfolds as a mysterious Rainbow Rock falls from the sky during a freak storm, right into eleven-year-old Toe Thompson’s life in the suburban community of Black Falls. The cool part? It grants wishes to anyone who comes across it.

Suddenly, the neighborhood that Toe already thinks is weird is about to get a lot weirder.  As the Rainbow Rock ricochets around the town – from kid to kid and parent to parent, wishes-come-true quickly turn the neighborhood upside down in a wild rampage of everything from tiny aliens to giant boogers.

For your chance to win one of 30 in-season double passes to SHORTS, simply click the ‘Enter’ button in the Westnet Newsletter in your inbox. Entries are limited to one per Westnet username. The competition closes at 12.01am (WST) on Thursday October 1^st 2009.