The latest update from the council, in brief:

Supermarket

Council short listed five interested proponents:

• Coles Group Property Development Ltd
• Commercial Asset Management Services Pty Ltd
• Lascorp Development Group Pty Ltd
• Watpac Development Pty Ltd; and
• Woolworths Limited.

These parties have now been invited to respond to a Request for Proposal. An evaluation team will review the responses and make a recommendation to Council in the first quarter of 2012 in relation to selection of a preferred developer.

Station Lake Road

Notice of Intention to Sell Land and Notice of Intention to close part of Station Lake Road. Public exhibition of the Local Government Act processes of notice of intention to close road (Station Lake Rd) and notice of intention to sell land have been undertaken. A submission was received in relation to the notice of intention to close part of Station Lake Road, Council is working with the submitter to resolve this submission.

Bowls club

Council has worked with the Bowling Club to provide for a possible alternate location given the need to relocate the existing facilities through the delivery of this Project.

A site at 10 Alkara Ave adjacent to the Lara Recreation Reserve has been purchased by Council. This site was identified in the Lara Outdoor Recreation Facilities Study as a site that Council should purchase to provide for additional recreation facilities and can provide for relocation of the Bowling Club subject to appropriate approvals.

Philips FW380-C mini hifi system

This article was also published in the October 2010 issue of “Silicon Chip“, in the Serviceman’s Log.

Back when I was in secondary school I saved all pocket money to purchase a CD player that would allow me to blast out Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd at the kind of volumes that would ensure my parents knew I was home. My choice of equipment: a Philips FW-380C mini hifi system.

Years past and the system went to university with me, where its auxiliary input made a great set of speakers for my computer. But somewhere along the way between then and now, the CD player stopped reading discs, and eventually it wouldn’t even power on.

Last year I tried to offload it at a car boot sale for $40, but no one wanted a stereo system that I couldn’t back with a working guarantee. Finally last weekend, whilst cleaning out the garage, I decided it was time to open it up and see if anything glaringly obvious stood out.

Fried components

After removing several screws and disconnecting some cables, I could see an area on the main audio board that looked like it had been hit with an open flame! The fried components occupying this space included two resistors, four transistors, and a zener diode.

A little more searching, and I came across a large capacitor, 4700uf 35V, that looked as if it were glued to the PCB. I quickly realised the ‘glue’ was actually capacitor innards that were now outside of the capacitor.

A quick search through my very limited stock of components revealed I had a 4700uf 35V to replace the leaky one, but no resistors, transistors or a diode for the fried area of the audio board.

Leaky capacitor

I decided I had nothing to lose – lets see what happens if I just replace the leaky capacitor. A quick once over with my soldering iron, and I was ready to power up. To my surprise, the CD carousel rotated around, and the system went into the store demo mode! It was alive again.

I switched to tuner mode, and tuned in the local radio station successfully. After some more tuning however, the system dropped out briefly, and went back to demo mode. Uh oh. I quickly tried the CD player, but for each of the three discs in the carousel the display said “No disc”.

I powered down and made the trip to Jaycar for parts. Two BC547B and two BC337 transistors and a couple of resistors were easy finds, however the zener diode, labelled BZV55F was a different story. The best I could find was an 1N751A (400mW, 5.1V) – it would have to do.

Transistors and resistors removed, capacitor already replaced

I proceeded to replace the four transistors and two resistors before trying again. This time I had more success – no drop outs back to demo mode, however still no CD playing. I could see the disc try and spin, but only manage a wobble before displaying “No disc”.

It had to be the zener, so it was next to be swapped. By now I was an expert at pulling the system apart and putting it back together, but even with the replacement zener diode, it was still displaying “No disc”.

A quick google of “philips hifi no disc” and the obvious hit me right in the face – a dirty lens. A quick cotton tip clean later and sure enough, the CD player was back in business. Sometimes the simplest of things are the least obvious!

I even decided it was worth parting with $6 to purchase a pack of replacement drive belts for the cracked and broken cassette deck belts. I will probably never use the decks, but the satisfaction of bringing my childhood ‘rock box’ back to life – complete with cassette decks – made me do it. Good times.

Artist's impression

The latest news from City of Greater Geelong on the Lara Town Centre Expansion project:

• Lara Town Centre Expansion Project Update 3 April 2010 (PDF – 505KB)

There was also some more info in the email that accompanied this PDF:

 

Hi Kayne,

I have attached the latest project update and I will add your contact details for future updates that distributed via email.

We have significantly progressed key components of the project in recent months, especially in relation to support from State Government for initiating an expressions of interest (EOI) process while concurrently working to resolve native title. We anticipate being in a position to take the project to the market via an EOI process in the coming months.

Council has also sought authorisation from the Department of Planning and Community Development to exhibit a planning scheme amendment to rezone the expansion site to Business 1 Zone and apply a Design and Development Overlay.

The local member for Lara, Mr John Eren, has continued to support the project and has been very helpful in getting these processes moving through State Government.
Regards,

Sarah Storen
Senior Strategic Planner
Planning Strategy
City of Greater Geelong
PO Box 104, Geelong, VIC, 3220
Phone: 5272 4814
Fax: 5272 4855

After upgrading my phone to an HTC Desire, I quickly realised – after eating through 100MB in a weekend – that my 250MB mobile internet plan with Three mobile was not enough!

I decided yesterday to call Three (133 320) to see what upgrades they had to offer. Whilst on hold, I found Three’s mobile internet plans, listing the plans and prices they offer.

After finally getting through to an operator, I requested to sign up for 12 months to take advantage of doubling my data to 500MB. The helpful person at Three informed me that this would cost $4 a month.

“$4 – shouldn’t that be $8!?”. I was then told that there was a special offer – signing up for 12 months meant double the data, at half the price. I then asked about the $20/1GB plan, and sure enough, I was able to sign up for 2GB for just $10 a month – an eight fold increase on my original quota, for only $2 more. It was a no brainer, and I now have 2GB of data a month.

Today I called Three again to switch to the $4/500MB plan for 12 months on my partner’s phone. During activation I was informed that the “half price/double data” offer ends on the 15th May 2010, so if you are interested, get in quick!

12 month contract? If you break the 12 month contract, there is a $35 fee. Also for the first month you have to pay the full monthly price, pro rata over your billing cycle (i.e if you are half way through your billing cycle and sign up for $20/2GB, you get 1GB for $10, and then 2GB (double) for $10 (half) each month after).

The HTC Desire was released in Australia on the 27th April 2010 by Telstra, who unfortunately have a six month exclusivity deal with HTC.

Not wanting to leave my current provider (3) or plan, I decided it was best to import the Desire from the UK. I chose Clove Technology, paid considerably less than what Telstra offer the phone for outright (which is $779), and it arrived in three business days.

Import caveat – the phone released in the UK is the “European” version, and has one small technical specification difference – the European version works on the 900MHz or 2100MHz HSPA/WCDMA network, not the 850Mhz UTMS network that Telstra’s NextG uses.

In short, if you are using a European Desire on 3, you will not be able to use the “3G Roaming Zone” outside of the “Broadband Zone” (you will roam onto Telstra’s GSM network – the “Talk & Messaging Zone”). See 3′s roaming information for more details. The phone is also compatible with Optus and Vodaphone networks.

And if you are still worried about the European version on the Australian 3 network – I have had no problems on both the 3 network or roaming outside of the 3 network. When roaming I could still read email, surf the internet, and make calls. I was also able to easily connect to Planet 3 using 3′s APN settings.

Setup was easy – when you power on the Desire for the first time, you pop in your Google account credentials, and it syncs your contacts and email to the phone. Twitter, flickr, Facebook and other service accounts can also be added.

The first feature of the Desire that made me realise what I was missing out on was WiFi connectivity. Whilst this has become standard with a lot of phones now, it’s ‘newness’ (in my mind) really stood out! Checking the news each morning on my phone no longer counts on my mobile phone bill, rather my home ADSL bill, which is much cheaper.

Navigating around the Desire’s menus and functions with your finger is very easy, and everything is very crisp and bright on the 3.7 inch AMOLED touch screen. Menus and programs load fast, and there doesn’t appear to be any noticeable lag.

The battery life so far has been fine. I have been able to get away with charging it for a few hours (2 to 3) each night, however I have not yet tested how long it will last without a charge. My feeling (based on battery drain) is about 2 days worth of charge, depending on how much you use the phone.

Tethering to my laptop was an absolute breeze too. I plugged the Desire into the laptop over USB, selected “Internet sharing” on the menu that popped up on the Desire, and the laptop (Ubuntu 10.04) automatically connected to the internet. It was that simple.

Downloading and installing apps from the Android Market is very easy, the only hard part is choosing which apps are worthy of downloading! The star rating and the number of downloads helps in this regard though. So far I have downloaded ConnectBot (an SSH client) and Bubble (a spirit level), as well as a few free games to try out.

In a nut shell – the HTC Desire has changed my phone world. It feeds me my email and twitter (rather than me asking the old Nokia for it), and makes browsing the web something I want to do, not need to do. The on-screen keyboard is easy to use (especially with auto-correction of typos), and the little things like WiFi, SMS message threading and the weather made me realise what I was missing out on.

If you are looking for a new phone, I would highly recommend the HTC Desire.

• HTC Desire at htc.com
• HTC Desire at Clove Technology – £330GBP

Specifications
Screen: 3.7-inch 480×800 AMOLED touchscreen
Camera: 5 Megapixel autofocus with LED flash
Operating system: Android 2.1
Input: Dual-touch with HTC Sense interface
CPU: Qualcomm QSD 8250 (Snapdragon), 1 Ghz
Memory: 512 MB flash, 576 MB RAM
Memory card: 32 GB microSD (Maximum, mine arrived with a 4GB card)
Connectivity: Europe/Asia Pacific: HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz; UMTS 850 Mhz (Telstra Australia); GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; Wi-Fi (802.11b/g); Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR;
Battery: Li-ion 1400mAh
Physical size: 119 (4.7) x 60 (2.36) x 11.9 (0.47) mm (inch)
Weight: 135 g (4.8 oz)
Form factor:Candybar smartphone
Other: Proximity sensor, FM Radio, Facebook, Twitter, MS Exchange, compass, GPS, A-GPS, Google turn-by-turn navigation, Flash 10.1 enabled

from Kayne Richens
to councillor@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

date 12 February 2008 09:48
subject Attention: Cr Tony Ansett

Dear sir

I am a resident of Lara and have been waiting for the last two years for development to start on a new shopping center. I am sure you will agree that the current supermarket at Lara is inadequate in terms of range, and more importantly pricing, especially with recent interest rate rises and the expectation of continued rate rises.

Would you please provide me with an update on what is currently being done to get the ball rolling in making the new shopping center happen in Lara? When will we see you turning the first sod? What is the expected date of opening? What is currently being done to make this all happen?

It would also be great if you could update the people of Lara with this information. Perhaps some information could be published in the council news section of the newspaper, or even the Lara Happenings. We all pay our rates, we would all like to know!

Regards
Kayne Richens

I first received a standard acknowledgement of receipt:

from councillor councillor
to Kayne Richens
cc Tony Ansett
cc Tim Hellsten

date 12 February 2008 11:24
subject Re: Attention: Cr Tony Ansett

Dear Mr Richens,

I write to acknowledge receipt of your Email below regarding development of a new shopping centre in Lara. I have forwarded your Email to Cr Ansett and to Council’s
Co-ordinator of Projects for Planning Strategy, Tim Hellsten for the attention of his office.

Kind Regards
Christina

Office of Mayor and Councillors
City of Greater Geelong
PO Box 104
Geelong Vic 3220
Ph: (03) 5227 0893 Fax (03) 5227 0275
E-mail: councillor@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

The then councillor, Tony Ansett replied by email and called me soon after:

from Tony Ansett
to councillor councillor
to Kayne Richens
to Kay Rundle
to john.eren@parliament.vic.gov.au
cc Tony Ansett
cc Tim Hellsten

date 13 February 2008 08:44
subject RE: Attention: Cr Tony Ansett

I am more than happy to discuss please call me on 0403 xxx xxx or after hours on 5282xxxx

Regards Cr Tony Ansett

On the phone, Tony expressed his frustration in the delays, and put the blame on the state government (hence the cc of his email to John Eren, MLA). I then emailed Mr Eren:

from Kayne Richens
to john.eren@parliament.vic.gov.au
cc Tony Ansett

date 13 February 2008 10:33
subject Fwd: Attention: Cr Tony Ansett

Dear sir

I would appreciate some of your time to discuss the questions that I have raised below with Councillor Ansett. I can be contacted on 0438 xxx xxx, or I am happy to phone you or meet you in person.

Regards
Kayne Richens

To this date, I still have not received a reply from Mr Eren. I did however receive an email from Terry Demeo, Manager Planning Strategy at the Geelong Council:

from Terry Demeo to Kayne Richens
cc Tony Ansett

date 22 February 2008 08:56
subject Extended Shopping Centre for Lara Town Centre

Dear Mr Richens,

I refer to your email of the 12th of February 2008, in relation to the above.

I can advise that the City is committed to the provision of an extended shopping centre for the Lara town centre and has been working actively in attempting to deliver this as soon as possible.

The City has developed an Urban Design Framework (a plan) for how the extended shopping centre can be accommodated on a portion of Austin Park, however in order to give this land freehold title such that it can be onsold to a commercial developer to build extended shopping facilities there is an extensive process.

The City has been liaising directly with the Department of Treasury and Finance (the State agency responsible for the sale of State assets) and the responsible Minister, Minister Tim Holding with a view to the State dealing directly with private enterprise via an expressions of interest process so as to expedite the provision of an extended shopping centre for Lara.

Unfortunately the Minister advised that the State was not prepared to entertain a direct sale from the State to a private entity. He further indicated however that the State was supportive of the intent of Council in developing the site in a manner which delivered the shopping centre as quickly as possible, and further delivered some of the public amenities which would otherwise have to be funded via public sources.

To that end we therefore had a meeting with the relevant director in the Department of Treasury and Finance, and we have received verbal support for the sale of a portion of Austin Park to the City and for the City to run an expressions of interest process with the private sector to attract an appropriate developer to actually deliver the preferred outcome for this site. We are now working through the detail with the State in the form of a contract of sale and expressions of interest document. The steps in this process will therefore be as follows;

* Formal contract of sale between the State and City to be signed off.
* Expressions of interest process to be conducted to determine an appropriate developer for the subject site who will deliver the outcomes anticipated by the Council.
* Formal contract negotiations with a preferred developer.
* Having completed a formal contract the developer will then be responsible for undertaking a range of steps required in order to establish the freehold title for the subject site, these include the final resolution of any native title issues, removal of the temporary reservation as a public park on the crown land, aboriginal conservation management plan, native vegetation assessment, closure of roads, and opening of new roads, resolution of relocation of bowling club to facilitate the proposed development site and the rezoning of the site.

You will appreciate that the above steps will take some time however the Councils position is that these steps will be hastened if a private sector developer is appointed to assist in the resolution of these issues and therefore hasten the States steps and other steps required to actually make the site ready for the construction of new supermarket and specialty shops and community facilities.

I trust you will appreciate that the City is working as promptly as possible with the relevant State agencies, however we are not the master of our own destiny in that the land is crown land and controlled by the State. Mr John Eren the local member is assisting the City in its endeavors to have this land made available as quickly as possible for commercial development.

I am loath to give a specific time frame for the resolution of all these issues, however would emphasise again that the Council has developed a process in negotiation with the State which we think will deliver the quickest possible creation of title to enable the commercial development to happen and further we think that the process that we are adopting will deliver the broadest public benefits as part of this town centre development.

I note your request that the City publish something in the local Lara Happenings and Councillor Ansett has written a letter to the Lara Happenings which we hope will be published so as all those interested in Lara are then fully aware of the circumstances with the town centre development.

If you did want any further explanation in relation to this matter please do not hesitate to contact me on direct line 03 5227 0905.

Yours faithfully

Terry Demeo
Manager Planning Strategy
Phone: 52270905
E-mail tdemeo@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

HTC Magic (image courtesy of www.three.com.au)

3 Australia have announced that the second HTC phone running Google’s Android software, the HTC Magic, is coming soon to a 3 store near you!

No date, nor plans and pricing have been announced yet, but 3 have said it will only be available in black (Vodaphone seem to have the exclusive rights to the white Magic).

You can register your interest with 3, and they promise you will be the first to know once there is more information. It will be interesting to see just how much this will cost and what the the pricing and plan structure will be. Also, I for one am hoping existing 3 customers can upgrade their handset to the Magic, and keep their old plan/cap and pay off the handset over 24 months.

The Magic is skinnier than it’s older brother, the Dream, as it is not a slide phone. This means it does not have a physical keyboard like the Dream, as it makes use of Android’s on screen keyboard. This is a big plus for me – I have a dislike for slide phones, and I have always felt the Dream was a little bit like a small brick!

• HTC Magic specifications
• Read more at 3