Briefly: Quickflix on TiVo; Vodafone 4G on prepay

f you’re a TiVo owner – apparently there are some in New Zealand – you probably wonder what to do with the box. The good news is that the locally owned streaming TV and movie service, Quickflix, has added the TiVo to the list of devices its service is available on. There’s no end of choice with smart TVs, computers, tablets, Xboxes and even Android devices all capable of running the QuickFlix service.

Signing up for Quickflix will breath new life into the TiVo hardware, there’s a relatively strong range of content – far better than the current offering on the sad-looking Caspa service. Quickflix will begin operation in December when Caspa is put out of its misery.

• Vodafone is extending its 4G network to pre-pay customers at no extra cost from December 11.
• Meanwhile Vodafone’s survey of 4G shows 24 percent of users check social media apps at least 20 times a day. They also shop online twice as much as those on 3G. Vodafone consumer director Matt Williams says 4G users perform tasks normally done with fixed line internet like  shopping and streaming music and video. 3G users on the other hand mainly stick to browsing. Also in the survey 44 percent of 4G users use their mobiles as portable WiFi hotspots.
• Australia and New Zealand is the third highest region for hosting phishing sites targeting Apple iOS users according to a report from Trend Micro. 
• A new Mobile Handset Blacklisting Code has been endorsed and will come into effect once Telecom NZ, Vodafone and 2Degrees confirm that their inter-carrier testing is complete. The Telecommunication Carriers Forum says this is expected to happen before year end. The code gives carriers a standard way of blacklisting or un-blacklisting stolen phones.