While the US and Canada will see Microsoft’s Surface Windows 8 Pro launch on 9 February, Australia sees only a stand-alone version of the 64GB RT model and new accessories join the local line-up. New Touch Covers, new storage, no Windows 8 Pro yet. (Credit: Microsoft) Microsoft has announced the arrival of Surface Windows 8 …

LG has today announced that its next flagship phone, the Optimus G, will be exclusively available through Telstra in March. LG’s Optimus G.(Credit: LG) The 4G Android smartphone is LG’s most advanced hardware to date. It features a 4.7-inch IPS display at 1280×768 resolution, a Snapdragon S4 processor (1.5GHz quad-core), a 13.0 megapixel camera, 32GB of memory and a solid …

Now playing: Watch this: Sony Xperia TX film shoot: behind the scenes part 4 5:01 It’s one last trip behind the scenes of Summertown with our award-winning Pocket Filmmaker, Jason Van Genderen. Summertown is the short-film project created by CNET Australia and Jason Van Genderen, shot entirely on the Sony Xperia TX. In this final behind-the-scenes episode, Jason pulls together …

CNET Australia spoke to actor and all-round geek Wil Wheaton about the Blu-ray release of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wil Wheaton at San Diego ComicCon, California.(CominCon 2010 image by Cameron Yee, CC BY-NC 2.0) Wil Wheaton is a geek cultural icon. The child star of cult classic films, including Stand By Me and Toy Soldiers, and even a cameo …

Now playing: Watch this: Smarter with your data: get more from your iPhone and… 2:43 If the sales stats are to be believed, then a lot of you are using iPhones and iPads, but there are two big things that most people don’t do with their iDevices. The first is that we mostly use them as stand-alone devices, not really …

In conversation at the Art Gallery of New South Wales today, iconic Australian designer Marc Newson told CNET that when it comes to the iPhone, designers understand the difference immediately, while “Mr and Mrs Average” don’t. Marc Newson, CBE: “The better something is made, the less noise it makes.” (Credit: Seamus Byrne/CNET) Marc Newson is one of Australia’s leading industrial …

Apple pundits love to claim that they’ve predicted the future. But claiming that the next iPhone won’t be called the iPhone 5? Obvious prediction is obvious. (Credit: Apple) Quite fundamentally, the next iPhone is not the iPhone 5. It’s not the fifth iPhone. That was the iPhone 4S. So why hasn’t anyone been referring to the next model as the …

With features like Passbook already announced, Apple seems set to add near-field communication (NFC) to the iPhone. But how far can Apple go to sell NFC like no one has sold it before? When Apple launches something new, it loves to bang the gong. Its focus is on refinement, but it sells new features like it just kicked off a …

Quickflix is growing its streaming audience rapidly, and with the addition of Panasonic and Xbox 360 platforms, plus the announcement of expanded content for kids, it looks set to continue. Expanded children’s content now on Quickflix WatchNow. (Screenshot by CNET) Over the past few days, Quickflix has made a flurry of announcements. First, it was an expansion to its line-up …

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has declared the use of “Wi-Fi Ready” misleading on devices that require additional hardware. Five major manufacturers are changing relevant marketing to comply with the review. In a news release, the ACCC pointed to televisions and Blu-ray players as the focus of the review of marketing practices. Manufacturers will either remove the terms …