How to Maximize Your Telstra Pre-paid Mobile

Coles, Dick Smith, Woolworths, Australia Post and The Good Guys have been selling Telstra Pre-paid starter kits normally worth $30 for only $10 almost on a rotation basis. There is a way to make the most of these Telstra prepaid plans if you don't mind a bit of fiddling around. 

For rolling credit over - Activate it and choose "Longlife" which gives you six months to use the credit but once it is activated, you should change it to the "Simplicity" plan which can be done online.  The expiry date will not change. 

When you activate another $30 sim card, choose the "Encore" plan and transfer the $30 credit using creditme2u online to the first sim card. The second sim card wil lstill have $220 bonus credit plus the 400MB and free calls/texts between 6PM and 6AM on the Encore sim.

For tablets only - Activate it by calling Telstra up and activate the sim card for iPad which will give you no calls but 3GB of data to use in 30 days.

For mobile Foxtel - You can also activate a Mobile Foxtel trial which will last for 30 days. If you cancel it before the 30 days is up, you will still be able to continue your trial until the end of the 30 days.

For Apps - Another thing you can do is use part of your pre-paid Telstra credit to buy apps on Google Play store. When you go to purchase the app / movie / book or magazine, press the "Payment options" and then choose "bill to my Telstra account". This will only appear if you are using your pre-paid sim. If there is no enough credit, it will show an error.However, you can't purchase anything that is over $20 in one transaction.

If it's too confusing, another budget mobile plan is offered by TPG which we wrote about here a few years ago. That plan only costs $1 / month to maintain with cheap call rates and cheap text messaging. EDIT: This is no longer available from TPG. 

Burswood Chinese New Year Fireworks 2013

Burswood will have a fireworks display tonight to celebrate Chinese New Year. The fireworks will go off at around 10pm over the Swan River during an intermission for the screening of Wreck it Ralph at Movies by Burswood.

There will also be fireworks at Matilda Bay near UWA starting 9:30pm for a Variety Club function.

Can We Trust Kogan?

Over the past few years, we have heard about a company called Kogan which sold LCD TVs and gadgets that seemed to be a rip off of other brands. The reputation was more of mistrust and uncertainty and the name Kogan became a bit of a byword. However, in the past year, we've noticed a change of heart amongst consumers as Kogan started to sell reputable products such as the Samsung Galaxy SIII.

Kogan did a deal with Telstra to resell their prepaid sims, which Telstra took great lengths to deny it amounted to a "partnership". Technology blog Gizmodo probably finally gave the unofficial green light when they endorsed the pricing of the new Kogan Agora phone (which hasn't been released yet but they like the specs). Personally, I know many friends who are now informally Kogan reps as they jump into any conversation about buying mobile phones with their new favourite website. I've only purchased a "mystery gadget" for $20 which turned out to be a disappointing replica of a PSP Portable so I can't say much more than observe a turning of the tide with this Australian entrepreneurial venture. What are your thoughts about Kogan? Here's an interview with Ruslan Kogan which is a very interesting insight about how they work.

What's Happening in Perth for Chinese New Year?

Tomorrow, Chinese around the world will be celebrating their New Year with the year of the snake starting tonight. In some Asian cities around the world, there will be fireworks but the only fireworks you are going to see in Perth tonight is at the Curtin University graduation (9pm, also on 12/2 and 14/2) and the Cannington Greyhounds (11:15pm). 

Whilst not exactly for Chinese New Year, the Perth International Arts Festival is having a free pyrotechnics and fireworks display at Langley Park tonight at 8pm along Riverside Drive. 

Tomorrow will be when the celebrations begin in Perth for Chinese New Year. Northbridge will be the place to be with the program sponsored by the City of Perth, Lotterywest and the WA Office of Multicultural Interests starting at 11am. James Street and Lake Street will be closed from 6.00pm Saturday 9 February until 4.00am Monday 11 February 2013 for the celebrations

At the Northbridge Piazza on the corner of James Street, and Lake Street in Northbridge, the following will be happening

• Lion Dance James Street 12.00noon, 1.30pm, 3.00pm, 5.00pm
• Dragon Dance James Street 4.00pm
• Martial Arts James Street 4.15pm
• Street Performances James Street 12.00noon to 6.00pm
• Group Performances Northbridge Piazza 1.00pm to 6.30pm
• Food & Market Stalls James Street All day
• Cultural activities James Street All day
• Games and Rides Lake Street All day
• Fire Crackers and Lion Dance Northbridge Piazza 7.00pm
• Multicultural Concert Northbridge Piazza 7.00pm to 9.00pm

The Northbridge Piazza will also be showing Chinese New Year celebrations from around the world starting tonight. 

Do you know of any other events happening around Perth for Chinese New Year? leave a comment or send us an email.

What Did You Do on the Weekend? Google Knows

Who would have imagined twenty years ago that so much of our life would revolve around a search engine. Back then, the Internet was a very primitive new frontier and Google's name was still one of many other search engines around vying for a very limited number of Internet users. Today, Google knows pretty much everything about everyone and they reckon they have Aussies and their love for the weekend all figured out. Check out the infographic that recently came out of Google HQ. Does this pretty much sum up your way of life nowadays?

Click to enlarge the image