Don't act like you didn't know that Pope Benedict XVI was down with modern technology. As part of World Youth Day, the man himself will begin sending out texts of encouragement to pilgrims who have signed up through Telstra to receive them. A total of four gigantic "prayer walls" have been erected at the Sydney Opera House, the Domain, Darling Harbour and Randwick Racecourse in Australia, where folks will actually be able to send their own messages for all to presumably see. The first message sent out? "Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI." Hllujh, amn brtha.

[Thanks, zedster]

If we were betting souls, we'd say seeing a hologram of Bill Gates is still far more frightening than one of Telstra's CTO, but nevertheless, said exec was recently beamed from Melbourne to Adelaide via hologram in order to "speak at a major function for senior business executives." According to David Thodey, the live demonstration symbolized "what has become possible using the high data speed and capacity of [its] network" -- something the outfit is calling Next Dimension Working. The actual hologram was transmitted over the company's network using the Musion Eyeliner System, a "high-definition holographic video projection system that allows three-dimensional moving images to appear within a live stage setting." Telecommuting just took on a whole new meaning.

[Via News, thanks Brad]

Update: Video added after the jump!

Get this. Australian site ChannelNews claims that a "senior executive of Telstra" is the latest 3G iPhone bean spiller. They quote the exec as saying the following:

"We know what is coming we have seen the new device and it will be available on our network as soon as it is launched in the USA. By Christmas this phone will be capable of 42Mbps which will make it faster than a lot of broadband offerings and the fastest iPhone on any network in the world."

Interesting. We know that Telstra's Next G HSDPA network has been capable of 14.4Mbps since 2007. At GSMA Mobile World Congress, they even committed to 21Mbps before the end of the year and 42Mbps using HSPA+ (aka, Evolved HSPA, HSPA Evolution) technology in 2009... not Christmas of 2008. Hard to say if this is just industry blow-harding or actual insider info. June 9th: T-minus 17 days and counting.

[Thanks, Paul S.]

Read -- Telstra 42Mbps HSPA+ in 2009
Read -- Telstra 3G iPhone rumor

We're not really sure what Telstra has to gain by dissing the iPhone, given the fact that it happens to be the only carrier in Australia to support EDGE, making them a natural fit for carrying the device, but diss it they did, with operations chief Greg Winn letting Apple know just how out-of-place he thinks the company is in the phone world: "There's an old saying - stick to your knitting - and Apple is not a mobile phone manufacturer, that's not their knitting." We wonder if anyone tried that line the last time Apple pulled something like this, with that little "iPod" thing of theirs a few years back. He continued, "You can pretty much be assured that Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and ZTE and others will be coming out with devices that have similar functionality." Oddly enough, other than that rather derogatory comment at the outset, Winn had some pretty legitimate criticisms of the phone. "I think people overreacted to it - there was not a lot of tremendously new stuff if you think about it," he said. The touchscreen doesn't really excite the guy, since it was "only a matter of time before it went to the device." This is evidenced by the flood of touchscreen phones we've been seeing this month and last. He also raises an eyebrow at the non-replaceable battery, and that while he's "absolutely sure that device will be successful initially," he's in doubt of "how much money are they willing to devote to all of the life cycle management and upgrades." He also seems put-off by the Cingular exclusivity: "They did an exclusive with Cingular and they talked about a global rollout - well, Cingular is not a global company." Maybe Winn just didn't get the memo that there's a world rollout on the way for next year, and he was on the list. "Was" being the key word here.

[Thanks, John K]