This weekend, one of my friends asked me how big the internet is. So just to make sure that I know these facts, I did some research that I would like to share with you. Everyone is in agreement that the internet is humongous. According to Netcraft, a company based in Bath, England, in September […]
2007
Posted inBusiness, Tech
Department of Crony Capitalism
Chris Barron of the Sunday Times went in search of meaningful answers from the director-general in the Deparment of Communications. He found none, but published what he heard anyway.
Posted inTech
Can the UN control online privacy?
Every time you use your credit card online, the number is parsed through six countries. Many of those countries have no policies at all when it comes to privacy in general, and certainly no policies when it comes to privacy in the internet sphere. Google’s privacy chief, Peter Fleisher, addressed the United Nations Educational, Scientific […]
Posted inLifestyle
A vacuum-brained cretin leaves a paper-foil trail. Smokers are idiots
Disclaimer: The following piece is not recommended for sensitive readers. It contains strong language, politically incorrect utterances and general profanity. Reader discretion is advised. I have confessed before that I am a walking bundle of personality disorders. One that I failed to mention is that I am fighting a losing battle against anger management. The […]
Posted inLifestyle
There is no painless way to murder a book, but it must be done
For the past 10 years I have been trying to read Umberto Eco’s The Island of the Day Before and, although it is not a particularly long book, reading it from cover to cover has been a bitter struggle. First, some context: Eco is my favourite author, regardless of how pretentious that makes me sound. […]
Posted inTech
The reason why bloggers blog
According to Technorati, an internet search engine for searching blogs, the company is currently tracking 104,6-million blogs and more than 250-million pieces of tagged social media. There are certainly blogs that are written by employees of companies trying to put a good spin on their organisation and products or services they offer. There are political […]
Posted inSport
Those English bastards!
Typical! You buy the gun, load the ammo, take aim — only to find the bastard’s only gone and put a bullet through his own head. I mean, what is the point of lying awake all night, drooling about the wonderful digs you can have at the “whingeing Poms”, if they’re going to out-dig you […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics, Tech
Can convergence serve democracy?
After attending a few sessions at the Highway Africa conference in Grahamstown last week, I struggled to find an answer to the question: How will convergence make our democracy better? Discussion about digital media and convergence tends to focus on the medium rather than the message; on the technology of communication rather than the content. […]
Posted inMedia
Britney Spears, Vanessa Hudgens and Madeleine — the joke’s on us!
Two “talents” of, at best, limited duration and the tragedy of a child’s disappearance dominating the media’s attention must tell you something. Indonesia is suffering the after-effects of massive quakes, George Bush has outlined his plan for limited troop reduction, the Japanese PM has just resigned and been hospitalised, Putin has just installed a shock […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
On Second Life, sushi projects and ideas cities: Japanese innovation
Last week I talked about how openness is driving innovation to new levels in the digital world. This week, fresh off the boat from a one-month stint in Japan, I’ll tell you how the Japanese have gotten innovation right on the button in so many ways. Firstly, the City of Sapporo. Ever heard of it? […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
The value chain, from A to Zim
Most of us who pick up a magazine or newspaper rarely think about the value chain resulting in the words we read ending up on paper. The chain for Y Mag, for example, starts a decade or more in the past, probably on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast when pine trees are planted in anticipation of […]
Posted inLifestyle
Pop career or public torture?
I’m not an Idols fan. The seemingly endless weeks of elimination rounds, public voting frenzy, teary-eyed wannabe pop stars going back home to whatever little dorp they came from … it leaves me cold. However, I must confess to being fascinated by the initial auditions — the ones that are replayed incessantly on the Idols […]