Isn’t it amusing to see the mainstream media and analysts froth about Tito Mboweni’s announcement of a 50 basis point interest rate hike smack, instead of the 200 point hammering he had threatened? Isn’t it obvious that our image-mad money boss had been sabre-rattling to scare the consumer audience that bears the main brunt of […]
Arthur Goldstuck
Arthur Goldstuck is a South African journalist, media analyst and commentator on information and communications technology (ICT), internet and mobile communications and technologies. Goldstuck heads the World Wide Worx research organisation, and has led research into ICT issues such as the effects of IT on small business, the role of mobile technologies in business and government, and the technology challenges of the financial services sector. He regularly provides strategic insights and guidance on trends at conferences and corporate events across Africa.
Posted inGeneral
MWeb sale a signal of change
The announcement last week that Naspers has put MWeb up for auction created a stir of surprise, but not shock. Is the decision by Naspers to sell MWeb a vote of no confidence in the internet? Hardly. If anything, it declares the opposite: a recognition that the internet has become so pervasive that its best […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Is it only me, or does Alec Erwin really think I’m thick?
During my boarding school days, when life in a church-run hostel serving a militarist government school was one of endless authoritarianism, we used to have a stock response to the ludicrous reasonings given for the ludicrous restrictions and punishments foisted upon us: “Do they think we’re thick?” Of course, we had no choice but to […]
Posted inGeneral
VoIP finally meeting early expectations
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which allows Internet users to make phone calls to each other at no cost, is finally taking off among South African businesses, four years after it became legal to use it outside company networks. This is the key finding of the VoIP in South Africa 2008 study, released today by […]
Posted inGeneral
Is it only me, or has economic news stagnated?
Is it only me, or has the media’s leverage of technology allowed its coverage of economic news to stagnate? The technology is now available to plug so many automated feeds into tracking of daily market indicators that the people responsible for economic coverage no longer think about what they are reporting. Usually, a sure sign […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
Is it only me, or has economic news stagnated?
Is it only me, or has the media’s leverage of technology allowed its coverage of economic news to stagnate? The technology is now available to plug so many automated feeds into tracking of daily market indicators that the people responsible for economic coverage no longer think about what they are reporting. Usually, a sure sign […]
Posted inGeneral
Is it only me, or does Tito need a new calculator?
Is it only me, or does everyone else get the idea that Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni is adding up the right numbers but getting the wrong answer? Every time the inflation rate rises, he sticks it to the consumer, blaming our spending habits for putting a strain on the economy. His reasoning, that there […]
Posted inGeneral
Is it only me, or does Tito need a new calculator?
Is it only me, or does everyone else get the idea that Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni is adding up the right numbers but getting the wrong answer? Every time the inflation rate rises, he sticks it to the consumer, blaming our spending habits for putting a strain on the economy. His reasoning, that there […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
How children’s rights are violated on Facebook
When a 14-year-old Johannesburg schoolgirl’s Facebook account was “broken into” and abusive messages and material sent to friends and family, she was deeply traumatised. But at least, she imagined, Facebook would assist in tracking down the perpetrators. It was not to be. Facebook is easily able to fend off spurious complaints about wasting productive time, […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics, Tech
Africa’s big blogging bang
New statistics show that the big bang of blogging activity that began in South Africa in 2007 has been echoed by the emergence of blogging as a high-profile phenomenon in the rest of Africa. The April-July tipping point in social media in South Africa, chronicled in this blog, also appeared to be the period during […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
Blogging as a fad is over; serious blogging arrives
The South African blogging numbers for 2007 and the beginning of 2008 are in, and they tell a story almost as eloquent as do some of the blogs. Just six months ago, blogging was the next big internet fad in South Africa. Seemingly from nowhere, in the middle of the year, the number of blogs […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Rest in peace, Sheldon, and let us rage
One murder is one murder too many, said South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Warren Goldstein, at Wednesday’s funeral of Sheldon Cohen, who was shot at Balfour Park in Johannesburg on Monday night. In the past year, three of my friends have been killed by criminals. That it is three murders too many is only the beginning […]