I was not going to bother with another article on Facebook, or any other social networking site. But then a video flitted across my Mac and it just forced me to take up the pen again, or pull up the keyboard and touchpad. There are two things I want to point out. For the rest, […]
Tech
Posted inTech
Tony, meet Bubba. He’s your new cellmate
Richard Catto thinks I should be jailed. He wrote this piece on his curiously titled Cape Town News blog which, basically, said that as I had created the spoof Thabo Mbeki Facebook page I should be thrown in jail. I see that Mr Catto belongs to the Ronald Suresh Roberts school of debate — play […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
Facebook 2: The search engine is coming
It’s tough being Mark Zuckerberg. A few weeks ago, you had your competitors running scared and Microsoft desperately hung on to the front of the queue to do a deal with you that, by some estimates, values your company at $15-billion. Unfortunately, you face these nasty rumours that the clickthrough rate for Facebook display advertising […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
Want to buy the Team.com name for $300 000? Too late
How do you choose a name for a new company? There might be many rules in that book, but I will tell you rule number one: no matter what the new company will do, make sure its .com domain name is available. If the .com name is not available, and you are absolutely, definitely, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
The changing face of identity
In her fascinating and important study Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet (1995), Sherry Turkle — professor of the sociology of science at MIT (at the time) and cyber-psychoanalytical theorist — explores the social and psychological effects of the internet on its users. One of her startling findings is that […]
Posted inTech
Facebook winner but broadband loser
If Facebook is revealing about individuals, it is no less so about countries. South Africa may have startled the world with the number of its people engaged in social networking, but now it can offer as much of a surprise about the quality of our broadband connections to the internet. First, an update on the […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
‘Never’ is a dangerous word to use
Just to have some fun, here are some predictions by more or less famous people about all sorts of things. One thing this list teaches us is to be careful when saying “never”! When I wrote an article on the death of the PC, several people shot back at me that the PC would never […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle, Tech
Spammer scammers can be fun
So there you are, trawling the internet for news of Agostini’s rumoured comeback, or those rare pics of Rossi with some gorgeous wench, when Windows shouts “Bing-bong” to announce the arrival of a new email. You stop what you’re doing, and there it is, simmering in your inbox — a badly written message, usually bearing […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Is there a doctor in the house?
Who says that modern technology and a customer-focused outlook can’t improve the services such as a doctor provides to his patients? This story about a Doctor 2.0, sent to me via my emailed Springwise trends update, is a refreshing take on the traditional profession of medicine. Here’s a doc moving with the times. Dr Jay […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
2008: The year that changed telecoms in South Africa
Next year will be one of the most significant in the history of the South African telecoms market — possibly on par with 1994 when the two initial mobile operators surfaced. And it can’t get here fast enough. So, what are we in for (I think)? Let’s start with Telkom. It’s fairly widely known that […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
Social media is and should be seen as a communications discipline
Any good public relations professional or agency knows that good PR is not the result of media relations only, but also the result of building relationships with journalists and publishers, who in turn go on to build relationships with their readers. Similarly, any reputable marketer knows that good marketing is a by-product of vertical and […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
Google SA: Set to rule
Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to receive an invite to the Google South Africa event that happened in Johannesburg yesterday. Stafford Masie, country manager for Google South Africa, gave some insight into Google SA’s plans once it has launched in February next year. I think it’s great to see Stafford wanting to leverage the […]