Immediately after I was approached to join Thought Leader, I was overwhelmed with an inner excitement that somehow left my fingers shaking at the same time. My immediate conclusion, before my profile was launched, was that I finally had a neutral place to lay down my thoughts and ideas indefinitely, where the information I squeezed […]
Tech
Posted inBusiness, Tech
Managing your identity
People through the ages have always had a requirement to prove in a credible and trustworthy manner that they are indeed who they say they are. Given the power that comes with a person authenticating their identity, it follows naturally that the art of identity fraud has become prevalent in areas where a lot of […]
Posted inTech
Are web development companies still the best place for web advice?
I doubt that I am completely wrong when I say web development companies in South Africa have missed the Web 2.0 boat and are watching us steam away as we break out the caviar on deck. Can someone please show me where this caviar is exactly, when I’m done writing this? Caviar or not, there […]
Posted inTech
How to write a hit blog post (based on real Amatomu data)
Analysing Amatomu data from the past 2 months reveals some interesting — and not so interesting — trends in what makes a blog post a hit. Ok, here goes. Thanks to Vincent Maher’s (of Amatomu) kindly SQL queries, I have the most-used links on Amatomu over the past few months in front of me. While […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
How to be a blog star
It is fairly clear who the most active players are in South African blogging, social networking and social media. Already, a laundry list is forming of names of individuals who are highly successful at rolling out new offerings in this Web 2.0 space, or simply successful at making a noise about it. The names will […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics, Tech
Let’s not be narrow-minded about broadband
The government’s plan to create a state-controlled company, Infraco, to drive down telecommunication costs and improve broadband internet access has, predictably, come under fire from free marketers. What we need, writes Duncan McLeod in the Financial Mail, is less state interference in the telecommunications sector, not more (read McLeod’s column). This strikes me as a […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
Facebook, the Web 2.0 killer
The existence of Facebook, the smash-hit social-networking site, may unwittingly kill off a host of other Web 2.0 start-ups. This is mainly because of Facebook’s inclusive and all-encompassing nature. The site appears to be blogging (lite), Twittering (short blogging), multiplayer gaming (simple games), dating, social networking, online photo management and even emailing all in one. […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Talking vs Facebooking: Who’s better off?
If I hosted a dinner party for my 10 closest friends, the topics of conversations would undoubtedly include the expected ones: crime, the three Ms (Mbeki, Manto, Mugabe), the dollar, need for holidays and our kids’ lives. But here is what we would not be talking about: Facebook, Twitter, blogs or Web 2.0. And believe […]
Posted inTech
Google of the universe
So Google is not satisfied with world domination, but wants to rule the universe too. Hey, even space shuttles need search engines. Ok, at a stretch. So it transpires that the new version of Google Earth now comes with sky imagery or a “virtual telescope”, as Google calls it. As the official Google Earth blog […]
Posted inTech
The joys of code optimisation
Last Friday I had the joy of going live with code that improved the execution time of an existing piece of code by 422%, and moved it from a batch process (which took more than 30 minutes to run, and only ran three times per day) to an online real-time process, thereby enabling users a […]
Posted inTech
Dear Rejected Facebook Friend
(I wrote this and posted it on my Facebook page a week or so ago. It was something of a cathartic excercise to make myself feel a bit better about rejecting so many friend requests. I went through long bouts of anguish and internal wranglings before being able to bring myself to click the “Ignore” […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
The rules of engagement
The selection committee for the Amablogoblogo team is now in session. We are using the following rigorous three-stage procedure to choose the shapers and shakers of blogging, social media and Web 2.0 in South Africa: 1. Consulting animal entrails. It worked for the Romans, and science has not yet conclusively refuted its effectiveness. 2. In […]