Full closed loop BI functionality across mobile and social networks has now become feasible, allowing enterprise BI to deliver even greater business value. MicroStrategy now makes full use of interactive closed loop capabilities to deliver even greater value from the data residing both within and outside an enterprise. Within an enterprise, mobile adds a new […]
Search results
Posted inMedia
Why I loved Material — and you will too
I hate crying at the movies. Always have. For some reason, I feel deeply uncomfortable about showing emotion, even if nobody else can see it in the dark. And yet the first time I saw Material I cried. That’s the sign of a good movie: a story that can move the audience to laugh and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A reinvigorated Zuma does the Sona shuffle
Despite always being cloaked in the fine threads of statesmanship, the State of the Nation address (Sona) is actually party political workwear. It exists to advance the narrow interests — the year ahead — of the leader concerned. That’s true whether the leader is Jacob Zuma, Barack Obama, or David Cameron using the queen as […]
Posted inGeneral
An open letter to Verashni Pillay
From Neil Pretorius Dear Verashni, As an avid Mail & Guardian reader, and as one who has on many an occasion appreciated the wit of some of your past opinion pieces, I feel somewhat dismayed at having to write this open letter to you. You state that Lindiwe Mazibuko is not the role model that […]
Posted inGeneral
Racism in schools: a teacher’s perspective
By WR Terblanche Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema may be gone, but issues still remain
Late on Saturday morning, in true African time, a ramrod Cyril Ramaphosa delivered a flinty speech that was not only a preamble to the African National Congress’s verdict on youth league leader Julius Malema, but a warning sign to the rest of the party: ill-discipline will not be tolerated. By upholding the guilty verdict, the […]
Posted inGeneral
NHI: infected with doubt
Health systems news and health systems financing news, in particular, seldom get the nation talking. But the announcement of the imminent arrival of National Health Insurance (NHI) on our shores, and the subsequent release of the policy paper on the NHI, certainly did. And rightly so! For a country that spends a respectable percentage of […]
Posted inEquality
We need to change the gendered value system
Are men and women different? If so, are those differences significant today? Recently I’ve had two discussions with men about the differences between men and women. Each time, after a long drawn out debate, it has come down to this: “But men and women are different. If they’re not, how come men and women don’t […]
Posted inGeneral
Men, dogs, violence and fear
By Nadia Sanger The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) is a public hospital in Bridgetown in the Western Cape that provides services to sick animals. There are always queues at the PDSA; the staff are over-worked and the hospital is under-resourced. Most animal guardians who cannot afford private vet fees visit the PDSA or […]
Posted inGeneral
What is the purpose of our education?
By Mario Meyer Tony Blair once said: “Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education and education.” It is well documented that the South African education system at large, and its primary and secondary public schooling system in particular, is in a state of chronic crises. A large majority […]
Posted inBusiness
Measuring consumer confidence
Last week’s post explained how to interpret economic indicators using gross domestic product as an example. This week, we’ll examine consumer confidence measures. Who are the biggest spenders in South Africa? Want to guess government? You’d be wrong. How about business? Wrong again. The correct answer is us. It’s not even close. South African household […]
Posted inGeneral
The Facebook failure
By Wicked Mike Let’s face it: Facebook withholds information so that fact and hype are difficult to differentiate. With Facebook aiming for a $10-billion initial public offering (IPO) in 2012 that would value the company at $100-billion, and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, a media celebrity even before The Social Network was released, it’s easy to […]