TechworX Cape Town

Technical glitches fell JSE again

2012-01-17T14:37:00.000+02:00

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) was forced to “pause” market trading on Tuesday between 10.39am and roughly midday on account of problems with international links between it and its London-based trading engine.

Similar problems affected the JSE on a number of occasions last year but the bourse said it is developing a new trading system, which will be located in Johannesburg, which should bring an end to the issues with the international link. The new system, which is slated to give live on 12 July, will also speed up the execution of trades. David Shapiro, director at Sasfin Securities, said Tuesday’s downtime has affected heavy traders who are exposed to international markets. He said most of trade on the JSE doesn’t come from individuals but from big traders dealing in financial instruments like derivatives.

He said interruptions to trading can create “havoc” for traders, particularly as many SA shares like those of Anglo American, British American Tobacco and SABMiller also “trade in foreign markets”. He said this sort of service interruption can be damaging for those involved in large orders where a few cents can make a big difference. “It’s always a pretty serious situation when the JSE goes down,” he said. Shapiro said SA is a “price taker not a price maker” in that it is very closely tied to activity in international markets. He says that during downtime, there is nothing traders can do other than watch international markets. “If you need to cover a position, it’s very difficult, especially when the market is doing so well.”

He said exchanges like the JSE have to upgrade their systems constantly to deal with growing demands. Despite the glitches, the JSE’s All Share Index reached a new all-time high on Tuesday, adding to morning gains after the bourse’s links were restored.

© Craig Wilson
Source: TechCentral

Postbank hacked for R42m

2012-01-16T16:05:00.000+02:00

The SA Postbank, part of the SA Post Office, became the target of cyber crime this month, losing R42 million. “We became aware of some fraudulent activity in the early part of January 2012,” says the Post Office. Media reports say the heist took place from 1 January to 3 January, while Postbank was closed for business. The Postbank system was hacked and transfers worth R42 million were made to specific accounts, after withdrawal limits were increased and the money was then pulled out of the accounts in large sums. The Postbank is attempting to become a fully licensed bank so that, while remaining state-owned, it may compete with commercial banks. “We need to emphasise that our customers' funds were in no way compromised by this incident,” said the Post Office. The Post Office adds that Postbank is working with the SA Police Services and the National Intelligence Agency to investigate the matter. “So as to ensure everything possible is done to prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law. “We are not at liberty to divulge further information due to the investigations, which are currently under way,” explained Lungile Lose, spokesperson for SA Post Office.

The Post Office is in charge of government's Trust Centre, which means government entities conducting work online and via e-mail, make use of the post office system. Responding to whether this raises security concerns for government, communications minister Dina Pule says “the centre has high security parameters to protect all the services delivered through it”. Media reports also say the Postbank spent over R15 million about three years ago to upgrade its fraud detection system. In 2009, the Postbank said its customers were hard hit by an upsurge in card fraud, via cloning, and in March 2010 it aimed to spend R250 million on the second phase of its IT upgrade plan.

© Farzana Rasool
Source: IT Web

Consumers the winners in 2011′s tech wars

2012-01-12T14:42:00.000+02:00

It has been a lively year for technology, despite the bad state of the world’s economy. Technology is now so intrinsic to both business and personal life that it might appear recession-proof. But this high-level view masks the Darwinian ferocity of the battles raging between the tech titans.

The year 2011 will be remembered as the one in which technology’s giants collided in four critical areas: mobile computing (smartphones and tablets), the cloud, mobile commerce and paid content. The collision had already begun in 2010, but we only began to see its full ramifications this year. Five companies have continued to set the agenda: Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft. Once you could neatly separate these five into different market segments but increasingly they are encroaching on one another’s turf. Take Google, for instance. No longer content with being the world’s leading search engine, it has pushed into the mobile market with the phenomenally successful Android platform and the personal computer market with its newly launched Chrome operating system, a direct challenge to Microsoft, which has dominated the operating system market for decades.

Microsoft has been nibbling away at Google’s primary market - search - for years. Bing, its search engine, now serves more than 15% of Web searches in the US, but at a huge cost. Microsoft’s latest annual report revealed that Bing was losing more than US$1bn/quarter. But even that modest and expensive success looks sterling compared with Microsoft’s performance in the mobile-computer markets. As Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS platforms have gorged on market share, Microsoft’s influence has dwindled to less than 2% of devices in use. So far Microsoft’s ace in the hole — its landmark deal to supply Nokia with software for all its new smartphones — has failed to bear any significant fruit. The latest version of its Windows Phone 7 platform, nicknamed Mango, has drawn favourable reviews but little traction in the market.

Apple is having no such difficulties. Although its share of the world’s cellphone market is only 4,4%, it captures more than half the profits. Its stranglehold on the tablet computing market - a segment it created in 2010 with the launch of the iPad - shows little sign of loosening. Analysts put its share at between 70% and 75% of all tablets sold. And, as befits the market leader, it also has the most coherent “cloud” strategy. Once merely a buzzword, cloud technology is proving revolutionary. The principle is simple: make portable devices simpler and cheaper with less storage capacity, and let powerful centralised computers do the heavy lifting through increasingly ubiquitous broadband Internet access. In Apple’s case, this means its customers no longer have to worry about backing up their data, or moving content such as photos, movies or music between their various devices. It is all done automatically through iCloud. The loss of your beloved iPhone or iPad is now much less catastrophic because all your data, from your contacts to pictures of baby’s first steps, is instantly recoverable.

But, although the other four players’ cloud services may not have the elegance of Apple’s, they have staggering numbers of users. Amazon, in particular, has established itself as a major cloud-computing brand, selling metered access to its vast server farms in the same way that utilities sell electricity or water. Google’s strategy, like Apple’s, is more end-user focused. Millions of businesses now eschew Microsoft’s dominant Office software package in favour of Google Docs. Although less feature-rich than Office, Google Docs is free unless you require extras such as technical support or customisation. Even then it is several orders of magnitude cheaper than Office. Microsoft’s own cloud offering aims to cover both bases. Like Amazon, it is selling computer power to other companies, but also services directly to customers (as Google and Apple are doing). It is unclear how much traction it has achieved in either market but, as with search and mobile, it is clearly prepared to spend its way into them.

Facebook may seem like the odd one out here but its enormous reach and access to formidable engineering skills make it a dangerous competitor. By definition, Facebook is a native cloud player — a kind of social inbox for more than 800m people around the world. Its applications are popular on every mobile platform on the planet. And so, although it does not have its own operating system or device, it still reaches more people than any of the other players. Google is painfully aware of the threat from Facebook, a fact made even more obvious by a leaked memo in which CEO Larry Page explicitly tied employees’ bonuses to the company’s performance in social media. The incentive clearly helped; the company’s latest offering, Google+, has given it a foothold in a market that has long eluded it.

Why the emphasis on social media platforms? Because the vast quantities of attention they command translate directly into sales of digital content in vast quantities — at fat margins. Facebook and allies such as Zynga make literally billions of dollars a year selling virtual goods such as games and digital gifts. Amazon recognised this opportunity well before other online retailers and invested in its Kindle e-reader in 2007. At the time many commentators scoffed at the idea of an online retailer trying its hand at consumer electronics but they were soon proved wrong. Kindle e-books now outsell physical books by a large margin.

Amazon now hopes to repeat this trick in the tablet market with the launch of its Kindle Fire. Pitched as a cheaper alternative to Apple’s snooty iPad, the Fire is essentially a handy conduit through which Amazon can sell its vast catalogue of music, movies, TV shows, periodicals and books. No company understands the value of easily accessible digital content better than Apple. Its iTunes store remains the market leader for everything from music and movies to magazines and apps. This is the mirror image of Amazon’s strategy: using great content to drive sales of expensive devices. It has given Apple a vast database of users, complete with their credit-card data. The obvious next step? Mobile payments for physical goods. Rumours abound that the next iPhone will have near-field communication technology built into it, which will allow shoppers simply to wave their phone at a sensor to instantly pay for their purchases.

What will 2012 bring? If anything, these collisions will become more frequent and more intense. This can only be good for the man and woman in the street: more choice, more ease of use and more power, all at ever-lower prices.

© Alistair Fairweather
Source : TechCentral

8ta slashes broadband pricing

2012-01-11T14:18:00.000+02:00

Telkom's cellular arm, 8ta, today announced reduced broadband rates of up to 25% for its once-off and postpaid Internet packages.

In addition to the price slash, the operator has revised its contract terms to include month-to-month, 12- and 24-month terms. The 12- and 24-month contracts include a modem, while the month-to-month contract does not. 8ta says it has tailored its Internet packages for new and existing customers. Managing executive of Telkom Mobile Amith Maharaj says existing Internet subscribers will automatically be migrated to the new price plans. “After their contracts are up for renewal, they can also opt to subscribe on a month-to-month or 12-month contract basis.”
Once the monthly recurring postpaid Internet package has been depleted, users will be charged an out-of-bundle rate of R 0.30 per MB, while the once-off Internet subscribers will be charged an out-of bundle rate of R1 per MB.

Subscribers will also have access to a free 8ta e-mail account with a 5GB mailbox, giving them access to 25GB of online storage and free access to online Microsoft Office suite, which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint. In addition, postpaid and once-off subscribers will be able to send five SMSes daily, and receive 50 free SMSes to use on that day. 8ta says it has provided users with a “safety net” that enables them to check their balances on its self-service portal and via USSD, as well as make out of bundle purchase decisions in real-time. “Users will also receive a free call-out and support services with every 3G data modem purchased.”

Source: IT Web

International newsmakers of the year

2011-12-13T11:51:00.000+02:00

Larry Page

Google co-founder Larry Page became the company’s CEO in April, taking the reins from Eric Schmidt, and has overseen the launch of its best effort to date at creating a viable Facebook rival in the form of Google+. The search and advertising giant has been trying to consolidate and simplify its products and has revamped its online mail, calendar and documents applications, and tried to integrate Google+ and it’s “+1” button across its product portfolio. Google’s Internet browser, Chrome, edged out Firefox at the beginning of the month to become the second most popular browser behind Microsoft’s Windows Internet Explorer. Meanwhile, its mobile operating system, Android, dominates the smartphone market, with Gartner estimating its market share at 52,5% in the third quarter of this year. Despite having only been open for public sign-ups since late September, Google+ claims more than 40m registered users.

Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie

For the co-CEOs of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion, 2011 was an annus horribilis. The Canadian company stumbled from one disaster to another as its share price tanked. At the time of writing, the share was down almost 75% year on year and trading at its lowest levels since early 2004. In SA, millions of consumers still swear by their BlackBerry smartphones, but in developed markets the company has lost market share to Apple’s iPhone and devices powered by Android. Some investors have called for Lazaridis and Balsillie to step down. And an anonymous but apparently high-ranking employee penned a damaging letter bemoaning the state of the company. Its attempt to take on Apple’s iPad with the PlayBook appears largely to have failed. Its network outage earlier this year, and the fact that it was slow at first in communicating the problems to users, compounded the company’s public relations woes. Lazaridis’ decision to pull the plug on a BBC interview after objecting to the line of questioning can’t have helped the company’s image either. With a new iPhone expected, new competition from Windows Phone devices and Android continuing its momentum, next year could make or break the company that helped popularise the smartphone.

Jeff Bezos

While Research in Motion continues to struggle to get consumers to buy its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet computer, online retail giant Amazon.com’s Android-based Kindle Fire, on sale for just a couple of weeks, is already reported to be the second-strongest tablet seller in the US after Apple’s iPad, with predictions the company will ship more units of the 7-inch device than the popular Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the run-up to Christmas. Like Apple, Amazon has realised people buy tablets for the content on offer more than they do for the quality of the hardware. The Fire is an easy-to-use device that provides access to the company’s vast catalogue of books, movies, television shows and music. And at US$199, it’s priced to go. Amazon is said to be selling the device below cost, expecting to make profit from media sales. Started just 16 years ago by Jeff Bezos, Amazon is now one of the world’s retail giants. With a market value of almost $90bn, it’s worth just less than half of Walmart and made Bezos one of the world’s richest people with a net worth of almost $20bn.

Stephen Elop

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has been both praised and criticised in technology circles since he took over at the faltering Finnish handset manufacturer. The 47-year-old Canadian is the first non-Finn to head the company and made waves shortly after joining when he published the now-infamous “Burning Platform” memo that decried Nokia’s poor standing in the smartphone market and pre-empted its move to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 as its operating system of choice for its high-end devices. Some have lauded Elop for his decision to abandon Nokia’s MeeGo operating system and gradually to phase out another, Symbian; others regard the move as hasty and see Nokia’s relationship with Microsoft as an alliance of two blundering behemoths, neither of which has yet managed to claw back lost ground in the smartphone market. Nokia released a new range of smartphones and feature phones in Europe in November and will almost certainly launch at least one Windows 8 tablet next year. Nokia, under Elop, and Microsoft, under CEO Steve Ballmer, are now irrevocably joined at the hip. The next 12 months will determine whether Elop made the right decision.

Steve Jobs

There was only one person who could top the international newsmakers list in 2011: the late, great Steve Jobs. As co-founder and CEO of Apple, Jobs designed and launched products that created consumer zeal seldom seen. At the same time, he engineered and built a media and software ecosystem that transformed entire industries. He was at the forefront of the personal computer revolution and went on to change the way people consume media and interact with technology. Walter Isaacson’s epic biography of Jobs paints a picture of an unpleasant man who would often belittle those around him. But this was a product of his singular perfectionism. He despised poor design, often ridiculing long-term rival Microsoft, once saying of the company: “The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste.” Jobs’s relentless focus on product simplicity and beautiful design won over the hearts and minds of consumers, taking Apple from a niche computer player to the most profitable company in smartphones and tablet computing, in the process making it the most valuable listed US company. The impact of his work will continue to be felt long after his untimely death.

Source: TechCentral

Cellphones main gateway to Internet in SA townships

2011-12-12T12:05:00.001+02:00

Only 14% of township residents say they never access the Internet. Cellphones remain the primary gateway to the Internet for South Africans living in townships, according to the results of a new survey by ikapadata. The Cape Town-based research company found that of the 715 people surveyed in townships in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town, 26% of respondents said that they access the internet only via cellphone.

41% said that they use both cellphones and computers, while 20% said the access the Internet via computer only. The number of township residents accessing the Internet from home computer was low, ikapadata found, with only 28% of those that use a computer to access the Internet (whether in combination with cellphone or not) doing so. Almost the same proportion (27%) use a public library, ikapadata said, followed by the workplace and school/university (21% each).

Most (54%) use computers at shops or internet cafes. Interestingly, ikapadata’s results showed that only 14% maintain that they never access the Internet. To get a better idea of what ikapadata’s numbers represent, they were asked for a detailed breakdown of their sample.

The geographic breakdown of respondents was as follows:

    247 from Johannesburg: Tembisa (majority – 60%), Soweto, Alexandra, and smaller places.
    247 from Durban: KwaMashu, Illovo Township, Isipingo, and Umlazi
    221 from Cape Town: Makhaza (Northern Khayelitsha), Nyanga, and Masiphumelele, with smaller numbers of respondents from townships in-between (e.g. Gugulethu, other parts of Khayelitsha) the survey was slightly more male-dominated, with 57% of the responses coming from males and 43% from females.

© Jan Vermeulen
Source: MyBroadband

Africa’s most powerful supercomputer

2011-12-09T09:56:00.001+02:00

Imagine a computer with 23TB of RAM and 2 800 processor cores, generating 60 trillion floating-point operations per second. That’s what Dell, the CSIR, the Centre for High Performance Computing and the University of Cambridge have built in Cape Town. It’s being billed as the fastest supercomputer in Africa. Housed by a CSIR facility, the setup was ranked as one of the top-500 supercomputers on earth at this year’s Supercomputing Conference in Seattle.

The CSIR hopes it can put it to use solving African problems, empowering African research and encouraging foreign academics to come to SA to work. The CSIR’s requirements were simple: it needed a new supercomputer and it wanted it to rank in the prestigious list put out by the Supercomputing Conference, and it needed it in less than a month if it was to qualify. Dell Africa GM Stewart van Graan says the company had the machine operational within three weeks of receiving the order. Dell, he says, is seeing more interest in supercomputers from mainstream businesses such as retailers and mining and exploration companies. “Any time you’re dealing with as much data as they do, the application of a supercomputer becomes relevant.”
Much of the research required to build a computer like the one the CSIR requested comes from Dell’s longstanding relationship with Cambridge University, where it assists in the formulation of white papers concerning supercomputing.

Though the CSIR hopes to make the computer available to anyone in Africa in need of its capabilities, Van Graan says the greatest obstacle - and one that affects much of Africa - is lack of bandwidth. “Power and bandwidth are the two biggest challenges in Africa,” he says. Though Dell says it “leveraged global relationships” in building the machine, local people were trained to maintain it. This was one of the stipulations of the deal with the CSIR. Van Graan says that as supercomputers become more common in Africa, they will be invaluable in solving real-world problems through simulations, like looking at traffic systems and urban growth. He says more university departments, from finance to the humanities, have to crunch more data and that SA is now better equipped to deal with it. “Big data no longer just the realm of scientific research,” he says.

The new supercomputer occupies two and a half server racks at the CSIR instead of the 12 previously required. Nevertheless, it consists of 2 800 cores, of which most jobs only require 100 or 200. Fortunately, the cores can be split and used to process simultaneous batch jobs. The system supports both Intel and AMD processors, though Intel chips are used in this instance. The CSIR’s previous supercomputer processed about 30 trillion float-point operations a second, better known as teraflops. Not only has the new machine doubled performance and greatly reduced its use of electricity, but cost a third of its predecessor and occupies less than a quarter of the space. Van Graan declines to say how much the machine cost. The CSIR’s system was paid for by the department of science & technology. He is quick to put the Cape Town supercomputer in context: though its having 2 800 cores sounds impressive, the biggest supercomputer in the world has 500 000 cores. “The gap between the top 20 and top 100 is huge, as is the gap between the top 100 and, say, the top 200.”

Dell’s most powerful supercomputer ranked at 31st on the list and consists of 15 500 cores. It’s located at the University of Colorado. Happy Sithole, director of the Centre for High Performance Computing who was involved with the project from the outset, says the CSIR hopes the system will allow it to work on solutions for challenges such as HIV/Aids, malaria and climate change by building complex scientific and mathematical models. The complexity of a model used to assess the impact of a tsunami, for example, requires huge data sets. Sithole says the supercomputer is already being used by different research groups around the country who have been selected for the type of work they do. “For example, the group that works on the HIV mutation mechanism looks at understanding how the HI virus mutates in a human immune system,” Sithole says. “This type of study requires a large number of combinations that should be computed and thus the supercomputer provides a quick way of understanding all the possible scenarios, which could otherwise not have been explored.” Academic institutions are provided access if their projects “meet the criteria of problems that are relevant for parallel processing” and if the research is in areas that are in the government priority areas and helps train students.

© Craig Wilson
Source: TechCentral

TopTV enters agreement with Playboy TV

2011-12-07T13:59:00.000+02:00

SA's second pay-television operator TopTV has revealed it will provide three Playboy TV channels “in the near future”.

This comes in the wake of controversy surrounding the association of TopTV with Psat TV (Porn Satellite Television), a 24-hour “hard core adult entertainment” channel, in which TopTV vehemently denied any association or involvement. TopTV did, however, confirm that its holding company On Digital Media (ODM) had recently submitted an application to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) for three additional channels intended for the broadcast of adult content.

The pay-TV operator yesterday revealed it had concluded an agreement with Playboy TV to carry adult content on its service, and says it is “aware that adult content is a very sensitive subject”. Because of this, says TopTV, the channels have been structured as an additional standalone package so that those who do not subscribe to the channels will not be exposed in any way to the content, electronic programme guide, or anything associated with the channels. “The channels are fully encrypted. In actual fact, unless one makes a conscious decision to subscribe to the adult channels, there will be no change whatsoever to the current offering available on your TopTV decoder. Further, those who do choose to subscribe will be required to enter a separate unique PIN to unblock the channels each time they view. At all times, the channels will remain blocked.”

TopTV says it has exercised thorough consideration of families and children with the structuring of the Playboy package. “The principle behind this structuring of the bouquet is to allow maximum protection for children to inadvertent exposure to the content, as well as those adults who choose not to access these channels. We have looked into this from all possible angles and as people with families, we are very mindful of our subscribers.” A relative newcomer to the market, having launched in May last year, the pay-TV provider adds that it will ensure its current and future subscribers' values are in no way compromised. It says the move does not mean it is altering its focus to adult entertainment, which “remains but one of the genres that we incorporate into our bouquet”.

TopTV says recent research laid bare a “definite market for adult content and channels among South African television viewers”. “As a pay-TV operator, we are constantly reassessing the market. We have established that there is a niche market for such a service and are ensuring that we offer it to potential subscribers in a responsible and secure environment,” says TopTV's senior vice-president of sales and marketing Marius Liebenberg. TopTV said in a statement: “While TopTV is not seeking to distance itself from its positioning as a family values oriented service provider, we view the additional channels within that context as well. As a business, we need to be alive to the desires of our existing and future client base, and we always aim to balance all competing interests. Stagnating to past statements will not serve changed needs from our clients or assist our growth.

“In a democratic society founded on a sound constitution, all individuals need to provide the requisite space for co-existence with other sectors of the society that may be different from each other. In that light, we do not see the provision of adult content as a compromise of our company image. Rather, it is a bold move fundamentally based on our constitution in a society which enshrines freedom of expression in its Bill of rights.” TopTV says it is well aware there are those who will be opposed to adult content, but it needs to accommodate as many interests as possible. “[TopTV is] a subscription broadcaster catering for various niche audiences. That is why we have driving, cooking, music shows and many other genres of programming.”

© Bonnie Tubbs
Source: IT Web

MWeb upgrades its network

2011-12-06T12:09:00.001+02:00

Internet service provider MWeb has completed what it calls a “four-phase infrastructure and backbone upgrade” that now means it’s running a 10Gbit/s connection between SA’s three biggest cities and offering subscribers in Durban a more direct route into its network.
The first phase involved upgrading MWeb’s link between its data centres in Gauteng and the Western Cape, says CEO Rudi Jansen. He explains that the link will provide improved performance for Cape Town customers who host e-mail with MWeb, which is stored at its Johannesburg data centre, as well as Johannesburg subscribers accessing websites hosted at the company’s data centre in Cape Town.

The second phase resulted in MWeb, which is owned by pay-TV operator MultiChoice, building a direct link into Telkom’s Internet Protocol Connect service Durban. IP Connect provides access to the fixed-line operator’s broadband digital subscriber line network. Durban customers were previously being served from Johannesburg. MWeb is also creating connections from Teraco’s data centre in Johannesburg and Cape Town to the latter’s new facility in Durban. This included building a 10Gbit/s connection between Johannesburg and Durban and a similar line from Durban to Cape Town.

Phase three will offer open peering options for other Internet service providers at Teraco’s Durban data centre. In the final phase of the upgrade, MWeb has bought additional bandwidth on the Seacom submarine cable system. “Our total international capacity is now in excess of 23Gbit/s across the Seacom and Sat-3 cables,” says Jansen.

Source: TechCentral

Obsidian Working on South Park RPG

2011-12-05T10:15:00.001+02:00

The developer behind Fallout: New Vegas and Neverwinter Nights 2 is currently working on a South Park RPG.

On Thursday THQ said that it's collaborating with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the animated TV show South Park, to create a role-playing game based on the highly-popular show. Simply called South Park: The Game, it will be developed by Obsidian Entertainment and land on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC in the second half of 2012. Little is known about the RPG at this point, although THQ described South Park: The Game as "an epic role-playing adventure that will allow the user to befriend Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny and explore the quiet little mountain town like never before."

A South Park RPG developed by Obsidian should prove interesting, as the studio has created a number of impressive titles for all three platforms including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas and Dungeon Siege 3. In addition to the South Park title, the studio is also working on a Wheel of Time game for all three platforms. To date, there have been five games based on the South Park series, the first of which was a first-person shooter in 1998 from Acclaim released on the Nintendo 64 followed by the original PlayStation and Windows PC. While I was personally a big fan of the game, critics weren't too crazy about the South Park shooter, complaining about repetitive voice acting, poor graphics and frustrating gameplay... guess throwing pee-covered snowballs and shooting a toilet-plunger launcher just wasn't enough to win critics over.

Nonetheless, the combination of better technology, a well-established publisher and a top-notch developer should help bring the South Park franchise back into a more popular light in the gaming sector. "Our goal is simple: to put creative talent first," said Danny Bilson, EVP Core Games, THQ. "Matt and Trey are arguably two of the most important comedic talents of their generation. Bringing their vision of South Park to the interactive space is a dream-come-true." Additional information regarding the South Park RPG will be available in the January issue of Game Informer, shipping to subscribers in early December 2011 (aka now).

Source: tom's hardware

Naked ADSL disappointment

2011-12-02T15:24:00.001+02:00

South Africans will not immediately benefit from being able to get a fixed broadband line without also having to fork out for a voice line, as Telkom provides copper connections at a loss. The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) agrees with Telkom's argument that it subsidises the cost of connections to end-users. As a result, there is no saving in separating voice and data connections, because the copper link still has to be paid for. The industry has been arguing that the two products should be offered separately as an initial win for consumers who no longer wanted to be forced into signing up for voice just to get fixed broadband. The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) and MWeb have called for the introduction of naked ADSL as a quick win in the process of local loop unbundling (LLU). However, ICASA's finding that Telkom has an access line deficit effectively scuttles the chances of this happening any time in the near future. Spokesman Paseka Maleka explains the issue of naked ADSL involves both the ability to split services, as well as the question of charging for them separately. He says that, as there is an access line deficit, naked ADSL would cost more than the current bundled offering.

As Telkom is making a loss on all access lines, ICASA will embark on a process to determine how it can best deal with the deficit, with the co-operation of the industry and Telkom, says Maleka. ICASA's document, handed out at a recent public hearing into its LLU findings, notes the access line deficit is a “significant obstacle to the introduction of fixed-line local loop unbundling”. Derek Hershaw, CEO of MWeb ISP, says because ICASA agrees there is an access line deficit, naked ADSL has been put on the backburner because the scope of Telkom's shortfall to provide access has yet to be quantified. Hershaw explains that Telkom has argued that the deficit would increase if it offered fixed-broadband as a standalone product. As a result, there would be no benefit to consumers, because the price would be higher than the current situation. However, Hershaw argues that, while consumers may have to pay a bit more for ADSL than is currently the case if the voice side was dropped, the total monthly bill would come down. “We were hoping that in the short-term there could be some quick wins that could stimulate ADSL growth; our fixed-line broadband penetration rates are far too low by any standards,” says Hershaw.

“The cost of having to pay for a landline just to get ADSL access is clearly a barrier to entry and naked ADSL would have removed that barrier,” Hershaw adds. MWeb is disappointed that an immediate opportunity to grow the market has been missed. “Telkom is using this 'access deficit' argument to protect their voice revenues and as a consequence, the SA consumer has to pay an inflated price to get ADSL,” Hershaw argues. MWeb has been mobilising public support in a bid to remove mandatory landline billing with ADSL lines. “Naked ADSL is another step in the process of driving down the cost of connectivity. It's also about the right to only pay for something if you want to use it, which is completely logical,” Hershaw says.

© Nicola Mawson
Source : IT Web

Diablo III is "done when it's done" - no release date given at BlizzCon

2011-12-01T09:51:00.000+02:00

Gamers were (a little bit) shocked when Diablo III was officially delayed until 2012, missing its release date and giving the holiday season to BioWare for The Old Republic. It was expected, however, that a solid date would be given in the near future, especially with BlizzCon right around the corner. Well, Blizzard is just full of surprises. During the opening ceremony, Chris Metzen, Vice President of Creative Development at Blizzard, actually didn't give a date, instead saying that they were in the "home stretch" and that it would be "done when it's done." We feel like we've heard that before. Like, four years ago... This is really strange. If the game almost made a 2011 release, it would make sense that a slight delay would knock the game to April at the latest.

Honestly, we expected them to come out swinging even earlier than that, releasing the game in February or March and capitalizing on the fairly light early months of the year. The fact that they still don't have a date is certainly disconcerting, and we're hoping it doesn't mean bad things for their highly-anticipated RPG. To hold fans over they released a new cinematic video, viewable here and the above boxart. We have a feeling that's not going to be enough to really make up for the lack of a release date, though, especially for those who have been waiting for years for Diablo III's release.

Source: Gamesradar

MTN to give free airtime to new prepaid customers.

2011-11-30T10:09:00.000+02:00

The cellphone operator says, in a bid to lessen customers' economic load, those who purchase an MTN Pay As You Go starter pack will receive R120 free airtime, over a year, every time they recharge with R60 or more airtime.

Other benefits include 10 free daily call-backs, five free SMSes for every 15 SMSes sent, and 30 free SMSes per month. “The R120 free airtime is spread over 12 months; therefore, the customer receives R10 per month. In order to get the R10 airtime, the customer is required to recharge with a minimum (non-cumulative) of R60 per month.

This offer is valid for a year from purchase. If a customer migrates out of this price plan any time within the 12 months, they will lose this benefit,” says MTN. MTN SA chief marketing officer Serame Taukobong says the promotion, which is open from 1 December 2011 to 20 May 2012, was introduced to give customers a festive season windfall.

As of 30 September, MTN had a subscriber base of 20.968 million users, 17.28 million of whom were on the prepaid option.

Source: IT Web

Another submarine cable headed SA’s way

2011-11-29T09:35:00.000+02:00

Details are emerging of plans for the construction of yet another high-capacity submarine telecommunications cable to serve the African continent. The Wasace cable, which will connect Africa, including SA, with South America, North America and Europe, and which will cost “billions of dollars”, is being project managed by the David Ross Group of the US. The Wasace Cable Company Worldwide, a multinational development company represented by CEO Ramon Gil-Roldan of Spain, says the new system will be one of the largest in the world, linking the major markets on four continents. It says it is the largest such project ever mounted in the Atlantic Ocean. “If the fibres were connected end to end, they would stretch three quarters of the way to the moon,” the company says.

Wasace claims the system will be the first to employ next-generation 100Gbit/s fibre-optic technology, offering “ten times the capacity of previous systems”. It’s not yet known when the cable will be ready for service. Wasace representatives could not immediately be reached for comment on the likely design capacity of the system. Funders of the cable include VIP Must and the African Development Bank as well as other unnamed investors from Brazil and elsewhere. VIP Must is Wasace’s strategic partner and will provide financing, marketing and media strategy as well as institutional support. Based in Tunisia, VIP Must is headed by Patrick Perrin and invests in major global development projects. The David Ross Group is an international telecoms network consulting firm and has been involved in the development of some of the world’s largest telecoms networks. The group says that in the past 10 years it has supported more than 20 undersea cable projects, representing over US$2bn in investment in 80 000km of fibre-optic cable with landings in more than 40 countries.

Wasace says it will be the first-ever high-capacity cable spanning the South Atlantic. However, eFive Telecommunications CEO Lawrence Mulaudzi, who is leading a rival project that will connect Angola and SA to Brazil with a US$250m, 12,8Tbit/s system called the South Atlantic Express (SAex), says the SAex cable will be first along this route. “We now have to move with speed, and that is what we are doing,” Mulaudzi says. “We want to have first-mover advantage.” He adds that there is no need for two separate cable systems connecting Angola with Brazil. Mulaudzi says SAex is finalising development agreements with the Industrial Development Corp and the Development Bank of Southern Africa. HSBC is likely to be the project’s banking partner and agreements should be signed with construction and supply partners in January.

From being starved of bandwidth five years ago, billions of dollars have flowed into new submarine cables serving the African continent. New cable systems include Seacom, Teams and Eassy, serving markets along Africa’s east coast. In the west, the 5,1Tbit/s Wacs and Ace projects are expected to go live in 2012.

© Duncan McLeod
Source: TechCentral

Gears of War 3 Versus Booster Map Pack Available for Free from 24th November

2011-11-25T11:39:00.001+02:00

The teams at Epic Games and Microsoft Studios are celebrating the holidays with a gift for “Gears of War 3” fans – the Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol “Versus Booster Map Pack,” available for free from today on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Presented by Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Paramount Picture’s action-packed spy adventure in theaters 21st December, the “Versus Booster Map Pack” will feature five new maps available in social matchmaking playlists – two brand new maps, Bullet Marsh and Clocktower, as well as Azura, Rustlung and Blood Drive from the “Horde Command Pack.”

The teams at Paramount Pictures and Epic Games have created a new “Impossible Mission” for “Gears of War 3” owners to tackle. Players who watch the Mission: Impossible trailer on Xbox LIVE and then complete the “Gears of War 3” campaign on Insane difficulty by 25th December 2011 either in single or multiplayer mode, will unlock the exclusive Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Weapon Skin Pack. The “Impossible Mission” 5-pack includes a “Ghost Protocol” Lancer, Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, Gnasher Shotgun and Sawed-off Shotgun. All players who register and attempt to complete the campaign on Insane difficulty will have a chance to win prizes, but only those who accomplish “Impossible Mission” by the deadline will receive the exclusive weapons pack. Those who have already completed the campaign on Insane will automatically receive the weapon skin pack on 31st December.

Starting 24th November, gamers who visit the Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol experience on Xbox LIVE can enter to win “Gears of War 3” and Mission: Impossible prizing. The grand prize is an ultimate home theater package including a Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol custom Xbox 360 slim console with Kinect, 50” HDTV, 5.1 digital HD home theater system, and the Mission: Impossible complete DVD series. To enter, gamers can either watch the movie trailer on Xbox LIVE or download the free Mission: Impossible Gamer Pic & Theme pack. Each activity will gain gamers one extra entry into the sweepstakes. Full details and restrictions will be available in Official Rules presented in the Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol experience. So jump on Xbox LIVE today and devour these new action-packed maps!

With more than three million copies sold in its first week, “Gears of War 3” is the biggest console exclusive of the year and is available in three distinct editions – Standard , Limited (available at selected retailers) and Epic. For a limited time only, the custom-designed Xbox 360 Limited Edition “Gears of War 3” Console is also available and features a copy of the game, two specially-designed Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers, limited edition downloadable content, built-in Wi-Fi and a massive 320 GB hard drive. The Limited Edition Wireless Controller is also available separately.

With Epic and Microsoft continuing to roll out game add-ons to carry fans through this Christmas, including the new campaign experience “RAAM’s Shadow” out 13th December, there’s never been a better time to grab a copy of “Gears of War 3” and jump into the action on Xbox LIVE. Additionally, don’t miss any of the action by purchasing the “Gears of War 3” Season Pass for 2400 Microsoft Points, which entitles you to the first four game add-ons for a discount of more than 30 percent!

Source: Spong

Biggest SA spammers named and shamed

2011-11-23T13:54:00.002+02:00

The South African Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) updated their “Spam Hall of Shame” recently, naming and shaming the country’s spammers and e-mail address resellers. Until recently it was mainly the embarrassment of appearing on this list which made it a deterrent to spammers, but an announcement by a local firm that it is using this data in fighting spam changes the game. Pinpoint SecureMail said that they are integrating the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) Hall of Shame anti-spam watchlist in their e-mail protection software.

According to Yossi Hasson, managing director of Pinpoint SecureMail development company SYNAQ, this means that all companies listed on the ISPA spam Hall of Shame are immediately given an extra weighting on SYNAQ’s spam algorithms and are quarantined. In the first three weeks following the ISPA Hall of Shame integration into Pinpoint SecureMail, SYNAQ identified and blocked 146,926 spam messages sent out by companies included in the list.

The latest spammers and email address resellers listed in ISPA’s spam hall of shame are as follows.

South African spammers:

Dynamic Seminars
New Heights 1268 / Jaco Derksen
SA Webs (not SA Web Design, see note below)
Ketler Presentations
Brain Power
Worldclass Mobile aka Marketing House
World Class Products
Kaleidoscope Advertising and eMarketing
The Peer Group
The SA Consumer Initiative
Pinny Barak – Bizweb
Promo Mail SA
Greycell cc / Bad Credit Loans
Eddy Wines
Jake The Transporter
Drive Car Sales / Justgroup-Africa
No More Debt / Debt Free Living
Marketing Now
Body and Mind
SA Passport
Front Foot Events
Plum Solutions
Eezi Marketing
Craig Sneeden C2IT
Winners Circle
Richard Catto
Jimmie Somers
South African Centre for Health Management cc
African Experience Golf Tours
FiF 247 Information Services
Kevin Croft
Tom Goldgamer
Top In
Master Lists
Bulk eMail services
IITA
Kidz Memoriez
Bidding Buzz
Grunder Marketing
SaveHost
WebSites4SA – Johan Steyn
Flossnet.org.za
Marketing Counts
Manhattan Hotel

Address resellers:

Mark Tribelhorn
Affordable Construction
Rain Marketing
Peter Van Wyk – Media Onlin
Mandy Simone
Timothy Heston
Jonathan Schoeman: BP Media & SMSCity
Verosha Bisnath
ListSA
Email Marketing South Africa
Web Marketing Today
All Things SA
Data Corp SA
Trinity Designs
Trevor Jones
MailMagic
DataInc
Jannie Pretorius, Group3Properties
Silent G
Michael Fraser, Pink Soda Marketing
Graham Naude, Eezi Marketing
Marketing Now
Abram Morake
Aqua Direct Marketing
Master Lists SA
Bulk eMail services
marketing.counts@gmail.com
Tony Baker – SA Data Marketing
Lowveld Media

Source: MyBroadband

PayPal withdrawals come to more banks

2011-11-22T10:17:00.000+02:00

Though it’s long been possible to transfer money into a PayPal account using an SA credit card, for the past 18 months the only way SA users of the payment service could retrieve funds from it was via a linked First National Bank (FNB) account. Now users of any SA bank can withdraw from PayPal, too.

The ability to withdraw from a PayPal account from a bank other than FNB is available for both commercial and individual customers. To do so, interested parties need to open an FNB online profile, link this to the receiving bank account, and can then make withdrawals from PayPal. Chris Savides, GM for FNB’s complementary online services, says the bank has enjoyed a big uptake of the service since launching it in March 2010. However, the need to have an account with FNB was a barrier for some customers, particularly businesses, he explains.

Some companies were opening FNB accounts purely for PayPal and it “seemed logical to remove the barriers for cross-border e-commerce”. Users will need to supply FNB with documentation, which can be faxed or e-mailed. “Once we’ve got your [this] information, we verify it and then you can link your PayPal to your bank account,” Savides explains. FNB then confirms with the other bank that the person’s banking and PayPal details correspond. The new arrangement pertains to withdrawals exclusively. Those looking to do person-to-person PayPal payments will still require a linked FNB account. There is no cost to register for the FNB online account. Standard PayPal transaction fees apply to all transactions and FNB charges 1,5% on transactions, which is the same for both FNB customers using PayPal and users of other banks.

Savides says this will remove “a major barrier to entry” for businesses looking to explore global e-commerce and says businesses “have to consider it” because there are over 100m active PayPal users worldwide.
Locally, he says FNB has seen businesses from “taxidermists to tour operators” using the platform, which is growing 8% month on month. There are more than 500 000 registered PayPal users in SA.

© Craig Wilson
Source: TechCentral

Tablet pricing set to drop in 2012

2011-11-18T09:28:00.000+02:00

According to Digitimes analyst, James Wang, end-user pricing on tablet PCs is set to drop significantly in 2012 as competition increases among vendors. Wang’s news report suggests that the average price of a 10-inch tablet PC will drop to between $299 and $399 next year, and 7-inch models will retail for between $199 and $249.

Wang also speculates that Amazon will drop the price of the Kindle Fire down to $149 to remain competitive. The report also detailed eReader sales next year, and suggests that device shipments will grow by 31.4 percent in 2012 to around 28.9 million units. Wang also expects to see a price drop in eReaders next year, and predicts that Amazon’s successful eReader could sell for as little as $49.

© Derrick Cramer
Source: mybroadband

Chip and PIN not as safe as you think

2011-11-17T10:31:00.000+02:00

Chip-and-PIN cards were introduced in order to reduce the level of fraud on credit cards. The argument is that without the PIN your card cannot be used. However, many bank customers have found that their cards are still being used fraudulently and the only difference now is that they have to argue with the bank which can claim that the customer must have compromised the PIN. The truth is that it is very easy for a criminal to override the chip-and-PIN protection.

Walter Volker, CEO of the Payment Association of SA says that as chip and PIN was a new technology and the banks wanted customers not to be inconvenienced during the early adoption period, the system allows the payment device to default to the card’s magnetic stripe. If there is no chip, then the payment device, such as an ATM, assumes the chip is damaged and defaults to magnetic stripe. This means that a card that has been cloned - in other words, the mag stripe has been copied and a fake card created - can be used even if the original card was chip-enabled.

Volker says that soon this loophole will be closed, which means that if a chip is damaged, a customer will not be able to withdraw money and will have to request a new card. The only way to protect yourself is to sign up for your bank’s SMS notification programme so you are notified every time a transaction takes place. If your card is used fraudulently, the bank can only hold you liable if the payment device read the chip and did not default to the magnetic stripe — so make sure you get the bank to produce all the facts. Volker says the ombudsman statistics show that in many cases the banks do repay the money but in most cases it is only when the customer knows to question the transaction.

©Maya Fisher-French
Source: Mail & Guardian

Google, Facebook oppose piracy bills

2011-11-16T12:21:00.000+02:00

Washington - Internet heavyweights Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo! joined ranks on Tuesday to oppose legislation in the US Congress designed to crack down on online piracy. In a joint letter, the firms said they "support the bills' stated goals - providing additional enforcement tools to combat foreign 'rogue' websites that are dedicated to copyright infringement or counterfeiting". "Unfortunately, the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding US internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of websites," they said in the letter to the House and Senate judiciary committees.

"We are concerned that these measures pose a serious risk to our industry's continued track record of innovation and job-creation, as well as to our nation's cyber security," they said. The legislation introduced in the House and Senate would give US authorities more tools to crack down on "rogue" websites accused of piracy of movies, television shows and music and the sale of counterfeit goods. The bills have received the backing of Hollywood and the music industry, but have come under fire from digital rights and free speech groups.

In the letter, the internet companies said "We cannot support these bills as written and ask that you consider more targeted ways to combat foreign 'rogue' websites dedicated to copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting." The House Judiciary Committee is to hold a hearing on the bill on Wednesday. The Obama administration has come in for some criticism for shutting down dozens of "rogue websites" over the past year as part of a crackdown known as "Operation in Our Sites". US authorities in November, for example, shut down 82 websites selling mostly Chinese-made counterfeit goods, including golf clubs, Walt Disney movies, handbags and other items. In addition to Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo!, the other companies signing the letter were eBay, LinkedIn, Mozilla and Zynga.

Source : News24

Telkom 's broadband plans

2011-11-15T13:56:00.000+02:00

Telkom is involved in a multibillion-rand project to increase the throughput of fixed-line broadband to speeds of up to 40Mbit/s. The plans also include dramatically upping the speed of entry-level broadband services and introducing video-on-demand (VOD) products, possibly from international providers such as Hulu, Netflix and Nangu. In addition, the company is planning a trial using superfast fibre-optic cables from selected telephone exchanges, with the pilot project expected to kick off as early as 15 January 2012. Details about the fibre project remain sketchy, however.

Telkom apparently plans to install devices called multi-service access nodes, or MSANs, in its telephone exchanges and street-level distribution cabinets and to introduce very high-speed digital subscriber line version 2 (VDSL2) technology, which will dramatically increase the speeds it can provide over its legacy copper access network. VDSL2 is theoretically capable of offering download speeds of up to 250Mbit/s over short lengths of copper (up to 500m) and up 50Mbit/s for distances of up to 1km.

Telkom has invested millions of rand in recent years bringing fibre closer to its customers — in many areas, it has built fibre to its street-level distribution cabinets — to offer faster access speeds to consumers over its copper network. In terms of the plan, which is known as the NGNEC project, Telkom is proposing that by 2013/2014, the slowest access speed offered on its access network will be 1Mbit/s (from 384kbit/s now). By 2015/2016, this will have been increased to between 2Mbit/s and 4Mbit/s with speeds at the high end of 20Mbit/s and 40Mbit/s in selected areas.

Under the NGNEC pilot, Telkom will offer three access speeds to consumers: 10Mbit/s, 20Mbit/s and 40Mbit/s from selected exchanges (affecting about 2% of its subscriber base), providing both capped and uncapped products. It also plans to trial voice-over-broadband products in both the consumer and business markets.

©Duncan McLeod
Source: TechCentral

Thailand floods cause price whammy

2011-11-14T12:29:00.000+02:00

Hard drive prices have more than doubled in the open market, after recent floods in Thailand affected output at factories that account for about half of all global production.

The hard drive shortage and resulting increase in prices could see desktop and notebook costs increase by about 15% on top of already inflated prices caused by the rand weakening against the US currency.

Thailand was hit with floods that devastated the country during the current monsoon season. The flooding, according to Google, was the worst in the past 50 years and resulted in more than two-thirds of the country being swamped. Google Crisis Response says hundreds of factories have been closed, and over 900 000 families and businesses were impacted, and hundreds of lives lost. As a result, hard drive prices have skyrocketed and will add even more to the cost of a PC.

Western Digital CEO and president John Coyne said in October that the company temporarily suspended production at two factories in Thailand to protect staff. The factories had been “inundated by floodwater”.
Coyne added that many of its component suppliers were impacted, constraining material supply. “We are working with suppliers to assess the extent of their impact and help devise short- and long-term solutions. This is a complex and dynamic challenge that will require extensive rebuilding for the Thai people and government, and present unprecedented obstacles to the hard drive industry for multiple quarters.” Seagate Technology said in a statement all its factories were operational, but the hard disk drive component supply chain was disrupted, which would constrain supplies.

“Given the volatility of the situation, it is unclear what the magnitude of the supply chain disruption will be to Seagate's hard disk drive output from its Thailand operations,” it said. The company is managing its supply chain, but expects stock to be under pressure this quarter. IDC notes operations have been disrupted at more than 12 hard disk drive (HDD) factories. “This will have a direct impact on worldwide PC shipments through the first half of 2012.” In the first half of this year, Thailand accounted for 40-45% of worldwide production, and by early November, nearly half of this production was affected by floods, says IDC. “The full extent of the damage to HDD industry factories will not be known until the floodwaters recede, although it's already clear there will be HDD supply shortages into the first quarter of 2012.”

IDC says PC vendors should expect significant HDD shortages by the middle of this month that will carry on into the first quarter of next year, which could decrease shipments in the first quarter of 2012 by up to 20%. The research company says the impact in the festive season period will be limited as many shipments already took place and remaining PC production can be finished with current stock. As a result of the floods, HDD prices will increase and will only start stabilising by around June, notes IDC. "The HDD shortage will affect smaller PC vendors and lower priced products most,” says Loren Loverde, programme VP of IDC's worldwide consumer device trackers. However, says Loverde, the largest vendors will also see shortages.

SA is not immune to the global shortage and prices have already shot up as supply constraints hit the local sector. Dave Miller, CEO of Incredible Connection, says supply will be affected for the next six to seven months, which has led to prices shooting up. He says this will have a spill-over effect on pricing and supply of PCs, netbooks and notebooks, The entry-level price unit will climb at the beginning of 2012, says Miller. Incredible has ordered stock to ensure its customers do not see any shortages, he adds. “Consumers and businesses alike should really snap stock up before the shortages take affect and price increases hit,” he comments.

Mustek CEO and founder David Kan says the floods will also impact the supply of components, such as discs and reading heads. The recovery will take a lot longer than everyone thinks, he adds. Prices into the channel have already increased by between 40% and 50%, and the open market is paying up to double what it would have before the flood, says Kan. The market will start recovering around February or March next year, but consumers can only expect the situation to return to normal by about the end of the second quarter, notes Kan. He says the increased prices present a problem for consumers on top of the weaker rand. Kan says the stock situation is “very bad” and even though Mustek is willing to pay higher prices, there is no guarantee it will receive devices. In the meantime, Mustek is buying external drives and stripping the housing, says Kan. “At least you have a drive.” Syntech SA director Ryan Martyn says the shortage is becoming “more and more of a problem”. He expects the real shortage to affect the market in the first and second quarter of next year. Martyn points out tier one original equipment manufacturers have bought up as much stock as they can. The shortage will result in prices moving increasingly higher, he says.

©Nicola Mawson

Source: IT Web

Business wasting money on social media – study

2011-11-11T10:00:00.000+02:00

Business is wasting time and money by trying to reach people on social networks sites without a targeted strategy, a global research survey has found. “Three out of five SA Internet users don’t want to be bothered by brands on social networks,” TNS said in a statement on Thursday. “Winning and keeping customers is harder than ever,” said Matthew Froggatt, chief development officer. He said the online world undoubtedly presented massive opportunities for brands.

However, choosing the wrong channel or adding to the “cacophony” of online noise risked alienating potential customers. The Digital Life study surveyed online consumer behaviour in 60 countries. It found that 57% of people in sub-Saharan Africa did not want to engage with brands via social media. This rose to 60% in SA. Forty seven percent of people, across the survey, wanted to engage with companies on their Facebook accounts or blogs. “This is in contrast to only 7% of those online in SA, one of the lowest incidences in the world, and South Africans are clearly less interested in commenting on brands in the social media space,” the study showed.

The study revealed big geographic contrasts. This highlighted the risks of brands that employed a “catch-all approach” that did not take into account the needs of different consumers. “Digital waste is the accumulation of thousands of brands rushing online without thinking who they want to talk to and why,” said Froggatt. “Many brands have recognised the vast potential … of social networks. However, they are failing to understand that these spaces belong to the consumer and their presence needs to be proportionate and justified.” The study found that infrastructure and the cost of accessing the Internet in some countries were other hurdles to reaching consumers.

“Forty-eight percent of people in fast growth markets would use the Internet more if it was less expensive — rising sharply in Africa, to 81% of people in Ghana, 71% in Nigeria, 68% in Kenya and 51% in SA.” Only a quarter of people in developed markets saw social networks as forum to buy products. This rose to 48% across fast growth markets, 64% in sub-Saharan Africa and 40% in SA. The study further looked into the practice of online shopping via a cellphone. “When it comes to online shopping habits, Asian consumers are leading the adoption of group buying and purchase via mobile.” This was very low in Sub-Saharan Africa and SA. Compared to China and South Korea’s percentage of 34%, only 5% of South Africans shop on their phones.

Source: Techcentral

South African banking system outlook changed to stable from negative

2011-11-09T12:37:00.000+02:00

The outlook for the South African (SA) banking system has been changed to stable from negative, largely reflecting the improving macro-economic conditions that will likely have a positive impact on the sector's credit performance, says Moody's Investors Service in its new Banking System Outlook on South Africa.

After going through its first recession in 17 years, the SA economy is recovering and expected to grow by around 3% in 2010. Reduced interest rates and benign inflation (3.5% in August 2010) are expected to help reduce debt-servicing costs and boost consumer affordability.

"Improved operating conditions are already having a positive impact on the banking sector's performance. The rate of early arrears has been decreasing and non-performing loans have flattened out since year-end 2009," explained Constantinos Kypreos, a Moody's Vice-President, Senior Analyst and author of the report. "Expected lower provisioning costs will likely improve net profits in the coming quarters, while credit growth, which was negative in 2009, turned moderately positive in H1 2010," said Mr. Kypreos.

The financial performance of SA banks is also supported by the sector's solid overall balance sheet: as of July 2010, the SA banking system maintained a combined Tier 1 ratio of 11.2% and equity-to-assets of 6.8%. Further, liquid assets above the minimum regulatory requirement increased to ZAR99 billion (from ZAR12.5 billion in January 2008), or 4% of deposits, providing a sizeable buffer to absorb liquidity pressures. As a result, the system did not require government-sponsored funding or capital support.

However, the rating agency notes that the banking system faces some challenges. The pace of economic recovery will remain subdued and asset quality and profitability indicators are not expected to return to pre-crisis levels in the near term. The sustained high, though reduced, credit risks faced by the banking system are exacerbated by high consumer indebtedness, challenges in the government-mandated "debt counselling" process, and by the banks' willingness to underwrite mortgage loans with high loan-to-value (LTV) ratios.
"The system is also faced with structural funding challenges, through its dependence on wholesale/professional deposits. This leads to high deposit concentrations, short-maturity liabilities leading to large mismatches in the maturity profile of assets and liabilities, and higher funding costs" added Mr. Kypreos.

Although its implementation is beyond the timing horizon of the report, Moody's expects that SA banks will find it difficult to meet the proposed new liquidity standards under Basel III in their current form. Existing exchange controls and restrictions, however, ensure that rand liquidity remains "trapped" within the domestic financial system, and has provided a level of protection during the recent financial crisis.

Source: Moodys

SA streaming music service courts controversy

2011-11-08T12:57:00.000+02:00

Playlist Central is a new local music streaming website that launched on 1 November and, like similar international websites such as Grooveshark, offers access to thousands of songs, all in one place.

But, like many of its international equivalents, it could soon find itself in hot water with the big record labels, and has already drawn the attention of Warner Music Gallo Africa.

The website’s press and marketing representative, Roi Simpson, says he and his partners thought of the idea a few months ago. Simpson used to work for Algoa FM and now does training for radio presenters. He met his partners, Muhammed Ebrahim and Paul Playdon, while working at the University of Cape Town’s radio station. Simpson says the trio “had a common interest in SA music, the music industry and radio”.

OBTek, an SA company that specialises in online audio streaming and coding, supplies Playlist Central’s backend. According to Simpson, the site now has more than 51 000 tracks available for streaming. The site offers audio at 65kbit/s in mono, says Ebrahim, who is the site’s head of coding and scripting. Simpson says the site has “enough bandwidth for 100 000 users at the same time”, with its servers based in the UK, Canada and the US. For now, Playlist Central is only using one of these servers because demand is low. Playlist Central is built on a registered version of a program called Subsonic and is still in beta testing. Its user base was “originally just a few friends testing out the system”, says Simpson. However, by the end of its first week of going live, Playlist Central started gaining traction thanks to people talking about it on social networks. The site is now in open beta testing and will remain free until February 2012.

Once testing is concluded, there are plans to add audio and video advertisements and offer a paid subscription model that would remove these. There are also plans to offer higher-quality audio and integration with social networks. The biggest problem most streaming services have faced is getting the major record labels on board, even if they are being paid per song played. Simpson says Playlist Central pays the SA Music Rights Organisation (Samro) a licensing fee and the company had assumed this was sufficient to legitimise its entire catalogue. However, it has since been contacted by Warner Music Gallo Africa, with which it will be meeting this week to discuss whether or not the site will be allowed to continue hosting the label’s music. One of Warner’s primary complaints is that users can upload their own material because there are not sufficient measures in place to ensure users don’t upload copyrighted material, says Simpson.

“We will oblige anyone who has a gripe,” adds Ebrahim. He says the site doesn’t want to endorse piracy, which is why tracks are only played at broadcast quality and users “can’t download anything from the site, so it’s not like LimeWire or early Napster”. In the US, Grooveshark has landed itself in hot water with some of the labels, with Universal Music Group filing a copyright infringement lawsuit. Grooveshark says it works within the strictures of US copyright law. “We might well lose 30 000 tracks by the end of this week if the labels reject us,” admits Simpson. “The way I see this going is more towards SA music. Maybe it can evolve into SA music only.” Simpson says Playlist Central wants to be a website “of reference for SA music and a platform bands can use to release their music”.

© Craig Wilson
Source: TechCentral

SA company unveils localised tablets

2011-11-07T09:09:00.000+02:00

South African company, Wise Tablets, is soon to release a low-cost tablet developed and customised for the local market. The “Wise Touch 1” will be available in 7-inch and 9-inch formats, with capacitive multi-touch, running Android 2.3. The 9-inch tablet will retail for less than R3 500, while the 7-inch 3G tablet will cost less than R2 500, and the entry-level 7-inch WiFi tablet will go for less than R1 500. MD of Wise Tablets, Gian Shipton, says: “The problem with tablets available today is that all of them offer exactly the same thing; software markets.

“We found that most of the average South African consumers have a problem with the current high prices of the brand-named tablets, but apart from the pricing issue, it also relates to the fact that none of the tablets in the market, including the Apple iPad, present any form of local content.” Shipton says the content on the new tablets will be what sets them apart. “What makes the Wise Touch SA's first South African tablet is what's on the inside.” Apart from the regular Android apps, the tablets come preloaded with South African applications, developed specifically for the Wise Touch on behalf of local brands. The local content is categorised under the Wise Shopping Mall, Wise Business Park and Wise Education Centre.

© Kathryn McConnachie
Source: IT Web

Goodbye 87 Posts

2011-11-02T21:01:00.000+02:00

All the previous posts have been deleted due to a complaint and threat of legal action by IT News Africa. TechworX seems to have bruised a few ego's and ruffled some feathers.

Which means that while the previous hand picked IT news stories are no longer available, TechworX has apparently been doing something right, with regards to posting news that is not only relevant but interesting as well.

Stay logged on @TechworX for more of the same, while the corporate bullies continue to try and take down this young startup. Keep IT real folks.