SMME's on the Internet
South Africa is about to reach a crucial moment in the evolution of the Internet. Not only is Internet access becoming more affordable, it is also becoming more accessible as people from a variety of economic backgrounds are increasingly accessing the Internet using their mobile phones.
“This will have a profound effect on how businesses provide information and services to a growing online savvy user base,” says Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx.
Goldstuck, principal analyst for the annual SME Survey in South Africa, points to a coming watershed that will make it all the more crucial for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to have an effective online presence.
“More than ever, the sustainability and competitiveness of SMEs in South Africa has become a critical component in an economy struggling to create jobs,” says Goldstuck. “It is therefore vital to determine those factors that will ensure that SMEs are able to make an effective contribution to job creation, while ensuring their own survival and prosperity.”
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Near field communications
While technology see considerable milestone every all so often making it easier for people to carry funds without it being in hard cold cash, is something that a lot of banks have been trying to do. With South Africa’s pioneering of the pay-as-you-go system on cellphones, the system has emerged as a leader in digital payments by those customers who are on the move. This development has now seen that introduction of the "Tap-and-go" system. This system uses a technology called near-field communications (NFC) to make a transaction with a smartphone. So, instead of swiping a credit card, one merely has to touch the phone to an NFC reader.
To speak to us about this and more about new advances of us being part of the cashless society, we are joined by editor of stuff magazine, Toby Shapshack.
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Near field communications
While technology see considerable milestone every all so often making it easier for people to carry funds without it being in hard cold cash, is something that a lot of banks have been trying to do. With South Africa’s pioneering of the pay-as-you-go system on cellphones, the system has emerged as a leader in digital payments by those customers who are on the move. This development has now seen that introduction of the "Tap-and-go" system. This system uses a technology called near-field communications (NFC) to make a transaction with a smartphone. So, instead of swiping a credit card, one merely has to touch the phone to an NFC reader.
To speak to us about this and more about new advances of us being part of the cashless society, we are joined by editor of stuff magazine, Toby Shapshack.
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Dowloading not Copyright infringingment
One in three people in Switzerland download unauthorized music, movies and games from the Internet and since last year the government has been wondering what to do about it. This week their response was published and it was crystal clear. Not only will downloading for personal use stay completely legal, but the copyright holders won’t suffer because of it, since people eventually spend the money saved on entertainment products. What about here in SA? What are the laws pertaining to downloads here?
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Facebook to list its stocks
As the 2011 calendar year winds down, Facebook is said to now be making concrete steps toward its planned initial public offering. The Wall Street Journal on Monday afternoon published a report stating that Facebook plans to publicly list its shares on the stock market in Spring 2012, specifically looking at “dates between April 2012 and June 2012.” Facebook’s CFO David Ebersman is currently in talks with investment banks angling to underwrite the IPO, but the company has not entered into any mandates yet, according to the WSJ. The IPO will reportedly value the company at more than $100 billion.
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Windows Phone 7 for Nokia
Last month, Nokia unveiled its new smartphone on the Windows Phone 7 platform, which could put the company back in the smartphone race with rivals iPhone and Android. We talk to Toby Shapshak about what sets this apart from competitors. The phone is aimed at Europe for the holiday season, and should be released in SA early next year.
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Google + opens to brands and companies
Google is now allowing companies and brands to have a presence on its social offering Google+. The avenue, called Google+ Pages means that the social network is no longer the preserve of individuals. In an official blog post the internet giant explained the decision as a natural part of the social network’s evolution: “So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.” Since opening up to the public, Google+ has attracted over 40-million users who, up until now, have all been private individuals. The goal of the social network, Google says, remains one of allowing people to share their real-life experiences online.
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YouTube to launch online TV channels
YouTube has unveiled its latest challenge to the TV industry with the launch of 100 online channels of original programming from partners including the Wall Street Journal, Madonna, Ashton Kutcher and online magazine Slate. The launch marks Google-owned YouTube's most significant push into high-quality content as it seeks to shift the emphasis of the world's largest video sharing website from its roots in user-generated content. The majority of about 100 new online channels that YouTube has signed up will launch next year. Media organisations launching channels include Thomson Reuters, Slate, satire site The Onion and Cosmopolitan owner Hearst.
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Data & File Recovery
It only takes a moment of carelessness or just plain bad luck to permanently delete important data from your PC. Anyone who regularly works on a computer has faced these moments, only to suffer much heartache and grief, depending on the importance of the lost files. When a file is deleted, even from the recycle bin, it doesn’t actually vanish from the hard drive. Instead, after receiving the delete command, the computer merely changes the file’s properties to make it invisible. The space occupied by the file is also marked as empty, even though it remains in that space. The file truly gets deleted from the hard disk only when the operating system reuses the space occupied by it and overwrites fresh data to that space.
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FNB's new mobile app
Today, Hadlee talks to us about the new FNB app. The application includes a handy tool using the phone’s built in GPS to find the user’s closest ATM or branch, and also offers free VoIP calls to any number of the bank’s call centres. It is free to download from the Android Market, Blackberry App World, or iPhone App Store.
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Telkom's latest promotion
Hadlee told us about Telkom’s current promotion. From 18 July until September, you’ll be able to get a 1Mbps Telkom trial package for free – so no charge for ADSL line or data. You’re only going to be paying for your phone line and phone calls. Included in the ADSL promotion is 5GBs per month, free installation and a free modem.
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A South African app designer
A Pretoria man has been crowned BlackBerry App Master after he created an app for the BlackBerry Playbook which will soon be released in the country.
"I was toying around with apps and I've never written a complete one, because in the app world, everything I've needed was already developed," said Joe Diedericks.
He won the award for his Salon Queen application which is designed to grow a business and assist in retaining customers.
This is Diedericks' first time in building an application from scratch and he said that the BlackBerry PlayBook provided the stimulus to create the app.
"Now that this PlayBook came around, it created this whole new range of opportunities, and it's the first time I've got involved with BlackBerry process of starting with an app and building it to the end."
Salon Queen was designed with a hairdressing salon in mind, but Diedericks based his app on the idea of allowing customer interaction with a business with a view to grow the enterprise and retain a customer base.
Customers would be able to view an image history of their hairstyles, and also those that the salon had created for others.
"Over time, they can basically build up a visual history of hairstyles that you had: You can refer back and say 'I like this, let's go for something like this again."
Diedericks said that the app was designed to be expanded into other industries and had a social networking aspect in that one can share your favourite style with friends on Facebook, or followers on Twitter.
"From those building blocks I can tweak the application to fit into different types of industries," he said.
Diedericks has won a BlackBerry PlayBook and a trip to San Francisco to the BlackBerry Developer Conference from October 18 to 20 as his prize.
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Layar Reality Browser
Layar Reality Browser is an augmneted reality app. Essentially, you use your phone’s camera to find information about your surroundings. However, you can customise what you’d like to see, so for example, if you’re looking for restaurants, you can specify that particular “layer”. Simply point it at your surroundings, and any listed points of interest will pop up. Download it from the Android Market or Apple store.
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My Trash MailMy Trash Mail is a website that allows you to create a temporary email address in an attempt to combat spam.
So for example, if you need an email address to sign up for a website or application but don’t want to risk the chance of spam, simply use this, with the emails being stored for a few hours.
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Domain name changes
The governing body for Internet domain names, ICANN, is approved the final rules to allow organisations to register their own names at the top of the internet name hierarchy.
So instead of .com or .co.uk, in future you'll likely see .hotel, .bank, .beer as well as company brands like .canon, .deloitte or .hitachi. Organisations may register keywords that relate to their products, such as .camera or .printer. Cities are considering their own Internet name – for example .london or .nyc.
For marketeers, the creative possibilities are exciting. Think justdoit.nike, enjoy.coke, or getwings.redbull. They'll all be possible.
Catchy domain names like these will be perfect for boosting advertising recall. If you want to buy an iPad, instead of typing in www.apple.com/ipad you could potentially in future just go to ipad.apple.
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Kindles in store in South Africa
The Kindle is now available to buy in-store in South Africa. Makro started rolling out the e-book reader in two of its branches yesterday, and will have them available in all stores by the end of the month. The device is going for R2,499 – more expensive than ordering directly from the Amazon website, but with a lot less hassle. The average paperback will sell for around R80.
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Google Sky MapsGoogle Sky Maps is an Android application which allows users to identify constellations, planets and other celestial objects by simply pointing your phone at the sky. It’s one of those apps that you won’t use every day but it’s worth downloading to see this cool technology in action.
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Zamzar - file conversion made easyZamzar is a one-stop shop for free file conversion. The site allows you to upload a file to be converted to almost any other format.
For example, if I want to convert a Microsoft Office document to PDF, Zamzar will do that for me.
Or if I had a video clip that I wanted in an MP3 format, the website will do just that!
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Supercook - a recipe search engineSuperCook is a search engine site for recipes. But the best part about it is the ability input the ingredients you have in your cupboard, and get results based on those.
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Music Recognition software - Shazam and SoundCloudShazam is an application for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows and Nokia smartphones.
If you’ve ever heard an awesome song, but don’t know what it’s called, Shazam does the job for you. All you have to do is start the application and hold your phone up to the music source.
The free version allows you to identify 5 songs per month.
If you need to identify more songs, there’s a similar application called Soundhound, which is free for Android and iPhone users. However, Nokia users will have to cough up R40.
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