Browsing: Opinion

As Samsung begins the first weekend of sales in South Africa of its new flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and the curved-screen Galaxy S6 edge, rivals Apple and HTC are upping their game in the

Yunus Carrim’s appointment as minister of communications in July 2013 was greeted with apprehension. The avowed communist’s expertise lay with the local government sector. He knew nothing about technology. In fact, he joked at the time that he barely knew

When Vodacom announced 10 days ago that it will hike the subscription fees of a range of contract tariff plans from 1 May, it caught consumers by surprise. Many took to social media networks and the comments sections of news websites to voice their displeasure

A few years ago, I needed a new hard drive for my media centre. It became an agonising ordeal. Storage was expensive, but eventually a 1TB hard drive started costing only around R2 000. I jumped in, bought the drive and never looked back. It was my last personal storage

WhatsApp, the world’s most popular smartphone instant messaging platform, has started rolling out voice dialling in its application (Android users only for now), striking fear into the hearts of mobile

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Those were the alleged words of John Wanamaker, a US merchant and notable type that lived at the turn of the 20th century. I say “allegedly” because if the Internet has

They’re coming for your Wi-Fi. They’re big, they’re infinitely rich, and they’re patient. And when they take your Wi-Fi, they’ll tell you that they did it for you. No, really, check out this video from Ericsson. It’s taken some time for the strategy to become clear, but the

Applications have revolutionised the use of smartphones to such a degree that “dialling” has now fallen off the list of the top five most-used functions. Apps are undoubtedly big business, and the race is on between the most popular mobile platforms. Google

Internet service providers have done a commendable job of bringing down the cost of fixed-line broadband in South Africa. Although the actual connection fees to Telkom remain high (thanks to Telkom’s monopoly over the “last mile” into homes), the price of uncapped and

The Film and Publication Board’s newly published draft online regulatory policy reflects a growing trend in government that at best betokens nanny statism and at worst a move towards more autocratic rule. The FPB, which was transferred to the department of communications