If you sued one of the world’s largest companies for defamation and won, you might expect a bit more than €5 000. But in the case of “Mr X” vs Google, which was recently tried by a French court, it is a full €5 000 too many. The rather sordid tale of Mr X began when he was arrested and tried for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl.

Once upon a time, about five years ago, consumers were obsessed about the size of their cellphones. The smaller the phone, the better. But that was before the advent of smartphones.

Few books arrive burdened with as much expectation as Freedom, the new novel from Jonathan Franzen. The book recently put Franzen on the cover of Time magazine, an honour he shares with only a small and elite group of novelists that includes JD Salinger, Vladimir Nabokov and John Updike.

Heita! That’s the name of Telkom’s new mobile business, or at least the part of it that’s going to focus on the mass consumer market. The traditionally fixed-line operator looks set to launch consumer mobile services

After years in planning, Telkom is expected finally to unveil its mobile network in a fortnight. However, analysts say the company will have to pull out all the stops to gain any traction in the cellular market. David Lerche, telecommunications equity analyst

We’re back. Yes, after a three-week break — during which time TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod went adventuring in the Namibian sand dunes — SA’s business technology podcast, TalkCentral, is back for its 10th episode. And there’s plenty to talk about this week.

An interface glitch between Vodafone and maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, Research In Motion (RIM), left Vodacom’s BlackBerry users without access to their e-mails and applications for several hours on Friday morning.

It’s been almost six months since Southern Africa’s broadcasting industry was thrown into turmoil over the department of communications decision to review the standard SA should use for digital television migration. And with the clock ticking

National Wi-Fi hotspot provider Skyrove has inked a deal with US Internet telephony company Skype that will allow consumers to use their Skype credit to buy wireless Internet access. Skyrove MD Henk Kleynhans says

Blockbuster Video. It’s a great name, isn’t it? For nearly two decades it has ruled the video-store roost, both in the US and around the world. But now, after years of billion-dollar losses and with its share price in tatters, it is filing for bankruptcy. What happened? Well, many things, including corporate bloat (it has more than 6 500 stores), some questionable management decisions, and much stronger competition from cable television. But if we have to pick a villain here, it’s the Internet.