So, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has decided to reject TopTV parent company On Demand Media’s request for permission to air three “adult” channels on its satellite pay-TV platform. In doing so, the regulator hasn’t only overstepped the mark in terms of the degree to which it should be able to interfere
The third generation of Apple’s hugely successful iPad went on sale on Friday. Hordes of eager fans queued outside their local Apple Store, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Walmart and other outlets to be among the first to lay their hands on the latest and greatest version of the iconoclastic tablet computer. Apple is geared up to sell millions during
Apple will hold a conference call on Monday to announce plans for its large cash balance. The company is sitting on about US$98bn in cash, and investors are getting increasingly antsy and clamouring for a dividend or share buyout. Tim Cook and Apple’s chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, will host the call
Vodacom has been been ordered to pay a politically connected fixer US$21m (R159m) this week by a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but the episode could end up costing the mobile operator almost twice that amount. On the phone from Kinshasa this week, Moto Mabanga, the SA-based fixer who was
AppChat, the mobile voice specialist founded recently by former ECN Telecommunications CEO John Holdsworth, will launch a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) this year and is promising, in the process, to slash the cost of mobile calls in SA. Holdsworth isn’t saying yet which network operator AppChat is partnering
Journey lasts just two to three hours, but it will turn out to be one of the most memorable gaming adventures you will experience this year. The new PlayStation 3 exclusive from thatgamecompany (TGC) is an enigmatic parable and a meditative mood poem in video-game form — a game that taps into parts of the human experience
SA technology journalist Simon Dingle has been hired by Cape Town-based personal financial management start-up 22seven to head its product strategy and design team. Launched in January, 22seven is headed up by Christo Davel, the former CEO of now-defunct online bank 20twenty. Dingle will continue to write for Finweek magazine
MTN, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, is locked in around-the-clock talks with Iranian authorities about its 49% telecoms stake in Irancell. The Middle East country has become the target of sanctions by the US and the European Union for its nuclear ambitions. MTN has been playing a diplomatic tune in terms of its operations
IT suppliers are raising questions privately about an SA Police Service (SAPS) tender, which could be worth as much as R300m, after they were given only three days to submit their bids. The tender, issued on behalf of the police by government’s central technology organisation, the State IT Agency (Sita), is looking for bids for a complex data storage system
Whether or not we agree with it, we’re all pretty used to the idea of genetic engineering. Our food chain is full of GM crops and pretty soon we may be genetically modified ourselves. But synthetic biology takes the idea even further. Instead of merely modifying existing organisms, synthetic biology aims to create entirely new organisms
