“We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run,” observed Roy Amara, an American futurologist. This is certainly proving true of retailers and their attitude to the Internet. After a panic at the turn of the millennium about the impact on their
The application Windows Phone owners have been anticipating for eight months and counting has finally arrived, but it’s nothing to call home about yet. Skype, as expected, has finally released a beta version of its application for Windows Phone 7. The release includes support for Skype basics such as audio
The average Google+ user only spends an average of three minutes a month on the social network, while MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are all seeing more time spent per user each month, according to research firm comScore. In a scathing Wall Street Journal report titled “The Mounting Minuses at Google+”, the case
If SA consumers are ever to enjoy high-speed Internet access delivered over fibre-optic cables into their homes, government will need to assist the telecommunications industry to build the infrastructure and Internet service providers will have to do a better job of educating customers about the potential of
An information and communications technology hub is to be developed at Nasrec in Gauteng, the provincial government said on Monday. Several major international and local investors had committed themselves to the development, which would become an ICT
Nokia has repositioned itself impressively as a high-end Windows Phone maker, but the company hasn’t forgotten about the lower end of the market either. On Monday, the Finnish company announced its cheapest Windows device yet, the Lumia 610, as well as three new
You read that right. Nokia has announced the 808 PureView at the Mobile World Congress, and it sports an astoundingly large 41-megapixel camera. Nokia is well aware that such large resolution pictures will be difficult to share, so the phone will over-sample pictures
Internal auditors have blown the whistle on a R72,6m IT contract negotiated by the department of human settlements, claiming that the deal ignored mandatory tender procedures. They also raised a red flag over a perceived conflict of interests — the department’s top IT official was previously employed by the favoured contractor
Most publishers are struggling to monetise their online operations in a world where advertising revenues are under pressure and audiences remain reluctant to pay for content. Their biggest hope of making money lies in unlocking the value of the reams of data they collect about their audience
Give thanks, for once, to the law of unintended consequences. Too often, it seems, the secondary effects of policy decisions turn out to be at least perverse, if not downright detrimental. But in the case of last week’s congressional vote to extend America’s emergency payroll tax-cuts, the knock-on effects look
