It has an arcane name and involves complex communications technology, but there’s every reason you and I should be getting very excited indeed about “television white spaces”, the gaps in spectrum between broadcast television channels. Google and Microsoft are pouring millions of dollars
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Among the plethora of announcements at Google’s annual I/O developer event was one that should have music fans excited. The company is launching Google Play Music All Access, a streaming music service, beating rival Apple, which is said to be planning a similar product, to market. However, the
Microsoft plans to work with the CSIR and the State IT Agency (Sita) to launch a trial network in South Africa’s Limpopo province that will test the feasibility of using so-called television white-spaces spectrum to offer more affordable wireless broadband access. The trial will be the third white-spaces trial
A piece on US technology website ZDNet earlier this month, written by columnist Steven Vaughan-Nichols, suggested that Windows 8 represents Microsoft’s “New Coke moment”. Others quickly jumped on the idea. The Financial Times led with a story on the subject, saying the fact that Microsoft
Last year, Google announced something extraordinary: it was working on a wearable computer. Geeks around the world immediately began salivating at the very thought. Earlier this year, the company began sending early versions of the device to developers and technology commentators. Reactions have ranged
Last week, Yahoo released new applications for mobile phones and tablets. Android tablet and iPad users got an e-mail application, while iPhone users received a weather app that makes Apple’s equivalent look rudimentary and crude by comparison. These are just
Turn-by-turn navigation from Google has come to more African markets. Android and iPhone users in Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire can now get the service through the Google Maps application. Users can search for popular locations by name rather than
At barely 15 years old, Google enjoys the kind of market dominance in web search that would have made the oil barons of the 19th century envious. Its market share in most countries is 90% or higher. Even in its competitive home market Google accounts for 70% of all web searches, despite rivals like Microsoft spending
For a company with a billion customers, Facebook can be quite stealthy. Its latest product, Facebook Home, could convert tens of millions of Android-powered phones into Facebook portals constantly connected to its services simply by encouraging users to install a piece of software. By doing so, Facebook has wheeled a
Getting to grips with mobile interfaces, and serving targeted advertising using them, is key if Facebook is to make nervous shareholders happy. Its latest effort, Facebook Home, is built on top of Google’s Android operating system, a move both fitting and cheeky given Google makes its money in the same way as Facebook