A Sandton hotel played host to a conference last week on “white-spaces spectrum”. For nontechnical people, it was a fairly arcane discussion. But what was being talked about could usher in the biggest revolution in telecoms since the mobile phone
Shortly after 2000, when the dot-com bubble burst, a pall was cast over the technology industry. Internet companies ran out of funding and hit the wall, the Nasdaq crashed and is still valued at a fraction of what it was at the height of the
US Internet giant Google is keen to invest in and support SA companies that want to build pilot wireless broadband networks using radio frequency spectrum currently reserved for television broadcasters. Neil Ahlsten, Google regional manager
There’s a wave coming. Its first eddies were felt almost a decade ago, and by now it has already engulfed some outlying regions. But the general public has been largely unaware of its approach. Until now. I’m talking about the arrival of fully
The technology industry has never been as volatile as it is now. For two giants of the sector, Microsoft and Nokia, it’s do-or-die time. They’re either going to beat back the new behemoths of mobile computing, Apple and Google, or fail trying. Microsoft has a habit of coming from
Africa’s road to high-speed broadband is being achieved in leaps and bounds. Every week brings news of another piece of the jigsaw fitting into place. This week it’s the completion of the national fibre backbone in one of Africa’s larger markets. However, there’s still
There is no shortage of entrepreneurial energy in SA, with many talented people with great business ideas jostling for attention. Yet very few of the country’s technology start-ups manage to grow into sustainable businesses. Against that backdrop, it is worth taking a closer
The Economist recently commented on the US$12,5bn bid by Google to acquire Motorola Mobility, the search giant’s biggest-ever deal. The magazine noted that the attraction for Google is not principally Motorola’s 19 000 employees, or even its 11% share of the US
To most of us, the Internet is pretty close to magic. Type in a search, click a link, and the info just arrives on our screens. There isn’t any visible evidence that actual work is needed to make this happen; no grinding gears or roaring burners, and there
