News

Google made some big announcements yesterday, most notably the ability to search as you type, aptly called Google Instant Search. Currently available in the USA, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Russia, older browsers and users who are not signed will not see the auto results. In essence, Google is turning search into an AJAX application much like Gmail. What it comes down to is the appearance of search results before you finish typing your query. According to Marissa Mayer, Google’s ...

Are you tired of the bland catch-all nature of Facebook? Confounded by the sheer scale and volume of Twitter? Then Pic-Nic Village, a brand new social network, might be just what you're looking for. Wearing its new-age, alternative colours proudly on its sleeve, Pic-Nic Village aims to be "the first social networking community that targets people who are passionate about creativity, innovation, ideas generation and seeking positive solutions to everyday problems." This is a network with a firm, strong social ethos. It ...

Whatever Glenn Agliotti does, he does it whole-heartedly. It was barely a week ago when the alleged underworld boss was encouraged to sign up with Twitter as a way of passing the time during slow court days. It seems he's embraced Twitter with a passion, having sent out nearly 100 tweets and amassed more than 800 curious followers on @GlennAgliotti. Agliotti's micro-blogging life began with the timeless message, "Back in court today. Hope it finally runs", before launching into a ...

The Grid, Vodacom's mobile social network, says it is "going global". Following launches last year in Nigeria and Tanzania, from Thursday users worldwide can access the service that offers mobile chat and content sharing features. Vodacom, a South African mobile service player, claims the service has two million members in South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania. Up until now, these users were only able to chat and share content with other Grid members from their own country. Members could also chat ...

Carte Blanche, South Africa's version of the actuality and documentary show 60-Minutes, is turning 22 this year and to celebrate they’re throwing a party and inviting everyone. The TV show's "It’s all about you” campaign will make use of its Facebook and Twitter presences to vote on which stories will be seen on Carte Blanche on Sunday, 12 September 2010. At the start of the broadcast, veteran anchor Derek Watts, who believes Carte Blanche doesn’t “look a day over 20,” will ...

Memeburn has been reporting for some weeks now on the imminent unveiling of a new social network from Google, reportedly to be called Google Me. The probability of that event took a giant leap forward over the weekend with the news that Google had acquired Angstro, a 2008 startup that "scours the web and the blogosphere for news about your friends from sites like Facebook and LinkedIn and delivers it to you." The founder of Angstro is a man called Rohit ...

As frustration with South Africa’s national broadcaster continues to grow, many young film-makers find themselves giving up on their dreams of ever finding an audience for their work. FireStorm Productions, a new local production house, has taken matters into its own hands and used the power of social media to broadcast and publicise their new series entitled “(Almost) Legends”. It tells the story of seven different South Africans and how they hope that the 2010 Soccer World Cup will change ...

At first glance, it would seem that Google has a smash hit on its hands. According to a tweet from @Google, the new Google Voice service which allows you to make calls from inside Gmail has already been used over 1 million times during the first 24 hours. That's an impressive start, even by Google's high standards, and confirms the suspicion that Skype executives must be wringing their hands nervously and praying that this is just a passing fad and ...

A new digital player called Native has arrived on the South African scene, formed from a merger of three established digital agencies: Johannesburg-based Brandsh and Cambrient, and the largely Cape Town-focused Stonewall+. The new CEO of the entity is former 2.0 Media Chief Creative Officer and film-maker Jason Xenopoulos, who apparently put the deal together with a vision of creating a "full service digital agency". Memeburn understands that the merger was put together in a remarkably short amount of time ...

Time Magazine released its list of top 50 websites for 2010 yesterday, featuring what the magazine rates as the top online properties in a range of categories from news, health, education, games and social media. In the social media category, Time reckons the top five sites for 2010 are Gowalla, Foodspotting, LinkedIn, StockTwits, and Tumblr. Gowalla, says Time is a "more fun" Foursquare. Like Foursquare, Gowalla lets you "check in" to real-world places using your smart phone, and the site plots ...