I’m no Xperia fan. I dislike the name (any product name that begins with an “X” in it reeks of nineties shame), I've never warmed up to Sony’s range of phones and I certainly didn't care when Sony split from Ericsson and stole the Xperia range from them. But I care about Sony’s Xperia Z -- a handsomely made 5-inch smartphone that’s near invulnerable. There are two standout features that elevate the Xperia Z above the competition: the incredibly fetching ...

For a while, pet-related startups seemed to be a rarity. Ever since the Pets.com debacle in which the venture-backed startup went from a Nasdaq IPO to liquidation in about 9 months, entrepreneurs have given pet-ecommerce a slightly wider berth.Looking back, it was a difficult time for online startups in general. Not to mention one that spent US$1.2 million on a super bowl ad without any profitability in sight, right at the dot-com bubble’s popping point. Since then, the online economy ...

Social media marketing has, over the past few years, gone from something practiced by a few early adopters to a crucial part of most big advertising campaigns. For proof of that, you only have to look at the results of a recent Gartner survey, which showed that most people now see social as being nearly as important as a corporate website and more traditional forms of online advertising.It makes sense too. Research from eMarketer suggests that brands can profit dramatically ...

It’s all about perspective. There are things, that looked at from afar seem perfect, but walk a little closer and the imperfections become glaringly obvious.Most large-scale businesses operate under two distinct perspectives or paradigms. An “up-close” perspective, which considers how the business looks at the individual store front level and its day-to-day functioning with the people who frequent it. And a helicopter (the head office) perspective which interprets how the business looks and operates across all outlets, as a ...

Yahoo has officially announced its acquisition of blogging platform Tumblr for US$1.1-billion cash. The news was first broken on Twitter by the Wall Street Journal, seemingly confirming rumours of the buyout, which have been floating around for a few days now from Kara Swisher and the AllThingsD crew.It's not all great news though as it seems nearly 72 000 Tumblr users have moved their blogs to rival platform WordPress following the rumours, according to WordPress founder, Matt Mullenweg.Mullenweg, wrote in ...

This is pretty nifty. Net Prophet is raising money for its bursary, Kickstarter style. The annual gathering of 2 000+ geeks is one of the bigger tech conferences on the South African calendar, and every year at the event the organisers raise money to help fund university education for students who would otherwise not be able to further their education. But instead of just auctioning off an iPad, the organisers decided to jump on the crowdfunding train.This year the ...

British mountaineer Daniel Hughes has made the first ever live video call from a smartphone at the peak on Mount Everest.As The Verge notes, the call isn't the first from the world's highest peak, but it is the first video call made using a smartphone.Hughes, who undertook the climb, made the call from the top of the world using an HTC One as part of his fund-raising efforts the Comic Relief charity. Speaking to the BBC, he said: ...

If you are interested in finding out what people are saying about your services and products online, have you considered starting an online reputation management strategy? Online reputation management, better known as ORM, involves so much more than just checking for links online. It's about monitoring (listening) to your actual reputation on the web and how people feel about your services, products, and company.Many assume that ORM should only be used to monitor any negative comments and feedback to anything ...

People are pretty fickle. Don’t try and deny it; we are. It’s a fact that marketers and advertising execs the world over have been battling with for ages now. We get bored very quickly and move our attention to the next best thing to come along. We are spoilt for choice now and marketers are forced to get more and more creative about how they engage with us, cue: experential marketing.Essentially this is an immersive way of getting more ...

Seed accelerator 88mph's Nairobi director Nikolai Barnwell spoke to Ventureburn about its upcoming three-month acceleration programme in the Kenyan capital: what they look for in a startup, mentors and the African investment space. Whether you're an entrepreneur considering entering the programme, or just interested in tech in Kenya and Africa, you won't want to miss this Q&A.What does 88mph value in a startup? Are you looking for innovation or sound business models?I don’t think they necessarily contradict each other. More ...