Thousands of great ideas flounder at the point where they need to become reality; when great thinkers and idea generators turn to the age-old problem of raising funds to kickstart their new ventures….too often they fail and give up. Getting investment is a whole different ball game to developing products and services. So when the idea of crowdfunding first emerged, (crowdsourced fund-raising) it was embraced by entrepreneurs like sweet words of love from Juliet to her Romeo. Surely this was ...

Henry Blodget, the founder and chief editor of Business Insider, an online news company based in New York City, is notorious for his role in Wall Street's dotcom saga. Now he is becoming equally notorious for his shakeup of news reporting and traditional roles in journalism. Blodget's poster boy for the new age of new media is his deputy editor Joe Weisenthal, recently profiled in the New York Times' "Joe Weisenthal vs. the 24-Hour News Cycle". The article describes a day in ...

Way, way back before the internet was invented, there was a crude and ancient way that people used to share information on a primitive form of parchment made out of crushed trees. The parchment was called 'paper', and on the parchment words would be printed, forming what people would refer to as a 'book'. As a youngster, I remember that, before bed, my father would tell me of wondrous things from times long ago. As well as other things, such ...

Google South Africa recently launched an initiative to co-ordinate the efforts of government, industry and civil society to make the internet a safer place for children in South Africa. The launch coincided with Child Protection Week and International Children's Day on 1 June. It was applauded by a range of stakeholders, including the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities; the Department of Communications; the Film and Publications Board and Childline SA. As well as the co-ordination effort, the search ...

With an unusual art style of clay and cardboard, people might be put off The Dream Machine. What a shame that would be, because between the oddball visuals and the rough-around-the-edges gameplay lies an engrossing story that is both dark and surreal. Dr. Who? Not unlike the popular Machinarium, The Dream Machine (Cockroach Inc.) has the guise of a straightforward point-and-click adventure, yet it has startling aspects that make it well worth your gaming while. Coming out episodically in five chapters of ...

Business software company Salesforce has confirmed that it will buy Buddy Media for nearly US$700-million in cash and shares. According to The Next Web, that means it'll be forking as much as it generated in sales in the first quarter of this year for the social media campaign specialist. It's also a little lower than the US$800-million AllThingsD predicted Salesforce would pay towards the end of May. Founded in 2007 by serial entrepreneur Michael Lazerow, Buddy Media helps 1 000 ...

Twenty three years ago today, the Tienanmen Square Protests were put down in bloody fashion by Chinese authorities. Given that the government refuses to acknowledge that the event happened, it's hardly surprising that users on Sina Weibo -- the country's immensely popular microblogging network -- have found their opinions on the event quietened. As well as user accounts being banned, Chinese news site The Shanghaiist reports that a number of emoticons have been banned. The candle emoticon, which is often ...

A Nando's ad which seeks to remind South Africans that they're all foreigners has been pulled by South Africa's national broadcaster. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) claims that it pulled the ad because it contravenes broadcasting regulations, adding that it had "xenophobic undertones". In the advert, a narrator says, "you know what's wrong with South Africa? All you foreigners". Various population groups from Zimbabweans, and Nigerians, to Indians and Chinese are shown disappearing in puffs of ...

Only 2.5% of all the water on Earth is fresh and only half of that is available for us to drink. It's a scarce resource that needs to protected. That's precisely the message South African-based digital agency Native spread with its #CloseTheTap campaign. The innovative social media campaign opened in March, and only closed after achieving its stated goal of 10 000 tweets. In order to give the campaign a visual element, Native created a live FlowCam connected to Twitter ...

To celebrate the DVD release of Martin Scorsese's epic, Hugo, Gearburn is giving away a Hugo branded watch courtesy of our friends over at Kalahari.com. Here's how you can win it. How to enter: Having a decent watch means never being late again. Tell us about a time when you were late. The funniest story wins the watch. Leave your answer in the comments below. The competition runs from 4 till 11 June 2012.