When Google recently announced plans to launch its experimental fibre network most of the fanfare and media attention revolved around it providing a cable-TV as well as a phone service. The initial fibre connection, soon to be launched in Kansas in 2012, and Europe later on in the year, will bring users speeds exceeding 10 to 15 times what a normal broadband connection (4 megabits per second, downstream from the internet to the user's computer and 1 Mbit/s upstream) ...

There has been a lot said over the past few months (and probably longer) over whether or not QR codes are a good device for bridging the gap between the mobile world and the real one. But what is the real problem with QR codes and is there a place for them?How does a QR code work?The basic idea behind a QR code is that users who scan a QR code with their mobile device are directed to a mobile ...

YouTube and Disney Interactive, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., has announced that it is teaming up with YouTube to produce an original video series and feature "family-friendly" Disney programming on the popular video-sharing platform.Disney Interactive and Google-owned YouTube said the programming will be available on Disney's website and on YouTube. The companies also announced that the "complementary online video destinations" will launch in early 2012."Disney Interactive will produce and program the co-branded video destinations for both Disney.com and ...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that he is in no rush to take his company public, or to brave the murky waters of the online Chinese market.Zuckerberg, questioned during an interview on the US PBS network, said that China posed, "issues" and "hard questions" for Facebook. "But since, for right now, we're not available, and we don't have an immediate path to become available, these are not policy decisions we have to make." Zuckerberg added that Facebook would test the ...

The recent acquisition of popular instant messaging platform MXit, the biggest in Africa, came with the promise of big changes.Now the company's new CEO, Alan Knott-Craig Jnr, has put his money where his mouth is by announcing a "company restructure", meaning more focus, more innovation and job losses.Knott-Craig says his new plans involve focusing MXit on what he believes it does best."We are a communications platform, that what we are. We need to stop doing everything else and ...

Motribe, a mobile social network builder, with a focus on emerging markets recently launched a mobile payments and promotion platform for users in India.According to the company, users in India will now be able to head "to the new Motribe mobile tribe builder", to create a tribe and promote the tribe "on the Motribe portal".Users will have to pay for this ability, however, using the newly minted virtual currency, called Motribe Coins.What differentiates Motribe Coins from other kinds ...

A smartphone running Android software is more likely to suffer from faults than one running, Apple's iOS, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry's OS, a study by "wireless experience management experts" WDS has found.The study reached the conclusion after analysing more than 600 000 technical support calls handled by WDS' teams around the world in a 12-month period (July 2010-August 2011), the company explained in a press release on the study titled, Controlling the Android.WDS found, that of all technical support calls ...

We've all read the comparisons, we know about the rivalry, but one thing that has recently started bugging me about the epic Android vs Apple battle is the omission of a key fact. One of Android's strengths, as I mentioned in a previous post, is that it’s available on a wide range of handsets, giving you plenty of choice. With this choice, however, comes a few sacrifices and I've only come to realise this key fact now.Samsung, HTC, Motorola, ...

Websites for the Israeli military and intelligence services were down on Sunday, the start of the Israeli work-week. The outage followed hacktvist group Anonymous joining calls against the interception of aid flotillas bound for Gaza with a warning video, all which Israel ignored.The office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Natenyahu was quick to rubbish claims that Anonymous was in any way attached to the shut-down of the Mossad and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) websites, two of the country's most feared ...

It's that time of year once again. Those in the online sector are gearing up for late nights at the office and planning for big returns from the increased growth in holiday ecommerce.The end-of-year holiday period certainly helps companies generate a lot of buzz and many serious discussions revolve around holiday campaign planning and how to best market seasonal deals to the general public.Email marketing is becoming increasingly vital to the holiday success of any business. Just days after Halloween, ...