A cover of the classic Joy Division track “She’s Lost Control” by South African artist Spoek Mathambo has begun getting social media traction again after being uploaded to YouTube a year ago. Since being uploaded the video has been viewed over 185 000 times. The video appears to have been revived by Twitter: “@hex The video for Spoek Mathambo's "Control" (a cover of Joy Division) is 1 of the best I've seen in a long time. youtu.be/UKfwSFI8LhQ” +1— Paul Cartmel ...

Microsoft has abandoned even any hint of civility toward Google in its latest video ad. The campaign, called "Googlighting" mocks the search giant for being "the world’s largest advertising business" and selling productivity software on the side. The ad portrays Google as a highly successful businessman moonlighting in productivity apps, "Googlighting" if you will. Microsoft claims that Google’s productivity apps are nothing more than a trifling side project, constantly subject to random changes. This central premise of ...

When you think about smartphones driving revenue your mind generally jumps straight to the devices themselves, or how mobile operators are using them to make money. Well it turns out that all the bits and pieces that go into your smartphone are big business too. A new report from tech analysis firm Juniper Research, predicts that Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) -- think sensors, audio, displays and RF -- will generate over USz$6-billion in revenue by 2016. ...

Online censorship, it would seem, is no longer the preserve of governments bandying around acronyms like SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA. Google and Twitter both recently announced censorship measures that are going to be put in place on Blogger and Twitter respectively and one isn’t wrong in thinking that the days of the internet being an open and free place to find and share information are over. Twitter’s censorship of its tweets is in accordance with the laws of the countries in ...

Through Google Apps for Business, Google is quickly building a new business model and new revenue stream. But for the time being, Google still makes the bulk of its money, as in more than 90% of its revenue, from advertising. Its business model can be described as: build products that people want use, keep the products free by selling advertising, and attract millions of users. It’s a model that works, is resilient, and helped Google survive what is now ...

The small Western Cape student town of Stellenbosch is perhaps best known for the wineries that surround it. But now it’s looking to become one of the most connected places in South Africa by offering free, universal Wi-Fi internet access. The initiative is reportedly a partnership between Stellenbosch, the University of Stellenbosch, and popular instant messaging platform MXit. According to MyBroadband, the service will be available to anyone without registration. The only activity prohibited on the network will be large ...

The first time I jailbroke my iPhone, I almost vomited from sheer joy. After endless reboots and black screens, a pineapple with a loading bar popped up on my screen, signifying that RedSn0w had done its job. RedSn0w, for the uninitiated, is one of the countless iOS jailbreak methods which frees iDevices from the Cupertino shackles. It’s Jailbreaking, and I'm its ambivalent fan. Why I did it: the case for Jailbreaking I’m not ashamed to admit it, I used to be very ...

Thanks to better spam filtering techniques, most of us probably don’t see too many ads for “herbal Viagra” and similar concoctions in our inboxes these days, but that doesn’t mean spam isn’t still big business. According to the latest Threats Report by Intel’s online security firm McAfee (PDF), the overall amount of spam went down in the last quarter of 2011. One of the reasons for this, though, is that spammers have gotten a bit smarter and now use a ...

Apps are important. Hell we think they're the future of the internet. It seems Vodacom is increasingly recognising their importance too. The mobile operator has announced the winners of its App Star Challenge -- a competition aimed at providing developers with the opportunity to develop apps designed specifically for the South African market. The competition is an initiative of it own app store, which has been operational since September 2011, and its Developer Programme. Vodacom claims that the store, which ...

Photo sharing website Flickr is scheduled to receive a much-needed makeover according to senior project manager Markus Spiering. In an interview with BetaBeat, Spiering revealed the new user interface would minimize the excessive white space and information currently found on the site – gravitating towards the grid-like photo layouts found on sites like Pinterest and 500px. The update, which is scheduled for 28 February, will hopefully give Flickr the boost it needs to compete with newer photography websites like Instagram. ...