I walked into the editorial office a few days ago, just after a fresh gadget delivery. "Here," said one of my colleagues, "We've got something for you to review". His gym-calloused hands tossed it my way, just missing the bearded man mountain of a writer who sits between us. It was a camera. With the word "tough" in its name. Now let’s just get one thing clear, I cry at the end of Gladiator, and Lord of the Rings: Return ...

Every two or three years, VC's gear up to raise money for their next fund. They create a pitch deck, come up with a list of investors actively investing in venture capital funds, make sure they get introductions to them from trusted sources -- or go direct if they already have the relationship, and pitch the investment strategy and how they plan to provide better returns than the industry average. Sound familiar? For established funds with a solid track record ...

Motorola is hitting back hard with not only its first Ice Cream Sandwich handset, but with a smartphone running an Intel core. The phone pictured above is an unnamed Android 4.0 device powered by Intel’s new Medfield platform. What we can gather from the image above, is that the new Motorola phone will be button-free , as well as sport a newer version of the MotoBlur UI. And according to sources, the camera will be one of the hardware highlights of ...

French president Nicholas Sarkozy has become the latest world leader to join Twitter. Since joining, his official account gained 13 000 plus followers, despite only sending out two tweets. "Good day to you all, I'm very happy today to launch my Twitter account. Thank you to all of those who would like to follow me," he said, in his first message. Bonjour à tous, je suis très heureux de lancer aujourd’hui mon compte #Twitter. Merci à ceux qui voudront bien me ...

Online videos are increasingly gaining currency as an acceptable form of mainstream entertainment. YouTube knows it and the best Web TV series have even been recognised with their own awards. If you needed any more convincing, video-sharing site Vimeo is hosting its second festival and awards show. The festival will take place in New York City in June this year. The YouTube competitor claims that the aim of the ceremony is to celebrate "the most creative and original videos online, ...

Social gaming giant Zynga’s latest financial results have revealed a net income loss, despite continued user growth. In its annual financial summary, the company said it experienced a net loss of US$403-million. It noted, however, that a large part of that loss was down to payouts it had to make to shareholders in the wake of its IPO. Online gaming revenue continues to be a big money spinner for the company, accounting for US$1.07-billion in 2011. Although advertising revenue increased ...

At least one major South African bank appears to have changed its tune on financial management app 22Seven. First National bank (FNB) has issued a press release claiming that it will "allow access to 22Seven". The bank claims that it made the decision as part of an "ongoing attempt to create simple and convenient solutions for its customers". "FNB has set a precedence of responding to our customer's [sic] needs with innovative products and services. We are now providing a ...

Popular instant messaging service, MXit, is expanding its mobile payment system. Last year the service signed an exclusive agreement with wiWallet, that made it possible for MXit’s 10-million+ active South African users to make use of its mobile payment services. wiWallet is a subsidiary of UCS Group Limited (“UCS”), a provider of retail software within South Africa, that services 95% of SA's retailers. When MXit originally announced its partnership with wiWallet it said it wanted to "replace our existing Moola payment platform ...

Valentine’s Day gives us an extra special reason to be more romantically inclined than usual. I for one *heart* valentine’s day, but do other women feel the same as me, and how do men feel about the day? Considering that it’s actually MANentinesday the boys really have nothing to complain about as the roles have technically been reversed. If you buy into the whole leap year thing that is. However, it appears that the guys seem to be less in ...

During a cold December in Paris at a conference called Le Web, I was struck by an insight. It was a combination of what I had been feeling for a while and what a brilliant analyst was saying -- and that is, Microsoft is on the comeback trail. It really is. In recent times, Microsoft has struggled to exude that "cool factor" of companies like Apple, a coolness that is reflected in the companies' respective share prices too. It's a zeitgeist ...