The recent three day Blackberry fail adds impetus to the notion that Research in Motion (RIM) is dying. Sales of the BlackBerry are in worldwide decline, with RIM having a really bad last quarter. Pundits are wondering when the management will give in -- either through acquisition or throwing in the towel altogether:This isn't the first time an outage has happened, with independent telecom and technology analyst, Jeff Kagan, stating that: "I have been an analyst for 25 years and have ...

Tech4Africa, a prominent web and emerging technology conference, has announced the eight finalists for its "Samsung Ignite" startup initiative.The startups provide a diverse range of services, covering everything from real-time wine buying assistance to automised billing.Ignite aims to showcase and foster local technology development and is inspired by similar competitions at internationally renowned conferences like South by South West and TechCrunch Disrupt.The eight finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their companies to an audience of influencers, ...

I have no inside information or insight, but historically Apple’s product improvements have strongly rebroadcast where it’s going in the future. Here are six things I think Apple will inevitably do over the next decade, from most to least obvious: Maps, iCloud, payments, TVs, search, and cars. 1. Maps When the iPhone was first released Steve Jobs called Maps on iPhone the best version of Google Maps on the planet, with emphasis on what Apple’s designers had brought to Google’s raw ...

As you may have heard, Google is on the verge or releasing its blend of Gingerbread (phone OS) and Honeycomb (tablet OS) and will be the search giant’s most ambitious OS to date. Android, as an OS, is very fragmented and this is Google consolidating.This would've come on 11 October, but out of respect to Steve Jobs and Apple, Google and Samsung (manufacturer of the new Nexus handset) decided to postpone the event indefinitely.

I recently embarked on an overland trip through Thailand and Cambodia. Asia is a truly fascinating place with similarities to Africa. I, perhaps rather naively, had a romantic vision of escaping from the madness of my everyday life and setting off into the remote wilderness of South East Asia and losing touch with the outside world. I was in for surprise.As of 2008, there were 16 100 000 internet users in Thailand. In Cambodia and in Thailand there ...

Australia and Japan were the first countries to receive the new iPhone 4S, with eager fans queuing in their hundreds to get their hands on the latest Apple device.At both Sydney and Japan's biggest iPhone stores a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed, with Apple fans recording and uploading their experiences via various iDevices including iPads and iPod touches.One young customer waited three days to get his hands on the iPhone 4S, saying "It feels amazing, it is one of ...

Ubuntu 11.10, codenamed "Oneiric Ocelot", releases today. It is a key Linux-based OS release in the development history of the operating system. Earlier this year, Ubuntu 11.10 was made available as a pre-alpha development version, with many stating that the operating system had finally, "found its stride".Some of the more important updates involve the overall stability of the Ubuntu release, its streamlined cloud services and a heavily improved app store.Also included by the developers is an expanded version of ...

Google reports that its profit in the recently ended financial quarter climbed to US$2.73-billion on the back of soaring online advertising revenue."We had a great quarter," said Google co-founder and chief executive Larry Page."Revenue was up 33% year on year and our quarterly revenue was just short of US$10-billion," he added.The internet giant took in US$9.72-billion in revenue in the quarter ending 30 September. The bulk of this revenue came from its various online properties.Google stock jumped more ...

The announcement of Microsoft's Skype acquisition was greeted with scepticism,irritation and eventual happiness. Months later, the acquisition of Skype has now been finalised. The US$8.5-billion deal ended with a handshake and a smile from CEO Tony Bates who will now be named president of Microsoft's Skype Division.An official Microsoft blog, written by Bates, outlines the details of the acquisition in full:Joining forces with Microsoft is the best way to accelerate this mission and capitalise on our position at the intersection of ...

In an ABC of design A is for animated alphabet, B is for bamboo bike and Bionic Arch and C is for circular films and cycling safety.Letter formsA is for "anamorphosis", B is for "biscuit" and C is for "cell animation". Italian creative N9ve used unusual fonts and playful typefaces to make a short stop-motion animation in which each letter of the alphabet becomes part of a scene involving a word that starts with that letter.The Alphabet 2 from ...