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  • Technology is destroying our ability to pay attention, making us rude [Video]

    By on 18 July, 2012

    Technology is addictive and it's making us terrible at our jobs. It's not your fault though, it's part of our evolutionary wiring. That's according Excite founder and Google Ventures Investment Partner Joe Kraus. He argues that the more access we have to the internet the more distracted we're becoming. The numbers seem to back him up too. The average internet user visits 40 websites a day and switches between applications more than 36 times in just an hour. But your brain can’t handle all the information it’s being asked to process, which is why the more things you’re doing...

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  • Google rolls out email from SMS service, starting with Africa

    By on 18 July, 2012

    This is very cool. Millions of people around the world have GMail accounts. But a sizeable number of those people who own "dumb phones" have only ever been able to access the service on a desktop computer. Until now. Google has just announced that it's rolling out GMail SMS, a service that lets you send and receive emails as SMSes on your mobile phone. The really cool part though, is that you don't have to be connected to the internet to use the service. Given the large number of people still using phones with zero or limited internet connectivity...

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  • 8 YouTube tributes to Nelson Mandela on his 94th birthday

    By on 18 July, 2012

    Tributes have been pouring in for Nelson Mandela on today, his 94th birthday. We decided to cherry pick some amazing inspirational video tributes to South Africa's great leader and a global icon for freedom and democracy. There are so many of them out there but we really liked these ones up you do too! Have any cool ones we missed? Pop a link in the comments box! Mandela's life in social media: We've already written a standalone piece about this campaign, but it's so damn cool that it deserves an entry in this list too. The video plays out Nelson...

  • SA agency wins major US open education contest

    By on 18 July, 2012

    Creative agency Blink Tower has won an award from the US Education Department and Open Society Foundations for explaining why Open Education is important. The South African-based agency beat out 60 other entrants, with a video explaining how standard education models can leave students and teachers working with out-of-date materials and massive expenses. The open education solution would see relevant educational tools being put online, allowing them to be constantly updated and repurposed. The competition was launched in March 2012 to solicit creative videos that clearly communicate the use and potential of free, high-quality Open Educational Resources —...

  • Is your online brand exploiting Mandela Day? Stop it

    By on 18 July, 2012

    I hate it when brands or companies take a good thing, break it a part repackage and sell it for a premium. Example -- this morning I can a mail from Groupon in my inbox encouraging me to celebrate Mandela Day with its great deals. First Mandela Day is about doing good, not buying stuff. So please explain to me how buying something I didn’t need from a bulk purchasing site, like Groupon, is going to help me celebrate the life of one of the world’s greatest leaders?! As humble as a man can be, Nelson Mandela Day began when...

  • Mobile search to be worth $15bn by 2017

    By on 18 July, 2012

    Mobile search and discovery is about to get big. Seriously big. In fact, it's expected to be worth US$15-billion by 2017. According to UK-based tech analysis company Juniper Research, that means that market will nearly triple in the next five years. The primary drivers of this increase are expected to be click-through and cost-per-click rates for search & discovery, including web search, local search, augmented reality search and discovery apps. Juniper Research reckons that's because people are in the market for a discrete group of products or services, and can therefore be accurately targeted by advertisers. It also argues...

  • Who is looking at your incomplete LinkedIn profile right now?

    By on 18 July, 2012

    If you were applying for a job and were asked for your resume, you will provide the potential employer with a detailed account of your job history, what you do, your areas of expertise, your achievements and personal references from credible sources. If your company was bidding for a large contract, your bid will contain a detailed overview of what your company does, where you add value and all the resources that will be involved in the contract you are bidding for. You will attempt to make the document as concise as possible and will not purposefully omit anything. ...

  • 4 golden rules for making your online comments count

    By on 18 July, 2012

    I recently noticed an open discussion on the popular LifeHacker site around bookmarking in Chrome. My startup is in this space so I dived right into the conversation. I wrote one long reply to the posted question and two other replies to other comments. Over the next 24 hours over 130 visitors were referred to my landing page. I was able to add another 35 individuals to my invite list and even two emailed me directly asking to become early testers of our product. We can all learn four important lessons from this story: 1. Be active where your market is...

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  • Meet Luna — light at your fingertips

    By on 18 July, 2012

    Ever walked into a bar and lamented the fact that you couldn't go to the nearest girl and say, 'hey baby, wanna come back to my place and check out my backlit keyboard?' Well now you can -- with the Luna from Moshi (SPOILER ALERT: don't use your keyboard as a pickup line, even if you do own the Luna from Moshi). Specialising in high-end Apple accessories, Moshi's range focuses on style -- it's not just a gadget, it's a lifestyle. Fortunately this electronic accessory just so happens to function pretty darn well too. Read more on Gearburn. var vglnk={key:"cc324b6567a9637aa0ff15bc9564b2a5"};!function(e,a){var t=e.createElement(a);t.type="text/javascript",t.async=!0,t.src="//cdn.viglink.com/api/vglnk.js";var n=e.getElementsByTagName(a);n.parentNode.insertBefore(t,n)}(document,"script");

  • How a hacker became a shit-hot entrepreneur

    By on 18 July, 2012

    Recently you may have seen massive hype and attention around a bank hacker called Alistair Peterson, mostly unknown, even in some parts of the tech world in which he operates. His blog had a few hundred hits less than a month ago, now it has over 22 000, with over 5 000 newsletter subscribers. If you still haven't heard about him, then read on, this is a fuller account of who he is. A Google search brings little except his own blog and a small LinkedIn account, so the questions begs, who is he really? Read more on Ventureburn. var...

  • Twitter wishes Madiba a happy birthday

    By on 18 July, 2012

    Nelson Mandela is trending worldwide on Twitter, not surprising at all. After all today is the living legend's 94th birthday and the world wants to celebrate with the global icon of freedom, democracy and peace. Many users of social media have changed their avatars to an image of Mandela in tribute to the celebrated statesman. There has been an overwhelming outpouring of tributes on Twitter and videos on YouTube. Today South Africans around the world also honour the man by dedicating 67 minutes of their time to doing something good for their community or a community. We thought we...

  • Nando’s sends Madiba birthday message ‘from one firestarter to another’

    By on 18 July, 2012

    Nando's is known for stirring trouble when it comes to its adverts. The fast food chicken franchise has taken the mickey out of politicians, singers, and even insurance companies. For Nelson Mandela's birthday, celebrated today, however the company abandoned its usual acerbic wit. Instead it compared itself to the meaning the celebrated statesman's middle name. Rolihlala means "pulling on the branch of a tree", or more literally, troublemaker. Although more restrained than its usual fare, Nando's couldn't resist a little chicken-themed punnery. "We'd like to thank you for teaching us that sometimes, ruffling feathers is the most honourable thing one...

  • Nelson Mandela’s life imagined in social media

    By on 17 July, 2012

    This is one of the coolest campaigns we've seen in a while. It takes the form of a YouTube video that imagines former South African president Nelson Mandela's life through social media. The video plays out Nelson Mandela's life as we use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. The internationally respected statesman turns 94 tommorrow. People around the world are celebrating the date, and the video from Prezence Digital will join the likes of a five metre banner -- to be revealed during tomorrow's stage of the Tour de France. According to Prezence Digital CEO...

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  • 4 hot talking points surrounding Marissa Mayer’s Yahoo! appointment

    By on 17 July, 2012

    Yahoo! stock rose two percent in after-hours trading off the back of the announcement that former Google “first 20” employee, Marissa Mayer, has signed on as the new CEO. The person responsible for what was rumoured to be 20-25% of Google’s workforce also designed the look and feel of Google’s iconic homepage and had a hand in cornerstone projects like Gmail. Let’s look at some pivotal discussion points surrounding the move: 1. Mission accomplished In Google’s management shakeup of October 2010 Mayer was moved off of Google’s most important product (search) and placed into “Local”. Even though it put her...

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  • Google now lets you explore Antarctica from the comfort of your desk

    By on 17 July, 2012

    Antarctica is cold, foreboding and extremely hostile to human life. But there's something about it that's been drawing people there for years. Now you can try to figure out precisely what is that's sent explorers and scientists to the ice continent, all without having to leave your chair. Google today launched a series of extra StreetView images of historic locations in Antarctica. The locations -- which include the South Pole Telescope, Shackleton's hut, Scott’s hut, Cape Royds Adélie Penguin Rookery and the Ceremonial South Pole -- adds to the images of the continent it first posted in 2010. Google says...