If you have recently spent any time in the United Kingdom or United States, you will no doubt be aware of the vast difference in eCommerce between South Africa and those countries. In statistics, the difference is made clear: In 2010, UK shoppers spent GBP£58.8bn (US$92bn) online, while South Africans did a paltry ZAR2bn (US$254-million). Even accounting for population differences that's a significant differential. So, why is South Africa so far behind?It's certainly not that eCommerce itself is without benefits. ...

Amidst Mark Zuckerberg's announcement of the many new features on Facebook at the recent f8 conference, the young CEO confirmed that the world's most popular social network had hit the 800-million user mark.This figure seems to fly in the face of the many reports on blogs and mainstream media announcing Facebook's "imminent death" despite the anecdotal evidence of a "backlash" against Facebook. Memeburn contributor, Amanda Sevasti explains why people are opting out of Facebook: "Today we have those who delete ...

Internet giant Google is set to build three data centres in Asia at a cost of more than US$200-million. The centres are being built to help the company cope with rapidly increasing user numbers in the region as well as stiff competition from rivals.The new centres are planned for Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong and are anticipated to take up a collective total of 22.6 hectares of land.Google currently owns and runs data centres in the US and ...

Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility has hit a road block as the US Justice Department has sent a second request for information about the deal.In a regulatory SEC filing, Motorola Mobility said:"On September 28, 2011, Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. and Google Inc. each received a Request for Additional Information and Documentary Material from the Antitrust Division of U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the proposed merger between the companies. The companies intend to cooperate fully and respond expeditiously to ...

Heather Ford was recently selected as one of the 10 most influential women in science and technology in Africa by IT News Africa. Andrew Rens caught up with her for a Q & A session.AR: What have you done with your life since you and I met on a misty day in the Stanford Law School canteen to discuss starting Creative Commons South Africa?HF: That was eight years ago! And it changed my life! I was a fellow at the ...

US tech giant IBM is teaming up with a startup called Streetline in a bid to take the pain out of parking.According to IBM, the service will play a massive role in alleviating congestion in large cities. The company says that an estimated 30% of city traffic is made up of people driving around in search of parking.The two companies have designed a system called “Smarter Parking”, which combines IBM’s data analytics capabilities with Streetline's innovations in parking ...

Yahoo! says that it has not been knocked off course by the firing of CEO Carol Bartz and that it would continue trying to extend its offers into the social and mobile realm."We are heads down; we know exactly what we want to do," Yahoo! vice president of applications and mobile Steve Douty said during a briefing with reporters at the California company's office in San Francisco."Is there some amount of uncertainty? Sure," he continued. "But we have been ...

Are apps the only way to do mobile, and in fact, any computing? We appear to be living in the golden age of apps. There is an app for whatever you wish to do, be that read, or play. Led by Apple, the iPhone and iPad have the most, with hundreds and thousands of all types and styles.Android is coming on strong but other ecosystems, from Nokia to Windows Phone 7, still lag far behind. Recent events, and in ...

Amazon today announced the Kindle Fire, a US$200, 7" tablet which is runs on the Android platform. It comes with a free month of Amazon Prime and is Wi-Fi Only. It is coming Q1 or Q2 2012, although it could not confirm the release date.Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO took the stage in New York and began the launch with a reference to the massively successful company's Kindle e-Reader, "Four years ago we set out to improve upon the book...Amazon ...

Online advertising has been going from strength to strength since the first banner ad was served by AT&T in 1994. AT&T knew people would click its ads and oh boy how they did!One of the main reasons for online advertising success is measurability, or rather, the ease of measurability. Being able to quantify the outcomes of your advertising efforts to every penny spent is something no other marketing medium offers.The methods of “spraying & praying” done by traditional brand ...