Europa: Hubble telescope spots ‘possible’ water plumes

Motribe made a name for itself building mobile social networks, but the company's photo-based Mxit apps seem to really be taking off too. The South African-based company released MxPix, a little over a month ago. In that time the app, which makes Instagram-style photo sharing and filtering possible for people with feature phones has attracted over one-million users. The app reached the one-million user mark a full 14 days earlier than Motribe's other photo-sharing effort JudgeMe. To date, the million or so MxPix users have uploaded some 215 000 photos, with the Nokia 5130 Express Music and Samsung SGH...

Imagine, just for a second, that the internet didn't exist. You still got all your news from newspapers, spoke to your friends on the phone instead of via social media and IM, and consulted printed and bound encyclopaedias instead of Google every time you had a question. Did you just shudder at the thought? According to this infographic, if the internet really didn't exist, we'd all be spending a lot more money on media and postage stamps and quite a few people (a couple of million) would be without a job, or at least doing something different to what...

Wow. Looks like Microsoft isn't about to shut its chequebook just because of one measly US$6.2-billion writedown. The Redmond-based tech giant today announced that it had bought interactive design company Perceptive Pixel (PPI). The acquisition, announced at Microsoft's Digital Worldwide Partner Conference, was made to help with the research and design of upcoming Microsoft hardware and software. PPI showed off what it could do at the event with an 82-inch mega-tablet. “The acquisition of PPI allows us to draw on our complementary strengths, and we’re excited to accelerate this market evolution,” said Kurt DelBene, president, Office Division for Microsoft....

It's been a long time coming, but it looks like we finally have a date for a "finished" version of Windows 8. Manufacturers will be able to get their grubby little mitts on the latest version of Microsoft's OS in August, with a public release set for October. The dates were confirmed by Microsoft Corporate VP and CFO Tami Reller at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference keynote in Toronto, Canada. The October release date confirms what we've been expecting for some time now. What remains to be seen is how well the general public reacts to an OS that...

A uncovered autobiography and cookbook written by Kentucky Friend Chicken founder Colonel Harland Sanders was made available for download via KFC's Facebook page last month, which documents Sanders's life up to 1966 -- annoyingly you have to "like" and add an app to your account, so we pulled out some lessons based on anecdotes for you. In 1971, Sanders sold KFC to a liquor and food conglomerate called Heublein, which later lead to the Colonel becoming bitter as the quality of his beloved KFC declined and his relationship with Heublein deteriorated.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");

International news outfit CNN is partnering with Facebook to offer an interactive and "uniquely social experience" for CNN’s on-air, mobile and online audiences and Facebook users this US election period. Through this partnership, Facebook and CNN say they hope to "amplify the voices" of social media users as they share their opinions on candidates and topical issues facing the country ahead of Election Day. The duo claims that it will achieve this through an "innovative multi-platform " that includes: “I'm Voting” Facebook App "Facebook and CNN will launch an interactive, engaging “I'm Voting” Facebook application. The app will enable people who...

This is interesting. Updates to the iPhone's Twitter app, set to roll out with iOS 6, will give users a much more interactive experience than they've has before. According to release notes leaked to 9to5Mac, Twitter for iPhone 4.4 will include increased interactivity, enhanced notifications, and improved search. The interactive tweeting element is probably the most interesting. The content previews, images, and videos you can see from your web-based Twitter feed will now be available on your iPhone. The social network will also reportedly curate the images and tweets around selected events. The big push for improved search and...

A uncovered autobiography and cookbook written by Kentucky Friend Chicken founder Colonel Harland Sanders was made available for download via KFC's Facebook page last month, which documents Sanders's life up to 1966 -- annoyingly you have to "like" and add an app to your account, so we pulled out some lessons based on anecdotes for you. In 1971, Sanders sold KFC to a liquor and food conglomerate called Heublein, which later lead to the Colonel becoming bitter as the quality of his beloved KFC declined and his relationship with Heublein deteriorated.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");

Facebook has rolled its App Centre to users in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, a month after the portal first went live. Anyone using Facebook in those countries will now see the App Centre on the bookmark on the left side of their home page on Facebook.com and in the Facebook apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android. The social network claims that the App Centre has already "helped millions of people discover new mobile and web apps". The big winners so far appear to have been game developers,...

Online hotel, flight, and travel search service Kayak is finally ready to go public after making its first filing with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November 2010. According to its latest filings with the SEC, the company is looking to raise around US$100.6-million in its IPO. As AllThingsD notes, that's about double what it was looking for in its initial filing. The offering would entail Kayak selling four-million shares for between US$22 and US$25 a share. The company initially delayed going public amid a volatile market last September, and delayed again after Facebook's shaky public debut....

A flurry of online buying companies has rushed in on South Africa, some local and some from abroad, and a relatively new kid on the block has launched recently, offering any number of products amidst stiff competition. We spoke to Ardi Coetzee and Kevin Pillay from EasiOnline about their plans and aims in this market. Ventureburn: Perhaps we can start with a little on each of your backgrounds? Kevin Pillay: Prior to Easionline, I've been involved in the financial selling and credit industries, and decided to go into online, and am extremely happy so far with what I or rather we...