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  • Okay, maybe Microsoft hasn’t got the cool thing taped just yet [Video]

    By on 20 June, 2012

    Microsoft's big tablet reveal went a long way to showing that the company was well on the way to regaining its cool. Mostly. You see, there was one teeny tiny blip. While he was showing off the "smooth" browsing capabilities of the Surface it froze. Nothing helped, not even jabbing at the Windows button (to be fair, that's exactly what we would have done. At this point, you can imagine what was going through his head. Still, Sinofsky stuck with the script, and a new Surface was brought in from the wings. Here's the thing. The blip was there...

  • Google Maps: Now with real-time traffic overlay

    By on 20 June, 2012

    We recently reported on the massive changes Google was making to its Maps offering. Today a few more of those updates roll out to the general public. As of today Google Maps traffic overlay is fully functional in seven new countries, including South Africa with cities like Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town covered. Now when plotting a route from one point to another, Google maps will give you a few options with live traffic info and real-life time estimations for your trip. This is really amazing and the best part is, it's available for mobile devices as well. Recently I...

  • YouTube founders to lift veil on their new site Zeen next week [LeWeb]

    By on 20 June, 2012

    The mystery around Zeen, the new site from the founders of YouTube will be lifted next week. That's the lowdown from co-founder Chad Hurley, who was speaking at LeWeb London. At the moment, there's precious little information about the site, aside from the promise that it will allow people to "discover and create beautiful magazines". Zeen is the latest project from Avos, the company that Hurley and fellow YouTube founder Steve Chen started last year. In April 2011, it was announced that AVOS had purchased Delicious, before acquiring social analytics company Tap 11 a month later. The company also...

  • Go Daddy set to forge its own passage to India

    By on 20 June, 2012

    Go Daddy is set to join a growing list of big online players plying their trade in India. The web-hosting giant today announced that it had identified the BRIC giant as "a priority market" for its "global expansion" and has already hired its first ever international executive to run operations in the country. The company has appointed Rajiv Sodhi as Managing Director of Go Daddy India. The former Microsoft executive will be responsible for overseeing Go Daddy's expansion into the India market and is reportedly in the process of hiring a team. "We knew we needed an experienced...

  • Facebook hovercards: Now with Timeline cover photos

    By on 20 June, 2012

    As tech news goes, this is no Microsoft tablet announcement, but it's still interesting in an "oh that's cool" kind of way. Hover over someone's profile picture in your news feed. After a while their basic bio information will pop up. That's been around since 2010, but it just got a little prettier. Along with the information that's always been there, you'll now see their cover photo. As The Next Web notes, Facebook appears to be taking a business card-style approach to its hovercards. In fact, the format of the new hovercards closely resembles the offering...

  • Assange remains hidden in Ecuadorian embassy

    By on 20 June, 2012

    Wikileaks founder Julian Assange remains hidden in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he is seeking political asylum. The man behind the well-known cable-leaking site turned to the embassy after the UK Supreme Court refused to reopen his appeal against extradition to Sweden over alleged sex charges. Assange denies any guilt in relation to the sex charges, but is afraid that Swedish authorities will hand him over to the US, where he will be treated unfairly. According to the BBC however, Swedish authorities claim that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) would intervene if Assange was to...

  • Microsoft may have finally cracked the convergence code with Surface tablets

    By on 19 June, 2012

    The gloves are off as Microsoft, for the first time, commits to a range of computers that bears its own name. In a very Apple-like way Microsoft held a super-secret event in Los Angeles which got the Tech world speculating and claiming all sorts of inside info. Many were close, predicting a Microsoft tablet. The reality was far bigger than the hype suggested. Microsoft launched a well-executed and extremely innovative range of tablets appropriately called Surface. The Microsoft Surface tablet is, in some ways, just the beginning of a new resurgence from the Redmond-based giant that has actually been...

  • Queuing for a ticket online: Is Computicket crazy?

    By on 19 June, 2012

    So the general idea of booking something online is to satisfy the need instantly. The idea of standing in a queue while online does not sit so well with me; but that’s what is happening on online ticketing site Computicket as it attempts to deal with the demand for the South African leg of a Lady Gaga world tour. So maybe I’m being melodramatic or maybe the promise of a digital world if instant gratification has spoiled me; but the queuing system that has been implemented -- although for a valid reason -- seems to strike at the heart of...

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  • Any way you slice it, it’s been a busy 11 months for Google+ [LeWeb]

    By on 19 June, 2012

    Speaking at Le Web London, Bradley Horowitz of Google+ announced a future aspect to Google+ many weren't really expecting -- a future partnership with Flipboard -- in other words another way to consume Google+ that is less about Google and more about the individual. Smart move Google. Ahead of many more announcements at Google I/O (THE Google conference) shortly Google+ has been around for just 11 months and boasts 170m users (or as Bradley put it "converts") -- that's a lot of people any way you slice it. But while we have a glimpse of where Google+...

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  • Instagram is all about speed, not being ‘bitchy’ like Twitter [LeWeb]

    By on 19 June, 2012

    Instagram isn't in any hurry to go into video-sharing. And it's down to one simple factor: speed. "Users want a faster experience, they want to produce quickly," says the popular photo-sharing app's founder Kevin Systrom. Systrom was speaking at LeWeb London 2012 -- the British edition of the leading tech conference usually held in Paris. His speed obsession is fitting given that the conference's theme is "Faster than real time" -- an exploration of our need to share and the amount of data we currently create. Systrom, who took the stage with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver (Instagram's...

  • LeWeb London 2012: The social media stream

    By on 19 June, 2012

    Popular tech conference Le Web took a trip over the Channel this year, for the "Faster than real time" LeWeb London. The line-up of tech leaders and thought leaders features the likes of TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, Klout's Joe Fernandez and Evernote CEO Phil Libin. We'll be curating all the social media buzz around the two day event using Storify. LeWeb is a special place for Memeburn. The site was founded at one of the previous events in Paris -- the very first few lines of code and the initial design was put together during...

  • Twitter blasts Computicket for #LadyGagaSA fail

    By on 19 June, 2012

    It's funny how quickly things can change, isn't it. Yesterday South Africans were celebrating the announcement that the queen of Twitter herself Lady Gaga would be gracing their shores. Today they're in full complaint mode about the long queues online ticketing service Computicket has been subjecting them to. Most had to wait hours for the chance to buy a ticket, while some experienced irregularities when they tried to pay. Others had the site freeze on them when they got to the front of the queue before sending them back a thousand places. Here's just a selection of the trials and...

  • Endangered fish causes a stink on Facebook

    By on 19 June, 2012

    A fresh food retailer caught selling an endangered fish species has Facebook users' emotions running high. Facebook user Cameron Johnson posted a photo of a large fish in one of South African retailer Fruit & Veg City's stores. Johnson claims that the fish in the photo is a Garrick, which is on the South Africa Sustainable Seafood Initiative's (SASSI)'s "No Sale" list. The list separates fish into three lists: Green -- which is sustainable, Orange -- which includes species that are vulnerable for a variety of reasons, and Red -- which are unsustainable. Fruit...

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  • RIM vs. Nokia: The fall from grace, divergent strategies and the future

    By on 19 June, 2012

    In the wake of Nokia’s announcement of an additional 10 000 layoffs, the media has devolved into histrionics. Some are writing eulogies, while others are citing the announcement as a harbinger for the "end of the European dream," referring to Nokia’s reported fall from grace as Europe’s strongest mobile phone competitor. There’s no denying things are dire for Nokia. As it stands today, the total number of layoffs since Stephen Elop took over as CEO in September of 2010 stands at 40 000. Nokia’s stock price has continued to decline to one of its lowest points in the venerable...

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  • All hail your new digital overlord: Joe Fernandez of Klout [LeWeb]

    By on 19 June, 2012

    You would expect the person that wants to rank everyone on the internet by their popularity to be a total douche bag. For all the crap that Klout and it's CEO, Joe Fernandez, get, he's actually a surprisingly mellow guy. Klout wants to rank everyone by how influential they are. If you are a normal person then Klout seems like the stupidest thing in the world. On the other hand, if you're at involved in marketing (which, let's face it, we all are), then you know that the industry is desperate for some sort of way to easily tell...