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  • SA retailer set to launch social book selling programme

    By on 15 June, 2012

    Exclusive Books is set to launch a new, more social, way of selling books called "Stickers". The new programme will reportedly be integrated into the South African-based book franchise's existing website, and will launch late next week. Users will reportedly be able to earn achievement points by sharing and rating products either as an individual or a group. With enough points people will be able to earn discounts on books. These can be earned faster in groups. “To start with we will support standard social media platforms,” Exclusives' digital boss Ben Williams told MyBroadband. The retail group is owned by...

  • Why WordPress’ Facebook plugin is actually a big deal

    By on 14 June, 2012

    One of the key success factors of blogging is the ability to share. Facebook are the masters of sharing. Small wonder then that on 12 June Facebook launched its latest blogging application. By downloading the Facebook for WordPress plugin bloggers and administrators can now publish content to WordPress directly from Facebook. Nice. “The plugin was built by Facebook engineers in collaboration with open source partners, and makes it simple for anyone to make their WordPress site more social -- no coding required,” Facebook engineer Matt Kelly wrote in a blog post introducing the tool. The best of the...

  • Nando’s takes dig at SABC after studio fire

    By on 14 June, 2012

    Nando's must be thinking that Karma, that female canine herself, is very much on its side. A studio at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which recently banned the fast food franchise' diversity ad, burned down in the early hours of this morning. Nando's responded to the incident with one of its trademark poster-style ads, playing on its banned ad. It also took the opportunity to deny responsibility for starting the fire. Full Size No one was injured in the blaze. 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");

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  • New video shows 4-year-old, older girl having sex, goes viral

    By on 14 June, 2012

    A new video, depicting two children performing sexual acts on each other, is reportedly going viral. According to South African news agency Eyewitness News, the video shows an older girl of around 10 and a boy around four, and is circulating rapidly on cellphones in that country. Women and Men against Child Abuse spokesperson Vincentia Dlamini said, “I saw the older girl going to the younger one and leading him. It seems like he understands what needs to be done. “He is not shocked in performing the sexual acts.” It is unclear whether the video,...

  • Microsoft partners with Yelp in Bing Local search deal

    By on 14 June, 2012

    Looks like Google isn't the only one looking to bring social to its local search results. Microsoft today announced that it is partnering up with Yelp in a bid to push its Bing Local search content. Yelp will reportedly surface content including, review snippets, photos, and business attributes to Bing users. This content will be featured Bing Local pages, presenting information to help consumers do more with businesses near them. "Whether it's discovering the right restaurant, planning the evening's entertainment or finding local services, Yelp has emerged as a proven and trusted resource," said Bing general manager Mike Nichols. "Enabling...

  • Why domain name expansion will cause mayhem on the internet

    By on 14 June, 2012

    A year after ICANN announced its plans to expand the TLD (Top Level Domain) namespace, we are finally able to see the application list for new TLDs. There are nearly 2 000 applications, each costing US$185 000. ICANN believes that each suffix will cost owners about US$25 000 per year to maintain and they will be required to commit to a 10-year maintenance agreement. Among the applications are many variations on a theme and conflicts over potential ownership. As a result, these suffixes are all going through a review process. For the next seven months major players will have...

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  • Geek out your home with these 10 awesome accessories

    By on 14 June, 2012

    Have you ever thought your home could do with a smattering of app icons, a science fiction artwork or two and a doormat covered in binary code? Did you just cry "it's like you're reading my mind"? Then this list may be the answer to your never-ending quest to make your home look as awesome as your smartphone. 1. Slide to unlock doormat: You may be used to sliding to unlock your phone -- but can you slide to unlock your front door? No. No, you can’t. But I’m sure it’s fun to try on this springy rubber doormat. If you’re...

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  • Branson vs The Crimson Bandit: Social skullduggery or advertising genius?

    By on 14 June, 2012

    On 13 June Richard Branson, world-famous founder and leader of the Virgin Group, wrote on his blog that he had lost his diary. In a couple of simple paragraphs, he explains how much he enjoys using a diary, travelling with it and recording his thoughts and he ends by saying “I’ve been travelling a lot recently so I can’t be sure exactly where I left it, and I know it’s a long shot, but if anyone happens to find it I’d be very grateful if they could let me know!” This all seemed like a fairly innocent and honest moment...

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  • iOS6 brings out the claws in Apple

    By on 14 June, 2012

    In case you haven't heard, Apple's recent and much-anticipated iOS6 launch at WWDC sounded the alarm for third-party app developers. It's not the small app developers either: Google, Skype and, my tech bunny, RIM, also take a beating in the update. Google Maps got ditched for Apple's own mapping system which is now using Tom Tom's data as its map provider. Where Apple's maps product could fall short is in accurate traffic prediction via crowd sourcing, something Waze (despite its notifications) has been great at. Even though the company is providing some of the data for the new service,...

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  • Privly: Organise your next coup online, in total privacy

    By on 14 June, 2012

    There's a Kickstarter project I want you to know about. It's called Privly and it's a defiant kick to the face of oppressive governments. The Privly proof of concept works as a browser plugin and will allow you to view and post encrypted content on any website -- Twitter, Facebook, Google+, even Gmail. Let your imagination run wild. Taking Twitter as an example, you write a tweet -- 140 characters or more -- right click and select "Post to Privly." The text of your tweet gets sent to (and stored on) the Privly servers which return a link, for...

  • Twitter expanded view lets you see link previews before you click

    By on 14 June, 2012

    How often do you scroll past a tweet in your timeline, wondering exactly where that t.co or bit.ly link will take you, cautiously hovering over the URL and rallying yourself for some spam attack? Twitter has felt your pain -- which is why it's rolling out more expanded content views in tweets. In an official blog post, the social media giant said that it has gradually started rolling out expanded tweets -- basically, tweets which allow you to see content previews, view images and play videos from their partner sites. Expanded tweets have previously been reserved for YouTube videos...

  • Nokia lays off thousands, sells luxury brand

    By on 14 June, 2012

    Nokia has announced that it plans to lay off thousands of employees and sell its luxury brand Vertu in a bid to "return the company to profitable growth". The embattled mobile giant apparently plans to reduce up to 10 000 positions globally by the end of 2013. Among the sections of the company highlighted for closure are its research and development facilities in Ulm, Germany and Burnaby, Canada and its manufacturing facility in Salo, Finland. "These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia's long-term competitive strength," said Elop. "We...

  • Google, Facebook join alliance to fight bad ads

    By on 14 June, 2012

    Google has partnered with the likes of AOL, Facebook, Twitter and the IAB to form the Ads Integrity Alliance in a bid to stop bad ads online. Unfortunately that doesn't mean anyone's going to do anything about the cringeworthy horrors you're sometimes faced with upon opening a YouTube video. Instead they're going after kind of ads that contravene their various individual policies, or promote counterfeit goods and malware. The alliance falls under the remit of StopBadware, an organisation that aims to "make the Web safer through the prevention, mitigation, and remediation of badware websites". StopBadware has been around...

  • #Steers special goes wrong, causes social media storm

    By on 13 June, 2012

    People clearly love a bargain. When South African fast food chain Steers announced that it would be offering R10 Rib Burgers today, it caused a rush on stores around the country and unleashed a social media storm. Thing is, when long queues didn't get any shorter and outlets around the country started running out of stock, people got angry. And the first port-of-call for rage that needs to be vented is social media. A lot of the Twitter traffic revolved around the long queues: Tweeting Live from #Steers Queues and hungry people everywhere! It's madness!— Roxanne Rhode (@RadioFoxie) June...

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  • Skype gets in-call ads

    By on 13 June, 2012

    What's that? You love using Skype to connect with friends and family you would otherwise have to call? And you love doing it for free, with no ads interrupting you? Sorry pal, you didn't think that was going to last forever did you? The Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) service today announced that it would begin displaying in conversation ads. These new display ad units will appear within the calling window of users who do not have Skype Credit or subscriptions when they're making 1:1 Skype-to-Skype audio calls using Skype for Windows. Skype's Sandhya Venkatachalam said the company "was excited to introduce...