SpaceX reveals interplanetary rocket, spaceship

You may have heard that popular link-shortening service Bit.ly has had a bit of a redesign. Or maybe you were just made aware of that fact when you logged in to your account and everything was all over the place. Ok, so the old Bit.ly wasn't on my list of the top 10 most beautifully designed sites on the web, but it was functional. There was a nice big bar at the top where you pasted your link, it shrunk before your very eyes, you copied it to your clipboard and moved on with your life. When you got distracted...

Everyone is suing everyone. Everyone is upset with everyone. Everyone is blaming everyone. Get over it. It’s history. The biggest IPO since Google has happened. Some made millions. Others lost even more. Someone got it wrong, and they’re to blame, right? It’s doubtful that this was some deep-rooted, intricate, secret conspiracy by investment banks to overprice Facebook stock. But the mispricing cost it. Morgan Stanley as lead underwriters (and the others) spent billions propping up the stock price to ensure that it closed above the IPO price of $38 on day one. That’s a simple cost to figure out. Beyond...

Trust. The word gets bandied about a lot when talking about the web today. We want people to trust our systems. Companies are supposedly building “trusted computing” and “designing for trust”. But, as sociologist Coye Cheshire, Professor at the School of Information at UC Berkeley will tell you, trust is a thing that happens between people not things. When we talk about trust in systems, we’re actually often talking about the related concepts of reliability or credibility. Designing for trustworthiness Take trustworthiness, for example. Trustworthiness is a characteristic that we infer based on other characteristics. It’s an assessment of a person’s future...

For decades, the realm of science fiction has portrayed inconceivable concepts and technologies as innovations just within our grasp. From Jules Verne’s musings on lunar travel, a century prior to Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, to Arthur C. Clarke’s orbital satellites in 1945; fanciful and fantastic literature has helped to prepare us for the technological revolutions we are currently experiencing. Today, this notion has particular relevance to the consumerisation of technology. For years, we imagined a world in which we could communicate with friends and family by video, access information wirelessly or instantly connect with thousands of...

No purchase decision happens by chance. Every thought leading up to why you need the product -- from the rational versus emotional arguments about what the product will offer to the intrinsic and extrinsic benefits -- are all weighed up and part of a very complicated decision-making process. It's all about questions Things like: "Do I need it? Why do I need it? Can I afford it? Can I get it cheaper? What will my friends think? What will my mom think? What will the bank think? How do I use it? When will I use it? Will I use it?"...

There's a few things most of us know about YouTube. It's fairly common knowledge for instance turned seven this year and that it's the most popular video-sharing platform on Earth. Everybody of course knows that it's great for procrastinating, but there are probably a good few things you probably don't know about it. There may also be some things you really don't want to know about YouTube (especially when it comes to some of the content). These are not those things 1. Its social community is actually pretty big We tend to think of YouTube as social media, but would...

We like innovation and future trends -- especially when they're green -- and Flux Trend Review has a nice mix of both. The 7 June event will bring together thought leaders from different industries to share their thoughts on what the future holds in store for us all. In the run-up to the conference, Flux is giving away five solar-powered glass jars -- Consol's twist on the traditional bottles, which charge themselves through solar panels on the lid, and store the energy until you flick a switch. The jars, which can glow for up to six hours, are a minimalistic...

We've mentioned online furniture sales outfit 5rooms previously. It's part of German startup incubator Rocket Internet's stable of South African ecommerce sites, but it hasn't had the same kind of exposure as the likes of shoe and fashion outlet Zando. That all looks set to change. Memeburn got its hands on site's pitch book, which claims that the company was "established to become the market leader among South African furniture retailers". It claims that its position within the Rocket Internet network, which comprises over 38 companies operating in 58 countries, will help it achieve this goal. Having several hundred million Euros...

Building a startup on-the-go while you travel the world may seem unlikely. The status quo would have us believe it borders on the impossible. Thing is, Chris Guillebeau has done just that. Oh and he also writes books and evangelically spreads his unconventional ideas on entrepreneurship and startup communities. The word "unconventional" is actually a pretty accurate description of Guillebeau. The American entrepreneur reckons you can build a startup for less than US$100 and even wrote a book explaining how. His popular blog, The Art of Non-Conformity, focuses on travel and personal development topics and meshes with his personal mission...

There are thousands of social media channels available to us all. From blogging to Facebook, all of these channels are not created equally and for the same purpose. Just because a certain social media channel works well for some businesses, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will work for you. Everywhere you look online you will find videos, images and the latest infographics about all the various social media statistics regarding the best social media channels. Some facts about social media: Facebook isn't big... it is massive. The members on this popular social network is close to the third biggest country on earth. Twitter has over...