The outage that has rendered BlackBerry Internet Service all but unusable across Africa, Europe and the Middle East has highlighted the need for options and alternatives. ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK offers a quick guide to a life without BBM.
Category archives: Tech
Tale of two outages #seacom #blackberry
On 10 October, South Africans wrestled with two major connectivity outages: the SEACOM undersea cable and the BlackBerry Internet Service both went down. But the outages were one thing; how users were treated was another, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK. They provide a case study in both successful and disastrous public relations.
The next big shift in smartphones
Lurking beneath the headlines of the iPhone 4S launch was a signpost to the next big shift in smartphones – high end devices at low-end prices. ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK explores the meaning of a $99 iPhone 4.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire pricing the big differentiator as tablet market hots up
Amazon last week stunned the market with its announcement that the 7” Kindle Fire tablet will sell for $199.99 – well under half the price of the cheapest iPad. And it will release a $79 Kindle e-reader.
Quick view: 10.7% of SA media budgets now go to digital platforms
The Digital Media and Marketing Association (DMMA) recently commissioned Analytix BI to conduct a research study to help the digital industry better understand the digital ad spend trends of South Africa’s top advertisers.
Knott-Craig Jr on the future of Mxit
Last week MXit was bought out by Alan Knott-Craig Jr’s World of Avatar – at a time when it faces its greatest challenges. He talks frankly about competing with BBM and WhatsApp – and more – with ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.
Where WiFi never sleeps opportunity knocks
Expensive Internet access in South Africa means free WiFi has never been common. In New York, security concerns have the same effect, but free WiFi still abounds, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK. So who will become the venues of choice for WiFi-hungry mobile workers?
MarkLives gets its groove back
Regular readers would have noticed that MarkLives recently launched a new look web site. It builds on a proud history with the tech, media and marketing communications industries that stretches back to 1998 when the predecessor to this site, media.toolbox, was launched.
The next Windows shows future looks a lot like the tablet computer and smartphone
Windows 8 was unveiled – at least in preview form – for the developer community last week. What does it mean for users and for Microsoft? ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK explores its significance.
Radio enjoys a healthy second life online
In the second of a series of columns on the future of music, ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK explores the impact the Internet’s Audio streams have had on radio.
As one traditional delivery channel for music, namely the record store, faces its demise, another is thriving. Radio was meant to be an early victim of the Internet revolution, given how easy it is to deliver an audio stream online. Instead, it remains the most pervasive mass medium in the world, reinventing itself again and again as it migrates onto cellphones, and uses the Internet to intensify its engagement with listeners.