David le Page
WHAT’S NEW
Those who are missing Madiba can order Nelson Mandela: The Symbol of a Nation. Compiled with the assistance of Ahmed Kathrada, the Mayibuye Centre and other authoritative sources, it is reasonably priced at R120 and available from the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund at www.mandela-children.org.
The multimedia content is impressive – even after years of Mandela saturation, many of the images will be unfamiliar to you. Fifteen minutes of video footage round it off. Unfortunately, it runs only on Windows systems.
Buy airtime online
Run your cellphone on a Pay As You Go card? You can now purchase additional airtime at www.mtn.co.za/payg, which MTN says is the first such website in the world. Clearance of your credit card details takes 24 hours longer than it does at the average restaurant, but only on your first visit to the site.
Free suite
Tired of emptying your pockets to buy the latest office software? Sun Microsystems has purchased StarOffice suite and released it free of charge on the Internet. Download it from www.sun.com/products/staroffice/get.html.
At present, it only runs on the Linux operating system – but you can download that free of charge as well. StarOffice includes e-mail, word processor, spreadsheet, database and presentation software. It’s designed for maximum compatibility with Microsoft Office files.
Early start for the JSE
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is now opening for business at 9am, and not 9.30am as it has for years. If Alan Greenspan has been testifying in your dreams, collar your broker a bit earlier.
Fishy supplement
The United States National Institutes of Health have commissioned a follow-up study after trials conducted by Harvard psychiatrist Andrew Stoll suggested that fish oil supplements containing omega 3 fatty acids may have a significant impact on depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses.
According to online magazine Salon, Stoll says he hasn’t proved anything yet – but he’s already popping the supplements himself. Ancient hunter-gather populations apparently had higher omega 3 intakes, and epidemiological studies show the Japanese – with their high intake of marine foods – to have the lowest incidence of such mental diseases in the world. Time to drop the St John’s Wort.
ENDS
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