Jackie Bennion When Internet darling Yahoo! announced its second-quarter earnings earlier this month, it not only sent Wall Street into a frenzy; it also made the founders of the Web search site, Jerry Yang and David Filo, the latest additions to the Billionaire Boys Club. Two weeks ago, Broadcast.com went public with the biggest opening […]

Keith Henderson CD of the week What a job -putting together an album for The X-Files movie. According to director Chris Carter, none of the artists on the album had been given the opportunity to see the film before going into the studio to record. But then again, who needs to see the movie when […]

Douglas Rushkoff : online Gathered together beneath the chandeliers of the Beverly Hilton’s main ballroom earlier this year, Hollywood’s best and brightest (dressed, anyway) had paid about $1 500 each to rub elbows with the interactive media-makers who would soon, they feared, replace them. Meanwhile, a demonstration floor crowded with technology from Compaq and other […]

The new municipal structures Bill negates municipalities’ rights to govern themselves, writes John Sewell The South African Constitution contains many glowing phrases, and none is as powerful to local politicians as Section 151(3): “A municipality has the right to govern, on its own initiative, the local government affairs of its community.” That section has been […]

TRISH MURPHY, Johannesburg | Friday 4.30PM. THE Angolan government is preparing for a full-scale offensive against Unita rebels, sources in Luanda and elsewhere in Angola report. Although Luanda denies it is preparing for war, it is also reported to be recruiting, as is Unita. Angolan president Eduardo Dos Santos this week was in France, and […]

Andrew Worsdale Two movies open this week that show and show-up middle-class values. They savage the bourgeoisie as comfortable claptrap who, ironically enough, will be the ones who go to the art movie houses (where both films are being released) to see themselves being represented and slagged off. The first is The Happy War, a […]

Gill Moodie The battle for your brain has arrived in South Africa as an international campaign over health fears linked to cellphone use begins to target local consumers. Leading the way in convincing local users that cellphone calls may be frying your brain is Johannesburg-based Radiation Cellutions, the local importers of Microshield, a British product […]

Steve Gordon : A Second Look The Gift to the Nation concerts last weekend disappointed not so much in what they were, but in what they were not. Boasting South Africa’s biggest-ever artist billing, we squandered the opportunity to assert and affirm our nation, our voice, our identity. Mega-concerts are notoriously difficult to organise, and […]

Bankrupting yourself isn’t the only way to keep up with the computer game, writes Rupert Neethling Part of the phenomenal growth of the computer industry has been attributed to marketing campaigns designed to convince computer users that unless they upgrade their software and hardware, they will be left out in the cold, unable to cope […]

Ferial Haffajee Two senior police officers have quit and a high-ranking internal investigation is under way to trace leaks from Wachthuis, the national police headquarters. Ordered by National Commissioner George Fivaz at the behest of his aide, Director Craig Kotze, the investigation is said to have angered senior police who have been fingerprinted in the […]