Old Shakey’s musical past is catching up with him, writes Lloyd Gedye.
The Gossip have transformed themselves from a garage rock band into a radical punk outfit, and lead singer Ditto is on a mission to tackle hypocrisy in world politics as well as the gender status quo, writes Lloyd Gedye
Vodacom declared war on parent company Telkom this week when it announced plans to tackle the fixed-line monopoly head-on by rolling out its own fibre and wireless networks, and launching an internet service provider. The infrastructure roll-out is a precursor to Vodacom challenging Telkom’s established revenue streams in the provision of fixed-line and converged solutions to corporates.
The public hearings to select South Africa’s new Pay-TV operators claimed further casualties this week, with yet another applicant withdrawing and another breaking into tears under cross-examination. The hearings, held by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), were fraught with interested parties trying to cut others down to size.
The beauty of nature can have a calming effect, allowing the observer to sit, reflect and soak up the wonders of the planet. This is why Lindela Mjenxane, founder of Beyond Expectations, says a trip up Table Mountain in Cape Town is just what the doctor ordered for township learners who have to come to grips with the social ills they face in their daily lives.
The fallout from the Gauteng government’s billion-rand monorail, which will connect Soweto to the Johannesburg CBD, continued to grow this week. While Transport Minister Jeff Radebe and sources close to the Jo’burg metro council claim to be in the dark about the project, it has emerged that talks are already in the advanced stages with German consortia for similar monorails in the Tshwane and Ekurhuleni municipalities.
With online social networking portals becoming ever more popular, it was inevitable that niche communities would begin to map out their own territory on the web, writes Lloyd Gedye
Lloyd Gedye flits critically between Tom Waits’s new album and a collection of writings about the eccentric muso
A new crop of musicians is stepping up from the swamp of commercial mediocrity, writes Lloyd Gedye
It’s triple play Telkom. South Africa’s telecoms operator may have become synonymous with excessive pricing for broadband and voice services, but the fixed-line monoÂpoly has plans to become a one-stop news, communication and entertainment shop. Soon you will be able to turn to Telkom for all your sporting, movie, music, news, communication and entertainment needs.
A start-up telecommunications company has the country’s biggest guns in its sights as it slashes the costs of phone calls by offering a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service. Cape Town-based Yeigo is one of the first companies worldwide to offer VoIP for cellphones.
Apple Macs may be the hippest looking computers on the market, but they are the least environmentally friendly, according to Greenpeace. The organisation’s guide to greener electronics was released this month and places Apple at the bottom of the pile with a score of 2,7 out of 10. According to the report, Apple scores poorly against almost all the criteria, with very little progress.
Edward Pastorini called, apparently. The mystery — and controversial — investor who, for a short time, added 11% (about $1billion) to Gold Fields’ market capitalisation, has been the subject of intense media and regulator scrutiny after news of his possible takeover bid was published last week.
Damon Albarn’s <i>The Good, the Bad and the Queen</i> is a scintillating, record that is part protest, part social commentary and part metaphysical projection, writes Lloyd Gedye.
As more South Africans discover the world of blogging, the South African blogosphere is exploding into life. Veteran South African bloggers are looking over their shoulders with smug "I told you so" attitudes as a new crop of young bloggers proclaim their own slice of cyberspace and blog readership.
Lloyd Gedye speaks to Kobus! about heavy metal, the death sentence and record labels.
Never mind the Gautrain, here’s the Rea Vaya rapid bus transport system at only a fraction of the cost. The city of Johannesburg has already begun implementation of its plans for a revolutionary new R2-billion bus system that will run every three to 10 minutes in dedicated bus lanes.
South Africa’s insurance industry is waiting with bated breath as claims roll in for damage caused by the freak tides that hit the KwaZulu-Natal coast recently. More than 300km of the KwaZulu-Natal coastline needs to be reconstructed after it was devastated by 8m waves that struck in the early hours of March 19
Whether it’s Japanese psychedelic rock, obscure Scandinavian indie-pop or Appalachian folk that rocks your boat, the question is always the same: how do I find it? Well, the answer to your endless quest for fresh, new, exciting music may just lie in the music social networking website LastFM
PPS Insurance found itself in a tight spot this week after its chief financial officer, Callie Masson, claimed that between R20-million and R25-million was missing from the company’s financials, a charge PPS denies. Masson has now stepped down, saying that there was "a breakdown in trust" between himself and the chairman, according to the resignation letter he submitted to the board.
A broadband price war has finally begun in earnest. It is being led by the country’s cellphone operators sticking it to Telkom in a bid to capture more subscribers. The latest to join the fray is mobile operator Vodacom, which announced this week that from April 1 2007 its data rates will be decreased by as much as 61%, making it the cheapest and fastest broadband offering available.
The world’s third- and sixth-largest beer producers nudged one another recently, the immediate fallout being that Amstel drinkers may have to switch brands, at least for a couple of months. SABMiller has been brewing Amstel for 40 years, but the brewery announced recently that it has stopped production of the premium beer brand.
Lloyd Gedye talks to Sweden’s Marching Band, who recently toured South Africa.
Lloyd Gedye chats to Harris Tweed about their upcoming international showcase in Texas.
Lloyd Gedye kicks back at the Bohemian in Johannesburg and chats to The Bang and Tidal Waves.
It’s not all about James Blunt. Lloyd Gedye reports on the singer-songwriter’s fight-back.
Some South Africans are paying just six cents a call in interconnect fees to cellphone operators, while others are paying a whopping R1,25 a call. The six-cents-a-call applies in under-serviced areas, but major network operator Cell C says it can operate and make profits at six cents a call.
It appears the department of communications’ grand plan for Sentech to become a key player in the broadband market is not going to come to fruition any time soon. Once again, Sentech has been overlooked in the budget, and it will not be receiving the capital investment it requires from government to institute its wireless broadband rollout.
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/ 27 February 2007
To your average citizen, the chemical factory represents a dangerous place full of substances they don’t understand, but often they fail to realise the impact of those chemicals on their day-to-day lives. But it is important to demonstrate to people how many chemicals we deal with in the home.
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/ 22 February 2007
Fuel giant Sasol stands to pay additional taxes of hundreds of millions of rands annually if oil prices continue to remain at their present high levels. Details of the proposals put forward by the task team appointed to look into a windfall profits tax for the liquid fuels sector emerged in the budget announcement this week.
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/ 19 February 2007
Hope is at hand for hard-pressed broadband consumers, if government’s plans for a cost-based telecoms infrastructure company delivers on its promise. For years the country’s leadership has singled out the impact that exorbitantly priced telecommunication services have on the cost of doing business in South Africa.
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/ 9 February 2007
The City of Cape Town is not alone in attempts to bring down the costs of its new 2010 World Cup stadium, according to the local organising committee, but it is definitely the most successful. Five new stadiums are to be built and five upgraded for 2010.