No image available
/ 2 November 2004
South Africa’s online publishers pulled in about 3,5-million unique users or readers and about 106-million page impressions in the month of August. The first statistics are out and reveal some remarkable trends. Matthew Buckland crunches the numbers.
No image available
/ 22 September 2004
<i>The Daily News</i> website and <i>Zimonline</i> continue to publish news critical of the Mugabe regime, and there’s not much Jonathan Moyo can do about it. Matthew Buckland looks at the power of websites as tools of democracy in Africa.
No image available
/ 22 September 2004
After not receiving a reply from the SA Guild of Motoring Journalists on his July article, David Bullard addresses this one to the SA Guild of Motoring Industry Publicity Generators.
Why is the South African online environment so short on women-focused destinations? Matthew Buckland says it’s part of the medium’s slow upturn.
East African radio seems to be moving towards true liberalisation, as the examples of Capital FM and Kiss FM show. But, explains George Ogola, the Kenyan, Ugandan and Tanzanian governments are not letting go the reins just yet.
A new generation of web ad is fuelling the dot.com recovery, writes Matthew Buckland. The keyword search advertising model, with Google as one of the main players, now accounts for 35% of online spend in the US.
Nothing gets dedicated techies hotter under the collar than a discussion about Microsoft’s software monopoly. Another subject that will get them talking is open-source software. Open-source is the antithesis of what Microsoft and other companies have been pursuing over the years. Mark Shuttleworth speaks to the <i>M&G</i> about the coming software revolution.
Something pretty revolutionary is going down in a dusty patch of Limpopo province. It involves billionaire and Africa’s first astronaut Mark Shuttleworth, a multi-national technology company and the government. Shuttleworth is so passionate about it, he says it could rocket South Africa into the future.
According to the World Association of Newspapers, cellphones are set to take over PCs as the medium for accessing the ‘net. That’s good news for publishers, says Matthew Buckland, ‘cos cellphones mean revenue.
A Thai software company claims to have created a programme for Nokia cellphones that can tell whether a caller is telling the truth or not. The controversial programme, created by Agilemobile.com, is available for free downloading on the company’s website and can be easily installed on some of the relatively common garden-variety Nokia cellphones.
A South African company has come up with what appears to be a novel and innovative solution to combat the increasing scourge of viruses that have been bringing many companies to their knees. Shaya Technologies, which describes itself as an information and communications technology and black economic empowerment company, thinks its solution is so innovative that it has even lodged a patent on it.
Blogging has been referred to as the "new journalism". Matthew Buckland fails to get excited about it, but reckons an Iraqi called Salam Pax showed what the phenomenon can do.
Convergence got a bad rap from the troubled AOL Time Warner merger, but the phenomenon is making steady progress. Matthew Buckland looks at some of the local successes.
A new, and potentially mischievous, underground cellphone "messaging" craze that uses bluetooth technology in cellphones has been sweeping through the United Kingdom and Europe. As more bluetooth-enabled phones become available on the South African market, we are likely to see the fad take off here, too. The phenomenon, called "bluejacking", exploits bluetooth communication technology
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The African National Congress is expecting a "late surge" of ANC votes as the elections results stream in. ANC spokesperson Steyn Speed told the <i>Mail & Guardian Online</i> on Thursday that the ANC expected the results for the official opposition Democratic Alliance to decline further as the day goes by.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>The Democratic Alliance says it is "elated" with the way the voting results have turned out so far and that the party is not surprised at the relative success of Patricia de Lille’s new Independent Democrats. Gibson said that the DA’s own internal polls predicted that the ID would in fact perform even better than they have so far performed.
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Although long queues were reported across the country on Wednesday morning, South Africa’s third general elections got off to a smooth start, with no major logistical problems reported, says Independent Electoral Commission chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam.
So you ask yourself: what on earth am I going to do with a USB flash disk watch? I need my watch to tell the time. I need my watch to wake me up in the mornings, what now with the USB? But it’s brilliant if you think about it. Where better to store your most treasured or secret Word documents, pictures or sound files than behind the hands of your watch, strapped to your very own wrist?
One of the more unsavoury aspects of the Convergence Bill is its specific reference to "online publishing" and "information services" and its apparent attempt to regulate website publishing in South Africa. But why the licence fee on websites if print isn’t regulated? Matthew Buckland looks at the anomalies in the proposed Convergence Bill.
No image available
/ 24 February 2004
Do websites hurt print circulations? Websites are often singled out as one of the main culprits for falling print circulations. Simply put, the argument is why would readers bother to buy a newspaper if they can get the same publication for free over the net? Matthew Buckland tackles a question that has long confounded newspaper editors.
It’s billed as the most measurable medium in the world, yet ironically, for a long time Internet measurement in South Africa has been in somewhat of a flux. Although online’s major selling point is its ability to closely monitor user behaviour, industry in-fighting has tainted the authority of local stats. A new body is about to change all that, writes Matthew Buckland.
No image available
/ 20 November 2003
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies has cautioned that a <i>Jerusalem Post</i> article, under the headline "Terror warning for Israelis in South Africa", may be "misleading". The article reported a senior Israeli minister saying that terrorists intended to carry out attacks against Israeli and Western targets in South Africa.
No image available
/ 12 November 2003
Although there are recent and encouraging signs the online advertising market is improving, publishers are now looking at other revenue streams – one being the highly controversial ‘paid-content’ model. It’s billed as the next big step in the evolution of online publishing and could see dramatic changes to South Africa’s webscape.
Deputy President Jacob Zuma has strongly hinted he may miss the Thursday deadline to answer a list of questions the Scorpions put to him earlier this month regarding the multi-billion rand arms deal.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=18037">Will he or won’t he?</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=17957">Mbeki won’t interfere in Zuma case</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=17979">Scorpions grill Shaik for seven hours</a>
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=17846">Show a little respect, says Zuma</a>
As United States and British forces push through Iraq towards Baghdad, another kind of war is in progress: a battle between TV, radio, newspapers and websites to be the first to bring their audience breaking news on Iraq.
No image available
/ 10 January 2003
The digital age is making way for a new world order, according to a new book, writes Matthew Buckland.