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/ 14 April 2008

Robots, our new friends electric?

Fictional robots always have a personality: Marvin was paranoid, C-3PO was fussy and HAL 9000 was murderous. But reality is disappointingly different. Sophisticated enough to assemble cars and assist during complex surgery, modern robots are dumb automatons, incapable of striking up relationships with humans. But that could soon change.

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/ 5 April 2008

Federer faces crisis after miserable run

Once-unstoppable Roger Federer finds himself without a title entering the clay-court portion of the ATP season, a situation that has the world number one looking for reasons why and finding few answers. The Swiss superstar was upset by Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Thursday.

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/ 2 April 2008

Holder Serena crushes Henin in Miami quarters

Champion Serena Williams made world number one Justine Henin look like a mere novice as she pulled off a stunning 6-2 6-0 victory to reach the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday. Williams barely put a foot wrong and reeled off the last nine games to book a last-four date with either her sister Venus or third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

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/ 18 March 2008

Why Microsoft should watch out

It seems that the £200 (about R3 150) ultraportable Asus Eee PC can do no wrong. The size of a paperback, weighing less than a kilogram, with built-in Wi-Fi and using Flash memory instead of a hard drive for storage, the Eee PC has been winning positive comments from both reviewers and users.

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/ 18 February 2008

Cheers as Toshiba nears HD DVD surrender

Investors cheered an impending end to a format war for next-generation DVDs on Monday, pushing up shares of both Toshiba, on the verge of abandoning its HD DVD discs, and Sony, the leader of the rival Blu-ray camp. Toshiba shares jumped 5,1% as analysts praised its decision to cut its losses.

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/ 11 February 2008

Grammys: Kanye West, Aretha Franklin hold court

Two years ago, Kanye West’s Grammy afterparty was a booze-filled, late-night affair with 3 000 screaming guests, bikini-clad women — and his mother, Donda, in the house. He was more subdued at this year’s party, celebrating four Grammy wins on Sunday night in tribute to Donda West, but it was still a boozy, celeb-filled event.

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/ 10 January 2008

What technological surprises does 2008 hold?

What’s in store for tech fans in 2008? Plenty. If the stirrings of the present are any indication of what’s on the horizon, technology buffs can look forward to products that are better, faster, and less expensive than those we rely on today. The best news of all is that some of the most exciting products should appear earlier in 2008 rather than later on.