David Shapshak
latest news & developmentsReinventing the ‘old-fashioned stuff’
An extraordinary chef has opened his own deli, named simply Delicatessen, and doesn’t have to tackle a myriad of logistical obstacles to produce his superior brand of food,…
Eating in Deluxe
Besides the so-South African decor and the brilliance of her food’s flavour, what’s so satisfying about the dining experience are the visual tributes to bygone eras, writes David…
We put the educational web to the test
The Internet is unlikely to replace traditional classroom-based education for sometime yet but it is an extensive and valuable resource. This was the conclusion of a group of 16…
Sport: publishing’s banker
If the mix is right, sports can be an extremely lucrative market for a publisher. David Shapshak looks at the newspapers and magazines favoured by the fans.
Rural gateway to the future
How do you introduce first world computer and Internet technologies into the rural heartland of a developing country? You don’t. You introduce appropriate technology to suit the…
Sentech emerges as ‘TNO’
There may be a stalemate over the second national telephone operator (SNO) to rival Telkom — but a third national operator is emerging. State-owned company Sentech has entered…
WiFi seeks hotspots in SA
Labelled "explosive" by Microsoft boss Bill Gates, wireless networking arrived in South Africa this week, with Telkom and M-Web announcing plans to pilot wireless public areas or…
Teaching the teachers
The new Multimedia Rural Initiative is attempting to surmount the various difficulties in training teachers in rural areas, overcoming obstacles such as distance and the lack of…
SA joins identity fraud ‘crime wave’
It may be little consolation to the victims of the online identity thefts whose Absa accounts were defrauded but they are in illustrious company — among the likes of Steven…
Cellphones could create credit for Africa
Because consumers generally carry their cellphones with them there has been a lot of speculation that the device could emerge as the next major way to access the Internet and to…
More bang for your e-buck
The hype around e-commerce may have led to exaggerated expectations about its benefits, but there is no doubt it has significantly changed the way the world does business.
Apple’s music store a big hit
The success of Apple’s iTunes Music Store, where music fans pay to listen to their favourite tunes, has cheered Big Music, the five major labels that backed it in a trial run in…
Card security still a major concern
One of the early comparisons about e-commerce security was that giving your credit card number to a call-centre operator or a waiter in a restaurant was less secure than using it…
HP squares up to big boys
The world’s largest information technology merger is over, but analysts remain sceptical about how the new-look Hewlett-Packard will fare against competitors IBM and Dell.
Apple sings right iTunes
In a week Apple has managed to do more than the entire music industry in a year. When it launched an online music service that uses its iTunes music management software, eyebrows…