Brainstorm Magazine

1. SA is falling behind
(October 2008/Columns)

... that Multi-Choice would rather have its teething troubles away from the scrutiny of the media in Africa’s largest economy, but because our regulators have, to date, stood in the way of launching DVB-H ...

2. Real-time all the time
(October 2008/UpFront)

... real-time services to travellers. Travel technology group Amadeus has launched a mobile version of its CheckMyTrip platform that enables travellers to check the most up-to-date travel itineraries via ...

3. Too much to do…
(October 2008/UpFront)

...  For Auction Alliance, the biggest challenge was developing innovative solutions and maintaining its IT systems and national networks in-house, when its core competency is running auctions, not technology. ...

4. Oracle misses the point
(October 2008/Columns)

... using – within five minutes. There isn’t a commercial “support” agreement on the planet that even comes close to that level of service. If Oracle thinks there won’t be a backlash from discarding its ...

5. It’s your customer, right?
(October 2008/Features)

... customer- interfacing department is going to claim possession of its data, irrespective of any other departments’ rights thereto. IT, as the technology custodian, also has rights to the data, and certainly ...

6. Wonky Wireless
(October 2008/TimeOut)

... mobile friend. Its biggest problem is a device called the Mi-Fi, a portable, battery-powered wireless access point with full security and a SIM slot, for the built-in 3G modem. Sorry, Sitecom. Verdict The ...

7. High-flying or grounded?
(October 2008/UpFront)

... with Fundamo: without banks and without mobile operators, we wouldn’t have a product. It’s seldom you can develop a product that’s going to fly by itself without the involvement of any third parties.” ...

8. Mining robots of the future
(October 2008/UpFront)

Deon Sabatta is building a mobile ‘pack mule’ robot that will follow a human target and navigate its way ‘home’. For most of us, the closest we’ve ever gotten to controlling robots is playing ...

9. Making dumb phones smart
(October 2008/In-Depth Analysis)

... to the iPhone or Android devices. Right now, ten percent of the devices on its network in South Africa are “smartphones”, devices that offer fairly advanced e-mail and internet connectivity. The aim ...

10. Eggs in one basket
(October 2008/In-Depth Analysis)

Fairacres, one of the largest egg producers in the country, has revamped its entire ERP system. Most consumers don’t think about how their food gets from the farm to their plate. Neatly packaged on ...

11. Time is money
(October 2008/In-Depth Analysis)

... of 2012. The final target is 40c per call connected, whereas before this process started, South Africans were paying R1.25. It sounded like a fair enough plan. At its presentation, John Holdsworth, CEO ...

12. From takeovers to takeout
(October 2008/In-Depth Analysis)

... and Cawood himself could stroll around as the affable manager. It sounds idyllic. But any Dimension Data staff expecting him to step down as the CEO of its Middle East & Africa division may have ...

13. CIVETS are the new BRIC
(October 2008/In-Depth Analysis)

Can SA compete with its emerging market competitors, or will it lose out? “Emerging markets will grow three times faster than developed countries this year,” HSBC’s chief executive Michael Geoghegan ...

14. Serious fun and games
(October 2008/In-Depth Analysis)

... games, but the industry is still very much finding its feet in SA,” says Scott Gray, client strategy director at Quirk eMarketing. Will Green, MD of Apurimac Media, a local digital media company, differentiates ...

15. Cowboys in boots?
(October 2008/In-Depth Analysis)

... which limits their ability to effectively address the challenges they face. He says the lure of big salaries is a culprit, attracting people to positions where the executive board demands excellent delivery ...

16. Shooting the moon
(October 2008/In-Depth Analysis)

... perceptions and gargantuan competitors like Microsoft and Apple. Not just a pretty face Now in its tenth incarnation, Ubuntu has come a long way since its launch in 2004. It has offered some consolidation ...

17. More than just certification
(October 2008/Features)

... That is why we’re incorporating it into a much bigger retention strategy. Skills development by itself is not retention strategy. People join great companies but they resign from bad managers. If you want ...

18. But is it safe?
(October 2008/Features)

... at the level of the physical hardware: we can stop a malicious attack before it even hits the operating system, with less overhead.” VMWare is also, says Norton, “working with security vendors to develop ...

19. The cloud is more than just hot air
(October 2008/Features)

... to pin down exactly what cloud computing is, and what it is not, is about as easy as trying to pin down an actual cloud. At its broadest, “the cloud” is synonymous with “the internet”, but that non-definition ...

20. Dumb end-users
(October 2008/Features)

... Crime Complaint Centre, South Africa is now ranked seventh within the top ten cyber-crime perpetrators list, with its African counterpart Cameroon recently added to the rankings in ninth place. Startling ...