MyByte, South Africa's ICT networking community is giving away an iPod to one of our valued members!

Earn "Bytes" now and you could be the winner!

Bytes are points on MyByte you obtain for interacting, networking and sharing content!  You can earn Bytes doing various activities on the site, like referring colleagues, uploading your profile photo, creating groups or share the latest news by creating a blog post.

You can view more information on earning Bytes in the "Bytes" section on your My Tools drop down menu.

The member with the highest Bytes at the end of the Month will win the iPod!

Happy Networking :)

MyByte, South Africa's ICT networking community is giving away an iPod to one of our valued members!

Earn "Bytes" now and you could be the winner!

Bytes are points on MyByte you obtain for interacting, networking and sharing content!  You can earn Bytes doing various activities on the site, like referring colleagues, uploading your profile photo, creating groups or share the latest news by creating a blog post.

You can view more information on earning Bytes in the "Bytes" section on your My Tools drop down menu.

The member with the highest Bytes at the end of the Month will win the iPod!

Happy Networking :)

MyByte would like to congratulate Monique Ross who has won the iPod in last month's iPod competition.

Monique has been avidly adding blog posts, inviting new MyByte members and adding colleagues - thus we would like to thank her for her valued contribution to the MyByte community!

We look forward to hearing more from you Monique.

Happy Networking

MyByte

 If there's one unifying theme at CES 2010, it's as follows: Innovation is everywhere. From 3-D high-definition televisions to slick e-readers, powerful smartphones and a bevy of streaming media devices, the big watchwords this year are versatility, interconnectivity and value. Just a few items that already seem to be emerging as running themes this year based on early preview events, press conferences and, of course, buzz among critics and everyday gadget enthusiasts alike:

1. 3-D, LED and Connected Television
LG, Samsung, Panasonic: You can barely turn around without bumping into a manufacturer pushing an LED (or, even scarier, 3-D) HDTV line as the next big thing. Thankfully, support for wireless internet is also creeping into more sets, letting you access widgets (bite-sized programs that run right on your TV) straight from your living room or stream over content from your PC. While the jury's still out on 3-D, and the need to wear goofy glasses to enjoy it, newswires are abuzz with stories of broadcasters like ESPN and Discovery launching compatible networks. Truthfully, we're more excited about Skype making its debut on sets, possibly bringing casual videoconferencing to mainstream prominence, and turning your couch into a communications hub after years of unfulfilled promise. Companies like Toshiba, with its Cell TV sets, are also planning to offer models with 1080p broadcast and Internet content upscaling, plus built-in hard drives and wireless 802.11n support, as well as the ability to convert 2D content from movies to video games into full 3-D.

2. Tablet PCs and Netbooks
From Asus to Lenovo, everyone's pushing the low-cost, portable systems in slicker, even more transportable formats, albeit many now with touchscreens and beefier processors and graphics cards. More PC for less money, plus you can easily take notes on it and whiz through airport security? That's one trend we can get behind.

3. Portable Projectors
Aimed at business users with presentations to give, a number of companies are pushing portable projector models for BlackBerry and iPhone handsets. Surprisingly capable, these gizmos should be suitable for everyday use, if not pitching million-dollar ad buys, given their decent, if not overwhelming, brightness levels and picture quality. Still, what do you expect from a device that fits in your pocket?

4. E-Readers and E-Book Players
While still expensive and hard to justify as a purchase in the face of software platforms like Blio, which bring rich media content (books, magazines, comics, newspapers, etc.) to all platforms, not just dedicated single-function devices, there's no getting around it: e-readers are everywhere at CES this year in color, touchscreen and other exciting new forms, and genuinely threating to upend the publishing industry within three years, if not completely reduce the newsstand to irrelevance in the next 12-18 months.

5. Streaming Media Extenders
We've still yet to see a single killer app in this category capable of supporting most major multimedia formats and convincing even the staunchest technophobe from buying in with its idiot-proof setup and interface. But it's inevitable that one will arrive at some point, and make streaming audio and video more common than not in the near future, given the preponderance of companies looking to connect your TV, Blu-ray player, receiver, etc. to your home network or the internet.

Source:www.entrepeneur.com

S A  T E C H  H E A D L I N E S

Interconnect drop gets ICASA nod

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has given the green light to cellular operators to cut interconnect rates by 36c from next month, which it says will benefit consumers. Read More

FNB confirms PayPal talks

First National Bank (FNB) has broken its silence and admitted it is in discussions with PayPal, several days after a social networking site said the bank was set to launch the service in April. Read More 

Virtual march to Parliament

Thousands of young South Africans will descend on Parliament for Thursday night's State of the Nation address without actually being there. They will take part in the country's first ever virtual march that will allow them to use cyberspace to take part in the event. Read More

I N T E R N E T 

Google Acquires Aardvark For $50 million (Confirmed)

Google has acquired social search service Aardvark, says a source that has been briefed on the deal, for around $50 million. We first reported on the discussions between the two companies in December. Those discussions have now turned into a signed deal, says our source, and will be announced today or tomorrow. Read More

Yahoo: We're Still in the Search Business

Yahoo says it hasn't ceded Internet search to Google or Bing, and will come out swinging with new features soon. Read More. 

Bringing extensions to Google Chrome for Mac

Microsoft warned on Wednesday that a flaw in its Internet Explorer browser gives attackers access to files stored on a PC under certain conditions. Read More.

An engineer's quest to caption the Web

The Internet used to be a place where Ken Harrenstien could do anything. The Google engineer, who has been deaf since childhood, loved the Web because he could e-mail and chat without the aid of a sign language translator. But as the Web evolved and got faster, online video started to flood in. And all of a sudden, this place that once allowed for limitless communication started to feel walled off to Harrenstien. The reason for Harrenstien's trouble is simple: Almost no video on the Internet comes paired with text captioning for the deaf- he wants to change that.  Read More.

B L O G G I N G & S O C I A L M E D I A

5 Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your Personal Brand Online

A new report by Microsoft states that 64% of HR managers think it is appropriate to look at online profiles of candidates and 41% have rejected people as a result. Your online presence — which may consist of both content that you provide (on your LinkedIn profile for instance), as well as what’s written about you by people you may or may not know — is slowly becoming part of the formal recruitment process. It’s also where first impressions occur before in-person handshakes are made, so you have to make sure you are managing your brand online, before someone else does it for you. The following are five ways to avoid sabotaging your personal brand. Read More.

If Google Wave Is The Future, Google Buzz Is The Present

Google has a problem. Despite having their hands in just about everything online, they’ve never been able to tackle what is a key part of the fabric of the web: social. Yes, they have Orkut and OpenSocial, but no one actually uses them. Okay, some people use them, but not in the meaningful social ways that people use Facebook or even Twitter. Today, Google may have just solved their social problem. Read More

Is This Why Google Created Buzz?

Most of the people I’ve had discussions with regarding buzz all seem to agree that Google placed Buzz inside of Gmail for the “instant userbase”. One of the reasons that Google Wave has seemed to not grab users interest is that it’s on a separate website which creates a need for Google to market the service to users. By jamming it directly inside of one of the most popular email services, Gmail, they instantly have the userbase that Friendfeed never was able to achieve. Even though many of us have talked about a social network inside of email for years, it still seems a bit odd. Read More.www.centernetworks.com/google-created-buzz-twitter

MySpace, R.I.P

Rupert Murdoch’s $580 million MySpace purchase has outlived not only its utility, but has also finally hit its expiration date. That last step came with the announcement that Owen Van Natta was stepping down as chief executive of the company. This was nine months after he joined the Los Angeles-based venture. It’s circling the drains, if you ask me.. Read More.

Facebook pulls 30 UK inmates' pages after taunts

The criminals are behind bars but their victims are still feeling their reach — through the Internet. The British government said Thursday that Facebook had removed the profiles of 30 U.K. inmates at its request after several incidents in which prisoners reportedly used the social networking site to organize crime or taunt others. Read More

YouTube 'brings sexy back' to charity work

(CNN) -- The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank needed a way to tell the world about its work. Shawn Ahmed wanted to continue the video storytelling he'd begun on behalf of the poor in Bangladesh. YouTube wanted to bring them together. The result, YouTube's Video Volunteers page, pairs deserving but underfunded charities with creative video producers willing to help them. The page has brought hundreds of sometimes-offbeat fundraising and promotional videos to the same site that launched such Web celebrities as singer Susan Boyle and the "Leave Britney Alone" guy. Read More.

B U S I N E S S  T E C H 

Archiving to the Cloud

Recent research seems to indicate that there is more interest in the cloud as a backup solution than as a general-purpose storage platform. What are some of the advantages the cloud has over local or even traditional online backup solutions? How can this benefit a business?  Read More.

O N L I N E  M A R K E T I N G & S E O 

7 Answers to SEO Questions You Should Know

If I’m not currently optimizing my site and I have a limited budget, where do I start? Is it useful to submit Press Releases to Social Media sites in addition to submitting to PRWeb.com? And more important SEO questions answered. Read More.

Local Marketing Tips from Jivox: Turn Your TV Spots into Online Video Ads

Video marketing expert offers practical tips on how businesses can easily transform TV commercials into interactive video ads to promote their products and services online. Read More.

3 Ways to Beat E-Mail Fatigue

If an email marketer is able to make it past an ISP's rigorous deliverability standards and past the minefield of malware looking to latch onto legitimate messaging it then must contend with another significant barrier: reader fatigue. Read More.

A Step by Step 15 Minute SEO Audit (A Sample from SEO Secrets)

The basics of SEO problem identification can be done in about 15 minutes. When completing this audit I recommend you take notes based on the action items listed in each section. This will help you later when you do a deeper dive of the website. This audit  will help you quickly identify major problems so you can convince your clients that your services are worthwhile and that you should be given a chance to dig deeper.  Read More.

S O F T W A R E

Windows 8 to be “Completely Different” and “Mind-Blowing”

Over the course of the past week and a half, a couple of individuals from Microsoft have commented about Windows 8 in a rather excited manner. First, there was a blog entry on January 31, 2010 (which has since then been deleted) on an MSDN blog titled, “Whats in store for the next Windows?” It’s a great read from an obviously excited employee bursting at the seams to say SOMETHING about Windows 8 — or, as he referred to it as, “Windows.next.” Below is the article in its entirety prior to its deletion (which you can still find cached in Google here): Read More.

Opera Mini for iPhone Announced

There's bound to be plenty of excitement later this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona . So as not to be lost in the shuffle of eager story filings, Opera Software today announced its plans for the show--namely, the debut of Opera Mini for the iPhone. Read More.

Office For Mac 2011 First Look: Ribbons, Sharing, and... Outlook?

There's been a funny disconnect over the years between Office for Mac and Office for PC, which staggered release dates and differing feature sets between the two. To an extent, Office 2011 for Mac brings the platforms back in sync. Here's what to expect... Read More.

Droid Hack Lets You Plug Peripherals Into Your Phone

Hacker Chris Paget figured out how to enable USB host mode on the Motorola Droid, a smartphone running the Google Android operating system. Read More.

Microsoft to crack down on Windows 7 activation cracks

Microsoft today said it will soon will feed Windows 7 users an update that detects illegal copies installed using more than 70 different activation cracks. Read More

OpenOffice 3.2 Released

"Version 3.2 of the OpenOffice.org office suite is now available. This marks the tenth anniversary year of the office suite, with over three hundred million downloads recorded in total. The new features include faster start up times; improved compatibility with open standard (ODF) and proprietary file formats; improvements to all components, particularly the Calc spreadsheet, with over a dozen new or enhanced features; and the Chart module (usable throughout OpenOffice.org) has had a usability makeover as well as offering new chart types." Read More

H A R D W A R E

E-readers take CES by storm

Never mind 3D televisions. If there's one gadget that's positively exploding at CES this week, it's electronic book readers. Read More.

Bill Gates Joins the iPad's Army of Critics. Steve Jobs Couldn't Care Less

With the sudden ridicule of Steve Jobs’ new do-everything media player, Apple has abruptly become a ripe target for those who would like to take it down a notch. The tsunami of criticism is probably excessive, but it does show a change in how people perceive Apple. Suddenly, it seems, Apple and its visionary leader are fair game. Maybe it’s because we’re less worried that Steve is on his deathbed, and that makes attacking him okay. And perhaps it’s because the iPad is arguably the ultimate example of Apple’s penchant for pre-release speculation and hype gone wild. Read More.

In their words: Experts weigh in on Mac vs. PC security

When I am asked the question "Which is more secure, Mac or PC?" I find myself stumbling around for a response because I don't have a clear-cut answer. I use both. And I use antivirus software with both.

So I decided to conduct an informal survey of a bunch of security experts and see what they had to say in the hopes that people can use the information to help them come to their own conclusions. Read More.

Review: 4 netbooks power up with the Atom N450 chip

Despite the emergence of trendy new devices like Apple's iPad, netbooks will continue to be one of the fastest-growing notebook segments, according to market research firm DisplaySearch. In a December 2009 report, the company predicted that sales of what it calls "mini-notes" will increase from 16.4 million units in 2008 to 39.7 million by the end of 2010, and account for one in five portables sold. Many of the latest netbooks are powered by Intel's Atom N450 processor, which boosts a netbook's ability to perform well while extending battery life. Called Pine Trail while under development by Intel, the Atom N450 started shipping in January and represents a major redesign from the previous N270 version of the Atom processor. Read More

D E V E L O P E R S 

Flash Developer Toolbox Essentials

All of these tools are free and cross-platform unless otherwise stated. None of this will be news to the seasoned Flash devs, but most Flash developers should find it very useful. Read More.

Java Serialization: Persist Your Objects

When a Java application is executed, a large number of objects are created. Most of these objects are created and destroyed in the runtime. It would be convenient if Java saved these objects for future use or recreated them from an existing source and then used them—even when the application is re-run after it was stopped. The good news is Java does support this mechanism with the Java Serialization API. Read More.

Drupal Node Widget

Node Widget allows to create and edit referenced nodes (stored in CCK nodereference fields) in the same form used to edit the main content. An editing form for referenced nodes is embedded in the main editing form; it is possible to select which fields should appear in this subform. Read More.

Create Custom Web-based Graphs with the Google Chart API and PHP

To help developers represent data as convenient charts such as this, Google (perhaps the reigning champion of data aggregation) released the Google Chart API in late 2007. In his Web Developer's Virtual Library tutorial, Jason Gilmore shows you how to use the Google Chart API in conjunction with PHP to create a variety of useful charts. Read More. 

G A D G E T B O X 

Sony To Offer Blu-ray 3D

Sony plans to offer a firmware upgrade this summer that will make several of its disc players capable of playing Blu-ray 3-D movies in time for the release of the company's 3-D televisions. Read More 

Historic 3D broadcast aired

Sky became the first provider to broadcast any live event using digital 3D techniques over the weekend, when Manchester United’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal went out over the airwaves. Read More.

Lenovo C315 All-In-One Has Touchscreen Powers

Today Lenovo unveiled their C315 touchscreen all-in-one desktop. It may not be the peppiest system on the market, but $650 for a 20-inch touchscreen AIO PC sounds pretty good to me. Read More.

Simple Phones to Enhance Your Health

Jitterbug CEO David Inns showcases a phone designed to enhance your health. Watch Video

C A R E E R S 

IT career: What's hot (cloud computing) and what's not (tech certs)

The Hackett Group is advising companies to not hire back U.S. and European IT workers who have been laid off; instead they recommend filling any needs overseas. (The IT positions they are referring to are those that such as support and systems administration.) A Goldman Sachs study predicts a 4 percent rise in IT spending in larger companies, which indicates some positive momentum. Surveys by IDC and Gartner also predict slight upticks in IT spending in 2010. Read More 

 (CNN) -- Some people think of online gamers and see gaunt loners huddled in dark rooms, the sad blue glow of the computer screen on their faces as their lives pass them by.

Game designer Jane McGonigal sees "superheroes" with untapped potential that can be used to fix vexing real-world problems.

"Gamers are willing to work hard all the time if they're given the right work," she said. She calls them "super-empowered, hopeful individuals," and includes herself among the bunch.

McGonigal's latest online game, called "Urgent Evoke," launches on Wednesday. With it, she hopes to channel the obsessive focus online games create into something more productive than conquering monsters and earning virtual weapons.

She wants to push people in Africa -- a long-troubled continent where people might feel less empowered than elsewhere -- to solve problems like environmental degradation, lack of food, water scarcity, poverty and violence.

To do this, the Urgent Evoke game -- classified in the emerging "alternate reality" genre -- straddles the online and physical worlds. Players, a few hundred of whom are in Africa, earn points and power-ups by completing real-world tasks like volunteering, making business contacts or researching an issue, then submitting evidence of their work online.

At the end of the game, McGonigal expects some players to have business plans about how they will improve the world.

Play a game, get a job

Depending on how well the game goes, Urgent Evoke could influence the future of alternate reality gaming and spur innovation in Africa.

Bob Hawkins, senior education specialist with the World Bank Institute, said one big reason people in African countries aren't as entrepreneurial and innovative as those in the West is that they don't feel as empowered to create change. That's largely why his international development group is funding McGonigal's project to the tune of $500,000.

"There have been studies, for instance, in South Africa that the public investment in universities isn't producing the types of new ideas and innovation that industry wants," he said. "What happens is that industry is importing ideas from outside the continent and outside of South Africa."

He hopes Urgent Evoke will empower people in Africa to change their own futures. This game will act as a kind of hyper-engaged online social network, he said, setting people in the developing world up with contacts in Europe, the United States and elsewhere who may offer insight or even cash.

An unannounced number of game "winners" will be given mentorships, internships, start-up money and scholarships for playing the game.

Responding to an 'Evoke'

At first, none of that may sound especially game-like.

But McGonigal, the game designer, said the power of Urgent Evoke is that it doesn't feel like work when you're immersed in the story and working with other gamers around the world to chase bite-sized goals.

Video: Watch McGonigal explain her game 

Urgent Evoke gamers follow a story that's presented each week like a comic book online. The central figure of the Evoke narrative is a mysterious character who spots the world's big problems and sends out "Urgent Evoke" messages to a team of game players on Wednesdays, asking for help.

A new challenge, such as a famine or water shortage, is presented to players at midnight for 10 weeks. Players earn points by accepting the challenges and then responding with evidence that they've used their real-life "superhero" powers to help. A person might, for example, contact a community organization that specializes in environmental issues, or try to provide meals for someone in their neighborhood.

Players catalogue their activities and submit the evidence in the form of a blog post, a video or a photo, which players post on theUrgent Evoke Web site.

Other people in the game network read these posts and, if they feel the player has done a good job, can award them further power-ups in a number of categories like creativity, collaboration, sustainability and courage.

Players with the most points at the end of the game win, but McGonigal and Hawkins said the experience of playing is what's most valuable.

The game will "open their eyes to the range of challenges that they could roll up their sleeves and take on," Hawkins said.

Potential for addiction

McGonigal makes the controversial argument that if people played more online games like Urgent Evoke or World of Warcraft, our society would be better equipped to battle big problems.

That's because gamers are trained to believe they can win, and because they're matched with tasks that are fit to their skill levels, based on what level they've achieved in the game, she said.

McGonigal wants to see people exhibit the same level of enthusiasm and optimism they display in games in their real lives.

People spend a collective 3 billion hours per week playing online games today, she said. That number must be 21 billion -- seven times the current amount -- for our society to realize its innovative and creative potential, she said.

Not everyone thinks that's a good thing.

Kimberly Young, a PhD psychologist and founder of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, argued that online games, educational or not, are an addictive force in our society.

People can learn and develop skills in online worlds, she said, but "they do that to the exclusion of developing those skills in the real world."

Internet access

Even those who support the Urgent Evoke game admit it faces a number of challenges.

Chief among them is that the online game is designed particularly for people in Africa, a continent where people have less Internet access than anywhere.

About 400 of the 3,500 people who have signed up for the game so far come from Africa, said Hawkins. He said the World Bank is launching an ad campaign in South Africa to encourage people to play.

Many university students have access to computer labs with the Internet, he said, and the game is designed so it can also be played over SMS text messaging or on mobile phones that use the Opera Mini operating system, which is popular on the continent.

"Even if you never get to a computer, you could do everything that you would need to do in the game on your cell phone," McGonigal said. "Pretty much everyone that we would be trying to reach through this game has cell phone access."

People outside Africa are also encouraged to play, and the game has a "mentorship" program so people all over the world can give guidance.

Lasting impact

The other nagging question is to what extent the online game actually can inspire lasting change in the real world.

McGonigal's previous work shows some degree of lasting change may be possible.

In 2007, she created an online game called "World Without Oil," which challenged people to re-imagine their lives without their dependence on fossil fuels. McGonigal did not conduct scientific focus groups with the game's 1,700 players, but she said she has gotten feedback from many of the players. They reported their energy consumption habits changed during the game and that they've kept those changes up in the years that have followed, she said.

For Urgent Evoke, McGonigal said she plans to conduct surveys of participants to see if the game actually led to real-world change.

She said she will measure success by how involved people are in the game, whether they stick with the story until the end and if they've joined organizations or taken real steps to create change in their communities.

If all goes well, the World Bank may sponsor an Arabic version of the game next year. There are also tentative plans to hold sequels in Africa.

In the wake of the devastating Haiti earthquake, the Red Cross has already been able to raise $5 million for relief through $10 donations via text message, while Google has stepped up to the plate with a $1 million donation of its own.

But lots of other tech and Internet outfits are quickly moving to get involved too, both with their wallets and on-the-fly updates to their services that go towards helping the cause. Here’s a look at a number of initiatives that have come across our radar — please add links to others in the comments.

Zynga: The social gaming company has added virtual goods to its games – including Farmville – that go towards Haiti relief. So far, the effort has raised $1.2 million according to Social Times.

Skype: The VoIP service has sent $2 vouchers to all of its customers in Haiti, allowing them to make up to one hour worth of calls to US.

Salesforce: The CRM software provider has set up a donation matching program – i.e. – for every $1 you donate to Red Cross or World Vision, Salesforce will also give $1, up to $200,000 total.

T-Mobile: According to CNET, the carrier has dropped all charges for calls and texts to Haiti through the end of the month. Other carriers are waving charges for the donation text message that has been so successful for the Red Cross.

MyYearbook: The social network is allowing members to donate their virtual currency to the Haiti Relief Fund. So far, members have pledged $3.5 billion in “LunchMoney.” We’ve followed up with the company to see how much real world money that equals.

GoDaddy: The domain registrar has donated $500,000 to relief efforts.

Facebook: The company is leveraging its “Disaster Relief on Facebook” Page to spotlight ways that members can get involved. Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg blogged about the effort earlier today.

Source: http://mashable.com/2010/01/14/help-haiti-tech/

For the rest of the article please click here http://www.itnews.com/antitrust/13260/european-union-clears-oracles-purchase-sun

Source: www.ITnews.com

S A  T E C H  H E A D L I N E S

ICASA will not bend on interconnect
In a dramatic turn of events, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has refused to review the applications submitted by MTN, Vodacom and Cell C detailing the terms of lower interconnect rates they have agreed to. Read More
Read More

Operators defy ICASA
In defiance of the regulator's decision not to allow planned interconnect rate cuts, mobile operators Vodacom, MTN and Cell C will go ahead with their proposals to lower rates in March.Read More
read More

Telkom's IT division under threat
Telkom's IT division is facing an uncertain future, as the company admits plans are under way to “optimise” the business. Read More
Read More

I N T E R N E T

Is It Time for the Web to Abandon Flash?
The public battle between Adobe and Apple over bringing Flash to the iPhone, and now iPad, platforms has heated up the debate over the life expectancy of Flash as newer technologies, specifically the emerging HTML5 standard, enter the scene. Read More
Read More

Skype over iPhone 3G Network Coming Soon, Thanks to iPad
The Skype app for the iPhone is a stellar (and free!) download for anyone looking to connect via VoIP, but its one major flaw was its inability to conduct calls via 3G or EDGE networks. Meanwhile, other VoIP iPhone apps, such as iCall and Fring, have been riding AT&T's 3G wave for quite some time, making Skype look behind the times. The battle escalated to the point where an Internet advocacy group called Free Press filed a complaint with the FCC alleging anticompetitive practices.

Read More.

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Google complaint highlights China-based hacking
Google's accusation that its e-mail accounts were hacked from China landed like a bombshell because it cast light on a problem that few companies will discuss: the pervasive threat from China-based cyberattacks.
Read More.
 

IE flaw gives hackers access to user files, Microsoft says
Microsoft warned on Wednesday that a flaw in its Internet Explorer browser gives attackers access to files stored on a PC under certain conditions.

Read More.
 

Facebook’s Project Titan: A Full Featured Webmail Product
Facebook is completely rewriting their messaging product and is preparing to launch a fully featured webmail product in its place, according to a source with knowledge of the product. Internally it’s known as Project Titan. Or, unofficially and perhaps over-enthusiastically, the Gmail killer.

Read More.

B L O G G I N G & S O C I A L M E D I A

Blogs Are Out, Social Networking Is In?
If you're still a fan of blogging, you're probably over 30. Members of the under-30 crowd are blogging less but social networking more, according to the Pew Research Center. Twitter tends to be popular among high-school girls. Pew said new Facebook and MySpace tools encourage micro-blogging. Businesses targeting youths should use shorter messages.

Read More.
 

Glue Introduces a New Way to Target Influencers
At GetGlue.com, each item or topic can has fans. The top fan, or the person that knows that topic better than anyone else, is the Guru. This is very similar to the Mayor system in Foursquare. Like Foursquare, GetGlue also lets you earn badges for recommending or rating items. The Guru system was initially about bragging rights, but starting today, Gurus will be given some new powers and abilities to enhance the community experience. A new way to target online influencers?

Read More.
 

Facebook comes out swinging at critics of settlement offer in Beacon lawsuit
Facebook has come out swinging at those opposing a settlement offer it made last year in a privacy lawsuit involving the social networking company's controversial Beacon behavioral tracking service.

Read More.
 

A New Debate on Blog Comments is Brewing
If you’ve been following the blogging and social media scene over the last five or more years, you know that there’s one heated debate that keeps on showing up: the debate about comments on blogs. Should blogs have comments? Should these comments be moderated? When has a comment gone too far? Judging from a couple of recent events, it’s once again time to rethink these issues.

Read More.

B U S I N E S S  T E C H

Align IT with business strategy
King III recommends that IT should be integrated with company strategy, according to Judge Mervyn King, chairman of the King Committee. During his keynote address at the ITWeb IT Governance, Risk and Compliance conference in Johannesburg, yesterday, King pointed out that companies no longer look at business in silos. “It is crucial for IT to be built into the business plan, as its main role is to facilitate the achievement of business strategy and add value.”

Read More.
 

O N L I N E  M A R K E T I N G & S E O

Marketers Less Concerned about Social Media Metrics This Year
Companies will increase their digital marketing budgets by an average of 17% in 2010, according to new research by Econsultancy and ExactTarget today. The new report, Marketing Budgets 2010: Effectiveness, Measurement and Allocation, finds that digital marketing will account for 24% of overall marketing spend this year.

Read More.
 

It’s a Feeding Frenzy for Keyword-Rich Domains
It’s a well-known fact in the SEO world that Google shows enormous favoritism in its rankings to domain names that contain one or more of the keywords being searched for.The net result of the world realizing that Google works this way is pretty predictable: mass buying of keyword-rich domains, and trying to turn those into top rankings and monster-sized site traffic.

Read More.

Answers to all your frequently-asked questions about Google AdWords
How to work out which search words are best, what is quality score and how to improve it and more important Adwords questions answered.

Read More.
 

5 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Website for Bing
Since its launch, Bing has proven itself to be very amenable to webmasters' optimization efforts. That means that with a little tweaking you can get your site listed at the top of Bing's search results quickly. And if your site is brand-new, you can probably get it indexed faster on Bing than on Google, so you might want to focus your optimization on Bing first. Then, once you're ranked well in Bing's listings, you can tweak your optimization efforts to meet Google's more stringent requirements.

Read More.
 

S O F T W A R E

Symbian phone software now available for free
Beginning Thursday the Symbian Foundation planned to release, for free, a large part of the software that powers the most smart phones in the world.

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Microsoft readies Office 2010 upgrade program
It is not uncommon for Microsoft to launch a "technology guarantee" program ahead of a new version of Office or Windows, offering buyers of a product late in one cycle an upgrade to the new version once it comes out. So it's not a shocker that Microsoft has one planned for Office 2010. According to the now-removed posting, the program will kick off March 5, meaning people who purchase Office 2007 between March 5 and September 30 can get a free upgrade to a comparable version of Office 2010. Users will be able to download Office 2010 as soon as it is made broadly available.

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Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard – Review
THE GOOD: Interface enhancements like Expose in the Dock and better file and folder viewing in Stacks make finding apps and files much easier. A completely overhauled QuickTime X now sports a cleaner interface and recording tools. The much-anticipated Exchange support across Mail, the Address Book, and iCal is huge for those who take their Macs to work. THE BAD: Snow Leopard works with Intel Macs only; PowerPC users are out of luck; requires $29 upgrade fee. THE BOTTOM LINE: Intel Mac users will like Snow Leopard's smartly designed interface enhancements, and its Exchange support is a must-have (especially with Outlook for Mac on the way). With a ton of technological improvements, Snow Leopard is worth the $29 upgrade fee.

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Log Your Activity With Freebie Anuran
For a straightforward, lightweight tool that makes it easy to journal your everyday activities, check out Anuran (free/donationware).

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H A R D W A R E

Mac sales can't keep pace with cheap PCs, Apple slips to No. 5
While Mac sales in the U.S. were up 31% in the fourth quarter of 2009, Apple was unable to keep pace with exploding sales of cheap Windows PCs, and fell to the No. 5 spot in the U.S., research firm IDC said Wednesday.

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Servers get a makeover in 2010
Virtualization will hit a hot streak in 2010, and enterprises will order more systems fully loaded with maximum processing power, memory and I/O capabilities. Read More.
 

Intel preparing six-core chips for desktops, servers
Intel is preparing six-core chips for high-end desktops and servers for release in the first half of this year, the company said Wednesday.The six-core chips will be based on the company's latest Westmere architecture and deliver faster performance and more power savings compared to earlier quad-core chips, Intel said on a conference call. The chips will contain 1.17 billion transistors and include 12MB of cache, a company spokesman said.

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D E V E L O P E R S

New Year, New Gear for Java/Open Source Developers
In a month when devices like Google's Nexus One and Apple's iPad grabbed the headlines and tweet buzz, Java and open source developers got a number of releases to add to their toolboxes as well—and they didn't have wait in lines or count down the hours until their gadgets hit the shelves. They needed only point their browsers to the proper URLs to access all the goodies made available during January 2010. Let's take a look back at the month that was in code releases.

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Why New App Stores are Embracing Open Development
The Apple App Store set the standard for a centralized, trusted marketplace of device-specific software applications. Now, three billion downloads later, technology titans like Intel and Ford are attempting to strike pay dirt with their own app stores.

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Mashable's 11 Outstanding Online Resources for Web Developers
If you’re a web developer, you’re almost certainly constantly looking for ways to improve your skills, expand your technology arsenal, and keep on top of the latest trends in development and design. Whether you need to pick up a new coding language, get informed about new standards, brush up on best practices, or simply get inspired by great examples from your peers, we’ve collated a number of great resources to help you stay at the top of your game.

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Distributed Application Communication Using WCF
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is a subset of the .NET Framework that is designed to take interoperability in distributed application environments to the next level. With the emergence and acceptance of Web services and their accompanying protocols and standards, development of distributed applications has become a developer norm. WCF simplifies that development by introducing a service- oriented programming model that at its base provides asynchronous and untyped message-passing. Extending from the base are options and protocols designed to give the developer choice in transport and encoding methods among many other configurations.

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G A D G E T B O X

What a Google Chrome Tablet Might Look Like
Apple might have dominated the news last week with its iPad announcement, but the company hardly has a monopoly on the burgeoning media tablet market. Last night, Glen Murphy, who does user interface for Google, blogged about some Chrome OS-based tablet ideas that Google has been toying with.

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Top 5 best desktop computers
The best desktop computers for 2010 as chosen by Cnet.

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Kindle vs. iPad roundup
Since Apple’s iPad announcement last week, countless stories have been written comparing the tablet device with the Kindle and Kindle DX. Here’s a glimpse at what’s being said on the internet in the iPad vs. Kindle debate.

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Google Nexus- now with multitouch
Google just released a new software update for the Nexus One that, among other things, adds pinch-to-zoom functionality to the phone’s Browser, Gallery and Map applications.

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 Home Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has cancelled the smart card ID project, saying her department has run out of money after it used the R114 million allocated for the project “for other things”.

While Zuma previously highlighted the importance of the project, she has now stated the project will not continue in the current financial year, as no money has been allocated to it.

The department allocated R114 million for the project in June 2008, for the 2009/10 financial year. Another R335 million was expected to be allocated for the project for the following financial year, but the funding was not approved.

“In our budget, we don't have the money for the smart card... but once we have an alternative we will try to put in a bid in the next budget,” says Dlamini-Zuma.

The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) was mandated by Cabinet to replace the national identity document with a smart ID card. The smart cards, which will have embedded chips in them, are set to be used for a number of functions, such as the payment of pensions and social grants. Other possible uses are being considered.

The project was originally supposed to be piloted at the end of 2008, using pensioners as the sample group, but this did not happen. In March last year, ITWeb reported the pilot was delayed and it would take about three months to start once the tender to manufacture the ID cards had been awarded.

However, the project was cancelled in August 2009, following requests by the DHA to restart the tender process.

“Having stopped the tender, the money went back to treasury and, with the recession and all the problems we have, the money was then used for other things, but we are still pursuing [the project],” says Dlamini-Zuma.

Still SITA?

Last year, she announced the DHA was looking to award the tender for the long-awaited smart ID card project within the current financial year.

Dlamini-Zuma, however, also publicly lambasted the State IT Agency (SITA) for the delays to the project, saying the agency didn't “do as it was supposed to do”, with tender irregularities leading to cancellation of the tender.

The DHA has also not yet released the findings of a forensic audit on the tender process. A forensic report was requested by SITA in 2008 on the tender process. The agency says the report is yet to be validated by the DHA.

“We are not sure whether we should go back to SITA, or be given an alternative way of dealing with [the tender]. So that is the situation we find ourselves in with the smart card,” Dlamini-Zuma explains.

Source: ITWeb 

Apple removed several Wi-Fi apps commonly referred to as stumblers, or apps that seek out available Wi-Fi networks near your location. According to a story on Cult of Mac, apps removed by Apple include WiFi-Where, WiFiFoFum, and yFy Network Finder.

(Credit: Apple)

"We received a very unfortunate e-mail today from Apple stating that WiFi-Where has been removed from sale on the App Store for using private frameworks to access wireless information," WiFi Where-maker Three Jacks Software, wrote on its Web site.

There was no explanation as to what Apple meant by "private frameworks." Apple representatives were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNET.

TechCrunch says Tonchidot, a Tokyo-based developer, had its app Sekai Camera removed because of its use of Wi-Fi, too. Sekai Camera uses PlaceEngine as a way to determine a user's location over Wi-Fi.

PlaceEngine developer Koozyt says other apps that use its technology have also been removed, including Yahoo! Maps for the iPhone.

This isn't the first time Apple has gone after a category of apps. In late February, Apple targeted "overtly sexual" apps, removing almost 5,000 apps from the App Store.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10464021-37.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

 In a blog post today, Google essentially reminds its enterprise customers that Google Apps provides an alternative to expensive, complex solutions as far as data disaster recovery goes.

Synchronous replication is a system that Google Apps uses to store customer’s info in two data centers at once, so that if one data center fails, Google says it nearly instantly transfers data over to the other one that’s also been reflecting the actions taken by the customer all along.

On the practical side this means that thanks to the cloud-based storage solution, Google customers won’t lose any data in a data center failure. Just as crucially, they are theoretically back up and running straight away — although the online giant does acknowledge that no backup solution is perfect.

This synchronous replication is applied to the entire Apps suite as well as Gmail (Google Calendar,Google Docs and Google Sites), with the sales angle being enterprise-class back-up for all at a much lower cost than if companies were to provide or contract separately for their own data redundancy systems.

Google, ever keen to push its Apps suite to new corporate clients of all sizes, estimates that this kind of backup could cost up to $500 for 25GB of data from other providers, but says it can bundle it in because it’s already running large, fast data centers.

This is essentially Google reminding enterprise customers (and potential customers) about one of the significant benefits of cloud computing over traditional in-house server farm data storage. How does your business handle data backup and redundancy issues? Do you think cloud computing is the ideal solution to hardware failure?

Source: Mashable 

http://mashable.com/2010/03/04/google-apps-disaster-recovery/ 

In December, Yahoo revealed a new strategy: lots and lots of Facebook. Today the company announced that it’s gradually rolling out the first feature to come from the partnership — Facebook Connect integration with Yahoo Mail.

The new feature means that Yahoo Mail users can now connect their Facebook accounts and integrate theirFacebook friends’ e-mail addresses into their Yahoo Contacts list. Users can visit the Import Contacts page to be guided through he Facebook friend import process.

Of course, this is just the beginning of the full FacebookConnect feature bonanza on Yahoo. You can expect functionality to be integrated into News, Sports, Finance and even Flickr in the months ahead.

Given that Facebook is now 400 million members strong, we have to believe that there’s a significant shared user base between Facebook and Yahoo. In a perfect world, Yahoo will see those users stay on Yahoo properties and use the Facebook contact and sharing functionality to push Yahoo content out to the world’s largest social network and generate more traffic in return.

Source; Mashable

St. Petersburg may be best known for its imperial palaces, famous museums, and White Nights, but it is also a growing hub of Russian hi-tech. Join us on the fast train to the Northern Capital, and we will take you off the typical tourist map to visit top-class naval navigators, the worlds most powerful neutron-beam reactor, Intels Russian innovators, and a new generation of wireless wonders. St. Petersburg lights a whole new way on Technology Update. Weve got the future covered.

 Nexus One Review: The Hardware Isn't The Problem, Android Is

It's never an easy task to review a device that you've had for less than two or three or even four weeks. The rush of trying to be beat other outlets constantly hangs over your shoulder. Do you rush to get a review out and subject yourself to the criticism that comes with having left off the most critical or asinine factoid possible? In this day and age, yes. Have I done that with this review? Perhaps, but this is all part of the job, I suppose.

I recently sat down with a friend and had a candid discussion about the review process for mobile devices. It's too short. Most phone manufacturers and carriers give journalists and bloggers alike about a week to review something. That's simply not enough time, IMHO. Said friend has been in this industry far longer than I have, so it wasn't Joe Blow off the street yammering on like an ass. This is a real problem, folks, and you're the one that gets the short end of the stick. I pump out my review after a week but continue to live with the device for another few weeks while you go off and buy product x. I'm not saying my review is BS but I'd feel better about it if I was given more time. But this isn't the first time I've had my hands on the Nexus One. Now that the device is out, I can say that I handled one prior to the press conference last week in Mountain View, CA.

(More on Techland: Liveblog: Google's Android Press Event)

I first reviewed the T-Mobile G1 in October of 2008 and suggested folks to pass on the device and the OS. I've since changed my mind about the OS and suggest it whole-heartedly. However, the one disclaimer always circles back to the hardware: it's only ever good enough. Every Android device has had a ‘skinny' screen making it difficult to type on the virtual keyboard in portrait mode. Or so I thought was the only problem.

Hardware
The HTC built Nexus One is the best touch-screen only Android device. Motorola's Droid is still the best Android device with a physical QWERTY keyboard to date. Please stop asking me which one you should get. The software will soon be the same and it simply boils down to hardware preference.

(More on Techland: Motorola DROID Review)

What HTC has done on the hardware side is quite remarkable. The Nexus One's hardware blows every other device that's currently available on the market out of the water. You not only have a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, but you have a gorgeous 3.7-inch AMOLED capacitive touch-screen (800x480) along with all the amenities you would expect – Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth, 512MB of RAM and a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. And for those needing some physical attributes, the Nexus One comes with a trackball that comes in handy when editing or navigating through text. Overall, the Nexus One is slim and trim and feels damn good in the hand.

The one hardware issue with all Android devices before the Nexus One has been screen size. They've simply been too narrow to type comfortably on the virtual keyboard in portrait mode. HTC alleviates this with the Nexus One. It's roughly 1mm thinner than the iPhone giving users a smidge of breathing room, but Google went with their stock Android keyboard, which stinks. Had HTC been able to implement its Sense, we might all be better off. Otherwise, the screen is exquisite. Colors are vibrant and pop right off the screen when screen brightness is maxed out. Unfortunately, the screen gets completely washed out under direct sunlight.

I don't typically make a lot of phone calls. I don't actually like the sound of the human voice, but in this case, I made an exception and made a few phone calls. Call quality on both ends is crisp and clear thanks to the dual noise canceling mics. The speaker is located on the rear next to the camera making it difficult to hear in noisy areas but it's loud enough otherwise.

(More on Techland: The Nexus One Cheat Sheet)

Speaking of cameras, the 5-megapixel camera on the Nexus One is pretty spectacular. There's no physical button like on the Droid, so you're relegated to tapping on the camera icon to fire it up, but it starts up quickly - much faster than the iPhone 3GS. But the iPhone 3GS seems to take pictures a tad faster. Here's a picture sample, video sample (the weird glare is coating on the window that's visible to the naked eye) and short video of boot up time.

Read more: http://techland.com/2010/01/11/nexus-one-review-the-hardware-isnt-the-problem-android-is/#ixzz0dL2vbsRl

There's a wealth of High Def video available on the web these days on Hulu, Netflix, Vimeo and YouTube. To watch this stuff on your full-size HDTV instead of your laptop's 13 or 14 inch screen, learn how to hook your computer to your TV.

Source: Wired.com