This week we are joined by Jason Norwood-Young from the Mail & Guardian and Altech Autopage Celular’s CEO Craig Venter. We discuss:

• The high court’s industry-changing decision regarding Altech Autopage Cellular and the VANS industry.
• Comcast in the USA enforcing bandwidth caps at 250 gigabytes and the state of limited access in South Africa.
• Mobile data routing.
• Jason provides dodgy tips for hackers.
• Mozilla Ubiquity - stitching Web content together has never been this easy or awesome.
• Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash, AIR and the future of Web apps.
• Mark Surman leaving the Shuttleworth Foundation and joining the Mozilla Foundation as executive director.
• Britons unhappy with the iPhone’s lack of Flash. Apparently the casing on the 3G iPhone cracks too.
• The introduction of 802.11s and wireless mesh networks.
• The legality of wireless user groups.
• Boosting wireless signals. Don’t try this at home. Seriously.
• The perceived danger of cellular waves (btw, check out this link if you, like Jon, want to know more about non-ionising radiation).

And more….

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In this episode we discuss:

• The launch of Getmo.com - a new media download service.
• Zain/Celtel’s possible entry into the SA market.
• Microsoft’s Tech Ed conference.
• Red Hat setting up office in South Africa.
• The IBM Microsoft-free desktop.
• Ubuntu’s MID edition for portable internet devices.
• MWEB becoming a reseller for Vodacom Service Provider.
• ABSA and Telkom’s deal.
• Neotel’s first television advert.
• The state of spam.

And more…

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This week Duncan’s in Ghana. Something about CNN. He Skypes in and we discuss:

• Why Google didn’t do a doodle for Madiba’s birthday.
• The HP 2133 sub-notebook. Or ‘netbook’, if you will. Brett has one to play with.
• Nokia’s Music store launching in South Africa.
• The Apple versus Psystar court case.
• The WOW Glider court case.
• Nintendo’s Wii taking the lead in US console sales.
• Neotel launching its enterprise services.
• Apple blocking VoIP on the new 3G iPhone.
• Updates on the Viacom vs. Youtube case.
• BT rolling out fibre in the UK.

And more…

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This week the ZA Tech Show crew is joined by Stefano Mattiello, Neotel’s head of enterprise services.

• We talk to Matt about the progress Neotel is making in rolling out its network and bringing new services to market.
• Discuss the problems associated with Vodacom’s new Vodafone Live! browsing ‘enhancements’ that break mobile applications and interfere with mobile Web browsing on the network.
• Look at Nokia’s purchase and promised release of the Symbian mobile platform.
• Speculate on the the mobile market, including rumours regarding the Playstation phone.
• Remember Bill Gates’ last day at work and the extension of Windows XP support to 2014.
• Talk about the future of operating systems.
• Preview ICANN’s proposed introduction of new top-level domain names.
• Give feedback on the Amazon decision to halt services via the South African Post Office.

And more…

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This week we play soothsayer ahead of the WWDC announcement’s by Apple, so listen in and see if we were right about anything. Topics discussed include:

• The local launch of Mario Kart for Wii.
• The next-generation iPhone announcement at Apple’s WWDC.
• Apple IMC’s policy on grey imports and resulting newspaper advertisement.
• Other possible WWDC announcements, such as the rumoured Snow Leopard operating system.
• eBook readers and what would make for a killer device in the space.
• MWEB being sold by Naspers.
• Verizon Business being sold to MTN.
• The bid to buy Telkom’s share capital by the Mvelaphanda Group.
• The necessity of a mobile strategy for Telkom.
• New features in Gmail.
• Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri’s exit from cabinet and strange mutterings in a recent speech.

And more…

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We gather in an overcast Johannesburg this week, sans Ben Kelly, to discuss the following:

• Open document formats and the SABS appealing ISO’s ratification of OOXML.
• The ultra-portable and sub-notebook market and who’s doing what in the space.
• Microsoft’s strategy for Windows on portables.
• Online operating systems, ala Jooce.
• Privacy online and why people trust Google.
• Mashing-up social networks and examples of applications that do this, like Flock.
• Instant messaging.
• Red Hat’s Mugshot.
• Vodacom’s WirelessG, iPass and other innovative wireless offerings, like Skyrove.
• Utility bandwidth.
• Final confirmation of Neotel’s consumer offerings, including uncapped solutions.

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In this week’s episode we’re giving away copies of Norton Antivirus, so take a listen for the details. We also discuss:

• The release of Windows XP Service Pack 3.
• The slow performance of Outlook in Vista.
• WINE finally releasing version 1.0.
• Mac4Lin.
• Progress of the Linux desktop.
• Pzizz - software that makes you sleep. Literally.
• The possibility of a fibre-to-home solution from Neotel. And another slow but uncapped offering too.
• World of Warcraft - and the new ZA Tech Show guild on Whisperwind, US. Send a message to ‘Rootsmanoova’ for an invite…
• InfraCo’s West Coast cable and how it fits into the bigger bandwidth picture.
• New, bigger caps coming to Telkom.
• The first DSTV channel to go HD.
• Noxious Nigel’s attack on local IT professionals and Internet privacy laws.
• Bolton Deventer.
• CNET being acquired by CBS.
• Microsoft and Yahoo! revisited.
• Jon and Google. Not a loving relationship.
• Online verification and why captures are dead.

Durban is probably the best place to live for Fibre… go figure.

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In our tenth episode of ZA Tech Show we are joined by controversial writer David Bullard and Toby Shapshak, editor of Stuff Magazine. We trade the beer in for whisky and discuss:

• David Bullard speaks candidly about his exit from the Sunday Times.
• The future of media and how South Africa is keeping up with online trends.
• The launch of Grand Theft Auto IV (and Mr. Bullard’s experiences with Leisure Suit Larry).
• Ben and Duncan have benchmarked the Neotel consumer connection and present us with the numbers…
• The beta release of Nokia Maps 2.0 with free world maps.
• What technology we would like to see incorporated into cars… and some things that are.

Note: This episode of ZA Tech Show was posted a little later than usual to accommodate public holidays… and due to an FTP technicality. We apologise for any inconvenience!

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In this episode the gang is joined by Gerdus van Eeden, CTO of MultiChoice — our first ever guest on the show. We discuss:

• HD TV coming to DSTV, as well as DVB-H and other network features on the way. Gerdus answers all our questions.
• Ben and Duncan have Neotel handsets! We reveal the consumer offering from the SNO, with pricing.
• Ex Telkom CEO Papi Molotsane is threatening to get back into the telco market.
• Altech’s confusing WiMax situation.
• India’s Bharti Airtel rumored to be interested in MTN.
• Interest supposedly shown in GijimaAST by BT.
• Apple’s acquisition of PA Semiconducor and what this could mean for future products.
• The launch of Nintendo’s Wii Fit
• Facebook Chat
• HP launches its first global Concept Store in South Africa.

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This week Simon Dingle, Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard, Jon Tullett and Duncan McLeod spend a Good Friday morning discussing:

• The passing of Arthur C. Clarke
• Windows Vista Service Pack 1
• Windows XP Service Pack 3
• The rumors surrounding Windows 7
• Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) beta
• A new virus threat surrounding zip files
• MTN’s performance in the Middle East
• Telkom’s new Metro LAN offering
• West coast versus East coast bandwidth
• The ‘all you can eat’ iTunes rumor
• How music publishing and distribution are evolving in the digital age

…and some other stuff in-between.

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