South African tech journos indulging in beer and opinion…

Episodes in which we discussed Vista:

ZA Tech Show: Episode 13

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.

Direct file download.

5 comments

ZA Tech Show: Episode 12

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.

Direct file download.

1 comment

ZA Tech Show: Episode 7

All the usual geeks are resident for this episode, in which we discuss:

- A German MP attempting to stop Microsoft from doing business in the EU
- Gartner’s analysis concerning Windows
- The extended OEM period for Windows XP
- Google Apps
- WantItAll
- Podcamp SA
- EMC acquiring Iomega
- Symantec acquiring AppStream
- Adobe Media Player
- The sacking of David Bullard

Direct file download.

8 comments

ZA Tech Show: Episode 6

We have a full-house this week on ZA Tech Show with Simon Dingle, Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod, Jon Tullett and Ben Kelly discussing:

- ISO ratifying OOXML as a standard
- Google Gears allowing you to work on Google Docs offline
- Douglas Merrill resigning as CIO of Google and going to EMI
- Telkom Media’s troubles
- Broadcast regulation in SA
- SA Blog Awards
- Firefox 3 beta 5
- The PWN to OWN awards
- Wordpress 2.5 and web app security
- The promises of Intel Atom and mobile computing
- SA Cricket entering the blogosphere

It’s all yours for Mahala.

Direct file download.

4 comments

ZATS: Episode 4

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.

Direct file download.

5 comments

ZATS: Episode 1


This is the first ever episode of ZA Tech Show! Simon Dingle, Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard, Jon Tullett and Duncan McLeod sit around on a Friday afternoon and discuss the death of HD DVD, the coming of high definition television to South Africa, the local broadband situation, Vista SP1 and other pressing technology issues.

We’d love to hear what you think of our first show - all criticism, praise and worship is welcome. Click here to mail us or alternatively leave a comment below…

You can use our embedded audio player (above) to stream this episode, alternatively:

- Download the audio file.
- Subscribe to podcast via RSS.
- Subscribe to ZATS via iTunes. (Using this link requires that you have iTunes installed. Seriously).

10 comments