Some really impressive work:
Microsoft’s Courier Tablet
Still in the prototype phase, but it’s a very clever application of technology – producing something that’s like a device you’re already familiar with, but much, much better. And yes, it’ll blow the iPad out of the shallow water it’s in.
Eugh, the iPad. Bad name, given all the iTampon jokes. They really should have gone with iSlate…
Bandwidth usage report
I’m proud of myself. I started the month with a little under 5.6gb, and I’ve kept my usages down to a minimum I didn’t think possible:
Those first 2 days are so high thanks to my computer being reformatted 7 times, with 3 OSes installed in the space of a single weekend, each one doing several hundred MBs in updates. Apart from that, I’ve been using an average of 168MB/day, with a max of 416mb and a min of 66mb.
But more importantly, I haven’t missed uncapped. Not in the slightest. It was fun to have, but it’s one of those things I seem to have done fine without. Granted, I’ve had to skip quite a few youtube videos, but that’s just a major time drain anyway 
When this ADSL bottoms out, I’ll finally be able to hop over to the Afrihost bandwagon, with my fresh new 3gb still waiting (dutifully!) to be called into action.
I weep for literacy
This is where our “advanced” technology leads – people who absolutely refuse to type properly. Maybe the human race really is getting dumber, marching obliviously towards self-imposed Orwellian rule…
570k? I doubt it
Interesting claim came down the wire this morning – that SA had 4.6m Facebook, 570k Twitter and 520k LinkedIN users. Said claim originated from an account owned by a lady who runs what she calls the “Goddess Academy”, an academy that basically serves to self-create idols out of the participants, by “recalling” their “divinity”. Hence I’m a little skeptical on her background into social media analysis.
However, she was simply repeating what was claimed here, in a huddlemind presentation (courtesy Eshaam Rabaney): http://is.gd/6SnlK
I have to say, I’m skeptical here. The last time I checked the South Africa network on Facebook, it was a little under 1.2m registered users. That makes sense, given the number of people in SA (~5m), and the number of those people that might have internet at home, work, school or office, as well as mobiles capable of using the m. site.
Twitter? When TwitterSA was still alive, the geolocation tracking got just over 2000 users (if memory serves). And I have no idea about LinkedIN – only ever registered to get my name – but a quick search for people in SA reveals around 37k users.
I can’t track Facebook or LinkedIN nearly as well as I can track Twitter – so I’ve set up stats tracking, and the results are viewable on the Twitter page. Sample size as well as number of unique users. We’ll soon see if that number tops 570k. Personally I doubt it’ll reach 5000, but hey, you never know.