Web site follow up
Broadcast date: 14 June 2004
Hello good morning, and how do you do? This is Cybersurf – a weekly window where the web matters. I am your Cyberhost, Steven Lang.
Today’s edition of Cybersurf is dedicated to following up on issues, and if there are details you miss – never fear – I will put this entire script and a few extra details on my personal blog – I’ll give you the address in about three minutes.
Last week, I reviewed the airports company site and noted the difficulty in finding information on how to get to airports.
A few listeners phoned or wrote e-mails, echoing my frustration on how to get to the airport, yet others came up with some suggestions on how to overcome this problem.
Several people mentioned the names of companies that offer a door-to-airport service in Johannesburg. I’ll put contact details on the site. None of them appeared to have their own web sites yet prices varied very little – from R230 to R250.
It seems like a practical solution – albeit somewhat expensive. If you spend say one thousand rand on an air ticket – you would have to pay an additional R500 to get to the airport and back – and that is not even considering the cost of transport at the other side.
Perhaps the Gautrain service could alleviate the problem.
However, the most innovative solution was sent to me by Edward Little. He told me about an enterprise called Eljada Airport Parking – I hope I pronounced that correctly. The owner of this company will meet you at the airport, take your car and then store it on his own property. When you return, he washes the car and meets your flight.
Edward says this is the cheapest and most satisfactory solution.
Now let’s look at some photographs – but not just any old digital pix slapped up on the ‘Net.
Fullhouse Internet Imaging – is a proudly South African company offering very different types of digital images. It has aerial photography; 360x360° imaging; 3D modelling, and others - what this means is that a picture efictively puts you inside a room and then, by using arrows on the screen, you can turn around – it makes you feel like you are in the room and slowly turning around.
To top it off, you can also move the camera up and down – so you have left and right controls as well as up and down arrows
Another product available on the site is three D imaging. The example I liked best was of an Aquaquad ski-boat. It rotates so that you can have an idea of how it looks from various angles. This technique is frequently used by car manufacturers
You can find the site at fullhouse.co.za and it is worth going to the site even if just to play around with the demo pictures.
Before we close Cybersurf for today, one of our listeners, Kevin Kelly, wrote in to tell us about the difficulty of buying things over the Internet through eBay. He encountered insurmountable problems while trying to buy a DVD from someone in Brazil because the Post Office takes too long to transfer payments – he asks is there is a safe way for South Africans to buy at an online auction. More on this issue nin a later Cybersurf.
Before we wrap up today’s program, I will be putting this script online at the following address – www.stevenlang.blogspot.com – here it goes again – www.stevenlang.blogspot.com – that’s it from me till next Monday, Keep on surfing.
Additional information
From Edward Little:
There is an excellent airport parking service service run by Neels Ferreira. You phone and let him know the flight number and the time at which you will arrive at the airport and he meets you at the appropriate terminal and takes away your car. He parks your car on his premises where it is washed and dusted ready to meet you on your return. If you have let him know the flight number he will be there to meet you. I prefer to give him a ring on the cell-phone once I have cleared Immigration, which generally gives him sufficient time to be outside by the time I get there.
The enterprise is known as ELJADA Airport Parking and he can be contacted at (011) 979 4300 or by cell-phone at 083 729 8011 or 083 457 4923.
I have been using him for years and find it to be an excellent service as well as being the cheapest alternative by far.
Kindest regards,
Edward Little
=================
From Carlo Polla:
There is a company called Airport Link that charges R230 to pick you up anywhere in Johannesburg and will take you to the airport.
14 June 2004
7 June 2004
Airport Company of South Africa - Airports.co.za
Broadcast date: 7 June 04
Hello, Good morning and welcome to Cybersurf – your weekly window on the world wide web. I am your cyberhost – Steven Lang.
It is official policy on Cybersurf to look at good web sites, we try to feature the best of the web – there is no point at reviewing bad web sites – what a waste of time.
But every once in a while it becomes necessary to vent my frustrations and point out what not to do on a web site. Today is one of those ocassions.
Several weeks ago, I had to make a week long trip out of the country – and I thought – how should I get to the airport?
To get a taxi costs about 300 rand there and another 300 rand when I return – ridiculously expensive! To drive there and park at the airport for a week will end up costing about the same.
As usual, when I have a problem I seek answers on the web. So I easily found the Airports company of South Africa at airports.co.za – no problem there!
The front page gives one no clue about how I could get to the airport. There is about that offers information on flights and one that says:
ACSA airports
And since I wanted to go to an ACSA airport – I thought, let’s try this one.
At the next screen, I clicked on Johannesburg International Airport.
On the first page of Johannesburg International Airport – JIA to those in the know – I was shown a long list of services you can find at the airport –
These services include:
• a chapel;
• prayer facilities for Islamic passengers;
• a conference facility
• a 45-room transit hotel;
• an emergency medical facility
• a baggage storage facility;
• a media conference room
• a five star luxury hotel on the doorstep of the airport terminals.
• Internet access
Very impressive -
But still – nothing on how to get to the airport.
So I found a navigation bar that must surely have some info on how to get to the airport.
Nope not yet – but there is a button that says – Passenger services
I clicked on that – and I found that
In the medical clinic they have
• Obesity clinics
• Botox treatments
• Dentists
• Optician
• Gynaecologist
But still nothing on how to actually get there – so that I could make use of all these essential services.
I am very persistent – so I clicked on anything and everything on the airports.co.za site
I used the search facility and found out that there was a company that offered shuttle services to Durban airport and one that offered a similar service to Cape Town airport. In neither case was there an indication of where you could catch the shuttles.
Eventually I found a phone number of a company that claimed to have a shuttle service to Johannesburg airport.
I dialled the number and sudddenly I was in a Telkom like phone queue
Please be patient – your are third in line. To cut a very long, and consumately tedious story down – I was transferred three times put on hold three more times and eventually a woman sounded totally stunned that I should want to go to the airport. She was so flabberghasted, she said she would have to phone me back.
She never did – of course – and my gracious wide drove me to the airport.
Airports.co.za – put some useful information onto your site.
Apologies for the whinge, but it really had to be said. Thanks for listening and tune in again next week, when I promise to be in a better mood.
Broadcast date: 7 June 04
Hello, Good morning and welcome to Cybersurf – your weekly window on the world wide web. I am your cyberhost – Steven Lang.
It is official policy on Cybersurf to look at good web sites, we try to feature the best of the web – there is no point at reviewing bad web sites – what a waste of time.
But every once in a while it becomes necessary to vent my frustrations and point out what not to do on a web site. Today is one of those ocassions.
Several weeks ago, I had to make a week long trip out of the country – and I thought – how should I get to the airport?
To get a taxi costs about 300 rand there and another 300 rand when I return – ridiculously expensive! To drive there and park at the airport for a week will end up costing about the same.
As usual, when I have a problem I seek answers on the web. So I easily found the Airports company of South Africa at airports.co.za – no problem there!
The front page gives one no clue about how I could get to the airport. There is about that offers information on flights and one that says:
ACSA airports
And since I wanted to go to an ACSA airport – I thought, let’s try this one.
At the next screen, I clicked on Johannesburg International Airport.
On the first page of Johannesburg International Airport – JIA to those in the know – I was shown a long list of services you can find at the airport –
These services include:
• a chapel;
• prayer facilities for Islamic passengers;
• a conference facility
• a 45-room transit hotel;
• an emergency medical facility
• a baggage storage facility;
• a media conference room
• a five star luxury hotel on the doorstep of the airport terminals.
• Internet access
Very impressive -
But still – nothing on how to get to the airport.
So I found a navigation bar that must surely have some info on how to get to the airport.
Nope not yet – but there is a button that says – Passenger services
I clicked on that – and I found that
In the medical clinic they have
• Obesity clinics
• Botox treatments
• Dentists
• Optician
• Gynaecologist
But still nothing on how to actually get there – so that I could make use of all these essential services.
I am very persistent – so I clicked on anything and everything on the airports.co.za site
I used the search facility and found out that there was a company that offered shuttle services to Durban airport and one that offered a similar service to Cape Town airport. In neither case was there an indication of where you could catch the shuttles.
Eventually I found a phone number of a company that claimed to have a shuttle service to Johannesburg airport.
I dialled the number and sudddenly I was in a Telkom like phone queue
Please be patient – your are third in line. To cut a very long, and consumately tedious story down – I was transferred three times put on hold three more times and eventually a woman sounded totally stunned that I should want to go to the airport. She was so flabberghasted, she said she would have to phone me back.
She never did – of course – and my gracious wide drove me to the airport.
Airports.co.za – put some useful information onto your site.
Apologies for the whinge, but it really had to be said. Thanks for listening and tune in again next week, when I promise to be in a better mood.
31 May 2004
Shaya Technologies
May 31, 2004
Hello, Hiya and welcome to Cybersurf, your weekly window on the world wide web. I am your friendly cyberhost, Steven Lang.
If you know anything at all about the Internet, you will know that security is a really big issue these days. Vandals, script kiddies and criminals are using the Internet to destroy web sites, servers and PCs. Personally I think they should all spend a long time behind bars.
However, the increasing problems created by these criminals, has been very good news – in some respects – for the Internet security company. We are going to speak to one such company in a few moments, but first I would liie to remind listeners what a patch is.
A patch is a piece of software, usually created and distributed by a major software company that has discovered a fault with a program that they originally sold you. The send you the patch to fix their mistakes, or holes in the software.
The problem with these patches, is they are not always compatible with the rest of your system, and sometimes there are so many of them that you really have to keep on your toes to have the latest patches installed.
Ian Melamed of Shaya technologies, says his company offers a security system that protects your network and is easy to update:
IN: The security system . . . .
OUT: . . . . period of six months.
DUR: 2’15”
Thank-you Ian Melamed, principal cosultant of Shaya Technologies, a South African Empowerment company that is leading the way in Internet Security. To find out more about the company and how it operates, click along to shaya.co.za
Before we go, I’d like to draw your attention to the new Numsa website at numsa.org.za – the design is great – it’s quick, intuitive and attractive – but it probably could be updated more often. Maybe they’re still getting all their material in place – will have a closer look at that site soon.
So with that quick comment, we wrap up Cybersurf for today. Thanks for listening and do make sure that you tune in against next Monday for more Cybersurf.
May 31, 2004
Hello, Hiya and welcome to Cybersurf, your weekly window on the world wide web. I am your friendly cyberhost, Steven Lang.
If you know anything at all about the Internet, you will know that security is a really big issue these days. Vandals, script kiddies and criminals are using the Internet to destroy web sites, servers and PCs. Personally I think they should all spend a long time behind bars.
However, the increasing problems created by these criminals, has been very good news – in some respects – for the Internet security company. We are going to speak to one such company in a few moments, but first I would liie to remind listeners what a patch is.
A patch is a piece of software, usually created and distributed by a major software company that has discovered a fault with a program that they originally sold you. The send you the patch to fix their mistakes, or holes in the software.
The problem with these patches, is they are not always compatible with the rest of your system, and sometimes there are so many of them that you really have to keep on your toes to have the latest patches installed.
Ian Melamed of Shaya technologies, says his company offers a security system that protects your network and is easy to update:
IN: The security system . . . .
OUT: . . . . period of six months.
DUR: 2’15”
Thank-you Ian Melamed, principal cosultant of Shaya Technologies, a South African Empowerment company that is leading the way in Internet Security. To find out more about the company and how it operates, click along to shaya.co.za
Before we go, I’d like to draw your attention to the new Numsa website at numsa.org.za – the design is great – it’s quick, intuitive and attractive – but it probably could be updated more often. Maybe they’re still getting all their material in place – will have a closer look at that site soon.
So with that quick comment, we wrap up Cybersurf for today. Thanks for listening and do make sure that you tune in against next Monday for more Cybersurf.
10 May 2004
ITU Telecom Africa 2004
10 May 2004
Hello, howzit, SABAR AL GIR and welcome to Cybersurf, a weekly window on the wonderful world of the Web. I am your Cyberhost, Steven Lang – freshly returned from Cairo, Egypt where I attended the Telecom Africa 2004 exhibition and forum.
The two pronged event was excellent – the exhibition, with more than double the number of exhibitors of the previous Telecoms Africa in Johannesburg in 2001, was well laid out, spacious and efficient.
The Forum - with a theme entitled “Advantage Africa” – had its ups and its downs. There were some panel discussions - such as the one on Voice over IP – or how to use the Internet to make cheap overseas phones calls; and the workshop on business models that were really well managed and informative – while others were dominated by pompous, windbags who just like hearing themselves drone on.
Telecom Africa 2004 was also a steep learning curve in acronyms – like which is better: CDMA or GSM? And is CDMA really two and a half G, or is it 3G? Other quick issues sure to confuse – what is fixed wire? What do you call it when fixed line calls make use of GSM; and what about cellphone callls that are routed through a fixed line back-bone?
No – I am not making up all this techno jargon just to show off – these were real issues debated in the forum and in the corridors of the exhibition.
One of the highlights of the Egyptian stand was a large scale model of what they call – the Smart Village – this massive office park which is still under construction, is fully serviced with the latest optic fibre technology and appears to be aimed at setting up a silicon valley alongside the Nile – or perhaps the idea is to follow in the development footsteps of Hyderabad in India.
Included in the “smart” infrastructure is a high speed network for data, voice and video transmission; VPN connect; Voip capability and data centre; cable TV and video conferencing centre; uninterrupted power supply and standby generators
There are many other advantages to setting up in the Smart Village – but in my view the killer app – the one that would really make businesses move to the village is a ten year moratorium on taxes!!!
Only ten percent of the area of the park is open to contruction – this means that just under ninety percent of it will be developed as parklands. Microsoft, Alcatel and others are already there – and so is the ministry of communications – but in my view the one critical element missing from the Smart Village – is the element that would really make it Smart and is the same factor that powers Silicon Valley and Hyderabad - that is a University.
The Smart Village would have been so much more convincing if there had been a University in centre that could churn out computer scientists with serious degrees in programming and computer science.
Nevetheless, it is a constructive plan that fits in with the rest of Egypt’s drive to become the ICT centre for the Middle East and Africa. In some respects it is already ahead of South Africa and with broadband costing less than half the price charged by our local Telkom – we could be relegated into second place very quickly unless our ministry of communications gets an attitude makeover.
That’s all we the time we have for Telecom Africa 2004 in Cairo. Be sure to join me again next Monday for more Cybersurf.
10 May 2004
Hello, howzit, SABAR AL GIR and welcome to Cybersurf, a weekly window on the wonderful world of the Web. I am your Cyberhost, Steven Lang – freshly returned from Cairo, Egypt where I attended the Telecom Africa 2004 exhibition and forum.
The two pronged event was excellent – the exhibition, with more than double the number of exhibitors of the previous Telecoms Africa in Johannesburg in 2001, was well laid out, spacious and efficient.
The Forum - with a theme entitled “Advantage Africa” – had its ups and its downs. There were some panel discussions - such as the one on Voice over IP – or how to use the Internet to make cheap overseas phones calls; and the workshop on business models that were really well managed and informative – while others were dominated by pompous, windbags who just like hearing themselves drone on.
Telecom Africa 2004 was also a steep learning curve in acronyms – like which is better: CDMA or GSM? And is CDMA really two and a half G, or is it 3G? Other quick issues sure to confuse – what is fixed wire? What do you call it when fixed line calls make use of GSM; and what about cellphone callls that are routed through a fixed line back-bone?
No – I am not making up all this techno jargon just to show off – these were real issues debated in the forum and in the corridors of the exhibition.
One of the highlights of the Egyptian stand was a large scale model of what they call – the Smart Village – this massive office park which is still under construction, is fully serviced with the latest optic fibre technology and appears to be aimed at setting up a silicon valley alongside the Nile – or perhaps the idea is to follow in the development footsteps of Hyderabad in India.
Included in the “smart” infrastructure is a high speed network for data, voice and video transmission; VPN connect; Voip capability and data centre; cable TV and video conferencing centre; uninterrupted power supply and standby generators
There are many other advantages to setting up in the Smart Village – but in my view the killer app – the one that would really make businesses move to the village is a ten year moratorium on taxes!!!
Only ten percent of the area of the park is open to contruction – this means that just under ninety percent of it will be developed as parklands. Microsoft, Alcatel and others are already there – and so is the ministry of communications – but in my view the one critical element missing from the Smart Village – is the element that would really make it Smart and is the same factor that powers Silicon Valley and Hyderabad - that is a University.
The Smart Village would have been so much more convincing if there had been a University in centre that could churn out computer scientists with serious degrees in programming and computer science.
Nevetheless, it is a constructive plan that fits in with the rest of Egypt’s drive to become the ICT centre for the Middle East and Africa. In some respects it is already ahead of South Africa and with broadband costing less than half the price charged by our local Telkom – we could be relegated into second place very quickly unless our ministry of communications gets an attitude makeover.
That’s all we the time we have for Telecom Africa 2004 in Cairo. Be sure to join me again next Monday for more Cybersurf.
3 May 2004
Cybersurf – Africa Telecom 2004 – Cairo
May 3, 2004
Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf, coming to you this morning from Cairo, Egypt. I am your Cyberhost, Steven Lang - and yes, you heard right - coming to you from Cairo where I am attending the Africa Telecom 2004 exhibition and forum.
The International Telecommunications Union event – Africa Telecoms has already been held in Egypt before and at least twice in South Africa. The whole aim of the event is to have top technology manufacturers display their wares at an exhibition while at the same time there is a parallel forum where business people, government officials and other interested parties discuss policies, strategies, technologies, how to implement and how to regulate them.
The atmosphere here is bullish as Egypt is asserting itself as the new Internet leader in Africa. There is an air of self confidence as the country shows off the considerable strides it has made in recent years.
Later today, the ITU is going to release a fairly positive report about telecommunications growth in Africa over the last few years. The report points to the tremendous growth of the mobile telephone markets in Africa saying that this is the first continent where the number of cellphones has outstripped the number of landlines. It also says that the number of cellphone users in Africa has doubled between 2001 and 2004.
These figures are very encouraging, creating the impression that Africa has suddenly become a world leader in mobile telephone penetration, but in fact these figures look impressive simply because they are compared to the incredibly poor rollout of fixed line phones in Africa.
Fixed line telephony has in Africa been largely the responsibility of governments and more often than not the private sector has set up and operated the cell phone networks. It can, therefore be argued that if you want to help Africans get access to the latest information technology, let the private sector do it.
However, no-one is seriously arguing that a complete, laissez faire free-for-all would help bridge the digital divide – there is broad consensus that a free market system run under the guidance of a truly independent IT regulator - is the best model to maximise Internet access.
The real problem is that while most African governments do recognise the importance of a regulator and of well defined policies to help promote IT access, only about one third of the countries have actually opened their domestic markets and set up a regulator with teeth. Critics argue that because the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, ICASA has been less than effective in releasing the Telkom stranglehold on telecommunications, South Africa is not one of the select group.
More on this and other issues raised here at the Africa Telecom in Cairo next week in Cybersurf.
Till then, keep on surfing.
…/ends
May 3, 2004
Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf, coming to you this morning from Cairo, Egypt. I am your Cyberhost, Steven Lang - and yes, you heard right - coming to you from Cairo where I am attending the Africa Telecom 2004 exhibition and forum.
The International Telecommunications Union event – Africa Telecoms has already been held in Egypt before and at least twice in South Africa. The whole aim of the event is to have top technology manufacturers display their wares at an exhibition while at the same time there is a parallel forum where business people, government officials and other interested parties discuss policies, strategies, technologies, how to implement and how to regulate them.
The atmosphere here is bullish as Egypt is asserting itself as the new Internet leader in Africa. There is an air of self confidence as the country shows off the considerable strides it has made in recent years.
Later today, the ITU is going to release a fairly positive report about telecommunications growth in Africa over the last few years. The report points to the tremendous growth of the mobile telephone markets in Africa saying that this is the first continent where the number of cellphones has outstripped the number of landlines. It also says that the number of cellphone users in Africa has doubled between 2001 and 2004.
These figures are very encouraging, creating the impression that Africa has suddenly become a world leader in mobile telephone penetration, but in fact these figures look impressive simply because they are compared to the incredibly poor rollout of fixed line phones in Africa.
Fixed line telephony has in Africa been largely the responsibility of governments and more often than not the private sector has set up and operated the cell phone networks. It can, therefore be argued that if you want to help Africans get access to the latest information technology, let the private sector do it.
However, no-one is seriously arguing that a complete, laissez faire free-for-all would help bridge the digital divide – there is broad consensus that a free market system run under the guidance of a truly independent IT regulator - is the best model to maximise Internet access.
The real problem is that while most African governments do recognise the importance of a regulator and of well defined policies to help promote IT access, only about one third of the countries have actually opened their domestic markets and set up a regulator with teeth. Critics argue that because the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, ICASA has been less than effective in releasing the Telkom stranglehold on telecommunications, South Africa is not one of the select group.
More on this and other issues raised here at the Africa Telecom in Cairo next week in Cybersurf.
Till then, keep on surfing.
…/ends
22 April 2004
Freedom Day – 26 April 04
Hello, howzit and welcome to Cybersurf – the Freedom Day edition. This is your weekly web window, when we wax lyrical on the best of the Internet – I am your Cyberhost Steven Lang.
Yes, tomorrow is Freedom day so today is a good time to find out all you can about all the events taking place.
If Freedom day means we have to feel good about being South African, then there is no better place to visit than the South Africa info site – which can be found at www.southafrica.info.
The site bills itself as the official South Africa gateway– and it was put together by the Big Media web site design company for the International Marketing Council of South Africa.
Overall the site has a fresh, modern look and feel. It has the texture of a happy news site – plenty of press releases that look like news articles. All the content has something positive to say about South Africa – particularly about South Africans abroad.
Lead article is about how South Africans are going to celebrate 10 years of freedom in Trafalgar square, London, the second story is about Ushaka – a South African musical touring Europe; New York celebrates South African film and in Boston, a South African wheel chair athlete is feted as guest of honour at a baseball match.
There is a section inviting you – the reader - to write to Fifa explaining why this country should host the 2010 soccer world cup.
The South Africa – Alive with Possibility is truly an excellent site especially if you need to find out the positive side of this country.
If you click on the link to “Ten Years of Democracy”, you will see more stories and links about the many events that will celebrate our freedom day. There are links to stories such as: Newtown celebrates ten years; SA’s gay community celebrates ten; Cape Town Opera 10 for ten and profiles on nine South African families – makes you wonder what happened to the last one.?
There are also links to other - Ten Years of Democracy sites such as the UK based Network South Africa which you can find at www.sa2004.co.uk/ - which looks quite a lot like www.Southafrica.info – and then there is a truly excellent history site at: www.sahistory.org.za – it is visually a little sombre – having no fancy graphics, but it has very good content – and always remember “Content is King”
This advice should have been heeded by the people who designed the government web site for ten years of democracy. They even got their own dedicated domain name http://www.10years.gov.za – I really don’t know if they were still contructing it when I looked at it last Thursday but the main page offers you a choice of two sections – “Documents” or “Statements” – I think it is one of the most boring sites I have ever seen.
Anyway, I am quite sure that tomorrow’s celebrations won’t be boring –
If you would like to read the script for this program – you will find it on my personal site at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com . Thanx for listening and remember to keep on surfing
Hello, howzit and welcome to Cybersurf – the Freedom Day edition. This is your weekly web window, when we wax lyrical on the best of the Internet – I am your Cyberhost Steven Lang.
Yes, tomorrow is Freedom day so today is a good time to find out all you can about all the events taking place.
If Freedom day means we have to feel good about being South African, then there is no better place to visit than the South Africa info site – which can be found at www.southafrica.info.
The site bills itself as the official South Africa gateway– and it was put together by the Big Media web site design company for the International Marketing Council of South Africa.
Overall the site has a fresh, modern look and feel. It has the texture of a happy news site – plenty of press releases that look like news articles. All the content has something positive to say about South Africa – particularly about South Africans abroad.
Lead article is about how South Africans are going to celebrate 10 years of freedom in Trafalgar square, London, the second story is about Ushaka – a South African musical touring Europe; New York celebrates South African film and in Boston, a South African wheel chair athlete is feted as guest of honour at a baseball match.
There is a section inviting you – the reader - to write to Fifa explaining why this country should host the 2010 soccer world cup.
The South Africa – Alive with Possibility is truly an excellent site especially if you need to find out the positive side of this country.
If you click on the link to “Ten Years of Democracy”, you will see more stories and links about the many events that will celebrate our freedom day. There are links to stories such as: Newtown celebrates ten years; SA’s gay community celebrates ten; Cape Town Opera 10 for ten and profiles on nine South African families – makes you wonder what happened to the last one.?
There are also links to other - Ten Years of Democracy sites such as the UK based Network South Africa which you can find at www.sa2004.co.uk/ - which looks quite a lot like www.Southafrica.info – and then there is a truly excellent history site at: www.sahistory.org.za – it is visually a little sombre – having no fancy graphics, but it has very good content – and always remember “Content is King”
This advice should have been heeded by the people who designed the government web site for ten years of democracy. They even got their own dedicated domain name http://www.10years.gov.za – I really don’t know if they were still contructing it when I looked at it last Thursday but the main page offers you a choice of two sections – “Documents” or “Statements” – I think it is one of the most boring sites I have ever seen.
Anyway, I am quite sure that tomorrow’s celebrations won’t be boring –
If you would like to read the script for this program – you will find it on my personal site at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com . Thanx for listening and remember to keep on surfing
19 April 2004
My Wireless – April 19, 2004
Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf – your weekly window on the world wide web – I am your Cyberhost - Steven Lang.
This weekend I have been totally and utterly absorbed surfing the web. This is not in itself terribly unusual, since every weekend I try to surf as much as possible – but this weekend I had extra incentive.
I was given a mywireless modem and laptop to test. The modem is a sentech product and if you would like to find out more about it, you can go directly to the sentech.co.za web site for more details – but in the meantime – let me share my experience with you.
The modem looks like a bulky PDA with a flip up antena – it could also look like a fat cellphone and you also need to charge it ocassionaly like a cellphone.
The signal strength indicator also reminds one of a cellphone – it has four red lights that indicate signal strength – four means you are rocking on maximum broadband; three for slightly less; two means your signal is still very usable and one means you’re about to lose a shaky connection.
The mywireless modem does need one cable to connect to the lap top via USB ports, but it does not physically connect to anything else – especially, and very definitely not to a phone wire.
The beauty of wireless is that it works anywhere – I was not confined to my study, I could surf in the lounge or in the garden, I could surf in a coffee shop, I could take it to a friends house and show off the test equipment.
If I was sure that some idiot wouldn’t shoot me and steal the modem, I could even take to a public park. Since the signal covers most of Johannesburg, you can take it just about anywhere.
Secondly – the connection is always on – this means that costs are not dependent on usage – you can down load stuff all day every day and not have to worry about your phone bill – and because it doesn’t use a phone line, you and your family can still use the phone to talk on – I belive some people use it for that.
It get’s better still – download speed is extremely fast – it is after all broadband. I was not able to test how fast – but Sentech offers three speeds – 128, 256 and 512 KBPS – I suspect I was testing the lower end version, but the was certainly much faster than my normal 56 k modem at home – and even faster than my connection speed on the SABC’s network.
I have tested the mywireless modem and seen that it really works and works very well – there is however a downside, as you might have guessed – the price. At R650 per month for the entry level modem, it is cheaper than ADSL; more expensive than ISDN – but quite frankly too expensive for most people. A business person could probaby justify the cost, but for normal people who just love using the web R650 is too much.
Sentech also requires you to sign a 24 month contract – in my view that is too long in an environment where technolgy is changing all the time. My wireless is great this week – but who knows what is going to happen nhext week.
That’s it for today, have to go back to my testing you know – don’t forget to tune in next Monday for more Cybersurf.
Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf – your weekly window on the world wide web – I am your Cyberhost - Steven Lang.
This weekend I have been totally and utterly absorbed surfing the web. This is not in itself terribly unusual, since every weekend I try to surf as much as possible – but this weekend I had extra incentive.
I was given a mywireless modem and laptop to test. The modem is a sentech product and if you would like to find out more about it, you can go directly to the sentech.co.za web site for more details – but in the meantime – let me share my experience with you.
The modem looks like a bulky PDA with a flip up antena – it could also look like a fat cellphone and you also need to charge it ocassionaly like a cellphone.
The signal strength indicator also reminds one of a cellphone – it has four red lights that indicate signal strength – four means you are rocking on maximum broadband; three for slightly less; two means your signal is still very usable and one means you’re about to lose a shaky connection.
The mywireless modem does need one cable to connect to the lap top via USB ports, but it does not physically connect to anything else – especially, and very definitely not to a phone wire.
The beauty of wireless is that it works anywhere – I was not confined to my study, I could surf in the lounge or in the garden, I could surf in a coffee shop, I could take it to a friends house and show off the test equipment.
If I was sure that some idiot wouldn’t shoot me and steal the modem, I could even take to a public park. Since the signal covers most of Johannesburg, you can take it just about anywhere.
Secondly – the connection is always on – this means that costs are not dependent on usage – you can down load stuff all day every day and not have to worry about your phone bill – and because it doesn’t use a phone line, you and your family can still use the phone to talk on – I belive some people use it for that.
It get’s better still – download speed is extremely fast – it is after all broadband. I was not able to test how fast – but Sentech offers three speeds – 128, 256 and 512 KBPS – I suspect I was testing the lower end version, but the was certainly much faster than my normal 56 k modem at home – and even faster than my connection speed on the SABC’s network.
I have tested the mywireless modem and seen that it really works and works very well – there is however a downside, as you might have guessed – the price. At R650 per month for the entry level modem, it is cheaper than ADSL; more expensive than ISDN – but quite frankly too expensive for most people. A business person could probaby justify the cost, but for normal people who just love using the web R650 is too much.
Sentech also requires you to sign a 24 month contract – in my view that is too long in an environment where technolgy is changing all the time. My wireless is great this week – but who knows what is going to happen nhext week.
That’s it for today, have to go back to my testing you know – don’t forget to tune in next Monday for more Cybersurf.
4 April 2004
Elections 2004
April 5, 2004
Hello, good morning and how do you do? This is Cybersurf, your weekly window on the web and I am Steven Lang.
Today’s program is, as you might have expected, chock full of election related web sites, and I promise to put this script on my personal blog so that you can recover all the other addresses that I mention. So do not stress, I’ll give you the address, where you can find this script at the end of the program.
But before we look at the election stuff – here is some good news from Google – the world’s most successful search engine is testing its own web mail service. You cannot sign up for it – yet – but gmail – that is what the service is known as - – gmail offers one thousand megabytes of free storage space – so you will never have to delete any mail, and it will all be searchable.
To find out more about the pending service check out gmail.google.com.
Back to the campaign trail – we are now less than ten days away from voting day - April 14 so it is not surprising that all the media houses are putting up special features on the elections.
Our own SABCnews.com has a special elections category, and on results day, the elections feature will link up to the IEC’s computer system and publish the results directly onto the site without human intervention – in other words the SABC’s results system will be automatically updated from the minute the first result is put into the IEC’s system right until the last seats are allocated.
The site also has a feature carrying all the latest opinion poll data from the latest SABC/Markinor survey on voter attitudes about the elections
Other sites have also made a special effort – for example – the Mail and Guardian online – at mg.co.za has a rather creative, interactive section that helps you choose which party you should vote for. It does this with an interactive quiz – asking questions that direct you to the party most consistent with your views.
If you would prefer to read an in-depth analysis of the upcoming elections you should go to EISA.org.za – EISA stands for the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa – it is an ngo site and has very valuable information about democracy and political processes.
An just in case you thought that everyone was only concerned about the April fourteen elections, the demarcation board is already hard at working preparing for next year’s municipal elections. The demarcation board site at demarcation.org.za is truly fascinating because it has maps of all the voting districts in the country, lists of the new names of municipalities and you can even drill down and find a map with your own street and the location of your nearest voting station.
Now if you would like to find any of the addresses of the sites I mentioned in today’s program you can click on my own personal blog which can be found at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com – let me repeat that
And so we come the end of this week’s election edition of Cybersurf. Enjoy the festive season, drive safely, don’t forget to vote – it’s the right thing to do - and remember to keep on surfing.
April 5, 2004
Hello, good morning and how do you do? This is Cybersurf, your weekly window on the web and I am Steven Lang.
Today’s program is, as you might have expected, chock full of election related web sites, and I promise to put this script on my personal blog so that you can recover all the other addresses that I mention. So do not stress, I’ll give you the address, where you can find this script at the end of the program.
But before we look at the election stuff – here is some good news from Google – the world’s most successful search engine is testing its own web mail service. You cannot sign up for it – yet – but gmail – that is what the service is known as - – gmail offers one thousand megabytes of free storage space – so you will never have to delete any mail, and it will all be searchable.
To find out more about the pending service check out gmail.google.com.
Back to the campaign trail – we are now less than ten days away from voting day - April 14 so it is not surprising that all the media houses are putting up special features on the elections.
Our own SABCnews.com has a special elections category, and on results day, the elections feature will link up to the IEC’s computer system and publish the results directly onto the site without human intervention – in other words the SABC’s results system will be automatically updated from the minute the first result is put into the IEC’s system right until the last seats are allocated.
The site also has a feature carrying all the latest opinion poll data from the latest SABC/Markinor survey on voter attitudes about the elections
Other sites have also made a special effort – for example – the Mail and Guardian online – at mg.co.za has a rather creative, interactive section that helps you choose which party you should vote for. It does this with an interactive quiz – asking questions that direct you to the party most consistent with your views.
If you would prefer to read an in-depth analysis of the upcoming elections you should go to EISA.org.za – EISA stands for the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa – it is an ngo site and has very valuable information about democracy and political processes.
An just in case you thought that everyone was only concerned about the April fourteen elections, the demarcation board is already hard at working preparing for next year’s municipal elections. The demarcation board site at demarcation.org.za is truly fascinating because it has maps of all the voting districts in the country, lists of the new names of municipalities and you can even drill down and find a map with your own street and the location of your nearest voting station.
Now if you would like to find any of the addresses of the sites I mentioned in today’s program you can click on my own personal blog which can be found at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com – let me repeat that
And so we come the end of this week’s election edition of Cybersurf. Enjoy the festive season, drive safely, don’t forget to vote – it’s the right thing to do - and remember to keep on surfing.
29 March 2004
Cybersurf: Political web sites – update
29 March 04
Hello, good morning and how do you do? This is Cybersurf – a weekly window on the World Wide Web and I am your cyberhost – Steven Lang.
As we draw ever closer to the next national and provincial elections, Cybersurf finds it necessary to re-look at electioneering on the web.
Now, because most South Africans do not have access to the Internet, parties have made only a token effort at serious online campaigning.
I believe that just about every party has a least some web presence, but most have not been very good at responding to e-mail queries.
(T) I recently received an e-mail from the ACDP inviting me to review the party’s election site. I was advised not to look at the general site at www.Acdp.org.za - because that is still under construction, but the only way to get to the election site is through the main front page.
The site is fairly standard in terms of presentation – it is clean, easy to read and easy to navigate with a horizontal navigation bar across the top of the page and a secondary, vertical, navigation bar down the right hand side.
A link marked “candidate list” only gives the names and brief profiles of the top candidates – maybe the only ones that have a realistic chance of getting a seat.
It has a very detailed section carrying the party’s election manifesto and a comprehensive election diary section that not only tells you where the party leaders will be campaigning, but it also gives you direct cell phone numbers of whoever is organising that part of the campaign.
If you are interested in the acdp’s election campaign, you have to visit acdp.org.za – incidentally almost all party web sites can be found by typing in the party’s initials and then dot org dot za.
Before we close Cybersurf, I have to refer you to a completely different type of political site at www. Zabalaza.net let me spell that: Z.A.B.A.L.A.Z.A dot net – a site that describes itself as being dedicated to Southern African anarchism – the address of this site was sent to me by someone who signs off as BLACKDRAGON.
The front page of Zabalaza dot net has a link to a poster which says – ‘Why bother to vote – if voting changed anything, they would make it illegal” – so if you would like to download a poster with that anarchist viewpoint – click along to zabalaza dot net.
So we wrap up another edition of Cybersurf – I will put this entire script in my personal blogspace at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com thanx for listening and remember – to keep on surfing.
29 March 04
Hello, good morning and how do you do? This is Cybersurf – a weekly window on the World Wide Web and I am your cyberhost – Steven Lang.
As we draw ever closer to the next national and provincial elections, Cybersurf finds it necessary to re-look at electioneering on the web.
Now, because most South Africans do not have access to the Internet, parties have made only a token effort at serious online campaigning.
I believe that just about every party has a least some web presence, but most have not been very good at responding to e-mail queries.
(T) I recently received an e-mail from the ACDP inviting me to review the party’s election site. I was advised not to look at the general site at www.Acdp.org.za - because that is still under construction, but the only way to get to the election site is through the main front page.
The site is fairly standard in terms of presentation – it is clean, easy to read and easy to navigate with a horizontal navigation bar across the top of the page and a secondary, vertical, navigation bar down the right hand side.
A link marked “candidate list” only gives the names and brief profiles of the top candidates – maybe the only ones that have a realistic chance of getting a seat.
It has a very detailed section carrying the party’s election manifesto and a comprehensive election diary section that not only tells you where the party leaders will be campaigning, but it also gives you direct cell phone numbers of whoever is organising that part of the campaign.
If you are interested in the acdp’s election campaign, you have to visit acdp.org.za – incidentally almost all party web sites can be found by typing in the party’s initials and then dot org dot za.
Before we close Cybersurf, I have to refer you to a completely different type of political site at www. Zabalaza.net let me spell that: Z.A.B.A.L.A.Z.A dot net – a site that describes itself as being dedicated to Southern African anarchism – the address of this site was sent to me by someone who signs off as BLACKDRAGON.
The front page of Zabalaza dot net has a link to a poster which says – ‘Why bother to vote – if voting changed anything, they would make it illegal” – so if you would like to download a poster with that anarchist viewpoint – click along to zabalaza dot net.
So we wrap up another edition of Cybersurf – I will put this entire script in my personal blogspace at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com thanx for listening and remember – to keep on surfing.
21 March 2004
Cybersurf: Sedna and the Near Earth Object Program
22 March 04
Hello good morning and welcome to Cybersurf – a weekly window on the world wide web – I am your Cyberhost Steven Lang. In today’s program, there are quite a few web addresses that you might miss, so I am going to post this script onto my personal blog at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com.
In the last week astronomers have made two very exciting announcements about two unique bodies in our solar system.
The first one concerned a planetoid orbiting our sun in the far reaches of the Kuiper belt. There has been some debate about whether it is a very tiny planet or a rather large asteroid – the interim compromise is to describe it as a planetoid. This recent discovery – known as Sedna – is thought to be about three quarters the size of Pluto – and is the largest body discovered in our solar system since Pluto itself was found.
To find out more about Sedna, you can go to www.jpl.nasa.gov and click on the “releases” section, - the JPL site has some very good pictures and an interesting graphic showing the relative sizes of Sedna, Pluto and earth.
You would also do well to look at the Spitzer telescope site which can be found at www.spitzer.caltech.edu – let me spell spitzer – S.P.I.T.Z.E.R dot Caltech dot edu – The spitzer site is fantastic and if you go to the official press release and scroll down to the bottom of the page, there is a link which will take you to Mike Brown’s Sedna page.
You will find out that Sedna, an Inuit goddess of the oceans was known for her saucy background with a some kinky sexual encounters - so I wouldn’t be surprised if the powers that be of astronomy actually change the name of the planetoid.
Still in space . . . . but this time with a piece of flying rock much closer to home – in fact far too close for comfort if you ask me. If Sedna is the furthest piece of the solar system we have found, then asteroid 2004 FH was certainly the closest.
The thirty metre wide asteroid passed a mere forty three thousand kilometres above the Atlantic ocean on the night of March 18. It was so close that it was visible with a good pair of binoculars.
To find out more about 2004 FH and other asteroids that could hit our planet, you should visit the Near Earth Object Program web site at the following address: neo.jpl.nasa.gov – that is neo.jpl.nasa.gov – the neo of course stands for near earth object.
It is a very informative site giving you facts and figures about efforts to track asteroids and meteors that could hit our planet.
There is an interesting little animated graphic showing a series of pictures taken of the 2004 fh moving through the sky. Because the asteroid is kept at the centre of the frame – it looks like a static, tiny fleck of dust in the middle of an array of other moving flecks of dust. Well worth the visit.
Remember if you have missed anyf of the web site addresses I have read out in today’s program – you will find the full script, together with the addresses at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com – here it goes one more time: www.stevenlang.blogspot.com – and that wraps up the space discoveries edition of Cybersurf – thanks for listening and don’t forget to tune in again next week for more on the best of the web.
22 March 04
Hello good morning and welcome to Cybersurf – a weekly window on the world wide web – I am your Cyberhost Steven Lang. In today’s program, there are quite a few web addresses that you might miss, so I am going to post this script onto my personal blog at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com.
In the last week astronomers have made two very exciting announcements about two unique bodies in our solar system.
The first one concerned a planetoid orbiting our sun in the far reaches of the Kuiper belt. There has been some debate about whether it is a very tiny planet or a rather large asteroid – the interim compromise is to describe it as a planetoid. This recent discovery – known as Sedna – is thought to be about three quarters the size of Pluto – and is the largest body discovered in our solar system since Pluto itself was found.
To find out more about Sedna, you can go to www.jpl.nasa.gov and click on the “releases” section, - the JPL site has some very good pictures and an interesting graphic showing the relative sizes of Sedna, Pluto and earth.
You would also do well to look at the Spitzer telescope site which can be found at www.spitzer.caltech.edu – let me spell spitzer – S.P.I.T.Z.E.R dot Caltech dot edu – The spitzer site is fantastic and if you go to the official press release and scroll down to the bottom of the page, there is a link which will take you to Mike Brown’s Sedna page.
You will find out that Sedna, an Inuit goddess of the oceans was known for her saucy background with a some kinky sexual encounters - so I wouldn’t be surprised if the powers that be of astronomy actually change the name of the planetoid.
Still in space . . . . but this time with a piece of flying rock much closer to home – in fact far too close for comfort if you ask me. If Sedna is the furthest piece of the solar system we have found, then asteroid 2004 FH was certainly the closest.
The thirty metre wide asteroid passed a mere forty three thousand kilometres above the Atlantic ocean on the night of March 18. It was so close that it was visible with a good pair of binoculars.
To find out more about 2004 FH and other asteroids that could hit our planet, you should visit the Near Earth Object Program web site at the following address: neo.jpl.nasa.gov – that is neo.jpl.nasa.gov – the neo of course stands for near earth object.
It is a very informative site giving you facts and figures about efforts to track asteroids and meteors that could hit our planet.
There is an interesting little animated graphic showing a series of pictures taken of the 2004 fh moving through the sky. Because the asteroid is kept at the centre of the frame – it looks like a static, tiny fleck of dust in the middle of an array of other moving flecks of dust. Well worth the visit.
Remember if you have missed anyf of the web site addresses I have read out in today’s program – you will find the full script, together with the addresses at www.stevenlang.blogspot.com – here it goes one more time: www.stevenlang.blogspot.com – and that wraps up the space discoveries edition of Cybersurf – thanks for listening and don’t forget to tune in again next week for more on the best of the web.
22 February 2004
9 February 2004
Cybersurf 9 February – Open Source vs. Proprietary
Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf, a weekly update on what's new on the Internet. I am your cyberhost Steven Lang.
Some time last week I was listening to AM Live, of course, and I heard my colleague John Perlman interviewing Alistair Otter of the tectonic.co.za site and it made me realise that it is time once again for Cybersurf to look at the running conflict between open source and proprietary software.
The need for this discussion became more urgent because this conflict was, to a degree, responsible for the recent tsunami of MyDoom viruses that flooded mail boxes the world over.
A slight digression – a colleague of my has pointed out that MyDoom is in fact a worm and not a virus – but I think that we'll leave technicalities aside and go with the generic virus.
It is believed that the author of MyDoom was specifically targetting a company called SCO – that is S.C.O because that company claims ownership of eight hundred thousand lines of coding that is currently used by the Linux system. SCO is also threatening to sue anyone who uses the Linux operating system – including computer giant IBM.
Many people in the open source fraternity believe that SCO's claim runs counter to the spirit and aims of the opne source movement – so certain open militants wrote the MyDoom virus to swamp the SCO web site. They were succesful in that I have not been able to access the SCO web site found at www.sco.com for more than a week. Just for good measure – a variant of the virus has also targetted Microsoft – the old enemy of Open Source. I don't know for sure how badly afected the Microsoft sites were – but I have had no trouble accessing them.
The open source versus proprietary software war has become ugly – and it is almost impossible to find an expert who is completely objective about the dispute. Microsoft commissioned a series of “independent” reports to compare its products with welll known open source software. The comparison criteria was the overall cost of operating the respective systems over the long term.
Guess what – surprise, surprise – the independent reports – commissioned by Microsoft – showed that it is cheaper to run Microsoft applications than open source software. Truly amazing!
If you would like to look at a site advocating open source software – then you will do well to look at the site I mentioned at the beinning of this program. Alistair Otter runs the tectonic.co.za site and it is very good if you want to keep up with th latest open source news in South Africa.
The CSIR open source centre at meraka.org.za that is m.e.r.a.k.a dot org dot za has loads of information about open source conferences and gives you a fair idea of government thinking on the issue.
Obsidian systems, which can be found at obsidian.co.za, has a very interesting site in that it is clearly aimed at turning a profit out of its distribution and implementation of Linux, but it also has a section advising you when it is not a good idea to use Linux.
If you are really interested in getting an excellent overview of the dispute, I advise you to go to the bridges.org site – that's it – bridges.org – there is no za in it even though it is being run from Cape Town. - Why I strongly recommend bridges dot org is because it has a complete section dedicated to the dispute. This section which contains mainly links to other sites, is divided into three groups – firstly The Background – then the arguments for open source software and the third group has a collection of links arguing in favour of propriatary software.
And before we wrap up today's edition of Cybersurf – let me state for the record that the script for this program was written in an openOffice document running off a Windows 95 platform – and since I have been told that anyone can now run a Linux operating system on their PC – let me tell you that my next project is to install Linuxon my home computer just to find out how easy, or how difficult it is.
Thanks for listening and remember to keep on surfing.
Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf, a weekly update on what's new on the Internet. I am your cyberhost Steven Lang.
Some time last week I was listening to AM Live, of course, and I heard my colleague John Perlman interviewing Alistair Otter of the tectonic.co.za site and it made me realise that it is time once again for Cybersurf to look at the running conflict between open source and proprietary software.
The need for this discussion became more urgent because this conflict was, to a degree, responsible for the recent tsunami of MyDoom viruses that flooded mail boxes the world over.
A slight digression – a colleague of my has pointed out that MyDoom is in fact a worm and not a virus – but I think that we'll leave technicalities aside and go with the generic virus.
It is believed that the author of MyDoom was specifically targetting a company called SCO – that is S.C.O because that company claims ownership of eight hundred thousand lines of coding that is currently used by the Linux system. SCO is also threatening to sue anyone who uses the Linux operating system – including computer giant IBM.
Many people in the open source fraternity believe that SCO's claim runs counter to the spirit and aims of the opne source movement – so certain open militants wrote the MyDoom virus to swamp the SCO web site. They were succesful in that I have not been able to access the SCO web site found at www.sco.com for more than a week. Just for good measure – a variant of the virus has also targetted Microsoft – the old enemy of Open Source. I don't know for sure how badly afected the Microsoft sites were – but I have had no trouble accessing them.
The open source versus proprietary software war has become ugly – and it is almost impossible to find an expert who is completely objective about the dispute. Microsoft commissioned a series of “independent” reports to compare its products with welll known open source software. The comparison criteria was the overall cost of operating the respective systems over the long term.
Guess what – surprise, surprise – the independent reports – commissioned by Microsoft – showed that it is cheaper to run Microsoft applications than open source software. Truly amazing!
If you would like to look at a site advocating open source software – then you will do well to look at the site I mentioned at the beinning of this program. Alistair Otter runs the tectonic.co.za site and it is very good if you want to keep up with th latest open source news in South Africa.
The CSIR open source centre at meraka.org.za that is m.e.r.a.k.a dot org dot za has loads of information about open source conferences and gives you a fair idea of government thinking on the issue.
Obsidian systems, which can be found at obsidian.co.za, has a very interesting site in that it is clearly aimed at turning a profit out of its distribution and implementation of Linux, but it also has a section advising you when it is not a good idea to use Linux.
If you are really interested in getting an excellent overview of the dispute, I advise you to go to the bridges.org site – that's it – bridges.org – there is no za in it even though it is being run from Cape Town. - Why I strongly recommend bridges dot org is because it has a complete section dedicated to the dispute. This section which contains mainly links to other sites, is divided into three groups – firstly The Background – then the arguments for open source software and the third group has a collection of links arguing in favour of propriatary software.
And before we wrap up today's edition of Cybersurf – let me state for the record that the script for this program was written in an openOffice document running off a Windows 95 platform – and since I have been told that anyone can now run a Linux operating system on their PC – let me tell you that my next project is to install Linuxon my home computer just to find out how easy, or how difficult it is.
Thanks for listening and remember to keep on surfing.
25 January 2004
Elections.org – Cybersurf
26 January 2004
Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf, a weekly review of what’s hot on the Internet. I am Steven Lang.
This weekend, eligible South African voters were invited to check the voters rolls, and make sure they were registered ahead of this year’s national elections. Polling stations were opened for the convenience of our citizens and the Independent Electoral Commission – or IEC - had a massive publicity campaign trying to get the millions, yes, literally millions, of still unregistered voters to participate in our democracy.
The easiest way to check if you are properly registered is online at the www.elections.org.za web site. I am pleased to say that the site fully lives up to expectations in terms of functionality, lay-out and useful content.
I decided to check my own registration yesterday morning, and believe me it was very easy – all I had to do was type in my ID number and within seconds – on screen, it confirmed my name and address as well as my ward number and the full address of the school where I am supposed to vote.
The verification process is clean and easy – unfortunately you cannot register online, nor will you be able to vote online – yet!
The site also has a very useful FAQ section, explaining many of the obscure electoral rules – such as: will you able to vote if you turn 18 on the day of the actual election?
However, one part of the FAQ contradicts the front page of the site which tells us that this past weekend was the last chance to register. The FAQ says that you can still register, or update your details at the Municipal Electoral Offices during office hours – and, I believe that you can register to vote until the voting rolls are closed. So, when is it really your absolute, final, last chance to update the voters roll? Well, the elections.org.za site says that the voters’ roll closes officially at five pm on the day that the President proclaims the election.
Even if you are sure about your registration, the elections.org.za site is well worth the visit if you have any interest in the upcoming elections. It has the list of registered parties, the complete results of the most recent elections; information on how you could go about registering your own party; all the legislation surrounding the election process and a vacancies section if you happen to be looking for a job at the IEC.
That wraps up our broadly positive review of the IEC site at elections.org.za – hope you are registered, but if you’re not, then rush along to your nearest municipal electoral office – the president is sure to announce an official election date soon.
With that public service message, I will take leave of you for this week – be sure to join me again next Monday for more Cybersurf.
26 January 2004
Hello, good morning and welcome to Cybersurf, a weekly review of what’s hot on the Internet. I am Steven Lang.
This weekend, eligible South African voters were invited to check the voters rolls, and make sure they were registered ahead of this year’s national elections. Polling stations were opened for the convenience of our citizens and the Independent Electoral Commission – or IEC - had a massive publicity campaign trying to get the millions, yes, literally millions, of still unregistered voters to participate in our democracy.
The easiest way to check if you are properly registered is online at the www.elections.org.za web site. I am pleased to say that the site fully lives up to expectations in terms of functionality, lay-out and useful content.
I decided to check my own registration yesterday morning, and believe me it was very easy – all I had to do was type in my ID number and within seconds – on screen, it confirmed my name and address as well as my ward number and the full address of the school where I am supposed to vote.
The verification process is clean and easy – unfortunately you cannot register online, nor will you be able to vote online – yet!
The site also has a very useful FAQ section, explaining many of the obscure electoral rules – such as: will you able to vote if you turn 18 on the day of the actual election?
However, one part of the FAQ contradicts the front page of the site which tells us that this past weekend was the last chance to register. The FAQ says that you can still register, or update your details at the Municipal Electoral Offices during office hours – and, I believe that you can register to vote until the voting rolls are closed. So, when is it really your absolute, final, last chance to update the voters roll? Well, the elections.org.za site says that the voters’ roll closes officially at five pm on the day that the President proclaims the election.
Even if you are sure about your registration, the elections.org.za site is well worth the visit if you have any interest in the upcoming elections. It has the list of registered parties, the complete results of the most recent elections; information on how you could go about registering your own party; all the legislation surrounding the election process and a vacancies section if you happen to be looking for a job at the IEC.
That wraps up our broadly positive review of the IEC site at elections.org.za – hope you are registered, but if you’re not, then rush along to your nearest municipal electoral office – the president is sure to announce an official election date soon.
With that public service message, I will take leave of you for this week – be sure to join me again next Monday for more Cybersurf.
4 January 2004
A special project team to coordinate the commemorations for the Ten Years of Freedom has been set up in the Presidency of South Africa. This team has the full support of Cabinet and is made up of senior officials from the Presidency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs and the Department of Arts and Culture. It is clearly a powerful body within government.
The Ten Years of Freedom refers to the ten years of democracy South Africa has experienced since the first full democratic elections were held in 1994. The culmination of a series of year-long celebrations is set for April 27, 2004 - the anniversary date of the historic election that put the African National Congress firmly in control of government.
On April 27, there will be a huge music concert at a stadium in the Pretoria area, and if an election date is announced early this year, it is conceivable that President Thabo Mbeki could be inaugurated for his second term of office as President of our young democracy.
The Project team is serious about promoting the Ten Years of Freedom to include members of all races and to use the celebrations as a unifying exercise in a country that is still deeply divided along racial lines. However, it has already picked up warning signs that the white population might not be willing to buy into the celebrations.
White South Africans did not turn out in large numbers for the December 16th, Reconciliation Day celebrations, and now there are fears that the Ten Years of Freedom Commemorations might be perceived as yet another "Black Party".
Black South Africans will see the absence of white people at the commemorations as further evidence that most whites still hanker after the privileges of the apartheid past. Blacks will believe that whites do not care about the long and bitter struggle for democracy.
The Ten Years of Freedom refers to the ten years of democracy South Africa has experienced since the first full democratic elections were held in 1994. The culmination of a series of year-long celebrations is set for April 27, 2004 - the anniversary date of the historic election that put the African National Congress firmly in control of government.
On April 27, there will be a huge music concert at a stadium in the Pretoria area, and if an election date is announced early this year, it is conceivable that President Thabo Mbeki could be inaugurated for his second term of office as President of our young democracy.
The Project team is serious about promoting the Ten Years of Freedom to include members of all races and to use the celebrations as a unifying exercise in a country that is still deeply divided along racial lines. However, it has already picked up warning signs that the white population might not be willing to buy into the celebrations.
White South Africans did not turn out in large numbers for the December 16th, Reconciliation Day celebrations, and now there are fears that the Ten Years of Freedom Commemorations might be perceived as yet another "Black Party".
Black South Africans will see the absence of white people at the commemorations as further evidence that most whites still hanker after the privileges of the apartheid past. Blacks will believe that whites do not care about the long and bitter struggle for democracy.
1 January 2004
President Thabo Mbeki was in Haiti today. He went there to commemorate the 200th aniversary of independence of the country. He was full of praise for the island state because he said it was the first Black republic in the world.
Instructions came from senior levels within the SABC to take a two hour live feed of the celebrations in in Haiti. What we never counted on was rebel activity against the local government and strong objections to Mbeki's association with the event.
One of the TV stations that the SABC had made provisional arrangements to send the TV feed was apparently taken over by the rebels. A second station was still in the hands of government.
Mbeki made a point of singling out Haiti because it was the first "Black" republic - in so doing he effectively ignored some of the republics set up by black runaway slaves in Brazil presumably because their hidden states were not given official recognition by the European status quo nations.
He also brushed asside the many African countries who had been independent long before Europeans claimed African terriotry for themselves. It is true that the independent African countries were not traditional republics in accordance with standard western definitions - but then again, is Mbeki relying on European yardsticks to determine where he should celebrate the new year?
In holding up Haiti as a model of Black achievement, Mbeki is as misguided as he was when he suggested that South Africans can learn from Zimbabwe. Haiti might have declared its independence from France two hundred years ago, but it has done just about everything wrong since then.
Haiti has been ravaged by a perpetual low-level civil war between citizens who are Black and those who are of mixed race. Its political history is known for a series of coup de etats and cruel dictators in the mold of Papa Doc Duvalier and his son Baby Doc.
Pehaps Mbeki should have found out more about the notorious Tonton Macoutes before he began lecturing critics on the importance of celebrating 200 years of turmoil in Haiti.
Instructions came from senior levels within the SABC to take a two hour live feed of the celebrations in in Haiti. What we never counted on was rebel activity against the local government and strong objections to Mbeki's association with the event.
One of the TV stations that the SABC had made provisional arrangements to send the TV feed was apparently taken over by the rebels. A second station was still in the hands of government.
Mbeki made a point of singling out Haiti because it was the first "Black" republic - in so doing he effectively ignored some of the republics set up by black runaway slaves in Brazil presumably because their hidden states were not given official recognition by the European status quo nations.
He also brushed asside the many African countries who had been independent long before Europeans claimed African terriotry for themselves. It is true that the independent African countries were not traditional republics in accordance with standard western definitions - but then again, is Mbeki relying on European yardsticks to determine where he should celebrate the new year?
In holding up Haiti as a model of Black achievement, Mbeki is as misguided as he was when he suggested that South Africans can learn from Zimbabwe. Haiti might have declared its independence from France two hundred years ago, but it has done just about everything wrong since then.
Haiti has been ravaged by a perpetual low-level civil war between citizens who are Black and those who are of mixed race. Its political history is known for a series of coup de etats and cruel dictators in the mold of Papa Doc Duvalier and his son Baby Doc.
Pehaps Mbeki should have found out more about the notorious Tonton Macoutes before he began lecturing critics on the importance of celebrating 200 years of turmoil in Haiti.
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