Monday, December 26, 2005
Cybersurf round-up of 2005
Let us start with the Podcast - The editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary have selected "podcast" as the Word of the Year for 2005. You still haven’t tuned in?
On Cybersurf we have spoken about podcasts quite a few times noting of course that it has mainly taken on in the US of A – but there is an excellent site about podcasting in South Africa which you can find at www.podcast.co.za – seems obvious enough – www.podcast.co.za
It is an excellent site that explains the basics to beginners and at the same time has topflight technical tips for the experts. There is a list of podcasts for South Africans – that includes Afrikaans weekly shows from
Podcast dot co dot Za also gives you very good advice on how you can make your own podcasts
The transformation of Google is another of the most important stories of the year – in the beginning of 2005 it was merely the biggest search engine in the world – now it is still the biggest search engine – including South African versions in four languages – but it has successfully launched Google Maps; Google Earth, Google messaging and only last week a special version of google for your PDA.
It’s a good bet that in the next year we can expect a few head on confrontations between the two giants - Google and Microsoft - that appear to be intent on taking over everything on the Internet.
Still on the subject of search engines – earlier this month a new South African search engine was launched. I’m not sure about the pronunciation of jonga dot co dot za – that is J.O.N.G.A but I believe it is based entirely on open source software.
I tried it on a few local searches and it appeared to be quite good. Let’s give it another few weeks and we’ll really put it through its paces and compare it to some other South African search engines.
The last of our randomly selected big stories of the year concerns the recording industry’s massive campaign against pirated music. We have seen many adverts on television about how evil it is to steal music and how bad it is to make illegal copies of songs.
Now, while Cybersurf fully supports the sanctity of intellectual property rights and in no-way condones illegal downloading – it seems that sometimes authorities are unneccesarily harsh on this type of crime.
Currently there is a celebrated case in the
The 43 year old has been described by a federal judge as "an Internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from kazoo, and who can barely retrieve her email."
It appears that the industry – which has a site at www.riaa.com – has a huge call centre that tracks people who have made illegal downloads and then demands money from them.
Sounds a bit over the top to me.
But then I hope you don’t go over the top with your new year celebrations – thanks for listening and do join me again next year for more Cybersurf.
- Recording Industry Association of
- Defense lawyers' blog on RIAA cases: http://www.recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com
- Site focusing on peer-to-peer issues: http://p2pnet.net
Monday, December 19, 2005
Wikipedia in the News
Hello good morning and welcome to Cybersurf, your weekly window on the web – I am Steven Lang.
In the last week or so, one of my all time favourite sites – Wikipedia.org – has hit the headlines in internet publications. Wikipedia, is an online encyclopedia made up of material generated by volunteers – it is essentially an open source encyclopaedia.
The site has been in the news for two reasons reflecting both its weaknesses and its strength.
Critcs say that because Wikipedia has no proper review mechanism and because it is not compiled by professionals – its credibility must be questionable.
And the critics’ position has been bolstered by several recent events including the vandalisation of a biographical entry in the Wikipedia of the Norwegian Prime Minister. Another incident concerns Adam Curry who supposedly altered the entry on podcasting to polish up his role in the phenomena.
The point taken is that yes – it is possible to unilaterally change Wikipedia entries for mischievious or malicious purposes. Nobody can guarantee the accuracy of the Wikipedia.
On the other hand, the highly respected science magazine – Nature – recently conducted tests comparing the accuracy of Wikipedia science articles to those in the well known Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The tests concluded that Britannica contained fewer errors and the articles were better written – but that there was not a significant difference in accurancy between the two online encyclopaedias.
Nature said that in the articles assessed – and I quote - "Only eight serious errors, such as misinterpretations of important concepts, were detected in the pairs of articles reviewed, four from each encyclopedia."
The science journal appeared to have more problems with the structure of the articles in the Wikipedia than the accuracy.
To sum it up – Wikipedia is a good place to begin your research – but I would not treat it as a definitive source for information.
And with that bit of advice, we wrap up today’s slightly shorter edition of Cybersurf – thanks for listening and enjoy your festive season surfing – be it on the Internet or on the ocean waves.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Maropeng.co.za
The centre displays casts of most significant hominid finds from Southern Africa and other parts of the world. The bones and dioramas are fantastic and well worth the visit.
However, I was not as impressed with the Maropeng web site – which you can find at Maropeng.co.za. Perhaps what annoyed me more than anything - my eternal bug-bear – the area where the actual content is displayed is a small window taking up less than a quarter of the screen space. Why do web designers do this? Do they think users like scrolling up and down to see the content tucked away in squashed up block?
(T) Perhaps I am being unreasonable – it is after all a new site and there isn’t really much content available yet. I do hope they are going to add to it.
In one of the incomplete sections – instead of the usual “under construction sign” there was a “still excavating” graphic – different and cute.
The Maropeng site was clearly done by the same people that did the linked Sterkfontein caves site - and in both cases it appears that there is more emphasis on the commercial and tourism aspects of the Cradle of Humankind ahead of educational content explaining to visitors why this area is so important.
To illustrate what I mean – the restaurants, hotel, conferencing, and tour operators sections are operational – with price lists. But the Education section is “still excavating”.
The contacts section has details for several administrators, three financial officers, two people for food and beverages, a brand manager, a sales person and only one person who does tour bookings, schools and information for Sterkfontein caves.
The Cradle of Human kind web site at www.cradleofhumankind.co.za has much more content, even if it is not all fully up to date. I particularly liked the section with the video clips that I am sure will be incorporated in the not too distant future in the Maropeng site.
To sum it up – the old adage “content is king” still holds true – so I appeal to the people who run the Maropeng Visitors Centre: please put on your web sites more educational information about the australopethecines, homo erectus and cave formations – there is already enough about prices and conference facilities.
And that wraps up the prehistory edition of Cybersurf – thanks for listening and please tune in again next Monday for more – on the best of the web.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Going Wireless
I am your cyberhost Steven Lang.
Do you remember when a wireless was a clunky art-deco box that you used to listen to the hit parade? Nowadays – wireless is arguably the best way to connect to the Internet.
To come to grips with concepts such as three Gee- GPRS; I-Burst and edge technology you either need to be a genius – or if that is not the case – you need to know someone who really understands how going wireless can make life easier for you.
Internet analyst, Arthur Goldstuck has just written a book to help us mere mortals make sense of the concept – the book is called “The Hitchhiker’s guide to going Wireless”
IN: It’s a guide to the myriad . . .
OUT: . . . good social etiquette.
DUR: 1’40”
And let me tell you about this etiquette thing, two Saturdays ago – I was at a movie in
Needless to say she was vigorously Sssshed by half the patrons in the cinema.
So you brush up on your cellphone etiquette when you read Arthur Goldstuck’s book entitled “The Hitchhiker’s guide to going Wireless” – and no it has nothing to do with bra’s either.
That’s it for today – thanks for your company and please tune in again next Monday for more on the best of the web.
