In approximately 10 hours, I will be hopping on the 1st of 10 flights that I will be taking in the next 16 days as I head towards Rio de Janeiro for the 2006 iCommons iSummit, where I will be part of the media team and chief web developer, and then head northwards towards Seattle for Gnomedex 6.0, an exclusive new media & blogging conference where Sen. John Edwards is signed up for the key note.
Whilst I am pretty excited at this stage of the game, I know that only beer, jet-lag and work await me on the other side of the world – did I say I was complaining?
Anyway, wish me luck & watch this space (and my Flickr feed) for a detailed account of the trip and a summary of this year’s iSummit & Gnomedex .
Findings of a study conducted by Arthur Goldstruck and Kirsty Laschinger on “PC Users in South Africa 2006″ appeared on Fin24 this morning. The conclusion is that for the first time, the number of personal computers in SA will surpass the 5-million mark this year, which is quite a milestone, yet still a far cry from the 40-million plus that still require PCs in the digital age.
The study also touches on the significance of desktop vs. laptop sales, and the limited lifespan of the later. This is likely to effect the growth of the total computer user base in the future, “slowing it down” according to the report. I wonder by how much though? In a country where desktop PCs are up to 2/3 cheaper than their laptop counterparts, and where poverty is still rife, I think they will continue to sell more prolifically until a large middle-class is established. Plus I would take the statement made by Laschinger where she says, “laptop computers tend to be used for only up to three years” and hence they don’t have a second life with a pinch of salt. I personally have had a laptop for longer than that, and continue to use it for high-end graphic design and web development. I also very much doubt if any struggling household without a computer would say no to a free 5-year old laptop. They still had the Internet back then right?
Second to only the Windows Vista debate, a lot has been said recently about the pending release of the Sony Playstation 3 and it’s estimated opening price-tag of $500 for the basic 20Gb model. Nintendo (Wii) and Microsoft (Xbox 360) have already proven to be thorns in the side of the highly anticipated PS3, not to mention Sony themselves. It seems that the continuing success of the PS2 and it’s global saturation has meant that many people, including myself, will probably not upgrade in the foreseeable future, especially when some of the best games of all time have only recently been released for the PS2. I refer to games like God of War and Black which beautifully demonstrate the power of the PS2′s graphics core. In my mind it’s the developers who have been the bottle-neck, not the hardware so what’s the big deal about a new console?
Well, not intending to discriminate against Sony specifically (I hate everybody), Rob Wright has posted a very good summary of the debate on his Monday Morning Rundown: Ten Reasons Why You Don’t Need a PlayStation 3. I think his ten points are very valid and should persuade many people from not buying the PS3 when it first comes out later this year, but are these reasons enough to keep the PS3 from selling as many units as the PS2 and being labelled a ‘flop’?
Competition within the South African news scene has intensified over the last couple of weeks. First there was the Sunday Times introducing Flash multimedia reports onto their website as Maher uncovers and now an inside titbit from Mail & Guardian Online publisher Matthew Buckland, who recently told me about a new cellphone service people can sign-up for and receive the latest breaking news and select content from the paper via GPRS for only R10 a month.
Can’t wait to see what’s coming next, and more importantly, what the public’s response will be to all this innovation!
Willard Wigan is a ‘micro sculptor’ who claims to make “the world’s smallest and most wonderous works of art”. If you’re interested in what a pin-sized Elvis looks like, check out his website: http://www.willard-wigan.com/
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