Author: Marc

  • Vox Telecom buys Storm Telecom

    I have been working for storm for the last 8 years. It’s a long time.

    I have also been through many changes since I started working for Club Internet back in 1999. Eventually Club Internet was sold to ITI, which was eventually liquidated. At that stage 2 British Guys, Tim Parsonson & Tim Wyatt-Gunning, who had started a small company called storm telecom, came into the picture and bought out the data side of ITI. This was a strategic move from them, as they knew sooner or later, the South African goverment would in, and allow ISP’s to start reselling VoIP in South Africa.

    That day arrived on the in Feb 2005, and so storm began its rise to fame. 2 years and 8 Months later, the news of the company being bought out is announced. Today Vox Telecom or Datapro as they are commonly known, put in an offer for R360 Million and bought storm. (The whole press release is here)

    It is exciting times ahead for us, and I can’t wait to see how this is all going to work out. VoIP is such an exciting technology, and in South Africa it has huge potential to grow. Personally I think the acquisition of storm is great for Vox, as it compliments thier business, and I am sure it’s going to grow.

    Keep your eye out on Storm & Vox, big things are going to be happening.

  • QR codes arrive in South Africa

    A while back I posted about QR codes and the basic technology behind them. I’m glad to see that the times and Sunday Times have started using this awesome technology, and so far it seems to be going well.

    Nice one to Colin & the team :)

  • Win a trip to Mauritius

    Local travel site travelstart.co.za has launched an awesome competition that allows you to win a trip to Mauritius. After my experience earlier this year, I would HIGHLY recommend that you enter this one. It definitely is the closest to paradise anyone will ever come :)

    Click on the ad below for more info:
    Win a trip to Mauritius

  • 27 Dinner Durbs – Round 2

    After a hugely successful 27 Dinner in July, Durban carries on with its second installment, next Thursday (the 27th).

    We have 2 great speakers lined up:

    Angela Spencer from the eThekwini City Council, will be sharing the story on why and how the city council went open source for their newly redesigned website.

    Ramon Thomas, who is a well renowned public speaker, will also be joining us to give us a talk about the Blogging phenomenon in South Africa.

    Ramon is also presenting his awesome course on “Blogging for Business” earlier in the day at SmartXchange, so if you keen on learning about blogging or how to make some $$$ for your blog, get down there to hear all about it.

    If you would like to join us at the 27 Dinner, remember to add your name to the Wiki. See you there !

  • Google Earth Flight Simulator Hack

    It was quite refreshing to read that it was a South African student who broke the news to the world about Google’s hidden easter egg in the latest version of Google Earth.

    By pressing a combination of CTRL-ALT-A, in Google Earth, you enter a built in flight simulator, that allows you to take off from various airports around the world, or from a current location in google earth. A pity that there were no South African airports included in the list though. That was till now. By doing a quick cut & paste I give you 4 new South African airports (JHB, DBN, CT & Surprise) to add to the list.

    To do so, follow the steps below. Unfortunately I only have the steps for Windows version

    • Scroll down to the bottom of the file & paste the list of airports downloaded in step 1
      file21.jpg
    • Open Google earth, press Control-Alt-A and choose your from the list of newly added airports.

    If anyone has any other airports I can add, please leave a comment.

    P.S. Did you know that Upington Airport has the longest runway in Africa & the 4th longest in the world.