tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295725042009-07-01T10:54:50.661+02:00ICT, privacy, cryptography and security in Africa (well, Pretoria)Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-64612356160377800652009-07-01T10:33:00.000+02:002009-07-01T10:54:48.097+02:00

Because television was introduced in South Africa mercifully late (1976), many of us still grew up with an excellent selection of radio dramas and serials. The most popular station was Springbok Radio, the “commercial” bilingual broadcaster (all stations were state-owned). It had fantastic radio versions of The Avengers; Father, Dear Father as well as local classics such as Test the Team and Só

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-92134907913578709742009-06-25T23:14:00.000+02:002009-06-25T23:41:47.559+02:00

In hierdie webjoernaal is al heelwat berig oor Suid-Afrika se lae landlyndigtheid of teledensity. Landlyne is natuurlik konvensionele telefoonlyne, van die tipe wat natuurlik wêreldwyd ook vir Internet-toegang van die ADSL-tipe gebruik kan word. Telkom, wat pas aangekondig het dat hulle opgeblaasde notering in New York beëindig gaan word, het steeds in praktyk 'n monopolie oor die verskaffing van

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-54653701720336038412009-06-24T06:18:00.000+02:002009-06-24T06:29:20.522+02:00

I am writing this from the airside Vodacom Connect Zone at Johannesburg's main international airport (formerly Jan Smuts Airport), while waiting for my flight to Bloemfontein. The Connect Zone is simply a communal work station with desk area and electrical outlets (for South African as well as European plugs) and several special devices for charging cellphone batteries. Kudos to Vodacom for this

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-14152913461581793522009-06-21T10:48:00.000+02:002009-06-21T11:09:06.718+02:00

DSTV is die Telkom van betaaltelevisie - 'n monopolie wat deur die Suid-Afrikaanse owerhede (in beide gevale, OKOSA/ICASA) in 'n skoon kombers toegedraai en warm gehou word terwyl die verbruiker steun en kreun. Ek het al meer as tien jaar lank aaneenlopend 'n rekening by DSTV/Multichoice maar ontvang vanoggend 'n kort SMS waarin ek ingelig word dat my rekening agterstallig is en ek 'n R50-

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-80816091452394971912009-06-18T08:39:00.000+02:002009-06-18T08:49:41.758+02:00

Die uitstekende span van www.translate.org.za het die Suid-Afrikaanse openbare vakansiedae as ICS-lêers opgestel en beskikbaar gemaak vir insluit in enige kalender-programmatuur - soos Google se Calendar, Thunderbird en (vermoedelik) Outlook - wat die ICS-formaat ondersteun. Tot nou verskaf Google ons vakansiedae (jammer, Namibiërs, ek weet nie wat julle gaan doen nie!) nie as een van die

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-69097289859683937312009-06-13T11:43:00.000+02:002009-06-16T17:51:25.089+02:00

A colleague has introduced me to Seth Godin's blog. Godin is a best-selling author and speaker and used to blog under the slogan This Is Broken about disasters in customer service and the customer experience. I have decided to collect a few examples of my own, in an occasional series.Exhibit 1 is from the website of the Watermark Hotel in Brisbane (archived version at http://backupurl.com/x3wwqm)

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-45364582611529948482009-06-08T23:26:00.000+02:002009-06-08T23:34:19.885+02:00

Daar word vandag op Fin24.com dat here van die SABS by vervaardigers van verdagte toiletpapier aan die Wesrand. 'n Fabriek vervaardig blykbaar rolle wat te min papier op het, en boonop ontbreek die perforasies. Volgens die woordvoerder van die SABS"Perforations allowed the paper to be easily torn and also helped the regulator to measure it."Is dit net ek wat die gedagte aan 'n kantoor in Pretoria

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-35223370468992362062009-06-04T08:29:00.000+02:002009-06-04T08:57:30.814+02:00

Die koerant Rapport berig afgelope naweek oor die verminderde bestuursvermoë van diegene wat SMS in die kar. Volgens dié blad erken amper 20% van bestuurders dat hulle SMSe stuur op die pad. Ek doen dit soms self alhoewel ek dit natuurlik probeer vermy. Indien die selfoon lui terwyl ek bestuur, antwoord ek - as 'n reël - ook. Die rede is eenvoudig dat Suid-Afrika 'n gevaarlike plek is en 'n mens

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-63721506312062590822009-05-11T22:51:00.000+02:002009-05-11T23:01:08.758+02:00

Most of the servers of BigU have been unreachable since this afternoon. Thank gods for Google's cache... By this evening it all got too much for me and I decided to check the WHOIS information at http://www.ac.za/ to get some information about the setup. This is what I found out.The contact e-mail addresses of the administrators are in the domain which they administer. Google is brave enough to

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-87962970732956475012009-05-09T21:46:00.000+02:002009-05-09T22:00:04.730+02:00

I am one of those backward souls still using a standalone e-mail client (Mozilla Thunderbird) for most of my e-mail reading and sending. My three main reasons are:good Afrikaans localisation in Thunderbird, which GMail still lacks;using a standard protocol for offline copies, allowing me easy offline access (which I know GMail now kind-of has); andthe range of add-ons for Thunderbird, with some

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-57365255972328843342009-04-25T22:45:00.002+02:002009-04-25T23:10:51.489+02:00

Suid-Afrika se Wysigingswetsontwerp op die wet op die reëling van onderskepping van kommunikasies en verstrekking van kommunikasie-verwante inligting (RICA, The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Amendment Bill) gaan stellig die lewe vir selfoondiensverskaffers en -gebruikers moeilik maak. Dié wetgewing vereis dat verskaffers van

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-11794943706978902552009-03-18T16:59:00.013+02:002009-03-19T11:09:57.664+02:00

I was asked to write a few notes for management at the Big University (Big U) where I have an office that I use when not extreme telecommuting from one of my favourite islands. It occurred to me to rather place my comments here, where they are not so easily lost.E-mail archiving (not)Where better to start, than the pothole on the information superhighway that I struck just today. In a somewhat

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-48898133790787107242009-03-08T23:05:00.004+02:002009-03-09T00:17:15.109+02:00

Daar word vandag op die BBC berig dat gedeeltelike privatisering van Brittanje se Royal Mail deur die Arbeidersregering voorgestel word. Volgens Lord Mandelson, is dít kwansuis die enigste manier om die posdiens se toekoms te verseker. Afgesien van die onafwendbare ontwrigting wat só 'n stap sou teweegbring, en moontlike duistere motiewe (die pensioenfonds van die Royal Mail is blykbaar in 'n

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-77580245238583045072009-03-08T22:56:00.002+02:002009-03-08T23:03:01.556+02:00

A few days ago I reported on the Telkom website that the speed on my ADSL line was reported by my modem to be half of what it should be. Within seconds, I got an e-mail from them with the following contact information.Tel: 0800 375 375International: 0272010181It is sweet that they thought of the hapless customer abroad trying to resolve the problems of the non-technical household left offline

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-65150241686151219812009-02-21T13:24:00.002+02:002009-02-21T13:53:17.960+02:00

Everyday life in South Africa is, mercifully, much less constrained by legal restrictions based on race than it was 30 years ago. However, it appears that IT has rendered our racial bureaucrats more "productive". A certain very large university has just released the following statistics.What, on earth, is this meant to convey and is it really likely that the unbelievably exact 66,74% should

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-53708217906709776692009-01-30T18:15:00.003+02:002009-01-30T18:40:22.712+02:00

During December and January I had the occasion to visit three countries in which I wanted to use my unlocked Huawei E220 UMTS dongle for prepaid UMTS ("3G") Internet. Here are my experiences, in brief.AustraliaAustralia was the only real success of my trip. Although it takes about 20 minutes to buy a SIM card in Australia, it is not expensive (around AU$10). I bought two cards for data, one of

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-88370751105481419292009-01-19T22:47:00.002+02:002009-01-19T22:58:11.884+02:00

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) reports from Windhoek that the cellphone companies of Zimbabwe have been given permission by the government to start billing customers in foreign currency, mainly US dollars. The MISA report is somewhat hysterical about the right to communicate being under threat and the people of Zimbabwe being increasingly repressed - the latter being, no doubt,

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-41266882422103625152009-01-17T16:03:00.005+02:002009-01-17T17:05:10.835+02:00

Die kaartdienste van Google en Yahoo, met hul lieflike satellietfoto's van die aarde, is natuurlik 'n plesier om te gebruik. Veral indien 'n mens in die buiteland is waar baie stede - waaronder selfs die sekondêre stede van Australië en Nieu-Seeland - nou straatvlak-beelde het. Kyk byvoorbeeld na die beeld hier onder van Madrasstraat in Christchurch. Hierdie beeld is dinamies gekoppel aan die

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-82026676684776476782008-11-10T05:42:00.003+02:002008-11-10T06:16:08.735+02:00

In South Africa, efforts to introduce summer ("daylight saving") time (DST) has and will always by stymied by the considerable east-west extent of the country. During the summer, we have the same time as Namibia - which is then on "daylight saving" time - and there is no reason for the time in Cape Town, on the same latitude as Namibia, to be different. Should the western part of the country then

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-36266795203085412092008-11-05T22:17:00.002+02:002008-11-05T22:27:43.095+02:00

Like Linux geeks all over the planet, I was excited about last Friday's release of version 8.10 of Ubuntu Linux - Intrepid Ibex. I had tried pre-release versions on my Dell laptop without any problem and was very impressed by the option Auto GSM Connection in the network manager. This feature allowed me to connect to UMTS/GPRS networks using the popular Huawei E220 3G modem. All I needed to enter

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-17372495112208622812008-11-03T22:16:00.003+02:002008-11-03T22:31:11.953+02:00

The Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburri, has been denied leave to appeal (see Minister scratches back below) in the judgement in favour of Altech's right to have its value-added network service (VANS) licence converted into an individual electronic communications network service (I-ECNS) licence, allowing it to deploy a telecommunications network. It is anyone's guess what she

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-86198385291098011912008-10-27T06:06:00.003+02:002008-10-27T06:33:08.772+02:00

The matric (school-leaving exam in SA) results of Mr Julius Malema, leader of the ANC Youth League, have been circulating in the country over the past week or so. This gentelman, who is famously prepared to "kill" to support "the revolution" managed to get 4% (an H symbol) in the exam in Standard Grade Mathematics. He did manage 57% in History (also on Standard Grade) which is, presumably, more

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-27583587459423426402008-10-05T15:33:00.005+02:002008-10-14T12:52:49.061+02:00

Last week, I was interviewed on ClassicFM in the show The Internet Economy about GIMPS - the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. During the interview, I said that there was no formula for generating prime numbers, by which I meant - of course - that there is no easy formula. As Eric Weisstein writes in the authoritative MathWorld,"all such formulas require either extremely accurate knowledge of

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-22839083552314536122008-09-27T13:46:00.005+02:002008-09-27T14:54:54.205+02:00

The postings of a fellow blogger - over at WhiteAfrican.com - has alerted me to a number of upcoming ICT events in Southern Africa, some of which had escaped my attention. I am listing them here for the convenience of the casual reader, together with one or two that I happened to have come accross myself.BarCamp Madagascar Antananarivo, 4 October 2008, www.barcamp-madagascar.net2nd International

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29572504.post-53542586690824946222008-09-19T22:13:00.003+02:002008-09-19T22:59:06.284+02:00

The previous posting in this blog celebrated the court victory of Altech against ICASA and the Department of Communications (DoC). The ruling was viewed as the closest thing to a big bang liberalisation of the telecommunications industry in South Africa, especially since ICASA had announced that the ruling would not be appealed. Today, however, the DoC announced that the minister intends to lodge

Petrus Potgieterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15865825153406975684noreply@blogger.com1