memeburn

Why Facebook ‘likes’ won’t be a ‘vital’ part of free speech any time soon

Graeme Lipschitz: Columnist — Thu, 23 May 2013 05:00:25 +0000

Facebook recently argued in court that the “Like” feature is an integral part of free speech. A lawyer for the company argued that “Likes” are “vital” to the 500m people who use Facebook every day and that they should be protected by the US Constitution. “Any suggestion that such communication has less than full constitutional [...]

Merging the tangible in the digital era to make magic [Net Prophet]

Michelle Atagana: Managing Ed. — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:46:25 +0000

The world is obsessed with the ability to touch things. As a society, we are more willing to pay for something we can physically connect with rather than what we cannot. This is according to Erik Jan Bijvank, co-Founder of FONK, an Amsterdam and Cape Town based agency that is dedicated to helping their clients [...]

People: why we need to put the fun back into gamification

Ivan Kochetov — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:45:05 +0000

The word “gamification” hasn’t been in our lexicon long, but the basic principle it’s based on — that people enjoy competing against each other and themselves – is old as the hills, of course. Anyone who has ever challenged a childhood friend to a race, or bet his brother that he couldn’t eat that sixth [...]

Do we really need to replicate Silicon Valley? [Net Prophet]

Michelle Atagana: Managing Ed. — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:44:57 +0000

The latest craze in the world of tech is to build a version of Silicon Valley in different regions. Africa has its tech-infused locations that begin and end with the word “silicon”. Do they really need to recreate what the Americans have done though? TechCrunch’s editor-at-large, Mike Butcher doesn’t seem to think so. Butcher suggested [...]

Innovation, tech and startups: live from NetProphet 2013

Lauren Granger: Staff Reporter — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:30:42 +0000

What do you get when you pack 1 500 or so geeks into an auditorium, chuck in inspiring speakers, secret performances and a few T shirt guns? That could only be Net Prophet. This year’s tech event features personalities and thought leaders like TechCrunch Europe Editor Mike Butcher, PriceCheck’s Andre DeWet, former rugby player and [...]

Twitter adds two-step verification to beef up security

Jacques Coetzee — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:30:16 +0000

Twitter finally announced the rollout of a two-step verification security feature. We have seen this coming for a long time now. The feature allows you to add a third-party verification system, namely a security code sent to your phone. Gmail and other companies already has this feature integrated. Many security experts and critics alike, questioned why [...]

Amazon taking over the world with Kindle Fire HD in 170 countries

Nur Bremmen: Staff reporter — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:15:07 +0000

Its all up and up for Amazon, today the retailer/hardware maker has announced that its Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9” products will be hitting customers in more than 170 countries. This means that Amazon.com, will be giving customers access to millions of apps, games, books, audiobooks and magazines, including more than 300 [...]

The Napster Effect: why Bitcoin really matters

Tyler Reed — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:15:00 +0000

I’m not going debate nor justify the volatility of Bitcoin and how it may or may not stabilize. I’m not going to discuss whether it will survive or whether it will be the defacto global currency. I’m not going to go into depth about how secure (or unsecure) Bitcoin is and whether or not it [...]

Yahoo! buys gaming infrastructure company

Michelle Atagana: Managing Ed. — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:12:23 +0000

Yahoo! is buying things like a boss. Following the Yumblr! deal it seems everyone’s favourite ailing internet giant is spending some of that awesome money it has. The company has announced that it has acquired PlayerScale, a Silicon Valley-based company that makes software infrastructure for cross-platform gaming. The four year old company isn’t a tech [...]

Google Play Services is the golden child of Android apps

Rick Bosch — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:10:25 +0000

As I mentioned in my previous post, there was no new version of Android announced at Google I/O this year. I speculated, and suggested why I think they waited with the release of it, but since then I’ve been watching the keynote videos, checking what Android authorities are saying and I must admit, I think [...]