Communication « Informasietegnologie

Communication

Tune in to Bits & Bytes

Friday, August 21st, 2015

This September the radio version of Bits & Bytes celebrates two years on air with more than 55 broadcasts under its belt. What started out as a fortnightly radio insert on IT news has grown into a weekly institution also covering the latest tech news. Currently Bits & Bytes is the tech show on MFM and Marc-Allen Johnson and Tian Petersen, ITs tech gurus make sure they are constantly up to date with all things hip and happening.

MFM has an audience of 30 000 listeners between the ages of 14 and 28 and is not only broadcasted on campus, but throughout the Stellenbosch area. Anyone who has an interest in technology, not only students, won’t regret tuning in for 10 minutes. With every insert we try and combine relevant news for students and staff, but also interesting developments on the technological front.

We do realise not everyone will be able to listen to the show due to limited access, so we provide an alternative so you won’t miss out. You can also listen to the broadcasts online by browsing to www.sun.ac.za/bb where you will find all previous 56 broadcasts. Just click on the mp3 link.

These clips are hosted within the SU network and won’t rocket your internet costs – so you can listen with ease. You’ll also find all previous versions of the Bits & Bytes newsletter.

If you do want to listen to the direct broadcast, tune in every Wednesday at 15:15 on the AM to PM Show on MFM with Eduard and our two resident IT gurus, Tian and Marc-Allen. Click HERE to listen to MFM live.

You are also welcome to send comments and questions during the show via Twitter and if there’s enough time we will address them. Tweet us at @ITStelleni.

Posted in Communication, General | Comments Off on Tune in to Bits & Bytes

The future of television

Friday, August 21st, 2015

On 5 January 1976 South Africans sat with bated breath in front of newly acquired television sets to bear witness to the first ever television broadcast. A lot has changed since then, including the addition of subscription services like DSTV.

Between 1976 and 1978 no ads were broadcasted and after years of using ad breaks to make coffee, we’re back to ad-free viewing with innovations like PVR and more recently VOD.

Video on demand (VOD) perfectly satisfies our demand for instant entertainment and series binge-watching. Up to last year the choices for VOD have been slim.

DSTV’s Box office online, a movie rental service for DSTV subscribers, was the first contender for a VOD audience. Soon others followed suit – Altech with Node, MTN with Frontrow and Times Media Group’s VIDI. When American entertainment provider Netflix announced they would be expanding their service to South Africa by the end of 2016, the race was on.

The biggest game changer occurred this past Wednesday when Naspers announced their entry with Showmax.

SHOWMAX

According to sources Showmax promises to be “…the new M-Net but for the internet age.” Two subscriptions are available – a premium and free option. The premium service will cost R99-00 per month and will include a host of popular series, as well as a combination of blockbusters and older movies. Old South African series like Egoli, Binnelanders and Agter elke man are also listed on their menu. Whether this is a move towards a target audience or merely saving money in acquiring local productions, remains to be seen.

All you need to use Showmax is a minimum internet speed of 1MB and an internet browser. If you are unsure whether Showmax is for you, a 7 day trial period is available to test the water with first.

[SOURCE: www.mybroadband.co.za, www.iafrica.com]

VIDI

Times Media Group launched VIDI in September last year and until Wednesday, they’ve been the biggest competition for Netflix locally.

A monthly subscription goes for R149-00 with unlimited viewing including a wide selection of movies and series. (Apparently more than 1000 worth’s viewing) Movies alone can also be rented at R27-00 for new and R15-00 for older releases.

Once again, a line with a minimum internet speed of 1MB is a prerequisite. Just remember that, if you prefer watching your sport and movies in HD on a big screen, 2 – 4 MB connections are a necessity.

The biggest advantage of VIDI, and all available VOD services, is the choice to watch movies or series whenever you want to, uninterrupted or not. If you can’t finish a movie, pause, stop or bookmark it and it will be added to your to-watch list.

Content can be watched on multiple platforms, including PC, Mac, laptop, Apple and Android tablets and smartphones. VIDI also adapts the quality of files according to your platform and bandwidth, so you should be saved from the frustration of buffering images.

[SOURCES: www.htxt.co.za, www.bizcommunity.co.za, www.sabc.co.za, www.tvsa.co.za and www.mybroadband.co.za]

FRONTROW

MTN initiative, Frontrow, was launched last year in September – a week after VIDI. Marketing has been extremely low-key and the main criticism is the limited viewing options. As should be expected from a cell phone provider, they focus on handheld devices. MTN does offer a package which includes mobile data.

But don’t take our word for it, rather read mybroadband’s review of Frontrow.

Currently VOD can’t compete with traditional broadcasting channels. DSTV alone accumulated up to five million subscribers over the past 5 years. Sport still remains the biggest drawing card – something which no VOD service caters for so far. However, television as we know it will have to adapt to keep up with technology.

I you are considering the VOD route for your home entertainment, read what the experts say about the current internet VOD options, the possible arrival of Netflix in 2016 and how they compare:

ShowMax, Netflix and SA’s disrupted TV future
Netflix could be game-changer in SA
Netflix vs FrontRow vs Vidi vs Node in South Africa

Posted in Communication, General, Internet | 3 Comments »

You might be suffering from FOMO

Thursday, August 6th, 2015

Are you compulsively checking your phone for e-mails, Twitter notifications or Facebook updates? You might be suffering from FOMO.

In a previous article we mentioned that the word hashtag has been added to the Oxford Dictionary last year. Believe it or not FOMO made the cut in 2013 already. Google defines FOMO as follows:

FOMO ˈfəʊməʊ/ noun informal

1. anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.

“I realized I was a lifelong sufferer of FOMO”

Although FOMO isn’t directly attributed to social media, it does aggravate the situation. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is merely the modern terminology for “the grass is always greener on the other side” (Psychologies magazine, 18 June 2012)

With so many options and choice available to us, it’s no wonder we feel dissatisfied with our lives. Fortunately a few years back we didn’t know we were missing out, but social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn make it impossible for us not to see what our peers are up to – socially and career wise.

However, social media hardly ever gives a realistic portrayal of someone’s life. Who tweets about their sick cat, problems with plumbing or the howling dog next door? We’d rather show our extravagant holiday, meal at an upmarket restaurant or the expensive wine we’re drinking.

According to a nationwide survey done in June 2012 by a pharmaceutical firm, over 62% of about 3 000 respondents aged between 15 and 50 years said that they live in “constant fear” of missing out on something more exciting that what they are doing.

But how do we prevent ourselves from becoming swept up in the hysteria of social media and this constant nagging feeling that we’re missing something? GQ and Nir and Far have a few ideas, but it all boils down to living and enjoying your life the way you want to and stop trying to keep up with the rest of the world. So why not rather suffer from JOMO (Joy of Missing Out)?

PS. YOLO is an acronym for “you only live once”. Similar to carpe diem, it implies that one should enjoy life, even if that entails taking risks. More on Wikipedia.

[SOURCES: www.forbes.com, www.wikipedia.org]

Tags: FOMO, twitter
Posted in Communication, Connectivity, General | Comments Off on You might be suffering from FOMO

#Hashtag

Friday, July 24th, 2015

Before social media a hashtag or the octothorp was only a symbol on a phone button we never used. Those days are long gone.

Today hashtags are part of our daily vocabulary. The Oxford English Dictionary even added it in June 2014.

The hashtag was first brought to Twitter in 2007 by Chris Messina. Before this the hash or pound symbol, had been used in other ways on the web. For example on IRC chat to indicate channel names. Since then its usage has spread much wider.

hashtag

ˈhaʃtaɡ/

noun

1. a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media sites such as Twitter to
identify messages on a specific topic.

Or by Wikipedia’s definition – “… a type of label or metadata tag, used on social network and micro blogging services which makes it easier for users to find messages with a specific theme or content.”

Marketing platform Offerpop sums up the history of the hashtag in an easy infographic.

When using a # in front of words or phrases, they will automatically be tagged and searchable for users of the social network – a fast and easy way to accumulate everything related to one topic. Hashtags can be added anywhere – in the middle of a sentence, at the start or beginning. They are particularly useful on a social network like Instagram if you are looking for specific photos of an event or travel images of, for example #paris or #worldcup2014.

Their main function should be to provide meta data, context or extra information for a tweet, photo or post. By adding a hashtag you will ensure you tweet will be seen. But make sure it adds value to what you have to say.

Unfortunately hashtags can easily be misused. Spammers send tweets with popular hashtags even if the tweet has nothing to do with them in order to gain exposure. When hashtags are misused – for example added to gain followers or not adding to the relevant conversation, the users account can be filtered and even suspended.

Two #s are considered acceptable per post or tweet, while three are seen as the limit. Anything more will only annoy your followers. In 2013 Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake performed a parody on the sometimes ridiculous usage of hashtags.

Since 2010 hashtags have even been used by some television channels for promotion by adding a “branded” # before, during and after an episodes broadcast. These will typically appear at the bottom of the screen.

They are used by social media experts and major companies to gain followers and increase brand recognition. For more information on how to use hashtags optimally, read Rebecca Hiscott’s article on Mashable.

Popular websites supporting hashtags:

[SOURCES: www.wikipedia.org]

Tags: hashtag, social media, twitter
Posted in Communication, General | Comments Off on #Hashtag

A little bird told me

Friday, July 24th, 2015

Have you ever heard of Larry the bird? Yes, the Twitter bird has a name.

We’re all familiar with the online social networking service called Twitter, but do we know more than the fact that it consists of 40 character “tweets”?

Twitter, or twttr as it was known initially was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass during a daylong brainstorming session. Dorsey explained the origin of the “Twitter” title as follows:

“…we came across the word ‘twitter’, and it was just perfect. The definition was ‘a short burst of inconsequential information,’ and ‘chirps from birds’. And that’s exactly what the product was.”

“twttr” was used in the beginning since the domain twitter.com wasn’t available immediately. Six months later at Twitters launch, the domain was purchased and the name changed to the one we now use.

Almost ten years later Twitter Inc. is still based in San Francisco and has more than 25 offices around the world with more than 500 million users.

Through the years Twitter developed from being a social tool people use to tweet their experiences and opinions to a useful tool for marketing, education, news, as well as for emergency communication. Twitter fulfilled an important function during the San Francisco earthquakes and Boston marathon bombings. In South Africa Twitter proved useful in updating us on the Cape Town fires and subsequently also assisted with fundraising.

In events such as these Twitter users use a # to group information and make it searchable, for example #capetownfires. As soon as a hashtag’s usage increases and is mentioned at a greater rate, it becomes a “trending topic” and will be visible on the sidebar to all users. These topics show Twitter users the most talked about subjects, whether they are news events or people’s opinions on current topics. (More on the # here)

Colleges and universities also started using Twitter as a communication and learning tool for students. When courses consist of large groups of students, Twitter can be used to facilitate communication between class members.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Tweets are publicly visible by default, but senders can restrict messages to just their followers. Users can tweet via the Twitter website, compatible external applications (such as for smartphones), or by Short Message Service (SMS) available in certain countries. Retweeting is when a tweet is forwarded via Twitter by users. Both tweets and retweets can be tracked to see which ones are most popular.

Users may subscribe to other users’ tweets – this is known as “following” and subscribers are known as “followers” or “tweeps”. In addition, users can block those who have followed them.

The "@" sign followed by a username is used for mentioning or replying to other users. To repost a message from another Twitter user and share it with one’s own followers, a user can click the retweet button within the Tweet.

You can watch the animated history of Twitter on YouTube.

[SOURCE: www.wikpedia.org]

Tags: hashtag, twitter
Posted in Communication, General | Comments Off on A little bird told me

IT links

SU Links

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Communication

Tune in to Bits & Bytes

The future of television

You might be suffering from FOMO

A little bird told me