We’re in our new studio space this week, echoes, unpainted walls and all. Brett Haggard, Don Packett, Duncan McLeod and Simon Dingle are your panel this week. We discuss:

• The future of Cell C.
• Improving PC sales and analysts’ expectations for tablet computers.
• Microsoft Mix and the prospects for Windows Phone.
• Sony’s 8001050F error on the PS3.
• Apple vs. HTC in patent dispute.
• In-flight WiFi coming to Mango.
• HP’s Pavilion DM1 netbook.
• Dropped calls on Vodacom and the smartphones that apparently cause them.
• iBurst’s new iDSL service with unlimited bandwidth for gaming.
• Telkom bumping up speed on ADSL lines.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Duncan McLeod – Picks: Skype for Symbian.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: The Macheist nanoBundle 2.
• Don Packett – Picks: Mi-World and the Mi-Bar for geeks.

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Two first-timers join the ZA Tech Show panel this week – stand-up comedian and co-founder of Thunk! Perspective Lab, Don Packett and CTO of the Johannesburg Area Wireless Users Group, Kieran Murphy join Duncan McLeod and Simon Dingle to discuss:

• Duncan’s experiences with the Nokia Booklet 3G.
• Wireless users groups.
• Rumours of Multichoice preparing transactional video-on-demand services via DStv, as well as the possibility of a porn channel.
• The 10 billionth iTunes Music Store download.
• Sony’s 3D broadcasts of the 2010 Fifa World Cup and 3D TV in general.
• Heavy Rain, new-school Mario and gaming in general.
• The Nokia E72.
• Mobile Linux distributions.
• Exclusive Books getting into the ebooks game.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Duncan McLeod – Picks: The Opera 10.5 beta web browser.
• Kieran Murphy – Picks: Thesixtyone music adventure.
• Simon Dingle – Picks: Plants vs. Zombies.
• Don Packett – Picks: Fitness Builder for iPhone.

Direct file download (25MB)

The ZA Tech Show turns 100 this week and we celebrated with our first ever live broadcast and some really expensive champagne. Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod, Jon Tullett, Toby Shapshak and Simon Dingle discuss:

• Microsoft Windows Phone Series 7.
• Development on mobile platforms.
• Google and Android at the Mobile World Congress 2010.
• Intel and Nokia’s MeeGo announcement.
• The release of Starcraft 2 beta.
• Heavy Rain for the PS3.
• Samsung’s new Bada operating system and the new Wave.
• Powermat induction charging.
• Verizon’s partnership with Skype.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Toby Shapshak – Picks: NTT Docomo’s eye-controlled phone and Motorola’s Golden Eye.
• Jon Tullett: Picks and picks-on: GConnect from WirelessG.
• Ben Kelly – Picks: The PC Museum’s Vintage PC Twitter stream.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: The Mifi, soon with app store.
• Simon Dingle – Picks: Powermat with iPhone adapter and Rogue Amoeba software.

Direct file download (35MB)

Jon Tullett returns to the ZA Tech Show this week, joining the panel with Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod, Simon Dingle and, later, Toby Shapshak. We discuss:

• Google Buzz.
• Mashing together social networks.
• Open API’s versus closed platforms.
• The Eassy undersea cable landing in SA.
• Tumbling ADSL prices.
• The downfall of Sentech and spectrum allocation.
• A preview of Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona.
• Skype Access and Windows Mobile 7.
• Mobile roaming.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Jon Tullett – Picks: Guitar Hero 5.
• Toby Shapshak – Picks-on: Sentech and picks: the Sony Ericsson X10.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: Mobile Data Alerter for BlackBerry.
• Simon Dingle – Picks: Aerial7 Tank headphones and CSSEdit.

Direct file download (32MB)

Gartner analyst Will Hahn returns to the show this week, joining Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod and Simon Dingle for a chat about:

• Telkom’s recent SAT3 troubles.
• The ongoing interconnect debacle in SA.
• The progress of mobile data.
• Microsoft’s battle against Apple and Google.
• Sane expectations of the iPad.
• Mobile Core i7 platforms.
• The migration to voice over IP in cellular.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Will Hahn – Picks: The Xbox 360 controller for Windows and Flurry’s iPad detection.
• Duncan McLeod – Picks: Nimbuzz.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: ScummVM and TrueCrypt.
• Simon Dingle – Picks: Waze.

Direct file download (30MB)

Steven Ambrose from WWW Strategy makes his first appearance on the ZA Tech Show this week, joining Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod and Simon Dingle to discuss:

• Internet access stats for South Africa.
• The Apple iPad launch.
• The online services drought in South Africa.
• Progress in Android and Chrome OS.
• Microsoft falling behind in mobile.
• Cell C’s “4G” network rollout.
• Cellular networks’ data congestion problems.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Brett Haggard – Picks: the iPad (we didn’t see that one coming) and Interarchy FTP client.
• Duncan McLeod – Picks: the Zap ‘em Dead electrified fly-swatter and picks-on: Jason Calacanis for his pre-iPad launch tweets.
• Steven Ambrose – Picks: The BlackBerry Bold 9700.
• Simon Dingle – Picks: The HTC Tattoo and SkypeIn with South African numbers.

Direct file download (31.3MB)

This week security expert Dominic White makes his debut on the show,  joining Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod and Simon Dingle. We discuss:

• The ongoing Google-China debacle.
• The Aurora exploit.
• Nokia providing Ovi Maps gratis.
• Telkom’s SAT3 problems last week.
• App store mania.
• In-flight internet access coming to SA.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Duncan McLeod – Picks: Ipredator from The Pirate Bay.
• Dominic White – Picks: Google Sharing.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: Komodo Edit.
• Simon Dingle – Picks: The LTE Connected Car.

Direct file download (28MB)

Easing their way into 2010, our panel of geeks this week consists of Duncan McLeod, Simon Dingle and Toby Shapshak. They discuss

• On Digital Media (ODM) – South Africa’s second pay TV operator.
• Google’s intention to stop filtering information in China.
• Microsoft’s focus on Xbox and progress with Windows 7.
• Mobile gaming moving to phones.
• The local launch of the BlackBerry Bold 9700.
• Internet filtering in Australia and China.

Our picks of the week:

• Duncan McLeod – Vlingo.
• Toby Shapshak – Blue Lounge Studio Desk and CableDrop.
• Simon Dingle – N.O.V.A., BlackBerry OS 5.0 and GodMode in Windows 7.

Direct file download (24MB)

In our first episode of the year Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod and Simon Dingle form the panel, with Toby Shapshak dialing in from CES later on in the show. We discuss:

• Parrot’s iPhone-controlled helicopter.
• HP’s new tablet and why we need tablets at all.
• HD Skype, 3-D and other progress in television.
• Vodacom’s legal battle in the DRC.
• Google’s Nexus One. Is Android its own worst enemy?
• Toby overviews CES for us and digs into Lenovo’s new line-up.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Ben Kelly – Picks: Custom GelaSkins.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: The Speedtest.net iPhone app.
• Simon Dingle – Picks: Quake Live and World of Goo.
• Toby Shapshak – Picks: Lenovo’s new range of portables.

Direct download (30MB)

In our final episode for 2009 Aki Anastasiou from Talk Radio 702 swings by the ZA Tech studio, joining Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod and Simon Dingle to discuss:

• Mark Shuttleworth changing his role within Canonical.
• The Joojoo internet tablet.
• Mobile GPS applications.
• Google’s Nexus One smartphone.
• The BlackBerry edge, Nokia’s services and mobile in 2010.
• DStv adding Discovery HD and Supersport HD to its bouquet.
• On Digital Media and what it will amount to.
• James Cameron’s Avatar and the future of 3D video.
• New tech in car tracking in SA.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Brett Haggard: Picks – Samsung WB5000 digital camera.
• Duncan McLeod: Picks – Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 email client.
• Simon Dingle: Picks – MarsEdit 2.4 blog publisher.
• Aki Anastasiou: Picks – Kilofuel iPhone application.

Direct file download (34MB)