As the 2011 festive season gets underway, Andy Hadfield, Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard and Simon Dingle gather at ZA Tech Show HQ to discuss;

• Intel’s “ultrabooks” – supposedly big next year.
• HP open-sourcing WebOS.
• Mobile app development and HTML 5.
• Windows 8 and Windows Phone.
• DStv is launching a new satellite.
• Local loop unbundling.
• iCloud’s backup fail.
• Absa’s NFC trial.
• Mac App store reaches 100 million downloads while Android tops 10 billion.
• The Video Game Awards.

Our technology picks of the week:

• Andy Hadfield: Mi-Fone.
• Ben Kelly: Picks on Matthew Reilly.
• Brett Haggard: Picks the iNoxCase and Tweetdeck for sucking.
• Simon Dingle: Mario Kart 7.

Your panel this week consists of Ben Kelly, Duncan McLeod, Jon Tullett and Simon Dingle who discuss:

• The iPhone 4.0.1 update and antennaegate.
• Ebooks, audio books and the reading renaissance.
• Smart business on smartphones.
• Inductive charging with Powermat and others.
• Microsoft Kinect local pricing.
• Console gaming.
• Facebook reaching 500 million users.
• Undersea bandwidth cables.
• Spectrum allocation and ICASA’s delays.

Our technology picks (or pick-ons) of the week:

Your panel of tech pundits this week includes Brett Haggard, Candice Jones and Duncan McLeod who join Simon Dingle to discuss:

Our technology picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Simon Dingle – Picks: Samsung Galaxy S and Tungle.me.
• Duncan McLeod – Picks: HTC Desire and Zimbra.
• Candice Jones – Picks: Nintendo 3DS.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: VMWare Fusion 3.1 and GOG.com.

Direct file download (40MB)

The crew this week consists of Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod, Steven Ambrose and Nic Callegari. They discuss:

• An update from Icasa’s recent stakeholders’ meeting.
• Spectrum allocation in South Africa.
• The ISPA call for mandatory voice line rentals to be dropped on ADSL connections.
• Internet line speed and quality tests.
• World Wide Worx’ The Mobile Internet in SA 2010 research.
• Samsung Bada and the mobile app war.
• Microsoft Communicator for Nokia phones.
• Apple’s market capitalisation surpassing Microsoft’s for the first time.
• Microsoft Office 2010.
• DStv’s HD PVR P2 decoder.
• Monitor technology and the rise of OLED.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Duncan McLeod – Picks: Cred.
• Steven Ambrose – Picks: Samsung PL150.
• Nic Callegari – Picks: PayCity, RunPee, Maximus Cards and MifiClub.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link Director Edition.

Direct file download (37MB)

Our panel this week consists of Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod, Jon Tullett and Simon Dingle. We discuss:

• The new iPhone prototype. They’re everywhere now. We’re so over it.
• Duncan’s fantastic TechCentral Debate Series telecoms panel.
• Fibre rollout in SA.
• Vodacom’s Linkbook netbook.
• Ubuntu Linux 10.04.
• Steam for Mac (and maybe Linux too).
• Recovery in the tech sector.
• The Facebook privacy debacle.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Simon Dingle – Picks: Steam for Mac.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: Pocket Legends.
• Duncan McLeod – Picks: Vintage Kings Quest and Just Cause 2.
• Jon Tullett – Picks: The Humble Indie Bundle.

Direct file download (35MB)

Jon Tullett is your host this week with Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard and later Duncan McLeod on the panel. We discuss:

• Seacom’s outage and its impact on connectivity in SA.
• HP’s acquisition of Palm.
• The launch of TopTv and DStv Lite.
• Delays in Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) migration.
• The launch of Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS.
• Online shopping.
• The Apple vs. Adobe debacle.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Duncan McLeod: Picks – Garmin FM Traffic, coming soon to SA.
• Ben Kelly: Picks – iFixit.
• Brett Haggard: Picks – Air Video for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.
• Jon Tullett: Picks – MakroShop.

Direct file download (37MB)

We’re back at our studio under construction this week. Simon Dingle is your host, with TechCentral’s Duncan McLeod and Thunk! Perspective Lab’s Don Packett joining the panel for discussions on:

• Motorola’s Milestone launch and Android 2.1.
• Vodacom slashing its data rates.
• Fibre to the home in South Africa.
• Google’s local operations.
• Xbox Live rumours.
• Microsoft Office 2010.
• Die Antwoord and related online phenomena.
• The Gizmodo Apple iPhone prototype and how unreal we think it is.
• The launch of Top TV.
• Good results from top tech companies.
• Steam on Mac.
• Legends of Echo.
• iPad confiscation in Israel.
• Fixed-line interconnect and local number portability.
• Microsoft’s big BEE announcement.
• MTN in merger or acquisition talks again, this time with Orascom Telecoms.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Duncan Mcleod – Picks: Just Cause 2.
• Don Packett – Picks: Cobus Potgieter.
• Simon Dingle – Picks-on: Nokia Messaging.

Direct file download (30MB)

Video version

Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard, Jon Tullett and Simon Dingle are your panel this week. They discuss:

• The delayed international launch of the iPad.
• The local launch of the HTC Legend, Desire and Smart.
• The Microsoft Kin.
• App stores versus the web.
• Opera Mini hits the iPhone.
• ICASA’s announcements on interconnect and mobile TV.
• The outlook for Telkom Mobile.
• IPTV.
• The impact of faster DSL on SA’s ISPs.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Jon Tullett – Picks-on: MWEB uncapped ADSL.
• Ben Kelly – Picks: Words With Friends.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: Linkinus and Tweetdeck (for iPad, mostly).
• Simon Dingle – Picks: FlightRadar24 – watch planes fly around the ash.

Direct file download (34MB)

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)