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.

Sam Beckbessinger is back in the driving seat this week, joined by Nic Calligari and Ben Kelly for a discussion of:

• Telkom’s latest financial results and promises of faster broadband.
• Google Music and the grey men in suits who control the music industry.
• The future of radio.
• Employment in the ICT industry.
• The CAA finally allowing “flight mode” in SAA flights.
• SOPA and Internet censorship.
• Modern Warfare 3′s poor reviews.

It’s a full house in the ZA Tech Show studio this week with Aki Anastasiou, Andy Hadfield, Samantha Beckbessinger and Simon Dingle gathering around the table to discuss:

• Vodacom’s 20GB price announcement.
• The broadband bungle.
• The coming of Windows Phone.
• Banks and technology.
• Kindle hits retail in SA.
• Microsoft Kinect hacks.
• Is Siri really a threat to Google?

Our technology picks of the week:

• Samantha Beckbessinger: Isitold.com.
• Andy Hadfield: What does the internet think?
• Aki Anastasiou: Instapaper.
• Simon Dingle: Samsung Note.

Another newcomer joins the ZA Tech Show fold this week. Craig Wilson from TechCentral makes his debut in this episode, hosted by Brett Haggard. Jon Tullett make a comeback, unleashing the hate, and the panel is topped off with Nic Callegari. We check out:

• The Kindle Fire and Amazon shaking things up.
• Telkom’s uncapped ADSL.
• Streaming video and on demand services.
• Broadband in SA.
• Nokia’s rumoured new Meltemi operating system.
• Mobile competition mounting and prospects for ‘the other guys’.

Our technology picks this week:

• Jon Tullet: The Objet 3D printer (check out his neat dinosaur head on the video version).
• Craig Wilson: The Samsung GalaxyTab 10.1.
• Nic Callegari: The Battlefield 3 beta.
• Brett: Asus EEEPad Transformer.

Brett Haggard is at the helm again this week, joined by Ben Kelly and Steven Ambrose to discuss:

• MTN goes uncapped – for real this time.
• Google+ and its explosive growth.
• Telkom Caps get an upgrade.
• Apple tackles Samsung in Australia.
• World of Avatar’s buyout of Mxit.
• Android’s growing market share.
• Apps showing up for Windows Phone.
• Nokia’s new N9.

Our technology picks this week:

• Ben Kelly: The Rugby World Cup 2011 app and BBC’s Life and Fate.
• Brett Haggard: AroundMe and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 for iPad and iPhone.
• Steven Ambrose: Nokia N9.

We’re down to two this week with Sam Beckbessinger and Simon Dingle holding down the fort. Fortunately they don’t need any help shooting their mouths off about;

• Vodacom’s BlackBerry Internet Service cap.
• Emerging Windows 8 goodness (and badness).
• User interfaces.
• Amazon tablet rumours mounting.
• The frenetic pace of the gaming industry.
• Digital publishing.
• And more…

Our technology picks this week:

• Sam Beckbessinger: Muro and the Star Wars Scanimation book.
• Simon Dingle: Klexi.

Is there still hope for BlackBerry? Can Lenovo make a dent in the tablet market? We don’t know the answers to these questions, but are willing to speculate wildly. This week Andy Hadfield, Simon Dingle and Steven Ambrose discuss;

• The Lenovo K1 tablet.
• Samsung pulling the Tab 7.7 from its stand at IFA.
• The Amazon tablet.
• App stores and operators.
• iOS 5.
• The launch of Telkom Business Mobile.
• Evernote acquiring Skitch.
• Google shutting down old projects.
• And more…

Our technology picks this week:

• Steven Ambrose: The new BlackBerry Torch 9860 and Mecer’s 4-port USB hub with Ethernet.
• Andy Hadfield: Rugby World 2011 app for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.
• Simon Dingle: Motorola Atrix.

Joining us on the show this week is Samantha Beckbessinger, Toby Shapshak and Simon Dingle. We discuss;

• BlackBerry’s new device line-up.
• HP WebOS devices.
• Digital publishing and the role of print.
• ADSL woes in SA.
• Predictions of SA’s IT market size.
• Cory Doctorow’s tablet bashing.

Our technology picks this week:

• Sam Beckbessinger: If this then that and The Inside Experience from Intel and Toshiba.
• Toby Shapshak: The new BlackBerry line-up. And paper.
• Simon Dingle: Roku 2.

Your crew this week consists of Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard and Simon Dingle. With lots of shiny new things to play with, we discuss;

• The launch of Apple OS X Lion.
• DStv BoxOffice bringing on-demand movies to SA pay-tv subscribers.
• The FNB smartphone app.
• Fake Apple stores in China.
• Cell C and Vodacom’s latest counter-offers in the mobile broadband war.
• RIM (BlackBerry) cutting jobs and switching to QNX.
• And much more…

Our technology picks this week:

• Ben Kelly: Does an obituary for the white MacBook.
• Brett Haggard: Picks Cinch.
• Simon Dingle: Picks Viber for Android.

Trying hard to focus on the serious issues facing technology this week instead of talking about foreign love interestes and wine, Andy Hadfield, Stafford Masie and Simon Dingle discuss;

• LulzSec and its fallout.
• 8ta’s new mobile broadband bundles.
• Mobile content strategies.
• The new Ster-Kinekor website’s #fail.
• Windows Phone.
• Nokia’s N9.

Our technology picks and pick-ons this week:

• Stafford Masie – Picks: Dropbox for its awesomeness.
• Andy Hadfield – Picks: Getting Wicked for its thoughtfulness.
• Simon Dingle – Picks: Nokia’s N9 for its significance.