Brett Haggard and Jon Tullett join Simon Dingle to discuss:

• The Gautrain. Trains are technology, right?
• The new ACE undersea cable that will run up Africa’s West Coast.
• Telkom’s next moves.
• Contention ratios – why are they secret?
• Monopolies and comebacks.
• R&D at Microsoft.
• iPhone 4.
• The WirelessG iPod deal.
• Google StreetView in SA and custom homepages.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Jon Tullett – Picks: Manufactoria.
• Brett Haggard – Picks: iPad Camera Connection Kit and Freedom™ by Daniel Suarez.
• Simon Dingle – Picks and picks-on: Sony Vaio P Series and picks: Red Dead Redemption.

Direct file download (31MB)

Jon Tullett returns to the show as your host this week, joining Brett Haggard and Duncan McLeod to discuss:

• FNB launching PayPal in South Africa.
• Mobile payment systems like M-Pesa.
• The internet access price war and its move to mobile.
• Disintermediation of cellular network services.
• The 2010 Pwn2Own competition.
• The Nintendo DSi XL, now available in SA.
• 3D film and games.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Jon Tullett – Picks: His car, with USB port (a Kia Sportage).
• Brett Haggard – Picks: The TrickleStar multiplug.

Direct file download (29MB)

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)

As Christmas 2009 approaches, our panelists are confined to their quarters and must use Skype to converse. Ben Kelly, Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod, Jon Tullet, Simon Dingle and Toby Shapshak discuss:

• Cell C’s network expansion and upgrade.
• Telecoms.
• Intel scrapping Larrabee and possibly cosying up to Nvidia.
• Blackberry’s Storm 2.
• Integration between Twitter and search providers.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Duncan McLeod: Picks – Google Chrome for Mac.
• Brett Haggard: Picks – Dragon Dictation for iPhone.
• Jon Tullett: Pick-on – Dragon Dictation and picks – Samsung Star.
• Toby Shapshak: Picks – Blackberry Storm 2.
• Ben Kelly: Picks – Stanza.
• Simon Dingle: Picks – Tornado Outbreak for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

Direct file download (30MB)

Ben Kelly, Duncan McLeod, Toby Shapshak and Simon Dingle are lazy this week. In a shorter-than-usual episode of the show they tackle:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and online gaming.
• Kindle apps, ebooks and tablet PCs.
• The interconnect agreement.
• The looming broadband colloquium.
• Apple’s massive operating profits in mobile.

Our picks and pick-ons of the week:

• Ben Kelly: Pick – BusyCal.
• Toby Shapshak: Pick – Nokia Booklet 3G.

Direct file download (22MB)

The ZA Tech Show covers a remarkable variety of topics this week as Brett Haggard, Toby Shapshak, Jon Tullett, Duncan McLeod, Simon Dingle and Candice Jones discuss:

• Winston the Pigeon.
• Apple’s September announcements.
• The Beatles: Rock Band.
• Blackberry 8520.
• New Intel chip announcements.
• Interconnect rates.

Our picks and pick-ons this week:

• Candice Jones: Pick – Mini java games.
• Brett Haggard: Pick – Samsung DualView TL220.
• Simon Dingle: Pick – The Levelator.
• Jon Tullet: Pick-on – Winston the pigeon.

Direct file download (28MB)

An experiment in cross-Atlantic podcasting ensues as Simon Dingle is in Florida this week and chats to Brett Haggard, Duncan McLeod and the guys from FNB Connect back in Johannesburg, South Africa. We discuss:

• All things FNB Connect.
• The Wireless Enterprise Symposium for Blackberry.
• The cost of roaming data.
• MTN first to market with an Android phone in South Africa.
• Cell C’s dismal results.
• Ensuring competition in telecoms in SA.
• Telkom Media has found a buyer.
• The Idols mess.
• ATI first to get certification for Windows 7 drivers.

Direct file download (21MB)

Three geeks gather amidst public holidays to discuss:

• Mobile broadband and then some.
• The power of Chinese manufacturing.
• Oracle to buy Sun Microsystems. What would this mean for MySQL?
• Windows 7 RC1 leaked.
• Netbooks, nettops and the operating systems that make them work.
• Chips. Again.
• Adobe pens deal to have Flash embedded in hardware.
• Symantec announces detection of a Mac botnet.
• Pirate Bay founders found guilty.
• The new Nintendo DSi is apparently selling like hotcakes.

And more…

Our choice technologies of the week:

• Brett Haggard: Live streaming IPL cricket.
• Simon Dingle: Nambu – a Twitter client.
• Jon Tullett: Nothing really, but sort of Travian.

Direct file download (31MB)

The original line-up returns to the ZA Tech Show for our one year anniversary episode. Ben Kelly, Duncan McLeod, Jon Tullett, Brett Haggard and Simon Dingle discuss:

• Country manager of Google in South Africa, Stafford Masie’s resignation. Who will replace him?
• Google Maps updates not showing on the API. Simon gets a little confused…
• Safari 4 breaking things left, right and centre.
• Apple’s new Macs.
• Do you need a TV license for a large monitor without a TV tuner in it?
• Stuff magazine’s top 100 games insert.
• Our top games of all time.
• Optional components in Windows 7.
• The netbook market and Android’s place in it.
• DRM in Windows 7.
• Vodacom’s LTE strategy.
• Will LTE handle voice?
• Video conferencing with Cisco TelePresence and HP Halo.

And much more…

Direct file download (28MB)

Thank you for the support we have received over the last year and well-wishes received via Twitter, email, et al. We do what we do because we love what we do and the reward, for us, is your listenership. We look forward to another year of the ZA Tech Show!

Some images from the recording (click for full size):