If yesterday we told you about Facebook and the new profile layout that should go live soon, we have something new for you. LinkedIn came up with a new site-wide design today, with a header that doesn’t have tabs anymore and a left column with personal and account related options.
Not sure about you, but I think the layout looks a lot like the Facebook screenshots we’ve seen yesterday: header, a small left column and a wider right column. Is there a trend in webdesign and everyone wants to ride that wave?
The left column has important info. It tells you how many connections you have, how many joined your network or your status. There is one thing I enjoy: modules that you can drag everywhere you need them.
Too bad it looks a lot like Facebook or I would have said they did a perfect job. Now it’s just great.
Though no country in Africa sells the iPhone, there are people to own one. You buy it online and then use all sorts of jailbreak software to “crack” it. Apparently there is a small market of iPhoners that would like the websites optimized for their phone.
All these being said, there are news from Afrigator. After launching the second version they are now optimizing their site for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. They use a browser detecting software to make sure you’re redirected to the appropriate location.
Here’s how Afrigator looks on an iPhone.
Well it was about time for Facebook to come up with a redesigned profile page and they did today. It’s now simpler, relevant and can be controlled better, or at least that’s what Ruchi Sanghvi says on Facebook Developers.
But let’s see what’s new, even if they say these screenshots may not be the final versions. The first thing I noticed is that the profile is wider and there are a few tabs where each user can feature its favorite applications. The tabs may be loaded with a Javascript so the pages aren’t refreshing every time a user clicks a different area of the profile, but this one still needs confirmation.
The second thing I liked was the “Wall” where a member can generate its own content, can add feed stories and friends can leave a wall-post. A member’s recent activity is now available and could be one of the most interesting features the new layout brings. Also, the About tab is re-structured and this is where users keep their personal info.
I see the profile boxes nearly at the top of the page, in the narrow column of the profile and the good thing is the members can now rearrange the order of the boxes the way they like.
The new profiles design is not yet live but Facebook have setup a Profiles Preview page, where fans will be seeing updates and changes.
Overall, the layout is (great) much better and the new features are really appealing unlike MySpace that always seemed to be a little bit chaotic on profiles.
Acceleration Group have sold their media division, “Acceleration Media” to Kagiso Media and Lagardère Active Radio International (LARI) for an undisclosed amount.
Acceleration Media is one of the leaders in the South African online media with a profitable track record and great knowledge, so the deal makes sense for the buyers that wanted to diversify into digital media. What was a company like Kasigo – that owns lots of radio stations but no sites – supposed to do to enter the market? Yes, the answer is “buy someone”.
Another reason why I think this is going to be a good deal is because Acceleration Media and Acceleration Group were heading into different strategic directions. It’s not good business to follow two different paths, they knew it and sold.
However there are a few concerns because it will be interesting to see how Acceleration will continue with the current business model now that they are owned by a media owner? It’s interesting to note Kagiso Media’s RadMark venture which they use to sell adspace to all their radio stations. Will they apply the same principle with Accelaration Cape Town?
How do you feel about it? Here is the press release.
Today Mail & Guardian launched a stand alone job site, dubbed JobConnection, that will replace their previous jobs portal which was hosted on M&G’s main site.
This is a good addition knowing that job portals are a very competitive market in South Africa with big players including CareerJunction, JobMail or BizCommunity’s job area.
Getting back to JobConnection I’ll start with the design. It’s clean and simple with good colors for my eyes and though it doesn’t have much content, you get exactly what you need. Browse jobs by category easily, advanced search form to view only what’s important for you and a Newest/Popular jobs tab to keep you up to date.
Uploading a CV, posting jobs or setting up alerts to new offers is as easy as a mouse click on those big banners in the right.
From what I’ve seen JobConnection partnered up with CareerJunction, South Africa’s number one online career site and with BizCommunity to offer advertising and media industry jobs. This sounds like a good deal.
There is one thing I don’t like about the whole layout of the site and I’m talking about the ugly Adsense banner in the right. Why I don’t like it? Because it’s not matching the site’s colors. They could be making big bucks with it (or not) but I would change it with some CPM advertising or I would fit the colors to match the design.
As you can see this review is pretty positive because of the functionality and the usefulness of the site, so if you’ve been looking for a job lately, take a look on JobConnection, maybe they can help you out.
by Alex Ion
Springleap
I’m not sure about you, but to be honest I really like a cool designed t-shirt. Though I like how Versace or Armani build clothes believe me that when I see one with a simple but damn funny print I’m buying even if it’s a no name. I do it for fun and there are lots of you that like printed t-shirts. They are also a great resource for a birthday when you can make fun of someone.
But getting back to the South African community, the reason I started this article talking about t-shirts is because I’ve just found out about SpringLeap. What about them? They allow you to submit (for free) a t-shirt design or probably more and the members vote on who’s the best. Each month a winner is announced and 19 runners up that will get their t-shirts printed. But wait that’s not all, because the winner is getting R2 royalty for every printed t-shirt while runners-up get R1 royalty.
The project was started by Eric Edelstein and Eran Eyal, co-owners of eSquared Fashion and try to take on ThreadLess.
“Having your art showcased in a public domain and getting paid for it to boot, is what is so exciting about this venture.”, Eric said.
The t-shirts are going to cost R160 and that doesn’t include VAT or shipping fees.
I am not sure if they will be able to beat ThreadLess but at least they have the goals set. I wish them all the best. Will you submit a design to SpringLeap?
Blogging in SA has really taken off with thousands of South Africans looking to their blogs to express themselves. Testament to this is the success of Amatomu.com which is responsible to sorting the SA blogosphere and Afrigator.com which indexed the thousands of blog post in a social media aggregator and directory.
Today I’m going to give you more info about South African blogging platforms, all of them being free to register. So I’m going to get this going:
iBlog.co.za
It’s supposed to be the largest blogging site in Africa because iBlog recently announced they’ve reached 8,000 bloggers. The platform is running Wordpress and allows the user to customize it. Signing up is free and when you choose your username keep in mind that your blog will be something like this “http://username.iblog.co.za”. One thing I like about iBlog is the fact that the front page is more like a community and promotes the best articles.
Amagama
If you want to start your own blog as soon as possible, Amagama says you can do it in less than 3 minutes. I agree. Working on Wordpress MU (multi user) Edition, Amagama is part of Mail & Guardian the guys that run the popular Amatomu.
Blogs.24.com
Another blogging platform from South Africa is blogs.24.com. They’re not using Wordpress or Blogger, but a custom blogging platform. Signing up for a blog on 24.com is very easy and fast. They also have a community-like front page with most commented, most read and newly updated.
Blog247.co.za
For every South African that needs a blog to express themselves, Blog247.co.za guys are ready to offer one. You create your account, give it a name and then you’re ready to roll. They’re using Wordpress MU edition.
MyDigitalLife
If you would like to blog on MyDigitalLife.co.za then you should become a “citizen”. It’s not hard and in a few minutes you would be ready to blog. From what I’ve seen it’s not that easy like using Wordpress but believe me you won’t have a problem publishing your articles. These guys are covering more like tech/gadgets.
Have anything to add? Do it in comments below!
Last weeks have been pretty rough for Yahoo! with staff layoffs and takeover bids but they still have some energy to announce that their Yahoo Video service will be relaunched.
There are a lot of changes with many of them appealing a video-demanding user. Files limit has been raised to 150MB, a 16:9 viewer was added, users have better profiles and can use embedable playlists. These are great changes but what I think is going to have the biggest impact is the fact that they’re not limited to user submissions, because they are going to use other Yahoo properties for materials and that include shows, news, TV or movies.
Though they “reinvented” Yahoo Video the battle is fierce because rumors say Google is going to offer live streaming by the end of the year, on YouTube.
What do you guys think? Who will win? - by ALEX ION
It’s that time again to nominate and vote for the best of South Africa’s blogosphere in the SA blog awards. Bandwidth Blog will be entering “Best overall blog”, “Best Tech Blog”, “Best New Blog” and “Best post on a blog”. If you have enjoyed reading Bandwidth Blog this past year please take a moment to nominate us in the above categories. Just Click on the badge below to automatically nominate us and then scroll to the bottom of the page to make it official. Thanks and keep on reading!
Some of the cutting edge news we brought you over the last few months -
Local blogging celebs launch gadget blog, Nudjit (Scoop)
Photos of 24.com’s offices (Fresh)
M&G screen shots of upcoming redesign (Scoop)
South Africa’s top startups to watch (Was published in print)
Afrigator beta launched (Was picked up by ReadWriteWeb)
24.com launch Laaik.it social media aggregator (Breaking news)
The offices of todays internet companies (Reached the Digg homepage)
Microsoft wants Yahoo – $50 Bil (Bandwidth Blog’s best rumour published of 2007)
Can you spot that one thing women talk at least once a day, every day, every year? I’m telling you, it’s shoes. They seem to have a weird obsession on shoes and I guess that’s the business plan why ShoeTube have launched. It’s a video network that should cover only shoes. They get the technology from twistage and the content is created by Powderhouse Productions.
Though shoes are such a good topic, don’t expect ShoeTube to be flawless. I’ll start with the PROs. The content is going to be very professional including several shows (with hosts) , quality interviews with big names in the industry and lots of blogs. But I get to the CONs right away because from what I’ve seen there is no user interactions other then comments and the forums.
What to be done?
Well they should put themselves in the shoes of their users. If I enjoy one video very much I would gladly share it with other members on the site or maybe embed it on my own blog. The site is missing interaction and shareability.
These features are not yet available but I’m sure ShoeTube is attentive and will correct it sooner or later because have had a great idea. They just need to become 100-percent web2.0.
