Today, Google introduced its new Knowledge Graph in an official blog post which it explains will “help you discover new information quickly and easily”.

Typically, when one enters a search term, the search will be conducted based on the keywords submitted which can come down to just a few words. However, most search terms are far more richer in meaning than just those keywords. When searching for the The Eiffel Tower, for example, you could mean one of the world’s most iconic monuments in Paris, the name of a restaurant, artwork or the replica that stands in Las Vegas.

Google’s new graph or intelligent model “understands these real world entities and their relationship to one another” and will now give you options to determine exactly what you mean. Now, when you begin a search, a window will appear alongside your results, asking you what you mean. The results will then be filtered for that specific entity.

Amit Singhal, SVP of Engineering writes that “the Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query. This is a critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.”

Ultimately the new graph enables Google to understand exactly what you mean, and gives you back exactly what you want.

Google will be rolling out the new feature in the next few days for tablet, pc and mobile users.

Watch the Google Graph introduction video below:

It is no secret that Apple and Google have been going at each other’s throats in a string of patent and copyright battles over iOS and Android. But it seems that Apple is stepping it up and stepping outside of the courtrooms this time to take on Google. Even after the death of Steve Jobs, who hated everything Android, Apple is still going after its greatest enemy.

Android remains a threat to the iPhone and understandably, Apple wants to rid itself of all things Google. Obviously, they won’t stop their customers from using Google search, so they are trying to do the next best thing, take down Google Maps.

Google Maps currently comes pre-installed on Apple’s iPhone, rebranded as “Maps”. This contributes to Google coffers, from the location queries users make within the app that adds to their data and advertising stream. Rumour has it Apple is developing an alternative to the hugely successful Google initiative. According to sources, it will likely be unveiled at WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference), where after they will replace Google Maps with OpenStreetMap. I expected this to happen at some stage, and expected it to fail dismally. But apparently, it will make many big shots over at Google scratch their heads.

The reason for it doing so? Well, Apple is developing a 3D alternative to Google Maps. Yes, you read correctly, not only the CBD of some cities around the world, but actually the whole metropolitan area. According to Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac.com it will be a “much cleaner, faster and more reliably experience.” Apple acquired a company called C3 Technologies, and their technology is described as follows:

C3 Technologies is the leading provider of 3D mapping solutions, offering photo-realistic models of the world for search, navigation and geographic information systems. Since 2007 when it was spun out of the aerospace and defence company Saab AB, venture-backed C3 has redefined mapping by applying previously classified image processing technology to the development of 3D maps as a platform for new social and commercial applications. The Sweden-based company’s automated software and advanced algorithms enable C3 to rapidly assemble extremely precise 3D models, and seamlessly integrate them with traditional 2D maps, satellite images, street level photography and user generated images, that together are forever changing how people use maps and explore the world.

They will create “incredibly high quality and detailed 3D maps” based on declassified missile targeting methods. What?!? The results are 3D renderings of cities that users can fly through, rotate and zoom in on and out of. Check out this video preview:

This could throw heaps of pressure onto Google if Apple pulls this off. I have my doubts though. For one, I can’t imagine Apple having enough data to make this service work in a comprehensive manner. When we search something in Google Maps, the query gets sifted through thousands of Google databases. Apple would take years to replicate this kind of data, surely. Also, most people love Google Maps, and it may be possible for Apple to lose plenty of iPhone customers who use Google Maps a lot, to Android. Whether the video is an actual demonstration of what the app can do, we will have to wait until the big reveal.

Today Vodacom is launching its new Freedom 99 tarriff plan for prepaid customers, which allows you to call anytime, to any network for 99c per minute. This takes away a lot of guesswork for consumers who have been carrying multiple sim cards, and swopping them based on time of day or which number will be called.

Speaking about the new prepaid tariff, Vodacom’s marketing head Enzo Scarcella said:

“Customers have been looking for simplicity and for value, and Freedom 99 delivers exactly that.  Calls to anyone, anytime, on any network in South Africa are now just 99 cents per minute with Freedom 99.  It really is that simple.”

In addition to this lower call rate, Freedom 99 customers who recharge with R12 or more can talk for free every night with Nightshift. That’s 60 minutes every day for seven days to call Vodacom customers between midnight and 05h00.

Freedom 99 will be available from this Sunday – full details will be announced in the Sunday press.

That’s the word from Microsoft’s global virtualisation director, Edwin Yuen, who will be in South Africa for a series of Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) events this month. The events, in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, are expected to draw several hundred IT professionals from some of the country’s biggest companies.

“Cloud computing enables you to deploy continuous services that are always on, always available, and delivered, down to a set of connected devices,” said Yuen. “South African IT professionals should be looking at ways of evolving their roles with cloud computing to help their businesses be more competitive.”

Yuen believes that management systems make the difference for customers embarking on cloud computing journeys. Car rental company Europcar says better management systems are helping it move faster, save money and compete better in a highly competitive industry.

At MMS, Microsoft will be previewing its System Center 2012, which is now generally available as a reorganised systems management system with separate provider and consumer management consoles. The addition of a consumer console allows a company’s employees to provision themselves with virtual machines.

Allowing end users to self-provision is one of four distinguishing characteristics of how private cloud computing is different from simply establishing banks of virtualised servers in the data centre, says Yuen.

In addition to self-service, he offers three tests of the success of a cloud model: Do think about your resources (servers, storage, networking) in a pooled fashion rather than as individual entities? Can you provide elasticity in services and applications, so that they can expand with demand and contract when it goes away? Can you track usage so that you can show back or charge back to users, or user departments, the compute power they are using?

“If you can answer yes to those four questions, then you’re in a cloud computing model,” said Yuen.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the social network will be filing papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday.

These additional shares will take the size of the new issue from 340 million shares to about 410 million,  a change that “combined with the greenshoe – additional shares that could be sold by bankers in the aftermath of the IPO – could value the total deal at nearly $20 billion”.

A final decision on the IPO price, expected to be between $34 and $38 is likely to be made on Thursday evening with the company going public on Friday.

Shares are expected to begin trading on Friday on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the “FB” symbol.

Vodacom is able to leverage the direct links it has with its more than 30 million customers and dramatically reduce the costs traditionally associated with acquiring and serving customers. According to Vodacom, these savings enable the network to extend greater value to its customers. Vodacom is also recognised as one of South Africa’s most trusted brands, which is likely to be a major benefit when it comes to attracting customers who are looking for insurance products.

“Our insurance business proposition is simple; we are focused on providing Vodacom customers with unbeatable value. Our customers will benefit from the value and convenience that we are able to offer. The vision is to dissolve the barriers to entry for all South Africans previously unable to access insurance products,” says Mark Taylor, Managing Executive of Vodacom Financial Services.

As part of the strategic decision to enter the insurance market, Vodacom appointed FRANK.NET, South Africa’s fastest growing direct life investment company which is owned and capitalized by Liberty Holdings, to provide administrative and claims support for its long term insurance offering.

“FRANK.NET is a good fit for us.  The company has a proven track record in the long term insurance industry with the latest technology platforms and innovative ways to provide an excellent customer experience. We are excited about the depth of experience that FRANK.NET will bring and believe that they will provide excellent service that our customers expect,” says Taylor.

FRANK.NET‘s direct capability is purpose built to support the delivery and administration of insurance programmes and it currently does so for a number of enterprises.

Further details will be provided closer to the time of launch.

Google’s blog explains that the site  ”gives you a behind-the-scenes look into how all that virtual information makes its journey through the real world—from your Internet service provider to our data centers and beyond.”

The website is an interactive, animated story, that shows the journey of your emails and also explains how Google protects your inbox from viruses and spam emails.

Google also shows how it saves energy and keeps its data centers up to high environmental standards.

Watch the Story of Send in the video below:

Source: Mashable 

Fundraising platform, Kickstarter, is approaching the $500, 000 mark in pledges for one of its latest projects, surpassing its $35, 000 goal with three days still remaining. The product is called the Remee, the world’s first, comfortable and affordable REM enhancing lucid dreaming mask.

The Remee is based on the concept of consciously recognizing and controlling our dreams and while more information about what is known as Lucid Dreaming has become available through scientific research, many people are unaware of it. So the question is, why would anyone want to do it? Well the creators of Remee believe that Lucid Dreaming can be one of the most profund things you can experience and they want to make it available for the public to enjoy.

Creators Steven and Duncan decided to create something that would allow Lucid Dreaming to occur more often and more reliably. Existing Lucid Dreaming masks were not only extrememly expensive but bulky and when there was no alternative, they decided to make one.

This is how it works: a micro-controller inside the mask waits until you’re asleep and flashes a series of customisable light patterns via Remee’s six rear facing LEDs. These lights appear as visual anomalies while dreaming, that alerts the sleeper they’re dreaming and triggers lucidity. Now that you’re lucid, you can practise controlling the world around you.

Because no one sleeps exactly the same the mask can be customised by changing various settings on the website, when it launches. In addition the mask’s design can also be personalised.

For more about Remee, watch the video below:

What are your thoughts on Remee – would you like to control your dreams?

A source has revealed that Amazon.com Inc. will be launching new versions of its Kindle that includes a monochrome e-reader with front lighting, reports Reuters. 

The source also revealed that with Amazon increasing the production of the new Kindle, it is expected to be available in stores in July and is set to compete with the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight launched in April.

The new e-reader will run on E Ink’s display with its new design solving the problem of users having to buy an external light to attach to the device when reading in the dark that will be available in both the touch 3G and touch wi-fi versions.

Jennifer Colegrove, Vice President of Emerging Display Technologies at DisplaySearch, an NPD Group company, which monitors trends in the display sector said that ”I do see demand for a front-lit Kindle.” However, Colegrove acknowledges that it is a trade-off as the front light will consume more battery power causing it to run out quicker than Kindle models without the light.

Colegrove also adds that because the front light component is relatively inexpensive and the display uses little energy, Amazon can afford to add it to the device.

In addition, Amazon is reportedly launching a new tablet expected to launch toward the end of the year, in time for the holiday season with a new Kindle Fire. Apparently the new tablet will have “a bigger diagonal display of 8.9 inches, bringing it closer in size to Apple Inc’s iPad.”

This report aligns with rumours that were circulating in March about the expansion of Amazon’s Kindle tablet range, with three additional tablets, set to launch in 2012.

While there is no confirmation of the price for the new Kindle Fire, the new e-reader with front-light is expected to cost $10 more than the current model.

That’s according to Mark Simpson, CEO of SEACOM, reflecting on the state of Africa’s Internet ahead of World Telecommunications Day (17 May 2012). He says that the telecommunications industry has broken many of the bottlenecks to affordable and ubiquitous broadband across the continent.

New submarine cables such as SEACOM and the recently launched WACS have helped to boost the performance of the Internet in many African countries while driving costs down for the end user. SEACOM alone has seen more than 10-fold increases in bandwidth penetration in several of Africa’s most underserved nations, driven by drops in connectivity prices and increases in terrestrial coverage.

3G cellular network technologies have helped to boost connectivity speeds to the end user and new terrestrial networks have helped to extend connectivity from submarine cable landing points into African hinterland, once only covered by expensive satellites. Many challenges still remain, including extending the reach of the international cables into vast African territories that remain underserved, says Simpson.

In this regard, it is encouraging to see governments and private enterprise accelerate the rate of building of terrestrial infrastructure to link undersea cables and major cities across southern and east Africa, especially in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya, he adds.

The next steps should see operators and governments step up investments in joining small and remote towns to the network. Simpson also stresses that African regulators and operators must focus as much on access networks as they are on submarine cables and backhaul connectivity to drive growth. This means that they need to ensure that frequency spectrum is available in a structured manner and regulatory hurdles to the deployment of new networks are removed.

Overall, however, the movements towards building the African Internet are extremely positive. “We are seeing a great deal of interest in leveraging broadband to drive economic growth among African regulators and policymakers. We are also seeing a great deal of innovation and partnerships from private business and the public sector in finding African solutions to African challenges,” says Simpson.

Though it will take several years to develop a fully integrated African Internet, we will see some enormous progress over the next 18 months, Simpson adds. “Broadband is changing lives throughout the continent, bringing with it health, education, financial and government services that help make people more prosperous, empowered and efficient,” concludes Simpson.