Facebook has launched a new Timeline feature that automatically syncs your Timeline address and your email address and is expected to begin rolling out over the next few weeks.

The new program means that if your Timeline address or vanity url is facebook.com/bandwidthblog for example, then your Facebook email address will be bandwidthblog@facebook.com.

Anyone who has previously selected an email address will be unaffected.

While Facebook launched vanity URLs for users back in in 2009, there was no email address component. It was only later in 2010 that the social network gave users @facebook email addresses although its likely that most users would have preferred the email addresses they already had. Google+ on the other hand is heavily interlaced with Gmail which may have been the incentive behind this new move.

The latest change seems to be aimed at users who didn’t change to a vanity URL, which automatically netted a synchronized email address.

Source: Mashable 

In about once month’s time a brand new under sea cable called the West African Sea Cable (Wacs) will officially be launched in South Africa. The cable, that measures 14, 000km in length will link Yzerfontein in the Western Cape to London in the UK along the entire West Coast of the African continent.

An official launch event for the new cable will take place next month at the landing site at Yzerfontein, north of Cape Town. The landing points of the cable along the coastline include countries such as Namibia, Angola, The Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Portugal.

Angus Hay, co-chair of the Wacs management committee and chief technology officer at Neotel, who has been commissioned to run the primary network operating centre in Johannesburg, has commented that the testing of the cable has progressed well and that once it has been launched at the site, commercial traffic is likely to become available shortly after. Currently, the cable is in the process of being accepted by Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, the supplier.

Many South Africans will hope that the introduction of the new giant cable will result in the lowering of broadband pricing across the country and according to Hay, increase and “improve competition”.

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Samsung’s messaging service ChatOn has taken another step to becoming a multi-platform application by launching a new client for BlackBerry devices adding to its existing Android and iOS apps.

ChatOn was first launched by Samsung in August 2011 with the electronics company touting it as a new multi-platform mobile messaging service “capable of sending text, images and video clips between the company’s range of Android and Bada smartphone devices but also rival platforms.”

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Nokia Asha 201

My Broadband has reported that Nokia has launched its new range of S40 mobile phones called Nokia Asha at an event that took place in Johannesburg last night.

The new series includes:

Asha 303: Features a 1GHz processor; 2.6 inch capacitive touch screen; QWERTY keypad; 3G and WLAN support – at a price point of €115.

Asha 300: Features the Nokia cloud browser that enables up to 90 percent compression on web-page browsing; a 1GHz processor; 3G support; a 5 megapixel camera; FM radio; and SD card support of up to 32GB. The device will retail for around €85.

Asha 200: The Asha 200 is a dual SIM phone with easy swap support which allows the second SIM card to be swapped without turning off the device. Also present is 32GB SD card support, and a claimed 52-hour battery life. The device will retail for €60.

Asha 201: The Asha 201 is the single SIM version of the Asha 200, and will also retail for €60.

The company launched the new Asha range with the following recommended retail prices for South Africa: 201 for R999,  302 for R1399 and 303 for R1799.

MTN are currently offering the Asha 303 and 201, Virgin Mobile the Asha 300 and 303 and Vodacom the entire range of Asha devices.

TrustFabric, that created South Africa’s first independently run direct marketing opt-out list has recently launched a mobile version of the service on Mxit. In November 2011, we exclusively reported that TrustFabric was receiving an investment from World of Avatar to make Mxit safer and now we can see a product of that deal. TrustFabric has reported that the service received 32, 000 registrations within the first 10 days of launch and are very happy with the rate at which users are joining the service.

TrustFabric’s Opt-out mobile service was launched on 1 April, one year after the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) came into effect which gives South Africans the right to block direct marketing.

TrustFabric CEO Joe Botha, was motivated to create the service as someone who, like many South Africans is “frustrated with random sales calls and daily SMS spam.”

In terms of partnering with Mxit, Botha says that  ”Mxit users love to support a good cause – after the voting for Table Mountain project I had a feeling they would support and anti-spam project.” And they certainly are showing their support.

Users can join the TrustFabric Opt-out service in three ways: by using Mxit and adding the “TrustFabric” contact, by using the Mxit mobi site or through the TrustFabric website. Users can then block receiving direct marketing content by adding their contact details to the Opt-out list.

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On Sunday 25 March, I headed down to the Cape Town International Convention Centre for the Samsung Connect Cape Town Consumer Day. Having written about and read reviews of Samsung’s previous and newly launched tehnologies I wanted to see them for myself and discover what else Samsung had to offer in the world of consumer electronics. More specifically I was curious about experiencing the new Samsung SMART TV.

Inside the event:

I attended the event at around mid-day thinking that it would be in full swing by then. A quick, easy and free registration process and I was in the door. Unfortunately, while it was by no means empty, the hall wasn’t packed. This may have been because of the way in which the different areas (demonstrations, product showcase and cooking demonstrations ) were set up. Rather than collectively occupy the entire hall with music, demo’s and DJs which may have created a far more exciting and buzz-worthy atmosphere, the areas were fairly quiet and separated from one another. It may have also been because most people at that time were out for lunch on a hot and sunny day in Cape Town.

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Ever wondered how an iPad gets made? Well, this video shot and produced by Rob Schmitz and edited by Jeff Peters takes you inside the Foxconn factory, sometimes referred to as “iPad City” in Shenzen, China where Apple’s devices are produced.

This footage takes you along the iPad assembly line on the factory floor from mother board to screen testing.

Watch the video below:

While many South African banking consumers are taking advantage of the ease and convenience of Internet Banking to meet their basic banking requirements, most have yet to fully harness the potential of their online banking facilities. According to a new survey, there is a clear distinction between banks when it comes to innovative use of Internet Banking, and customers are more aware of these differences than ever.

This is according to the results of recent research conducted with 1353 Internet banking users by online market research specialist, Columinate, aimed at assessing the Internet banking habits and behaviours of users of this banking medium as well as the overall levels of satisfaction of Internet banking customers with the online offerings of their banks. This survey is the first in Columinate’s ‘SITEisfaction’ series, aimed at measuring website satisfaction across different industries. SITEisfaction will benchmark website satisfaction and provide annual insights to companies in these industries. (more…)