There is not a technology business or digital services business in South Africa at the moment not looking for developers. It’s been this way for a couple of years, it’s getting worse and it’s a problem that will choke the industry in the next couple of years.

The problem seems to be emanating from tertiary institutions not capable of dealing with the demand of our growing industry. Businesses generally rely on tertiary institutions to deal with educating, testing and accrediting the workforce so that we essentially do not have to. Unfortunately these institutions do not have the capacity to produce developers at the rate at which the industry are demanding them, and they also seem to be teaching developers dated languages and techniques that we have long moved on from.

Tertiary institutions are essentially bottle-necking our industry and we are sitting by the sidelines waiting for something to happen, but it will not. In a country like South Africa most students capable of attending University do not have the financial resources to do so. This coupled with Universities’ inability to scale their businesses to meet the demands of both industry and prospective students I believe we are sitting with a problem only entrepreneurs can solve.

I think this is a problem we can solve ourselves without breaking the bank. I think more businesses firstly need to start teaching their craft to the public free of charge, I think we need to stop relying so much on official accreditation and testing and take over this process ourselves. I think every year we need to teach a couple of eager kids how to code on the spare PC in the office and later offer them internships and maybe even jobs.

I refuse to believe that we cannot solve this issue ourselves. Let’s do what entrepreneurs do, and start solving this problem so that it doesn’t end up killing our other businesses in the future.

Now club-goers can combine their physical and virtual interactions at the new Facebook club that recently opened its doors in the Amazon region in Brazil.

The club, located in Epitaciolândia, a small town on Brazil’s border with Bolivia, was conceptualised by 30 year old Brazilian businessman Humbert Camacho. During a visit to the club, Camacho told the Guardian  that “The Facebook concept is about sharing ideas, adventures, friendships, parties and photos with your friends. So what we wanted to do was to build a nightclub with this concept, where people could come and share things with their friends, spend a cool night, sharing pictures, experiences and have fun.”

Camacho’s timing couldn’t be better as Facebook recently overtook Google‘s Orkut as the most popular social networking site in Brazil.

For people who cannot be at the nightclub, it will have its own official Facebook page were others can join the party virtually and share in the videos and pictures being uploaded in real time by those who are experiencing it.

While Facebook said it had no official comment on the nightclub a spokesperson expressed surprise at its existence saying “Is it really in the Amazon?”

As the mayor of New York (Michael Bloomberg) vowed to start coding along with 352 000+ other people, there is another trend brewing.

That trend is the decline of the need for technical proficiency due to increasingly cheap and powerful infrastructure. I am not saying that you will still need computer scientists solving difficult algorithmic problems. Millions of records in a database and the difficulty of scaling is still an issue. Serving fast pages and responsive designs is a big part of a great user experience and you can’t do that without having a technical person on your team.

The thing is, at some point, serving a website with bad quadratic algorithms will be equally fast (or negligibly so). With the current cheap architecture available such as Amazon’s EC2, AWS and Heroku, a lot of developers in the past can now run services that would’ve taken considerable effort a few years ago. The point has been surpassed where a developer can make a livelihood for themselves without the need for incredible technical knowledge and this trend is going to continue.

You can do more with less. Just look at Instagram. They are close to about 11 people (about 4 were hired during the past month) and have 15 million users. This is impressive and they are mainly using Amazon’s architecture.

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LocalSort, an Umbono-funded company, wanted to change the informal way in which hotels and guesthouses recommend services to their guests.

As a result, the company offers a marketplace where service providers like shuttle and tour operators, restaurants and tourist attractions can bid on how much commission they are willing to pay for exposure and new business. The hotels and guesthouses can then use the interface to recommend these services to their guests. Non-accommodation providers can therefore add their businesses to LocalSort so hotels and guesthouses can refer guests to their service. LocalSort keeps a percentage of the commission as a fee for making the connection. With LocalSort, accommodation providers can easily print maps, directions and even email guests with a things-to-do checklist before their arrival.

LocalSort was founded by Marcel van de Ghinste, Jonathan Womersley, Justin Womersley and David McLennan, all four of whom were involved in a previous venture that is still in operation called TravelGround, founded in 2009. It was through the building of TravelGround, that the team saw a further opportunity in the online tourism industry. ”When we started TravelGround none of us had any experience in the tourism industry. In some ways our ignorance was a blessing. It turned out to be much harder than we thought, but in the end we’re really proud of what we’ve achieved,” says Marcel van de Ghinste.

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Recent emails that have begun to circulate have revealed that as of 00:01 GMT February 14th 2012 betfair.com and all its associated products will no longer be available in South Africa or for South African residents. The decision to pull out of the country was as a result of a ruling by the South African Supreme Court of Appeal.

At this time however,  we are unaware of the reasons for this development.

Registered account holders have begun to receive an email from the UK based online betting site to inform them of the developments.

Read the full email after the jump.

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Rockstar Games has announced that it will be delaying the release date of the third-shooter game Max Payne 3. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game will only be available for fans on 15th May in the U.S. and 18th May in Europe. There will be a further waiting period for the pc version when it hits shelves on the 29th May in the U.S. followed by the UK on the 1st June.

Speculations about the delayed release date suggest that Rockstar Games may be avoiding sharing the spotlight with the highly anticipated Mass Effect 3 that is set for release on March 6, around the date of Max Payne 3′s original release.

Yesterday Rockstar Games released a preview video for Max Payne 3, which received rave reviews from gamers on Twitter. The three-minute video shows off the game’s advanced design and technological features. The developers have said that this game will be very realistic, incorporating powerful storytelling and “precise and fluid gunplay.”

The preview video shows prospective gamers what it would be like to play the hero in Max Payne 3 with first-person precision targeting capabilities while Max’s full body is still visible.

Source: Mashable

Alan Knott-Craig

My Broadband has just revealed that the board of Cell C has announced today that it has decided to appoint Alan Knott-Craig as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr Knott-Craig will join the company and its Board of Directors as he takes up this new position on the 1st April 2012 after a comprehensive search by the company both nationally and internationally. Mr. Knott-Craig takes over from former CEO Lars Reichelt who resigned in 2010.

Simon Duffy, the non-executive Chairman who has been the interim CEO for Cell C for the past 6 months has said, “Alan is one of the most capable and experienced leaders in the industry and I am confident that his appointment will significantly enhance Cell C’s ability to provide an excellent service to its customers and to compete even more effectively for their business. Cell C has carved out a strong position as an innovative alternative in the industry and, having made considerable progress over the past few years, is strategically well-positioned for growth. ”

Duffy continues  “The directors and I are delighted that Alan has accepted our offer and we look forward to supporting him as he brings his considerable knowledge and expertise, as well as his experience as a manager and a leader, to Cell C.  We are looking to him to drive and implement the company’s strategy in the next phase of its development. ”

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According to a study conducted by Nielsen, a global information measurement analysis company, the high profile and much anticipated launch of the iPhone 4S toward the end of last year had a significant impact on the proportion of smartphone owners who chose an Apple iPhone over other available mobiles.

Posted on Nielsen’s blog site, research results reveal that among those who acquired a smartphone within the last three months (recent acquirers),  44.5 percent of those surveyed in December said that they chose an iPhone, compared to the 25.1 percent in October. Furthermore, 57 percent of new iPhone owners surveyed in December said they chose to get an iPhone 4S. However, Android continues to take the lead among all smartphone users with 43.6 percent of all smartphone users that were surveyed in the fourth quarter of 2011.

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