The next generation of consoles will be among us by the end of this year, with the Xbox One and the PS4 both being released in the holiday season of 2013. The new Xbox has been confirmed as a November release, whereas we don’t yet have the exact date for the PS4.

Gaming has truly evolved since the previous generation of consoles though, and these giants of the gaming world are also now becoming all-encompassing entertainment systems rather than just a vehicle for big budget games.

E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2013 started on Monday, 10 June and we finally saw what the PS4 looks like, with many other morsels of news being announced for both the consoles. Both Microsoft and Sony are preparing for a mammoth battle, so let’s see how things are shaping up. (more…)

Microsoft South Africa today kicked off a partnership with Government’s Jobs Fund that will train more than 3000 unemployed graduates to get permanent jobs in the technology sector in the next three years.

Launching the initiative in Newtown today, Jean-Phillippe Courtois, the president of Microsoft International, said the initiative would dramatically expand Microsoft’s existing skills development programmes through funding from the Jobs Fund and the company’s own 4Afrika initiative.

“The Government’s top priority is to get young South Africans working. As a company, we have long invested in South Africa and understand the need for us all to continue to develop solutions to this challenge. We remain committed to helping address the issue of youth unemployment, as we cannot let an entire generation of young people become long-term unemployed,” said Courtois.

Patrick Dlamini, chief executive of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), which administers the Jobs Fund, hailed the partnership with Microsoft as a major breakthrough in creating jobs in South Africa’s IT sector.

“We’ve been extremely encouraged by the way the private sector has risen to the challenge of helping create jobs in South Africa. Indeed, these types of partnerships between the private and public sector will be significant contributors to the more than 100 524 new permanent jobs which our current portfolio of approved projects aims to create by 2015. These projects will also place another 56 194 unemployed people in vacant positions,” he said. (more…)

Nokia today introduced the Nokia Lumia 925, a new interpretation of its award-winning flagship, the Nokia Lumia 920 (one of our favourite phones of 2012). The Nokia Lumia 925 introduces a metal design and showcases the latest PureView camera innovation, new features and third party applications coming to the Nokia Lumia range.

The Nokia Lumia 925 includes the most advanced lens technology and next generation imaging software to capture clearer, sharper pictures and video, including the best low light images. The Nokia Lumia 925 also introduces the new Nokia Smart Camera mode, coming as an update to all Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones. Nokia Smart Camera offers an easy way to capture ten images at once and edit the pictures with options like Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus for creating better images. (more…)

One in every four computers in South Africa is running unprotected, without up-to-date real-time anti-virus or anti-malware protection – and without this vital protection layer, these systems are 5 times more likely to be infected with malware.

That was one of the key findings of Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report volume 14 (SIRv14), which was released this week at the company’s TechEd 2013 conference at Durban’s ICC. According to the report, network worms are on the decline and web-based attacks have risen to become the number one threat facing enterprises today.

The proportion of Autorun threats reported by enterprise computers decreased by 37% from 2011 to 2012 – but seven out of the top 10 threats affecting enterprises were associated with malicious or compromised websites, said Dr Khomotso Kganyago, chief security adviser at Microsoft South Africa.

The report found that enterprises were more likely to encounter the iFrame redirection technique than any other malware family tracked in Q4 2012. One specific iFrame redirection family called IframeRef, increased fivefold in the fourth quarter of 2012 to become the number one malicious technique encountered by enterprises worldwide. IframeRef was detected nearly 3.3 million times in the fourth quarter of 2012.

“People intuitively understand the importance of locking their front door to prevent their homes from being broken into. Computer security is no different. Surfing the Internet without up-to-date anti-virus is like leaving your front door open to criminals,” said Dr Kganyago.

SIRv14 explains some of the most prevalent threats facing consumers online: (more…)

The big news from today at TechEd Africa 2013 is that Microsoft SA can finally confirm that the Surface tablet will indeed come to South Africa.

Until now Microsoft’s first PC has not actually reached our shores, and there is quite a following of fans who want these machines in SA. The Surface comes in two flavours – a ARM based Windows RT version, and a “Pro” version running Intel Core i5 hardware.

The Surface has been praised for forward thinking design, but so far has not set any records in terms of sales. During a session on Consumerization of IT in Enterprise, Colin Erasmus mentioned that the Surface tablet will “hopefully” reach SA within the next few months.

Just after this presentation, SA’s Microsoft MD, Mteto Nyati, confirmed it:

@microsoftsa will launch Surface in the 2nd half of 2013 – responding to our customers.

— Mteto Nyati (@mteton) April 17, 2013

We have seen the 7 inch tablet market explode in the last year or so, as millions are gravitating towards the smaller form factor, preferring it to a larger 10-inch device. Its portability and convenience are major positives for these devices, even if their hardware isn’t always up to scratch when compared to the larger alternatives.

Microsoft only recently joined the tablet market with its Surface offering, and is looking to expand it sooner rather than later. Later this year, according to Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is starting production on its newest range of Surface tablets. They will be “completely redesigned”, and this time around we will see a 7 inch variant as well.
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If you’re not reading Asymco for insight into the business behind mobile technology you’re missing out. Writer and analyst Horace Dediu put a great tweet out earlier today about the marketing spend of some of the worlds biggest retail companies:

Interesting to see that Samsung spends the most although this does make sense in that they’re advertising everything from the latest Galaxy phone to a TV or laptop (for full info on what falls under Samsung Electronics click here). These are interesting numbers but nothing without context. Twitter user @Chiphanna went and ran these numbers in order to compare marketing spend vs revenue and came up with some interesting figures:

Essentially for every dollar Apple spends on marketing, they make $156 in revenue. Compare that to Samsung that have to spend a dollar to only make a  relatively low $46 in revenue and you wonder if someone like Samsung is doing something wrong? (more…)

The game that has been dominating the iOS and Android app stores for the last few months is finally landing on Windows Phone in the next few days. Pricing is not clear as yet, but it will apparently land at 99c instead of being free like on other platforms.

Many might argue it is a little too late, because there has landed some copycat titles on Windows Phone, most notably Ragdoll Run which many Windows Phone users think is better. The other strange part is that Temple Run 2 is already out on other platforms, and the first version is only landing now on Windows Phone. (more…)