Archive for September, 2009
SA Hoax Email Back
Johannesburg – An old hoax e-mail, which warns people against the use of canola oil, is once again being circulated in South Africa.
This week the Cancer Association of South Africa, (Cansa) asked that people delete the e-mail and not forward it.
Dr Carl Albrecht, Cansa’s head of research, first laid eyes on the e-mail, which alleged among other things that canola was a kind a turnip seed “which was so poisonous that it was not even eaten by insects”, in July 2000.
Albrecht said the e-mail amounted to “industrial sabotage and attempts to badmouth an excellent product”.
“There is nothing wrong with canola oil. This oil is of such exceptional quality that Cansa endorses it as one of its ‘healthy choice’ products.”
According to Cansa, peer-reviewed research showed that the good balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in canola could help prevent cancer.
Sue Janse van Rensburg, Cansa’s chief executive, asked for the public’s help in quashing the e-mail by not forwarding it to friends. According to the Canola Council of Canada, canola oil is one of the healthiest types of cooking oil.
[Via: News 24]
Oprah’s Flash Mob, David Guetta and Black Eyed Peas
This is simply awesome!
In the beginning I was like that the hell? There is one crazy chick in the front jamming by herself. I seriously thought she was crazy, and I think Oprah did as well, then you zoom onto her and you realize that the people around her are not looking at her like a freak from outer space, and that’s when I clicked that it was planned. I
It is seriously cool though. Oprah didn’t know that it was planned, but that is one hecticly big flash mobs! Take a peak and enjoy the awesomeness of the Black Eyed Peas, David Guetta and yes, Oprah.
Not a bad way to celebrate your 24th season hey? She still has it that women.
Neotel Trials 2Mbps Uncapped WiMax
Neotel is starting to trial its uncapped, 2 Mbps WiMax service
Neotel recently confirmed that it is planning to roll out WiMax services aimed at the business and high-end consumer market. Information has now surfaced that the first commercial service is likely to be an uncapped, 2 Mbps offering targeting small and medium sized businesses.
According to Rajeev Sinha, head of product management at Neotel, Neotel currently have more than 70 WiMax base stations in Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban, and they are actively extending this network. “Neotel will soon be reaching the 150 base stations mark,” said Sinha.
Sinha confirmed that Neotel’s initial offering will be a ‘near symmetrical 2 Mbps service’ aimed at large and medium enterprises (LME). Neotel has not yet finalized pricing for this service, but according to Sinha it will provide a cost saving to businesses.
“Neotel is still looking at the pricing for this segment, however Neotel is confident to have an attractive price for the LME segment which will lower their costs,” said Sinha. Speculation however suggests that the service will compete directly against uncapped ADSL solutions from providers like Internet Solutions, and that a sub-R 3000 monthly price tag is expected.
The company is further likely to develop and launch high-end consumer services – which may feature higher downlink speeds – after the launch of its business offering. Sinha did not want to give too much away, simply saying that ‘Neotel is busy investigating and developing new services and that any developments will be communicated with the media’.
[Via: My Broadband]
Cyanide & Happiness – Waiting For the Bus
Cyanida & Happiness have finally decided to take their awesome cartoons and animate them into a fantastic video. Take a peak and tell me what you think below.
Awesome.
Microsoft To Put Their Word In
Microsoft has overturned a ban on it selling its flagship Word software, imposed after a patent dispute.
The block was imposed by a Texan court following a ruling that its use of formatting language XML in Word 2003 and 2007 infringed patents.
Under the ruling Microsoft was ordered to pay Canadian patent owner i4i $290m (£177m) damages and also told to stop sales of the relevant versions of Word.
The ban on sales was due to come in to force in mid-October.
The ruling was made on 12 August in a Texas court following a long-running dispute between i4i and Microsoft.
I4i’s patent was filed in 1998 and outlines ways for “manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other” and invokes XML as a way to let people format text documents.
XML, or Extensible Markup Language, is a formatting system that preserves the structure of information, such as that in a spreadsheet, as it is passed around and handled by different programs.
Following the 12 August ruling Microsoft filed a request to stay the injunction and also asked for the case to be put on a fast track so its appeal could be heard quickly.
The US court said Microsoft had met the conditions needed to grant the stay. Arguments in Microsoft’s appeal against the earlier ruling are due to be heard on 23 September.
“We are happy with the result and look forward to presenting our arguments on the main issues on September 23,” said Kevin Kutz, a Microsoft spokesman, in a statement.
