buyx

31 ms·

241.
by buyx 15y ago
Lately, I've also been getting frustrated with Apple: I was setting up someone's iPad for them last night. Installed a couple of apps, then did a jailbreak. Started testing the apps, and found that there was no sound. Battled for a few minu
242.
by buyx 15y ago
Facebook is generally weak at dealing with fake profiles. Their social graph is a mess. Obviously fake names, businesses, support groups and scams go untouched for months. Here's a small sample, which I didn't have to go to much effort to c
243.
by buyx 15y ago
Another way of finding your way around is city route numbers. In South Africa most major routes in metropolitan areas have "M" numbers (metro route numbers). I once managed to navigate across Johannesburg using these alone. Unfortunately,
244.
by buyx 15y ago
I don't feel comfortable discussing this topic, however something stood out: "periodic abdominal scans". I've had an abdomiminal CT done, but I was acutely aware of the danger of high radiation doses: I certainly wouldn't want to repeatedly
245.
by buyx 15y ago
A similar thing happened last week in Johannesburg. Our ruling party is conducting a long overdue purge of its Youth League, and there was a rent-a-crowd bussed in by the targeted faction, outside the party HQ in central Johannesburg, that
246.
by buyx 15y ago
In South Africa, the ruling party's Youth League, and it's president, Julius Malema keep promoting the nationalization of the country's mines. They recently started threatening to destabilize Botswana, because they claim it is a "tool of th
247.
by buyx 15y ago
consumers in the USA clearly want to play Angry Birds, whereas in some African countries consumers are more likely to be searching for their nearest Malaria drugs clinic. Yes malaria is a huge problem in some African countries, but in cas
248.
by buyx 15y ago
In South Africa I've seen quite a few complaints about our equivalent cult. But it's for Chartered Accountants, rather than MBAs. I haven't seen any analysis of the effects of this, but I doubt it's good. http://www.businesslive.co.za/inco
249.
by buyx 15y ago
Which is why I pointed out that my maid has a Blackberry as well. And the kids who voted for Blackberry as the coolest brand are probably largely in a similar demographic to my maid.
250.
Blackberry voted "Coolest Brand" by South African youth in brand survey(newstime.co.za)
4 points by buyx 15y ago|1 comments
251.
by buyx 15y ago
I often read on HN that Nokia has an edge in developing markets. But guess what was voted the "coolest brand" in a May 2011 survey of South African youth? Blackberry[1]! Any self respecting geek could have/should have bought an Android hand
252.
by buyx 15y ago
In South Africa, the terms "junior developer", "developer" and "senior developer" are used in job ads/specs. I haven't seen the word "programmer" for a while here. Maybe here it's people who work with older technology (mainframes etc) who a
253.
by buyx 15y ago
They do put a lot of care into their products, but their cult following does seem to play an important part in protecting their image. There's another thread on the front page of HN where people are describing how their Apple laptop power a
254.
by buyx 15y ago
In fact, controlled studies show that video lectures are rather ineffective. I would assume that studies comparing a competent physics teacher to a video instructor would show the former being more effective. However, there is a shortage
255.
by buyx 15y ago
I think the hassle of typing, versus scanning is the purported advantage. But the advantage is offset because an app needs to be launched. Are there any devices that can recognise something as a QR code, as soon as it they are switched on?
256.
by buyx 15y ago
Creative uses of QR codes are cool, but I wonder if misapplication is going to hurt the concept. I was at a major mall here in South Africa, and a chain store, Woolworths, had a large QR code stuck to its window. I use a low-end Blackberry
257.
by buyx 15y ago
Fair point, I looked at their mentors and assumed their benchmarks for angels were similar: http://www.google.co.za/intl/en/umbono/people.html
258.
by buyx 15y ago
You did a smart thing (from a vote-getting perspective) by omitting the words "South Africa" from your title.
259.
by buyx 15y ago
I'm sure there are a number of VC's/Angels worth listening to but the vast majority of them don't know what they're talking about imho. If you mean in the South African context, then you are probably right. Has South Africa produced any n
260.
by buyx 15y ago
Nokia is not a "great mobile brand". It was a great mobile brand, that then couldn't realize that software was beginning to win the smartphone war, and lost. Badly. Nokia's entire survival has rested on budget phones to developing countrie
261.
by buyx 15y ago
However, a move like this could put WinPho on the map, especially in countries where the name Nokia is synonymous with quality. I think the author overestimates the power of Nokia's brand. In South Africa, the sort of place the author see
262.
by buyx 15y ago
In Africa, if you remove countries that just don't even have working governments, you find the prisons are also horrible, with the exception of maybe South Africa, but even they've had a history of nasty evil and torture (read about Steve
263.
by buyx 15y ago
Yes, they lost control of road traffic enforcement as well, but not to the extent that they lost control of the taxi industry. Having some form of regulation would have kept the taxi operators busy evading the state rather than acting with
264.
by buyx 15y ago
Or you could stop pretending the government can legitimately criminalize a harmless business activity at the behest of a rent-seeking cartel. I agree with you, to some extent. However, some level of regulation is necessary, otherwise "har
265.
by buyx 16y ago
Or a South African 11 day weekend. Easter, and then public holidays on 27 April and 1/2 May are combining this year to provide a massive holiday opportunity.
266.
by buyx 16y ago
And http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1662581 An entire thread of apartheid being defended. And this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1565298
267.
by buyx 16y ago
In South Africa, teaching quality and outcomes remain extremely uneven despite the huge sums of money thrown at education by the state (lazy incompetent unionised teachers being the primary reason [I won't go into the historical reasons for