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Writing
The Times column
Innovation: focus on the future, not the past
Are patents killing innovation? It’s the question that every tech and business publication has been asking since a spate of patent lawsuits began when Apple sued Samsung over its iPad.
MXit helping Cape Flats drug addicts
MXit, the cellphone instant messaging service best known for chatting teenagers, is now being used to help drug users on the Cape Flats kick their habit.
The greatest communication mechanism in the world is arguably still SMS.
Let’s get this out of the way: every new mobile device is always thinner, faster and has a better camera. Always. It’s the newly minted Shapshak’s First Law of Gadget Upgrades.
If you’re looking for a good investment, buy Facebook shares. If you’re looking for real personal contact, go walk the dog.
Down one of the notorious potholed streets of Nairobi there is an 8 megabits per second fibre connection to a Kenyan home that I stayed in last week.
Let’s get this right: the state-owned telecoms operator is going to be fined by the state-run competition-busting authority after being found guilty by the state-appointed anti-competition oversight agency.
Sunday Times
The day I met Steve Jobs – Obituary
“No, but I did touch his iPod,” I answered when someone asked if I shook Steve Jobs hand. It happened quite by chance.
Pesach parallels in South Africa today
We, too, have become slaves to a greedy elite.
There’s little hope for those trapped in construction industry’s cycle of abuse and poverty.
Other writing
Hansie Cronje: mad, bad or just plain greedy? – The Observer
He was a hero to millions, but he threw it all away. What possessed him to pawn his place in history for a few tainted dollars.
Bring back the snark – The Times column
It doesn’t matter how obvious it is, people will still miss sarcasm or irony on Twitter.
The charge of the lightsabre brigade – The Times column
Star Wars is the greatest science-fiction movie of all time, and its created a cultural meme that has taken on a life of its own.