AFRICA

Neuromarketing at the Buyology Symposium
JOHANNESBURG: The impact of subliminal advertising and the influence of neuroscience in marketing will be the subjects of an Africa-wide tour in 2009 by author and branding expert, Martin Lindstrom. The book, Buyology, released on 19 October in New York, is the result of a study on "neuromarketing," which analysed thousands of volunteers.

BOTSWANA

Festus the finest
Botswana's former president, Festus Mogae has been awarded a US$5,000,000 prize to encourage good governance. The Ibrahim Prize, set up by Sudanese businessman, Mo Ibrahim, is the most valuable individual prize in the world.

Conference to promote tourism in SADC region
[Luyanda Makapela] JOHANNESBURG: The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to promote tourism in the region and raise awareness of the region's significant investment potential at a conference in Johannesburg.

Soccer fans to get special visa for Confederations Cup, 2010
[Vivian Warby] CAPE TOWN: Soccer fans wishing to apply for a visa to enter the country for next year's Confederations Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup will receive a special "events visa".

AFRICA

Swaziland and Moz must feel 2010 benefits - Premier
[Sharon Hammond] NELSPRUIT: Mpumalanga must improve partnerships with Swaziland and Mozambique to ensure the benefits of hosting the 2010 World Cup are felt in neighbouring countries too.

Google Chrome: it's not about the browser
[Steve Mabbutt] Chrome, Google's new browser, was barely out of its wrapping before Internet pundits began writing it off. As the first wave of early-adopter enthusiasts lost interest in their experiments and returned to their original browsers, so analysts began to declare Chrome dead. But there is a far more interesting set of dynamics at work. Google is not after Microsoft's share of the browser market: it's after something much bigger.

SOUTH AFRICA

Software giant launches multi-pronged assault on piracy
Software-maker Microsoft has stepped up its fight against pirated and counterfeit software with the announcement yesterday, 21 October, of the “Global Anti-Piracy Day,” a simultaneous launch of education initiatives and enforcement actions in 49 countries on six continents. In Africa, South Africa and Nigeria are the two countries seeing the launch of the initiative.

Developing countries to participate in ICT standards process
[Proffesor Ndawonde] JOHANNESURG: Leading stakeholders in the information communication technology (ICT) industry are to work together to minimise the standardisation gap between developed and developing countries through the Bridging the Standardisation Gap Fund.

Will Algeria lose the multimedia combat?
The new multimedia tools (blogs, Facebook, Dailymotion...) don't seem to have posed much of a threat to traditional media in Algeria.

Kenya's ICT sector gets $144 million credit facility
Kenya has received $144.4 million in credit from the International Development Association for the Transparency and Communications Infrastructure Project (TCIP).

First Khayelitsha Festival hits the Cape
The inaugural Khayelitsha Festival, a celebration of the Cape-based community's wealth of talent in arts, culture, youth and entrepreneurship that marks Khayelitsha's 25th anniversary, opens on Friday, 24 October 2008. The event takes place at the OR Tambo Hall in Khayelitsha, and will run till Sunday, 26 October.

AFRICA

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2008: close-up on Africa
Some African leaders have understood the advantages their countries could derive from press freedom. Others have behaved like despots again this year. The continent's best-placed countries continue by and large to be the same, with Namibia (23rd), Mali (31st), Cape Verde (36th), South Africa (38th) and Mauritius (47th) coming in the top 50 of the annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2008.

Don't overlook print in multimedia development
AMSTERDAM: When newspaper executives talk about multimedia development, they often mean digital development. But that approach overlooks their biggest asset ­ their newspaper in print, which brings great value to multimedia delivery. That was a key message from the World Digital Publishing and the World Readership conferences recently concluded in Amsterdam.

Winning entries require skills to prepare - Quo Vadis Communications
South Africa has a wealth of talent and the projects that communicators throughout the country implement have been proven to be on par with the rest of the world. This can be seen through the numerous awards won by many South African business communicators down the years - notable amongst them winners of International Gold Quill Awards.