Race for car of the year South Africa

A mixed bag of 10 French, Italian, German and Korean vehicles have made it through to the finals for the 2012 South African Car of the Year competition. The finalists were determined in a vote by the full members and a jury made up of 30 selected members of the South African Guild of Motoring Journalists (SAGMJ).

2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4

The 10 finalists are:


2011 Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4 125 kW MultiAir Distinctive 
2011 Audi A6 3.0 T TDI Quattro S tronic 
2011 Citroen DS4 THP 200 Sport 
2011 Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI Trend Sedan Powershift 
2011 Hyundai Elantra 1.8 GLS 
2011 Kia Picanto 1.2 EX 
2011 Mercedes Benz SLK 350 BlueEFFICIENCY 
2011 Peugeot 5008 2.0 HDi Active Man 
2011 Suzuki Kizashi 2.4 SDLX Man 
2011 VW Jetta 1.4 TSI 118 kW Highline


The winner of South Africa's most prestigious motoring award will be determined in a two-day test session to be held in February 2012 at the Gerotek test facility near Pretoria, where the cars will be assessed independently by the jury members.


In keeping with the broadened competition, the testing at Gerotek will allow the vehicles to be evaluated under the conditions individual vehicles would be expected to perform under. While jury members are already familiar with the vehicles they have voted into the final, the testing days offer an opportunity to re-acquaint themselves with the cars. 


"It allows jury members to pay close attention to the cars' aesthetics, build quality and ergonomics, while considerations based on perceptions of value for money, cost of a spares' basket, safety features and environmental friendliness can be taken into account before scoring the top ten. Fuel consumption figures are also available as is a range of data that must be considered before pronouncing on which vehicle is the best of the best," according to Mark Jones, convenor of the competition.


South Africa's Car of the Year competition - sponsored for the past 27 years by wheels bank, WesBank, with additional support from Total and Hollard Insurance - is unique in the world in that it is determined by three rounds of voting, the first which is open to all full members of the SAGMJ yields the semi-finalists, a second round open to the only the jury, which determines the finalists and then a final allocation of points after a two-day evaluation session at the world class Gerotek testing facility.


The jury is selected from those SAGMJ members who has had the greatest exposure to new models launched between 1 October 2010 to 31 August 2011.The winner of the 2012 WesBank / SAGMJ Car the Year will be announced in March 2012.


Source : http://www.bizcommunitycom
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Gr8insurance salutes Steve Jobs (RIP)

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, a pioneering businessman in the microcomputer, animation, music, and mobile phone industries -- several products have made significant inroads recently in the legal industry -- died last night from an extended battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56.


Born on Feb. 24, 1955, and adopted by a Mountain View, Calif., family, Steven Paul Jobs' legacy will be his profound impact as the Henry Ford of our time. He was a man who did not personally invent things, but saw the potential of existing inventions, and possessed both the marketing chops and business acumen to transform them into world-changing products and services. Jobs was unfortunately similar to other 20th-century titans in being widely disliked for his management style, yet unique among them for being just as widely beloved by his customers -- something Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg can only dream of.

Steve Jobs

Among his stated secrets for success, Jobs often said that his team built technology in response to great product ideas, not products in response to great technology ideas.


Jobs' friend Steve Wozniak, in 1976, designed a personal computer on a single circuit board. Wozniak, at the time a calculator engineer for Hewlett-Packard, was reluctant to form a company, thereby inspiring Jobs to have Wozniak's friends and family persuade him by proxy. Jobs was himself an engineer, but his true talent was in marketing and selling Wozniak's computer, the Apple 1. Its original price: $666.66. Approximately 200 units were sold, of which roughly 50 are known to exist today, easily fetching $20,000 or more among high-end technology collectors. One unit sold for a mind-bending $213,600 a year ago.


Apple's first smash hit was the Apple II, a preassembled consumer-oriented desktop computer, in 1977. It was far from being the first such computer and had stiff competition in the Commodore PET 2001 and Tandy TRS-80 Model 1. Commodore had the only design with built-in mass storage, and Tandy had the advantage of its Radio Shack retail stores. But it was Apple that conquered the education market by offering steep discounts, and then invaded the business market thanks to the third-party VisiCalc program, which was a popular early spreadsheet. By the time the IBM PC launched in 1981, the Apple II had dozens of competitors, but by far the largest dealer network and the biggest selection of aftermarket software for any purpose. Apple later became the first company to sell mainstream microcomputers that used graphical interfaces and mouses for input, starting with the little-known and poor-selling Lisa in 1983, and then blooming with the refined Macintosh in 1984 and beyond.


Commodore, Tandy, and even IBM are all now out of the personal computer business, and even market-leading HP, where Wozniak once begged his managers to produce his personal computer design, is heading out of the field, as well. Meanwhile, Apple today is the Mercedes of the personal computer and smartphone businesses -- a leader in products that combine luxury and performance, sold in elegant showrooms -- although it will never be the best-selling company in those fields. Apple has managed to be a best-seller in the smaller markets for personal music players and mainstream tablet computers. Music players are now being subsumed by smartphones such as the iPhone 4S, and the future of tablets is open to debate, but the modern Apple led by CEO Tim Cook and Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive is sure to remain influential in whatever fields it enters -- even in fields where it failed, such as the mid-1990s PDA market, and where it chose to delay its own entry, such as in smartphones.


Jobs has been just as famous in related fields, namely the iTunes music download service and his stake in the Pixar animation studio. The iTunes service gave legitimacy to its field, causing music industry executives to eventually embrace an idea that would destroy their traditional distribution methods, where previously Napster was loathed by the same companies. Pixar made animated feature films return to their past glory via digital techniques. In both situations, Jobs was backed by large and highly paid teams of experts, but deserves immense credit for his leadership and vision.


Then there are lawyers. Microsoft Windows has a stranglehold on law firms' desktop computers, but the iPhone has largely blown away Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones, and what savvy counselor doesn't use an iPad? Lawyers love their Apple gadgets for being easy-to-use, feature-rich, reliable, and packed with techno-sex appeal. "Major legal software company announces iOS edition" is something we routinely consider solid news.


Jobs changed our lives, our childrens' lives, and the greater world around us. It was on an Apple II that this reporter, in sixth grade, was impelled to put down his Atari joystick, learn BASIC programming, and start writing about technology for his middle school newspaper. There were always jokes about Jobs' Reality Distortion Field and minimalist wardrobe, but it's no laughing matter that he is already sorely missed.


Source : http://www.law.com
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Can Euro Market Crisis be avoided

RISING hopes that European leaders were preparing to tackle the euro zone's problems with a massive injection of funds into the region's banks provided a much-needed shot in the arm for global markets.


After a week of selling, the local market climbed as much as 2 per cent early in the session after a sudden recovery on Wall Street in the last hour of trade, as investors jumped on reports that Europe's finance ministers were looking at efforts to recapitalise banks.


Wall Street surged as much as 4 per cent towards the end of the trading session after the Financial Times reported European officials were examining ways of reinforcing the capital position of the region's troubled banks as a matter of urgency.





Some economists believe the European Central Bank will also cut its benchmark cash rate to 1.25 per cent from 1.5 per cent today to help spur demand across the region. This would come just three months after the ECB raised interest rates.


The focus on banks has come as euro zone governments struggle to approve a bailout fund for Greece.


Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 54.4 points, or 1.4 per cent, at 3926.5 yesterday. In New York the Dow Jones ended 1.4 per cent higher. Key European markets opened more than 1.5 per cent higher last night.
With Europe's sovereign debt problems starting to evolve into a banking crisis, markets fear a rush of capital out of Europe's perilously weak banking system.


With euro zone leaders again delaying a delivery of bailout funds to Greece, worries are mounting that banks could start falling like dominoes if a chain reaction of even partial debt defaults is triggered from Athens.


The first cracks came this week when Franco-Belgian financial group Dexia called an emergency board meeting over concerns about its exposure to Greece.
Analysts said Dexia's problems stress the point that the Greek crisis is less about Greece and more about the potential for it to spark a much wider economic disaster.


The governments of France and Belgium yesterday stepped in to pledge they would guarantee Dexia's commitments. At the same time Dexia is expected to push ahead with plans to set up a "bad bank" to hold its troubled lending exposures.


"We're seeing a practical example of contagion playing out," said Jean-Pierre Lambert, an analyst at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, referring to Dexia's exposure to the debt of countries on the EU rim.


JPMorgan analyst Scott Manning said wholesale funding markets had ''effectively shut down'' because of the fear of contagion from Europe's banking problems. Australian banks are heavy users of wholesale funds, although they are cashed up given a combination of sluggish credit lending and growth in deposits.


Shares of Australian banks have been marked down in recent weeks as investors fretted over Europe.
Separately, James Gorman, the head of Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley, has moved to calm employees worried about the health of the bank saying "misinformation" is circulating through the market.


Morgan Stanley's shares have come under heavy selling recently, falling to their lowest level since December 2008, over concerns about its exposure to euro zone banks and reliance on short-term funding.




Source : http://www.smh.com.au/business/prospect-of-european-rescue-spurs-markets-20111005-1l9nv.html


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BlackBerry OS 7 and Software 9900

BlackBerry OS 7 and Software


Here’s the not so rosy part; BlackBerry OS 7 feels and looks almost like OS 6. That’s good for those who hate learning something new, but it also means the OS looks, feels and is dated. This makes OS 7 and the fall 2011 BlackBerry touchscreen smartphones feel like a stopgap measure until RIM gets real and releases phones with the all new QNX OS, the same OS used on the very modern and enjoyable BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Will the Torch 9810 be upgradable to QNX? RIM hasn’t indicated that this will be the case.

Black Berry 9900 / 9300

There are a few improvements that you’ll see and feel: the OS has been optimized to improve speed and reduce bloat (and it is indeed very fast), BBM 6 has a more modern threaded messaging view and integration with third party apps for social sharing, and the new web browser is light years ahead of the OS 6 browser. Gone are the delays as the browser stumbled through JavaScript, and desktop layout websites aren’t botched. While we wouldn’t quite call it as good as the Webkit web browsers on Android, iOS and webOS, it’s pretty darned good. 




Page download speeds are good over ATT’s HSPA+ network, rendering speeds are likewise good and page layouts generally render accurately. There’s no Adobe Flash here, but the browser supports HTML 5 and mobile video from sites like YouTube. The only drawback? The small 3.2″ display rarely displays readable text when viewing full HTML sites (mobile sites are fine). 


Yes, it’s better than the Bold 9900, but not by that much. You’ve got to pinch zoom or double-tap zoom to read text, and then pan around. That just feels so out of date and awkward. The BlackBerry Torch 9850 with its 800 x 480, 3.7″ display is better suited to serious web browsing, though even it renders text that’s too small for extended comfortable reading.


RIM’s multimedia apps are pleasing, and the sharp display and excellent speaker make for good music and video experiences. The photo viewer is fast, supports pinch.



Source -http://www.mobiletechreview.com
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ABSA has Easypay website security concerns

Absa Bank has suspended all credit card transactions through the EasyPay website after receiving a number of fraud complaints, according to a newspaper report on Monday.


The bank stopped all transactions on the EasyPay website last week and laid a complaint with the police, according to the Afrikaans daily Beeld.

Internet Security

Head of Absa's fraud detection unit Paul Mathias told the paper the bank stopped the transactions last Wednesday as a proactive step to protect the bank's customers. This would apply until the problem was resolved, he said.


Chief executive of EasyPay, Serge Balamant, said the company had only found out that Absa had suspended its credit card transactions with EasyPay when he read about it in a report in Die Burger. "We will investigate all our options because Absa's lack of transparency is costing us in our business and our credibility," Balamant told Beeld.


EasyPay is a website which encrypts credit card users' information when they pay accounts, traffic fines or prepaid electricity, which should protect these details from internet fraudsters.


Mathias said EasyPay users could still conduct their transactions at EasyPay kiosks and supermarket chain stores. FNB, which manages EasyPay transactions, had been notified that Absa was suspending the transactions.


FNB said it had not taken similar measures, although it was aware of the problem.


 Police spokesman Lt-Col Andre Traut said on Monday that the investigation had been handed over to the Hawks, who said they could not divulge any details of the investigation.


EasyPay posted a 'phishing' warning on its website, saying that customers should be vigilant against criminals who try to obtain confidential information. The message said EasyPay users should be suspicious of email purporting to be from EasyPay requesting credit card details, as these were often send by perpetrators of internet fraud.


Source -http://moneyweb.co.za
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Webb Ellis Rugby Cup History

History

The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the Rugby World Cup. The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as the inventor of rugby football. The trophy is silver gilt and has been presented to the winner of the Rugby World Cup since the first competition in 1987. It has been held by Australia (twice, in 1991 and 1999), South Africa (twice, in 1995 and 2007), New Zealand (1987) andEngland (2003).

The 38 centimetre trophy is gilded silver and is supported by two cast scroll handles.^[1] On one handle there is a head of a satyr, on the other there is head of a nymph. On the face of the trophy, the words International Rugby Football Board and below that arch The Webb Ellis Cupare engraved.^[1] The Webb Ellis Cup is also referred to (incorrectly) as the "Webb Ellis Trophy" or colloquially as "Bill", a nickname coined by the 1991 Rugby World Cup winners, the Wallabies.

The Webb Ellis Cup

There are two official Webb Ellis Cups, which are used interchangeability. One cup is a 1906 trophy made by Carrington and Co. of London, which was a Victorian design of a 1740 cup by Paul de Lamerie.

John Kendall-Carpenter, former England forward and the organiser of the first Rugby World Cup and Bob Weighill, the secretary of the International Rugby Board also a former England forward, visited Garrard's, the crown jeweler in Regent Street, London.^[1] Director Richard Jarvis, brought the particular cup down from the vault and showed it to both of them.^[1]

It was chosen for use in February 1987, Ronnie Dawson of Ireland, Keith Rowlands of Wales, Bob Stuart and Dick Littlejohn of New Zealand and the Australians Nick Shehadie and Ross Turnbull approved of the choice of the trophy.^[1][2]

It was soon named "The Webb Ellis Cup". New Zealand become the first nation to win the Webb Ellis Cup when they won the 1987 Rugby World Cup. The Webb Ellis Cup has been held by four nations; New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and England.

The current holders are South Africa after beating England 15-6 in the 2007 Final in Paris. The trophy was until recently on display in Newlands, South Africa, where it had stayed for two years following the victory. Last year it was returned to the home of the IRB, Ireland. One cup recently went on tour around the New Zealand Provinces along with the Tri Nations, Bledisloe Cup, Hillary Shield, Womens World Cup and the Junior World Cup trophies

Source -http://Wikipedia.com
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SA Gov move to tap BBM service

Deputy Communications Minister Obed Bapela says government is considering following Britain’s and Saudi Arabia’s call for decryption of BlackBerry messages "if crimes are committed using the BlackBerry service"
CHANTELLE BENJAMIN and GARETH VORSTER

A CALL by Deputy Communications Minister Obed Bapela yesterday for new regulations giving police authority to access messages sent via BlackBerry’s encrypted messenger service (BBM) has puzzled technology experts.


SA already has legislation allowing this — the Regulation of Interception of Communication Act (Rica).


This year millions of South Africans registered their SIM cards in the face of a threat of disconnection. Once registered, SIM cards can be tracked and traced. This is meant to trace people who use phones to commit crimes.

Mr Bapela told delegates to Telkom ’s Southern African Telecommunication Network and Application conference in East London yesterday that the government was considering following Britain’s and Saudi Arabia’s call for decryption of BlackBerry messages "if crimes are committed using the BlackBerry service".


He promised delegates that the government’s intention was not to spy on citizens’ communication on social networks. His proposed legislation would be used only once a crime had been committed — and then permission would be sought from a magistrate.


Mr Bapela said later that SA had a "high threat of crime" which ought to be given priority.


His proposal follows recent calls by UK MPs for a block on BlackBerry messenger services during the London riots. Their reasoning, that BBM was being used to stoke riots, was based on the fact that 37% of UK youth used BBM and not on research, said technology expert Arthur Goldstuck.


Mr Goldstuck and Democratic Alliance communications spokeswoman Natasha Michael said Rica was intended to deal with all eventualities.


Ms Michael, who on served on Parliament’s justice committee before taking up her present post, said: "The basis of Rica is good, old-fashioned wire tapping — the interception of messages. The type of technology would be irrelevant. Whether it was BBM or SMS, Rica allows for access."


Mr Goldstuck said while "no public- spirited person would deny the government the right to access any source that could be used to commit a crime", he believed the statements by Mr Bapela on the alleged misuse of BlackBerry could "be considered reckless".


"In the case of the UK riots, the arrests led to the interception of information on Facebook and Twitter. There was never any evidence of misconduct via BBM," he said.


Mr Goldstuck said it was unfortunate that Mr Bapela had used the examples of Saudi Arabia and the UK to justify his position — a " despotic regime and a country that has shown itself to be ignorant of instant messaging".


Mr Bapela said he had yet to engage with BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM), but he was hopeful they would find a solution, given the seriousness of crime in SA.


RIM’s co-operation would be needed for decryption. RIM has shown itself willing to co-operate in other countries where governments have raised concerns about BBM, such as the United Arab Emirates.


The Department of Communications did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Source -http://Businessday.co.za
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Another petrol price hike for South Africans

The retail price of all grades of petrol will increase by nine cents a litre on Wednesday, the Department of Energy said on Friday.

The price of diesel with a 0.05 percent sulphur content and the price of diesel with a 0.005 percent sulphur content will both remain unchanged.


The wholesale price of illuminating paraffin will drop by two cents a litre.


The single maximum national retail price for illuminating paraffin will decrease by three cents a litre.


During the period 29 July 2011 to 1 September 2011, the average international product prices of petrol, diesel and illuminating paraffin decreased, the Department added.


The average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate, however, weakened when compared to the previous period.


"The average Rand/US Dollar exchange rate for the period 29 July 2011 to 2 September 2011 was 7.0590 compared to 6.8353 during the previous period.


"The deterioration of the rand against the US dollar increased the contribution to the basic fuel price by about 20 cents a litre," the Department said.


Sapa
Source -http://southafrica.info
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Apple shares fall as Steve Jobs resign

Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares declined after the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs, who transformed the company he started at age 21 from a personal- computer also-ran into the world’s largest technology company.

Steve Jobs

The shares fell as much as 7 percent in extended trading in the U.S. yesterday after the announcement. Jobs, who will become chairman, was on medical leave since Jan. 17, following a 2003 cancer diagnosis and a liver transplant in 2009. He is succeeded by Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, 50, who has been running day-to-day operations.


“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Jobs, 56, said in a statement yesterday. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”


Under Jobs, Apple became the second-most valuable company in the world, after Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), by introducing devices that revolutionized the computer, music and mobile phone industries. Jobs left Cook at the helm when he was on leave in the first half of 2009, and Cook built confidence with investors during that stint, when the shares gained about 70 percent.


“You can expect that it’s going to take a hit,” said Kenneth Polcari, a managing director at ICAP Corporates, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “After it all settles down, people are going to realize that Apple is not a company that didn’t have a plan in place, that didn’t realize at some point this was going to happen.”


Apple dropped as low as $350 following the announcement, after rising $2.58 to $376.18 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market.


Jobs’s Legacy


As CEO, Jobs’s attention to detail and emphasis on sleek, easy-to-use products helped Apple repel competition from rivals as varied as Google Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)


“He’s always going to be remembered, maybe for the next 100 years, as the greatest technology business leader of our time,” Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Jobs, said in an interview on “Bloomberg West.” “Company culture doesn’t change overnight. He’s got tens of thousands of employees. The quality of the products reflects how good they are, too.”


The day of the announcement, Jobs was in Apple’s Cupertino, California, office for the entire work day, and he attended a regularly scheduled board meeting, according to a person close to Jobs, who was not authorized to speak about the executive’s health. While Jobs has been housebound for the past few weeks and his condition is weak, the resignation was not indicative of a sudden worsening, this person said.


‘Extraordinary Vision’


Jobs told the board he intends to be an active chairman, and he held an emotional meeting with his executive team afterward, according to another person familiar with the matter.


“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” Art Levinson, an Apple director, said in a statement on behalf of the board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team.”


Jobs was ousted by the board in 1985 amid differences over strategy. In his time away, Jobs ran movie animation studio Pixar, which he later sold to Walt Disney Co., as well as NeXT Software Inc., a company Apple acquired to return him to the company. Jobs is Disney’s largest shareholder, with a 7.4 percent stake. He will remain on the entertainment company’s board, a person with knowledge of the matter said.


When Jobs returned in 1997, Apple had run up $1.86 billion in losses over two years. It was 90 days away from bankruptcy, Jobs would later say.


Stock Surge


Apple stock surged 9,020 percent since July 29, 1997, the day before the San Francisco Chronicle broke news that Jobs would be interim CEO. Over that period, the market value rose to $348.7 billion from $2.06 billion.


Any slump in the shares may be short lived, said Daniel Genter, who oversees about $3.7 billion as president of Los Angeles-based RNC Genter Capital Management.


“Jobs has been a strong figure in the company historically, but he hasn’t been a driving force for the past two years,” said Genter. “It brings clarity. It shouldn’t have an effect on the overall market, but this market is so skittish so it may have a short-term negative impact.”






Transformation


Since his return, Jobs has led Apple’s transformation into a seller of everything from smartphones to music. He engineered the company’s comeback by honing Apple’s industrial design, tightly integrating software and hardware, and pushing into new markets.


The iPhone, introduced in 2007, has become Apple’s best- selling product and turned the company into the world’s biggest smartphone maker. After winning customers away from Research In Motion Ltd. and Nokia Oyj, Apple is now sparring with Google for leadership in the market for mobile-phone software.


“Under Steve’s leadership Apple has not only revolutionized the computer industry but also transformed how the world communicates, plays, shops and works,” said Frank Quattrone, CEO of Qatalyst Partners LLP, a Silicon Valley investment bank. “In the entrepreneur hall of fame, he is the charter member. He is, and will remain, an inspiration to the world.”


Cook joined Apple in 1998. As operating chief, his oversight included sales, manufacturing and distribution.


“The world will see in the next several years that Tim is a very uniquely gifted guy and Apple will be wildly successful under his leadership,” said John Connors, a venture capitalist at Ignition Partners, who serves on the Nike Inc. board with Cook.


Source -http://bloomberg.com
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