Vodacom introduces a low cost web-focused computer
 
Vodacom this week announced the Linkbook, a low-cost netbook that provides an affordable way to access the net. The Linkbook sports the Ubuntu Linux operating system and OpenOffice, a free Office suite on which to create documents, presentations and spreadsheets. It also includes an embedded SIM card and a HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) module for totally wireless internet connectivity. The Linkbook will be available on a 24-month contract at a low subscription fee of R199 per month, which includes a monthly 300 MB data bundle.

Another iPhone 4G prototype gone astray?
 
A guy walks into a bar, gets drunk and loses his prototype iPhone 4G...,  oh wait, that is last month’s story. Amazingly enough it appears that Cupertino has lost another one of their next generation iPhone prototypes. This week a cellphone accessory salesman from Vietnam, Tran Manh Hiep, hastily made his way to a cafe in southern Ho Chi Minh City, where the word on the street was that someone had the newest iPhone in his possession. Our man Hiep promptly gave the device a thorough once over when he arrived there, made recordings of it and posted the video as well as images on the Tinhte.com forum website, for which he is an administrator. There's no news yet about who managed to lose it this time around.
 
Adobe vs. Apple
 
Beef with the counterparts within your industry isn’t merely a phenomenon in the rap world. The tech world has also recently seen a bit of "dissing" going on between Apple and Adobe. Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs got things going with his Thoughts on Flash letter that he published last month, explaining why Apple doesn’t allow Flash on their iPhones, iPods and iPads. Now Adobe’s cofounders, Chuck Geschke and John Warnock, have posted their response to Jobs. In it they state that they “believe that consumers should be able to freely access their favorite content and applications, regardless of what computer they have, what browser they like, or what device suits their needs. No company — no matter how big or how creative — should dictate what you can create, how you create it, or what you can experience on the web.”
 
Free Wi-Fi coverage across Africa
 
The cofounder of Kayak.com, Paul English, is a man that thinks big. He wants the whole African continent to have access to free Wi-Fi, which must be completely self-sustaining as well. According to dvice.com English plans to realise his vision via JoinAfrica, a non-profit/for-profit venture that he is “get[ting] underway this summer” and has already bought satellite dishes as well as other equipment required to deliver Wi-Fi to villages in countries that include Uganda and Zambia. Now to just sort out the electricity problem and the lack of PCs problem.
 
Canon celebrates another milestone
 
Canon this week announced that the combined production figure of their EOS-series film and digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras has passed the 40 million mark. According to the Japanese manufacturer, production of the popular EOS SLR camera started in 1987 and it took ten years (1997) to reach 10 million units. The 20 million mark was reached within a further six years (in 2003), while Canon got to the 30 million mark four years (2007) after that. The latest milestone was attained after only two years and four months. 
 
Voice-guided navigation for WinMo owners
 
Microsoft announced two new features to the Bing app for Windows phones, which is a redesigned home page and turn-by-turn navigation for Windows 6.x phones in the US, powered by Bing Maps. The redesigned home page entails changes to the navigation in order to give users faster access to common searches, such as movies and traffic. This step by Microsoft comes in the wake of Nokia’s move to have its smartphones sport the latest version of Ovi Maps, which also offers free turn-by-turn navigation, as well as global pedestrian navigation.

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