At a news conference this morning, FIFA and the local 2010 organising announced that the iconic, but noisy vuvuzela, a plastic air horn, will be banned from the stadia for the duration of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Citing safety concerns as well as the potential to effect the broadcasting of the games spokesman Fal Linfrit said the decision was not just a difficult, but painful as the vuvuzela has become such an integral part of the football landscape in South Africa.
This is not the first time the vuvuzela has been banned from an event and of particular concern was the problem that emergency announcements would not be able to be heard should there be a situation where the crowds need to be informed of evacuation procedures. Of lesser concern was the problem broadcasters would face with the noise levels affecting the commentary of the games and even affecting the number of television viewers.

Update : Yes, this is April Fool's post. Click on the 'You are an April fool' link below to see the past year's attempts at fooling the blogosphere. Interestingly unbeknown to Eish!! this year's 'brainwave' was actually a true story till halfway through last year. Check the story here.

Labels: 2010, soccer world cup, vuvuzela, You Are An April Fool

Posted by eishman at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments

CEO Jay Adelson and founder Kevin Rose of internet phenomenon Digg.com, announced today that they will be purchasing a controlling stake in www.muti.co.za.

Reminiscing about the 'old' days (Digg.com was launched in December 2004) Rose commented how the community that is currently active at Muti reminds him of how the Digg community was when it was before it exploded to become one of the web's most active sites. The submitters, readers and bloggers regularly engage one another as they debate issues, some important, some superficial.

Adelson said that, much like Google, they saw South Africa as an entry point into the untapped African market. He sees Muti's simple, easy to use interface ideal for mobile integration, the device Africans will use to connect.

Although no amounts have been announced, it's widely believed that R77, 7 million has been negotiated for the 51% stake in Muti. It's still uncertain how the windfall is going to be split amongst Neville, Dave, Charle and Eric, reports Igotua Gain.

Labels: digg, muti, You Are An April Fool

Posted by eishman at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments

No, or course Microsoft are not going to be pulling out of South Africa. They are making way too much money out of us.

Yes, I guess, Iama Liah!

There were masses of April Fools stories on the web today. I especially liked the Google's "Welcome to Google TiSP", a sewage based broadband delivery system. Alot of effort went into that hoax as well as their Google Paper launch.

Click here for a comprehensive list web based April 1st pranks.

Labels: You Are An April Fool

Posted by eishman at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft announced today that Microsoft is to begin a three month withdrawal of it's operations from the SADEC countries (of which South Africa) this month. This is in response to the lack of action by member states to the ongoing turmoil and human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
According to the statement Chairman Bill Gates as become sensitised and increasingly concerned of the state of affairs in the Zimbabwe since he has increased his involvement at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation's big focus is the eradication of malaria which prevalence is concentrated in sub Saharan Africa.
"We believe that sanctions from an organisation of our size could result in as much, if not more, pressure to governments who rely on critical systems we supply for deliverables", said Ballmer.

"The PC and Hardware Manufacturers Association was tipped off on this potential move by Microsoft three month ago" said spokesman Iama Liah. "We have been in talks with Mark Shuttleworth's Ubuntu organisation, and it is hoped that all new pc's and laptops will be shipped with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed instead of the Windows XP or Vista operating systems."

Being a Sunday no Department of Trade and Industry official was available for comment.

Eish!!

Labels: Bill Gates, Mark Shuttleworth, microsoft, Steve Ballmer, Ubuntu, You Are An April Fool

Posted by eishman at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments