ICT

Microsoft and Yahoo have received clearance from regulators in Washington and Europe to proceed with a search partnership intended to challenge Google.

The two companies announced that the partnership had been approved without restrictions by the US Justice Department and the European Commission.

Under the 10-year agreement, Microsoft's Bing search engine will process search requests and steer search-related advertisements on Yahoo.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF), in partnership with the Visual History Archive (VHA), has launched a free online archival portal to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of former president, Nelson Mandela.

The ‘Nelson Mandela 20 years of freedom’ website involves the integration of documents, photographs and audio-visual material related to Mandela’s release and allows users to explore the spatial and temporal relationships between items.

South African users of Google email service Gmail can expect to be part of the international roll-out of ‘Buzz’, the Internet giant's social networking application.

Google's Hugo Barra, director of product management for mobile, says that, "We'll be rolling out ‘Buzz’ in about a week and we're doing it carefully so we don't take down Gmail."

We have almost reached the end of 2009 - a very challenging, but also rewarding year for everyone associated with SANGONeT.

A local teacher, Mmipe George Mokgehle, has proven that hard work is rewarding by scooping the prestigious African ICT Achiever’s Award at the weekend.

Mokgehle, who teaches at Toronto Primary School in Mankweng outside Polokwane, was awarded a certificate of excellence at a function at the Market Theatre in Newtown, Johannesburg.

The award is given in recognition of teachers who have contributed to improving information communication technology (ICT) skills among pupils. The contest was between teachers from all parts of the continent.

Disabled people, especially those living in rural parts of South Africa, often find it difficult to get information about the rehabilitation services that are available to them from government departments and NGOs in their area.

This new SMS information service, implemented by Disability Consultants. is available to anyone with access to a cellphone who sends an SMS with their name, town and the information they need to - 072 172 2623.

Sarietjie Musgrave, an information technology-savvy teacher, says South African schools should not let the lack of computers get in the way of education when cellphones offer an alternative.

Musgrave, who attended the National Educators Conference in Washington, states that few schools have computers that can be used in teaching, but teachers should not “wait for the perfect computer” when they have cellphones.