Carel’s Conversations – blogRE: enterprise software (SAP), international business and South Africa.

Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Pingo – new way to make cheap calls via your iPhone to anywhere in the world

Posted on March 26th, 2010 by Carel

Filed under Business, Technology

I’ve been using a great new service to make very inexpensive international calls from my iPhone. You can make calls from any phone. I’ve written about this before. Check this out. Pingo.com is the cheapest way to make international. A native iPhone app uses your iPhone contact database — very cool! Pingo EZ Dial also [...]

iPad is the new Apple killer device…

Posted on January 27th, 2010 by Carel

Filed under Apple, Entrepreneurship, Technology

It’s official it’s the Apple iPad. See Engadget’s live blogging. Here’s a picture one of this first official pictures: I want one!!!

When Google Runs your life OR maybe not

Posted on December 30th, 2009 by Carel

Filed under Business, Technology

A recent Forbes article on Google is a very interesting read. Here is an extract: Your day begins with a wake-up call from your Google Android phone. As you run to the shower, you hit Google News and check headlines, then Gmail. Your first appointment of the day has been moved to a new location; [...]

The network IS the computer!

Posted on December 15th, 2009 by Carel

Filed under Apple, Technology

Sun Computer’s vision is: “The Network is the Computer“, well I think this is finally starting to take shape in the form of cloud computing. Bandwidth, even at speeds approaching 30MBps, is still orders of magnitude slower than main memory. However, I love the netbook-type (or webbook) computer that a company called, Litl, recently launched. [...]

10 Free (or Cheap) Tools for Start-ups

Posted on December 11th, 2009 by Carel

Filed under Business, CRM, Technology

Inc. magazine recently published this list of 10 free or cheap tools for Start-ups. I use Skype, Zoho and Google Docs. I would add TaDaList from 37signals and Evernote. Easy to use free software. Did they miss any good ones?

Google Voice invitation request

Posted on June 25th, 2009 by Carel

Filed under Technology

Sign up and get your Google Voice account soon. See my last post on why I like Google Voice. Please share your experience…

Hasso Plattner Ventures Africa’s portfolio of companies

Posted on May 26th, 2009 by Carel

Filed under Business, Carel's Conversations, Entrepreneurship, South Africa, Technology, Venture Capital

Hasso Plattner’s African Venture fund was launched in early 2008. In February 2009 I attended the fund’s Emerging Market Africa conference in South Africa. HPVA has invested ZAR80mm of ZAR350mm in 5 companies to date and expect to invest in at least 5 more. HPVA doesn’t disclose investments and shareholding, although they did indicate that [...]

MXit launches iPhone app

Posted on May 21st, 2009 by Carel

Filed under South Africa, Technology

MXit is a South African social networking company with 12 million subscribers around the world. According to MXit it is “a next generation Mobile Instant Messenger that connects you to a world of expression, using both instant messaging and social networking.” MXit recently launched an iPhone app. I’ve been a beta user for a few [...]

Cheapest international call rates from your iPhone

Posted on May 10th, 2009 by Carel

Filed under Business, Technology

These days you can make really cheap international calls directly from your iPhone. I’ve used VIP, Jajah, ATT Wireless, Skype and Google Voice. All these services will use your mobile minutes, with the expection of Skype’s iPhone app in WiFi mode. In this post I’ll give my experience with each service from a cost and [...]

SAP making a difference in South Africa using mobile phones

Posted on April 26th, 2009 by Carel

Filed under Entrepreneurship, SAP, South Africa, Technology

Thanks to the Collaboration@Rural project, SAP enables small grocers in rural South Africa to sell the goods, their customers actually need – through a mobile delivery system.