south africa

There's something new(ish) under the sun in the rural South African village of Phomolong, where Samsung has built a gadget-laden solar-powered classroom -- in a renovated shipping container.

The Solar Powered Internet School -- a product of Samsung's corporate-social responsibility initiative -- has solar panels on the roof that can generate nine hours of electricity a day. That power's needed to juice the electronics inside -- a 50-inch electronic board, Samsung Internet-enabled solar-powered notebooks, Samsung Galaxy tablets, and Wi-Fi cameras.

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The new iPad arrives today in nine more countries, including Colombia, Estonia, India, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa, and Thailand.

This marks the fourth phase of Apple's staggered rollout.

The new iPad debuted in the U.S., and nine other nations on March 16. The tablet travelled to an additional 25 countries, mostly throughout Europe, on March 23. And last Friday saw 12 more nations on the receiving end of the latest iPad.

The iPad is now available in 56 different countries, or 58 markets altogether if Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are included in … Read more

Check out these keycap sculptures made by South African visual artist and cultural activist Maurice Mbikayi. Trained in graphic design and visual communication at the Academie des Beaux-Arts in France, Mbikayi's unique mixed-media collages and the keycap skulls represent the artist's thoughts on the impact of technology on Africa and the Earth's dependence on natural resources.

Mbikayi sourced the keycaps from piles of discarded technological remnants left around the streets of South Africa and are used in his works to question their original destination and intent.

Click through the break for more pictures of Maurice Mbikayi's works of art.… Read more

Just as the World Cup was getting underway last week, the Associated Press ran a story about vuvuzela horns that probably didn't register with most people outside of South Africa.

It does now.

These tuneless plastic horns are found to emit a sound--make that noise--equivalent to 127 decibels, according to a study issued by the hearing aid manufacturer Phonak. (If you want to hear a sound sample, click here. For the sake of comparison, Phonak noted that the sound from a drum was 122 decibels, while that of a referee's whistle came in at 121.8 decibels.

According … Read more

Every four years the sports world is graced with the largest soccer tournament on Earth. This year the World Cup will be played on African soil and to celebrate the games we're taking a look at EA's 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

Jeff: There's something special about EA's FIFA World Cup games. For the most part the action is relatively similar to FIFA 10, but perhaps it's the overall presentation and sense of realism that allow the game to assume its own identity.

Sure, there are a few new features in 2010 FIFA World Cup; you can now play the entire tournament online and there are some new penalties that get called during the action. A few trite coach cutaways aside, FIFA World Cup really does nail the feeling of excitement associated with the world's greatest sports tournament and is ultimately where the game shines the most.

Those looking for something completely unique from a gameplay standpoint may be disappointed as there aren't too many improvements found here. You may spot a few new replay angles here and there, but the game doesn't up the ante as much as we saw in 2006's Germany World Cup game.

We definitely feel 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is among the most accessible of games simply because of its international appeal and the amount of coverage the actual tournament gets here in the US. Casual soccer fans who may not be in line to buy FIFA each year definitely should give 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa a look as it simplifies the soccer experience unlike the traditional yearly FIFA effort.

David: EA Sports has learned through its market research that its World Cup-branded FIFA titles tend to appeal to less hard-core video soccer players who are simply inspired by the World Cup to buy the game. Thus, EA tries to make it more accessible to novice players while not offending advanced types. An example of this option is the new two-button control scheme that simplifies the whole passing and shooting situation for those who aren't ready to deal with a layered control scheme.

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This week on preGAME we bring you the video game version of the world's greatest soccer tournament, the World Cup. On today's show, Mark and Jeff will play a half of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

But first, we'll try and unravel the mystery behind a recent Capcom trademark request for the name "Mega Man Universe." While dozens of ideas race through our heads, we can only assume that this next-gen iteration of Mega Man might bring us the first-ever massive multiplayer online game in the franchise.

If you've ever wondered what a … Read more

Our No. 404 fanboy Dee Wren takes time out of his busy filming schedule to bring some positivity to our Monday morning. After revealing some news about the upcoming Google Android release tomorrow, we talk about the weekend box office, touch on Facebook porn, and make an overall attempt to shade ourselves from Jeff's rays of hate (unsuccessfully). Happy Monday!

To make up for all the lives we've ruined with The 404, we invite our buddy Dee Wren into the studio to pimp his philanthropic project, From Us With Love. It's a nonprofit organization that supplies aid to children in South Africa and Dee is helping to shoot a documentary on their efforts to send a group of them to Australia for the Homeless World Cup. We'd love for you to contribute as much time, money, and resources as you can to their foundation. The best part of this endeavor is that For Us With Love is already corporate-sponsored, so the full 100 percent of your contribution will go directly into the project, no filters. It's a very noble cause, please check out the Web site and do what you can to help!

It seems to be the latest fad among the SAP crowd. First, Shai Agassi raises $200 million for Project Better Place, which hopes to install electric charging stations and kick start the electric car industry.

Now Hasso Plattner, SAP's founder, has raised a fund, approximately worth $45 million, to invest in start-ups in South Africa, according to publications in that country. A portion of the funds will go to clean-tech companies. Originally from Germany, Plattner currently owns golf courses in South Africa.

Like many nations (Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, the U.S., China, and Japan), South Africa … Read more