> Multi-lingual addresses

> Indian pre-paid ban

> Review: Borderlands

> IM for newbies

> In video: Funny ads

> Zuma vows to do more

> EU disagree on climate

> Ancient urns found

> FB gets new privacy

> Happy birthday internet!

Today, 25 November 2009

› Animal group 'ignorant'

› Top ANC official hijacked

› Doggie 'roo-ing' the day

› Minister to 'repay' state

› Govt's R1bn SABC bailout

Yesterday, 24 November 2009

› McBride: I'm being bugged

› Batting for Hersch

› Els gets thumbs down

› Maroga's salary summary

› Top ANC official hijacked

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Aki: Absolutely. They've got more advanced ones, but this is a great foundation. Look at trigonometry - have you ever applied trigonometry in your day to day life?

Malcolm: No, never.

Aki: Why do we learn it then?

Harry: Because somebody will become an actuary. Talking about this, I was looking on one of my favourite Internet sites and I saw what the Japanese were doing in this particular market. They've moved into the realm where getting used to a keyboard, a mouse and a screen is really not the issue for kids. They're going down the hand-held and finger and thumb buttons route, much like what the guys have on the Formula 1 racing cars

Malcolm: Like a Playstation?

Harry: It's like a Gameboy but twice the size with much bigger screens on them. They have the stick technology that Sony uses in their other products and they're using this specifically for those, and they're starting at age two.

Malcolm: Two years old?

Harry: Yes. They have the ability to make the screen touch-sensitive as well and you can switch that on and off. That's where the inter-activity is and they say now in Japan that unless the three-year-olds who are getting into the fancy crèches are literate, they don't let them in.

Aki: Talking about technology and how fast it moves - there was an article in the New York Times earlier this week about a company called Corona. Corona was the first company to bring out a typewriter with both lower case and upper case letters, and they went out of business this week. They are now bankrupt. The article was saying that all these companies, even the Palms of today, face a similar future with technology moving so quickly.

Malcolm: Actually it still amazes me how the QWERTY keyboard came into being. You know the 'q', 'w', 'e', 'r', 't', 'y' at the top of the keyboard?

Aki: Yes.

Malcolm: You would imagine that it was put there because it would be easier for someone to type. On the contrary, it was to slow people down because the old keys used to jam if you hit them too fast.

Aki: Is that a fact?

Malcolm: Yes, and now here we are stuck with these crazy keyboard layouts that we're forced to use because it's become tradition. People have tried to move away, but not with any great success.

Harry: I just keep coming back to the same old idea about why can't I talk to the thing.

Malcolm: Exactly.

Harry: I can talk through the flipping thing so why can't I talk to it. Here we have children's things that teach you how to read and to pronounce and enunciate effectively, but I must admit that I'm a little nervous of the American accent.

Aki: I must tell you that one of the first games that I bought was a game called Adibou, which came with my Compaq. And then the game just disappeared off the circuit. It was a brilliant game and it wasn't American - it was a French/English combination. It was such a great game and I searched all over the world for them and I'm glad to tell you that Knowledge Adventure has taken over the brand. They're going to be introducing a whole series of Adibou games by November this year. So check it out at www.knowledgeadventure.com.

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