Author: Toby Shapshak

Google makes as much as 40% of its revenue from media content for its search business in Switzerland, according to new research. “The value of news is far higher than policymakers or publishers think it is, at least on Google Search, which accounts for the majority of Google’s $280bn annual revenue,” Courtney Radsch, director of the Center for Journalism & Liberty and a fellow at the Institute for Technology, Law & Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, writes in Tech Policy Press. Radsch was quoting figures from a new study commissioned by the Swiss Media Publishers’ Association that assessed the…

The uncontrolled power of US Big Tech firms has finally met its match with the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The wide-ranging Digital Services Act was promulgated last year and took effect on 25 August 2023. History will show this is when the Old World took back its power from the New World – to use the historic classifications of Europe and the Americas. For the past two decades Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Twitter have owned – or pwned (look it up) – the internet, social media, advertising and e-commerce spaces. No longer. Say hello to the DSA For…

Only “illicit businesses (cigarettes or drugs) that could rival these economics” said Google vice president for finance Michael Roszak in a note that the search giant fought to keep from being made public. “Search advertising is one of the world’s greatest business models ever created,” Roszak started the July 2017 note, adding “We are fortunate to have an amazing business”. The note, supposedly from a training session, has come to light in the first month of the US government’s first major antitrust case in two decades. Talk about an own goal. Having lost the fight for the note to be…

For many millions, a mobile phone is their only computer and their only screen. Jason Lobel, MTN South Africa’s head of video, wants to get streaming services to those people, he tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. MTN wants you to stream more video Also available on Apple podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts

If you haven’t already heard – or have been living under a rock – the Springboks are through to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup through a titanic performance from a bunch of elite players. But Sunday’s blockbuster quarter-final against tournament hosts France was special for several moments of brilliance – two of which came from electric winger Cheslin Kolbe. In the 20th minute, the lightning-fast Kolbe charged down French fullback Thomas Ramos’s conversion, a feat that has had rugby commentators the world over raving about. Those two points would ultimately be the deciding factor in the Springboks one-point…

The Hollywood writers’ strike may be over, but the underlying problems haven’t been resolved. After five months, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has struck a deal with the major studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). But the fundamental issues aren’t going to go away as quickly – the 148 days of striking may not seem long, but it is a forewarning of what will come. The immediate knock-on effect of the strike will only be felt in a year or so, when shows destined for broadcast would have aired. Turning over a new leaf for…

“Everybody talks about the open web, — but there is really the Google web,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the blockbuster antitrust court case against the search giant. The US government is suing Google for its dominance in search, which it argues has been achieved by buying or squashing competitors not on innovation. “You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, and you search on Google,” said Nadella, the highest profile witness called by the Department of Justice and 38 States in the biggest antitrust case since Microsoft itself was sued over two decades ago. There is something…

Just when you thought the legal tussles over the broadcast rights for the Rugby World Cup had been settled, eMedia has launched a new legal challenge against MultiChoice. The rugby-mad world is anxiously waiting for Sunday’s blockbuster game when the defending champion Springboks take on hosts France at 21h00 local time – where the most pressing concern is whether there will be a 7-1 or 6-2 split in the replacements. Early last month, the SABC secured last-minute rights to broadcast 16 of the 48 rugby games, including all of the Springboks matches. But this arrangement did not include eMedia’s Openview…

How often have you tried to make a call during Stage 6 #loadshitting and you just can’t connect? It’s been happening more this year as the cellular networks struggle to keep up with the rolling blackouts. It takes longer to recharge base station batteries – if they haven’t been stolen – when the stages increase the number of hours without electricity. That weaker power source degrades the quality of cellular signals. But calls through WhatsApp do connect and are increasingly most South Africans’ first choice for making calls. WhatsApp is killing the voice call star This voice substitution, as it’s…

Instead of getting the rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup on its Openview satellite service, eMedia will have to pay legal costs after its court case against MultiChoice was been struck off the roll by the Johannesburg High Court. The free ride is over MultiChoice said it was “vindicated” after the urgent interdict hearing was dismissed, and said eMedia was “directed” by the court to pay its legal costs, as well as those of its subsidiary SuperSport, including the counsel. “The effect of the High Court’s decision is that the position remains that the Springbok matches at the Rugby…