Author: Contributor

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is set to receive a cash injection of R2.1 billion to help stabilise the public broadcaster. Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams made the announcement at a media briefing on Friday. Ndabeni-Abrahams said of the eight preconditions set for the funding allocation by National Treasury, the public broadcaster has fully met five and partially met two, whilst one has not been met. Based on joint assessments, Treasury and Communications have worked together to facilitate the initial tranche of the R3.2 billion allocation to be transferred to the SABC. “R2.1 billion will be transferred…

by Harry Collins We’re entering the age of artificial intelligence. And as AI programs gets better and better at acting like humans, we will increasingly be faced with the question of whether there’s really anything that special about our own intelligence, or if we are just machines of a different kind. Could everything we know and do one day be reproduced by a complicated enough computer program installed in a complicated enough robot? In 1950, computer pioneer and wartime codebreaker Alan Turing made one of the most influential attempts to tackle this issue. In a landmark paper, he suggested that…

by Lee Naik  Now is the perfect time to get in on the super app game, establishing your company as a preferred partner or supplier early on. If you could uninstall 10 of your most-used apps for a single one that does all the same things just as well, would you do it? Of course, you would! That’s the appeal behind the super app, the next great disruptive force in business. A super app is basically a digital Swiss Army Knife, seamlessly offering a multitude of mostly unrelated services in a single mobile platform. The prime example of this is Tencent’s powerhouse…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed various bills into law, key among them the bill that will enable property deeds to be processed electronically. “The President signed the Overvaal Resorts Limited Repeal Bill of 2019, the Property Practitioners Bill of 2019, the Electronic Deeds Registration Systems Bill of 2019, and the Film and Publications Amendment Bill. “The Overvaal Resorts Limited Act Repeal Act repeals the Overvaal Resorts Limited Act of 1993, which established Overvaal Resorts Limited as a public company that would manage public resorts on behalf of government,” said Presidency spokesperson Khusela Diko. The name of the company, Overvaal Resorts…

“I don’t have time” is the phrase that many women often use when postponing a medical consultation or preventive health care. From not only the unequal overload of household chores and family care but also the health of other loved ones including children, parents and even their partners always seem to come before their own. Avon Justine believes that this must change. It is time to make time! Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in South African women but finding it at an early stage makes it more treatable. In order to detect it early, it is necessary…

by Siobhan O’Flynn Google recently agreed to pay a US$170 million fine for illegally gathering children’s personal data on YouTube without parental consent, which is a violation under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The United States Federal Trade Commission and the New York State Attorney General — who together brought the case against Google — now require YouTube to obtain consent from parents before collecting or sharing personal information. In addition, creators of child-directed content must self-identify to restrict the delivery of targeted ads. The $170 million fine is a pittance given Alphabet Inc.’s (Google’s holding company) valuation…

If you have been in the world of cryptocurrencies for a long time, you should have experienced the evolution of the business models. In the initial phase, there were many business models linked to advertising. The already known “faucets”, and the PTCs (Paid To Click) were a viable way of acquiring small portions of cryptocurrencies to go deep into this world. Then multiple problems arrived and only the best projects have survived. And today we introduce you one of those projects that have adapted and improved over time to continue having a place in the saturated world of internet advertising:…

The drive towards smarter mobility and electric vehicles, in particular, has just stepped up a gear as luxury brand Mercedes Benz premier’s its all-new EQC model at the Smarter Mobility Africa summit at Time Square in Pretoria on 1-2 October 2019. “The EQC, the first electric vehicle from Mercedes-Benz brings a history of exceptional automotive design into a new era of mobility,” says Johannes Fritz, Co-CEO of Mercedes-Benz South Africa and Executive Director of Mercedes-Benz Cars South Africa, referring to the seamless, progressive design and classic attributes such as quality, safety and comfort. “The vehicle has a combined output of…

by Rachel Adams Suggest to Samsung’s Virtual Personal Assistant Bixby “Let’s talk dirty”, and the female voice will respond with a honeyed accent: “I don’t want to end up on Santa’s naughty list.” Ask the same question to the programme’s male voice and it replies “I’ve read that soil erosion is a real dirt problem.” In South Africa, where I live and conduct my research into gender biases in artificial intelligence, Samsung now offers Bixby in various voices depending on which language you choose. For American English, there’s Julia, Stephanie, Lisa and John. The voices of Julia, Lisa and Stephanie…

by Stacie Garland We know that creating skills assessments needs to be easier. Choosing the best questions to help you make the right hiring decision can be overwhelming and time-consuming. That’s why we have taken the guesswork out of it and used AI to automate the process of test creation. You now have an automated Skills Assessment Builder within our platform, tailored specifically for you. So, how does it work? By using Natural Language Processes (NLP) and other techniques, Vervoe can understand the human skills and attributes that are most important to you, for your role and company. Relevant questions and tasks are pulled together…

by Ryan Falkenberg While some commentators talk about the 4IR as something that is happening in the future, the reality is a little more immediate. Not only are we currently living through the fourth industrial revolution, but the machines have also arrived and are working alongside us. Don’t believe me? Who do you think you were talking to last you got an insurance quote on your providers’ website? Or when you asked Siri to call a specific friend or send a specific message? Or when you handed over the job of providing directions to Google Maps instead of your partner?…

by Andrew Maxwell What a week it has been in the Apple core. In recent days the tech giant has released a litany of products, including new phones, watches, tablets, and more. The big-ticket items are clearly the new iPhone 11 range. These hint at some interesting technology directions, which will most likely spread across the mobile sector. Of course, it’s hardly radical to create a phone that is also a camera, web browser, computer, and gaming device. That idea is as old as smart phones themselves. But Apple’s continued progression down this road raises the question of whether this…

by David Seinker Mention Mauritius and most South Africans will think of its pristine beaches and luxury resorts, but this small country is becoming a big business player not only in Africa but on a global scale. Mauritius may just be an island – its annual tourist influx of 1.4 million outnumbers its own population of around 1.3 million – but this hasn’t stopped it, over the past three decades, from growing into a giant on the business front. As far as the continent goes, it’s already racked up a number of African “firsts” in terms of international business achievements.…

A UK-based business, Fourex, developed by South Africans, has opened its second round of crowdfunding to raise R16.3 million and is inviting South Africans to participate. Its first round was oversubscribed by 243%. Fourex revenue has grown by 175% in two years, reaching £1.98 million (over R36 million). Most travellers return from foreign trips with notes and coins in various foreign currencies and land up storing them in drawers. Fourex, established in 2015, provides an innovative self-service kiosk for exchanging 150 currencies in both coins and notes. Already at 67 high foot-traffic locations and growing rapidly, Fourex plans to be…

by Alexandros Antoniou The latest photo app craze can make you look like a movie star. Zao uses artificial intelligence to replace the faces of characters in film or TV clips with images of anyone whose photo you upload to the app. The effect is startlingly realistic and shows just how far this sort of “deepfake” technology has come. But it also highlights how great the risks have become of making your photos available online where anyone can use or abuse them – and the limitation of the law in dealing with this issue. One of the key problems is…

by Anne Fitchett There are about 500,000 square metres of green space in Chicago in the United States. Many of these are visible, not on the ground, but on building roofs across the city. Green roofs can be seen in a number of other cities around the world. Green roofs are usually installed on flat roofs with vegetation planted in a growing medium on top of waterproofing, root barrier and cuspate sheeting. The sheeting retains moisture in between rainfall events or manual watering. Research suggests that these roofs have a number of advantages. These include rainfall management by absorbing much…

There is a need to ensure broadband access for all in order to overcome social, economic and spatial inequality, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said on Thursday. “We all know that economic growth, job creation and entrepreneurial activity is inextricably linked to broadband access. We, therefore, need to ensure that broadband access – like health care and education – is available to all,” said the Minister. Addressing the first plenary session on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa currently underway in Cape Town, Mboweni said if the continent does not overcome social, economic and…

by Sharona Hoffman The use of artificial intelligence in medicine is generating great excitement and hope for treatment advances. AI generally refers to computers’ ability to mimic human intelligence and to learn. For example, by using machine learning, scientists are working to develop algorithms that will help them make decisions about cancer treatment. They hope that computers will be able to analyze radiological images and discern which cancerous tumors will respond well to chemotherapy and which will not. But AI in medicine also raises significant legal and ethical challenges. Several of these are concerns about privacy, discrimination, psychological harm and…

We saw in a globalized world, with infinite difficulties and conflicts. Problems of the complicated solution, disputes between countries, wars, terrorist attacks, environmental disasters, uncontrolled release of money, and many more that concern us. And we think about the number of solutions or ideals of life for all humanity. And this is where the OZOTOP Project comes with its proposal and will revolutionize the society model, providing a community free of negativity and scammers. OZTOP will be available across the world: in South Africa, Europe, Brazil, Japan, South Korea and others. The great challenge OZOTOP will offer humanity to move…

by Andrew Bahlmann Second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data surprised on the upside, with the 3.1% increase from Q1 handily beating consensus estimates at around the 2.4% level. But the data showed that the construction sector remains exceptionally depressed. In the second quarter, construction declined by 1.6%, with StatsSA noting that “decreases were reported for non-residential buildings and construction works”. This represents the fourth consecutive quarterly decline for the sector in a row, with nine out of the past 10 quarters being negative. This stretches back to the beginning of 2017. Construction is deep in crisis. A number of large…

by Prince C. Oguguo According to the 2018/2019 report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, African countries such as Angola and Madagascar have some of the highest rates of entrepreneurship in the world. These entrepreneurs often operate on an informal, micro-enterprise scale, however, and their contribution to economic activity is minimal. This is a shame because, excluding South Africa, most industrial sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa are not dominated by large firms that tend to keep entrepreneurs at bay in more advanced economies, thus presenting opportunities for significant growth. Although foreign multinationals have (and are already playing) a key role in GDP…

Do you love working with numbers? Does big data excite you? Are you interested in joining the biggest retail enterprise in Africa? Then sign up for an apprenticeship at the Shoprite Group’s Data Science Academy. Applications for the January 2020 intake are open from now until the end of September 2019. Data science is a multidisciplinary field that combines mathematics, statistics and computer science to automatically extract knowledge and insights from large amounts of data for the purposes of improved decision making. At the Shoprite Group data sets involve sales, inventory, consumer spending and much more. The Shoprite Group consists…

by Ben Dickson As online trolling and hate speech are becoming more problematic, companies like Facebook and Twitter are under increasing pressure to identify and block hateful speech on their networks. And like many other problems that involve the massive amounts of online content, these companies have turned to artificial intelligence for solutions. All major social media networks use AI algorithms to moderate online content. But while AI shows promise in detecting some type of content, it is hard pressed when it comes to spotting hate speech. A recent study by scientists at University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University, and Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, has…

Raising money is tough for all founders, especially if they are operating in a tough market like South Africa. Tamela Capital Partners, however, aims to change this. Tamela Capital Partners, a Sandton-based independent fund manager, wants to finance mid-market companies who wish to grow their businesses, enter new markets and accelerate growth through expanding operations or consummating strategic acquisitions. The fund manager, which is owned by of Tamela Holdings, has announced today that the Tamela Mezzanine Debt Fund 1 has reached R420 million. Tamela Holdings has advised some of the largest empowerment deals in South AFRICA – including MTN’s R9…

by Max Eiza Driving long distances without a passenger can be lonely. If you’ve ever done it, you might have wished for a companion to talk to – someone emotionally intelligent who can understand you and help you on the road. The disembodied voice of SatNav helps to fill the monotonous silence, but it can’t hold a conversation or keep you safe. Research on driverless cars is well underway, but less is heard about the work being done to make cars a smart companion for drivers. In the future, the cars still driven by humans are likely to become as…