Author: Contributor
by Willem Fourie Earlier this year, 17 African countries presented their progress on reaching the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, at the United Nations. There was some good news and progress. But it’s clear that radical interventions are still required if countries on the continent are to achieve these ambitious global development goals. Technology will be key in any such interventions. Doubling agricultural productivity (Goal 2), halving road deaths (Goal 3), increasing water efficiency (Goal 6), doubling the rate of improvement in energy (Goal 7), and halving food waste (Goal 12), among others, seem impossible without game-changing innovations and dramatic…
Standard Bank Mobile, South Africa’s newest mobile network, has expanded its service offering to allow customers to purchase Apple, Samsung and Huawei smartphone devices with a ‘convenient’ financing option. The Bank has introduced an ‘innovative’ way to acquire a smartphone by financing devices over 24 months using an extended payment facility on Standard Bank credit card accounts. This facility is offered at a special interest rate of 11% per annum. Customers can call in to request a limit increase if required. Standard Bank believes that the only way to enter a crowded telecommunications market is by offering additional value to…
by David Evans Bailey Immortality has been a topic of discussion since the legend of the Holy Grail. Some people have gone as far as cryogenic freezing after death in the hope that one day science will have advanced enough to resurrect them. Others believe the route to immortality lies in the digital realm. The theory that humans can be digitised and live on within the digital confines of a computer-based existence has been the subject of debate. But until recently, no one had taken the idea much beyond research and discussion. Last year, a consortium of unidentified individuals launched…
by Wim Naudé The invention of an artificial super-intelligence has been a central theme in science fiction since at least the 19th century. From E.M. Forster’s short story The Machine Stops (1909) to the recent HBO television series Westworld, writers have tended to portray this possibility as an unmitigated disaster. But this issue is no longer one of fiction. Prominent contemporary scientists and engineers are now also worried that super-AI could one day surpass human intelligence (an event known as the “singularity”) and become humanity’s “worst mistake”. Current trends suggest we are set to enter an international arms race for…
South African developers wanting to make a mark in the growing app development or the IoT spaces are invited to submit their original tech solutions for consideration for this year’s editions of the MTN Business App of the Year Awards and IoT Conference & Awards. These awards celebrate the talent and out-of-the-box thinking aimed at driving disruption and change. Historically, the events have been attended by more than 800 delegates including captains of industry, key ICT stakeholders, developers, MTN partners and other business leaders in the technology sector. The winners of the respective competitions, which will both be held at…
by Alison Gillwald South Africa is caught up in the global hype of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This is distracting it from the unfinished business of redressing inequality and creating the preconditions for an inclusive digital economy and society. Reinvented by Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum (WEF), 4IR technologies are presented as having the potential to propel digitally-ready countries into a new age of unprecedented economic prosperity. The Forum’s appropriation of the concept has arguably been one the most successful lobbying and policy influence instruments of our time. Mobilising around the elite annual gathering in Davos, the…
Huawei has recognised its top suppliers in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) at a supplier convention held at the company’s regional headquarters in Johannesburg South Africa, pledging to walk the path to digitisation with its hundreds of suppliers. The event was attended by nearly 277 representatives from over 150 suppliers from 23 SSA countries, under the theme “20 years in Africa, Win-win Co-operation, Creating a better future.” PIC: Huawei and Suppliers from 23 African nations. Frank Wu, Senior Director of Huawei Procurement Qualification Quality & Operation Department said a healthy and sustainable ecosystem was important for every player to achieve growth…
Luno, the global cryptocurrency exchange with over 2.9 million customers in over 40 countries, has seen an 60% quarter-to-quarter increase in new customers despite ongoing Bitcoin price volatility. In the past week, the price of Bitcoin dropped to around R173 000 after highs of R188 000 in the past month. Marius Reitz, Luno’s General Manager for Africa considers where cryptocurrency is in the hype cycle – the process a new technology goes through before reaching mass adoption. The Gartner Hype Cycle Where cryptocurrency is in the cycle will differ with each commentator. The hype cycle is not scientific nor is…
by Garfield Benjamin Not content with monitoring almost everything you do online, Facebook now wants to read your mind as well. The social media giant recently announced a breakthrough in its plan to create a device that reads people’s brainwaves to allow them to type just by thinking. And Elon Musk wants to go even further. One of the Tesla boss’s other companies, Neuralink, is developing a brain implant to connect people’s minds directly to a computer. Musk admits that he takes inspiration from science fiction, and that he wants to make sure humans can “keep up” with artificial intelligence.…
by Juan Mateos-Garcia Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are becoming smarter every day, beating world champions in games like Go, identifying tumours in medical scans better than human radiologists, and increasing the efficiency of electricity-hungry data centres. Some economists are comparing the transformative potential of AI with other “general-purpose technologies” such as the steam engine, electricity or the transistor. But current AI systems are far from perfect. They tend to reflect the biases of the data used to train them and to break down when they face unexpected situations. They can be gamed, as we have seen with the controversies surrounding…
Sasol and its partner Companhia Moçambicana de Hidrocarbonetos S.A (CMH) announced a $5.9 million emergency repair work project for the 35 km stretch of EN1 highway between Pambara and Mangungumete in Mozambique. The EN1 links the south of the country to the north, crossing the entire Inhambane Province and is a vital link to the Sasol and CMH CPF operation. The construction work currently underway will repair the road surface which is in very poor condition, in order to improve safety for all road users and the local communities. The road is used for evacuation of Sasol’s condensate and is…
Huawei has issued a legal letter to The Wall Street Journal for its false statements in a report published on August 14st (ET) that damages Huawei’s reputation and business interests across the globe due to inadequate investigation to test the allegations in the reports. In the letter, Huawei states the report describes Huawei’s alleged involvement with government cybersecurity forces in Uganda and Zambia is neither a fair nor a responsible representation of Huawei’s legitimate business activities in these countries. “Huawei is especially disappointed in the Article and video and radio podcast in light of the information Huawei provided to you…
By Lee Naik Terminator and The Matrix got it wrong. We all thought the villains of the AI era would be killer robots or hostile programmes. Instead, they’re face-ageing apps and YouTube creators with too much time on their hands. Turns out the biggest problem with machine learning isn’t the machines at all – it’s the people behind them. FaceApp may look like just another fun viral craze, but look closely at those terms and conditions and you’ll realise you’ve signed away your image to a little-known Russian business forever. The fears around FaceApp are just another reminder that technologies…
By Katharine Kemp, UNSW Australia’s consumer watchdog has recommended major changes to our consumer protection and privacy laws. If these reforms are adopted, consumers will have much more say about how we deal with Google, Facebook, and other businesses. The proposals include a right to request the erasure of our information; choices about whether we are tracked online and offline; potential penalties of A$10 million or more for companies that misuse our information or impose unfair privacy terms; and default settings that favour privacy. Read more: Consumer watchdog calls for new measures to combat Facebook and Google’s digital dominance The…
Huawei launched Global Industry Vision (GIV) report today, continuing its predictions for technology and industry development up to 2025. Drawing from Huawei’s own quantitative data and real-world use cases of how intelligent technology is permeating every industry, this year’s report identifies 10 megatrends currently shaping how we live and work. GIV also predicts technology trends up until 2025, including 5G coverage, AI deployment, home robot adoption, and smart assistant use rates. The 10 trends and examples of GIV’s key predictions for 2025 are as follows: Living with Bots: Advances in material science, perceptual AI, and network technologies are powering the…
The SA SME Fund’s CEO Circle has announced the initial seven recipients of the CEO Circle Entrepreneurs 2019 Award. Each recipient will benefit from a ‘personalised pathway’ of support to help them scale into significant companies of R500 million-plus in value, as part of SA’s private sector efforts to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Endeavor ScaleUp helped run a rigorous selection process. Industry experts and senior businesspeople interviewed and assessed the entrepreneurs and businesses for track record and ability to scale. A panel of CEOs chaired by Adrian Gore of Discovery, joined by Fani Titi of Investec, Shameel Joosub of…
by Vino Govender While estimates for global investment into 5G over the next few years vary, one thing is certain: the funds needed to make 5G a reality is easily the largest global capital outlay in telecommunications history. A PwC report on the 5G opportunity estimates that the expenditure for the roll-out of 5G infrastructures, such as network densification, equipment upgrades, and additional spectrum, will exceed US$57 billion by 2022. The services that will be based on 5G are enhanced mobile broadband and fixed wireless services, with massive machine-to-machine communications and ultra-reliable low-latency applications set to follow. What remains to…
by Rachel Adams The Fourth Industrial Revolution is, ostensibly, upon us. The term was coined in 2016 by Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. Broadly, it refers to the collapsing of boundaries between the physical, digital and biological spheres. More specifically, it’s about the digitalisation of all kinds of systems and processes. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of this reality. This involves systems that, as the European Commission puts it, “display intelligent behaviour by analysing their environment and taking actions … to achieve specific goals”. AI is used today in everything from…
Technology can be used to unify and industrialise African economies, says Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel. “Data is to the 21st century what oil and steel was to the 20th century. Africa must become more than a consumer market for digital services produced elsewhere. We must become innovators and producers too, exporting services and building capabilities,” said Patel. The Minister said this at a dialogue session of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) Forum held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on Tuesday. Patel, who was co-chairing a session of AGOA with United States Deputy Trade Representative, Ambassador CJ Mahoney,…
Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC), takes place on 1 – 4 September 2019 at Fairmont Zimbali Resort in Ballito, Durban. The country’s premier ICT conference will examine the changing requirements of the telecommunication sector and the country’s infrastructure needs to meet these changing requirements. According to conference chairman, Alphonzo Samuels, CEO of Openserve, South Africa’s leading wholesale infrastructure connectivity provider, South Africa has seen unprecedented growth in data usage with most South Africans accessing this data through some form of a mobile device. “We must ensure that telecommunication companies have the networks, mechanisms and systems to deal…
FNB is expanding the roll-out of contactless ‘Tap & PIN’ functionality to 600 more ATMs across South Africa in the next 12 months. This is in addition to over 100 FNB ATMs which have been equipped with the functionality since 2018. The ‘Tap and PIN’ functionality allows FNB customers with contactless-enabled debit and credit cards to perform convenient and secure ATM transactions without the card leaving their hand. At launch, FNB was the first bank in South Africa to announce the availability of contactless-enabled ATMs. Currently, Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Western Cape have the largest device footprint of FNB…
by Santosh Vijaykumar Search for “climate change” on YouTube and before long you’ll likely find a video that denies it exists. In fact, when it comes to shaping the online conversation around climate change, a new study suggests that deniers and conspiracy theorists might hold an edge over those believing in science. Researchers found evidence that most YouTube videos relating to climate change oppose the scientific consensus that it’s primarily caused by human activities. The study highlights the key role of social media use in the spread of scientific misinformation. And it suggests scientists and those who support them need…
South Africa can become a leading world economy in the 21st century if it leverages transformative technologies like 5G, Cloud and AI to boost its productivity and innovation capabilities, says Huawei VP for Wireless Networks Marketing & Solutions Dr Mohammed Madkour. Madkour was speaking at the first annual Huawei ICT Editors Xchange hosted at Founders Factory Africa, which saw tech media mingle with ICT experts and industry analysts, sharing thoughts on South Africa’s move towards digitisation and how step changes like 5G connectivity will benefit society. In Madkour’s keynote presentation, he emphasised that during the roll-out of 5G – the…
By Anita Layton and Mehrshad Sadria Imagine that your son Tommy is about to turn two. He is a shy and sweet little boy, but his behaviours can be unpredictable. He throws the worst temper tantrums, sometimes crying and screaming inconsolably for an hour. The smallest changes in routines can throw him off. Is this a bad case of the so-called “terrible twos”? Should you give Tommy some time to grow out of this phase? Or, are these signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) — the neurodevelopmental disorder that affects around two per cent of the population, the equivalent of…
Blue Label Ventures, the venture capital and private equity arm of JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms, has invested in Cape Town-based technology startup Mobii Systems. As part of the deal, Blue Label will take up 26% of Mobii, giving the company’s team of highly skilled developers of sports data applications the funding needed for new and ongoing product development, as well as access to a wider customer base and increased market share. Mobii built the timing platform on which Blue Label Telecom’s popular timed fitness events company MyRun operates. Activity data is collected from various wearable Mobii transponders and synchronised to…