Author: Contributor
The Presidential Working Committee on the Jobs Summit has noted substantial progress in interventions that will improve the country’s economic stance and create much-needed jobs. These interventions include reforming and modernising South Africa’s visa regime, issuing water use licences, releasing broadband spectrum, saving jobs in distressed firms and improving the certainty of electricity supply. These were among the updates provided to government, labour, business at the second monthly meeting of the Presidential Working Committee on the Jobs Summit held on Monday. The meetings of the Presidential Working Committee are meant to develop specific interventions that will enable greater job creation…
by Alison Gillwald In the three short years that the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been punting the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) as the route to prosperity for digitally savvy nations, it has become global policy conventional wisdom. South Africa has not been immune to the hype. The government has shifted its focus and resources to the 4IR. And it’s been prioritised over more mundane, but essential, policy interventions aimed at ensuring the more equitable inclusion of the populace into a modern, digital economy. This diversion of resources is not by government only. International donor agendas and…
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…