Author: Contributor
By Hey Jude Move over Elon Musk and Amber Heard, we are introducing the 2017 partnership that will turn everyone green. But before we get to the juicy hookup, where did it all start? Just when you thought Cape Town was all beaches, bars, biltong and breath-taking views, South Africa’s Mother City stakes its claim as Africa’s tech hub too. The 2nd best City to visit in 2017 as voted by Lonely Planet has also been labelled “Silicon Cape”, so it made sense to conceive, develop and perfect the Hey Jude app here. So what is Hey Jude? Just another…
By Nissan Nissan has reached a new milestone with 150 million vehicles produced globally. It took 73 years for Nissan to produce its first 100 million vehicles after the company was founded in 1933, and another 11 years to build the last 50 million. Nissan sees this achievement as the result of 84 years of continued support from all of its stakeholders worldwide, including employees, dealers, suppliers and local communities, as well as the numerous customers who have chosen cars produced by Nissan. When Nissan reached the 100 million vehicle milestone in 2006, 76.5% of the total vehicles had been…
By Staff Writer Cell C announced on Tuesday that is introducing a new range of LTE-A data products aimed at customers who consume larger amounts of data due to the increased data speeds available on its LTE network. The new data prices are on promotion from 1 October. Customers signing up for any of Cell C’s LTE-A data promotional deals before the end of December 2017 will enjoy massive discounts on their monthly subscription fees of the already well-priced LTE data plans. The 15GB LTE-A offer will cost R149 per month instead of R299 per month. The 25GB LTE-A deal…
By Staff Writer Global bitcoin platform Luno announced on Tuesday that it has received R120 million investment and revealed its expansion plans into 35 new markets across Europe. The company said the R120 million Series B funding round was led by London-based Balderton Capital, one of Europe’s leading venture capital firms. Rand Merchant Investments, through its fintech investment arm, AlphaCode, and existing investors Digital Currency Group also participated in the round. This follows Luno’s R60 million Series A round, which was led by emerging market tech giant Naspers. Luno is one of the world’s most popular Bitcoin platforms, making it…
By Byron Clatterbuck, CEO, SEACOM Since 2009, the African telecoms industry has come a long way in connecting people and businesses to reliable, affordable and fast Internet services. The new submarine cables that started to land off the continent’s east and west coasts from 2009 onwards brought with them more affordable and plentiful international bandwidth. They now circle the continent, offering a reliable and resilient ring of connectivity at faster and faster speeds. Meanwhile, telecoms players have also invested in connecting metropolitan areas in most major economies with fibre as well as in building national and regional fibre backbones to…
By Staff Writer The increasing incidence of situations requiring cellphone users to record unfolding events on their mobile devices has prompted the launch of MiBlackBox. The service is a virtual witness to volatile and emergency situations by enabling mobile users to record calls, images and videos at the touch of a button. MiBlackBox’s standout feature is that it automatically encrypts and stores all voice recorded on secure servers. “We’ve all viewed cellphone footage where those caught in the act attempt to seize victims’ mobile phones. With MiBlackBox’s offsite secure server, once incriminating files are recorded, it doesn’t matter what happens…
by Ben Dickson Early this month, the widely ridiculed juice-squeezing company Juicer, which managed to raise the absurd amount of $120 million in funding from Silicon Valley investors, declared its shutdown. The startup’s demise, which is another manifestation of solutions to non-problems, also points out another endemic problem with our increasingly connected world: the fate of connected devices after the end of their companies. 20 years ago, when you bought a fridge or dishwasher or washing machine for your home, it wouldn’t make much of a difference to you if the company that created the appliance would go bankrupt or remained in…
By Sergey Bratus, Dartmouth College and Anna Shubina, Dartmouth College It’s troubling to think that at any moment you might open an email that looks like it comes from your employer, a relative or your bank, only to fall for a phishing scam. Any one of the endless stream of innocent-looking emails you receive throughout the day could be trying to con you into handing over your login credentials and give criminals control of your confidential data or your identity. Most people tend to think that it’s users’ fault when they fall for phishing scams: Someone just clicked on the wrong…
It seems that now is the time for cyber-security experts to join forces to bring about a new awareness of cyber threats in the country. The statistics are not altogether unbelievable when you consider that in 2016, ransomware attacks increased by a whopping 400%. That translates to an average of 4 000 ransomware attacks each day, and that’s just the attacks that are reported and that we are aware of. While the USA is in total despair over the millions of dollars being wasted on cyber-attacks, South Africa should take heed and raise the levels of security threat awareness. In…
By Staff Writer South Africa’s ex-convicts Kenny Kunene and Gayton McKenzie are linked to a R5 billion empowerment transaction with Russian oil firm Rosgeo, according to a report in the Sunday Times. The newspaper reported that the ‘New Guptas’ allegedly travelled to Russia at the same time as State Security Minister David Mahlobo, to meet with Rosgeo to discuss the deal. Kunene and McKenzie have an “increasingly cozy relationship” with President Jacob Zuma and have a strong influence on him, according to the report. According to the newspaper, Kunene and McKenzie were introduced to Rosgeo CEO Roman Panov, in the…