Author: Gugu Lourie
by Kostadin Kushlev Imagine you are visiting a new city and get lost on your way to that famous must-see museum. In times of yore – actually just about 10 years ago – you might have had to consult a friendly local to direct you. Today, with all the friendly locals still very much around you on the street, you might find yourself reaching for the powerful fountain of information in your pocket – your smartphone. Directions to the museum, recommendations for the best places to have lunch and much more are literally at your fingertips, anytime and anywhere you…
by Staff Writer South Africa’s Internet giant Naspers has plough in $22 million (R306 million) in US-based FarmLogs, the leading data science company that helps farmers unlock valuable insights from their fields to farm more profitably. The company has invested through its venture capital division, Naspers Ventures. Other participating existing investors include Drive Capital, Huron River Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, SV Angel and Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator. The funding brings FarmLogs’ total capital raised to $37 million (R515 MILLION). FarmLogs launched in 2012 out of Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator to transform the oldest and most important industry…
by Staff Writer South Africa’s Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) has appointed Themba TC Dlamini as a CEO. The appointment is effective as of 1 January 2017. The MDDA is a statutory development agency, deriving its mandate, from Section 16 and 32 of the Constitution Act No. 108 of 1996, thereby providing for freedom of expression and access to information. As a partnership between the South African Government and major print and broadcasting companies, it promotes and assists in the development of community media and small commercial media in South Africa and the transformation of the media, by providing…
by Craig Blewett “Speak your mind” and “post your mind” are not the same thing. A study that investigated how messages containing different emotions spread across social networks found that “anger is more influential than other emotions like joy, which indicates that angry tweets can spread quickly and broadly in the network”. The consequences of such angry posts can be dire. People have been publicly disgraced; lost their jobs and even faced criminal charges. So why do such posts persist? My research suggests that the answer lies with three issues: the accessibility of technology, the spaces it provides for communication that…
by Gugu Lourie Matchi, a financial innovation matchmaking firm, has been signing up banks on its online “matchmaking” service to connect with Fintech start-ups providing cheaper, easier financial technology services to consumers. The company was started just over three years ago with CEO David Milligan (formerly of FNB) at the helm. Matchi was started as a direct result of a problem encountered by its founder: how hard it is for financial technology firms and financial institutions to find each other in a meaningful way. In the past three years, the Johannesburg and Hong Kong-based financial innovation matchmaking firm has partnered…
By Gugu Lourie The South African vehicle industry continues to struggle, with car sales for December coming in below par with ENCA reporting on Tuesday that some 7,500 fewer vehicles were sold compared with a year ago. Total new vehicle sales in December fell more than 15 percent, year on year. This could be attributed to tough economic conditions, leaving cash-strapped South Africans unable to afford new cars. It is also due to the fact that local citizens in big cities such as Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria are finding it easier and affordable to use ride hailing…
The history of the iPhone began with a request from inventor Steve Jobs to Apple engineers, asking them to investigate the use of touchscreen devices and a tablet computer, which later came to fruition with the iPad. At Macworld 2007 in San Francisco, Steve Jobs introduced the world to iPhone as three products in one — “a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone and a breakthrough internet communications device.” In the ten years since, iPhone has enriched the lives of people around the world with over one billion units sold. It quickly grew into a revolutionary platform for hardware, software and…
Cell C, South Africa’s third biggest mobile phone operator, is set to charge its customers more for its services from 1 February 2017. The telco said in a letter to customers that towards the end of 2016 it assessed its entire product offering. “This resulted in certain pricing and product changes which will come into effect on 2 February 2017,” the firm said. “We confirm that in terms of your subscriber agreement with Cell C, as well as the Consumer Protection Act, Cell C has the option of varying any of its charges from time to time, by means of…
by Vybarr Cregan-Reid If the statistics are correct, many millions of new runners have laced up for the first time in the last few days. If you are one of them, then, as I’ve written elsewhere, you are well on your way to being faster, stronger, more resilient, more intelligent and more empathetic than when you awoke on New Year’s Day nursing little more than a hangover and a firm resolution. So, with such great rewards in the pipeline, why do millions of us fail in those first critical weeks? It’s because, for the body, the first month of new training…
By Mercedes Benz The smart electric drive will celebrate its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show and U.S. premiere at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The smart fortwo coupe electric drive will launch in the U.S. by spring 2017 and the smart fortwo cabrio electric drive by summer 2017. The new smart electric car makes opting into electric mobility more attractive than ever, combining overall agility with emission-free driving as an ideal combination for urban mobility. The smart fortwo electric drive is now available on the new-generation smart platform in both the smart fortwo coupe and cabrio models and,…