Author: Gugu Lourie

The Japanese robot Pepper, made by Aldebaran Robotics, has sparked interest regarding the potential of robots to become companions. By Skye McDonald  According to its makers, Pepper can recognise emotions from your facial expressions, words and body gestures, and adjust its behaviour in response. This heralds a new era in the development of sociable artificial intelligence (AI). But it raises the inevitable question as to whether AI is ever likely to be able to understand and respond to the experiences of humans in a genuine manner, i.e. have empathy. In their shoes In order to answer this question, it is important…

If you’re thinking of forwarding a joke about Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, just don’t. By News24 Correspondent A Zimbabwean man is complaining all he did was click “Forward” on a joke about the long-time leader, who turns 92 early next year. However, the neighbours to whom 38-year-old Titus Maposa sent the text message, sent it to the police and he was arrested, according to a report in Friday’s Manica Post newspaper. The offending joke was a message falsely attributed to Ecocash, Zimbabwe’s mobile money transfer scheme, which said the president had deposited $1 500 (R20 745) into their account. The newspaper said the…

The minister of small business development, Lindiwe Zulu, launched a state backed online portal, FinFind, that is designed to help small enterprises across the country to access finance. By Ujuh Zulu unveiled FinFind during an SME conference held in Sandton yesterday. The development of the portal was financed by U.S. Aid. It is designed to walk with SME’s to a state where they are easy to apply for finance. FinFind has been positioned as a one stop shop with oodles of information and links to key enterprise finance institutions like the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), Industrial Development Zone and…

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Friday started an investigation into the timing of MTN Group’s  announcement on Monday that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had fined them $5.2bn. “The investigation will follow due process to establish whether there have been any breaches of the listings requirements and can be a lengthy process,” said Andre Visser, head of Issuer Regulation at the JSE, in a statement on Friday. “As with all price sensitive announcements, the Market Regulation team is looking into trades that took place before the announcement in order to determine if there is any evidence of possible insider…

South Africa’s television set-top box tender is coming under the spotlight as an investigation has been launched into its procurement process. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency Replying to questions from an African National Congress (ANC) member in the National Council of Provinces in Parliament on Thursday, the Department of Communications said allegations of Chinese imports have sparked a wider investigation. Earlier this year, the state-owned Universal Services and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA) – which reports to the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services – awarded South Africa’s R4.3bn set-top box tender to 26 bidders. Set-top boxes (STBs) will decode…

JSE-listed telecommunications firm Huge Group, which is on a hunt for buys, announced on Friday that it has entered into an agreement to buy 100% of local ICT provider Centracom for R82 million. By Gugu Lourie The telecoms firm – which has raised R1.2 billion for future acquisitions – said the acquisition of Centracom would be settled via an issue of vendor shares and cash. The South African-based telecoms firm said the acquisition of Centracom would enable Huge to increase its customer base by 20% to 13 000 and enhance annuity revenue cash flows and increase the number of…

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has downgraded MTN’s  credit rating and put the mobile network on a watch negative amid a $5.2bn fine in Nigeria. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency S&P said on Thursday that it’s lowering its ratings on MTN from ‘BBB’ and ‘zaAA+’ to ‘BBB-’ and ‘zaAA-’. S&P also put MTN on a CreditWatch with negative implications, meaning that it could downgrade MTN if its liquidity position and credit metrics weaken further. This is after it emerged this week that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has fined MTN 1.04 trillion naira ($5.2bn; R71bn) related to delayed disconnections of…

Political parties have declared war on cable thieves by supporting the Criminal Matters Amendment Bill in Parliament on Thursday. By Thulani Gqirana, NewsAgency The bill was debated in the National Assembly where it was supported by a majority of parties, with the exception of the Economic Freedom Fighters. It has now been referred to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence. The Criminal Matters Amendment Bill introduces harsher sentences for the destruction of essential infrastructure and more stringent bail conditions and applications for perpetrators. African National Congress MP Bongani Bongo said the bill addressed not only the theft of metal, but…

eThekwini Municipality residents could soon get the latest council decisions from the comfort of their own homes. By Amanda Khoza, NewsAgency On Wednesday, the city approved a proposal to broadcast eThekwini Municipality Television to residents. It would not cost anything as the city would use existing infrastructure, municipal spokesperson Tozi Mthethwa said in a statement. Human settlements and infrastructure committee chairperson Nigel Gumede said it was a wonderful idea as people could stay informed about city policies. “We already have the television screens and nothing will have to be spent in this regard. For us, it is a way of communicating…

Many years ago Michael left his small town for the big city to pursue his studies in Law. Although just 19 years of age, he believed ambition and intelligence was his perfect recipe for success. By Staff Writer Upon obtaining his LLB degree from one of the countries top universities, with a Cum Laude, finding a top firm for his articles was a smooth and quick process, actually this would be the first time that Michael would experience being headhunted, how exciting he thought, a real Harvey Spector. In just 5 short years, after completing his articles and being…