Author: Gugu Lourie
Ujuh Reporter An advert spotted online titled; Know Our Food, plus the visible PR campaign in the news media reveals that McDonald’s is on a serious mission to deflect negative perceptions about the quality of its products. Fast Food giant McDonald’s seems to be feeling the pressure from a growing movement of people who are having a go at the quality of its food. The global giant is running a counter campaign titled Know Our Food. The situation denotes the power possessed by the Ordinary Joe who is armed with web connectivity. And there is a remarkable rise of…
By Staff Writer Today (19 August 2015) at 09h57, South Africa registered its one millionth .co.za domain name. The registration of www.vulindlela-hpt.co.za with the ZA Central Registry (ZACR) comes 20 years after there were just 450 registered .co.za domains by the end of 1995. The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for South Africa is .za, while .co.za is the second-level country code domain available for general use by South African and non-South African persons and entities. “This is a landmark day for the local web. It clearly demonstrates that the South African ICT sector in general, and the…
By Craig Freer, executive head of Cloud at Vox Telecom Vendors and telcos are aligning. They’re aligning their business models, their technology and in so doing, dis-intermediating the traditional channel partners. Essentially removing the system integrators (SI) out of the equation. In turn, the shift from SI to cloud partner is immense. It’s not a business model that can just ‘quickly’ be changed. SIs have heavy cost structures to support their traditional business models and when coupled with the threat of their intellectual property (IP) being usurped, at a lower cost base, does not bode well for their…
By Gugu Lourie MTN South Africa is still keen on finding a better way of efficient network consolidation and sharing after the proposed deal with Telkom, Africa’s largest fixed line telephone group, was scuppered by the country’s competition body. The Competition Commission on Monday informed Telkom and MTN South Africa that it has recommended the approval of the proposed transaction between the two companies to the Competition Tribunal to be blocked. Telkom and MTN South Africa signed a heads of agreement in 2014 to extend their existing roaming agreement to include bilateral roaming and outsourcing of the operation of Telkom’s…
By Gugu Lourie It is a known fact that most of public pay phones in the City of Tshwane are not working and others have been vandalised. A quick stroll around the city will reveal that many people are on their smart devices – smartphones, tablets, phablets and doesn’t matter if its fong kong’s smart device or not – accessing free WiFi. There are no affordable cinemas to watch movies, but video streaming is an a cheap alternative. But the City of Tshwane deem it fit to allow its citizens to enjoy free WiFi calls and movie streaming on…
By Staff Writer Mustek, one of the country’s largest assembler and distributors of personal computers and complementary ICT products, has been appointed as a distributor of ASUS’s Networking products in South Africa. “The ASUS range of products caters for both consumer and enterprise networking. They are easy to set up, operate at high speed and boast long range, stable signal, as well as cloud and security features,” says Alet Pelser, ASUS Networking product manager at Mustek. “ASUS are known as ‘beasts’ in the world of networking, much like the Lamborghini in the world of cars, so we are excited to…
By Staff Writer Beverly Ngwenya, Vodacom’s Network Engineering Officer, activated a first ever commercial voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) call in South Africa on 4 June at the mobile phone operator’s Midrand office. Typically reserved for data, the move to use WiFi technology to carry voice traffic will mean better call quality for consumers. By effectively integrating WiFi into its network as another voice carrier Vodacom is ensuring a seamless voice experience no matter what the connection (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE, WiFi). Ngwenya used the call to contact Vodacom’s Chief Technology Officer Andries Delport. “No matter how prepared you are when you switch…
By Johan Nel, Gumtree’s director-GM Escrow, a service whereby a third party holds money in an account on behalf of transacting parties until conditions are fulfilled, is not a new concept. In fact, there are numerous escrow companies in operation in South Africa and across the globe. However, no one has quite utilized it like we have in South Africa. This is the first time a classifieds site has partnered with an escrow service – globally, it hasn’t been done before and many markets are eager to follow. Gumtree endorsed Shepherd, an escrow service powered by Standard Bank, in…
Truecaller on Tuesday announced the global availability of its Truemessenger app, which aims to change the way you communicate by making your SMS experience smarter and more social. Available now for free on Google Play, Truemessenger is an SMS replacement app that magically puts a name to any number. It helps you filter and block spam by tapping into vibrant community of more than 150 million members who help protect one another from annoying intrusions. Truemessenger makes SMS safer by adding social context to your conversations. The app is integrated with Truecaller and its network of more than 1.7…
Cloudware will supply its low-cost, low power, and easy to support CloudGate devices to the Got-Game POP UP digital libraries that are being rolled out to underprivileged communities throughout South Africa.