Author: Gugu Lourie

The term “artificial intelligence” (AI) was first used back in 1956 to describe the title of a workshop of scientists at Dartmouth, an Ivy League college in the United States. By Leon Sterling At that pioneering workshop, attendees discussed how computers would soon perform all human activities requiring intelligence, including playing chess and other games, composing great music and translating text from one language to another language. These pioneers were wildly optimistic, though their aspirations were unsurprising. Trying to build intelligent machines has long been a human preoccupation, both with calculating machines and in literature. Early computers from the 1940s were…

Would you rather a robot car that can drive you anywhere and at anytime, or a car that throws in the towel as soon as a storm hits or one that flat out refuses to take you anywhere at night? By Michael Milford No other challenge is bigger for the many Fortune 500 companies and start-ups battling to gain an edge in the self-driving car domain than developing an all-weather driverless car. The billions of dollars invested in research and development to date has merely served as the prequel. We have many robot cars that can drive well “most of the…

MTN’s share price went throught the roof this afternoon, on the back of of the announcement that the mobile phone operator has resolved the dispute over a $3.9 billion fine over unregistered customers in Nigeria. By Gugu Lourie By 13:13, the stock was up 16.8% at R144.51, giving the company a R229 billion market value. MTN Nigeria has agreed to pay an equivalent of R23.9 billion (Naira 330 billion over three years or $1.671 billion) at the official exchange rate or $902 million (R13.5 billion) at the Lagos Parallel Market Rate. Furthermore, MTN Nigeria has undertaken to take immediate steps to ensure the…

Africa’s largest mobile phone operator MTN and the Federal Government of Nigeria have reached an agreement over a $3.9 billion fine imposed by the country’s regulator. By Gugu Lourie MTN informed investors on Friday that the dispute has been resolved with the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). MTN Nigeria has agreed to pay an equivalent of R23.9 billion (Naira 330 billion over three years or $1.671 billion) at the official exchange rate or $902 million (R13.5 billion) at the Lagos Parallel Market Rate. The mobile phone operator said the R3.8 billion (Naira 50 billion) paid in good faith and without prejudice by MTN…

Bad habits are hard to break. Temptation kicks in, and usually wins. A wearable device designed in the USA, Boston, and sold online is already being used by South Africans to zap bad habits such as overspending, nail-biting, smoking and unhealthy eating. By Gugu Lourie The device administer a mild electric shock to help users reduce cravings and permanently break bad habits. It uses vibration, beep, tap, and zap sensations to train your brain to dislike bad habits and prefer good ones. The device designer says the zap is an electric sensation that ranges from pleasant to slightly uncomfortable. It’s…

Governments need to build trust, especially during a time of heightened tensions around the threat of international terror attacks. By Chris Williams On Saturday June 4 2016 the United States embassy in Pretoria issued a warning to its citizens in South Africa that there was a heightened threat of terror attacks in the country’s upscale shopping malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The threat was tied to the jihadist group Islamic State’s appeal to its followers to undertake attacks on Western targets during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. For the next several days, skittish South African shoppers strode through…

In a bid to fight escalating anti-migrant propaganda, the European Commission this month released a blueprint for regulating online hate, which requires social media companies to take down racist material within 24 hours. By Fiona R Martin This joint code of conduct sounds like a positive political compromise. But it’s unclear how it will work in practice and how it will benefit the rest of the world’s social media users. The agreement follows heavy pressure from French and German governments for Facebook to pull down racist posts, which have intensified following the recent refugee crisis. German lawyers even started legal action…

South African internet micro-jobbing service Money for Jam (M4JAM) is having its name resurrected more than three months after the owners announced the collapse of the platform due to failure to be profitable. By Staff Writer On Thursday, Informal Solution Providers – a telco product distributor, announced its acquisition of Money for Jam. Informal Solution Providers will trade under the name M4JAM. M4JAM was unable to achieve profitability within the investment time frame, its CEO Andre Hugo, said in March 2016. He added: “We are in the process of meeting with a number of interested parties currently. If we are…

Famous startup competition Seedstars World is coming to Soweto. The pre-selection event will be held at eKasi Labs in DiepKloof, Soweto, on 14 June. By Staff Writer Seedstars is a Switzerland based startup competition that takes place in emergings markets. Its vision is to reduce unemployment in emerging markets through the promostion and investment in entrepreneurship. This year, Seedstars world is back to South Africa with a bigger event that will find the best startups from Capetown, Durban and Gauteng. In its Gauteng pre-selection event, Startups will be invited to pitch in Soweto for the pre-selection. Out of the 12 startups that…

PriceCheck, South Africa’s comparison service, on Wednesday announced the launch of the PriceCheck Tech & E-Commerce awards. Coinciding with its tenth birthday, the awards, set to run later this year, will be aimed at recognising outstanding South African tech and e-commerce businesses, and contributions to the industry. As the South African e-commerce market gains maturity and consolidation is seen, it becomes prudent to shed light on achievers in the space. Retailers big and small, tech businesses enabling e-commerce, and individuals driving growth and change, will be showcased at the PriceCheck Tech & E-Commerce awards. “Over the last ten years we…

South Africa’s largest telephone group Telkom plans to refocus Trudon, a business unit which owns the iconic Yellow Pages phonebook. By Gugu Lourie Trudon delivers the best local commercial search in South Africa. It also provides affordable, effective advertising and marketing options for the local SME and corporate market. The Johannesburg-based firm have six other branches in South Africa and one branch servicing Namibia. Telkom owns 64.9% of Trudon. The remaining 35.1% is held by the TruManco consortium. Sipho Maseko, Telkom CEO, informed investors on Monday that Trudon will be playing in a different space. “These guys will be playing in…

Samsung announced the Galaxy S7 edge Injustice Edition in South Africa. The smartphone retails for R22,999 on bidorbuy.co.za This smartphone edition was developed too commemorate the third anniversary of the popular mobile game, Injustice: Gods Among Us. The limited edition Galaxy S7 edge Injustice Edition will be available in early June. The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge is optimised for the best gaming experience, fueling a natural partnership between the two brands. “We are excited to partner with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to offer this special edition of the Galaxy S7 edge for fans of Injustice: Gods Among Us,” says Craige Fleischer,…

Telkom on Tuesday announced the successful conclusion of a new two year Collaborative Partnership Agreement (CPA) with organised labour that allows the company to introduce widespread performance-based remuneration for both individuals and teams. The agreement has been signed between Telkom and two of the three recognised unions within the company. The South African Communications Union (SACU) and Solidarity have signed the agreement, which is effective from 1 June 2016. The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has agreed to the new partnership agreement in principle. Currently one legacy matter, which is unrelated to the new partnership agreement, is in arbitration. The agreement…

A new driver app is aiming to compete with Uber by enabling you to easily book a taxi (Rideshare service) or get a designated driver (Chauffeur) to get home safely in the comfort of your own car. The Driver App is launching soon. This new proudly South African, TWO-IN-ONE booking app, was developed and managed by Scooter Angels, SA’s Designated Driver Service. “Using our years of fleet and driver management, we aim to deliver the same above average service that thousands of South Africans have become accustomed to,” said the company. “Get a ride in minutes with the Driver app.…

The cost of accessing employment opportunities online – which is often the costs of browsing the internet – is cited as a major stumbling block for job seekers in South Africa. To remove the cost burden, Vodacom has partnered with South Africa’s leading and most reputable career websites to launch the NXL LVL (pronounced Next Level) zero rated career website. By Staff Writer The zero rated website will enable job seekers to browse job sites, upload their CV’s and apply for available positions free of charge when accessing Vodacom partner career sites. These career sites include; Careers24, PNet, JobMail, Career…

South Africa’s Telkom mobile phone unit continues to attract customers with compelling propositions. In the financial year to end-March 2016, Telkom Mobile added 519 913 new customers to it network. During the year, Telkom increased its customers by 24% to 2.7 million versus 2.2 million in the 2015 financial year. Its prepaid subscribers rose 19% to 1.9 million compared to 1.6 million in the same period last year, while contract customers jumped 37.2% to 794 272. “Mobile voice and subscriber revenue increased 18.4 % to R849 million (March 2015: R717 million). This can be attributed to a 23.8 percent increase…

Telkom, South Africa’s fixed-line telephone group, has spent R757 million in the 2016 financial year to connect 81 503 homes to its fibre infrastructure. The telco is planning to intensify its fibre roll-out plan to capture more customers. Last year, the telecommunications giant revealed it plans to reach 500 000 homes with fibre by the end of 2016. “In the year ahead we plan on an aggressive fibre roll-out as our number one priority while simultaneously deploying our other capital resources with a focus on revenue generation and cost  efficiency as we seek to grow earnings,” Telkom informed investors on Moday.…

“I am currently using Telkom Internet connection at my house and also a customer of 8ta (Telkom’s mobile phone unit),” said Karabo Moeng, a software developer shopping at the telco’s Mall of the South store in Johannesburg South. “I am really pleased with Telkom services and don’t trust the other unreliable service providers.” By Gugu Lourie No so long ago, obituaries were being drafted for the oldest South African telco before Sipho Maseko took over the hot seat at the fixed-line telephone behemoth in 2013. But investors are starting to show similar zeal as revenue, headline earnings per share and mobile…

MTN’s third edition of the annual MTN 21km half-marathon has been growing steadily since inception and this year the race has boasted just over 6100 participants. In thanking participants Mteto Nyati: CEO of MTN South Africa expressed that he is humbled that members of the public, media and Gauteng community made the time to pledge support to this worthy cause by strapping on their running shoes and participating in the race to raise funds for the annual MTN 21 Days of Y’ello Care programme (an employee volunteerism programme). This year the participants enjoyed the clear and dry wintery Joburg weather…

Today marks twenty years since five Internet Industry representatives met at the offices of the The Internet Solution to form the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA). When the formation of ISPA was announced to the press a few days later, nine of South Africa’s then fledgling ISPs were identified as the founder members: The Internet Solution (IS), UUNet Internet Africa, Global One, PIX, Global Internet Access(GIA), LeClub Internet Access (LIA), Interlink, Planet Pinnacle and GEM Internet Company. Of these companies, only two exist today. The Internet Solution is now known as Internet Solutions, following a name change in the late 1990s,…

The ANC-governed Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality’s plans to offer free Wi-Fi to its residents has left bad blood in its wake. The opposition party DA has described the plans by the ANC as “an electioneering ploy” and told City Press newspaper that “it is an idea that the city stole from its own mayoral campaign”. Residents will have access top 1 000MB of data a month and, through the city’s partnership Spectrum Communication Specialists, they will be offered substantially lower data and internet voice calling rates once their free data is depleted. Their voice call are expected to…

Naspers through its Naspers Ventures division has invested $60 million (about R905 million) into a global marketplace for learning and teaching online firm Udemy. As a result of the strategic investments, Larry Illg – CEO of Naspers Ventures, is joining Udemy’s board of directors. This is Naspers Ventures second investment in EdTech: online learning marketplace. Last month the company led a $15 million Series B investment in social learning network, Brainly. Naspers also announces opening of San Francisco office – aimed at tapping U.S. technology companies for strong global growth. Naspers is one of the largest technology investors globally and has helped build…

“Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.” Muhammad Ali. MultiChoice will be paying tribute to the great sporting legend Muhammad Ali with a special pop-up channel on DStv channel 199. The channel will popped up on Saturday 4 June at 12:00 and run until next week Sunday. The channel will broadcast his greatest fights, interviews and documentaries about his life. DStv customers on the Premium, Extra, Compact, Family and Access channels will be able to tune in. The schedule for the channel will be available…

In cyberspace we are facing password fatigue, caused by having to recall (seemingly) endless streams of (apparently) unrelated numbers and letters at odd times. By Mike Johnstone One answer is to make those passwords longer and more incomprehensible. The logic here is that people have an unlimited capacity to remember such things, or perhaps they have an unquenchable desire to write passwords on yellow post-it notes. Why do we want or need passwords at all? We want to be assured that only the right people (ourselves) have access to the information contained in the systems we use. Witness the after-effects of…

The latest in our Computing turns 60 series, to mark the 60th anniversary of the first computer in an Australian university, looks at how we can better understand how the brain works (or goes wrong) by making a computer model of a brain. By David Grayden One of the greatest challenges of engineering, science and medicine is to understand the brain, which is the most complex organ and system known to humans. A lot is already understood about how individual neurons and their components behave (the microscopic scale). A lot is also known about what parts of the brain participate and…