Author: Gugu Lourie

The PC market has lost one of its quieter but more influential leaders: John Ellenby, the CEO of Grid Systems, died earlier this month at the age of 75 of yet to be determined causes, according to Engadget report. By Staff Writer You can partly credit the classic clamshell PC design to him. Ellenby company is widely credited with making the first commercially successful clamshell laptop, the Compass. Engadget said the 1982-era machine was thick, had a tiny screen and was wildly expensive for the time at $8,150. However, it was a hit among companies and governments — it was…

BMW South Africa and Nissan South Africa roll out electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Cape Town. By Staff Writer The three charging stations are located at the Victoria and Alfred (V&A) Waterfront in Cape Town and are supported by Growthpoint Properties, who manages the complex. The charging stations will supplement the stations already installed by BMW across 27 BMW dealerships, at the Melrose Arch Precinct and at BMW’s Head office in Midrand to support the adoption of EVs in South Africa’s urban areas. “With the MoU and the rollout of public charging infrastructure, the BMW Group is demonstrating its commitment…

South Africa’s Net 1 is planning to inject R567 million ($40 million) over the next two years in India’s digital payment firm MobiKwik. By Staff Writer The Nasdaq and JSE-listed tech firm informed investors on Friday that through the technology agreement, it’s Virtual Card technology will be integrated across all MobiKwik wallets in order to provide ubiquity across all merchants in India. MobiKwik is India’s largest independent mobile payments network, with over 32 million users and 100,000 retailers. MobiKwik’s current shareholders include Sequoia Capital, Tree Line Asia, American Express, Cisco Investments, GMO Payment Gateway and MediaTek, as well as Bipin…

MTN has confirmed that it will be the headline sponsor for the much-anticipated #FillUpOrlandoStadium musical concert that will feature a three-hour solo performance by hip-hop sensation Refiloe Phoolo, popularly known as Cassper Nyovest. MTN appointed Nyovest as the company’s brand ambassador last year after a successful partnership with multiple award-winning Afropop duo, Mafikizolo. Nyovest has vowed to fill up the historic 40 000 seater Orlando Stadium on October 29 following the hugely successful FillUptheDome concert where he managed to fill up the 20 000 Ticketpro Dome in the north of Johannesburg in a scintillating solo act. Says Larry Annetts, MTN…

A new study reveals employers are using online information about job applicants without their knowledge, to inform hiring decisions. Approximately 55% of organisations now have a policy about this type of practice, called profiling. By Peter O’Connor and Paula McDonald However, despite its increased use, most employees are not comfortable with being profiled. Over 60% believe they have a right to a private online identity that employers should not access. But only 40% of those surveyed in the study reported they always manage their social media activities with their current employer in mind. What is profiling? Most of us have probably used…

MTN and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) are not in agreement with the planned outsourcing of some of the mobile phone operator’s call centres, and now they are heading to court to seek a solution. By Staff Writer Earlier this month, MTN announced its plans to outsource some of its call centre facilities. MTN said it will adopt a hybrid outsource model which will result in MTN retaining some call centre facilities while others are outsourced to an experienced third party vendor. CWU has threated to strike over outsourcing and called MTN’s process a ‘jobs bloodbath’. MTN said the adoption of…

BMW’s all new special high-performance version of the popular M4 coupe, the BMW M4 GTS breaks cover at the 2016 SA Festival of Motoring (SAFoM). By Staff Writer The SAFoM is taking place at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit from 31 August to 4 September 2016. In keeping with the show’s “festival of speed” theme, BMW South Africa’s focus at the show will be on the BMW M sub-brand. One of the highlights of the BMW stand will be the unveiling of the new BMW M4 GTS as well as BMW Motorsport’s top model for GT racing, the BMW M6…

IBM Research today opened its second research location on the African continent at the Tshimologong Precinct in Braamfontein. By Staff writer IBM researchers in South Africa with backgrounds in machine learning, mathematics, computer science, robotics, genomics and computational biology, are exploring the use of cognitive computing, the Internet of Things and Big Data to support South Africa’s national priorities, drive skills development and foster innovation-based economic growth. The lab’s team of scientists is already collaborating extensively with local universities, research institutions, innovation centers, start-ups and government agencies. This will help foster South Africa’s emerging technology ecosystem and develop and scale…

After years of searching, an international team of astronomers says they’ve found definitive evidence of a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the sun. The details are published in Nature today, and this is potentially the single most exciting exoplanet discovery to date. By Jonti Horner and Tanya Hill The planet, named Proxima Centauri b (Proxima b for short), is probably slightly more massive than the Earth, and is about the right distance from Proxima that it could have liquid water on its surface. Proxima Centauri is a faint red dwarf star, just 4.24 light years from Earth. Despite its…

Do you like food? Do you like eating food and taking pictures of the wonderful works of art? Well then welcome to Grate, a South African app that aims to be the worlds #1 food rating and recommendations app. By Gugu Lourie The app store is crowded with options to find best restaurants in town, there are few that rate food. Now you can rate that meal so that the next person doesn’t have to go through the agony of ordering the wrong dish and having to dig deep and keep eating. With Grate app that will never happen again,…