Author: Gugu Lourie
Even though it’s not officially available in South Africa yet, you’ll likely have heard of the phenomenon that is Pokémon Go. This augmented reality game played via an app on Android and Apple iOS smartphone platforms has attracted millions of players since its July 2016 release in Australia, New Zealand and the US. By Jessica Foreman Back to the future Pokémon has of course appeared in different guises over the years having previously been available on Game Boy, a cartoon programme, and a low-tech trading card game. In this app version, players roam around using their phone’s GPS to hunt…
Do your online shopping habits put you at risk? Are you exposing yourself – and your confidential information – to opportunistic fraudsters? These are questions that online shoppers should be asking themselves says Mark Chirnside, CEO of ThisIsMe, who highlights that South Africans may not be taking adequate steps to secure their online identities and personal information. While South Africa is often regarded as lagging behind Western markets in online shopping penetration, Paypal research in fact indicates a healthy 29% growth rate will be achieved by the end of 2016, generating a whopping R37 billion in revenue. Considering that in South…
Vodacom has scooped top honours at the 18th Sunday Times Top Brands Awards. South Africa’s best network, Vodacom, was awarded the Grand Prix prize for overall favourite brand and also won the hearts of consumers as the best Telecommunications Provider in both the consumer and business categories. By Staff Writer “We are once again honoured to be the recipient of this prestigious award. It is important for the Vodacom brand to remain relevant to South African consumers. Over the years, we have been able to do this through various campaigns which have always depicted South Africans at their best,…
MTN South Africa is bringing the international telecom developer hackathon TADHack to Africa for the first time on 14-16 October 2016. This means local developers can enter and compete against the best developers in 30 countries around the world. By Staff writer TADHack South Africa, will be staged at the MTN Innovation Centre in Johannesburg, putting local developers in line to benchmark themselves against the best in the world, and stand a chance of winning prizes. The Global TADHack challenge will see developers creating hacks using the global sponsors’ resources. This year’s development theme will encourage hacks in particular topics,…
A boost in revenue growth and strong organic growth, helped Blue Label Telecoms to deliver a 21% rise in core headline earnings per share (HEPS) to 102.85 cents in the year to end-May 2016. HEPS is South Africa’s main profit gauge. By Staff writer The JSE-listed telecommunications group said revenue rose 19% to R26.2 billion and growth profit was up 11% to R1.8 billion. Revenue generated on “PINless top-ups” rose by R1.4 billion from R2.7 billion to R4.1 billion, equating to effective growth in South African distribution revenue of 23%, in that only the commission earned thereon is recognised. Brett…
Adult sexual content and culture has woven itself seamlessly into the fabric of the internet. Some of it is subtle, and some not so subtle, but there is now a wealth of dedicated porn websites available and plenty of demand to view the content. By Joanne Orlando One of the most popular is Pornhub, and according to its 2015 year in review, visitors to the website watched more than 4.3 billion hours of porn. Pornhub is just one of thousands of porn websites so these figures help us to gain some idea of just how much porn is available online. So…
In 1957 Vance Packard’s book The Hidden Persuaders shocked the world by revealing that messages exposed subliminally, below our level of perception, were able to increase sales of ice cream and Coke. The experiment he cited was later shown to be a hoax, but one of Packard’s other assertions, that advertising can influence us below our level of awareness, is absolutely true. By Robert George Heath In fact, rather scarily, the vast majority of advertising’s influence on us is subconscious. My own research has shown how the emotive content of advertising enables it to break almost all the rules which we…
The Portfolio Committee on Communications (PCC) has dismissed calls for an inquiry to probe ongoing issues at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). By News Agency This comes after a presentation by Communications Minister Faith Muthambi and the SABC top brass to the PCC at the Old Assembly on Tuesday. Committee chairperson Humphrey Maxengwana said the committee was satisfied with the explanation of the public broadcaster’s management and the Minister on the “perceived ongoing crisis” at the SABC. “After the presentation by Minister Muthambi, the SABC Board and management, as a committee, we came to a conclusion that there will…
Reporting a crime should not be as traumatic as the experience of the crime itself. But unfortunately this is the sad reality for many victims of online fraud. By Cassandra Cross and Kelly Richards Australians reported more than A$229 million lost to fraud according to a report published last year by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). But behind every statistic is a person, and there are millions of victims globally who experience a wide range of online fraud. Romance fraud and investment fraud remain the two highest categories of victimisation in Australia, with offenders using the guise of genuine relationships…
South Africa’s banking group FNB is aiming to redefined mobile banking by launching its own branded FNB smartphone, a move that fully integrates banking and customer mobility. The smartphone comes on the back of the FNB Connect cellular offering launched in 2015, which seamlessly integrates customer’s financial and mobile accounts on a single banking platform. FNB is offering customers the choice of two smartphones, the ConeXis A1 and X1 respectively. The A1 is pitched at the price-sensitive Easy bank account holder, who now has access to possibly their first high quality smartphone at an affordable price of only R59 per…