Author: Gugu Lourie
Mustek, one of the country’s largest assemblers and distributors of personal computers and complementary ICT products, has been selected as an official distributor of LG’s range of visual display products. By Staff Writer Mustek will supply desktop monitors, televisions, public display panels and LED projectors to the dealer channel throughout Africa. The deal forms part of Mustek’s efforts to grow its visual display product offerings and to offer more globally recognised brands to the channel. “LG brings unique features to our visual display products offering,” says Lizette McIntosh, LG Product Manager at Mustek. “All LG screens feature the highest quality…
Globe-trotting MTN customers can now stay connected more affordably with loved ones than before following the launch of discounted roaming rates that will be known as MTN Hello World. By Staff Writer MTN Hello World is a proposition which replaces the hugely popular Roam Like Home offer. MTN Hello World encompasses an improved list of partners and it is applicable even in countries where MTN does not have operations. With MTN Hello World, MTN subscribers can connect to the rich world of data for as low as R1.00 per MB and can make and receive calls from R1.25 per minute.…
South Africa’s mobile phone operator Cell C is set to give away over R600 million worth of lifestyle, cash and airtime prizes in its new and innovative Spin & Win promotion, which launches on 1 October. By Staff Writer Over the course of the four-month campaign, Cell C will be giving away cash prizes ranging from R1 000 to R200 000 as well as lifestyle prizes including, Cell C branded devices, four Polo Vivos, holiday packages and dinner experiences to MegaBonus customers every time they recharge. “Customers have come to expect great value from Cell C and this summer will…
Claims that the “the science isn’t settled” with regard to climate change are symptomatic of a large body of ignorance about how science works. By Peter Ellerton So what is the scientific method, and why do so many people, sometimes including those trained in science, get it so wrong? The first thing to understand is that there is no one method in science, no one way of doing things. This is intimately connected with how we reason in general. Science and reasoning Humans have two primary modes of reasoning: deduction and induction. When we reason deductively, we tease out the implications…
Black investors in YeboYethu, the broad-based black economic empowerment arm of Vodacom SA, will share more than R18 million in dividends. By Staff Writer YeboYethu recorded a net profit of R139.6 million for the year ended March 2016 versus R35.6 million in the previous year. After the deduction of administrative costs, the YeboYethu board declared and approved an annual ordinary dividend of 74 cents per share as well as a special dividend of 37 cents per share, paid on 31 May 2016. YeboYethu received a dividend of R18.7 million in 2016 versus R14.8 million in the previous year. YeboYethu trades on the…
1Fetch, a new on-demand, same-day, hand-to-hand motorbike delivery service, has hit the market revving, providing users with “speedy, professional and super-efficient service – all at the push of a button”, the company said on Wednesday. “It’s that simple.” By Staff Writer The hand-to-hand motorbike delivery service is available via an app, and the entire delivery process is done in-app, just like the Uber franchise that has completely changed the taxi industry worldwide. 1Fetch connects users with drivers – it’s delivery when you need it and how you need it. It is available on Google Play and on the Apple App Store.…
You want to experience ‘fast, reliable Internet’ for the lowest price ever, sign up for any Afrihost monthly DSL Broadband package this month and you’ll pay only R1 for September! “No, that’s not a typo, we’re actually giving you internet for a steal this month,” said the Internet provider on Tuesday. By Staff Writer Afrihost, which is no longer part of MTN South Africa, said it it was giving away broadband internet for almost nothing with the R1 Steal Promotion. The promotion offers you the chance to sign up for any monthly capped or uncapped DSL package in September and only…
The BMW i8 is different. It is a new take on the concept of sports car – one that allows you to have your cake and eat it. It is a petrol – electric hybrid that with a tiny combustion engine in the back and an electric motor in the front. The result is a car that outperforms many supercars and uses less petrol than a Mini. But all of this is still missing the point with the i8. The point is that it transforms how you think about cars. You start thinking differently and even driving differently. By Hywel Glyn-Jones,…
The FNB Banking App now has a total of over 2 million active devices in use and remains the most downloaded banking app in South Africa. By Staff Writer The App was launched in July 2011 and was SA’s first smart phone and tablet banking app. About 60% of FNB App users are millenials; they fall under the 16 -36 age brackets and they are digitally savvy and value the role of technology in their daily lives. “The FNB Banking App has become the preferred channel of banking for our clients, and that’s primarily because it’s a convenient way of…
South African mobile payments startup iKhokha and Mastercard aims to significantly boost payment card acceptance at micro, small and medium enterprises in informal settlements. By Staff Writer In the next six months, iKhokha aims to roll out 700 mobile point of sale terminals to cash-based micro-enterprises including spaza shops, taverns, food outlets, and hair and beauty salons in KwaMashu, north of Durban and in Ladybrand in the eastern Free State. This pilot project will act as a blueprint for the direct expansion into other informal settlements nationally. iKhokha managing director Matt Putman says card acceptance can help small business owners to…
We have received numerous calls and emails from our readers asking questions about the application process for MTN Zakhele Futhi. We have lifted from the MTN Zakhele Futhi’s prospectus a quick overview highlighting the application process. By Staff Writer Who can apply for MTN Zakhele Futhi shares? Black People: Black People (African, Coloured and Indian people) who are natural persons and citizens of South Africa by birth or descent; or who are citizens through naturalisation before 27 April 1994 or after that date, but who would have qualified for naturalisation before that date. Minors (i.e. a Black Person below 18 years…
In South Africa, there are some tough economic challenges ahead. Unemployment remains high and rating agencies believe that a downgrade of the country’s credit ratings to junk status is still possible at the end of the year. Open innovation through ecosystem expansion could help turn the tide. By William Mzimba, chief executive South and Sub-Saharan Africa at Accenture The evolving digital business environment and business models, supported by new digital technologies, make new and deeper forms of collaboration possible – and greater digital collaboration increasingly correlates with better business and economic performance. Accenture’s Digital Collaboration Index indicates that digital collaboration can…
Australian geologists say they have found ancient microbial fossils in 3.7 billion-year-old rocks in Greenland. The finding, reported in Nature last month, is some 200 million years older than previously accepted fossils. By David Flannery Previously, the best-known evidence for life in these rocks has been a fractionation of stable carbon isotopes. All organisms fractionate carbon isotopes, and the carbon isotope record of sedimentary rocks is good evidence for the presence of life as we know it. The fractionation of isotopes in Greenland is less than in younger rocks, where values are consistent with known microbial metabolisms. But since time, heat…
While MTN hasn’t fully provided the market and its customers with its complete financial services strategy, a move by Africa’s largest mobile phone operator to partner with MMI Holdings indicates that efforts to accelerate diversification into the financial services industry are gathering speed. By Gugu Lourie MTN is targeting more than 200 million of its customers through a micro-insurance solutions powered by its vast network and the expertise of MMI Holdings, a South African-based insurance financial services player. Buying Barclays Africa assets may still be on MTN’s radar screens That said we must add that a possibility of MTN seeking…
There’s a growing belief that asserts that our civilisation is embarked on a new epoch, the Anthropocene. This new epoch will be defined by human domination of earth’s physical and natural environment. It’s more popular slogan is climate change. By John J Stremlau It replaces the Holocene epoch, a period stretching back 11 700 years during which conditions were uniquely conducive to the global spread and flourishing of Africa’s original Homo sapiens. When did the Anthropocene epoch start? This is the big issue still being debated by an authoritative international and multidisciplinary working group of earth scientists. They are considering what…
I’ve always been a nerd who loves technology and games. So when it emerged that virtual reality (VR) tech was becoming available to gamers, I was ecstatic. By Melissa Meyer Then something happened that gave me pause. A gamer and YouTuber named Mark Fischback, aka Markiplier, shared his experience of playing an unfinished VR demo game. VR is a technology that creates a virtual environment. It is presented to our senses so you feel like you’re actually there. A host of technologies are used to account for cognition and perception. A VR headset takes over and re-represents visual surroundings – similar…
The evolving demands of the ever-discerning consumer continue to give impetus to the private and public sector to offer customised digitisation solutions that meet their needs, David Mphelo, general manager for public sector at MTN Business, told delegates at the Public Sector ICT Forum in Johannesburg. Mphelo said that as the industry is battling with the full implementation of the IT buzzwords that were conceptualised decades ago such as Big Data and Cloud as the back-end system that supports the complete adoption of these solutions often lags behind. “The days of talking about access to mobile broadband are coming to…
The aYo micro insurance is designed by mobile phone operator MTN and insurance-based financial services group MMI Holdings as a joint venture to deliver much-needed insurance solutions. By Staff Writer The new aYo micro-insurance solution will target MTN customers across the African markets. We compiled an explainer of the aYo micro-insurance providing details you main need to know as an MTN prepaid customer. The explainer is provided by MTN and MMI. What is aYo Recharge with Care? aYo Recharge with Care provides pre-paid MTN customers with free life (MyLife) or hospital (MyHospital) cover every time they load MTN airtime Cover…
You want free and unlimited Internet access for 18 hours. Sound crazy. Fortunately, there is a new way to give you unlimited free data during ‘prime time’. That’s free, unlimited Internet usage between midnight and 6pm every day, giving you 18 hours a day. By Staff Writer It’s the first time anyone in South Africa has given you unlimited free data during ‘prime time’. This is bandwidth done right! Afrihost is offering its customers free unlimited Internet, known as Free-Time. How does Free-Time work? Quite simply all the data and GBs you use on any of Afrihost’s Capped DSL packages…
In conversations about telecommunications, moods can easily turn sour. The golden age of the first mobile networks have faded somewhat. Data, once seen as a sideline and a potential revenue channel, has exploded forth and caused havoc with voice and messaging revenues. It’s a shift in the market that cannot be reversed. Digital connectivity is not only becoming all pervasive – the world would be worse off if it didn’t. By Simon Carpenter, chief customer officer at SAP Africa This is not sweet music to an industry that saw its revenues shrink violently. Whether a telco is an incumbent or a fairly…
Apple announced its new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and Watch Series 2 today at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. By David Glance iPhone 7 and 7 Plus What the event confirmed was that the leaks about the phone and the watch have gotten to the point that there were very few surprises. The new features of the phones can best be seen in Apple’s comparison chart which is interesting from the perspective of how much is the same between the 6S and the 7. For people who have an iPhone 6S, there is little in the new…
Over the past hundred years, industrial agriculture and the globalised food system have produced cheaper, longer lasting and more diverse food items. We can now enjoy tropical fruits in winter, purchase whole chickens at the price of a cup of coffee, and eat fresh bread long after it was baked. By Christopher Mayes Once celebrated as the benevolent results of food science and ingenuity of farmers, these cheap and safe foods are dismissed by critics as the tainted fruits of “Big Food” – the culinary version of Big Tobacco and Big Oil. Food is no longer simply a matter of taste…
MTN Business has earmarked the 15th September 2016 as the official launch for its new Partner Programme, which will enable a broad range of partners to become part of the fast-growing MTN Business ICT and Mobile products and solutions ecosystem. Partners, globally, now have an opportunity to become an extension of the MTN brand, through a new Partner Programme unveiled by MTN Business. “MTN, having expanded beyond telecoms and mobile with aspirations to become the ICT partner of choice, is now broadening its global ecosystem to include a wide range of partners under the new MTN Partner Programme. These selected…
While online retail still only accounts for 1% of retail revenue in South Africa, the growth rates of more than 20% year-on-year since 2000 speak volumes about the need for every business to seriously plan for an online presence. By Kyle Rozendo, CTO at SID The 2016 numbers from World Wide Worx released in April this year, not only show good growth for the year, but forecasts for 2020 show the figures doubling from their current baseline. While this is great news for the economy, there remain many obstacles for the general business community when it comes to taking the leap in…
Not only is Apple suffering from a major lack of hardware innovation but it’s also being outdone in software and online, where apps reign supreme. It quite possibly signals the company’s eventual demise. By John Rice and Nigel Martin The recent launch of Apple’s iPhone 7 was a quiet affair compared to the launch of the first iPhone a little more than nine years ago. January 2, 2007, was a revolutionary day for world telecommunications as the ailing Steve Jobs held aloft the new iPhone device to the cheers of adoring techies. Fast-forward almost a decade and not much has changed about…