Author: Gugu Lourie
By Ujuh Reporter A Postnet store has popped up next to a Post Office in the Blu Valley Mall in Centurion, Pretoria, in what makes for a perfect symbol of the tragedy engulfing the South African Post Office (SAPO). Postnet is emboldened in the face of a SAPO that is slipping towards extinction. That captures the challenge faced by the new SAPO board announced last week. In a perfect world, the Post Office and Postnet are supposed to be positioned like Tom and Jerry, the arch enemies in the classic cartoon series. The Post Office is supposed to be…
By John Preston & Ben Waterson Flying cars in The Jetsons and Back to the Future, or Star Trek’s spaceships and teleportation, may have captured the imagination decades ago, but most current methods of transport have been around a long time. Railways were being rolled out rapidly from the 1830s, while the commercial breakthroughs in petrol and diesel engines date to 1876 and 1892 respectively. Even the jet engine that made mass aviation possible can be traced back to Frank Whittle’s first patent in 1932. Despite decades of futuristic predictions, modern transport wouldn’t look all that different to someone from the…
By Staff Writer The Cortex Hub, a technology incubator, research lab and entrepreneurial hub in East London’s Industrial Development Zone, will hold a 72-hour women’s hackathon from 25 to 27 August where delegates will by vying for a prize of R150,000. The WomenHackersUnite Hackathon is aimed at showcasing the talents of women in software development, and encouraging them to become involved in the world of technology through the creation of solutions using technology. A panel of judges including three top women software engineers from Facebook, will vote on which team creates the best solution. “While there are no recent formal…
By Staff Writer Following weeks of adjudicators sifting through contending apps, MTN Business announced the top six winners of the fourth annual MTN Business App of the Year challenge at the awards ceremony that took place in Johannesburg last night. The MTN App of the Year challenge seeks to unearth innovative and customised apps that will create a distinct customer experience. WumDrop was selected the winner in the Best Enterprise category and overall winner for their courier and fleet management application that allows users to pick up or deliver anything, anywhere and anytime in real-time. Developed by Benjamin Claassen…
By David Glance The “dark web” is a part of the world wide web that requires special software to access. Once inside, web sites and other services can be accessed through a browser in much the same way as the normal web. However, some sites are effectively “hidden”, in that they have not been indexed by a search engine and can only be accessed if you know the address of the site. Special markets also operate within the dark web called, “darknet markets”, which mainly sell illegal products like drugs and firearms, paid for in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. There…
By Warren Olivier, regional manager of Veeam Southern Africa Always-On availability in the modern data centre has become a business imperative. Companies can ill afford not to have access to their data whether it is in the office or out in the field using a mobile device. But how does one go about creating such an environment in a cost-effective way? One of the links in the chain between data and the user is the application. Companies are driven by apps for everything from email, internet access, and enterprise resource planning, to mobility, customer information, and sales data. So if an app goes down,…
By Staff Writer Samsung has just revealed the Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5, which represent the handset manufacturer’s commitment to the big screen smartphone market. The Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5 blend form and function with industry leading features, including: the best screen technology, the most advanced camera for high quality photos and videos, the latest fast wireless and wired charging, and an incredibly powerful processor. With increased 4GB RAM, both smartphones offer the most powerful capacity and processing power on the market, enabling users to enjoy more seamless multi-tasking, keep up with messages, post updates to social networks faster,…
By Gugu Lourie South Africa’s tech firm ZAZOO’s mobile virtual card is to be used by BitX, a leading universal Bitcoin platform that will make it possible for Bitcoin users to spend their crypto-currency online or in-app. ZAZOO announced on Thursday that it has signed an exclusive deal with BitX. “We are very excited to be working with BitX as crypto-currencies are starting to gain prominence worldwide, and are positioned to be one of the next big things in the fin-tech space,” says Philip Belamant, Managing Director of ZAZOO. BitX was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Singapore with offices…
By Gugu Lourie Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2015 starts later today at 17:00 (CAT). The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2015 will be hosted at New York City, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. The launch event will streamed live online on Samsung’s dedicated webcast page CLICK HERE , the company’s official blog Samsung Tomorrow CLICK HERE and the official YouTube Channel CLICK HERE. To read about Samsung Galaxy brand story CLICK HERE Email TechFinancials.co.za at [email protected]
By Gugu Lourie As part of its strategy to expand its presence in South Africa, Amazon will recruit a significant number of new staff to fill highly-skilled technical roles to pioneer networking technologies and next generation cloud software. The world’s largest online retailer said on Thursday that it plans to hire more than 250 people in the next 12 months in South Africa. The new roles will include software development engineers; network development engineers; support engineers; technical account managers; systems engineers; solutions architects and many more. The move comes after the retailer opened a new office in Johannesburg to support the growing customer base…
By Lauren Foye The adult industry has been under scrutiny in the past few years, not just for the morality of the service it provides, but also in terms of the sustainability of its profitability and success with regards to the market itself. In terms of the online video industry, arguments have been voiced as to how the industry can continue to monetise users. Contrary to the fears of sustainability, Juniper has found that the adult video market is showing growth and uptake across the globe, particularly in areas deemed traditionally to be conservative. Arguably this is due to…
By Staff Writer Grant Bodley is to become the chief executive of Middle East & Africa (MEA) for Dimension Data as both current CEO and managing director for MEA are promoted to executive positions within the global group. Bodley will assume the position of CEO from 1 October 2015 and Derek Wilcocks, current CEO of Dimension Data MEA, and Sean Joubert, current managing director of Dimension Data MEA will both be taking up executive positions. Bodley joined Dimension Data in 2000. Prior to being appointed Sales Director of Dimension Data MEA in 2012 – the role he currently holds -…
By Staff Writer MOBOfree on Wednesday announced a 274% year-on-year increase in the total value of goods on their social marketplace platform in Nigeria. The current value of goods is $1.97 billion, up from $526 million last year. MOBOfree attributes this jump in the value of goods to the safety of its platform, to an increasing number of repeat customers and to a renewed focus on the automotive and real estate categories of classified advertisements. “Customers are going to the site because they are confident that buyers and sellers have been vetted. Once they experience the ease of use…
By Martin Walshaw, senior engineer at F5 Networks Another day, another headline about government hacking of sensitive data. This time it’s allegations that Chinese authorities hacked the Office of Personnel Management network, accessing information belonging to millions of US federal employees in what has to be seen as an act of cyber espionage. It is thought that the hackers gained access to “all personnel data for every federal employee, every federal retiree, and up to one million former federal employees”, including social security numbers. And of course, revelations about government snooping detailed in secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden continue…
By David Glance Google has taken the idea of a company reorganisation to a new level with a restructure that sees the creation of a new overall parent company called Alphabet. Founder Larry Page will be Alphabet’s CEO with his co-founder Sergey Brin, its President. Sundar Pinchai will become the new CEO of the existing Google company. Google itself will be slimmed down and will become one of the subsidiary companies, along with: Calico – a biotech focused on life extension Sidewalk – smart cities or urban innovation Nest – home automation Fiber – internet provider Google Ventures and Google Capital…
By Staff Writer Investment firm Convergence Partners, controlled by businessman Andile Ngcaba, is paying $20 million (R255 million) to buy a strategic, minority stake in Venture Garden Nigeria (VGN), a diversified fintech company. “Innovative financial technology is a key component of the African development story, as it enhances efficiency and governance, and enables service provision to the broader population. With its high calibre and energised management team, and leading position in the fast growing markets in which the company operates, VGN is a very exciting investment opportunity for us,” says Brandon Doyle, CEO of Convergence Partners. VGN is a holding company…
By Staff Writer ZAZOO, a division of the JSE and Nasdaq-listed company Net1 UEPS Technologies Inc, has teamed-up a UK and Cyprus-based startup Funifi to enhance their service by adding a secure payment mechanism to the Funifi DO (chore) app using Mobile Virtual Card (MVC) technology. The firm said in March that it was eyeing speedy global expansion focusing on the UK and other parts of Europe, US, India and other developed and emerging markets. The company has seen ZAZOO’s global footprint expanding into 12 African countries, and it also has a presence in Colombia, India, Spain, South Korea, the Philippines,…
By Gugu Lourie Absa, a subsidiary of the Barclays Africa group, is the first bank in South Africa to launch what it calls in its tagline ‘The Smallest Thing In Banking”, which is its new app for the Apple Watch owners. “To celebrate the smallest thing in banking, we asked acclaimed artist, Lorraine Loots, to paint us a small painting… a really small painting for a really small announcement,” said the bank, without providing details on how the app would work. Instead it said “banking shouldn’t disrupt your life – our app allows you to bank at your convenience.” …
By Larry Page, Google CEO Google on Monday published a surprising letter from CEO Larry Page, who Announce Plans for New Operating Structure called Alphabet As Sergey and I wrote in the original founders letter 11 years ago, “Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” As part of that, we also said that you could expect us to make “smaller bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to our current businesses.” From the start, we’ve always strived to do more, and to do important and meaningful things with…
By thisisL.com Start Making World Changing Sex: 1 for 1 condom company focuses on women’s empowerment: re-invents product and messaging while supporting AIDS prevention and reproductive rights in the developing world. After witnessing first hand the effects of HIV/AIDS on women and girls around the world, photojournalist Talia Frenkel decided to do something about it. Enter L. Condom. An ambitious socially powered American start-up that sells premium condoms for a cause. The company is selling condoms in the US for $15 and available online and delivered in under an hour for a flat rate of $5. One condom will be distributed…
By Mihai Lazarescu In today’s world, the reality is that all individuals and organisations connected to the internet are vulnerable to cyber attack. The number, type and sophistication of attacks continues to grow, as the threat report published last month by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) points out. It isn’t only large organisations that are under threat. Even individuals or organisations that don’t believe they have much to offer hackers can be targeted. So even if you think you’re a small target, you might still be at risk. Illusion of trust Malicious individuals and groups thrive on gathering…
By Francis Thackeray State-of-the-art forensic technology from South Africa has been used to try and unravel the mystery of what was smoked in tobacco pipes found in the Stratford-upon-Avon garden of British playwright William Shakespeare. Residue from clay tobacco pipes more than 400 years old from the playwright’s garden were analysed in Pretoria using a sophisticated technique called gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Chemicals from pipe bowls and stems which had been excavated from Shakespeare’ garden and adjacent areas were identified and quantified during the forensic study. The artefacts for the study were on loan from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.…
By Gugu Lourie “Wait, please put your DStv on pause. It’s going to be a jolly good day for Phuthuma Nathi investors on 9 September 2015. ” Black investors in Phuthuma Nathi, the broad-based black economic empowerment arm of pay-TV operator MultiChoice, will share more than R1.2 billion in dividends. “(MultiChoice) again created significant value for stakeholders and recorded positive financial results despite material shifts in its operating environment. The management team continues to address risks and material issues proactively to ensure great entertainment, sustainability and value creation,” Nolo Letele, the chairman of MultiChoice, said in the group’s 2015…
By Gugu Lourie Soccer, rugby and cricket are an obsession for sports fanatics in South Africa. Some people are armchair critics of those sports, while watching them on their pay-TV sets. So how can a mobile phone app keep sports lovers glued to their TV screens? It seems SuperSport mobile app has found a solution for sports nuts and hard-core fans. The SuperSport app now has 992 000 active monthly users, and live streaming on the SuperSport website averages 722 000 video streams per month. Those users are fans of Kaiser Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Bloemfontein Celtics, The Sharks, Bulls,…
By Gugu Lourie TURN YOUR SIM INTO A CINEMA – “We’ve got fantastic news: all MTN FrontRow subscribers will now pay only R119 a month, making it more affordable than ever,” says Ashley Ramroop from MTN FronRow. Want to be one of the few people to use video-on-demand (VOD) on your smart device? MTN has reduced price of its VOD services MTN FrontRow to R119/month down from R179/month. MTN is targeting a niche market with its VOD services. The move may be MTN’s strategy to attempt to attract and retain customers in a tough market that has seen tech firm Altech, which is…