Author: Gugu Lourie

Cyber Security consultancy MWR InfoSecurity announced on Monday the fourth annual HackFu challenge. The challenge is an online hacking competition, which aims to generate interest in the information security field, as well as recruit students to address the cyber security skills gap in South Africa in the run up to the main HackFu event in June. For those new to HackFu, it’s an event hosted by MWR that brings the world’s best security pros and enthusiasts together to take part in challenges designed around hacking, scripting, tinkering, lock-picking, crypto, and generally thinking outside the box. The South African HackFu challenge will…

South Africa has a new social media platform, ProBonoMatters, designed to improve access to the country’s justice system by allowing ordinary people to list their legal matters for a free attendance by an online network of legal minds. Hosted on probonomatters.co.za, the new media platform comes to address a critical gap in South Africa’s justice system. South Africa’s justice system is in many cases inaccessible to ordinary people who cannot afford the expensive lawyers’ fees. The justice system is also obscured by a cloak of legal jargon that can only be understood by lawyers. “As such, ordinary people find themselves…

International accounting software vendors will soon feel the effect of the plummeting rand as local businesses consider cheaper options. Software prices have already increased by 40% and will continue to rise as the rand weakens. By Staff Writer This is the time for locally owned accounting software companies to shine, says Stephen Corrigan, MD of Palladium Business Solutions, a local company offering tailor-made business solutions to businesses throughout Africa. “We are experiencing a huge interest from companies that previously looked at dollar-based products. They all just went up 40% in price, no wonder they are calling us,” says Corrigan. “The weakening…

Vodacom has appointed award winning actress Katlego Danke, who is well known for her role as Dineo Mashaba in the SABC drama Generations, as Vodacom’s own Dr. Yebo, the data guru. The appointment of Danke is effective from the 13th March 2016. Today, the mobile phone operator will unveil a data education campaign that is aimed at helping customers to manage their data usage better. Championing the cause for cost effective data usage is Danke, who will tackle data related topics through a 13th part data educational series, which will be broadcasted across all SABC TV channels, ETV and DStv. Vodacom…

We’ve all experienced it. Your phone rings, you pick it up, say hello and it’s someone you don’t know trying to sell you something – or a recorded message. Nuisance calls can be irritating, time-wasting and for some people, highly distressing. But can anything be done about them? By Nigel Linge In July 2013, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) and telecommunications regulator, Ofcom, announced they were joining forces to tackle nuisance calls. Then, from last April, the ICO was given new powers to crack down on nuisance calls through an amendment to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. The results of which…

Africa’s mobile phone giant MTN stepped up its defense of its engagement with the Nigerian authorities, warning the media of ‘misleading reports’ and advising investors to refrain from taking decisions based on these unconfirmed reports. By Gugu Lourie  In a statement published on Friday MTN informed investors that it was aware of the various reports that appeared in the press on Thursday regarding the $3.9 billion fine imposed by the Nigerian Communications Commission for failure to register subscribers in Africa’s biggest economy and most populous market. On Thursday, media reports said MTN has proposed to pay 300 billion naira ($1.5 billion) to settle the fine.…

The ShowMax app is now live on Apple TV bringing an incredible experience to the living room. Stream your favourite shows and movies with the ShowMax app for Apple TV. By Staff Writer To start watching ShowMax instantly, search for ‘ShowMax’ in the Apple TV App Store. If you are a ShowMax subscriber, simply enter your username and password to start streaming from over 20,000 episodes of top-class TV shows and movies. The Naspers’ owned firm also said that it has added Chromecast support to its Android app, making it possible to broadcast shows and movies directly from Android smartphones and tablets to big-screen…

In the next few days, humanity’s ego is likely to take another hit when the world champion of the ancient Chinese game Go is beaten by a computer. By Toby Walsh Currently Lee Sedol – the Roger Federer of Go – has lost two matches to Google’s AlphaGo program in their best-of-five series. If AlphaGo wins just one more of the remaining three matches, humanity will again be vanquished. Computer champions Back in 1979, the newly crowned world champion of backgammon, Luigi Villa, lost to the BKG 9.8 program seven games to one in a challenge match in Monte Carlo. In 1994, the Chinook program was declared “Man-Machine World Champion”…

If you join MTN Gamer+ today and also be part of the VIP Club, you will enjoy free data plus awesome games on www.mtngamer.mobi. By Staff Writer MTN Gamer+ is an online game store optimised for mobile. The first game played is for free and the next is charged at R2/day or R6/week gaming bundles, which provides adrenaline gamers with data to download free games, as well as discounted rates on paid-for-games. MTN Gamer has more than 1000 games on its catalogue, which makes it a lovely pocket playground for subscribers. The platform has games from action to adventure, kids and sport,…

Telkom Business on Thursday launched its new Pocket WiFi solution offering businesses affordable mobile data connectivity in over 140 countries across the globe. By Staff Writer Pocket WiFi is a portable, pocket-sized mobile hotspot that business people can travel with and use for global internet access. The mobile hotspot can connect up to 10 devices – smartphones, tablets and laptops – to the internet via 3G connectivity. At R599 per month over 24 months the offer includes 10GB of international data, made up of 34 daily 300 MB data bundles, as well as 2GB of local data per month to…