Author: Gugu Lourie

South-African based tech start-up WhereIsMyTransport has announced an investment of £1.165 million (R22.1 million) from Goodwell Investments; together with the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment firm created by eBay’s founder; and Horizon Ventures, as the first closing of a £2 million Seed Round. By Staff Writer The investment has been secured to fund WhereIsMyTransport’s transit API, which launches today. The API offers a new open information platform which, for the first time, collates transit data for formal and informal (i.e. demand-based and relatively unregulated) services, and combines it with analytics capability and communication tools. The journey-mapping capability the platform provides is…

It’s one thing to philosophise academically and another to put all of one’s theory into practice. In my PhD thesis I devise a deliberative (and theoretical) talk show model based in ubuntu. By Leyla Tavernaro-Haidarian Commonly understood as “I am because we are”, this South African humanist philosophy or world view of ubuntu is collaborative in nature. It lies at the core of the country’s reconciliatory stance and its transition to democracy. How do these carefully crafted and academically “sound” arguments translate into tangible action from which we learn and through which we evolve? Questions like these have motivated my latest…

Global network provider EOH Carrier Services has selected NewTelco SA as their service partner for the establishment of a new international Point of Presence (PoP) in Amsterdam. EOH is moving one of the three PoPs already held by EOH Carrier Services in London to Amsterdam, in order to address issues of redundancy and increase their global connectivity footprint to better service the market. A PoP is the physical location at which undersea and terrestrial cables terminate and is an important part of connecting businesses and people to the Internet. As a wholesale network provider, EOH Carrier Solutions already had…

The Labour Court of South Africa today handed down a damning judgement against the Communication Workers Union (CWU), describing the union as “confrontational”, “obstructionist” and noted that the CWU had withheld key facts from its founding affidavit, Telkom said on Wednesday. The judgement relates to an urgent application brought to the Labour Court on 1 August 2016. The CWU sought to interdict Telkom from completing the Section 189 (retrenchment) phase of the company’s restructuring of its corporate office. The judgement found against the CWU and was clear that the union had not consulted in good faith noting “…there is not…

MTN South Africa announced on Wednesday morning that it has appointed Enzo Scarcella as the new chief operating officer. His appointment is  effective 01 December 2016. Enzo started his illustrious career at MTN in 1995 where he served as product manager. Before he agreed to assume the COO role at MTN SA, Enzo was the Chief Marketing Officer of Telkom, and prior to that he served in various roles for Vodacom including as Managing Executive of Marketing. He has extensive brand and marketing experience, and has worked in the broadcasting, retail and fast moving goods industries. He served as brand manager for South African Breweries and Guinness in the United Kingdom, and worked at Edcon and M-Net where he served…

South Africa is in the process of selecting a new public protector to replace the incumbent, Thuli Madonsela. The country’s National Assembly is responsible for recruiting her replacement. But the way it goes about doing this is deeply flawed. By Sandiso Bazana Firstly, the recruitment and selection ad hoc committee assembled to make the decision consists entirely of politicians. It has 11 members – six from the governing African National Congress, two from the main opposition Democratic Alliance, one from the Economic Freedom Fighters and two from smaller parties. All represent their party interests. This hugely compromises the professional ethics of…

Exponential Ventures, the innovation unit of JSE listed financial services group, MMI Holdings, partners with Europe’s leading accelerator programme to showcase South Africa’s entrepreneurial talent in the global market. By Staff Writer   Exponential Ventures, the disruptive innovation unit of JSE listed company, MMI Holdings, has continued with its relentless pursuit of innovation by becoming an investor partner in the insurance incubator programme, Startupbootcamp InsurTech managed by Startupbootcamp a leading international startup accelerator. Startupbootcamp InsurTech has announced that the FastTrack tour will be coming to Cape Town on 11 October and Johannesburg on 13 October 2016. FastTrack days (or pitch days)…

Pan-African telecoms provider Seacom extends its corporate market offering to Kenya by providing Internet connectivity and cloud services directly to corporates. By Staff Writer The new product offerings include high-speed, dedicated Fibre Internet Access with options ranging from 10 Mbps up to 1 Gbps which will allow businesses in East Africa to unlock their true potential in today’s online and digital age. Following the launch of its Seacom Business offering in South Africa a year ago, the division in East Africa has already signed up almost 50 business customers, adding more each month. It has also recently appointed several corporate partners to support its…

Paid Content by MasterCard These days, pretty much everybody (including, somewhat surprisingly, many of our grandparents) uses technology to pay for things — and doing so goes hand-in-hand with entering and storing private information somewhere in the Internet’s vast ether. Remember when people refused to even reveal their last names online? Those days are long gone. By MasterCard Today, more than 344 million people are online in Latin America, with more than 200 million on Facebook, and e-commerce in the region is growing. The escalation in Internet and social media use has made it more commonplace for our data to live online. Technology…

After replacing human editors with an algorithm, Facebook ended up with a fake Trending news story, according to Quartz report. By Staff Writer Just two days after Facebook laid off the entire editorial staff of its Trending news team, it seems the robots left in charge of making decisions have already been fooled. On Sunday (Aug. 28), a fake news story about Fox anchor Megyn Kelly ended up in the Trending section of the social network’s homepage. The story, which falsely claimed that Kelly had been fired, had over 200,000 likes on Facebook. It was finally removed from the trending…

The concept of tracking your fitness with wearable technology is not new but the rate at which activity trackers are being worn by school children, is. And it’s causing quite a range of reactions. By Steve Goschnick In the UK, a mother withdrew her child from primary school because it stopped him from wearing his electronic fitness bracelet, although following protests the school later allowed pupils to wear Fitbits (except during physical education class). In New Zealand, high school counsellors said they were concerned the Fitbit devices could become a fixation, particularly with girls trying to lose weight and keep fit.…

It is often said that you should not believe everything you see on the internet. But with the advent of immersive technology – like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) – this becomes more than doubly true. By David Evans Bailey The full capabilities of these immersive technologies have yet to be explored, but already we can get a sense of how they can be used to manipulate us. You may not think you are someone who is easily duped, but what if the techniques used are so subtle that you are not even aware of them? The truth is…

South Africa’s ICT sector has made great strides in changing its gender demographics over the past decade, but more work needs to be done to support women’s progress in this sector, says MTN South Africa CEO Mteto Nyati. Speaking ahead of the South African Women in ICT Awards, Nyati said South African ICT sector demographics had changed significantly during his 20 years in the industry. “In the 1990s, the sector was primarily white and male. Now, it is far more representative of the population. However, participation by women at a senior level is still too low.” It is estimated that only…

Civic technology initiatives are on the rise. They are using new information and communication technologies to improve transparency, accountability and governance – faster and more cheaply than before. By Indra de Lanerolle In Taiwan, for instance, tech activists have built online databases to track political contributions and create channels for public participation in parliamentary debates. In South Africa, anti-corruption organisation Corruption Watch has used online and mobile platforms to gather public votes for Public Protector candidates. But research I recently completed with partners in Africa and Europe suggests that few of these organisations may be choosing the right technological tools to…

Experience the rumbling dynamism and unbridled power of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 during a hot lap at the SA Festival of Motoring. By Staff Writer For the first time ever in South Africa, you can strap into the Mercedes-AMG GT3 and get your blood pumping with a professional Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy driver. Experience the delicious downforce, superior aerodynamics and raw power of its naturally-aspirated 6.3 litre V8 engine first-hand. Get into the heart of premium race performance with a ride in this beastly sports car at the SA Festival of Motoring. Heart racing. Skin tingling. The powerful new Mercedes-AMG GT3 is…

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,…