Author: Gugu Lourie

From the start, I’ve always said the same thing: Bitcoin is an experiment and like all experiments, it can fail. So don’t invest what you can’t afford to lose, says Mike Hearn, who spent five years developing software for Bitcoin. By Staff Writer In an article on Medium, Hearn writes that despite knowing that Bitcoin could fail all along, the now inescapable conclusion that “it has failed still saddens me greatly”. Hearn has sold his coins and  will no longer be taking part in Bitcoin development. He warns that the fundamentals are broken and whatever happens to the price in the…

ANC supporters have removed the Zuma Must Fall poster that was covering one side of a block of flats in the Cape Town CBD. By Karabo Ngoepe, NewsAgency ANC Cape Metro spokesperson Khaya Yozi said it was mission accomplished for them. “Mission accomplished. The poster has been torn apart,” he said. “The message we want to send out there is that the racism that is down here in Cape Town is not acceptable.” The large ‘Zuma Must Fall’ sign was erected in Cape Town on Friday morning. It hugged one side of a block of flats at the top of Long…

In April 2000, Bill Joy famously wrote in Wired Magazine: Our most powerful 21st-century technologies – robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans an endangered species. At the time, Joy was an accomplished technologist and chief scientist at Sun Microsystems. Yet he argued passionately that society was in danger of being destroyed by the very technologies scientists and engineers thought could save it. By Andrew Maynard Nearly 16 years on, Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has just published an equally passionate treatise on the power of emerging technologies. Unlike Joy, he maps out…

Netflix has sent the world into a frenzy of anxiety by announcing through their blog that they will be trying to restrict users to only viewing content licensed to the country where they are physically located. This effectively means stopping customers from using a variety of techniques to get around geographical restrictions. By David Glance Getting around “geoblocked” services is relatively easy and can be done using a VPN or proxy service provided by one of many companies that now provide these technologies. Although Netflix is now available in 190 countries, the content in 189 of those countries falls far short…

Some people who felt insulted by the #ZumaMustFall billboard that went up in Cape Town CBD or thought it was unnecessary reacted with some smart doctored images stating #GiveOurLandBack.  By Staff Writer A hard-to-miss “Zuma Must Fall” billboard that went up in central Cape Town on Friday morning has got tongues wagging about who paid to erect it.  But the City of Cape Town said later that the large “Zuma must fall” sign erected in the city on Friday morning did not comply with certain regulations and the person responsible would be prosecuted. This didn’t stop people reacting to the billboard by…

The large “Zuma must fall” sign erected in Cape Town on Friday morning did not comply with certain regulations and the person responsible would be prosecuted. By Jenna Etheridge, NewsAgency City spokesperson Priya Reddy said the advert did not comply with the Outdoor Advertising and Signage by-law. It was also erected in contravention of the National Building Regulations and Standards Act. “An application for the billboard in question was not received by the city. This matter has therefore been handed over for prosecution,” she said. The large sign hugs one side of an apartment block at the corner of Kloof and…

Over-the-top (OTT) video player Netflix announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in early January 2016 that it has expanded its coverage to include 160 countries. It is likely that regional roll-outs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as well as those aimed at middle-income Asia-Pacific (APAC), will have the greatest impact on paid-for video usage. By Martin Scott, Principal Analyst at Analysys Mason This comment assesses operators’ potential responses to Netflix’s expansion. Netflix has expanded its coverage to include an additional 130 countries, but its content has not been scaled to the same extent  Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced during…

South Africa’s two biggest mobile networks are gearing up to attend Parliament hearings on possible regulation for over-the-top services in the country. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency Vodacom and MTN will attend hearings on January 26 in which Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services will discuss possible regulation of OTT services. The hearings have been scheduled following requests from mobile networks, the committee said in a statement on Thursday. Maya Makanjee, who is Vodacom’s [JSE:VOD] chief officer of corporate affairs, said her company will be attending the hearings on January 26 but that it won’t be delivering a…

  The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) has allegedly started texting messages to Gauteng drivers who have shunned paying their e-toll fees, telling them to pay up or face action, an anti-tolls group said on Friday. By Matthew le Cordeur, NewsAgency The Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) disclosed that Sanral has started sending SMS messages to drivers, listing their current outstanding balance and an indication of the 60% discount they will receive if they settle. According to Outa, the SMS then reads: “Failure to settle outstanding e-toll will result in a loss of this discount, vehicle listing, and collection…

An online petition is calling on South Africa’s government to reject calls by mobile networks to regulate over-the-top (OTT) services such as WhatsApp and Skype. By Gareth van Zyl, NewsAgency Online women’s magazine All4Women.co.za has launched the petition dubbed ‘#SaveWhatsApp – and other communication apps you can’t live without’ this week. The creation of the petition comes after All4Women received a number of responses from readers on their website to a story about possible WhatsApp regulation in South Africa, said the site’s editor Sasha Wyatt-Minter. The Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services said this week that it plans to hold…