Author: Staff Writer
South African biotech startup LifeQ has secured $47 million from top investors around the world. LifeQ has two key value propositions: enabling wearable devices to provide business-grade and near clinical-grade health information streams; and using this data to generate health and wellness solutions for consumer, business and clinical applications. “LifeQ is proud to partner with the world’s most distinguished investment groups to positively impact the future of health for all people,” said LifeQ co-founder and CEO Laurence Olivier. “We are in the midst of a global health crisis caused by sedentary lifestyle, increased work demands, and unhealthy foods resulting in…
Remote and blended learning during the pandemic spurred growth even further, but according to Snapplify, the EdTech company was seeing business expansion long before COVID-19. Snapplify is a global EdTech company that specialises in enabling digital learning for individuals and institutions (B2C). It also has the capacity to provide other education businesses with software solutions to assist in expanding their businesses even further (B2B). “Towards the end of 2018, we launched our freemium offering for our e-learning platform, Snapplify Engage. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with hundreds of new registrations each day from schools across Africa,” enthuses Wesley Lynch, founder…
As South Africans ease into Winter, more and more people will seek the comfort of indoor entertainment. To carry fans through the chilly season, Spotify is launching new offers for its free and first-time users to enjoy the benefits of a Premium account. Starting today, Spotify Premium is offering three months free to eligible free and first time-users for the Individual Premium plan. For those who are missing their Individual Premium plan and cancelled for one reason or another, Spotify Premium is offering three months for just R59.99. Spotify Premium gives subscribers an audio streaming experience with ad-free music listening,…
As companies forge ahead with their digital transformation, many are inadvertently excluding large parts of their customer base who don’t own smartphones, alienating vital demographics and crippling their digital inclusion agendas. A technology they should not forego is USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) – a technology that is not outdated even if it’s more than two decades old. “Far too often we see companies, in select markets, inadvertently, omit large parts of their customer base by overlooking USSD as a service from their channel offering,” says Jeppe Dorff, Clickatell Chief Product and Technology Officer. “USSD is an incredible technology that…
Satellite internet connectivity has been available for some years across much of Africa and has become established as a good option for remote business locations (such as mines, lodges and farms) looking for reliable connectivity in areas not typically serviced by fibre or LTE. The launch of new satellite networks has brought this technology back into focus but, has also reignited the debate around latency – an issue which many customers still seem to associate with satellite internet services. “We welcome the buzz surrounding new international entrants into the market, and we are confident it will translate into an increased…
Your smartphone app has just notified you that Eskom will be switching off the lights within the next hour, and your suburb is at the top of the list. Since you’ve just purchased your first electric vehicle (EV), should you be worried that you’ll be twiddling your thumbs until the electricity supply is restored? The short answer is, no! While there is certainly a degree of inconvenience that comes with load-shedding, the truth is that typical EV usage isn’t impacted much by scheduled blackouts. In South Africa and around the world, electricity consumption normally peaks in the morning and evening,…
Gerhard Fourie has been appointed Channel Lead at Commvault Africa, a global enterprise software leader in the management of data across cloud and on-premises environments. He will oversee a drive for growth across the company’s recently expanded region that includes the entire African continent (excluding Egypt) and the Indian Ocean Islands, positioning the company as the leading data management partner of choice. Fourie joined Commvault in June 2016 as Channel Manager for South Africa, and says of his new position. “I am excited to concentrate on optimising our distribution landscape and increasing our resource coverage throughout the entire expanded region,”…
Today HP Inc. launched its new, comprehensive, digital teaching and learning programme, HP Digitally Advanced Schools, in key markets in the Middle East and Africa. The initiative brings together the complete education ecosystem by integrating three components: devices, solutions and capabilities, all under the HP brand. Blending hardware and advanced pedagogy technologies into school curriculums, the programme ensures an impactful, immersive teaching and learning experience for both students and faculty members, the need for which has been accelerated by the pandemic. The HP Digitally Advanced Schools programme consists of: Intel-powered HP Notebooks: This includes using a range of HP’s specially…
A food app that connects users with the specials at restaurants or events has started to gain traction and has obtained 50 000 downloads in the last five months. Fomo uses geolocation to show users specials available at nearby restaurateurs listed on the app. Co-founders Ryan Marx and Jax Du Plessis birthed the idea for the app after a night out. After having gone out for supper and left the restaurant, they saw specials available in at a different restaurant in the same area and wished they had gone there instead – hence the name of the app, Fomo (fear…
German lawmakers have approved a bill that would allow for some driverless cars on public roads by 2022. The DW Academie reported that driverless busses and other autonomous vehicles could soon hit the streets of Germany after lawmakers in the lower house of parliament approved new rules for self-driving cars. The measure now passes to the upper chamber or parliament, the Bundesrat, for approval of the driverless bill before it can take effect. Once approved, it would be the world’s first legal framework for integrating autonomous vehicles in regular traffic, according to the German government. Also read: South Africa Must Accelerate Its…
MTN is embroiled in a R1,2 billion claim by a Soweto-based company Biza Telecoms for allegedly stealing the company’s social media network service called Chomi, to launch a popular Ayoba app. The Sunday World reported that Biza Telecoms’ management met the then MTN Group chief commercial officer Pieter Verkade in May 2015 to present in “great detail” its Chomi concept. In paper lodged at the Johannesburg high court, seen by Sunday World, Biza Telecoms claims that Chomi could be used on all mobile devices with 14 language options and cross communications between smartphone and feature phones. Biza Telecoms alleges that…
JSE-listed Altron has expressed its pleasure with the Constitutional Court ruling that affirmed the Supreme Court of Appeal’s previous ruling to the effect that the broadband network contract awarded to Thobela Telecoms, a special purpose vehicle in which Altron Nexus is a minority shareholder, is valid and binding. In an order dated 19 May 2021, the Constitutional Court refused the City of Tshwane’s application for condonation and dismissed the application for leave to appeal with costs. Altron Group Executive: Legal, Hansie Schutte, expressed the company’s satisfaction with the decision. “We are pleased with the outcome of the Constitutional Court’s order…
South Africa is at a tipping point: we must embrace electric vehicles (EVs) – not just because of the environmental impact, but also because of the economic benefits. “This is something I’ve said time and again, but now I’ve put my money where my mouth is – by investing in an EV,” said AutoTrader’s CEO, George Mienie. The car that has been purchased is a Jaguar I-PACE. And he says it represents a bitter-sweet moment. “I’ve spent decades enjoying the sound of powerful petrol and diesel engines, particularly V8s, which I love! (in cars and planes). Now, when it comes…
As the 2021/22 Premier League season kicks off in August, its unparalleled global audience will see “Match Insights—Powered by Oracle Cloud” in real-time during television broadcasts. The Premier League, the world’s most-watched football league, has chosen Oracle as its official cloud provider. In teaming with Oracle, the Premier League will increase the excitement surrounding every game through new in-match statistics that provide a deeper understanding of the live-action on the pitch. Oracle’s data and analytics and machine learning technologies will deliver these ground-breaking statistics in real-time to a global audience of billions each season. The broadcasts will include insights such…
Huawei, in conjunction with the Youth ICT Council, has launched a 5G training programme that will see 100 South African young graduates equipped with vital 5G skills and insights. The programme forms part of Huawei’s wider commitment to equipping South African graduates with the skills they need to make the most of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Given that 5G technology will play a pivotal role in driving that revolution, the skills provided to the programme participants will go a long way to equipping them to thrive not only as workers, but also as entrepreneurs. Speaking at the launch, Dr…
Football fans across the continent will be able to stream every match of the UEFA Euro 2020, which runs from 11 June to 11 July 2021, on Showmax Pro. Launched last year, Showmax Pro bundles the existing Showmax entertainment offering with music channels, news and live sports streaming from SuperSport. Euro traditionally produces outstanding soccer, with many of the world’s leading players given a grand stage. There will be spectator limits in place, and matches will be held in 11 cities across 11 countries – a “romantic gesture”, according to UEFA, to celebrate the 60th birthday of the tournament. Viewers are promised a one-of-a-kind spectacle, with the stark differences between the host cities contributing to the uniqueness…
Small and medium business owners can now have access to web-based tools and information technology while ensuring that their stakeholder data is protected through Telkom Business’ latest Software as a Service (SaaS) value propositions, Out-of-the-Box Software (Zoho) and Out-of-the-Box Secure (BlackFog). Through Telkom Business’ Out-of-the-Box Software (Zoho), customers can access an office tools suite, Internet of things management platform, and a suite of IT management software. To enable businesses to increase productivity, Telkom Business’ Out-of-the-Box Software (Zoho) has integrated applications focusing on web and mobile apps for sales, marketing, accounting etc. Out-of-the-Box Software (Zoho) is currently available on the Telkom…
Telkom Mobile is introducing full international roaming services to its prepaid and top-up customers. Previously, these customers could only use SMS roaming. International mobile roaming is a service that allows mobile users to continue to use their mobile phone or other mobile devices to make and receive voice calls and text messages, browse the internet, and send and receive emails, while visiting another country. Roaming extends the coverage of the home operator’s retail voice and SMS services, allowing the mobile user to continue using their home operator phone number and data services within another country. The seamless extension of coverage is…
The internet became a lifeline to the outside world during 2020, connecting South Africa’s remote workforce to their jobs, children to teachers and educational resources, and families to virtual entertainment. According to Vuma’s 2020 End-User Customer Satisfaction Research Study, which assessed the fibre internet usage of over 27,000 respondents during the lockdown, work accounted for 96% of households’ frequent fibre internet usage. Social media (96%) and streaming TV services (91%) were also popular in homes during this period, with teens, pre-teens and younger kids being the highest consumers of content on these platforms. The internet was also a family lifeline…
Communications and Digital Technologies Minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, has announced that R27 billion has been pledged by operators and vendors to usher in 5G fibre technologies in South Africa. The Minister said this when she tabled the department’s budget vote during a mini plenary of the National Assembly on Tuesday. “We believe that partnerships and collaborations are key to taking our sector to greater heights. “I am therefore pleased to announce that R27 billion is being pledged collectively by the operators and vendors to expand the 4G network, and to deploy the 5G and fibre technologies in South Africa, which has…
Discovery Bank today launched a Friend Referral Rewards, bringing more of the benefits of shared-value banking to existing and new clients. The referral programme, the first of its kind among South African banks and financial institutions, will give clients the functionality to invite friends and family to sign up to the Bank – and for both clients and friends to get rewarded in the form of Discovery Miles, creating an eco-system of shared-value. “Internationally, some of the most successful technology-driven businesses, such as Airbnb and Uber, have reached unprecedented scale from “digital word-of-mouth” referrals and, at Discovery, we’ve always believed…
MTN South Africa today announced a $2 million (R28 million) partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to expand MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) business. The partnership will target the unbanked and underbanked population by establishing a strong network of MoMo agents in the country. The partnership will also see a strong job employment drive and will see IFC and MTN South Africa seek to recruit 10 000 Mobile Money Agents in 2021 to increase access to affordable financial services in underserved communities. MTN will identify, recruit, enrol, train, and supervise the new MoMo…
The Blockchain Research Institute (BRI), the world’s largest independent blockchain think-tank, is launching a new wave of global expansion with the announcement of BRI Africa, BRI Middle East, and BRI Korea. Blockchain Research Institute Africa will be launched in partnership with Standard Bank Group, while BRI Middle East will be launched in partnership with Konnect & Co., and BRI Korea will be launched in partnership with BOSAGORA Foundation. “This global expansion of the Blockchain Research Institute is another step towards realizing the potential of blockchain for the global digital economy,” said Don Tapscott, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of the BRI.…
4Sight joined an elite group of only a handful of South African systems integrators certified in the Windows Server and SQL Server Migration to Microsoft Azure Advanced Specialization. Aldo van Tonder, Digital Officer, 4Sight and head of its Modern Digital Enterprise division, says the accreditation is not just strategically important given the key role that the cloud is playing in the massive digital transformation underway across the public and private sectors. It also validates the extensive experience we bring to our partners and customers, he says. “CxOs are seeing some form of migration to cloud services as a lynchpin of…
Google Cloud has announced the general availability of Vertex AI, a managed machine learning (ML) platform that allows companies to accelerate the deployment and maintenance of artificial intelligence (AI) models. Vertex AI requires nearly 80% fewer lines of code to train a model versus competitive platforms, enabling data scientists and ML engineers across all levels of expertise the ability to implement Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) to efficiently build and manage ML projects throughout the entire development lifecycle. “We had two guiding lights while building Vertex AI: get data scientists and engineers out of the orchestration weeds, and create a industry-wide…