Author: Regardt van der Berg

The wastage and theft of water is a national problem that costs South African municipalities billions of rand every year. Now a local invention from a company called MyWater, which allows municipalities to better monitor water consumption in poorer communities, is

Regard-van-der-Berg-180Wi-Fi hotspots are popping up everywhere, and access is no longer uncommon in public spaces. Even minibus taxis will soon become Wi-Fi hotspots, with nearly 90% of taxi body Santaco’s fleet earmarked for Wi-Fi deployment over the next three years

Hisense is a brand better known for its low-priced appliances and consumer electronics such as fridges and LCD TVs. More recently, though, the company has entered the crowded smartphone space. At this year’s Mobile World Congress in Spain, Hisense took the wraps off its latest high-end device, the

Microsoft on Wednesday launched a television white-spaces spectrum pilot in Limpopo, using unused portions of radio frequency spectrum reserved for broadcasting to deliver Internet access. It hopes the project will encourage further deployments throughout Africa. The pilot follows the launch of similar

BMW South Africa has taken the wraps off a set of Internet-connected services built into the company’s vehicles that provide a range of value-added services. At the heart of the technology is an embedded Vodafone Sim card, with global roaming enabled, and which is used for data services. ConnectedDrive will be embedded

Jawbone is well known for its wearable fitness trackers and Bluetooth headsets. The company was formed under the name Aliph in 1999 when it was tasked to develop noise-cancelling technology for the US military. In 2010, it entered the speaker market with the Jambox, which received numerous design awards

Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) has launched a mobile application to provide travellers with up-to-date flight and terminal information, as well as information unique to each airport such as detailed airport maps with shop and restaurant details. Acsa group manager for customer care Claudia Ramsden says

Smartphone-based private chauffeur service Uber has launched a low-cost version of its taxi service in Cape Town. Called UberX, the cheaper option will run alongside the company’s high-end UberBlack service, which has been available in South Africa since October. Uber’s cab service allows users to book and pay

Shack fires are a big problem in Africa and devastate the lives of thousands of people each year. The cause of these fires are almost always attributed to the use of paraffin lamps and candles. Now, a South African inventor is hoping to put a stop to this, replacing these hazards

A team of audiologists at the University of Pretoria has developed a mobile health application, hearScreen, which makes hearing screening easy and affordable. The software application is part of a pilot study in which mobile health technology will be used to do school and