There’s a revolution under way, and this one’s not being agitated by the working class, although they certainly have their part to play. It is being waged by banks, cellphone providers and entrepreneurs hoping to capitalise on a mobile commercial market that is estimated will be worth more than US$800bn by 2016 and have more than 400m users
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Quadrocopters in South Africa have made headlines in recent months over whether it’s legal to use them. But quadrocopters are not just tools for filmmakers or toys for fun — there is a more serious side to them, one that could change the way we look at robotics. A South African robotics student living in Switzerland is working with some of the brightest
The number of physical robberies on banks has fallen dramatically in recent years, but the amount of money banks are losing through electronic methods has rocketed. In 2013, for example, the annual fraud indicator estimated
French telecommunications giant Orange plans to launch its own-branded retail stores in South Africa before the end of the year and intends launching an Internet service provider business here, too. Until now, Orange has had a retail presence through Nashua Mobile outlets, but the future of this partnership was thrown into doubt earlier this year when
The Mars One programme is offering civilians, including South Africans, the opportunity to create a human colony on Mars. Is this a revival of the golden age of discovery, when explorers left their homes to begin new civilisations? Or is it a “suicide mission” in which people die in space while we watch from
Communications regulator Icasa looks set to lose four of its councillors in the next few months. William Currie and Joseph Lebooa are set to leave when their contracts come to an end on the 30 September, while William Stucke
President Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Thuthukile, may have made history as South Africa’s youngest head of a minister’s office. From a lowly public liaison officer to the powerful position of chief of staff within two months at the age of 25, she now earns almost a million rand a year. Her dramatic rise to the position, which
The Gauteng provincial government has revealed more details about its plans to wire up the province to broadband. It is starting the project by connecting its core sites to a 1 600km fibre network. The province has also announced plans
Microsoft, fresh from concluding its acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services business, has announced it will discontinue the handset maker’s Asha and S40 feature phones, as well as, perhaps less surprisingly, the Nokia X Android phones, over the next 18 months. Feature phones and particularly the Nokia
A Japanese messaging app called Line has filed for an initial public offering valued at nearly US$10bn. For an app almost unknown outside Japan it’s an audacious move. However, messaging is there simply to suck you into Line’s mobile world, where the real profits are made. Unlike its rivals, it is already