Most people outside of technology circles have never heard of Vic Gundotra. The charming, bespectacled 45-year-old with the flawless Californian accent might be mistaken for a professor or a paediatrician. Yet many of us have used one or more of the products he championed during his eight years at Google. On 24 April, Gundotra
United Arab Emirates telecommunications firm Etisalat said on Monday that it has raised €3,15bn to fund the acquisition of French media giant Vivendi’s 53% stake in Morocco’s main provider, Maroc Telecom. The funds were raised with a group of 17 international, regional and local banks in the UAE. “Financing consists of
Should we be worried about Cell C? Despite a recent high court ruling that was at least partly in the mobile operator’s favour, noises coming out of the company aren’t exactly painting a rosy picture. There are several reasons for concern, chief among them the ability of the company to engage in a protracted price war while ensuring it
On the streets of Lagos and across God-fearing southern Nigeria, it’s not uncommon to see people with a leather-bound Bible in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. But the Good Book’s days could be numbered – in printed form at least – if 25-year-old Kayode Sowole’s idea takes off. The computer science student
Eskom on Sunday defended its proposed upgrades to Megawatt Park, its head office in Johannesburg, as a necessity despite the utility being under financial constraints. “This are essential, they aren’t lavish upgrades,” spokesman Andrew Etzinger said. He said the upgrades were necessary for the health and safety of staff, data
A solar-powered lamp, which doubles as a cellphone charger and as a fully fledged Wi-Fi hotspot, could soon bring safe lighting to poor users in South Africa and elsewhere on the continent. The next model, also due for release soon, will offer wireless broadband. The “solar jar” project is the
One day, everything will be data. Voice will not exist as a separate service needing different technology. The transition in developed countries has been relatively slow. However, at the international level, large amounts of calls now move through Internet protocol and multiprotocol label switching-based networks. Every year, consumer software
If you listened only to social development minister Bathabile Dlamini and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), you might believe that last week’s constitutional court judgment vindicated the agency. Rather, Sassa should be seriously embarrassed, and the judgment should give rise to grave concern about how the agency is
The Democratic Alliance has launched DemocraCITY, a strategy game on social media platform Mxit, which it describes as a hybrid between SimCity and Tamagotchi, in an effort to convince voters to make their mark for the party in the upcoming general election. In a statement, the DA says each game runs for 72 hours, with players being
The South African Reserve Bank has introduced new security features on the Mandela bank notes, it said on Friday. “Enhancing features on banknotes is an ongoing process to maintain the highest level of quality and security,” Reserve Bank governor Gill Marcus said in a statement. “This is in line with international best practice
