Author: CraigWilson

Best known for its world-class university, bicycles and punting, the English city of Cambridge is set to become one of the homes of Amazon’s drone delivery pilot programme. Amazon is also advertising jobs for drone pilots to join the programme in both the UK and US, putting to rest suggestions that the whole thing was just an elaborate, attention-seeking hoax. The online retailer announced plans for a drone-based delivery service, called Amazon Prime Air, last year. The service is intended for same-day deliveries of small items. At the time it was unclear whether the company was serious or whether Amazon…

You know an application or service has made it when its name becomes a verb. Video and voice-over IP (VoIP) service Skype, like mobile messaging services WhatsApp and BBM, is just such an application. Now its owner, Microsoft, is releasing a web-based version of the hugely popular service, which means users will be able to place and receive calls via their web browser rather than needing a dedicated app. Microsoft announced the new Skype for Web late last week and says it has released a beta version of the service that will be released to a small number of Skype’s…

Telkom has launched LTE-Advanced, a superfast version of cellular broadband that offers speeds of up to 150Mbit/s, making it the first company in South Africa to do so. Telkom has chosen the Johannesburg suburb of Parkview for its first deployment. “Since we have 60Mhz of the 2.3Ghz band, we are uniquely placed to launch this in South Africa,” says Attila Vitai, MD of Telkom Mobile. “This really is leading-edge tech delivered first to you by Telkom,” he added. Telkom demonstrated the LTE-Advanced network at a launch event in Johannesburg on Friday and showed off download speeds of 146Mbit/s, while streaming…

Hot on the heels of the launch of “micro-jobbing” service M4JAM – which pays users for completing small tasks like surveys or confirming specific products are in certain stores – comes Refer2earn, a service that pays users for referring people they know to insurers. Given South African’s aversion to cold callers and telemarketers this could prove a tough sell as those people referred (thankfully) need to consent to having their information shared with said insurers. Refer2earn offers mobile applications for Android and iOS and users can opt to receive their earnings in cash or as mobile airtime or prepaid electricity…

Mobile money solutions like m-pesa are big business in East Africa, but have had slower uptake down south. Vodacom recently relaunched M-Pesa in South Africa in an effort to change this. Now the mobile operator has announced that the latest version of its M-Pesa can be used to pay staff salaries and settle expense claims. According to Vodacom, m-pesa offers a “low-cost and easy solution for making payments to all staff, even those who don’t have a bank account”. The South African version of the service also offers users the option of linking their M-Pesa mobile wallet to a Visa…

South African consumers are increasingly spoilt for choice when it comes to budget tablet computers with Vodacom and MTN both releasing their own low-cost devices in recent months. Now Microsoft has entered the ring, too, with its 8-inch and 10.1-inch Nextbooks, priced at R1 499 and R2 999 respectively. While Vodacom’s Smart Tab 3G and MTN’s Steppa both run Google’s Android operating system, Microsoft’s Nextbooks run Windows 8.1, which Microsoft is no doubt hoping will appeal to Windows users looking for a familiar experience on a tablet. Microsoft is offering the new tablets in conjunction with South African retailer Makro.…

Virgin Mobile South Africa, the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that piggybacks on Cell C’s infrastructure, has had a hard time winning the hearts, minds and cash money of South African consumers since it launched in 2006. Now the company is trying to win market share by offering its customers free minutes for calls to other Virgin Mobile users in an age where most people are eschewing calls for instant messaging. Operators’ financial results remove any doubt that consumers are making fewer and fewer voice calls. Meanwhile, many people don’t want to have to know what network the person they’re…

As if the Internet didn’t promote procrastination enough already, the Internet Archive (an organisation that seeks to “preserve society’s [digital] cultural artifacts and to provide access to them”) has created an online collection of 900 classic arcade games that visitors can play directly in their browsers. The appropriately named Internet Arcade uses an emulator to replicate classic games like Arkanoid, Golden Axe, Street Fighter II and hundreds more. The archive includes a range of “coin-operated” games that existed between the 1970s and 1990s. The collection covers everything from early black and white titles with simplistic audio to later titles that included more…

Chinese hardware manufacturer Lenovo has completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, the mobile device manufacturer online search and advertising giant Google acquired in 2012 for $12.4 billion. The deal is valued at an estimated $2.91 billion and bumps rival mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi to fourth position in terms of largest smartphone makers globally. In addition to taking over the Motorola brand, Lenovo has also taken over Motorola’s portfolio of smartphones like including the Moto X, G and E and its Droid series and all future devices on Motorola’s product roadmap. Lenovo says it will operate Motorola as a wholly-owned subsidiary and…

Korean electronics company Samsung wants South African’s to ditch their DSLR cameras in exchange for its mirrorless NX30 camera. It’s offering the first 100 people to visit the company’s stand at Photo & Film Expo at the Johannesburg’s Coca-Cola Dome this Saturday the chance to exchange their DSLR for a new NX30 camera, worth R10 000. Samsung held its first “Ditch the DSLR” event in Times Square in New York City and says the event was so successful it decided to bring it to South Africa. After the Johannesburg event this weekend the company will host others in Cape Town…