Local mobile operator MTN has finally launched 4G/LTE-enabled Sim cards for its prepaid customers. Though the network has supported 4G/LTE – the fourth-generation, high-speed mobile data service that uses long-term evolution technology and succeeds 3G – since late 2012, MTN has to date only made it available to its contract subscribers. Rival Vodacom, meanwhile, has offered 4G/LTE services (generally referred to as 4G, even though some pedants would argue that’s technically inaccurate) to its prepaid customers since March last year, having also originally launched the service in late 2012. “South Africans want world-class Internet access that is capable of meeting…
Author: CraigWilson
First-person video cameras like the GoPro range, Garmin’s Virb and Drift’s HD Ghost are growing in popularity, but getting footage from them that doesn’t induce nausea still requires at least a modicum of video-editing skill. A new “hyperlapse” project from a three-man team at Microsoft Research wants to change that. There are two immediate challenges when trying to turn first-person footage into something visually arresting – the first is sifting through and trimming the (often lengthy) footage down to the attention-worthy parts, which many people get around by using every tenth or twentieth frame to create a timelapse video, which…
Naspers-owned Internet service provider (ISP) Mweb is upping the data allowances for its capped ADSL customers at no extra cost and dropping the monthly subscription fees on its uncapped offerings. In addition to the increased data on capped packages Mweb is also adding after-hours data, which can be used between midnight and 6am. For example, customers on Mweb’s 30GB package (which costs R239/month) will now get 50GB of data each month and will receive an additional 50GB for after-hours use. “Our Capped ADSL customers will benefit hugely from the new data cap changes we are introducing,” says Mweb Connect GM, Carolyn…
Want to make extra money for jam by completing quick jobs with your mobile phone? Then M4JAM might be what you’re looking for. The “microjob” platform connects consumers looking to earn extra cash with brands and businesses that need odd jobs completed. Some of the jobs on offer include completing surveys, confirming that restaurants or other retailers still exist in particular locations, or finding and photographing specific products on supermarket shelves. Interest users can sign up to the service using instant messaging service WeChat (by adding M4JAM as a contact) and can earn up to R15 per job. All jobs…
If you’ve ever had to choose a broadband solution you know how complex it can be. Between fixed, wireless and mobile solutions, shaped and unshaped, capped and uncapped, choosing the right solution for your needs can be a veritable minefield. A new South African website launching on Monday hopes to making picking the right provider and package that much easier. Clinton Bemont, an academic from the University of Kwazulu-Natal, is one of the three people behind WhichBroadband, a site that will make it easy for consumers to compare all of South Africa’s various broadband offerings. The website will detail for…
If you’ve got a brilliant idea that could help improve the lives of Africans, read on. The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) is looking for innovative ideas from Africa for the fourth instalment of the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA). The overall winner will receive $100 000 (over R1 million), with the runner up receiving a tidy $25 000 (around R260 000). The second prize is awarded to the submission deemed to have the best commercial and business potential – in other words, the one most likely to turn a profit and prove sustainable, quickly. All submissions are evaluated based on the…
In a move the mobile operator is billing as aimed at getting more South African’s online affordably, Vodacom has unveiled its first branded handset, the Vodacom Smart Kicka. Priced at a R549 and bundled with 250MB of data, the device brings additional competition to the low-end handset market where feature phones have traditionally reigned supreme. This comes just weeks after Microsoft announced that it was killing off the feature phone line of Nokia, its recent acquisition, over the next 18 months, a move that could leave a sizeable gap at the bottom end of the market for the likes of…
We love it when any mobile operator cuts rates, because it forces other operators to do likewise, even if not immediately. We love it even more when they make their bundles last longer and reduce the often ludicrously inflated out-of-bundle rates, designed to trip consumers up. With its new data packages, MTN has done both. The operator’s new high-denomination data bundles offer an out-of-bundle rate of 29c/MB and are valid for 60 days – a substantial improvement on the previous 30 days, which made buying more cost-effective, large bundles difficult if you weren’t sure you’d use the full allocation within a…
Mobile operator Vodacom has re-launched its mobile payments system, M-Pesa, to the South African market. Though M-Pesa has proven hugely successful in Kenya and neighbouring Tanzania, the service failed to take off in South Africa when it was first launched in 2010. “When we first launched M-Pesa in 2010 we had high hopes that it would have the same kind of transformational impact seen in Kenya. We wanted to change the way South Africans handle money for the better. Each country has its own unique needs and challenges, and it has been a learning process getting to understand exactly what…
Search and online advertising giant Google is calling for South African school children to create and submit their own Google Doodles – the header images the company displays on its search engine landing page to commemorate special events – by 22 October. The winning Doodler will win a R100 000 technology grant for their school along with other prizes. The theme for submissions is “South Africa of My Dreams” and while there’s no limit to the number of entries each school or classroom may submit, only one entry per learner will be considered. Google says submissions that contain copyrighted images…