Author: Nic Boerma

South Africa may not have a lot of seismic trouble but the rest of the world could do with some more effective earthquake sensors. Smartphones may just be the answer to that, according to scientists who published a recent report in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. The current generation of smartphones, says the report, feature MEMS accelerometers which are capable of detecting earthquakes of magnitude 5 or higher, provided they are fairly close to the epicenter of the seismic event. Getting caught in a magnitude 9 earthquake isn’t anybody’s idea of a barrel of laughs but the…

Former CEO Michael Jordaan’s first job since leaving First National Bank is to be the chairman of Mxit, the Stellenbosch-based social network. Jordaan, who eschewed the traditional image of a banker during his decade-long reign, has made FNB one of the most successful and innovative banks in the world, according to a plethora of awards. “Firstly, mobile is the future. Secondly the youth is the future and the third thing is I really like the refocused [Mxit] strategy focussed on chat,” he told Business Day exclusively. “I see my role as non-executive, and it is really to support Francois who…

Brand consultancy company Interbrand has totaled up the figures for 2013 in order to determine which global company has the most valuable brand. Hardly surprising is Apple’s ascendancy to the top spot, a little more surprising is that the smartphone and tablet maker has knocked Coca-Cola off its 13-year perch to do so. Google has secured the number two spot in the Best Global Brand rankings, with Coca-Cola dropping to third place. Interbrand has set the value of Cupertino’s Apple brand at $98.3 billion and, based on the graph featured at the consultancy’s website, it’s easy to see how Apple…

Are you up for a laugh? Stuff Magazine has got a set of double tickets to the #JoziComedy event which will be taking place on 2 October. And we’d like to give them to one lucky winner. Now, there are some terms and conditions attached to this giveaway, aside from the obligatory entry form below. The winner will have to be a resident of Johannesburg and will have to be able to present themselves at the Protea Fire and Ice Hotel in Melrose Arch between 19:00 and 19:30 on Wednesday, 2 October. And… the winner and their partner will have to be…

We’ve had one lucky winner already but it’s right about time for the second. For the month of September we had two Yamaha Restio ISX 800 audio systems to give away and the second is going to to a new home today. Before we get to the good stuff, as always, here is some detail on how the competition draw works. Winner’s names are drawn randomly by a computer which discards multiple instances of the same details so multiple entries don’t give entrants an unfair advantage. Once the name has been drawn, the entry is examined to see whether the…

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Cellular provider Vodacom and fixed-line operator Neotel have announced that the two companies have entered into negotiations which could result in Vodacom acquiring 100% of shares in Neotel. The talks are not final and the buyout depends on “successful conclusion of commercial negotiations” as well as regulatory and commercial approval. Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said in a statement “There are a number of important steps that we still need to complete in order to conclude the transaction. If the deal is implemented, Vodacom intends to put significant investment into the combined entity to provide high-speed fixed connectivity to many…

Prosthetics are an innovation that has made life bearable for thousands and, as techniques for limb replacement become ever more advanced, the odds of having a normal life increase dramatically. Groups like the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) have been doing work on bionics and the RIC has just published details of a bionic leg which is controlled by the wearer’s thoughts. The mind-controlled bionic leg, the product of four year in development and $8 million in funding from the US Army, is able to switch between different modes of movement if the user simply thinks about a different type of…

It looks like Samsung is even busier than it appeared earlier this week, when news of a Samsung Galaxy handset featuring a curved display first pitched up. Korean website ETNews is reporting that Samsung has yet another device in the works and this one is a little off-centre for the company. The apparent handset, being called the Galaxy F, is described as being a metal-bodied smartphone sporting the South Korean company’s Exynos 5 Octa processor. A flexible AMOLED display and 16MP camera – possibly with optical image stabilisation – are also claimed to be heading to the as-yet unconfirmed device,…

Sometimes your eyes see something which looks just a little bit unreal. The short film above, titled ‘Box’, is definitely one of these. The visual effects seen above are achieved through a variety of technological effects, such as projection mapping onto a moving surface. The creators have called it “…the culmination of multiple technologies, including large scale robotics, projection mapping, and software engineering.” But that’s not really an adequate explanation, you need to see it for yourselves.