Today, improving urban services through digital transformation is a huge industry, dominated by the likes of Cisco and IBM. But the idea of a “smart city” encompasses more than the clever application of technology in urban areas. That technology must also contribute to making cities more sustainable, and improving the quality of life for the people who live there.
You may have read about – or already seen, depending on where you are – the latest tweak to Facebook’s interface: the disappearance of the likes counter. Like Instagram (which it owns), Facebook is experimenting with hiding the number of likes that posts receive for users in some areas (Australia for Facebook, and Canada for Instagram).
Well so much for the future of game consoles being all-streaming, all the time. Sony’s officially confirmed the name of its next console and has also given us a release window. You can expect to play games on a PlayStation 5 from the “…holidays 2020”. That’s around November/December this end of the world, since we’ve got holidays all over the place.
The event is to mark the 35th anniversary of the Ghostbusters franchise and takes place at the Ginza Sony Park in Tokyo from 12 October this year. The event will see trainers leading participants sporting “…Ghostbuster uniforms, proton packs, and other props used in the filming of the Ghostbusters movie released in 2016”
Fujifilm has announced a true pocket printer called the Instax Mini Link that uses your smartphone camera to print on-the-go using the Mini Link app.
At the close of June’s G20 summit in Japan, a number of developing countries refused to sign an international declaration on data flows – the so-called Osaka Track. Part of the reason why countries such as India, Indonesia and South Africa boycotted the declaration was because they had no opportunity to put their own interests about data into the document.
This comes up every time Amazon’s Kindle turns up with anything new: Most of Stuff would get rid of… pretty much all the other tech before giving up our Kindles. And now there’s something for the little ones to enjoy — there’s a new Kindle Kid’s Edition on the way.
This week in Light Start, we’ve got yet more Star Wars branded kit, a series from Tinder, Bose Sleepbuds go bye-bye and Red Dead Redemption hits PCs soon.
For autistic children, online social interactions can be just as fraught as those in the offline world. The community at Autcraft, which is built around a customised version of the popular game Minecraft, has set out to create a safe virtual playground.
South Africa has not been immune to the hype. The government has shifted its focus and resources to the 4IR. And it’s prioritised over more mundane, but essential, policy interventions aimed at ensuring the more equitable inclusion of the populace into a modern, digital economy.