Nearly six in 10 South African registered voters would accept exempting US companies from black economic empowerment requirements if it brought investment and jobs, according to polling published by The Common Sense – and support is strongest among black voters. The Social Research Foundation’s (SRF’s) second-quarter 2026 market survey found 47% of voters strongly agreed…
Following an improbable initial leak via a scuba diving discovery, Google has officially launched the Pixel Watch 5. While the smartwatch’s exterior design closely mirrors its predecessor, it introduces major health-monitoring algorithms, expanded storage, and performance tweaks beneath the hood. Read: Google unveils Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL Rather than overhauling the external hardware,…
Big-four bank Standard Bank’s IT spend reached R11.8 billion for the six months ended 30 June. Standard Bank Group says 72% of employees were active users of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, as of 30 June, with 87 use cases approved. This, as the bank continues to scale the deployment of technology and AI across…
South Africa could put a satellite into orbit on a locally built rocket by 2030 – if someone finds R3-billion and the team building it grows sixfold. That is the ambition of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Aerospace Systems Research Institute (ASRI), which is developing the liquid-fuelled Saffire engine and the two-stage commercial launch vehicle (CLV)…
South Africa’s spectrum landscape is shifting. If you operate a network, provide satellite services or are simply keeping track of where South African connectivity is headed, here is what has changed, when it changed and why it matters. Livia Dyer, Karl Blom, partners & Humayra Hajat, senior associate at Webber Wentzel, explain how South Africa’s…
Alongside its new Pixel 11 smartphone lineup, Google has unveiled the Pixel Tag, an elongated, pill-shaped item tracker designed to compete directly with Apple’s AirTag and Samsung’s SmartTag 2. Compactly built at 45.7 × 27.9 × 5.1 mm, the accessory is broadly compatible with devices running Android 9 or later, allowing users to pair it…
The University of Johannesburg introduces African languages to its chatbot, MoUJi. The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has enhanced its AI-powered chatbot, MoUJi, with multilingual capabilities that allow prospective and current students to engage in isiZulu, Afrikaans, Sesotho or English. Originally launched in 2019 as a conventional chatbot, MoUJi has been upgraded with large language model technology,…
A business today functions as a complex ecosystem in which every participant influences the results, the reputation and, more importantly, the sustainability of the wider organisation. Every business sits inside a vast network of partners, suppliers and service providers whose actions ripple across industries. Resilience therefore depends not only on internal protection measures but on…
NASA engineers have successfully executed a power-saving update dubbed “Big Bang,” extending the operational life of the Voyager 2 probe’s scientific instruments by another year. Nearly 50 years after launch, the spacecraft relies on a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) that converts heat from decaying plutonium into electricity, losing roughly 4 watts of power annually. Read:…
Tertia Barrett, area VP of sales at nCino KYC, addressing delegates at the company’s Fighting Financial Crime Conference 2026. (Image supplied) Fraud, corruption, state capture and human trafficking are fuelling financial crime in SA, according to nCino KYC. The fintech software and services company has urged the financial services industry to mobilise resources – including…
