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Google in the middle of testing medical AI chatbot in hospitals
Google has launched Med-PaLM 2, which is a large language model (LLM) designed to answer medical questions, and it has been going through tests at various hospitals since April 2023. The company had Med-PaLM 2 take off at its I/O event in May 2023, and it is a variant of Google’s PaLM 2 — the
Affordable uncapped Internet for homes without fibre at 50Mbps
You don’t necessarily have a fibre network available in your area as there are several uncapped wireless Internet packages on the market with at least 50Mbps download speeds for South African households. As much as fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity has proliferated in the past few years, a lot of households in the country still don’t have
It seems like China’s tech crackdown is over
Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings saw their shares going up Hong Kong today after China’s US$984-million fine against the Jack Ma-founded Ant Group appeared to signal the end of a regulatory crackdown on the country’s technology sector. Coming shortly after the penalty last week, the Alibaba affiliate announced a share buyback that values the fintech
Discovery Health CEO on Government’s NHI model
Ryan Noach from Discovery Health has revealed that the single-funder model described in the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill would not be able to achieve the government’s goal of equitable access to healthcare. Revealing that Discovery Health does not endorse the single-funder model proposed in the NHI Bill, he said this approach is not only
Load shedding shoots up as snow hits Jo'burg
As South Africans are shivering due to one of the most powerful winter frontal systems in years, there is a higher demand for electricity which also means intensified load shedding. Eskom has revealed that high demand, coupled with a “slight reduction in generation capacity”, has resulted in the need to impose stage-4 load shedding from
Reports reveal SABC on the edge of collapse
According to SABC’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), the company is said to be in extreme financial distress and could be forced to apply for business rescue. Reports have also revealed that the company is set to announce a loss of more than R1 billion for the financial year ended March 2023. The company has mentioned
MTN committing to invest R65bn in Nigeria
MTN Group has made a commitment to invest $3.5 billion (R65 billion) in Nigeria over the next five years. Mcebisi Jonas who is the chairman for the Pan-African telecom provider, said the company’s plans for its most lucrative market on Friday when the telco’s executives and directors met Nigeria’s new president Bola Tinubu. Even though
US schools starting to deploy robots that can surveil campuses and confront intruders
Some schools in the United States have now turned to robots to help beef up campus security and potentially confront intruders. According to the Wall Street Journal reports, Santa Fe High School that is located in New Mexico, became among the first US schools to test an autonomous robot that uses artificial intelligence to learn
R3.4 billion issued for VIP protection a year
South African government spends more than R3 billion on VIP protection for government officials. But the most recent events have brought into question what exactly this money is being spent on. Talking to eNCA, Wayne Duvenage who is the CEO of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) said R3.4 billion was spent on VIP protection for
Vodacom’s Cape Town head office fire contained
The regional head office in Cape Town for Vodacom South Africa was on fire on Sunday the 9th of July. According to various eyewitness accounts on social media, it seems like the fire was on the roof of the building, which is covered in solar panels. Later then Vodacom gave and update that the fire
Transnet unable to use 700 locomotives
Transnet has been struggling to use 700 locomotives from its current stock due to a lack of spare parts and maintenance. Transnet Freight Rail chief commercial officer, Bonginkosi Mabaso revealed that the primary challenge is the lack of spare parts and an inability to maintain Transnet’s locomotive fleet, in an interview with Newzroom Afrika. Mabaso
Telkom grows in 5G adoption, reaching over 8m South Africans
Telkom is getting growth in 5G adoption among local customers, despite the local industry being marred by several barriers to implementation. Launching the fifth-generation technology in partnership with Huawei back in October, the telecoms group became the latest telco to step into SA’s increasingly competitive 5G market. During that time, the company revealed that it
4 200MW renewable in energy bids approved by Nersa
The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has given the green light to a generation of licences for five preferred bidders of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). The five selected bidders were approved at the department’s Bid Window 6 at the regulator’s meeting on
100,000 of jobs at stake due to visa mess
The gridlock that is affecting work-permit applications in South Africa is currently limiting expansion by German companies in the country and its threatening operations that support 100,000 jobs. Since South Africa is working to improve an approval system to make it easier and quicker to get permits, the snarl-up that was exacerbated by the Covid-19
Alibaba, Huawei venture into AI
Alibaba Group and Huawei Technologies have recently revealed that they have new products, which include an artificial intelligence image generator and an AI model upgrade as Chinese companies jostle for position in the global AI race. The Alibaba subsidiary, Alibaba Cloud presented at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai an image generator named Tongyi
Kariba solar project needs R4.7-billion in funding
Zimbabwe’s industrial electricity consumers and exporters has an aim to raise R4.7-billion (US$250-million) to build the first phase of floating solar panels on the world’s largest dam. A pre-feasibility study revealed that members of the Intensive Energy User Group, which also includes mining companies, will own 52% of a development company for the project to
Tecno launches 5G smartphone in SA
Tecno, the Chinese smartphone brand has launched a 5G-capable smartphone in SA, announcing the local availability of its Spark 10 5G. This launch comes as SA has witnessed an influx of 5G-enabled devices from big smartphone manufacturers over the couple of years, as mobile operators ramp-up 5G services. Tecno is a smartphone brand from China’s
Threads: Meta launches text-based Twitter rival
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has launched Threads, which is a text-based rival to Twitter. It already had more than 5-million sign-ups in the first few hours – but its release in Europe has been delayed over data privacy concerns. Threads at the moment is the biggest challenger yet to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has
Yoco launches Neo Touch
Yoco has revealed that is has now launched a new Yoco Neo Touch card machine, which offers unlimited 4G data and all-day battery life. Coming at a cost of R899, in order for businesses to start transacting immediately once they have the small blue device, is to sign up on the Yoco app to process
justice department nailed by Info Regulator over cyberattack
The Information Regulator has given out a R5-million administrative fine on the department of justice & constitutional development. This punishment is said to be the first of its kind in South Africa and follows the justice department’s failure to comply with an enforcement notice issued on 9 May within the given 31-day period. The requirements