Author: Chris Anu
Energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters South Africa expects to lift the care and maintenance status of its Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) by the first quarter of next year or even earlier, energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on Wednesday. Once considered a global leader in the development of small modular nuclear reactors, South Africa halted its PBMR research in 2010 after spending more than R10-billion and before building a planned demonstration model. “We are far advanced in our internal processes to make the case to lift the care and maintenance on the PBMR,” Ramokgopa told a media briefing. We…
SITA’s head office in Erasmuskloof, Pretoria. (Photograph by Lesley Moyo) The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has cited missed revenue targets for its inability to fill a few hundred approved vacancies.Earlier this month, reports emerged that the government IT procurement arm had a gaping hole of vacancies, which equated to nearly 60%, with 435 of 759 newly-created posts empty. The insights were based on the 2024/25 annual report tabled in Parliament. However, SITA has since issued a statement to clarify what it says are figures that have been “incorrectly interpreted” in some media reports. According to SITA, a total number…
Dado Ruvic/Reuters OpenAI has unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a long-anticipated AI-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot, in a direct challenge to Google Chrome’s dominance. The launch marks OpenAI’s latest move to capitalise on 800 million weekly active ChatGPT users, as it expands into more aspects of users’ online lives by collecting data about consumers’ browser behaviour. It could accelerate a broader shift towards AI-driven search, as users increasingly turn to conversational tools that synthesise information instead of relying on traditional keyword-based results from Google — intensifying competition between OpenAI and Google. The browser is now available globally on macOS.…
The global AWS outage showed that online services are heavily dependent on a handful of infrastructure and cloud service providers. (Image source: 123RF, created via GenAI) Analysts and industry players are urging organisations to review their cloud computing environments following the global outage experienced yesterday by Amazon Web Services (AWS).The outage disrupted internet services worldwide, affecting popular platforms such as Snapchat, Fortnite, Starbucks, Ring and Alexa.The disruption, traced to a DNS and network load-balancer failure in AWS’s US-EAST-1 region, caused login errors, payment issues, and downtime across banks, airlines and government services.Although Amazon restored most systems, the incident highlighted the…
South Africa spends a lot of time worrying about anchor industries like mining, finance and energy. They dominate headlines and boardroom agendas, but while we watch those traditional levers creak and strain, we’re ignoring a resource that could impact our long-term growth trajectory significantly. South Africa has one of the richest pools of diversely experienced technology professionals on the African continent, if not the world. We have traditional professionals like lawyers, accountants, doctors and teachers who are leading some of the most revolutionary technological changes in healthcare, law, education, biotech and more. We have architects who have kept banking systems…
Aptiv unveils new Gen 8 Radars Aptiv PLC (NYSE: APTV), a global technology company focused on enabling a safer, greener, and more connected future, today announced its most advanced radar technology to date—engineered to meet the evolving demands of future advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Powered by Aptiv’s proprietary antenna and silicon design, the Gen 8 radars deliver the class-leading performance and high-resolution sensing needed to support AI- and machine learning–driven ADAS capabilities. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251015954076/en/Aptiv’s Gen 8 radars unlock new possibilities for hands-free driving in complex urban environments, delivering advanced perception with…
Certus co-founders Adam Gamieldien, Isaac Nichols and Gurveer Singh (CEO) A South African AI start-up, led by 19-year-old entrepreneur Gurveer Singh, has secured the backing of Y Combinator, the prestigious Silicon Valley business accelerator that has backed the likes of OpenAI and Airbnb. Founded in Cape Town by Singh, who serves as CEO, and by Adam Gamieldien (20) and Isaac Nichols (23), Certus AI was founded with the aim of making restaurant bookings as well as food orders and deliveries seamless and automated using advanced, voice-based artificial intelligence tools, helping restaurants maximise their sales in the process. Singh said in…
Tyme Group CEO Coen Jonker Digital-first banking platform and fintech TymeBank intends to rebrand itself as GoTyme in the first half of 2026, aligning with its brand identity in some of its international markets. According to a report by News24 on Monday, the rebrand was announced during a closed investor session hosted by TymeBank last week. “We are indeed in the process of evolving our brand in South Africa to reflect our continued growth, maturity and commitment to customers across the economic spectrum,” TymeBank spokeswoman Pontsho Ramontsha told TechCentral. We’re looking forward to unveiling the elevated brand identity once all…
Andrew Harris, chief sales and marketing officer, DCC Technologies. When I speak with resellers across South Africa, one message comes through clearly: they are tired of disruption. The hype, the endless change, the promise of “new platforms/new models/new everything” often creates uncertainty rather than opportunity. What resellers really need is traction: clarity, predictability and support. Distribution must deliver, not just disrupt.Innovation in our industry should never be about chaos. It should be about making life easier for the people who keep the channel alive. For resellers, that means predictable pricing, reliable stock availability and systems that save them time. When…
Amazon Web Services was recovering on Monday from a widespread outage that knocked out thousands of websites along with some of the world’s most popular apps — Snapchat and Reddit — and disrupted businesses globally. The turmoil marked the largest internet disruption since last year’s CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports, and highlights the vulnerability of the world’s interconnected technologies. The impact in South Africa, however, seems to have been minimal, with the worst effects felt by US technology platform providers. After roughly three hours of disruptions, systems were gradually coming back online as of 12pm…