Author: Chris Anu
Canninah Dladla Energy and resource systems multinational Schneider Electric has appointed Canninah Dladla as its first female cluster president for English-speaking (Anglophone) Africa, effective from 1 June.A cluster president is responsible for company growth and digital transformation within a specific region.The company views the Anglophone Africa region – comprising 24 countries – as strategic because of its growing economies and expanding populations.Dladla has a well-established history with Schneider Electric from 2008 to 2013, spanning various strategic roles, including the position of VP for the company’s energy business within its power systems division. Dladla takes over from Devan Pillay, who will…
Google’s AI tool NotebookLM now supports Afrikaans, thanks to an update to its Audio Overview feature – effectively a way of creating on-demand podcasts in Afrikaans based on material provided by users. NotebookLM, built on Google’s Gemini large language models, now supports 50 languages, with Afrikaans and Swahili included in the latest update. The software lets users upload all kinds of documents, lecture notes, PDFs and even random stuff users might find online. They then can ask it questions and get detailed summaries. NotebookLM, built on Google’s Gemini, now supports 50 languages, with Afrikaans and Swahili With the expanded Audio…
Netflix’s new TV homepage will provide responsive recommendations and a new way to search. Netflix is exploring ways to bring generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to how viewers experience and interact with the platform.So says Netflix chief technology officer Elizabeth Stone, speaking during the streaming giant’s virtual product and tech event.During the event, Netflix presented its redesigned TV homepage, which it says emphasises flexibility, intuitive navigation and responsive recommendations. It also outlined how it plans to bring new ways for users to browse on mobile phones. According to Stone, Netflix has been leveraging machine learning and AI to suggest titles to…
US President Donald Trump’s proposed 100% tariff on films produced outside of the US poses a threat to South Africa’s – and more specifically Cape Town’s – film industry, where many international productions do their filming using local talent and skills. Trump has said that raising tariffs will force production companies to move filming back to the US , benefiting that economy. According to renowned South African film producer Anant Singh, however, Trump’s tariffs are unlikely to impact the choice by US production houses to film in South Africa because their costs locally would still be lower than on US…
Doug Woolley, incoming sales executive of Altron Digital Business. Digital solutions and IT services provider Altron Digital Business has appointed Doug Woolley as sales executive, effective 1 May.The appointment comes a week after Woolley announced his resignation as Dell Technologies South Africa GM, in a LinkedIn status update. Woolley, who also served as the company’s VP of sales for Southern Africa, was with Dell Technologies for 10 years.According to Altron Digital Business, Woolley brings over 30 years of experience in the ICT industry, with a proven track record of driving digital transformation, business development and sales leadership across several Southern…
Networking equipment wholesaler Switchcom Distribution has partnered with Huawei Technologies to bring new offerings to the South African market and elsewhere in Africa. In the first episode of this series, Switchcom national sales manager Lynton Brits and Huawei account manager Tanki Lebatla told TCS+ about the rationale behind the partnership and some of the networking and backup power equipment the companies have on offer. That video is available here. In this second episode of the series, Brits is back on TCS+, this time accompanied by Jan Keyser, CEO of Konnekt SP, a provider of networking solutions to small and medium…
SITA’s head office in Erasmuskloof, Pretoria. (Photograph by Lesley Moyo) The embattled State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is committed to working with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and other clients to iron out service delivery challenges, it says.This, as the agency continues to face delivery and capacity issues, which have led to the DHA reportedly seeking to cut ties with the state’s IT procurement arm. DHA branches – with the core function of managing identity, civil status and migration of citizens – frequently experience technology interruptions and network downtime issues, with the blame often placed on government IT agency…
Image: Alan Wilson South African Airways on Tuesday said its systems have recovered following a “significant cyber incident” that began on 3 May and disrupted access to the airline’s website, mobile app and “several internal systems”. “SAA immediately activated its robust disaster management and business continuity protocols upon detection of the incident,” the airline said in a statement. “These swift actions successfully contained the incident and minimised disruption to core flight operations. They also ensured the continued functionality of essential customer service channels, such as the airline’s contact centres and sales offices.” The security of our business systems and protection…
The breach prompted swift response measures, says South African Airways. South African Airways (SAA) has become the latest organisation to fall victim to a cyber attack.In a statement released today, the flagship carrier of South Africa says it has been impacted by a significant cyber incident that began on Saturday, 3 May.According to SAA, the breach temporarily disrupted access to the airline’s website, mobile application and several internal operational systems, prompting swift response measures to mitigate its effects.On Saturday, the airline took to social media to say: “SAA regrets to inform customers that we are experiencing an intermittent technical system…
Following an investigation by the Mpumalanga provincial government, the premier, Mandla Ndlovu, has promised that heads are going to roll in the scandal involving the irregular procurement by the provincial department of basic education of 22 Dell XPS laptops at the inflated cost of R91 482.50 per unit. The order cost the department more than R2-million. Speaking at a media briefing on Monday, Ndlovu said basic education department officials implicated in the scandal, whom he did not name, acted in a “grossly dishonest” manner by conducting an investigation into the very matter in which they are implicated. They misled the premier…