Author: Chris Anu

SASSA says social grants are the livelihood of more than 19 million beneficiaries. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has moved to reassure pensioners after false claims were posted on various social media platforms.It says the old age grant will not be stopped in May, if certain documents are not updated by 30 April.In a statement, SASSA confirms the social media posts and screenshots are incorrect and fake, adding that the messages are mischievous.As a result, the agency has urged beneficiaries not to panic, as no grant will be cancelled.“SASSA only reviews grants that need to be reviewed at…

Anoosh Rooplal and Juanita Damons, the business rescue practitioners for the Post Office, have blamed a scheduling conflict for missing an important Tuesday meeting with MPs. They had been expected to address the national council of provinces’ select committee on economic development & trade, but failed to attend. According to Rooplal, who spoke on behalf of the pair in response to questions from TechCentral, the meeting had been moved to Tuesday from another, previously agreed date, but the two already had other commitments on the new date, prompting them to send representatives to parliament on their behalf instead. I feel…

Artificial Intelligence Triumphs in World’s Most Sophisticated Autonomous Drone Race in Abu Dhabi (Photo: AETOSWire) The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), part of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), in collaboration with the Drone Champions League (DCL), concluded the inaugural A2RL x DCL Autonomous Drone Championship in the Middle East, at ADNEC Marina Hall, Abu Dhabi, UAE. In a major breakthrough for autonomous flight and aerial robotics, Team MavLab’s AI drone outpaced a world-leading human pilot to win the AI vs Human Challenge. The head-to-head duel was the most complex ever staged, featuring finalists from the DCL Falcon Cup—some…

Samsung Electronics is not having a good start to 2025, at least when it comes to the latest software update for its ubiquitous smartphones. The roll-out of Samsung’s One UI 7, built on Android 15, has been highly anticipated for months. The software promises exciting features for millions of users. But it’s been a rocky road for the company. One UI 7 was officially completed on 17 March 2025, with Samsung initially planning a roll-out starting on 7 April to supported devices, including its premium Galaxy S series and Galaxy Z series handsets, beginning in its home market of South…

SA’s public service needs an adequately tech-skilled workforce to build strong state capacity. South Africa’s public service workforce lacks some of the technology skills essential for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).Additionally, even though most government officials are aware of these technologies, they struggle to apply them to enhance public administration and recognise how these can be used to optimise the efficiency of the state.This is based on insights from professor Mashupye Herbert Maserumule, who led a study of the skills and competencies required for the public service in a changing world.The study, done at the behest of the Public Service Sector…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg considered spinning off popular photo-sharing app Instagram in 2018 over concerns about the growing risk of antitrust scrutiny, according to a document shown at a trial in Washington on Tuesday. The document was shown during Zuckerberg’s second day of testimony at the high-stakes trial, in which the US Federal Trade Commission is seeking to unwind Meta’s acquisitions of prized assets Instagram and WhatsApp. “I wonder if we should consider the extreme step of spinning Instagram out as a separate company,” Zuckerberg said in the memo. At the time, the company was mulling plans to reorganise the…

Epson invests over $305 million annually in R&D. Electronics and printing solutions firm Epson has opened a new office and innovation centre in Johannesburg.Located in the heart of SA’s commercial hub, the centre will demonstrate Epson’s latest technology solutions, and help customers to develop new strategies, with a focus on sustainability and industry growth.Local data analysis, customer feedback and input from channel partners will be collected at the centre, to be shared with Epson’s global product design and engineering teams for the co-creating of regionally-relevant solutions, it says.The centre features a home cinema, smart laser projectors, EcoTank printers for home…

The Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) has taken the South African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) to court over the latter’s 2023 changes to the way public establishments including restaurants and hotels are charged music licensing fees. According to a statement by Fedhasa, restaurants and hotels were previously charged for music played in public spaces only, but the changes made extend these fees to music played from individual TV sets in private hotel rooms. “We are not disputing the usual fees that we have paying for over 30 years. What we are wanting clarification on from the court is…

Boomi CEO Steve Lucas Releases New Book: Digital Impact — The Human Element of AI-Driven Transformation Boomi, the intelligent integration and automation leader, today announced the release of Digital Impact: The Human Element of AI-Driven Transformation (Wiley), a bold new book by Boomi Chairman and CEO Steve Lucas. In it, Lucas makes a powerful case for a problem few business leaders are talking about: the AI revolution is doomed to stall unless we first fix the broken digital infrastructure that supports it. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250415679642/en/ With nearly 30 years of leadership at companies…

Nearly three billion people worldwide still don’t have reliable internet access. This hinders access to education, health care, economic advancement and basic communication, disproportionately affecting underserved regions across Africa, South Asia and Latin America. To try to address this problem, Google parent Alphabet’s X, The Moonshot Factory (previously X Lab) created Project Taara to harness the power of light to deliver high-speed internet wirelessly at low cost. Taara’s technological foundation lies in the legacy of another X project, Project Loon, which was cancelled before it reached commercial fruition. While Loon’s vision of stratospheric balloons delivering internet faced scalability and cost…