At Home

Clayson Monyela, Dirco

The South African government needs to realise the benefits of the Internet of everything and start deploying it in government systems, said David Mphelo, Cisco SA executive director for public sector business. Mphelo said while the capabilities and benefits of the Internet of everything are being highlighted globally, it is more within SA’s reach than it might seem. – ITWeb

The Paris-headquartered customer experience company, The Webhelp Group, will make a “significant inward investment” in SA as it opens up operations here that are expected to create 1 000 new jobs. The company will open a 7 500m2 facility in Cape Town, and a 4 500m2 site in Johannesburg, it said in a statement. – ITWeb

Ubuntu Radio will not be used for propaganda, but rather as a platform to engage, communicate with and educate South Africans on the country’s foreign policy, according to Clayson Monyela, Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) spokesperson. He said Dirco realised there was a need for a platform where foreign policy can be discussed, and Ubuntu Radio was born. – ITWeb

The Recycling Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) is a first for the global tyre recycling industry. Speaking at a REDISA Roadshow event in Johannesburg, Hermann Erdmann, REDISA CEO, noted that, should nothing be done about the pollution epidemic, the world’s economies could be reduced by as much as 20% by 2050. – ITWeb

TechRig, a provider of audiovisual, lighting, sound and structures, has brought Barco’s HDF-W26 and HDQ-2K40 projectors to SA. The company believes the projectors will be useful for those in the branding, event and technical industries. “This is a focused, targeted medium,” said TechRig CEO Michael Collyer. “It offers the capability of projecting multimedia at an unprecedented size and quality,” added Collyer. – ITWeb

Samsung Electronics Africa brought two of its Solar Powered Health Centres to Cosmo City, Johannesburg. This is in line with the consumer electronics brand’s drive to reach one million South Africans with its mobile healthcare offerings by 2015, and to positively impact the lives of five million people in Africa by 2015. – ITWeb

SA’s first commercially available fully-electric car, the Nissan Leaf, went on sale at the Johannesburg International Motor Show. The Leaf retails for R446 000, including a three-year/90 000km service plan linked to service intervals of 15 000km. “This is the car that is starting what will become a new trend in South African motoring,” said Mike Whitfield, MD of Nissan SA. – ITWeb

Local companies are keen to get on board with a project that seeks to push more cost-effective smartphones and tablets out of a factory on Johannesburg’s East Rand. Two South African firms, Seemahale Telecoms and CZ Electronic Manufacturing, have teamed up on a project that will see smartphones and tablets being designed and put together in a Boksburg factory from the first quarter of next year. – ITWeb

OpenView HD – positioned by Platco Digital as “Africa’s first free-to-air HD satellite television platform” – has gone live. Maxwell Nonge, MD of Platco Digital, etv’s sister company, said the offering addresses SA’s underserviced market. Platco recently revealed OpenView HD’s channel offering, which consists of over 10 new channels, as well as SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 and etv. – ITWeb

A circular issued by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) revealed retraining teachers from the four provinces, who use Java as part of the IT curriculum, to now start using Delphi, will cost approximately R950 000. The circular notes that while teachers using Java will need Delphi training, the “concepts are the same and training will only need to focus on the new environment”. – ITWeb

Into Africa

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Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria" />Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) plans to offer online training and certification to those enlisted as informal staff in future elections. The Electoral Institute (TEI), a training and research agency of INEC, is planning to conduct the programme, said Kayode Idowu, the chief press secretary to INEC chairman Professor Attahiru Jega. – ITWeb Africa

Pornography accounts for more than 50% off all pirated DVDs that the Zambia Police Intellectual Property Unit has intercepted. This is according to a report in Times of Zambia over the weekend, which has quoted the police unit’s national co-ordinator Omari Muwowo. “Unfortunately, pornography is on the increase among the counterfeit DVDs the intellectual property has been intercepting,” Muwowo said. – ITWeb Africa

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan has praised educator and elderly politician, Edwin Clark, who has kick-started plans to establish a university of technology in his hometown of Kiagbodo. “I commend Nigerians who are contributing to this sector through the setting up of private technology universities,” said Jonathan. It is no accident that the proposed Edwin Clark University is primarily focused on technology, Jonathan added. – ITWeb Africa

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has distributed hundreds of computers at schools and tertiary institutions as part of efforts to empower learners in the region. Acting MD of the commission, Dr Christy Atako, disclosed this while handing over computers and accessories to some of the beneficiary secondary schools in the Odukpani local government area in Nigeria’s Cross River State. – ITWeb Africa

Students at a local Namibian tertiary institution have turned to cellphones and laptops to vote in their student representative council (SRC). The Polytechnic of Namibia has tested the mobile election system, developed by IT solutions firm Adapt IT. Juanita Frans, manager, computer services department, Polytechnic of Namibia, said this is ‘the first time in Namibia’ that an election of this nature has been conducted electronically. – ITWeb Africa

Kenya’s electricity distributor Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) plans to lease its fibre-optic cables to add $5.9 million to its earnings. The company’s 1 800 km-fibre network has 48 strands, and Kenya Power plans to offer 36 of these for leasing. Chief manager, information technology and telecommunications, Samuel Ndirangu, said KPLC has finalised talks with mobile network provider Airtel and the Kenya Electricity Generating Company. – ITWeb Africa

Mobile money and security technologies company, Tagattitude; and cross-border, micro-value transfer provider, Prepay Nation, have struck a partnership to make remittances easier in countries such as Uganda and Ivory Coast. According to a company statement, the partnership seeks to connect the customers in Prepay Nation’s distribution network with the mobile money services running on TagPay. – ITWeb Africa

Wholesale satellite carrier Gilat Satcom has established a new point of presence in Ghana (POP). Gilat Satcom’s new Ghanaian POP is directly connected to Ghana’s existing fibre network. “We are investing heavily in both our fibre and satellite operations throughout Africa,” says Dan Zjicek, Gilat Satcom’s CEO. “This expansion of our service in Ghana will increase both capacity and speeds,” added Zjicek. – ITWeb Africa

Abroad

John Sculley

Hewlett-Packard Co is seeking buyers for some of its mobile-computing patents, Bloomberg reported. The company has approached potential buyers about the portfolio of patents, which include those related to webOS – the smartphone and tabletcomputer operating system that HP acquired through its 2010 acquisition of Palm. HP sold the webOS operating system to South Korea’s LG Electronics earlier this year, but retained the patents. – Reuters

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics has apologised to Chinese customers for problems with some mobile phones, after a broadcast on China Central Television criticised Samsung repair policies. “As far as management problems caused inconvenience to our customers, we offer our sincere apologies,” Samsung Electronics said in a notice on its Chinese Web site. – Reuters

Former Apple CEO John Sculley is exploring a joint bid for smartphone maker BlackBerry with Canadian partners, The Globe and Mail reported, citing unnamed sources. The report said Sculley declined to comment on the matter, but told the Canadian newspaper he has been a long-time BlackBerry fan and user. – Reuters