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Apple fails to delay major App Store changes
Apple Inc. failed to persuade a federal judge to push back a December deadline to change the lucrative business model for its App Store while the iPhone maker’s legal fight with Epic Games Inc. is appealed. Unless the iPhone maker wins a reprieve from an appeals court, it will soon have to start allowing developers
Vodacom agrees to buy a majority stake in Vodafone Egypt from its U.K. parent for $2.7 billion
Vodacom has announced it will acquire a controlling stake in Vodafone Egypt, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. The Vodacom Group will fund the acquisition of a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt by issuing 242 million new ordinary shares at R135.75 per share and R8.2 billion in cash. That values the proposed transaction at around
Google’s parent company briefly hits $2 trillion valuation
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, briefly hit a market cap of $2 trillion. The tech behemoth’s market cap is currently at a comfortable $1.98 trillion, but crept over the $2 trillion mark midday Monday, later closing out at $2,987.03 per share. Alphabet’s market cap has just about doubled from $1 trillion since January 2020. In the
Electric transportation startup BasiGo opens in Kenya after $1M Pre-Seed round
BasiGo, an electric e-mobility transportation startup has launched operations in Nairobi to transform public transport bus owners with cost-effective electric alternatives to diesel. The startup will retail locally assembled electric buses using parts from BYD Automotive – a Chinese EV maker. The $1 million pre-seed funding will help the company actualize its rollout and be
World’s largest hydro-floating solar farm goes live in Thailand
A floating solar farm that’s equivalent to about 70 soccer fields in size has begun generating power in Thailand, reflecting the country’s push to achieve carbon neutral status by 2050. The facility in Sirindhorn reservoir, about 660 kilometers (410 miles) east of the capital city Bangkok, is the world’s largest hydro-floating solar hybrid system, which
Alphabet hits $2 trillion in market value
Google parent Alphabet Inc. rallied Monday to breach $2 trillion in market value for the first time, fueled by a rebound in spending on digital ads and growth in its cloud business. Its Class A shares gained as much as 1.2% to hit an all-time high before paring the advance to close up 0.1% and
Telkom cellular towers business listing on the JSE
Telkom says it has made significant progress with its plan to list its masts and towers business, Swiftnet, on Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). It said that the progress includes, but is not limited to, formal engagements with the JSE. “Telkom believes that a separate listing of Swiftnet will affirm the valuation of the masts and
Load-shedding upgraded to Stage 4
Power utility Eskom has announced load-shedding will be increased from stage 2 to stage 4 load-shedding from 13:00 on Monday. Stage 4 will be implemented until 05:00 on Friday morning, after which stage 2 will resume until 05:00 on Saturday. Eskom had anticipated that an additional seven generating units would have returned to service by
Bitcoin hits R1 million
The value of bitcoin passed the R1 million milestone on South African cryptocurrency exchanges Luno, Valr, and AltCoinTrader in the early hours of Monday morning. It comes as the price of bitcoin surged overnight from under $62,000 to over $66,000 on dollar-denominated exchanges. Bitcoin’s price hit all-time highs in October following the launch of the first
MTN tried to buy Telkom — sources
MTN Group Ltd. recently made a takeover approach for Telkom SA SOC in a deal that would’ve combined South Africa’s second and third largest telecommunications operators, according to people familiar with the matter. Telkom has so far shown no interest in a sale, said the people, who asked to remain private as the talks are
Microsoft says it will end OneDrive updates to Windows 7 and 8 in March
Microsoft says OneDrive users on Windows, 7, 8, or 8.1 will be unable to sync their content to the cloud starting on March 1st, 2022, according to a blog post on its Tech Community forum. OneDrive will also no longer receive updates if it’s running on a system that doesn’t have Windows 10 or Windows
World Bank’s IFC partners with SA tech group to boost digital infrastructure
The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) has partnered with South Africa’s Liquid Intelligent Technologies to expand data centre capacity and roll out fibre-optic cable on the continent, the groups said in a joint statement on Monday. The link-up with Liquid Intelligent Technologies, formally Liquid Telecom, aims to increase digital connectivity in Africa and
Expect blackouts all weekend as Eskom pushes for stage 4 load-shedding
Eskom says that stage 4 load-shedding will be implemented from 14:00 on Friday until 05:00 on Saturday. After that, stage 2 load-shedding will continue until 05:00 on Monday, 8 November. This follows the shutdown of three generating units at Kendal Power Station, a unit trip each at Tutuka and Matimba power stations, and the delayed return to service
Affordable backup power to get you through load-shedding
With South Africa’s current load-shedding wealthier households may be planning a switch to entirely backup power power solutions to escape load-shedding, but a majority of South Africans cannot afford such products. There are more cost-effective solutions available that can keep essential equipment running during a load-shedding session. Eskom has announced stage 4 load-shedding until 05h00 on Saturday, and expects
New Mazda cars are so advanced, they will stop if driver suffers health problem
Cars already know how to park themselves, warn drowsy drivers, steer back into the right lanes and propose map routes to destinations. The cars Mazda has in the works for next year in Japan know when drivers have a stroke or heart attack. By 2025, the cars will even know when drivers are about to
Molnupiravir: First pill to treat Covid gets approval in UK
Britain granted conditional authorization on Thursday to the first pill shown to successfully treat COVID-19 so far. It also is the first country to OK the treatment from drugmaker Merck, although it wasn’t immediately clear how quickly the pill would be available. The pill was licensed for adults 18 and older who have tested positive
Microsoft warns Windows 11 features are failing due to its expired certificate
An expired digital certificate has broken several built-in apps and features for some users of Windows 11. Microsoft published a notice about the issue after numerous complaints on its Community Forums stating that attempting to open the Snipping Tool presented a “This app can’t open” error. The error’s description also stated that a problem with Windows was
Microsoft’s GitHub CEO steps down
GitHub CEO Nat Friedman is stepping down after three years at the company. Friedman originally joined Microsoft after the company acquired Xamarin, which Friedman helped found. He then took over as the head of GitHub when Microsoft acquired GitHub three years ago. Friedman is now returning to his startup roots. “With all that we’ve accomplished
MTN to sell shares in Nigeria unit
MTN Group Ltd. plans to sell shares in the carrier’s Nigeria unit worth about 101 billion naira ($244 million), continuing a plan to dispose of assets and pay down debt. Africa’s largest mobile-phone operator will offer 575 million shares in MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, which listed in Lagos in 2019, according to a statement on
Real reason South Africa’s petrol price keeps getting higher and higher
Two factors contribute significantly to South Africa’s high petrol prices, and neither of them is the global crude oil price. According to Wayne Duvenage, CEO at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), a weakening rand combined with the government’s inclination to increase taxes on motorists is to blame for high petrol prices. While the price of