Gartner: 10 strategic tech trends for 2017

In one way or another, Facebook users had to deal with News Feed. Be it a scorned or a pleasant interaction, one doesn't have much choice in the matter. It seems like yesterday that the News Feed was a contentious issue amongst Facebook users but time flies and the feature is now 10 years old. One cannot, at least now, think of the social network and not think of News Feed but the feature hasn't always been there. For more than two years in fact, Facebook had no News Feed, just friends' profiles. Zuckerberg admitted on his Facebook profile that the feature wasn't...

News moves at the speed of social media in today’s world, and that’s especially the case on the weekend. Take a look at the world news you might’ve missed this weekend through the 140-character lens of Twitter. Welcome to the Weekend News in Tweets (2 September – 4 September). Pope Francis Sunday declared Mother Teresa a saint, at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City. Mother Teresa, also known as Saint of the Gutters, served as a nun in Kolkata, India. She was declared a saint just 19 years after her death. After the service, a number of Mother Teresa's followers declared...

The first Apollo computer has been tracked down and "unboxed" by a South African computer engineer. According to Gadget.co.za, Tshwane computer engineer Francois Rautenbach managed to track down the first Guidance and Navigation Control computer, used for a test flight of the Saturn 1B rocket in 1966. Gadget reported that this was the same computer model used on Apollo 11. "On 25th August 1966, a very special computer was launched into space onboard (sic) Apollo flight AS-202," reads the intro for the first video. "This was the first computer to use integrated circuits and the first release of the computer that took the astronauts...

News that WhatsApp would be sharing data with Facebook has been greeted with concern by quite a few people. The arrangement will see your phone number number, contact list and usage data being shared with the world's biggest social network. WhatsApp to swap personal info with Facebook, here’s how to disable it WhatsApp has announced a change of terms of service that will allow it to share your personal information with Facebook. It’s the first change in terms since it was bought by Facebook in 2014, and for one, it’s a pretty big one. Read more... But what exactly is being shared...

Finnish company Nokia may no longer be a staple in the smartphone manufacturing space, but that doesn't mean it's totally out of the loop regarding software. The company's latest edition of its malware paper-- officially dubbed the Nokia Threat Intelligence Report -- uncovers some dark numbers in the world of malicious smartphone software. How dark? Well, for one, smartphones are becoming increasingly targeted in malware attacks. The report, which covers the first half of 2016, discovered a 96% increase in the average smartphone infection rate, up from 0.25% to 0.49%. This number peaked in April, when one out of every 120...

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket "anomaly" isn't the first time we've seen a rocket explosion. Be it on the launchpad or in flight, these incidents have happened before. From China to the USA, we looked at six prominent examples of RUD involving rockets over the years. China's Long March explosion One of the most controversial space incidents, a Chinese Long March rocket veered off-course during a 1996 launch, crashing into a village in the process. The 2014 Antares explosion Orbital ATK's Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule exploded less than 30 seconds after launch in October 2014. Russia's catastrophic Proton rocket failure in 2013 The July 2013 failure of a Proton rocket a...

Welcome to Weekly Round Up, our podcast discussing the latest tech trends, innovation, and news from the last few days. This week, Hadlee Simons plays host to Matthew Alexander and Andy Walker. We tackle mostly Gearburn this week, well, because of IFA 2016's bountiful launches. This week's podcast is all about smartphones, Mark Z and signals from outer space This includes the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch (which is also heading to South Africa), the iPhone-like HTC One A9s, the new Lenovo-made Moto Z Play and its huge camera attachment, and finally Acer's manic Predator 21 X gaming laptop. We also talk famous people this...

Arguably artificial intelligence has no place in creating art, which is a uniquely human experience. But it seems that both IBM and 20th Century Fox thoroughly disagrees. A new trailer for a film dubbed Morgan has been put together by the IBM Watson supercomputer, and it's riveting. Not giving away too much of the story while keeping viewers interested to see more, the Morgan trailer is one of the most uncomfortable trailers I've seen in ages. Morgan, starring Kate Mara and Anya Taylor-Joy, tells the story of a lab experiment gone wrong, and a corporate analyst's endeavour to solve the problem. Artificial...

Apple has quietly announced plans to remove certain apps from its App Store. The company issued new guidelines on its developer section this week, revealing that it will pull apps that don't meet requirements. "To make it easier for customers to find great apps that fit their needs, we want to ensure that apps available on the App Store are functional and up-to-date," the company explained. "We are implementing an ongoing process of evaluating apps, removing apps that no longer function as intended, don’t follow current review guidelines, or are outdated." The Cupertino company said that the new process will begin on 7...

If you've been pining to zoom in on your Instagram crush's photographs, now you can. The social network announced on its own Instagram page that users can now "pinch to zoom on photos and videos in feed, on profiles and on Explore". Starting today, you can pinch to zoom on photos and videos in feed, on profiles and on Explore. Dive into an adorable puppy’s smile or into every detail of your friend’s new shirt. Over the past six months, you’ve seen many exciting changes come to Instagram, from a new icon to longer videos and even a new way to...

In the wake of the SpaceX Falcon 9 explosion that rocked Cape Canaveral yesterday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg issued a response on Facebook. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explodes at Cape Canaveral Here’s something you don’t hear everyday. A Falcon 9 rocket developed and owned by private company SpaceX has reportedly exploded at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The incident occurred Wednesday around 3pm South African time. The rocket was reportedly resting on the launch pad prior to a test before bursting into flames. Read more... The social networking giant had special interest in the Falcon 9, as it was carrying an Israeli-made satellite...

Update 2: 2 September, 7.44pm: SpaceX shed more light on the incident, saying the "anomaly originated around the upper stage oxygen tank" and happened while propellant was being loaded. Update: 1 September, 4.43pm: SpaceX has emailed a press statement on the matter, revealing that the explosion was caused by an "anomaly" on the launchpad. "SpaceX can confirm that in preparation for today's standard pre-launch static fire test, there was an anomaly on the pad resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its payload. Per standard procedure, the pad was clear and there were no injuries," the company explained. Original article: Here's...

There's never a dull moment in the life of Felix Kjellberg aka PewDiePie, and that usually extends to his YouTube videos. But the infamous streamer has landed himself in hot water with Twitter and "America" for removing his verification tick on Twitter. The YouTube star's Twitter account endured a few ups and downs yesterday. Sequence of events PewDiePie, according to a vlog, had his Twitter verification tick removed from his account, instead replacing it with a globe. After this, a news source masquerading as Sky News tweeted a fake article suggesting that the star's verification was removed "due to suspected relations with...

All efforts in business are ultimately to retain existing customers and attract new ones. This is exactly what is at the heart of Pinterest's new targeting updates. Announced today, the social network has introduced new ways for brands to reach potential customers that are ready to make a purchase. The new system will allow businesses to target consumers based on engagements with brands on Pinterest. The update further expands how businesses can target people who visit their website. Brands can also retarget users. For instance, if a user interacts with the brand's pin about snack ideas, businesses can retarget that user...

The quest to find extraterrestrial life was given a short-lived boost this week when the SETI Institute (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) announced the discovery of an interesting signal. According to the institute, Russian astronomers operating the RATAN-600 radio telescope detected a radio signal from a star system 94 light years away. The system, called HD164595, is a few billion years older than our own, but has a star of comparable brightness and size, the institute explained. And there is indeed at least one planet orbiting the star. "This system is known to have one planet, a Neptune-sized world in a very tight orbit, making...