Weekly Round Up #34: Maker Faire, WhereIsMyTransport’s R12m round, IFA and Google’s new logo

Welcome to Weekly Roundup, our podcast discussing the tech trends, innovation and news from the last few days.

This week on BurnCast, Stuart Thomas, Jacques Coetzee, and Andy Walker are joined by a special guest Robyn Farah, the founder of KAT-O tech consultancy, Curiosity Campus and Arduino Cape Town.

The topics this week range from talking about making things at Cape Town Maker Faire, South African startup WhereIsMyTransport’s latest developments, IFA 2015 and Google’s new logo.

Read more: Google unveils sleek new logo, pushes it out on home page right away

At the conference a day before Cape Town Maker Faire began, the consensus was that making things is not seen as a sexy thing. Maker Faire is trying to change that, and bring sexy back to making things, if you will.

The other thing that Maker Faire is encouraging or at least focused is collaborations between inventors. These collaborations are useful to tackling massive problems.

The team and Farah, who was involved with Maker Faire, reflect on Maker Faire, the highlights, the future of open source, technology helping the general public.

Cities are faced with many problems and one of which is transportation. The problem is wider than that, affecting everything from service delivery, to the economy, and the usual everyday getting around of city living.

WhereIsMyTransport, the company responsible for Findmyway and TCT apps, just raised R12-million and have opened an office in Cape Town.

Read more: WhereIsMyTransport raises R12m, opens international office

IFA 2015, Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show, is currently on in Berlin, Germany. Tech companies are dishing out some really great devices, among which is the Sony Xperia Z5 premium which shoots 4K and plays it back on a 4K screen. The team looks at the Xperia Z5 premium smartphone and all the other devices that have been announced.

Google has been rolling out the changes in the past few months. First, it announced Alphabet, its holding company. Recently it changed its logo and almost caused everyone a heartache.

What is the difference between the old and new logo? What significance does it have? and how much does it cost to do all of this? The team discusses these questions.

If you want some more context, take a look at the stories below and join in the discussion:

3D printers, cardboard and a giant robot: Omar-Pierre Soubra on the magic of Maker Faire

Why South Africa really needs to embrace the Maker Movement

South Africa seriously needs to fix its education system to develop a knowledge economy

Memeburn gets the full story behind one man’s crazy Uber ride

Huawei to TomTom: 6 stand-out smartwatches from IFA 2015

5 questions about the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium that need answering

Huawei Mate S impresses at IFA 2015 with Samsung Galaxy-killing specs

Acer Jade Primo steals the show at IFA 2015, Predator line and Chromebook updated

Toshiba shoves a 4K screen in a 12.5-inch laptop for funsies