A good way to think of "digital transformation" is as a coin: it is one coin, but with two complementary sides. You cannot have a head without a tail and you can’t have a tail without a head. These two sides "go with" each other, they are complementary opposites but intrinsically related. On the one side, digital transformation is the process of changing existing business processes, organisational activities and business models so that the business ends up being more digitally enabled to deliver products and services to the end client. On the other side, it considers the amount of introspection...
Meanwhile on the less acerbic side of the Facebook spectrum, Instagram this week introduces a new feature to users' bios. "Today, we’re introducing hashtag and profile links in bio, a new way to express yourself and the things you care about," the company writes in an update. Said new way to express yourself comes courtesy of "live links" in your biography, whenever you use an @ or # ahead of a word that leads to a another profile or a hashtag. And if you can't quite think of a popular hashtag, the company will recommend a few to you once you've...
So people are talking about Facebook a lot this week. You know, that social network that only Baby Boomers seem to use now? It somehow has more than two-billion users at present, and that number for data collection firms is a goldmine just waiting to be ravaged. Speaking of which, one particular company through a series of ducks, dips, dives and dodges, has garnered a hefty slice of this information. Here's what you need to know about the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook data siphoning fiasco. What is Cambridge Analytica? Cambridge Analytica is a privately-owned firm based in London, England, but has satellite offices...
YouTube will ban videos that promote guns, gun accessories and educational videos on firearms, the company announced in a relatively silent update. The company rewrote its policies regarding content featuring firearms, meaning that content creators will now have to think twice about uploading gun-related videos to the service. YouTube will now prohibit videos that "intends to sell firearms or certain firearms accessories through direct sales" or attached links within the video itself. These accessories include automatic gun conversion kits -- like bump stocks or gatling triggers -- and high capacity magazines carrying in excess of 30 rounds. The Google-owned video giant will...
The autonomous car industry has been dealt a major blow this week. On Sunday, an Uber self driving vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona. The 49-year-old pedestrian was reportedly walking alongside her bicycle "outside the crosswalk" when she was hit. It's the first time a self driving car was involved in a pedestrian death. The car involved was a modified Volvo XC90 fitted with Uber's sensing technology, and occupied by a human in the driver's seat keeping tabs on the vehicle's systems. Additionally, said systems are supposed to react to obstacles in the vehicle's path and markings along the road,...
Human Rights Day is nearly upon us, but do you know your rights fellow South African? If you don't, now is the perfect time to familiarise yourself with them all while planning for your holiday. Here are four nifty apps which will help you with both. South African law and Constitution You know the Constitution? The document that dictates South Africans' extensive list of rights? It might be a good idea to keep it handy, don't you think? There are a slew of apps on the Google Play Store and Apple iOS App Store, but we're picking this particular gem. It has advertisements --...
This week's SA box office report is significant. For one, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is finally out of the top ten. And secondly, Tomb Raider made its debut. The remake of the classic Angelina Jolie-starring video game adaptation swings into second place, behind the rock of Wakanda, Black Panther. The Ryan Coogler flick spends its fifth week at number one. But which other movies made an impact this weekend? (16 - 18 March) Last week's runner up Death Wish falls two places, relegated by Tomb Raider and Gnome Alone. Game Night is back up to fifth place after falling one spot last...
When Google Play Instant launched on the Play Store last year, users could experience apps without installing them to their devices. It's a novel idea, and saves users the time and space usually needed when installing apps. But now, the feature just got even more useful. Google this week announced that Google Play Instant is now available for a select number of games listed on Google Plays. "With Google Play Instant, you can just tap and try a game without having to download it first -- whether you’re looking to storm a castle on Clash Royale or become a wordmaster with Words with Friends 2,"...
We live in a world where there is more information captured on a minute-by-minute basis about our daily lives than ever before. Practically everything we do leaves a trail. With IoT becoming more of a reality each day with almost every home appliance potentially getting an IP address. Data analytics is the art of recognising the patterns in this melange of data and extracting meaningful behaviour altering insights from it. The career of a data scientist is relatively new. As a degree (yip; you can get a degree in data science now) is one of the fastest growing disciples in varsities today. The...
So Cape Town... Do you want the good news or bad news first? It's a Monday, so let's start with the good news. The good news is that dam levels decreased by just 0.3% over the previous week. The bad news is that water consumption has spiked by more than 50-million litres per day compared to last Monday's figure. Last week Friday, deputy mayor Ian Neilson praised the City of Cape Town and its residents for its globally-recognised water saving efforts. "Our commendable water usage is increasingly recognised as a phenomenal achievement across the world. Thanks to this effort our dam levels are...
Have too many WhatsApp groups with arbitrary names? Well now you can add a "group description" to differentiate the one from the other. The feature was first spotted in WhatsApp's beta versions in late February, but is now rolling out to the app's stable channel. As the name of the feature suggests, it allows users to set a brief description for any group made within the chat app. The description will appear below the group's name on the group info page. While this is nice for differentiating the millions of hiking groups I've involuntarily been enrolled in, you may want to guard against...
Match, the company that owns dating app Tinder, is suing its dating app rival Bumble for patent infringement. According to Match, Bumble's in-app mechanics and layout is really, really similar to two patents it developed and currently uses on Tinder. These include the "Matching Process System and Method" that covers a "method for profile matching includes receiving a plurality of user profiles, each user profile comprising traits of a respective user," the patent reads. Think of this as the famed card swiping system. 'This case is simply about forcing Bumble to stop competing with Match and Tinder using Match’s own inventions' The second is...
As sales specialist Chris Murray puts it: "The salesperson you’d ideally like to be and the salesperson you’d like to encounter as a customer should roughly be the same, shouldn’t they?". That’s a true, transparent statement that showcases the value of empathy and authenticity in sales and marketing. One means of making this a reality for customers is by introducing video as a channel. Video goes beyond what’s possible when you’re only using voice calls, emails or online chat as sales and marketing mechanisms (or a combination), it presents an intimate, face-to-face experience that provides many opportunities for enhanced sales and...
On the same day Google announced a Maps feature buff for wheelchair users, accommodation service Airbnb updated its app to include new accessibility filters. These 21 new filters will "make it easier for guests with disabilities to find accessible travel accommodation worldwide," the company writes in an update. While users could search for Airbnb listings that were labeled as "wheelchair accessible", this didn't allow users to filter results for more granular needs. "The new filters allow Airbnb guests to search for listings with specific features, including step-free entry to rooms, entryways that are wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, and more," the...
If you've been wondering why Google Maps asks you about places and their wheelchair access, you finally have an answer. The company this week announced that it will highlight wheelchair accessible routes within the Google Maps app's transit navigation screen. "To access the 'wheelchair accessible' routes, type your desired destination into Google Maps," explains Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' project manager. "Tap 'Directions' then select the public transportation icon. Then tap 'Options' and under the Routes section, you'll find 'wheelchair accessible' as a new route type." And notably, the data Google asks from you adds to its public transit knowledge base. The company is...
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