In its most recent survey, web information company,  Alexa found that FNB.co.za was the only banking website in the top 10 sites in Africa and was the most popular banking website on the continent.

FNB Online CEO Lee-Anne van Zyl says that “We have over 2.8 million unique visitors to our website each month. This indicates that a very large number of non-FNB customers visit our site for information. We have 1.3m online banking customers.”

van Zyl reveals that FNB is planning a relaunch of its site in July with a focus on providing customers and visitors with a much richer information offering with FNB customers finding detailed financial information and much wider transactional ability.

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World renowned Las Vegas casino Caesars Palace has confirmed that wearing Google Glass will not be permitted while gambling. In a statement to The Verge, a Caesars Palace representative said that the reality augmentation device would indeed be banned for gamblers, adding that “Nevada gaming regulations (and those in other states, as well) prohibit the use of computers or recording devices when gambling. As a result, we cannot allow guests who are gambling to wear Google Glass.” (more…)

UK based Adzuna has recently launched in South Africa as well as Australia, Brazil and Canada. Adzuna is a search engine that finds the right job locally for you, searching thousands of websites daily including Gumtree, Junk Mail, Biz Community and Career Junction.

Adzuna has expanded internationally with the aim of achieving the success it has had in the UK. Since launch, Adzuna has grown to 1.5 million monthly visits and also powers the Number 10 Downing Street Dashboard, used by the Prime Minister and senior officials to keep track of economic growth on a daily basis. Impressive.

Adzuna was founded in 2010 by Doug Monro and Andrew Hunter and conceived on the back of an envelope in a central London pub. Having worked at Gumtree both knew that classified search could be greatly improved with existing and emerging sites not pushing innovation on the product side enough. Their extensive experience and understanding of the industry enabled them to spot an opportunity to create a next-generation vertical search engine.

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At Tech4Africa 2012, my fellow tech entrepreneur Jess Green introduced me to Justin Coetsee. After we exchanged the usual pleasantries, Justin proceeded to steamroll me with pure exuberance and energy while explaining a new initiative he was working on. The initiative is called TechInBraam, a tech cluster focussed on championing local technology with a geographical focus around Braamfontein.

TechInBraam has involvement and support from the likes of the JCSE, ThoughtWorks and Wits University (among others). I sat down with Justin to find out a little more about how it all started and what the plans are going forward.

Everyone has at some stage during their school days come across the letter ‘x’ to represent an unknown variable in some sort of mathematical equation. I, for one, have always wondered why that specific letter became this all-encompassing symbol that represents any form of unknown.

We see it all over the place, even in pop culture. It once described the unidentified radiation in x-rays. We have the phrase “X-Factor”, and don’t forget X-Files. The list goes on, so I was very happy to find this explanation of where it originated. Check out the video below: (more…)

By Lilian van Zyl, design and Stefan de Klerk, research.

BlackBerrys are extremely popular in South Africa and have provided many with their first access to the Internet. As a result there has been much hype around the arrival of the new BlackBerry Z10 (watch the BWB TV video review), now available on all major South African cellular networks.

When trying to decide which cellphone contract offers the best deal, it’s always a good idea to compare offers from different providers. This is why the moneysmart team, known for their comparative infographics, went through the exercise of comparing BlackBerry Z10 contracts from the four big networks.

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According to a report by Reuters, Nokia investors are beginning to grow impatient as they continue to wait for the smartphone maker to catch up to the likes of competitors, and market leaders, Apple and Samsung. 

Investors expressed their concerns to CEO Stephen Elop at an annual genereal meeting in Helsinki, Finland on Tuesday. Nokia’s transition from its own operating system Symbian to Microsofts’s Windows Phone OS was scheduled to take two years, and with that time having now come to pass, some investors are wondering if the Windows Phone strategy is enough or was even good decision from the start, with shares having plunged from 65 euro at their peak in 2000 to 2.72 euros presently.

While sales of the Nokia Lumia range running Windows Phone 8 show steady growth in the market, they cannot be compared to the lead taken by Apple and Samsung. Add to that the fallen share price and the heavy decrease in regular mobile phones sales and investors certainly have a point.

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Nokia keeps on pushing the benefits of its Pureview cameras in its flagship phones – but this time they extended the incredible low light technology to video as well. Their new Lumia 928 phone is not only going to sport a new aluminium casing, it will clearly have an even better camera as well.

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