MINNAAR PIETERS

According to Geek, HTC is considering making available a Google Edition stock Android variant of the HTC One that will come without the company’s Sense UI.

According to sources, the smartphone will be announced in the next two weeks and possibly released in the US this summer although it is unclear how it will actually be available for consumers to purchase – perhaps like the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, it will be sold by Google.

Prior to its official announcement at Google I/O this year, Geek accurately leaked information about the upcoming Galaxy S4 Google Edition so this rumour could very well turn out to be true, however with the recent departure of a number of HTC staff members, anything could happen.

This “falls in line with claims from HTC that production for the One will be doubling soon, as well as plan to have the HTC One updates to Android 4.2.2. in the same time frame,” says the blog.

Earlier this month it was reported that Facebook was in negotiations with Israeli-based crowdsourced mapping and traffic application Waze.

With negotiations having already begun over 6 months ago it was believed that Facebook was looking to acquire the startup for about $1 billion in an effort to expand its mobile presence across platforms.

While that deal was never officially confirmed Bloomberg now reports that Google Inc. is also interested, creating a possible bidding war with the social network and looks to block Facebook from becoming a competitor as a mapping service provider.

However, a source reveals that Waze could be looking for upwards of that amount.

Rumours had also surfaced that suggest Microsoft and Apple (which currently uses some Waze data in its iOS 6 Maps service), were also considering making an offer and while that has also yet to be confirmed, a source close to the matter has revealed that since the talks with Facebook went public “Waze is fielding expressions of interest from multiple parties”.

Could Google be interested in the mapping app to block Facebook from becoming a competitor?

Image credit: thetechblock

As the runner up in the South African leg of TNW Global Startup Competition, if you haven’t heard of Cape Town- based Hiring Bounty, now’s the time.

Launched in August 2012, by its 25 year-old founder Greg Schneider, Hiring Bounty is a platform where individuals are able to earn a financial reward for referring friends, former colleagues and acquaintances to their ideal jobs. This crowdsourced recruitment offering lists vacancies in the marketing, IT and finance sectors and individuals are incentivised to leverage their networks and connect the right individual to the right job through a pre-determined “bounty” offering.

The business model is based on the concept that referrals produce better candidates and that your social network has access to the most current information regarding your skills and career aspirations.

Schneider says that the concept of this model was borne out of his frustration with recruitment agencies. “I was continuously targeted for positions I was ill-suited for and I figured that the market could do with something a little more innovative, yet simple,” he explains. “I am confident that this platform will revolutionise the recruitment process and the industry as we know it.”

Schneider began his career in an internship at Quirk. He later joined BrandsEye as a reputation analyst and after quickly progressing through the ranks was promoted to senior account manager and then head of new business for the Cape Town office. In 2012, his entrepreneurial spirit lead him to leave the company and start a business of his own.

However, leaving BrandsEye was a big decision for Schneider having been the company’s first employee and contributing to its growth over a 2.5 year period. “I suppose the decision stemmed from the desire for a new challenge,” reveals Schneider. Having learned some lessons from the early days of BrandsEye he was keen to apply them to starting a new business.

Launching Hiring Bounty was no easy task with the first major challenge involving taking the concept from idea to a platform people could actually use. From this came one of Schneider’s first lessons – don’t wait to get something live even if it’s not perfect. Over time you can tweak and improve it with user input. “Rather get something out there and start trading than getting bogged down in making something perfect and get beaten to market,” he says.

To aspiring entrepreneurs, the self-confessed workoholic advises to “just start and refine, tweak and polish as you go.” Hiring Bounty is currently undertaking a considerable site redesign after realising that the original draft won’t cut it anymore.

“At the age of 25 I’m still hungry for any opportunity to sharpen my business acumen. Since you learn the best when you’re in the deep end, Hiring Bounty seemed like the best opportunity to do so.”

The team, that ensures a user-friendly and innovative platform, already has its sights set on the global market, having already launched in the UK in April 2013 and plans to bring its offering to other markets later in the year. The long term goal is to service five countries across all major verticals by 2023.

Check out the infographic below to see how the Hiring Bounty process works:

According to a Samsung press release published by Endgadget, the phone maker has announced that it has sold over 10 million Galaxy S4 handsets less than one month after its global release – read about the Johannesburg launch event.  

This follows a prediction by Samsung CEO JK Shin who confidently told the Korean press at the beginning of this week that the flagship smartphone would pass 10 million units sold before the week was out.

This makes the Samsung Galaxy S4 the fastest selling Android phone ever selling at a rate of four units per second.

The press release states that “The Galaxy S4 sets a new record for Samsung, generating sales quicker than any of its predecessors.”

The Galaxy S4 beat out the Galaxy S3 sales, that took 50 days to reach 10 million units sold and the Galaxy S2 that took five months to reach the same milestone.

Samsung also plans to introduce more colour variations. In addition to the currently available White Mist and Black Forest, new colours include Blue Arctic and Red Aurora, followed by Purple Mirage and Brown Autumn.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is currently available in more than 110 countries and will gradually be rolled out to a total of 155 countries.

Frozen yoghurt brand Wakaberry celebrated its 2nd birthday on 22 May and with it, its growing online community – an impressive achievement for a relatively new food brand in South Africa.

In two years Wakaberry bars have grown from one flagship store in Florida Road, Durban to 15 stores in four provinces and will open five more stores in the next month.

Wakaberry has set the benchmark for other ‘new’ brands aiming to market themselves on digital platforms. The Facebook page was launched  when Wakaberry opened its first store in May 2011 and in two years has over 70, 000 followers with hundreds joining every week. The page actively markets new stores, flavours, merchandise and events with regular updates and an overall emphasis on real engagement that evokes reaction and creates interaction.

The Twitter stream @Wakaberry_1 has 11, 400 followers from which the company responds to queries, publicises events and promotions and engages in real time with the consumers AKA Wakafans.

In line with this digital strategy the Wakaberry team launched a mobi-site on MHub. The site went live in December 2012 and has attracted 50, 000 unique users (as of Thursday 16 May) making it the busiest site on MHub far out weighing the 1, 500 unique users average for a mobi-site that has been live for the same period.

“When we started Wakaberry we were determined to create a brand that really spoke to our customers. We wanted to offer both a consistent, memorable experience with stores that was authentic and fun and a superior real yoghurt product – it was never a question of one or the other,” says co-founder and director, Michele Fourie. “I believe that this is what keeps our customers coming back for more and has helped us build our phenomenal online community.”

As part of the birthday celebrations this week Wakaberry are launching two brand new mobile Wakaberry units at Grand Designs in Johannesburg and The Good Food & Wine Show in Cape Town.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook recently testified at a senate hearing about the company’s tax avoidance practices during which he and other experts were questioned about tax “gimmickry”.

A report about this matter has been published that details Apple’s clever strategies in avoiding paying tax. According to Business Insider, the report published by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations shows how Apple “uses a variety of offshore structures and arrangements to shift billions of dollars from the United States to Ireland” using its primary offshore holding company Apple Operations International (AOI).

A key quote from the report explains why AOI exists:

Apple explained that, although AOI has been incorporated in Ireland since 1980, it has not declared a tax residency in Ireland or any other country and so has not paid any corporate income tax to any national government in the past 5 years. Apple has exploited a difference between Irish and U.S. tax residency rules… Apple explained that, although AOI is incorporated in Ireland, it is not tax resident in Ireland…Apple also maintained that, because AOI was not incorporated in the United States, AOI is not a U.S. tax resident under U.S. tax law either.

Apple Sales International (ASI) is a second Irish affiliate and is the repository for all of Apple’s offshore intellectual property rights and pays very little in global taxes.

Apple has also avoided paying taxes over 2011 and 2012 using these arrangements:

You can read the full report here. 

Watch Cook testify at the senate hearing below:

In a new advertisement released for Windows 8,  titled Windows 8: Less talking, more doing, Microsoft is taking a fresh dig at the Apple iPad’s OS and pricing using its very own Siri.

In the advert, Siri acknowledges it’s inability to complete various tasks while the the Microsoft ASUS VivoTab Smart tablet with Windows 8, does so with ease using Powerpoint and side-by-side apps with Live Tiles.

Surrendering to Windows 8, Siri suggests playing chopsticks, in a parody of the iPad Mini Piano advertisement released in November 2012,

Microsoft follows in the footsteps of Conan O’Brien and Cinesaurus in creating a parody of the original ad.

Microsoft has already gone after Google and taken advantage of the Apple-Samsung phone feud.

You can watch the Microsoft advert below followed by the original iPad Mini advert.

Source: The Verge

In February, we reported that a $10 million X Prize was fueling a race to make the Tricorder, a fictional medical device featured on Star Trek,  a reality. The Tricorder is a handheld device used for sensor scanning  and data analysis to diagnose various ailments.

One of the contenders for this prize is the Scout, developed by Belgian digital entrepreneur Walter De Brouwer, the CEO of Scanadu. Scanadu, based at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California,  makes medical technology devices for consumers.

However, the Scout was not originally intended for consumers but rather to provide a way for astronauts to monitor their health on the International Space Station and is built on Micrium, the same real-time operation system for SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) on the Mars Curiosity rover.

6 months ago Scanadu released a prototype and now they are re-releasing the product in the form of an IndieGoGo campaign that has already raised over $275, 000 and where people were invited to pre-order the device. Scanadu was offering the first 1000 backers a Scout for $149 which has now sold out. According to Scanadu, the Scout will be available to the public from March 2014 for $199.

Basically the Scout reads your vital signs and lets you monitor your own temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate and  blood pressure and detect possible abnormalities from wherever you are, without having to visit a GP or hospital. All you have to do is hold the device up to your temple for 10 seconds.

The results are then sent to your smartphone via an app, that can hold data for multiple people, where you can store and  track your results over time.

For more about Scanadu’s Scout watch the video below:

Would you want to own a Scanadu Scout? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Mashable 

We were recently invited to the Sony Conference at the V&A Waterfront. After enjoying a healthy lunch, we were divided into colour-coded groups and taken to different areas displaying different consumer technologies. Everything from waterproof MP3 players, DJ systems and super TV’s were displayed this year.

Sony works hard at being the trendsetter in various fields of technology and I certainly enjoyed some of the  innovations and features added to the already popular product line. As a filmmaker, I naturally lingered longer at the camera section and look forward to getting my hands on a few new Sony cameras for review.

You’ll possibly notice the excitement expressed through my camera work in the video below.

Check it out!

According to The Verge there appears to be some unrest in the HTC camp.

The company’s vice president of global communications, Jason Gordon has recently called it quits, revealing the news on Twitter. Gordon is accompanied by chief product officer Kouji Kodera, who reportedly resigned last week.

Other staff to depart include global retail marketing manager Rebecca Rowland, director of digital marketing John Starkweather, and product strategy manager Eric Lin.

Employees have reportedly moved on to companies Microsoft and AT&T.

Sources say that new chief marketing officer Ben Ho could be responsible for this string of departures  as he looks to move planning and strategy back to Taipei headquarters.

HTC also launched the HTC First, AKA the ”Facebook Phone” that shipped with Facebook Home. The phone was introduced at Facebook’s April event.

According to sources Facebook was originally going to launch the downloadable version of Facebook Home after the launch of the HTC First but went for a same-week launch instead. Rumours have since been pointing to poor sales for the new device and could be partly to blame for recent events.