Episodes
40
Latest episode
May 2024
Language
EN
Toby Shapshak writes and speaks about how innovation, especially fintech, is better in Africa. His TED Global talk has over 1,5-million views. He is editor-in-chief of Stuff, a Forbes senior contributor and a Business Day columnist. He has covered tech, mobile and Africa's tech and start-up ecosystem for 20 years, including for Forbes, CNN and The Guardian. Named in GQ's top 30 men in media and Mail & Guardian newspaper's influential young South Africans, GQ said Shapshak "has become the most high-profile tech journalist in the country".
Is what you’re hearing really real? Deepfake videos have gotten a lot of attention (especially after it happened to Taylor Swift) but more troubling are deepfake audio recordings, Sergey Shykevich, threat intelligence group manager at Check Point Software Technologies, tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. Read more on Stuff.
One of the most important new technologies in our renewable energy future is one you've probably never heard of. Called wheeling, it is the way that electricity is accounted for when you move it across the grid and you’re probably already using it, Open Access Energy founder Gerjo Hoffman tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. Read more on Stuff.
Most of South Africa's youth don’t watch a TV set. Why should they? They have a mobile entertainment console in their hands that can access the new form of television: streaming. Jason Probert, general manager for digital services for MTN South Africa, tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak how he is making it easier and more cost-effective. Read more on Stuff.
Before he sold his startup to Workday, MIT-trained Sayan Chakraborty worked at NASA’s famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an engineer on interplanetary spacecraft; and later on the early commercialisation of GPS. He has seen many new new things in a storied career, including as vice-president of software development at Oracle. As much as AI is a game-changer, he tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak, “every business nowadays is a talent business”.
For many millions, a mobile phone is their only computer and their only screen. Jason Lobel, MTN South Africa’s head of video, wants to get streaming services to those people, he tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. Read more on Stuff.
PayShap is the biggest thing to happen in banking in South Africa, if it is done right, says TymeBank’s co-founder and group CEO Coen Jonker. The new rapid payment method is a “game changer” and the “key that will unlock the true digitisation of the cash economy,” he tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. Read more on Stuff.
Instead of buying expensive textbooks, which learners are stuck with, what if you could “rent” them? Calling it a "Spotify for textbooks," this is the idea behind MTN’s new educational offering, MTN South Africa’s general manager of digital services Jason Probert tells says Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. Joining them is Thabiet Allie, the head of new business development and who is driving the operator’s online learning. Read more on Stuff.
Gaming is still a fundamental way us humans interact and hasn't always been on a high-tech console, MTN’s gaming geeks tell Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. Veteran executive Jason Probert is general manager of digital services for MTN South Africa, while Bradly Kirby is senior specialist of eSports and gaming– and gamers themselves. Apart from this philosophical reminder, gaming is how we have fun, blow off steam and socialise. Some of us do it on a padel court, others over a PlayStation. Read more on Stuff.
“Going solar” is the catch phrase of the year. Again. But how do you tell the shysters from the bone fide solar installers? And how do you get finance for an off-grid system? Also, without having to become an expert yourself, what exactly do you need? This is the what Hohm Energy does, providing a marketplace for finding providers and financiers, its head of business intelligence Matthew Cruise tells editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak in the third episode of Stuff’s going off-grid podcast series. Read more on Stuff.
South Africans are good at solving problems. With extreme load-shredding, we’ve started finding alternatives in true “n boer maak ‘n plan” style. From LED lightbulbs with built-in batteries to backup batteries for Wi-Fi routers, and a new category of small, but powerful, power stations, there are a range of new Eskom-induced technology. Several innovative South African companies have their own ways of tackling the blackouts. In the second of Stuff’s going off-grid podcast series, editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak meets local firm Syntech. He speaks to co-founder Ryan Martyn and CEO Craig Nowitz. Read more on Stuff.
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