Some of the biggest names in tech have... um... interesting beginnings. Motorola was originally the name of a car radio, Facebook started in a dorm room and Google began its life as a research project. Think you can tell their stories better than a boring Wikipedia page? We’re looking for a talented designer to create an original infographic that shows how major players in the tech industry went from hopeful startups to household names. Outline the major events in their history and ...

South African instant messaging startup 2go is getting some good traction in Nigeria. The company is reporting that it recently crossed the 10 million user mark. That’s a significant number seeing as Facebook has managed to attract just over five-million users in the Nigerian social networking market. The service claims to have more than 21 million registered users in total and is reporting an average of 50 000 new registration per day. Its biggest direct competitor, Mxit reported just over 50 ...

As Korea gave birth to Kakaotalk, Japan to Line, and China to WeChat, an Indian startup is looking to have its own group messaging smash hit with the new Hike app. For the moment, Hike is Android-only, but versions for iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Symbian are in the works. Also, Hike has been focusing on just India in its first few months of running – but the aim is for it to go global. Of course, New Delhi-based Hike will ...

The final 40 startups for the first ever DEMO Africa conference have been announced. The 40 entrepreneurs chosen for the conference have gone through "three rigorous screening processes with the final vetting and adjudication done by a pan-African panel of judges comprised of entrepreneurs, VCs and Academia," say the event organizers. The conference, which is part of the global DEMO conference series, touts itself as a "launchpad for emerging technology and trends". The event believes that noteworthy startups are being ...

Online dating sites like Match and eHarmony use matching algorithms to identify romantic partners, but this approach is believed to be flawed. The New York Times cites a study that divulges 80 years of scientific research on what makes couples romantically compatible. It turns out, the core of traditional matching algorithms, similar interests and personality traits, are not key to predicting happy relationships. So what works? Well, good old fashion dating is still the best way to tell if you’re a ...

Over the last couple of years, South Africa has seen a massive growth in online businesses and ecommerce websites. While the eCommerce Awards are great at recognising the top performers, it is almost impossible for a new website to immediately win an award, due to the first part of the awards requiring a high numbers of votes. Longer established websites such as bidorbuy and Kalahari already have massive databases of customers. With that in mind, I have identified three ecommerce ...

Research In Motion (RIM) seems determined to make its mark in Africa. The maker of BlackBerry smartphones and tablets has announced that it will be launching the BlackBerry Academic Program in Nigeria. The BlackBerry Academic Program is part of RIM's mission to support global education. According to the device manufacturer, "the programme helps students gain further knowledge of concepts related to mobile computing such as networks, spectrum, efficient use of battery life and mobile application development. Its aim is to ...

Sources close to Ventureburn have been speculating for a while that Mxit was on the verge of buying Motribe. Now we have confirmation that Africa's largest social network is in the final stages of inking a deal to acquire the mobile social network builder. Big surprise. Motribe has been working closely with Mxit over the last few months building photo-based apps for the platform. The most successful apps include MxPix (an Instagram-style photo sharing and filtering app that hit a million ...

Did you know that you can now compare prices of goods between supermarkets, while standing in one of them? Imagine, walking through Woolworths, thinking about buying a two litre bottle of cola, but by scanning it’s barcode, you find that it costs R5 less in a Pick ‘n Pay nearby. This is now totally possible, and a bit scary for retailers. A great example of this comes from Price comparison service PriceCheck. The company has launched the latest version of its ...

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reveals that the number of startups that fail to return their investors' capital, might be significantly higher than generally reported. The article cites a study by Shikhar Ghosh, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School that estimates that three out of four venture-backed startups go bust. That's in stark contrast to estimates given by the National Venture Capital Association in the US, who puts the failure between 25% to 30%. According to ...