News and OriginalSteps.com Projects

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: News; Published: 30 August 2016; Last Updated: 30 August 2016

Stefan Olsson appointed as Björn Borg Game Changer Ambassador

Swedish tennis player Stefan Olsson was born with Artogryphosis, a disability that led to a life in wheelchair. But nothing could stop Stefan from fulfilling his dream of becoming a full time professional tennis player. Today, Stefan is the reigning men’s Paralympic champion in tennis doubles, and represents Sweden in the Rio 2016 Paralympics Games.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: News; Published: 19 August 2016; Last Updated: 19 August 2016

Made on Mobile workshop - Facebook celebrates Young African Creatives at The Loerie Student Awards

Made on Mobile workshop

The Facebook Challenge will become an official Loerie Award in the Student Category from 2017

Facebook celebrated the creativity and excellence of young African creatives at The Loerie Awards for 2016, the premier annual advertising awards in the advertising industry in Africa and the Middle East. In addition to sponsoring The Loerie Student Awards for 2016, Facebook hosted a range of events aimed at young creatives in support of Loeries Creative Week (15-21 August, Durban, South Africa).

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: News; Published: 20 July 2016; Last Updated: 20 July 2016

Fak’ugesi ‘Afro Tech Riot’

From 19 August to 3 September the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival is back in Johannesburg to explore and celebrate technology and creativity by Africans for Africa.

The 2016 festival has cast its central theme as ‘Afro Tech Riot’ as community, femininity, notions of the spiritual, and exploring African knowledge systems in the creative, innovative and technological space come to life in an unmissable calendar of events.

The Tshimologong Precinct, previously Inc nightclub, is located at 47 Juta Street in Braamfontein and extends half the city block along Juta Street and between Station and Henri Streets. It will be transformed into an energetic techno-sphere for two weeks of playing, making, shifting, and sharing through seminars, talks, exhibitions, game arcades, workshops, performances, innovation riots, installations, tech demos, pitches, parties and future sounds. All events are open for public particpation and are aimed at all levels of experience, from ‘just interested’ to professional developers. Keep your eye out for the full program on www.fakugesi.co.za by the end of July.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: News; Published: 04 August 2016; Last Updated: 04 August 2016

Star Wars Force Band™ Battle Worn image courtesy Sphero © & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.

Gesture-based wearable device and special edition BB-8™ app-enabled Droid™ product revealed at CES

Sphero, the leaders in connected play, announced today its first wearable technology, the Force band™. Expanding outside of the heritage app-enabled robotic experiences, Force band attaches to the wrist and utilizes gesture-based controls to operate the BB-8™ app-enabled Droid™ product.

Details: Written by OriginalSteps; Category: News; Published: 20 July 2016; Last Updated: 20 July 2016

2016 JCSE ICT Skills Survey urges stakeholders to translate policy into capacity building

Wits University’s Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) has launched its seventh consecutive skills trends survey in the South African information and communications technology (ICT) sector. The survey is part of the JCSE’s continuous effort to create a meaningful representation of South Africa’s ICT skills landscape and provide an outline of the current skills priorities and gaps in the sector.

Adrian Schofield, the JCSE’s manager of Applied Research and author of the report, says South Africa continues to fall behind its African peers while the state of the local economy sees the sector’s clients cut back their own expenditures. He adds that the lack of improvement in South Africa’s basic education remains a major concern. “Exposure to and familiarity with ICT for all learners is essential. Some laudable initiatives have appeared, such as the use of tablets in Gauteng schools, but they have yet to reach a sustained, critical mass for all grades of learners.”