Addresses for Amazon’s South African marketplace fulfilment centres leak online

Amazon plans to have at least one fulfilment centre in Johannesburg and another in Cape Town, a document on its Carrier Central webpage for South Africa shows.

Reddit user u/Juanpees said he found the spreadsheet containing the information while perusing the Amazon Carrier Central page for South Africa.

MyBroadband was able to locate the file in the same way the user described — on the Amazon Carrier Central page for South Africa, via a link labelled “FC Address File”.

In addition to the addresses, the spreadsheet shows that the fulfilment centres can handle 7-ton trucks for palletised deliveries, with a maximum pallet height of 160cm. Both locations will also be able to accept deep-sea import containers, according to the document.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/business/493325-addresses-for-amazons-south-african-marketplace-fulfilment-centres-leak-online.html
#Blog, #amazon, #southafrica

China’s BYD is launching in South Africa — with an electric car that offers around 23 hours of load-shedding backup

LOL, this is going to be a uniquely South African feature, to advertise the load shedding backup capability of an electric car.

Chinese automotive giant Build Your Dreams (BYD) is launching its compact electric crossover — the BYD Atto 3 — in South Africa.

It features a single front-wheel-drive electric motor that produces a peak output of 150kW and 310Nm torque, enabling acceleration from 0-100km/h in 7.3 seconds. DC fast charging can take the larger of the two batteries from 30% to 80% in around 29 minutes or 0–100% in roughly 80 minutes. The extended range version can drive up to 420km on a single charge, based on the WLTP standard.

Top Gear has given the Atto 3 a 7/10 rating, applauding its decent driving experience, equipment, and refined and spacious cabin.

V2L allows the Atto 3’s battery pack to supply standard 120/240V power to run several home or other appliances via an extension cord. All models sold in Australia can continuously supply up to 2.2kW of output, although testing has shown that this can reach as high as 3.2kW for short periods.

So, all in all a pretty good vehicle, but we’d have to wait and see what it costs. It will be at the cheaper end of the SA EV market, but the South African tax on imported EVs is still prohibitively higher than ICE vehicles. We can expect to pay a lot more than this vehicle sells for in Australia already.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/motoring/492793-chinas-tesla-is-launching-in-south-africa-with-an-electric-car-that-offers-load-shedding-backup.html
#Blog, #BYD, #environment, #EV, #southafrica, #technology

How to (try to) stop spam callers in South Africa

South Africans can take several measures to minimize the amount of spam calls and unsolicited marketing they are regularly bombarded with.

In 2021, Truecaller’s Global Spam & Scam Report found that South Africa had the 9th-highest rate of spam calls in the world. That was a massive jump from 17th place in 2020.

The popular call-screening app found that South Africans received an average of 13.2 monthly spam calls per user.

So even though there is legislation, and I’ve opted out, I still get a few calls every day. It is true, there may be some older form that still has a tick (or no tick) next to “Yes I’d love marketing calls” or “Don’t give my number to 3rdparty suppliers”, but either ways, the calls just don’t stop.

Truecaller has really worked well for me, so well, that I had to get rid of my iPhone and move back to an Android phone, as the Truecaller app is crippled on iOS due to not having dialler permissions.

So this app is really the only way as reporting to the police, and opting out, just don’t seem to work in practice. It is a nightmare in South Africa as far as managing it goes, and opting out of marketing calls.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/492323-how-to-stop-spam-callers.html
#Blog, #southafrica, #spamcallers, #technology, #Truecaller

There are roomers that both Zelensky and Putin have agreed to talk about a cease fire and possibly a deal! Brokered by South Africa and members of the African Union, both countries have "show interest in moving forward with the talks".

I am not sure if it will lead to any actual end of this bloody war, but at least they have agreed to listen to a negotiator.

The different sources say different things about the position of the US and UK and most say France is also supportive of the deal!

#Peace #Ukraine #Russia #SouthAfrica #CeaseFire #Politics #UkraineWar #AfricanUnion #US #UK #France #Zelensky #Putin #Biden

Isizwe’s Fibre-to-the-shack in South Africa — uncapped 100Mbps for R5 (US$0.27) a day

“The brick structures have a fibre drop and a network termination unit. The tin structures receive their Wi-Fi through a pole-mounted outdoor, fibre-connected, Wi-Fi access point,” Briggs explained.

While the network operator initially wanted to use Wi-Fi hotspots to supply multiple homes to reduce costs, the metal shacks severely attenuated Wi-Fi signals. To work around the issue, the company connected fibre directly to homes to avoid connectivity interruptions due to signal interference.

Another aspect Isizwe had to overcome was Eskom load-shedding, which prevented residents in the township from buying Internet access. To allow residents to buy Internet access whenever needed, Isizwe installed one uninterrupted power supply (UPS) at each home.

Well that’s not a bad cost because a month would cost about R150 for uncapped 100Mbps. Very usable and affordable. I see they use a VulaCoin wallet for top-ups, so it would be interesting to know if there are any implications around that. The stated revenue earned per day per home exceeds the income from the user, so I’m imagining there is some other generation of revenue through ads being inserted? I would also think at this cost that the 100Mbps is not a guaranteed speed, but rather one that is contended with quite a few other users (like ADSL was).

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/fibre/489603-fibre-to-the-shack-uncapped-100mbps-for-r5-a-day.html
#Blog, #fibre, #southafrica, #technology

#StopApartheid #Israel #Apartheid #DismantleApartheid #SouthAfrica #Palestine #Politics

A Sociable weaver's giant nest in Namibia, probably the most spectacular structure built by any bird.

The Sociable weaver (Philetairus socius) is a species of bird in the weaver family found across #SouthAfrica, #Namibia and #Botswana. This species construct large compound community nests that resemble huts, complete with a sloping thatched-grass roof that sheds rain. These nests are the world’s largest and most populated tree houses, with some weighing up to a ton or more and measuring up to 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall.

Built around large and sturdy structures like acacia trees or sometimes even telephone poles, the nests provide shelter from direct sunshine, rain, drought, and cold. They are large enough to house over a hundred pairs of birds, consisting of several generations at a time. Each breeding pairs tends to its own compartment with its private entrance and line the interior with soft downy plant material. These entrances are packed closely together and when seen from below, the communal nest has a honeycomb appearance. These #birds are constantly making home improvements, adding new nesting chambers, and some nests have remained occupied for over a century!

#Nature #Africa #Amazing #TIL

15 Electric cars that could also give load-shedding backup power: None available in South Africa though

The feature that allows them to support this is called bidirectional charging, which enables energy to not only flow from the grid or a fixed power source to your car, but also from the car into a home (V2H) and appliances (V2L), or even back to the grid to help stabilise the grid (V2G).

For South Africans this could have meant instead of buying a dedicated battery backup system for the home, they could have bought one of these vehicles and used it for battery storage whilst at home (well yes, not until the SA government stops their over-and-above tax levied on all electric vehicle imports).

By way of comparison, my solar system battery capacity is a 10kWh battery that powers the whole house for about 11 hours or longer, and the Ford F-150 Lightning has a 131kWh battery!

Most drivers are only driving around 40km to work and back every day, which means the car’s battery stays 90% full and requires only a short top up charge late at night when there is usually available power. A car with this type of usage could easily have spare capacity to power a house for two or more hours of load-shedding, and then either recharge or still enough capacity for another day of use.

Many vehicle fleet agencies have 20 or more vehicles that stand overnight and typically charge. These could be used for V2G grid stabilisation.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/motoring/487433-electric-cars-that-could-also-give-load-shedding-backup-power.html
#Blog, #environment, #EV, #loadshedding, #southafrica, #technology

Volvo Trucks South Africa Takes Its First Extra Heavy Electric Truck On A 600km Road Trip From Durban To Johannesburg

Volvo Trucks has now sold more than 4300 electric trucks globally in more than 38 countries since 2019, when production of these units commenced. Volvo Trucks recently announced that it will start delivering heavy electric trucks to its customers in South Africa from May 2023.

Although the tractor was not pulling any trailer, it still quite impressive to see it do the 600 km trip and only needing one stop for charging. There are now several fast charging stations along South Africa’s major highways, including on this Durban-to-Johannesburg route, operated by companies such as GridCars.

So still a snail’s pace in South Africa for EVs in general, but it is good to see awareness growing, and despite the worst electricity load shedding (controlled blackouts) in the world, EVs are quite possible to operate. Checkers retail chain recently also started using a number of heavy-duty electric trucks in urban areas.

See https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/12/volvo-trucks-south-africa-takes-its-first-extra-heavy-electric-truck-on-a-600km-road-trip-from-durban-to-johannesburg/
#Blog, #environment, #EV, #southafrica

𝐎𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 #𝐫𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐬' 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐭

Oxpeckers are also known as Askari wa kifaru, a #Swahili word which translates to “rhino guard.”

New research shows that the bird’s hissing call acts as a warning when other —including human hunters—are approaching. In studies conducted in #SouthAfrica, they found that #rhinos without #oxpeckers on their backs only noticed an approaching human 23% of the time, whereas those carrying the birds detected the nearby person 100% of the time, and from much farther away than those attentive rhinos without oxpeckers to warn them.

This research confirms traditional knowledge the local peoples have known for millennia. 🦏
Photo: Zali_Photo

#Birds #Animals Photography #Nature

Zali_Photo

Zali_Photo, Polokwane. 8,432 likes · 209 talking about this. Available through Zali Photography - Privately Guided Photographic Safaris - Game Drives in Kruger National Park - Wildlife Prints and...

South Africa’s Melon Mobile hands-on tested — self-service RICA and data that never expires

One MyBroadband forum member ordered a Melon Mobile SIM and shared their experience with the network.

They said the signup process was relatively straightforward, with everything happening within the Melon Mobile app, which is currently available for anyone to download from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

The signup requires an ID number, an existing cellphone number, and the client’s full name and delivery information. The SIM was delivered the day after they completed their registration.

So it does cost a bit more, but that is dramatically offset by the fact the data does not expire. That would be ideal for light usage users. But it does look like there is a monthly cost, so to benefit from the rollover, you really need to take a smaller package. There is also no eSIM option (seems this will be launched after 13 April 2023).

Nevertheless, it is good to see some new offering, and one that addresses a big issue many have had with expiring data. Time will tell, of course, whether the service survives into the future.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/486559-melon-mobile-hands-on-tested-self-service-rica-and-data-that-never-expires.html
#Blog, #cellular, #MelonMobile, #southafrica, #technology

Visit to Spice Route Destination and De Villiers Chocolate outside Cape Town

Spice Route Destination is about 45 minutes drive, along the N1, from Cape Town. It is in Paarl South, situated right next door to the the Fairview Wine Estate (Goats, Cheese and Wine). It has great views facing back towards Cape Town and Table Mountain.

There are quite a few businesses situated at the location but of interest to us were the De Villiers Hand Crafted Chocolates (and they had a 20% off sale!), the CBC Craft Beer Brewery, and the restaurants. We paid R30pp to do chocolate tasting and we bought a few chocolates. Info on the chocolates at https://devillierschocolate.com/. Of course there are also wine sales, the Wilderer Distillery making artisan gin, and a few others vendors. See https://www.spiceroute.co.za/.

We had lunch at La Grapperia Bistro and Pizzeria and enjoyed the great view. We both had a seafood pizza for only R130 each. The beer of course was freshly brewed 100m North of us.

After lunch we enjoyed two scoops of hand-crafted ice cream. The chocolate is especially tasty as, of course, it has real high-quality chocolate in it!

It was also a chance to use the Galaxy S23 Ultra phone camera bit. So, there are some wide angle, 3x and 10x optical zoom shots.

See all the photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/LqWMg4n4T3fGJ3RQA
#Blog, #brewery, #capetown, #chocolate, #places, #southafrica

MyBroadband Review: Best online tech stores in South Africa excluding the big players

Numerous sites offer smartphones, tablets, laptops, wearables, smart home products, sound equipment, security cameras, and all manner of purpose-specific gadgets.

Finding one of these stores is as simple as searching for an online tech or electronics store in South Africa on Google.

But seasoned shoppers will know you always risk losing your money if you buy from a scam shop or get bad after-sales service from less effective operators.

Even with all their optimisations and anti-fraud measures, online advertisers and search engines can show ads for fraudulent players or rank them relatively high in their results.

Fortunately, platforms like Google, Facebook, and Hellopeter offer user-generated review systems.

While these should not be the only mechanisms through which to identify whether a shop is legitimate, they can help separate the wheat from the chaff.

MyBroadband recently compared the highest-rated online computer shops in the country and conducted a similar analysis of general online electronics stores.

This time, they looked at shops offering a broader range of tech and gadgets that extended well beyond PC components.

To be considered in the comparison, stores had to have a minimum rating of 4.0 out of 5.0 on Google and Hellopeter. That already disqualified larger stores like Takealot, Everyshop, Makro, and Loot. Aside from their comparatively poor ratings, these stores offer a much wider range of goods, which means not all their reviews are related to tech products.

To trim the list further, they only considered stores with 100 or more reviews on either Google or Hellopeter. That left seven stores remaining stores, for which they summarised Google, Facebook, and Hellopeter ratings in their table.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/it-services/484579-best-online-tech-stores-in-south-africa.html
#Blog, #onlinestores, #southafrica, #technology

A female #falcon was equipped with a satellite tracking system in #SouthAfrica before migrating to #Finland. Image shows tracker data. In just 42 days, she flew over 10.000 km, at an incredible average of 230 km per day and nearly in a straight line.

#Animals #Nature #Birds

Ruth Motau

🇿🇦 An Intimate Gaze,
-> Ruth Motau on documenting life in black and white.

#RuthMotau #taverns #shebeens #dobsonville #portraits #SouthAfrica #photo #art

DM168: An intimate gaze: Ruth Motau on documenting life in black and white

The legendary South African photographer reflects on her career and the stories and people behind her images.

South Africa’s Shebeens

🇿🇦 by Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo

https://aperture.org/editorial/a-photographer-considers-the-vulnerability-and-visibility-of-south-africas-shebeens/

#ThembinkosiHlatshwayo #experimental #decay #taverns #shebeens #SouthAfrica #photo #art

A Photographer Considers the Vulnerability and Visibility of South Africa’s Shebeens

Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo's experimental, multilayered images invoke the chance gestures and social life of taverns in Johannesburg.

Mrs Emily Moitsieloa a well-known music teacher, teaches a boy to sing and play the piano.

🇿🇦 Photo by Peter Magubane, Sophiatown (South Africa, 1956)

#PeterMagubane #singing & #playing #piano #lessons #portrait #sophiatown #SouthAfrica #photo #art

Faces and Phases

by Zanele Muholi

🇿🇦 Zanele Muholi Retrospective
-> Exhibition MEP - Paris until May 21.2023.

#8March #input #ZaneleMuholi #black #women #queer #identity #activism #portrait #SouthAfrica #photo #art

Satellite Internet packages in South Africa — Speeds and prices compared

South Africans living in rural areas without mobile or fixed network coverage can get Internet access through a satellite broadband provider.

Starlink may have less latency and higher speeds, but it is not yet available in South Africa, and many of these existing services start from around only R710 per month. But note the fair use policies and any contract lock in periods.

See https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/481923-satellite-internet-packages-in-south-africa-speeds-and-prices-compared.html
#Blog, #rural, #satellite, #southafrica, #technology

Simon’s Town historic 9-inch rifled muzzle loading cannon (RML) will fire 5 times during 2023 in Cape Town

A historic 9-inch rifled muzzle loading cannon (RML) is one of the South African Naval Museum’s premier exhibits and its firing is proving a major attraction for the Simon’s Town-based museum.

Permission was granted and the cannon will go boom five times this year, all on public holidays (with one exception). Dates and firing times are 27 April (Freedom Day) at 12h00; 16 June (Youth Day) at 12h00; 24 September (Heritage Day) at 12h00; 11 November (Armistice Day) at 11h00 and 15 December (Day of Reconciliation) at 12h00.

The 9-inch cannon at Middle North Battery above Simon’s Town is a rifled muzzle loading (RML) one with a nine inch bore diameter positioned by the British in 1896 Steyn writes.

“With the commissioning of more modern cannon in defence of Simon’s Bay at the turn of the last century, the 9-inch cannon became obsolete and was abandoned to vandalism and deterioration. Until Croome – then the Warrant Officer-in-Charge of the South African Naval Museum – proceeded to save the cannon and the precinct at Middle North from further neglect. Over the course of many years and weekends he restored the old cannon to a point where it could be proof fired again – for the first time in 108 years – in time for the Navy Festival in April 2011.”

See https://www.defenceweb.co.za/military-history/simons-town-muzzle-loading-cannon-firing-dates-finalised/?utm_source=pocket_saves

#CapeTown #SouthAfrica #canon #museum #history
#Blog, ##canon, ##capetown, ##history, ##museum, ##southafrica