WEDNESDAY, 5.00PM
AN APPLE laptop is the star of a Botswana technology and education conference — because it is powered by a clockwork generator. Trevor Baylis, British inventor of a clockwork radio manufactured in Cape Town, connected his radio to a low-powered Apple E-mate 300 computer on show at the conference.
The radio, which includes a power jack in the back, produces enough current to power up and charge the laptop. Mark Floisand, general manager of Apple Computer in South Africa, says the discovery came as a surprise, and he will continue working with Baylis’s firm, BayGen, to develop the use of the generator further. Winding the radio for 25 seconds can provide half an hour of electric power.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
ERWIN TO JAPAN
A SOUTH AFRICAN trade delegation led by Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin will visit Japan and South Korea in October to attract Asian investment, in particular in the motor car, chemical, iron and steel, and electronics sectors.
ESKOM UNIT TRUSTS
The financial services group, Coronation has teamed up with electricity parastatal Eskom, to launch a unit trust aimed at small investors, to begin on Friday. The new trust, Coronation Specialist Bond Fund, will be 80 percent invested in Eskom bonds, and the remaining 20 percent in government securities. The trust offers an alternate source of funding for Eskom and is ideal for high-volume, small transaction business. Participants must invest a minimum lump sum of R10 000 or monthly investments of R1 000.