BT to extend reach in Africa

BT today announced a new phase of investments into the rapidly growing economies of Asia Pacific, Turkey, the Middle East and Africa (AMEA) with the objective of accelerating its expansion in high growth markets. By hiring more people in the region, launching more competitive capabilities across a larger number of countries and delivering a differentiated service experience, BT will be in a strong position to capture opportunities in a total AMEA market evaluated at around 32 billion GBP. This...

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Mogale City mall gets SA’s first carrier-grade Wi-Fi

South Africans are set to experience the next evolution in mobile connectivity, as Internet Solutions and AlwaysOn launched the first of many carrier-grade Wi-Fi solutions at Cradlestone Mall this month. With plans to roll-out nationwide to other key high-density retail environments within the next 12 months, as well as transport hubs like airports, carrier-grade Wi-Fi is set to revolutionise the mobile computing experience for end-users. According to Hayden Lamberti, business unit manager:...

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SA university makes tablets compulsory

One of South Africa’s largest universities, the University of Johannesburg (UJ), has undertaken a decision to make tablets compulsory for first-year students from next year. “This introduction of handheld devices will confirm UJ as a leader in innovative teaching and learning. Technology will be an integral part of UJ students’ learning process and with this, UJ graduates will have the competitive edge and be able to vie for top positions nationally and internationally,” the university said...

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YouTube comment channels now even angrier after ‘forced marriage’ to Google Plus

YouTube comments channels are widely known as a toxic and hostile environment – but Google had admitted that YouTube’s recent integration with Google Plus has made things even worse.YouTube’s comment channel was integrated with Google accounts, and in particular with public Google Plus profiles, in an attempt, according to The Register’s report, to de-anonymize users and promote civil conversations. In an offical post this week, Google said, “While the new system dealt with many spam issues that...

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Top Ten Games of 2013

While 2013 has not been as jam-packed as years gone by, a number of truly excellent gaming titles foound their way to store shelves. With the release of new gaming consoles from Sony and Microsoft, a new era of console gaming has emerged – one bound to make next year’s release cycle one of the most interesting. To wrap up this year’s release calendar, IT News Africa examines the best console games for 2013. 1. The Last Of UsThere has been many post-apocalyptic video games this year, and it almost...

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Africa’s first MVNE platform launched

This week marks the launch of Africa’s first dedicated Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE), a platform created following the completion of commercial terms between Cell C, Comverse and Mirage Telecom. The platform is expected to be launched commercially in February or March next year. This platform will provide cellular network services to potential new Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) throughout South Africa. “The MVNO represents the next evolution of mobile in the South African industry,...

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Most big businesses “still failing” to recognize cyber risks

A survey of top businesses in the UK found that 86% of the largest firms traded on the London stock exchange do not even consider cyber risks when making decisions. The survey found that just 14% of FTSE 350 firms even took cyber risks into account at board level, according to a survey from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. Only a quarter of those surveyed see cybersecurity as a top priority. The news follows a warning from professional services firm KPMG that large British...

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WiFi OFF - European Parliament

The European Parliament has switched off its public Wi-Fi system after an anonymous hacker broke into the personal emails of several Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from outside the building, using only a laptop. French news outlet Mediapart quotes the anonymous hacker as saying, “It was child’s play,” and that his attack required only “a few bits of knowledge that everyone is capable of finding on the internet.” The attacker was also able to access email accounts owned by IT staff....

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Enterprise trends to watch in 2014 - Staying ahead of the curve

It is that time of year again, when the technology seers and trendspotters start pontificating on what they believe will be the transformative or shape-shifting technologies for the year ahead. Bluegrass Digital strives to keep a finger on the proverbial pulse, and with a dynamic and forward-thinking client base, we have some thoughts of our own on what we believe will drive the digital scene in the African market in 2014. Nick Durrant, Bluegrass Digital Managing Director. Mobile FoundationOne...

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Over 17,000 domain hacks occur a day

Global security software vendor Trend Micro has released a threat report that examines the global state of the Internet nation. In 2013 the cybercrime industry, chased by an increasingly dynamic and vigilant security industry, has shifted its modes of operation, targeting new users and platforms as well as focusing on hacktivism and online exploitation. “The Trend Micro Smart Protection Network figures highlight how virulent this issue has become,” says Gregory Anderson, country manager at Trend...

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MTN Nigeria, LG offer broadband on the box

From Lagos, local media have reported that MTN Nigeria, via its business-to-business division MTN Business, has partnered with LG Electronics to offer consumers bundled 4G broadband internet service with LG smart TVs.  Michael Ikpoki, CEO of MTN Nigeria The deal means that consumers who purchase a smart TV from LG will also have access to MTN HyNet internet service. MTN Nigeria’s Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, Babatunde Osho has been quoted in the media as saying that there is a growing...

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Innovative Africa Forum to Discuss Africa's growth

African Business magazine has teamed up with Microsoft 4Afrika as well as African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) to lead the Innovative Africa Forum in the format of a roundtable discussion on the 27th November 2013 in Kampala, Uganda. Participating will be leading experts driving innovation in Africa including Su Kahumbu, Founder of iCow, Simon Rweyongoza, of Center for Creative Leadership, and Kyai Mullei, Co-Founder of M-Changa. The Forum will be opened by The Rt Hon. Amama...

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Apps biggest driver of SA’s mobile economy

The app has become the single most significant tool driving the mobile economy in South Africa. The use of apps on phones has shot up from 24% of adult cellphone users in cities and towns in mid-2012 to 43% in late 2013.  The Mobility 2014 research study, conducted by World Wide Worx with the backing of First National Bank, shows that a tipping point in mobile apps use was reached in 2013, with more than half of urban cellphone users – 51% – now using these tools. The rural market, too is...

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Over 1 billion employee-owned mobile devices by 2018 #BYOD

Decision makers in business may have to consider more than one policy or measure in their future BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) strategies. According to a report by Juniper Research, by the year 2018 there is expected to be more than 1 billion employee-owned mobile devices in the enterprise. This figure represents approximately 35% of the total installed base of consumer-owned tablets and smartphones. Technology executives have referred to an IDC statistic which claims that by the year 2020, third...

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Beautiful GPS..who ever knew?

A crop-dusting aircraft's graceful, looping route over Russian farmland is tracked by the pilot's GPS, resulting in a beautiful map you won't see anywhere else. This aerial concoction is one of many by custom map-maker MapBox, which has developed a way to overlay the world's largest trove of open-sourced GPS data – submitted over nine years to the free wiki Open Street Map – on top of aerial imagery to create beautiful, traveller-friendly maps. Mapbox's GPS routes are colour-coded...

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Kenya has a bright future in mobile

A while back, I argued that there was limited innovation in Kenya. After, attending the closing ceremony of the Safaricom Developer Challenge last week, I must however concede that indeed Kenyan youth are among the best in the world in terms of generating innovating software products for the mobile platform. The Safaricom Developers Challenge seeks to identify and incubate software talent among university students in Kenya. Basically, students are invited to submit ideas and mobile-based solutions...

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Arm yourselves with the right tech skills for 2014

If global forecasts such as Computerworld’s annual Forecast Survey 2014 prove accurate, decision makers across Africa’s ICT sector will have little time to waste in recruiting the very best and most sought-after technical skill sets available.  Project economic growth in key regions across Africa is expected to fuel demand for particularly high-end ICT skills  The outcomes of this global forecast suggest next year’s level of recruitment of technical skills to be more or less the...

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Assassin’s Creed goes mobile with Pirates

Today Ubisoft announced that the next game from the award-winning Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed Pirates will be available for high end smartphones and tablets on December 5 on the App Store, on Google Play and on the Amazon Appstore for £2.99. The game features brutal naval combat, Caribbean exploration and an epic quest for legendary treasure. In Assassin’s Creed Pirates, players will explore the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy as Alonzo Batilla, a young and ambitious...

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Aggressive cyber attack on a popular horse racing site

A major British horse racing website has been hit by an “aggressive” and “malicious” cyber attack – and user details have leaked, including some passwords which the owners warn “could be deciphered.” Racing Post warned customers who may have shared the same password across other sites to change those immediately, as a security measure. It’s still not clear how many customers were affected, but The Register reports that customers received an email saying, “Despite our best efforts, the security...

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Twitter ramps up security for users

Twitter has unveiled a serious security upgrade to protect its users’ data from cyber-snooping – and has said that this approach should be “the new normal for web service owners.” In a technical blog post which linked to privacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s site, the social network said, “Forward secrecy is just the latest way in which Twitter is trying to defend and protect the user’s voice.” The new technology makes it more difficult to intercept traffic over a secure HTTPS...

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Rwanda: mobile users want roaming rates scrapped

Calling family and loved-ones across regional and international boundaries can be expensive, especially in the holiday season. For this reason, Rwandan mobile phone users would like to see the practice of roaming rates abolished. Rwanda has had to bear the brunt of roaming fees Roaming fees were adjusted last year during a review of fees on roaming services by sector regulator Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency’s (Rura). Anyone calling an operator in Rwanda will have to pay 22 US cents,...

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October spam – Santa, scams and sorcery

October saw spammers exploiting the themes of upcoming holidays, the names of well-known telecommunication service providers and the conflict in Syria. There were also offers of magical services – love spells and incantations. Meanwhile, a rise of 6.6 percentage points in unsolicited and malicious emails took spam’s share of global email traffic to 72.5% for October. Trojan Fraud remained the most popular malicious programme spread via email. This Trojan imitates a phishing HTML page and is...

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Discord over Kenya’s airwaves

From Nairobi, three media organisations – Nation Media Group, the Standard Media Group and Royal Media Services – have reportedly challenged the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) over the granting of exclusive rights to pay channels to oversee the digital migration process. Nairobi, Kenya The organisations are believed to have filed an urgent court petition in which it is claimed that they were deliberately left out of the migration process – this despite attracting over 85% of local...

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Malware, spam, and phishing – most common threats to business

Attacks that employ a variety of malicious programmes, phishing attacks, and spam remain the cyber threats most frequently encountered by companies. At the same time, the volume of malicious attacks and spam has increased substantially in 2013, compared to 2012. These are the findings published in the Global Corporate IT Security Risks 2013 survey, conducted by B2B International. Roughly 64% of the survey’s respondents in South Africa reported that their companies were targeted in attacks involving...

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Its time for African insurers to address the looming technology challenge

The African Insurance Organisation has long warned that lack of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is holding the African insurance market back. The additional challenge of getting legacy systems to provide improved risk management and mobile services, is forcing insurers to rethink their systems strategy. Rhys Collins, Head of African Operations for SSP Rhys Collins, Head of African Operations for SSP, a leading provider of insurance technology to insurers...

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Web Malware: Out of the Shadows and Hiding in Plain Sight

There is an all-too common misconception that in order to become infected with web-propagated malware, you must visit sketchy parts of the Internet’s underbelly or a website within that broad class of which is “not safe for work.” Thus, when you admit to your buddies that your computer is beset by malware, one of them invariably makes some sort of joke about how you’ve been spending too much time on this or that pornographic website. In reality though, the old days of becoming infected...

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‘High impact’ bug found in Gmail password recovery system

A ‘high impact’ security bug affecting Gmail’s password recovery system was discovered by a researcher – and quickly patched. The vulnerability allowed attackers to reset user passwords remotely, and near-invisibly. The vulnerability relied on users opening a phishing email (purporting to be from Google), but allowed attackers to initiate a password reset, security expert Graham Cluley reported. It was uncovered by researcher Oren Hafifi, and was patched by Google within 10 days according...

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