IT News
Mastercard and Microsoft Partner to Empower Fintech Innovation
Mastercard and Microsoft have partnered to shape the future of digital commerce, drive startup innovation and enable financial inclusion. Capitalizing on Mastercard’s global network and leveraging Azure’s global reach, the collaboration will enable Mastercard’s ecosystem of partners to explore the use of emerging innovations and new commerce capabilities such as devices that enable digital payments in new ways. Through access to Azure technologies, augmented and virtual reality and Internet of Things, fintech partners will be empowered to create new user experiences to advance how consumers, businesses and governments exchange value. “We are thrilled to deepen our longstanding relationship with Microsoft by advancing the research, development and scaling of new technologies and business mo...
Huawei Overtakes Samsung and Apple in Worldwide Smartphone Shipments
Huawei has shipped more smartphones worldwide than any other tech manufacturer – marking the first quarter in nine years that Samsung or Apple has not led the market. According to a report by Canalys, “Huawei shipped 55.8 million devices, down 5% year on year. But second-placed Samsung shipped 53.7 million smartphones, a 30% fall against Q2 2019.” “This is a remarkable result that few people would have predicted a year ago,” says Canalys Senior Analyst, Ben Stanton. “If it wasn’t for COVID-19, it wouldn’t have happened. Huawei has taken full advantage of the Chinese economic recovery to reignite its smartphone business. Samsung has a very small presence in China, with less than 1% market share, and has seen its core markets, such as Brazil, India, the United States and Europe, ravaged by o...
Microsoft Appoints Official Surface Notebook Distributor
Microsoft South Africa has appointed Tarsus Distribution as an official distributor for its Surface notebooks and hybrid devices. Tarsus Distribution will initially supply the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7 models, partnering with limited retailers to bring the products to market from August. This marks the first time that Microsoft Surface products are available in South Africa through official channels. Designed with a premium look-and-feel and tight integration with Microsoft 365, the Surface Windows 10 devices are aimed at discerning professional users and consumers looking for a device that balances security, aesthetics, speed and versatility. “We’re excited to introduce the Surface Laptop and Pro products to the South African market, offering a new, Windows-powered alternative in...
Sony Announces New Addition to Alpha 7S Series
Sony has introduced the long-awaited addition to its acclaimed Alpha 7S full-frame mirrorless camera series — the Alpha 7S III. “The Alpha 7S III is the ultimate representation of Sony’s passion to solve the pain points of customers in the Middle Eastern region,” said Murat Gebeceli, Head of Digital Imaging at Sony MEA. “We are always listening to our customers’ feedback, pushing hard to deliver innovation that goes far beyond their expectations. There is no better example than this new camera. Combining classic S series sensitivity with a feature set, performance level and user experience that is simply unmatched in the market today — at any price level — the Alpha 7S III opens up a new world of possibilities for today’s creators.” Sony Alpha 7S III key specifications: /* custom css */ ....
Safaricom Appoints New Board Chairman
Sourced from CGTN. Safaricom has appointed Michael Joseph (the telco’s former CEO) as new board chairman, he succeeds Nicholas Ng’ang’a who has retired. Joseph will take up this position effective 1 August 2020. “Mr Ng’ang’a took up the leadership reins at a time when the government was starting the process of offering 25 per cent of its shares to the public through the Nairobi Securities Exchange in 2008. He has managed to grow shareholder value by 607 per cent since listing,” says Safaricom CEO, Peter Ndegwa. “At the time of his appointment as chairman, Safaricom had slightly over six million customers, 1,000 employees and only eight Safaricom shops across the country. Mr Ng’ang’a retires from the telco that now serves over 35.6 million customers, across 50 shops and hundreds of service ...
Twitter Blames Major Hack on Human Vulnerabilities
Sourced from Wired. Twitter has confirmed that on 15 July 2020 the company fell victim to a phone spear-phishing attack which saw hackers use employee credentials to gain access to 130 Twitter accounts, ultimately Tweeting from 45, accessing the DM inbox of 36 and downloading the Twitter Data of 7. The attack is ‘one of the most widespread and confounding hacks the platform has ever seen’, reports The Verge. The social media company says that the successful attack required the hackers to obtain access to both its internal network as well as specific employee credentials that granted them access to its internal support tools. “Not all of the employees that were initially targeted had permissions to use account management tools, but the attackers used their credentials to access our int...
Microsoft Edge is Crashing: Here’s Why
Sourced from Wikimedia Microsoft’s Edge browser s reportedly crashing when users type into the address bar. According to The Verge, “the issues appear to have affected Edge users who have selected Google as the default search engine.” Are you seeing Edge crash when trying to type into the address bar? The team is looking into it! In the meantime, as a workaround, please turn off Search Suggestions here: edge://settings/search. We’ll follow up once we have more! — Microsoft Edge Dev (@MSEdgeDev) July 30, 2020 The Verge tested this and it solves the problem if Google is set as the default search engine. Deleted an Important Document by Mistake? Microsoft’s New File Recovery Tool Might Help Microsoft has quietly launched a new utility service – Windows File Recovery for Windows 10....
Apple’s 2020 iPhones will be Delayed
Apple CFO, Luca Maestri has confirmed that the company plans on launching its 2020 iPhone a little later than expected. In an earnings call, Maestri said: “last year we started selling new iPhones in late September, this year we expect supply to be available a few weeks later”. This news comes after popular Apple news-breaker said that Apple aficionados could gear up for an 8 September launch. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_b7b.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_b7b.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The new devices are expected to be unveiled in September however Maestri made no mention of why the tech giant has decided to delay the launch, or exactly when to expect the device to hit shelves. Reports claim that 5.4-inch and 6.1-inch iPhone 12 models will be available with 128...
Nutanix Files Achieves 2,500 Customers Milestone
Nutanix has announced that its scale-out file storage solution, Nutanix Files, recently reached the significant milestone of 2,500 customers, including nearly 180 Global 2,000 companies. The solution provides simple, flexible and intelligent enterprise file storage for the cloud era – allowing customers to scale and adapt to changing file storage needs across multiple locations and centrally managed from anywhere, something especially important in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Files also offer a native analytics engine that allows customers to gain deep insights into their data. It shows how the data is being used, provides use and access audit over time, and allows for anomaly detection to prevent misuse and threats from malicious actors and malware. “The storage market is very fra...
Vodacom Just4You Platform Doubles Consumer Data
Vodacom has announced that it will give customers who buy selected bundles using the Just4You platform, a 100% bonus on daily, weekly and monthly bundles. This comes at a time when South Africans are under increased economic pressure. “As a brand that connects people for a better tomorrow by creating an inclusive digital society, this promotion allows us to give back to our customers by doubling their data allocation so that they can stay close to the things and people they love and need during these trying times,” says Jorge Mendes, Chief Officer of Vodacom Consumer Business Unit. “Just4You is a platform that presents personalised, discounted offers based on the individual usage pattern. This time around, we are offering our customers more value by doubling their data because we beli...
Lenovo Unveils a New Gaming Smartphone – the Legion Phone Duel
Lenovo has launched a powerful, immersive and fast-charging smartphone – the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel which has been designed from the ground up for gamers. Lenovo is amongst the first to feature the next-level, flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G Mobile Platform that delivers revved-up performance across the board for incredibly-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite Gaming, plus global 5G support. For enhanced power efficiency, 90W Turbo Power Charging takes both charging cords (from centre and side ports) to power up both batteries for a combined total of 5000mAh. Go from zero to up to 50 per cent power in only 10 minutes, and a full charge only takes 30 minutes. With six specially customized layout themes to choose from, each with distinctive design details, colours, and icons that resona...
Somalia Has the Lowest Mobile Data Costs in Africa, According to Research
One of Somalia’s largest telecommunications providers, Hormuud Telecoms has announced that it’s aiming to reach 100% of the Somali population with mobile money financial services. Telecommunications have grown substantially in Somalia over the past 10 years. With over 11 different providers now present in the market, the average costs of 1GB bundles have fallen to the lowest levels compared with any other nation in Africa or the Middle East. For a country long affected by civil war and unrest, the news offers a rare insight into the changing shape of the business community within Somalia. In Somali urban centres, mobile money penetration now stands at over 80%. Even in rural Somalia the mobile money penetration rate of 55%. A World Bank report published i...
