IT News
Twitter to Rebuild Audio Tweet Feature for Greater Accessibility
Sourced from Wired. Twitter is testing a new feature, which is currently only available to a select number of iOS users, that allows users to record a snippet of audio and tweet it. News of this feature was quickly met with criticism over the apparent lack of captions, reducing its accessibility for deaf users. With the greatest of respect, Twitter, describing this version of the feature as ‘early’ to make up for the fact that it currently isn’t accessible (but may well be in a later version) isn’t good enough. Accessibility should be considered from the start, not as an afterthought. https://t.co/qLA7Wcj3oQ — Liam O’Dell (@LiamODellUK) June 17, 2020 According to The Verge, “commenters pointed out that other social platforms have captions, so the excuse that this was a new feature di...
EA Partners with Indie Studios to Launch 3 Bold New Games
Sourced from Game Tribute. Electronic Arts has revealed three new EA Originals games and confirmed a new partnership with Final Strike Games. Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two, Zoink’s Lost in Random and Final Strike Games’ Rocket Arena will be published under the EA Originals label, which was established to work with the best, boldest and most passionate independent studios across the world. EA also revealed that an upcoming team-based action game from Velan Studios will be built using the developer’s new game engine under the EA Originals banner. “We recognized the inspiring vision, talent and innovation coming from these independent studios and how that will become amazing game experiences for our players across the world, wherever they choose to play”, says Steve Pointon, SVP 3rd Party C...
QNB is Accepting Mastercard-branded Payment Cards in Sudan
QNB Group has become the first bank in Sudan to have successfully performed an international payment card transaction in partnership with Mastercard. The transaction was performed using a Mastercard virtual prepaid card product. QNB is also the first Bank in Sudan to have obtained an issuance license from Mastercard. The first successful international prepaid card transaction was performed on 14 June 2020 and it marks an important and historic milestone for QNB and Mastercard’s strategic plans in Sudan and across Africa. Through this partnership, QNB will issue and accept the Mastercard-branded payment cards in Sudan, allowing more people and businesses across the country to enjoy more convenient, secure and easy to use ways to pay locally and globally. The QNB Mastercard product is a secu...
Why 5G Adoption has been so Slow
If you have been waiting for 5G super-connectivity to roll out overnight and instantly change your life, you might be in for a surprise. It took nearly 10 years for 4G to become the dominant technology in cellular connectivity and those in the know, believe that it might even take longer for 5G to settle in nicely. Nevertheless, there are a few wonderful changes to look forward to as we slowly but surely move into the fourth industrial revolution. “First you have to understand that in theory 5G can support millisecond latencies,” explains Christopher Riley, CEO of the notebook company. “This means that we are not far from fully autonomous driverless cars, telesurgery – where your surgeon might be thousands of miles away, which has been tested over 5G with great success – and Virtual Realit...
Energy Storage Technology Could Put an End to Africa’s Blackouts
Sourced from The Times UK. A shift from Africa’s traditional approach to power generation is needed to unleash the continent’s clean energy potential and secure an African future free from blackouts. A strategy centred around energy storage and flexible power systems will be the key to guaranteeing the reliability of a high-renewable grid, while also lowering the cost of electricity for Africans. As Africa’s economies and populations steadily grow, so too does the demand for reliable electricity. Simply put, new power plants need to be built, and the reliability of electrical systems needs to be vastly improved. But here is the challenge: How can African countries build an electrical system that can both integrate a large amount of inexpensive but intermittent renewable energy, while at th...
3 Things Healthcare IT Teams can do to Improve Cybersecurity
Sourced from Getty Images. The healthcare industry has been forever changed by digital transformation. Innovation in the medical space has led to advances in new treatments as well as cost savings that do not negatively impact the quality of care. The added benefit: faster, better networks have allowed for the growth of telemedicine, bringing quality care to thousands who did not have access before. An unfortunate side effect has been that cybercriminals are targeting the healthcare sector now more than ever. As a result, cybersecurity is critical to the success of health systems, which are increasingly at risk as cybercriminals look to steal patient data or hold internal resources for ransom. The vulnerabilities that enable these attacks exist in any vertical, but in the case of healthcar...
Facebook Launches “My Digital World” Across Sub-Saharan Africa
Facebook has launched “My Digital World” – a programme designed to equip the youth and general public across Sub-Saharan Africa with digital skills needed to navigate the digital world. My Digital World is a consolidation of all Facebook digital literacy programmes including Safe Online with Facebook, Ilizwe Lam, and eZibo and will be offered virtually this year to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. Facebook has over the years trained thousands of people on digital literacy skills and is this year preparing to train close to 20,000 participants across Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire and Ethiopia on safe, responsible and beneficial usage of the digital platforms. “We remain committed to equipping young people and the general public across Sub-Saharan Africa with th...
Hybrid Cloud Environments Provide Cheap Security for Financial Service Organisations
Sourced from ZDNet. Worldwide, financial services organisations are turning to the cloud as the means to transform outdated legacy systems and commit to disruptive technologies. The size of the public cloud market is expected to top $354 billion by the end of 2022, a significant jump from the less than $197 billion of 2018. But instead of going the all-or-nothing route, the hybrid cloud is positioned to provide companies with a more secure way of leveraging their data. Yunus Scheepers, CTO at SilverBridge, discusses these security benefits at a time when Microsoft Azure data centres in the country are attracting attention from financial services organisations as a safer alternative to what their current on-premise offerings can provide. A hybrid cloud environment also provides risk-averse ...
4 Reasons to Love the Huawei P40 Pro’s AI Camera
Mobile technology is evolving so rapidly that it can often feel difficult to keep up. The instant you lay your hands on one smartphone, another outpaces it – particularly when it comes to photographic capabilities. Despite this, the Huawei P40 Pro has been dubbed one of 2020s best photo smartphones by the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA). And it’s not difficult to understand why – the device sports an impressive 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera, 40 MP Cine Camera, 12 MP SuperSensing Telephoto Camera, 3D Depth Sensing Camera on the rear and a 32MP Selfie Camera on the front. Thanks to its advanced camera setup, the Huawei P40 Pro gives users the ability to take great pictures with ease through its powerful AI features. Here’s a deeper look into four reasons why users will love this device:...
Telkom VS Gaming to Bring Esports League to Virtual Comic Con Africa
Sourced from Students Brands. The 2020 edition of Comic Con Africa will be held virtually for the first time ever. Comic Con announced that this year’s edition of the biggest event in the pop culture and gaming calendar will go ahead from 24 – 27 September 2020; bringing a virtual Con to fans in their own homes. “The (COVID-19) pandemic has forced all aspects of the sports fraternity to relook their approach. Luckily for us, nothing much has changed; VS Gaming continued to host its online leagues through this time. With the postponement of Comic Con Africa the VS Gaming flagship Masters tournament will conclude and the revised structure will be shared with our community soon,” says Wanda Mkhize, Telkom VS Gaming Spokesperson. In light of the new developments, Telkom VS Gaming in partnershi...
MTN, Cell C and rain Zero-rate Education Programmes for Youth
Major telecommunications companies MTN, Cell C and rain have zero-rated the OLICO Maths Education Programme which provides puzzles and problem-solving activities, competitions, games and weekly challenges to keep learners busy, connected and engaged. This decision followed the closure of schools in the COVID-19 pandemic’s local lockdown restrictions, which compounded learning challenges even further for the notoriously under-resourced youth in some of South Africa’s largest townships. Launched in 2008, the OLICO Maths Education Programme has provided effective and increasingly popular after-school tutoring and training in Alexandra, Diepsloot, Bosmont, Dunoon and Heideveld, and partners using OLICO maths content are working in Soweto, Ivory Park, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and deep-rural Easte...
South Africa Looks to be Expanding its Nuclear Power Infrastructure
Sourced from the South African. South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has taken another step towards building a new nuclear-power program. On Sunday, the department had issued a request for information for 2500 megawatts of capacity, the ministry says in a statement. Submissions for the request will close on 15 September. Given the long lead-time of building additional new nuclear capacity, upfront planning is necessary for security of energy supply to society. @DMRE_ZA has published the RFI intended to commence preparatory work to develop plans for a future nuclear energy build programme. pic.twitter.com/bln7ZRdbh5 — Gwede Mantashe (@GwedeMantashe1) June 14, 2020 “This will enable the department to gain insight into the cost of the program, possible ownership structure...
