tech news
Agritech SupPlant Raises $10-Million to Accelerate South African Agriculture Growth
Sourced from Getty Images. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_476.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_476.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Today SupPlant, a leading precision agriculture hardware-software solution, has announced its recent funding round, raising $10-million partially dedicated to accelerating its penetration into the South African Market. The round is co-led by Boresight Capital, Menomadin Foundation, Smart-Agro Fund and Mivtah Shamir. The raise brings SupPlants’s total funding to more than $19-million. New Challenges Faced by Farmers The round comes amidst global warming impacting South African farmers who are dealing daily with the unpredicted climate that is changing rapidly causing tropical storms, cold spells, heat waves and constant lack of irrigation water. /* custo...
How Nigeria’s Latest Gas-Related Power Crisis Could Have Been Avoided
Image sourced from the Electricity Hub. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_cc8.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_cc8.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } On 28 May 2021, Nigeria’s national power generation dropped to 3,059 MW and for the subsequent seven days remained below 4,000 MW, 6% below-average production. Low pressure on the Escravos-Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS) left several gas turbine power plants with an insufficient gas supply, leading to plant shutdowns and widespread power blackouts. Unlike gas turbine power plants, gas engine power plants have the flexibility to function during low gas pressure events. This flexibility significantly lowers power production risk, a supreme advantage in the context of gas supply disruptions and systemic power shortages. Power cuts in Nigeria are ...
6 Urgent Steps Companies Need to Take to Ensure POPIA Compliance
Sourced from Europa EU. The eleventh hour is upon businesses who are not POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act) compliant. The effective date of 1 July is upon us. Your business should have already started its compliance journey, as it will at least help lessen the risk of cybersecurity breaches. Securing your data will help your business be in good standing with local and international partners. This will also enhance the reputation of your business and exempt you from fines and non-compliance. Here are six steps your business can take before 01 July to be POPIA compliant: 1. Encrypt Everything One of the major requirements under POPIA is to ensure that you apply Generally Accepted Information Security Protocols. While these requirements are not the same for all organisations, som...
How COVID-19 Has Driven a Cashless World Through Contactless Payments
Image sourced from PYMNTS. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_560.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_560.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, contactless payments have become the world’s preferred payment method. In addition to being safer from a viral transmission perspective, contactless payments are also faster, and integrating multiple contactless payment methods assists small businesses to better maintain financial liquidity. While choice in payment methods boosts Customer Experience (CX), we still have a way to go before South Africa fully embraces cashless payments. This will necessitate educating the population on card security and business owners on the benefits of contactless payments and the reduction of cash on hand. Formal vs Informal Trading /* c...
Location Intelligence is Key to Understanding New Customer Behaviours Post-Pandemic
Image sourced from Geospatial World. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_271.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_271.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The COVID-19 pandemic was a major disruptor for the retail sector. Practically overnight, customer buying patterns and behaviours changed, and have continued to shift ever since. This had made it challenging to meet customer expectations effectively. Retailers need to harness the power of location intelligence to help them better understand how their customers’ needs have changed and continue to change. What is Location Intelligence? Forrester, a research and advisory company, defines location intelligence as “the practice of collecting and managing customer location data, enriching it with other data sources, and analysing for contextual...
Kaspersky Discovers Various Malicious Apps Disguising as Bestselling Game Minecraft
Sourced from Stuff. Recognised as the world’s top-selling game of all time, Minecraft attracts the attention of enthusiastic players around the world but also draws the interest of fraudsters. Earlier, Kaspersky researchers discovered more than 20 applications advertised on app stores offering additional Minecraft features. Though these malicious apps were deleted from official stores, Kaspersky experts have found newly developed ones, which exploit the game to further fraudster’s objectives. Malware on Google Play Store Kaspersky researchers analysed various apps, including those which are available for download on the Google Play store and claimed to be modpacks (user-created packages with additional gameplay elements) for the game. As a result, the company’s experts found various malici...
5 Crucial Things You Need to Do When You Receive A Phishing Email
Image sourced from Kaspersky. You may not even notice when you receive one, most suspicious emails are automatically sorted to spam by your email service – though, a few may slip through the cracks, and one or two may even be authentic enough for you to click through their contents. The most important thing to remember about phishing emails is that unless you open any attachments or click on any links, you will not be affected by malware. Phishing emails are based on social engineering and work off bait, hence the name, and unless the bait is taken you can’t be affected by the cybercriminals holding the rod, fingers twitching at the reel. If you’re not familiar with these kinds of emails or begin to feel nervous or panicked when you receive one – this list is for you. Here are 6 crucial th...
Hugely Anticipated Elden Ring Finally Revealed at Summer Games Fest
Image sourced from WCCFTech. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_108.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_108.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } The enormously anticipated Elden Ring has finally been revealed after almost 2 years of silence on the part of developer From Software since its initial teaser trailer was released at E3 2019. Elden Ring is set to be a collaboration between Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin. Fans of both series have been patiently awaiting any news on the game. Their patience was rewarded Thursday night during a reveal at the Summer Games Fest, closing the virtual presentation. The game trended worldwide on Twitter for a few hours after the reveal via #EldenRing. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_99c.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left...
Facebook, Instagram & Other Social Media MUST Register with Nigerian Govt to Continue Operations
/* custom css */ .tdi_4_653.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_653.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } A week after the country indefinitely suspended social media service Twitter, the Nigerian Federal Government has said that any social media giant, including Facebook, Twitter and others must register in the country to continue to be able to do business and operate unhindered. Users who access Twitter against the ban will be prosecuted, the government warned on Wednesday. Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, yesterday also revealed that Twitter has contacted the Nigerian government to begin “high-level discussions” in order to begin operating in the country legally once again. The Minister had disclosed this information while briefing the media after the weekly Fede...
MultiChoice Sees Surge in Earnings Amidst Subscriber Boom
Image sourced from The Vanguard Nigeria /* custom css */ .tdi_4_dc2.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_dc2.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } South African broadcasting conglomerate MultiChoice Group reports that it has added 1.4-million 90-day active subscribers to its services between the beginning of 2021 to 31 March. MultiChoice also reports that earnings were exceedingly robust despite the ongoing pandemic. This is partly due to the 7% growth year-on-year of its subscribers. The Johannesburg-based corporation ended 2020 with 20.9-million subscribers – 43% from South Africa, while a further 57% of subscribers from the rest of the continent. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_d36.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_d36.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Growth in the Face of COV...
The Haller Foundation Partners with Deciwatt to Improve Accessibility for Safe Sources of Light and Electricity in Kenya
Deciwatt’s NowLights supply renewable, sustainable energy. The Haller Foundation, a grassroots NGO registered in the UK and based in Kenya, is continuing its efforts to support smallholder farmers in the country through its Partnership with Deciwatt – an organisation and charity that provides sustainable, low-cost, low-energy lighting and electricity to rural communities across the globe. To aid the Haller Foundation’s efforts in supporting and enriching the lives of smallholder farmers in rural areas in Kenya, Deciwatt supplied 12 sustainable NowLights to the Foundation in support of the re-launching of the Haller Foundation’s award-winning Haller Farmers App. “We’re really excited to be building on our existing relationship with The Haller Foundation, where we supplied Gravity Ligh...
South African Animation Studio Wins International Film Award
Mama K’s Team 4 on Netflix. Image sourced from Quartz. /* custom css */ .tdi_4_787.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_4_787.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Annecy International Animation Festival has awarded South African animation studio, Triggerfish, the Mifa Animation Industry Award. “This is to highlight the pioneering role that the company has played in animation in South Africa, and Africa most widely,” says Véronique Encrenaz, head of Mifa. Previous recipients include Christopher Meledandri, founder of Illumination (Despicable Me); the co-founders of Aardman, Peter Lord and David Sproxton (Wallace & Grommet); Marc Bonny, the creator of Gebeka Films (My Life As A Courgette); Eric Beckman, founder of GKIDS (Wolfwalkers); and Women in Animation (WIA). /* cust...
