tech news
Is the Clubhouse App Safe to Use?
Image sourced from Daily Express Clubhouse has become a wildly popular app across the world. The invitation-only audio-chat platform appears to be a reflection of the growing interest in sound-based products with the recent rebound of the podcast. Kaspersky researchers believe that the app can create a false sense of security, privacy, and closeness, in part because of how its registration works (it’s invitation-only at the moment). This creates several risks for the users, which are important to be aware of when using any public space on the Internet. One of the risks is privacy risks. This is often connected with the fact that people feel they are surrounded by like-minded individuals and friends, which allows them to behave more authentically than they would in front of strangers....
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9 Ways to Save Electricity in South Africa
Image sourced from Brand South Africa In South Africa, load shedding is expected to continue as power demand exceeds supply and more downtime is needed for overdue maintenance of the system. It is estimated that load shedding could have cost South Africa as much as R338 billion over the past 10 years, according to a report from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). This includes loss of production, where most businesses use electricity for machinery, technology and light to complete the day’s work. To help keep the lights on, here are nine thoughts on how to save electricity: Turn off unnecessary lights and switch to energy-saving LED light bulbs. Additionally, use natural light wherever possible. Take shorter showers – save water as well as electricity. Turn the hot w...
Twitter to Label the Verified Accounts of Governments and Officials
Image sourced from Mission Statement Academy Twitter is planning to label the verified accounts of governments and government officials. The social media network believes this will help users when interacting with these leaders and associated institutions by adding context to what people see on Twitter. According to an official blog post, Twitter says it will add labels to the following accounts: Verified accounts of key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders. At this time, our focus is on senior officials and entities who are the official voice of the state abroad; Personal accounts of heads of state, from phase 1 and phase 2 countries. In a tweet, the platform reveals exactly what thes...
Women in Tech Virtual Forum to Launch
Two technology giants have joined forces to introduce an all-women virtual forum that will bring women in the South African tech space together to learn from each other, share their challenges and empower a new breed of leaders in the industry. The Women in Tech virtual sessions are a collaboration between legal technology firm, LexisNexis South Africa, and Dell Technologies, the leader in digital transformation and technology solutions. Hosted monthly, the sessions will see some of South Africa’s foremost women in technology sharing their thoughts and experiences around being a woman in the workplace and a leadership success story. The importance of embedding gender parity into the future has only heightened with the rapid labour market changes and digital acceleration o...
TikTok Oracle Deal is reportedly ‘Shelved Indefinitely’
Sourced from Cosmico Last year, Tik Tok’s parent company ByteDance and Oracle reached a “technical partnership” for the social media platform’s US operations. The deal was expected to address the national security concerns surrounding TikTok, raised by the Trump Administration. But now, it would seem that these efforts have been ‘shelved indefinitely’ while US President Joe Biden “undertakes a broad review of his predecessor’s efforts to address potential security risks from Chinese tech companies”. Spokesperson for the National Security Council, Emily Horne told the Wall Street Journal that “we plan to develop a comprehensive approach to securing US data that addresses the full range of threats we face. This includes the risk posed by Chinese apps and other software that operate in t...
Why Facial Verification Is Key to Ending Facial Biometric Software Bias
As the global need for inclusive biometric security in facial identification increases, developers need not overlook the burden of a non-biased solution. Teki Akuetteh Falconer, from the African Digital Rights’ Hub, says racial profiling is a major concern in terms of facial identification software. This presents a challenge for Africa because if an individual’s identity cannot be reliably processed by both the public and private sectors, their ability to function in a digital society is hampered. The World Bank and the United Nations anticipate that by 2030 all Africans will have some form of digital identity which will prove critical when it comes to accessing essential services such as housing, schooling, healthcare and banking, to name a few. Gur Geva, Founder and CEO of iiDE...
Riven: 10 Ways to Win the Game
Like any MOBA, League of Legends (hereinafter referred to as LoL) consists of casual and professional players. Casual players play for their pleasure and rarely choose ranked matches. Professional players hone their skills in ranked matches, for which they receive special rewards. Besides, they have the opportunity to get noticed and become a part of a team for eSports competitions. To do this, one needs strategic skills and an understanding of the mechanics of all available champions. As of February 2021, LoL has 154 characters. Each of them will have their unique play style and peculiarities of studying combat tactics. At the same time, most of the characters in the game mechanics may resemble more familiar LoL champions. This can be an opportunity to grasp strategy faster. Also, champio...
Why Africa’s Youth Needs Access to Agricultural Knowledge and Tools
In recent years, Africa’s younger generation has begun to associate farming with bare sustenance and discard it as a viable career path. Despite farming being a fundamental part of society, training and education on sustainable agriculture in school curriculums is neglected and underfunded at government level. To unpack this further, IT News Africa’s Jenna Delport spoke to James Konde, Head of Farmer Training and App Development at the Haller Foundation in Mombasa, Kenya. Here’s what transpired: The Haller Foundation is a UK registered charity and Kenyan NGO that was set up to educate rural farmers. How is the foundation tackling the youth’s lack of interest in agriculture? /* custom css */ .tdi_3_dd6.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_dd6.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; }...
Sad! Donald Trump’s Twitter Ban Is Permanent, CFO Confirms
It only took four years of violating the Terms of Service, but in January Twitter finally worked up the courage to ban then-President Donald Trump. Still, the one-time Tweeter-in-Chief has vowed to run for president in 2024, perhaps under the banner of a new Patriot Party. This has led many to speculate that Twitter would relax the ban if Trump returned to power, since they already showed cowardice an unwillingness to challenge him while he spoke for half the country. Well, bad news for all the “God bless you, sir!” reply-guys, because Twitter CFO Ned Segal has confirmed that the Orange Menace is gone for good. “The way our policies work, when you’re removed from the platform, you’re removed from the platform,” Segal told CNBC’s Squawk Box, “whether you’re a commentator, you’re a CFO, or y...
The Shared Benefits of Connectivity Mean a Shared Effort of Providing It
As the need for connectivity becomes increasingly fundamental to our way of life, the need to deliver quality and cost-efficient connectivity and services by private communication services providers is of paramount importance. However, the cost of delivering quality services is relative to demand and use. Demand and volume of consumption of services play a significant role in determining the return profile of investments made by network operators in the infrastructure, platforms, product development and services that are required to deliver quality connectivity and digital services. While a lot of efforts have been made on the supply side, including policy, the licensing of new entrants and the release of spectrum, it requires equal or even more efforts on the demand side to enable the ado...
Mastercard to Support Cryptocurrency Transactions on its Network
Mastercard is preparing for the future of transactions by planning to support cryptocurrency transactions across its network. This comes at a time when these digital assets are becoming a more important part of the payments world, especially during Bitcoin’s recent surge in value. In a blog post, Mastercard says, “We are preparing right now for the future of crypto and payments, announcing that this year Mastercard will start supporting select cryptocurrencies directly on our network. This is a big change that will require a lot of work. We will be very thoughtful about which assets we support based on our principles for digital currencies, which focus on consumer protection and compliance.” The company goes on to say that its philosophy on cryptocurrencies is straightforward: It’s ab...
