tech news
Is Africa a Goldmine of Cybersecurity Opportunities?
Sourced from IDG Connect Africa presents a wealth of opportunities for startups and innovators looking to address cybersecurity risk across the increasingly digitised continent – according to Anna Collard, SVP of Content Strategy & Evangelist for KnowBe4 Africa. Collard goes on to say that cybersecurity presents an incredible market opportunity in Africa, with the number of Internet users soaring and demand for IT security skills growing rapidly. “Security skills and services are in high demand everywhere. The number of African Internet users will double to one billion by 2022, and global cybersecurity spend will top $170.4 billion in 2022. At the same time, cybercrime is estimated to cost the global economy a total of $6 trillion by next year, and cybercriminals’ interest in Africa is...
3 Reasons to Love the LG Wing
LG recently unveiled the LG Wing – its newest form-factor smartphone comprised of a swivel screen. This device is said to be perfect for tech fans and content creators thanks to its “ground-breaking” specs. With that said, here are three reasons to love the LG Wing: 1. Pro Stabilisation Recording The LG Wing’s swivel orientation captures video with absolute steadiness. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_af5.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_af5.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Once in swivel mode, the normal camera app vanishes and a new video-only app opens, revealing a gimbal controller interface with joystick controls that allow users to pan the 12MP rear camera left, right, up, and down without moving their hand. Users can then grip the bottom display with one hand and use their...
M-Pesa Becomes First African FinTech to Join United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce
M-Pesa has revealed that it is the first mobile money provider in Africa to join the Financial Taskforce established by United for Wildlife, a coalition of charities that works to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. The M-Pesa mobile money system has become Africa’s most popular financial services provider and the continent’s leading financial technology platform. M-Pesa is actively used by 41.5 million customers across seven African countries who make over 12.2 billion transactions per annum. The platform also enables individuals and businesses to pay bills, create savings and loan accounts and to access overdraft facilities, commercial services and healthcare. “The environment remains a critical, shared communal resource and has been under threat from the illegal trade of wildlife. The fu...
Unpacking Huawei’s Black Friday Deals
With Black Friday around the corner, Huawei has revealed its specials and sales. The tech giant says that it 2020 has been a tough year on South African consumers – this is why they are offering Black Friday deals beyond just Black Friday weekend. Some of the deals on, which are available up until 30 November, include: HUAWEI P30 lite – R4,999 – a saving of R500 HUAWEI Y8s – R4,299 – a saving of R400 HUAWEI Y7p – R3,499 – a saving of R400 HUAWEI P40 Pro+ – R19,999 – a saving of R9,000 HUAWEI WATCH GT – R1,799 – a saving of R1,900 HUAWEI MediaPad T5 – R2,999 – a saving of R1,300 The HUAWEI Matepad T8 is also available for just R2,499 – a saving of R500 – from Takealot, Incredible Connection, Woolworths and PEP stores until 31 December. On Wednesday 25...
Cyber Hygiene for System Health and Online Security
Organisations in the COVID-19 pandemic era have been forced to look at their security hygiene best practices in order to minimise risk, data leakage and non-compliance, while still allowing for operational flexibility and efficiency. Employees have increasingly been both allowed and encouraged to use their own devices to remotely connect to the corporate network. As a result, connectivity and digital resources at the office as well as the home have become more intertwined, meaning that minimising risk has become more critical than ever. Cyber hygiene refers to the practices and steps that companies need to take to maintain system health and improve online security. In my opinion, cyber hygiene has not changed significantly over the past year or two, but has just become more relevant to ap...
FNB Banking App Launches on Huawei App Gallery
FNB has confirmed that its banking app is now available for Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) users on the Huawei AppGallery. “We are happy to welcome FNB to the Huawei AppGallery family of apps,” says Likhun Zhao, VP at Huawei Consumer Business Group for Southern Africa. “Given the high smartphone penetration in South Africa banking apps are a key priority for consumers. Huawei has been working hard over the past year to ensure that our loyal customers get all the apps they need, whether they are for entertainment or necessity.” Head of Digital Banking at FNB, Giuseppe Virgillito says, “As South Africa’s Best Digital bank, we have a major focus on customer-centricity and the move to avail our App on more platforms affirms our commitment.” “We believe that this will also improve the...
Why Responsible AI is Built Around Human-Centred Design
Responsible artificial intelligence (AI) provides a framework for building trust in the AI solutions of an organisation, according to a report from Accenture. It is defined as the practice of designing, developing, and deploying AI with good intention to empower employees and businesses, and fairly impact customers and society. In turn, this allows companies to stimulate trust and scale AI with confidence. With technology starting to become commonplace, more organisations around the world are seeing the need to adopt responsible AI. For example, Microsoft relies on an AI, Ethics, and Effects in Engineering and Research (Aether) Committee to advise its leadership on the challenges and opportunities presented by AI innovations. Some of the elements the committee examines is how fairly AI sys...
Top 3 African Countries Hit by Mobile Fraud
Kenya, South Africa and Cameroon are said to be the top three hot spots for mobile fraudsters – according to cybersecurity company, Evina. These African countries face suspicious mobile-based billing transactions of 51%, 30% and 10%, respectively. “Africa’s youthful population that is mostly unbanked and using some 900 million mobile money accounts is particularly hard-hit by professional cybercriminals from around the world, who together cost Africa some $4 billion every year,” says David Lotfi, CEO of Evina. Fraudsters are impacting the long-term sustainability of the digital advertising and mobile payments industries, in particular, by perpetrating thousands of mobile-based fraud attempts daily. Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) where users are billed for purchases directly on their ph...
KaiOS Partners with Cash Crusaders to Launch the DIXON XK1 in South Africa
Cash Crusaders and KaiOS Technologies have launched the DIXON XK1. Priced at R450, this smart feature phone comes with a dual SIM slot which enables users to both maximize coverage and choose the pre and post paid plans that best fit their budget and needs. The DIXON XK1 is said to be targeted at three separate groups: 1. First-time or relatively new internet users who are looking for a safe space and a trusted reference to access vital information, including access to the world’s most popular apps such as Google Assistant, Google Maps, WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, and other relevant, local content. 2. The 5 million South Africans who want to use the mobile internet, but are priced out of the smartphone market. 3. People who are looking for a back-up device to switch between operators to g...
Ukheshe to Acquire Digital Payments Platform, Oltio
Ukheshe has entered into an agreement to acquire Oltio, a digital payments platform that supports Masterpass – Mastercard’s QR payment service in South Africa with more than 300,000 merchants and billers. The use of QR codes in South Africa provides merchants of all sizes – from large retailers chains to individual shop owners and street vendors – a fast, secure and inexpensive way to accept payments. This deal is expected to strengthen Ukheshe’s partnership with Mastercard – combining its ability to solve local market pain points with Mastercard’s global scale, technology and payment expertise. Ukheshe will continue to provide the same support to the banks and other service providers that currently offer Masterpass, ensuring business continuity with no impact to consumer...
5G Consumer Market to Reach $31 trillion by 2030
The 5G consumer market is expected to grow to $31 trillion by 2030, according to the Harnessing the 5G Consumer Potential report from Ericsson ConsumerLab. The report estimates that communications service providers (CSPs) could earn $3.7 trillion of that total – a figure that could increase further as new adjacent digital services opportunities arise. It also says that CSPs could generate up to $131 billion by 2030 from digital service revenues alone, by proactively bundling and marketing 5G use cases. About 40% of these revenue projections are attributed to consumer spending on enhanced video, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and cloud gaming over 5G networks. The report projects that AR is likely to drive more than half of all consumer spending on immersive media by 2030 – st...
Tackling Trends and Challenges for Black Friday in 2020
With the Black Friday shopping frenzy around the corner, the digital economy this year is expected to receive an enormous boost as many people will want to avoid crowds and take their shopping online. After a difficult year marked by severe disruptions and decreased demand, businesses will also be relying on this period to make up for losses due to the pandemic. As Black Friday is set to be so different, what can businesses expect to see? The opportunity for increased sales has led to many businesses treating November as ‘Black Friday Month’, giving customers a lot more time to find exactly what they want at the best price. Physical stores may see a lot less foot traffic as customers who opt for the safety and convenience of online retail platforms instead. Adobe predicts that online Blac...
