tech news
Huawei Launches Rural Telephony Project in Ghana
Image sourced from Ghana Web Huawei and Ghana’s Ministry of Communications have launched the Rural Telephony Project which aims to provide voice and data services for over 3.4 million people in underserved and unserved communities. This initiative, in partnership with China National Technical, is expected to save the government up to 70% of the cost of traditional cell sites and extend the national mobile communication coverage from 83% to 95% – greatly accelerating local economic development whiles improving people’s livelihoods. Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo-Addo, President of Ghana, says that “Government is committed to ensuring that every Ghanaian, irrespective of tribe, religion, class, location or identity has access to affordable and reliable voice and data connectivity”. “To this e...
Apple Introduces its New MacBooks, Mac Mini and M1 Chip
Apple took to the global stage to unveil its new MacBooks – the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro – Mac Mini and M1 Chip. Here’s a closer look at each of its new devices: Apple M1 Chip The tech giant showcased the first Arm-based Macs that run on Apple Silicon chips (the M1) instead of the Intel processors. According to Gadgets Africa, the M1 is meant to be “the most powerful chip in any Apple computer. M1 is also engineered to offer the ultimate performance while also demanding as little power as possible. This would help Macs in preserving power and lasting for long on battery”. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_cea.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_cea.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } MacBook Air The new MacBook Air – which is the first of its kind to run the M1 Chip – is expected to be “t...
Huawei to Unveil MateBook X Pro in South Africa
Huawei is expanding its PC range in South Africa with the addition of the MateBook X Pro. The device is expected to launch on 16 November. The MateBook X Pro flaunts an elegant metallic body with meticulous diamond cut edges, making it as easy on the eyes as the 1.33KG lightweight portability makes on the users day-to-day life. The device also features an enviable battery life, which work hand-in-hand with the PC’s unique systems that enable intelligent energy saving management and process management. This means that users can watch videos on their devices for up to 13 hours, work regularly for 15 hours or browse webpages for up to 11 hours. One of the biggest pull factors of this device is the Ultra FullView display, created by Huawei’s research into leading industrial design capabilities...
TikTok says Trump Administration has Yet to Review Ban Deadline
Sourced from Cosmico TikTok has called for the US Court of Appeals to review the ban by Trump administration’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The social media platform says that it has been weeks since it received an update about the deadline for ByteDance – TikTok’s parent company – to sell off US assets. “For a year, TikTok has actively engaged with CFIUS in good faith to address its national security concerns, even as we disagree with its assessment,” reads a statement from TikTok. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_4dd.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_4dd.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “In the nearly two months since the President gave his preliminary approval to our proposal to satisfy those concerns, we have offered detailed solutions to finalize t...
7 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2021
COVID-19 will continue to be a key focus for organizations’ IT and security teams, says cybersecurity solutions company Check Point. “The pandemic derailed business-as-usual for virtually every organization, forcing them to set aside their existing business and strategic plans, and quickly pivot to delivering secure remote connectivity at massive scale for their workforces,” says Pankaj Bhula: Check Point’s EMEA Regional Director. “Security teams also had to deal with escalating threats to their new cloud deployments, as hackers sought to take advantage of the pandemic’s disruption: 71% of security professionals reported an increase in cyber-threats since lockdowns started,” “One of the few predictable things about cyber-security is that threat actors will always seek to take advanta...
MTN South Africa Partners with Ozow to Make MoMo Transfers Simpler
MTN South Africa has partnered with Ozow to make loading funds simpler for Mobile Money (MoMo) users. “We see this partnership as one more step in our efforts at displacing cash and enabling greater digital and financial inclusion for all South Africans. The rapid growth of mobile money services this year points to the growing demand among South Africans for safe and efficient ways to store, send and spend money via their mobile device,” says Thomas Pays, CEO and co-founder at Ozow. MTN MoMo was launched at the beginning of 2020 and crossed the one million user milestone in June. It offers users an easy way to send money to friends and family members as well as access to a range of value-added services such as purchasing prepaid electricity, renewing car licence discs, and purchasing produ...
Econet Teams Up with Alphabet to Expand Network Connectivity in Africa
Econet has teamed up with X’s Project Taara – Alphabet’s moonshot factory (formerly known as Google [x]) – to expand and enhance affordable, high-speed connectivity to communities across Sub-Saharan Africa. This makes it the first roll-out of Taara’s wireless optical communication technology in Africa. Taara’s links offer fibre-like speed internet access in areas where it’s not economically viable, or too difficult to install fibre, for example, over rivers or in areas where it is unsafe to dig trenches for cables. Econet will deploy Taara’s technology in Africa across Liquid Telecom’s Fibre Optic Backbone and Mobile Network Infrastructure starting in Kenya. “This technology and our partnership with Taara forms an important building block towards realising our vision of a digitally c...
ProLabs Enables Networking Upgrades for Healthcare Industry
Technology is transforming the way people shop, bank and travel, and perhaps one of its next big challenges is to make major inroads into how they receive healthcare. But reports on progress in the area of healthcare and technology uptake are conflicting. According to global consultants McKinsey, based on their healthcare research released in 2019, “The adoption of digitally enabled tools for diagnosis, treatment, and management… has been modest”. On the other hand, German-based global consultancy firm Roland Berger, in the same year, released a study entitled “Future of Health: An industry goes digital – faster than expected”. According to the 2019 Roland Berger paper, in which 400 international healthcare experts were asked to predict the medium to long-term changes in healthcare, the he...
Four reasons why SA app developers should integrate their apps with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS)
Since the launch of HUAWEI AppGallery, Huawei’s app store, in 2019 Huawei has been focused on assisting app developers. Huawei’s approach has always been to ensure that consumers get the best of both local and global apps on their devices, which means that it places great importance on making sure that SA developers get all they need from Huawei to develop and integrate their apps with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). Here are four reasons why SA app developers should integrate their apps with HMS: Developers have access to global markets By integrating apps to HMS, developers have more exposure to Huawei’s device base, increasing the number of consumers who have access to their apps via HUAWEI AppGallery. Over 490 million people in 170 countries are monthly active users of Huawei mobil...
Telkom Reports 19% Increase in Mobile Subscribers
Telkom South Africa has revealed its interim results for the six months ending 30 September 2020. The telco was driven by a 19% increase in mobile subscribers – reaching 13.7 million – to claim the position of South Africa’s third mobile operator. Telkom delivered solid EBITDA growth despite a slight revenue decrease of 0.4% to R21.4 billion in the face of difficult trading conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Telkom’s decision to invest in infrastructure ahead of demand enabled us to meet the surge in demand and weather the acceleration of the decline in fixed voice revenue during the national lockdown,” says Sipho Maseko, Telkom Group CEO. Telkom Mobile expanded margin by 13.2 ptts to 29.9%, optimised direct cost to revenue ratio from 53% in the prior period to 38% and more t...
Showmax Introduces Subscription-Free Streaming Service
Showmax has launched a subscription-free streaming service in South Africa – ‘Showmax Free’. This service is expected to feature “hand-picked content slate that gives customers an opportunity to sample some of Showmax’s entertainment”. Showmax Free will feature local movies, series and sports shows. Users will be able to stream movies and binge-watch the first few episodes of available series for free – however, they will see adverts during playback and be prompted to upgrade to Showmax paid plans. Customers will be able to upgrade to the ad-free Showmax entertainment catalogue to access complete seasons of the latest local and international series, blockbuster movies and kids’ content. For live sport, users will need to subscribe to Showmax Pro. “Ad-supported streaming services are a grow...
Xbox Series S and X Delays to be Expected in South Africa
Attention all gamers! Microsoft Xbox Series S and X consoles – which were expected to be available in South Africa today – will be delayed at certain retailers. “Due to some unforeseen logistical challenges, some stores in South Africa may receive their stock of the Series X | S on day of launch or possibly a day late,” reads an official statement from Prima Interactive, the company responsible for Xbox distribution. “Prima Interactive would like to advise that all stock has been shipped to stores. With global embargos taken into consideration there is a very small window for delivery to stores, and sometimes despite the best plans delays occur.” “We can confirm that ALL PRE-ORDERS will be met and your Xbox has been shipped to the store you ordered it from. If you haven’t received notifica...
