tech news
How Alternative Power Solutions could Mitigate Load Shedding
Sourced from the South African. South Africa continues to feel the effects of load shedding, resulting in a decrease in productivity and disruption to business operations. Eskom announced earlier this year that load shedding is expected to continue into 2021 as power demand exceeds supply and more downtime is needed for overdue maintenance of the system. Some of the effects of load shedding include: Damage to electronics: the surge of electricity when the power is returned upsets the steady voltage flow in the electrical system. Loss of production: where most businesses use electricity for machinery, technology and light to complete the day’s work, loss of electrical power means that the day’s target cannot be completed. Data loss: power outages can cause data loss and corruption. Thi...
4 Trends Shaping the Healthcare Industry in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has led the headlines in defining the challenge facing our healthcare systems this year – says Dr Ryan Noach, CEO of Discovery Health. “We have closely followed and analysed the local and global trajectory of the pandemic and have identified a tipping point for healthcare consumers to access healthcare differently, revealing opportunities for greater efficiencies in the future.” Four key trends have emerged as currently dominant in shaping the healthcare industry: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted typical healthcare patterns and created discontinuity in the supply and demand of healthcare services. The global focus on patient-centric care is driving demand for improved quality of care and healthcare outcomes. Providers and consumers are increasingly leveraging digit...
Data Protection in an Evolving Threat Landscape
Sourced from CSO. Information Technology (IT) has become simpler and more complex. This is best described with the cloud making it easier to consume while adding challenges of massive data growth, increased siloes and growing numbers of workloads. In addition, ransomware and malware attacks are a very valid concern. Data protection needs to be modernised to meet changing needs, simplified to mitigate complexity, and flexible to adapt to a changing world. Above all, data needs to be consolidated to provide an all-encompassing view it as a strategic business asset, moving beyond backups to data management. In a data-driven world the impact of a disaster is magnified With the emergence and growth of cloud technologies, data outages have become far less frequent. However, the impact of an outa...
Huawei Launches the P Smart S in South Africa
Huawei has launched the new Huawei P Smart S device in South Africa. The smartphone has a 6.3″ OLED Dewdrop Display, with a high screen-to-body ratio of 90.17%, offering a massive viewing area and displaying content in fine details and vivid colours. The tech company says that when it comes to their consumers, they are all about the smartphones – which is why Huawei has included a 4,000mAh high-capacity battery that will keep up with any gaming, browsing, reading, music or series and movie needs. This smartphone’s rear camera is capable of producing high-definition images, thanks to its 48MP Main Camera. Even zoomed in, the details are crisp and sharp. The Huawei P Smart S also excels in night photography due to its high sensitivity performance and AI capability. Thanks to the device’s 120...
Sony Unveils New ‘Extra Bass’ Wireless Speaker
Sony has launched its new Extra Bass wireless speaker line-up – made up of the SRS-XB43, SRS-XB33 and SRS-XB23. The new range features superb sound quality, toughness and usability, all housed in refreshed new designs. “Our new SRS-XB43, SRS-XB33 and SRS-XB23 Extra Bass wireless speakers are designed to offer South African music lovers deep, punchy bass in a durable, refreshed look so their favourite music can be enjoyed the way artists’ intended,” says Takakiyo Fujita, MD at Sony Middle East and Africa. “This new XB range uses Sony’s renowned audio technology to produce exceptional sound quality.” X-Balanced Speaker Unit The Extra Bass wireless XB speaker range features Sony’s newly developed X-Balanced Speaker Unit, which is engineered to achieve high sound quality and powerful sound pre...
Rwanda to Host MWC 2021
GSMA has revealed that it will host MWC Africa in Kigali, Rwanda in 2021 – this comes after MWC 2020 was scrapped in the wake of numerous wireless tech heavyweights deciding to pull out from the conference citing the coronavirus outbreak. MWC21 Africa is expected to bring together the leading names in business and technology from all around the world. “I am proud of what we have built with Thrive and the previous Mobile 360 events, which have helped shape the continent’s connected digital future,” says GSMA Director General, Mats Granryd. “From 2021 we will celebrate MWC Africa, joining our world-leading platform for thought-leadership and technology, recognising the important role Africa will play in our connected future.” /* custom css */ .tdi_3_b57.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: ...
Google Launches the Pixel 5 Smartphone
Google has officially launched its latest flagship device – the Pixel 5. The 6.2-inch smartphone is said to be Google’s most capable handset ‘in terms of connectivity and features’ as it is one of the first 5G devices within the Pixel range. The Pixel 5 is powered by the Snapdragon 765G and sports 8GB of RAM and 128GB worth of internal storage. Google is especially proud of the Pixel 5’s photography capabilities – It has a dual-rear-camera set up as well as a punch-hole notch front-facing camera. “Ask any Pixel owner and they’ll tell you: Pixels take great photos,” says the tech company. “Pixel 5 [is] no exception. [This phone] brings Pixel’s industry-leading photography features to the next level.” Here’s a closer look at the Pixel 5’s key specifications: Operating System Android 11 Main ...
NZ Stock Exchange DDoS Attacks Remind Enterprises to Check Defence Security
Risna Steenkamp, General Manager: ESM Division at Networks Unlimited Africa At the end of August, a series of cyberattacks on the New Zealand Stock Exchange over five consecutive days forced it to halt trading for a number of hours for four out of those five days. The attacks raised questions about the stock exchange’s security, as well as the threat actors’ underlying motives. “This was a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) incidents, in which threat actors disrupted the normal traffic to the enterprise by overwhelming the target with a flood of internet traffic at volumes that the system just couldn’t handle,” explains Risna Steenkamp, General Manager: ESM at value-added distributor Networks Unlimited Africa. “In financial services terms, the New Zealand Stock Exchange is a re...
T-Systems and Fortinet to Launch Cyber Security Academy in South Africa
T-Systems and Fortinet have teamed up to launch a Cyber Security Academy that’s accessible to local South African youth. The new Academy is expected to include Fortinet’s Network Security Expert (NSE) certifications, helping participants build cybersecurity awareness skills and ultimately tackle the global cybersecurity workforce shortage. “Cybersecurity has become a top C-level priority across the globe with skills in high demand. With the addition of this focus to our ICT Academy, we are empowering participants with new skills that will make them even more employable,” explains Marcus Karuppan, ICT Academy Manager at T-Systems South Africa. “T-Systems has been a Fortinet partner for many years. Building on our relationship, we are now collaborating with them to focus on cybersecurity ski...
Microsoft Outlook Down Worldwide
Sourced from Wikimedia Microsoft’s Outlook has suffered a global outage impacting web, desktop, and mobile email services. According to The Verge, the disruption began at 2AM ET and ‘users are currently unable to access their email, and Outlook.com is failing to load’. Microsoft has since confirmed the outage, saying that it is currently investigating the issue. “We’ve received reports of users experiencing issues accessing their Exchange Online accounts via Outlook on the Web,” reads an official tweet. “We’ve collected additional data from the affected infrastructures to determine impact to our Exchange online protocols.” /* custom css */ .tdi_3_551.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_551.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “Additionally, we’ve identified this issue to be affectin...
FNB Introduces QR Code Payments to all Speedpoint Devices
Sourced from Htxt.Africa FNB has revealed that shoppers across South Africa will now be able to make QR code payments at all standalone sale terminals. The bank says that this forms part of the ongoing expansion of its payments ecosystem and integrated App-based QR code, aimed at accelerating the adoption of digital payment solutions in the country. FNB Merchant Services CEO, Thokozani Dlamini says given the challenges we are currently facing globally due to the COVID -19 pandemic, it was essential that FNB fast-track the rollout of QR code payments for enhanced convenience and safety. “Added to the cost-effective, convenient and efficient payment process of contactless payments, both consumers and merchants will have peace of mind from a safety perspective, as physical contact will be lim...
WhatsApp is Working on an Expiring Media Feature
Whatsapp is reportedly working on a feature that would allow users to delete an image or video from someone else’s phone once it’s been viewed. According to WABetaInfo, users will be able to use this feature by selecting the ‘View Once’ option when sending media. Once the recipient views the image or video, they will receive a notification to inform them that the media will no longer be available once they leave the chat. Image sourced from WABetaInfo The next time the recipient enters the chat, a message reading “View once photo expired” will replace the image or video. Image sourced from WABetaInfo There is no word just yet on when users can expect this feature to officially rollout. WhatsApp is Working on “Vacation Mode” Feature, Again WhatsApp is again working on its “Vacation Mode” fe...
