tech news
5 Crucial Cybersecurity Principles for Businesses
The face of cybercrime has changed, alongside the strategies used. It’s no longer just the teen hacker in their bedroom, it’s a variety of different people with a broadening array of tactics. And what’s more, in the current climate of goodwill it is increasingly easy to get caught up in one of these traps. With this in mind, there’s no harm done in brushing up on five cybersecurity principles that can help you and your business mitigate the more common tricks and attacks used by cybercriminals: 1. Least Privilege Just because you trust everyone in your business doesn’t mean that your receptionist needs the same access levels as your CEO. Give users minimum necessary access and leave your most valuable data vulnerable to far fewer breach points. You wouldn’t give a hotel guest a key for eve...
Coronavirus Antibodies Vanish a Few Months After Patients Recover, New Study Finds
According to a study published in the Journal of Nature Medicine, recovered COVID-19 patients may rapidly lose antibodies – the blood proteins necessary to stave off virus infections and the cornerstone of vaccinology. The finding raises new questions about the idea of immunity passports (a way for people considered immune to the virus to move around freely and not need to wear facemasks) and could be cause for concern about the development of an effective vaccine. Researchers in the study tested for antibodies in 37 people who had fallen ill and recovered from the virus in the Wanzhou district of China. They also tested 37 others who had tested positive for the virus but never showed symptoms – what is known as asymptomatic cases. This was in order to address two key questions that will i...
Ericsson Aims to Enable Financial Inclusion and Development Across Africa
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 health crisis, the desire for mobile money and contactless payments is on the rise to avoid infections and disease transmission. With mobile money, customers can make payments anywhere at any time with their mobile devices connected to the Internet which decreases exposure to physical money, Point of Sales (PoS) terminals and Automated Teller Machines (ATM)– especially with high volumes of micropayments. The freedom to send, spend and receive money with a mobile phone is quickly becoming an essential part of life for billions of people. It is said that more money remains digital – promoting further digital transactions circulating in the system – rather than being cashed-out – which is great progress towards a cashless society. In 2019, GSMA recorded...
6 Android Apps to Help Teens Sharpen Their Life Skills
Sourced from Gadgets Now. Most teens have grown up with technology as a part of their lives. It’s not surprising that many of them take great joy in snapping selfies, sharing memes on social media, watching YouTube videos and playing Fortnite. There’s nothing wrong with using a smartphone to have fun and socialise, but devices can also help teens navigate the world. Given this love of tech and devices, there can be no better way to reach them that through content and services that build their life skills or help them get organised. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ebe.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_ebe.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } For Youth Month in South Africa, Alcatel takes a look at some helpful apps for Android devices for teens to acquire or enhance their skills in areas o...
4 Ways SAP is Tackling Supply Chain and Industry Challenges
Sourced from Shutterstock. As companies all over the world face unprecedented challenges, they are turning to technologies that provide reliable insights to help them better support their employees, customers and suppliers. Stepping up to fulfil these needs, SAP has announced that it will help companies improve supply chain and industry-specific processes, connect through the business network and embed sustainability as a critical measure of business success. “In uncertain times, companies need a trusted partner to help them make confident decisions to enhance agility and resiliency during and beyond the current COVID-19 crisis,” says Thomas Saueressig, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE for SAP Product Engineering. “In today’s hyperconnected world, it’s even more important for busine...
The Difficulties of Reaching Communities in Chad with COVID-19 Safety Messages
Sourced from RFI. The health authorities in Chad are focusing on communities to build confidence so that citizens trust the right information and avoid risky behaviour. Communal living, not uncommon in many of N’Djamena’s neighbourhoods, the Chadian capital, is a source of fear among residents as COVID-19 persists. When the pandemic reached Chad, health authorities rolled out a raft of response measures, including door-to-door visits by community health educators to relay messages on safety. While face-to-face meetings are time-consuming, the sessions are more personal, often carried out by someone from the same community who speaks the same language and has the appropriate cultural understanding. Unlike broadcast messages, people can ask questions and seek clarifications in door-to-door c...
Twitter to Rebuild Audio Tweet Feature for Greater Accessibility
Sourced from Wired. Twitter is testing a new feature, which is currently only available to a select number of iOS users, that allows users to record a snippet of audio and tweet it. News of this feature was quickly met with criticism over the apparent lack of captions, reducing its accessibility for deaf users. With the greatest of respect, Twitter, describing this version of the feature as ‘early’ to make up for the fact that it currently isn’t accessible (but may well be in a later version) isn’t good enough. Accessibility should be considered from the start, not as an afterthought. https://t.co/qLA7Wcj3oQ — Liam O’Dell (@LiamODellUK) June 17, 2020 According to The Verge, “commenters pointed out that other social platforms have captions, so the excuse that this was a new feature di...
EA Partners with Indie Studios to Launch 3 Bold New Games
Sourced from Game Tribute. Electronic Arts has revealed three new EA Originals games and confirmed a new partnership with Final Strike Games. Hazelight Studios’ It Takes Two, Zoink’s Lost in Random and Final Strike Games’ Rocket Arena will be published under the EA Originals label, which was established to work with the best, boldest and most passionate independent studios across the world. EA also revealed that an upcoming team-based action game from Velan Studios will be built using the developer’s new game engine under the EA Originals banner. “We recognized the inspiring vision, talent and innovation coming from these independent studios and how that will become amazing game experiences for our players across the world, wherever they choose to play”, says Steve Pointon, SVP 3rd Party C...
QNB is Accepting Mastercard-branded Payment Cards in Sudan
QNB Group has become the first bank in Sudan to have successfully performed an international payment card transaction in partnership with Mastercard. The transaction was performed using a Mastercard virtual prepaid card product. QNB is also the first Bank in Sudan to have obtained an issuance license from Mastercard. The first successful international prepaid card transaction was performed on 14 June 2020 and it marks an important and historic milestone for QNB and Mastercard’s strategic plans in Sudan and across Africa. Through this partnership, QNB will issue and accept the Mastercard-branded payment cards in Sudan, allowing more people and businesses across the country to enjoy more convenient, secure and easy to use ways to pay locally and globally. The QNB Mastercard product is a secu...
Why 5G Adoption has been so Slow
If you have been waiting for 5G super-connectivity to roll out overnight and instantly change your life, you might be in for a surprise. It took nearly 10 years for 4G to become the dominant technology in cellular connectivity and those in the know, believe that it might even take longer for 5G to settle in nicely. Nevertheless, there are a few wonderful changes to look forward to as we slowly but surely move into the fourth industrial revolution. “First you have to understand that in theory 5G can support millisecond latencies,” explains Christopher Riley, CEO of the notebook company. “This means that we are not far from fully autonomous driverless cars, telesurgery – where your surgeon might be thousands of miles away, which has been tested over 5G with great success – and Virtual Realit...
Energy Storage Technology Could Put an End to Africa’s Blackouts
Sourced from The Times UK. A shift from Africa’s traditional approach to power generation is needed to unleash the continent’s clean energy potential and secure an African future free from blackouts. A strategy centred around energy storage and flexible power systems will be the key to guaranteeing the reliability of a high-renewable grid, while also lowering the cost of electricity for Africans. As Africa’s economies and populations steadily grow, so too does the demand for reliable electricity. Simply put, new power plants need to be built, and the reliability of electrical systems needs to be vastly improved. But here is the challenge: How can African countries build an electrical system that can both integrate a large amount of inexpensive but intermittent renewable energy, while at th...
3 Things Healthcare IT Teams can do to Improve Cybersecurity
Sourced from Getty Images. The healthcare industry has been forever changed by digital transformation. Innovation in the medical space has led to advances in new treatments as well as cost savings that do not negatively impact the quality of care. The added benefit: faster, better networks have allowed for the growth of telemedicine, bringing quality care to thousands who did not have access before. An unfortunate side effect has been that cybercriminals are targeting the healthcare sector now more than ever. As a result, cybersecurity is critical to the success of health systems, which are increasingly at risk as cybercriminals look to steal patient data or hold internal resources for ransom. The vulnerabilities that enable these attacks exist in any vertical, but in the case of healthcar...
