Company News
MTN Ranked as the Most Admired African Brand
MTN has again been ranked as the ‘Most Admired African Brand’ based on spontaneous consumer responses in Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands 2020 survey. The survey, which was released on Monday, shows that MTN is also the only African brand in the rankings of the ‘Most Admired Brands in Africa’. Covering 27 countries, representing around 80% of the population and the GDP of Africa, the group is now also considered one of the continent’s most admired media brands. MTN Mobile Money – through which MTN provides more than 35 million Africans access to financial services – remains one of Africa’s most admired finance brands. The Group also maintained its top position in the telecoms provider category. “We are thrilled to receive these accolades as the continent celebrates Africa Day,” says ...
Africa Data Centres Joins NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Centre Program
Sourced from Shutterstock Africa Data Centres announced it has joined the NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Centre program, allowing organisations across the African continent to connect with AI-ready facilities for seamless, rapid and cost-effective AI deployments. Africa Data Centres is the first and only network of interconnected, carrier- and vendor-neutral data centres on the African continent. Being a part of the NVIDIA DGX-Ready Data Centre program will allow companies across a wide range of vertical markets to adopt NVIDIA DGX systems for AI and data analytics hosted locally at Africa Data Centres, along with a range of other managed hosting and colocation services that support business-critical data, applications and back-end systems. “Africa Data Centres is an ideal partner for NVIDIA’s DGX-...
UK Cybersecurity Review May Mean the End for Huawei 5G Deal
Sourced from Getty Images. The UK’s National Cybersecurity Agency is expected to conclude that US sanctions against Huawei will make it impossible to use the Chinese company’s technology as planned for implementation of 5G throughout the country. Announced on Sunday, this emergency review is designed to pave the way for the country’s government to push for the total elimination of Huawei equipment in British phone networks by 2023, while also having the political consequence in dispersing a Conservative backbench revolt. The Guardian reports that this move will amount to a hasty reversal of the policy announced by ministers in January to limit Huawei to 35% of the British 5G network supply. The move likewise may irritate China, and add hundreds of millions in costs to UK-based BT and other...
Windows is Getting A New Apple-Like Upgrade
Sourced from The Sun UK. Windows search is getting a massive upgrade in the guise of Mac’s Spotlight search function with a tool called PowerToys Run. Launched this past Tuesday and still in a very early stage. CNN calls the new feature “promising”, a search box that could put the Start Menu and Windows key-R shortcuts out of business. The new tool was announced at Build, Microsoft’s annual developer event. It was held virtually this year for the first time in its history because of the coronavirus pandemic. Other highlights included new Google Docs-like features for Office and some Edge browser updates. The new search tool pops up in the middle of your screen, spurred forth by an Alt-Space shortcut, and is incredibly fast at finding files, programs and other items. It’s much faster than t...
Competition Commission Approves Cell C Recapitalisation
Image sourced from Town Press The Competition Commission announced that the proposed acquisition of Cell C assets by Gatsby SPV has been conditionally approved. “The Commission has recommended to the Competition Tribunal to conditionally approve the proposed transaction in which Gatsby SPV intends to acquire certain assets of the mobile network operator, Cell C,” the Commission in an official statement. Weekly Media Statement : @CompComSA gives #CellC deal a conditional approval pic.twitter.com/LjfWtDAlvs — CompComSA (@CompComSA) May 21, 2020 “The Commission found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in any relevant markets – further found that the proposed transaction does not raise any other public interest concerns,”...
Netflix to Start Cancelling Inactive Customer Subscriptions
Sourced from Getty Images. Netflix says it will begin to ask customers who have not watched anything on the on-demand video streaming service in a year or more if they wish to maintain their subscription — and will cancel their membership if it does not hear back. The company says it has started to notify customers who haven’t watched anything on the platform in 12 months since they became a subscriber to check if they wish to keep their membership. The company is also reaching out to those who haven’t streamed anything in more than two years, it says. “You know that sinking feeling when you realize you signed up for something but haven’t used it in ages? At Netflix, the last thing we want is people paying for something they’re not using,” the company writes. This unusual move illustrates ...
YouTube Supports New Optimisation Mode for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
Samsung and Google have reached a new level in their collaborative efforts to bring a fresh user experience design that fits the innovative form factor of the Galaxy Z Flip. Samsung says that with the Galaxy Z Flip’s unique folding system, users can set the device on any surface and watch their favourite YouTube channel hands-free. And now, this hands-free experience is taken up to the next level with Flex-mode compatibility. YouTube’s Flex-mode optimised app ensures that videos can be adjusted to fit in the top half of the screen. The bottom screen can then be used to search for other videos, read descriptions and write comments. YouTube’s Flex-mode optimised app ensures that videos can be adjusted to fit in the top half of the screen. The bottom screen can then be used to sea...
Twitter is Testing a New Tweet Reply Feature
Image sourced from Twitter Twitter is testing a new feature that will allow users to choose who can reply to their tweets. Essentially, before posting a tweet, users will be able to select one of three options: everyone (standard Twitter, and the default setting), only people you follow, or only people you mention – thereby controlling who can (or cannot) reply to a specific tweet. This new setting is all a part of Twitter’s plan to give users more control over their conversations across the platform. “Twitter is where you go to see and talk about what’s happening. But sometimes, unwanted replies make it hard to have meaningful conversations,” says Suzanne Xie, Director of Product Management at Twitter, in an official blog post. “Being able to participate and understand what’s happening is...
Apple May Delay its iPhone 12 Announcements Even Further
Sourced from Computerworld California-based tech giant Apple may delay its iPhone 12 announcement event, expected for September, due to the global coronavirus pandemic. The company had delayed the launch of its new iPhone 12 by over a year into 2021 when the pandemic first began affecting tech companies across the globe. Now, Apple is considering pushing the announcement into October to avoid a gap between the event and handsets reaching store shelves – the iPhone maker will have more stores reopened by that point, according to Jon Prosser, a reliable Apple insider. Prosser, who correctly reported the release date of the iPhone SE, says that there is also the possibility that a later iPhone 12 launch event could allow more reporters and analysts to attend in person. WeeklyVoice.com reports...
DHL Debuts Digital Road Freight Platform in Uganda
Image sourced from Transport Advancement DHL Global Forwarding – an international provider of air, sea and road freight services – has launched its digital road freight platform Saloodo! to shippers and transport providers in Uganda, connecting the country to its growing digital network on the African continent. With a total road network of over 129 000 kilometres, it is no surprise that almost 95% of cargo freight in the country relies almost entirely on road transportation. However, similar to the situation in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, there remains infrastructural challenges – a top priority to address as laid out by the Ugandan government in its National Development Plan II and Vision 2040. A 2016 World Bank report found that imports of transport and logistics services make up 55...
FNB is Leveraging AI to Redefine Risk Management
Sourced from Htxt.Africa FNB has been harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to reimagine risk management and forensic due diligence processes. The result is the ability to review profiles for various financial crimes holistically, more rapidly, and more consistently, and free up the time of analysts to perform the functions that they remain better suited to than AI. FNB claims that this doesn’t mean that they need fewer analysts, but rather that their focus is now being used to conduct quality assurance of reviews, and to constantly feedback data into the evolution of the AI. On average, the use of AI frees up 70% of analysts’ time and generating a forensic synopsis ready for a human analyst to review that previously took hours can now be completed in as little as 8 seconds. AI is growin...
Apple and Google Launch COVID-19 Exposure Alert Tool
Apple and Google have officially launched their Exposure Notification system – previously debuted as contact-tracing software – which is designed to alert users of possible contact with individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19. “Starting today, our Exposure Notifications technology is available to public health agencies on both iOS and Android. What we’ve built is not an app — rather public health agencies will incorporate the API into their own apps that people install,” says the tech giants in a joint statement. The Application Programming Interface (API) will enable apps created by public health agencies to work more accurately, reliably and effectively across both Android and iOS devices. “Our technology is designed to make these apps work better. Each user gets to decide whet...
