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Vodacom Welcomes Launch of AWS Data Centres in South Africa

Image sourced from Blog dbi services Amazon Web Services (AWS) – alongside launching its next wave of data centres in South Africa – has partnered with Vodacom to grow the South African mobile networks offering further and deliver improved business, cloud and other solutions to its clients. “Vodacom is an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner with operations across the African continent, so naturally we are very pleased that they have made the decision to invest in the South African market, as well as the broader African market, by opening these data centres in Cape Town,” says Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group CEO. “The most exciting aspect of this is the integration of AWS into the Vodacom Network, which will allow our clients to take advantage of the benefits of both offerings, and use them to tr...

Opera’s OPay Still Planning African Expansion via Nigerian “Super App”

Sourced from TechCrunch. Opera’s African fintech startup OPay remains committed to building a multi-service super app in Nigeria as the foundation to expand on the continent. OPay will also continue to operate ORide for limited passenger service — though the company is shifting the motorcycle ride-hail operation toward logistics businesses. These updates were offered by Opera’s VP of Investor Relations and advisor to Opay, Derrick Nueman speaking to TechCrunch. Opera’s plans are coming to fruition in the context of fierce competition among fintech and mobility companies in the West African country. Nigeria is home to the continent’s largest economy, biggest population and is the top destination for VC to African startups, as of 2019. In 2018, Opera launched the Opay mobile money platf...

Why African Governments Must Continue Supporting Tech Systems

Sourced from Redbubble and iStock. For the first time in living memory, nations across the world have imposed strict travel restrictions to minimize the damage caused by COVID-19. Many countries have decided to pre-emptively close their borders and halt the spread and transmission of the virus. The current health crisis and the closure of borders remind us of the importance and origin of biometric technologies and African governments’ core ICT infrastructure when, only a few years ago, basic information systems were non-existent. Tracing the presence of foreign nationals within a particular country would have simply not been possible. As little as 20 to 30 years ago, many African nations had little to no ICT infrastructure embedded into government operations. Technologies that did exist el...

TikTok Accused of Breaching Child Privacy Regulations

Sourced from Cosmico At least twenty advocacy groups have accused TikTok of violating child privacy regulations in the US and breaching a settlement that the viral video app agreed with the Federal Trade Commission last year over a previous privacy complaint. The groups, which include the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Center for Digital Democracy and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, have all filed complaints with the US Watchdog saying that they believe that the social media platform is “in contempt” of the terms of the 2019 settlement, as well as children’s privacy regulations. ArsTechnica reports that TikTok, owned by Chinese tech group ByteDance, was fined $5.7-million in February last year for illegally collecting children’s data as it began to rise in popular...

How to Streamline Data Access for Remote Teams during the Pandemic

The enterprise workforce has long been spread across multiple office sites. But today they’re also working from living rooms, airports, coffee shops and other remote locations. In fact, research shows that nearly two-thirds of organizations today have remote workers. This new reality presents several IT and data management challenges. With remote teams, file sharing can be cumbersome and can slow down productivity because of poor bandwidth. Moreover, if your organization lacks a centralized data management system, storage usage will increase due to unnecessary redundancies. There’s also the risk of losing critical data due to a lack of centralized backup and recovery. With the right data management strategy, businesses can turn challenges of the modern workplace into advantages that set yo...

This App Helps Parents Control How Much Time Their Kids Spend on their Phones

Sourced from Microsoft Microsoft is launching a new app called Family Safety – created to make a difference in how you monitor your family’s, and your own, screen time. Designed primarily to manage the screentime and app usage of children. “Protect what matters most with physical and digital safety,” is how Microsoft describes the app on its official website. The electronics juggernaut announced in a blog post on Monday that the app is available now in preview form on both Android and iOS. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_157.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_157.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Microsoft says in the announcement that “With families working and learning from home, many of us are spending more time on our computers and phones. Microsoft Family Safety helps you to facili...

Uber Launches Mask Verification Safety Measure

Sourced from CNet. As governments begin to lift lockdowns, Uber says that it is taking unprecedented safety measures to help everyone who uses its app to stay safe and healthy. From next week, all Uber riders, drivers and couriers in South Africa will be required to wear a mask or face covering when taking a trip. As part of a new in-app safety checklist, before drivers and couriers go online they will be asked to take a selfie to verify they are wearing a mask or face covering using new object recognition technology. Any driver or courier who is not wearing a mask or other face-covering will not be able to go online. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_eee.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_eee.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Drivers will also be asked to confirm they’ve taken additional...

What South Africans Think of Digital Payment Methods

Sourced from Innovation Village. As digitization makes its way into Africa across sectors and industries, digital payment methods are being offered as safe and convenient alternatives to traditional options. Borderless Access conducted a study across South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria to explore the uptake of digital payment methods, including e-wallets, money payment apps, and mobile money transfer. It is important to note that this study was conducted just before the lockdown was implemented in any of these countries, the results indicate a long term trend, rather than being skewed by the unusual spending behaviour of the past few weeks. Non-bank digital methods are still under-utilised in South Africa /* custom css */ .tdi_3_55a.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_55a.td-a-rec-...

The 2nd Chartered CIO Council meeting

The Institute of Chartered IT Professionals (ICITP) followed up its inaugural launch with a 2nd Chartered CIO Council meeting online amid the COVID-19 lockdown. The Chartered CIO Council is an inclusive advisory & advocacy council for the South African MICT sector, established by the Institute of Chartered IT Professionals (ICITP) the Information Technology professional body recognised by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) according to the NQF Act. ICITP is the certifying body and custodian for IT professionals in Africa. The Chartered CIO Council ensures that all CIOs are accredited and qualified to perform the practice of a Chartered-CIO & create awareness about the roles, governance and functions of a CIO, so as to bolster the reputation & role the Chief Infor...

SentinelOne Brings AI Learning to Networks Unlimited Endpoint Defence Suite

It could be assumed that cybercriminals around the globe are having good days at the office right now. This is partly because vast elements of the corporate world are no longer based mainly at their own offices, as large populations of the global village enter into voluntary or government-enforced lockdowns. “The bid to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world means that increasing numbers of businesses are embracing remote working models. And this means, in turn, that never before has the security of endpoint policies by CISOs been more important,” says Stefan van de Giessen, GM of Cybersecurity at value-added distributor Networks Unlimited Africa.  “Fortunately, comprehensive cyberdefence solutions are available for organisations to review and strengthen their end...

Senate Votes to Allow FBI to Monitor Browsing History Without a Warrant

Remember all those memes about the FBI spying on you through your computer? Well, the joke is about to become a very scary reality. The US Senate, led by Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, has just given law enforcement agencies the power to access your internet browsing history without a warrant. The ground-breaking ruling came Thursday as part of a move to reauthorize the Patriot Act, which was originally passed in 2001 in response to the September 11th attacks and affords the government broad surveillance powers. Now, federal agencies such as the FBI and the CIA don’t need a probable cause in order to obtain your online browsing data. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana had proposed an amendment that would have successful...

Telkom Cuts Uncapped Data Prices

Image sourced from My Broadband In response to the increased demand for home connectivity during the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, Telkom has reduced prices and removed caps on its copper-based DSL broadband portfolio to new customers. Telkom’s new promotional prices start from R199 ($10.72) for an initial 6-month period for a 4 Mbps line, with the company hoping to enable access for those who currently do not have fixed broadband. This pricing of the uncapped data is part of Telkom’s COVID-19 relief efforts to enable access to education, work, and entertainment platforms. “Telkom already has copper access technology which can provide cost-effective home connectivity. During the lockdown we decided to use all the infrastructure available to us to provide good,  affordable quality...