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Facebook Unveils Shops – its New eCommerce Feature Facebook Unveils Shops – its New eCommerce Feature
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Facebook Unveils Shops – its New eCommerce Feature

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Facebook has launched its latest eCommerce feature – Shops – which will enable businesses to set up an online store for customers to access across Facebook and Instagram. The company says that it is investing in features that inspire people to shop and make buying and selling online easier. This comes at a time when many businesses are struggling to keep their doors open due to the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social and economic activity. One way that they’re able to survive is by taking their stock online – something that Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg says they’re seeing a lot more. “If you can’t physically open your store or restaurant, you can still take orders online and ship them to people,” he says. “We’re seeing a lot of small businesses that never had online bu...

The 6 Best Free Microsoft Office Alternatives The 6 Best Free Microsoft Office Alternatives
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The 6 Best Free Microsoft Office Alternatives

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Sourced from Getty Images. While Microsoft Office is still the vastly popular and ubiquitous choice for word processing, slideshow presentations, spreadsheet calculations and a bounty of many more digital tasks, steep subscription costs can lead to some users turning instead to ad-riddled freeware or ‘free’ apps that lock most of their features behind hidden paywalls. If this sounds like you, then fear not! There are many good and usable free alternatives to Microsoft Office. No subscription required. According to How-To Geek, these are the 6 best free app suites for all your productivity needs: 1. LibreOffice /* custom css */ .tdi_3_8ec.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_8ec.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Like the best free software, LibreOffice is an open-source project fro...

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Minecraft Maintains its Incredible Popularity as Sales Top 200-Million

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Sourced from Stuff. Despite being 11 years old, Minecraft sales have officially topped 200-million copies, with a total of 126-million people playing the game monthly. Microsoft is detailing the latest sales figures just as Mojang Studios celebrates 11 years since the first Minecraft alpha build was originally released. Microsoft has also seen a big increase in Minecraft usage during the pandemic. Minecraft saw a 25% increase in new players last month and a 40% spike in multiplayer sessions. The Verge reports that in 2016, Minecraft sales topped 100-million, and the game hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. A surge in interest from YouTubers and nostalgia-induced playing saw Minecraft at the top of YouTube’s viewership stats last year. With developers Mojang acquired by Microsoft in 201...

Politics

Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa Prepare for Massive Demand in Data Services

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Since the onset of COVID-19 and the consequential lockdown, reliable and fast Internet connectivity has become a vital requirement for businesses and individuals working and learning from home. Expansion in the digital economy and the resultant exponential growth in demand for connectivity is driving the laying of underground fibre-optic cable to feed internet-hungry homes and businesses. It is arguably the highest-growth industry in South Africa today, outstripping other sectors of the economy – even before the current crisis. That’s according to Jessica Spira, Business Development Director at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB). The bank was the joint mandated lead arranger and co-funder of an $8.7-million (R16-billion) senior debt financing package provided to Community Investment Ventures Holding...

Politics

MultiChoice to Provide Free Online Learning and Entertainment

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Image sourced from The Vanguard Nigeria As South Africans continue to adjust to new ways of living and working, MultiChoice South Africa has expanded its content selection, value and reach. The multimedia producer is opening up a world of online learning, series and movies to its DStv customers from 19 May 2020. “As the nationwide lockdown continues, MultiChoice continues to provide an uninterrupted video entertainment subscription service with the best available content,” says CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, Mark Rayner. “We’re always looking for new and creative ways to add value for our customers – most recently during the current COVID-19 period.” Online Learning Udemy is a leading online learning platform, aimed at professional adults and students. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_052.td-a-re...

Politics

Huawei Y7p – South Africa’s 1st HMS Device

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Image sourced from Huawei Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Huawei has recently launched the Y7p smartphone to the South African market. The Huawei Y7p is available in Midnight Black and Aurora Blue from around R3,995 and is available through most major retailers. Thoughts on the Huawei Y7p The device is sleek and stylish. In classic smartphone fashion, the Huawei Y7p is a rectangular slab complete with rounded corners and slim but accessible buttons along the right side. It’s fitted with an impressive fingerprint sensor and triple-camera setup on the back while the front sports a powerful 8MP selfie camera. Before purchasing this device, it’s important to note that it is the first phone in South Africa to come with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), Huawei’s new ecosystem. And while HMS lo...

Politics

Google Rolls Out Game-Changing Update to Chrome

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Sourced from Forbes. Google is rolling out tabbed grouping for Google Chrome. The update aims to address the problem of working with larger numbers of tabs at once. The new feature makes it possible to group related tabs together and treat them as a single entity for ease of navigation and management. The company is already in the process of upgrading the feature with new options; collapsible tab groups are now available to test in the Canary build of Chrome 85. If you have already experimented with tab groups, users will almost certainly have noticed that when tabs are grouped together they actually end up taking up more space than before because of the label you assign to them. In response to that, Google has come up with a simple solution which should perhaps have been included right fr...

Politics

HIV-Fighting Strategy Could Help Against COVID-19

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Sourced from Getty Images. While vaccines for the world-stopping coronavirus could be months, or even years away – there are some researchers who are looking to see if they can stop people who are at high risk of getting sick in the first place. The Verge writes that this is a proven strategy and preventative drugs have been used for decades to help people protect themselves against malaria, and more recently, against HIV. There has never been an effective vaccine against HIV, but now people can take a daily medication that reduces the risks of contracting the disease from sexual activity by 99%. Known as Pre-Exposure Prophylactic, or PrEP, the drug is used to prevent disease in people who haven’t yet been exposed to it. “We have an incredibly powerful tool that can, for myself personally,...

Politics

Is the US Trade Ban Limiting China’s Tech Dominance? Huawei Thinks So

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Image sourced from Al Jazeera Last week US President, Donald Trump extended the national trade ban by another year – a move which a senior Huawei Technologies executive believes is “really designed to safeguard American dominance of global tech”. Similarly, Head of Consumer Electronics at Huawei, Richard Yu says “The so-called cybersecurity reasons are merely an excuse. The key is the threat to the technology hegemony of the US”. The order prohibits American companies from buying, selling or using any hardware from Chinese technology companies in fear that it will result in ‘cyber-exploitation’ by China. Already in 2019, President Trump claimed that Huawei is a threat to American national security. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ea4.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_ea4.td-a-rec-img img{ ma...

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Facebook and SANBS Partner to Increase Blood Donations in South Africa

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Facebook, the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) and the Western Cape Blood Service (WCBS) are working together to encourage people to donate blood. Starting on Monday, 18 May 2020, South Africans who are over 18 years old will have the option to sign up as blood donors on Facebook, be notified when blood donor centres near them have an urgent need for donations and invite friends to donate. With South Africa being the first African country that Facebook has launched this feature, this initiative comes at a crucial time as the country starts to see a significant drop in blood donations as a result of people staying home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, despite health institutions like the World Health Organization saying it is still safe to donate blood. How It Works /* custom ...

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Facebook Buys Giphy for $400-Million

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Sourced from Dialogue Pakistan One of Facebook’s largest and most notable acquisitions in recent memory is for a service commonly used to find reaction GIFs for funny memes. Giphy is a platform where users can create and share their own GIFs of whatever it is they want – from TV show snippets to baby’s eating lemons or cats texting. Facebook says it had acquired Giphy and that the service will soon become part of the social media titan’s Instagram team – making it far easier for users to find relevant GIFs for their stories and direct messages. A Facebook spokesperson told CNN that the company isn’t disclosing the terms of the deal. Reportedly, according to Axios, this deal is worth $400-million. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_acb.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_acb.td-a-rec-img img{ marg...

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Coronavirus Could Cost Global Economy $8.8 Trillion

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Sourced from Finance Monthly. The coronavirus pandemic could cost the global economy between $5.8-trillion and $8.8-trillion, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The BBC reports that this is more than double last month’s prediction and equates to 6.4%-9.7% of the world’s economic output. This comes as measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 continue to paralyse economic activity around the world. Globally, authorities have taken aggressive action to cushion their economies from the outbreak’s impact. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_160.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_160.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “This new analysis presents a broad picture of the very significant potential economic impact of Covid-19,” the ADB’s chief economist Yasuyuki Sawada says. “It also highli...