June, 2016 - itbusinessdirect

Nigerians Take The Lead In Mobile Online Shopping

June 29, 2016 Dianne Jacobs

When compared with other countries in the continent, Nigerians take the lead when it comes to mobile online shopping, local retailers or foreign notwithstanding. A research conducted by Ipsos in Nigeria indicates that this trend is not likely to wane anytime soon. Nigerians love mobile commerce. The research conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Paypal shows that Nigerians are the keenest shoppers on the African continent. 72% of these shoppers use their smartphones to shop. This places Nigeria after China(86%) and India (82%) when ranked according to incidences of shopping…

WhatsApp Calling Hits 100 Million Calls Daily

June 28, 2016 Dianne Jacobs

A few years after WhatsApp Calling was introduced, it has hit the 100 million mark. Today, 100 million people use WhatsApp to make calls. A figure that is worrying telcos the world over. WhatsApp announced the great news in a blog post that read: For more than a year, people have used WhatsApp Calling to talk with friends and family around the world. It’s a great way to stay in touch, especially when connecting with people in other countries, or when messages alone won’t do. Today, more than 100 million…

New Kaspersky Report Indicates That Crypto-Ransomware Attacks Are On The Increase

June 24, 2016 Dianne Jacobs

Kaspersky Lab has released a new report whose findings indicate that crypto-ransomware attacks are on the increase and will not end anytime soon. Ransomware is a type of malware that, upon infecting a device, blocks access to it or to some or all of the information stored on it. In order to unlock either the device or the data, the user is required to pay a ransom, usually in bitcoins or another widely used e-currency. The Kaspersky Lab report covers the evolution of the threat over the last two years. The…

Victory for DCA Trust: Judge Moot ZACR from .Africa case, Outs its Reconsideration

June 23, 2016June 24, 2016 Editor

Africa applied for 17 new gTLDs, among these, .Africa which as remained in the news due to a precedent setting court case in California may be available after the jury determines the case in February 28, 2017. ICANN recently terminated 9 out of the 17 African new Top-level Domain (TLD) as a result of missing their deadlines. Last week on June 20, 2016, the U.S. District Court determining the DCA Trust vs ICANN case for .Africa denied ICANN’s motion for reconsideration [PDF] on the Order enjoining ICANN from delegating new…

Banking Cyber-attacks could bring world economy to a halt

June 23, 2016June 23, 2016 Editor

Recent attacks give a glimpse of the sort of cyber-assault that could bring the world economy to a halt. Better defences are needed THIS May Anonymous, a network of activists, briefly hacked into Greece’s central bank and warned in a YouTube message that: “Olympus will fall…This marks the start of a 30-day campaign against central-bank sites across the world.” The warning struck a raw nerve. The financial system is little more than a set of promises between people and institutions. If these are no longer believed the whole house of…

The First Interactive Digital Learning Centre (IDC) In Africa Has Been Launched in South Africa

June 22, 2016 Dianne Jacobs

The first Interactive Digital Learning centre (IDC) in Africa has been launched in Tshwane, South Africa, ItNewsAfrica reports. EON Reality, a Virtual Reality based knowledge transfer for industry, education and edutainment is behind the Interactive Digital Centre. The Chairman of EON reality, Dan Lejerskar, said that: “We’re extremely excited to partner with the City of Tshwane and build an IDC in South Africa…We fervently believe that knowledge is a human right and this aligns perfectly with Tshwane’s goal for greater income equality, creating jobs, and improving educational opportunities.” This IDC will…

Andela Receives $24 Million From The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

June 17, 2016June 17, 2016 Dianne Jacobs

Andela announced yesterday that it had banked $24 million in a round that was led by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s fund. Additionally, Andela had also received a new investor, GV( formerly known as Google Ventures, CNN Money reports. Andela is a startup that trains Africa software developers and places them in international companies such as Google and IBM. Currently it has offices in Lagos and in Nairobi. The selection of software developers is rigorous and very selective. Applicants are taken through skills and…

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Becomes the 475th City To Get Uber

June 16, 2016 Dianne Jacobs

Uber Africa launches Uber Cash in partnership with Flutterwave

After beginning operations in Kampala, Uganda and Accra, Ghana. Uber officially launched in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania yesterday. Uber had earlier on announced their intention to expand to three African countries. The launch of operations in Tanzania marked the accomplishment of Uber’s goals. Tanzania becomes the 475th city to get Uber and the 5th African nation to enjoy the Uber services. Uber is celebrating the launch by giving Tanzanians free rides through the code, ‘Move Tanzania’. Tanzanians can enjoy six free rides over the course of three days. Uber’s existence…

CyberXchange Conference And Hackathon To Be Held In Nigeria In November

June 15, 2016 Dianne Jacobs

The Facebook Sponsored CyberXchange Hackathon will be held in Lagos, Nigeria in November. The Hackathon is a competition geared towards finding the best prototypes by starting from scratch to build a workable idea with the help of collaborating colleagues on their teams. As aptantech reports, during the Hackathon, teams will compete against other teams with less than 2 years experience from all over Nigeria. These participants will have the opportunity to build a hack against a cybersecurity issue. The pre-qualifier registration for the Hackathon closes on August 30th, successful parties…

Youth And Entrepreneurs Set To Benefit From AfricaWorking, A New Initiative

June 15, 2016 Dianne Jacobs

AfricaWorking, a new initiative by Barclays Africa, Emerging World, FranklinCovey, Knod, Safal Group, Microsoft and Syngenta is set to support 200,000 youth and 50,000 entrepreneurs. The new association will seek to channel the collective power and voice of the private sector in order to make an impact on employability and entrepreneurship in Africa. AfricaWorking will start supporting youth and entrepreneurs in Kenya and South Africa but it hopes to work across the continent by 2020. It will leverage existing approaches and two bespoke engines to help get youth career and…