July, 2017 - itbusinessdirect

Cyber spies use female ‘honey pot’ to lure LinkedIn targets

July 28, 2017September 1, 2017

MIA Ash is an attractive 30-year-old British woman with two art school degrees , a successful career as a photographer with hundreds of social media connections. She has common favorite hobbies with social media users, so when she adds a target as a friend, they probably get flattered and a little bit excited. After exchanging messages on LinkedIn, The target is happy to continue the conversation on Facebook and WhatsApp. One problem though, Mia does not exist. Instead, she’s a persona, her biography fabricated and her photos stolen from another…

Apple now sells Nokia products on its store

July 25, 2017September 1, 2017 Editor

Apple is once again directly selling Nokia products through its online store, and they should be available in its physical retail locations soon too. This is after Apple and Nokia announced that they have agreed a settlement to a patent lawsuit that began in December. The companies said they have moved from adversaries to business partners, settling all litigation. The pioneer mobile tech giant will provide network infrastructure services to Apple, Apple will stock Nokia’s Withings products once again in Apple Stores and pay ongoing license fees to use Nokia’s intellectual property. The…

Microsoft MS Paint to get axed from Windows 10

July 25, 2017September 1, 2017 Staff Writer

Microsoft plans to stop developing the iconic Paint program, nudging it a step closer to the end. The Tech Giant announced last week that it will stop actively developing Paint starting with a fall update to Windows 10, its flagship operating system. As a result, Paint could be removed altogether in future updates: The once vital component is now vestigial. In a statement, Microsoft played down the news, noting that Paint will continue to be available for free download and many of its features will remain in other places, including…

Co-operation between international tech sectors is better for everyone

July 14, 2017September 1, 2017

Technological co-operation between firms can be essential to boosting successful innovative businesses by creating networks of knowledge flows. International cooperation and collaboration between individuals, businesses and sectors has been central to the sector’s runaway growth in the tech industry. In London, a start-up can find success by working with skilled European workers backed by capital from Asian investors. The same can be said for any major tech cluster around the world. There is evidence to highlight the importance of technology collaboration for innovative businesses. For instance, Winters and Stam (2007),…

Microsoft’s new app narrates the world for blind people

July 14, 2017September 1, 2017 Staff Writer

Microsoft recently released a smartphone app that uses computer vision to describe the world for the visually impaired. The Seeing AI allows users to point their phone’s camera at a person and it’ll say who they are and how they’re feeling. They can also point it at a product and it’ll tell them what it is. All of this is done using artificial intelligence that runs locally on their phone. “Just hold up your phone and hear information about the world around you,” Microsoft promises. It seems almost magical when…

Global Tech Websites unite to save Net Neutrality

July 12, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Net neutrality is a principle about fairness on the Internet. It holds that no ISP should be able to unfairly manipulate your Internet usage or your experience of the Web, particularly in ways that harm other businesses. It means that ISPs don’t get to choose which data is sent more quickly, and which sites get blocked or throttled and who has to pay extra. About 200 internet companies and activist groups are coming together today to mobilize their users into opposing US government plans to scrap net neutrality protection. Facebook,…

Qualcomm seeks Apple iPhone sales ban

July 10, 2017September 1, 2017

Qualcomm, the world’s biggest producer of mobile phone chips, has appealed for the sale of some iPhones in the US to be blocked claiming that iPhones using chips by rivals, such as Intel, infringe six of its patents. The company said it had asked the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to investigate and impose an import block. It is the latest move in a series of disputes and lawsuits between Apple and Qualcomm BBC reports. In January, Apple filed two lawsuits against Qualcomm, claiming it had abused its dominant market…

Why has sexism festered for so long in Silicon Valley?

July 10, 2017July 10, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Silicon Valley and the wider tech industry have a problem with women. At least, that is what you might conclude after a week that has seen a leading tech investor resign after admitting his involvement in sexual harassment. In just two weeks, two powerful Silicon Valley investors have resigned from the firms they cofounded after women accused them of sexual harassment according to CNN. The men, 500 Startups cofounder Dave McClure and Binary Capital cofounder Justin Caldbeck, didn’t just cross the line once, according to the allegations. Multiple women —…

Q&A with Matt Roberts-Davies, M-Changa; Create Innovative Products That Match Local Culture

July 7, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

ITBusiness spoke with Matt Roberts-Davies, the Business Development Manager/Experience Director at M-Changa, a fundraiser management platform that provides cutting edge end-to-end management tools to enhance fundraising success. The session is majorly on the tech trends in Africa and the novelty of the internet of things (IoT). 1. How can you define the technology sector in Kenya? There is a lot of buzz around tech in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. One of the main reasons for this is the success of M-Pesa, a digital wallet that has reached mass adoption in…