Author: Staff Writer

Apple and Google brands worth $100bn each

Staff Writer

PARIS: The US Apple and Google brands which have become household names around the globe are worth more than $100 billion each, and top a ranking of the world’s biggest brands, consultancy Interbrand said. In number one place, computer brand Apple has risen 21 percent in value this year to worth an estimated $118.9 billion (93.0 billion euros). In second place, the brand value of Internet search engine Google has increased by 15 percent to $107.43 billion. “The fact that Apple and Google have exceeded $100 billion is proof of…

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Twitter sues US government over Transparency Report restrictions

Staff Writer

Twitter has been publishing what bits of info it’s allowed to concerning national security requests for some time now, but the social media feed wants the ability to publish the whole thing. Today, the outfit filed a lawsuit aiming to get approval to post its entire transparency report. In a blog post, VP of Legal Ben Lee says that the company is asking a California District Court “to declare these restrictions on our ability to speak about government surveillance as unconstitutional under the First Amendment.” As is stands, Twitter and…

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Apple vs. Google: New privacy battle looms

Staff Writer

A new battle is brewing over privacy for mobile devices, after moves by Google and Apple to toughen the encryption of their mobile devices sparked complaints from law enforcement Washington (AFP) – A new battle is brewing over privacy for mobile devices, after moves by Google and Apple to toughen the encryption of their mobile devices sparked complaints from law enforcement. The issue is part of a long-running debate over whether tech gadgets should have privacy-protecting encryption which makes it difficult for law enforcement to access in time-sensitive investigations. FBI…

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Kenya: Safaricom, Seven Seas Technologies in joint bid for county ICT tenders

Staff Writer

Safaricom has partnered with Kenyan based ICT multinational Seven Seas Technology in an initiative aimed at harnessing the use of technology to offer integrated communications solutions to Safaricom enterprise and mobile consumer segments. In Summary Under the partnership signed Tuesday, the two firms will market education, health and agriculture IT management solutions to the counties. The Safaricom and Seven Seas partnership comes at a time when most county governments are adopting automated systems to get rid of ghost workers and streamline their financial platforms to seal revenue leakages through corruption.…

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Alibaba IPO Pours Shares Into Shrinking Pool of Stock

Staff Writer

Alibaba Group’s (BABA) initial public offering was a success by any measure. At $25 billion, it was the largest in history. Investors were so eager to add the Chinese e-commerce giant to their portfolios that the shares soared 38 percent on their debut, the biggest first-day jump for an IPO of at least $10 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. When trading ended on Sept. 19, the company had a market value of $231 billion, more than Amazon.com’s (AMZN) and EBay’s (EBAY) combined. Some investors warned that the clamor for Alibaba shares could trigger a…

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Disrupting mobile banking in Kenya; Equity Bank joins the list

Staff Writer

EQUITY Bank, whose micro-loans offerings have helped increase the number of Kenyans using formal financial services, is looking to break into Kenya’s booming mobile telecoms market. The bank says it will use the Mobile Virtual Network Operator licence it was granted in April to make financial services even more accessible and affordable. Kenyans transacted more than US$20 billion through their mobile phones in 2013, and Kenya leads the world in its adoption of mobile payments. Equity is looking to tap into this booming market by employing innovative Taiwanese-made ultra-slim “subscriber…

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African Mobile Money platform Mpesa adopted in Europe

Staff Writer

Vodafone brings Africa’s M-Pesa mobile money to Europe * Launch targets 7 mln in Romania who mainly use cash * M-Pesa has 16.8 mln active customers in emerging markets * Mobile payments expected to grow rapidly in coming years By Kate Holton LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) – Vodafone brought the mobile money service that has revolutionised banking in Africa to Romania on Monday, offering M-Pesa text-message transactions to millions of customers in its first push into Europe. Vodafone said it had chosen Romania to target the seven million people there…

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Reddit Is Raising Big Funding of $500 Million

Staff Writer

Reddit, the social news site with a big Web footprint, is raising a big funding round — with help from some of the people who helped launch the site nine years ago, including co-founder Alexis Ohanian and other people associated closely with startup incubator Y Combinator. Sources said the almost-anything-goes site has reached a preliminary agreement to sell less than 10 percent of the company for more than $50 million. That could give the company a valuation of upwards of $500 million. Given investors’ new-found appetite for content companies — see:…

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Most U.S consumers ‘unlikely’ to purchase or use bitcoin

Staff Writer

A study conducted by the Massachusetts Division of Banks on the bitcoin use found that close to two – thirds of those who responded said they were unlikely to buy or use the virtual currency. The article by Andrew Moran also highlights a study from the U.K. where 71 percent of British consumers don’t want to use bitcoin for their shopping needs. Of course we are very early in the game and the age of the respondent’s matters, those in their late teens and twenties may be more willing to…

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Following celebrity hacks, here’s how to secure your iCloud account

Staff Writer

Though Apple says it’s investigating a reported hack on the iCloud accounts of several celebrities, there is an easy way for users to secure their accounts. Over the weekend, reports emerged that a number of celebrities had their iCloud accounts compromised by unknown hackers, and personal photos leaked onto the internet. Apple says it is “actively investigating” the situation. The exact details of the hack are unknown, but some security researchers believe Apple left iCloud vulnerable to a brute force password hacking attempt. Basically, hackers could use a piece of…

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