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Microsoft to Introduce DNA data storage to its cloud

May 30, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Humanity has a data storage problem. Now, researchers report that they’ve come up with a new way to encode digital data in DNA to create the highest-density large-scale data storage scheme ever invented and microsoft is implementing this. Microsoft is now developing an apparatus that uses biology to replace tape drives, researchers at the company say. Internally, Microsoft harbors the even more ambitious goal of replacing tape drives, a common format used for archiving information. The tech giant believes that its data center will contain a fully functional DNA storage…

Dell Unveils the World’s First 32-Inch 8K Monitor

May 30, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Dell has unveiled some impressive new monitors for its products. At the start of the year, the 2017 lineup included new Infinity Edge displays, HDR displays, a new touchscreen display, and even the world’s first 32-inch, 8K monitor. Dell has now released the UP2718Q monitor, which offers a A 27” 3840 x 2160 resolution with the all trendy trick for 2017, HDR. The UP2718Q is making use of an IPS panel (AHVA) at 6-hz, and thus offers support for HDR10. This is a stunning panel for people who do a particular kind of work…

CIO Names Founder & CEO of DotConnectAfrica Sophia Bekele “Industry Trailblazer and Internet-Governance Pioneer”

May 30, 2017June 9, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

CIO East Africa has been following Bekele’s work for many years now and so did we, at ITBusinessdirect. No wonder the influential Business and Tech News Magazine in its May Issue 2017 decided to lay out a two page spread and a cover note on this impressive Women-In-Tech and “her significant contribution to her field” entitled “MEET SOPHIA BEKELE – Industry Trailblazer and Internet Governance Pioneer”. True enough, Bekele’s career reads as one that simply picks up and champion the most challenging causes that society has neglected or that have…

Apple Inc. Acquires Beddit, a sleep-tracking company

May 10, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Apple recently acquired Beddit Sleep Monitor, an app and sleep system designed to monitor daily sleep habits through the iPhone. As first reported by CNBC, Beddit has updated the privacy section of its website to note the acquisition and confirm that consumer data is now subject to Apple’s own privacy policy. subscribers’ personal data will now be collected, used, and disclosed in accordance with the Apple Privacy Policy. The company added that users can use Apple HealthKit to connect the Health app to the app. “Connecting the Health and Beddit…

Microsoft Patches 56 Vulnerabilities

May 10, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Microsoft has released an urgent update to stop hackers taking control of computers with a single email. The unusual bug, in Microsoft anti-malware software such as Windows Defender, could be exploited without the recipient even opening the message. Researchers working for Google’s Project Zero cyber-security outfit discovered the flaw at the weekend. The fix has been specially pushed out hours before the software giant’s monthly Tuesday security update. The update CVE-2017-0290 addresses a vulnerability that could allow remote code execution if the Microsoft Malware Protection Engine scans a specially crafted file.…

Android Wear 2.0 on Huawei Watch is finally here

May 9, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Android Wear 2.0 has finally rolled out to the original Huawei Watch. Despite its popularity and the fact that it was one of the few models to support the new software’s extended beta program, it has only now gotten the final release. Of course, there’s no official word as to why it has taken about three months to finalize the software for Huawei’s last generation smartwatch, but it is very likely due to its new Huawei Watch 2 as to why things got pushed back a bit. Android Wear 2.0…

Microsoft dominates with the AI strategy

May 8, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Microsoft has been in the artificial intelligence (AI) game for a long time. However, the recent surge in artificial intelligence developments has created an AI land-rush, where it seems like every tech company, including Microsoft, is promising to do more with machine learning and cognitive computing. Last year, the conversation was all about AI chat bots. At Build 2016, CEO Satya Nadella promised them in everything from Skype to HoloLens. The company even launched its own Twitter chat bot, Tay, only to pull it hours later after someone used its…

Intellectual Property protection: The key incentive to innovation

May 2, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Intellectual property rights , patents in particular , are perhaps most critical in industries characterized by high fixed costs of development and low marginal costs of production. Intellectual property (IP) protections are fundamentally about encouraging the innovation that drives human progress. And these protections have been extraordinarily successful contributing to rapid increases in global living standards over the past two centuries The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) took a deeper look at the latest data on the strength of IP laws and the amount of innovative, creative output around…

Artificial Intelligence is Nearer than We Think

May 2, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Artificial intelligence is one of the hottest subjects these days, and recent advances in technology make AI even closer to reality than most of us can imagine. The subject really got traction when Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and more than 1,000 AI and robotics researchers signed an open letter issuing a warning regarding the use of AI in weapons development last year. The following month, BAE Systems unveiled Taranis, the most advanced autonomous UAV ever created; there are currently 40 countries working on the deployment of AI in weapons development. Robots are…

The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics

May 2, 2017 Dianne Jacobs

Technology is evolving faster than the legal and moral frameworks needed to manage it. With the development of IoT, malwares have been used to disrupt internet access around the globe. Right now, in this early stage of connected devices’ slow invasion into our daily lives, there’s no clear answer to that question. That’s because there’s no real legal framework that would hold manufacturers responsible for critical failures that harm others. As is often the case, the technology has developed far faster than policies and regulations. But it’s not just the…