Author: Staff Writer

FNB is New Africa’s Leading Bank

Staff Writer

First National Bank (FNB) announced yesterday that it was named Africa’s leading bank in The Banker’s, Top 500 Banking Brands Report 2018. Ranked 141st in the global banking table, with a brand valuation of $1.4bn, FNB grew its brand value by 23% in the past year. “Banking has evolved from being more than just banking to a lifestyle offering, that touches on the personal and emotional level of our customers. The success lies in FNBs ability to operate in challenging market conditions with changing consumer perceptions and dynamics. We fundamentally…

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Firms warned on technology distractions

Staff Writer

Technology can distract workers rather than make them more productive, suggests a survey carried out by software giant Microsoft. Many of the 20,000 European workers questioned said a steady stream of emails, messages and notifications kept them from concentrating. Others said the way their employer deployed technology also stopped them being more productive. One expert said many staff suffered high levels of technostress. The report, which sampled views in 21 European nations including the UK, found that only 11.4% of European workers said they felt highly productive. “Modern workers have…

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New Research Reveals Cellphone Radiation to Humans

Staff Writer

Male rats showed a small increase in a kind of heart tumor after exposure to massive amounts of cellphone radiation, a new government study reports. But don’t read too much into that, experts say — because those rats bathed in more radiation than even the heaviest cellphone users would experience. There are ongoing worries about whether cellphones can give you cancer — especially brain cancer, since our phones spend so much time near our faces. It’s true that cell phones do emit radiation but it’s radiofrequency radiation, which is much…

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Facebook new bans all crypto-currency ads

Staff Writer

Facebook has said it will block any advertising promoting crypto-currency products and services. The company said it was open to emerging technologies but many companies were not acting in “good faith” when extolling the virtues buying into virtual currencies. Recently, a wave of new currencies have emerged, seeking to piggyback Bitcoin’s huge increase in value. Facebook urged users to report any ads the company’s security measures missed. It admitted it would not always catch every ad for a crypto-currency. “We want people to continue to discover and learn about new…

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You can now use Alexa to send SMS messages

Staff Writer

Amazon announced the launching a new messaging feature for Alexa devices in the U.S. that will allow you to send texts – yes, SMS messages – to your friends and other contacts using your voice. Customers can now ask Alexa to send a message to a specific contact, and Alexa will figure out how to route it appropriately – using either the previously launched Alexa messaging system, or by sending it out as an SMS instead, if the recipient doesn’t have an Alexa device of their own. There is one big…

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New Appeals court rule on Tinder plus age discrimination laws.

Staff Writer

A California appeals court has sided with Allan Candelore, a man suing Tinder over the pricing for its premium service, Tinder Plus. Specifically, Candelore and his lawyers argued that by charging $9.99 per month if a user is under 30, versus $19.99 per month if you’re 30 or older, Tinder is discriminating based on age, in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Unfair Competition Law (those are both California laws). Tinder co-founder Sean Rad defended the pricing at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference back in 2015 by saying, “Our…

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Microsoft issues emergency Windows update in a move to disable Intel’s buggy Spectre fixes

Staff Writer

Microsoft has issued another out-of-band security update this month, to deal with the issues around Intel’s Spectre firmware updates. Intel warned last week that its own security updates have been buggy, causing some systems to spontaneously reboot. Intel then buried a warning in its latest financial results that its buggy firmware updates could lead to “data loss or corruption.” Intel has been advising PC makers and customers to simply stop updating their firmware right now, until properly tested updates are available. Microsoft has gone a step further, and is issuing…

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How publishers will survive Facebook’s news feed new change

Staff Writer

Facebook announced on January 11 that it would change its News Feed algorithm to prioritize posts from friends and family over public content. Say goodbye to never-ending sponsored posts from Tasty, CNN, and other brands that have embraced the platform. Time to say hello to more personal posts featuring commenting and sharing from your friends. Sounds like the original version of Facebook, no? Facebook’s News Feed change pushes hard to create a better user experience for its users by focusing on meaningful interactions between people. This is critical for its…

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Popular Fitness app Strava exposes the location of military bases

Staff Writer

Strava, the popular app for tracking running, cycling and swimming, is not the most obvious go-to for exposing national secrets, but a heatmap of activity from users has been found to unearth the locations of U.S. military bases worldwide. The company’s review of 2017 showed all routes taken by its users across the world. It was released back in November 2017, but it came to the fore this weekend when Australian student Nathan Ruser noticed that trails from Strava users in certain countries made it possible to identify military from the U.S. and…

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New Bank-based blockchain projects will transform the financial services industry

Staff Writer
Big Data

At the core of Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies is the cryptographically secure digital ledger known as the blockchain. It’s a digital ledger where cryptocurrency transactions are recorded chronologically and publicly. Indeed, as the popularity of cryptocurrencies has grown, so has the banking industry’s interest in blockchain for fintech, with an increased and focused push on bank-backed blockchain projects. Some of the largest projects underway include the IBM-backed Hyperledger Fabric project, the Utility Settlement Coin, and R3’s blockchain consortium, signifying a growing acceptance in institutional policy to support blockchain growth. Currently, banks transact with each…

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