Author: Staff Writer

After The Gold Rush: Domain Names Have Lost Their Glitter

Staff Writer

When it comes to investing, I’m what financial advisers somewhat derisively call “risk averse.” But in all modesty, I just have this knack for woulda coulda shoulda. My latest involves the subject of buying domain names. Specifically, I shoulda registered the domain name VacationRentals.com, not too long ago, because I coulda sold it to HomeAway in 2007 for $35 million. Had I done that, today I might be negotiating the purchase of a Paris apartment and planning my next private jet vacation, instead of figuring out how to fit my…

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4G-LTE Networks Set To Double In Number By 2017

Staff Writer

When 1BN Of 8BN Total Mobile Connections Will Be 4G The number of 4G-LTE networks in service globally is set to roughly double over the next four years, according to data by GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the global mobile carrier association, the GSMA.  Some 465 LTE networks are forecast to be in service across 128 countries by 2017, which it says is roughly double the number of live LTE networks today. 4G-LTE offers a considerable speed bump over 3G mobile technologies, in the region of 10x, although theoretical peak speeds —…

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There Is A ‘Very Surprising’ Connection Between Bitcoin’s Creator And The Alleged Founder Of The Silk Road

Staff Writer

The two most important moments in the history of Bitcoin are its creation, and the founding of illicit goods and services site Silk Road, which created the first ever market for the digital currency. Now, two Israeli mathematicians, Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir of the Weizzman Institute south of Tel Aviv, write in a new paper (first reported on by John Markoff at Bits) that they’ve found a “very surprising connection” between the individual or individuals behind the first and the individual allegedly behind the second. In October, the FBI arrested San…

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ICT4D Digest #10 – ICT/Environment – a dual relationship

Staff Writer

A weekly digest of reflections and ICT4D-news. The author is Elias Rådelius, a ComDev student at Malmö University and intern at Sida’s dept. for ICT4D. Views expressed are Elias’ own. Read, interact, disagree and join in exploring this ever-changing and exciting field! @SidaICT4D, @eliasradelius I was recently asked a question about how ICTs are used to tackle environmental challenges. You could say that it is sort of a trick question: the relationship between ICTs and the environment is two-faced. On the one hand, ICTs are causing a lot of damage…

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Exclusive: Inside America’s Plan to Kill Online Privacy Rights Everywhere

Staff Writer

The United States and its key intelligence allies are quietly working behind the scenes to kneecap a mounting movement in the United Nations to promote a universal human right to online privacy, according to diplomatic sources and an internal American government document obtained by The Cable. The diplomatic battle is playing out in an obscure U.N. General Assembly committee that is considering a proposal by Brazil and Germany to place constraints on unchecked internet surveillance by the National Security Agency and other foreign intelligence services. American representatives have made it…

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Bloomberg TV: Sophia Bekele featured in “African Women to Watch”

Staff Writer

“Fearless, Competitive and Visionary Leaders of our time. We celebrate a new generation of African Women, closing the gender gap and shaping the continent’s political, social and economic landscape” says Bloomberg in its special TV Women to Watch FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRLog (Press Release) – Nov. 15, 2013 – “Africa is blooming and this is the time to tell the Africa story from the African perspective” , says Bloomberg TV Africa, which is avidly covering contemporary developments that are shaping the new and emerging Africa and producing a new TV…

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Microsoft Admits Its Datacenters Are Wide Open To NSA Attacks

Staff Writer
Microsoft

When the NSA news started breaking this past summer, it was noted that Google quickly realized where the NSA might be hacking in, and rushed to encrypt the links that connect their data centers. While some may criticize this, it’s easy to see why companies never bothered to encrypt these links. They’re internal networks, with no direct access to the outside world. The threat likelihood was quite low… unless you’re a giant government spying operation. That said, once it was revealed that, indeed, this is how the NSA hacks in,…

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Google removes record-breaking 200m piracy links so far in 2013

Staff Writer
Privacy

BPI and RIAA filed more than 74m takedown notices combined this year, with FilesTube topping list of removals Google has been forced to remove over 200m “pirate” links from its search listings by rights holders in 2013 a four-fold increase over 2012. Data released as part of Google’s transparency reports, compiled by TorrentFreak, show that at the current rate removal of alleged piracy links, Google will have been forced to delete over 250m by the end of 2013. The UK and US recording industry trade bodies BPI and RIAA lead…

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Google talks African strategy

Staff Writer

Trying to use a single e-commerce strategy across various regions is bad business. This was the word from Luke McKend, country head for Google SA, who was speaking at the World Retail Congress Africa, held in Sandton this week. McKend said this statement is particularly relevant in an African context. People are increasingly using the Internet to look for an instantaneous response that is related to where they are, according to McKend. “Fully a third of all Google searches have some kind of implicit location information,” he said, adding that…

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Bitcoin Comes Under Senate Spotlight

Staff Writer

Bitcoin is about to get some time in the Capitol Hill spotlight. A pair of Senate committees will hold hearings on the policy issues raised by virtual currencies in the coming weeks, according to Senate aides, a development that comes amid growing attention from government regulators to digital forms of money. Bitcoin, a currency that is essentially a computer code and is not backed by any government, has seen its value surge this year because of  interest from retailers and investors. But government agencies have also stepped up their oversight of…

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