Staff Writer - itbusinessdirect

Alcoa, Hewlett-Packard and Bank of America to Be Dropped from Dow Industrials

September 10, 2013 Staff Writer

Alcoa Inc., AA +1.98% Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ +0.38% and Bank of America Corp. BAC +0.83% will be dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average next week, in the biggest shake-up of the 30-stock index in almost a decade. Alcoa, a Dow component for 54 years, will be replaced by athletic gear maker Nike Inc. NKE +0.64% Payments company Visa Inc. V +1.05% will replace H-P, which joined the index in 1997, and securities firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS +1.77% will supplant Bank of America, which spent five years in the blue-chip benchmark. The changes, which…

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Microsoft’s second biggest investment is Africa

September 9, 2013 Staff Writer

Technology giant Microsoft last week announced a partnership with the South African government’s Jobs Fund – an alliance that will provide assistance to small businesses who operate online to expand their companies and help grow the local economy. Microsoft South Africa’s Managing Director Mteto Nyati sat down with ITNewsAfrica to explain why Microsoft has invested so heavily in Africa. Nyati explained that although Microsoft is indeed heavily invested in the African continent, with projects such as the newly-announced BizSpark and Microsoft’s 4Afrika initiative, the company is actually involved in all territories where it has a…

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A delayed evaluation “pass” score for .Africa competition

September 4, 2013 Staff Writer

– DotConnectAfrica refuses to withdraw before Accountability Hearing The fight for .africa web domain continues as ICANN evaluation scores emerge. Sophia Bekele, whose Company, DotConnectAfrica (DCA) Trust was one of the contenders for the .africa gTLD web address name, said: “A lot of progress has been registered during the past six years, especially managing a global promotional campaign to raise awareness about .africa and new gTLDs and the work of ICANN in general; and to also explain to people and different organizations how Africa and Africans would benefit from the…

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Deal Is Easy Part for Microsoft and Nokia

September 4, 2013 Staff Writer

Microsoft Corp. MSFT -4.55% struck a $7 billion bargain with Nokia Corp. NOK1V.HE +1.15% to bolster a mobile future for the software giant. But the odds are long that a deal can reverse the fortunes of two laggards in a cutthroat market. Microsoft Corp. MSFT -4.55% struck a $7 billion bargain with Nokia Corp. NOK1V.HE +1.01% to bolster a mobile future for the software giant. But the odds are long that a deal can reverse the fortunes of two laggards in a cutthroat market. Microsoft is wagering a purchase of Nokia’s phone business will…

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Microsoft to acquire Nokia’s device and services division

September 3, 2013September 3, 2013 Staff Writer

Microsoft will acquire Nokia’s devices and services unit and license the company’s mapping services in a deal worth $7.2 billion in a bid to bolster the company’s position in the smartphone market. The software giant will pay $5 billion for “substantially all” of Nokia’s phone unit and another $2.2 billion to license its patents, the companies announced late Sunday. As part of the deal, Stephen Elop will step down as Nokia chief executive to become the executive vice president of the devices and services division. Elop, a former Microsoft executive,…

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Brazil moves to secure telecom, Internet systems after US spying

August 22, 2013 Staff Writer

Brazil said Wednesday it is moving to secure its communications through its own satellite and digital networks to end its dependence on the United States, which is accused of electronically spying on the region. “Brazil is in favor of greater decentralization: Internet governance must be multilateral and multisectoral with a broader participation,” Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo told a congressional panel. Tuesday, Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota warned his US counterpart John Kerry that the row over Washington’s electronic snooping could sow mistrust between the two countries. Kerry responded by conceding that…

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Facebook’s Internet.org aims to get billions online

August 21, 2013 Staff Writer

An initiative to bring internet access to the “next five billion” people has been launched by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The social network has teamed up with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung, among others, to lower the cost of mobile data. The group said it wanted to help those in developing countries to become part of the internet community. But one expert said those nations had “other priorities” to deal with first. Mr Zuckerberg said the goal was to make “internet access available to those who cannot currently…

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U.S. Backs Private-Sector-Led Sustainable Growth – Trade Rep Froman

August 14, 2013 Staff Writer

Washington, DC — Since 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which allows eligible countries to export products duty-free to the United States) has defined American trade relations with sub-Saharan Africa. The annual ministerial-level U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum mandated under the law is taking place in Addis Ababa on August 12-13. Leading the U.S. delegation is Michael Froman, who accompanied President Obama to Africa soon after being confirmed as U.S.Trade Representative, a Cabinet-level position. Previously he served in the White House as deputy national security advisor…

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Fears over NSA surveillance revelations endanger US cloud computing industry

August 12, 2013August 12, 2013 Staff Writer

American technology businesses fear they could lose between $21.5bn and $35bn in cloud computing contracts worldwide over the next three years, as part of the fallout from the NSA revelations. Some US companies said they have already lost business, while UK rivals said that UK and European businesses are increasingly wary of trusting their data to American organisations, which might have to turn it over secretly to the National Security Agency, its government surveillance organisation. One British executive, Simon Wardley at the Leading Edge Forum thinktank, celebrated the publication of…

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Now That It’s in the Broadband Game, Google Flip-Flops on Network Neutrality

July 31, 2013July 31, 2013 Staff Writer

In a dramatic about-face on a key internet issue yesterday, Google told the FCC that the network neutrality rules Google once championed don’t give citizens the right to run servers on their home broadband connections, and that the Google Fiber network is perfectly within its rights to prohibit customers from attaching the legal devices of their choice to its network. At issue is Google Fiber’s Terms of Service, which contains a broad prohibition against customers attaching “servers” to its ultrafast 1 Gbps network in Kansas City. Google wants to ban…

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