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Wall Street: The U.S. will borrow less money this year than at any time since 2008

January 27, 2014 Staff Writer

Wall Street Dealers See Treasury Sales Falling to Six-Year Low By Susanne Walker The U.S. will borrow less money this year than at any time since 2008, validating the nation’s decision to go deeper into debt to combat the financial crisis as faster growth shrinks the deficit, Wall Street’s biggest bond dealers say. The government will sell $717 billion of notes and bonds on a net basis, 14 percent less than last year, according to a survey of primary dealers which are obligated to bid at Treasury auctions. Issuance has fallen…

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US playing catch-up in Africa

January 27, 2014January 28, 2014 Staff Writer

African consumer spending is projected to rise from US$860 billion in 2008 to US$1.4 trillion in 2020. No other region in the world boasts such numbers. ADDIS Ababa, the rapidly modernising capital of Ethiopia, is on track to host the tallest building in Africa by 2017. That landmark building, which will boast 99 floors of offices and hotel rooms, has a distinctly un-African name: Chuan Hui International Tower. The tower, together with a host of other skyscrapers in the city – including the US$200 million (S$255.7 million) African Union headquarters…

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Fridge sends spam emails as attack hits smart gadgets

January 20, 2014 Staff Writer

A fridge has been discovered sending out spam after a web attack managed to compromise smart gadgets. The fridge was one of more than 100,000 devices used to take part in the spam campaign. Uncovered by security firm Proofpoint the attack compromised computers, home routers, media PCs and smart TV sets. The attack is believed to be one of the first to exploit the lax security on devices that are part of the “internet of things”. Poor protection The spam attack took place between 23 December 2013 and 6 January…

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Microsoft Just Lost A Huge Customer To Google: The City Of Boston

January 7, 2014 Staff Writer

The City of Boston has decided to rip out its Microsoft email technology and move 76,000 people to Google Apps. These email accounts were previously mostly using Microsoft Exchange, according to a blog post by Boston CIO Bill Oates. This is one of the largest customers that Google has swiped from Microsoft to date and is significant for a few reasons. For one, it’s another feather in Google’s increasingly impressive cap. According to Google, Boston would be among the biggest contracts it has won for Apps. Other huge ones: Roche (90,000…

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Business networks buckle as workforces gobble more data and adopt new working patterns

December 20, 2013December 20, 2013 Staff Writer

The Barracuda Networks study aimed to identify the issues affecting the performance of critical business applications By Sam Shead | Techworld | Published: 10:46, 20 December 2013 Research out today reveals that there is an increasing gap between the capabilities of network infrastructures and what network administrators need to do their jobs effectively. The findings, highlighted in a survey by analyst house Freeform Dynamics on behalf of storage vendor Barracuda Networks, show that approximately 52 percent of businesses are struggling with managing application performance, availability and security because of a…

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Year End message from DotConnectAfrica: 2013 Year in Review

December 20, 2013December 20, 2013 Staff Writer

As 2013 draws to a close it is worth looking back at where we have been and consider what 2014 will bring. As usual for DCA, it has been a year of intense activity to ensure that our promise to Africa stands – that “we shall deliver .africa registry to the continent, sooner than expected”. DCA Trust has a long-standing tradition of informing its African and global constituency on matters affecting the global Internet Governance, ICANN and related African affairs. Our regular Newsletters and Social media Campaigns sites provide us the…

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After The Gold Rush: Domain Names Have Lost Their Glitter

November 26, 2013 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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There Is A ‘Very Surprising’ Connection Between Bitcoin’s Creator And The Alleged Founder Of The Silk Road

November 25, 2013 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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Bloomberg TV: Sophia Bekele featured in “African Women to Watch”

November 19, 2013June 2, 2016 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

November 15, 2013 Staff Writer

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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