Tag: featured

ICT strategies as business differentiators

Staff Writer

Information technology is fast becoming a primary driver of market differentiation. “In this context, the IT agenda is quickly extending outside of the realm of IT executives and into the agenda of the CEO, COO and CMO. It is clear that technology trends are changing the world as we know it, and business leaders who are able to grasp these trends and execute on their implementation will position themselves for future business success,” says Hans Zachar, senior manager of IT strategy at Accenture. In order to gain insight into the…

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A delayed evaluation “pass” score for .Africa competition

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

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

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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Facebook’s Internet.org aims to get billions online

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

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

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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House Defeats Effort to Rein In N.S.A. Data Gathering

Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — A deeply divided House defeated legislation Wednesday that would have blocked the National Security Agency from collecting vast amounts of phone records, handing the Obama administration a hard-fought victory in the first Congressional showdown over the N.S.A.’s surveillance activities since Edward J. Snowden’s security breaches last month.  The 205-to-217 vote was far closer than expected and came after a brief but impassioned debate over citizens’ right to privacy and the steps the government must take to protect national security. It was a rare instance in which a classified…

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ICANN 47 in Durban: More gTLD Applicants Sign On With ICANN

Staff Writer

ICANN’s Durban Meeting Kicks Off with Signing of New Registrar and Registry Agreements If you read our update on T+B earlier today, then you already know that dotShabaka Registry was the first to announce its signing of the new gTLD registry contract. During Monday’s Welcome Ceremony, three more new gTLD contracts were signed by applicants: 游戏 (which translates from Chinese to .games) had prioritization number 40, and was applied for by Donuts, Inc., the company that submitted the largest number of gTLD applications; .сайт (prioritization number 9) and .онлайн (prioritization…

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Update on the Status of our new gTLD Application & Current Engagements with ICANN

Staff Writer

DCA’s .Africa application passed all the Evaluation Panels including the technical, operational and financial evaluation criteria, but the Geographic Names Panel Evaluation for the application was not completed. PRLog (Press Release) – Jul. 5, 2013 – Update on Initial Evaluation Result for .Africa Application The Initial Evaluation result for DotConnectAfrica Trust’s application for the .Africa domain  name string with prioritization draw number 1005 was released by the ICANN new gTLD Customer Service Centre on Thursday, 4th July 2013. DCA’s .Africa application passed all the Evaluation Panels including the technical, operational…

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