Tag: featured

DotConnectAfrica Trust Responds to ICANN GAC Objection Advice on its .Africa application

Staff Writer

In its response to the ICANN Board, DCA Trust disagreed with the GAC Objection Advice. PRLog (Press Release) – May 16, 2013 – DotConnectAfrica Trust (DCA Trust), the contending applicant that submitted an independent bid for the .Africa new generic Top-Level Domain name, recently submitted another fulsome response to the ICANN Board of Directors to defend the GAC Objection Advice that was issued against its .Africa new gTLD application by the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) body within ICANN. It may be recalled that DCA Trust previously submitted a response to…

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Social Media, Advanced Mobile Use and Strong Print Services Define ‘Savvy’ African Consumers in Angola, Namibia, Kenya & Botswana

Staff Writer
Children

Nielsen’s research into 8,100 consumers in 15 African countries provides a simple snapshot of technology usage and media penetration across an extremely diverse continent Individuals in Angola, Namibia, Kenya and Botswana are more likely to access the internet, use social media and engage with advanced mobile services than other parts of Africa according to a recent report by Neilson. They are also more likely to use IM, Skype and other online services daily. Out of 15 countries surveyed, these are described as ‘Savvy Consumers’ as opposed to ‘Simple’ or ‘Selective’…

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Africa: The one place mobile technology sector cant ingore

Staff Writer

Tech investors know that it takes more than a great product to bring in great returns. Tapping the right market at the right time is almost as important as creating the most innovative product. That’s why the latest numbers from the International Telecoms Union, or ITU, are so important. The data show mobile subscriptions are on the rise, but not all markets are growing, and companies that don’t head the trends could miss out on big gains. Searching for non-saturation According to the ITU, by the end of 2014 there…

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Start-ups founded by immigrants are creating jobs all over America

Staff Writer

ON APRIL 19th Jack Markell, the governor of Delaware, is due to visit a new factory being built in his state by Bloom Energy, a start-up based in Silicon Valley. Bloom makes clean power-generation systems using a novel fuel-cell technology. It is investing over $40m in its facility in Newark and plans to hire hundreds of people. Some will be carworkers who lost their jobs in 2008 when Chrysler shuttered a factory that once stood on the same site. Gary Convis, Bloom’s chief operations officer, says that the company has…

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U.S. gives big, secret push to Internet surveillance

Staff Writer

Senior Obama administration officials have secretly authorized the interception of communications carried on portions of networks operated by AT&T and other Internet service providers, a practice that might otherwise be illegal under federal wiretapping laws. The secret legal authorization from the Justice Department originally applied to a cybersecurity pilot project in which the military monitored defense contractors’ Internet links. Since then, however, the program has been expanded by President Obama to cover all critical infrastructure sectors including energy, healthcare, and finance starting June 12. “The Justice Department is helping private…

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Crowdsourced videos, photos could aid Boston blast investigations

Staff Writer

Law enforcement officials could have something very different on their hands as they investigate the dual bomb blasts that struck the Boston Marathon finish line today: a potential abundance of photo and video evidence from the public. Government surveillance, while growing, still misses more than it catches. But events with thousands of spectators offer the potential for a detailed crowdsourced record of what happened. This public panopticon is changing how we see the world. February’s Russian meteor was captured by many dash-cams mounted in Russian cars, but in this case…

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More Than 250M Domain Names Have Now Been Registered, Almost Half Are .Com And .Net

Staff Writer

The total number of registered domain names passed 250 million in the last quarter of 2012, according to Verisign’s latest Domain Name Industry Brief. More than 6 million domain names were registered in the fourth quarter of 2012, bringing the total to 252 million worldwide. The basic .com domains, of course, make up the majority of registered domain names. By the end of December users had registered 106.2 million .com domains, as well as 14.9 million .net addresses. The .com and .net top-level domains (TLDs) also accounted for the majority…

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Samsung and Google Extending Their Reach In Africa

As Google announces its White Space plans in the Republic of South Africa, Samsung too is extending its operations across the the continent. Apple’s investments in Africa are more limited. Who will win the race for the next emerging electronics market? Google has announced experiments that will allow it to test and commercialize unused parts of the radio spectrum. It’s particularly interesting in light of Google’s expansion of its fiber network in Kansas. Google began expanding its Africa operations a couple of years back, and translating its search engine into…

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Facebook and Google Create Walled Gardens for Web Newcomers Overseas

With more than half the people in the world still not online, Facebook and Google are waging a battle to make sure that Internet newcomers get their first tastes of the Web from them. Each company is persuading wireless carriers in poor countries to offer customers free or very cheap online access that is limited to stripped-down versions of the Web giants’ sites. The idea is that once these new users get some experience in a walled garden of Facebook or Google, they will want more Internet access and pay…

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ICANN’s new CEO pledges to keep the Internet intact and open

ICANN’s new CEO Fadi Chehadé, who took over in October, is on a mission to help politicians around the world understand the importance of keeping the Internet intact and open, and is also working to bring home the addition of new generic top-level domains. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers coordinates the DNS (Domain Name System) and IP addresses, which are the cornerstones that keep the Internet going. “I sincerely believe that we have an opportunity in the next few years to keep the Internet as one Internet…

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