Today’s Tech Sightings: Battle for African Internet Users Stirs Freedom Fears Africa is expected to have as many as 360 million smartphones and 50 percent Internet penetration by 2050, according to data from McKinsey Consultants. And Google and Facebook are paying attention and offering controversial freebies as they vie for the continent’s Internet users. […]
Google, Facebook Vie for Africa; AI Threat; Kaspersky Denies KGB Ties
Posted March 24th, 2015 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
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ITU: No Deadline Extension for Africa on Digital Switch
Posted February 27th, 2015 at 2:48 pm (UTC-5)
African countries that fail to make the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting beginning in June will not get an extension and will lose international protection rights, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies. While the deadlines were reached consensually in 2006 and some African […]
Biohacking; Bionic Hands; CLAMs; Million-Year Storage
Posted February 18th, 2015 at 2:44 pm (UTC-5)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Scientists Create Million-Year Data Storage With DNA Floppy disks may be dead and hard drives may not be far behind. In an effort to save digital human knowledge from eventual extinction, researchers at ETH Zurich have found a way to use DNA as a storage medium to hold data possibly for more […]
White Space Gives Ghanaians Affordable Broadband Access
Posted February 6th, 2015 at 2:17 pm (UTC-5)
Broadband Internet access can be expensive, even prohibitive in some countries, if it’s even available at all. To remedy the situation, tech giant Microsoft, among others, has turned to unused, unlicensed spectrum on VHF and UHF bands, also known as White Spaces, to deliver affordable high-speed Internet connectivity in Ghana. The program provides students at […]
A Gates’ Look at the Future; Microsoft’s HoloLens; WhatsApp
Posted January 22nd, 2015 at 2:01 pm (UTC-5)
Bill and Melinda Gates Bet Big on the Future Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda paint a rosy future for the world’s poorest in their foundation’s 2015 annual letter. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s outlook foresees mobile banking transforming lives and software advances revolutionizing learning, among other things. Gaming to Death: What […]
Ebola Internet Access; Internet in Space; League of Legends Trojan
Posted January 21st, 2015 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
Tech Firms Extend Internet Access to Help Ebola Treatment in Africa San Francisco-based non-profit, Inveneo, has launched a three-month initiative to connect 100 West African locations to the Internet to help fight the spread of Ebola. The group teamed up with Facebook’s data-science team to determine how to deploy its equipment in Sierra Leone, Guinea […]
2014: A Wearable, Heartbleed, Sony-esque Kind of Year
Posted January 2nd, 2015 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
2014 saw Artificial Intelligence, 3-D printing and wearable technology expanding into new areas and new gadgets. It marked a turning point with increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. It was a year of upheaval that cast doubt on the viability of cryptocurrencies even as new methods of digital payments were born. And 2014 continued the lack of diversity […]
Tech Sightings, November 20, 2014
Posted November 20th, 2014 at 2:00 pm (UTC-5)
Africa’s Mobile Money Goes to Europe with M-Pesa Africa’s money transfer system, M-Pesa, launched in 2007, now has some 17 million active users worldwide. And with the recent launch of a mobile wallet in Romania, M-Pesa in expected to continue its advance in the European market. New Tool Helps Spy Victims Detect Government Surveillance German […]
Q&A: UN Arms Peacekeepers With Latest Technologies
Posted October 31st, 2014 at 2:15 pm (UTC-5)
United Nations’ peacekeepers are deployed in some of the world’s most dangerous spots and are often at a disadvantage as they get caught in the crossfire of shifting battlefields. To enhance their effectiveness and safety, the United Nations tasked an Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation in UN Peacekeeping with seeking out technological solutions to level the peacekeeping […]
Tech Sightings, October 16, 2014
Posted October 16th, 2014 at 1:50 pm (UTC-5)
SMS Service Could Spot the Next Ebola Outbreak Zone Australian doctor Mohamad-Ali Trad is looking to raise enough money to launch an SMS service in West Africa that directs patients who text key words to a given number to appropriate services where they can get help. Trad says the system also records the geographic patterns […]