Rampant power outages are hitting Africa’s telecom sector hard, and are likely to cause aftershocks in related industries. Southern African Development Community (SADC) and West African countries including Zambia, Nigeria, South Africa, and Malawi face an increasing number of power shortages, affecting the ability of businesses to run base stations, …
Researchers in Denmark say that it’s child’s play to track your Android phone via Wi-Fi even if the Wi-Fi is nominally turned off – and even if you didn’t let an app track your location. Apps distributed via Google Play have to enumerate the precise permissions they require in order …
A right-wing senator stands to make legal history in Italy when he becomes the first person to be prosecuted for insulting another person on Twitter. Maurizio Gasparri, a senator with Silvio Berlusconi’s conservative Forza Italia party, is well known for his polemical verve and has earned the title of “cyber-bully” …
Geeky plates The geeky license plates continue to pop up as those who are not afraid to proclaim their nerdiness on their car. Here are the latest and greatest. Send any entries you might have to rfrancis@nww.com. RELATED: The world’s geekiest license plates To read this article in full or …
HP this week signed a definitive agreement to acquire ConteXtream, a provider of OpenDaylight-based SDNs for service providers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ConteXtream develops an SDN controller for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), software-based services that replace hardware-dependent Layer 4-7 functions, like load balancing and firewalls. ConteXtream’s products …
A discrimination lawsuit alleging that Infosys favored “South Asian” workers over all others will not be dismissed, a federal judge has ruled. Infosys had asked for a dismissal of the case brought by four of its IT workers. U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Pepper granted some of what Infosys was …
The number of people using the Internet is growing at a steady rate, but 4.2 billion out of 7.4 billion will still be offline by the end of the year. Overall, 35.3 percent of people in developing countries will use the Internet, compared to 82.2 percent in developed countries, according …
With Google I/O coming up this week, developers, as well as people in the industry at large, are waiting to see what the company will trot out on stage. And while everyone is confident they’ll see Android M, a new version of the operating system, they’re also wondering if Google …
Cell phones are constantly transmitting radio signals, whose energy can also be used to boost the battery life of mobile devices. Researchers at Ohio State University have developed circuitry that converts radio signals from a handset into energy, which is then fed back to the device’s battery. The researchers say …
Microsoft today made official what had been rumored two months ago: It will release Android and iOS mobile apps that feature Cortana, the Redmond, Wash. company’s intelligent assistant. “It all starts with the big picture,” Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, argued in a Tuesday interview. “Microsoft …
Cell phones are constantly transmitting radio signals, whose energy can also be used to boost the battery life of mobile devices. Researchers at Ohio State University have developed circuitry that converts radio signals from a handset into energy, which is then fed back to the device’s battery. The researchers say …
Smartphone shipments will decline through 2019, hitting Android phones and the Chinese market especially hard, according to research firm IDC. The slowdowns come at the same time that Apple is benefiting from big sales of its larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices. Overall iOS smartphone shipments will grow …
A Chinese web site has posted what it claims is the launch schedule for Intel’s upcoming new generation of CPUs, the 14-nanometer Skylake processor. If this list is accurate, it will be a much more steady rollout than the chaotic Broadwell release, which came later than planned and forced Intel …
A judge in Milan banned UberPop in Italy on Tuesday, ruling that the car-hailing service constitutes unfair competition for taxi drivers. Judge Claudio Marangoni said a complaint lodged by taxi drivers’ associations and trade unions was well-founded and the UberPop smartphone app linking private drivers with passengers is provoking a …
You’re only as secure as your weakest link. That bit of wisdom has hit home for Apple Pay of late. Fraudsters have wasted no time finding and exploiting the mobile payment system’s weak link to their advantage. The weak link is not in the transaction side of things. That part, …
Are Windows and OS X malware? Richard Stallman has never been…er…shy about sharing his opinions, particularly when it comes to software that doesn’t adhere to his vision. This time around he has written an opinion column for The Guardian that takes on Microsoft Windows, Apple’s OS X and even Amazon’s …
In the age of engagement, customers expect a seamless, integrated and consistent customer experience. But most companies can’t meet those expectations today. This video explains what holds many companies back. Then, check out this eBook, Mastering the Chaos of Customer Experience. It explains the 7 steps to becoming a customer …
Sony’s new flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z4, will be called the Xperia Z3+ when it goes on sale outside Japan in June. The phone has a sleeker design, faster processor and better front camera than the Z3 it replaces. Like the Z4, the Xperia Z3+ was announced with little fanfare …
Amazon has changed its tax-payment practices in Europe, but that is not going to halt the European Commission’s investigation into what it considers to be a likely illegal tax deal with Luxembourg. Amazon’s EU tax practices have been under investigation since October last year when the Commission said it was …
The number of people using the Internet is growing at a steady rate, but 4.2 billion out of 7.4 billion will still be offline by the end of the year. Overall, 35.3 percent of people in developing countries will use the Internet, compared to 82.2 percent in developed countries, according …
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a securities lawyer who used his New York law office as the headquarters for planning and implementing market manipulation schemes. Also charged are two stock promoters from Canada who assisted him. The SEC alleges that Adam S. Gottbetter orchestrated promotional …
Charter Communications’ planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable faces a regulatory review by the same federal officials who were widely blamed for nixing the recent proposed merger of Time Warner with Comcast. The $55 billion deal (plus $23 billion in debt) between TWC and Charter, announced Tuesday, led immediately to …
EMC is purchasing the privately held Virtustream software provider for approximately US$1.2 billion to expand its portfolio of cloud management tools. Storage systems provider EMC will use Virtustream technology to aid customers moving to cloud-based services as an alternative to running data centers in-house. Virtustream’s software can be used to …
Skype will have to appear in a Belgian criminal court after ignoring a judge’s order to give law enforcement officials access to data from calls between suspected criminals. The criminal court in Mechelen, Belgium, will determine whether Voice over IP (VoIP) service Skype is a telecom operator, said court spokesman …
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Deutsche Bank AG with filing misstated financial reports during the height of the financial crisis that failed to take into account a material risk for potential losses estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Deutsche Bank agreed to pay a $55 million …
Microsoft is bringing Cortana to iOS and Android smartphones, extending the voice-controlled personal assistant to platforms beyond Windows 10 and Windows Phone. Using the Cortana iOS and Android apps people will be able to dictate emails, set appointments and conduct Web searches by speaking commands, among other features. The app …