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IT News Africa: Top Tech Stories of the Week

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Get all the latest tech related stories from IT News Africa.

Smartphones have been the talk of the tech industry this week. During the course of this week HTC has unveiled its latest device, the HTC One M9. To add to the lineup, the Mobicel Air has also reached the South African market as well as Samsung’s latest smartphone device, the Galaxy S6 Edge.

Along with the reveal of the above mentioned devices, massive growth in 4G and Wi-Fi connections are expected to occur in South Africa. To add to this, a survey of mobile phone usage in five African countries has delivered startling findings on the rise of Internet access via phones, the potential demise of Nokia and the continued appeal of BlackBerry.


When it comes to the latest video interviews, Business Connexion CEO, Isaac Mophatlane has given IT News Africa an exclusive rundown of the origins of BCX, the looming Telkom deal, as well as the future of BCX.

IT News Africa has some fantastic events planned over the next few weeks. The next Innovation Dinner, which will be held at the Panafric Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya on the 28th of May 2015 is set to address Security Convergence. Also, be sure not to miss the upcoming CIO Roadmap 2015, which will feature cutting-edge demos, engaging keynotes, lively panel discussions, noted local and international speakers, along with an amazing technology exhibition area.

The team at IT News Africa hopes you have a wonderful weekend. The top tech stories of the week can be found below:

News

South Africa: Massive growth in 4G and Wi-Fi connections expected
According to the latest annual update of the Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2014 to 2019, the ongoing adoption of more powerful devices and machine-to-machine (M2M) connections may see 3G surpassing 2G as the top cellular technology, based on connection share, by 2016. 4G will account for 56.1 percent of total mobile data traffic in South Africa by 2019, compared to 15.7 percent at the end of 2014, a CAGR of 110 percent. Read More.

Study reveals African mobile phone usage stats
The Mobile Africa 2015 study, conducted by mobile surveying company GeoPoll and World Wide Worx, surveyed 3 500 mobile phone users in five of Africa’s major markets, namely South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Uganda. Read More.

Kenya: Airtel sets up fundraising for terror attack victims
According to Airtel Kenya, it has launched a fundraising drive via Airtel Money for the victims of the terrorist attack at Garissa University College on 02 April 2015. The mobile firm said it has set up a donation paybill number for well-wishers to send funds to the Red Cross. Read More.

HDS streamlines post-production and archiving solution for starz
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., has announced that Starz, a leading global integrated media and entertainment company, has selected Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) with Hitachi Unified Storage VM (HUS VM) to refresh their post-production workflow and IT environment. Read More.

Nigeria: Infracos set to connect 60 cities to broadband
Lagos as well as 60 other cities, in the North Central zone of Nigeria, are set to receive improved broadband services. Read More.

Benin Telecoms begins 4G LTE rollout
Benin Telecoms has officially commenced its 4G rollout. The reveal was made  at an event attended by president Yayi Boni. Benin will be the fourth country in the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to adopt LTE, after Nigeria, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Read More.

Opinions

Why Mobile Money should matter to Government
Speaking at The Economist Conference in Johannesburg in late 2014, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said, “There is a perception that financial inclusion efforts will necessarily lead to increased financial risk and hence have a negative effect on financial stability. Read More.

An effective digital strategy is key to competitiveness in tech
The world as we know it is being shaped and changed by a set of megatrends that leading analyst firm Gartner calls the “Nexus of Forces”. Social, mobile, cloud and big data have revolutionised the way people communicate, interact and live their lives. Read More.

SA’s power crisis: How analytics can change the game
Now is the ideal time for Eskom to use advanced analytics to improve decision-making and better handle South Africa’s power crisis. Read More.

Can Artificial Intelligence enable smarter business decision-making ability?
The phrase ‘Artificial Intelligence’ or AI typically brings to mind images of intelligent humanoid robots performing tasks instead of people. However, while robotics is an important branch of AI, it is by no means the only aspect of this science. Read More.

Interviews

Video Interview: Isaac Mophatlane discusses the future of BCX
IT News Africa’s Managing Director, Abe Wakama interviews Business Connexion (BCX) CEO, Isaac Mophatlane. During the interview, Mophatlane discusses the origins of BCX, the looming Telkom deal, as well as the future of BCX. Watch the Interview Here.

Top Features

Top Tech Tips to lock down your social media account
With mobile devices becoming more prominent in our day-to-day lives, as tech-savvy Africans, we are constantly accessing social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. While these platforms are secure in their own right, they can essentially place your personal information and private life at risk. Read More.

Top List

Top 10 Strategic Technologies for Education in 2015
Social and economic pressures are forcing senior education leaders to rethink business models and consider a range of new technologies, to bring down the cost of administering education institutions and scale the business, according to research from Gartner. Read More.

Top 10 tips to keep data safe in the cloud
If you choose a credible cloud software provider, it will essentially host your payroll applications and data in a secure data centre underpinned by world-class technology. This will free you from doing backups, buying and installing new versions of the software, and fencing your data behind high security software. Read More.

Gadgets and Gaming

Mobicel Air launches in South Africa
Mobile device supplier Mobicel has launched the Mobicel Air in South Africa. At the launch event, the company revealed that the Mobicel Air is run on Android 4.4 KitKat – which is powered by a 1.7GHz octa-core processor. Read More.

South Africa: HTC One M9 set for June 2015 launch
Smartphone manufacturer HTC has revealed the release date of the HTC One M9 in South Africa. According to HTC, its latest smartphone will be available in June 2015. Read More.

MTN launches first Firefox smartphone in Africa
According to MTN South Africa, it has become the first operator in Africa to release a Firefox OS-based smartphone. The device launched by the telecom operator is the Alcatel OneTouch Fire E smartphone, which will run the latest version of the Firefox operating system. Read More.

Bloodborne Review
Back in good old days there were quite a few titles that offered up a massive challenge. Looking back at some of the most difficult retro games out there… Abe’s Oddysee, Ghouls and Ghosts, Contra, and Green Beret were by far some of the most challenging titles. However, fast forward to 2015, and quite a few new titles tend to hold your hand as well as offer up various tutorials to get you started. Thankfully, Bloodborne is not one of these titles. Read More.

PlayStation Plus Free Game Lineup April 2015
The PlayStation Plus Free Game Lineup for April 2015 is packed with another great selection of titles, which should not be missed. Not only do we get to step into the beautiful world of Never Alone on the PlayStation 4, but we also get to dive back into the world of Dishonored on the PlayStation 3. Read More.

Darryl Linington

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