Leading healthcare and technology players have come out in support of the upcoming Healthcare Innovation Summit Africa conference (#HISA2017), set to take place between 29-30 August 2017 at Vodacom World in Midrand, Johannesburg.
The summit will gather the who’s who of Africa’s healthcare and technology communities for two days to discuss hot topics such as robotics, electronic health records, delivering personalised healthcare, artificial intelligence, IoT in healthcare, driving down the cost of care with technology, security, legal impact of eHealth, healthcare policy, telemedicine advances, future of healthcare and much more. Book your seat here.
The team at IT News Africa hopes you have a great weekend. The top stories of the week can be found below.
News
Mwabu concludes major investment in Africa
Mwabu, an education technology company, has concluded a significant investment deal, securing 100% of the goal for its Series B investment round. Read More.
South African app raises R2.3 million in funding
Feastfox, an eating out App from Cape Town, South Africa, has revealed that it has successfully closed its Angel fundraising round, raising $175,000 (R2.3 million) primarily from Silicon Valley-based Angels and VC firms. Read More.
R2K: South African Govt is spying on mobile users
Right2Know, R2K, a civil movement centred on freedom of expression and access to information, released statistics from various telecoms companies in the country that show how the government is using a loophole in South Africa’s surveillance policies to access and spy on tens of thousands of citizens every year. The numbers showed that law enforcement agencies are spying on the communications of at least 70,000 phone numbers each year. Read More.
Nigeria ranked 3rd most affected by cybercrime after US, UK
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed that Nigeria is currently the third most affected country plagued by cybercrimes, with the US and UK in the top positions. Read More.
Ethiopia: 7 Promising tech startups selected for seedstars
On August 21st 2017, seven of Ethiopia’s best seed stage startups will compete to represent the country at the Global Seedstars Summit and have the opportunity to win up to USD 1 million in equity investments and other prizes. Read More.
Nigerian Hacker Sentenced After $6.5 million Fraud Scheme
Obinna Obioha, a Nigerian hacker, has been sentenced to 51 months in jail after being found guilty by a US court for operating a fraud scheme that duped businesses from the US and around the world out of $6.5 million. Read More.
Top Opinions & Features
Machine learning and biometrics: financial services market in the middle of a revolution
Despite the enormous changes in recent years, including the emergence of the plethora of significant new market players – including fintech start-ups, established payment, technology, and information firms, telecoms, and other providers, the financial services market is indeed in the middle of a revolution and this is down to both technology and regulations. This begs the question of how financial services incumbents will fare is far from settled and offers a scenario wherein these incumbents looking to grow shareholder value will need to build and sustain new competitive advantages. Read More.
5G is a revolution and just the beginning
“You cannot assume that 5G is just 4G on steroids. It is a revolution,” says Kailash Narayanan of Keysight Technologies. Read More.
South Africa prepares for the big data protection shake up
With the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force next year, it is important for South African organisations to identify ways to best manage their data. Yet many companies are still worryingly under-prepared for what will be the most significant shake-up of data protection law for 20 years. Read More.
Vodacom’s billing chaos triggers Twitter outcry
Vodacom has promised to reimburse customers who lost data and airtime on Monday, 21 August 2017. Vodacom said the error would be rectified. The telecom company confirmed that it was also aware customers were unable to use purchased bundles and were getting depletion notifications. According to the company, this was due to a technical error. Vodacom did not supply a date of when the customers will receive their airtime and data refunds. Read More.
Teaching coding today will grow the economy tomorrow
It’s no secret that the digital revolution is going to create major disruption in the workplace. But the good news is if we are able to develop the skills necessary to support these emerging phenomena, then we have the opportunity to unlock great potential. According to a report recently published by PwC, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to grow the GDP in Africa, Oceania and Asia (excluding China) by around $1.2 trillion by 2030. Read More.
Lenovo sets sights on becoming a power player in Africa
At the Lenovo Innovation Summit, which was held in Cape Town at CTICC, Marc Godin – Vice President and General Manager of Lenovo, Middle East and Africa – met with IT News Africa’s Online Editor, Darryl Linington, in order to discuss how Lenovo is setting its sights on becoming a power player in Africa. Additionally, in the interview, Godin discusses the highlights of the Lenovo Innovation Summit as well as why the firm is placing such a big focus on Africa. Read More.
Gadgets and Gaming
PlayStation Plus price increase hits South Africa
PlayStation Plus members are in for a shock from the end of August 2017 as the service will be receiving a price hike. The latest PlayStation Plus price increase, which will be effective from 00:01 BST on 31 August 2017. Read More.
LG Watch Style set to launch in South Africa
Earlier this year, LG Electronics (LG) and Google unveiled the first smartwatch preloaded with Google’s newest wearable operating system, Android Wear 2.0 to the world. Now, South Africans can also get their hands on the LG Watch Style – which the firm has stated: “will be available in South Africa through LG service provider deals coming soon.” Read More.
ADATA unveils new Solid State Drive aimed at gamers
ADATA Technology has launched its latest Solid State Drive (SSD), which comes in the form of the XPG SX9000. As revealed by the firm, the SX9000 caters to gamers and PC overclockers. It arrives in an M.2 2280 form factor and uses the PCIe3x4 interface to deliver up to 2800MB/s read and 1450MB/s write capabilities. Read More.
Google rolls out Android 8.0 Oreo
Android users can rejoice as the latest Android software, which has been dubbed “Oreo,” has been placed in the rollout phase. Read More.
Everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Samsung Electronics has introduced the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which according to the firm is the next level Note for people who want to do bigger things. Read More.
Gamers beware malware is coming your way
ESET, an IT security company, has revealed that their researchers have discovered a new malware, named Joao, which is targeting gamers. The security company sent out a warning about Joao on the 22nd of August 2017. Read More. Read More.
Track your loved ones with the MyKi Watch
Parents can close the communication gap with their children when they are out of sight with the new MyKi Watch, which Gammatek has brought to South African shores. Read More.
Xbox One X launch date and price still unconfirmed
Microsoft South Africa has issued a statement to IT News Africa stating that the forthcoming launch of the new Xbox One X console in South Africa is being put on hold. Read More.
Edited By: Darryl Linington
Follow @DarrylLinington on Twitter
Follow @ITNewsAfrica.com on Twitter
