Tag: apps

Oct312014 by editorNo Comments

Facebook’s Internet.org app launches in East Africa

Governance, Internet, Mobile
Facebook is broadening the scope of its Internet.org initiative in Africa, launching its app for the program in the East African country of Tanzania. Reports PcWorldIn July, Facebook launched its Internet.org app in the Southern African country of Zambia.Tanzanian mobile phone operator Tigo has announced that it is offering customers an opportunity to buy low-cost smartphones for them to be able to access the Internet.org app. Facebook and other tech companies launched Internet.org last year as a project to make the Internet accessible to people in emerging markets. Facebook has been working with local telecom providers to roll out Internet.org apps free, with options to upgrade to paid services. Facebook’s Internet.org app provides people with free access to basic internet services so t
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Oct232014 by editorNo Comments
Google unveils Gmail alternative: ‘Inbox’, but will it last?

Google unveils Gmail alternative: ‘Inbox’, but will it last?

Mobile, social media
Google revitalized webmail in 2004 when it debuted Gmail, and now it's trying to do it again with a new take on the old Web stalwart, called Inbox. as reported on CNET by Richard Nieva and Seth Rosenblatt. If you've been feeling overwhelmed by a mountain of email in Gmail, you may be glad to know that Google wants to help. But there's a twist: the help will come from Inbox, a free email app now available by invitation that promises to better organize messages. Developed by the Gmail team, Inbox is intended to coexist with Google's flagship email product, not replace it. For example, it groups similar types of messages, and automatically highlights key information such as flight itineraries and event information. It comes as competitors, including Apple and file-sharing company Dropbox...
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May22014 by editorNo Comments

Google wants to kill URLs in new Chrome Canary update

Internet, Mobile
By VetureBeat: Do we still need the URL — that gangly collection of slashes and gobbledygook? A new experimental version of the Google Chrome browser says no. Chrome Canary, like the legendary canary lowered into mines to early-detect dangerous gases, is a leading-edge version of the Chrome browser. Google uses it to test out ideas, and one idea in the new Chrome 36 version of Canary is to bury the full URL into the top-level domain name. Even navigating within the site shows only the site name. Top: Chrome Canary v. 36.0.1968.0, Bottom: the general release, Chrome v. 34.0.1847.131. The field that some still call the “address bar” is now more properly known as the Omnibox, reflecting the ability in Chrome (and Firefox) for users to type a search term into that box and get Google results, a
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Mar132014 by editorNo Comments

WhatsApp Messages May Not Actually Be Private or Secure

Cyber Security
NEW DELHI: If you use WhatsApp on an Android phone, you should be careful about what you talk about or share on the instant messaging app. Using a few scripts and a rogue app, anyone can peer into your chat logs and see what you talk about with your friends. A Dutch security consultant has found that WhatsApp chat logs saved on the SD card of an Android phone can be read by other apps because of the way Android allows sharing of data between apps. "The WhatsApp database is saved on the SD card which can be read by any Android application if the user allows it to access the SD card. And since majority of the people allows everything on their Android device, this is not much of a problem," Bas Bosschert wrote on his blog. "What do we need to steal someone's WhatsApp database? First we nee...
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Dec182013 by editorNo Comments

Gartner: Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends For 2014

Internet
Gartner just concluded its Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2013 in Orlando, gathering tens of thousands of IT executives. Among the most anticipated aspects of the gathering are the ruminations from the Gartner pontificators regarding IT trends.  Among several trends shared were the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2014. Here is a summary of those trends: Mobile Device Diversity and Management Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable. The unintended consequence of bring your own device (BYOD) programs has been to render much more complex (by two or three times, Gartner estimates) the size of the mobile workforce, straining both the information technology and the finance o
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Feb12013 by editorNo Comments

Innovation in AfricaUpwardly mobile

Mobile
VISITORS to Kenya’s capital are often horrified by the homicidal minibuses called matatu. They swerve around potholes, seldom signal and use their iffy brakes only at the last second. They are therefore an ideal subject for a video game, which is why Planet Rackus, a Nairobi start-up, released “Ma3Racer” last year.  source
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