Tech News

Logitech unveils new “no lag” keyboard and mouse

2017-08-30T18:26:00.002+02:00

Logitech has unveiled its latest ultra-low-lag wireless peripherals, the G613 keyboard and G603 mouse.

The company said the G613 mechanical keyboard’s “Lightspeed” technology allows for a 1ms report rate, while Bluetooth functionality allows for multi-host connectivity.

It also sports Romer-G mechanical switches, which the company said deliver “quiet, precise mechanical performance with incredible feel and durability”.

“Romer-G switches have a short-throw actuation at 1.5mm, which means it is 25% faster than the competition’s standard mechanical switches,” said Logitech.

The G603 wireless mouse is also equipped with the Lightspeed technology, and features Logitech’s new HERO optical sensor.

The sensor was designed to “deliver class-leading performance and up to 10-times the power efficiency”, said the company.

The G613 keyboard sells for $150, while the G603 mouse is available for $70 in the US.

Telkom issues cautionary over possible government sale

2017-08-30T18:24:00.001+02:00

Telkom has issued a cautionary statement to its shareholders, warning that the South African government is considering reducing its 39% holding in the company.

“Shareholders are advised that Telkom’s major shareholder, the Government of South Africa, is currently considering various strategic options with regards to partially reducing its current approximate 39% shareholding in Telkom,” it said.

“The implementation of government’s Telkom proposal may have a material effect on Telkom’s share price. Accordingly, shareholders are advised to exercise caution when dealing in Telkom’s securities until a further announcement is made in this regard.”

The sale of the government’s stake in Telkom may take place as part of a plan to bail out SAA, which is set to receive R10 billion from the state.

The sale of Telkom’s shares may not be enough to pay SAA’s debt, however, said DA MP Alf Lees.

“A fire sale of these Telkom shares would likely result in a significant discount and thus on their own will not meet the full cost of recapitalising SAA,” he said.

“Other assets will have to be sold.”

Doing technical and coding interviews over Skype

2017-08-30T18:22:00.000+02:00

Skype has launched a preview feature that helps recruiters conduct technical and coding interviews.

The preview feature allows recruiters to host a video call on top of a code editor that runs in a Microsoft Edge or Chrome browser.

The built-in code editor supports seven programming languages: C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, and Ruby.

Skype has also included built-in syntax highlighting to help prevent syntactic mistakes during an interview.

The new interview feature currently only works for browsers set to English.

The most reliable hard drives you can buy in 2017

2017-08-30T18:17:00.001+02:00

Backup solutions provider Backblaze has released its hard drive reliability statistics for Q2 2017.

Backblaze compared hard drives from Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba, and HGST, the brands it uses in its operations.

“Since our report for Q1 2017, we have added hard drives, to bring us to the 83,151 drives we’ll focus on. We added 4,921 new drives and retired 4,286 old drives as we migrated from lower-density drives to higher-density drives,” said Backblaze.

Reliability was measured as an annualised failure rate, calculated using the number of drive failures relative to the total number of drives.

Backblaze recorded the failure rates of its hard drives over Q2, along with the lifetime reliability of the drives – based on overall failure rates since April 2013.

Q2 2017 Failure Rates

The failure rates for the hard drives from 1 April to 30 June 2017 are below.

Model	Drive Count	Drive Days	Drive Failures	Annualised Failure Rate
3TB Hard Drives
Toshiba DT01ACA300	40	3,807	0	0.00%
HGST HDS5C3030ALA630	1,735	255,180	3	0.43%
WD WD30EFRX	513	60,414	2	1.21%
4TB Hard Drives
Toshiba MD04ABA400V	146	13,286	0	0.00%
WD WD40EFRX	46	4,186	0	0.00%
HGST HDS5C4040ALE630	2,623	238,732	1	0.15%
HGST HMS5C4040ALE640	8,750	776,072	7	0.33%
HGST HMS5C4040BLE640	16,168	1,405,418	21	0.55%
Seagate ST4000DM000	34,412	3,134,401	279	3.25%
Seagate ST4000DM001	400	5,998	5	30.43%
Seagate ST4000DX000	157	15,023	13	31.58%
5TB/6TB Hard Drives
Toshiba MD04ABA500V	45	4,095	0	0.00%
WD WD60EFRX	443	40,313	0	0.00%
Seagate ST6000DX000	1,884	171,677	7	1.49%
8TB Hard Drives
HGST HUH728080ALE600	45	213	0	0.00%
Seagate ST8000DM002	9,870	897,916	24	0.98%
Seagate ST8000NM0055	6,054	330,217	14	1.55%

Lifetime Failure Rates

The annualised failure rates for the hard drives using data collected since April 2013 are detailed below.

Model	Drive Count	Annualised Failure Rate
3TB Hard Drives
HGST HDS5C3030ALA630	1,735	0.82%
Toshiba DT01ACA300	40	3.53%
WD WD30EFRX	513	5.23%
4TB Hard Drives
HGST HMS5C4040BLE640	16,168	0.58%
HGST HMS5C4040ALE640	8,569	0.59%
HGST HDS5C4040ALE640	2,623	0.83%
Toshiba MD04ABA400V	146	1.27%
HGST HDS724040ALE640	40	1.33%
WD WD40EFRX	46	2.00%
HGST HDS5C4040ALE630	106	2.65%
Seagate ST4000DM000	34,411	2.93%
Seagate ST4000DX000	158	8.68%
Seagate ST4000DM001	400	32.60%
5TB/6TB Hard Drives
Seagate ST6000DX000	1,884	1.26%
Toshiba MD04ABA500V	45	1.92%
WD WD60EFRX	443	4.87%
8TB Hard Drives
Seagate ST8000DM002	9,870	1.18%
Seagate ST8000NM0055	6,054	1.61%
HGST HUH728080ALE600	45	1.87%

Government spent R1 billion on an IT system that doesn’t work

2017-08-30T18:16:00.000+02:00

The National Treasury has been reprimanded by Scopa for its botched plan to upgrade government IT systems, reported BusinessLive.

The Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) was meant to be implemented in 2005, but is still not operational.

This is despite over R1 billion being invested in the initial phase of its development.

Treasury Director-General Dondo Mogajane admitted the first phase of the system was never completed, despite the funding.

The IFMS was set to replace aging technologies, improve service delivery, and increase security across government departments.

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba said a team would be appointed to conduct an investigation into the funding and implementation of the IFMS.

He said the department would report back to Scopa when the investigation was complete.

Ethereum gift cards now available worldwide

2017-08-30T18:13:00.002+02:00

Ether Cards is shipping its new Ethereum gift cards, allowing customers to physically transfer cryptocurrency.

The cards contain an Ethereum wallet address and private key, and can be preloaded with any amount.

The cards – with no value on them – are priced at £2.50 and £3.00 for the original and MyEtherWallet limited edition designs respectively, and can be redeemed via any Ethereum wallet.

Ether Cards are a physical way to give Ethereum to others, either as a gift or untraceable payment equivalent to cash.

According to Ether Cards, the price includes postage to anywhere in the world for a minimum order of two cards.

Android 8.0 Oreo rolls out to Pixel and Nexus

2017-08-30T18:12:00.002+02:00

Google has posted links to the “over the air” (OTA) Android 8.0 Oreo upgrade for its Pixel and Nexus devices, 9to5Google reported.

This follows the release of factory images for developers last week.

Google posted OTA and factory images for the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, and Nexus 6P to the Android Developer site.

9to5Google collected the following factory and OTA image download links for devices not on Bell, Telus, Telstra, TMO, Sprint, USCC, or Rogers/Fido.

Pixel XL: OPR6.170623.012 — Factory Image — OTA
Pixel: OPR6.170623.012 — Factory Image — OTA
Pixel C: OPR6.170623.010 — Factory Image — OTA
Nexus 6P: OPR6.170623.013 (Not for TMO/USCC/Fi) — Factory Image — OTA
Nexus 5X: OPR6.170623.013 — Factory Image — OTA

Get awesome discounts on Xiaomi Smartphones from Gearbest.com

2017-08-30T13:25:00.001+02:00

Gearbest.com is offering a wide range of Xiaomi smartphones at awesome discounts.

Since 2010, Xiaomi have been creating remarkable, hardware, software, and internet services, and is continually expanding its footprint across the globe.

The brand believes that high-quality technology doesn’t need to cost a fortune, and incorporates feedback from their Mi-Fans into their product range.

This ensures that their quality products keep on improving every time.

Xiaomi have recently launched their latest flagship model that is now available from Gearbest.com together with other great Xiaomi smartphone models.

The latest and greatest Xiaomi smartphone – The Redmi Note 5A

Xiaomi’s latest smartphone, which was launched in August 2017, is the Redmi Note 5A.

The phone comes with a 5.50-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 720 pixels by 1280 pixels.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A is powered by quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor and it comes with 2GB of RAM.

The phone packs 16GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card.

As far as the cameras are concerned, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A packs a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel front shooter for selfies.

Xiaomi’s latest flagship is available on Gearbest for only $189.99 on pre-sale.

The following Smartphones are also available from Gearbest.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 4G Phablet – $155.99 with coupon: GBSARMIN for the first 20 pieces sold

This deal gives you 18% off.

Xiaomi Mi 5X 4G Phablet – $259.99

With this deal, you get 13% off.

Xiaomi Mi 6 4G Smartphone – $399.99 with coupon: GBSAMI6 for the first 15 pieces sold

With this deal, you receive 30% off.

XiaoMi Mi5 64GB 4G Smartphone – $242.99 with coupon: GBSAMI5 for the first 20 pieces sold

This deal gives you 34% off.

Gift card giveaway

Gearbest is giving away gift cards to the value of $20 each (free purchase from Gearbest).

To enter, simply like the @ZAGadgetReviews Facebook page and share the gift card give away post to your personal Facebook page.

@ZAGadgetReviews will choose 5 winners of which each will receive a $20 gift card to purchase any gadget of their choice within that price.

Payment methods that can be used

To make life easier, Gearbest accepts a number of secure payment methods designed to be completely safe and friendly.

GearBest primarily uses PayPal to process secure payments through which they accept MasterCard, VISA, American Express, Discover, and bank transfer (debit card).

PayPal also insures your funds so that if anything goes wrong, your money is safe.

Gearbest further also accepts Credit Card payments using Mastercard or Visa.

What shipping methods are offered

Gearbest offers 4 different shipping methods: unregistered airmail (20-45 working days), registered airmail (20-45 working days), priority line (3-7 days) and expedited shipping (3-7 days).

The best shipping method to South Africa is Priority Line or Expedited shipping as they both deliver in under 7 days, and will ensure you get your item safely, quickly and at the best price.

Virtual reality game could help create new test for dementia

2017-08-30T13:21:00.002+02:00

Navigating an ice-walled lake or scouring a swamp for a hidden monster may sound like a fun premise for a virtual-reality video game. But there’s a serious purpose behind the new game Sea Hero Quest VR: helping neuroscientists design a new test for dementia.

London-based game design firm Glitchers worked with researchers from British and Swiss universities, as well as dementia and Alzheimer’s charities, to create Sea Hero Quest VR. Development of the free-to-download game, which is being released Tuesday for Samsung’s Gear VR headset and Facebook Inc.’s Oculus Rift, was funded by German mobile carrier Deutsche Telekom AG.

As people play the game, anonymized data – including what actions they take and exactly where they look and for how long – is collected and stored on Deutsche Telekom’s servers in Germany. Players can also choose to provide the carrier with more detailed demographic data, such as information about their age, gender and location.

Neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists will analyze the data to hopefully learn more about how humans develop spatial awareness and navigate new environments. Researchers believe subtle degradation in these skills may be an early warning sign of dementia and that information from the game could eventually lead to new tests to detect cognitive impairment earlier.

Currently there about 47 million people in the world living with dementia, a number that’s projected to rise to 130 million people by 2050 due to aging populations, according to the World Health Organization.

“Through things like brain scans we know that the disease process that underlie dementia actually starts 15 to 20 years before people are aware that they’ve got obvious symptoms,” said David Reynolds, chief science officer of Alzheimer’s Research UK, which was one of Deutsche Telekom’s partners in creating the game. He said that people aren’t aware of these changes because the brain is extremely resilient and able to find workarounds for damage as it gradually builds. Even when symptoms begin to be noticeable, people often lie to themselves about the reason they’ve started to engage in compensating behaviors – such as relying on Google Maps for directions on a familiar route. “What we really want to be able to do is diagnose people 15 to 20 years earlier than we are currently,” he said.

Virtual reality is increasingly being used therapeutically – to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder or alleviate chronic pain. And scientists who study the brain are already using VR-based experiments in labs, Maxwell Scott-Slade, the creative director at Glitchers, said. But the Sea Hero Quest game will let scientists gather data on a much greater scale. Deutsche Telekom said in a statement that just two minutes of virtual reality game play in the new Sea Hero Quest collects the equivalent of five hours of lab-based research.

A non-virtual reality mobile app version of the game that Deutsche Telekom and Glitchers released in November 2016 has already generated data from 3 million people, which is far more than researchers ever anticipated, Christoph Holscher, a cognitive scientist at Swiss university ETH Zurich, said. The largest data set available previously had been gathered from just 600 volunteers. The vast data set has enabled Holscher and other scientists to begin to build a better picture of the distribution of navigation skills in the population. Holscher said that once researchers have created this baseline, it may be possible to develop a test that would use a virtual-reality game such as Sea Hero Quest to actually diagnose dementia.

Among Holscher’s discoveries so far is that the relationship between age and navigation skill is even stronger than scientists had previously thought: in the Sea Hero Quest mobile game data, navigation ability peaks at 19 years old and declines subtly but steadily after that, with much more marked deterioration happening when people are in their forties. But Holscher allows that it is possible that this finding is not the result of an actual age-related decline in navigational ability, but due to teenagers being much more adept at operating the controls of mobile phone-based video games than older adults who did not grow up using the technology. That’s why Holscher said he’s hoping the new virtual reality game – where a person can look around just by turning their head as they would in the real world – will help validate this research.

Data from the previous Sea Hero Quest game also confirmed laboratory studies that men and women differ in their navigational strategies, with men more likely to rely on landmarks and external cues in the environment, and women more likely to use an internal, cognitive map and an intuitive sense of direction to help them get around, Holscher said. In addition, for reasons still not understood, researchers found that on average people from Scandinavia mastered the game’s navigation tasks better than those from other regions.

The VR game also incorporates several specific experiments to assess different underlying abilities involved in navigation. This includes a Morris Water Maze, where the person is placed in a circular body of water with no external visual cues and must find a particular spot in the water. The task was developed by British neuroscientist Richard Morris in 1981 and has been used to test the cognitive mapping abilities of both humans and animals and the role that a structure in the brain called the hippocampus plays in this mapping.

WhatsApp launches verified accounts

2017-08-30T11:27:00.001+02:00

WhatsApp has launched verified business accounts, which let users talk to companies through its messaging app.

Business accounts which are verified by WhatsApp will receive a green badge next to their contact name, which means WhatsApp has confirmed the phone number belongs to the business.

“WhatsApp will also let you know when you start talking to a business via yellow messages inside a chat. There is no way to delete these messages from the chat,” it said.

“If you already have a business’s phone number saved, the name you will see is the name you have saved in your address book.”

If users want to stop a business from contacting them, the contact can be blocked.

WhatsApp business verification is currently limited to a small number of businesses participating in a pilot programme.

Test the MTN network and win R3,000 cash

2017-08-29T13:54:00.003+02:00

Over the past two years, MTN has invested billions in its network – with independent performance tests showing this investment is paying off.

MyBroadband’s drive tests revealed that MTN is outperforming its rivalsin many of South Africa’s large metropolitan areas.

This network improvement is thanks to a strong focus from MTN to roll out the latest network technologies.

Over the last six months, MTN has rolled out 1,316 new 4G sites, which offer higher speeds and lower latency.

MTN is so confident in its network that it has zero-rated the MyBroadband Android and iOS Speed Test Apps, which means you can perform MTN network tests for free – without any data charges.

To encourage you to test the MTN network, MyBroadband is giving away R3,000 cash and other prizes.

To enter the giveaway, here is what you should do:

Download the MyBroadband Android Speed Test App / iPhone Speed Test App
Perform a speed test using the App on the MTN network (not Wi-Fi – these results do not count towards the giveaway).
Post your download speed and location in the comment section below, or in the forum here.
You can enter as many times as you like, but each entry should be from a different location (one entry per location).

The giveaway winners will be selected and announced on 4 September.

Watch out for the evils of open-access, warns ISP founder

2017-08-29T13:49:00.000+02:00

Open-access is punted as a way to bring more competition to the fibre market and drive down prices, but the benefits may be limited if there is no competition on infrastructure.

This is according to Cybersmart founder and CTO Laurie Fialkov, who was speaking at the MyBroadband Underground Conference.

Fialkov said many fibre network providers sign exclusivity agreements with landlords or neighbourhoods, stating they are open access – which will ensure competition.

However, Fialkov said this model is the same as Telkom’s ADSL service – where the infrastructure provider is handed a monopoly.

With no competition on infrastructure, he said there is no need for the fibre network provider to innovate, offer higher speeds, or improve service levels.

This means that Internet service providers which offer services over the open-access fibre will slash their prices because of competition, but that the infrastructure provider is unlikely to do the same.

Formula 1

Fialkov compared the situation to Formula 1, but where all drivers – ISPs – drive the same car – fibre infrastructure – made by one manufacturer.

Drivers will battle it out to perform the best, but there is unlikely to be a lot of innovation to produce better cars, as there is no competition between manufacturers.

Fialkov said competition on infrastructure is important in South Africa, as it will produce more affordable and better broadband services.

While open access can help bring competition to ISPs, it should not come at the expense of competition on infrastructure through exclusivity agreements, he said.

Cool new mining rigs and hardware wallets from Bitmart

2017-08-29T13:45:00.002+02:00

Start mining Ethereum, Zcash, Monero or Pascal with Bitmart’s new Zodiac 1060 GPU rigs or the legendary Thorium 6470 GPU Mining rig, and store your Crypto Currencies on a secure hardware wallet like KeepKey, Ledger Nano S or a Ledger Blue.

Bitmart has formulated these two six card GPU mining rigs that mine the most profitable Altcoins and automatically convert your earnings to Bitcoin.

The Zodiac Range GPU rigs make use of the latest Nvidia Chipset GPU cards to mine the most profitable Crypto Currencies then convert the Altcoins to Bitcoins and deposit the earnings directly to your Bitcoin Wallet.

With Ethereum and Zcash mining becoming more and more popular this is the best time to start mining these Altcoins.

All components have been carefully selected, and are guaranteed to work with the mining software.

The make and model of the motherboard varies, but is guaranteed to work with 6 GPUs, and all rigs are ordered and assembled once paid.

Zodiac 6-1070 GPU Rig

The Zodiac 6-1070 GPU mining rig bundle consists of the following:

- Operating System best suited for mining
- Motherboard with 6 GPU Slots & 6 x 1070 8 Gig Cards
- Central Processing Unit
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- SSD, preloaded with operating system and Bitmart’s Proprietary configs

Crypto Currency	Hash Rate	Earnings Per Month
Zcash	2600 Sols	1.56 ZEC pm @ 29-08-2017
ETH	190 Mhs	1.44 ETH pm @ 29-08-2017

Earnings change daily click the link on the earnings to view the live calculator for accurate income.

Thorium 6470 GPU Rig

The Thorium 6470 GPU Mining Rig bundle consists of the following:

Operating System best suited for Mining
Motherboard with 6 GPU Slots & 6 x Rx470 Cards
Central Processing Unit
4GB DDR3 RAM
SSD, preloaded with operating system
Bitmart’s Proprietary Config Files for GPU Clocking

Crypto Currency	Hash Rate	Earnings Per Month
Zcash	1350 Sols	0.81 ZEC pm @29-08-2017
ETH	144 Mhs	1.09 ETH pm @29-08-2017

Earnings change daily click the link on the earnings to view the live calculator for accurate income.

Large Scale Deployments

Bitmart has designed two large scale deployment products the DK1200and the DK900 for large scale implementation of Crypto Currency Mining Hardware.

The DK1200 is made up of 12 of the Best GPU Rigs.

Start Mining Crypto Currencies like Ethereum, ZCash and Pascal today with our DK1200 GPU Mining Rack.

It only uses +-10400watt and can convert all the Altcoins you mine to Bitcoins automatically!

Disclaimer: Earnings are not something that can be guaranteed please double check earnings on www.coinwarz.com or www.cryptocompare.com

Crypto Currency	Hash Rate	Earnings Per Month
Zcash	26827.56 Sols	Online Profit Calculator
Ethereum	2100 Megahash	Online Profit Calculator

Bitmart also has several Ledger hardware wallets available, which stores the user’s private keys in a secure hardware device.

As much as a blockchain is intrinsically secure thanks to its consensus based mechanism, the global security architecture ultimately depends on the reliability of the inputs fed to the system.

If transactions generation is compromised, or if a data source is corrupted, the whole security model collapses.

Ledger solves this major security issue by providing a trust layer between the blockchain system and the physical world:

Security devices to keep private keys out of reach of hackers and ensure a proof of presence of the user to mitigate man in the middle attacks
Security modules for servers to enforce hard rules
Hardware oracles to measure and attest the existence of physical events (GPS location, vehicle speed, power consumption…)

Ledger Nano S

Ledger Nano S is a Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoins hardware wallet, based on robust safety features for storing cryptographic assets and securing digital payments.

It connects to any computer (USB) and embeds a secure OLED display to double-check and confirm each transaction with a single tap on its side buttons.

Ledger Blue

The Ledger Blue is a high-end signature device, featuring a touch screen and USB/BLE connectivity for PC and smartphone compatibility.

It runs multiple apps such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, FIDO U2F, SSH, GPG and many more.

The Blue is the most advanced open source secure device available.

KeepKey

KeepKey is a hardware wallet that secures bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, dogecoin, dash, and namecoin. Your assets are protected from hackers and thieves.

KeepKey works with the wallet software on your computer by taking over the management of private key generation, private key storage, and transaction signing.

For more information, visit the Bitmart website.

This article was published in partnership with Bitmart.

DJI launches bug bounty programme

2017-08-29T13:43:00.000+02:00

Drone maker DJI will pay hackers up to $30,000 to find vulnerabilities in its drone software.

The company has launched its Threat Identification Reward Programmeto ensure the security of its products and its users’ private data.

The programme also rewards users for exposing issues that cause app crashes or affect flight safety.

The rewards for finding bugs will range from $100 to $30,000, depending on the potential impact of the threat. The company is also developing a dedicated website for reporting potential threats.

“DJI wants to learn from their experiences as we constantly strive to improve our products, and we are willing to pay rewards for the discoveries they make,” said DJI.

Screen for cancer using a smartphone selfie

2017-08-29T13:39:00.004+02:00

University of Washington researchers have developed an app that could allow people to screen for pancreatic cancer and other diseases using a smartphone selfie.

The app, BiliScreen, uses a smartphone camera, computer vision algorithms, and machine learning to detect increased bilirubin levels in the white part of the eye (sclera).

Jaundice, a yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes caused by a buildup of bilirubin, is an early symptom of pancreatic cancer.

The ability to detect signs of jaundice when bilirubin levels are minimally elevated could enable screening for at-risk individuals.

The app calculates the colour information from the sclera and correlates it with bilirubin levels using machine learning algorithms.

BiliScreen – used in conjunction with a box that controls the eye’s exposure to light – correctly identified cases of concern 89.7% of the time in initial tests.

To account for different lighting conditions, BiliScreen was tested with two accessories – paper glasses printed with coloured squares to help calibrate colour, and a 3D-printed box that blocks out ambient lighting.

The box accessory – similar to a Google Cardboard – led to better results.

Showmax Xbox One app launched

2017-08-29T13:38:00.001+02:00

Showmax has launched an Xbox One app for its service.

It said that since it launched two years ago, it has added features such as downloads, profiles, parental controls, support for AirPlay and Chromecast, and bandwidth capping.

It was also recently added to the DStv Explora and Android TV platforms.

To get Showmax on the Xbox One, navigate to the Store tab on the Xbox One, search for Showmax, install the app, and sign in with your account.

To pin the Showmax app to your home screen, highlight the app tile, press the menu button, and then select “pin to home”.

News of Showmax’s new app comes after Microsoft South Africa said it cannot confirm the local launch date of the Xbox One X.

Microsoft said the local clearance certification for the Xbox One X is still being approved.

Facebook to block ads from pages which share fake news

2017-08-29T13:36:00.002+02:00

Facebook has announced that pages which repeatedly share fake news stories will not be allowed to advertise on the platform.

The company also blocks advertisers from running ads that link to stories marked as false by third-party fact-checking organisations.

Blocking ads from fake news pages is a step to reduce false news and hoaxes being spread, said Facebook.

“False news is harmful to our community. It makes the world less informed and erodes trust,” said Facebook.

The company said it will fight false news in three areas:

Disrupting the economic incentives to create false news.
Building new products to curb the spread of false news.
Helping people make more informed decisions when they encounter false news.

“Today’s update helps to disrupt the economic incentives and curb the spread of false news, which is another step towards building a more informed community.”

Facebook’s 21-year-old whizz kid moves to Google

2017-08-29T13:07:00.001+02:00

Facebook hired Michael Sayman for an internship when he was 17 years old, and gave him a full-time engineering job at 18. Now, the wunderkind is leaving for Alphabet Inc.’s Google. He turned 21 last week.

At Facebook, Sayman was a product manager who helped the social-media giant understand how his generation uses their phones, advising on experimental products for teens and helping executives understand trends. At Google, he’ll be a product manager for Assistant, a voice-based service built on the search engine’s giant database.

Assistant is a top priority for Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai. The Mountain View, California-based company is working to embed the tool across a range of its own products and on other companies’ devices, facing stiff competition from Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa and Apple Inc.’s Siri. Google confirmed on Monday that Sayman was hired for the Assistant team.

Facebook discovered Sayman, who taught himself to make mobile apps at age 13, because he was using the company’s developer tools for an iPhone application he created. Ahead of his internship, the company flew him out to meet CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He brought his mom. Sayman was still wearing braces when he became one of Facebook’s youngest employees.

In a Facebook post confirming his departure, Sayman said he taught himself to code by looking up tutorial videos on Google.

“On a personal level, I also see the Assistant as an opportunity for Google to lower the barrier of entry for kids/teens of all ages and backgrounds, to learn how to program — and encourage them to explore the world of computer science in ways that were once considered impossible,” he wrote. Sayman noted that Zuckerberg has been an “incredible inspiration” and “absolute pleasure to work with.”

Raru partners with Samsung to offer large household appliances

2017-08-29T12:33:00.001+02:00

Raru.co.za has recently successfully launched large household appliances and is the first stand-alone South African eCommerce retailer to do so.

Bigger physical retailers usually have stores where they ship from, when you buy online, but Raru has partnered with Samsung directly to make this available to their customers.

Raru’s range of large household appliances available for order include Samsung washing machines, refrigerators, microwaves, and dish washers that are designed to make household tasks more convenient.

Below are some of the products on offer:

Samsung – Solo Microwave Oven with Smart Sensor 32 L (White) – R1,399

Samsung – Solo Microwave Oven with Mirror Finish 40L (Mirror Door) – R1,959

Samsung – Washing Machine with AddWash – 12 kg (Inox Silver Finish) – R13,799

Samsung – Washing Machine with Eco Bubble Technology – 7kg (White) – R4,749

Samsung – Side By Side Refrigerator with Auto Water and Ice Dispenser (501L) – R13,199

Samsung – Showcase Side by Side Refrigerator with Food Showcase and Inner Case (570L) – R24,399

The shipping ETA on these items is between 7 to 10 working days once payment is received.

Raru has a strong focus on customer experience and aims to resolve any problems as quickly as possible, and keep customers informed throughout the process.

For more information about the Samsung products on offer, visit https://raru.co.za/household/brand/4645-samsung-appliances.

This article was published in partnership with Raru.

Fitbit launches Ionic smartwatch built on Pebble platform

2017-08-29T12:29:00.002+02:00

Fitbit has unveiled the Ionic, its first smartwatch – and its first device built on the Pebble platform.

Fitbit acquired Pebble and its “key assets” for around $40 million last year.

The Ionic features a battery life of four days or more, automatic activity and sleep tracking, and cross-platform compatibility.

It also has a new SpO2 sensor, which Fitbit said makes it possible to gain deeper health insights by tracking conditions like sleep apnea.

The Ionic also supports contactless payments, GPS tracking, on-device dynamic workouts, improved heart rate tracking, and water resistance of up to 50m.

The Ionic is available for pre-order for $299.95, and will be available from retailers from October 2017. A Fitbit Ionic Adidas special edition is also scheduled for 2018.

Fitbit added that its app software development kit will open to developers from September 2017.

Insta360 unveils 360-degree smart video camera

2017-08-29T12:24:00.002+02:00

Insta360 has revealed its latest 360-degree camera, the Insta360 One.

The device boasts powerful specifications, including a 4K video camera and photo resolution of 24MP.

Other features include the ability to automatically combine 360-degree video into a standard format, smart target tracking, an “invisible” selfie stick, and unprecedented bullet time shots.

The device has an 820mAh battery which lasts for 70 minutes of continuous video shooting, and attaches to the top of an iPhone.

The Insta360 One is priced at $300 and is available from the Insta360 Store.

Dell unveils Visor headset for Windows Mixed Reality

2017-08-29T12:16:00.001+02:00

Dell has unveiled a new piece of VR tech, the Dell Visor.

The Visor was made in partnership with Microsoft and is compatible with the Windows Mixed Reality platform.

“Engineered with a flip-up visor for convenient transitions, it features well-cushioned head and face padding, thumbwheel band adjustment, and smart weight balancing,” said Dell.

Dell said the Visor uses the same technology as the Microsoft HoloLens – including inside-out tracking cameras with a 360-degree panoramic view.

“The headset itself is able to scan surroundings instead of satellite emitters positioned inside the room. Its future-proof tech extends to platform-agnostic communication, with the possibility of users interacting with owners of different MR headset brands down the road.”

The Visor can also be paired with Dell Visor Controllers, which offer users “total control with haptic feedback”.

A headset and controller bundle will sell for $449.99 in the US in the coming months. A standalone headset is $349.99.

More details about the Visor are set to be announced on 1 September, said Dell.

Now read: Shark-detecting drones to patrol Australia

Dell unveils Visor headset for Windows Mixed Reality

Staff Writer28 August 2017

Dell has unveiled a new piece of VR tech, the Dell Visor.
The Visor was made in partnership with Microsoft and is compatible with the Windows Mixed Reality platform.
“Engineered with a flip-up visor for convenient transitions, it features well-cushioned head and face padding, thumbwheel band adjustment, and smart weight balancing,” said Dell.
Dell said the Visor uses the same technology as the Microsoft HoloLens – including inside-out tracking cameras with a 360-degree panoramic view.
“The headset itself is able to scan surroundings instead of satellite emitters positioned inside the room. Its future-proof tech extends to platform-agnostic communication, with the possibility of users interacting with owners of different MR headset brands down the road.”
The Visor can also be paired with Dell Visor Controllers, which offer users “total control with haptic feedback”.
A headset and controller bundle will sell for $449.99 in the US in the coming months. A standalone headset is $349.99.
More details about the Visor are set to be announced on 1 September, said Dell.

Now read: Shark-detecting drones to patrol Australia

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Thousands of pirated video game links hosted on South African public laboratory website Previous article

Thousands of pirated video game links hosted on South African public laboratory website

2017-08-29T11:55:00.005+02:00

MyBroadband was recently alerted to pirated video game download links on a domain belonging to the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS).

The NHLS is a public health laboratory service with laboratories throughout the country, founded in 2001.

The institution’s website features research publications, medical news, diagnostic services information, and – hidden in an unlisted subdirectory – a repository of download links for pirated video games.

A sub-directory named “gm” placed within the website’s existing assets directory was discovered following a tip-off, which held thousands of download links for copies of pirated video games.

The repository comprised over 3,700 individual pages listed within a publicly-accessible subdirectory which was indexed by Google.

Piracy pages

Each page contained the name of a cracked PC game along with a “Download Now” button, many of which redirect to a now-inaccessible Russian domain.

The pages have existed on the NHLS domain for a number of years, as many of the game download pages were last edited in 2014 and 2015.

It is unknown how many of the download links were functional at the time of discovery, as the files are not stored on the NHLS server – the links redirect users to external domains.

Descriptions below the download button for many games also bore no relation to the game being linked.

For example, the description under the download link for Plants vs Zombies was:

The summer before senior year, and never forgotten by the many lives that you have touched, and is therefore deprived of the most powerful and heartfelt speech of the novel, you will have to keep an open mind, because PDF viewers allow the pages to be flipped one at a time with a swipe, I just had to give it a try with my boys.

Each page featured a simple layout, with a download link and basic file details in the centre, a sidebar with links to other pages within the directory, and a header which stated “Free Online File and Document Storage”.

MyBroadband contacted the NHLS for feedback on the game download links, after which all offending pages were removed from the domain.

The NHLS said its IT department is conducting an investigation into the matter and it would share the results when the investigation was complete.

The organisation did not provide further feedback by the time of publication.

Now read: All the piracy websites which ISPs in Australia must block

Telkom plans to launch LIT on FreeMe prepaid packages

2017-08-29T11:47:00.002+02:00

Telkom plans to make LIT available to prepaid subscribers through its FreeMe bolt-on bundles, and expects to launch the offering before the end of 2017.

This is according to the CEO of consumer and mobile at Telkom, Attila Vitai.

Telkom recently unveiled LIT, a suite of media streaming services built into its FreeMe mobile contracts and certain fixed-line and fixed-LTE services.

For certain subscribers on FreeMe contracts, Telkom will offer free music and video streaming from 1 September.

Called LIT Music and LIT Video, Telkom will zero-rate streaming music traffic for subscribers on FreeMe 2GB contracts and greater, while those on FreeMe 5GB and up will also get free video streaming.

Services supported by LIT at launch include:

Google Play Music and Movies
iTunes and Apple Music
Simfy Africa
DStv BoxOffice
DStv Now
Showmax
Netflix
YouTube

However, this is just the beginning for Telkom LIT, Vitai told MyBroadband.

In addition to expanding the offering to prepaid subscribers, Telkom also plans to add more services to LIT’s zero-rated list.

Telkom could not reveal the content providers it is talking to, but said it is in negotiations with more music and video streaming services.

Now read: Telkom LIT – FreeMe music and video streaming fair use limits detailed

Samsung to invest $7 billion in Chinese semiconductor plant

2017-08-29T11:45:00.002+02:00

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s biggest maker of memory chips, will invest $7 billion in a Chinese semiconductor plant to meet growing demand for the NAND flash memory used in smartphones and other devices.

The spending will take place over a three-year period and be focused on its plant in Xi’an, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement Monday.

Samsung’s strength in memory chips has driven the company’s earnings to a record in the most recent quarter, and helped it become more profitable than Apple Inc. The announcement came just days after a Seoul court sentenced Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee to five years in prison for his role in a graft scandal.

NAND is used in everything from smartphones to connected appliances, as well as memory cards and flash drives. Samsung had about 41 percent of the NAND market in the March quarter, more than double the 18 percent of Toshiba Corp., which developed the technology, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from IDC. The South Korean company is also the biggest producer of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, with about 44 percent of sales.

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Fitbit launches Ionic smartwatch built on Pebble platform

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