Category: Blog
June 16, 2015
Biometrics May Ditch The Password, But Not The Hackers
Passwords get hacked — a lot. In an effort to move beyond passwords, big companies are embracing biometric technology: the use of fingerprints, iris scans or voice recognition for user identification. To heighten security, smartphones are being outfitted with biometric features. But, ditching passwords for biometrics may not make the hackers go away. Selfie Security […]
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June 16, 2015
RWANDA: NEW EDUCATION STRATEGY PRIORITISES TECHNOLOGY
“The Government is designing a strategic plan that will make it possible for the education sector to adopt Information and Communication Technology as a primary enabler of access to education. The Minister for Education, Prof. Silas Lwakabamba, said Rwandans need to take bold steps including the acquisition of computers by teachers to avail digital content […]
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June 16, 2015
Big Idea 2015: The Coming Micropayment Disruption
In this series of posts, Influencers and members predict the ideas and trends that will shape 2015. Read all the stories here and write your own (please include the hashtag #BigIdeas2015 in the body of your post). The innovation that will shape the coming year, I think, will be the consumer use of digital currencies, such as bitcoin and […]
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June 16, 2015
Tesla’s $13,000 battery could keep your home online in a blackout
Elon Musk is a man who likes to make waves. Whether it’s privatizing space exploration or shaking up commuting with the Hyperloop high speed transport system, the billionaire technocrat aims big. Now his electric car company, Tesla, is planning to change the way people power their homes. In a tweet last month, Musk announced that Tesla would […]
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June 16, 2015
When ‘good enough’ is not good enough
Apple’s product launches are covered with breathless enthusiasm usually reserved for royal weddings and vaccines for dreaded diseases. The recent launch of the iPhone6 featured an exciting new technology – ApplePay – which, if widely adopted, will allow Apple’s discerning customers to make electronic payments from their phones in situations where they would have used […]
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June 16, 2015
Why does Kenya lead the world in mobile money?
PAYING for a taxi ride using your mobile phone is easier in Nairobi than it is in New York, thanks to Kenya’s world-leading mobile-money system, M-PESA. Launched in 2007 by Safaricom, the country’s largest mobile-network operator, it is now used by over 17m Kenyans, equivalent to more than two-thirds of the adult population; around 25% of […]
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June 16, 2015
First Solar-Backed Off-Grid Innovator to Capitalize on Kenya Experience
Powerhive, Inc. today announced that its industry-leading portfolio of off-grid metering and control solutions has successfully completed over two years of field testing in Kenya, paving the way for its commercialization and scale-up. With financial and technical backing from First Solar, Inc. FSLR, -1.97% a leading global provider of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy solutions, Powerhive […]
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June 15, 2015
Bringing Women’s Perspectives to Africa’s Engineering Solutions
In September 2014, at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, I made a commitment on behalf of Ashesi to have gender balance in our new engineering program. Gender balance is rare in the world of engineering education, but we believe it’s necessary to aim for inclusion. More importantly, we believe in making sure that future […]
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June 15, 2015
Far Out, Man: 13.1bn-Year-Old Galaxy Is Most Distant Yet Seen By Humans
Galaxy EGS-zs8-1 has moved 30bn light-years away from Earth since it was born: ‘We’re actually looking back through 95% of all time to see this galaxy’ A team of astronomers has measured a galaxy farther than any other ever seen by human beings, reporting this week that the ancient star system offers a glimpse of […]
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June 15, 2015
Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Logs Sol 4000, Digs Spirit of St. Louis Crater
After investigating some flat, light and dark toned rocks around Spirit of St. Louis Crater in April, Opportunity chalked up another milestone achievement for the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) mission – the 4000th sol or Martian day of surface operations – then did what she does best. By month’s end, the robot field geologist was closing […]