Africa's banking picture is changing, thanks to rising incomes and spreading use of mobile phones. In South Africa, Standard Bank is breaking from its main business in favor of a low-cost mobile phone model. WSJ's Peter Wonacott reports.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Friday, 10 June 2011
A whirlwind trip from Israel to Spain to attend “Whisky Live Madrid”
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| Richard at "Whisky Live Madrid" |
Richard recently spent a lighting 32 hours in a dash to Spain to attend “Whisky Live Madrid”.
Read about his lightening trip, the event and see all the photos HERE.
US Senators worried about Bitcoin and the possible link to the online drugs market
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer virtual currency that was established in 2009 which bypasses regular banks and clearing houses.
Bitcoin has come under fire recently from US senators who are worried that it is being used to anonymously buy illegal drugs online.
The coins can be generated online by people running an application called a Bitcoin Miner and are then stored in the user's digital wallet and exchanged anonymously, using an electronic signature.
Recently, the currency was in the news after the Gawker blog network posted a story claiming it was the only way users can buy drugs on Silk Road, an online marketplace accessible through the annonymising network Tor.
Democratic senators Charles Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have now written to Attorney General Eric Holder and Drug Enforcement Administration head Michele Leonhart expressing their fears about both the Silk Road and Bitcoin.
The senators say they "urge you to take immediate action and shut down the Silk Road network" but this would be an extremely difficult task, prompting speculation that the site's currency, Bitcoin, could be targeted instead.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA spokeswoman) Dawn Dearden told Reuters that the agency is concerned about Bitcoin and similar digital currencies, adding: "The DEA is constantly evaluating and analysing new technologies and schemes perpetrated by drug trafficking networks."
What is Bitcoin? Well follow the outfit’s own video.
Bitcoin has come under fire recently from US senators who are worried that it is being used to anonymously buy illegal drugs online.
The coins can be generated online by people running an application called a Bitcoin Miner and are then stored in the user's digital wallet and exchanged anonymously, using an electronic signature.
Recently, the currency was in the news after the Gawker blog network posted a story claiming it was the only way users can buy drugs on Silk Road, an online marketplace accessible through the annonymising network Tor.
Democratic senators Charles Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have now written to Attorney General Eric Holder and Drug Enforcement Administration head Michele Leonhart expressing their fears about both the Silk Road and Bitcoin.
The senators say they "urge you to take immediate action and shut down the Silk Road network" but this would be an extremely difficult task, prompting speculation that the site's currency, Bitcoin, could be targeted instead.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA spokeswoman) Dawn Dearden told Reuters that the agency is concerned about Bitcoin and similar digital currencies, adding: "The DEA is constantly evaluating and analysing new technologies and schemes perpetrated by drug trafficking networks."
What is Bitcoin? Well follow the outfit’s own video.
Monday, 6 June 2011
What will Apple announce at WWDC 2011?
From Apple’s pre-announcement last week we already know that the company will unveil Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud at WWDC 2011 (Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference) later today.
But what about new features? What can we expect Steve Jobs to unveil?
According to folk in the know we can expect to see features like Universal Remote Computer Access, Music Stream via iCloud and Wireless Syncing.
One particular interesting prediction revolves around Siri and Nuance.
In April 2010, Apple acquired Siri, an artificial intelligence technology that turns your iPhone into a personal assistant. Voice inquiries are quickly turned into mapping directions, restaurant reservations and movie reviews.
At the same time, Apple is rumored to be working on a licensing deal with Nuance, which provides some of the most powerful speech recognition technology on the market. Siri actually uses Nuance technology already.
With a deeper integration in iOS 5 though, Siri and Nuance could transform the iPhone from a mobile computer to a smart device with the capability to assisting you in almost any situation. Chat with your iPhone, and it comes back with the exact answer to your question or hooks you up with a list of sushi restaurants to visit on your next business trip.
The following video demonstrates some of the possibilities.
It may not be long until you start talking to your phone like you would your best friend.
But what about new features? What can we expect Steve Jobs to unveil?
According to folk in the know we can expect to see features like Universal Remote Computer Access, Music Stream via iCloud and Wireless Syncing.
One particular interesting prediction revolves around Siri and Nuance.
In April 2010, Apple acquired Siri, an artificial intelligence technology that turns your iPhone into a personal assistant. Voice inquiries are quickly turned into mapping directions, restaurant reservations and movie reviews.
At the same time, Apple is rumored to be working on a licensing deal with Nuance, which provides some of the most powerful speech recognition technology on the market. Siri actually uses Nuance technology already.
With a deeper integration in iOS 5 though, Siri and Nuance could transform the iPhone from a mobile computer to a smart device with the capability to assisting you in almost any situation. Chat with your iPhone, and it comes back with the exact answer to your question or hooks you up with a list of sushi restaurants to visit on your next business trip.
The following video demonstrates some of the possibilities.
It may not be long until you start talking to your phone like you would your best friend.
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Square accommodates all mobile payment types
Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer of Square Inc. and co-founder of Twitter Inc., talks about Square's mobile-payment service. Dorsey also discusses Twitter's usage and management. He speaks with Emily Chang and Cory Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Google Wallet: Is it for mobile payments or is it an advertising platform?
Timothy Kelly of the International Business Times poses an intriguing question – is Google’s recently announced Google Wallet about mobile payments or is it an advertising platform? You can take in Timothy’s comments HERE.
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Is technology killing the e-mail?
By Stanley Epstein, Principal Associate, Citadel Advantage.
Once upon a time e-mail was a simple uncomplicated affair. It was a fantastic tool for sending out and receiving communications in "almost real-time". We put up with those slow 64k dial-up modems. After all, this was state of the art hi-tech. Even with these delays this new fangled "e-mail" beat the pants of regular snail-mail.
Somehow, perhaps because e-mail was technology based, many of us, who in the normal course were terrified of putting a real pen to a real sheet of paper, were turned into regular e-mail fans. We became addicted to this new way of communication.
Of course, as with any other communications medium, advertising soon got into the act. Advertisements, special offers, promotions, and all other sorts of rubbish got into our e-mail boxes too. "Junk-mail", so familiar our real-life mailboxes got into our e-mailboxes as well.
However, unlike its original physical manifestation that came via snail-mail, which had to be physically trashed, virtual junk-mail could be blocked, isolated or trashed by a host of automated devices – so-called technology solutions. Blacklists, Spam filters, Verification processes; you name it, someone has invented it.
The pity is that none of this system based e-mail protections really work as they should. To make matters worse, we human users act like sheep, and trust these so-called solutions implicitly. After all, can they really go wrong?
Our trust in these processes has become overarching that these technology based solutions are beginning to kill regular e-mail communications in a really big way.
Genuine e-mails don’t get through. Legitimate business communications are blocked. Vital documentary attachments are deleted or rerouted to some silo that requires the actions of some techie to release. What should have taken seconds to complete is now back into the "days" category once more, especially if your Systems Administrator just happens to be on a course (what, another one?).
We have become prisoners of the systems that were supposed to protect us.
And all the while, the real junk still seems to make it into my Inbox, each and every day.
A case in point - my firm regularly bills clients for services rendered using e-mail. We send out PDF invoices. Its fast and its efficient and highly cost effective. Or at least it used to be.
Recently, after sending out one such invoice, which remained unpaid some three weeks later, we sent out our regular e-mail reminder. No response. A second reminder; still silence. Finally, a phone call had to be made. Given that the parties are some 4,000 miles apart this exercise was now starting to get expensive. And where were the missing e-mails? In the recipient's Junk-Mail of course.
I rest my case.
Once upon a time e-mail was a simple uncomplicated affair. It was a fantastic tool for sending out and receiving communications in "almost real-time". We put up with those slow 64k dial-up modems. After all, this was state of the art hi-tech. Even with these delays this new fangled "e-mail" beat the pants of regular snail-mail.
Somehow, perhaps because e-mail was technology based, many of us, who in the normal course were terrified of putting a real pen to a real sheet of paper, were turned into regular e-mail fans. We became addicted to this new way of communication.
Of course, as with any other communications medium, advertising soon got into the act. Advertisements, special offers, promotions, and all other sorts of rubbish got into our e-mail boxes too. "Junk-mail", so familiar our real-life mailboxes got into our e-mailboxes as well.
However, unlike its original physical manifestation that came via snail-mail, which had to be physically trashed, virtual junk-mail could be blocked, isolated or trashed by a host of automated devices – so-called technology solutions. Blacklists, Spam filters, Verification processes; you name it, someone has invented it.
The pity is that none of this system based e-mail protections really work as they should. To make matters worse, we human users act like sheep, and trust these so-called solutions implicitly. After all, can they really go wrong?
Our trust in these processes has become overarching that these technology based solutions are beginning to kill regular e-mail communications in a really big way.
Genuine e-mails don’t get through. Legitimate business communications are blocked. Vital documentary attachments are deleted or rerouted to some silo that requires the actions of some techie to release. What should have taken seconds to complete is now back into the "days" category once more, especially if your Systems Administrator just happens to be on a course (what, another one?).
We have become prisoners of the systems that were supposed to protect us.
And all the while, the real junk still seems to make it into my Inbox, each and every day.
A case in point - my firm regularly bills clients for services rendered using e-mail. We send out PDF invoices. Its fast and its efficient and highly cost effective. Or at least it used to be.
Recently, after sending out one such invoice, which remained unpaid some three weeks later, we sent out our regular e-mail reminder. No response. A second reminder; still silence. Finally, a phone call had to be made. Given that the parties are some 4,000 miles apart this exercise was now starting to get expensive. And where were the missing e-mails? In the recipient's Junk-Mail of course.
I rest my case.
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