Mark Heyink

At Home

After a nine-month trial period, Absa says it will soon provide a contactless tap-and-go payment system. The initiative allows consumers to pay for low-value purchases simply by tapping their cards against a reader at tills in retail outlets.
Contactless payments will be available through a prepaid card or the normal debit cards. Using chip card technology, the bank says the offering is designed to provide consumers with speed and convenience at the point of sale. – ITWeb

Standard Bank’s electronic payment service, mimoney, is ready to roll out what it claims is the biggest near field communications (NFC) project in SA. The facility will allow festival-goers at next month’s Oppikoppi to pay for tickets, goods and services using a ‘tap n’ go’ payment card. According to Standard Bank, Oppikoppi tap n’ go cards will be issued free of charge to every visitor. – ITWeb

Twenty-first century township moms have discovered Facebook, according to the findings of a recent Draftfcb study, involving 20 women from Alexandra and Soweto. The researchers say none of the women who were interviewed were using smartphones to access the social network, and were instead relying on simple WAP-enabled handsets. The average amount spent by the women on accessing Facebook was R5 a day. – ITWeb

Chinese tech giant Huawei is bringing down the prices of tablet PCs, to a point where they are accessible to the average consumer, it claims. This emerged recently when the company officially unveiled its Ideos S7 tablet to the South African market. – ITWeb

Local black empowerment technology business Bihati Solutions will ask the Supreme Court of Appeal to overturn a lower court’s decision, after it lost a bid to force Telkom to honour a tender. Bihati has won the right to appeal a January ruling by the North Gauteng High Court, which allowed Telkom to set aside a previous decision to award a tender to six service providers. – ITWeb

MWeb is offering bundled ADSL and 3G packages. According to the Internet service provider, the new package allows for the stability of an ADSL connection and the versatility of a 3G connection. The 3G connection will be provided by MTN. MWeb ISP CEO Derek Hershaw" rel=tag>Derek Hershaw says: “With the Internet playing an ever-increasing role in people’s day-to-day lives, we understand the essential need for users to stay connected while on the go.” – ITWeb

SA’s legal framework is not keeping pace with advances in technology, and a Bill that was urgent a decade ago has yet to be promulgated, notes an attorney. Once the Protection of Personal Information Bill comes into law, companies will have to tighten control over personal information and disclose breaches, says Mark Heyink, a partner at Mark Heyink Information Attorneys. – ITWeb

Listed PC distributor Pinnacle Technology Holdings is increasing its stake in Datanet to 100%, after spending R16.8 million. The company told shareholders in an announcement yesterday it would buy the 40% of Datanet it does not own from the Lello Family Trust and Leendert Pronk. – ITWeb

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Eric Schmidt" />ICASA has released a report that finds three of SA’s largest cellular operators – Vodacom, MTN and Cell C – failed to meet minimum requirements relating to call success and dropped call rates. However, MTN has rubbished ICASA’s methodology, Vodacom previously questioned ICASA’s method of using drive-by tests, and Cell C says the survey is not a true reflection of its performance. – ITWeb

Into Africa

The Nigerian Federal Government is yet to succeed in privatising Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (Nitel). The government has made five attempts in the past 10 years to sell Nitel to core investors, and all had repeatedly run into hitches. A source told Daily Trust that “nobody seems to know what next will be done on Nitel, and it may remain like this for now.” – Daily Trust

Airtel Tanzania has provided phones and Internet facilities worth Tzs 8 million to the police force to ease communication between them and the public. The 60 handsets and modems were handed to the commissioner of operations in the police force, Paul Chagonja. According to Airtel’s corporate affairs manager, Beatrice Singano, the support is part of the company’s corporate social responsibilities. – Tanzania Daily News

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (Baz) has neither the capacity nor expertise to license new broadcasters now because of funding problems it faces since its inception, Parliament was told recently. Baz chairman Tafataona Mahoso made the revelation when he gave oral evidence to the Media, Information and Communication Portfolio Committee on the authority’s progress in opening up airwaves to allow for private broadcasters. – Zimbabwe Independent

The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) in Uganda has launched an SMS service dubbed “NSSF GO” to allow members to access their savings through SMS. The initiative is one of the several that the fund is using to address customer concerns. To access balances through the short message platform, customers are required to type NSSF and send to 6773. Each SMS will cost sh220. – The New Vision

Kenyan Parliamentary proceedings, which were traditionally documented in the Hansard (printed transcripts of Parliamentary debates), have now gone digital. This came after the government, in partnership with Google, launched the online archive of Parliamentary proceedings. The public can now access the Hansard online, which includes records of all proceeding from pre-independence (1959) to post-independence debates.
– Nairobi Star

Abroad

Consumers who illegally download copyrighted films, music or television shows might see their Internet speed slowed or access restricted under an industry anti-piracy effort. US Internet service providers agreed to alert customers, up to six times, when it appears their account is used for illegal downloading.
– Reuters

Google is leaving open the door to more co-operation with social media giants Facebook and Twitter, and believes there is room for multiple social networks as it rolls out its own, said executive chairman Eric Schmidt. He also said the company will co-operate fully with US antitrust regulators, but will not let the formal probe launched last month distract or disrupt its strategy. – Reuters

Zynga, the top social games publisher on Facebook, said in a blog post it is buying Five Mobile, a Canadian company that develops mobile applications for large companies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction is Zynga’s 15th acquisition in 13 months.
– Reuters

Driving distractions, primarily by cellphones and other electronic devices, are associated with up to 25% of US car crashes, according to a recent report. The study by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a non-profit group that works to improve traffic safety, assessed research from more than 350 scientific papers published since 2000.
– Reuters