Is Rwanda in line to become one of Africa's major tech hubs?

Recent years have seen countries across the African continent investing deep into the tech industry. Rwanda is angling to get ahead of the pack.

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  • The recent announcement of the Mara phone, a smartphone manufactured entirely in Africa, has highlighted African countries' recent forays into the high-tech industry.
  • The continent boasts more than 450 tech hubs, and while some countries have a larger market, Rwanda — where Mara phones are manufactured — is angling to become a major tech hotspot in East Africa.
  • There's a lot of competition; what is Rwanda doing to try to beat it?
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The great hack: A famous fraudster explains the Equifax data breach

Hackers look for open doors. If your personal data isn't protected, it's that much easier to compromise your identity.

  • Legendary con-man-turned-FBI-consultant Frank W. Abagnale breaks down the 2017 Equifax data breach.
  • Hackers were able to access the personal data of millions of Americans through faulty software — and they might wait years before using the stolen social security numbers and dates of birth.
  • Abagnale blames Equifax for this oversight. If a company is entrusted with an individual's personal data they need to do a better job of protecting it. "Hackers don't cause breaches, people do," he says.
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Millions of medical devices using old code are open to attack, FDA says

The recent discovery highlights an alarming cybersecurity vulnerability in the health care industry.

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  • In July, the security firm Armis Security discovered network protocol bugs in a software component that supports many medical devices operating today.
  • Now, the FDA and security researchers say that these vulnerabilities extend to more devices than initially thought.
  • Fortunately, a large-scale attack seems impossible.
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Silicon Valley: How Stanford, science, and war made tech history

The history of Silicon Valley: The rise of a technological unicorn.

  • In the first part of the 20th century, Silicon Valley wasn't known as the "Silicon Valley." It was the "Santa Clara Valley." It was a agricultural region, best known for being the "Prune Capital of America.
  • In terms of getting its start, Sherman Fairchild created Fairchild Semiconductor in the area because he had inherited a lot of money from IBM stock. In this way, IBM is sort of granddaddy of all computer companies because of this.
  • Remaking another Silicon Valley in the world would be tough — but not impossible. The region has become what it is today because it succeeded in a certain kind of time.
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AI is turning thoughts into speech. Should we be concerned?

A new study highlights a fascinating application of AI, though other uses are more troubling.

Epileptology unit, Nice, France Long-term EEG, 3 days, for a check-up of partial epilepsy. (Photo by: BSIP/UIG via Getty Images)
  • Recent research in epilepsy patients has provided a breakthrough in AI-enabled speech recognition technology.
  • Soon researchers believe such an application will translate brain waves into speech.
  • The moral dangers of AI, especially concerning privacy, continue to be an issue.
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