All the hype surrounding Gmail may be thanks to its first redesign in some seven years, but not all is well with Google's mail service. According to a number of reports, Gmail users on Sunday found a number of spam messages sent from their accounts. "My email account has sent out 3 spam emails in the past hour to a list of about 10 addresses that I don’t recongnize," wrote one user on Google's Product forum. Changing passwords didn't help this particular user either, nor did marking the mails as spam. "Please help, what else can I do to ensure my account...
First National Bank has today announced eWallet eXtra, a digital bank account that can be opened from a mobile device for unbanked South Africans. According to FNB, the mobile bank account is intended to plug the gap between its eWallet offering and traditional bank accounts that "do not meet the unique needs of irregular income earners such as seasonal workers." FNB suggests that this target market consists of some 11-million South Africans. The eWallet eXtra offering does attempt to plug this gap. "If you are above the age of 16 and own a cellphone, you’ll be able to get a mobile bank...
Recent reports of large data breaches are alarming for everyone. Customers worry about the implications of having their financial and personal information hijacked. The organisations that were compromised worry about both the near-term and the long-term effects on their business and other organisations worry if they will be next. Two things are certain, though. The cost of a data breach is going to be really expensive, and it’s not going to be the last time it happens. The big question everyone is asking is, what do I do about this? Perform a risk assessment A thorough risk assessment helps ensure you are focussed...
Hold onto your credit cards, folks. If all goes to plan, Huawei Pay will be coming to South Africa in the second half of the year, the company's Gene Jiao confirmed to Memeburn in an interview. Speaking on Thursday at the P20 launch in Johannesburg, Jiao -- the president of Huawei Consumer Business Group in the MEA region -- revealed that the firm plans to rollout its mobile payments platform to South Africa in the coming months. The news echoes Huawei's earlier announcement in March of a forthcoming mobile payments offering for South Africa, alongside a standalone app store, streaming music...
Over the last few days, as the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica disaster continues to make waves, there has been a huge increase in deleted Facebook profiles. Elon Musk made waves when he deleted his company pages for both Tesla and SpaceX, after first claiming surprise that either of his companies was on Facebook in the first place. This move has given the #deletefacebook even more momentum. Is deleting Facebook really the answer to the latest data scandal, however? And, more importantly for brands using social media, is privacy even a real thing anymore? The concept of privacy has been hotly...
Remember WannaCry? It was 2017's big security story, infecting more than a quarter-million Windows computers at its most prolific point. But its prominence died down after tech doctors quelled its spread. But like a bad case of influenza, it's definitely not dead, and reports suggest aircraft manufacturer Boeing found that out the hard way on Wednesday. According to the Seattle Times, the firm's 777 assembly line in North Carolina was affected, but it was contained to a small number of machines. "The vulnerability was limited to a few machines. We deployed software patches. There was no interruption to the 777 jet program...
From 1 May 2018, using "offensive language" on Microsoft's online services could get you banned, this after the company updated its Services Agreement. Although the change was implemented on 1 March 2018, civil rights advocate Jonathan Corbett spotted the change this week. "In the Code of Conduct section, we’ve clarified that use of offensive language and fraudulent activity is prohibited," Microsoft wrote in a brief summation of the changes. Further digging into the actual change, explains that users are not allowed to "publicly display or use the Services to share any inappropriate content or other material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography,...
February has not been a good month for Bitcoin traders, or traders of any cryptocurrency for that matter. According to CoinMarketCap's figures at the time of writing, Bitcoin's value has fallen by nearly 16% in the past 24 hours, hitting a new three month low. It will now set you back just US$6704 to purchase 1 BTC, this compared to its peak of nearly US$20 000 in December 2017. Overall, its market cap has also fallen to US$112-billion, while the cryptocurrency market cap as a whole is below US$300-billion once again. This is a far cry from the late 2017 value surge. But...
Ecommerce marketing continues to evolve, each and every year. While there have been a number of interesting trends over the last year or two, from virtual reality to machine learning, chatbots and location-based marketing, some trends will impact on conversion more than others. Ideally, smart retail brands know that to bring in more sales, you first need to find and connect with your audience. Not all trends will add genuine value. Those that are focused on conversion, however, are far more likely to help you get results. Let’s take a look at a few of the most interesting trends that have been...
If excessive spam calls weren't enough, South Africans will now need need to guard against a new MTN scam plaguing the network. Using OTPs, or one-time PIN numbers, scammers can gain access to a users' MTN account, purchase airtime and data, and then transfer said purchases to another number. According to MTN, fraudsters gain the OTP from users directly, asking them to provide it during spam calls. "Unfortunately, fraudsters are everywhere and we want to be sure all our customers are protected at all times, across our entire business," explained Jacqui O'Sullivan, the company's corporate affairs executive. "Our systems are designed to safeguard...
If you happen to be a soldier stationed at one of the world's military bases, secret operation centres or covert patrols, you may want to switch off your phone's GPS and consider uninstalling all fitness apps, including Strava. Like, stat. In November 2017, "social network for athletes" Strava published a detailed heatmap of the world's most popular training routes -- be it running, cycling or even kitesurfing -- that its users frequent. The data contained within the map was beyond deep. Some three-trillion GPS points were logged, containing more than 10 terabytes of data in total. This amounted to more than a combined...
Do you have a post-purchase strategy in place? Are you focusing your efforts not only on bringing in new customers but also nurturing existing customers? If you have not begun to think about how you can target customers at every stage of their journey, from the moment they arrive on your site, to their initial purchase, and subsequent purchases, you are missing out on the chance to improve your average order size, value, and frequency. This year, it’s time to take a closer look at your post-purchase strategy to see how you can turn a one-time customer into a brand advocate. Request...
While massive data breaches are associated with international companies such as Ashley Madison or LinkedIn, South Africa is no stranger to customer data being released into the public domain by cybercriminals. In fact, it was in October 2017 when security expert Troy Hunt stumbled across the largest data breach in South African history. The personal data of millions of South Africans was compromised when a database backup file titled "masterdeeds.sql" was leaked publicly online. The data contained millions upon millions of ID numbers, as well as contact details, addresses and income of certain individuals. It's rumoured that even President Jacob Zuma's...
The trickiest skill when trading and investing in cryptocurrencies is keeping track of their violent price fluctuations. Bitcoin is a great example of this, rising to beyond US$13 000 early January, only to tank below the US$10 000 mark on Wednesday evening. But how can you keep up to speed with the ever-changing world of digital currencies? Simple. Use an app. Android and iOS users have a choice between a bevy of apps designed to list some of the popular cryptocurrencies around the world. We list four notable examples. CrypTick (Android) CrypTick is a newcomer to the Android app space, but that doesn't...
In the rush to seal the deal and bring in leads, it is all too easy to forget what an important role trust plays in the process. Without trust, however, even the warmest leads will end up going cold before you have had a chance to convert them into actual sales. Trust is hard to win and easy to break. The good news is that when trust is there, reputation, engagement, conversion, and loyalty quickly follow. How do you go about increasing trust with your lead nurturing efforts? For starters, you could try the following simple steps. Know your audience Before you can...
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