Africa

Nigerian ISP sends Google traffic to China in error

A Nigerian ISP’s network hardware update caused search and cloud services to travel through China and Russia. Nigeria’s MainOne, the ISP whose update caused the data to go astray, said the error was discovered and steps taken to restore it within 74 minutes, BBC says. By design, networks that make up the internet swap information to provide the best way to access information on different parts of the global cyberspace. An error in one system therefore spreads quickly. Ameet Naik of security company, ThousandEyes, smells something fishy.

Free conference calls in Uganda launched

FreeConferenceCall.com has launched a free conference calling service in Uganda to connect 40 million users across Africa. The service, already available in Algeria, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, allows a conference call between 1,000 users for up to 6 hours at no costs. The service will circumvent the digital tax imposed on OTT apps like Skype and WhatasApp in Uganda. With a free account, users can now make free calls using their phones or via a desktop app.

The Americas

Amazon forced to hand over Echo recordings in murder case

A judge has asked Amazon to hand over recordings from an Amazon Echo device as evidence, in the murder case of two women in America. The bodies of the two women, both stabbed to death, were found under a porch in a home in New Hampshire. Amazon Echo is activated by uttering the trigger word, Alexa, and carries out functions through a network of devices. However, it still records fragments of conversations even when it’s dormant. Amazon had initially refused to hand over any such data without a legally-binding instruction served on them. The judge hopes to use the audio recordings to decide the fate of a suspect who has pleaded not guilty.

2 Tech CEOs don’t believe in China hack

The heads of NXP and Ampere say it is impractical to suggest China could install spy chips on servers. Renee James, formerly of Intel and now the CEO of Ampere, said systems were so complex and complementary that it would be impossible to “just insert something.” Richard Clemmer, head of NXP, said it was impractical to do it. An October 2018 report by Bloomberg alleged that Chinese hackers had installed tiny spy chips to steal data from US tech companies.

Europe

£1 Xiaomi smartphone flash sale criticised

Xiaomi’s ad about a £1 smartphone in its flash sale has caused backlash on social media. Customers are angry that only a couple of smartphones were actually sold at that price contrary to what was advertised. A similar one euro flash sale in Spain saw the company provide up to 50 units for sale, while just about five were available in the UK edition. The UK’s ads watchdog is considering investigating the situation. The flash sale had “attracted enormous levels of demand, far beyond what we were expecting,” a spokesperson of Xiaomi said.

UK cities to get 5G in 2019

London, Manchester, and Cardiff are among 6 UK cities to be the first to get 5G mobile networks, the BBC is reporting. Telecom giant, EE, will conclude the rollout in mid-2019. UK telecoms firms have already received warnings about which hardware to use in building their 5G networks, with China’s Huawei top on the cautionary list. By the end of 2019, another ten cities in UK will be able to access 5G networks which could transmit data faster than 10 gigabits per second.

Asia

Flipkart CEO flipped aside

CEO of Walmart-owned Flipkart Group, Binny Bansal, has resigned over allegations of ‘serious personal misconduct.’ According to Walmart, Bansal had not been found guilty of any wrongdoing. However, investigations exposed lapses in judgement and a lack of transparency regarding how the CEO responded to the allegation. Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal founded Flipkart in 2007 before Walmart’s takeover in a $16 billion deal in August.

Facebook of China sold

Renren, once described as the Facebook of China, has sold its social networking business to Beijing Infinities Interactive Media. The deal lands Beijing Qianxiang Wangjing, Renren’s parent company, up to $40 million worth of shares in Beijing Infinities. Shedding off Renren would free Qianxiang to focus on its other assets including a used car platform in China, a SaaS business and a transportation network both in the US, reports say.