Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (ICT) has reviewed the programs of cooperating with the African countries, in the framework of the ministry's strategic plan which depends on expansion in the African market. The ministry launched a number of initiatives in 2012; aiming at cooperating with the neighborly countries in transforming the information Technology and making use of the Egyptian experiences in technology. The ministry, in its periodic report about the ministry's performances, added that it will cooperate with Nigeria in using payment services via mobile and banking services via internet, besides taking advantage of South Africa experiences in March 2013. Africa is facing a remarkable challenge in the savers rates, compared to the population density and its weak infrastructure. Under the Egyptian-African cooperation, the ministry had a number of meetings with the Sudanese and Tanzanian governments during the past three months, over using the creativity and entrepreneurs' services and taking advantage of the Egyptian experience in building smart villages, and technological communities. More»

Emirates, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, is on the runway to Facebook fame after reaching one million fans globally.  The remarkable traction of Emirates’ Facebook page positions the airline as one of the most rapidly developing social media players around. The airline, now flying under the banner of “Hello Tomorrow,” launched its Facebook page on 25th March and attracted 300,000 fans in just three weeks. Within only a few more weeks, it was the number one airline on Facebook in the MENA region. Two months later, the page reached half a million fans and today, within only eight months of launching in the social media space, Emirates has reached one million Facebook fans. Fresh from its Facebook success, Emirates has also just launched its Google+ page attracting over 250,000 “+1s” in just three weeks. The new page allows fans to interact with the brand through their passions such as photography, travel or aviation. More»

Facebook Inc is proposing to combine user data with that of recently acquired photo-sharing service Instagram, and will loosen restrictions on emails between members of the social network. Facebook also said on Wednesday it is proposing to scrap a 4-year old process that can allow the social network's roughly 1 billion users to vote on changes to its policies and terms of services. Facebook said it may share information between its own service and other businesses or affiliates that Facebook owns to "help provide, understand, and improve our services and their own services." One of Facebook's most significant affiliate businesses is Instagram, a photo-sharing service for smartphone users that Facebook acquired in October for roughly $715 million. The change could open the door for Facebook to build unified profiles of its users that include people's personal data from its social network and from Instagram, similar to recent moves by Google Inc. In January, Google said it would combine users' personal information from its various Web services - such as search, email and the Google+ social network - to provide a more customized experience. More»

Google announced today an initiative to build a vibrant Arabic web and boost the amount of Arabic content online: “Arabic Web Days” a one-month program with initiatives by both global and regional players in MENA to inspire users to create more content in Arabic.  The program theme is “It’s better in Arabic.” Google has joined forces with Vinelab and Wamda and Taghreedat in MENA to shape the program which also includes Twitter, WikiPedia, TED, Soundcloud, YouTube and local powerhouses TwoFour54 and Qatar Foundation’s Qatari Computing Research Institute (QCRI). The idea for the initiative was driven by unserved demand for content in Arabic. Arabic is the fastest growing language on the web today, however there is a large gap between the number of Arabic speaking users and the amount of Arabic content on the Internet today.  The amount of Arabic content on the web only represents 3% of the total digital content on the web and the Arabic language is the seventh most used language online globally. “The purpose of Arabic Web Days is to inspire the community to increase Arabic content on the internet” Google’s Head of Communications in MENA, Maha Abouelenein said.  “Its all about the users, she added, we want the Internet to be relevant for Arabic speaking users.” More»

Governments around the world made nearly 21,000 requests for access to Google data in the first six months of this year, according to the search engine. Its Transparency Report indicates government surveillance of online lives is rising sharply. The US government made the most demands, asking for details 7,969 times in the first six months of 2012. Turkey topped the list for requests to remove content. Government 'bellwether' Google, in common with other technology and communication companies, regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to have access to content. It has been publishing its Transparency Report twice a year since 2009 and has seen a steady rise in government demands for data. In its first report in 2009, it received 12,539 requests. The latest figure stands at 20,939. More»

Verizon Wireless said on Monday that its board agreed to pay a total dividend of $8.5 billion to its two parent companies, Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L). The announcement follows months of investor speculation as to whether Verizon Wireless would pay a dividend this year. Verizon Communications, which owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless and is dependent on wireless operations for growth, could put the cash toward its capital spending, debt interest or its own shareholder dividends, Barclays analyst James Ratcliffe said. "It's driven primarily by the cash needs of Verizon Communications," said Ratcliffe, who had expected a distribution in the range of $10 billion to $12 billion. Verizon declined to comment on the size of the pay-out or how it plans to use the cash. The pay-out is down from the $10 billion dividend that Verizon Wireless announced in July 2011 and paid in January 2012. More»

Google will increase the cash it allocates to its venture-capital arm to up to $300 million a year from $200 million, catapulting Google Ventures into the top echelon of corporate venture-capital funds. Access to that sizeable checkbook means Google Ventures will be able to invest in more later-stage financing rounds, which tend to be in the tens of millions of dollars or more per investor. It puts the firm on the same footing as more established corporate venture funds such as Intel's Intel Capital, which typically invests $300-$500 million a year. "It puts a lot more wood behind the arrow if we need it," said Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures. Part of the rationale behind the increase is that Google Ventures is a relatively young firm, founded in 2009. Some of the companies it backed two or three years ago are now at later stages, potentially requiring larger cash infusions to grow further. More»

A Telecommunications Ministry report issued Friday said Internet connection speed in Lebanon has significantly increased between June 2011 and June 2012. “[Telecom Ministry] initiatives have started to bear results. [Internet connection] speed has improved by 15 and 18 times on the fixed-line and mobile networks respectively,” said Telecoms Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui in the introduction of the report dubbed “One Year Progress Report June 2011-June 2012.” “International connectivity has increased 11 times and will soon be redundant with the purchase of an 800 Gbps [Gigabyte per second] capacity on the Alexandaros submarine cable,” the minister added. The report said submarine cable capacity increased 11 times to reach 33 Gbps up from 3 Gbps a year ago. The report said Internet prices for companies and private individuals have decreased by 80 percent as the number of DSL and mobile broadband subscribers has risen 20 percent and 158 percent respectively. Mobile service prices decreased by 40 percent between June 2011 and June 2012. It added that 4th generation mobile networks are ready for deployment. More»

Facebook has moved quickly to shut down a loophole which made some accounts accessible without a password. The bug was exposed in a message posted to the Hacker News website. The message contained a search string that, when used on Google, returned a list of links to 1.32 million Facebook accounts. In some cases clicking on a link logged in to that account without the need for a password. All the links exposed the email addresses of Facebook users. Throwaway account The message posted to Hacker News used a search syntax that exposed a system used by Facebook that lets users quickly log back in to their account. Email alerts about status updates and notifications often contain a link that lets a user of the social network respond quickly by clicking it to log in in to their account. More»

A law that aims to protect children from harmful internet content by allowing the government to take sites offline has taken effect in Russia. The authorities are now able to blacklist and force offline certain websites without a trial. The law was approved by both houses of parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin in July. Human rights groups have said the legislation might increase censorship in the country. The law is the amendment to the current Act for Information. The authorities say the goal is to protect minors from websites featuring sexual abuse of children, offering details about how to commit suicide, encouraging users to take drugs and sites that solicit children for pornography. More»