Jun 21, 2015  New Telkom mobile voice bundles launched The rise of South Africa's software entrepreneurs Next article Here is how anyone can take money from your bank account without your permission Previous. I am thinking to enable the Out of Bundle option, but would first like to know what Telkom charges for out-of-bundle data on their fibre deals. The top-ups seem to run at R6-00 / GB, but I would like to pay just for what I used, rather than to get a top-up, and forfeiting the leftover cap at the turn of the month.

What is this Blockchain hype – why it’s talked about as being such a revolutionary piece of technology? That’s what we’re going to be discussing here. We’ll be going over the four key distinguishing factors of the Blockchain . Of course there are more that could be discussed but I’ll be going over the four key ones with you that makes Blockchain a Revolution.

Smart ContractsThe first is that through the use of smart contracts along with having no single point of failure it will be possible to transfer things of value such as property ,vehicles and so much more securely. It essentially will help prevent any sort of scams that are currently operating. This makes it super secure. So that’s the technology “Smart Contracts” which weren’t deployed on top of the Blockchain helps bring it to life when buying selling, selling buying all these things of value. Now everything will be digitally signed and digitally secured by the power of cryptography upon the Blockchain . Like I said it will be a secure and far more efficient way to transfer things of extreme value.No MiddlemanThe second distinguishing factor of the Blockchain is that it cuts off any sort of middleman in the process. Now at the core of this technology is a peer to peer system which is secured by cryptography hence it has the power to remove lawyers, accountants, state agents and other professionals from the middle of the process. For example when selling a house you can facilitate that transaction directly through the Blockchain hence saving you money. So that’s the second distinguishing factor that will help remove the often time consuming and expensive middleman and at the same time make the process even more secure.Speed

The third distinguishing factor we have is that it allows for deals transactions all that kinds of stuff however you wish to define it get completed for quicker. Look at bitcoin as an example I can send to one bitcoin right here from the UK to someone in the third country from the UK which is New Zealand within about ten minutes. So just imagine how quickly let’s say property deeds could be exchanged. It helps streamline these often time consuming tasks.

Increased Capacity

The fourth distinguishing factor we have is that you can have far more increased capacity. What I mean by this is that due to the peer to peer technology you can actually increase the capacity of the whole network. Think about it like this. What do you think has more capacity – Thousands of computers often referred to as nodes working together in the same network or one large centralized server? Now the correct answer to those is the thousands of computers. Now that’s a real key distinguishing factor of the Blockchain as well.

Now if you’re thinking what about the other kind of areas that can have an impact upon. Let me just know you that it’s not just the financial world as many of you, so I just want to give you a quick list of some of the industries or the areas where a Blockchain technology can really impact upon.

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• Digital rights
• Escrow Transfers
• Equity markets
• Private markets
• Debt management
• Crowd funding platforms
• Derivatives markets
• E-commerce sites
• Global payment systems
• The remittance industry
• Peer to peer lending services
• Micro finance lenders
• Health care services
• Land record deeds
• Ownership records
• Election and voting
• Intellectual property rights

Now as well as that list mentioned there are so many areas that the Blockchain technology really has the potential to impact upon. Remember this is still a young industry. So we’re seeing disruption of industries from all angles when Blockchain technology is deployed.

• Published inBlog, TechTrends

It has been predominantly impossible to guess and crack any scratch card code by chance, but not to one IT guru. At a time when the purchasing phone credit scratch cards is now common in every high day and holiday, he has discovered a simple mathematical formula that could break the Safaricom scratch card codes which could earn you free airtime.

Based on an analysis of a collection of 448 Safaricom scratch cards, Chris Orwa a software engineer has recently informed followers on his blog that he noticed a trend that the 16 digit scratch card’s hidden codes followed. In his analysis, he found that the digit codes introduced a weakness in the scratch card security that could reveal the hidden reload number code.

Yet, nearly two years ago, Safaricom extended its scratch card digit code from 12 digits to 16 in order to increase the computational time required to break the code, making it more secure, noted Orwa. But while the new system reveals a number of drawbacks based on his analysis, the mobile phone airtime service company may need to turn back.

Statistics show that at least one in three Kenyans owns a mobile phone with the figure expected to rise as ICT spreads to rural areas. More so, over a span of 10 years, mobile phone penetration has risen to 89 per cent service coverage nationwide and over 10 million estimated subscribers according to CCK, despite the Kenya Bureau of statistics stating that four in ten Kenyans currently live below the poverty line surviving on less than one US dollar a day.

Thus, cracking a mobile phone scratch card code could spell huge profit losses in the airtime service industry, yet be a fete for those living on less that KSh89 a day. For instance if one in three Kenyans attempted to discover the hidden code of any Sh100 scratch card, companies would risk losing at least KSh130 million in a day. With that effect, strict safety measures have been placed to protect the secret codes, occasionally leading to a fine if one tried to “guess” or “crack” any hidden code by chance.

Nevertheless, in the zealous software engineer’s analysis, a few assumptions that led him to draw conclusions that supported his theory of having the ability to break the hidden Safaricom scratch card codes, were formulated.

Based on Orwa’s assumptions, by understanding that each digit has relevance to its position, he created a data set with 16 variables, each holding the positional value of the digits in addition to a column that indicated the sum of the digits.

In his analysis, mapping the total figures of the digits showed that the digits were actually randomly selected. However, he discovered that within the digits was a pair that was linearly or otherwise dependent. Thus with the help of some software, he did an analysis using an algorithm that brought him closer to his conclusions.

From his results, he discovered a relationship between the third and sixth digit was based on a linear equation, concluding that if the third number in the scratch card is greater than zero, then the sixth number is the third number minus one. While if the third number is zero, then the sixth number would be nine. However, while he has only discovered a trend of the third and sixth digit, he and many others IT or mathematicians are yet to discover the hidden code trend of the remaining 14 digits.

However, his new discovery has generated mixed reactions on social media, with many stating that it’s all a hoax, as a few swear that trying to crack the hidden codes could have your phone blocked.