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The Service Worker is an in-browser proxy that gives you the power to script what happened before going to the network, and what happens after you're back from the network. It ensures a website is responsive, that it is always available and speeds up delivery of Web content by reducing the amount of back-and-forth communication between a browser and a server.

It is a generic entry point for event-driven background processing in the Web Platform that is extensible by other specifications. It works through the provision of a browser-based offline processing capacity, allowing a website to store documents, and other resources.

The draft specifying how Service Workers should be implemented in browsers, co-edited by Google Engineer Alex Russell and Jungkee Song of Samsung Electronics, describes a method that enables applications to take advantage of persistent background processing, including hooks to enable bootstrapping of web applications while offline.

A Web page is treated like a desktop application, with a shell stored locally to serve as the initial user interface if a site is offline, then a Service Worker provides the user with cached pages, or other information and functionality to peruse until access is restored.

The service will be coming to Google Chrome later in the year, while Mozilla is also planning to implement Service Workers for Firefox.

Enter Service Workers: No more Offline sites?

Apple's new payment system, Apple Pay, brings Near Field Communications (NFC) - the technology behind swipe-free terminals, allowing instant payment by just tapping the terminal with your credit card instead of swiping and waiting for payment to the mobile device.

NFC is a set of standards for mobile devices to establish radio communication with each other by bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few centimeters.

Albeit, NFC isn't a new mobile technology, Apple's Watch, iPhone 6 or 6 Plus brings the secure element and the NFC chipset, as core hardware. And Apple is the first vendor to support this new payment system.

Apple Pay initializes a connection to the payment network or issuing bank associated with your card, which then provides a Device Account Number, known as tokenization.

Tokenization, as a security structure, replaces a sensitive piece of data (credit card number) with a random data that has the same formatting. It is handled by the payment network, which encrypts the credit card number, sends it back for the token, and provides that to the merchant to keep for things like refunds or customer tracking.

Unlike Google Wallet, in which Google stores your card on its own servers and mediates and records all transactions with the payment networks. Apple doesn’t store a user's card locally, neither does it track your transactions, and your privacy is protected.

While, Apple Pay is certainly not the first mobile payment system, Apple is poised to shake things in the mobile payment scene, for some obvious reasons.

Apple Pay: Swipeless Mobile payment using NFC technology

With more and more African companies taking their business online, the race is now on to conquer new markets - but as only 6% of individual Africans are online, the market within the continent itself is limited. Reaching out to connect with customers globally is the smart strategy for businesses looking to expand and really fulfill their potential. Globally, customers are also willing to pay more and are more willing to make quick decisions. So what do you need to know to reach them?

Understanding global markets

Before you can expect to start selling in a foreign market, you’ll need to understand it first. This means not only studying economic data but also getting a feel for a country culturally. Social media is a great tool for doing this, allowing you to observe the way potential customers in your sector talk to each other regarding purchases. You can also use it to acquire business contacts in the areas where you hope to expand, so that you'll have somebody to go to with your questions. Remember that every national market is different, so take your time in selecting those that are the best fit for your business.

Mobile marketing

One big difference between different international markets is the number of people using mobile devices. As this is a growing trend, it’s really essential to have a mobile-friendly website. This also increases the importance of search engine optimization (SEO), because if you’re not ranked high on SERP in any given search, mobile users are not going to visit your site.

Social media

Effective use of social media is not only important for reaching a mass audience, it’s also important because of the way it lets you engage directly with prospective customers. This means you can talk to them in the personal, friendly manner of a traditional shopkeeper, not like an aloof and inhuman corporation. Much like the strategy that proved so successful for the Jubilee Alliance in last year’s Kenyan election, this builds loyalty and helps to generate good word of mouth publicity. Social networks like Facebook are the best way to reach customers in most countries, but Twitter too has a good degree of international penetration.

Getting involved

One of the most effective ways to help your business grow internationally is by getting involved in community and social initiatives that raise your personal profile, as well as by engaging with others who will speak well of you and your business as their own careers take off. If you look at the bio of Tunde Folawiyo, for instance, you will see how his work to help build the next generation of young African leaders has helped him to increase his visibility and make an impression on major international players.

Breaking into global markets can be tough if you don’t have the right connections, so make an effort to use social networking personally wherever you can, both internationally and within Africa. As the likes of Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu and Farai Gundan have shown, getting to know the right people can give you the leverage you need to get your business noticed worldwide.

How African entrepreneurs are using the Internet to reach a global audience

Now, If you're not familiar with Snapchat, the notorious photo messaging application, that allow users to take photos and send to friends that self-destruct, ChitChat trails same formula. The formula is effective in that sometimes you won't necessarily want your friends' kitty photos to clog your already limited phone or SD memory.

ChitChat messages are deleted once you've heard them, and listening to messages just requires one quick tap on a friend's profile to access them.

The app works by allowing you to enter your mobile numbers, which acts as an ID, which then looks up your Address Book to connect you with family and friends already on the platform. And you can send messages to multiple contacts at once.

It brings a new perspective to voice messaging by rethinking how we connect individually and as a group.

ChitChat at the moment is available for iOS only, and hopefully, an Android version is not too far away. Meanwhile, iOS users can download ChitChat for free from the iTunes app store.

ChitChat - Short Voice Messages that Self-Destruct?

Apple has acknowledged that hackers actually broke into accounts of several celebrities to steal personal photos that have been posted online, while blaming the breach on the intruders' ability to figure out passwords, thereby bypassing other safeguards.

The company, however maintains that none of the cases investigated has resulted from any breach in any of its systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone.

The compromise which led to private photos and videos of celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton, been released on internet meme site 4chan, has again called to point that not even Apple, with its acclaimed security systems is hack-proof. Apple's iCloud, which is widely used by iPhone and iPad owners to store personal photos, may have thereby suffered a massive security lapse.

In a statement, the company advised users to switch to stronger passwords and enable two-step authentication in the aftermath of the hacking attacks.

HackApp had posted a proof of concept exploit for an iCloud flaw the day before the attack, with the "iBrute" vulnerability flooding the Find My iPhone website, resulting Apple to now lockout its online accounts after five unsuccessful password attempts.

Apple iCloud hack Aftermath

Yahoo User Interface library (YUI) is a JavaScript library, prepackaged with collection of useful features that web programmers can include on their sites for easy graphics, sliders or drag-and-drop actions. But, as large JavaScript is no longer favored by developers and YUI receiving less attention from the community, hence discontinuation of the project became expedient.

Yahoo formally killed YUI last Friday, according to the company blog, while reiterating the mission to continue to deliver the best next-generation presentation technologies with an initial focus on internal developers.

YUI releases will likely be few and far between, and will only contain targeted fixes that are absolutely critical to Yahoo properties, stated Julien Lecomte, engineering director for Yahoo Presentation Technologies.

Yahoo is definitely not killing its Web programming ambitions, and are eager to continue working with the external front-end community to share and learn together.

Web Programming: Yahoo discontinues YUI Project

Twitter is reported to be working on an e-commerce initiative that will allow users to purchase items direct from a tweet according to sources at Re/code. The initiative which is supposedly powered by Stripe, an online payment service facilitator, integrates a "buy" button into tweets making the social network a ready-made e-commerce hub for users to market their products and services.

The company is set to unveil "buy button" below tweets; and on clicking on the button, users are able to enter in payment and possibly shipping information without leaving Twitter’s platform.

Twitter as a marketplace will give the currently struggling company, a solid revenue stream, leveraging on its massive pool of informed users. Twitter and Stripe representatives, however have declined to comment about the initiative, but strong indications support the report.

Albeit, other web service companies have been leveraging on Twitter for e-commerce, like Amazon which allow users to add items to their Amazon shopping cart by replying to a tweet of a product link with #AmazonCart hashtag, it won't be surprising if Twitter join the bandwagon.

Twitter Marketplace: Get ready to Buy direct from a Tweet!

The African e-commerce landscape is really an interesting one, even as McKinsey, a global consulting company, had recently published a report on the role of Internet in Africa. The company predicted that the e-commerce market in Africa will grow to about $75 billion by 2025.

Analysts pinpointed the process of enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty by improving the usability, ease of use, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the customer and the product as main area of challenge for e-commerce business in Africa.

Initially, e-commerce ventures in East Africa used to focus on the affluent and the diaspora customers, with payment by credit cards, mostly in the gifting industry - but, the trend is fast giving way with innovative approach such as payment via mobile money. And lately, payment in e-commerce in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are mostly in mobile money, such as M-Pesa, rather than credit cards (which have only 10% penetration in Kenya, for instance).

Trends like "Buy online / Pay offline", for people who need to see the product first before spending their money has given rise to free classified ad spaces, with offers like Post free ads in Tanzania making a success story.

E-commerce as utility providers (electricity, telcos) and government services (taxes, fines, benefits) are equally seizing the mobile money opportunity. And subsequently, making mobile money as a preferred way to pay for goods and services more popular.

African E-commerce: Emerging Trends to Watch in 2014

Smartphones are pretty popular nowadays, so too the risks associated with carrying mobile devices. You may have paid only $150 for your latest smartphone, but if you had to replace that device before you became eligible for a subsidy from your carrier, it could cost you more than $500. That's why it pays to ensure your device is protected against damages.

Exofab team spent hours on the drawing board trying to find the most effective and non-intrusive way to protect a mobile device.

The company prides itself as leading developer & manufacturer of specially designed “guards” for device protection with the use of innovative materials. After trial and error they found that a thin guard made of Smart materials will offer the same level of protection a regular case would.

Perhaps, unsatisfied with how regular mobile phone cases made our most prized possessions look like, "we searched for other alternative ways of protecting them", the company stated.

Exofab is proud to offer innovative products that provide extreme Scratch - Impact - Drop protection without sacrificing safety or appearance. Check out the company's new generation of guards that make fat and bulky mobile phone cases obsolete for iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S5 now.

What you need to Protect your Mobile Devices against damage?

The iconic social network, Pinterest has added a new feature that allow users to send direct messages or pins to one another. The direct messaging makes it easier for users to have a good old fashioned conversation about those Pins that interests them, and also works for group communication.

When organizing a camping trip with friends - you can try sending Pins to the whole gang so as to figure out stuffs like where to go and what to bring along.

Pinterest averages over two million pins every day, now you’ll be able to reply with a direct message or send a Pin back. And the notifications addition helps pull up the conversation when you need a reminder.

The company hopes to help users swap creative ideas and share best discoveries with each other according to the official blog.You can learn more about sending and replying to Pins here.

Pinterest getting Pinteresting with direct Messaging

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