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Proposals on usage of the Universal service fund. (USF)
by Job Muriuki 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

A lot has been asked on the usage of the Universal service fund which is a the tune of billions now. Why don't we have an open forum and give our views of how it can be beneficial to all especially the marginalised areas. One practical way to address the issue is using the fund to identify areas in need and setup stations in government secured areas like chief camps and police posts that are back hauled via the NOFBI cable. Then invite the private sector to offer services and in return contribute to the fund at agreed rates. The infrastructure would be on a shared mode and managed by the fund.

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Re: [kictanet] Launch of the Digital Gender Gap Audit Scorecard and Workshop for leaders and ICT Industry Stakeholders
by Barrack Otieno 02 Mar '17

02 Mar '17

Listers, The above mentioned meeting is happening now. You can participate remotely through the following link: https://livestream.com/accounts/23663258/iaowirat The meeting is organized by the International Association of Women in Radio and Television with the support of the World Wide Web Foundation, the Embassy of the United States of America and UNESCO. Best Regards -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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kictanet Digest, Vol 118, Issue 9
by Frederick Muriithi 01 Mar '17

01 Mar '17

1. Re: Why Bill Gates would tax robots (Ahmed Mohamed Maawy) On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 2:11 PM, <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > I for one welcome our robot overloads :-) First off, I think the problem is that the current system (the way things are and have been, status quo, if you will) is trying to maintain itself in the face of changes in technology and society, rather than adapting to the changes. To put this in perspective: the major reason the automation is such a big deal, is that people will lose employment and not be able to pay for essential services, but this can be fixed by dealing with a more pertinent question, "Why should people have to pay for basic services?" In a number of countries around the world, essential services like healthcare, education etc. are already free, meaning people really do not need to have an income to access these services. I think this can still be maintained in the robotic era without having to treat robots like humans (i.e. taxing the robots) I think that taxing the robots might be used as a stop-gap measure, but eventually, the system will have to adapt. The reason I say this is, robots are initially expensive to build/install, but once built, they do not need a salary, and can work for longer, and better than humans, especially for manual manufacturing steps. This is their main attraction to companies/institutions that consider them. Question becomes, how do you tax an entity that earns nothing? How exactly will we tax the robots? I think eventually governments might have to increase income-tax rates for companies, or come up with other measures to tax companies according to their automation efforts which will only lead to a slow-down of the automation efforts, but they will still happen. I have no solutions to this, but I do think we'll need to collectively look at the existing systems and think of how we could adapt or change the systems. Maybe we should bring back the idea of a universal basic salary on the table. Maybe we should rethink the funding of essential services in the face of technological changes... On the issue of AI taking over: I think humans will merge with AI/robots, from bionic augmentation, to the current use of multiple devices to increase our catchment area of ideas and opinions a.k.a the internet I am hoping this will be the trend, where we will have devices implanted in our brains and bodies to help us make use of the benefits of the larger AI. On the other side, I see the development of organic neural nets being added into robots. (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetware_computer for a quick introduction) These 2 developments will mean differentiating between augmented humans and robots with organic parts will be difficult, and messy.

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Re: [kictanet] Why Bill Gates would tax robots
by Mark Kipyegon 01 Mar '17

01 Mar '17

During the Industrial Revolution, critics of mechanisation would use similar arguments. Advances in technology should be embraced. On 28 Feb 2017, at 10:25, "kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke" <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: > > Message: 3 > Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2017 10:21:47 +0300 > From: Job Muriuki <muriukin(a)gmail.com> > To: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack(a)gmail.com> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Why Bill Gates would tax robots > Message-ID: > <CAJ+RKRbKRsadcYewDv-zEiAN0dpVKryxHye64aUc0FSB5toOkA(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Barrack, > > Am in business and I know it's the bottom line that counts at the expense > of people. > Now we further what to fire the already strained employee replace them with > a robot > for a fatter bank account and cash you don't need. > I believe Bill Gates been the billionaire he is has realised you can have > all the cash > and wealth you can get but it all without meaning what really matters is > the humanity. > >

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Re: [kictanet] Swahili Internet Governance Glossary E-book
by Bonface Witaba 28 Feb '17

28 Feb '17

Hello Listers, Kindly find attached e-book containing A-Z of Internet Governance Glossary in Swahili. I authored/compiled it under a cc-by-sa.The community is thus free to repurpose, reuse, redistribute as it deems provided they maintain similar cc terms. Kind regards Bonface Witaba Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

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Re: [kictanet] "Talk to Safaricom" Responses to Supplementary Questions
by Stephen Chege 27 Feb '17

27 Feb '17

Dear all Below are the responses to the Supplementary Questions that have been asked following earlier responses. Again, please feel free to ask follow-ups. As mentioned, it has been great engaging with you all. Walu and Grace over to you now for the next steps. regards Steve Machuhi. Good and well thought through responses except bundles expiry... not convincing. If bundles must expire, why not 'convert' them into airtime - you'd still have your revenue assured. Or create an Expired Bundles' Foundation and donate them to a cause of victim's choice. It does feel like theft-- Machuhi, thanks for your suggestion. However as I mentioned before, Safaricom is among the few operators that allows customers to “rollover” the expired resources only requiring you to top up your line to reactivate them. Walu @Steve, Still absorbing some of your responses. On affordability of data you wrote Over the last 7 years, the price of data on our network has dropped by 80% for example, in 2010, one GB was Sh2,500 versus the current Sh500. Over the last year, we further reduced the price of data on our network by 37%. We keep on reviewing customer needs and react accordingly where we can. Data in Kenya is relatively more affordable than say South Africa (where 1GB is Sh582), US (where 1GB is Sh1,814) and in the UK (1Gb is Sh1,944). It seems ITU has a different way of looking at affordability. They look at the monthly cost of entry level mobile data (500MB) as a percentage of the country's Gross National Income. So whereas the cost in real terms for data in Kenya maybe equal to or less than what is charged in SA, UK or USA, the Kenyan citizen bears a bigger burden in accessing internet - given our lower income levels. Indeed from the Measuring Info Society 2016 report (pg136)<http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/mis2016.aspx>. ITU place the mobile data affordability for Kenya at 136 out the 178 global economies surveyed. What’s your take on this? Interesting and valid perspective Walu. However it is also important to take into account the level of development and enabling environment (or lack thereof) of where the network is located. In Kenya, while you can enjoy the same 4G experience as say someone in say in New York, the cost of rolling out services here is prohibitively high as it is not a build-on on existing infrastructure but actual greenfield rollout. The cost of putting up BTS, wayleaves for backhaul fibre, microwave fees, high initial licence fees, spectrum usage fees all of which are paid to the Communications Authority, international access links, security e.t.c I think our prices are competitive when compared to more mature markets that have more embedded infrastructure and which can leverage on pre-existing efficiencies. @Steve: As you prepare to avail feedback on competition questions, kindly address this observation: The management of Airtel has been quoted as attributing their diminished fortunes to the acts/omissions of the regulator and Safaricom: -Has the regulator by any chance shown more affection towards Safaricom than other players? Walu, I think every operator can gripe about what the regulator has done to them or not done for them. I could state the things which we think our regulator has not done to facilitate further growth by Safaricom, but that is not how we operate. I will also not speculate about what the other companies may have said. However I will say that if it is the expectation of any operator that the regulator represents their best chance to make a profit in any market then such an operator is seeking to use regulatory support to achieve the success that it should seek from the market. I firmly believe that it is not the role of any regulator to ensure that any operator makes a profit – that is the role of the market. The regulator’s role is to ensure that all players in the market have an equal opportunity to succeed and the necessary incentives to do so. The market will then decide which operator does and which one does not. Market entry and exit is a feature of competitive markets. What word of encouragement do you have for your industry brothers who would like to be Safaricom at adulthood? Advice “roho safi" Kamotho, we certainly do not see ourselves that way. But one insight that drives our company is the knowledge that Kenya is not a market that readily accepts ‘one size fits all’ solutions – to make it here, you must consistently focus on the customer and provide solutions that meet the unique needs of this market. The other one is investment. If you invest in your network you are likely to grow and this will fuel further investment and more growth. Still wondering if there will ever be an M-PESA app-Sidney Ochieng As mentioned in my earlier response, we are in the advanced stages of trialing an M-PESA App which will be part of the Safaricom App we have already released. Mwendwa Kivuva Thanks you Steve for bringing this up. Under which law will CA be implementing a monitoring system on Operators' platforms? As far as my little legal knowledge stretches, any intent to access citizen's private data can only be accompanied by a court order (court of competent jurisdiction they say), and the access cannot be in perpetuity. It can only be for a specific finite task, mostly investigation. I hope CA can also respond to this. Mwendwa, in all fairness I would direct that question to the Communications Authority. I would further add that what I stated earlier was that there should be more robust public debate on the issue. In the current dispensation it is not enough to ‘engage’ the operators alone but the people whose confidential information is affected as well. George Sidney Ralak I've been on postpaid since 2013, all that time, I have been receiving 100 Mbs per month, we are now in 2017, is there a way Safaricom can add the amount of bundles it gives to its postpaid customers? 100 Mbs cannot even last one day and to make it worse it, there is no way one can sambaza bundles to a postpaid number. Since I rarely exhaust the voice bundles given to me, maybe there should be a plan to choose which bundles to receive more than the other. Lastly, to those unused voice bundles at the end of every month, instead of just wiping them out, and you don’t carry them forward like you used to anymore, why don't you convert them to Bonga points instead.- There are a number of PostPay plans that are designed to satisfy the various needs of our customers. Our PostPay Advantage team will reach out to you on this query. Going forward, we are preparing an exciting new proposition that will allow you to decide for yourself what you want to do with resources you have purchase from us. Henry(a)article19.org<mailto:enry@article19.org> I am interested in knowing if Safaricom will be publishing any transparency report soon? Secondly, how many government requests for user data has safaricom received in the last five years as disaggregated by year and how many of the requests were acted on positively? Henry, I have touched on this question before but to be clear, we do not get requests from government. Where we do get requests, it is usually in criminal investigations and court proceedings where typically the information sought is call data records. I just have one question for Safcom with respect to Competition. Are they willing to: a) Be split into several independent units? As in make the Mobile money business (MPESA) a separate and autonomous unit from their Voice and Data side of business? b) Open up MPESA service such that if I vuka (migrate) to competition e.g Airtel, I do not lose the MPESA facility? Obviously this would be an affront to their 'stronghold' but sometimes it may spice up the market a bit. This may be necessary considering that their market share lead has not changed much over the last 10years. Which may point to a market failure or maybe they are just clever than everyone else- Walu. Walu, we currently operate in the way we do because, at this point in time, this is how we believe we can best serve customers. Whether or not we operate in a different model should be entirely up to us and based on our own timelines and aspirations. To cite an innovation as the reason why a company should be split up is inimical to the stated objective of any policy or regulatory framework. Secondly, innovations in the technology space move rapidly and what may be considered a standard or accepted way of doing things can be easily disrupted and replaced by the next innovation. Every day we read about new ways of sending money, many of which are network and indeed geography agnostic. Given that, is this talk about forcibly splitting M-PESA from Safaricom called for? What signal does this send to innovators and investors? What is the legality of such a call? Should this be the main focus of regulators/policy makers? Does this help the customer in any way? We cannot develop by cutting our companies into small business units. Our goal as a country should be to grow the SME to big corporations that can compete regionally and globally. Safaricom remains a small player compared to other operators who have continental outlook- MTN, Etisalat. In terms of M-PESA, we think there is enough for everyone. At the present 90 per cent of all payment in Kenya are still done in cash. This is what we need to focus on and we believe, as the Kenya Bankers Association has shown, it can be done through innovation. ________________________________ Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom’s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. http://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/Terms_and_Conditions/safaricom_…

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Re: [kictanet] "Talk to Safaricom" Responses to Day 5 Questions
by Stephen Chege 25 Feb '17

25 Feb '17

Dear all Below are the responses to Day 5 Questions. No questions were received for Day 6. It has been great responding to your questions. I look forward to more. regards Steve Talk-2-Safaricom, Day 5 of 6 (Friday): Technology & Elections As we go into the general elections, Safaricom is likely to be one of the Technology providers for IEBC. What are the concerns of users/citizens on this matter? Guideline issues: a) What assurances are there that the results transmitted are safe and secure? b) What are the chances of failure in the transmission system? c) Should the result transmission system be mobile (GSM)-based or should we go Satellite or both? d) Will Safcom play along in the even Government demands an Internet shut-down before, during or after elections? Questions+Comments from Discussions: Ali Hussein Walu Thanks for keeping the conversation going. My questions/comments are:- 1.With Safaricom's wide network could we get a mapping of where the gaps for connectivity are in relation to Polling Stations? It would be great to see which Polling Stations will have limited or no connectivity during the elections so that we can plan to mitigate that eventually now. I believe the Communications Authority would be best placed to respond to this given that they have a holistic picture of coverage from all operators across the country. 2. Would it be asking too much for Safaricom to liaise with USF/CA on the above to better identify the gaps? Safaricom’s network rollout strategy is primarily driven by the need to cover Kenya’s human population and geographic areas that are relevant in achieving that goal. We continuously provide this information to the Communications Authority and have worked with them on the issue of the USF where we have given our feedback as to the best approach to fill in the access gaps. 3. A Internet Shutdown request is a real possibility after media reports quoting DG Wangusi of CA. http://www.iafrikan.com/2017/01/14/the-kenyan-government-will-only-shut-dow… Will Safaricom as a matter of public interest commit to tell the public in case this order is something that must be enforced due to 'National Security' matters? Ali, this is a difficult question for many reasons, not least because an answer either way may position Safaricom as either not being responsive to Government directives or being too willing to comply. I will respond by saying that Safaricom will not do anything that is outside the law with regard to such a request. In addition it has been reported that Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has stated that there is no such intention (http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2017/01/government-will-not-shut-intern…) and we can all collectively hold the Government to this. Luke Okelo Once again Thank you kindly Walubengo for moderating this final but not least opportunity to engage with Safaricom 1) I wish to know if using technology Safaricom will make any provision to allow the general public to verify their votes themselves? 2)Is there a web or mobile platform they can provide that allows each individual voters to act as an independent election monitor and check the results based on your polling station where you just voted? 3) Lastly with regards to level of assurance that transmitted results are safe and secure, what encryption standards are Safaricom using to transmit the results? 4) Will the encrypted results be shared with any other transmission machines or will they be tallied in a database at the polling site before final relay to Nairobi? I think as a private and non-biased telecom provider in the upcoming elections, its most probable for Safaricom to build capacity to monitor the digital footpath of the votes both from a security point of view as well as transmission point of view, This will allow for forensic audit and verification later on in case a dispute arises Luke, I would say that these questions are premature as we have not been contracted by any entity at this point in time to participate in any capacity in the upcoming elections. Walu J I would add another question: Assuming Safcom will be main transmission provider for the presidential results, what plans do they have in place in case Al-Shabaabs hit their masts on d-day? Ama we just go manual as per the provisions of the revised law? Walu, we cannot make that assumption and ipso facto I respectfully decline to speculate on this issue. Rosemary Koech Dear Listers, My query is in regards to data protection and privacy in regards to the use of Safaricom users telephone numbers. There have been several instances of text messages and calls from political aspirants. How does Safaricom protect our data especially the data we give at registration and during m-pesa transactions? How does Safaricom protect the treasure trove of data it has in regards to Kenyans? Kind regards, Rosemary, I responded to an almost identical question in some detail earlier in the session, please let me know if you have further queries. I would however hasten to add that there are many places where we expose our mobile numbers and which are not a secure as they should be kept. All of us give our names. ID numbers and mobile numbers to security guards when we access many buildings, shops, malls, etc. We have no idea how those books with all our details are stored and secured, if at all. I believe that any person collecting what may be considered confidential information should be under an obligation to deal with it in a particular way. Grace Bomu @Walu, as far as I can tell there is no direct law under which the Internet can be switched off. But there could be other views on the matter. My question to Safaricom is what they would do in the event that they were directed to shut down the Internet in part or in whole. Would they honour such a request? And Since you raised the issue of the law, it would also be interesting to know whether there is anything in Safaricom's licence agreement that requires Safaricom to assist the state for national security or public order reasons. I am asking this in comparison with MTN Uganda which told its customers that it had complied with the shutdown directive from the Regulator in compliance to such a condition in the license agreement. Regards, Grace, our operating Licence does not have specific provisions to shut down any services. In the past, Section 88 in KICA allowed the Minister of Internal Security to among other things, take temporary possession of telecommunication systems. This section was repealed and no similar provision has been put in place since. Edwin Kiama Walu, I would indeed be very interested in what Safaricom would do if requested by GoK to; 1. Listen in to my calls & texts, install a snooping app in my phone, use the network layer to turn on my mike and camera even when my phone is off. 2. Jam the signal in my neighborhood for whatever reason. 3. Shut down the internet in a particular area or the whole country. Regards, Edwin Kiama Edwin, Safaricom is a public mobile network and cannot undertake any of the functions you have cited. It should also be known that a number of institutions operate network jamming devices which are outside the control of mobile operators and if these are deployed, it should not be assumed that any operator has shutdown services. Boniface Watiba I see great questions raised from the listers' threads. Just to delve in... 1. Will Safaricom give in to "orders from above" requiring the Internet to be shut down on August 8th? 2. In the event that Safaricom gives in, how do you plan to "compensate" for the losses incurred? Boniface, please see my response to Ali above which I believe addresses your questions. ________________________________ Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom’s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. http://www.safaricom.co.ke/images/Downloads/Terms_and_Conditions/safaricom_…

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Re: [kictanet] Russian military admits significant cyber-war effort - BBC News
by meshack emakunat 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

CNN, BBC are all globalist mouthpiece -------------------------------------------- On Fri, 2/24/17, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: Subject: [kictanet] Russian military admits significant cyber-war effort - BBC News To: memakunat(a)yahoo.com Cc: "Ali Hussein" <ali(a)hussein.me.ke> Date: Friday, February 24, 2017, 5:52 AM Commenting on Mr Shoigu's remarks, former Russian commander-in-chief Gen Yuri Baluyevsky said a victory in information warfare "can be much more important than victory in a classical military conflict, because it is bloodless, yet the impact is overwhelming and can paralyse all of the enemy state's power structures". Read on:- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39062663 Ali Hussein Principal Hussein & Associates +254 0713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle Sent from my iPad -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/ Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/memakunat%40yahoo.com The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.

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Russian military admits significant cyber-war effort - BBC News
by Ali Hussein 24 Feb '17

24 Feb '17

Commenting on Mr Shoigu's remarks, former Russian commander-in-chief Gen Yuri Baluyevsky said a victory in information warfare "can be much more important than victory in a classical military conflict, because it is bloodless, yet the impact is overwhelming and can paralyse all of the enemy state's power structures". Read on:- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39062663 Ali Hussein Principal Hussein & Associates +254 0713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle Sent from my iPad

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Fwd: The house that Steve Jobs built
by Ali Hussein 23 Feb '17

23 Feb '17

Listers It is fitting that once in a while we honor those who have stood out like a colossal in the ICT Sector in the world. Steve Jobs is such one person. Read below the email thread and lets honor him. Let's also think of our local heroes in the sector and let's honor them in our own way. Ali Hussein Principal Hussein & Associates +254 0713 601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message: > From: "FORTUNE Data Sheet" <fortune(a)email.fortune.com> > Date: 23 February 2017 at 5:32:35 PM EAT > To: <ali(a)hussein.me.ke> > Subject: The house that Steve Jobs built > Reply-To: "Fortune" <reply-feb816777c6d0378-20_HTML-56937916-7213333-12(a)email.fortune.com> > > > > > > > > FOLLOW > SUBSCRIBE > SEND TIP > FEBRUARY 23, 2017 > In April 2011, Steve Jobs showed me a book that had been prepared by Apple’s architects to show illustrations of the new campus the giant company would build near its current headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. > > He was filled with pride about the unusual building, a massive circular structure that would hold 12,000 employees at once. My notes from that day say that Jobs took me through the pages of the book “in the same measured pace that he does slides in keynote presentations onstage.” Because of a later comment he made, people would refer to the new head office as the “spaceship.” That’s not how I saw it that day. Here’s how I described it in my notes: “The building itself is a massive, four-story circular building, with circular glass windows throughout, and office space for two-person offices plus bullpen areas outside the offices for collaboration. From the air, the building resembles the circular dial on an iPod.” Jobs told me the internal courtyard of the building was so big the entire existing headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop, one freeway exit down the road, would fit inside it. > > Six years later, Apple is ready to open the house that Steve intended to build. (He died that October; His last public appearance was a presentation to the City of Cupertino requesting permission to begin work.) Apple said Wednesday it will call the campus Apple Park and that a public auditorium for events will be the Steve Jobs Theater. It is a fitting tribute and proportional to how Jobs might have wanted it. Apple was bigger than Jobs. Yet he was its maestro, and so the space where it shows itself—and its products—to the world ought to bear his name. > > Companies that build grand temples to themselves often are accused of harboring an “edifice complex.” This proves embarrassing if the building outlasts the company. It is still possible that Apple will suffer this fate. But it hasn’t yet. For now, it will honor its late co-founder’s legacy when Apple employees move in and get down to work. > > Adam Lashinsky > @adamlashinsky > adam_lashinsky(a)fortune.com > > . > > BITS AND BYTES > Improving PC sales lift HP Inc. in latest financials. The company reported its second consecutive quarter of growth on Wednesday, albeit modest, rising 4% to $12.7 billion. CFO Cathie Lesjak attributed the gain to brighter prospects for personal computers—especially high-end consumer systems and convertible laptop-tablet hybrids. But the company is warning of uncertainty ahead. (Fortune) > > Google's plan to embrace ride-sharing? It's counting on Waze. The company intends to expand the carpool service offered through its navigation app in the U.S. and Latin America after successful experiments in Israel and San Francisco, reports The Wall Street Journal. Its focus is on helping drivers find, and pick up, passengers interested in sharing rides. (Wall Street Journal, Fortune) > > Verizon will expand testing of next-generation wireless network in April. The carrier loves to tout its lead in coverage, reliability, and speed. Naturally, it's being aggressive about the ramp-up to 5G service, which promises speeds of more than 1 gigabit per second. The trial will be offered to select customers in 11 U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver. (Fortune, Fortune) > > AMD is angling for a bigger share of the high-end desktop computer market. The chip maker on Wednesday introduced a new microprocessor line that it claims can match the performance of some of Intel's best chips at half the price. (Fortune) > > Square benefits from deals with bigger merchants. The digital payments service, which faces intensifying competition from both banks and long-time rivals like PayPal, managed to grow sales almost 21% in its fourth quarter. (Bloomberg, Reuters) > > Microsoft and Airbus catch drone fever. The software giant is leading a $26 million venture round for AirMap, which specializes in navigation technology. Basically, it's working on an air traffic control service. (Fortune) > > Tesla's former CFO returns as company ramps up for mass-market vehicle. Deepak Ahuja, the former Google finance exec who helped take the electric vehicle company public, retired back in 2015. Tesla, which Wednesday reported a smaller-than-expected loss for its latest quarter, is ramping up for mass production of the highly anticipated Model 3 sedan by September. (Fortune, Reuters) > > Cloud computing adoption is growing, the question is how much. A new forecast from market researcher Gartner projects a sales increase of around 18% this year to $247 billion. That's slightly less than what others are forecasting, but still a huge expansion. (Fortune) > > . > > THE DOWNLOAD > Fitbit CEO offers turnaround strategy after tough year. Although Fitbit's sales of its eponymous fitness tracking gadgets hit a record of $2.2 billion in 2016, the fourth quarter was a world of hurt. Amid a glut of inventory and weakness in China, sales for the all-important holiday quarter dropped 19%, Fitbit finally confirmed on Wednesday, after two earlier warnings to Wall Street about problems in the quarter. (Back in November, the company shocked investors by projecting sales simply would be flat in the fourth quarter). > > Now it's time to focus on the turnaround. CEO Park has a multi-pronged strategy, including offering a smartwatch with a health and fitness emphasis in the second half of the year. Park spoke with Fortune's Aaron Pressman in more detail about that plan. > > . > > WATCH FOR IT > It's Hewlett Packard Enterprise's turn to open up its books. Cloud computing offerings from the likes of Amazon Web Services and Microsoft are pressuring the data center technology giant's high-end server and networking gear sales. So analysts will be scrutinizing its projections for the rest of this year closely when it provides a quarterly financial update on Thursday, one day after the other company created through the Hewlett-Packard breakup. (Wall Street Journal) > > . > > IN CASE YOU MISSED IT > Check Out Alphabet's New Tool to Weed Out the 'Toxic' Abuse of Online Comments, by Jeff John Roberts > > What 'Old-School' Tech Giants Are Doing to Attract Talent, by Dan Lyons > > Why Your Appliance Repairman May Finally Be on Time, by Heather Clancy > > Inside Verizon's Decision to Go Unlimited, by Aaron Pressman > > Mark Cuban Says Basic Income Would Be 'Worst Response' to Automation, by Feliz Solomon > > Startup Raises $8 Million to Let You Shop the Internet By Voice, by Polina Marinova > > Why Your Next Performance Review May Be More Useful, by Heather Clancy > > . > > . > > ONE MORE THING > This may be what Samsung's next smartphone looks like. Photos purported to be of the Galaxy S8 show a slimmer device, with a glass display that covers almost the entire front. The product introduction is currently planned for late March, with shipments due to start about a month later. (Fortune) > > This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Heather Clancy. > Find past issues. Sign up for other Fortune newsletters. > > . > EMAIL ADAM LASHINSKY > > SUBSCRIBE > > SHARE: > . > This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to Data Sheet > UNSUBSCRIBE HERE > > Please read our Privacy Policy, or copy and paste this link into your browser: > HTTP://WWW.FORTUNE.COM/PRIVACY > > All products and services featured are based solely on editorial selection. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. > > For Further Communication, Please Contact: > FORTUNE Customer Service > 3000 University Center Drive > Tampa, FL 33612-6408 > > ADVERTISING INFO | SUBSCRIBE TO FORTUNE

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