The Upbeat centre in Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos, was packed with children on Saturday, May 28. It wasn’t simply because it was a weekend, either. CashBox, a digital savings platform that encourages people to “make saving a habit,” gathered children to debut its newest feature, KidsBox. The app’s new function was created to teach kids…
WhatsApp has finally caught up to the competition and increased the file limit. Large files of up to 2GB can now be shared. WhatsApp also intends to expand the range of emoji message reactions from Thanks to Sad, Surprised, Like, Laugh, and Love to cover all emojis and skin tones. WhatsApp groups are also getting…
The Central Bank of Nigeria granted MTN the permission to operate Mobile Money (MoMo). Since its inception in 2019, MTN Nigeria’s Mobile Money (MoMo) service has attracted over 9 million subscribers. According to TechCabal, the license means MTN Nigeria would be able to provide practically all the services provided by traditional commercial banks, except for…
More fuel for social audio: Berlin-based social audio startup Beams, which is building a platform for sharing and consuming short-form audio recordings — as a sort of bite-sized/deconstructed and/or collaborative podcast format which it bills as “audio-based social media” — has doubled its seed funding, adding another $3 million to close out the round at $6M….
Apple surprised people by warning that “exposure to vibrations, like those generated by high-powered motorcycle engines” can damage iPhone cameras. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, and it can affect Android devices, too. It’s easy to make the iPhone the butt of a joke—and Apple didn’t do themselves any favors—but this is a legitimate issue. It…
Written by Luis Monzon TECNO Mobile’s Spark 7 series of smartphones is set to officially launch in South Africa on 16 September 2021, a statement from the company reads. After the September launch, TECNO says the Spark 7 series will be available for purchase from October 2021. “We aim to provide the best contemporary technology in artistic designs…
Written by Claire Huxley When does an app become more than an app? When it starts thinking about its brand. Did you know Growth Quarters is taking the stage this fall? Together with an amazing line-up of experts, we will share key insights into entrepreneurship during TNW Conference 2021. Secure your ticket now! Former Spotify boss…
Rwanda’s new SIM registration, Somalia’s Trade Information Portal, Cellulant’s partnership with GAINDE 2000 Written by Victoria Fakiya Rwanda’s new SIM registration directives What’s the news? Telecom operators will implement new SIM card registration procedures. The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), Rwanda’s telecom regulator, claims it will help reduce fraud. According to RURA, anyone who wants to get…
WhatsApp Patches Vulnerability in Image Filter Function That Could Have Led to Data Exposure Written by Jagmeet Singh WhatsApp brought the patch in February and added two new checks in place to restrict memory access. WhatsApp has patched a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to read sensitive information from the app’s memory, including private…
You’ll soon be able to use the Google Assistant without saying ‘Hey, Google’ Written by BABU MOHAN There’s currently no word on when the features will begin rolling out to users. Google announced a bunch of new features coming to the Google Assistant with Android 12 at I/O 2021 — including shortcut expansions. A teardown of the latest Google…
MTN Ghana plans to launch 5G next year in the country MTN will be the first operator in the region to introduce 5G if it succeeds to launch ahead of other big telcos in Ghana. MTN Ghana’s CEO, Selorm Adavehoh, has stated that the company expects to be able to introduce 5G services in the…
How Smartphones Are Being Used to Test for Malaria in Uganda Witten by Luis Monzon The University of Glasgow has been working with the Vector Control Division of the Uganda Ministry of Health – collaborating for several years on new ways to achieve vital recommendations from the World Health Organisation (WHO) outlined in a 2018 report on controlling malaria,…
This nasty new email scam tricks victims into calling the fraudsters Written by Sead Fadilpaši? No, you didn’t order three new iPhones Experts from security firm Kaspersky have warned of new waves of vishing (voice phishing) scams making the rounds that target users with extravagant purchase demands. The company says that as-yet-unknown criminals are impersonating well-known hardware…
Controversial WhatsApp Terms of Service Could Be Optional Soon Written by Furqan Shahid Remember the controversial terms of service that WhatsApp introduced earlier this year? For those who do not remember, the terms of service would mandate users to share their data with Facebook. Not accepting would have resulted in the functionality of the app being crippled, and…
Apple will now let App Store developers talk to their customers about buying direct Written by Catherine Shu Apple announced today it has reached a proposed settlement (embedded below) in a lawsuit filed against it by developers in the United States. The agreement, which is still pending court approval, includes a few changes, the biggest one being…
Message reactions are coming to WhatsApp Written By Tyler Lee Sometimes certain messages don’t always warrant or need a reply. Sometimes replying just “OK” or “lol” seems a bit rude, but it seems that in the future, you can just react to your WhatsApp messages. This is according to the folks at WABetaInfo who discovered…
Are Our Smartphones Making Us Dopamine Addicts? Ask, addiction expert Dr. Anna Lembke. Written by David “According to addiction expert Dr Anna Lembke, our smartphones are making us dopamine junkies,” reports the Guardian, “with each swipe, like and tweet feeding our habit…”As the chief of Stanford University’s dual diagnosis addiction clinic (which caters to people with…