All about Tech.
Latest Security report, titled: Out of Sight and Out of Mind, a comprehensive global study highlighting how the rise of hybrid work is changing user behaviour and creating new cybersecurity challenges for IT departments, has revealed a new form of cybersecurity targeting hybrid workplace. The research, HP Wolf Security report, showed that a growing number of users…
Facebook announced today that it will no longer allow advertisers to target users based on potentially “sensitive” topics like health, sexual orientation, or religious and political beliefs. “Lung cancer awareness,” “LGBT culture” and “Jewish holidays” are just some of the interest categories that will no longer be targeted starting early next year. “The decision to…
Yahoo has shut down its services in China, making it the latest American tech firm to leave the nation. A Yahoo representative said in a statement that the decision was made “in recognition of the increasingly tough business and regulatory climate.” “Yahoo is devoted to our users’ rights as well as free and open internet….
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, for the first time on Tuesday disclosed the prevalence of bullying and harassment on its platform, saying such content was seen between 14 and 15 times per every 10,000 views on the site in the third quarter. The company, which recently changed its name to Meta, also said in its quarterly content moderation report that…
DP World, a trade enabler, has announced the launch of DUBUY.com, a global wholesale e-commerce platform, in the Kenyan market. This latest expansion of DUBUY.com follows the successful launch of the platform in Rwanda earlier this year, where it has quickly established itself as a significant trading hub for the region’s East Africa region. DUBUY.com…
In March 2020, Google.org announced a $25 million Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls to support organizations focused on gender equity in recognition that COVID-19 had put the economic future of women and girls at even greater risk. Today, Google.org announced the 34 funding recipients of the award. The $25M global philanthropy challenge was launched in March 2021 and called for…
Egyptian startups are the most accelerated in Africa, with 38.6 per cent of them having taken part in some kind of acceleration or incubation programme. That is according to the newly-released Egyptian Startup Ecosystem Report 2021 from Disrupt Africa, which dives into the local ecosystem by analysing active startups, local support networks, and funding and exit activity over…
Some Twitter users on iOS are starting to get access to a feature that makes it easy to search an individual user’s tweets. For those with access, when you navigate to a user’s profile, you’ll see a search icon in the top right corner of the screen on the user’s profile banner, next to the…
A former upstart Instagram rival is suing Meta, formerly known as Facebook, over allegations that the company violated antitrust laws by cloning a competing product and ultimately killing its business. The app, Phhhoto, launched in 2014, inviting users to create and share short GIF-like videos. If that sounds familiar, that’s because the same functionality was popularized in Boomerang,…
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….
Access to affordable, reliable and environmentally sustainable sources of electricity is a pressing issue for the growing number of Data Centre operators across Africa. These facilities need to ensure a high availability of power to mitigate downtime, but many African countries face frequent power outages. Existing Data Centres have relied on diesel-fuelled generators to sustain operations…
Today, Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company, announced that the first operational solar project it has enabled in South Africa has begun contributing renewable energy to the electricity grid. Located in the Northern Cape, South Africa’s largest province, the 10 megawatts (MW) solar project will supply renewable energy to AWS data centres and…
Applications for Google’s three-month virtual accelerator programme are now open to startups located in Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Successful early-growth stage startup applicants (from seed to Series A) will gain access to equity-free support alongside the best of Google’s…
The company formerly known as Facebook just announced its plans to sneak around Apple’s infamous platform fees, the latest beat in an ongoing war between major software companies and the creator of iOS. In a Facebook post Wednesday, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg said that the social network would give eligible creators on its platform new custom links that allow…
Netflix on Tuesday released a set of mobile games playable for free by subscribers of the global streaming service as it strives to be the go-to venue for entertainment. Two of the games are based on the hit Netflix horror series “Stranger Things” and the remaining three are basic card or skill games, according to…
Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard app is getting a new Cloud Clipboard feature that allows users to copy and paste texts between Android and Windows. Microsoft has updated the SwiftKey Keyboard with version 7.9.0.5. Once the latest version is installed, users will be able to copy text to their Android smartphone or tablet clipboard and paste it…
Just days after rebranding itself, Facebook announced plans to delete a trove of the most worrisome data that the world’s biggest social network collected on more than a billion individuals. In a blog post Tuesday, Facebook’s newly named parent company Meta explained that it would close shop on its facial recognition systems and delete a massive collection…
Telkom Kenya Limited, the Helios Investment Partners and Government of Kenya joint venture, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ericsson, the telecommunications company, and NEC XON, the systems integrator, to add 2,000 wireless sites onto Telkom Kenya’s network by 2023. The approximately $100-million nationwide rollout is part of Telkom Kenya’s long-term network expansion…
Online giant Google and Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani opened advance orders in India on Monday for an entry-level smartphone billed as the world’s most affordable, joining the race to tap into the booming budget market. Ambani’s conglomerate Reliance Industries announced in July last year that it would partner with Google to launch the 4G…
Five tech-enabled Kenyan startups have been selected for the second edition of the NINJA Accelerator, embarking on a 12-week programme that concludes with a demo day in January. Powered by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in partnership with Double Feather Partners, Deloitte Tohmatsu and GrowthAfrica, the NINJA Accelerator helps startups address specific issues in order to help…
HP Inc. Monday released its latest HP Wolf Security report: Out of Sight & Out of Mind, a comprehensive global study highlighting how the rise of hybrid work is changing user behavior and creating new cybersecurity challenges for IT departments. The research shows that a growing number of users are buying and connecting unsanctioned devices outside of…
SHAREit Lite is a flagship application to enable Nigerians to transfer files very efficiently and fast, without mobile data. Propelled by its mission to make digital content equally accessible by everyone, as the transmission-oriented utility app, it aims to smoothen the process of near distance peer-to-peer file transfer for Nigerian users. A study by Data…
KnowBe4, the provider of one of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, has announced the results of its Q3 top-clicked phishing report. “Social engineering attacks continue to be one of the top ways malicious hackers breach organizations and/or cause damage,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. “We are seeing a continued increase…
Kaspersky, with the support of the DiploFoundation (a non-profit educational foundation), has developed an online simulation game to help diplomats and other cyber-professionals without a technical background understanding what’s happening during a cyberattack and developing an effective response to it at the international level. When ensuring cyber-stability, it is necessary to have a solid understanding of how…
Meta Platforms, the company formerly known as Facebook, is developing a smartwatch with a front-facing camera and rounded screen, according to an image of the device found inside one of the tech giant’s iPhone apps. The photo shows a watch with a screen and casing that’s slightly curved at the edges. The front-facing camera —…
The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced that Flutterwave, a global payments technology company, has launched two new remittance corridors between Europe and Africa on the Stellar network. Working with TEMPO, Flutterwave is leveraging the Stellar network and Stellar USDC to simplify remittances in Africa. Opening these new corridors will greatly benefit businesses focused on building more efficient, cost-effective remittance services, contributing to a stronger, more inclusive…
With the hybrid workplace becoming the new norm as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, attempts and spates of attacks on individuals and corporate bodies by hackers have been on the rise. Cyber thieves, a band of premeditated and dangerous criminals, are unleashing a reign of terror of unimaginable proportions on individuals, underscoring the need…
Pan-African telecommunications services provider SEACOM has announced that it has completed the 100% acquisition of Hirani Telecom’s metro fibre network. Hirani Telecom is one of Kenya’s fastest-growing triple-play service providers, and the largest last-mile provider in the region. The network will be incorporated into SEACOM’s existing metro network in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi and…
Professor Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, the former president of Mauritius and Laureate of the 2007 L’Oréal-UNESCO Prize for Women in Science, delivered a trenchant address at the African Export-Import Bank’s (Afreximbank) fifth annual Babacar Ndiaye Lecture on “the importance of science, technology and innovation in the transformation of African economies”. She called on African leaders to close…
IPT Africa launched at the recent Africa Fintech festival as it seeks to position itself as the platform for Frictionless African payments, delivering a continent -wide, multi-channel payment platform tailored to the needs of global corporations doing business on the African continent. The AFF was held as a hybrid event in Mauritius from 13-15 October 2021. The event…