Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been worst-affected by Meta’s plan to discontinue its low-cost Express Wi-Fi internet, launched five years ago to drive connectivity in underserved regions.
Meta (formerly Facebook) quietly issued …
Israel's government will set up a commission of inquiry to examine allegations that the police used spyware to hack the phones of Israeli public figures without authorisation.
Officials, protesters, journalists and a son of …
Meta has announced a new feature to allow more personal space for people's avatars in virtual-reality worlds.
The metaverse is still at concept stage but the latest attempts to create virtual worlds are already facing an age…
California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing startup Joby Aviation plans to offer an air taxi service in South Korea in partnership with SK Telecom (SKT), one of the country’s largest telecommunication companies. The two partners…
MainOne (www.MainOne.net), the leading provider of connectivity solutions for businesses in West Africa is empowering enterprises to adopt Cloud technology by connecting businesses across the region directly and privately to public cloud s…
Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple has made Face ID useful again in iOS 15.4 by finally adding the ability to use the face unlock feature while wearing a face mask.
I’ve been testing out the new iOS 15.4 beta for a few…
If you’ve seen the option to downvote replies on Twitter, you’re not alone. The experimental feature, which Twitter started testing last year, is now being shown to a global audience, says the company.
The option to downvote was initial…
A top VR web browser is closing down. Today, Mozilla announced it’s shutting down its Firefox Reality browser — the four-year-old browser built for use in virtual reality environments. The technology had allowed users to access the web fro…
It’s that old chestnut: You are a fancy-pants brand wanting to make a product that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside because you only use fair-trade, sustainably grown ingredients and materials, but you don’t know where to turn. Nex…
Google today announced a new version of Workspace, the company’s productivity service that you probably still refer to as G Suite. With the new — and free — Google Workspace Essentials plan, Google wants to bring more business users onto t…
A true “metaverse” may not yet exist, but that hasn’t stopped marketers from adopting the buzzword to promote their apps and games on mobile app stores. According to new data shared today by Sensor Tower, there are now 552 mobile apps that…
Sound the horns, unveil the banners, cue the parade. Snap is profitable.
And we don’t mean adjusted-EBITDA profitable, adjusted-operating-income profitable, or even the infamous non-GAAP-net-income profitable. It’s real-profit profita…
Multiple oil transport and storage companies across Europe are dealing with cyber-attacks.
IT systems have been disrupted at Oiltanking in Germany, SEA-Invest in Belgium and Evos in the Netherlands.
In total dozen…
Can Indian microblogging app Koo beat Twitter?
That's certainly the goal, according to co-founder Mayank Bidawatka, who says Koo expects to surpass Twitter's 25 million-strong user base in India this year.
It had …
Championing the spirit of ingenious innovation, Canon (www.en.Canon-cna.com) showcased the prestigious output of its Laser and inkjet products along with its third party Dicom solution at the Arab Health Exhibition in an endeavor to provid…
Scale AI’s path to becoming a $7.3 billion company was paved in real data from images, text, voice and video. Now, it is using that foundation to get into the synthetic data game, one of the hotter and emerging categories in AI.
They …
Kenyan insurtech startup Lami Technologies has acquired Bluewave Insurance Agency for an undisclosed amount as it seeks to make insurance covers accessible to more people across Africa.
Bluewave insurance, also a Kenyan startup, was f…
Hopper, the mobile travel booking startup and app that lets users book flights, hotels, cars, and — most recently — short-term home rentals a la Airbnb and VRBO, has been on a fast pace of growth in the wake of Covid-19 travel restrictions…
Major supermarket chains have begun testing an automated age-verification system, to avoid the wait for staff at self-checkouts when buying alcohol.
The trial will use cameras that can estimate each customer's age.
…
Social media giant Facebook has seen its daily active users (DAUs) drop for the first time in its 18-year history.
Facebook's parent company Meta Networks says DAUs fell to 1.929bn in the three months to the end of December,…
In a bid to unlock the future of imaging, Canon’s (www.Canon-CNA.com) new high-performance, high-speed camera EOS R3 packs a punch with 24.1 megapixel back illuminated stacked CMOS sensor, DIGIC X imaging processor, 6K/60p RAW video record…
Mozilla is rolling out new updates to its mobile and desktop VPN offerings, the company announced on Tuesday. With the launch of Mozilla VPN 2.7, the company is bringing one of Firefox’s popular add-ons, Multi-Account Containers, to the de…
French health wearables firm Withings today announced that it has acquired 8fit, makers of the workout/meal planning app of the same name. The news comes as hardware makers ranging from Apple and Samsung to Peloton and Mirror are taking an…
Meta's experiment with cryptocurrency, Diem, is shutting down.
The Diem Association, which runs the project, announced the sale of assets of the cryptocurrency venture to Slivergate Capital Corporation for $182million.
…
India's finance minister has said the country will launch a digital version of the rupee as early as this year.
In her annual budget speech, Nirmala Sitharaman also outlined plans for a 30% tax on income from digital assets.…
Wordle has become an internet phenomenon - without playing by many of the usual digital rules.
Unashamedly simple, web-based rather than an app, and with a creator who did not want it to become addictive - even though many c…
India on Tuesday announced plans to launch a digital currency by next year and tax cryptocurrencies and NFTs as the country moves closer to recognizing cryptocurrencies as legal tender in the world’s second largest internet market.
Inco…
HBO Max is launching in 15 additional countries on March 8th, 2022, WarnerMedia announced on Tuesday. The 15 countries are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedoni…
The demand for software engineers is expected to grow by 22% between 2020 and 2030, according to a report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This figure is larger than the 4% average for other careers.
One would be out of touch wit…
The shipping business in Africa has for years been inefficient and costly due to the traditional ways of managing operations – traditional in the sense that a shipper has to physically look for a transporter, sometimes through a middle-man…
Africans and people in emerging markets missed out on the first set of opportunities that technological advancements brought to the world. Computers, the internet, fintech, artificial intelligence, any tech you can name (except mobile tech…
The inventor of word game sensation Wordle has spoken of being overwhelmed by its success, following a sale to the New York Times (NYT).
Software engineer Josh Wardle released the free simple online game in October, and has …
FIFA (www.FIFA.com) tests limb-tracking technology at FIFA Arab Cup 2021™; Technology delivers new data source for innovative applications; Potential to provide new insights for coaches, medical staff, and fans
Tests run by FIFA at the …
There have been some exciting features announced for the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 15.4, including the ability to use Face ID with a mask and to access some snazzy new emoji. If you can’t wait, you can test them …
Apple will now let developers distribute unlisted apps through the App Store that only users with a direct link can access (via MacRumors). While unlisted apps aren’t discoverable by the general public through search results, App Store cat…
Microsoft appears to still be working on true 3D emoji for Windows after first teasing it last year and then only shipping 2D versions in Windows 11. Nando Costa, a distinguished designer at Microsoft, revealed recently that the company …
Spotify will now add COVID-19 content advisories to podcast episodes that discuss COVID-19 following criticism of the platform’s handling of the controversial content in the Joe Rogan Experience. The advisory will lead to Spotify’s COVID-1…
To buy a share in Amazon, you’d have to fork out almost $3,000. It’s a luxury very few can afford and despite the prospects of the trillion-dollar company or returns from its share price, it’ll take some contemplating to pay that full pric…
Although default end-to-end encryption won’t fully arrive on Facebook Messenger until sometime in 2023, the company says today its feature offering end-to-end encrypted group chats and calls in Messenger is now fully rolled out. In additio…
Atlassian today announced that it has acquired Percept.AI, an AI company from Y Combinator’s summer 2017 batch that offers an automated virtual agent support solution — a chatbot, basically — based on a proprietary AI engine for natural la…
Google Play is introducing a new “Offers” tab to help users discover deals on games and apps, Google announced on Thursday. The company says the tab will surface deals across travel, shopping, media, fitness and entertainment apps. The new…
Google will invest as much as $1 billion in the Indian telecom operator Airtel, the latest in a series of bets the search giant has made in the world’s second largest internet market as part of a $10 billion commitment to the country.
…
China Unicom has become the latest Chinese telecoms giant to be banned from the US over "significant" national security and espionage concerns.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it had voted unanimously to rev…
Researchers at Johns Hopkins this week issued a report noting that their Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) system has completed laparoscopic surgery on a pig tissue without human guidance. The surgery, which involves the connecting of t…
Earlier this month, Google announced that it would kill free Google Workspace accounts that were using the G Suite legacy free edition. As spotted by Ars Technica and following customer backlash, Google has updated its support page and say…
Criminals laundered $8.6bn (£6.4bn) of cryptocurrency in 2021, up by 30% from the previous year, a report by blockchain data company Chainalysis says.
It says police could strike a "huge blow" by targeting key services used …
Bolt, the Estonian mobility tech company that recently closed a huge round, is planning to onboard an additional 200,000 drivers in Africa this year, as it kicks-off expansion to more cities within its existing markets while keeping up wit…
Elon Musk likes to have a focus - and this year, it looks like it might be robots.
He told investors on a Tesla earnings call his nascent robot plans had "the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business, over …
TikTok has rolled out new measures to combat Holocaust denial on its platform in partnership with Unesco and the World Jewish Congress (WJC).
Users who search for terms relating to the Holocaust will be directed towards accu…
Apple has released an updated safety guide amid ongoing concerns over the company's AirTag devices.
The company quietly released the safety portal on Monday. The Personal User Safety Guide offers advice on how people can keep t…