USSD refers to Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). They are sometimes referred to as “Quick Codes” or “Feature codes”. They are a communications protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator’s computers. These short codes usually start with * and end with #. While there are so many common USSD codes like *131# which checks for airtime balance across all telecoms in Uganda, there are some little known USSD codes that are very helpful....

Tecno has released a new series of devices most of which feature a new User Interface, a better Camera and Battery plus a couple of new tricks here and there. These devices include the F5, H7, R7 and the much anticipated Phantom Z. The Tecno F5 can easily be mistaken for a small simple device till you own it. Within, Tecno has packed a 1.3 Ghz Mediatek processor with 1GB of RAM 4GB or ROM, 4....

There are quite a number of reasons why you might want to cast your PC’s screen to your TV . It could be because you want to enjoy a movie on a bigger display in high definition, or you want to make a presentation i And thanks to many available technologies and accessories, casting media from your PC or Android smartphone is way easier than it used to be. In fact, you really do not need to have (VGA or HDMI), you can wirelessly share your devices’ screen to your TV — thanks to the Miracast technology ....

Yoola Amajja, unlike other campaigns that focus on Kampala district, is different as it is going to give Ugandans in 21 different territories of the country an opportunity to win this money through regional activations that will be carried out throughout the course of the 3-month period. Airtel has seen its mobile money platform grow over the past few years, registering massive growth; not only in the number of users, but also in the volume of the transactions done....

Earlier this year, the Woelab team in Lome, Togo, built the world’s first 3D printer made from e-waste. It’s now touring Europe and Woelab is already building more. “We missed the industrial revolution train,” says Woelab team leader Audrey Rhodes. “Now there’s the train of the new revolution of 3D printing all over the world. We won’t miss this train!” ‘Woe’ means ‘make’ in the local Ewe language. Audrey describes Woelab as “a laboratory where you make things… a space of democratic technology, where everyone can come together and develop their project....

Picture this: You get on a bus, drive around East Africa, while you develop, refine, polish, and implement an idea you or your group have come up with. By the time the trips is done, you have added to your list friends, skills, and opportunities! This year for the first time, the VentureBus is coming to East Africa. This expedition will commence on 11th October lasting for a week traversing through 4 East African countries....

A 2015 internet report by the internet society revealed that vast majority of content accessed by local users is hosted overseas. This according to the report posed a number of challenges; local ISPs incurred higher costs in delivering content to local user and secondly latency issues meant poor web user experience for end users. In other words you paid a lot higher for an internet link that buffers YouTube videos. It sucks, right?...

Wireless charging is the future of juicing up the battery powering your smartphone, earbuds, and anything in between. Almost every major smartphone flagship in 2020 is supporting some form of wireless charging. From the iPhone 12 , Samsung Galaxy S20 & Galaxy Note Series, Pixel 5 , Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra, and more. Even mid-range devices are now supporting wireless charging. But almost none of them ships with a wireless charger in the box....

Until someone at a secret lab somewhere comes up with a mobile energy miracle, charging our devices is going to be an everyday chore we can’t live without. Your smartphone, tablet, headphone, earbuds, smart watch or laptop and lately your car comes with batteries in all forms and sizes that store power enough to take you at least one day. The idea is to charge your device as fast as possible to save on time spent waiting until full charge....

The iPhone 14 is officially here! Apple has confirmed that they won’t be including physical SIM trays with their newest phones in the US. Instead, customers will have to use new eSIM technology with the iPhone 14 supporting two eSIMs simultaneously. Apple has supported eSIMs on iPhones since the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR models. On the iPhone 13 line, Apple even allowed multiple eSIMs to be enabled at once....

Apple Inc has announced it will be launching its Apple TV plus movie and TV subscription by November for a monthly subscription fee of $10. The company has said it will introduce a small selection of TV shows and then expand its catalog more frequently over several months. The service will launch globally in over 150 countries. According to reports on Bloomberg , Apple has set aside $6 billion for original shows and movies....

As most of us continue to observe the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic , many people have turned to online shopping for food, groceries , and other essentials. This promotes the social distancing recommendation by health officials to curb the spread of the virus. However, since your orders are packaged, transported, and delivered by humans, how safe are they? Although there is no current evidence to support that the virus can be transmitted through food and groceries, we do know that the virus can stay on surfaces for a long period....

Normally, buying and selling stocks in Nigeria would require you to contact a licensed stockbroker who will most likely charge a high fee for services rendered. But because technology is constantly improving, various applications are being developed to ease our everyday life. The move to online trading compared to floor trading continues to increase. Apps designed to allow real time trading of stock are becoming increasingly popular in Nigeria and around the world....

They say good smartphones are getting cheap, and cheap smartphones are getting good. This holds true for most of the price segments, save for the very basic AndroidGo devices. You no longer have to part with a butt-load of money to enjoy a decent smartphone experience. After all, most of the selling points for phones that cost close to Ksh 100,000 turn out to be gimmicks. That said, these are smartphones between 10k and 20k ksh that offer you a smooth Android experience with the least compromises in build quality or software experience....

Brainshare , an EdTech startup based in Uganda thinks it has some answers to how today’s and tomorrow’s students should be studying. The Startups has a web app that goes by the same name that brings teachers and students in Uganda into one web-based online learning platform. With Brainshare, students are able to revise online, collaborate amongst themselves and teachers. The App offers UNEB past paper questions to O-level and A-Level students, starting from those in Uganda, but soon expanding to other East African countries such as Kenya....

The market for TWS (True Wireless Stereo) earbuds grew when Apple removed the 3.5mm headphone jack from the iPhone 7 and replaced them with the AirPods . Ever since, the demand for Bluetooth earphones has continued to surge — with multiple brands offering unique designs and features. The increase in demand is not a surprise, though. TWS earbuds, compared to normal wireless earbuds, are by far much more convenient to use; as you can connect without any cable or wires ....

Graphics cards are delicate and brilliantly designed pieces of hardware. So it goes without saying that they’re packed with a bunch of neat technologies. There are a lot of features that you’ll see on a graphics card spec sheet. Most of them are ubiquitous across all GPUs, regardless of the manufacturer. These include clock frequencies, transistor sizes, VRAM, and so on. But there is one important piece of technology packed exclusively in Nvidia graphics cards, which is the “CUDA cores....

Smart light bulbs like the Yeelight Smart LED Bulb constitute a growing list of remotely connected and ultimately remotely controllable interconnected smart devices. Think smartphone, smartwatch, smart TV and all manner of smart home appliances talking to each other. Much as you might not have heard of it, Yeelight is a household name when it comes to smart home lighting. The relatively upstart Chinese company is backed by none other than Xiaomi which explains why Yeelight has managed to upset a market dominated by seasoned heavy hitters like Philips....

Dear President Barack Obama, you have no excuse this time. The planet is well aligned. The winds are blowing right. Well, for once, ignore Putin’s recent bizzare skirmish . Generally everything seems up and tight. Now, pick up that phone and dial +1-650-XXX-XXX. It looks like it’s going to be a really long conversation. Remember that time last year when Mark Zuckerberg called you expressing frustration over NSA’s continued backdoor surveillance on Facebook’s servers?...

At the beginning of this month, Pan-African Tech news site HumanIPO surprisingly announced that it would stop and shutdown its operations on Jan 15th. “We want to thank the thousands of readers that use the site weekly for their support. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to build sufficient amount of traffic to make it an interesting business to continue. Advertisement - Continue reading below If there are investors or entrepreneurs that are interested in taking over the platform then please contact us on [email protected] ....