If you’ve ever watched one of Apple’s Keynote events, then you know how Apple does its presentations. Top-quality production, clean graphics, and above all, killer products, sadly all at a pretty premium price. Apple’s October 18 Event wasn’t any different and here, we saw the company unveil a bunch of new products and services that make the proverbial ecosystem look even more vibrant. In this post, we shall quickly highlight some of these....

Oraimo is slowly but steadily carving out a name for itself as the go-to accessories brand in Africa and the other markets where its products are available in. From quality chargers, cables, power banks to recently, hair trimmers, Bluetooth dongles and so on, Oraimo seems to be trying out everything. Recently, we saw a device on the brand’s official page , the Oraimo SoundView Portable Speaker. Of course, Oraimo has made some of the best budget TWS and Bluetooth speakers so this wasn’t anything new....

Quibi, a standalone streaming service founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and led by Meg Whitman (as CEO) has announced a shutdown. The company which wanted to “create the next generation of storytelling” has attributed launching during the pandemic as one of the causes of the closure. The company was founded in 2018 as NewTV but relaunched in August 2020, during the pandemic. Jeffrey and Meg believe one of the two reasons for the company not succeeding could be “because the idea itself wasn’t strong enough to justify a standalone streaming service or because of our timing....

The Executive Director Supervision, at Bank of Uganda, Dr Tumubweine Twinemanzi, has challenged the financial services sector to adopt a shared technology services delivery model. He argued that this cuts down the cost of doing business hence passing on those benefits to customers in the form of reduced cost of lending. Twinemanzi, was speaking during the first executive roundtable for business and ICT leaders as well as regulators, organised by Raxio Data Centre and Oracle, to discuss how enterprises can manage operational costs by leveraging cloud technologies....

Xiaomi has, over the years, solidified its position as one of the best value-for-money OEMs in the world with devices that punch way above their price point in terms of performance and featureset. A clear illustration of this is the Redmi Note Series of devices. The Redmi Note series has been around since 2014 and has seen many iterations since then and we’re due for the 13th installment. Related: Redmi Note 12 Devices: Here’s Pricing and Availability in Kenya Redmi Note 12 vs Redmi 12C: What Are the Key Differences and Which One Should You Buy?...

BLAZE is a sub-brand of Safaricom and was created to give youth aged 26 years and below products, services and benefits tailored specifically to meet their everyday needs. A first of its kind platform in Kenya, East and Central Africa, BLAZE was founded on what Kenyan youth say is most important to them: freedom, friendship and success. BLAZE has launched a new platform dubbed BLAZE LINK , an aggregator of e-learning resources built to enable young people upgrade their skills through online courses and empower them to pursue success in their professions of interest....

Safaricom’s MPESA on April 12 received the GSMA Mobile Money certification at the GSMA Mobile360 Event in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. The GSMA Mobile Money Certification program is a global initiative that defines and promotes excellence in the provision of mobile money services. The other mobile money service providers to get certified in this GSMA certification program include; Orange Côte d’Ivoire Safaricom (Kenya), Telenor Microfinance Bank Ltd. (Easypaisa Pakistan), Tigo Tanzania (Millicom Group) and Vodacom Tanzania “The GSMA Mobile Money Certification is a consumer-focused initiative, aimed at giving customers confidence that a provider has taken steps to ensure their funds are in safe hands, their rights are protected and they can expect a high level of customer service,” – John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA....

Lately, Samsung has been able to grow its budget/mid-range smartphone base through its Galaxy A-series. The A-series is a resurrected line of Samsung smartphones which saw a shift to include better camera capabilities and youthful appeal. In that regard, the new members of the series unveiled today are the Samsung Galaxy A50s and Galaxy A30s. The two smartphones succeed the Galaxy A50 and A30 released earlier this year with upgrades coming to the design and camera....

The Samsung Note 3 and Galaxy Gear were a few days ago launched in Cape Town South Africa for the African market. For all the Samsung users the launch came with a few surprises that went beyond the new gadgets themselves. Samsung announced that it would be able to replace mobile devices for customers should they be damaged within the first year of purchase. This replacement would not only be once....

A number of people who are aware of Bitcoin and willing to use it is increasing very rapidly and we can see that from the total number of unique addresses used on the Bitcoin blockchain. The reasons for entering the Bitcoin community differ. Some people are willing to buy or sell bitcoins , others are looking for new investment options, and still, others are waiting for a chance to use them as a regular payment medium....

We have seen Samsung, Huawei, and a few other smartphone brands launch their version of the foldable smartphone — and we are expecting to see more brands launch their version sometime this year. However, while we’re still talking about the foldable technology, its relevance, and whether it is one for the future , a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, TCL, is taking it a step further with its plans to introduce smartphones with “Slide-out” displays....

Stanbic Bank doesn’t want you to spend long hours in the Queues. That’s why they are serious about their digital banking platforms. To prove it, South African-based Standard bank through Stanbic Bank is continuously adding new innovative features to their web and mobile banking platforms which we have extensively reviewed before. The latest features to the Stanbic bank Mobile App is the even more convenient PIN authentication. While you can use username/email and password combo, they are a lot harder to remember than a 5-digit pin....

Real-time ride sharing is slowly picking up roots within East Africa given the convenience and efficiency that comes with it, and companies are really closing in on it. Taxify, arguably Europe and Africa’s fastest growing ride sharing platform, just launched in Kampala to deliver the service. With hundreds of drivers already signed up to the platform, and ready to accept rides anywhere in the city, this could be the opportune time for you to try out ride sharing....

Quick Verdict The Tecno Camon 11 Pro is a fine phone that lacks any crippling flaws, but elements such as a low-res display and plastic body that easily scratches make it hard to champion over other lower-mid-range alternatives. Pros Awesome diamond fire design Good Cameras Increased RAM Strong Battery with fast charging Cons No OIS on cameras Plastic profile scratches Fingerprint magnet back Tecno has bossed the budget camera-centric smartphone market ever since the first Camon device, the Camon C5....

When TECNO unveiled the Camon 18 series a year ago, it unveiled three smartphones (Camon 18, Camon 18P, and Camon 18 Premier) with varying specs and features, and at different price points. The Camon 18 Premier, however, is the premium model in the Camon 18 series. Fast forward 8-months and TECNO has unveiled the Camon 19 series to succeed the Camon 18 series. And just like its predecessor, the Camon 19 features three smartphone models; Camon 19, Camon 19 Pro, and the Camon 19 5G – with the Camon 19 Pro being the premium model here....

KaiOS has been dubbed the Android of feature-phones and is steadily gaining a strong foothold of the semi-smartphone market. These are devices that are not as dumb as your traditional dumb-phones but still not as smart as your smartphones. And these devices really do stand a shot in this industry. It is rather easy to forget that there are many people that can’t afford, or don’t want smartphones for whatever reason....

Until recently, the Phantom Z was the only Tecno device running Kitkat — Android’s latest OS. A few days ago, Tecno finally released a mid-range device running Kitkat. It’s the Tecno F6. The device which is a follow up to the F5 (which received good reception from many users) seems to be an upgrade addressing issues that the F5 had. The Tecno F6 specifications include a 4.7′ HD IPS display, a quad-core processor, a 2000 mAh battery, an 8MP camera, 1GB RAM and 16GB ROM....

AI art generators have become increasingly popular amongst next-generation artists. This is especially true since AI has proven helpful in creating NFTs. While some create photo-realistic images, others offer a vintage feel that makes it look like you took a photograph on a model camera. Contrary to popular belief, AI art generators aren’t replacing artists. They are simply an option to explore new territories and create unconventional art. In this post, we’ll be looking at some of the best AI Art Generators you can use online....

Platforms like Twitter have limits to the number of characters you should have in a single tweet. This is where URL Shorteners come into play so that you do not leave out any information due to a long URL. Google’s URL shortener, Goo.gl will be no more after this year (2019) so here are the best alternatives available. But first, what are URL shorteners? These are digital tools which enable you to take a long link and create a new, shorter one that takes people to the same location....

East Africa’s premier mobile startups conference, Pivot East, is here. The mobile startup pitching competition that started in 2011 officially kicks off on Tuesday, 25th to Wednesday 26th July at Kampala Sheraton hotel. This year’s major objective is “To facilitate discovery of the next wave of high potential mobile startups”. An important difference between the 2013 competition and previous years’ competitions is its focus on startups becoming sustainable enterprises as opposed to merely showcasing mobile applications and their developers....