National Technology Day, a day that celebrates technological advancements and achievements that have significantly added to India’s growth. Technological advancements have always been important and vital; but now, technology has become an integral way to address the myriad of challenges posed by the ongoing global pandemic. The second wave of coronavirus has shut the nation down for business yet again, and this has led plenty of small businesses worried and unsure of how to keep their ventures afloat and survive another economic slowdown. Last year we saw how digital technology helped empower people to connect and explore new and innovative…
Author: Abiodun A.
Google’s Pixel phones are changing in a big way. Leaker Jon Prosser and Front Page Tech have shared renders of the upcoming Google Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro; allegedly based on actual photos of prototypes. And if these renders are true to life, the Pixel 6 is about as different as it can be from its predecessor, the Pixel 5. On the front, like most phones, it’s still just a big display; though the selfie camera has moved from the upper left corner to the middle. But on the back, the differences are massive. Gone are the Apple-like,…
Instagram users will now be able to more easily specify their gender identity, after the platform launched a dedicated section on account profiles to share pronouns. The new feature, announced on Tuesday, allows users to share up to four pronouns selected from a pre-approved list of common pronouns including she, he, they, we and others. The company said users can edit or remove pronouns at any time, and can fill out a form to have a pronoun added if it is not included. Users will also be able to determine if they want pronouns shared with followers only or publicly…
Sony has revealed it has more than 25 first-party PS5 exclusives from it’s PlayStation Studios portfolio of creators in the works. In an interview with Wired, PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst says the bumper crop of titles are already in development for the new console; just six months after the next-gen machine went on sale. In even better news, more than half of the 25 will be new IPs rather than a bunch of sequels or expansions of existing franchises. It doesn’t seem like they will all be AAA big-hitters; but an array of titles, from little indie-style games to…
Google has won a deal to provide cloud services to Elon Musk’s SpaceX; which has launched a slew of Starlink satellites to provide high-speed internet, it said on Thursday. googleSpaceX will set up ground stations within Google’s data centers that connect to the Starlink satellites, enabling fast and secure internet services via Google Cloud, the search giant said. This service is expected to be available in the second half of 2021 for enterprise customers, the company said. The deal comes at a time when demand for cloud-computing services has soared, with players like Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc dominating the…
Twitter is finally rolling out the DM search bar on Android, two years after it introduced the feature for iOS users. This feature will let Twitter users on Android search for DMs through the name of the user or groups they’re part of. Twitter is also rolling out an improved version of its DM search tool. The search bar in Twitter DMs will pull up conversations based on the name of the user or groups. This feature is helpful as it will let users quickly search for conversations instead of having to scroll through the entire inbox. It’s also quite…
One police officer, Edogi Bassey, has been killed in the early hours of Wednesday as gunmen attacked two police stations in Akwa Ibom State. The officer was killed after the gunmen around 6.30 am attacked Etim Ekpo Area Command and Division. A portion of the police station was also razed by the gunmen. The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Odiko MacDon confirmed the incident in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. “At about 6:30 a.m. today, armed men, in their numbers, armed with AK 47 Rifles and other dangerous weapons, in two vehicles attacked the rented building housing…
Apple said Tuesday it rejected almost 1 million apps that were submitted to its App Store for the first time in 2020. The announcement is the latest sign that Apple is becoming more transparent about how it approves and rejects iPhone apps; in response to scrutiny including a lawsuit from Epic Games and regulatory attention from lawmakers. Apple argues that by having a system where the company approves each of the 1.8 million apps on the store and their updates; checking the apps against a lengthy list of App Store rules, it can keep iPhone users safe from scams; malware,…
YouTube announced on Tuesday a $100 million fund that will pay the most popular creators on its nascent TikTok competitor, Shorts. “The Shorts Fund is just the first step in our journey to build a long-term monetization model for Shorts on YouTube;” the company said in a blog post. It added that the fund will be launched in the coming months. The fund comes as Google-owned YouTube tries to grow its user and creator base for its short-form video product; which is the company’s answer to mobile-first social media competitors like TikTok, Snap and Instagram’s Reels. YouTube is the latest…
Semiconductors will be in short supply for some time to come yet; according to analysts that monitor the industry. Today, chips are in everything from PlayStation 5s and toothbrushes to washing machines and alarm clocks. But there’s not enough to go around — it’s a multifaceted issue that shows no signs of abating; leading some to call the current crisis “chipageddon.” Glenn O’Donnell, a vice president research director at advisory firm Forrester; believes the shortage could last until 2023. “Because demand will remain high and supply will remain constrained; we expect this shortage to last through 2022 and into 2023,”…
One gauge of Tesla’s success in China pointed to a sharp drop in sales in April. The U.S.-based electric car company sold 25,845 made-in-China vehicles last month, down 27% from 35,478 in March, according to figures released Tuesday by the China Passenger Car Association. The report noted that in April, Tesla exported 14,174 cars from its Shanghai factory. The association did not disclose Tesla’s export figures for March. Tesla’s sales decline came amid an overall 12% month-on-month drop in April for new energy passenger cars in China; according to the association. The category includes pure-electric and hybrid cars. Guangdong-based BYD,…
The Osun State Commissioner of Police, CP Olawale Olokode speaks during a briefing in Osogbo. Eight suspected members of a high-profile, serial kidnapping syndicate have been arrested at Omo Ijesa village in Osun State. The Osun State Police Command disclosed this on Sunday via a statement issued by its spokesman, SP Opalola Yemisi, adding that the arrest followed credible intelligence the command received. She said the suspects were involved in the kidnap of a 65-year-old, Akiishi Catherine in Benue State, thus forcing the Commissioner of Police, CP Olawale Olokode, to lead the operation. “Prior to the arrest, Police investigations revealed…
Nothing has some news for you. As much as we want to follow that sentence up with – “and for a change, it’s something”, we won’t. The co-founder and CEO of the company, Carl Pei, has given us some idea about what we can expect from them and for now; we know that their first product is coming in June this year. Pei’s blog talks about the company’s journey so far and how they are building up towards their first device; their journey towards nothing, earphones that have been named – Ear 1. Nothing was formed in October last year,…
This weekend, German security researcher stacksmashing declared success at breaking into; dumping, and reflashing the microcontroller of Apple’s new AirTag object-location product. Breaking into the microcontroller essentially meant being able both to research how the devices function (by analyzing the dumped firmware) and to reprogram them to do unexpected things. Stacksmashing demonstrated this by reprogramming an AirTag to pass a non-Apple URL while in Lost Mode. Lost Mode gets a little more lost When an AirTag is set to Lost Mode, tapping any NFC-enabled smartphone to the tag brings up a notification with a link to found.apple.com. The link allows…
Attorneys general from 44 states and territories urged Facebook to abandon its plans to create an Instagram service for kids under the age of 13; citing detrimental health effects of social media on kids and Facebook’s reportedly checkered past of protecting children on its platform. Monday’s letter follows questioning from federal lawmakers who have also expressed concern over social media’s impact on children. The topic was a major theme that emerged from lawmakers at a House hearing in March with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg; Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Republican staff for that committee later highlighted…
Five police officers including the wife of an officer have been killed by gunmen during an attack on Divisional Police Headquarters, Odoro Ikpe in Ini Local Government Area of the Akwa-Ibom State. Although the state Police Command is yet to issue an official statement on the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Odiko MacDon confirmed the incident. MacDon said facilities, vehicles, and other valuables were also destroyed by the gunmen. “Yes, there was an attack of the Divisional Police Headquarters, Odoro Ikpe. Six persons, including five officers and a wife of an officer, were killed, the PPRO…
Officials of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun have arrested a four-man kidnap syndicate in Akure, the state capital. The commander of Amotekun in the state, Adetunji Adeleye, while parading the suspects said they were apprehended after kidnapping three persons along Oda road in Akure during a night operation while it was raining. According to Adeleye, the suspects initially kidnapped four persons, but one person was able to escape while they took the rest of them to their hideout. He said after getting wind of the incident, Amotekun operatives swung into action and rescued two persons that night,…
If you use the world’s most popular mobile operating system and have been jonesing to get in on the Clubhouse action, today is your lucky day. That’s because Clubhouse, the voice-based social network that’s exploded in popularity over the past several months, is finally rolling out on Android; starting Sunday in a beta state. It’ll just be available in the United States at first; with other English-speaking places (and eventually the rest of the world) getting access in the coming weeks. According to the announcement, the US-only period won’t include some features (such as payments) right away; as the company…
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has made it clear that in light of disruption in the technology world, it is keen on balancing healthy competition. It hopes to achieve this with the entry of disruptive technologies; to ensure sustainable telecoms industry growth as well as development in Nigeria. To this effect, SpaceX has identified Nigeria as a critical market. SpaceX is in the process of launching a low-earth orbiting (LOE) constellation of satellites to provide low latency; high bandwidths Internet to all corners of the globe; and has been in discussions with NCC over several months now to begin the…
WhatsApp is arguably the most popular encrypted messaging service in the world as of today; but the Facebook-owned company courted controversy and considerable criticism earlier this year when it announced that it was revising its terms of service. After several users downloaded alternatives like the open-source Signal Private Messenger service; WhatsApp delayed the final date to accept the revised terms to May 15 – which is just around the corner. While it was previously thought that WhatsApp would delete your account after a set period if you didn’t accept the new terms; we now know that the company has no…