MTN, Nigeria’s biggest telecommunication service provider, will go ahead with efforts to effect a reduction in the commission due to banks for the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) service, despite a seeming respite in its face-off with the lenders. It was earlier reported that the banks had reconnected MTN customers to their channels on Sunday; having earlier blocked them from using the service. The development came after MTN had reduced the commission due to the banks. The telco had slashed the commission from 4.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent. Subsequently, the banks had taken offence at the action and…
Author: Abiodun A.
A leaker has claimed that they are offering information on more than 500 million Facebook Inc users totally free of cost, on the web. This data includes phone numbers of these users and other data. While this might be correct or not, it surely sparks a thought in existing customers of whether they should completely abandon the social media site or not considering it has access to all of their data and has been in headlines in the past for all the wrong reasons too. So, in case you are thinking of making such a move, here’s how you can…
The “Graphics Interchange Format” is th most common definition for GIF on Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. GIF is a image file format that is commonly used in chats and messages and it gives a lot of information including saving a user the stress of typing for long. If you want to shoot your own GIFs and also send them to your WhatsApp friends, here is how you can do so: Step 1: Record a short clip through the phone. Step 2: Open WhatsApp. Step 3: Open the chat window where you want to send the GIF. Step 4:…
Google Chrome has been around for many years. One of many features of the Chrome browser is access to a wide range of extensions. But some extensions can be bad and may lead to the browser loading slower than usual. You may at times also encounter pop-up ads or redirect to unsecure pages. In such situations, resetting your Google Chrome browser settings to default is not a bad idea. Here is a step-by-step guide to restoring your browser settings to default. Step 1: Open the Chrome browser on your PC. Step 2: Click on the three-dot menu at the top…
LG is exiting the smartphone business, the company confirmed today. The decision will “enable the company to focus resources in growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices, smart homes, robotics; artificial intelligence and business-to-business solutions, as well as platforms and services,” LG said in a statement. Existing phones will remain on sale, and LG says it’ll continue to support its products “for a period of time which will vary by region.” The company hasn’t said anything about possible layoffs except that “details related to employment will be determined at the local level.” LG says it expects to have…
Suspected bandits have killed a former Councillor and one other person in Birnin Gawri and Kajuru Local Government areas of Kaduna State. The development was disclosed by the Kaduna State Government on Thursday. Specifically, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the killing in a statement issued to newsmen in Kaduna. Aruwan said: “Security agencies reported that armed bandits killed a former Councillor of Gayam Ward, Birnin Gwari Local Government Area.” Aruwan revealed that the politician was attacked and killed while working on his farm in Ungwan Fada; Birnin Gwari Local Government Area. He also…
A kidnap suspect who threatened to sell his 16-year-old victim has been arrested by operatives of the Edo State Police Command. The 19-year-old suspect, Tajudeen Igikalo, was apprehended at his residence in Egba along the Benin Auchi Road in the state. He was arrested by men of the Anti-kidnapping and Cybercrime Unit of the command following a report by the victim’s mother that her daughter left home for school on March 25, but did not return home. Two days after the incident, the victim’s mother received a telephone call from the suspect that her daughter had been kidnapped and that…
Gunmen suspected to be bandits have killed the chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Nasarawa State, Mohammed Hussain, at Garaku Market Area of Kokona Local Government Area of the state. The bandits also murdered one Mohammed Umar, the chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in the Toto Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. The Police Public Relation Officer, Nasarawa State Command, Ramhan Nansel, announced this in a statement signed on Friday. “On 2/4/2021 at about 1930hrs, information was received that unknown gunmen suspected to be Fulani Bandits attacked and killed one Mohammed Hussaini, the Chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle…
A female rice farmer, Amaka Okafor, has been attacked by a yet-to-be-identified man suspected to be a herder in Ondo State. Okafor was attacked by the suspect on Thursday at her farm in Ogbese, a settlement in Akure North Local Government of the state. The middle-aged woman was attacked with a cutlass while she was working on her farm. She was said to have resisted the cattle led by some herdsmen from grazing on her farm, an action which prompted one of the herders to attack her. As a result of the attack, Okafor sustained matchet injuries on her…
The police in Kaduna State have rescued 15 kidnap victims in Chikun Local Government Area of the state. The state Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said in a statement that the rescue operations were successfully carried out in different locations in Chikun. Among the victims are three women who were kidnapped from a neighbouring state on November 18, 2020, and were later moved by their abductors to Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. He explained that the three women were rescued by police operatives on Thursday at Rijiya Uku general area in Chikun Local Government…
Spotify is moving into live audio. The company said Tuesday it will buy Betty Labs, the makers of live audio social app Locker Room that’s focuses on sports The terms of the deal were not announced. Shares of Spotify closed up 2%. In the coming months, the company said it plans to expand Locker Room into an “enhanced live audio experience” for more of its creators and fans. Spotify is betting on the future of live, social audio with its acquisition of the Lightspeed Ventures; and GV-backed company. The focus on social audio features rose to prominence last year with…
is International Fact Checking Day tomorrow, April 2. And to mark the occasion, Google has shared a list of tips that anyone ought to keep in mind as they browse for information online. Given how vast the internet is, there is a lot of information out there and a lot of misinformation as well. According to Google’s in-house data, more than 50,000 new fact checks surfaced on Google Search over just the last year; and all these fact checks received more than 2.4 billion impressions in Search over the same period. Fact checks are the only thing that can tackle…
Instagram has launched another TikTok-inspired feature to Reels. It now allows users to remix a Reel by pairing their video with other users. It’s similar to TikTok Duets which are quite popular on the short video app. Instagram has been testing this feature since October last year allowing select users to experiment with; and it is now available to all globally. The Instagram Reels remix feature will be enabled by default for any new Reel uploaded. But users who wish to have their older Reels remixed will have to manually enable it. This can be done by tapping on the…
Reports of LG winding down its smartphone division have been popping up for a few months now, and earlier this year, a spokesperson for the company confirmed that it was exploring all options in regards to its mobile division. While LG tried to sell the failing business to other companies, it seems that things haven’t gone well, and The Korea Times reports (via Android Authority) that LG is dropping out of the smartphone business entirely. According to the report, the company has been negotiating a potential sale with a number of potential buyers, including Vietnam-based Vingroup, but failed to go…
The Permanent Secretary in the Benue State Ministry of Health, Ayaka Apir Ityu has been arraigned before Justice A. I. Ityonyiman of the State High Court Makurdi. He was arraigned by the Makurdi Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a one-count charge of forgery, a statement issued on Thursday by the anti-graft agency’s spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren, disclosed. The charge reads: “That you, Ayaka Apir Ityu, while holding the office of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Makurdi, Benue State, sometime on the 23rd of December, 2019, in Makurdi, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, did…
For a while now, Microsoft has tried to make progressive web apps (PWAs) from its Edge browser feel more like native Windows apps, such as by making them appear in the Start menu alongside regular apps. Now, it looks as though work is being done to improve the way PWAs look once they’re open and in use, thanks to a new Window Controls Overlay feature (spotted by Techtsp), which is meant to help PWAs look more like native apps. The Window Controls Overlay feature is being developed by a team at Microsoft, which has created a GitHub repository explaining the…
Xiaomi launched a slew of new sometimes on Monday, with one high-end device aimed at international markets as it looks to push into the premium segment; and fill the void left by rival Huawei’s troubles. The devices are: Mi 11 Lite and Mi 11 Lite 5G 11 Pro Mi 11 Ultra The Mi 11 Ultra is the smartphone aimed at international markets in the premium segment. It will start at 5,999 yuan ($914) and go up to 6,999 yuan ($1,066) for a higher spec version. Xiaomi has not yet said what markets it will be available in outside of China.…
Apple kicked off its independent repair service program for third-party providers in 2019 to help customers in the U.S. get their devices fixed by non Apple Authorized Service Providers (AASPs) beyond the warranty period. The program expanded to Europe and Canada last year. Today, Apple announced that it’s bringing the independent repair provider program (IRPP) globally. The Cupertino-based tech giant confirmed that it will open its independent repair program to service providers across more than 200 countries. This means the program will be accessible in nearly every country where its products are available to purchase. Like its participating third-party repair…
Just over a week after initial reports came in that Sony would be shutting down the PlayStation Store on some of its older consoles, the company has now confirmed exactly that. In a notice on its website, Sony says the stores on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation portable will shut down on July 2, while the PlayStation Vita will shut down on August 27, the exact dates mentioned in the earlier report. Over the weekend, some users noticed that the old web version of the PlayStation Store, which included the ability to buy games for these older platforms, is no longer…
Verizon is once again announcing that it’s shutting down its 3G network, and this time, the carrier says it’s not moving back the date again. After the end of 2022, its CDMA 3G network will be shut down for good. According to Verizon, just 1% of its customers use the legacy network at all. After all, the world has moved on to 4G and 5G; and carriers started lighting up 4G LTE back in 2010. Indeed, these major changes in connectivity come roughly once a decade. As of right now, you can’t even activate a new 3G-only device on Verizon’s…