One of the latest updates on Instagram, the vanish mode for Instagram chats; has just started rolling out to users. This feature makes messages from your Instagram chat disappear once you have seen them and exit the chat if the vanish mode is turned on. If you check any message on Instagram right now; at the bottom of it you’ll see an instruction – “Swipe up to turn on vanish mode” – if you are on the latest version of the app. Here’s how the vanish mode works on Instagram chats. So, for starters, you need to head over to…
Author: Abiodun A.
Some protesters stormed the streets of Katsina demanding the immediate release of abducted students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State on December 13, 2020. Protests on Sunday rocked Kastina State over the abduction of many schoolboys from the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in the Kankara Local Government Area of the state The protesters, mostly women, demanded the prompt rescue of students abducted by bandits on Friday night. Carrying placards, the protesters went around the school’s premises and some parts of the town conveying various messages. Some of the inscriptions on the placards include: ‘Government must speak out’,…
Google AdSense has decided to retire the most popular and clickable ads unit known as Link Ads from its Ads Format, the Link Ads unit will no longer be available come March 10, 2020. We’ve decided to retire link ads. This is in order to modernize our available ad formats, based on the feedback from users, publishers and advertisers about the Google AdSense ads. Going forward, we’ll be focussing on improving and developing other ad formats to help you grow. What does this mean? From 10-03-2021: You will no longer be able to create link ad units. Your link ad…
At least more than 50 students were said to be missing after gunmen attacked a secondary school in Katsina State, a raid that has led the state government to shut down boarding schools. Gunmen had stormed Government Science Secondary School in Ƙanƙara Local Government Area of the state on Friday night, causing students, teachers, and staff members to flee for their lives. A headcount in the boarding school on Saturday, amid reports that hundreds of them had been abducted, revealed that 54 students are missing, a member of staff at the school told a news media on the condition of…
Subway customers in the UK are receiving scam emails as part of a phishing attack. Users took to social media to complain about the emails; which claim to be an order confirmation from the fast-food chain; and contain links to malware. The emails also use the victims’ names, and appear to come from the chain’s Subcard loyalty scheme. Subway has not said whether its databases have been compromised; or what the source of the scam is. But the firm has acknowledged that there is a problem. A spokesperson for the company said: “We are aware of some disruption to our…
On Friday, Twitter announced the acquisition of Squad, an app that allows you to share your screen and video chat with friends at the same time. The entire team, including co-founders Esther Crawford and Ethan Sutin, will join the company as part of the deal. In a Medium post, Crawford said Twitter plans to leverage her team’s expertise in audio and video. The group is “looking forward to building new formats that allow for fun; meaningful and engaging conversations,” she said. Twitter didn’t disclose the terms of the acquisition; and didn’t say if the agreement included Squad’s tech. “I hope…
Before the Apple App Store launched for the iPhone in 2008, hackers had already created an alternative one. That app store, called Cydia, became the go-to program downloader; for people looking to unlock their phones for international use. Along with another app store called Installer; Cydia’s launch before the original App Store allowed people to write and distribute early apps. As the iPhone advanced, so did the Cydia store, offering customizations to the lock and home screens; such as easily launching the camera, long before Apple began offering its own take on the features. But Apple never officially allowed people…
Xiaomi has launched a new smartwatch called the ‘Mi Watch Lite’. This smartwatch looks the same as the recently launched Redmi Watch; and it also comes with the same features. Xiaomi hasn’t revealed the price and availability details of the Mi Watch Lite yet. The Mi Watch Lite has been listed on Xiaomi’s global website. This means that the Mi Watch Lite is being offered as the global version of the Redmi Watch. It has a square display, and it comes in five colour options of pink, ivory, black, navy blue and olive. There’s no word on the pricing of…
Google, Dell, Intel and a handful of other major tech companies in the IT; and cloud computing industries have banded together to tackle joint problems around security, remote work, and other enterprise issues that have only become more important during the coronavirus pandemic. The consortium these companies have formed is called the Modern Computing Alliance; and its founding members also include Box, Cirtrix, Imprivata, Okta, RingCentral, Slack, VMWare, and Zoom. The Modern Computing Alliance will initially be focused on four areas: performance; security and identity; remote work, productivity, and collaboration; and health care. The goal is to pool knowledge and…
Justice N.I. Buba of the Federal High Court, Enugu, Enugu State, on Thursday, December 10, 2020, committed Dr Isidore Ojukwu Nwankwo to prison for fraud. Nwankwo, former Rector, Enugu Polytechnic, Ndeabor, Ani-Nri, Local Government Area, was prosecuted by the Enugu Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on six-counts charges, bordering on conspiracy and obtaining money under false pretense to the tune of N1,153,700.00 (One Million, One Hundred and Fifty-three Thousand, Seven Hundred Naira), being the amount he obtained by fraud from some students of the school in contravention of Section 1(1)(a) of Advance Fee Fraud and…
The police authorities in Lagos have recovered a stolen mace from the Ogun State House of Assembly, Abeokuta. In a statement issued on Friday by the Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the mace was retrieved at Abule Ado area of the state by operatives attached to the Trade Fair Section. “The police operatives attached to Trade Fair Station of the Lagos State Police Command today Friday 11th December 2020, recovered the missing mace of the Ogun State House of Assembly at Abule Ado Area of the state at about 8.30 am,” the statement partly read. “The police operatives, who…
Samsung has finally confirmed the launch date for the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, something many reports have been speculating for a while now. The company has confirmed that the Galaxy S21 series is going to be launched on January 14; 2021 – the final day of the virtual CES. The Galaxy S21 series will come with three devices – the Samsung Galaxy S21; Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. The date of the launch has been confirmed by the Samsung experience store in Bengaluru. The Opera House store told Android Authority; that they will start selling…
T-Mobile might look as thought it’s late to the game by unveiling its first 5G hotspot today; along with a variety of 5G standalone hotspot plans. After all, Verizon and AT&T have offered 5G hotspots for a while now (although they began with significantly limited coverage). But T-Mobile’s particular blend of wide 5G coverage; and better-than-LTE speeds means the device should be more accessible to more people. Plus, the carrier’s standalone 5G hotspot plan is priced to compete, starting at $30 for 10GB; and $40 for 30GB, and topping out at 100GB for $50. In comparison, AT&T’s standalone hotspot plans…
Youths in Rukpoku, Rivers State set bonfires after a tricycle operator was shot dead allegedly by a police officer on Thursday, December 10, 2020. Youths in Rukpoku and Rumuodomayah communities in Obio Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State have occupied the street in protest following the killing of a commercial tricycle operator popularly known as Keke Marwa. Eyewitnesses said trouble started on Thursday morning when a policeman around Rukpoku asked the Keke driver for ₦100 bribe which the driver could not provide. The police officer was said to have fired a shot directly at the driver killing him on…
Today, Microsoft announced that SharePoint now has 200 million users in the cloud. It’s a major milestone for the service, and also a milestone for the firm’s Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscription offerings. Also, it pointed out that it’s been named a leader in the Gartner Content Services Platforms Magic Quadrant for this year. As Microsoft points out, SharePoint is the backbone of content collaboration in Microsoft 365. It’s the backend behind document sharing in OneDrive, and more. Microsoft also says that it’s behind its new Lists offering; and it lets people create pages with video in Stream. While…
WhatsApp recently added some new feature updates to the platform on both iOS and Android; and one of those new additions were improvements to the wallpapers on the messaging app. You will be able to customise the wallpapers on WhatsApp to your liking as long as you have the latest version of the app so head over to the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store and update it. WhatsApp’s updates on wallpapers include custom wallpapers for chats, doodle wallpapers, a new stock in the wallpapers gallery and the option to set separate wallpapers for light and dark mode…
According to the latest report from mobile app analytics firm App Annie. TikTok was the most downloaded app globally this year. TikTok has been downloaded the most this year; both on Android and iOS. TikTok has beaten Facebook to be the most downloaded app this year. Facebook is now the second most downloaded app followed by WhatsApp. App Annie even predicts TikTok to break the 1 billion monthly active user (MAU) club in 2021. This year, it secured the eighth position among apps with the most number of MAUs. TikTok also rose to the second position for consumer spending this…
Apple recently announced the need for new app privacy labels for all apps on the App Store that developers; and companies have to ensure exist. These privacy labels mention exactly what data these apps are collecting from users and how. WhatsApp criticised these new privacy labels and said that it was unfair since these privacy labels did not seem to apply to Apple’s own apps that come pre-installed with iOS. Apple has responded to this by stating that there will be privacy disclosures for its own apps as well. Facebook-owned WhatsApp told Axios that the provision was anti-competitive because Apple’s…
A Nigerian-Kenyan couple have lost their bids to overturn a 15-year jail term for drug trafficking. The Nigerian-Kenyan couple, a Nigerian man and a Kenyan woman, were sentenced to 15 years each in jail; for having Sh6.3 million narcotics on them. They had taken their conviction to an appeal court. However, the court has ruled that they will continue to serve their terms, having both lost their appeal. The Nigerian man was identified as Nnamdi Egesimba. On the other hand, the Kenyan woman is known as Leila Muli. Both were convicted of narcotics trafficking. They were ordered to pay fines…
George Amaechi Okeaghalam, a Nigerian pastor who is set to walk the aisle on Saturday, December 12; has engrossed himself in controversy after he reportedly defiled a 5-year-old girl in Umuguma village, Owerri. The 49-year-old pastor has reportedly been arrested by men of the Imo State Police Command. According to a report posted by an NGO (Sweet Mothers Foundation) on Wednesday, December 9, the pastor; said to be a neighbor and acquaintance of the victim’s parents lured the victim to his house while she was out playing; and had carnal knowledge of her. He also threatened to kill the child…