Author: Francis Muli

Netflix is launching a new mobile feature called “Fast Laughs” that will give users access to short funny videos. The short clips are taken from the “Big Mouth” and stand up specials from comedians such as Ali Wong and Jerry Seinfield. Fast Laughs is quite similar to Instagram’s Reels and TikTok as users do not have to watch full movies or series episodes to enjoy. If a user enjoys the short clips content, they can add the title to their profile to watch later. “We’re always looking for new ways to entertain and make discovery easier for members,” Patrick Flemming,…

There was drama in court on Thursday after the magistrate handling former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko’s graft case stormed out of courtroom. The session became disorderly after the defence lawyers accused Anti-Corruption Court Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti of not listening to them, raising allegations of biasness. Ogoti declined an application by Sonko to recuse himself from hearing one of his fraud cases. “The same way this court holds the party with respect is the same way the court demands respect from the parties. They must submit to the rule of law,” stated Magistrate Ogoti. Read: Sonko Wants Court To Allow Travel…

Kenyans will wait longer to have a new Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) managing director, after the candidates who had applied for the position failed the interviews. Consequently, KPA Board has been directed to undertake a fresh recruitment of the Managing Director and conclude the exercise within 45 days. “I have reviewed the list of names, scores and ranking of the candidates proposed for appointment as Managing Director, Kenya Ports Authority, and note that all the candidates scored below the desired threshold of 70% in the interview”, a letter by Treasury CS Ukur Yatani to KPA Board Chairman Rtd Gen Joseph…

Google has announced that it is gradually phasing out third party tracking cookies on its browser, with no plans to replace them with an alternative tracker. The tech giant said that despite the effect the move will have on its advertising business it “will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web” “Instead, our web products will be powered by privacy-preserving APIs which prevent individual tracking while still delivering results for advertisers and publishers,” writes Google. “Advances in aggregation, anonymization, on-device processing and other privacy-preserving technologies offer a clear path to replacing individual identifiers.” Read:…

Microsoft Teams is adding end-to-end encryption support to the video-conferencing platform by the end of this year. Commercial customers will get a preview of the end-to-end encryption in the first half of this year for one-on-one unscheduled calls as well as conversations that are considered more sensitive. Instances include private conversation among employees, sharing of confidential information such as passwords, PINs etc. Microsoft says after the feature will be rolled out to scheduled calls and online meetings over time. Read: Microsoft Teams To Roll Out “Dynamic View” Feature in March Currently, Teams data is encrypted at transit and at rest,…

Twitter has announced that Android users can now join Spaces- the platform’s audio chat rooms. The feature which is considered a competition to Clubhouse was launched to iOS users in January. Although they can join and listen to Spaces, very few can launch or host their own chat rooms. In January, Twitter said it was rolling out the feature giving priority to women and marginalized groups. Now Twitter android users can join in and listen to Spaces. Read: Twitter Starts Testing Voice-based Chatrooms Named Spaces Twitter’s announcement did not divulge details on when Android users will be able to host…

Kenya Power is eying extra revenues by rolling out electric vehicle charging points, even as it seeks to eliminate difficulties in owning the new-tech cars in Kenya. On Tuesday, Kenya Power managing director Bernard Ngugi said that the electric car charging points would be put along major highways, parking lots and malls, beginning with Nairobi. “As part of our implementation plan, we are developing appropriate infrastructure and building internal capacity to enable us to support the use of electric vehicles across the value chain. To this end, we plan to set up charging facilities across the country beginning with Nairobi…

Samsung has been named the top Global TV manufacturer for the 15th consecutive year. According to market research firm, Omdia, Samsung Electronics recorded 31.8% in global TV market share by revenue in Q4 2020, retaining the largest annual category market share by revenue in 2020, at 31.9%. Samsung attributes its success to the innovation of new technologies that has grown its user base in the Q-LED portfolio, manufacture of the ultra-large screen segment over 75 inches, the broadening of a Lifestyle TV portfolio, and what the company terms as a series of industry, category, and product “firsts”. “Consumers use screens…

The Standard Media Group has appointed PwC Kenya as its external auditor following the resignation of Anglo-Dutch multinational KPMG in February. In a notice, Standard said that the appointment was effective March 1, 2021. “Pursuant to Regulation G.05 (1) (b) of the Fifth Schedule of the Capital Markets (Securities) (Public Offers and Disclosures) Regulations, 2002 – amended 2019, the Board of Directors of The Standard Group PLC (“the Company”) wishes to notify the public of the appointment of PwC Kenya as the Company’s External Auditor, to fill a casual vacancy effective 1st March 2021,” said the company secretary Millicent Ng’etich.…

KEBS recently issued a notice warning the public against the use of Tissue papers that were found to be non-compliant with the requirements of the Standards Act Cap 496, Laws of Kenya. The state agency sent out a notice to suppliers and distributors, asking them to withdraw the specific tissue brands from their outlets. “The purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention that the toilet paper brands listed below are non-compliant to Kenya Standards and we request your good office to notify your members to withdraw these brands from your outlets across the country until further notice.”…

On Tuesday night, Kenya received the first batch of 1.02 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid-19 vaccines. The vaccines were received by government dignitaries led by Health CS Mutahi Kagwe at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), transported by Qatar Airways flight QR1341. Others who accompanied Kagwe include Maniza Zaman (UNICEF Representative to Kenya) and Dr Rudi Eggers (WHO Representative to Kenya). Under normal circumstances, it would have been expected that the vaccines would have been transported by national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ), which recently converted one of its passenger Dreamliner to a cargo plane. However, the choice of the…

Twitter has announced that it will start labeling tweets that contain misinformation regarding Covid-19 vaccines. The social media platform said the move was an extension of its efforts to remove the “most harmful COVID-19 misleading information from the service.” Twitter also said it was introducing a strike system that would determine when further enforcement action is necessary. The strike system will also educate users on Twitter’s policies and help them avoid going against them. “Through the use of the strike system, we hope to educate people on why certain content breaks our rules so they have the opportunity to further…

Safaricom has partnered with the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to roll out a smart mobile payment solution for students of tertiary institutions to access and utilise their loans and bursaries. The solution will aid HELB to promote responsible spending with the funds locked for specific allocations, such as tuition or library fees only accessible to the specific Paybill account of the recipient’s University or TVET institution. The students upkeep allowance can now also be transferred into the student’s M-Pesa wallet for everyday use. “Technology today is not only revolutionizing every aspect of our lives but also creating opportunities to…

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned of an imminent Al-Shabaab attack targeting Kenyan government security forces, civilians, and Western interests in Kenya. In a statement, US through FAA says that the attacks could also target joint civil-military airfields, primarily near Kenya’s Eastern border with Somalia and in the Coastal region of Kenya adjacent to Somalia. Consequently, FAA has warned US civil aviation to exercise caution when flying into, out of, within, or over the territory and airspace of Kenya at altitudes below FL260 East of 40 degrees East longitude. “The January 5, 2020, complex attack on Camp Simba, which…

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has lashed out at Facebook, accusing them of bias after it closed several accounts belonging to government officials ahead of the January 14, 2021 elections. The tech giant closed down the accounts, alleging that the officials were seeking to manipulate electoral debates ahead of the elections. “They deleted our people’s accounts under the guise, but we can see the bias, the discrimination standards they used. You cannot say that these were doing wrong, what about the other group (opposition) that have been spreading all forms of wrong information and inciting our people?” Museveni questioned, according to…