Author: Francis Muli

Social networking site, Twitter is down. Some of the errors users are getting when trying to navigate the site include “The webpage is not available.” and “This site can’t be reached.” Downdetector has already recorded numerous reports within this short period. In Kenya, the site started having issues a few minutes to 3 pm and the complaints from UK rose to about 4,500 within the same period. Also Read: CBK Revokes License of Mobile Payments Provider ‘Tangaza’ A section of users are able to access the social network, however, others are experiencing the outages affecting the app, website and servers. Twitter…

Telecommunications company Airtel will no longer channel its investments towards tower infrastructure in select African markets, including Kenya. According to the company’s financier, International Finance Corporation (IFC), Airtel plans to liquidate most of its existing assets in favor of leasing infrastructure from other companies. “Airtel Africa is focusing on an asset-light business model and has divested most of its telecommunications tower portfolio and is in the final stages of divesting the majority of its remaining tower portfolio to tower companies,” IFC said in its investment disclosures. The company currently has an estimated 2,500 tower sites across the continent. Read: Kenya’s…

KCPE results are set to be released today by Educations Cabinet Secretary George Magoha. Last week, the CS shared that the results would be out within this week. Candidates who sat for their KCPE exams between March 7 and March 9 this year are already waiting for their results with bated breaths. This year saw more than 1.2 million pupils, the highest number ever, sit for the exams The students who will get their results today are expected to join form one in May this year. Last year, KNEC provided an SMS number allowing parents and students to check the…

The government is urging youth to embrace innovation and technology to curb the unemployment menace. According to ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, the youth possess impressive skills that  which should be cultivated, built up, and assimilated in order to bring about the necessary transformation in economic development Speaking at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), during the Kiambu County Youth Innovations and Entrepreneurship week, the CS said that Kenya was one of Africa’s major innovation and technology centres. He added that Kenya had the requisite resources including high speed internet, good infrastructure, the Ajira Youth Empowerment centres…

Google this week announced that it was working on plans to allow users monitor their health using their smartphones. The tech giant said it wanted to find out whether allowing users to capture their heart beats and eyeball images would help them detect medical issues from home. According to Google’s head of health AI Greg Corrado, the company wants to investigate whether the smartphone’s built-in microphone can help detect heartbeats and murmurs when placed over the chest. He said the readings could help detect heart valve disorders early. “It’s not at the level of diagnosis but it is at the…

Kenya Airways (KQ) has increased the frequency of flight to India after Covid-19 restrictions in the country were lifted. “We are excited and ready for take-off to Mumbai with daily flights from March 28, 2022, and ten weekly flights from April, 17,” the airline confirmed in a notice shared with customers. The national carrier had decreased the number of flights to India to to three per week, resulting in a weekly passenger reduction of 400. India is a top medical tourism destination for many Kenyans seeking specialized treatment for cancer and other diseases. The country is also frequesnted by business…

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday evening presided over the official launch of the Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) in Westlands, Nairobi. This is one of two facilities in the continent, with the other located in Lagos Nigeria. Located at the iconic Dunhill Towers in Westlands, the ADC provides an environment for African techies to develop solutions to address local and global challenges. President Uhuru toured the facility in the company of ICT CS Joe Mucheru. It currently hosts about 450 developers who are working on various applications. Speaking at the event, the President said that ADC is a global recognition…

Spotify’s live audio app, Greenroom, is reportedly moving to the main app for better visibility. The app which allows content creators to hold conversations while subscribers listen is also getting renamed to Spotify Live. According to The Verge, Greenroom was yet to find a bigger audience after a rocky start following its redesign last year. Greenroom was launched in June 2021 as a competitor to social media audio platforms such as Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces. The product was built on Locker room, a social audio platform that was acquired by Spotify in March 2021. Read: Spotify Announces Podcast Based on Bobi…

Meta will require the real identities of people placing political ads on Facebook and Instagram before they are published. The company said it would utilize its resources and tools targeting political advertising ahead of the August 9 polls to enhance integrity and transparency. The transparency will help voters know the identity of the people behinds ads placed on the Meta platforms. It will also give the politicians and political advertisers key resources to reach and engage supporters and potential voters throughout the election period. Read: 3 Arrested as Vandalized KPLC Transformers Recovered at a Scrap Metal Yard in Juja According…

Instagram will now display its main feed using two new modes, “Following’ and ‘Favourites’. The company says the two modes will give users more choice and control over what they see on the app without subjecting them to suggested posts, algorithmic sorting or who and what the app thinks you like. The feeds have been in testing for a while but the photo-sharing app is now releasing them globally. To access either of the feeds, click on the Instagram logo at the top left corners of the home tab and select either ‘Favorites’ or ‘Following’ to view a feed. Read:…

Entertainment streaming service Netflix is inviting applications for the Netflix Creative Equity Scholarship Fund (CESF) for film and TV students in the East African region. The US$1 million scholarship fund for sub-Saharan students forms part of the global Netflix Creative Equity Fund launched in 2021. The streaming company has allocated Sh33,000,000 towards the CESF in East Africa to provide financial support to African creatives to access quality tertiary education and develop a strong, diverse pipeline of creatives around the world. Read: Tsavo National Park Featured in Netflix Documentary Created and Narrated by Former US President Obama The scholarship fund will…

The Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA) has signed a deal with Google to safeguard them from cyberbullying. The tech giant will equip the women politicians with online safety tools to mitigate the impact of online trolls. The partnership will see the female legislators equipped with digital safety measures to protect them from online harassment, particularly on Twitter. This will be done using Google’s newly launched free web tool dubbed ‘Harassment Manager’ that detects toxic and harmful comments by reviewing tweets based on hashtags, usernames, keywords and dates. The tool will automatically block harassment perpetrators and hide demeaning replies to tweets.…

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has said that the anticipated rollout of the proposed Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) could be hampered by the lack of smartphone access by about half of the country’s population. According to official data, 56 percent (33 million) cellphone devices out of 59 million devices in the country are feature phones. This means that the apex bank might face a challenge rolling out the virtual currency that requires internet access to trade on a one-to-one basis with physical cash. According to CBK Governor Patrick Njoroge, using the CBDC on 4G-enabled smartphones will have a…

WhatsApp is rolling out message reactions to a section of Beta testers on the latest update 2.22.8.3. for users. The six available reactions are: Like, Love, Laugh, Surprised, Sad, and Thanks. Read: WhatsApp Working on Additional Drawing Tools for Android, Colour Changes for Web According to official WhatsApp tracker WABetaInfo, the feature was already in the pipeline as the messaging app already rolled out the ability to manage reaction notifications on WhatsApp beta for iOS and WhatsApp Desktop beta. Only a few beta testers will be able to react to messages in this small test, but everyone can now see…

Twitter Spaces hosts will soon be able to share short clips of recorded audio sessions on their timelines. The feature is currently being tested with a handful of hosts on iOS with the clips accessible to all iOS users. The company says the feature will be rolled out to Android and web users very soon. “Ever wish you could capture a moment from a Space? great because we’re testing clipping! certain Hosts on iOS can now clip 30 seconds of audio from recorded Spaces to share, everyone on iOS can see & listen to clips on the Timeline—coming to Android…