Author: Francis Muli

Telegram recently released a new update allowing you to add animated stickers to the videos or photos you send on the app. They also added a host of video editing tools that allow you to adjust brightness and saturation, tweak the video to your preference, or allow telegram to adjust it for you by tapping twice on the screen. Telegram had introduced stickers before, but you can now add them to any video or photo. The GIF panel also received some new features which include a trending section that allows you to choose from the most popular GIFs on the…

Google Plus replacement, Currents, will be made available to G Suite users from July 6th. The company announced this to G Suite administrators through an email. Google says Currents is a tool that will allow employers engage in meaningful interaction with their employees. Last year, Google shut down Google Plus owing to low usage, but kept an enterprise version for G Suite customers. Any lingering enterprise users will automatically be redirected to Currents next month, and Plus links will be redirected to Currents URLs. The interface for Currents includes a home stream, which can either be ordered chronologically or by…

On the night of Friday May 30, 2020, Betty Kyalo’s fans were caught off guard when she announced her resignation from K24 TV, a station owned by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Mediamax Company. Though there were reports of mass firing in the media house, no one expected Betty to resign that night including her cameramen and close workmates, according to co-worker and radio presenter Felix Odiwuor alias Jalang’o. In a YouTube interview with Jalang’o, Betty says that she was not fired, but felt that the media house was not appreciating her enough. “I wan’t fired. I’ve worked so hard to be…

If you use your Gmail regularly, you must already be used to seeing the link to Google Meet prominently on your email’s menu. The tool, which is a revamped version of Hangouts Meet is available to all Google account owners. You can easily start or join a video conference right from your inbox using the links placed on the left hand side of the page. However, you may not have any intention of using the Google Meet at the very moment, or you just do not want to see it first every time you log in to your email. This…

Facebook has deleted a number of books purporting to be associated with Justice for George Floyd but exhibiting inauthentic behavior. Suspicious groups have in the last one week switched their focus on the US protests while calling for justice for George Floyd who died in the hands of the police. Some accounts, which were posting misleading images, were traced back to Bangladesh and Vietnam. Others previously focused on 5G, the COVID-19 Pandemic and support for the US president, Donald Trump. Read: Racism In Kenyan ‘International’ Schools : Victim Shares Her Experience At Peponi School A Facebook spokesperson said they had…

The Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has refused to prosecute renowned Kisumu tycoons and owners of United Millers Sunil Shah and Kamal Shah who had been arrested by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) detectives over alleged of forgery, intent to defraud and a conspiracy to defeat justice. The two are directors of the United Millers are accused of presenting forged and fake documents in Court in support of their case against BN Kotecha and Sons Limited. In the charge sheets seen by this writer, Sunil Narshi Shah, Kamal Narshi Punja Shah, Henry Musyoki Kavita, Magnesh Kumar Verma, and United…

Safaricom is currently testing the new smart meter and Narrow band technology. Early last year, Safaricom introduced the concept at the Development convention. The innovation was based around the company’s Narrow band-IoT Network, Ultrasonic metering and real time data transfer. How it works The device is capable of monitoring the real time consumption of water. Water monitoring basically helps to establish a water provider’s water balance and usage. It also helps to determine how much water is collected from rivers, boreholes and dams actually make it into the customer’s meter. After the concept development, this year, a team set out…

Facebook’s google photos transfer function is now available globally. The new tool will allow you to create copies of all your photos and videos on facebook account and transfer them to your linked Google photos one. The tool has been available in different parts of Africa, Asia pacific and Latin America since last December, but has now been expanded to more countries. Below is how you can use the data transfer tool on Facebook While logged into your Facebook account, click on the down arrow at the end of the upper menu bar and select settings. Select the tab ‘your…

Kenyans with loans with the Kenya Commercial Bank amounting to more than Ksh120 billion have had their loans restructured to to negative effects of Covid-19 to the economy. In May, the bank reported that it had restructured loans worth Ksh80 billion, and the 50 percent shift within a month is a testimony of the rising economic challenges posed by Covid-19 pandemic. Among the biggest beneficiaries included SMEs, large firms and home buyers, who have found it hard to service their loans during this period. “We have restructured more than Sh120 billion of loans so far across our region,” said KCB’s…

The NCBA Bank has announced plans to close 14 branches countrywide, most of which were operated under the CBA and NIC banks banners before merger. In a public notice, the bank says it has received a nod from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). Some of the affected branches have been closed since April 1. “The Central Bank of Kenya has approved an application by NCBA Bank Kenya PLC (NCBA) to merge and close its 14 branches. 7 of the affected branches had been temporarily closed since April 1st 2020 as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,”…

BBC announced last year that it was developing a voice assistant to be used on TVs, Computers and mobiles. The voice assistant has been released to a small group of people for testing on windows computers. The voice assistant named Beeb uses Microsoft technology and is still in the beta phase- meaning that not all features are available and working correctly. Currently, Beeb’s voice is based on that of a UK voice actor with a Northern England accent. The team behind the voice assistant have, however, been working to ensure that it can understand other regional accents. Users who download…

Facebook has confirmed that it is testing new email marketing tool for pages that have a small number of small and medium sized companies. The social media network said that the new tools will enable small businesses to create email contact lists manually or by uploading an already created contacts from spreadsheets. They can then compose emails easily using the tools and then send those emails directly via their Facebook pages platforms, with the ability to also track their performance. Businesses that are testing the feature can access the email marketing tools through a marketing Emails tab in their pages’…

Google has been sued for $5 billion in the US for tracking users in Incognito mode. The class action suit against the giant tech company comes under claims that it invades the privacy of users by tracking the activity of users browsing in ‘private mode’. Boles Schiller Flexner filed the suit in California which likely includes ‘millions’ of users who have browsed incognito since June 1, 2016. “Google cannot continue to engage in the covert and authorized data collection from virtually every American with a computer or phone,” the complaint said. “People everywhere are becoming more aware (and concerned) that…

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is facing increased pressure from all sides following his refusal to take action against President Trump. The latest to join in are 33 former employees who worked in Facebook in the early stages including those who helped develop the original community guidelines. The group presented their stand through an open letter to the company detailing a singular clear and strongly argued case against Zuckerberg’s position. The group argues that Facebook’s position on moderating Trump is inconsistent and consciously exposes the public to dangers the company has witnessed before and that it creates double standards that makes…

The latest Executive Order by President Uhuru Kenyatta has abolished the Presidency and instead put the Office of the Deputy President under the Office of the President. Under the new government structure, the Deputy President will not be able to act autonomously, but will depend on decisions made by the President or his office. This means that the Deputy President will no longer have power to hire staff, have a budget or other related functions. Although he is still the second in command, the DP will serve in the “Executive Office of the President” alongside head of public service Joseph…