Author: Francis Muli

Carry1st, a mobile gaming company focused on Africa, has raised $20 million in funding headed by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Avenir Growth Capital, and musician Nas. According to a statement released on Wednesday, the increased funding will help the four-year-old company to expand its content inventory, grow its workforce, and attract new consumers. Carry1st says it will also collaborate with studios to develop new concepts and infrastructure for play-to-earn games. “We are delighted to be making our first investment in an Africa-headquartered company in Carry1st,” Andreessen Horowitz General Partner David Haber said. “We see immense opportunity…

In the last 24 hours,762 people tested positive for Covid-19. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 319,011. The positivity rate is now 9.8 percent 16 new deaths were reported bringing the cumulative number of fatalities to 5,520. More to follow Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com or WhatsApp +254707482874. You can also find us on Telegram through www.t.me/kahawatungu

Kenya recorded a decline in business registrations in 2021, after a surge of start-ups occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. According to data from the Registrar of Companies, new company registrations dropped 4.6 percent to 136,633 from 143,152 in the previous year. In addition, the number of new company names registered fell by 4% to 90,458 from 94,115 in 2020, while the number of private firms fell by 5.8% to 46,175 from 49,037. This comes when the economy has recovered and many Kenyans have returned to work. Many Kenyans were affected by the financial slowdown experienced at the peak…

WhatsApp is working on a feature that will allow its subscribers to access support directly from the messaging app through a support chat account. WhatsApp had rolled out a Beta version of the feature in March 2021, but it was discontinued after a few months. Beta testers have reportedly started seeing the option to get service from the messaging app again, meaning it could be back in development. The feature was discovered by WhatsApp tracker WABetaInfo on update 2.22.3.5 of the app’s Android version and 22.2.72 of WhatsApp for iOS. Beta testers can access support through chat by going to…

Have you searched for Betty White on Google lately? The tech giant is honouring the late legendary actress with a “Thank you for being a friend,” tribute message with beautiful graphics and rose petals dropping down the screen. White would have turned a hundred this week on the 17th, and users who type her name on the search engine are able to join in celebrating her life. White passed away of natural causes on December 31, 2021, two weeks shy of her 100th birthday. She was popular for starring in popular sitcoms including Golden Girls which ran from 1985 to…

The deadline for the submission of entries for the eighth Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards has been extended to Friday, 28 January 2022. Africa Magic and MultiChoice are calling on all film and television industry participants and stakeholders across the continent to take part in the celebration of the African film and TV industry by submitting their works. Films, TV movies, or television series are eligible for entry to the AMVCAs if they were broadcast, publicly screened, or exhibited between December 1, 2019 and November 30 2021. Previous entries and winners in other film and television competitions are also eligible…

Instagram is working on a feature that could soon allow users to conceal their following on the platform. The feature is designed to boost privacy on the platform by limiting the number of followers another user can view from an account. Gossip blogs and websites are known for using Instagram to investigate celebrity relationships. Whenever any celebrity unfollows their partner, users simply go to their page, click on the followers and type in the partner’s name to confirm breakup rumours. Read: Twitter Working on a Solution for Disappearing Tweets According to reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, the new feature will help…

Twitter has started rolling out a feature allowing users to flag misleading tweets on the platform months after launching the pilot test. The social media platform aims to curb the spread of misinformation by involving Twitter users in the fight against the vice. The pilot test was rolled out in the United States, South Korea, and Australia in August 2021. Since then, the popular social network says that flagged tweets using the feature have hit about three million. Read: Instagram Enables Twitter Card Preview for Content Posted on Twitter The feature has now been rolled out to users in Brazil,…

Three Paypal customers have filed a federal lawsuit against the company for unlawfully freezing their accounts and taking their funds without explanation. The plaintiffs, who hail from California and Chicago in the United States say the firm has violated racketeering laws. They are now pursuing reimbursement, as well as punitive and exemplary damages, on behalf of all other users who’ve had their accounts frozen in the past. One of the plaintiffs, Lena Evans, said she had been using Paypal for 22 years before the company froze and later seized $26,984 from her account without explanation. Evans had been using PayPal…

The world’s ten wealthiest men increased their fortunes over the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic even as poverty and inequality rose, an OXFAM report released on Monday shows. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEOs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, former Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, US investor Warren Buffet, and Bernard Arnault, the CEO of the French luxury group LVMH, are among the world’s richest men, according to information sourced from Forbes. In a briefing released ahead of a virtual mini…

Video-streaming app Netflix has increased its subscription fees for its plans across the United States and Canada. Through a statement issued on Friday, the company said the prices are in line with its plans to amp programming for the growing streaming market. “We’re updating our prices so that we can continue to offer a wide variety of quality entertainment options. As always we offer a range of plans so members can pick a price that works for their budget,” the spokesperson added. “We understand people have more entertainment choices than ever and we’re committed to delivering an even better experience…

WhatsApp is reportedly getting a series of new features on its Android and Desktop versions of the app. Users on the android app are set to gain new pencil and drawing tools while web users will be getting colour changes. According to WhatsApp features trackers WABetaInfo, the android features are available on beta update 2.22.3.5 while the desktop features are available on beta update 2.2201.2.0. Android app users currently have a single pencil to draw, but with the new update, they will get both thick and thin pencils. The web version will also receive a new dark blue colour which…

Popular Biscuit manufacturer, Britania, is up for sale. The company was last year placed under administration after defaulting on loans worth about Sh1.3 billion from Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) and other creditors. The sale was announced through a notice on one of the local dailies by Peter Kahi of PKF consulting, who was appointed by DTB as administrator. Britani had failed to clear about Sh900 million in loans to the financial institution. Company assets listed for sale include a modern high-tech plant at Industrial area, Nairobi, factory buildings and raw materials. Read: Manu Chandaria’s Kaluworks Limited Placed Under Receivership Over…

Microsoft has halted production of all Xbox One consoles in order to focus on its next-generation consoles. According to the Verge, the Xbox One X and digital Xbox One S were originally canceled by Microsoft ahead of the arrival of the Xbox Series X in 2020. “To focus on the production of Xbox Series X / S, we stopped production for all Xbox One consoles by the end of 2020,” a senior director of Xbox console product marketing said. The Xbox 1 was released in 2103 and a study revealed that more than 51 million Xbox One consoles had been…

Popular Kids song “Baby Shark” has surpassed 10 billion views on YouTube, making it the most viewed video on the platform. The song, uploaded by entertainment company ‘Pinkfong’ five years ago already became the most viewed video in November 2020 before garnering over 10 billion views this year. The song was first released by the South Korean company and performed by a Korean-American singer by the name of Hope Segoine. The song has become a worldwide hit among children and toddlers. Its popularity has resulted in the launch of several covers and spin-offs. Read: YouTube Testing Video Downloads for Desktop…