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Uber Africa launches Uber Cash in partnership with Flutterwave

June 10, 2020May 26, 2023 Editor

Uber will launch its Uber Cash digital wallet feature in Sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with San Francisco based Nigerian founded fintech firm Flutterwave. This will let riders to top up Uber wallets using the dozens of remittance partners active on Flutterwave’s Pan-African network. Flutterwave works as a B2B payments gateway network that allows clients to tap its APIs and customize payments applications. Uber Cash will go live this week and next for Uber’s ride-hail operations in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Ghana, Ivory Coast and Tanzania, according to Alon…

First African video conferencing system Gumzo unveiled in Kenya

June 9, 2020March 7, 2023 Editor

Kenya’s Gaming tech start-up, Usiku Games, has launched the first-ever made-in-Africa video-conferencing application that offers users enjoy better quality calls with unlimited attendees, at more affordable prices. “Gumzo”, which means chatting in Swahili offers the service free for users to attend meetings, and only costs Sh100 per week for those who want to host their own meetings. Users are able to pay via Mpesa. The web-based Gumzo system is also one of the most secure platforms with all calls encrypted ensuring that users’ calls are private and protected. Eight weeks…

Online retailers sales see their highest growth on record in April

June 9, 2020May 26, 2023 Dianne Jacobs

Online retailers are seeing Black Friday-like sales due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business. According to new data from Adobe’s Digital Economy Index, U.S. e-commerce jumped 49% in April, compared to the baseline period in early March before shelter-in-place restrictions went into effect. Online grocery helped drive the increase in sales, with a 110% boost in daily sales between March and April. Meanwhile, electronic sales were up 58% and book sales have doubled. The data comes from Adobe’s index of the digital economy, which analyzes more…

Video Gaming market to be valued at $92 Billion in 2020

June 8, 2020May 26, 2023 Editor

As one of the leading forms of entertainment today, the video gaming industry continues to generate remarkable profits from its huge player base. The global video games market is set to jump over $92 billion value in 2020, growing by 10.9% year-on-year this is according to data gathered by GCN. With $54.6 billion profit or nearly 60% of that amount, mobile games remain the most significant revenue stream of the global video games industry. Video Games Revenue Increased by $15.56 billion in Three Years In 2017, the global video games…

2020 survey lists the most admired African brands

May 29, 2020June 2, 2023 Editor

The survey which started 10 years ago, is now seen as the most authoritative survey, analysis, and metric of African brands. It is a consumer-led survey that seeks to establish brand preferences across Africa. The respondents of this survey are 18 years and older, in 27 countries which collectively represent 50% of the continent, covering all economic regions and accounting for an estimated 80% of the population and the GDP of Africa. American sports and fitness giant, Nike takes the top spot for the third year in a row. MTN…

New study reveals new consumer experiences during COVID-19

May 28, 2020June 2, 2023 Editor

The era of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has had consumers taking online classes, signing up for trials and subscriptions, and using telehealth. It’s a golden opportunity for service providers, according to a new survey. The April 2020 Amdocs study surveyed 1,000 people in the US, 18 and over, to examine consumer behavior and attitudes in day-to-day life, and how they have changed during the pandemic. The changes in those surveyed also reveal that there are new opportunities for service providers during this time–nearly a third of those surveyed (30%) are…

PayPal rolls out a new QR code feature in its app to enhance contactless payments

May 26, 2020June 2, 2023 Editor

PayPal Becomes The First Foreign Payment Platform In China

Cash is out and touch-free payments are during the coronavirus pandemic, this Paypal has taken cue and announced a new feature in its mobile app that will let customers make payments at stores, farmers’ markets and just about anywhere else using QR codes. You can scan a code — either from a printout or on a screen — using your phone’s camera. Payment QR codes are already fairly common, with a bunch of companies providing similar features, including Visa, Mastercard and Walmart. The biggest difference is that many existing QR…

NewsGuard, news credibility and transparency content scoring service free for all Microsoft Edge users

May 21, 2020 Editor

NewsGuard is a desktop browser extension that displays credibility and transparency content scoring and is available by subscription. It launched in August 2018 and typically costs $2.95 per month for a desktop user. In recent weeks, NewsGuard, the internet news watchdog service, has been escalating its battle against misinformation by opening a Coronavirus Misinformation Tracking Center and offering its service for free to all internet users until July 1. Until recently, only Microsoft Edge mobile device users on iOS and Android had unlimited free access to the service. Last week, the company entered a partnership with…

Telegram quits on its cryptocurrency focused subsidiary TON

May 14, 2020 Editor

After years of drama with the SEC, Telegram is calling it quits on its crypto-focused subsidiary, Telegram Open Network (TON). “Telegram’s active involvement with TON is over,” wrote Pavel Durov, founder and CEO, in an announcement on his channel. “You may see – or may have already seen – sites using my name or the Telegram brand or the ‘TON’ abbreviation to promote their projects. Don’t trust them with your money or data.” TON was a blockchain platform designed to offer decentralized cryptocurrency to anyone with a smartphone, in a…

Using Big Data In The Fight Against Coronavirus

April 27, 2020 olivia Craig

One of the advantages we have today in the fight against coronavirus that wasn’t as sophisticated in the SARS outbreak of 2003 is big data and the high level of technology available. China tapped into big data, machine learning, and other digital tools as the virus spread through the nation in order to track and contain the outbreak. The lessons learned there have continued to spread across the world as other countries fight the spread of the virus and use digital technology to develop real-time forecasts and arm healthcare professionals…