Category: MOBILE

Uber loses London operating licence due to a pattern of failures

Editor
Uber London

The online taxi app platform Uber has ljust ost its licence to operate private hire vehicles in London after authorities found that more than 14,000 trips were taken with uninsured drivers. Transport for London announced the decision not to renew the ride-hailing firm’s licence at the end of a two-month probationary extension granted in September. Uber was told then it needed to address issues with checks on drivers, insurance and safety, but has failed to satisfy the capital’s transport authorities. TfL said on Monday it had identified a “pattern of…

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WhatsApp finally rolls out update that lets one choose who can add them to groups

WhatsApp launches end-to-end encryption on messages for all its users

Lets agree that WhatsApp users find themselves constantly being added to annoying new groups. And this has been the cry of many app users, but the latest WhatsApp feature update will finally puts a rest to this very awkward group chat problem This means that the days of having to mute such chats could soon be a thing of the past, thanks to WhatsApp’s latest feature. The Facebook app has just rolled out new ways for users to stop people adding them to group chats without their permission. In a…

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Facebook debuts new logo with different colors for distinction on its acquisitions Instagram, WhatsApp

Dianne Jacobs
Facebook

Social media leader, Facebook wants more people to know it owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus while still maintaining a distinct identity for its main app. So today it launched a new capitalization and typography format for its company name, using all capital letters and a shifting color scheme that highlights Instagram’s purple gradient and WhatsApp’s green tint. The idea to change the corporate logo to a minimalist rendering of the Facebook name, a move the company said is meant to separate the wider corporation — and its subsidiariesfrom the core…

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Singapore based Credit scoring fintech company, CredoLab, launches in Kenya

credit scoring fintech company, CredoLab, launched in Kenya

Alternative credit scoring fintech company, CredoLab, launched in Kenya recently is lined to drive financial inclusion by credit scoring more people, especially those who are new to bank and credit. CredoLab announced that it is in negotiations with the large financial institutions, digital banks, credit bureaus, consumer lenders and retail operations in Kenya. Michel Massain, Sales for Europe and Africa at CredoLab says, “With the trend in Kenya of banks shifting from traditional banking halls to digital platforms, our alternative credit scoring technology is perfectly timed to help lenders provide…

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Cellulant’s super payments app Tingg unveiled in 8 African countries

Tingg Celuulant

Cellulant the African fintech company has Tuesday announced the launch of Tingg, an all-in-one, multi-functional consumer super app that will include a wide array of payment, commerce and financial services into a single platform that will revolutionize the way customers interact with digital payment services in the continent. The pan-African payments firm has been quietly building a payments super app to bring bill payments, remittances, lending, group investments, food and gas orders in one app in its eight markets across Africa. The firm has now announced a major rebrand of…

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Google’s Android Go, a lightweight alternative for low-end phones is faster brags the company

Google is redesigning its Android Go — a lightweight alternative of its mobile platform design to run faster and smoothly on low-end phones. In a new blog post, the company says apps on Android 10 Go will now launch about 10 percent faster than they did on the older version. This improvement in speed has also made it possible for Google to include a new form of encryption for Go users without compromising overall performance. The Big G also boasts a series of new features for its lineup of Go…

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Tesla Entry App Malfunction Locks Out Car Owners

olivia Craig

Some Tesla owners reported being locked out of their vehicles on Monday evening because the electric car’s app was down. The problem is, app connectivity shouldn’t have any effect on unlocking a Tesla. Downdetector, a tracker for users to report technical difficulties with web-based services, also showed that many users were having trouble with Tesla’s app. @Tesla your server is down for maintenance and we’re locked out of the car. What’s your ETA? — Melissa Chan (@melissachanhk) September 2, 2019 On Monday, numerous drivers found their apps were down “for maintenance”…

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Tala Microloan Startup gains $110 Million In latest Funding

Mobile-based lenders pose money laundering risk, says CBK

Tala, a Los Angeles startup that makes microloans to consumers and small business owners in emerging markets, is announcing today that it has raised $110 million in funding. The new Silicon Valley venture capital firm RPS Ventures, cofounded by Kabir Misra, former managing partner at Softbank’s $100 billion Vision Fund, is leading the round. Tala’s backers include PayPal, billionaire Steve Case’s VC firm Revolution, Chris Sacca’s Lowercase Capital and Data Collective, among others. The new funding values Tala at nearly $800 million, according to an investor. Tala has raised more…

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Instagram yanks marketing firm Hyp3r off its systems for grabbing users’ data

olivia Craig
Instagram Fundraiser

Hyp3r was scraping profiles, copying photos and siphoning off data supposed to be deleted after 24 hours, according to a Business Insider investigation. Instagram said Hyp3r had “violated” its policies and had been sent legal papers telling it to stop collecting data. Hyp3r said it complied with privacy regulations and the terms of service for the social networks it targeted. Business Insider said Instagram’s owner, Facebook, should have been more diligent about preventing data grabbing in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The investigation claimed Hyp3r had been “stitching”…

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Nigeria proposes law to tax local online purchases

olivia Craig
Voice App

Online purchases in Nigeria could soon come with a tax bill in part of plans to raise more revenue to fund a record budget, Nigeria’s government is considering a 5% Value Added Tax (VAT) specifically for online purchases. Babatunde Fowler, head of Nigeria’s federal tax agency, says the government may appoint banks as agents to deduct 5% VAT on all local online purchases with a bank card. The policy could be in place by early next year, Fowler said in an interview with Premium Times, a local online newspaper. This…

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