July, 2019 - itbusinessdirect

Meet Google’s new Gallery Go, an offline, lightweight alternative to Google Photos

July 25, 2019 olivia Craig

Gallery Go is a new app from Google designed to let people with unreliable internet connections organize and edit their photos. Like Google’s regular Photos app it uses machine learning to organize your photos. You can also use it to auto-enhance your pictures and apply filters. The difference is that Gallery Go is designed to work offline, and takes up just 10MB of space on your phone. Gallery Go is just the latest lightweight version of an app designed for developing markets like Nigeria, where Google announced the new app.…

Not coming to Ethiopia to Invest unless central bank rectifies the wrongful appropriation of diaspora shares – Sophia Bekele Eshete

July 24, 2019August 6, 2021 Editor

The monies and profits confiscated from the sale of the diaspora shares should be returned in full Op-Ed By Sophia Bekele Eshete, Addis Fortune | July 20, 2019 The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) passed a guideline about relinquishing shares in banks owned by foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin in 2016. The majority of the public, particularly the intellectuals and legal experts who understood what happened with the sale of the shares by the central bank and the financial institutions, know that it was a huge mistake. Various voices have…

Negotiated fares taxi hailing app inDriver, targets more African cities

July 22, 2019

Online ride hailing service, inDriver, which allows passengers to negotiate the fare with drivers, has begun recruiting drivers in Harare for the service, which it intends to launch in the capital towards the end of this month. inDriver, which is headquartered in New York, has 26 million users in more than 200 cities throughout the world. The service is already operating in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The inDriver app is used by passengers and drivers to be linked up and negotiate fares. The app can also be used…

By 2025, there will be commercial 5G services in at least seven African markets

July 18, 2019

Digital technologies are having a profound impact on the way people live, work, play and communicate. This is especially true in Sub-Saharan Africa where such technologies increasingly provide access to life-enhancing services for individuals and communities that would otherwise be excluded, due to infrastructure, skills and funding shortages. Key trends in the region’s digital landscape, including a youthful demographic and the increasing digital disruption of industries, point to growing demand for next-generation connectivity. It is universally accepted that high-speed, reliable and robust network infrastructure is critical to the growth of…

French TV Canal+ acquires ROK film studio from IROKOtv for an undisclosed amount

July 15, 2019 olivia Craig

French television company Canal+ has acquired the ROK film studio from VOD company IROKOtv for an undisclosed amount. The company founded by Jason Njoku in 2010—and backed by $45 million in VC—IROKOtv boasts the largest online catalog of Nollywood film content in the world reports TechCrunch Based in Lagos, ROK film studios was incubated to create original content for IROKOtv, which can be accessed online anywhere in the world. Actress and producer Mary Njoku—IROKOtv CEO Jason Njoku’s wife—founded ROK studios and will stay on as Director General under the Canal+…

Regulate? Mobile-based online lending firms may be money laundering channels says Central Bank of Kenya governor

July 12, 2019 olivia Craig

Mobile-based lenders pose money laundering risk, says CBK

Mobile-based online lending firms should be regulated to avoid their usage as channels for introducing illegally-obtained cash into the financial system, Central Bank of Kenya governor Patrick Njoroge has said. In a presentation to parliamentarians Wednesday, Dr Njoroge singled out Tala, Branch and Okash — three highly-popular digital money lenders — as credit-only mobile lending institutions that could be easily used to launder illicit cash. Money laundering, which involves transferring and disguising illegally obtained cash to make it look legitimate, is mostly used by criminals and the corrupt to clean…

EurAfrican Forum 2019: Siyanda Mohutsiwa: “A shared imagination is behind some of society’s greatest achievements”

July 10, 2019 Editor

A Conversation Between Presidents Eurafrican Forum 2019, July 4-5 EAF19_BoaOnda

CASCAIS, July 9, 2019 For the second year, Portugal was the stage of the EurAfrican Forum 2019, that gathered 450 participants from Europe and Africa on July 4-5, with the theme “Partnership of Equals: Sharing Values, Sharing Prosperity” – a new approach and paradigm for the relationship between Europe and Africa, changing the narrative for both continents to create an accountable, prosperous and sustainable future together. As Siyanda Mohutsiwa, Satirical Writer from Botswana and living in the USA stated, “A shared imagination is behind some of society’s greatest achievements: technology,…

Payment app Venmo has 40 million users, parent company PayPal discloses

July 1, 2019 olivia Craig

Popular payment app Venmo has ushered in 40 million users to the platform, its parent company PayPal announced on Wednesday. This is the first time PayPal has disclosed user numbers for the millennial-focused, peer-to-peer app. In its first-quarter earnings report, PayPal said it now has a total 277 million total customer accounts — including 22 million merchant accounts. Total payment volume for Venmo grew 73% year over year to $21 billion in the first quarter, the company said. PayPal said Venmo is still on pace to do $100 billion in…

Africa News Room

July 1, 2019 Editor