Month: June 2020

TikTok announces TikTok For Business with branded content and advertising solutions

Editor
TikTok announces TikTok For Business with branded content and advertising solutions

TikTok has announced the launch of TikTok For Business, a platform that will provide marketers with a range of branded content and advertising solutions to help them utilise the short-form video app for their brand campaigns. At launch, the site will include access to TikTok ad formats, including its marque product, TopView, which is the ad that appears when you first launch the TikTok app. Other products under this TikTok For Business umbrella include Brand Takeovers, In-Feed Videos, Hashtag Challenges and Branded Effects. TikTok said in a statement, “The magic…

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Digital WhatsApp Payments for SMEs launched, Pilots in Brazil

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Digital WhatsApp Payments for SMEs launched, Pilots in Brazil

Facebook has launched its WhatsApp payments service in Brazil, enabling people to send money and make purchases from within the chat app. You use it by linking up your WhatsApp account to your Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card. This now adds Facebook as one of the digital payments and mobile money providers like Mpesa WhatsApp began testing P2P payments in India in 2018 but Brazil, where the messaging service has 120 million users, becomes the first country to get a nationwide rollout. Brazil would be the first to…

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Twitter Launches Voice Tweets for the Human Touch

olivia Craig
platform hint job Twitter CEO Voice Tweets Gryphon

Twitter has hit the ground with a new feature Wednesday that allows users to tweet out voice tweets or notes in place of traditional text posts. Everyone on the platform will soon be able to send voice tweets, the company announced Wednesday . Users will have to option to share audio recordings of up to 140 seconds directly to their feed to accompany the text, photos, videos, and GIFs they already can share with their followers. The new feature is available first on iOS and launching today for “a limited…

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Dropbox enhances cloud storage by adding password manager and vault security features

Dianne Jacobs
Dropbox has unveiled a range of new features aimed at making the storage site more of a one-stop shop for subscribers.

Dropbox has unveiled a range of new features aimed at making the storage site more of a one-stop shop for subscribers. Several of the features have security in mind, while others are designed to make the site more effective for home and business users. On the security front, Dropbox is adding its own password manager. Known simply as Dropbox Passwords, the app saves your passwords in what the company describes as a “safe place” and then automatically enters them when you need to sign into websites and apps. Your saved…

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Rush to Digitization during the COVID 19 Crisis Should perpetuate financial exclusion

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Digitization

Rush to Digitization during the COVID 19 Crisis Should perpetuate financial exclusion.The economic effect of the current global COVID-19 lockdown will be severe. An essential focus for supporting the economic rebound is to invest in efforts to deepen economic integration and further lower trade costs. Digitization, and the creation of specialized ecosystems, will be the single most efficient approach to reduce trade cost on a global scale, which will benefit all countries currently impacted by COVID-19. A robust technical infrastructure and end-to-end digital processes (“paper-less”) are key elements to safeguard…

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DStv to add Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on its platforms in a strategic shift

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DStv

DStv will add Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to its platforms, in a strategic shift that has seen its parent firm, MultiChoice, sign partnership deals with the giant movie streaming services. Netflix poses a growing competitive threat to MultiChoice and its own streaming service, Showmax, and the partnership move marks a shift in MultiChoice’s strategy from trying to compete with such players to working with them instead. The parent company of DStv and GOtv has been facing competition from movie streaming service and internet providers such as Zuku and Safaricom…

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COVID-19 crisis could accelerate African businesses toward innovation and digitization

olivia Craig
Mali based insurtech startup OKO Finance helps rural farmers access crop insurance innovation

McKinsey recently released a report titled, “Reopening and reimagining Africa: How the COVID-19 crisis can catalyze change,” which recommends policies aimed to help Africa use the crisis as an opportunity to create a recovery that features a more inclusive economy, more competitive industries, and more resilient services The report recommends using the pandemic as an opportunity to accelerate digital transformation across the continent. Figure 1 highlights a number of industries poised for swift growth in digitization following the pandemic. Among these, some are already relatively digitized, such as information and…

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IBM to cease developing Facial Recognition Technology after #BlackLivesMatter protests

Dianne Jacobs

IBM will no longer develop and research facial recognition or analysis software and, on top of that, it will no longer offer the technology for general-purposes. This is part of the company’s mission to advance racial equality in the US after #BlackLivesMatter protests – campaigning against violence and systemic racism towards the black community – were organised all over the world. “IBM firmly opposes and will not condone uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and…

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Uber Africa launches Uber Cash in partnership with Flutterwave

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Uber Africa launches Uber Cash in partnership with Flutterwave

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…

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First African video conferencing system Gumzo unveiled in Kenya

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Video Conferencing App Gumzo

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…

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