Coding centers launched in Africa

Coding

The African Development Bank has launched a digital tool to help African youth learn coding.The goal is to scale up the program to 130 centers of excellence across the African continent over a 10-year period. The African Development Bank and technology firm Microsoft launched the ‘Coding for Employment’ digital training platform, an online tool to provide digital skills to African youth, wherever they are across the continent. The platform, launched at the 2019 African Economic Conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, aims to promote a continuous learning culture among young…

120 Students Embark On The WeThinkCode Two Year Coding Training

Coding

120 students in South Africa have begun their 2 year training at the WeThinkCode campus in Johannesburg. According to ItNewsAfrica, WeThinkCode says its mission is to source and train Africa’s future coding talent. A mission that is now well on its way to being achieved after the launch of the first peer-to-peer tertiary IT education academy in Africa. The 120 students who come from all parts of South Africa were were carefully screened. The course had attracted 30,000 applicants who were asked to play two games online as the first…

First African video conferencing system Gumzo unveiled in Kenya

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…

Orange opens new Digital center in Senegal

Orange

In Dakar, Senegal, Orange has inaugurated its new concept of a place entirely dedicated to innovation, an “Orange Digital Center”. Several personalities attended the launch, including: Ms Ndèye Tické Ndiaye Diop, Minister for the Digital Economy and Telecommunications; Mr Dame Diop, Minister for Employment, Professional Training and Craftsmanship; Mr Alioune Ndiaye, CEO of Orange Africa and Middle-East; Ms Christine Albanel, Head of CSR, Diversity, Partnerships and Philanthropy for Orange, Deputy Chair of the Orange Foundation and former Minister; and Mr Sékou Dramé, CEO of Sonatel. Following on from Tunisia, Senegal will…

Miss.Africa Digital Celebrates International Women’s Day With its Annual Seed Fund Application Drive

Miss.Africa Digital Seed Fund 2019

DCA Trust celebrated the Women’s Day by launching the 2019 Miss.Africa Digital Seed Fund Application Drive. Parallel to my advocacy on the philosophy of positive “tech disruption”, and how it has the ability to create a welcome change in our societies, if we regularly engage in doing something out of our comfort zone for our mind, body and spirit, I’m a great believer that we will find ourselves in a much better space as human beings, as well as be more effective in our work.” 2019: Year of work-life-balance, –…

How AI could bring a difference in 2019

In 2019, artificial intelligence (AI) will increasingly become a mainstream presence in our work and personal lives, inspiring our purchase decisions and digging deeper into business outcomes and events. At the same time, expectations surrounding AI will also grow, as calls for transparency and fair play become too loud for businesses to ignore. Here are four ways we see AI making a difference in our lives in the new year: AI gets warm and fuzzy. Conversational AI is fast becoming a fact of life; already, 20% of U.S. adults have access to smart speakers in their homes. Google…

Gaming Disorder Officially Recognized by WHO

Video Game

For most of us, a round or three of Fortnite can serve as a playful escapism. But for a small number of people, the World Health Organisation is warning gaming is developing into an unhealthy addiction. The United Nations’ health agency for the first time listed gaming as an addictive behaviour disorder in its latest international classification of diseases, the ICD-11. The disorder, a “genuine” and “harmful” mental health condition, can also contribute to other problems such as lack of physical activity, an unhealthy diet, sleep deprivation and aggressive behaviour. “What…

Uber Paid Hackers to Delete Stolen Data on 57 Million People

Hackers stole the personal data of 57 million customers and drivers from Uber Technologies Inc., a massive breach that the company concealed for more than a year. This week, the ride-hailing firm ousted its chief security officer and one of his deputies for their roles in keeping the hack under wraps, which included a $100,000 payment to the attackers. Compromised data from the October 2016 attack included names, email addresses and phone numbers of 50 million Uber riders around the world, the company told Bloomberg on Tuesday. The personal information…

Old Windows malware may have tampered with 132 Android apps

Google has removed 132 apps from its Play store following a malicious coding flaw that was found possibly because the developers were using infected computers with malware, according to security researchers. The 132 apps were found generating hidden iframes, or an HTML document embedded inside a webpage, linking to two domains that have hosted malware, according to security firm Palo Alto Networks. Google investigation indicates that the developers of these infected apps are not to blame, but are more likely victims themselves. “We believe it is most likely that the…

Second 7000 USD Seed Funding for STEM Initiatives announced by Miss.Africa

The Miss.Africa initiative from DotConnectAfrica Trust has announced a second offering for its annual Seed Fund  for Tech initiatives in Africa led and founded by Women. In the first round, the Miss.Africa Seed Fund, a sum of Seven Thousand United Stated Dollars (USD 7000) received an overwhelming number of applications of over 90 applicants from more than 18 Countries in Africa across the African continent and anticipates a big turn of applications for the 2016 phase. As statement on the announcement by Sophia Bekele CEO and Founder DotConnectAfrica Group noted that…