Category: APPS

WhatsApp to roll out a new feature to block others from adding you to groups

WhatsApp forwarding

In a very much welcomed move, Facebook-owned WhatsApp has announced that it will roll out a feature in the coming weeks that gives users much more control over group chats in the app. The company will soon add a new privacy tool to the app that allows a user to block anyone from adding them to a group chat. The feature comes as concerns have mounted over the past few years that WhatsApp group chats are being used to spread fake news and disinformation. Under the new controls, a user…

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MTN launches new ‘world first’ WhatsApp-based Airtime Top-up service

Staff Writer

MTN says it will become the first mobile network in the world to let customers buy airtime and data bundles and check their balances directly on Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp. The service, MTN Chat, will help customers manage their accounts “off a secure and convenient platform they already know and love”, said Mapula Bodibe, MTN SA’s consumer business executive. “It’s imperative that companies focus on improving self-service experiences to retain and grow customers and this is an important step for MTN,” Bodibe said. Calling it a world first for the…

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MPESA option now available on Aliexpress App

Staff Writer

AliExpress. Shopping online can seem like a daunting task to some people, especially considering the  limited payment options and security issues that bog online transactions. Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform, AliExpress, has slowly but steadily gained popularity in Kenya as the platform opens up the Chinese vast goods market to Kenyans. International shopping in Kenya has mainly relied on third-party services such a Vitumob or Something Random, that aim to connect locals to the well-established platforms like Amazon but recently we have seen these shopping websites make an effort to directly reach…

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PesaPal adds new payments options.

Electronic payments firm PesaPal has added payment options in its integrated mobile money processing platform for shoppers and those making utility payments. The company said its users will be able to leverage on its new app — dubbed PesaPal Mobile — to buy airtime, pay bills, book flights and holidays, purchase event tickets and pay school fees. It has partnered with Safaricom’s M-Pesa, Visa and MasterCard to enable the payments “Available on both Android’s Google Play Store and Apple‘s App Store, the app is geared towards consumers looking to simplify…

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Uber introduces new electronic chip from NTSA.

Staff Writer

Taxi-hailing firm Uber has introduced a new safety measure that requires vehicle owners to first acquire an electronic chip windscreen sticker from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). The sticker allows identification and authentication of car ownership before they are certified to offer its service. Uber in a notice to vehicle owners last week said starting March 1 all vehicles were required to have the NTSA’s Radio Frequency Identification sticker before receiving a go-ahead for further inspection at partner stations AutoXpress or Kingsway Tyres. In the latest safety drive,…

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Global Consumer Internet of Things (CIoT) Best New Market to hit USD 143.5 Billion By 2025

Vivo

New York, NY, Feb. 26, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Zion Market Research has published a new report titled “Consumer Internet of Things (CIoT) Market by Node Component (Sensor, Logic Device, Processor, Connectivity IC, and Memory Device), by Network Infrastructure (Storage, Gateway, Ethernet Switch and Routing, and Server), by Solution (Software and Platform), and by Application (Home Security and Smart Domestic, Wearable Technology, Personal Healthcare, Asset Tracking, Smart Office, Smart Homes, and Others): Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, and Forecast, 2018–2025’’. According to the report, the global consumer internet of things (CIoT)…

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WhatsApp New limit text to 5 individuals or groups.

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

On its efforts to fight fake news and it’s spread, Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp has announced that it has globally lowered the forward limit for chats to five contacts or groups. “We’re imposing a limit of five messages all over the world as of today,” Victoria Grand, vice president for policy and communications at WhatsApp, said at an event in the Indonesian capital. Before, WhatsApp allowed users globally to forward messages for up to 20 chats (either individuals or groups). VentureBurn reports that WhatsApp first initiated the lower limit in India back…

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Vodacom New pay to ex-worker

Staff Writer
1Gbps

Nkosana Makate,  the former employee behind the Please Call Me service, says he is exploring his options after Vodacom decided on a “ridiculous and insulting” sum of money to settle a long-standing dispute between them. Vodacom said over the weekend it considered the matter  “finally settled and closed” after its CEO, Shameel Joosub, had decided on a “reasonable” payment for Makate, the former employee who came up with the idea in late 2000. The mobile operator did not disclose the amount, citing a confidentiality agreement. This comes nearly three years…

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Facebook handed over 150 New companies intrusive access to your data

Facebook gave over 150 companies almost unfetted intrusive access to users’ data than previously admitted, exempting them from its usual privacy rules, according to the New York Times. It has emerged that companies like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Spotify, and Yandex had special arrangements to retain access to users’ data (and data on their friends), despite platform changes in 2014 that restricted the practice. For example: — Netflix and Spotify were able to read users’ private messages — Microsoft had access to the names of virtually all users’ friends, without consent…

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Nearly half of New Young users have deleted Facebook.

facebook

Pew surveyed more than 3,400 U.S. Facebook users in May and June, and found that a whopping 44 percent of those ages 18 to 29 say they’ve deleted the app from their phone in the last year. Some of them may have reinstalled it later. Significant shares of Facebook users have taken steps in the past year to reframe their relationship with the social media platform. Just over half of Facebook users ages 18 and older (54%) say they have adjusted their privacy settings in the past 12 months, according…

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