Category: Internet

Intel unveils Nervana its first ever New AI-driven neural network chip

San Francisco: Intel has unveiled its first high-performance Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven neural network chip “Nervana neural network” to meet the growing high-speed computing and robotics demand. The chip-maker showcased the Nervana neural network processors, with the NNP-T for training and the NNP-I for inference at the “Hot Chips 2019” conference at Stanford University in California on Tuesday. “To get to a future state of ‘AI everywhere,’ we’ll need to address the crush of data being generated and ensure enterprises are empowered to make efficient use of their data, processing it…

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Apple Card just quietly launched, takes a new approach to credit cards use

Last week, Apple Card was launched, a new product that just might make the tech firm a lot of money. However there wasn’t much elation and ululation. This is because, anyone who put their name down to get Apple notifications likely got a highly personalized invitation about the product. To celebrate the launch, Apple didn’t release an expensive ad featuring exited customers, rather, Apple’s YouTube page was filled with explanatory videos. The Card is Apple’s different approach to credit cards use, statements are handled, and rewards are redeemed, without any…

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Instagram new yanks on Hyp3r off its systems

Staff Writer
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 New law to tax local online purchases

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

Staff Writer

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.…

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New commercial 5G services in at least seven African markets.

Safaricom

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…

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Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram in worst new ever worldwide outage for the internet giant

Facebook said it was “back at 100 percent” after an outage on all of its services affected users in various parts of the world. Online monitoring service DownDetector reported on Wednesday that the outage began around 12:00 GMT and affected Facebook as well as its Instagram and WhatsApp services. “The issue has since been resolved and we should be back at 100 percent for everyone,” the company tweeted at 00:06 GMT on Thursday, adding they were sorry for “any inconvenience”. A Facebook spokesperson, also speaking on behalf of Instagram and…

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Google debuts new Google News Initiative challenge

Staff Writer

Google on Tuesday opened the Google News Initiative (GNI) challenge for media publishers in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. The Head of Google News Initiative Innovation, Ludovic Bleacher, made the disclosure at the unveiling of the initiative in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Google News Initiative is a journalism-focused programme that will help publishers earn money and fight fake news. It will also introduce an open-source tool called Outline, which will make it easier for news organisations to set up secure access to the…

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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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Online Marketplaces new potential job creation.

Staff Writer
COVID 19 Read consumer

Online marketplaces such as Jumia, Souq, Uber, and Travelstart could create around 3 million new jobs by 2025 across Africa. This is according to findings of a new report released today by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Titled ‘’How Online Marketplaces Can Power Employment in Africa’’ the report notes that these digital platforms, which match buyers and providers of goods and services, could also raise incomes and boost inclusive economic growth with minimal disruption to existing businesses and workforce norms. Speaking during the launch of the report, Patrick Dupoux, a senior…

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