Author: Staff Writer

Google announced that people in 25 additional cities outside of the United States can use parking difficulty icons on Google Maps for Android and iOS. These cities join the following US cities: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas/Fort Worth, DC, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Orlando,…

Every year, SME100 Nigeria one of Nigeria’s fastest growing platforms for young entrepreneurs; recognises and celebrates 25 Nigerians under the age of 25 who are doing phenomenal things in Nigeria and contributing to socio-economic development of the country . The Nominee reception and awards ceremony held on Saturday, 26th of August…

Google has released a preview of a new software development kit (SDK) called ARCore. ARCore brings augmented reality capabilities to existing and future Android phones. Google says it has been working on this for the past nine years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttdPqly4OF8 Google says in a blog post that “it has been developing the fundamental technologies…

The 67th International Motor Show (IAA) will kick off on the 14th of September in Frankfurt. It promises to be a wonderful show which will show the latest trends in cars and mobility. Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel will open the IAA Cars 2017 on September 14. Two days later, from September 16,…

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan took to Facebook to announce the arrival of their second child. The baby’s name is August. Mark and Priscilla wrote her a letter. Here is the contents of the letter below When the first child was born, he also shared a…

With its bold and daring theme of ‘brave tech hearts beat as one’ the 2017 Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival will once again pioneer uniquely African technology and creativity in an electrifying ten-day programme, from 6 to 16 September, to showcase the power of innovative collaboration. This year’s festival once again…

Kenya is now among eleven African countries to have slapped a ban on plastic bags. The ban came into effect on the 28th of August. As from this date, anyone found selling, manufacturing or carrying them could face fines of up to $38,000 (£30,000) or prison sentences of up to…

The PitchDrive crew get a delicious start to their Friday. First they enjoy a community breakfast at The Place with some other startup founders and tech enthusiasts, then they head on a tour at EnpactHub for a brief open pitch. It’s Friday at Berlin and the PitchDrive crew explore it…

HMD Global, the Finnish-based company that owns the rights to use Nokia’s brand on mobile phones, announced the birth of its first smartphone, the Nokia 6 in January 2017. The Nokia 6 comes with Android 7.1.1 Nougat, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, along with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of…

Showmax has added another way to watch TV shows and movies on demand with no contract and no ads. In addition to having apps for tablets, smartphones, computers, media players and smart TVs, Showmax has now added support for the Xbox One gaming console.  Internet TV service Showmax has added…

The PitchDrive crew get on their tourist behaviour learning about Berlin and her historical walls. It was fascinating to discover the city in a new light. Refreshed from the new knowledge, they head to Factory Berlin; a next generation business club, connecting innovators to build relationships that truly matter, connecting…

WhatsApp has introduced verified account feature just like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This means that accounts verified by WhatsApp will have green ticks. The company said that some business accounts have already been verified. This was mentioned in a blog post recently by the Facebook-owned business. The blogpost read; WhatsApp…

The board of directors of taxi-hailing company, Uber, has chosen Expedia’s Dara Khosrowshahi to be its new CEO. According to Recode and the New York Times, Dara will replace Travis Kalanick who resigned in June this year. His resignation came after the chaos that ensued following Susan Fowler’s blog post accusing the company for…

It’s the last stop in Amsterdam. The PitchDrive crew have had amazing experiences so far. From a visit to Booking.com, lunch on the boat with the Booking.com team and a pitching session at Rockstart; one of Europe’s first multi-vertical startup accelerators. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iW3t6kLnsI

Early in the month of August, Asus revealed four new phones from its Zenfone 4 line: the ZenFone 4, ZenFone Max,ZenFone 4 Max Pro, ZenFone 4 Selfie, and ZenFone 4 Selfie Pro. We have one unit of the dual 24MP /5MP front facing camera phone that is the ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro and we…

It’s Day 8 on the PitchDrive tour across 5 European cities, and the crew whilst still in Amsterdam, pay a visit to and work out of B.Amsterdam, dubbed Europe’s biggest startup ecosystem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifupTz8_FuE

Medsaf emerged the winner of the Seedstars Lagos competition that took place on the 25th of August. The e-Health startup beat nine other participants to join the global Seedstars Family and take part in the regional and global Seedstars Summits. Medsaf is an e-health startup that is making the process of…

Direct Pay Online Group (DPO) has announced the acquisition of Virtual Card Services (VCS) South Africa. This marks the completion of DPO’s purchase of VCS Group, post the earlier acquisition of VCS Namibia and VCS Botswana. Furthermore this acquisition further bolsters DPO’s leading position in Southern Africa post its previous…

Two Rwandan startups, ARED and EarthEnable, have made it to the finals of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge. ARED is a Rwandan start-up that developed a mobile solar kiosk, to bring low-cost connectivity and energy services to millions of Africans while EarthEnable is a company that offers a sustainable and affordable alternative for…

The heir apparent to the Samsung empire, Jay Y. Lee has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for bribery, embezzlement, capital flight and perjury charges. 49-year-old Lee has been in detention since February 2017. He proclaimed his innocence throughout the trial and his lawyer said he would appeal the…