At least four members of Congress from the United States have signed letters demanding the CEOs of the social media companies Meta, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter to archive any content published on their platforms that might be used as proof of Russian military crimes. The advent of short-form video has…
Author: Smart Megwai
Smart Megwai
Smart is a technology journalist covering innovation, digital culture, and the business of emerging tech. His reporting for Innovation Village explores how technology shapes everyday life in Africa and beyond.
Abantu AI, a Kenya-Based startup, has built a “deep learning” technology for natural language processing (NLP) which it claims translates from major world languages to indigenous African languages. The company was created in September 2021 by James Mwaniki, who is also the CEO of MoVAS, a company that provides micro-lending services to telecom companies in…
Activant Capital is a US-based investment company that partners with high-growth companies to transform commerce infrastructure. Founded in 2015, the global company says it partners with startups that show the potential to achieve escape velocity and transform an entire industry. Deliverr, Bolt, and Jokr are among its portfolio of over…
Fight for the Future, a non-profit organisation that advocates for digital rights, together with other 27 human rights organisations, have issued an open letter to Zoom requesting that they stop experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) that can evaluate human emotions. The letter was written in response to a Protocol report stating…
Google has signed contracts with more than 300 news sources in Germany, Hungary, France, Austria, the Netherlands, and Ireland, which allows it to share excerpts of their publications on Search. The Tech giant now says it is launching “a new tool to make offers to thousands more news publishers, starting in Germany and…
Meta faces lawsuits with new allegations of forced labour, human trafficking, and union busting in Kenya. As reported by the Washington Post, this one was filed by Daniel Motaung, a former outsourced Facebook content moderator, against the company and its San Francisco subcontractor, Sama. Motaung claims Sama is trafficking Africans…
JP Morgan, the global leader in financial services, has removed Nigeria from its emerging market sovereign list due to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) inability to transmit three months’ worth of oil earnings to the Federal Government. The American Bank’s emerging market sovereign advised investors to be “overweight” on…
For the most part, people use their smartphones to take down notes or make mental checklists. Even with the best of intentions, people sometimes become sidetracked or forget to put up reminders when their days are busy. If you want to ensure that you don’t lose track of important things,…
In a report by Evan Blass (via 91mobiles), Motorola’s rollable phone would carry the codename “Felix”. And like all models, its design will be different from those of other companies. The company has only produced Razr foldable mobile phones with a clamshell shape and a small footprint when closed. While…
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest beer brewing corporation, announced its 2022 Africa version of the Beer Garage Global Accelerator Program on April 20, 2022. The event drew a virtual audience of 250 attendees, including startups, venture capitalists, accelerators, corporates, and other ecosystem enablers. Beer Garage is the global tech innovation branch…
TikTok is introducing a new “Friends” tab in the app’s bottom menu, which will take the place of the “Discover” tab. The new feature is expected to roll out to more users in the coming weeks. According to TikTok, “Friends Tab… will allow you to easily find and enjoy content…
Meta, in conjunction with Adobe, launches “Express Your Brand”, a free training program that provides free education and tools to help Small Business Owners (SBOs) easily and confidently grow their businesses online. The “Express Your Brand” training program will help SBOs develop more effective content and digital marketing strategies and to…
Radar, a South African HR and payroll startup, has been bought by mobile payments service SnapScan, allowing founders Kobus Ehlers and Gerrit Greeff to return to their original startup. For nearly a decade, Kobus Ehlers and Greeff worked with banks to develop several payment products, culminating in SnapScan, which became…
It appears like Google is creating an entire division to help blockchain developers with backend services. The company intends to make Google’s Cloud Platform the most popular choice for individuals who wish to run Web3 applications. Amit Zavery, vice president of Google Cloud, told CNBC, “We’re not trying to be…
Google I/O 2022 is a few days away, and there should be something exciting for Android and Pixel fans alike. Google has used its annual I/O event to promote its major product releases. Google I/O is where we learn about new Android, Search, Google Cloud, and other technologies. While each…
Ethiopia has begun amending its national payment law to allow Safaricom to enter the 110 million-user market with its successful mobile payment network, M-Pesa. Ethiopia’s central bank, according to sources, has written a bill that will allow foreign investors to offer mobile money services, promoting corporations such as Safaricom that…
Twitter has announced that all Spaces hosts and co-hosts can now view full Spaces analytics. Using the new Spaces analytics tools, you can monitor how many people tuned in, how many presenters were involved, how long each session lasted, and more. The enhanced data insights could be important in incorporating…
Meta has introduced several new features to assist businesses in using its messaging service, including better ad creation on WhatsApp, message merging into the Meta Business Suite inbox, and quote requests on Instagram. To begin with WhatsApp, by streamlining the ad creation process, users will soon be able to create…
The internet is buzzing with conjecture and expert opinions following Elon Musk’s massive Twitter acquisition, but the truth is that it is difficult to forecast exactly where the social networking site will go. In the last few weeks, Musk has made a lot of bold promises about how to improve…
Twitter has now launched a public test of its new “Twitter Circle” feature, which allows users to share tweets with a particular group of friends within the app. “We’re now testing Twitter Circle, which lets you add up to 150 people who can see your tweets when you want to…