Author: Tapiwa Matthew Mutisi

To say that Facebook has some egg on its face right now would be an understatement. The social network not only didn’t take down some sexualized images of children, but reported the BBC when it drew these images to its attention. However, the company now says it has turned a…

You can already send messages, photos and files over email, so why not money too? Google now lets you do precisely that with Gmail on Android. To be clear, the feature was already tucked away into the Web version (click on the little $ icon in the compose Window), but…

Google has officially brought a Pocket-like Read Later feature to the latest version of Chrome for iOS. The feature works a lot like Apple’s Reading List feature in Safari — there’s a new “Read Later” icon that appears on the share sheet in Chrome, which saves articles locally on the…

Early Wednesday morning, several high-profile Twitter accounts were compromised, displaying messages featuring swastikas. BBC North America, Amnesty International and the European Parliament were among the Twitter accounts impacted by the hack. According to a tweet from Twitter support, the company identified an issue caused by a third-party app affecting some…

Social Cues is our look at what people are talking about across social media. Here’s what is trending on Wednesday. Snoop Dogg has seen it all when it comes to rap beefs. At the height of his career, the “Gin and Juice” rapper was deeply embroiled in the East Coast…

Security researchers have come across a new kind of Android malware, which purports to be a well-known app but then exposes your phone to root attacks—and is virtually impossible to remove. The new malware has been found in software available on third-party app stores. The apps in question use code…

At the moment many Kenyan social media users are worried that the government will shut down the internet during August’s general election. Kenya’s Communications Authority have attempted to reassure voters that this is unlikely. However, fears that internet freedoms could be at risk are not unfounded. Governments take on regulating…

In 2016, low commodity and oil prices subdued the growth of African economies to their lowest levels in over two decades. The sluggish growth also damaged the place and value of African brands. Last year, the share of African brands among the most admired and valued companies fell from 23%…

A big chunk of those “likes,” “retweets,” and “followers” lighting up your Twitter (TWTR) account may not be coming from human hands. According to new research from the University of Southern California, up to 15 percent of Twitter accounts are in fact bots rather than people. The research could be…

In the midst of a devastating famine that is threatening nearly half its population, South Sudan has hiked the work permits fees for foreign aid workers by 100-fold. The ministry of labor announced that from March 1, it will charge $10,000 for “professional” humanitarian workers up from around $100. It…

Rose Mugambi Karanja remembers the morning over 20 years ago when she first got into the khat business. Khat, the red-stemmed, green-leafed plant that is chewed for its amphetamine-like properties, was booming in Maua town, which is located in Nyambene Hills in eastern Kenya’s Meru County. For six months, Karanja…

Ok Google, what can Google Assistant do? The answer depends on what hardware you’re using. Google announced last month it would soon release Google Assistant — its latest iteration of an Alexa/Siri-like voice tool — on phones running newer versions of Android after users install an upgrade. These phones will…

A messaging app called Confide, reportedly mostly used by White House staffers due to its “military-grade end-to-end encryption,” appeared so insecure it allowed intruders to spy on contact information, impersonate friendly contacts and alter messages in transit. Once security researchers discovered these vulnerabilities, the company mostly fixed these insecurities, but…

A faulty backup forced one of the largest spam operations ever to expose its database of 1.37bn email addresses and personal information such as real names, IP addresses and physical addresses. However, personal details leaked on a smaller scale than the email data. Security researchers found out that the leaked…

Julian Assange’s whistleblowing service revealed the CIA is still able to hack consumer devices, which has already raised many questions for users and tech firms alike. Apparently, the agency targets all everyday consumer devices including smartphones, computers, and even smart TVs. The Wikileaks’ release shows that the CIA maintains the…

It looks like 2016 was a better year than previously imagined for African startups. An earlier report by Disrupt Africa on investment raised by African startups last year suggested there was a dip in funding on the continent down from 2015. But data from a new report by Partech Ventures,…

Since the return of Nigeria’s President Buhari, social media has been awash with more questions than answers. He’d been gone for 50 days but Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari is finally back home—for now. After a mystery-shrouded extended medical leave in the UK, Buhari landed in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital yesterday (March…

Google wants to make the internet a happier place by taking an irksome security step and—poof!—turning it invisible. Like going through airport security and taking off your shoes, filling out a CAPTCHA field is an annoyance: You have to squint and transcribe distorted letters or numbers to prove you’re not…

The CIA said it’s doing what it’s supposed to when it spies on devices. The CIA said it’s just doing its job, whether or not it has a giant arsenal of hacking tools for phones, computers and smart TVs. After WikiLeaks released thousands of documents allegedly showing the CIA’s tools…

The recent leaks regarding CIA’s hacking efforts proved once again that nobody is secure no matter the software or hardware they are using, but there’s one little thing that might be catching the attention of Windows phone fans: no devices powered by Microsoft’s mobile OS are on the list of…