Author: Akin Naphtal

Elon Musk’s Starlink project, aimed at providing global satellite internet coverage, has encountered a setback in its expansion plans in Africa, with the Botswana Communication Authority denying the satellite company permission to operate in the African nation. Starlink submitted its application in May 2023, but the regulatory body flagged the company for not providing all the necessary information. The specific details of the missing information have, however, not been disclosed. A source within Botswana’s Communication Authority mentioned, “There were issues regarding missing requirements with the application, which were identified and pointed out. They are yet to respond to the issues.”…

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, has inaugurated the DevsinGovernment community in his bid to foster innovation and efficiency within the government. The inaugural gathering, which was held on Thursday, 1st February, brought together over 400 civil servants actively engaged in technology, marked a significant step towards Nigeria’s goal of building a technologically empowered workforce. On his LinkedIn page, Dr. Tijani shared his belief in the critical role of a technologically savvy workforce for the development of a more efficient and effective government. The minister expressed optimism about the commitment and dedication of the technical…

MultiChoice is set to bid farewell to Clarissa Mack, the Group Executive for Regulatory and Policy Affairs on 31st March, as she embarks on retirement after 25 years of dedicated service, marking the end of a quarter-century journey with the entertainment company. Replacing Clarissa Mack is Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng, the former Chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). Modimoeng, who joined MultiChoice a year ago as the Group Executive for Corporate Affairs and Stakeholder Relations. Though Clarissa Mack is stepping down, MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela says she will stay on in an “advisory capacity” for two…

Statistics show that Digital Asset, including cryptocurrencies, NFT, and DeFi, will experience a double-digit increase in growth in 2024, with the market reaching more users and generating more revenue than ever. After a 37% plunge in 2022, the global digital assets market reflected a skyrocket of an impressive 127% in 2023 and hit $60.1 billion in revenue. According to data presented by AltIndex.com, combined crypto, NFT, and Defi revenues are expected to jump by 33% year-over-year and hit more than $80 billion in 2024. Also, Statista, in its survey, stated that over 700 million people used some digital asset last…

US tech giant, AMD, has recently released its new Ryzen 8000G Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), featuring a large integrated graphics processing unit (GPU), capable of running games at faster frame rates compared to the integrated graphics on rival processors. Initial benchmarks reveal that the flagship Ryzen 8700G provides remarkable gaming performance without the need for a dedicated graphics card. Gamers can achieve frame rates ranging from 50 to 120 frames per second (fps) at 1080p on low to medium detail settings in various modern games. The Ryzen 8700G is the highest-tier model in the 8000G series, offering an 8-core/16-thread configuration.…

Following the storm of AI-generated, pornographic images of pop artist Taylor Swift that circulated on X, formerly Twitter, a bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill aimed at criminalising the spread of non-consensual, sexualised images generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The bipartisan group, which includes, Dick Durbin, Lindsey Graham, Amy Klobuchar, and Josh Hawley proposed a legislation known as the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images and Non-Consensual Edits Act of 2024, or the “Defiance Act.” The bill seeks to empower victims depicted in such “digital forgeries” and pursue civil penalties against individuals who produced or possessed the forged content…

Google has unveiled the computer version of its Gemini Ultra artificial intelligence (AI) model on its GoogleAI Facebook page, congratulating Europe as the first continent to experience the Alphabet-owned company’s cutting-edge AI technology. The Facebook post noted that the computer version is more professional, and lauded for its capacity to tackle even the most challenging questions, surpassing the capabilities of OpenAI’s renowned language model ChatGPT-4. Accessible for download here with the free installation passcode “2024”, the advanced version of Gemini AI promises an enhanced user experience with a myriad of features. Boasting 180 tools and functionalities, it is designed to…

The United Kingdom and Canada have signed an agreement to enhance collaboration in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) by focusing on the crucial element of computing power, and exploring avenues for affordable access to high-powered computing resources essential for advancing AI research and development. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on compute, was signed in Ottawa by UK Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan and Canadian Minister for Innovation, Science and Industry François-Phillippe Champagne. With AI’s rapid evolution, access to advanced computing infrastructure has increasingly grown vital for innovative research and global competitiveness. The new agreement between the UK and Canada aims…

Kenya’s President William Ruto has announced a partnership with American tech giant Oracle Corporation to establish a global data centre in Nairobi, marking the second such centre in Africa after the establishment of one in South Africa. President Ruto, while in Italy, revealed the government’s plan to make Kenya a preferred destination for international IT companies. The partnership with Oracle Corporation, a major player in the tech industry, shows the commitment to driving digital transformation across various sectors in Kenya. The global data centre in Nairobi is expected to serve as a regional hub, contributing to the digital transformation of…

Nightshade, a newly developed and freely available tool which helps artists prevent unlicenced usage of their artworks for training AI models, has amassed 250,000 downloads within five days of its release. Created by computer science researchers at the University of Chicago, and crafted to empower artists, Nightshade has struck a chord with the global artistic community seeking to safeguard their creations from AI scraping without consent. Ben Zhao, the lead on the Nightshade project and a professor of computer science, was astonished at the overwhelming response, stating, “I expected it to be extremely high enthusiasm. But I still underestimated it.…