Author: Akin Naphtal

South Korean battery company, LG Chem Ltd, has partnered with China’s Huayou Group, to build a joint electric vehicle (EV) battery material plant in Morocco to expand its range. The Morocco plant, is slated to begin production in 2026, and will have an annual production target of 50,000 tonnes of lithium-phosphate-iron (LFP) cathode materials. LG Chem revealed in a statement that that production rate will be enough for installation in 500,000 entry-class EVs. LG Chem has made a name for itself by manufacturing expensive nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathodes, however, the company has opted to enter the LFP cathode market to cater…

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is set to receive a major update to enable the chatbot to interact with users through voice chat and using images, making it similar to popular artificial intelligence (AI) assistants like Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri. In a blogpost on Monday, 25th September, OpenAI stated that the voice feature “opens doors to many creative and accessibility-focused applications”. Similar AI services like Siri, Google voice assistant and Amazon’s Alexa are integrated with the devices they run on and are often used to set alarms and reminders, and deliver information off the internet. Launched last year, ChatGPT has grown popular…

Hong Kong crypto firm, Mixin, has reported in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) that hackers have stolen around $200 million from its coffers on Saturday, 23rd September. In what researchers say is the largest crypto theft so far in 2023, the crypto firm stated that the hackers attacked the database of its network’s cloud service provider, “resulting in the loss of some assets,” and added that “the funds involved are approximately US$200 million”. Mixin’s website states that the company is a network for transferring digital assets, and that it caters for one million users. Following the theft,…

The Kenyan government has signed a Ksh.8.7 billion ($60 million) agreement with the United States Millennium Change Corporation (MCC). The MCC deal is labelled the Kenya Urban Mobility and Growth Threshold Program. The program will channel the funds into four projects in Kenya. The Integrated Transport Planning Project, the First and Last Mile Connections Project, the Detailed Land Use Project. Lastly, it will finance the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project. For the BRT, the deal aims to finance the acquisition of electric buses for Nairobi’s Bus Rapid Transit system. Recently, it was announced that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network…

The European Union is seeking to make certain that cars powered by e-fuels must be 100% carbon neutral so as not to pollute the environment, in response to Germany’s insistence that e-fuel cars be allowed to remain in production beyond 2035. Banning the sale of fossil fuel-powered cars is one major policy that the EU plans to adopt in its bid to reduce greenhouse emissions. Its main climate policy for cars states that only vehicles with zero CO2 emissions will be allowed to be sold in EU countries after 2035. E-Fuels vs Fossil Fuels Unlike fossil fuels, whose production methods…

The Regional Executive – West Africa at Africa Data Centres, Dr. Krishnan Ranganath has been crowned the ‘Technology Person of the Year’ at the Tech Innovation Awards, organized by Digital Economy Magazine at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos on Friday, 22nd September 2023. This is coming a few months after he was crowned the ‘Man of the Year ‘ at the Africa’s Beacon of Information and Communications Technology Merit and Leadership Award 2023. According to Digital Economy Magazine, Dr. Krishnan was chosen for recognition based on his expertise in helping to champion the growth recorded in Nigeria’s Information and Communications…

Amazon and AI startup Anthropic have announced a partnership in which Amazon will invest up to $4 billion. This move is seen as Amazon’s attempt to compete with Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Nvidia in the rapidly growing AI sector, which many experts believe is the next frontier. Initially, Amazon will invest $1.25 billion for a minority stake in Anthropic, which, like Google’s Bard and Microsoft-backed OpenAI, operates an AI-powered chatbot that analyzes text. Additionally, Amazon has the option to increase its investment in Anthropic to a total of $4 billion. Earlier this year, it was reported that Anthropic, with Google…

Amazon has decided to include advertisements to its Prime Video service in 2024, as the company seeks to make profit after the coronavirus pandemic triggered a decrease in subscriber growth. The tech giant reported on Friday, 22nd September, that Prime Video services in the US, the UK, Germany and Canada will begin getting ads in early 2024. France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, and Australia will follow later in the year. A Prime Video subscription costs $14.99 per month or $139 a year in the US. Viewers in the US who want an ad-free experience will have to pay a $2.99 per…

Cloud major Oracle has announced the addition of generative artificial intelligence (AI)-powered capabilities within its Fusion Cloud Customer Experience (CX), as it bets big on AI-driven Cloud solutions across its portfolio. This will help businesses grow revenue and deliver exceptional customer experience, the company said during the Oracle CloudWorld 2023 being held in Las Vegas from 18-21 September. The new generative AI service, which is built and supported on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) in combination with large language models (LLMs) from Cohere, is a managed service that will allow enterprises to integrate LLM-based generative AI interfaces in their applications via…

Vodacom is thrilled to introduce “ENHANCE,” a groundbreaking offering that empowers customers to personalize and enrich their contracts. This innovative feature grants customers the autonomy to construct their world of connectivity, entertainment, and gaming, all within a single package. This streamlined value proposition simplifies the customer experience and aims to revolutionize how they engage with their mobile contracts. ENHANCE transcends conventional contracts, enabling customers to tailor their packages to suit their lifestyles, whether they’re avid gamers or fitness enthusiasts. “We acknowledge that in today’s fast-paced world, consumers crave seamless solutions that simplify their daily lives. We believe that convenience is…