Author: Akin Naphtal

Google Translate has added two more South African languages, TshiVenda and SiSwati to its language suite, bringing the total number of the country’s languages appended by the multilingual machine translation service to nine. This update was announced by Google and marks a significant step in making digital tools more inclusive and accessible. Approximately 1.2 million South Africans speak TshiVenda, while SiSwati, an Nguni language, is spoken by around 1.5 million people living in Eswatini and South Africa. With these additions, Google Translate now supports Afrikaans, English, Sepedi, Sesotho, isiXhosa, and isiZulu as well, reflecting the linguistic diversity of the region.…

The value of cryptocurrency stolen in hacks worldwide has more than doubled in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, according to blockchain researchers, TRM Labs. This surge is attributed to a few large-scale attacks and the rising value of cryptocurrencies. Hackers stole over $1.38 billion worth of cryptocurrency by June 24, 2024, up from $657 million during the same timeframe in 2023, TRM Labs reported. The median theft size also increased by one-and-a-half times compared to the previous year. “While we have not seen any fundamental changes in the security of the cryptocurrency…

In an inspiring turn of events, 9mobile has ushered in a new chapter by appointing a telecommunication industry leader and an Africa Digital Economy Award winner, Obafemi Banigbe as its Chief Executive Officer. This strategic decision is a germane part of the company’s vision to propel business transformation and strengthen its market position, currently marked by under 12 million active subscribers as of March 2024. The Board of Directors of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited (EMTS), operating as 9mobile, announced Banigbe’s appointment, succeeding outgoing CEO Juergen Peschel. This transition reflects 9mobile’s unwavering commitment to ensuring business continuity and a seamless…

Amazon has announced that it will discontinue its security robot, Astro for Business, which was designed for small and medium-sized businesses, as the company shifts its focus to developing household robots. The e-commerce giant initially launched the canine-like Astro robot for household use in 2021. Last November, Amazon expanded Astro’s application to business environments, targeting sectors such as retail, manufacturing, and health and wellness. “To accelerate our progress and ongoing research to make Astro the best in-home robot, we’ve made the decision to wind down support for Astro for Business,” an Amazon spokesperson said, according Reuters. Astro was designed to…

China has surged ahead of other nations in the generative AI race, filing six times more patents than its nearest competitor, the United States (US), according to data released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Wednesday. Generative AI, which creates text, images, computer code, and even music from existing data, is experiencing a significant boom. Over the past decade, more than 50,000 patent applications have been submitted in this field, with a quarter of these filed in 2023 alone, WIPO reported. “This is a booming area. This is an area that is growing at increasing speed. And it’s…

Amazon’s executive chair, Jeff Bezos has planned to sell $5 billion worth of shares in the e-commerce giant. This move comes as Amazon’s stock hit an all-time high of $200.43 during the session. The notice revealed Bezos’s intention to sell 25 million shares. Amazon’s stock has surged over 30% this year, significantly outperforming the 4% gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index. Following the sale, Bezos will retain ownership of approximately 912 million Amazon shares, representing 8.8% of the company’s outstanding stock. Earlier in February, Bezos sold shares valued at roughly $8.5 billion after the stock rallied 80% in…

Meta Platforms’ CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has revealed that Threads, the company’s newest social media venture, has surpassed 175 million monthly active users just ahead of its first anniversary. Threads, introduced on 5th July 2023, gained rapid traction, amassing 100 million users in less than a week. This surge was partly attributed to its integration with Instagram, allowing its users to easily create Threads profiles. However, the platform eventually lost many of the initial user. Reflecting on the platform’s journey, Zuckerberg shared in a Threads post, “What a year.” Back in April, he had reported that the monthly active user (MAU)…

Over the past decade, data centers, once a niche piece of IT infrastructure, have become a focal point for investors and a substantial revenue driver for tech giants. Amazon Web Services now generates almost 20% of Amazon’s revenue. Simultaneously, Nvidia, a key supplier of components for modern cloud storage and processing data centers, has grown into the world’s third-largest tech company. The increasing use of AI technologies, which demand significant computing power and storage, has further fueled the data center boom, a trend expected to continue in the coming years. The increasing adoption of AI technologies, which demand significant computing…

In the quest for impactful and transformative information and communication technologies (ICTs), gatekeepers around the world gathered, for the Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR-24) in Kampala, Uganda. The symposium tagged: “GSR-24 Best Practice Guidelines” focuses on balancing innovation with regulation to ensure that emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) have a positive impact on societies and economies. Organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the United Nations (UN) Agency for Digital Technologies, the event brought together over 600 participants, including ministers, heads of regulatory authorities, industry executives, and academics. The event was inaugurated by H.E. Ms. Jessica Alupo, Vice-President…

The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), has equipped ICT centres in Greater Accra’s 29 districts with over 500 laptops to assist in the training of 1,000 girls, as part of the Girls-in-ICT programme. GIFEC did this in collaboration with the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (GI-KACE), and the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD), which oversees the Girls-in-ICT programme. The girls are being trained in a 5-day exercise which began on Monday, 1st July. Day 1 of the training focused on computer programming (CP), CP language, and careers in CP. They were also introduced to text editor,…