Author: Alvin Wanjala

Showmax, the Multi-choice owned video on demand platform, has announced a special deal to subscribers across the continent. The Showmax 3 for 1 deal gifts subscribers with two additional months of subscription when they pay for a single month. The offer applies to either of the platform’s packages, including Showmax (Ksh 760 p/m), Showmax Mobile (Ksh 380 p/m), Showmax Pro (Ksh 2100 p/m), or Showmax Pro Mobile (Ksh 1050 p/m). The basic Showmax mobile-only subscription costs Ksh 380 a month, while the highest package, Showmax Pro, will set you back by Ksh 2100 with HD streaming, cross-platform support, and can…

Apple has announced a change in its hardware engineering team. Apple’s Hardware Engineering organization’s longtime running head, Dan Riccio, has been moved to a new role and will be working on a new project. Riccio has spearheaded designing, developing, and engineering of “almost all of Apple’s products” since the 1st gen iMac, to more recent devices like M1-based Macs, 5G iPhones and AirPods Max. “Every innovation Dan has helped Apple bring to life has made us a better and more innovative company, and we’re thrilled that he’ll continue to be part of the team,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in…

Microsoft had announced that it would hike Xbox Live Gold subscription price last week. But thanks to gamer outcry, the company is backtracking on its decision. Xbox Live Gold subscription is essential to Xbox console owners as it allows them to play games online even those that are free-to-play like Fortnite. In an update, the company said, “We messed up today, and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming, and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day.” “As a result, we have…

Google Mobile Search is getting a design tweak, which the company says will rollout out soon. The redesign’s major changes are anticipated to help users get to the exact information they seek faster. That has been achieved by tweaking various design elements. First, Google’s upcoming search interface on mobile places the utmost importance on the information over design. The text has also been tweaked to provide the required simplicity when reading. Furthermore, Google search will use larger, bolder text, making it easier for the human eye to scan content and find the relevant information. Result and section titles have been…

Two smartphone companies, Oppo and OnePlus, have been reported to have merged their hardware research and development teams. The news doesn’t entirely come as a surprise as the two companies are both under the BBK Electronics umbrella. BBK Electronics is a Chinese multinational company that has a stake in several local smartphone makers including  Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme and iQOO(a sub-brand of Vivo). According to OnePlus, the move will help them better maximize their resources. “To better maximize resources and further position OnePlus for growth, we are in the process of further integrating some R&D capabilities within OPLUS, our long-term investor,” OnePlus…

WhatsApp has been spotted testing a video and voice call feature on the web since last year, but the company had yet to avail it to everyone. Since October, the feature has been available in the closed beta channel, which only accommodates a minute portion of the two billion-plus users. It is now reported that the feature is slowly rolling out to more users. But there’s a big catch. A screenshot shared on Twitter by an Argentina-based user shows beta labels on both the video and audio call buttons. WABetaInfo, common WhatsApp sleuths who rip the messaging app apart to…

2020 was a big year for streaming video-on-demand platforms like Netflix and Disney+ – partly due to the pandemic and stay at home orders. As such, Netflix ended 2020 with some big news: its total subscriber count crossed the 200 million mark for the first time ever. By the end of the year, Netflix had 203.6 subscribers around the world. The new figures indicate a net addition of 8.5 million total paid subscribers in Q4. Netflix’s global paying subscriber base reached 195 million in Q3 after adding more users in the first nine months of 2020 compared to the whole…

Netflix has lots of movies, and TV Shows that it can often get confusing to settle down on one title. The streaming platform has been spotted testing a shuffle play feature last year, which, when clicked, automatically selects and plays a title it sees fit. Selection entirely depends on your viewing history. In its latest financial report, the company states that it will officially add the feature in the first half of this year. In other words, before the end of June. Shuffle Play will save Netflix subscribers most of the time they spend browsing for interesting titles to watch.…

India’s ministry of IT is urging Facebook to withdraw WhatsApp’s privacy policy updates in the country. In a message to the Facebook-owned messaging platform, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology says the new privacy policy changes prompt serious questions on the autonomy of Indian users. The ministry says the company’s privacy policy changes will steal the power of choice from Indian users. “The proposed changes raise grave concerns regarding the implications for the choice and autonomy of Indian citizens… you are called upon to withdraw the proposed changes,” the ministry wrote in a letter to the platform(via Reuters). The…

Qualcomm has announced a new high-end Snapdragon chipset that the company has termed as a follow-up to Snapdragon 865 Plus. It is an upgrade to the Snapdragon 865 Plus with boosted CPU and GPU speeds. Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 870 5G Mobile Platform is the new chip in town that clocks up to 3.2GHz thanks to the enhanced Qualcomm® Kryo™ 585 CPU’s prime core. It’s built on the 7nm EUV manufacturing process and was developed to focus on mobile gaming. The chip supports 4K displays at standard 60Hz refresh rates, true 10-bit HDR gaming and updatable GPU drivers. Furthermore, the company promises…