Author: Alvin Wanjala

The PS5 console launch has been riddled with stock shortages, which are not expected to end anytime soon. The high demand for PS5 has to lead to ridiculous pricing on the market. The company now reveals that the launch of the PS5 has been their biggest console launch ever. “We want to thank gamers everywhere for making the PS5 launch our biggest console launch ever,” PlayStation says. PS5’s demand is novel, and the company took it on Twitter to reassure its community that more inventory will be available before the year winds down. Sony officially launched the PS5 on 12th…

Twitter will open its public verification program in early 2021 after a three-year-long hiatus. The company paused public verification in November 2017 as it tried to redefine what the blue checkmark meant following a backlash. After pausing public verifications, Twitter has only been verifying public figures like celebrities, politicians, and the likes through a private program. Since halting the program, the company has not come clean on which criteria were being used to verify individuals. In preparation for opening the program next year, Twitter asks for public participation in drafting a new verification policy. “Calling for public feedback has become…

India’s IT ministry started cracking down on Chinese apps earlier this year and so far banned over a hundred apps amid tension between the two countries. However, the country has banned apps in the name of national security concerns. The latest purge has seen the ban of Aliexpress and 42 other applications. In a statement, the Ministry of IT wrote, “This action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order.” The IT ministry based the decision to…

Google has relentlessly worked on adding more features to Gmail this year as it tries to provide an all-in-one solution for work from home folks. The right side panel hasn’t changed much, but Google plans to add one more feature. Alongside the existing calendar, notes, and task shortcuts, Google will be adding Contacts. The side panel will now include your notes, tasks, or your notes plus contacts. The new contact section on the right-side panel is an extension of Gmail’s current hovercard feature, enabling you to view contact details by hovering over a person’s name in Gmail. The only change is…

TikTok’s massive success has attracted lots of scrutinies from the US, considering its Chinese roots. The massive uptake has also attracted competition as other social media companies try to emulate the basics of TikTok’s success. This has been done by introducing features that allow users to post short videos on other social media platforms. A good example is Instagram’s Reels, which recently received a dedicated section on the app. The latest company launching an assault on TikTok is Snapchat. The platform is also challenging TikTok with its latest feature called Spotlight. Spotlight is a dedicated space that will be featuring…

Internet tech giants have been battling with misinformation for the past few weeks. Before, during, and even after U.S elections. But Twitter still has some fight left in it. The social media platform has announced that it will start warning users if they even like a tweet that is considered misleading. The company will also provide a popup as to why it believes the flagged information is deemed misleading. “Giving context on why a labeled Tweet is misleading under our election, COVID-19, and synthetic and manipulated media rules is vital,” the company said. In the recent past, Twitter started warning…

A new report suggests that Apple may finally ditch support for the old iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus come next year. That means if you still use either of these devices, you might have to upgrade to iPhone 7 or newer to use next year’s major iOS release, iOS 15.  Apple has maintained support for old iPhones, including 2016’s iPhone SE (1st gen), which launched with iOS 9.3. Compared to the Android world, such support is unmatched. The company announced the iPhone 6 series in September 2015.  If the new report is correct, Apple will finally ditch…

Vivo has not been 100% happy with its custom Android skin, Funtouch OS, for some time, and the company decided to shake things up massively. And that shakeup could be attributed to the fair share of criticism Funtouch OS has received. Instead of just overhauling the UI, the company also decided to rebrand it’s custom Android skin to start a clean slate marking a new era for future Vivo smartphones and some existing ones. The new skin, OriginOS, has been officially unveiled at the company’s developer conference held in China. OriginOS Android skin arguably looks fresh from what we’ve seen before.…

Google launched RCS messaging in 2018, but the main barrier has been availability. In recent times, the company has ramped up efforts to make it available in all countries, including Kenya. Google has finally finished rolling out Chat, which is available to all users independent of their carrier. “Today, we’ve completed our global rollout of chat features to make this modern messaging experience universal and interconnected for everyone on Android,” the company says. Anyone using android’s default messaging app, Google Messages, should be able to use RCS. Chat, powered by the open Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard, allowed the company…

YouTube is one of the biggest streaming platforms on the internet and among the biggest competitors of streaming giant Netflix. The platform is flooded with different content types, and as such, there’s something for everyone. But music streaming is what most people do. And with the sheltering in place orders to help curb the spread of covid-19, music video streaming is at an all-time high according to the platform. When it comes to streaming music, some people will listen while doing other things, making video-based ads not effective for such audiences. (I guess that’s why they introduced the annoying popup…