Author: Alvin Wanjala

Netflix removed the traditional free 30-day long trial for new subscribers this month, but it seems the company has other plans to make up for that. The company plans to start offering weekend-long free access to get more users, according to Greg Peters, COO and Chief Product Officer at Netflix. In a recent earning’s call,  Greg said, “We think that giving away everyone in a country access to Netflix for free for a weekend could be a great way to expose a bunch of new people to the amazing stories that we have, the service and how it works ……

Truecaller has proved beneficial in helping users tell who is calling. But the application wants to extend its features from “who” to “why.” “We’ve solved the ‘who’ and now we are solving the ‘why,’” the company said. The new feature, Call Reason, is part of the app’s recent update and one of the most requested features. Call Reason To use the feature, ensure you have the latest version of Truecaller (version 11.30) for Android. Truecaller will allow you to set three personal reasons that you think you’ll frequently use. The next time you make a call, you can pick one…

Chrome OS is yet to go mainstream partly because of compatibility issues with widely used Windows apps. That is why Microsoft’s Windows OS is king when it comes to the PC and laptop world. However, it seems incompatibility with Windows apps won’t be an issue anymore due to Parallel’s new software. Parallel is widely known for its cross-platform compatibility software. The news comes a few months after Google’s June partnership with Parallel to add support for Windows apps on Chrome OS. With the newly released Parallels Desktop for Chromebook Enterprise (PDCE), Chromebooks can now run Windows apps side by side…

LG’s futuristic rollable TV, LG SIGNATURE OLED R (model RX), has finally made it to the mass market. The company’s new TV is the world’s first TV with a rollable OLED panel and will cost KRW 100 million in South Korea, or about USD 87,000 (about Ksh 9.5 m). LG first showcased the TV at CES 2018, and despite the bumps in the road, LG has, finally, delivered. LG SIGNATURE OLED R features a 65-inch flexible 8K OLED display. The R in the name, according to the company, symbolizes the rollable nature of the TV. The company boasts of the…

Facebook has announced its new machine learning translation model, which, according to the company, is the first that doesn’t rely on English data. Machine translation is specifically important to the giant social media site, which today performs an average of 20 billion translations every day. According to the company, nearly two-thirds of all users use other languages apart from English. The software is open-source, and the company is inviting contributors to build more support on top. The tool can currently translate any pair of 100 languages independently – without using English as a bridge between the two. “When translating, say,…

Video conferencing has been booming this year, and many companies have been rushing to cash in on this opportunity. Facebook has rolled out Messenger Rooms to rival market leader Zoom. Facebook’s instant messaging app, WhatsApp, has also had its video and audio calling feature upgraded — Facebook upped the number of group call participants from 4 to 8 on WhatsApp in April. Now the company is working on yet another feature on this front. According to WABetainfo, WhatsApp has started working on a calling feature on its desktop app. The feature, still in nascent stages, supports both audio and video…

Wired charging is still mainstream, but more companies are embracing the wireless option as days go by. Although wireless charging has been around for some years, we are yet to see those speeds match what has been achieved drawing power via cable. Xiaomi is showing how much charging speeds could be achieved without using cables. The company showed off its 80W fast wireless charging solution in its latest demo, which takes a 4,000 mAh battery phone from 0 to 100 in 19 minutes. Even better, a one-minute charge means 10% of the battery is filled. And with just 8 minutes…

Nokia has been selected by NASA to build the first LTE/4G communications system in space. The presence of a 4G network on the moon will help NASA in its mission towards a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface. “Reliable, resilient and high-capacity communications networks will be key to supporting sustainable human presence on the lunar surface,” says Marcus Weldon, Chief Technology Officer at Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs President. Nokia’s Bell Labs will be used to build the network on the moon surface in late 2022. The network upgrade will ensure critical communication capabilities are carried out without so…

Google search is getting better in terms of music search. Do you have a song stuck in your head? Just hum to search. That is the newest feature hitting Google’s giant internet search engine. Google search can now help you discover the song stuck in your head without lyrics, artist names, or even the perfect pitch. Just hum, and Google search will try to figure it out for you. Similarly, if you have the lyrics, you still use them. Google is offering plenty of different ways to discover songs; You can hum, whistle, or sing a melody. Humming to Search…

During its recent iPhone launch event, Apple finally unveiled the much-anticipated 5G enabled iPhones and made it clear that it won’t include EarPods and power brick inside the box. To make up for the unavailable EarPods, the company’s Beats brand did a separate reveal of the $50 Beats Flex Earbuds. The earbuds are the cheapest we’ve ever seen from Beats. In fact, the brand says these are the “most affordable premium wireless earphones to date.” They succeed in the previous neckband-style Beats X, which were sold just under $100. The price has been significantly cut, but the value increased. These…