Author: Alvin Wanjala

Instagram’s long time coming TikTok competitor is finally official. Instagram Reels is a new way to create and discover short, entertaining videos on Instagram, the company said. In simple terms, Reels is the name Instagram is giving to short 15-second multi-clip videos. Reels works in a TikTok-y way; you record and edit short 15-second multi-clip videos. The videos can be added with some effects as well, including audio. Like IGTV videos, Instagram’s feature for lengthy videos, Reels can be shared with your followers to your Feed for those with private accounts. Public account holders will have their reels spread across…

Google’s files app, now known as Files by Google – originally Files Go, is now rolling out a password-protected “Safe Folder.” The new privacy focused feature will help in ensuring your important documents, images, videos and audio files are kept safe even when you lend out your phone. Google says the new added privacy feature in Files will help people “in many places around the world, [where]sharing a personal device with spouses, siblings or children is often a cultural expectation.” The PIN-protection functionality instantly locks the secret folder as soon as you move away from the app. On top of…

Google wants to make life easier for its Android fans. The company is nearing the universal rollout of the much anticipated ‘Nearby Share’ file sharing feature. Nearby Share levels the file sharing play field that has long been dominated by Apple’s ecosystem with the simplicity and convenience of Airdrop. Nearby Share allows you to share anything from files, images, links and more to a nearby device as long as it’s running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and up. The big deal about the feature, compared to previous attempts, is the convenience and simplicity. It’s easy to use; just tap on the Nearby…

It’s finally the day when we get to see a series of new handheld hardware devices plus one wearable from Samsung. Samsung is set to unveil its flagship Galaxy Note 20 series phones today alongside other four “power” devices. Today’s Galaxy Unpacked event will be the first one to be all-digital. What to Expect Samsung will unveil five different devices. As tipped before in a YouTube video, the company will unveil the Galaxy Note 20 which is the main guest of the occasion, a new foldable device(Galaxy Z fold 2), a smart watch, probably the Galaxy Watch3 and a…

Snapchat will soon let you add music to videos you record. The feature is currently rolling out to some Snapchat users in select countries. Addition of music to videos has been one of TikTok’s flagship features and Snap’s latest addition is sort of aimed to take on that. Snapchat will let its users embed popular songs on videos. Snap users will be provided with a list of recommended songs to embed in a new section called “Featured Sounds” as shown in the hero image. Available songs at launch will include songs from different labels, including the most prominent ones like…

Google Pixel 4a is finally here. The phone has been much awaited by the Android community after the tangible success achieved by its predecessor, Pixel 3a. Pixel 4a will be retailing at $349(approx. Ksh 37,000). The Pixel 4a matters in the mid-range android market because of the company’s impressive camera hardware. Not to mention the clean Android experience offered by Google Pixel phones. See, any manufacturer can throw good specs in a phone but the user interface experience is what wins, forfeiting other factors. Pixel 4a specs include a 5.81-inch full HD+ display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor, 6GB of memory…

Facebook’s instant messaging platform, WhatsApp has added support for reverse searching viral messages to check if they’re fake. The feature allows you to search for a viral message on the web to see if it has misleading information. On every frequently forwarded message, WhatsApp has added a new magnifying glass icon. This icon lets you search the message on the web directly to uncover the truth behind it. It’s part of Facebook’s plan to curb misinformation on WhatsApp. How to Reverse search a viral message on WhatsApp Open WhatsApp appOpen any chat with a viral message – a message marked…

Microsoft is shutting down its digital assistant Cortana on a number of devices come 2021. The company is rethinking the future of Cortana, pivoting it away from a Google Assistant alternative. Instead, Microsoft wants you to think of Cortana differently – as a transformational AI-powered assistant. Cortana will now be your go-to productivity-focused assistant embedded inside Windows 10, Outlook Mobile and in Microsoft Teams mobile app. “We’ve spent a lot of time thinking through this transition and understand that these changes may be disruptive to some of our customers.” In early 2021, Microsoft will stop supporting the Cortana app for…

Facebook usage immensely increased amid the coronavirus lockdown around the world, and as a result, the company is reporting a big jump in usage numbers. In its recent earnings report, the company says the number of daily Facebook users has increased by 12 percent year over year to 1.79 billion. A clear indication that the surges in Facebook usage at the beginning of the year was not just a blip. Monthly active users as of June stood at 2.70 billion, still an increase of 12% year-over-year. As expected, Facebook also revealed usage numbers across its family of apps – which…

Netflix is very popular around the world, and you don’t need a lengthy research paper to show you that. The app is among the top 10 most downloaded apps in the world. Now the app hit the 1 billion install milestone on the Google Play Store (via Android Police). It joins YouTube’s league, yet another streaming application with installs in the billion-plus category. And just like YouTube, which has massive head start on installs due to pre-installation, Netflix is also pre-installed on some devices. You will find Netflix pre-installed on OnePlus and Samsung phones. Despite that, Netflix’s large market share in…