Author: Kaluka wanjala

Google offers both YouTube Red and Google Music as streaming options to users in select markets. Those who sign up for YouTube Red normally get Google Play Music for free as part of the package and vice versa. YouTube Red gives users access to exclusive content, lets users download videos for offline viewing and removes ads from YouTube videos. Going forward, Google plans to merge the two streaming services (YouTube Red and Google Play Music). This was revealed by Lyor Cohen who is the head of music at YouTube when he said that YouTube Red and Google Music need to…

Across the country every day, Kenyans are increasingly relying on simple technologies as tools for socio-economic transformation. These innovations have in turn stimulated acquisition of new skills, increased civic participation, and access to Insurance, education, healthcare, public safety among others. Until recently, insurance has been slow to technological change. The insurance industry seemed to be operating in the same old way while new players worked to technologically disrupt banking and financial management, ticketing, travelling, bill payments etc. That era of stability has ended with increasing deployment of advanced sensor technologies and related services. The Insurers and reinsurers are seeking new and innovative systems to improve…

Spotify is undoubtedly one of the leading music streaming platforms out there. The company has seen tremendous growth over the years and is now reporting that it has 60 million paying subscribers. Spotify has updated its About page where it also updated its subscriber counts which it says now stands at 60 Million. In March this year, Spotify reported that it had 50 million paying subscribers. Reaching 60 million in just a couple of months shows that the company was able to convert 10 million users into paying subscribers, something most other music streaming services struggle to achieve. The total…

In the mobile application business, the number of installs an app has is a something most developers brag with. On the Google Play Store, you can always see the number of times a certain application has been downloaded and you even probably use this figure to determine which app to download. This is especially so if you have two or more apps that do the same thing. Out of all the applications on the Play Store, Google Play Services seems to be doing very well. It has just passed the 5 billion downloads mark on the Play Store becoming the…

HMD Global brought back Nokia smartphones to the market and its first devices were the Nokia 3, Nokia 5, Nokia 6 and the all new Nokia 3310. The reception has been good so far and this is a clear indication that the company is doing something right. The four devices announced by HMD Global are in the lower mid-range and entry level categories, we are yet to see premium Nokia smartphones from the company. We have heard that an entry level Nokia smartphone is under production and rumours have been circulating online indicating that there might even be a flagship…

Late last week, Huawei published its results for the first half of 2017. The results revealed that the company shipped 73 million smartphones during this period (6 months). This is impressive and represents a 36% increase compared to the same period last year. This is good news for any company to achieve within just 6 months especially when you consider the fact that we saw a number of smartphones hitting the market during this time or towards the end of 2016. Huawei further broke down the results showing that out of all the 73 million units shipped, 8.5 million were…

HMD Global, the home of Nokia phones, can now announce that its first Nokia smartphone range – comprising of the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 – will be available through mobile phone service provider, Safaricom, and through selected retailers from today. Unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the devices combine superior craftsmanship, distinctive design and powerful entertainment features with a pure Android experience, giving you the ability to use your phone, your way. Gopher Ogembo, Senior Business Manager East Africa, HMD Global, says: “Setting a new standard in design, quality and user experience throughout its smartphone range…

Yesterday, Xiaomi introduced the new version of its Custom UI, MIUI 9, to the world. MIUI is the company’s Custom User Interface that runs on all its smartphones. This Custom UI is heavily forked to look like iOS and this is a good or a bad thing depending on who you ask. That aside, MIUI 9 is here and is based on Android Nougat 7.0. It comes with three key features that include Smart assistant, Image Search and Smart app launcher. These are just the three main features in addition to all the Android Nougat goodies you get with the…

The Cisco 2017 Midyear Cybersecurity Report (MCR) uncovers the rapid evolution of threats and the increasing magnitude of attacks, leading researchers to forecast potential ‘destruction of service’ (DeOS) attacks which could eliminate organizations’ backups and safety nets, required to restore systems and data after an attack. With the advent of the Internet of Things, key industries are bringing more operations online, increasing their attack surface and the potential scale and impact of these attacks. Recent attacks such as WannaCry and Nyetya show the rapid spread and wide impact of attacks that look like ransomware, but are actually much more destructive.…

Yesterday, there were numerous reports indicating that Microsoft had plans to kill off the MS Paint app. If you have a Widows laptop or PC, this is one of the apps you are probably familiar with and have used before. And you are not alone, a good number of people have used this program before and most of them were not happy with the news that Microsoft was planning to axe it completely. Well, the company is now clarifying things saying that it is not killing the app and that it will only move it to the Windows Store. This…