Author: Brand Spot

When Google recently announced that Google Assistant is now integrated into more than 5,000 smart home devices, most of us wondered how far the evolution of the TV would go. In many households, the TV has positioned itself as a must-have home device that is used both actively and passively. So natural was the transition that it was almost intuitive for us to wonder – What will Artificial Intelligence do for TV, and us? To find out, we took a sneak peek into what the future-oriented line of LG’s Google Assistant-powered TVs can do and so far, these are our…

Digital transformation is the adoption of advanced technologies and the rise of innovations as companies and individuals reorganize to be mobile- and digital-first, multimodal, and intelligence-driven. It is a catalyst for engendering agility and has become crucial for organizations to stay competitive, achieve successes, and even survive. A key enabler of this is artificial intelligence, which has been dubbed a ‘great transformer’. Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to systems that change their behaviors without being explicitly programmed to do so – simply put, they learn. These systems use things like aggregated data, usage analysis, pattern recognition, and predictive analytics to deliver…

Last week, the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) held its first ever Konza Innovation Ecosystem Forum to bring together different stakeholders to showcase some of the innovation that can come out through such partnerships. The inaugural Konza Innovation Ecosystem Forum saw two students from Meru University recognized by Konza Technopolis for creating a blockchain-based healthcare solution called BlockHealth. There has been a lot of talk regarding the use of blockchain in different sectors in Kenya and its refreshing to see university students pioneering that. BlockHealth is still a concept and its main aim is to use blockchain technology to ensure…

Last week, the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) held its first Konza Innovation Ecosystem Forum to bring together partners and showcase some of the innovation that can come out through these partnerships. The forum brought together key partners including Safaricom, Huawei, KCB and representatives from Meru and Machakos Universities. Speaking during the launch of the forum, Eng. John Tanui, Chief Executive Officer, KoTDA said the initiative will focus on three key clusters namely ICT & Information Technology Enabled Services (ICT/ITES), Life Sciences and engineering. According to Eng. John Tanui the Konza Technopolis is one of the key projects under Vision…

Digital skills are becoming essential for the jobs of today and tomorrow. From digital literacy to computer science education, these skills can open the door to greater economic opportunity in the workplace of the future. Unfortunately, these skills are beyond the reach of too many young people in Kenya. Microsoft believes in a future where every young person has the skills, knowledge and opportunity to succeed and has made a commitment to impact digital skills to 10 million youth in the Middle East and Africa in the next three years. Its long-lasting initiative, YouthSpark, helps bring this to life by working…

Technology is progressively becoming the backbone of the hospitality sector, and the impact is significantly being felt by hoteliers in their interactions with consumers. Below are some of the trends shaping the sector, as highlighted on the 2018 Jumia Travel Hospitality Report. Internet & Mobile penetration Mobile penetration in Kenya is 90.4% of the adult population, while the internet penetration stands at 83% as of 2017, putting the country on a global map as a leader in share of mobile internet traffic. Mobile Bookings Mobile bookings are on the rise in Kenya, with Jumia Travel recording an impressive 44% in…

Five million jobs are expected to be lost to automation by 2020. That may sound like a scary figure, but as these roles disappear, new jobs are set to spring up in their place. In fact, 80 percent of the jobs we expect to see as soon as 2025 don’t even exist yet. According to research conducted by IDC and Microsoft, cloud computing will potentially generate more than 515 000 jobs across key markets in the Middle East and Africa between 2017 and 2022– and these are not confined only to the IT profession. These jobs will span across areas…

If you use Safaricom’s M-Pesa, then you should know that the telco has adjusted its rates upwards as of the 1st of July 2018. The adjusted M-Pesa rates as of July 2018 are in line with the Finance Bill, 2018 and the Provisional Collection of Taxes and Duties Act, take effect on July 1, 2018. As you will see below, there is still no transaction cost when sending less than Ksh 100 but you will be limited to three transactions per day. For the other transactions, you should be ready to pay a little bit more for each transaction. Nothing…

SEACOM has upgraded its key submarine network system from its Southern and Eastern African coastline landings into Europe at a total capacity of 1.5Tbps. The current upgrade is adding 500G of new capacity on the system, after a previous upgrade of 500G about 18 months ago. This further upgrade falls in line with SEACOM’s focus on driving the development of the African internet and opening the broadband tap for African service providers and business users. The upgrade increases available capacity in SEACOM’s key markets: Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Africa. The solution will allow SEACOM to deliver requirements for high capacity…

In any given family setting, demands on time can be pretty overwhelming. With everyone’s busy schedules, getting everyone together at the same time is quite an uphill task.  For parents, it is difficult to carve out enough time to actually spend quality moments with the kids. In the event that everyone happens to be home at the same time, chances are, everyone will be buried deep in a gadget and left to their own devices.  Granted, technology occupies every facet of our lives today, but it doesn’t have to be all detrimental to the family ties. We must continuously find…