By Bernard Marr We certainly have a global food challenge that is exacerbated by environmental concerns. But could new technology such as artificial intelligence, machine vision, and 5G networks help us find a solution? Norwegian salmon farming company Cermaq has launched its first-of-its-kind iFarm project. This five-year experiment will run until 2025 with tech partners BioSort and…
The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent national lockdowns have underlined the importance of reliable data services in keeping people, communities, businesses and the nation at large connected, and in ensuring essential commercial and public services continue unhindered. Authorities have had to impose lockdowns to arrest the spread of the deadly coronavirus, with recorded cumulative cases…
Joseph Waring Double-digit growth in Australian iPhone sales in the second half of 2020 fuelled a modest rise in the overall market despite lower Android demand, data from analyst company Telsyte showed. Sales increased 3 per cent year-on-year to 4.55 million units, with iPhones 12 per cent higher at 2.1 million units and Android down…
Throughout the month of February, discounts, coupons, and free subscriptions are up for grabs for users who own a Huawei device and have a HUAWEI ID. You can enjoy a wealth of HUAWEI Mobile Services benefits with just one click. These spectacular deals are available across five of Huawei’s applications, including the following: HUAWEI Themes: Get…
US-based The @ Company (The At Company) is bringing the @protocol Appathon II to Zimbabwe, targeting young developers and technology enthusiasts. The challenge: to build innovative consumer applications on @protocol, an open, permission-based protocol that makes great user experience and automatic privacy compliance easy. This initiative, being run in association with the Computer Association of…
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has launched a customer service enhancing Chatbot named Yamurai, to empower its customers and improve their customer experience. Econet said the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Chatbot will give customers an additional digital customer support channel as the company steps up efforts to optimize efficiencies and manage the surge in caller-based customer queries amid…
Bernard Marr Did you know that scientists have identified only 1.5 million species out of the 10 million estimated on Earth? And many of those species are vulnerable to extinction. Thanks to the efforts of the non-profit organization Wild Me, the gargantuan task of wildlife preservation is getting a much-needed assist from citizen scientists who photograph…
By Kavit Majithia The smartphone market returned to familiar ground in Q4 2020, with figures from a quartet of analyst companies indicating a recovery for the segment, fuelled by 5G and mid-tier devices. IDC placed shipments at 385.9 million units, up 4.3 per cent year-on-year, driven by a record period for Apple. The company noted the…
Nigerian content creator Adekola ‘McKennie’ John Kehinde has been voted the first monthly winner of Sasai’s #ThisIsMyAfrica campaign and is set to pocket US$2 000 in prize money. The campaign, which is being run by Cassava Fintech International (CFI), the developers of the Sasai super App, comes on the heels of the successful #African&Talented online promotion,…
By a Special Correspondent With smartphone penetration in Sub Saharan Africa set to grow by 67% by 2025 buoyed by increasing internet penetration, the opportunity to lead the digital revolution, drive inclusivity and uplift people’s quality of life through technology has never been better. Sasai, Africa’s first all-in-one super app developed by Cassava Fintech International,…
Africa50, in partnership with US based Foreign Policy magazine, has launched an exciting new podcast series called Africa Forward. Africa Forward tells the largely untold story of how infrastructure is transforming the lives of people in Africa. The four-part series, which begun on Tuesday 26 January 2021, brings major African infrastructure projects to life. It highlights…
The Brave Generation Academy (www.BraveGenerationAcademy.com), a disruptive approach to education that will change the course of schooling, is now looking for people with the passion to make the difference to become partners in opening new educational Hubs across Africa. With an online curriculum that is recognized by the world’s leading universities as the gold standard…
By Joyce Mukucha As the International Day of Women and Girls in Science is just around the corner, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN Women, and other UN agencies have urged for commitment to bring and recognize the critical role women and girls play in science…
By Chris Donkin Huawei issued a strenuous denial of media reports claiming it was in talks to sell its flagship smartphone brands to a consortium backed by the regional government in Shanghai. In a statement, a representative for the smartphone manufacturer said the claims were unsubstantiated: “There is no merit to these rumours whatsoever. Huawei…
By Joyce Mukucha The COVID-19 crisis has imperiled progress and impacted a large number of countries and is turning out to be even worse than the critical economic, strategic, and political clashes happening around the world. The outbreak has and still is impacting all industries, including the Information & Communication Technology (ICT) sector. Despite the…
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Dominic Raab, has visited an East African Data Centre in Nairobi owned by Econet subsidiary Liquid Telecom. The Foreign Secretary announced the visit on his Twitter handle in a message in which he also unveiled British support for developing countries to shift to clean energy and transport: https://twitter.com/dominicraab/status/1351894900543991810?s=21 Mr Raab…
Speculation of the future of LG Electronics’ troubled smartphone division intensified, with The Korea Herald reporting a review was underway to define if it would downsize, sell or withdraw from the market completely. A representative told the newspaper a “cold judgement” on the best choice needed to be made following continued “fierce” market conditions in the smartphone…
By Own Correspondent Recentlyy, facial recognition systems have made a big splash in China, spreading across the country like wildfire. The rapid acceleration of these applications in recent years has shown that 50% of the respondents think the technology is being abused while 40% suffer privacy losses due to leaks and abuse of facial information….
By Our Correspondent The Chinese regulators had launched an anti-monopoly investigation into the nation’s biggest tech company, Alibaba and its affiliate fintech Ant Group in the month of November last year. The nation’s increased scrutiny is being seen as a sense of worry by other tech giants of the country, since the Chinese President Xi…
Bernard Marr Even though there were companies such as Google, Salesforce, Zillow, and others that thrived with remote teams before COVID-19, many companies still resisted telecommuting until the pandemic forced the majority of companies to shift to that reality basically overnight. Now that more companies experienced remote workforces first-hand, there are signs that remote working will…
By Bernard Marr One of the most important lessons we’ve learned from the pandemic is just how important technology is to building robust and thriving businesses. Organizations that have prospered in the last nine months have done so by leveraging cloud computing, high-speed networks, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of things (IoT) to push…
The response to the COVID-19 crisis builds momentum for Africa’s digital transformation to overcome the pandemic and create more productive jobs, according to the 2021 edition of Africa’s Development Dynamics (AfDD) launched yesterday. The COVID‑19 pandemic is the hardest shock to African economies in 25 years. Gross domestic product (GDP) has decreased in 41 countries in 2020,…
By Joyce Mukucha Signs of Hope Trust, an organisation that inspires, empowers, and serves people with disabilities (PWDs) is decrying the negative impacts posed by the COVID-19 pandemic during the lockdown period and is embracing information communication technologies (ICTs) to reach out to this needy group. In an interview, Signs of Hope Trust founder, Samantha…
Bertalan Meskó, MD, PhD Summing up 2020 I was asked many times about the changes COVID-19 have brought about in healthcare. Well, throughout the past year, here at The Medical Futurist we were continuously posting about the technological advancements in the medical field: telemedicine, at-home lab tests, robotics and even doing sports have changed dramatically. Most of these changes are likely to…
Bertalan Meskó, MD, PhD Finally, we can say that the surreal year of 2020 is behind us as we welcome a new year rich in potential for digital health and (hopefully) full of good news! Even though the year that went by was dominated with news regarding the novel coronavirus, there were also other important developments in…
The African Women in Media (AWiM) is making a concerted effort to ensure that the digital space does not present a design that erodes trust in human rights. The organization is spearheading this by engaging with different feminist movements and other constituencies to champion the feminist internet towards social justice and environmental sustainability. Cyberspace is…
By Joyce Mukucha Worldwide, hundreds of mothers are dying daily from pregnancy complications with 99 percent of them in developing countries like Sub Sahara Africa. Statistics indicate that in Zimbabwe and other African countries, the maternal mortality rate is rapidly increasing day by day being fuelled by the low uptake of maternal health services. According…
Bertalan Meskó, MD, PhD Artificial intelligence (A.I.), machine learning (ML) and algorithms; if you are a regular at The Medical Futurist, you’ve come across these terms more than once whether it’s in our articles, videos or e-books. Indeed, our latest e-book about investment in digital health has a dedicated section about A.I. Even The Medical Futurist Institute’s latest…
By Chris Donkin Analyst company TrendForce predicted global smartphone production to begin its recovery in 2021 after dropping 11 per cent in 2020, although it forecast further bad news for Huawei with the manufacturer expected to exit its top six list. In its market predictions for 2021 the analyst company said it expected 1.36 billion…
Distributed Power Africa (DPA) has started deploying electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across Zimbabwe as a way of encouraging the uptake of environmentally friendly cars. This follows the government’s commitment late last year to work on a framework that promotes the use of EVs, as the country moves to embrace the emerging wave of clean…
By Sindiso Mhlophe Described as the “Democrats’ 2020 social media phenomenon” by various media outlets and research institutes in the just ended United States of America (US) elections, vice-president-elect Kamala Harris was able to generate over 27 million interactions on various social media platforms during the campaign period. Broken down, according to CrowdTangle, Harris, who…
Bernard Marr Influencer Obviously, the coronavirus has had a devastating impact on our world. The transformative effects of COVID-19 are immense, but they aren’t all negative. When faced with the reality of everything being remote from work to entertainment to education to connecting with friends and more, the technologies that propel the 4th Industrial Revolution offered solutions to…
The National Development Strategy (NDS1) with its emphasis on the Digital Economy as one of the fourteen national priorities for the period 2021–2025 is in sync with driving economic growth, Dr. Jenfan Muswere, the Minister of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services has said. He made the remarks at the official launch of…
The Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) seeks to advance inclusivity in the access and use of information communication technologies (ICTs) by all including persons with disabilities (PWDs). This was revealed by Dr. Gift Machengete, the POTRAZ Director-General, on the the occasion of the handover of ICT equipment to schools and institutions that…
By Bernard Marr With hope growing that there may be an end in sight to the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses are beginning to reflect on what worked, and what didn’t, in the face of the most disruptive world event most of us have seen in our lives so far. What we learned for certain is that…
The Zimnat Group has partnered with Zindi, an African data scientist’s community which gives organisations and governments access to world-class machine learning and AI solutions through a talented community of data scientists. The partnership has to date seen the Zindi community develop solutions that has assisted Zimnat to make life better for its customers. Some…
Samsung extended a smart home partnership with Google to allow its users to control Nest products via smart devices, as the South Korean vendor moves to broaden its consumer IoT footprint. In a statement, the smartphone giant said the upcoming integration will allow its SmartThings platform to access and operate Nest devices including thermostats, doorbells…
By Anyway Yotamu Zimbabwean-born British inventor William Sachiti, is set to talk about the successful maiden official run of his driverless car in the UK, Thursday’s online show; Celebrating Global Zimbabweans with Kim Jayde. Sachiti’s autonomous vehicle; the Kar-go recently got approved to operate on the streets of the UK and complete it’s first run…
By Jacob Kudzai Mutisi The number one crime in Zimbabwe is mobile money scam and the most affected is EcoCash according to our Cyber research. There is now an immediate need to use biometric facial recognition as a way of identifying clients. Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in Zimbabwe with the identities…
By Joyce Mukucha As the rest of the world is joining hands in solidarity to end gender-based violence (GBV) against women and girls during the 16 Days of Activism, the Young Feminist Fund (FRIDA) believes that the safety of communities must be a priority as it arrives at co-creation of digital feminist features. FRIDA is…
The uptake of digital agricultural tools and services around the world will be tracked by researchers in the Netherlands to help guide investment and boost food production. Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands will continue the work of the EU-funded institution, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), which is winding down…
The 2020 Hackathon saw teams competing in proffering the most relevant ICT solutions to solve post-COVID-19 socio-economic challenges that may hinder the country’s efforts towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The hackathon ran under the theme “#Hacking for SDGs post-COVID-19 and beyond” and was held in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city of Bulawayo last…
Dr. Jenfan Muswere, the Minister of Information Communication Technology (ICT), Postal and Courier Services has said innovation plays a critical role in national development. He made the remarks in his keynote address during the official opening of the 2020 Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ) Hackathon held at the Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel today. “Given the…
For the second time in two months, media from across the South African region experienced Galileo, Huawei’s immersive exhibition hall that explains 5G technology and its benefits. More than 35 media houses from across sub-Saharan Africa attended the tour and picked up rare insights into 5G innovation and its relevance to the region on the…
Yanitsa Boyadzhieva Market research company TrendForce forecast Huawei’s smartphone market share would plunge in 2021, with Apple and rival Chinese vendors tipped to reap the benefits. In its latest study, TrendForce predicted Huawei’s share would fall from an estimated 14 per cent this year to 4 per cent in 2021 due to US restrictions. The research…
