This was quite a busy week and so much happened. Some we covered and some we didn’t. In this article we do a summary of some of the interesting bits you needed not have missed. These range from tech in the country (Kenya) to tech happening globally. I will go right in and start with what interesting things happened within our borders.
Locally
Startimes Launches High Definition decoders
Digital Television Company StarTimes Media on Thursday launched two decoder models known as the Startimes light consisting of a Standard Definition and High Definition DVB T2 decoder aimed at improving the quality of service offered to the Paytv subscribers. The HD decoder is set to retail for Kshs. 999 + 1500 subscription. The standard decoder retails at Kshs. 199 + 1500 subscriptions. read Full Article
Managing E-waste in Kenya
The government through National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) is working on draft policies to address e-waste management that has shot up due to the increase in ICT infrastructure. Mygov.go.ke
Anti-counterfeit Agency website hacked
Hackers descended on the Kenya Anti-counterfeit Agency website. The website www.aca.go.ke currently shows a black screen with a message “Hacked by Maniak K4sur #indonesianhacker”,. We are not sure the intention of the hacker but read the Full Article
John Sculley in Kenya
Ex-Apple CEO John Sculley was in the country this week where he a fireside at the ihub. Sculley also launched the Obi range of devices and announced a new venture capital fund called Obi Ventures targeted at local start ups. Read the full article on Obi here.
President Uhuru Kenyatta Visits Tech Hubs
Right after John Sculley came over and spoke about his past, present and future, our president decided to pop in unannounced to the tech hubs on Bishop Magua building on Ngong Road. Caught some unawares and as they confessed, they weren’t even wearing shoes. Kenyatta visited Nailab, iHub, iHub research, BRCK and Akirachix offices. This comes shortly after the country’s CEO got properly introduced to the tech ecosystem at the recently concluded innovation forum.
Globally
HTC Replace Peter Chou as CEO
Peter Chou has been HTC CEO for 11 years now and has seen the rise, fall and steady rise again of HTC wich started as a hardware manufacturer of components for other brands. He has been there when HTC was a pioneer in Android smartphone business and seen other players rise again to give the company a back seat in the business. More on the retirement of Peter Chou
Uber Legal Issues
Uber, the app based taxi service continues to face legal challenges to its business with a German court banning its Uber Pop model, that allows users to informally share a ride in the country. police raided its offices in Paris; its executives were charged in Seoul with defying South Korea’s transport laws; and taxi companies in California sued Uber in San Francisco, its home city. Uber is also in Kenya.
Facebook Ventures into Payments
We had Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Square and now Facebook has ventured into the payment space with its Peer to peer payment service which allows users to send money to one another through its messaging app. Facebook follows in the line of Snapchat which has Snapcash, Paypal with Venmo, Line and Wechat also have P2P payment services.
Cortana for Android and iOS
Microsoft plans to roll out its Cortana digital assistant to iOS and Android as a standalone app. Cortana has been running on Windows phones for close to a year now with the desktop version of the App launching with the Windows 10. Read the Full article here
