Minister: Why Twitter, other platforms must register to operate in Nigeria
The Federal Government says its directive that Over the Top (OTT) and social media platforms operating in the country must register and obtain license to operate is in conformity with global trend. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this on Friday when he featured on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme “Good Morning Nigeria’’ monitored by newsmen. NAN reports that the Federal Government recently suspended operations of Twitter and directed that all OTT and social media platforms operating in the country must register with Corporate Affairs Commission. The Federal Government said they must also apply for licensing with the National Broadcasting Commission ( NBC). NAN reports that OTT media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via t...
Facebook hit with campaign by pro-Palestinian activists leaving 1-star app store ratings
A social media campaign by pro-Palestine activists has pushed down the ranking for Facebook’s app in Apple and Google’s app stores, NBC News reported. The activists are seeking to protest Facebook’s alleged censorship of Palestinian accounts on its platform, and are instructing people to leave Facebook’s app a one-star review. According to NBC News, Facebook is treating the situation as a high-priority issue internally; one software engineer wrote in a post on an internal Facebook message board that “users are upset with our handling of the situation,” adding that the users “have started protesting by leaving 1-star reviews.” Facebook has reached out to have the reviews removed, but so far, Apple has declined the request to remove the reviews. It’s not clear how or if Google responded to t...
Google Is On A Mission To Improve Image Processing of Photos Featuring Black & Brown People
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Vladimir Vladimirov / Getty As the camera systems on smartphones drastically improve year by year, they still have one glaring issue, capturing and processing Black skin tones properly. During its I/O 2021 keynote, Google announced it was taking some steps to rectify this problem. Capturing Black skin and natural hairstyles in photos and properly processing them has been an issue dating back to when using film was the only option for photographers. Now that we are in the digital age, there have been some improvements, but even with flicks taken on smartphones, the images are still come up flat. Google is well aware of the issue and revealed that it would be making a valiant effort to address the issue in its cameras by focusing on photos of Black and Brow...
Google Photos adds locked folder for private images
Google is introducing a new feature to Google Photos that lets you hide specific pictures so they won’t show up in your photo feed or in other apps. The feature, called Locked Folder, will put whatever sensitive pictures you’d rather not share behind a password. In its I/O presentation, Google used the example of parents trying to keep a puppy purchase secret from their kids — though the feature should be useful for any sensitive images that you don’t want to share with others. It’s easy to see how this feature could be useful: who hasn’t handed their phone to someone to show off one or two pictures, then suddenly realized, “Wow, I hope they don’t scroll too far to the left or right”? Locked Folder will help Photos users avoid that fear by keeping whatever sensitive pictures you’ve got on ...
Starlink Partners with Google to Deliver Data and Cloud Services
SpaceX’s broadband internet company, Starlink is partnering with Google to deliver data, cloud services, and applications to customers at the network edge by leveraging Starlink’s ability to provide high-speed broadband internet around the world and Google Cloud’s infrastructure. In a statement, the companies revealed that SpaceX will begin to “locate Starlink ground stations within Google data centre properties, enabling the secure, low-latency, and reliable delivery of data from more than 1,500 Starlink satellites launched to orbit to date to locations at the network edge via Google Cloud”. Google Cloud’s high-capacity private network will support the delivery of Starlink’s global satellite internet service, bringing businesses and consumers seamless connectivity to the cloud and Interne...
Top 10 Most Imitated Companies in 2021 So Far
In a brand phishing attack, cybercriminals try to imitate the official website of a well-known brand by using a similar domain name or URL and web page design to the genuine site. The link to the fake website can be sent to target individuals by email or text message, a user can be redirected during web browsing, or it may be triggered by a fraudulent mobile application. The fake website often contains a form intended to steal users’ credentials, payment details or other personal information. Check Point’s new Brand Phishing Report reveals the most frequently imitated by criminals. Here are the Top 10 phishing brands in Q1 of 2021: /* custom css */ .tdi_3_657.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_657.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } Microsoft (related to 39% of all brand...
Google Celebrates Oliver De Coque 74th Post Humous Birthday with Doodle
Highlife legend, Oliver De Coque is being celebrated on his 74th Post Humous Birthday by Google. The world’s most popular search engine used his artwork for it’s doodle to honor him today which marks his 74th birthday if he were alive. The art work was designed by Nigeria’s Ohab TBJ, a Lagos-based artist. Born Oliver Sunday Akanite in 1947, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria, Oliver De Coque was a highlife legend who lived the better part of his life almost by the art of music. He was a renowned lead guitarist and singer, who toured the world with his band during the years he was active which was from 1965 to 2008 when death came for him through a protracted diabetes. In the course of his sojourn into music, Oliver De Coque released a staggering 93 albums showing that his well of inspiration ne...
Google Launches Live Caption Feature for Chrome Users
Image sourced from Pymnts Google has rolled out its Live Caption feature for Chrome browser users. The feature was initially only available on the Pixel 2 and then to selected Android devices. But now, XDA has revealed that the feature is finally going live on the stable Chrome 89. Live Caption provides users with real-time captions for audio – like videos, podcasts, phone calls, video calls, and audio messages – even content they record themselves. All captions are processed locally, never stored, and never leave the device. To enable Live Captions, Chrome 89 users should go to Settings > Advanced > Accessibility – users may also need to download speech recognition files. “For now, it only detects and transcribes English-language audio, but hopefully, support for more languages will...
Google Reduces Play Store Fees for Developers by up to 50%
Image sourced from Pymnts Google has revealed that the service fee charged to Play Store developers could be reduced by up to 50%. The tech giant believes this is will help developers build sustainable businesses. “We work with partners every day to understand the challenges they face and help them bring their innovative ideas to life. Getting a new app off the ground and into orbit is not easy!” reads a blog post from Google. This why, starting from 1 July 2021, Google will reduce the service fee Google Play receives when a developer sells digital goods or services to 15% for the first $1M (USD) of revenue every developer earns each year. “With this change, 99% of developers globally that sell digital goods and services with Play will see a 50% reduction in fees. These are funds that can ...
New Google Arts & Culture Exhibit Explores 126 Years of Electronic Music History
A new exhibit from Google and YouTube titled “Music, Makers & Machines,” takes viewers on a walk through the history of electronic music from genesis to present day. Over 50 industry experts, festivals, labels, and power players from the electronic music world were consulted in order to bring the project to fruition. The multimedia endeavor combines photography, video, 360° tours, and augmented interactive objects to create an immersive user experience. The totality of the exhibition aims to cover 126 years of dance music history, highlighting the genre’s icons, landmarks, and watershed moments that took place since the invention of the world’s first electromechanical musical instrument in 1895. One function of the exhibit utilizes Google Street View, putting fa...
Australia’s competition chief claims victory after Facebook standoff
The architect of Australian media reforms being watched around the world claimed victory on Wednesday, even as critics said concessions to the laws forcing Big Tech to pay for news content have given Facebook and Google a get-out clause. The Australian government made late changes to the laws after Facebook last week blocked news content in Australia, escalating a dispute over the proposed legislation and catching international attention. The amended legislation is expected to pass the Senate this week, despite opposition from some minor opposition parties and independent politicians who argue it disadvantages smaller news companies. Rod Sims, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), told Reuters the bargaining power imbalance he was tasked with correcting...
Google News Initiative Launches in Africa
Image sourced from Pymnts Google has announced the second Google News Initiative Innovation Challenge in Africa, with an “open call for projects that increase reader engagement and explore new business models for media”. The first GNI Innovation Challenge saw 21 projects in 13 countries receive funding last year. Awardees were from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Turkey, and the UAE. In Nigeria, Ringier Africa Digital Publishing was awarded funding to increase personalisation across its platform using a blend of prediction, recommendation and local information pages to increase user engagement. Kenyan awardee Africa Uncensored is aggregating news from members of the public to produce at scale. Applications open today ...
