Smartphone
Solana unveils Google partnership, smartphones, Web3 store at Breakpoint
During the ecosystem’s annual gathering at Breakpoint 2022 in Libson, Solana made a series of launch announcements as it prepares to go mainstream. Cointelegraph’s ground team — present during the conference — shared insights into Solana’s roadmap, which includes the launching of smartphones, decentralized application (DApp) stores and a partnership with Google Cloud, among others. Good morning from @SolanaConf Come say hi if you see us with our Cointelegraph merch Follow this thread to get more updates you on this lovely event! pic.twitter.com/4m2jNaTSNS — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) November 5, 2022 Solana Breakpoint, a four-day conference scheduled from Nov. 4 to Nov. 7, attracted 13,000 people in just one of the four venues it’s being held simultaneously. QR Code giveaways and GeoNF...
White hat hacker attempts to recover ‘millions’ in lost Bitcoin, finds only $105
Joe Grand, a computer engineer and hardware hacker known by many for recovering crypto from hard-to-reach places, spent hours breaking into a phone only to find a fraction of a Bitcoin. In a YouTube video released on Thursday, Grand traveled from Portland to Seattle in an effort to potentially recover “millions of dollars” in Bitcoin (BTC) from a Samsung Galaxy SIII phone owned by Lavar Sanders, a local bus operator. Sanders originally purchased the BTC in July 2016 in a “super sketchy” way, paying a person at a cafe and storing the crypto in a wallet on the phone before putting it in storage and losing track of the device. After finding the phone in 2021, Sanders couldn’t recall the swipe password, but remembered setting up the option of erasing the data if too many incorrect attempts wer...
Warning: Smartphone text prediction guesses crypto hodler’s seed phrase
Seed phrases, a random combination of words from the Bitcoin Improvement Protocol (BIP) 39 list of 2048 words, act as one of the primary layers of security against unauthorized access to a user’s crypto holdings. But, what happens when your “smart” phone’s predictive typing remembers and suggests the words next time you try to access your digital wallet? Andre, a 33-year-old IT professional from Germany, recently posted on the r/CryptoCurrency subreddit after discovering his mobile phone’s ability to predict the entire recovery seed phrase as soon as he typed down the first word. As a fair warning to fellow Redditors and crypto enthusiasts, Andre’s post highlighted the ease with which hackers can use the feature to drain a user’s funds just by being able to type the first word out of the B...
New Samsung Smartphone: Key Features
Samsung Electronics welcomed the S21 FE 5G to the Galaxy S21 series. The S21 FE 5G is a smartphone that delivers select fan-favorite Galaxy S21 premium features in a well-rounded package to empower people to explore and express themselves. It is equipped with some of the most-loved aspects of the Galaxy S21 — eye-catching design, powerful performance, pro-grade camera, and seamless ecosystem connectivity. “At Samsung, we are focused on bringing the latest mobile innovations to even more people,” said Justin Hume, Director: Integrated Mobility at Samsung South Africa. “We saw an incredible response to Galaxy S20 FE and Galaxy S21 lineup. So we applied the same approach with S21 FE 5G, equipping it with the premium features that matter most to our loyal Galaxy fans — because we’re focused on...
2022 Smartphone camera trends
Smartphone cameras are no longer just the most convenient option – they are quickly becoming the best one, beating traditional digital cameras with computational power and innovation. Improved sensor size and resolution mean users can capture more details and render images accurately in complex lighting conditions. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms have enhanced many facets of image processing. And they’re not done yet, as a slew of changes are coming in 2022. At the forefront of this smartphone camera innovation is Transsion-owned TECNO Mobile. TECNO recently launched two new models in South Africa, the SPARK 7 Pro and the CAMON 17P, both of which produce sublime photographic and video content. The CAMON 17P boasts a massive 6.8” FHD+ IPS Hole screen complemented by a 16MP Clear Sel...
AfDB approves $1.3 million grant for female financial inclusion research in Africa
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved two grants worth $1.3 million for research aimed at increasing women’s access to a range of digital financial services on the continent. In a statement on Monday, AfDB said the grants will be disbursed by Africa digital financial inclusion facility (ADFI), a blended finance vehicle supported by the bank. The grants will be disbursed to two fintech firms, Pula Advisors Kenya and M-KOPA Kenya. AfDB said Pula Advisors will use the $1 million for research of social and economic factors that impact women farmers’ access to microinsurance in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia while M-KOPA will use the $300,000 funding for research involving 500 women and men in Kenya’s Kisumu, Eldoret and Machakos counties. It said findings from the research will inform th...
AfDB approves $1.3 million grants for women’s access to digital finance
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved two grants of $1.3 million for research aimed to increase African women’s access to a range of digital financial services, including loans and micro-insurance. According to a statement from the AfDB on Monday, the grants for $1 million and $300,000 respectively, will be disbursed through the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI). ADFI is a pan-African initiative designed to accelerate digital financial inclusion throughout Africa. It is a blended finance facility of AfDB with two financial technology firms; Pula Advisors Kenya Ltd. and M-KOPA Kenya Ltd. Pula Advisors will use the $1 million for research of social, cultural and economic factors that impact women farmers’ access to micro-insurance in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia. Mor...
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...
Firm restates commitment to enhance financial inclusion
Nigeria-based fintech solution, NowNow, has said that it will continue to upgrade its services to attune to current realities, such that will drive economic and social growth. Founder of NowNow, Sahir Berry, while speaking on how COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the financial space recently, mentioned that Nigeria needs to strengthen its fintech space more than before. Berry stated that it was important for Nigeria to tap into the trends and prospects of fintech given the country’s large unbanked or underbanked. He added the company recognised this gap in Nigeria, which informed its investment in the space. “In 2017 we identified that one of the two big problems in Nigeria was lack of youth empowerment and financial inclusion. With a population of almost 100 million youths, we found that ac...
BBC exposes European pyramid scam exploiting Africans, others
A new investigation by BBC Africa Eye has uncovered a global pyramid scam, run from Europe, that is using smartphones to cheat ordinary people across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Crowd1 describes itself as “the fastest growing crowd marketing company in the world” and produces social media videos which show members buying new cars and enjoying luxury holidays. Using nothing but a smartphone, Crowd1 claims, you can become a millionaire by promoting and selling a series of exciting digital products to your network. These claims have persuaded thousands of people across Africa to hand over the 99 Euros that buys an entry-level membership to Crowd1. But a six-month investigation by BBC Africa Eye reveals that, behind the slick marketing, Crowd1 is peddling a range of bogus products and fal...
