Instagram launches mobile web sharing to make sharing content easier

Instagram wants to be the photo app for the whole world, even if you can’t or won’t download it. In pursuit of international growth where networks are slow and data is expensive, Instagram has given its mobile website a massive upgrade that adds core features of the main app, including photo sharing and a lightweight version of the Explore tab.

Photos and video embeds provide the same features available on the Instagram webfeed, allowing users to like and comment. All embedded content will also appear with the uploader’s Instagram username and clicking the Instagram logo will bring people to their page on Instagram.com.

Web embedding has been a highly requested feature for the service since the company stopped supporting Twitter embeds to protect its brand. With the introduction of video last month, the update makes perfect sense. In comparison, Vine has already had embedding tools in place since its launch at the beginning of the year. The ability to embed video makes it easier to share photos and videos on the web helps provide ubiquity to the Instagram brand.

With this move, Instagram seems to be taking steps to establishing itself as a real-time sharing platform. Similar to Twitter, sharing on the Instagram platform can be enticing for journalists and reporters for sharing video on location. With over 130 million active users, bringing Instagram content outside of the native apps can only spell for more widespread recognition.

Google Assistant bests rivals for questions answered and overall accuracy

Earlier this year, Stone Temple Consulting released a virtual assistant consumer survey showing the majority of respondents wanted the assistants to provide “answers” rather than conventional search results. Today, the firm published a follow-up study that measured the relative accuracy of the four major assistants.

It compared results of “5,000 different questions about everyday factual knowledge” on Google Home, Alexa, Siri and Cortana, using traditional Google search results as a baseline for accuracy. The following table shows the study’s top-line results.

As one might have anticipated, the Google Assistant answered more questions and was correct more often than its rivals. Cortana came in second, followed by Siri and Alexa. Of the questions it could answer, Amazon’s Alexa was the second most accurate assistant. Siri had the highest percentage of wrong answers of the four competitors.

One of the interesting observations in the report is about featured snippets. Cortana had more featured snippets integrated than any of the others, even Google Home, although Google search had more. Siri and Alexa lagged far behind in the category, although they want to use third parties to deliver “answers” and transactional capabilities.

You can now scan docs with Dropbox on Android

Dropbox for Android has finally received the doc scanner feature, which amgives its users opportunity to scan their printed or handwritten documents right from within the app. iOS received this feature a long time ago, Android users will finally be able to make use of the feature, which can serve to save time as well as provide convenience.

Users can crop or rotate their scans to capture exactly the right image, and even scan multiple pages into a single PDF. In addition to these standard features, Dropbox Business teams have the added benefit of searching for keywords inside their scans," Alexander Embiricos, product manager at Dropbox, said in a blog post.

Notably, users of Dropbox Business will get the added benefit of searching for keywords inside their scans, thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology, as pointed out by VentureBeat.

Apart from adding the scanner feature to Dropbox for Android, Embiricos also announced that the company has added an offline mode to its Dropbox Paper app on both Android and iOS. "Even if you lose your Internet connection, you can continue to create new docs, or access, edit, and comment on your favourite and recent docs. And once you're back online, your changes get synced so you have a smooth, seamless experience when you're working on the go," he said.

Notably, with the update, Dropbox Paper now supports up to 20 languages on both mobile platforms.

Nigeria ranks 7th place on PoS transactions in Africa

Nigeria ranks seventh position among African countries where the use of point of sale (PoS) form part of transactions, Nigeria Communications Week has learnt.

According to a report by Indexmundi only 21 percent of total transactions in the country are done through the PoS device.

South Africa stands at the top with 91 percent followed by Ghana 80 percent while Tunisia is third with 79 percent. Other countries ahead of Nigeria are Egypt, Morocco and Kenya in that order.

According to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the PoS density per 100,000 people in Nigeria is 13, while India’s is 67; Uganda, 453; Namibia, 338.

The target for Nigeria, according to the bank, is to meet Brazil’s PoS deployment rate of 2,247 per 100,000 people by 2020.

As to why this is so, Kevin Chung of Avante International Technology revealed at the recentlg concluded CashlessAfrica Expo that while the communication network and bandwidth are adequate, the data centers in the financial communities in Nigeria need to upgrade from Tier 1-2 to Tier 3-4 to enable the cashless economy. 

Payporte announces suspension of Payment on Delivery

Following the recent calls for the abolishment of Payment on Delivery (PoD), because of the insecurities like robbing and killing of delivery agents, Payporte has taken the first leap as the first Nigerian online shopping store to announce the suspension of Payment on delivery service.

The company has placed an header on their website which clearly announces the suspension of the pay on delivery payment model.

The company promises 48 hours returns on deposited funds in the event of any arising liability.

Before now, the company had previously announced that it  would be done with this payment method by end of December 2016 but it’s quite surprising that it has taken several months after to effect it. It is probably the unfortunate incident involving the death of a Jumia delivery man, Mr. Chukwuma Eleje, that initiated the company to finally take this decision.

I think this is a wise decision the company has taken. At least until the insecurities of PoD can be settled.

Google Search For Android Now Available In Offline Mode

Google stuns its search users on android devices with the introduction of an offline mode. This mode will allow you to store up your searches on the Google app so you can see the results later when there’s stable connection. An effective feature, especially for the absent-minded ones.

Whats your take on this feature?
Is it really needed when you can use your notepad to save information and get them back anytime you choose to.

To get this feature simply update your Google app from the PlayStore.

Meet The Winners Of The 2016 Edition Of The Etisalat Prize For Innovation

As expected, the circle of innovators and entrepreneurs was abuzz as the winners of the 2016 edition of the Etisalat Prize for Innovation were unveiled at a prestigious award ceremony which held at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos following the submission of innovative products/services and ideas.

The Most Innovative Product and Services category award was won by a team of three men comprising Ojeniyi James, Adegoke Olubusi and Oluwole Gbenga whose entry called “OneMedical”, came out tops to win the N5 million coveted prize.

In the Most Innovative Idea category, Tobilola Ajibola took home the N2 million prize money for her idea, “Dresses by Aloli”, which was adjudged the most outstanding.

The prizes were presented by the Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher. Some of the notable dignitaries who attended the event include the Director General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim and the Chief Executive Officer, MainOne, Ms. Funke Opeke.

“With Etisalat Prize for Innovation, we demonstrate our belief that innovation is timeless and can be found in the most unlikely places, and created by the most unlikely people. We believe that the change Nigeria needs to move forward can be created through innovative products, services and ideas,” says Matthew Willsher.

Etisalat Prize for Innovation was created in 2012 and has discovered and empowered a number of young creative Nigerian entrepreneurs by giving them the opportunity to showcase innovative products, services and ideas that address specific problems in the society and contribute to the nation’s socio-economic growth.

Source: TechCabal

Jumia Launches Jumia Local, An Initiative that Promotes Made-in-Nigeria Products

Due to popular demand, JUMIA,  Nigeria’s biggest e-commerce startup and company have decided to set the trend by launching an initiative to promote locally made products in Nigeria "Jumia Local". Jumia Local was launched on the 1st of October 2016, that is Jumia's way of marking Nigeria at 56.

Jumia Local is Jumia’s way of supporting local entrepreneurs and brands that manufacture their products in Nigeria. Merchants on the site will be able to sell their products on at 0% commission, and their products will be promoted through all Jumia’s marketing channels.

According to Jumia, this a social responsibility initiative that’s aimed at growing the local economy. According to Bili Sule, Head of Business Development, Jumia Nigeria, “To build a sustainable and healthy ecosystem for Nigeria, we need to focus on products made in Nigeria. The change starts with each and everyone of us and Jumia will lead the way by taking the responsibility to promote our own Nation’s products.”

So if you are a Nigerian entrepreneur and want to make proper use of this opportunity, you must have your products made or assembled in Nigeria. Another condition is that you have to sell online exclusively through Jumia for the first six months.

Jumia is indeed helping to grow the local economy in Nigeria.

Google Apps For Work Rebranded, Now G Suite

Google has re-branded and enhanced its productivity suite with new intelligent capabilities. G Suite is the new name for the group of applications that include Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, Sheets, and Slides. It's a group of apps that the company is trying to push on organizations looking to make their employees more productive, with an emphasis on collaboration capabilities.

Docs, Sheets, and Slides will each be getting new features that is aimed at making it easier for users to create files quickly with the help of Google intelligence. Also, Google Calendar is getting a new feature that will make it easier to schedule meetings, while Drive has a new feature making it easier for teams to use.

A standout amongst the announcements for enterprises is a new Team Drives feature that lets organizations set up groups that own files inside Google Drive. It's a shift from the product's previous design, which required every document, spreadsheet or slide deck to have a single person own it. The change could be important for organizations that want to more easily manage files as people come and go from teams.

Now, teams can have their own folder inside Drive and can own all of the files inside of it. Administrators can control access to the team Drive, and people can come and go.

In addition, the Google Hangouts video-conferencing service will gain capabilities that make it possible for people to join meetings from any device, without needing to have an application or plugin installed.

Docs, Sheets, and Slides are each getting new features that is aimed at making it easier to intelligently create documents. In Docs, the existing Research feature has been rebranded as Explore and enhanced to quickly and automatically surface information about the subject of a document, both from the web and from files shared in Google Drive.

In Sheets, the Explore feature will now let users ask questions in natural language about data in a spreadsheet and get information back. It's similar to the Q&A feature in Microsoft's Power BI service, which makes it easier for people to get insight from potentially messy data without knowing complicated spreadsheet editing capabilities.

The Slides feature makes it easier for users to find images that fit into their presentations with its Explore functionality and will automatically help lay out text and images to make them more visually appealing, thanks to the power of machine learning.

Android users will also get access to a new Quick Access capability in Google Drive that's designed to give people fast access to the files they need to work on after they open the app. It's powered by machine learning and designed to reduce the amount of time that people have to spend searching Drive for the files they need.

Do you think this re-branding will help Google better compete with Microsoft Office 365?

You Can Now Schedule Rides In Advance On Uber

Uber has rolled out a new feature to its users called ‘Scheduled Rides’. this feature allows you book rides 15 minutes to 30 days in advance.

With the new Schedule ride feature, you can schedule ahead of time with the comfort of knowing that your Uber will arrive when you’re ready to head out. For now, Scheduled rides are available for just UberX vehicles and no extra cost is added

You can cancel a scheduled ride at any time before your ride is on the way. Riders can also cancel the ride after it has begun, but a fee is applied after first 5 minutes of the ride.

How to schedule a ride:

To schedule a ride on Uber, all you have to do is follow the process below:

=> Select uberX and tap “Schedule a Ride.”

=> Set your pickup date, time, location, and destination.

=> Confirm the details of your upcoming trip and tap “Schedule uberX.”

You will be reminded every 24 hours and 30 minutes in advance of your pickup. You’ll also be notified after your ride is on the way.

Uber is dedicated to serving you better and they are proving it with this new feature.

If you are a new user on Uber you can use this promo code "kaesynue" to get a free ride worth 1,000 Naira.