Facebook will no longer support the Messenger App for Windows phone 8.0 and 8.1. This comes shortly after the Skype app just got pulled too. Skype has a messenger feature similar to Messenger from Facebook, so that means two major messaging solutions just left the Windows Phone limited pool of apps. It was very weird to see the former abandon the platform considering that both Skype and Windows Phone OS are owned by Microsoft. It would not send a good message to developers by Microsoft removing its own apps from its own falling OS, it will lead to a streak of software companies losing hope and jumping ship as we are seeing with Facebook.

Facebook sent an email to everyone still using the Messenger app on Windows 8.0 and 8.1 to inform them of the cease of support.

“Thank you for choosing to use Messenger. We regret to inform you that since the end of March, the app version you’re using is no longer supported and you cannot send and receive messages. To continue to send and receive messages from Facebook on your phone, update your Facebook app to the latest version.”

Fortunately, if you want to continue receiving messages on Facebook, you can do so by installing the latest update of the app as indicated on the email. Luckily, if you have Windows Phone 10, you will continue enjoying Messenger with full updates support.

It is not shocking to see developers stop their support for Windows Phone apps. The platform has a market share of below 1% in the smartphone global usage statistics. It may no longer be feasible for companies to dedicate resources to such a small margin of users. Microsoft is not making things any better; it has not released any flagship device for Windows Phone OS for almost two years now.

Ever tried to download a video and the moment you click the download button, you are taken to an advertising website instead of the download link? Well, Opera Mini has a solution for you. The latest update of this famous browser comes with a feature that automatically scans websites for download links. You will no longer have to go deal with the frustrating advert tricks.

To enjoy this feature, you need to have the Extreme Data Saving mode activated. Opera Mini will scan websites looking for download links, once they are found, the browser will list down the results on a drop down menu at the top of the screen.

Since this feature just got rolled out, it only works with a few websites which include Facebook, DJ Punjab, Pagalworld and, a fan favorite, Tubidy among others. This last one especially has been a source of content for many people in Kenya and Africa as a whole and will be a key motivator for most people to install this update.

The download manager also got a facelift to welcome the new usage. In case you like to save complete pages to read their content at a later time, you will consume less data while doing it. This is because Opera Mini will be compressing offline-saved pages as well as videos. A Facebook notification bar is also part of the update.

It is great to see legacy apps such as these continue to push the envelope year after year. Many apps that were competing with Opera Mini in the days of feature phones have either cased operating or have been overtaken by new entrants due to lack of innovation. This has not been the case with this veteran browser; it has continuously lived up to its promise of saving users as much data as possible using compression algorithms that are second to none. Well to continue saving youself more data by avoiding adverts from download sites, go to the play store and get yourself this new update.

The Note series is the best-selling product line for Infinix. The Infinix Hot Note was their most successful phone in sales. The company has been follow up on this series to make sure its biggest customer base is well looked after. In line with this, they have decided it’s about time the users got the newest Android 7.0 Nougat. This comes at a moment when the next version, Android O, just started getting previewed. It’s good to see that the company doesn’t want to be left behind.

Infinix Note 3 was one of the best mid-range phone this year, with this new update, this phone is bound to get even better. Android 7.0 bring the most coveted feature on the OS, the split screen, multitasking. This functionality will enable you to have two apps running simultaneously on the same screen each taking half the display real estate. Watching a YouTube video while, at the same time, texting your friends about it on WhatsApp will be a common thing. Also the notifications shade will be revamped to have a modern look, customizable and easier to reach quick toggles and much more.

The update will also be arriving to the new Zero 4, and Zero 4 Plus, these are flagships so it’s expected that they will be updated, on the other hand, Note 3’s update was not as certain. A beta version of the Nougat update for the Note 3 and Note 3 Plus is already live and can be installed right now. However, I would advise against installing this beta variant since it’s only meant for testers. These versions usually have bugs and inconsistent experiences. It is best to wait for the final polished software. It will be sent to Infinix owners as an over the air (OTA) update. Now all you have to do is sit back and wait, the update notification alert should come any moment now.

The National Treasury recently launched M-AKIBA, the World’s First mobile platform for trading government treasury bonds. For only KES 3,000 anyone with a mobile phone and a national ID can invest in it. Here is all the information you need to understand how this new innovation works before you can decide to jump in.

The launch that was just made the other day was for the pilot program only, in fact they are calling it a mini launch. The target for the pilot program is KES 150 million. After three months, the main launch of M-AKIBA will occur, it will be spearheaded by the President himself and will target a whopping KES 4.85 billion bond to make the total collection to reach KES 5 billion.

This money is basically a loan to the government, it allows the nation to conduct projects and then pay back the money with interest. Traditionally, only the rich were allowed to buy these treasury bonds, this is because the minimum limit was as high as KES 1 million. With time, the limit lowered up to KES 50,000 until M-AKIBA dropped it to KES 3,000, most Kenyans can afford this kind of investment; that is the attribute that makes this initiative so unique. M-AKIBA is a straight bond which means it pays at regular intervals.

M-AKIBA will primarily be done on mobile systems of MPESA and Airtel Money. The minimum investment is KES 3,000 and a maximum of KES 140,000 per day due to the limitations of this mobile cash transfers.

To invest, you simply register yourself by pressing *889# and following the steps. Any phone can access this process be it a smartphone or a simple feature phone. Your investment will be earning you a coupon rate, also called interest rate, of 10%. These earnings will be paid twice a year, so that’s every 6 months. Upon maturity of the bond, you will get your principal back (your initial investment) plus your interest earnings. So if you invested KES 3,000, upon maturity of the bond, you will get back your 3000+ interest earnings of 300 for every 6 months you waited. If you had saved in a bank, you would only earn between 2%-7% interest; so bond rates are more attractive. However, interest rates of M-AKIBA can go lower than this.

Paul Maina Head of Research at Relic Capital was talking to Daily Nation and said that, bonds are inversely proportional to the prevailing interest rates. That is, if interests go down, the bond price goes up and vice –versa. He continues that, interest might go down to 7% if the bond price increases to 14%. So if you invest 3,000, you will only earn 210 every six months. Since M-AKIBA bonds can be bought or sold at any time of the day, Maina foresaw a future where Kenyans might sell away their bond if the interest rates decrease. At such a time, the price of the bond will be high.

Now you are well informed of the M-AKIBA platform, is it something that interests you? It’s your chance to decide and respond accordingly.

More and more aspects of our lives are ending up online and our technology is becoming increasingly interconnected. This has caused cybersecurity to grow into one of the biggest issues facing us today.

Hacking can take place on a large-scale, but it can affect any website owner too. Luckily, there are some steps you can take to prepare and protect yourself against the possibility of a hacker attack.

How Hackers Do It

A hacker, as the word is commonly used today, is someone who exploits a vulnerability in a computer system or network.

Brand new hacks, also called zero-day hacks, are attacks that have never been seen before. They require a lot of technical skill to execute and are usually used for exploits that will have a big financial return. They’re difficult to defend against because nothing is known about them until they happen. Since these attacks are usually saved for the big guys, smaller targets don’t usually have to worry about them.

Other cyber attacks are executed using code that someone else has written. They’re usually performed by inexperienced hackers and aimed at smaller targets. They’re also much easier to defend against because their contents are already known.

Oftentimes, hackers forgo codes entirely and just steal or trick people into giving away login information. This is probably the easiest and most common form of hacking.

What the Hackers Are Looking For

Hackers may try to infiltrate a computer system for a number of reasons.

For some people, it’s their job, and they do it ethically. These people, called ‘white hat’ hackers, are paid to test the security of computer systems.

‘Black hat’ hackers are the ones white hats are trying to protect against. They may do it for financial gain, either on a small scale or a large one. Often, they look for credit card information, social security numbers or other sensitive, finance-related information.

Some are ‘hacktivists’ and use hacking to protest, spread their ideas or expose corruption. Various governments have also been known to use hacking for national security or other reasons.

How to Protect Yourself

One of the most important things you can do to keep your website secure is to make sure that all your software is up to date, especially if those updates are related to security. Another simple way to boost security is to use passwords that are difficult to guess and update them frequently.

Someone who has more than website often makes the mistake of hosting them all on one server. This may seem easier to manage but also gives hackers more ways into your site and makes the clean up after an attack much more difficult.

Installing security features such as firewalls, which are available through businesses like IBM cloud services, can upgrade your security significantly. Scanners and programs that test for vulnerabilities by running a fake hacker attack can also be useful.

You should also ensure you’re using a secure protocol like HTTPS to authenticate your website and make sure information communicated between the site and a user can’t be intercepted or faked by a hacker.

Cybersecurity is an important issue in today’s world that affects everyone from small business owners to the federal government. Hackers can cause a lot of harm to businesses and individuals, but there are steps you can take to protect yourself. It’s important to take advantage of the security measures that are available so that you don’t end up becoming a victim of a hacker attack.

Apple just released its new tablet called “the new iPad 9.7”. Sure this is the cheapest a new 9.7inch iPad has ever cost but don’t pop the champagne yet, a lot of corners have been cut to achieve at such a low price.

The screen has remained the same at 9.7 inches with a 1536*2048 resolution as other high end Apple tablets, but the True Tone Display functionality is no longer present. This feature ensured that colors are still accurate regardless of how dull or bright the screen was. Also, the anti-reflective coating that helped with outdoor legibility is also gone.

The processor has also been downgraded from the previous iPad, this time we have the Apple A9 which is a bit less powerful compared to the A9X used in the iPad Pro last year. Fortunately, the RAM has remained at 2GB.

Selfie camera is a mere 1.2 MP shooter that is only good for video chats but poor for photo taking. Luckily, the rear one is 8MP but has no flash, no 4K video recording and no Live Photos mode. Last year, the iPad Pro came with 4 speakers, this new one has gone for half of those.

The battery has been pegged to last 10 hrs just like other iPads. In case you use 4G, the longevity ends at 9hrs. Speaking of 4G, other iPads have “4G LTE Advanced”, but this new one settles for 4G LTE, it’s the slower and older variant.

From the announcement, it was clear that Apple has discontinued its iPad Air line. The line was characterized with super slim tablets with the last iPad Air 2 being only 6.1mm thin. At 7.5 mm thin, this new tablet has dropped the Air name and has gained some weight too.

Apple also released red color versions of the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus. Red Apple products are usually called Product(RED), they are special in that every purchase of them contributes the the Global Fund to support the HIV/AIDS programs. All their specs remain the similar to the non-red coated iPhones.

All in all, this new iPad is not a successor to the amazing iPad Pro from last year, it seems Apple wanted to appeal to the budget conscious market. The company has shaved off some features but it has retained the fundamental ones in order to lower the price. This is a smart move from Apple considering that tablet sales have really been dropping lately, the only wise play is to cut the cost to make this gadgets attractive again. I won’t be surprised if this new iPad 9.7 breaks sales records of the previous one.

The Infinix Hot S is barely 6 months old but its successor is already getting prepared for launch. My bet, the team behind Infinix thought they needed to put up a better fight towards the Tecno CX that just got launched yesterday. Will this upcoming S2 have what it takes? Read on and be the judge.

First  off, the “Hot” name is out. Infinix wanted to differentiate their selfie “S” series from their entry level “Hot” line. I personally think it’s a brilliant idea, the S line should have its own identity the same way that the Camon line does.

The Infinix S2’s claim to fame is the dual selfie camera, yes, that’s two cameras at the front. The first one is a 13MP wide angle lens and the second one is 8MP for solo shots. The wide angle is stretched to 120 degrees which is enough to fit all your buddies and then some. The rear camera has 13MP sensor with dual tone LED flash. So basically, the front shooter is the star of the show.

The design of the phone is another strong hold; an all metal unibody case with shiny chrome like antenna lines will sure turn heads. A fingerprint sensor lays on top of this metallic chassis too.

Powering the S2 is an octacore mediatek 6753 chipset with a generous 3GB of RAM running on Android 6.0. This set up will be quite fast considering that the phone only comes with a 720p HD resolution screen stretched to 5.2 inches IPS display under a 2.5D glass. That chipset handles double that resolution without breaking a sweat so at HD only, the S2 should be a speed and battery champ. Speaking of battery, a 3000mAh with fast charge tech graces the phone.

The Infinix S2 will be launched on April 10^TH and will go for KES 16,000 ($160). If you ask me, the Infinix really has a winner here, compared to the Tecno CX, the S2 has a better selfie setup, more RAM, longer battery life, much more attractive design and still manages to come at a lower price; that’s nothing short of impressive.

Smart companies have noted the one way to lure a client is by making sure that they can still connect to the WIFI or at the very least recharge their gadgets. This why there is a new camping stove that you can cook with while also charging your gadgets so you never miss out on posting your memories online.  The BioLite Campstove2  has been there for a while especially for campers who know these particular products. The award-winning Camp stove has an updated LED dashboard that’s for better control and feedback.

The heat produced from cooking actually turns into electricity and just like that you can recharge your phone, no matter where you are camping. It can run the internal fan that turbocharges your fire and via the built-in USB outlet, power an assortment of optional LED lights. It can even recharge your phone, no matter how deep into the woods you’ve gone. It may seem a bit obscene to have a stove that can charge your phone while you can simply invest in a power bank but then again it is highly likely that you will carry a stove for cooking for an outdoor activity.

The stove is a small gadget to carry considering you will use it cook your food for survival’s sake. Just like every gadget, it has a battery but one that can apparently last a while as its yet to be tested by more people.  It is equipped with three columns of LED lights to gauge your fire’s strength, fan speed, and available battery life. The module nests neatly within the stove body for easy transportation and storage. Of course charging your phone while the fire is on may seem absurd, but the process is very simple.

When you’re ready to cook, the fire is easy to get started. Simply connect the power module to the stove body and fill the combustion chamber with wood, twigs or sticks and simply ignite. Shortly after, a four-speed fan forces air into the combustion chamber through holes that encourage more efficient burning, up to 95 percent less smoke emissions compared with a regular wood fire. The question is, do you want your heating appliance to be your gadget recharger?

Oppo just officially released the Oppo F3 Plus. For those not familiar with the F series, they are self-proclaimed selfie experts. Phones in this series usually have their selfie cameras given more attention than their main cameras. It is not strange to find Oppo phones having more powerful selfie shooters than what they are packing at the rear. Fortunately this move has worked tremendously well for the company propelling it to become the leading phone manufacturer in China. That’s not a mere achievement considering that China is the largest smartphone market in the world; the company has even started penetrating into African countries including Kenya. Oppo hopes to maintain that lead through their newest offering, the Oppo F3 Plus.

The phone’s headline feature is the selfie camera, well, we would expect nothing less from an F series Oppo. This front camera is a dual variant with an 8MP 120 degrees wide angle lens to make sure that all your friends fit in and a whopping 16MP sensor for high resolution solo shots. The back camera goes for a 16MP sensor, the Sony IMX 398 to be exact. This Sony-made sensor utilizes dual pixel technology, the same one on the famous Samsung Galaxy S7. This technology ensures super-fast focus times on your subjects.

The rest of the phone comes with a six line antenna which increases network signal reception as well as making the phone very attractive. On the front we have a 6 inch screen with Full HD resolution protected by the latest Gorilla Glass 5, inside resides a 4,000mAh battery with super-fast VOOC charging. Powering the device is an octacore Snapdragon 653 processor which has four A72 cores, like the leading high end CPUs out there, coupled with four A53 cores and 4GB RAM. The internal storage starts at 64GB which is expandable too. Android 6.0 runs underneath the custom Color OS 3.0.

Pricing details have not been released yet but judging from previous offerings from Oppo with almost similar specs such as the Oppo R9s, this new phone will cost north of $400 (KES 40,000). The first market is will be India but it will only be a matter of time before they hit Kenya now that the brand is becoming common locally.

Before a major android version is released, Google first pushes a preview version for developers to dip their feet in. This helps catch bugs and also familiarize the developer community on the new features. This enables them to create applications and content that takes advantage of the new additions. Android O is the next major update, Google names all its versions after a sugary dessert following the alphabetical order, the last one was N for Nougat, now we are at O. Majority of the people on the internet are hoping it will be called Oreo but we will have to wait and see. The factory image for the preview has already been released and here are some of the new features it comes with:

Notification snoozing

You can snooze a notification so that it will appear later when you are ready to respond to it.

Notification channels

Notifications of each app will be categorized into channels. You can choose which channels to mute and which to be alerted on. For instance, you can have your Facebook page notifications muted while leaving your post comment alerts active. So instead of muting an app’s notifications completely, you will have more control.

Customizable notification background colours

On-going tasks will have the ability to be programmed with unique colors similar to the green shade that Google Map navigation instructions have on the notification pull down. This feature will be available on critical on-going tasks only and not all notifications.

Background limit

There will be limits to what apps can do in the background. This will lead to better battery life and performance. We hope that these limits will not impair the multitasking prowess synonymous with the android operating system.

Picture-in-picture

You will be able to have a floating window showing videos on top of other apps, the same way that Youtube videos are condensed into a small movable window when you press the back button while streaming. This will be a system wide feature that developers can use on different tasks.

Other minor features include:

System wide auto-fill– forms within apps will be auto-filled with your information so you won’t have to type your information, such as username and email address, every now and then.

WIFI Aware-  this will enable nearby devices to communicate via WIFI without the need for internet access, the same way that Xender, the famous file sharing app, operates.

Wider colour gamut will be supported for Android O targeted apps, a feature that will complement the HDR screens that are now becoming a trend in flagships

Telecom framework will let third party calling apps to communicate with your phone. The car dashboard call buttons will now work seamlessly with your Android O device.

Lastly, the android runtime will be two times faster than it was on Android 7.0.

Release details

The final version of Android O will be released to the masses in the third quarter of this year. For now, only developers can access this preview, they will need to have either a Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P or Nexus Player.

Nowadays, virtual assistants are all the rage. We recently had an encounter with Moto Voice, the assistant for the impressive Moto Z.  You will find a variant of the same from every major smart tech company, Goggle has Google Assistant, Amazon has Alexa, Apple has Siri and so forth. Samsung already has Samsung Voice but it seems time has come to make an overhaul. Meet Bixby, the virtual assistant that promises to adapt to you.

Bixby will come preinstalled in the Galaxy S8, it will even have its own dedicated button on the left side of the device to summon it at any moment. The magic behind this assistant is based on three properties namely, completeness, context awareness and cognitive tolerance.

Bixby will possess completeness in that it will support almost any task that a user can do in an app. It will not be limited to pre-sets commands like traditional assistants. Context awareness will be addressed by the fact that the assistant can be activated from any app using the side button. Once summoned, it will understand what you were trying to do and will proceed to offer help. Finally, Bixby will be cognitive tolerant in that it will understand your commands even when you give it incomplete information. The aim here is to make sure that the user can use natural language as if they were talking to another human being and still have the assistant respond accordingly. You won’t have to remember specific commands like you do with other voice assistants.

We only have to wait until 29^th March for the launch of the Galaxy S8 to see if this assistant lives up to its promises. Initially, Bixby will be available only on smartphones, but Samsung has plans for extending it to other appliances too. In the near future, it won’t be so strange to talk to your Samsung fridge asking for recipe suggestions.

Instagram will soon release a feature that will let users save live videos. This feature will come in version 10.12 of the app. It will have a save icon at the top right corner appear immediately after a broadcast ends. The viewer’s tally, comments and likes will not be saved, only the video will. Currently, the functionality rests in the beta app of the social network and will migrate to the official version soon. Companies usually do this to make sure that all bugs and kinks are ironed out before a global roll out. If you are too excited to wait for these new features, you can always download the beta app into your device. Just be tolerant enough to experience the bugs.

This feature comes soon after the company unveiled the feature that lets users attach up to 10 videos and pictures in one post. Now you can share the best pictures of that vacation you just took all in a single post. The feature allows you to put a filter in all the pictures at once or, if you are more particular, you can edit one photo at a time.

To get in on this multi-select fun, all you need to do is update your app. The update is already live in the Google play store and the Apple appstore. In the app you will find a button labelled “select multiple” which will instantly turn your gallery pictures into select-able icons. You can reorder the photos to appear in the sequence you want.

On your news feed, multi-photo posts will be indicated by blue dots at the bottom. As far as captions are concerned, you can only have one to summarize the 10 pictures and videos. All we can do now is wait and see if this update will have a popular usage as the one on Instagram Stories.

The team behind Gmail has recently released a feature that will let you stream video attachments. Previously, when someone sent you an attachment, you had to download it first then play the clip using the video player you have installed in your device. Since Gmail is a brother to Youtube, the video streaming giant, it was only a matter of time before the two shared their strengths.

After the update rolls out, you will be able to stream a video attachment the same way you would a typical Youtube video. In fact, the same Youtube infrastructure and player will be used. The player will let you adjust playback speed and volume levels. According to the official Gsuite press release website, the update is scheduled to reach all users in the 15 days. It is funny how Youtube is working on features that let you download videos and view them later while Gmail is busy doing the opposite, but having options is always welcome and we applaud Google for making the move.

It is important to note that videos will still be subject to the 25MB attachment limit size. Any file bigger than that will be sent to Google Drive and the recipient will get a link to it. Fortunately, Google Drive already has the streaming feature so you won’t be losing any functionality.

Google has been pushing Gmail features more frequently nowadays. The other day, it made it possible to use the android Gmail app to make money transfers. A user can send or request for funds with his or her contacts. The feature is supported by the infrastructure of Google Wallet. If you haven’t seen it yet, there seems to be a pattern that is forming between the various Google platforms, they are sharing their features to create a cohesive eco system of Google products. We can only hope that this momentum continues, it will only result to making life easier to all users.

Smartphones are getting mightier by the day. We have seen their benchmark scores level with those of laptops and even some desktops. With this increase of processing power, there are people who have resulted in using their device as a one stop shop for all their productivity work. Samsung has realized this and wants to make that experience better through a docking station called Samsung Dex.

Dex stands for Desktop eXperince, from that name, one can easily decipher that the feature will provide a desktop like workstation from your phone similar to Microsoft’s Continuum feature. Dex will be a docking station that will attach to external monitors via a HDMI cable and will project the contents of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 to the big monitor screen. The S8 will wirelessly connect to the Dex station, so no extra cables will get in the way.

The evidence for this rumor maturing comes from a trademark filling made by Samsung. Dex will be a direct competitor to the Microsoft Continuum with their only difference being the fact that Samsung’s solution will run on android. This is not the first time that the Galaxy maker is working with such a device. It tried something similar back when they launched the Galaxy Note 2 which came with split screen multitasking. The company later ditched the docking station in favor of a wireless solution in the name of Side Sync.

This time round it seems that the dock will finally catch on. It’s potential success can be attributed to the fact that android now supports split screen multitasking natively; Samsung’s industry leading multitasking features which include floating screens, processors that can now support all kinds of monitor resolutions up to 4k, RAM capacities have reached up to 8GB on smartphones and a price tag of only $150 (KES 15,000). If the Korean giant uses its marketing might to push this device, it could pose a real threat to chrome-books that are now running android apps since the Dex is much cheaper than them while offering similar advantage.