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Koniku, a Nigerian-founded biotech company secures aircraft safety deal with Airbus.

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Koniku, a Nigerian-founded biotech company secures aircraft safety deal with Airbus.

As the world continues in its search for solutions to the current health problems faced by the public-especially the coronavirus, a biotech company continues to make headway.

Koniku was established by a Nigerian-born scientist, Oshiorenoya Agabi, in 2017. The company’s technology combines living biological neurons with computer cells to give computers the ability to detect odors.

The world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, has announced its partnership with Koniku. Koniku will work for Airbus in the aircraft and airport security aspects.

The two companies are working together to co-develop solutions for spotting chemical threats, explosive threats, and detecting biological hazards.

Airbus is set to install Konikore, a small device that looks very much like a jellyfish into its aircraft. The device is created by Koniku to carry out bomb-sniffing roles. Konikores will detect substances within ten seconds when they are in the best conditions.

Koniku made it known that the vital feature of Konikore that makes aircraft security possible is also applicable in the healthcare sector for disease detection. For each disease, the Konikore aims to find a defined set of biomarkers that are strictly related to such disease. This technology is already being modified for COVID-19 and future diseases.

“We are gradually approaching the age of biotech and what it means to be human will change,” Agabi said on his most recent visit to Nigeria.

Microsoft Surface Go 2 now on sale in Australia.

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Microsoft Surface Go 2 now on sale in Australia.

Finally, the newest member of Microsoft’s Surface series, the Microsoft Surface Go 2, which has been anticipated for long, arrives today. Presently, you can place an order for this tablet through Microsoft’s online store.

The Microsoft Surface Go 2 features a larger 10.5-inch touchscreen display but still maintains the overall body dimension as the original Surface Go. By reducing the size of the bezels on this tablet, Microsoft was able to integrate into the Surface Go 2 a larger display with an upgraded 220 ppi resolution.

When purchasing the Surface Go 2, Microsoft offers the choice of two processors-the Core M3 CPU or Intel’s Pentium 4425Y. The two processor options are not of the most advanced technology but will get the job done as you carry out your daily activities on the device.

According to the company, the Surface Go 2 put forth up to 64% better performance with the Core M3 chip compared to Surface Go. Of course, improved performance is a factor to consider when purchasing an upgraded product.

The new Surface Go 2, just like the Surface Book 3 supports Wi-Fi 6 (3.5Gbps greater than Wi-Fi 5) that allows for faster connectivity and swift internet speed on wireless networks. The battery life on the Surface Go 2 has been improved as Microsoft confirmed that the new device could offer up to 10 hours of usage on a full charge – that’s an hour longer than its predecessor.

Starting at AU$629, the new Microsoft Surface Go 2 can be purchased directly from the company’s online store. 

NCC debunks claims of 5G launch.

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NCC debunks claims of 5G launch.

The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), has ridiculed news making waves on different social media platforms claiming that 5G is live and operational in Nigeria. The commission urged Nigerians to pay no attention to reports stating that the Nigerian Telecommunications Industry is going to activate the operation of 5G in Lagos sometime this week.

Back in November, a trial test for the 5G network technology was approved by the NCC for three months after which all installations were decommissioned. Amongst other reasons, the test was carried out to study and observe any security or health threats the presence of the network might pose when it goes live.

“Relevant stakeholders and major security agencies were invited to participate while the trial test was being conducted,” said Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, NCC.

5G is an improvement on the 4G technology we have today, and the commission is clearly stating that it has not issued any license for 5G in the country so the telephone network companies cannot activate such technology.

The commission also made it known that the laying of fibre optics cable in Lagos and some other parts of the country is to strengthen the already existing 3G and 4G technology we have in place to improve network performance.

“As network regulators, we plead with Nigerians to seek legit information from us rather relying on rumours peddled on various social media platforms,” Danbatta added.

Actis acquires majority stake in Rack Center.

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Actis acquires majority stake in Rack Center.

According to reports from TechEconomy.ng, a leading investor of private capital into global markets, Actis, has successfully acquired a majority stake in Rack Center. Rack Centre is a leading provider of cloud services and data center colocation services in Nigeria.

After a detailed assessment of the key players in the African market, the decision to go ahead with the purchase of the majority stake in Rack Center was finalized- the company has the most significant potential to expand and flourish in Africa.

Jagal, a highly regarded conglomerate institute that operates energy business established and owns Rack Centre. Since the start of operations in 2013, Rack Center has set a high-quality bar in the African Industry. Having a global reputation of excellence, Rack Centre was the first in Africa to be Tire III constructed facility certified in April 2017.

In a recent virtual press briefing, Dr. Ayotunde Coker, The Managing Director of Rack Center, said the deal with Actis was struck at the right time as Rack Center is also improving its facilities.

“Actis has been a wonderful partner, they are introducing new ideas to complement what we already have, and it’s great to have them on board before the COVID-19 epidemic became a global issue,” said Dr. Coker.

“We are proud of the deal, and with Actis in the picture, we are incredibly building our client base,” he added.

Zoom acquires keybase to improve security on the communication platform.

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Zoom acquires keybase to improve security on the communication platform.
September 3, 2019 San Jose / CA / USA - Close up of Zoom sign at their HQ in Silicon Valley; Zoom Video Communications is a company that provides remote conferencing services using cloud computing

This morning, the acquisition of Keybase, a startup with encryption expertise, was announced by Zoom-although the purchase price is not known yet.

For several years now, Keybase has been developing encryption products, including collaboration and secure file sharing tools-with these, Zoom is banking on being able to boast of some security credibility as it goes through the demand growing pains of this pandemic period.

In the last couple of months, the company has faced numerous security threats. The increase in demand made some of the security deficits in the platform visible. To help build a more secure product, having a team of encryption experts on staff will help achieve that goal, hence the purchase of Keybase.

Eric Yuan, the CEO of Zoom, said Keybase was acquired to give a higher level of security to customers as more operations are relying on the company’s services, especially for those working from home during this pandemic period.

“This acquisition marks a major step for Zoom. We attempt to develop a truly private platform for video communication-one that can scale to hundreds of millions of participants and also flexible enough to support Zoom’s wide variety of uses,” Yuan said.

The company made it known that as soon as Keybase is incorporated into the product, tools will be made available for all paying customers. “Zoom will offer an end-to-end encrypted meeting mode to all paid accounts,” Yuan added.

According to the terms of the deal, Keybase will become a subsidiary of Zoom, and Keybase co-founder and Max Krohn will lead the Zoom security engineering team.

As of now, the fate of Keybase’s products is unknown, but the company did say they will figure something out.

StoreEx expands it’s operations to other African Countries as an Evenex company.

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StoreEx expands it’s operations to other African Countries as an Evenex company.

StoreEx, a leading supplier of Third-Party Maintenance (TMP) for enterprise-sized organizations, which was recently acquired by Evernex, is expanding its operations and services to other African countries.

As they continue to drive TMP awareness and adoption across Africa, Jan Beukes, CEO, and founder of StoreEx, says the company will retain its local branding, level 1 B-BBEE status, and South-African based team.

StoreEx is set to expand its services and industry-leading solutions throughout Southern and Eastern Africa with offices in Kenya, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, and Nigeria. As an Evernex company, StoreEx remains steadfast and focused on the provision of the same level of service her local clients expect.

With over ten years of TMP experience, Beukes says there has been an increase in the company’s ability to provide exceptional services to multi-nationals. Third-Party Maintenance providers can give the best solutions when it comes to combining optimal results with cost savings.

The increase in software maintenance costs is steering the focus of procurement and vendor management leaders to explore the independent third-party maintenance market.

StoreEx has more than ten global call centers, provides support in over 160 companies, online experts, and access to more than 330 stocking locations globally.

As a joint force with Evernex, the group has over 200 highly specialized engineers and services more than 220,000 IT infrastructures.

“I am excited about the future growth prospects of StoreEx. Joining our businesses will strengthen our position in Africa and enable us to grow our portfolio of blue-chip clients,” says Beukes.

WAEC debuts e-learning facility for SSCE Students.

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WAEC debuts e-learning facility for SSCE Students.

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has launched an e-learning facility for candidates of the Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE).

According to WAEC, the principal aim of this development is to give the students an opportunity to better equip themselves with the appropriate knowledge for excellent performance in future examinations.

Sidmach Technologies, Nigeria’s foremost indigenous software institute, developed the e-learning platform for the examination body.

Analysis of the overall performance of students on previous exams are carried out so as to identify the common weak points of students in examinations; this process aims at proffering solutions for all bodies concerned with Senior Secondary School Examinations.

“On this platform, you will be provided with the resources you need to understand the standards required for success in various examinations in the Senior Secondary School category. The resources for all WAEC approved subjects will be made available on the learning portal,” said WAEC.

The examination body encourages all students preparing for the 2020 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination to take advantage of this opportunity and make use of all available resources on the e-learning platform, especially during this lockdown period.

The WAEC e-learning platform also features past questions on all WAEC approved subjects, guides, and WAEC’s Chief Examiner’s report for the past ten years.

Mumm Secures $1 million in new Funding round to expand its Services Better

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Mumm secures $1million in new funding round to expand its services better

Mumm, an Egyptian food startup, has cleaned out a good amount of funding in another round of fundraising to grow the company better.

Founded in 2015, the aim of the service has always been to deliver fresh, homemade food to those that choose to use its services. They have also expanded to ensure that they can deliver these kinds of meals to businesses too – either as a way to cater to their events or provide daily feeding to the members of staff.

At the time of launch, the startup was an online marketplace for those looking for options in homemade food category. Today, they have grown so much to become the choice virtual cafeteria for a lot of businesses and corporations in the country.

That is why they were able to go into another round of funding and come out with as much as $1 million this time around.

It is said that the current funding will help the company to maintain its growth during this pandemic and after. Seeing as much more people are at home but might not have access to what they need to make their meals, it makes sense to engage Mumm to deliver food to them.

Bundle Launches Payments Startups for Cash and Cryptos with $450,000 Funding

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Bundle launches payments startups for cash and cryptos with $450,00 funding

The fintech industry in Nigeria might look saturated to some, but the bright minds know what to look out for and launch. That is the story of Bundle, a new payments app for cash and cryptos which just launched in Nigeria.

This service has also received a startup cash of $450,000 from Binance to get things running from the onset.

The app will make it easy for users to receive and make payments to their peers. The nice thing about the service is how it allows the receipt and sending of these payments in the form of either cash or crypto. Thus, those that are holding cryptocurrency don’t have to always be liquid before they can make necessary payments.

Likewise, their recipients now have a platform where the crypto can either be held or converted to Naira for their needs.

The startup is the brainchild of Yeye Bademosi, who is no newbie to this scene.

Before now, he has been the founding partner of an early stage VC firm (Microtraction) and was also one of the directors at Binance Labs for a while. This means that he has all the experience in what he is doing, and in more than one area too.

While the startup is leveraging the infrastructure of Binance to start strong, it is believed that they will operate independently of this global crypto exchange platform. Any which way it goes, this is another win for the Nigerian startup scene.

WhatsApp to soon Increase Conference Calling to 8 Users

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WhatsApp to soon increase conference calling to 8 users

We have a different video conferencing apps that allows a lot of people at once, but the WhatsApp service has always been limited to four participants at once. On the back of that came a rumor that the service will add the slots for four more users in the future.

Now, the social media giant has confirmed this too.

This new addition has already made its way to the beta versions of the app and will soon be rolled out to users worldwide. They have also confirmed that the calls will stay encrypted from end to end, which ensures no one from the Facebook family or outside can listen to what is being said on them.

In contrast, Messenger Rooms does not have this kind of end to end encryption. Where it gets better, though, is that up to 50 users can connect to be a part of the call at the same time. No matter how you look at that, it is impressive – not just as safe.