Dozens of employees at ByteDance's Singapore office, TikTok's parent company, were hospitalized following a food poisoning incident. Health and food safety officials are investigating the outbreak, which caused gastroenteritis symptoms in 60 staff members on Tuesday, with 57 requiring hospital treatment. ByteDance has also stated it is investigating the cause, noting that food is provided…
Microsoft has apologised after a significant global outage impacted several of its services, including Outlook and Minecraft. According to Downdetector, thousands of users worldwide reported issues, with many unable to access their emails or play their favorite game. This incident follows a major IT outage less than two weeks ago caused by a flawed software…
OpenAI is enhancing its AI bot, ChatGPT, by integrating a real-time search feature, challenging Google's dominance as a search engine. This new tool, currently available to a limited number of US users, will allow ChatGPT to provide up-to-date information and links in response to user queries. This feature could potentially revolutionize the way we search…
Microsoft is being scrutinized by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over whether its hiring of key employees from AI start-up Inflection AI effectively constitutes a merger. Key staff, including co-founder Mustafa Suleyman and chief scientist Karén Simonyan, left Inflection AI in March to join Microsoft's new AI division. The CMA's investigation will determine…
To gauge interest in the Vision Pro, Apple's new high-tech VR headset launched in the UK and Europe, I visited a central London Apple Store. Unlike past product launches, only a tiny group awaited its release, suggesting the VR headset market remains niche. Apple, a brand known for its innovation and quality, aims to make…
EdTech startups, bolstered by venture funding, are revolutionizing education in Africa by leveraging digital platforms to make learning more accessible. This innovation is crucial as the African job market evolves. At the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Conference in Abuja, the central discussion was preparing students for future jobs, emphasizing the importance of aligning education with industry…
Samsung introduced its latest innovation, the Galaxy Ring, at the Galaxy Unpacked event. This advanced wearable aims to captivate fitness and health enthusiasts. The Galaxy Ring, part of Samsung's expanding ecosystem enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI), marks the tech giant's foray into the smart ring market. The Rise of Smart Rings Intelligent rings, equipped with…
Governments have long sought to automate services and advice through chatbots. Early chatbots were limited, but the recent advancements in generative AI have reignited the vision of more efficient public services. With human-like advisors available 24/7, these AI systems could handle inquiries about benefits, taxes, and more, offering sophisticated, human-like responses if trained on quality…
Africa is rapidly becoming a hub for financial technology (fintech) innovations, driven by the rise of mobile money and other digital financial services. This guide will walk you through the essentials of building a successful fintech startup in Africa, focusing on critical mobile money companies, the continent's economic impact, and how generative AI and large…
Google's latest environmental report reveals a 48% surge in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 compared to 2019. This data underscores the pressing need to tackle the energy demands of its data centres, especially in the face of the burgeoning AI landscape. The tech giant has set a challenging target of achieving net zero emissions by…