Its the first week of June and our very first digest of the Big + 5 weekly dose. Alot transpired in the Technology craze with the leading telco in Uganda welcoming their top boss back to office braced by the UCC Executive director Godfrey Mutabazi on Thursday.
From the Transport sector, SafeBoda crossed lines to meet it 10,000 mark and it’s not game over for Huawei that is still facing sanctions day by week. Just like any other industry, the mobile manufacturers’ sleaze also had some stiff outcomes and here are the top highlights from last week.
MTN’s Formerly Deported CEO Mr Wim Valenhepputte steps back to office
Earlier this year, MTN Uganda suffered the biggest thorn to its heart when top officials viewed the Uganda exit route without any advance notifications. First to say goodbye was the telco CMO and Mobile Money head before the CEO was also treated to the same path.
Well, by the time June paved way for a revelation of 2019’s first half. MTN Uganda’s hopes of excelling in all projects grew higher with the return of their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Wim Vanhelleputte who was helped by his acting counterpart Mr. Godian Kyomukama during his un-notified deportation. So, even with Gaga Wednesday scrapped off the 2019 ladder, its a win-win situation for the Yello Camp against its former state worries.
Olx switches sides with Jiji
Olx is a startup that has been run by Naspers since its birth in 2006 and it is now a rebranded wing of Nigeria’s mighty online marketplace Jiji. All Olx wings mostly in Africa will now operate as Jiji with their respective country level domains. During the takeover, Jiji announced no alteration in user profiles and browsing experience, but instead a full revamp of the online shopping experience.
Huawei Trademarks its HongMeng Operating System
Huawei mobile released its custom operating syetm that will power up all future releases dubbed HongMeng. After Huawei’s entry on the banned companies list in the United States by the Trump administration, Google went ahead to end support for future Huawei devices leading to the surprising reveal of its mighty OS.
HongMeng has been an in-house custom designed product since 2012 and the Google ban ignited its rebirth and public reveal. So, Huawei earlier this week trademarked HongMeng with all rights reserved to the Chinese wing making it the official OS for all its future releases.
Apple unveils its new Mac pro plus A dose of MacOS Catrina
Apple is known for producing well-lit Retina display computers mostly evidenced on MacBooks. Yet again the Mac Pro is that $6000 priced beast that was unveiled earlier this week as the company’s 2019 beast riding on a couple of sweet specifications. With less talk and more attention to detail, here is a sniff of the mac pro spec sheet.
- Stainless steel frame that offers 360-degree interior access
- Up to 28-core Intel Xeon with 300 watts of power
- Up to 1.5TB of system memory
- 8 PCIe expansion slots
- Radeon Pro Vega II Duo or Radeon Pro 580X graphics cards
- Support for up to 2 MPX modules, which feature Thunderbolt support and 500 watts of power
- Afterburner graphics ASIC: can process 6 billion pixels per second, can playback 3 streams of 8K RAW
- Two Thunderbolt 3 ports
- Two USB-A ports
- 3.5mm audio minijack
- PCIe, DisplayPort, and power
- Two built-in 10GB Ethernet ports
The Mac Pro is sleek in design and super efficient on production as the Company applauded its performance. The flagship is a descendant of the iMac family and its announcement shared stage with a new MAC OS. OS X 10.15 Catalina succeeds MacOS Mojave and will be available in September this year with new improvements and an extension of Apple’s dark mode back to life.
SafeBoda hits the 10,000 drivers mark in Uganda
SafeBoda is slowly becoming the Uber for 2 Wheelers, the Kampala based Startup is not only spreading its wings across Africa but also strengthening all its paths. From an Academy to train drivers to a new design for their app, SafeBoda has now added a pile of 10,000 active drivers to its service loop in Uganda. The 10,000 announcement came off Driver No1(Moses Namba Emu)‘s Twitter page applauding their achievement in the competitive ride-hailing industry.
Huawei further blocked from supporting Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp
Huawei Mobile initially won the sanctions battle by unveiling HongMeng as their custom OS for future releases and the company Founder applauded the move before a Cybersecurity task to the US.
However, after TradeMarking the new OS, Facebook announced their end of support for any future Huawei devices even with those running HongMeng. Well, its Sad news, but the Mobile industry will fall apart once Huawei jacks from the race due to overloaded sanctions by US providers to the company.
MTN Uganda ships AI to its Mobile Money service
Artificial Intelligence moves hands in sight with 5G and the Internet of Things. MTN Uganda earlier this week decided to ship AI to its Mobile money wing with efficiency and easier transaction means to its plan. The new AI functionalities will help users make payments, send money and perform several Mobile money tasks without stressing hard for identical loops.
Our Rumor drill has it that MTN is planning to extend the new AI functionality through a mobile app close to what the MY MTN App is structured like. Unlike the existing Momo Pay service that was recently linked to Shoprite for cashless payments. The new mobile money AI functionality will ease service usage for every user riding on the Yello network.
Toyota unveils the 2020 Lexus RX
Away from Tesla’s fast-rising streak rendered on Elon Musk’s undying support, Toyota is one of the innovative car manufacturers putting to book affordable yet efficient rides for the Global market. The 2020 Lexus RX unveiled by Toyota ships a triple Beam lights threat just like any other SUVs manufactured in the 5G error.
Away from what the body offers, the Interior is well furnished and pimped with both Amazon’s Alexa assistant and Apple car play for super-efficient voice and navigation functions for the car. The Lexus is an All Wheel Drive (AWD) SUV paired with 2 electric motors to its bonnet pumping a 308Horsepower to the engine. Either way, here is a taste of what the interior has to offer.
E3 2019 sets pace for the Gaming industry
E3 is an annual Gaming convetion where ddvelopers and console manufacturers showcase the latest they have to offer. This year’s convention presser was kicked off by promises for bigger developments from the PlayStation camp as Microsoft also put together new Xbox features coming to book in 2019.
E3 2019 is being hosted in Los Angeles at the LA convention center and according to CNET, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Nintendo, and Square Enix are all expected to make announcements. More so, here is the Weekend Plan of the 2019 E3 Convention.
Sunday, June 9
- Microsoft / Xbox — 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET)
- Bethesda — 5:30 p.m. PT (8:30 p.m. ET)
Monday, June 10
- PC Gaming Show — 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET)
- Ubisoft — 1 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET)
- Square Enix — 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET)
Tuesday, June 11
- Nintendo (livestream only) — 9 a.m. PT (noon ET)