LATEST TECH NEWS: Nigerian HouseAfrica enters partnership to scale. 4 other things and a trivia you need to know today, July 24, 2020

These 5 latest stories from the tech space will keep you updated with trends today.

1. Nigerian blockchain-based land registry HouseAfrica enters partnership to scale

In a bid to scale its venture, Nigerian startup HouseAfrica, which developed Africa’s first blockchain-based land and property registry, has partnered the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC). The 2 year old startup was founded in May 2018 to tackle problems around land ownership that lead to duplicate land titles and illegal sales. Speaking further on its founding vision, the firm noted that it offers the population to have access to low mortgages, by providing an immutable ledger alongside a visual map reference while ensuring the integrity of land titles and increasing access to credit.

In 2019, the startup took part in Startupbootcamp AfriTech accelerator in Cape Town. Gaining impressive traction, it also pitched at Africa Startup Summit in Kigali in February. Analysts have noted that its existing successes have accounted for its recent leverages and opportunities. As it helps reduce the time it takes for banks, lawyers and other stakeholders to query and register land titles, there are indications that it might scale further with its new partnership deal. Meanwhile, the partnership also include a new deal with property title authentication and verification system called PropVat, which will make it possible for individuals and organisations authenticate, validate or confirm the value of any property or land across Nigeria.

2. Apple commences assembling of iPhone 11 in India

Through contract manufacturing partner Foxconn, Apple has commenced the assembling of its current generation of iPhone units, iPhone, in India. According to media sources, a small batch of locally manufactured iPhone 11 units had already been shipped to retail stores, however, limited. Although, Apple had ambitions to scale up its local production efforts in India, but the current production has not matched its expectations. Analysts have noted that the local production of current iPhone 11 models illustrates Apple’s further commitment to India, the world’s second largest smartphone market.

While this is not the first time Apple will be producing a line of its products from India, the assembling contract reveals Apple regards the country as a safe haven compared to Nigeria or any supposedly promising African country. According to press, Apple’s contract manufacturing partner, a Taiwan-based Wistron, first began assembling older iPhone models in 2017. However, until now, Apple has not been able to have an assembly partner produce the current generation iPhone model in India. This relationship led Wistron, which had locally assembled older iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 7 models in the past in its Bangalore plant, to take charge of assembling iPhone XR units in India.

Tech Trivia:

Unlike Vinyl LPs, Compact Disk is …

A. An analogue storage
B. A digital storage
C. An analogue optical storage
D. A cloud storage

Answer: See end of post.

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3. Ten year old Nigerian programmer urges govt. to invest in technology

Ten year old Nigerian UK-based programmer, Emmanuella Mayaki, has urged the Nigerian government to invest in technological infrastructures, given its place in the positioning of Nigeria as a future thinking nation. The UK-based tech genius made this remark during a recent interview with reporters, while responding to questions on how she had been coping with her new engagement as a coding teacher of teens in a UK school. According to Emmanuel, the need for the government to invest in infrastructure is to encourage kids to learn coding at their youthful age.

Last year, Emmanuella Mayaki was appointed teacher of an after-school club at the Southfields Primary School, Coventry, England, after management’s discovery of Emmanuella’s proficiency in coding and graphics design. According to the school, the young girl from Benin, Nigeria, was engaged after displaying passion to transfer her knowledge amongst her peers, quoting her to have said through teaching, she is “a believer in a better future.” Since her appointment, she has been praised as the school’s star.

4. Riiid secures $41.8 million to expand its AI venture

South Korea-based startup Riiid has announced securing a $41.8 million pre-series D financing round, to bring its total venture capital raised to date to $70.2 million. According to its CEO YJ Jang, the funding will be used to advance Riiid’s technology that offers personalized study solutions based on big data analysis, while instrumental to bolstering the company’s expansion across the U.S., South America, and the Middle East. Riiid is expected to establish an R&D lab — Riiid Labs — in Silicon Valley.

While it is true that the pandemic had forced the shutdown of schools in countries around the world; cramped indoor classrooms are seen as a major threat vector. And, despite inequities with regard to internet access and the widening achievement gap, educators believe the health pros outweigh the cons. However, Riiid, on the flip, which offers its services exclusively online, has benefited from the shift. According to the company, sales have grown more than 200% since 2017 as over a million users joined its community.

5. Twitter reports fall in revenue as it considers charging users

Microblogging site Twitter has reported a significant fall in its company’s revenue. This fall was noticed following the last quarter’s financial statement analysis. To remedy the situation, the management has suggested adopting a payment model where users will be charged for facility usage. Founder Jack Dorsey has noted that the payment option could be complimentary. “We do think there is a world where subscription is complementary, where commerce is complementary, where helping people manage paywalls … we think is complementary,” said Twitter CEO and Founder.

Commenting on the company’s recent earnings, Jack confirmed that a sharp decline in advertising revenue has been observed. Being the company’s main profit driver, the pandemic, amongst other factors might have been responsible. Media sources have noted that twitter reported $562M in ad revenue, down by 23% in comparison to the same quarter a year ago. To this end, “We want to make sure any new line of revenue is complementary to our advertising business,” said Dorsey.

Tech Trivia Answer: Digital storage

Compact disc is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony and released in 1982. The format was originally developed to store and play only sound recordings but was later adapted for storage of data.

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