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Microsoft acquires smart AI-based SwiftKey keyboard

By
Boses Muhinda
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0

SwiftKey, which has been popular for making one of the smartest if not the smartest keyboard on Android and iOS platforms. SwiftKey is keyboard which uses an Artificial Intelligence based neural network to predict what smartphone users are going to type next. The keyboard is able to predict up to 3 words which are user wants to type or swpe.

Today, Microsoft has confirmed the acquisition of the SwiftKey. Microsoft states that the intention of the acquision was the artificial intelligence prowess that the SwiftKey has. Microsoft intends to use this technology to improve its WordFlow technology that is featured in the WordFlow keyboard on Windows Phone and iOS.

The acquisition cost Microsoft $250 million and was confirmed by blog posts on the both the SwiftKey and Microsoft blog. For those worried about the future of SwiftKey, Microsoft’s executive vice president of technology and research Harry Shum said:

We’ll continue to develop SwiftKey’s market-leading keyboard apps for Android and iOS as well as explore scenarios for the integration of the core technology across the breadth of our product and services portfolio. Moreover, SwiftKey’s predictive technology aligns with Microsoft’s investments and ambition to develop intelligent systems that can work more on the user’s behalf and under their control.

In the coming months, we’ll have more to share about how we’ll integrate SwiftKey technology with our Guinness World Record Word Flow technology for Windows.

MTN Uganda and Hellofood launch ‘Feed a Child’ Initiative

By
GURU8 Staff
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0

Today MTN in partnership with Hellofood Uganda launched the “Feed a Child” initiative.

This initiative follows on from the MTN-Hellofood Xmas Party held in December 2015, where 230 children from orphanages in Kampala were treated to a day of fun activities and a special meal allowing them to be part of the Holiday season celebrations.

Under this initiative, members of the public can donate a meal to a child in need by visiting the Hellofood website at www.hellofood.ug and clicking on the “Donate a meal” banner. Donations are made using MTN Mobile Money.   

The campaign will run from 3rd Feb 2015 to 3rd April 2015 and proceeds will go to feed a child during the Easter Season through the 40 days over 40 smiles foundation, http://40daysover40smiles.org, a Kampala-based independent youth-led, charity organization.

“One of the key programs areas of 40 days over 40 smiles foundation is food and nutrition which aligns very well with this campaign. Indeed through its track record, we could not have found a better partner and look forward to successfully delivering this initiative,” said Hellofood Managing Director Ron Kawamara.

“As leading brands in the Food business under the MTN-Hello Food partnership, we are excited to launch the “Feed a child” initiative. Together, we are happy to leverage our platforms and services to make the lives of the underprivileged children brighter, said MTN’s Chief Marketing Officer Ms. Mapula Bodibe. “We call upon everyone to join us in this noble cause, for together we can make a huge difference, she added.

WhatsApp clocks a billion users

By
Boses Muhinda
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1

WhatsApp which is a popular messaging app, has today announced that the service now has 1 billion users as of today. This comes after WhatsApp dropped the the annual fee of $0.99 and launched newer features such as WhatsApp calls. Despite the abscense of business features like public chats, cab hire features that other rival messaging apps have, WhatsApp is still growing strong and the introduction of WhatsApp themed data bundles in Uganda led to growth of the service in Uganda.

The CEO of WhatsApp Jan Koum made the announcement on his Facebook page which was followed by a blog post. Below is the image Jan posted with impressive figures such as a billion groups but i was impressed by the number of engineers.

whatsApp stats

Below is the announcement Whatsapp made;

As of today, one billion people are using WhatsApp. That’s nearly one in seven people on Earth who use WhatsApp each month to stay in touch with their loved ones, their friends and their family.

We are proud of this milestone, and we’re humbled by the extraordinary ways all of you have used WhatsApp. Whether it’s sharing vital information during natural disasters or health emergencies, finding a date, growing a small business, buying an engagement ring, or seeking a better life – we’re honored to be a small part of what people are doing to make their lives and the lives of those around them better.

And yet, through all the progress we’ve made together over the last seven years, our mission has never changed. WhatsApp began as a simple idea: ensuring that anyone could stay in touch with family and friends anywhere on the planet, without costs or gimmicks standing in the way.

So even as we celebrate this achievement, our focus remains the same. Every day, our team continues to work to improve WhatsApp’s speed, reliability, security and simplicity. We’re excited to see how far we’ve come. But now, it’s back to work – because we still have another 6 billion people to get on WhatsApp, and a long way left to go.

 

Airtel Uganda’s “Yoola Amajja” promotion will ‘pour’ Airtel Money to lucky winners

By
GURU8 Staff
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1

Airtel Money users have a new reason to be optimistic in 2016 following the launch of a new and exciting rewards campaign.

Dubbed ‘Yoola Amajja’, this 90 days campaign is essentially about giving Airtel Money subscribers a chance to win up to 2,000,000 shillings daily when they carry out any transaction using the efficient Airtel Money platform.

As part of this campaign, there will also be a grand draw where lucky Airtel Money subscribers will stand a chance to win up to 20,000,000 shillings.

There have been tremendous efforts made to boost the functionality and efficiency of the Airtel Money platform. To boost financial inclusion, the platform now offers services such as; E-city payments, mobile banking, utility bill payments, school fees payments among others.

Speaking at the official launch of the campaign, Airtel Money Director Mr. Paul Langlois said “Over the next 90 days, Airtel Uganda will be giving its Airtel Money subscribers the best value back seeing as they will be rewarded for each transaction,” adding that Airtel has run very many successful campaigns in the past and therefore this is just an extension to an already existing history of the brand and its promise to continually reward customers.

Different from most campaigns which focus on Kampala district, the ‘Yoola Amaja’ campaign is going to give Ugandans in 24 regions of the country an opportunity to win this money through regional activations that will be carried out throughout the course of the 3-month period.

To participate in this campaign, Airtel Money subscribers should have;

  • Transacted through a mobile banking transaction that is sent money from one’s Airtel money account to their bank account.
  • Topped up a minimum of 500 worth of airtime through Airtel money
  • Purchased a voice bundle through Airtel Money
  • Made a cash withdrawal from Airtel Money
  • Purchased a data bundle through Airtel Money
  • Sent Money to another person using Airtel money
  • Paid bills using Airtel Money

WorldRemit customers can now send money instantly to MTN Mobile Money wallets in Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia‏

By
Boses Muhinda
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0

World Remit is a company that works tirelessly to enable people abroad remit money back home. World Remit is aware of the current challenges associated with remittances in Uganda and hence devised an ingenious way of making money transfers easy. WorldRemit and MTN Group today announced that WorldRemit customers can now send money instantly to MTN Mobile Money wallets in Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

The launch follows the signing of a global partnership agreement earlier this year, to enable WorldRemit customers all over the world to send international remittances to MTN’s Mobile Money customers.

“This partnership makes sense for both companies, as WorldRemit and MTN share a disruptive approach to innovation and bring impactful services to our customers. Together, we are now providing an instant, fully digital and very affordable solution to send international remittance to Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. Other countries will follow soon,” says Serigne Dioum, MTN Group Head of Mobile Financial Services.

“At WorldRemit, we are pioneering international mobile-to-mobile remittances. Our partnership with MTN allows our customers around the world to send money instantly from the WorldRemit app to MTN Mobile Money users in Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. Together with MTN, we make sending money home as easy as sending an instant message,” says Alix Murphy, Senior Mobile Analyst at WorldRemit.

The WorldRemit app is also very handy

She continues: “For diaspora members sending money to friends and family back home in these countries, Mobile Money is a real game-changer. In Uganda, Mobile Money has already overtaken cash pick-up and bank deposits as the preferred method to receive money. We expect this trend to continue as MTN’s Mobile Money services reach millions of people without bank accounts, giving them access to a variety of life-enhancing financial services including savings and insurance schemes.”

People in more than 52 countries already use the WorldRemit app to send around 400,000 money transfers every month to over 125 destinations. WorldRemit is the leading sender of remittances to Mobile Money wallets connecting to over 25 different services worldwide.

MTN Mobile Money enables users to perform utility payments, save money, purchase airtime and access a range of mobile financial products. To date, MTN Mobile Money is used by customers in 15 countries across Africa, i.e. Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda and Zambia.

In keeping with its aim to accelerate the rollout of international remittance, MTN launched a cross-border mobile money transfer service between Uganda and Rwanda in August. The service allows customers in both countries to transact via MTN Mobile Money with the same simplicity as for a local money transfer. MTN also offers a mobile money cross-border remittance service between Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. The remittance corridor between Kenya and Rwanda is the latest addition to MTN’s Mobile Money bouquet of services. It forms part of a major initiative between MTN and Vodafone, to enhance financial inclusivity in East Africa.

 In the six months to 30 June 2015, MTN grew mobile money subscribers by 45,8% to 32,4 million.

Hellofood Celebrates 2 year’s anniversary and offers 50% discount to all new customers

By
GURU8 Staff
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0

Kampala, January 25, 2016: Hellofood Uganda for its 2nd year anniversary has offered all new customers a 50% discount on any meal ordered from any of the over 150 restaurants that they have on the portal.

Hellofood is the biggest food portal in Uganda and as part of their celebrations; to enjoy the offer all that the new customers need to do is download the hellofood app which is free on android, ios and windows or use the hellofood website https://www.hellofood.ug/ . The voucher code is 2YR and it will end on 31st of January 2016, with the minimum order for any of the orders being 15,000 Uganda shillings and the maximum order being 70,000 Uganda shillings. New customers can choose from any of the over 150 restaurants that partner with hellofood in Kampala or Entebbe.

Ron kawamara, Managing Director of Hellofood Uganda, said: “Our goal from the very beginning has been to deliver a high-quality marketing for our restaurants and great delivery service to our customers. In a market where ordering for food online is a relatively new phenomenon, we have managed to revolutionize food delivery in Uganda and have grown fast because we have delivered real value to people in Kampala and Entebbe. We are happy to complete our second year on a high”

He added that as the Internet becomes more widespread, people are seeking out ways that Internet can help solve some of their common problems we all face in the cities, such as time wastage in traffic. As such while celebrating on 2nd year anniversary we have offered a discount to all new customers so that they too can have a feel of the great customer experience in using our service.

About hellofood

hellofood together with its affiliated brand foodpanda and Delivery Club, is the leading global online food delivery marketplace, active in more than 40 countries on five continents. The company enables restaurants to become visible in the online and mobile world and provides them with a constantly evolving online technology. For consumers, hellofood offers the convenience to order food online and the widest gastronomic range, from which they can choose their favorite meal on the web or via the app.

Spotify to launch video streaming this week

By
GURU8 Staff
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1

Spotify will start showing video content from selected third-party partners this week as the company tries to broaden its appeal beyond straight music streaming in the face of strong competition from rivals. The first video content on the platform will only be available to Android users in the US, UK, Germany and Sweden, but iOS users will have to wait until next week.

Spotify has been gradually testing video on its apps over the past several months with less than 10% of its users in the four launch markets, said Shiva Rajaraman, Spotify’s vice president of product. The content mostly consists of short clips (think snippets from “Jimmy Kimmel Live”), though some companies, like Tastemade, are also developing original, music-themed series specifically for Spotify.

It’s not clear exactly what content will be available at launch, but last year, Spotify announced a number of partners including the BBC, Comedy Central, ESPN, MTV, and Vice News. The WSJ says that the video service currently consists of mostly short clips, and mentions shows including Jimmy Kimmel Liveand Maker Studios’ popular web series Epic Rap Battles. Rajaraman says that Spotify wants its content partners to curate their offerings for the music service, and that the app will present video content sorted into accessible categories like “News of the Week” and “Laughs for Lunch.”

Much as Spotify makes money by selling an ad-free subscription service, or by showing ads to nonsubscribers. The new video content will be available to all users. “This [launch] is fundamentally about giving music fans what they want,” Mr. Rajaraman told WSJ “We are doing fine on monetization. This is primarily a demand play.”

Here is a Youtube video that shows hints on the video streaming service

https://youtu.be/N_tsgbQt42Q

This service will definitely please music fans but good curation will be a key to its’ service’s success.

Credit: Wall Street Journal

Idroid Uganda and Uganda Telecom announce discount sale

By
GURU8 Staff
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0

Uganda Telecom from the start of this year partnered with smart phone makers idroid to offer their customers a range of choice in their portfolio of services. Last week, the idroid simu as an offer was being sold at a discounted price. Idroid phones which have since been dubbed “Uganda’s favourite smart phones” were launched in Uganda in early 2015 taking the market by storm with their incredible technology.

This week, idroid and UTL announced a DEMO SALE where idroid phones were being sold at discounted prices. They also launched an open box sale where their new range of smart phones were available at 40% off retail prices for the next 5 days only at UTL headquarters, Kampala.

Idroid and UTL have in the recent past decided to carry out activations to reach their customers. Speaking about the demo sale, UTL Brand Manager Bright Baba said the initiative was in line with the brand’s commitment to provide services that are affordable for their customers. He said “UTL has always been the network of choice for the Ugandan customer who wants affordable prices. Our partnership with a brand like idroid cements this commitment because the phones that they are selling are a favourite of most of our customers. We will continue to give them the best”.

Idroid Africa co-founder Jawad Qureshi on his part lauds UTL’s marketing drive that aims at taking services closer to the people. He also praises the idroid phone which he says is a easy to use high end gadget that is loved in the smartphone market. “idroid smartphones are made with the customer in mind. We aspire to give our customers technologically advanced handsets at an affordable cost. Our partnership with UTL is also a move in the right direction” he asserted.

Uganda Telecom whose trading tagline is “all for you” steadily continues to grow its customer base while idroid which took the market by storm last year has gained ground to become a very respectable brand.

MTN Uganda now has monthly SMS bundles and here is a list

By
Boses Muhinda
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0

MTN Uganda recently added a few bundles for it’s customers to buy. These new sms bundles are an addition to voice bundles that MTN introduced last year. We have previously seen the telecom adapt Voice bundle rates from the re-known ‘mother of bundles’ (Airtel). I recently noticed that MTN introduced new SMS bundles for users who still love using traditional SMS. Previously only daily SMS bundles were available for purchase but these are the new bundles which also include sms bundles for people to send messages to non-MTN numbers.

Below is a list of MTN Uganda’s SMS bundles;

Bundle SMS Volume (Cost UGX)
Daily Bundle (MTN to MTN only) 100 SMS 200/=
Daily  Bundle (MTN to MTN only) 200 SMS 300/=
Daily Bundle (MTN to MTN only) 400 SMS 500/=
Weekly Bundle (MTN to MTN only) 700 SMS 1000/=
Monthly  Bundle (To all networks) 25 SMS 1000/=
Monthly  Bundle (To all networks) 65 SMS 2000/=
Monthly  Bundle (To all networks) 200 SMS 5000/=
Monthly Unlimited (MTN to MTN only) 4000 SMS 5000/=

 

These new bundles enable users send text messages for as little as 1.25/= per message for the daily bundles. Let us know what you think of MTN Uganda’s SMS bundles in the comments below.

Yoza App Review: Getting your laundry done

By
Boses Muhinda
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0

We all get lazy, and the guys at Yoza know this. That is why they created an app to aide us get our laundry done. Yoza which means “wash” is a service which enables you find people to wash your laundry basing on your location.

The Yoza app which is currently available on android is straight to the point and comes with a green material design. The app itself is small at a mere 6.2 MBs on the Google Playstore which should be cheap.

You are greeted by a splash screen and a login form when you open the app. The signup was pretty simple. Basically it’s your name, phone number and location. The app is good at locating where you are using GPS and it automatically finds a region that is known to the service. The location isn’t local council specific but at area level it’s good enough. The search tab will be quite helpful when searching for a new area.

I managed to select Makerere as my residential area and I found 3 washers at the time of review. Selecting someone to wash your laundry is as simple as tapping their name and a call option appears. Each washer has reviews and comments from people who have been aided by his or her service. There is also an option for a profile picture which few washers had used by the time of review. The washers wash from your home and Yoza doesn’t take away any of the clothes.

Yoza also has specific packages targeted at particular groups like students. The student package comes in at a manageable 80,000/- (Uganda shillings) for an entire semester. Other packages cost 100,000/- , 200,000/- , and 1,000,000/- for the Standard, Premium and Family packages respectively.

YozaPackages

Using the app is pretty simple, much simpler than doing your laundry. The user interface is rather clean and free from clutter. It is even gentle on your mobile data as it’s data consumption is really minimal. Their is even a beta app for those who want to try out the new features before they go public. Beware of a few crushes though.

The book a washer feature enables you select a washer based on gender, how often you want the service, and whether you would like them to clean your house or wash your laundry.

Yoza is a really revolutionary service in Uganda because it solves a problem that didn’t have a simple fix. You will definitely have more time on your ‘softer’ hands. Clicking the Download button to get the app from Google Playstore should be without hesitation. I mean who wouldn’t want their laundry done.

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