Digital Brainiacs

11/05/2023

African Digital Trends Today:

- Google is putting AI at the forefront of its search results, with its new feature known as the Search Generative Experience (SGE), which offers summaries and links to corroborate information on a search topic.

- The Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) has launched an Inter-Ministerial Task Team to train 5,000 federal public service workers on digital literacy and skills.

- The Innovation Village (TIV) and the Federation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (FSME) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide digital literacy to medium and small enterprises across Uganda.

- TELUS International, a digital customer experience innovator, has announced its establishment of operations in South Africa and Morocco to meet near-term client demand for greater diversity in offshore and nearshore delivery capabilities.

- The state-of-the-art tool uses AI and satellite data to overcome Africa’s agricultural data gap and support effective decision-making and crisis planning. The tool has provided predictions for agricultural yields in 47 African countries, across many of the most important crops for African food production.

04/05/2023

This is your weekly motivation to keep going 💪

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03/05/2023

In an interview with Rest of World, Fatima Tambajang, Africa Head of Developer Relations, Startups, and Venture Capital at Nvidia, dismissed the notion that Africa is behind in the AI race.

She highlighted the continent's significant progress in AI, with over 2,400 organizations operating across various industries, including healthcare, farming, and insurance.

Tambajang also pointed out several African countries have national AI strategies, and many universities offer degrees or specializations in AI. According to her, the healthcare sector presents numerous exciting use cases, and AI will revolutionize computing, transform industries and enhance our quality of life in the next 5-7 years.

03/05/2023

Periculum, an African-focused AI technology company, is developing cutting-edge AI solutions to empower businesses and government agencies in Africa to drive economic growth and social impact.

The company's focus on Generative AI involves using foundation models to provide solutions such as state-of-the-art chatbots, neural machine translation, and NLP data and document understanding tools.

Periculum's generative AI solutions are designed to streamline customer onboarding processes, facilitate compliance with regulations, improve financial analysis and reporting, and enhance contract management, among others.

Periculum's CEO believes in the transformative power of Generative AI to drive innovation and economic growth in Africa and promote African culture and identity on a global scale.

Periculum's AI solutions can accelerate the adoption of Generative AI in a scalable, flexible, and easy-to-integrate way, driving innovation, improving customer experiences, and increasing efficiency in a wide range of industries and applications.

02/05/2023

A new study by BetterUp Labs has resulted in the largest-ever database of one-on-one Zoom conversations, with over 1,600 conversations examined to understand how people communicate on video calls and what makes for good conversationalists.

The study found that "good conversationalists" on Zoom are those who talk faster, louder, and more intensely, while better-rated conversationalists nodded "yes" 4% more often and shook their heads "no" 3% more often.

People rated by their partners as better conversationalists spoke 3% faster than bad conversationalists, uttered about six more words per minute, and tended to be more intense.

Meanwhile, the study found no evidence that people dislike Zoom itself, and the very act of chatting on the platform, even with strangers, makes people happy.

02/05/2023

Six African countries have signed a declaration on data and digital identity interoperability to advance their digital and economic integration and prosperity objectives.

Ghana, Gabon, Guinea, Rwanda, Tunisia and Zimbabwe have signed the Smart Africa Trust Alliance (SATA) declaration recently during the ‘Transform Africa Summit 2023.’ SATA is a collaborative initiative aimed at promoting secure and responsible digital transformation in Africa.

The declaration intends to encourage the adoption and expansion of digital public goods, streamline digital integration and data sharing, as well as encourage the development of digital identity ecosystems.

Additionally, Smart Africa and the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed partnership agreements to execute a project worth $1.5 million to streamline digital trade and digital payment policies in ten African countries.

02/05/2023

If you were to rate yourself in terms of digital literacy, would you be a novice, intermediate or expert?

01/05/2023

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android. Firefox is known for its speed and privacy features. It has a built-in ad blocker that blocks social trackers.

Firefox has many features that can help you optimize your browsing experience. For example, you can use your Firefox account to sync account passwords and bookmarks across devices.

- Firefox Monitor
- Firefox browsers
- Mozilla VPN
- Pocket
- Firefox Relay
- Firefox Focus

25/04/2023

Seipone.ai is a Botswana-based AI startup which is building an enterprise software-as-a-service product. The product seeks to revolutionise the way brands understand their customers. It is designed to learn and understand natural languages and is able to understand Setswana and other indigenous languages like Swahili.

25/04/2023

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) is set to introduce a gold-backed digital currency to be used as legal tender for transacting in the country as part of interventions to stabilise the local currency.

The move is part of an effort to make the country's currency more liquid. The move is also part of a plan to make it easier for people to buy and sell goods and services in the country. The country is also looking at ways to reduce the cost of doing business in Zimbabwe.

25/04/2023

For the past nine years, Collins, a 27-year-old freelance writer, has been making money by writing assignments for students in the U.S. — over 8,500 miles away from Nanyuki in central Kenya, where he lives.

Collins now fears that the rise of AI could significantly reduce students’ reliance on freelancers like him in the long term, affecting their income.

According to the Online Labour Index (OLI), an economic indicator that measures the global online gig economy, Kenya accounts for 1% of the world’s online freelance workforce, ranking 15th overall and second only to Egypt in Africa.

24/04/2023

Hello there, have you tried yet? It is an amazing video conferencing software that lets you connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

You can use to chat, share your screen, record meetings, and more. It is perfect for work, school, or just hanging out with friends online.

Do you use Zoom? What do you like about it? Let me know in the comments below. And if you haven't tried it out yet, you can download it for free and join the Zoom community.

21/04/2023

No African country has made more progress than South Africa deploying the 5G network. Vodacom, South Africa’s biggest mobile operator by subscriber base, has the fastest 5G download speed in the country. The South African government gave telecom operators a five-year deadline to finalize the rollout of 4G and 5G mobile networks.

According to TeleGeography’s report, Mauritius holds second place in Africa in terms of 5G subscriptions. Trailing behind is Nigeria with 50,000 subscriptions, followed by Togo and Seychelles with 33,000 and 16,140 5G users.

17/04/2023

is a free online design tool that helps you create stunning presentations, videos, social media posts, and more. With , you can access thousands of templates, fonts, icons, and images to customize your designs. You can also collaborate with your team, store your brand assets, and schedule your posts with Canva for Teams. Whether you need to design a logo, a flyer, or a slideshow, Canva makes it easy and fun to unleash your creativity.

17/04/2023

There are hundreds of thousands of digital tools that are available for free on the internet, but only a small fraction of internet users know how to use those tools.

While there is a divide that does not have access to the internet, there is still a large percentage with access but no expertise.

At Digital Brainiacs, we are taking digital literacy to the basics. It is not about knowing how to code or program, it is more about effectively using simple tools like word processors, spreadsheets, search engines, to mention a few.

Let's go back to the basics!

12/04/2023

In today's digital age, it's more important than ever to stay informed and engaged with the digital environment. Digital citizenship refers to the responsible and ethical use of technology, and it involves 9 key elements:

1️⃣ Digital Access
2️⃣ Digital Commerce
3️⃣ Digital Communication
4️⃣ Digital Literacy
5️⃣ Digital Etiquette
6️⃣ Digital Law
7️⃣ Digital Rights and Responsibilities
8️⃣ Digital Health and Wellness
9️⃣ Digital Security

Understanding these elements is crucial to navigating the digital world safely and responsibly.

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11/04/2023

The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) is set to launch Kenya's first operational 3U Earth Observation Satellite, Taifa-1 satellite, on April 11, 2023.

The launch, which is set to be aided by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), will take place in Vandenberg Base, California, UDA aborad Falcon-9 Rocket. The satellite will provide data for decision support to agriculture and food security, natural resources management and environmental monitoring.

10/04/2023

Microsoft has brought integration to the SwiftKey keyboard app. This integration offers both chatbot functionality and a Tone feature. This feature is only available in the beta version of the app right now.

It allows you to highlight or copy text, with Bing Chat subsequently spitting out tonal changes of your choosing. In other words, if you want your email or WhatsApp draft to sound more professional, casual, or polite, this is a handy tool.

10/04/2023

, now is a software package that includes a collection of programs for use in an office such as a word processor (Microsoft Word), spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel), mail program (Microsoft Outlook), business presentation software (Microsoft Powerpoint), and more. It was first released in 1989 and is still used today.
Which application is your favorite and why?

10/04/2023

In this time and age, ignorance is a choice you make, no longer an excuse.

08/04/2023

It’s time to adapt ⏰ What skills have you had to learn as your job’s evolved?

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07/04/2023

with combines the best of a search engine and an AI. When prompted correctly, Bing can be a great help when prompted correctly. Here are 9 practical uses of Bing with ChatGPT.

06/04/2023

It's been 50(!!) years to the day since American engineer Marty Cooper stepped out onto New York City's 6th Avenue to make the first-ever cell phone call.

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04/04/2023

Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google has began the public release of its chatbot Bard. The release last year of , a chatbot from the Microsoft-backed startup , has caused a sprint in the technology sector. describes as an experiment allowing collaboration with generative AI.

03/04/2023

combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and the apps to turn your words into the most powerful productivity tool on the planet. It works alongside you, embedded in the apps you use every day — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams and more.

03/04/2023

Grammarly is a writing assistant that helps you improve your writing. It offers a variety of features, including grammar and spelling checking, style suggestions, and plagiarism detection. Grammarly is available as a web app, desktop app, browser extension, and mobile app.

Grammarly is a valuable tool for anyone who wants to improve their writing. It is easy to use and offers a variety of features that can help you write better. Grammarly is a great way to catch errors, improve your style, and avoid plagiarism.

Here are some of the benefits of using Grammarly:

1. Improve your writing: Grammarly can help you improve your writing by catching errors, suggesting style changes, and providing feedback on your overall writing.
Save time: Grammarly can save you time by catching errors that you might otherwise miss. This can be especially helpful if you are writing a long document or email.

2. Be more confident: Grammarly can help you be more confident in your writing by providing feedback and suggestions. This can help you avoid embarrassing errors and make your writing more polished.

3. Reach a wider audience: Grammarly can help you reach a wider audience by making your writing more clear and more concise. This can be helpful if you are writing for a global audience or if you are writing for a specific audience that has specific needs.

27/03/2023

Learn how to make the most of your Gmail account.

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23/03/2023

A job in IT can allow you to help people, solve problems, and constantly learn new things. Plus, it’s a growing field that offers solid entry-level salaries.
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13/02/2023