Weekly Tech Roundup for February 08 2019

by Fisayo Adesomoju · February 10, 2019

Technology is a word that describes something that doesn’t work yet. – Douglas Adams

Some one once said, “If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner”.Check out these inspiring technology trend that might just inspire you to further develop your love for technology.

We also included some snippets from our daily knowledge development sessions, just to give you a little extra knowledge. After all, knowledge is never enough. Take your time and digest every one of them. The world is fast evolving and so should your mind.

Mobile lenders drive microfinance entities to early grave

In building a Financial Solution to take millions of people out of poverty, we also have to think about doing it responsibly. In Kenya (and also other countries) , a significant number of people have been driven into poverty because of irresponsible lending , powered by Technology. This article paints a gory picture of how it is bad for the industry too .

Never feel overwhelmed at work again: how to use the M.I.T. technique

On my daily Medium crawl, I found this amazing piece and thought somebody here, like me, needs to read this. Here’s my takeaway quote from the piece:”Software development is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s important that we regularly acknowledge the great work we have done and celebrate the small successes we have along the way.”Read the rest of the piece here, it’s just about 5mins too.

Data Engineer vs Data Scientist: What’s the Difference?

* Data scientist and Data engineers

If you are wondering what might be the difference between the two, this post will help you understandData engineers are the plumbers building a data pipeline, while data scientists are the painters and storytellers, giving meaning to an otherwise static entity.” Urthecast’s David Bianco notes

Amazon defends facial-recognition tool

Amazon: Facial Recognition :woman: Bias Claims Are ‘Misleading’:exclamation:Amazon has defended its facial-recognition tool, Recognition, against claims of racial and gender bias, following a study published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Facebook Plans to Merge Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram

Facebook is planning to merge Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. This would allow the messaging apps to work seamlessly tog

AI tech can identify genetic disorders from a person’s face

A new report suggests AI can identify genetic orders from your face

Express Wi-Fi launches in Ghana

In partnership with Vodafone Ghana, Express Wi-Fi has launched in Ghana. Express Wi-Fi is a Facebook initiative (under internet.org) which aims to provide internet connectivity to underserved locations around the world.

Before launching in Ghana, the service had previously launched in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Indonesia and India, partnering with local internet providers and mobile operators.

In Ghana, through its partnership with Vodafone, hotspots have already reportedly been deployed in a few areas within Accra, including Nima, Maamobi, Pigfarm, Jamestown and Abossey Okai.

According to reports, 100 megabytes of data on the service costs GH₵ 1.00 ($0.19) while 1 gigabyte costs GH₵ 5.00 ($0.95).

Skype rolls out a new feature that lets you blur out your background during video calls

Skype introduced background blur in Skype video calls to help users blur out scenes behind them during calls.

“There are plenty of life’s moments that can get in the way of you being the focus in every video call—and that’s why we’re introducing background blur in Skype video calls,” reads the official blog post published by the Microsoft-owned company.

The new feature resembles the background blur feature introduced to Microsoft Teams in 2018 and the Portrait Mode on iPhone.

According to Skype, the feature uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) trained to detect human form and focus on the subject.

About Weekly Tech Roundup by Bincom Dev Center

You probably already know that Bincom ICT‘s core is Best Use of Technology. This initiative is a compilation of some of the things the people at Bincom Dev Center found interesting during the week in review. Bincom Dev Center is the Training & Development Arm of Bincom ICT.

In this weekly publication, You will find various pieces ranging from ideas to trends, to random thoughts. They are here because we found them interesting. We also include some knowledge development pieces and where to get more information about these topic. We aim to publish an edition every Friday at 5:00pm (with exception of Holidays). We are working hard to keep ourselves updated and we think you should too!

Time for some Shameless Advertising:

Did we mention that we build awesome tech? From core software development to bespoke Enterprise systems, check out Development + Support Services to see more details.
And if you are more of a “Do it yourself” person (or organization) or simply need additional technology resources to augment your team, you can check out our IT outsourcing solution called Outsource IT by Bincom.

One more thing, Credits for this edition goes to :