TECHNOLOGY

American-Senegalese artist Akon has revealed plans to outdoor a new cryptocurrency named after himself called ‘Akoin’ as the central form of exchange. He unveiled this ambitious project at a creative festival in Cannes, where he spoke at a panel titled Branding Africa: Blockchain, Entrepreneurship and Empowering the Future. The Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum selling artist also wants to build his own ...

The CEO of Vodafone Ghana Yolanda Cuba has revealed she has never met or had a meeting with any official of Kelni GVG, the entity carrying out the Common Platform. Six months after signing a contract with the Ghana Government for real time traffic monitoring of the telecommunications networks, Vodafone which is a major stakeholder is yet to set sight ...

Officials of Kelni GVG are reported to have attempted to forcefully plug into data devices of telecommunications companies in the country. This follows the expiration of an 11-day directive from the Ministry of Communications for telcos to sign onto the Kelni GVG platform as part of the $89 million contract. The telcos had up to Monday to plug into the ...

Google has announced it is to open its first African artificial intelligence research centre in Ghana later this year. Google boss Sundar Pichai said the multi-national was “really looking forward” to opening the centre. The centre will open later this year in Accra, the company said in an official statement. “We’re committed to collaborating with local universities and research centers, ...

Google has promised not to use AI for weapons, following protests over its partnership with the US military. A decision to provide machine-learning tools to analyse drone footage caused some employees to resign. Google told employees last week it would not renew its contract with the US Department of Defense when it expires next year. It has now said it ...

A Fortnite player in Croatia has completed one of the game’s hardest achievements – getting back to its starting point. YouTuber OrangeGuy posted a video showing how he managed to reach “spawn island” where players gather before each round of the survival game starts. He reached the island using a massive bridge and one of the shopping trolleys recently introduced ...

A couple who admitted stealing more than $1.2m (£900,000) worth of goods from Amazon have been sentenced to nearly six years in jail. Erin and Leah Finan had previously pleaded guilty to charges of postal fraud and money laundering. The couple exploited Amazon’s customer service policy by claiming electronics they ordered were damaged and received replacements at no charge. Prosecutors ...

Government is set to establish an innovation centre to collate the findings conducted by scientists and researchers in the country. The facility, to be known as the Ghana Innovation and Research Commercialisation Centre (GIRC-Centre), according to thethe Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng would also facilitate the translation of research findings and other innovations into products ...

Rapid advancements in information communications technologies (ICT) over the past 20 years has substantially altered the ways in which people live, work, play and interact with one another. The World Bank’s World Development Report shows that ICT has a positive effect on a country’s economy, with a 10% increase in broadband penetration being associated with a 1.4% increase in gross ...

Within a week after the launch of Mobile Money Interoperability, the platform recorded over 22,919 successful transfers, and more than half of that, 13,504 was on the Vodafone Cash platform. The total for the first six days stood at a little over GHC1.8 million and Vodafone alone recorded GHC1.17 million representing some 65% of the total. The daily interoperability transactions ...