Zimbabwe Ditches Zoom After Hack, Tesco Trials Drone Delivery, and Huawei to Move to HarmonyOS by 2021

Africa

Zimbabwean Meteorological Service suffers Zoombombing

Zimbabwe’s Meteorological Service suffered a hack during a Zoom video call to discuss the 2020-2021 farming season. The government has ditched Zoom and is trialing a local option called TruConf which will be under complete government control.

Transaction Capital buys significant stake in WeBuyCars

Transaction Capital has bought a 49.9% stake in WeBuyCars in a deal worth over $100 million in cash and share option. This puts paid to Naspers’ interest in the used vehicle trading platform after South Africa’s competition watchdog ruled against its acquisition of the company over competition issues.

ITU to help bridge gender digital gap in Africa

The International Telecommunication Union, ITU, is partnering with Enhanced Integrated Framework, EIF, to launch a project that would bridge the gender digital gap. Women in low income communities in Burundi and Ethiopia will receive digital skills training to boost their businesses.

Europe

Tesco looking at drone delivery service

Tesco is looking to trial a drone delivery service that would deliver small packets within 30 minutes of an order. The drones that will be supplied by Manna will be able to carry small baskets of goods weighing up to 4kg.

YouTube urged to reconsider decision to remove community captions

YouTube has been urged by the British Deaf Association as well as Action on Hearing Loss to reconsider its decision to remove community captions using. Community captions are added by viewers and help people with hearing impairment to understand the content of a video.

Facebook caught monetizing ad-free website

Facebook has been caught monetizing a publicly-funded ad-free Danish website. Users who visited the Danish broadcaster’s website through Facebook’s iOS app reported seeing ads. The tech giant has since apologised, adding that the coding mistake that led to the error had been resolved.

The Americas

Uber to go 100% electric by 2040

Ride-hailing company, Uber, has said that all cars on its app will be all electric by the end of 2040. The target for the US, Canada, and European cities, however, is 2030. The company is looking to invest $800m to help drivers switch to electric vehicles.

Google adds privacy controls to Android 11

Android 11 updates now include key privacy controls that give users control over chat messages across different apps. Users can also control smart home gadgets from a single panel rather than from different app interfaces.

General Motors to challenge Tesla with electric truck

General Motors is looking to challenge Tesla by producing its own hydrogen/electric Badger pick-up truck within the next two years. GM hopes to hit this milestone in a $2bn deal with Arizona-based Nikola to produce pick-up trucks powered by hydrogen and oxygen.

Asia

Chinese chip firm SMIC threatened with US ban

China’s largest chip manufacturer, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), has been threatened by a shocking US ban. Pentagon proposed adding SMIC to the blacklist due to alleged links to Chinese military.

Huawei to move to HarmonyOS by 2021

Huawei has announced all new phones will come preinstalled with its own HarmonyOS instead of Android. In addition, the world’s second-largest smartphone maker will offer its new operating system to other manufacturers in a clear challenge on Android’s dominance.

China’s UK embassy worry over ‘hacked’ Twitter account

China’s UK embassy has demanded a thorough investigation into how its official Twitter account liked a pornographic video. The account also liked posts that were critical of Beijing, including one that showed blindfolded Uighurs in detention.