Author: Garikai Dzoma
Apple and Netflix prove that streaming is the future at Emmys
I have to admit the Emmys and other such award events often take me by surprise. I often hear of them after the event and for some reason, I have never watched an award event live. Also, given the ungodly hours these events take place thanks to time differences has anyone in this country ever? […]
Mauritius is moving away from being a safe haven with new laws
When people think of countries with secretive banking laws that favour money launderers and big criminals they almost always think of Switzerland or sometimes Panama and similar South American havens. Few think of Africa, but for a long time now Mauritius has been the Switzerland of Africa. They had opaque laws that favoured the creation […]
The state of eCommerce in Zimbabwe: Why we need our own version of Instacart
I have been watching Zimbabwe’s eCommerce scene for the past decade or so. I like to consider myself an expert or at the very least someone with considerable knowledge of this sector. I will be the first one to admit that things have changed a lot. In the beginning, around 2011 we didn’t even have […]
Wa-Faya now automatically carries voucher balances over
It’s been two months since Simbisa brands launched their Diaspora focused Wa-Faya vouchers and it seems they are actually working hard to make this a success. They have made a couple of improvements since they started. Including adding the Rand EFT payment option for the sake of those in South Africa but unfortunately, the system […]
Apple is pushing its workers to get vaccinated for COVID-19
Last week the Zimbabwean government announced that it was now mandatory for Civil Servants to be vaccinated. There was an outcry from some quarters about this but it seems it’s the global trend. A lot of employers in Zimbabwe are also pushing their workers to get vaccinated. We have companies like TelOne where vaccination rates […]
Passwords are here to stay, Microsoft cannot change that
Usernames and passwords are an integral part of the computing world. They are the easiest and most common way to confirm a user’s identity and determine whether access to a given resource can be granted. Passwords have been used for centuries. There are here for good and not even Microsoft’s noble move to get rid […]
Brave is a browser of many contradictions
Nobody needs to tell me about how ads are bad and how they break the browsing experience. If you hate ads, especially popup ads, you should know that things are better now. Before extensions like Adblock Plus became popular the internet was like a Wild-West with spammy advertisements launching a dozen popup windows as soon […]
Of course you can install Zoom on Ubuntu 20.04, here is how
Sometimes people who have never used Ubuntu or Linux say the strangest things. This weekend for example during a casual discussion about computers one “expert” who clearly hates Linux had some pretty bizarre points to justify his stance. Things like it don’t have a GUI desktop and therefore it’s difficult to use. He also claimed […]
All the video streaming services available in Zimbabwe compared
In yesterday’s article, I touched on how streaming services were going to decimate DStv. Some felt this was not going to be the case because most streaming services are not available in Zimbabwe by default. You need to fiddle with VPN and SmartDNS if you want to get the most out of your streaming experience. […]
Xiaomi’s soundbar is amazing, affordable but not perfect
This week my beloved Mi Box S passed away thanks to a buggy OTA update from Xiaomi. I needed a replacement so I visited the local Mi Store at Eastgate to get one and see what other stuff Xiaomi has selling locally. Naturally, they have quite the haul and that’s not surprising given how Xiaomi […]
Unable to compete with Uber & other apps, SA Taxi Associations resort to violence
In yesterday’s article, I talked about how a lot of traditional businesses are struggling against new data and tech-driven startups. In the western world, such businesses have resort to lobbying and asking for protective laws that do not always make sense to be passed by politicians in their pockets. Some businesses, however, like the South […]
This is how streaming is going to kill DStv
You have probably heard this before but it’s worth repeating: Streaming is going to bring about the end of satellite providers like DStv. I know what your reaction is going to be: That’s never happening in Africa because here internet is limited to urban areas and even then it’s so expensive most households would find […]
ZESA’s power import solution is not sustainable
Early this week ZESA again sparked outrage when they announced that they were introducing 12-hour load-shedding with immediate effect. The reason we got from them is the one we have been given so many times before we now know it by heart. ZESA’s subsidiary ZPC is generating so little power it’s not enough to meet […]
Google is seeking to copy Apple with its Pixel lineup
Say what you want about Apple but those guys know how to make good products. Pick an iPhone, any iPhone and no matter how much it hurts to admit it, you will have to concede it’s a good phone. That is mostly down to the solid control the company has over hardware and software. It’s […]
The latest OTA update from Xiaomi bricked my Mi Box S
By now you probably know that I am a bit of a Xiaomi fanboy. It’s not just blind loyalty though. There is a good reason for it. I have watched the company grow from being a niche budget phone maker to become the second-biggest smartphone maker in the world and even today they continue to […]
Dying traditional businesses continue to lobby for laws that do not make sense
It has been happening for a while now, but the COVID-19 pandemic really accelerated and brought about the inevitable demise of traditional businesses that have for a long time resisted tech advancements. From movie companies that insisted on theatres and ninety-day release windows, taxis that shun ride-hailing apps and restaurants that continue to rely on […]
The government says it’s mandatory for Civil Servants to be vaccinated
The Zimbabwean government recently announced that it was mandatory for all those employed by the Public Service Commission (PSC), civil servants, to be vaccinated. Prior to this vaccinations were encouraged but not mandatory. However, certain public corporations among them TelOne already had policies that more or less made it mandatory for their workers to be […]
Multichoice is still testing DStv Flex, there is no launch date yet
At the end of June, we learnt that DStv was on the brink of doing something that they had staunchly refused to do for a long time. They would be introducing something called DStv Flex, a new way of packaging their channels that would see customers have more control over which channels they wanted to […]
Zimbabwe’s internet speeds versus other African countries
Nobody wants slow internet. In Zimbabwe, we all dream of having that awesome home internet connection that allows us to stream to our heart’s content, download gigabytes in seconds and video chat with friends and family without issues. Unfortunately, the reality is that we don’t always get what we want. Zimbabweans always complain of slow […]
Zim govt distances itself from $2000 Mushikashika fine
A few weeks ago the Zimbabwe Republic Police (soon to be Zimbabwe Police Service) sparked outrage when they announced that passengers are seen boarding non-ZUPCO buses would be fined $2000 ZWL. I called the fine cruel and heartless and wondered what law was being used to implement said fine as it would probably not pass […]
Xiaomi ventures into the smart glasses arena
Last week Facebook unveiled its RayBan sunglasses that are retailing for US$299. Their much-touted feature is that you can literally now wear Facebook Stories on your face. Who would want that? To say I wasn’t impressed is an understatement. Now, without even giving us a moment to digest Facebook’s latest hardware adventure, Xiaomi has announced […]
There is currently no way to run iTunes 12 on Ubuntu Linux
Before I begin, I need to make clear to all the Apple fanboys that this is not me trying to ruin Apple’s product launch where they unveiled the latest iterations of the Mac, iPhone and whatnot. This is me being genuinely frustrated over something that shouldn’t be so hard. I just wanted to redeem an […]
BBC’s Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business is a must watch
Yesterday BBC One aired an intriguing and riveting documentary called Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business which explores the sordid underbelly of the tobacco and cigarette business. While, to most of us Zimbabweans, tobacco just happens to be one of our biggest foreign currency earners, it turns out there is a whole dark world out […]
Now that Gearbest is gone, here are some alternatives
A few days ago Gearbest’s website went down and the site hasn’t been back up since. There were no announcements or explanations from the owners of the once vibrant Chinese e-commerce store. In fact, a lot of customers who had placed their orders with the site in recent months and weeks are now scrambling to […]
Apple releases important security patches for its devices in a bid to thwart the NSO group
If you are a regular reader of Techzim or just love to read and know about tech then you are probably familiar with the Israeli company known as NSO Group. No? This security company has a product known as the Pegasus suite which it sells to governments and authorities around the world. The software allows […]
Xiaomi is remotely blocking its phones in “unsupported regions”
Xiaomi has been in the news and on everyone’s lips in recent years, weeks and months and it’s mostly because of how it continues to grow and corner the smartphone and indeed the entire gadget market. They are now the second-largest phone and biggest smartwatch maker. However, their latest stance is bound to generate some […]
“Bring back Chibabest”, Angry Zimbabweans react to ZESA’s 12-hour load-shedding schedule
Zimbabwe is one of those countries in which the citizens seem to be living in a twisted horror version of Groundhog Day. The same mundane problems keep happening over and over again and it seems our lives are on repeat. One of those repetitive nightmares is load-shedding and despite the winning and excuses ZESA and […]
New ZUPCO buses were caught smuggling goods from South Africa
Recently the government unveiled 50 ZUPCO buses in a bid to solve the transport crisis they created when they banned kombis. It turns out the buses may have been involved in a smuggling incident according to a report in Newsday. The smuggling attempt was thwarted by ZIMRA officials who searched the buses and fined the […]
Govt says NetOne will soon deploy 5G base stations, here’s why I am not excited
Our beloved government has a sort of undeclared tradition: they save their most outrageous bald-faced promises which they have no intention of keeping for Sunday publications. On these days they make grand claims and promise us the world. Most of these promises are simply forgotten by the following week. Usually, these promises are rooted in […]
UK government uses 9/11 anniversary to whine & complain about end-to-end encryption
This past Saturday was the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Despite all the time that has passed it seems these terrorist attacks on America are still a watershed moment and a rallying card that Western governments use whenever they want to frighten their citizens into giving them more powers in the name of security […]