Year after year, smartphone manufacturers launch new smartphones that are "better, faster and with much more new features". And even though our phones work just fine, we are stuck in this loop where we feel the need to upgrade because "the new iPhone is 10 grams lighter than the previous".  

What do we really use our phones for apart from social media, capturing memories and staying in touch? What exactly do we expect our mobile phones, tablets and laptops to do for us? What exactly are we looking for, and will we ever get them? What could we be doing with our devices that we aren't? Is there a way we should think about our devices and what they do for us?

Join Kwamina Arthur, Victor Bannerman Chedid, Selorm Dornyoh & Nii Akwei Acquaye as they try to answer these questions and more. 

Today, November 11 is Singles Day - 11.11, a shopping holiday that originated in China but has become global due to the influence of the internet and online shopping. Black Friday, an American shopping holiday, is on November 29. But Black Friday has already started even in Ghana. 

On today's episode, we discuss the history and origin of Black Friday, Panic Saturday & Cyber Monday; behavioral economics; Black Friday deals in Ghana and beyond; freight forwarding services you can use to ship items you may buy for less in the United States to Ghana; gift ideas and best practices as you spend your last money to buy items you may probably not need.

Panelists: Kwamina Arthur & Selorm Dornyoh

Ghana-based Consumer Goods Commerce Retail Platforms discussed:

Others from around the World:

Freight Forwarding Services:

It's finally here! Season 2 of your favorite tech podcast! Thank you for sticking with us even though the metronome's sound was deafening. This season is going to fun-packed and more interactive.

We kick off Season 2 with Selorm's personal experience with ransomware. Yeah, you might have heard of viruses, trojans, malwares, etc. and wondering what animal this is - well, I won't tell you here because you'd have no motivation to listen. But I can assure you it is very real and prevalent and you need to take precautionary measures to protect your files and document from this nasty animal. In 2017 alone, cybercriminals netted over $1 billion from unsuspecting victims through ransomware!

So just as we do it Afdtechtalk style, plug in your headphones, sit back, homey relax, in fact grab a six-pack kick back while we kick facts. Enjoy the show and don't forget to follow us and tweet at us! Be sure to share as well.

Disney+ is an upcoming subscription video on-demand service owned by The Walt Disney Company. Disney owns a lot of big name franchises including Marvel and National Geographic, and makes an average of $1.2bn per movie in the box office. Oh, and let's not forget they also own 60% of the second biggest streaming service in USA, Hulu.

There have also been reports that Disney plans to make certain very popular series currently available on Netflix exclusives on Disney+ AND their subscription service will cost 50% less than Netflix.

Will their entry into the streaming industry pose a significant threat to Netflix? Let's join Kwamina and Edudzi in the studio as they try to predict the future of streaming.

We have a simple question: Where are the multi-million dollar startup exits in Africa? Okay, that leads us to other questions - is it that the ideas that spring up here are not good enough? Or not scalable enough? Is it the environment? Is it not enabling? We could go on and on in the episode description, but let's stop here and join Edem Kumodzi, Andy Akoto and Kwamina Arthur as they discuss the tech startup scene in Ghana and Africa at large and what could be stifling its growth as well as other exciting opportunities.   

Today, Apple will hold its opening keynote for the 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose.  Apple is expected to announce a couple of updates to the operating systems that run the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, TV and Mac. We have also picked up chatter on the breakup of the iTunes app into an array of smaller Music, Podcasts, and TV apps. 

At the AFD HQ, Edudzi interviews Kwamina & Selorm, two hardcore Android fans about what they would like to hear today that could potentially sway them from Android to iOS.