Beyond Facebook, the Opportunity for Real-Identity Social Media

Facebook is doing great. But in the next fifteen years, if Facebook does not evolve into a real-identity social media, it will struggle. As banking, insurance and more services move social, we will need social commerce. That social commerce will be anchored on real identities. Facebook does not have that today. Anyone can create a Facebook account without the real authenticity as maintained by government.


This assertion goes beyond government efforts to track its citizens. As China modifies its laws to demand that users of social media sites use their real names before they can be on registered, with posting/commentary privileges, on websites, phone apps and digital forums, other countries will pick that and adopt the philosophy. In Africa, Cameroon may prefer that over shutting down Internet. Eritrea and Sudan may join easily, telling citizens to use their real-identities on social media.

TSTV Battles DSTV with Pay-as-You-Consume in Nigeria

TSTV which stands for Telcom Satellite TV, is here in Nigeria to battle with DSTV. It is coming prepared with “Pay-As-You-Consume” plan which every other operator said was not possible in Nigeria before now.

“Pay-As-You-Consume” plan already praised for its simplicity will allow subscribers of TSTV pay for only programmes watched.

4 New Trends in VoIP Technology

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is quickly becoming the de facto communication tool for businesses big and small. Available in a variety of formats, including hosted and cloud, VoIP can be tailored to suit the needs of almost any company. Likewise, as an internet-based technology, the cost advantage of having one phone and data provider is often significant. As VoIP becomes increasingly popular, the consumer demand to make it better does as well. There are four new trends in VoIP technology that are sure to change the industry for the better.

Nigerians protesting at National Stadium and Theatre

NCC wants to regulate how you use BBM, WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype and others

The present administration in Nigeria is showing a positive dispostion towards technological advancement and general innovations with its policies and moves. But every once in a while, they send this funny backward ripples that completely negate their message.

In a self-contradictory style, The Nigerian Communications Commision (NCC) has made a move to check Over-the-top(OTT) messaging applications- WhatsApp, Viber, BBM, Facebook, WeChat, etc

Over-the-top (OTT) messaging applications are third party servers that provide services like instant messaging, and most recently video, audio and even calls over the internet. And most times, they replace those services as traditionally offered by a mobile network operator.

Wi-Fi NOW: World's Premier Wi-Fi Event holding in Virginia(April 19th to 21st, 2016)

Wi-Fi NOW event series is about getting the right information, connecting with the right people, and – not least – staying inspired. 

We’re inviting the world’s most insightful Wi-Fi leaders to Washington DC from April 19th to 21st, 2016 as well as a host of carriers that are embracing Wi-Fi. And we’ll hear from small companies with big ideas as well as big companies making Wi-Fi happen today. 

See you there!

Source: Wi-Fi NOW

Speed growth of Wi-Fi Services:Cellular operators shoot themselves in both feet

I recently concluded a Wi-Fi research publication and was struck by a double irony. A key finding is that any customer using a smartphone is now almost entirely untethered to a single cellular operator. The smartphone customer is truly king (as they say).

Thanks to Wi-Fi, a smartphone customer can access data at home, in the office and many places in between from personal or commercial Wi-Fi hotspots (in fact, most of the places where data is actually needed). Wi-Fi is in many cases cheaper, faster and more available whilst indoors. In other words, a smartphone user for the most part does not need cellular data.

US, China reach cyberespionage agreement

The U.S. and China have reached their first ever cybercrime and cyberespionage agreement, but the deal is quite general and how it will translate into actions is still unclear.

Leaders of both countries announced the deal in Washington on Friday after two days of top-level talks, but both dodged questions on specific hacking incidents or the indictment last year by the U.S. of five Chinese military hackers for cybercrimes.

"We have agreed that neither the U.S. or the Chinese government will conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, including trade secrets or other confidential business information for commercial advantage," President Obama said at a White House news conference.

Microsoft has built a Linux-based operating system

Pigs haven't taken flight; aliens haven’t invaded; hell hasn’t frozen over. But... Microsoft has created an OS powered by Linux. No, this is not The Onion; it’s true.

Microsoft has built an operating system called Azure Cloud Switch (ACS). As Kamala Subramaniam, Principal Architect, Azure Networking explains on the company blog, "It is a cross-platform modular operating system for data center networking built on Linux."

This is not a typical consumer-grade operating system; it's meant to serve a very specific purpose.

There are many open source software defined, or virtualized networking switches available, but Microsoft didn't find what they were looking for and ended up creating its own.

Subramanian wrote:

New malware infects ATMs, dispenses cash on command

Security researchers have discovered a new malware program that infects automated teller machines (ATMs) and allows attackers to extract cash on command.

The program is dubbed GreenDispenser and was detected in Mexico. However, it's only a matter of time until similar attacks are adopted by cybercriminals in other countries, researchers from security firm Proofpoint said in a blog post.

GreenDispenser is not the first malware program to target ATMs. In October 2013, security researchers from Symantec warned about a backdoor called Ploutus that could infect ATMs when a new boot disk is inserted into their CD-ROM drives.

North America has used up its new IPv4 addresses

North America has finally run out of new addresses based on IPv4, the numbering system that got the Internet where it is today but which is running out of space for the coming era of networking.

The American Registry for Internet Numbers, the nonprofit group that distributes Internet addresses for the region, said Thursday it has assigned the last addresses in its free pool. The announcement came after years of warnings from ARIN and others that IPv4 addresses were running out and that enterprises and carriers should adopt the next protocol, IPv6.

Google Maps for iOS adds night mode for navigation

Following its latest update, which is already available in the iTunes App Store, Google Maps for iOS now comes with a night mode for the navigation screen.

It's incredibly surprising that this feature has so far been missing from the app's iOS version, especially since the exact same functionality has been available in Google Maps for Android for a very long time.

Regardless, it's now in there, so your iPhone won't blind you anymore while you're using Google Maps to navigate at night. Google Maps 4.9 for iOS also comes with the ability for you to label places so you can see them on your map and in search suggestions, and edit the photo captions you've posted. Additionally, the usual unnamed bug fixes are supposedly in too.

So you might not consider this a big update, were it not for that glaring omission of the night mode, which is now finally fixed.

Apple gets rid of online store section, integrates it into product pages

The Apple online store is one of the biggest online stores in the business, not only housing company's own products but also accessories from various other brands. In which case, you'd be surprised to know that the store page does not exist anymore.

But that doesn't mean you can't buy stuff anymore from Apple online. Instead of having a dedicated store page with all the products on it, Apple has instead provided a buy button on all its product pages. This means now if you're on the iPhone page, you can hit the buy button at the top and purchase from there instead of being sent to the store page.

US officials say Russian hackers compromised Pentagon computers

US officials have revealed that Russian hackers managed to compromise the Pentagon's Joint Staff unclassified email system last month. Calling it a "sophisticated cyberattack," they said the intrusion occurred around July 25, following which the system was shut down and taken off line.

The attack, which affected around 4,000 civilian and military employees of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apparently used an automated system that quickly collected large amounts of data, and then distributed it to thousands of accounts on the Internet. It is being suspected that the attack was co-ordinated via encrypted accounts on social media.

Seagate announces new 2TB Game Drive for Xbox

Seagate has announced a new Xbox branded portable USB 3.0 hard drive. The drive has a capacity of 2TB and is priced at $109.99. The drive works with both, the Xbox One and the Xbox 360.

While the Xbox does come with capacious internal storage options, with the Xbox One topping out at 1TB, the sizes of games makes it easy to burn through that much storage easily, with several games now coming in at around 50GB each if you choose to download them.

WhatsApp for iOS now lets you include videos in chat backups

WhatsApp's iOS app has received an update, bumping it to version 2.12.5. The update brings some new and useful features, such as the ability to include videos in chat backups, custom notification settings for individual chats, and automatic loading of messages on scroll, among others.

The updated app lets you backup your videos along with your chats, something which you can do by heading to Settings -> Chats and Calls -> Chat Backup. In addition, now you can also set custom notifications for individual chats, and even mute the ones that make a lot of noise. The update also lets you mark chats as unread or read with a swipe to the right.

Facebook unveils live video broadcasts for celebrities

Today Facebook has announced a new feature. This one is going to be exclusive to celebrities, though. Starting today, verified athletes, musicians, politicians, and "other influencers" will be able to share live video with their fans.

This will happen through Facebook Mentions, the special app designed just for celebrities. Obviously though, you won't need a special app to watch said live video broadcasts from your fav celeb - they will show up in your News Feed on the Facebook website and in all of its mobile apps.

This being Facebook, you can like, share, and comment on the live videos as they're being broadcast. You also see when your friends or other public figures start watching a stream. And if you don't catch the live broadcast, you'll be able to watch any such video later on the specific celeb's page.

Google's Project Tango goes international, now available in Canada and South Korea

The Project Tango tablet - which was announced by Google back in February last year and went on public sale in the United States in May this year - can now also be purchased in Canada and South Korea, making them the first countries outside of the US where the device is now officially available.

And it looks like more countries will be added to the list soon - the Mountain View, California-based company has said that the tablet will also be available in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom starting August 26.

Canon ME20F-SH is company's first ultra-high-sensitivity video camera, capable of ISO 4,000,000

Canon has announced the new ME20F-SH video camera for extreme low light photography. The main selling point here is the ultra high sensitivity sensor that can shoot with a minimum subject illumination of less than 0.0005 lux at maximum 75 dB gain setting, equivalent to an ISO sensitivity of over 4,000,000. Previously this kind of low light recording would have required an infrared illumination, which can only record in black and white but the ME20F-SH can do full color recording.

Making this possible is a 2.26 megapixel full frame CMOS sensor. While the resolution might seem low, the sensor is as big as on a DSLR, which means the pixel size is 19μm square, which is more than 5.5 times the surface area of EOS-1D X sensor pixel, allowing it to capture way more light.

Yahoo makes its Livetext app official for the US, four more countries

Earlier this month we saw a new mobile app by Yahoo go live in the iTunes App Store in a few markets - namely Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Ireland. And now the company is ready to launch Livetext in five additional countries.

This is notable because the US and the UK are among those, as are Canada, Germany, and France. So for many people this will be the first time they can use the app. That said, intentionally limiting a new app's geographical reach like this is a bit baffling.

Livetext pairs one-to-one text messages with a video live stream, as showcased in the screenshots above and the video presentation below. You chat with your friends as you would in other messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Viber, or Facebook Messenger. But what's unique here is that the text is overlaid onto a live video stream from the person you're talking to.