Recounting gains of GPS technology

Blurb:
The imperative nature of the Global Positioning System (GPS) has shown that even a missing person and goods could be found with the aid of technology, reports REMMY NWEKE.


With the values of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) continuously becoming apparent in the lives of Nigerians in less than a decade after the advent of the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), many more Nigerians seem to have come to terms with the usefulness therein.

One of these apparent values is the power of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Though described as a complex technology, understanding it could be quite interesting and meaningful, mostly in terms of tracking of goods and vehicles as well as fleet management.

Experts at Princeton University, defined GPS as a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) developed by the United States Department of Defense (DoD), put forward as the only fully functional GNSS in the world. GPS uses a constellation of between 24 and 32 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites that transmit particular microwave signals, which allow it, GPS receivers, to determine their current location, the time, and their velocity with its official name being NAVSTAR GPS, which is not an acronym.

Noteworthy is that the initial GPS satellite constellation being managed by the United States Air Force 50th Space Wing and often used by civilians as a navigation system, especially following the shot down in 1983 of the Korean Air Lines Flight 007, by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), for entering the prohibited airspace; forcing President Ronald Reagan to issue a directive, thus making GPS freely available for civilian use as a common good, thereby commercialized.
Ever since then, GPS has become a widely used aid for navigation worldwide, and a useful tool for map-making, land surveying, commerce, scientific uses, and hobbies such as geo-caching.

Equally, the specific time reference in GPS is used in many applications including the scientific study of earthquakes, just as it is a required key synchronization resource for cellular networks, such as the Globacom, MTN and Zain among other operators of both GSM and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) in air interface for wireless carriers in a large number of countries, especially in vehicle tracking and fleet management.

However, the first satellite navigation system, Transit, was used by the United States Navy, and could be said to be the first successfully tested procedure in 1960. Using a constellation of five satellites with the ability to offer a navigational fix approximately once per hour. In 1967, the U.S. Navy developed the Timation satellite which proved the ability to place accurate clocks in space, a technology that GPS relies upon.

In1970s, the ground-based Omega Navigation System, based on signal phase comparison, became the first worldwide radio navigation system.

As much, the GSM operators and other private sector operatives introduce commercialized GPS for car tracking services even as they also offer rapid response service for broken down vehicles, where that is part of the sign-on by the customer as support service.

Taking advantage of this, just few weeks to Christmas, a Lagos-based businessman, Ogbuefi Ezeputa, a native of Njikoka in Anambra State, over 2500 kilometres from the centre of excellence, Lagons, where he conducts his businesses, wanted something to show for the year at home during the season for celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

He decided to buy a Toyota Camry 2007 model and the next step was how to take the newly purchased car home with some important values, while he and the family take a flight to Enugu, the nearest, from where they could be picked up at the airport for less than 45 minutes drive to Njikoka.

So, Ezeputa found a driver from the west recommended to him as someone who had the experience of helping people to take their cars home anywhere countrywide at a price. Everything agreed, the man Iwolade (real name withheld), the Camry was handed over to him, unknown to the car owner that Iwolade had a different game plan to head to a bordering town known for disposing second hand vehicles, Cotonou in Benin Republic, which is quite a different route; less than 200 kilometres from Lagos.

Unfortunately and unknown to Iwolade, the newly acquired Camry car was installed with a tracking system, otherwise known as the GPS, but only known to the car owner and the tracking company, who were duly briefed about the movement.

So, instead of heading to Ibadan-Shagamu Expressway, Iwolade with his own agenda to also hit it big before the year runs out, headed to Mile 2, enroute Cotonou. And after about 20 minutes drive from Mile 2, the GPS tracking company called Ezeputa and reconfirmed the route to the town, Njikoka, located in the eastern part of the country. He was aptly informed that the car was heading to Cotonou. Hence with that confirmed, the tracking service company, literally hijacked the Camry byway of demobilizing the car electronically through the satellite with the aid of GPS, rendering the engine disfunctionable.

Few days later a Lagos-based oil worker, Ezreal James, learnt through a telephone call that his son was kidnapped alongside the driver on their way back on a school-run in the garden city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State in the South-South zone of the country.

Luckily for him, the Mercedes Benz ML9 jeep was equipped with a GPS tracker, Mr. James quickly reported this incident to the GPS service provider via another call on his GSM phone, and in the next few minutes, the car was demobilized.

And based on one of these values was the recent incident of using Google GPS search to find a missing child, Natasha Maltais, simply because her mobile phone has the service activated.

The nine-year-old girl, purportedly kidnapped by her grandmother, was found via a mobile phone signal and Google Street View anchored on GPS in the city of Athol, Massachusetts.

From all intent and purposes, car theft and kidnapping, for instance, could be immensely reduced when more and more vehicle owners recognise the importance of these values and equip their automobiles with this piece of equipment.

Therefore, it could be advocated herein that car manufacturers could even fix this services in their vehicles, leaving owners to either activate them with any given service providers of GPS, thereby ensuring a piece of mind for every owner of automobiles, especially at this time of economic crunch.


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HP toner: Scarcity hits Nigerian market

*As fakes take over

The lingering scarcity of Hewlett Packard (HP) printer toners in Nigeria may have provided the window for faking and adulteration of the brand considered to be users’ first choice.

According to ITRealms Online week-long investigations in Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country, the original HP printer toners could not be accessed at the markets and even at the so-called major distributors.

After long hours of waiting at a very notable HP products distributor, they had no choice than to confirm the fears, which was first raised by a sub-dealer at the Otigba Market in Ikeja, otherwise known as Computer Village, that original HP printer toners are scarce.

This was brought to the fore because one of the product dealers at Otigba was suspended by a client company for supplying fake products, equally known as refilled packs, which culminated in spillage in the firm’s several models of HP printers, including LaserJet 1320, F300, and P2015 to name a few.

The toner spillage also encouraged the management of the affected company to institute an inquiry, resulting in the discovery that what they were being offered for some months now were merely refilled packs and subsequently the supplier was suspended.

But, after exhausting the stock, the firm embarked on fact-finding mission; leaving it to discover more, that there is currently no new HP toner in the nation’s market.

Our investigation was confirmed when correspondent visited Computer Village at the weekend and Alli Street Computer Market at the Tinubu Square, as well as the GSM Market along Agege Motor road, all in Lagos.

Efforts at insisting on the original HP printer toners resulted in the sellers threatening to return their wares “if you are not serious,” which was carried out to the letter when it was suggested that a test be conducted on the toner cartons and toner container to ensure the products on display were original.

“Oga, may be you would come back next week, that time, the original go dey (would be available),” one of the sellers declared as they began to retreat to their shops one after another until the last person withdrew their wares.

It was gathered that even if the potential buyer was to have an offer appointment with them to procure the original from whatever source, they would either try to repackage the fake toner products and showcase them.

Further investigations revealed that at the aforementioned markets, there are specialists at the back offices refilling used toners by way of injecting toner fluids into the used containers with syringes.

As a matter of fact, most of the dealers and suppliers owned up to purchasing used toner cartridges in the name of HP recycling campaign, which has incentives for participants in most part of the developed countries, while in developing countries of Africa, this incentive is not available.

Although, HP stresses its determination to actively work with governments on recycling legislation and meeting or exceeding all applicable legal requirements.

However, efforts to get the management of HP Nigeria to comment on the development, proved abortive as at the time of going to the press, as the Managing Director, HP Nigeria, Mr. Imeh Umoh, was yet to return the call by ITRealms Online on the subject as promised.

Meanwhile, Hewlett Packard (HP) Nigeria recently introduced new Proliant server to help improve the quality of virtualization within organizations.

Virtualization, a framework or methodology of dividing the resources of a computer into multiple execution environments by applying one or more concepts or technologies, such as hardware and software partitioning, time-sharing, partial or complete machine simulation, emulation, quality of service, and many others, has grown to be top of mind for most organization information officers.

Presenting the HP latest innovation, ProLiant BL495c Virtualization Blade to journalists, the company’s Enterprise Server Manager, Mr. Chuks Okpaka stated that the HP’s newest introduction is built to eliminate bottlenecks to virtual server performance.

“According to analysts, the market for Virtual machine software grew 69 per cent from 2006 to 2007 and is projected to grow more than 50 per cent this year and the adoption rate reflects that many businesses are already realizing benefits from their implementations,” he said.

HP, therefore, urged organizations to, ‘Rethink on application and IT operations management, infrastructure barriers and client architecture so as to leverage virtualization to achieve greater reliability and security as well as improved manageability, flexibility and the Returns On Investment (ROI) of end-user computing.”

On the barriers inhibiting most organizations from thinking virtualization, HP noted that the biggest inhibitors to appreciating and adopting virtualization are majorly connected to upfront cost, staff training and experience.

Others, Okpaka said, are the challenges associated with gaining approval from corporate management and infrastructure planning and the challenges of effectively managing both physical and virtual resources.

Enumerating, however, the benefits derivable from “Rethinking Virtualization,” HP Nigeria official said that customers who employ the use of virtualization devices stand to enjoy faster delivery of applications and services as well as have the advantage of being able to put unused resources and capacity to work.

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Etisalat takes 9javaganza to UNILAG fair

The nation’s fifth Global System for Mobile operator, Etisalat Nigeria, is supporting this year’s edition of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Students Fair with its 9javaganza promo.

Manager, Public Relations at Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Yinka Ijabiyi, who confirmed this at the event venue in a chat with ITRealms Online on Monday, said that the strategy is to catch the youth market by the operator.

Pointing out that tendency is that these are the new faces of future Nigerians and have the potentials for growth, therefore Etisalat decided to associate with the project.

Top on the offer at the Etisalat stand during the weeklong fair at the Sports Complex ground is the ‘Turn on ‘n’ talk 9javaganza’ promo, which flyers were seen almost everywhere at the event urging visitors and participants alike to buy into the 40 per cent off the tariff charge by the network.

As said by him, potential subscribers could buy Etisalat’s Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) pack for N200 and have another N200 airtime on activation.

This, he said, was initiated to encourage more and more people to talk lovely this Valentine season.

“With loads and loads of free airtime, love is in our airtime this Valentine season,” he declared.

Advising those who are still missing in the Etisalat actions to ensure participation by just picking up and turning on their 0809ja Etisalat SIM and then enjoy.

He explained that N200 free airtime is instantly when subscribers buy SIM for N200, which actually means that “you’re getting the SIM for free.”|

In addition, he said, that Etisalat is offering 20 per cent free airtime every time subscribers recharge with N500 and above on calls to all networks.

As well, he noted that another 20 per cent discount is given to subscriber when they dial *242# to get their homezone switched on when gives them cheaper calls from any location of their choice.

“So, what are you waiting for? Pick up, turn on and talk on,” he asserted, stressing that the offer last till March 31, 2009.

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InterSwitch unveils Verve multiple purpose card

Premier Nigeria’s payment transactions switching firm, InterSwitch Limited, has unveiled its multi-purpose chip card on the continent called Verve.

Managing Director, InterSwitch, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe said at the unveiling in Lagos that his company has scored another first with Verve as it’s the first African branded MasterCard MChip4 payment card.

This, he said, was in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recent directive mandating all the banks in the country to convert all existing magnetic stripe cards to a more secure chip and Personal Identification Number (PIN) platform before the end of this year.

He also said that this CBN directive spurred his firm to launch Verve card, describing the decision as being the best for the industry and financial transacting public.

“Verve Chip and PIN card is specially designed by Nigerians for the world, to drive awareness for the brand in Nigeria and Africa,” he asserted, stressing that InterSwitch has employed the services of three top media consultancy firms made up of two advert agencies including Verdant Zeal and Bates Cosse, while eMaginations, a firm with bias for technology brand, would handle the media consultancy.

According to him, Verve Chip and PIN card has the capability to offer more value to cardholders, merchants and banks, disclosing that his firm has launched a campaign tagged ‘Get More Out of Life’ to enlighten cardholders in the country and beyond on the features and attributes of the Verve card brand.

“Verve offers more access channels and delivers more security features, more rewards and more value to users,” Elegbe said.

Also speaking at the launch, the Brand Manager at InterSwitch, Mrs. Tobi Boshoro, said that Verve rides on unbeatable reach hinged on its potential for acceptance and use across all available payment channels in the country.

“Verve cardholders can carry out payment transactions on over 11,000 Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, over 7,300 Automated Teller Machines (ATM), over 200 web merchants’ sites and on 50,000 mobile phones as well as kiosks,” she said.

Mrs. Boshoro also noted that Verve usage comes with rewards across all banks in the country as cardholders who make purchases on any of the electronic terminals, “Verve leverages the memory of its chip to incorporate loyalty schemes that reward loyal customers.”

On the security aspect, she said that Verve is one of the most secured chip and PIN cards around developed using the MasterCard Mchip4 standard in addition to inbuilt fraud management solutions.

Pointing out that Verve has the capability to enable merchants have online, real-time access to all their operations and activities, which ensures an enhancement of PoS terminals currently in many merchant locations nationwide.

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NIG commends FG on e-payment

The Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), has commended the Federal Government (FG) for introducing electronic payment (e-payment) system for government transactions.

ITRealms Online recalls that FG had in the last quarter of 2008, made it mandatory that payments to personnel and contractors would from January 2009, be made electronically, according to the Accountant General of the Federation.

With this, all Federal Government transactions would now be done electronically to the beneficiary’s account.

Reacting to the development, NIG President, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, at the end of the first executive meeting for 2009, of the group in Lagos, said that it is a welcome development and a march towards the actualization of the e-government initiatives in all fronts of the government dealings.

This, he also said, is in line with the objectives of NIG’s Internet for Job (I4J) initiative, which focuses on creating awareness on the need to take businesses and government services online.

It could be recalled that NIG last year held its one-day seminar on I4J, with a theme “Internet for Jobs: Creating Jobs by promoting eCommerce.”

Speaking at the event held in Lagos, Mr. Ajayi stressed his group’s hope to engage some members of the international community in the promotion of the ideals of I4J, noting that Nigerians posses enormous potentials that are waiting to be explored.

“We are about to be proven right in our belief that given the right environment and the right encouragement Nigerians can excel even in electronic business (e-business) and e-government,” he said.

NIG, he said, is confident that I4J initiative would kick start a dotcom boom in the country, where many online businesses would spring up and create wealth for the populace.

“We are also confident that some of the projects that will benefit from the I4J initiative shall grow to become multinational companies in the mood of Yahoo, Amazon, Google and so on,” he said.

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Embrace capital market - Ndukwe tells operators

Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, has called on the big telecom operators to embrace the capital market.

According to him, they should consider heading to the stock market to give Nigerians the opportunity to own shares in their companies.

Dr. Ndukwe who was fielding questions from newsmen on allegations against his commission by the chairman, House Committee on Information and National Orientation, Hon Dino Melaye, also said this cannot be done through regulation by the NCC.

“I am one of those who believe that more of the big telecom companies in this country should think of going into the stock market to give Nigerians the opportunity of owning shares in these companies. Unfortunately, the NCC is not permitted by law to legislate on that, but I know that our legislators can do that,” he said.

He said that without being forced each of these companies could decide on their own to go into the stock market, stressing that there is need to expand the ownership structure of the companies to include more Nigerians.

The EVC said, being quoted in the market will lead to more transparency as there will be nothing to hide.

“We shall continue with the advocacy on that score and see how it goes in the coming years. Two companies in the telecom market sector have already gone and we hope more will go,” the NCC boss said.

On alleged plans by some operators to raise tariff, he said he was not aware of any such plan, pointing out that no operator has approached the commission for tariff increase.

“I have read it in the newspapers like anybody, because, there is no single company that has approached NCC for tariff increase. Not to my knowledge. And any company that is increasing tariffs today would be shooting itself in the foot because there is too much competition in the market already. I will be surprised if any of the companies is contemplating increasing its tariff,” he said.

Ndukwe further said, the NCC intends to hire consultants to see if there will be another reduction in interconnect rates, noting that when done, there will be further reduction in tariffs rather than increase.

“I do not think there is any truth in that allegation except that some people want to use it to become popular. You know there is this populist agenda going on. When somebody wants to be popular, he picks on something that is sensitive like tariffs. We at the NCC are surprised because there was neither whisper about it, nor application from any operator.

“I know some operators made some remarks because of some problems they were having with a particular local and state government, but no formal application has been made to the NCC and if such application comes, we know how to respond to it. So, as far as I am concerned, it does not have any background,” Ndukwe submitted.

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Cisco, Anambra State to launch 21 academies

Cisco Nigeria has concluded plans with the Anambra State government to open 21 Cisco Academies in the State.

Disclosing this, Marketing Manager, Cisco Nigeria, Ms Owen Nwelih, said that Nigeria currently has over 50 academies and has advanced plans to increase this with the recent deal by the Anambra State.

Nwelih who made this disclosure at a media parley in Lagos, weekend, said that Anambra State has begun the processes to establish Cisco academy in its domain at the Eastern Nigeria, just as some are expected to spring up in Adamawa.

Affirming this deal, Cisco Networking Academy Manager for West Africa, Mr. Julius Ayuk-Tabe, told ITRealms Online in a telephone chat that the coast is now clear for Anambra State to establish in each of the 21 local government areas with a Cisco Academy.

Ayuk-Tabe also revealed that the official launch of the Cisco Academy in Anambra would be held in the state capital, Awka before the end of this month – February.

“It would be performed before the end of this month,” he said.

ITRealms Online recalls that last year, 2007, Cisco Systems had unveiled Partner Talent Portal to address technology skills shortage on the continent and Middle East also known as MEA.

The company said this was part of its continued effort at helping channel partners to address the global technology skills gap, through provision of access to local Cisco Network Academy graduates and Cisco certified talents.

The portal, Ayuk-Tabe said, comes with features on curricula vitae and profiles of local Cisco Network Academy graduates to help facilitate the connection between
Cisco channel partners and this proven talent pool.

He further said that a study commissioned by Cisco in 2007 and conducted by industry analyst firm, IDC, revealed that the demand for networking skills in the UAE alone was set to exceed supply by an average of 27 per cent in 2009.

“This translates into a shortage of more than 19,000 skilled people,” he said.

Mr. Ayuk-Tabe also said that this portal which is already live and accessible to Cisco partners in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia, provides partners with a fast and effective way to find qualified candidates while allowing for a much-needed inflow of talent into the overall industry.

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5 millionaires emerge @ Zain Val promo

Winners have begun to emerge in the 2009 Valentine Millionaire promo put in place by one of the nation’s leading telecommunications company, Zain Nigeria.

The promo which commenced on January 16 witnessed the emergence of five millionaires at the first raffle draw held in Lagos, including Mr. Justice Ejima Ajunwa, who was presented his N1 million cheque.

The five lucky Zain subscriber numbers turned millionaires by the promo were 08023353780, 08022909606, 08080806448, 08026823353 and 08023083385.

Head, Corporate Communications, Zain Nigeria, Mr. Emeka Oparah, said the telecom operator is determined to delight its numerous customers during this Valentine period, stressing that during the first draw, another set of 25 people were also lifted financially who won N100,000.00 each.

According to him, Zain has promised to give more Nigerians the opportunity to significantly improve their financial profile weekly through the promo.

He also said the promo would run till February 20, 2009, and is open to every subscriber of Zain Nigeria.

The high-tech electronic draw, he said, was supervised and endorsed by a reputable firm of IT Auditors, TC-QA Associates, even as the winning entries were randomly generated from a large pool of entries received from customers during the designated week and stored in a secured database.

Mr. Oparah further said the promo could not have come at a better time with the lovers’ day, Valentine’s Day, just around the corner and mounting effect of the current economic meltdown globally.

“Zain is determined to share our wonderful world with our customers by offering them a ladder to riches weekly through our vastly believable Valentine promo. It is opportunity for many Nigerians to climb out of poverty and insignificance, take hold of their destiny and celebrate with their loved ones,” he said.

Oparah, equally said, “We want our customers to derive more value from the use of their phones. We are determined to improve the financial profile of many Nigerians, lifting many out of poverty and enriching those who are not exactly poor but desire to have more money.”

Noting that Zain carefully timed the Valentine Millionaire Promo for the Valentine period when people need money to buy gifts or go on holiday with their loved ones.
Our Promo will produce millionaires and other winners. Cash prizes will be presented to winners.

In a press statement from Zain Nigeria and endorsed by the Public Relations Manager, Mr. Emmanuel Otokhine, also explained that participants in the promo in any particular week, are required to use a minimum of N100 daily for one week, Tuesday to Monday during duration of the promo.

As said by him, a minimum usage of N100 per day each for one week or a total usage of N700 per week will guarantee a participant in the Promo a single entry for one draw.

“To enhance their chance of winning, participants are encouraged to make as many entries as possible as there are no restrictions in the number of times customers can enter for the promo,” he said.

Weekly, he said, 30 lucky winners would emerge from the weekly draw with the top five winners receiving N1,000,000.00 each.

“The remaining 25 winners will receive N100,000.00 each,” he declared, noting that in all, Zain would produce 20 lucky millionaires during the promo while 100 (one hundred) other winners will receive N100, 000.00 each.

The winning numbers will be published in selected national dailies during the duration of the promo.

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Classic N2009, Time Band promos get 2-month extension

The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) arm of the Second National Operator (SNO), Glo Mobile, last weekend, announced an extension of its Classic Plus N2009 and Glo Time Band promotions by two months.

This, the operator said, means that the two promos will now come to an end by March 31, 2009.

ITRealms Online recalls that Classic Plus N2009 and Glo Time Band were part of the three promotions launched by Globacom on December 1, 2008, to mark the Christmas and the New Year, festive seasons.

The third offer was the on-going Win ‘n’ Rule promotion which was made bigger with 1000 generators, 1000 motorcycles and 1000 bicycles.

Disclosing this latest development, Marketing Director at Globacom, Mr. Jagat Jit Singh said, the two-month extension was in response to the clamour by subscribers for the promotions, underscoring the fact that it would enable many more people to benefit from the offers.

He noted that in the Classic Plus N2009 offer, every new prepaid Glo Classic subscriber who activates his N200 line within the period of the promotion will be given N2009 worth of benefits by the network.

These include free airtime worth N39 for calls within the network and twenty two free Glo to Glo Short Messaging Service (SMS) worth N110.

“The customer will also be credited with N200 free airtime per month for 6 months if his or her usage is up to N300 every month, making N1,200 free airtime for Glo to Glo calls within the period,” he said.

Mr. Singh emphasised that the subscriber on activation would also have N110 worth of Glo to Glo SMS every month for 6 months, totalling N660.

“The total benefit amounts to N2009,” he said.

On the Glo Time Band offer, he said, subscribers would have up to 95 per cent reduction in charges for calls made on the Glo Mobile network.  

In the promotion, customers are entitled to discounts of between 10 per cent and 95 per cent, depending on the time of day the call is made.

Calls made between 12 midnight and 5 a.m. will attract 95 per cent discount, calls made between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. will have 40 per cent discount, while calls between 8 a.m. and 12 noon will be at a 10 per cent discount. Between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., Glo is offering callers 20 per cent discount, while calls from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. will attract 10 per cent discount.

Subscribers who call between 10 p.m. and 12 midnight will enjoy a 30 per cent discount.

Singh explained the discounts were applicable across Nigeria and did not, like similar products in the market, limit subscribers to specific zones.

“Glo Time Band is the first such offer in the market. Our subscribers will benefit from it irrespective of where they are in Nigeria. You do not have to enjoy the benefit only when you are at a particular place or zone,” he said.

The discount offer is open to all existing and new subscribers on the prepaid platform except the Commercial Telephone Operators (CTO) packages.

Singh had at the launch of the promotion in December stated that it was meant to show  appreciation to customers for their patronage and support throughout the year.

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... As Anabel wins lovers heart

As the clock ticks on the 2009 Valentine Day due to take place in the next 48 hours, Anabel’s smart phones have won the hearts of lovers, especially ladies in a survey conducted recently in Lagos.

Chief executive, Anabel Mobile, Mr. Nicholas Okoye, said that the survey which took place a fortnight ago at the PC Outlet, Palms, Computer Village and Saka Tinubu, all in Lagos, indicated that Nigerians especially ladies asked what they would prefer to have as a Val’s gift with over 89.7 per cent voting for Anabel mobile phones.

This result came against 10 per cent who chose cars and other gifts.
Most of those who preferred Anabel smart phones attributed it to the stylish, fashion and because it is truly Nigerian.

Okoye said that Anabel’s smartphone have indeed created a ground-breaking record by winning Nigerians heart in its first debut into the market place, as people rush to the PC Outlet, Palms, Computer Village and Saka Tinubu Lagos, to buy the phone which the company is offering at discount sales.

For him, these Smart phones are not only classy, “it is also stylish and user friendly.”

These devices, Okoye said, run with the latest Microsoft 6.0 and 6.1 Operating System (OS), which make it compatible with any personal computer anywhere in the world.

“With these devices you can access the internet easily, send e-mails and can even work on files in your office from anywhere. These mobile devices are very strong, rugged, and built with scratch-proof casing,” he said.

Built with Nigerians at heart, Okoye pointed out that it has not only embraced the local culture, “But also showcases it to the rest of the world, it is embedded with our coat-of-arms, national flag and even have original songs of Nigerian artistes as ring tones,” he said.

The new professional series of Smart phones come in PS100 and PS200, have since been available in the nation’s market.

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Naijapals.com records 150,000 subscriber in 1 year

Nigerian youth online forum, the Naijapals.com has recorded 150,000 active users in 2008 alone.

Founder of Naijapals.com, Mr. Samuel Odofin, made this disclosure in an electronic chat with ITRealms Online, last weekend.

He said that it’s a very popular entertainment and social channel for Nigerians in Nigeria “with over 150000 active users.”

According to him, naijapals.com holds a database of all Nigerian universities and over 7,000 schools all together.

Additionally, he said, that the database enables old school mates to meet easily, “moreso - it is based on advanced formulas for finding new friends.”

Stressing that it was anchored on the programme he developed in 2007 in order to keep the people together.

He pointed out that Naijapals.com, has two major features, a debate, which he described as “’fight park’ and ‘confessions.’”

ITRealms Online recalls that two years ago, Odofin’s biotech food solution emerged finalist at the Stockholm challenges with Biotechnology - The Food Solution (BFS) www.odofin.com, which was selected for finals.

The entry “Biotechnology - The Food Solution (BFS) in the Economic Development Category of the 2006 edition of Stockholm Challenge was nominated into the finalist.
The Nigerian-born wizkid in November 2005 had in Tunis during the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS-05), picked the WSIS world summit youth award.

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NCS calls for ‘09 confab papers

THE Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) has called for entries for its 2009 international conference, which has been scheduled to take place in Abuja, between June 21 and 24, 2009.

A press release from NCS and made available to Champion Infotel at the weekend, said the conference will serve as a major forum to bring together top researchers from Africa and the rest of world to share ideas and propose Information Technology (IT) solutions to varieties of challenges being faced all over the world.

The conference which theme is Managing Current Global Challenges: IT Strategies and Tools, according to the organizing committee, is inviting submission of full papers related to any of the conference sub-themes to be submitted by March 31, 2009 via electronic mail.

Some of the sub themes are “Achieving global economic transformation through Information Technology, Information Technology as a tool for enhancing agriculture and food sustainability in developing countries, Current Trend and Challenges in security issues, IT Infrastructures for Qualitative Health care delivery, Secure the future; Empower the next generation with IT and Gender issues and IT adaptability.

Others are Information technology as a tool for consolidating good governance, Enhancing Electoral processes using IT and Emerging Technologies in e-learning, knowledge and skills acquisition.

The committee also said authors should submit their full papers in English and they must have relevance to one or more of the sub-themes listed or appropriate technology-related topics and that initial submission must not include the authors’ names and affiliations.

The conference committee also said all papers must be submitted as an attached Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document and mailed to: conference@ncs.org.ng.

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Microsoft faces increase heat over Windows 7 security

Software giant, Microsoft Corporation, said weekend it is set to close its Windows 7 beta, which paves the prediction that is launch is at hand, even as the modules of the proposed Windows has continued to generate debate among global users.

One of the chief complaints with Windows Vista, for instance, has been the frustration with all the warnings that pop up to notify users that changes are being made to the operating system.

Although, with Windows 7, Microsoft promised to change the feature so that users see fewer messages by default, more so when they have more control in deciding how often they are notified.

The problem, some had said, is that by making the prompts less frequent by default, Microsoft is potentially paving the way for malicious software to make changes without the user’s consent.

Unlike with Windows Vista, where users were alerted of all major changes to their system, the default setting in Windows 7 provides users with warnings only when it is a piece of software on its own making the changes.

Meanwhile, Microsoft chief executive, Mr. Steve Ballmer has expressed optimism that the technology sector globally is in for rough times with the current meltdown.
Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, recently, he said, that the fact remains that this is not a downturn, but a bit of a reset.

“Those are quite different and we’re trying to really see through what we think that means for us,” Ballmer said.

United Kingdom-based CNET News.com reports that Ballmer talked about what the “reset” will mean for Microsoft, as well as lessons learned from Vista and Microsoft’s move to put Office on the web.

“Well, I think we made some choices in Vista to improve security at the kind of expense, if you will, of compatibility. With Windows 7, we’re able to build compatibly off of Vista and really sort of just tune, if you will, the user interface, the performance, and at the end of the day, it’ll be what the users think of the product that we’re building, and we’ll start getting beta feedback this week,” he said.

He pointed out that the Windows 7 team will hit market when they are ready with their set goals.

“They set some goals and objectives and of course we’ll ship the product when it’s as I said last night both right and ready and when we know when that is, we’ll share that,” Ballmer said.

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Skype yet to feel meltdown - COO

Several months after the global meltdown, was accepted at the universal level, the chief operating officer (COO) of internet telephony service provider, Skype, Mr. Scott Durchslag, has said the firm is yet to feel the impact.

He told newsmen at the Las Vegas, during the Consumer Electronics Show that Skype is seeing a surge in new users as people look for ways to cut their phone bills, reports CNET.

According to him, Skype foresee more subscribers and mostly Internet users taking up service with Internet telephony in order to bring down their cost of phone bills.

“We are seeing consumer take-up of Skype accelerating because people feel they can get value and quality without making a huge trade-off,” he said, stressing that they are seeing a whole new opportunity in the business market, as companies that they never thought would never thought of coming to them are queuing up for their services so as to find solution.

Skype, which is owned by eBay, offers downloadable software that allows people to make free calls to other Skype users and low-cost calls to mobile phones and regular phones.

The service also offers free video chat, while the company boasts of having over 370 million registered users globally.

“We’ve been adding about 30 million subscribers a quarter,” Durchslag said, pointing out that these users are making lots of phones calls.

“Today, about eight per cent of the world’s voice minutes originate from a Skype call,” he said.

Emphasizing that Skype has been growing about 50 per cent compared to the previous year in almost every metric from minutes used to new subscribers to revenues, just as the company recently announced its seventh straight quarter of profitability.

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