Nigerian Temi Adebayo, wins British Journal of Photography award 2020 - ITREALMS

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Nigerian-born photographer and a member of Royal Times of Nigeria editorial team, Mr. Temi Adebayo, has won the prestigious international photography prize of the British Journal of Photography (BJP) award 2020., reports ITREALMS.

His photograph, captioned Hu:Man, ITREALMS gathered was selected as part of the award winning photographs of the year 2020 which will exhibited at the Seen Fifteen Gallery in London, UK, from 30th April to 22nd May 2021.

September Hard Worker 2020: Destiny Nelson, fish-seller emerges winner - ITREALMS

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Destiny Abraham Nelson, a fish-seller, has emerged winner of the monthly Princewill Trust Help the Hard Worker competition for the month of September, reports ITREALMS.

A Rivers State-based one hundred level student of the University of Uyo, who turned fish seller to enable her pay her school fees, emerged the winner of the September, 2020 edition, after a very well contested competition, beating Nimi Jack and Oscar Nyesom to win the N100,000 cash prize.

Anambra to close market by Monday, March 30, 2020 - ITREALMS

ITREALMS: 

The Anambra State Government has directed the closure of markets across the state for 14 days with effect ‪from Monday, 30th March, 2020‬, reports ITREALMS.

Secretary to Anambra State Government, Professor Solo Chukwulobelu, disclosed this Thursday to ITREALMS, saying that the decision was part of ongoing measures by Anambra state government to stop the spread of Coronavirus, "All markets in Anambra State will be closed ‪from Monday, 30th March, 2020‬ for 14 days."

In addition, he directed that "Only businesses selling food items and medicines are authorised to stay open during the closure. Such businesses should however observe social distance protocols and other coronavirus health advisory already in place in Anambra State.

"During the 14-day period also, traders should stay at home and not move about.

"This directive will be reviewed at the end of the 14-day period and further directives will be communicated.

"The executive and members of Anambra State Market Traders Association (ASMATA), executive and members of various market associations, market men and women are hereby directed to strictly comply with this directive.

"Members of Anambra State Covid-19 Task Force, the police and other security agencies should strictly enforce this directive.

"This is in the best interest of all of us. Please help us to fight this Pandemic," he pleaded.

Ozo Nweke Ozo/Editor

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Google’s new terms of service takes effect March 31, 2020 - ITREALMS

Exclusive@ITREALMS: 

Effective, Tuesday, March 31, 2020, the new Google terms of service will come into place, which may affect a number of its services, reports ITREALMS.

According to the official communications from its headquarters and available to ITREALMS from the Mountain View, California, United States of America, Google services are provided by the Google LLC under the laws of the State of Delaware, USA, and operating under the laws of the USA

“Until then, the existing Terms of Service continues to describe the rules you agree to when using our services. For more details, we’ve also provided a summary of the key changes,” Officials intimated ITREALMS.

In addition, ITREALMS gathered that if for any reasons a customer could not agree with new Terms of Service, they can find more information about other options in the Frequently Asked Questions.

However, ITREALMS, gathered that what is covered in these terms comprising the reflection on “the way Google’s business works, the laws that apply to our company, and certain things we’ve always believed to be true.”

As a result, Google said that “these Terms of Service help define Google’s relationship with you as you interact with our services. For example, these terms include the following topic headings:
“What you can expect from us, which describes how we provide and develop our services
“What we expect from you, which establishes certain rules for using our services
“Content in Google services, which describes the intellectual property rights to the content you find in our services — whether that content belongs to you, Google, or others
“In case of problems or disagreements, which describes other legal rights you have, and what to expect in case someone violates these terms.”

Understanding these terms, Google pointed out, is important because, “by using our services, you’re agreeing to these terms.”

Chuks Egbune/DoP

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2020: Only technology driven exploration'll attract capital - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Technology driven exploration has been identified as one of the sustainable fiscal reforms expected to attract capital to the continent’s energy sector, according to African Energy Chamber in its latest outlook for 2020, reports ITREALMS.

The chamber, ITREALMS also reports that in African Energy Outlook 2020 that hundreds of blocks and acreages will be up for grab across Africa, from Senegal to Nigeria to Somalia. Competition will be fierce to attract capital from a diversifying basket of explorers now coming from North America, Europe, Russia, China, India, South East Asia and the Middle East.

In 2019, several African countries revised their legal and fiscal framework to incentivize exploration, as new world-class discoveries were yet again made on the continent. With the signing of no less than 9 PSCs in 2019 following the passing of its brand new Hydrocarbons Code, Gabon has shown that investors are ready to keep betting on Africa providing that the right legislation and framework are put in place.

In its Energy Outlook 2020, the Chamber notably stresses investors’ concerns over uncertain fiscal terms in sub-Saharan Africa, and calls on governments to find better ways to reconcile their expectations of short-term tax gains with the need for sustainable and long-term investment in exploration.

The importance of increasing exploration efforts cannot be under-estimated in Africa. The continent is the world’s hottest exploration frontier, with several discoveries made over the past few years. The world’s largest discovery this year was made off the coast of Mauritania by Kosmos Energy. It adds up to other large discoveries made this year by Noble Energy in Equatorial Guinea, or the Springfield Group in Ghana for instance.

“2020 needs to be a drilling year,” declared Nj Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber and CEO of the Centurion Law Group. “Africa has the highest exploration success rates in the world. In basins like the MSGBC, international explorers like Kosmos Energy have even had a 100 percent success rate from all their exploratory drilling,” he added. “It is up to African governments and legislators to provide the right framework to keep attracting these kind of players ready to take risks and bet on our continent’s potential.”



Promoting and supporting exploration efforts across the continent is a key goal of the Chamber in 2020, as stated in its latest outlook for the sector.

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Sophos report showcases 2020 cyberthreat impacts - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Leader in cloud-enabled next-generation cybersecurity, Sophos has launched its 2020 Threat Report providing insights into the rapidly evolving cyberthreats landscape, reports ITREALMS.

The latest report, ITREALMS gathered, was produced by SophosLabs researchers, and explored changes in the threat landscape over the past 12 months, uncovering trends likely to impact cybersecurity in 2020.

“The threat landscape continues to evolve – and the speed and extent of that evolution is both accelerating and unpredictable. The only certainty we have is what is happening right now, so in our 2020 Threat Report we look at how current trends might impact the world over the coming year. We highlight how adversaries are becoming ever stealthier, better at exploiting mistakes, hiding their activities and evading detection technologies, and more, in the cloud, through mobile apps and inside networks. The 2020 Threat Report is not so much a map as a series of signposts to help defenders better understand what they could face in the months ahead, and how to prepare,” said John Shier, senior security advisor, Sophos.

The SophosLabs 2020 Threat Report, which is also summarized in a SophosLabs Uncut article, focuses on six areas where researchers noted particular developments during this past year. Among those expected to have significant impact on the cyberthreat landscape into 2020 and beyond are the following:

Ransomware attackers continue to raise the stakes with automated active attacks that turn organizations’ trusted management tools against them, evade security controls and disable back ups in order to cause maximum impact in the shortest possible time.

Unwanted apps are edging closer to malware. In a year that brought the subscription-abusing Android Fleeceware apps, and ever more stealthy and aggressive adware, the Threat Report highlights how these and other potentially unwanted apps (PUA), like browser plug-ins, are becoming brokers for delivering and executing malware and fileless attacks.

The greatest vulnerability for cloud computing is misconfiguration by operators. As cloud systems become more complex and more flexible, operator error is a growing risk. Combined with a general lack of visibility, this makes cloud computing environments a ready made target for cyberattackers.

Machine learning designed to defeat malware finds itself under attack. 2019 was the year when the potential of attacks against machine learning security systems were highlighted. Research showed how machine learning detection models could possibly be tricked, and how machine learning could be applied to offensive activity to generate highly convincing fake content for social engineering. At the same time, defenders are applying machine learning to language as a way to detect malicious emails and URLs. This advanced game of cat and mouse is expected to become more prevalent in the future.

Other areas covered in the 2020 Threat Report include the danger of failing to spot cybercriminal reconnaissance hidden in the wider noise of internet scanning, the continuing attack surface of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), and the further advancement of automated active attacks (AAA).

Nenye Dom/Editor

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ICANN unveils 2020 public meeting locations - ITREALMS Online

ITREALMS:

Are you ready for more public meetings of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in the next two years? Well, ICANN just announced the locations for the 2020 ICANN Public Meetings to hold in Cancun, Mexico, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Hamburg, Germany, reports ITRealms.

ICANN, ITRealms reports, holds three Public Meetings each calendar year in different regions of the globe.

ICANN Public Meetings are a central principle of ICANN's multistakeholder model because they provide a venue for progressing policy work, conducting outreach, exchanging best practices, conducting business deals, and interacting with other members of the ICANN community, Board, and organization.

For instance, ITRealms reports that ICANN selected locations in the Latin America and Caribbean region to host ICANN's 67^th Public Meeting, from 7–12 March 2020, which is otherwise known as the Community Forum to be held at the Cancun International Convention Center.

Also, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has been selected as the location in the Asia Pacific region to host ICANN's 68^th Public Meeting, from 22–25 June 2020. The Policy Forum will be hosted by Dr. Suhaidi Hassan of the Internet Society Malaysia Chapter at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center.

Additionally, the third meeting, which is the Annual General Meeting (AGM) has been slated for Hamburg, Germany, at the European region to host ICANN's 69^th Public Meeting, from 17–22 October 2020. The Annual General Meeting will be hosted by eco association, DENIC and the City of Hamburg at the Congress Center Hamburg.

ICANN holds three Public Meetings each calendar year in different regions of the globe. ICANN Public Meetings are a central principle of ICANN's multistakeholder model because they provide a venue for progressing policy work, conducting outreach, exchanging best practices, conducting business deals, and interacting with other members of the ICANN community, Board, and organization. Usually comprising more than 400 different sessions, these meetings are the focal point for individuals and representatives of the different ICANN stakeholder groups to introduce and discuss issues related to ICANN policy development. Participants may attend in person or remotely. Meetings are open to everyone and registration is free.

ITRealms recalls that ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address into your computer or other device – a name or a number. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation and a community with participants from all over the world.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Global tech community drum support for universal internet access by 2020

 ITRealms

Prominent leaders from the global development community, technology industry, the arts and entertainment have joined an unprecedented call for world leaders to implement the promise within the newly agreed Global Goals that universal internet access become a reality by 2020, ITRealms reports.

The leaders of 193 nations formally adopted the Global Goals for Sustainable Development at the United Nations, Friday, after years of negotiation. The Goals aim to fight inequality, protect our planet, and end extreme poverty by 2030. The Connectivity Declaration draws attention to target 9.c of the Global Goals demanding internet access for all in the Least-Developed Countries by 2020.

ITRealms gathered that the Global Goals build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals, which helped cut malaria deaths in half, reduced new HIV infections by 40 per cent, saved millions of children’s lives, and contributed to a worldwide decline in extreme poverty of more than 50 per cent.

The co-founder and global executive director of ONE, Jamie Drummond, in a press release said, “Internet access is a catalyst for creating a world of greater freedom, fairness and dignity for all peoples, everywhere. Every country must now agree on urgent plan to implement the Global Goals, and mission-critical within those strategies is connectivity for all. The Pope and Malala have spoken eloquently about the one world and one family we’re all a part of, and the internet, at its best, facilitates that unity. But when three billion are left beyond the internet, they are left behind and left out of that family. That must change and fast.”

The Connectivity Declaration, ITRealms also reports, has already been signed by: the Action/2015 coalition, Charlize Theron for Africa Outreach Project, Judith Owigar for AkiraChix, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bill and Melinda Gates for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Richard Branson, Erik Hersman for BRCK, Niall Dunne for BT, Danny Sriskandarajah for Civicus, Denis O’Brien for Digicel, Jeff Sachs for Earth Institute.

Others include Hans Vestberg for Ericsson, Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook, Hugh Evans for Global Citizen, Arianna Huffington, Josiah Mugambi for iHub, Ashish Thakkar for Mara Group, Mo Ibrahim for the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Bono for ONE, David Soloff for Premise, Project Everyone, Nik Hartley for Restless Development, Carolyn Miles for Save the Children, Shakira, George Takei, Chris Anderson for TED, Daudi Were for Ushahidi, Jimmy Wales, Omoyele Sowore for Sahara Reporters, Cobus de Swardt for Transparency International, Kathy Calvin for the UN Foundation, and Oluseun Onigbinde for BudgiT.

ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organization of nearly seven million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Not politically partisan, ONE raises public awareness and presses political leaders to combat preventable diseases, increase investments in agriculture and nutrition, and demand greater transparency in poverty-fighting programs, ITRealms learnt.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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Telecom data as service to hit N15.72tr by 2020 - Nokia

ITRealms:

 

A recent 451 research studies have revealed that the Telecom Data as a Service (TDaaS) addressable market has reached $24.1 billion, about N4.79 trillion in 2015 and to grow to $79bn, about N15.72 trillion in 2020, ITRealms reports. 

Nokia Networks, a company that focuses on the human possibilities of technology, recently made this disclosure while launching two analytics services for operators to tap into $79bn market potential #NetworksPerform: the Nokia Ad Analytics which opens up a new revenue stream for operators by offering value-add data to the advertising industry and Nokia Big Data Consultancy which enables operators to maximize the value of their big data platforms and monetize their network insights.
 
The Director, 451 Research, Sheryl Kingstone, said "The majority of current mobile advertising rely on cookies, which show a very low success with a conversion rate of less than 0.1 per cent. With 43 per cent of businesses being in pilot or planning stages, there is demand and will to pay for more contextual data that will help them deliver the right offer to the right consumer, on the right device, at optimal time."
 
 Kingstone explained that 451 Research Study assesses the Telecom Data as a Service addressable market to be $24.1 billion in 2015 and to grow to $79bn in 2020 and that. two of the most promising use case areas are mobile advertising (estimated to grow from $5.6billion, about N1.11trillion to $19.3 billion, about N38.4trillion) and proximity advertising (from $4.1billion, about N815.9 billion to $15.4billion, about 3.06 trillion). Retail; Consumer Packaged Goods; and Governments are the verticals that have the biggest needs for telecom data.
 
Nokia Ad Analytics works in cooperation between operators, advertising companies and Nokia Networks. The service extracts the right data from operator networks, anonymizes it, analyzes it according to target segments specified by the advertising agency, and enriches it with location data from maps and demographic data from public sources.  Nokia Big Data Consultancy builds on Nokia Networks' existing analytics and CEM expertise in big data architecture, network data insight, analytical modelling and value realization approach to help operators reduce costs, improve customer experience and grow subscriber revenue.
 
The Vice President Systems Integration, Nokia Networks, Deepak Harie, said, "The mobile advertising market is booming, driven by large advertising platforms such as Google and Facebook. We are foreseeing that enriched data from mobile networks can help advertisers boost their revenue by up to 33 per cent compared to advertising based on cookies. Nokia is the ideal partner to help operators realize this value in a rapidly expanding market”.

 Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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Pix: Deepak Harie,