Nokia 3310 returns to market, gains attention with 31.0 days standby time

With the battle for mobile phone market hitting by the day with endless innovation, Nokia 3310 appears to be toast of consumers as a result of 31.0 days standby time the device offers. HMD Global, new makers of the device that originally attracted high patronage in the Nigerian market as a result of the state-of-art-technology embedded in the product said that the classic reimagined Nokia 3310 is back with a promise.

Speaking on the re-branded product, Joseph Umunakwe, General Manager, HMD Global, West, East and Central Africa, with optimism said that “We are delighted to bring the Nokia 3310 phone to our consumers in Nigeria. Nokia has been one of the most iconic and recognisable phone brands in our country for decades.

“HMD has received an incredible reception from our partners so far; it seems everyone shares our excitement for this next chapter. Our consumers are more discerning and demanding than ever before and for us they will always come first.

“We’ve worked really hard with our teams around the world to bring together world class manufacturers, operating systems and technology partners, enabling us to proudly start sales of our the Nokia 3310, a classic reimagined.”

Available in Nigeria last month, the device comes in four distinctive colours – Warm Red and Yellow, both with a gloss finish, and Dark Blue and Grey, both with a matte finish and will retail at an estimated retail price of NGN 18,000.00.

Technical Specifications:

With system dual band 900/1800 MHz, the device comes with dual SIM variants of micro SIM also with software platform of Nokia Series 30+

With FM radio playback up to 39.0 hours, the new device also has MP3 playback up to 51.0 hours

Although the standby and talk times are based on single SIM variant, the device has standby time of up to 31.0 days with talk time of up

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First robotic cop joins Dubai police

After bringing in Lamborghinis and Ferraris to patrol roads, Dubai police have enrolled a robotic officer, the first in a unit that aims to make up a quarter of the force by 2030.

People take a picture with the world’s first operational police robot after firing a military cannon which marks sunset and the end of the fasting day for Muslims observing Ramadan, in Downtown Dubai on May 31, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / GIUSEPPE CACACE

The robotic cop stood to attention Wednesday night at the foot of Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, as tourists and passersby snapped selfie souvenir photos by its side.
Wearing a police cap and moving on wheels, the robot features a computer touch-screen on its chest that can be used to report a crime or inquire about speeding tickets.

“Our aim is to raise the number of robots to 25 percent of the police force by 2030,” said Brigadier Khaled al-Razzooqi, head of Smart Services at Dubai police.

The robot, to be deployed mainly at tourist spots, is equipped with a camera that transmits live images to the operations room and it can identify suspects wanted by police.

The main purpose is to “find a new way to deal with people”, said Razzooqi, while acknowledging that robots could not replace humans on tasks such as making arrests.

Police in Dubai, a growing tourism hub which attracted nearly 15 million visitors last year, have previously attracted media attention by parading expensive luxury cars as patrol vehicles.

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Opera to invest $100m in Africa’s digital economy, $30m in Nigeria

THE developer of popular mobile browser, Opera, has made public its plan to invest $100 million, the equivalent of N30 billion, over the next two years to facilitate the growth of Africa’s digital economy.

Opera Mini
The company, which aims to speed up internet adoption in Africa and strengthen the internet ecosystem with local partners, made this known at a press briefing in Lagos, yesterday, where it also declared readiness to set up shop in Lagos in the next three weeks, increase awareness of an affordable internet experience and spend between 30 to 40 billion on infrastructure in Nigeria.

Speaking on the company’s goal, Richard Monday, Vice President Africa, Opera Software said; “Africa is a very important market for Opera. Nine of the top 20 Opera Mini user countries are from Africa, as such we aim to invest heavily in Africa, build a local platform and grow with the local business partners. This platform will expand the user base for content providers, e-commerce businesses, operators, OEM’s and others to strengthen Africa’s internet ecosystem.

“We are working on providing infrastructure, improving data affordability via data compression, speedy content delivery, as well as value added services like e-commerce, to mention a few. Our key point is compressing data so it works on pretty much any phone. As it stands, 35 million people still need to be reached.”

On value added services, Song Lin, Chief Operating Officer, Opera Software, disclosed; “Opera is seeking local partners to integrate value-added services, mobile payment and data bundling into its browser product. This will grant consumers access to quality content and services, giving them the ability to transact easily on their mobile devices. The range of services to be added over the next 12 months will create a content and services hub that will provide African users with a truly unique experience.”

Speaking on the browser’s latest Artificial Intelligence, AI, system, Monday continued; “Opera is developing a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence engine for smartphone users that will ensure content discovery is at the heart of the browser. Opera users in Africa will get fully personalised and localised content delivered to their browser, the entry point for their internet experience, while data usage can be reduced as much as 90 percent. Opera is now working with over 47 top tier African publishers covering 107 web sites on this initiative.”

Opera Mini browser has been a key facilitator in bringing more than half of Africa’s internet population online by featuring tools for lowering data costs. Recently, the company celebrated  100 million monthly users in Africa  and is now focusing on making the next generation of web browsers to cater the needs of African internet users.

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EU fines Facebook 110 mn euros over ‘misleading’ info in WhatsApp takeover

The European Commission on Thursday fined US social media giant Facebook 110 million euros ($120 million) for providing incorrect and misleading information on its takeover of WhatsApp, imposing its biggest penalty linked to a merger.

“Today’s decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all aspects of EU merger rules, including the obligation to provide correct information,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

“The Commission must be able to take decisions about mergers’ effects on competition in full knowledge of accurate facts,” Vestager said.

Facebook said in response that it cooperated with the Commission.

“We’ve acted in good faith since our very first interactions with the Commission and we’ve sought to provide accurate information at every turn,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

“The errors we made in our 2014 filings were not intentional and the Commission has confirmed that they did not impact the outcome of the merger review. Today’s announcement brings this matter to a close.”

EU regulators cleared the then $19 billion Facebook acquisition of WhatsApp in late 2014, finding no reason to believe it would dampen competition in the burgeoning social media sector.

In its statement Thursday, the Commission recalled that the merger rules require companies to provide regulators with the accurate information essential to any review.

It noted that when Facebook notified the Commission of the acquisition in 2014, the company had said it would “be unable to establish reliable automated matching between Facebook users’ accounts and WhatsApp users’ accounts”.

“However, in August 2016, WhatsApp announced updates to its terms of service and privacy policy, including the possibility of linking WhatsApp users’ phone numbers with Facebook users’ identities,” it said.

After launching a probe last year, the Commission “found that, contrary to Facebook’s statements in the 2014 merger review process, the technical possibility of automatically matching Facebook and WhatsApp users’ identities already existed in 2014, and that Facebook staff were aware of such a possibility.”

The Commission said Thursday’s decision and the fine would have no impact on its October 2014 clearance of the deal.

Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said the fine was less than it would have been because Facebook cooperated.

Cardoso added it was nonetheless the “highest fine ever” imposed by the commission for breaches linked to a merger and would serve as a deterrent to others.

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How Nigeria can make quick return from space technology — Expert

Abuja – The Director, Centre for Satellite Technology Development, Dr Spencer Onuh, says Nigeria requires more communication satellites for it to make quick returns on its investments in space technology.

Onuh said in an interview in Abuja on Friday that the returns on investment in communication satellites usually takes up to 15 years.

He explained that a satellite is an artificial body placed in orbit round the earth or another planet in order to collect information and enables easy access for communication.

“The satellite has the capacity to generate income on a short term basis but not all the satellites.

“It takes three to five years to develop earth observation satellites, but to get quick returns of money from satellites, we need more communication satellites.

“All you need to do is your initial investment, the return on investment is very quick and it takes a shorter period to develop.

“You can still be reaping the income in 15 years time; we need more communication satellites for the interest of the country,”Onuh said.

The director also said that space technology in the country required entrepreneurs to promote products in the industry.

He added that space programmes had the enormous potential to create employment.

“Space is not just about satellites, satellites are the pay load that delivers space products.

“With the kind of economy we operate, we need to develop space entrepreneurship which is lacking till date.

“I am in research development agency where I have my limitations in mass production.

“In design and manufacturing, I need customers and manufacturers that can boost my own production where I’m lacking the facilities.

“It is not my business to do the marketing, it is for the entrepreneurs; I develop the products and I have the spin off.

“The images that innovators capture are enormous, a lot of people need them out there, but there is a gap between the producers and the market.

“When there are space entrepreneurs, they will market space products.

“The company marketing space products will employ one person and so on; space programme have enormous potential to create employment and reduce unemployment drastically,” he said.

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Facebook helped advertisers target teens who feel “worthless

Facebook's secretive advertising practices became a little more public on Monday thanks to a leak out of the company's Australian office. This 23-page document, discovered by The Australian, details in particular how Facebook executives promote advertising campaigns that exploit Facebook users' emotional states—and how these are aimed at users as young as 14 years old.

According to the report, the selling point of this 2017 document is that Facebook's algorithms can determine, and allow advertisers to pinpoint, "moments when young people need a confidence boost." If that phrase isn't clear enough, Facebook's document offers a litany of teen emotional states that the company claims it can estimate based on how teens use the service, including "worthless," "insecure," "defeated," "anxious," "silly," "useless," "stupid," "overwhelmed," "stressed," and "a failure."

The Australian says that the documents also reveal a particular interest in helping advertisers target moments in which young users are interested in "looking good and body confidence” or “working out and losing weight." Another section describes how image-recognition tools are used on both Facebook and Instagram (a wholly owned Facebook subsidiary) to reveal to advertisers "how people visually represent moments such as meal times." And it goes into great detail about how younger Facebook users express themselves: according to Facebook Australia, earlier in the week, teens post more about "anticipatory emotions" and "building confidence," while weekend teen posts contain more "reflective emotions" and "achievement broadcasting."

This document makes clear to advertisers that this data is specific to Australia and New Zealand—and that its eyes are on 6.4 million students and "young [people] in the workforce" in those regions. When reached for comment by The Australian, a representative for Facebook Australia issued a formal and lengthy apology, saying in part, "We have opened an investigation to understand the process failure and improve our oversight. We will undertake disciplinary and other processes as appropriate."

Facebook Australia did not answer The Australian's questions about whether these youth-targeted advertising practices were the same or similar to those at other international Facebook offices. (The document's scope is actually more compliant with US FTC regulations, which apply to users 13 and younger, than with Australian ones, which apply to users 14 and younger.)

The Australian's report does not include screen shots of the document, nor does it describe sample advertising campaigns that would take advantage of this data. Two Facebook Australia executives, Andy Sinn and David Fernandez, are named as the document's authors.

Facebook's ability to predict and possibly exploit users' personal data probably isn't news to anybody who has followed the company over the past decade, but this leak may be the first tacit admission by any Facebook organization that younger users' data is sorted and exploited in a unique way. This news follows stories about Facebook analyzing and even outright manipulating users' emotional states, along with reports and complaints about the platform guessing users' "ethnic affinity," disclosing too much personal data, and possibly permitting illegal discrimination in housing and financial ads.

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Samsung Galaxy S8 ‘Best-Ever’ US Pre-Orders 30 Percent Higher Than Galaxy S7, Says Company

HIGHLIGHTS
Samsung Galaxy S8 pre-orders 'best ever'
After Note 7 fiasco this will be a sigh of relief for Samsung
Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ up for pre-orders in India right now
Samsung launched its Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ smartphones in March, and rammed them with a lot of features to get customers excited. Now, a fresh statement from Samsung claims that the US pre-orders for the Galaxy S8 have been the ‘best ever’.

The statement was sent out to media outlets, and it states the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ attracted 30 percent more pre-orders than last year's Galaxy S7. After the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, these numbers will be a huge sigh of relief for the company, as it indicates the customers’ goodwill for the brand and its products is intact. Galaxy S8 pre-orders in South Korea alone reached the one million mark soon after launch.

“We are delighted to see the response to the Galaxy S8 and S8+,” Samsung Electronics America president Tim Baxter said in the statement. “The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are a result of that recommitment and the market has responded — with a more than 30 percent year-over-year growth in pre-orders versus the record pre-orders we had with Galaxy S7, making it our best ever. The response is humbling, energising and points to a great launch week. We aim to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the name of a better, smarter, more exciting experience for our consumers.”

Early adopters have reported a red tinge on their display that does not go even after tweaks in settings, and Samsung has confirmed that a software fix is on the way for the problem. Samsung has launched the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in India at price of Rs. 57,900 and Rs. 64,900 respectively. Those who pre-book the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ will get a wireless charging accessory worth Rs. 4,499 free with their handset. Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ pre-bookings are now open and the smartphones will be available from May 5.

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An Instagram bug has been preventing users from disabling their accounts for months

A number of Instagram users have found they’re no longer able to temporarily disable their accounts – a feature, similar to Facebook’s, that allows you to take a break from the social network for a period of time, but stops short of a full account deletion. The bug has been spotted in the wild since at least February, and is the subject of a number of complaints across social media, including Reddit, Quora, and Twitter since that time.

As Instagram’s own Help documentation explains, the account disabling feature will temporarily hide your profile, photos, comments and likes until you choose to reactivate your account by logging back in. The option to disable is only available when you log in via a mobile browser or computer – it’s not a setting you can reach through Instagram’s native mobile app, to be clear.

Many people use features like this when taking short social media breaks, as a disabled account can help you avoid the temptation of launching the app or wasting time browsing the feed.

In some cases, it’s a first step for those considering a full account deletion – an experiment to see if it’s worth giving up the app entirely. People also disable their accounts when they need to focus on something important – like a big project at work or exams at school, for example. Plus, the feature can aid when there are privacy concerns of some kind, such as when someone is a victim of cyberbullying or cyberstalking and needs to get off the service for a while.

There are a number of other personal reasons why people take breaks, too.

In Instagram’s case, you’re able to disable your account once a week, but the problems being reported are not from people who are trying to switch off their account more often than that – the feature just isn’t working at all, they’re saying.

In addition, according to many complaints, Instagram’s feature has been broken for some time and they’re not able to get any help through technical support channels.

After attempting to click the feature from their “Edit Profile” section, users say they’re directed to their feed on Instagram’s homepage, but their account remained active. People said they’ve tried this in different web browser, as well, to see if it was a bug associated with just one platform. However, the problem remained.

  

Users said that Instagram’s support email wasn’t working and they were told to report the problem in the app through an email auto-responder. But flagging bugs in the app is only a one-way street – you’re not sent any response or offered help. Others tried reaching out to Instagram through social media channels like Facebook messages and tweets, but the company hadn’t responded those complaints, either.

This speaks to a broader problem with Instagram support – users are struggling to get help when their accounts are hacked, spammed, or shut down for violations. (Just read the barrage of comments on its Facebook page, for instance.) And Instagram’s Help Center is not much help on these matters, either.

For instance, a link on its homepage that you can click to “learn more” about what to do when you’re experiencing an issue just goes to a dead page – a “5xx Server Error” page is all that displays when clicked.

We reached out to Instagram this morning for a comment on the bug, and to find out if there is a plan to address the problem.

Following our initial inquiry, clicking the option to disable your account now takes you to a broken web page. “Sorry, something went wrong,” the page now reads. “We’re working on it and we’ll get it fixed as soon as we can,” it says.

It’s unclear if this is related to the stability issues that briefly took the site an app down worldwide earlier today.

Hopefully, that means engineers are working on a fix. But Instagram doesn’t have a comment on the situation at this time. A rep for the company said Instagram is looking into the problem, and will let us know when more information becomes available.

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