ICT 20
Daily Times Nigeria Monday, May 18, 2015
APP TO WATCH
Bleep says it but doesn’t memorise it for you
Bleep is a fun and easy instant messaging app that is completely private. No social networks. With Bleep, you can chat via text, make free voice calls, or whisper. By whisper, means chat history can be convenient, but some conversations should never be saved. Sending a whisper to a friend means your messages disappear after they are read. Whisper it, read it, and move on. And, you don’t need an account with Bleep. Simply download the app, invite your friends and start chatting. This is still like a normal chat, but as soon as a message is seen, it’s blurred out on your screen. Need to send some embarrassing
titbit of info but don’t like it having a long digital memory, then just send as a whisper. Pretty convenient if you’ve got a lot of secrets to keep. However, as very cool and nice an application it has been adjudged to be, some users have issues with interacting with it. Some have also suggested that it could be nice to have group in the future and that is still a bit complicated to use and didn’t find how to sync with bleep windows. The general consensus among users is that some improvement is needed for it to displace other chat apps, which apparently it has the potential to do.
MTN Business unveils Pan African Internet of Things platform
Lagos moves to boost service delivery via new technologies Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state has said the state would continue to adopt innovative technology to drive development and boost service delivery. He gave the assurance while inaugurating a new building of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Alausa secretariat, Ikeja, noting that government could not, but deploy novel technologies to solve problems considering the state’s population. According to him, the new building, equipped with all facilities was in furtherance of efforts to strengthen e-governance and do things more efficiently. According to him, “This building is completed and ready for work but I think why we are here really is to reinforce the commitment which really lies at the heart of this. We cannot do things in the way that it used to be done before. We have to automate to be more efficient and bring about more development.” He explained that the need to adopt new technology compelled the government to embark on the Citizens Relationship Manage-
ment, (CRM), an online platform which allows residents to access government services and lodge complaints was another step to use technology to provide service. Fashola said with the activation of the platform, residents did not need to travel distances to be responded to as all they needed was to click on the appropriate icons on the platform to get response to their needs. The governor explained further that the platform enabled users to monitor and tracked their demands and complaints to see the stages of response work progress. He said the new Science and Technology building would enable government to reinforce all its automation and technology processes into just one part of the state secretariat. Earlier in his speech, Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Adebiyi Mabadeje, said the new building had all the facilities and features required and was built on a landsite of about 3,600sq metres.
Stories by Tony Nwakaegho MTN Business has unveiled the first truly Pan African Internet of Things (IoT) platform, providing African enterprises with greater control and advanced management features for their connected devices and sim cards. The launch also sees the introduction of a global Machine-toMachine (M2M) sim card, which gives customers the same rate for M2M activity across MTN’s footprint in Africa. The new IoT platform is now live in South Africa, with other MTN operating countries set to follow over the next 12 months. The platform removes significant cost and accessibility barriers, ultimately enabling development on a broader scale, leading to the establishment of a vast ecosystem of scalable solutions addressing real-world needs. MTN’s platform is the next evolutionary step in connecting and managing machines. The platform and its associated dedicated network enables MTN to connect an otherwise fragmented population of devices and systems. The open platform enables networked devices to exchange information and perform actions, responding intelligently to their environments without human intervention. “To ensure a seamless customer experience for our customers,
MultiChoice slashes HD decoder rates for Kenya by 48%
Nyati
wherever MTN has presence, the IoT platform has a dedicated network, separate from the consumer network, for operational and business systems support. As a result, the platform is dedicated to managing all MTN’s machine-to-machine functions,” Mteto Nyati, MTN Group Chief Enterprise Officer said. The number of global IoT connections is expected to reach 360
million by 2018. According to Nyati. “In South Africa, the wholesale Machine2-Machine (M2M) market – one aspect of IoT – is already worth an estimated R350 million and expected to grow to R1.2 billion by 2017. This means there are significant business opportunities for aspiring developers in South Africa and the rest of the continent.”
Kenya’s leading high definition television operator MultiChoice Kenya has announced a price reduction of its DStv HD decoder by some 48 per cent, from KES 4,800 to KES 2,499. The rate reduction of the decoder which is to be sold with a one-month DStv Access subscription should enable more Kenyans to think about purchasing the high quality HD decoder in order to improve on their quality of television viewing. According to MultiChoice Kenya general manager Walingo Chiruyi, “DStv Access offers 50 channels of general entertainment, movies, documentaries, news, children’s programming, music, religion and sport. This is a once-in-a-lifetime offer.”
Chiruyi
The DStv Access package also offers premium channels such as Zee World, Mindset Learn, Channel ED, BBC World, SuperSport Select, Disney Junior, Al Jazeera, National Geographic Wild, Fashion TV, Africa Magic, and the free-to-air local channels. The decoder is popular among expatriates and others who want to have a broader selection of international programming. Television service has seen solid reduction in prices in Kenya as regulators intervened in recent years to ensure competition remained strong. Daily Times recalls that MultiChoice recently increased the tariff of subscribers in Nigeria which became a subject of litigation.