Now, innovators get platform to meet investors

By Jacob Ajom The centrality of the internet in modern business has been made more relevant with the introduction of mypeopleconnect.com, an application designed to serve as a meeting point between idea owners, innovators and investors.

Launched recently at the Innovation Centre, Lekki, owners of the platform, PisonVision Global Solution Ltd., said mypeopleconnect.com will provide answers to the question of finding financiers and investors for innovations. “We noticed that there are youths who want to take their destinies in their hands.

 There are also many people looking for where to invest their money. With this application we have bridged the gap between them,” said Akinsoji Bello of Cyberfix, the web designers hired to design the  app. Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer, PisonVision Global Solution Ltd, Femi Okikiola said, “It is a simple app open to both idea owners and investors. Mypeopleconnect.co provides a broad platform where idea owners and financiers meet, no matter where they are in the world. Once the idea is marketable both parties can network.” Okikiola was happy to note that some invetors had identified with the platform, thus;

Another look at Galaxy Note 8 after Note 7’s misfortune

By Prince Osuagwu The failure of Galaxy Note 7 last year may have come with a huge loss to the mobile phone manufacturer, Samsung Electronics. Perhaps, in that disappointment, the device maker has found the opportunity to do bigger  things.

It came out with Galaxy note 8 which appears bigger and is said to have capabilities that double that of Note 7. At its launch recently, Hi-Tech confronted the device makers on the failure of its last outing and the guarantee that a repeat is avoided in the obviously bigger framed Note 8. The answer was that the misfortune has given it a bigger opportunity to rule the smartphone world.

Uber For Her: There could be 1m women Uber drivers in 2020

….as NIGERIAN female drivers set to cut the pie By Prince Osuagwu, Hi Tech Editor & Omolola Shobowale

The next time you call an Uber ride, don’t be surprised to see a woman at the wheel. This is because many NIGERIAN female drivers are showing signs of wresting the wheels from their male counterparts in the transportation business.

Eight 2018 trends that’ll impact business, tech & design – Accenture

Analyzing the pressing forces acting internally and externally on organizations and society, Accenture has released Fjord Trends 2018. Its 11th annual report examines seven emergent trends expected to impact business, technology and design in the year ahead.

Rapid technological advancements are altering the world we live in today, provoking both wonder and angst about the possibilities. Whether it’s artificial intelligence, computer vision or blockchain, emerging technologies are uprooting the digital and physical experiences of our everyday lives. These joint forces are simultaneously creating optimism and concern about the unprecedented wave of change that is unfolding.

Artificial intelligence finds solar system with 8 planets like ours

A solar system with as many planets as our own has been discovered with the help of NASA’s Kepler space telescope and artificial intelligence, the US space agency said Thursday.

“Our solar system now is tied for most number of planets around a single star,” NASA said in a statement.

10,000 Google staff set to police YouTube content

Google is to deploy a staff of 10,000 to hunt down extremist content on its YouTube platform following recent criticism, the video-sharing site’s chief executive told Britain’s Daily Telegraph Tuesday.

Susan Wojcicki admitted in the broadsheet that “bad actors” had used the website to “mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May has put pressure on internet giants to root out online radical material following a spate of terror attacks, while YouTube last week pulled 150,000 videos of children after lewd comments about them were posted by viewers.

NIGERIA: The national reconstruction plan to survive in IoT world (4)

By Chris Uwaje

Director General of Delta State Innovation Hub and former President Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, ISPON, Mr. Chris Uwaje was a guest lecturer at the sixth annual dinner/fund raising party of the Government College, Ughelli Old Boys Association, GCUOBA, recently.

The Oracle as he is generally known in the Information and Communications, ICT circles, delivered a lecture on “The critical role of ICT and Innovation in education-imperative for schools.”

Although the lecture focused on how to equip our schools to produce knowledgeable and skilled students who would be 21st century compliant in all ramifications, a cursory look at the paper will expose a deliberate attempt to tip the country off on what is to come with the menacing world of Internet of Things, IoT and most probably, how to live in such a world without playing catch up to the e-ready economies.

Yuletide: MultiChoice extends call center service hours

By Prince Osuagwu

Pay TV operators, MultiChoice Nigeria, yesterday, announced extension of its call centre operation by three hours, beginning from yesterday, till the last day of December.

The company said it was to shape its business, in anticipation of customer needs in the yuletide. The company’s call centre usually operate from 8am to 9pm, Monday to Sundays but has now been extended to operate from 8 am to 12 am till the xmas period is over, December 31, 2017.

NITDA moves to halt N60b loss on data hosting

By Emmanuel Elebeke

National Informa- tion Technology Development Agency, NITDA, has said its priority would be to cut down, to barest minimum, the over N60 billion the country loses in hosting data in foreign databases.

The Director General of the agency Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, said the  agency,  has made progress in the adoption and utilization of Information and Communications Technology,  ICT, in both the public and private sectors of the economy, which should make local hosting of data and information inevitable.

He condemned what he referred to as the current practices of both public and private sector organizations hosting data offshore, despite having highly reliable Tier III Data Centers, certified by various international organizations.

Start-up ecosystem: How young Nigerian innovators lead new tech world

By Prince Osuagwu

When Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, visited Nigeria, last year, one of the challenges he threw at local application developers was to look inwards for applications that would solve the country’s economic problem.

Zuckerberg said the challenge is based on the immense talent and energy Nigerian youth exuded in different innovation camps he visited. He charged developers to arm themselves with the realisation that the best way to predict the future is to be creative, as there is no problem in the world that does not have an application to solve it.

One year after his visit, it appears the challenge is still fresh in the minds of Nigerian app developers and is spurring them to greater heights. From Co Creation, CcHub, to Andela, Hotels.ng and a host of others, there are several success stories. These successful start-ups are thriving against the odds of weak infrastructure, epileptic power supply and general lack of funding or investment. In the face of these odds a lot of new start-ups have also latched on this challenge to do exploit. Some of them are flying Africa’s flag high in the world based on new ideas and presence in the new technology world order. They are largely part of the estimated 700 active startups tech ecosystem located in Lagos city alone that are bursting with energy and dynamism. They account the local startup ecosystem valued at well over $2 billion (N614bn) So, it was not any surprise that three Nigerian tech start-ups made the final list of 16 people selected from across Africa for the 2018 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. The shortlist which was announced in Cape Town, South Africa recognises the most talented African engineers from across sub-Saharan Africa, including innovators working to make malaria and reproductive health tests easier, using dolphin-inspired echo-location for visually impaired people, and recovering precious metals from car parts for re-use in manufacturing. 

The Nigerian wonder kids include: Ifediora Ugochukwu who developed an app called Intelligent meter, iMeter. The iMeter, an advanced metering infrastructure, gives consumers and power utilities control over how electricity usage The smart meter measures energy usage and connects to cell phones or computers that have the AMI software on them. Another Nigerian youth engineer, who made the list, is Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu who developed ColdHubs -a solar powered walk-in cold room that extend the shelf-life of perishable foods from two to 21 days. The other, is Emeka Nwachinemere who developed Kitovu; an online platform that helps rural and remote small holder farmers triple their crop yields and sell their produce. The three Nigerians and their 14 other counterparts across Africa would be challenged to develop skills that last a lifetime. They will become part of a growing community of talented African engineers working to accelerate socio-economic development through business.