Facebook aims to change AR/VR experience with full-body immersion

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January 26, 2018

Facebook is one of the big brands that are crazy about the AR and VR technology too, and they have not made a secret of it.

The social media giant has always made it known that they will engage in extensive research to make sure the technology is better optimised for entertainment and communication purposes. In line with that, we have news from the blue-themed company.

New research in the AR and VR field by the dedicated department at Facebook suggests that they might be looking to change the way in which people experience digital reality. Instead of making gadgets that will modify the face and head part of the body alone, they might be looking to rate a fully-immersive situation.

In a blog post released by the AI Camera Team at Facebook, some work which aims to replace the full body of the user in the alternate reality world is being promoted. An excerpt from the blog post reads

We recently developed a new technology that can accurately detect body poses and segment a person from their background. Our model is still in research phase at the moment, but it is only a few megabytes, and can run on smartphones in real time.

Of course, this is not the first research that will be used to track full body movements. Many gaming software development companies (such as PES and FIFA) have been known to use skeletal tracking systems on some players to recreate the true effect and physics of the human body in the game.

However, it should be lauded that Facebook is tending towards making sure this is a technology that will be available even on mobile.

Of course, it would be hard to compress all of the sensor data, image resolution, frames per second and image rendering into a few megabytes that will be functional without lagging into a mobile phone. With Facebook though, we can be sure to get it. All we should worry about is when.

Swift Networks Launches SmartBusiness Kit, Customized ICT Solutions for SMEs

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passyjango

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November 13, 2017

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LAGOS, November 1, 2017. SWIFT NETWORKS LIMITED, Nigeria’s leading broadband services provider has launched a suite of Information and Communications Technology products customized to support Nigerian SMEs. These bundled solutions will reduce cost and give small businesses better control of their operations to drive efficiencies and growth.

To operate under the sub-brand of SWIFT SMARTBusiness Kit, these all-in-one service bundles will consist of all the office and home connectivity, hosting and bespoke business software solutions available to small businesses in the market today.

“SWIFT SMARTBusiness Kit continues in SWIFT’s tradition of demystifying and simplifying technology to help unlock Nigeria’s abundant potentials so that people can achieve more in their daily undertakings,”

enthused Mr. Charles Anudu, Managing Director of SWIFT.

“SWIFT SMARTBusiness Kit is user friendly and will resolve the problem of small businesses dealing with multiple vendors who often present them with conflicting solutions that are not future-proof. With our solution, SMEs will obtain all their ICT solutions from a single trusted service provider with the industry’s best of customer care team on one monthly bill,”

according to Mr. Chukwuma Okoye, the Chief Operating Officer of SWIFT.

“And because we are sure that our target- small businesses- will like this solution, SWIFT SMARTBusiness kit will come with a 30-day money back guarantee with no questions asked if the customer is not satisfied with the solution.”

He further added that

“for the early birds, we shall throw in a free home internet access for the business for as long as the subscription is current.”

A sample SWIFT Business Kit solution will consist of office (and free home) internet, web and e-mail hosting, attractive business and international travel voice call rates, à la carte business software modules for sales, accounting, customer relationship management, inventory management and human resource management. A customer can start with a basic plan and either add or drop modules as the business evolves. This is because our solutions basket are well aligned and future-proof.

SWIFT SMARTBusiness Kit is specially targeted at businesses in the professional services, eCommerce, traditional retail, educational, healthcare, hospitality and cottage industries. The services will be distributed directly through SWIFT’s customer centres as well as those of its online and off-line channel partners. It will also be supported by a professional field sales team from SWIFT.

You may also be interested in the Best Web Hosting for Small Business.

Innovative business directory in Nigeria lets users find companies by a chatbot

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passyjango

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November 11, 2017

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London, 9^th of October 2017.

For the past 12 months, a team of developers and business executives have been working on an innovative, game changing business social networking tool in Nigeria.

AfricaLinked.com is a business directory of products, companies and people with over 50,000 registered members. The site is free to use and focuses on helping business people across Nigeria to instantly discover potential business partners by searching the database.

The Founder and CEO, Bertrams Lukstins:

“We have taken a very simple concept of business directory but really added our innovation on top of it. No other directory lets users find companies the way we do and see detailed due-diligence information about the companies”

The site lets people find companies based on a sector, sub-sector as well as a business goal, such as companies looking for distributing partners. Searchers can then see the company’s registration number, it’s employees’ names and much more. A simple but effective solution to help Nigerian business people succeed by utilizing technology.

Apart from companies, the site lets users also submit and search for products.

Bertrams:

“Our mission is to connect millions of African business people on AfricaLinked. We’re in the very early days in our quest and still looking to improve the user-experience to develop a truly revolutionary business platform. Our ultimate-goal is to be a point-of-contact directory, a place to find whatever one’s business requires.”

One of the great outside of the box functions of AfricaLinked.com is a chatbot advisor – a program that lets people speak to an artificially intelligent bot. A first of its kind in Nigeria, the chatbot acts as an assistant to help understand and navigate the site.

Bertrams Lukstins: “All of us at AfricaLinked.com are very excited about chatbots and the way they will influence interactions with web-platforms. We believe chatbots will find mind-blowing use-cases across the globe, especially in Africa.

African tech users like to be guided, to know what is it all about and how it can benefit them. Chat bots provide just that. We’re very happy to be the first to introduce this in Nigeria. It’s an unique application of a chatbot and it’s free to use, everything is free to use on AfricaLinked! We invite every Nigerian to check out the chatbot and AfricaLinked.”

The chat bot is found under an “advisor” section on the site: https://www.africalinked.com/advisor

Google brings Launchpad Accelerator to Africa

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passyjango

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November 9, 2017

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Nigeria, 9th November — Google has announced a major new development, which will provide a major boost to African entrepreneurs.

In line with the commitment Google CEO Sundar Pichai made to support African entrepreneurs earlier this year, the company is announcing the Google Developers Launchpad Africa, a new hands-on comprehensive mentorship program tailored exclusively to startups based in Africa.

Building on the success of Google’s global Launchpad Accelerator programme, this initiative will operate from a new Google Launchpad Space in Lagos (the first onsite location for the programme outside the US).

It will provide African startups with over $3-million in equity-free support, working space, and access to expert advisers from Google, Silicon Valley, and Africa over the next three years. Participants will also receive travel and Public Relations support during the three-month programme.

The first application period is now open through December 11, 6pm (GMT) and the first class will start in early 2018. More classes will be hosted in 2018 and beyond.

All startups must:

Be a technology startup.
Be based in Sub-Saharan Africa and target the African market.
Have already raised seed funding

Google will additionally consider:

The problem you are trying to solve. How does it create value for users? How are you addressing a real challenge for your home city, country or Africa broadly?
Will you share what you learn in Silicon Valley for the benefit of other startups in your local ecosystem?

“Anyone who spends time in the African technology space knows that the continent is home to some exciting innovations,”

says Andy Volk, Sub-Saharan Africa Ecosystem Regional Manager.

“Over the years, Google has worked with some incredible startups across Africa, tackling everything from healthcare, education, streamlining e-commerce to improving the food supply chain. We very much look forward to welcoming the first cohort of innovators for Launchpad Africa and continue to work together to drive innovation in the African market.”

Global Biopesticides Market was Estimated at USD 2,507 million in 2016

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passyjango

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November 7, 2017

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GMI Research Global Biopesticides Market

GMI Research has recently published a new report titled on “Biopesticides Market by Type (Bioinsecticides, Biofungicides, Bioherbicides, and Bionematicides and Others), Mode of Application (Dry Formulation and Wet Formulation), End-Use (Fruits and Vegetables, Cereals and Row Crops, Seed Treatment and Non-Crops) and Geography – Global Forecast to 2021”. The global market of biopesticides is estimated to be valued at USD 2,507 million in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 4,509 million by the end of 2021, registering a CAGR of 12.46% during the forecast period. Favorable government policies and regulations, increased global demand for organic products and the rise in the adoption of organic farming methods are the key factors bolstering the growth of the biopesticides market.

Bioinsecticides captures the largest market share of the total biopesticides market owing to increase in incidence of pest attacks on fruits and vegetables and crops, as these types of pests have developed resistance to pesticides. The bioinsecticides segment is estimated to continue the same momentum and will capture the largest share of biopesticides market in 2021 due to increasing focus towards the prevention of insect-borne diseases and the increase in demand for organic food products.

Dry formulation amounts to approximately 68% of the total biopesticides market because most of the biopesticides are preferred in dry form as they are easy to handle, enable quick application, and are convenient to use. On the other hand, liquid biopesticides are to be sprayed using a compressed air sprayer, fogger, aircraft or soil injector.

The fruits and vegetable segment is expected to grow at a substantial rate during the forecast period. Growing consumer demand for fruits and vegetables and the increasing concern for human health are driving the fruits and vegetables segment.

North America is estimated to capture a substantial share of the biopesticides market in 2016 followed by Europe and Asia Pacific respectively. The increased awareness of biopesticides usage coupled with favorable government policies and regulations are the major factors propelling the growth of the North America biopesticides market. In 2016, US holds the largest market for biopesticides in North America as it has the highest spending on organic agriculture. Extensive research and development coupled with significant investments by leading manufacturers has further spurred the growth of the biopesticides market in the region.

This report also analyzes the competitive landscape and the major player and their market share in 2016. The competitive landscape section of the report also captures and highlights the recent development in the market. The report also profiles the major players active in this field, Key players profiled in this report are Bayer CropScience (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Monsanto Company (U.S.), Certis USA LLC (U.S.), Koppert Biological Systems (Netherlands), Valent Biosciences (U.S.), Syngeta (Switzerland), Dupont (U.S.), Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Novozymes (Denmark).

For more details, browse the Table of Contents: https://www.gmiresearch.com/report/global-biopesticides-market.html

World’s Largest Prefabricated Building Manufacturer, to solve Housing Deficit Challenge in Nigeria

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passyjango

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September 15, 2017

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Karmod Nigeria, a subsidiary of world’s no. 1 prefabricated housing solution provider, Karmod, has launched a campaign to solve the housing deficit challenge in Nigeria.

This campaign involves making prefabricated housing a viable alternative to the brick houses which Nigerians are already used to.

According the the General Manager of the company, Mr. Fehim Ozkanca, this move is necessary at this time that Nigeria is just getting out of recession because prefab houses are cheaper to construct, take less time and are more eco-friendly when compared to brick houses.

The company, Karmod, over the last 5 years has built 100’s of school classroom buildings (see photos) and mass camp houses for internally displaced persons in war ravaged North east Nigeria. It has also built over 114 of police transit camp structures (see photos) in over 7 states for the Nigerian Police Force as well as military camps in several states North east Nigeria. In addition to these laudable projects, Karmod has carried out residential housing projects with steel construction in other countries in Sub Saharan Africa.

Thousands of families live happily in houses that are built by Karmod in many states such as Lagos, Abuja, Borno, Anambra etc.

The company which entered into the Nigerian housing market in 2012 has also handled rapid production and installation of emergency units for important partners such state and federal governments in Nigeria, United Nations, UNICEF as well as a large number of local and international relief organizations operating in the country using its new generation container production technology.

Karmod Nigeria relies on the advanced technological Know-how of its parent company in Europe to produce long-lasting habitats that can safely be used in every corner of the country and under any kind of weather condition

iSON Technologies implements Oracle Property Manager Solution

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passyjango

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July 26, 2017

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iSON Technologies implements Oracle Property Manager Solution through its recently acquired GTS Technologies, at Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) Dubai, UAE. The DWTC Oracle Property Manager Implementation project went live on 14th Sep 2016 despite the complexity of implementation, tight timeline.

Mr. Akshay Grover, Chief Growth Officer at iSON Technologies added

“The real estate industry value chain spans across site development cycle, construction life cycle, sales and leasing cycle, facility management cycle”.

GTS, now acquired by iSON Technologies has made Property Management, Maintenance and Leasing simpler with our Oracle Property and CRM solutions. iSON GTS is fully equipped and continues to add value to its client base in the construction and real-estate sector across these four areas.

Through this implementation, DWTC is geared up to have a unified view of the tenant contracts and agreements. The system enables DWTC to intelligently manage their real estate portfolio by streamlining and automating lease administration and space management. The objective of the project was to implement a system to manage the DWTC properties in terms of Customer Relationship Management, Pre-Leasing, Leasing and Property Management and Billing and also eliminate many of the manual processes and automate the tasks and reminders at different milestones. Mr. Asif, Application Director, DWTC comments: In iSON GTS we had an able partner and because of their expertise in Real Estate industry they could bring their value adds to the table which helped us to complete the project in a short timeframe of 5 months.

Talking more about the project, Muhammad, Practice head, Oracle Apps & Technology, iSON GTS comments,

“DWTC being one of the major Oracle customers, is a very prestigious account for us. We approached the project with lot of care since the solution had to cover diverse business areas including Leasing of Retail, Commercial and Residential Properties, House Keeping Contracts, Car Parking (Summer Promotion/Membership), Valet & Parking Agreements, Lease of Advertising Board and Theater Leasing”.

Kalidhas, iSON GTS, Real Estate SME and Project Manager adds

“Real Estate is one of the verticals in which iSON GTS demonstrates its expertise but we still approach each project on its merits. Each project is unique and comes with its own set of challenges. In case of DWTC Project, time line was a constraint and the client expected us to deliver the project in 5 months including the additional customization and we are happy we were able to deliver the same in the defined timeframe.”

Robots will be our Partners rather than our Overlords

By

passyjango

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May 25, 2017

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This week (25 May) at BotCon Africa in Cape Town, South African developers and enterprises will showcase some of the ways they’re putting the newest artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to work. Some of the latest developments are a little scary, especially for those who have grown up with rogue AIs and robots in science-fiction or have read the headlines about how we’ll lose millions of jobs worldwide to automation by 2020.

What does this mean for the average business builder or entrepreneur in South Africa? My view is that they should see bots and advanced AI as an opportunity to be more efficient, and make room for more meaningful work for their human employees. Of course, we’ll all need to upskill and reskill ourselves—as millions of people have needed to do in other technology revolutions throughout history— but the good thing is that AI and robotics can help us become more productive and do more ‘human’ work and less of the mundane stuff.

Humans + AI = a great team for small business

AI and bots could change the way small businesses work as much as mobile phones and the Internet have. But rather than replacing human employees, it will help people working for and managing Small & Medium Businesses to achieve more with their time. Used correctly, humans and AI can achieve more together than either can on its own.

Even though many bots today offer fairly basic functionality and features, the pace of innovation in AI and machine learning is accelerating. Advances in areas such as natural language processing (NLP) and speech recognition enable us to interact with machines in ways that feel more natural to us. Just think, for example, of asking Siri a question using your voice compared to fiddling with the onscreen keyboard of your iPhone.

More time to innovate and make happy customers

Letting a ‘bot’ file your expense claims, seek quotes for a caterer for your product launch or respond to basic online customer chat requests could save human capacity for innovation and customer service. Sage, for example recently announced that the first accounting chat bot Pegg now has over 20,000 users in 110 countries.

This is important for small businesses since our research consistently shows that finding time for innovation and creativity is a huge bugbear for time-strapped business builders around the world. It’s little wonder, then, that our recent research also illustrates that South African entrepreneurs are enthusiastic about AI rather than fearful (Forum for Business Builders – South Africa data).

South African entrepreneurs love technology and have traditionally been eager to embrace tools that help them get more things done every day. The research also shows that 43% of respondents are ready for AI and bots to help them organise their professional life for them. Nearly half (47%) agreed that they would feel comfortable with AI and Bots organising their personal life for them.

Around 61% of respondents chose AI as the most important technology trend for 2017, with only 18% choosing the blockchain. And some 71% said that they would welcome an admin-free world – the sort of world that AI, blockchain and the next wave of disruptive digital technologies will help us to create.

In the final analysis, technology is there to free us from drudge tasks, so that we can focus on the exciting, creative work that humans still do best.

By Anton van Heerden, Managing Director and Executive Vice-President, Africa & Middle East at Sage

Austen-Peters & Co streamlines payroll with Sage Pastel Partner Payroll & HR

By

passyjango

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May 25, 2017

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Sage Business Payroll and Accounting Software

Austen-Peters & Co, one of Nigeria’s leading law firms, has automated its payroll and human resources processes by implementing Sage Pastel Partner Payroll & HR. Softcodes International is the Sage business partner that helped implement the software.

The commercial law firm, based in Lagos, uses Sage’s Evolution ERP software as its financial system. Choosing Sage Pastel Payroll & HR was a natural step forward for the company since the software integrates tightly with Sage Evolution.

Says Akinlabi Mojirade, Head of Accounts at Austen-Peters & Co:

“Automating our payroll has made it faster and easier for us to process our payroll each month, and we have been impressed by how much we can achieve now compared to when we were running payroll off an Excel spreadsheet. Implementation of the product was simple and quick.”

With the new payroll and HR software in place, Austen-Peters & Co can print professional payslips and keep payroll information backed-up and secure in a database. The software supports local legal and tax requirements and saves time by eliminating much of the data capture the team used to need to do in the past.

Oyedeji Qasim, Partner at Softcodes International, says:

“Austen-Peters & Co is the first customer in Nigeria to experience the seamless integration of payroll solution with Sage Evolution. The integration between the accounting and payroll software streamlines administration for our client and ensures that it has more control and visibility over its finances.”

Adds Magnus Nmonwu, Regional Director for Sage in West Africa:

“As a champion for business builders across Africa, Sage aims to help small businesses like Austen-Peters & Co perform at their best. We are making accounting and payroll so easy that it becomes invisible – that means our clients can focus on growing their business rather than on handling red-tape.”

You can learn more about Sage Business and Accounting Software.

MTN Mobile Electricity Price and Subscription Plan

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passyjango

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March 10, 2017

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Save money on your monthly electricity bills with MTN Mobile Electricity and enjoy access to noise-free and fume-free electricity for your everyday use with the Lumos Smart Solar System and conveniently pay with your airtime from an MTN line. Here we share MTN Mobile Electricity Price and Subscription Plan.

MTN Mobile Electricity Price, Subscription Plan & Activation codes

Plan	Price	Activation Code
5 Days	1000 Naira (200 NGN per Day)	SMS 5 to 317
10 Days	1800 Naira (180 NGN per Day)	SMS 10 to 317
30 Days	4500 Naira (150 NGN per Day)	Text 30 to 317
90 Days	12,600 NGN (140 NGN per Day)	SMS 90 to 317
180 Days	₦23,400 (130 NGN per Day)	Text 180 to 317
365 Days	₦46,720 (128 NGN per Day)	SMS 365 to 317

MTN in partnership with Lumos and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) are helping millions of households and businesses across Nigeria save cost on power supply by providing 24/7 solar electricity that is safe, reliable and affordable.

How to Access MTN Mobile Electricity

To access MTN Mobile Electricity, you have to pay a one-time commitment fee of 26,000 Naira. One you pay, you are given the equipment. In the box, you will find the following

80W Solar Panel unit with Cables
300Wh Lumos Solar Home System In-door Unit
USB Mobile Phone Charger
2 x LED Energy Efficient Bulbs
DC to AC converter (60W Inverter)
Easy Self-Installation Mounting Kit

You can then choose any plan that suits your budget. See MTN Mobile Electricity Price section above.

The Lumos Solar Home system is similar to the Azuri Quad launched by the Federal Government and Azuri Tech in January, but is more practical. For difference between the two read this Azuri Quad vs Lumos Smart Solar System.

MTN Mobile Electricity service is available to all MTN subscribers across the country on a lease to own basis and the cost is spread over a 5-year term (1800 paid days). Customers can choose a suitable plan from the plan options (See MTN Mobile Electricity Price section above) and pay for usage in small installments using their MTN mobile phone airtime just the same way they purchase data packages.

Visit any MTN Walk-In centres across the country to connect to uninterrupted and reliable power supply at affordable rate.