Microsoft under Chinese Antitrust Scrutiny

Yesterday, July 28, the Western press, including the Washington Post and South China Morning Post, as well as Chinese online media reported that the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), one of China’s three antitrust regulators, was investigating Microsoft for possible antitrust violations by visiting Microsoft’s offices at Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. The probe includes the way the US technology giant distributes its media player and browser.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) announced last month that it was investigating Microsoft over its Windows operating system — which is used on the vast majority of computers in China — and the Office suite of programmes.

However, analysts also noted that while PC OS has not been a principal focus of attention of China’s antitrust regulators, China has potentially eight domestic competitors to Microsoft in the OS sphere, and that there market share has been growing in part through government procurement efforts. While OS is a basic platform for building computer systems and services, these analysts noted Microsoft’s technological depth in this area has brought it many competitive advantages.

Zhang Mao, head and Communist Party chief of the SAIC, told a news conference in Beijing that Microsoft had failed fully to disclose information about its software.

He added the agency, one of the government bodies which enforces China’s anti-monopoly law, was also looking into “issues” with Microsoft’s media player and browser, according to a transcript posted online.

History also offers little guidance, in part because of Microsoft’s extensive involvement in a range of tech sectors. A Hong Kong based company reportedly accused Microsoft of discriminatory and excessive pricing for its software products in 2012 in a case in Guangdong. .” On a positive note, however, Microsoft’s merger with Nokia was also recently approved by China’s antitrust regulators

Microsoft has previously faced anti-trust investigations in other markets for tying the company’s Windows system to its other products.

The European Commission fined it $731 million in March last year for failing to offer users browser choices beyond its own Internet Explorer.

“Through repeated contact with Microsoft, their top-level executives have shown respect for China’s laws, (and) cooperated with China’s anti-monopoly investigation,” Zhang said.

Microsoft has said it seeks to comply with Chinese law. Its comments came after the official announcement of the investigation, which included raids on its offices in the country.

In May China also banned the use of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system on all new government computers, as reports alleging security concerns circulated.

State media have blasted Microsoft for its share of the operating system market in China, claimed to be as high as 95 percent, saying it forms a “de facto monopoly”.

China — which is embroiled in a long-running cyber spying row with the US — is planning to introduce a homegrown operating system as early as October to reduce the country’s reliance on Microsoft, the official China Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The Microsoft probe comes as foreign firms doing business in the huge Chinese market face apparent greater scrutiny.

U.S. tech companies are in the horizontal and vertical cross hairs. They’re between a rock and a hard place right now. – Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, a Beijing investment advisory firm Google services such as Gmail and Maps have been increasingly stifled this year by China’s “Great Firewall” — the country’s censorship and surveillance program — while Facebook and Twitter remain blocked on the mainland. Last month state-run TV aired a report on the iPhone’s tracking feature that suggested the devices could be used to expose state secrets.

China says it’s simply enforcing antitrust rules and looking out for national security. But the regulatory moves — coupled with increasingly heated rhetoric against Silicon Valley giants and strong calls by Chinese leaders for homegrown tech innovation — are raising fears of a tougher business climate and a new burst of protectionism.

“U.S. tech companies are in the horizontal and vertical cross hairs,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, a Beijing investment advisory firm specializing in the tech sector. “They’re between a rock and a hard place right now.” It’s not just U.S. tech firms like Microsoft and Qualcomm feeling the pressure in China. These days, foreign companies of all kinds — including Japanese and German carmakers and European drug manufacturers — are being ensnared in anti-monopoly investigations.

A number of experts say that’s the natural result of China ramps up enforcement of its anti-monopoly law, which is just 6 years old.

“China has been way behind the West in terms of antitrust law, but they’re rapidly accumulating more experience in interpreting and enforcing the law,” said Huang Yong, a professor at Beijing’s University of International Business and Economics and member of the State Council’s anti-monopoly committee advisory panel.

But the Chinese government is casting high-tech companies as a particular threat as the two countries trade cyber spying and hacking allegations.

Google wants to open up YouTube, Gmail to kids

Google Inc is considering allowing online accounts for children under the age of 13 and give their parents control over how the service is used, according to media reports.
Google has been working on a version of YouTube, its video-sharing site, for youngsters and is considering other child-friendly accounts such as its Gmail system, the Financial Times reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Internet companies such as Google and Facebook Inc do not offer their services to children under 13, but it is tough to catch users who sign up by providing false information.
A U.S. law called Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, imposes strict controls on the collection and use of information about children under 13. Google’s effort is partly driven by the fact that some parents are already trying to create accounts for their children and the company wants to make the process easier and compliant with the rules, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the effort.
Google’s move was first reported by technology news website The Information.
Google spokesman Peter Barron declined to comment on what he called “rumors and speculation”.

FBI warns of hackers targeting healthcare industry

The FBI has warned that healthcare industry companies are being targeted by hackers, 
publicizing the issue following an attack on U.S. hospital group Community Health Systems Inc that resulted in the theft of millions of patient records.

“The FBI has observed malicious actors targeting healthcare related systems, perhaps for the purpose of obtaining Protected Healthcare Information (PHI) and/or Personally Identifiable Information (PII),” the agency said in a “Flash” alert obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.“These actors have also been seen targeting multiple companies in the healthcare and medical device industry typically targeting valuable intellectual property, such as medical device and equipment development data,” the one page document said.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security periodically release alerts to provide U.S. businesses with technical details and other information they can use to either prevent or identify cyber attacks. Such reports are typically only issued to businesses and not distributed to the general public.

The FBI has been concerned about healthcare providers for several months. In April, it warned the industry that its systems were lax compared with other sectors, making it vulnerable to hackers looking to access bank accounts or obtain prescriptions.The agency has also reached out to other industries, including a warning to retailers in January alerting them to expect more credit card breaches in the wake of last year’s attack on Target Corp.

The recent alert to healthcare companies did not identify any specific victims targeted by hackers. An agency spokesman declined to comment on the document. Community Health, the No. 2 U.S. publicly traded hospital operator, disclosed the attack on Monday, saying stolen data included patient names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers.

The healthcare company has said little about how its network was attacked.
David Kennedy, an expert in healthcare security, said he has learned the hackers broke into the company’s computer system using a piece of networking equipment that had not been patched to fix the “Heart bleed” Internet bug. The break-in was the first known large-scale cyber attack to exploit that vulnerability. Kennedy, who is chief executive of TrustedSec LLC, said multiple people familiar with the investigation told him hackers exploited the bug in a piece of Juniper Networks Inc equipment to obtain employee credentials and access the company’s network. Once in, they hacked their way into a database containing Social Security numbers and other records.

Juniper spokeswoman Danielle Hamel declined to comment on the breach, but said her company issued patches in April to protect customers against Heart bleed.
Community Health spokeswoman Tomi Galin did not respond to requests for comment on 
Heart bleed.

Opera Mini takes over Nokia browser building

Norwegian software maker Opera has signed a deal to take over the browser building unit of Microsoft’s Nokia mobile phone unit, Opera said on Thursday.
“We have signed a strategic licensing deal with Microsoft. We are basically taking over the browser building department in Nokia,” Opera Chief Executive Lars Boilsesen said. “This means that Opera Mini will become the default browser for Microsoft’s feature phone product lines and the Asha phones product lines.”
“All the current user base will be encouraged to upgrade to Opera Mini and all the new phones will come with Opera Mini pre-installed as a default browser. This is a great deal for us. We have dreamed of this for more than 10 years.”
The deal will be profitable from the start, he added.

UN urges exit screening for Ebola at some airports

GENEVA — Ebola-affected countries should immediately begin exit screening all passengers leaving international airports, sea ports and major ground crossings, the U.N. health agency said on Monday.

The agency didn't spell out which countries should start screening passengers, but noted that the Ebola outbreak involves transmission in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leona and a "small number of people in Nigeria."

All countries, even those unaffected by the outbreak in West Africa, need to strengthen their ability to detect and immediately contain new cases without doing anything that unnecessarily interferes with international travel or trade, the agency said. But countries don't need to impose travel restrictions and active screening of passengers if they do not share borders with Ebola-affected countries, it said.

Authorities in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea say they are already closely inspecting departing passengers for signs of fever or illness.

The risk of the Ebola virus being transmitted during air travel is low because unlike infections such as influenza or tuberculosis, it is not spread by breathing air and airborne particles from an infected person.

Nonetheless, the World Health Organization said anyone with an illness consistent with the virus should not be allowed to travel normally and all passengers should routinely wash their hands and avoid direct contact with body fluids of infected people.

"Transmission requires direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected living or dead persons or animals, all unlikely exposures for the average traveler," the agency said in a statement.

The only way to contain the disease, for which there is no licensed treatment, is by isolating the sick and closely watching for signs of infection in those they have come into contact with. A person usually has no symptoms for two to 21 days, but after the incubation period the symptoms include fever, weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, according to WHO. Then comes vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and in some cases, bleeding.

The Geneva-based agency has been criticized by non-U.N. health organizations as being slow to call for an emergency response to the Ebola crisis.

Some countries have banned direct flights to states hit by the disease. British Airways, Kenya Airways and a number of regional carriers have also canceled flights to the capitals of Sierra Leone and Liberia despite the WHO's recommendation that no travel or trade bans be put in place.

Last month, a Liberian-American man infected with Ebola boarded a flight from Liberia to Nigeria and died days later; 11 people who came into contact with him have been infected.

A task force to monitor the impact of the Ebola virus on travel and transport has been launched by the U.N. health agency along with the International Civil Aviation Organization, the World Tourism Organization, the Airports Council International, the International Air Transport Association and the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Most of the infections in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have occurred when family members or friends act as caregivers for those who are ill or during burials that don't follow strict infection prevention and control measures, according to WHO officials.

Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

Related: 

PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST EBOLA VIRUS

Ebola virus disease Outbreaks

PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST EBOLA VIRUS

As part of measure against Ebola virus around you and your environment i hereby advise individual to observe the following precaution;

1) Avoid indiscriminate handshake.
2) Avoid unnecessary travel, especially to where cases have been confirmed.
3) Avoid contact with body secretions and fluids from other person (s) e.g sweat, saliva, blood, urine etc
4) Avoid casual sex
5) Avoid using unsterilize needles and blades.
6) Cook your food, especially meet properly before eating it.
7) Report to a doctor as soon as you develop fever.
8) Be cautions when around people that are sick, observe standard precaution to avoid contact.

MTN board approves $1 billion for India Expansion

MTN’s board has approved $1 billion (R10.65 billion) for expansion into India, with the group reportedly in talks with three firms based in the Asian country.
CNBC TV18 reported that MTN executives are currently in India to explore opportunities with multiple players including Tata Group, Videocon Group and Aircel.
The channel reported that MTN’s board has approved a $1 billion expenditure in India.
It said that MTN has already held talks with Tata Group, twice, with respect to Tata Teleservices. “They are also exploring conversations with other players including Videocon and Aircel,” a CNBC TV18 reporter said.
MTN Group president and CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa, however,  poured cold water over any current deals in India, in answering questions at the group’s interim results presentation last week.
“Bankers continuously come to our offices with potential acquisitions and potential transactions…we always investigate, or look into them. Up until now we haven’t really found anything that was worth doing,” Dabengwa said.
“Yes we will get bankers coming with opportunities in India, with opportunities in Mexico, in Australia…so we are continuously looking for meaningful opportunities.”
He said that MTN was not looking for geographic expansion simply for the sake of it, adding that some of the comments made in the press were not accurate.
Videocon Group is a maker of consumer electronics in India; however it also has its own line of mobile phones, and through Videocon Telecommunications, it has a license for mobile service operations across India.
Aircel is an Indian mobile network operator headquartered in Chennai.
Last year, MTN Group held detailed discussions for a potential acquisition in India with Reliance Communications, the company it tried unsuccessfully to merge with in 2008.
However, the talks were put on hold, according to Bloomberg, citing “three people with knowledge of the situation”.
The media house said that MTN had been discouraged by a revision in India of its telecommunications mergers and acquisitions rules.
MTN has also previously held talks with Bharti Airtel for a potential R24 billion merger deal in 2009, which was called off.

Android and iOS leave little room for rivals

Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS platforms continue to dominate the Smartphone market, as worldwide shipments edged past 300 million units.

Android and iOS account for 96.4% of the total Smartphone market, according to final data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, leaving little space for competitors.

Android was the primary driver with its vendor partners shipping a total of 255.3 million Android-based Smartphone’s in 2Q14, up 33.3% year over year. Meanwhile, iOS saw its market share decline despite posting 12.7% year-over-year shipment growth.

While Android and iOS both realized gains from a year ago, the rest of the market recorded losses.

The boost in Android popularity was mainly driven by a rise in the sub-$200 Smartphone segments, IDC said, noting that 58.6% of all Android shipments worldwide cost less than $200, off-contract.

“It’s been an incredible upward slog for other OS players – Windows Phone has been around since 2010 but has yet to break the 5% share mark, while the backing of the world’s largest Smartphone player, Samsung, has not boosted Tizen into the spotlight,” said Melissa Chau, senior research manager with IDC.

“The biggest stumbling block is around getting enough partnerships in play – not just phone manufacturers but also developers, many of which are smaller outfits looking to minimize development efforts by sticking to the two big ecosystems,” she said.

Windows Phone volumes declined from a year ago, but compared to the previous quarter, it showed slight improvement, making it the clear number 3 Smartphone platform.

Following three consecutive quarters of sequential decline, BlackBerry volumes have rebounded slightly from the previous quarter, but remain 78.0% lower than shipment levels from a year ago.

Google, Microsoft and Facebook moved to encrypt internal traffic after revelations by Snowden that the spy agency hacked into their connections overseas. The companies have also smaller adjustments that together make sweeping collection more difficult.

Top 10 Most Influential Cities In The World

A new research report has evaluated which global cities are positioned as the most connected, technologically advanced and financially influential across the globe.

Johannesburg has been ranked as the most influential global city in Africa, however, it is still some way off the world’s most influential global cities – London and New York.

South Africa’s economic hub was ranked 31st out of 58 cities evaluated.

The research paper, organised by the Civil Service College of Singapore and conducted in association with Chapman University, evaluated 58 metropolitan areas across the globe in eight categories, looking at:

Air connectivity (connected to other global cities);

Diversity;

Foreign Direct Investment;

Corporate Headquarters;

Producer Services;

Financial Services;

Technology and media; and

Industry Dominance.

London outranked all other global cities due to its status as the capital of the British empire and its role as a global financial center.

New York ranked a close second (40 points versus London’s 42), as home to the world’s top investment banks and funds, with global primacy in terms of stock market volumes – four times bigger than Tokyo, and ten times larger than London.

“No other place is close to either of these great cities in our rankings. They possess mostly everything — power in finance, great global connectivity, diversity, a powerful media — that expresses global influence in a depth unmatched anywhere else.”

Except for London and Paris, however, the study notes that most other European cities have faded from top spots on the list. While quality life remains high in European cities, poor fiscal conditions have had an impact on their global positioning.

Top 10 most influential cities.

Rank                City

1                      London

2                      New York

3                      Paris

4                     Singapore

5                     Tokyo

6                      Hong Kong

7                      Dubai

8                      Beinjing

9                      Sydney

10                    Los Angeles

10                    San Francisco Bay Area

10                    Toronto

African performance

The group noted that while economic growth and urbanization are happening rapidly in Africa, none of the continent’s cities ranked highly on the list.

Johannesburg and Lagos were the only two African cities ranked among st the top global cities, with South Africa’s economic hub ranking 31st alongside Kuala Lampur and Mumbai, while Nigeria’s capital ranked at the bottom of the list, tied with four other cities at 47th.

Nairobi and Kinshasa did not make the top 50, the group noted.

“The problems of Africa reflect those of much of the developing world outside a few Middle Eastern cities — insufficient sanitation, political instability, and inadequate infrastructure — unacceptable for a successful 21st century global city.”

“Over time, it is hoped that Africa, as well as Latin America, could develop into serious global cities as economic growth shifts to these parts of the world,” the report’s authors said.

“Fortunately, some progress in developing modern infrastructure is being made in cities such as Johannesburg. Yet…progress will be slow in developing a viable African urban ism,” the researchers found.

Mixed Reaction Over mass failure in The May/June 2014 (WASSCE) results

             Some Nigerians have expressed mixed reactions on the 70 per cent mass failure in the May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results. Our friends at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) conducted a survey on Friday and a cross section of the Nigerians interviewed, attributed the failure to non-charlatan attitude by students, teachers and the government.

          Prof. Chris Okoro, the Commissioner for Education, Enugu State, attributed the mass failure to poor reading culture by students. “Students no longer read because they know they can engage in examination malpractice. So, how do you think they can pass the examinations? “If you look at that result critically, you will find out that a good number of the failures must have participated in examination malpractices,’’ he said.
Okoro said the mass failure could also be attributed to lack of proper coordination by the students during the exercise. “Some of the students forget they are writing examination and start writing the ways they
text GSM messages.’’

        He said the Federal Government had been doing a lot to improve the education system through funding, training, provision of structures, among others. “It is time for stakeholders, such as the students, teachers, and  parents, among others, to take responsibility for their actions,’’ okoro said.
He advised that anybody found involved in examination malpractice should be sanctioned.
Mr Lawal Adebola, a senior official in the Ministry of Education, Ogun, also attributed the mass failure to lack of commitment from students, teachers and parents. “We cannot blame specific group for the mass failure, it is a  collective responsibility, we are all guilty and we need to look for a way out to solve the problem. “We need to work further to ensure that students at that level are well catered for by the government, by the system, the school and teachers.‘’

        Adebola said there was need for the re-orientation of the students to actually know why they were in school and the essence of WAEC certificate.
Mrs Elizabeth Ugo, the Commissioner for Education, Benue State, said the mass failure could be linked to ‘unserious attitude’ of students.
Ugo called on teachers to ensure that students were prepared with the required syllabus for them to do better in the future. “We need to sit up and do much more in preparing the students for terminal examinations. “Many children today do not read but spend so much time on the internet. We have to imbibe the culture of reading in our children,’’ she advised.

Ebola virus disease Outbreaks

Ebola virus disease (EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is the human disease caused by the Ebola virus. Symptoms typically start 8 to 10 days after contracting the virus (although it may range from 2-21 days), with a fever, sore throat, muscle pains, and headaches. Typically nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea follow, along with decreased functioning of the liver and kidneys. At this point, some people begin to have bleeding problems.

         The virus may be acquired upon contact with blood or bodily fluids of an infected animal (commonly monkeys or fruit bats). Spread through the air has not been documented in the natural environment. Fruit bats are believed to carry and spread the virus without being affected. Once human infection occurs, the disease may spread between people as well. Male survivors may be able to transmit the disease via semen for nearly two months. In order to make the diagnosis, typically other diseases with similar symptoms such as malaria, cholera and other viral hemorrhagic fevers are first excluded. To confirm the diagnosis blood samples are tested for viral antibodies, viral RNA, or the virus itself. Prevention includes decreasing the spread of disease from infected monkeys and pigs to humans. This may be done by checking such animals for infection and killing and properly disposing of the bodies if the disease is discovered. Properly cooking meat and wearing protective clothing when handling meat may also be helpful, as are wearing protective clothing and washing hands when around a person with the disease. Samples of bodily fluids and tissues from people with the disease should be handled with special caution.

 How does Ebola virus spread?
The WHO says it is believed that fruit bats may be the natural host of the Ebola virus in Africa, passing on the virus to other animals.Humans contract Ebola through contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals or the bodily fluids of infected humans. MSF says that while the virus is believed to be able to survive for some days in liquid outside an infected organism, chlorine disinfection, heat, direct sunlight, soaps and detergents can kill it. MSF epidemiologist Kamiliny Kalahne said outbreaks usually spread in areas where hospitals have poor infection control and limited access to resources such as running water.

"People who become sick with it almost always know how they got sick: because they looked after someone in their family who was very sick -- who had diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding -- or because they were health staff who had a lot of contact with a sick patient," she said.

ABUJA, Nigeria - Nigeria has one more confirmed Ebola case, a nurse who was treating the Liberian-American who flew into the country with the disease and died of it last month, the health minister announced Monday.
The nurse tested positive for the Ebola virus over the weekend, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu told reporters in Abuja, the capital. That brings the total number of confirmed Ebola cases in Nigeria to 10, including two who have already died, the Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer and another nurse. The other eight cases are being treated in isolation in Lagos. All nine Nigerians were infected through direct contact with Sawyer, said Chukwu.

Nigerian health officials are working to prevent Ebola from spreading beyond those who had contact with Sawyer. Nigerian authorities have 177 primary and secondary contacts of Sawyer under surveillance, said Chukwu.
Ebola has killed 961 people in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Researchers believe they have now tracked down the start of the virus to a two-year-old boy from a remote village in Guinea, but it wasn't until March that the mystery disease was identified as Ebola. By then dozens had been infected. On the front line of the battle to contain the deadly virus sit health workers, who are bearing the brunt of it. Scores have died and a leader of Liberia's Heath Workers Association George Williams said they are growing increasingly angry.

Transmission
It is not entirely clear how Ebola is spread. EVD is believed to occur after an ebola virus is transmitted to an initial human by contact with an infected animal's body fluids.
Ebola virus spreads when the bodily fluids of an infected person comes into contact with the mucous membranes of a non-infected person. That means Ebola virus in fluids like blood, sweat or urine has to come in contact with your eyes, mouth, nostrils, ears, genital area or an open wound in order to infect you.

In other words, it takes a lot of contact to become infected with the virus, which is why many of the victims of the disease in West Africa are health care workers or family members caring for a sick relative. In Western hospitals, transmission is easily prevented with precautionary measures like face masks, gloves, protective gowns and isolation units.

please add your own point of view using the comment box. 

Was this info useful to you, if it was; kindly take the time to tell us using the comment. Keep sharing and cheering.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RAM

What is RAM?
RAM is short for for Random Access Memory. The processor can process data very quickly, but if it can’t get that data quickly it doesn't matter how fast it works. The hard drive can hold lots of information, but its problem is in getting that information in and out. The hard drive moves slowly. That’s where RAM comes in. RAM can’t hold as much information as the hard drive, but it can transfer data very quickly. RAM is considered to be the resources which your computer uses for all of its computations. It's a temporary work area in which your computer uses, to do work.

RAM is the place where your programs reside while they're running and where your open files are stored before you hit the "save" command. If active programs and files take up more room than your RAM has available, your computer uses empty space on your hard drive to keep track of what's going on (called "paging to disk"). Hard drives have moving parts, which make them slower. RAM chips don't, which, in a general sense, is why having lots of RAM makes your computer run faster.
Memory works like a blackboard that is constantly overwritten with new data. The
amount of memory, or memory size, in a computer determines the number of programs you can run at once. Memory size also determines how fast your programs will operate. The data stored in memory is temporary. If you do not save the data, it will disappear when you turn off the computer.
RAM is also sometimes called read-write memory or RWM. This is actually a much more precise name, so of course it is hardly ever used. It's a better name because calling RAM "random access" implies to some people that ROM (discussed below) isn't random access, which is not true. RAM is called "random access" because earlier read-write did not allow random access. Sometimes old acronyms persist even when they don't make much sense anymore (e.g., the "AT" in the old IBM AT stands for "advanced technology”.
Obviously, RAM needs to be writable in order for it to do its job of holding programs and data that you are working on. The volatility of RAM also means that you risk losing what you are working on unless you save it frequently.

RAM is much faster than ROM is, due to the nature of how it stores information. If while surfing on The Web you notice that your hard drive light is constantly running or is blinking a good amount of the time, your computer is "going virtual" as we call it. This means that your machine is trying to run the programs by reading them off the hard drive then writing back to the hard drive and so forth. This kind of activity puts a lot of extra wear and tear on your hard drive; hence it shortens its life. Internet Explorer uses 8 meg of RAM and Windows 95 uses 8 meg of RAM why Mozilla Firefox uses 47 MB. therefore you need a minimum of 16 meg just to be on the Internet and more for Mozilla Firefox and so on.
This does not take into affect the amount of additional RAM your machine maybe using to load additional programs when your machine "boots up". More RAM (Random Access Memory) means a bigger work area for your machine to do its work and less work your hard drive has to do in order to keep up with your demands. RAM works at the speed of light and is therefor much
faster than trying to access the information using your hard drive. A hard drive uses mechanics in order to deliver the information you are requesting and it is therefor slower. It also has to go through more stuff before it is viewed by the user (you).
The more RAM you put into your machine the better it should run, quicker response times to your requests and most importantly of all, is the fact that it saves your hard drive from doing a lot of extra work, making it last longer. Keep in mind that it is your hard drive which is the device that holds All of the information you are and have been collecting, ... If that information is considered to be valuable to you, back it up. Make sure you back it up onto either a tape backup system, or the other solutions, just get it off the system for safe keeping!

Memory plays a significant role in the following important aspects of your computer system:

• Performance: The amount and type of system memory you have is an important contributing factor to overall performance. In many ways, it is more important than the processor, because insufficient memory can cause a processor to work at 50% or even more below its performance potential. This is an important point that is often overlooked.

• Software Support: Newer programs require more memory than old ones. More memory will give you access to programs that you cannot use with a lesser amount.

• Reliability and Stability: Bad memory is a leading cause of mysterious system problems. Having high-quality memory will result in a PC that runs smoothly and exhibits fewer problems. Also, even high-quality memory will not work well if you use the wrong kind.

• Upgradability: There are many different types of memory available, and some are more universal than others. Making a wise choice can allow you to migrate your memory it to a future system or continue to use it after you upgrade your motherboard.

SIMMs and DIMMs
RAM is kept on a circuit board. These circuit boards are either: SIMMs, an acronym for single inline memory module, which are small circuit boards that can hold a group of memory chips. Typically, SIMMs hold up 8 (on Macintosh's) or 9 (on PCs) RAM chips. On PCs, the ninth chip is often used for parity error checking 2. SIMMs are easier to install than individual memory chips. The bus from a SIMM to the actual memory chips is 32 bits wide. or DIMMs, short for dual in-line memory module, are small circuit boards that hold memory chips. A SIMM has a 32-bit path to the memory chips whereas a DIMM has 64-bit path. Because the Pentium processor requires a 64-bit path to 2 Parity checking refers to the use of numbers called parity bits to check that data has been transmitted accurately. The eight bits (zeros or ones) in a transmitted byte are added up prior to transmission. If the sum is odd, a 1 is added as the ninth bit. If the sum is even, the ninth bit is a zero. In post transmission the byte is again added together and its sum is checked with the parity bit. It the two do not confirm each other the data is ignored and resent. In this way parity checking is used to reduce errors. memory, you need to install SIMMs two at a time. With DIMMs, you can install memory one DIMM at a time.

A DIMM has 168 contacts and a SIMM has 72, so they're not interchangeable. Some computers use SIMMs, some use DIMMs, and some let you combine the two by providing both types of slots. 
Different Types of RAM
There are many different types of RAMs, including static RAM (SRAM) and manyflavors of dynamic RAM (DRAM).

Dynamic RAM (DRAM)
When people refer to their RAM, they usually mean Dynamic RAM, which is a type of RAM that only holds its data if it is continuously accessed by special part called a refresh circuit. Many hundreds of times each second, this circuitry reads the contents of each memory cell, whether the memory cell is being used at that time by the computer or not. Due to the way in which the cells are constructed, the reading action itself refreshes the contents of the memory. If this is not done
regularly, then the DRAM will lose its contents, even if it continues to have power supplied to it. This refreshing action is why the memory is called dynamic.

All PCs use DRAM for their main system memory, instead of SRAM, even though DRAMs are slower than SRAMs and require the overhead of the refresh circuitry. It may seem weird to want to make the computer's memory out of something that can only hold a value for a fraction of a second. In fact, DRAMs are both more complicated and slower than SRAMs. The reason that DRAMs are used is simple: they are much cheaper and take up much less space, typically 1/4 the silicon area of SRAMs or less. To build a 64 MB core memory from SRAMs would be very expensive. The overhead of the refresh circuit is tolerated in order to allow the use of large amounts of inexpensive, compact memory. The refresh circuitry itself is almost never a
problem; many years of using DRAM has caused the design of these circuits to be all but perfected.

DRAMs are smaller and less expensive than SRAMs because SRAMs are made from four to six transistors (or more) per bit, DRAMs use only one, plus a capacitor. The capacitor, when energized, holds an electrical charge if the bit contains a "1" or no charge if it contains a "0". The transistor is used to read the contents of the capacitor. The problem with capacitors is that they only hold a charge for a short period of time, and then it fades away. These capacitors are
tiny, so their charges fade particularly quickly. This is why the refresh circuitry is needed: to read the contents of every cell and refresh them with a fresh "charge" before the contents fade away and are lost. Refreshing is done by reading every "row" in the memory chip one row at a time; the process of reading the contents of each capacitor re-establishes the charge.

DRAM is manufactured using a similar process to how processors are: a silicon substrate is etched with the patterns that make the transistors and capacitors (and support structures) that comprise each bit. DRAM costs much less than a processor because it is a series of simple, repeated structures, so there isn't the complexity of making a single chip with several million individually located transistors.

There are many different kinds of specific DRAM technologies and speeds that they are available in. These have evolved over many years of using DRAM for
system memory.

Static RAM (SRAM)
Static RAM is a type of RAM that holds its data without external refresh, for as long as power is supplied to the circuit. This is contrasted to dynamic RAM (DRAM), which must be refreshed many times per second in order to hold its data contents. SRAMs are used for specific applications within the PC, where their strengths outweigh their weaknesses compared to DRAM:

• Simplicity: SRAMs don't require external refresh circuitry or other work in
order for them to keep their data intact.

• Speed: SRAM is faster than DRAM.
In contrast, SRAMs have the following weaknesses, compared to DRAMs:

• Cost: SRAM is, byte for byte, several times more expensive than DRAM.

• Size: SRAMs take up much more space than DRAMs (which is part of why the cost is higher).
These advantages and disadvantages taken together obviously show that performance-wise, SRAM is superior to DRAM, and we would use it exclusively if only we could do so economically. Unfortunately, 32 MB of SRAM would be prohibitively large and costly, which is why DRAM is used for system memory. SRAMs are used instead for special kinds of memory called level 1 cache and level 2 cache memory (discussed below), for which it is perfectly suited; cache
memory needs to be very fast, and not very large. 

SRAM is manufactured in a way rather similar to how processors are: highly integrated transistor patterns photo-etched into silicon. Each SRAM bit is comprised of between four and six transistors, which is why SRAM takes up much more space compared to DRAM, which uses only one (plus a capacitor). Because an SRAM chip is comprised of thousands or millions of identical cells, it is much easier to make than a CPU, which is a large die with a non-repetitive
structure. This is one reason why RAM chips cost much less than processors do.

Related: The three major component of computer and how they work

The Three Mojor Component Of Computer And How They work

The hard disk is the  computer’s long-term memory. All program and file data is stored on the Hard Disk. A normal PC’s Hard Disk has from 2-16GB (Billion Bytes) of memory storage space.
The hard disk is made of a number of a flat rotating discs covered on one or both sides with some magnetic material. The hard disk can hold a lot of information, but cannot upload or save very quickly. RAM (see right) and the hard disk work together. When you open a program it loads from the hard disk into RAM. When you save a file, it saves on the hard disk from RAM. When your computer is making noise, it is usually the hard drive. It is cost effective to upgrade your hard drive.

RAM is the computer’s short term or working memory. RAM can store data needed by the Processor. It can get data from the hard drive or from the Processor, itself. A normal PC has between 32-128MB of RAM. RAM is a Microchip designed to store and send data. RAM can upload or save data very quickly, but cannot hold as much information as the hard drive. RAM also needs electricity to function. When you turn off the computer RAM is wiped clean. The Processor gets most of its data from RAM. RAM also stores pre-processed data that the CPU may need at a later time. More RAM gives the processor more data to work with. With small amounts of RAM, the processor has access to less data. When RAM is low the slower hard drive must continually feed data to RAM, slowing the computer. Upgrading RAM is sometimes dramatically effective, and makes good economic sense versus buying a new computer.

The Processor, or CPU, is the computer’s “brain”. The Processor does calculations, orders data,
and instructs components to do things. Processor speeds are measured in Hz (Hertz), a unit of
measurement that measures cycles of electricity. A newer processor would be rated at 300-500 MHz (million hertz). The processor is a microchip. The speed of a processor is dependent on many things, including its rated speed and it’s ability to receive information quickly from RAM.A graphics or sound card is basically a separate microprocessor with it’s own RAM. A graphic card handles all the computations needed for 3-D graphics and frees the main processor to do other
tasks. Upgrading the processor is usually difficult, with marginal returns. By the time you need
a new processor, you probably need more hard disk and RAM space, too, making a processor upgrade the least upgradeable item.

MTN Nigeria Data Plan and Subscription Codes

MTN Nigeria is known to be the most popular and widely covered GSM network service provider, without any doubt it also offer Internet data bundles for mobile phones e.g bb, android and among others, data modems, and other mobile devices like the iPad among others. MTN Nigeria offers various data bundles to suite your need on mobile phone and computer platforms respectively. 

Presently, for any sim card to be activated with the Internet, it must be first registered with the network provider as directed by the regulatory body, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC). To setup or activate your sim card for any Internet access and data plan, you'll need to send an SMS by typing SETTINGS and sending to 3888 from

your mobile phone unless it is the FastLink modem which is already pre-configured to take any of the data plans chosen.

MTN Nigeria Internet Settings - Manual Internet configuration for phones and computers:

The following Internet settings are applicable to GPRS or 3.5G.

Account Name:                                  MTN GPRS

Access Point Name (APN):               web.gprs.mtnnigeria.net

IP Address:                                        10.199.212.2

Port:                                                   8080 or 9201 

Username:                                         web

Password:                                          web

MTN Mobile Phone Data Plans (Bundle):

Internet subscription codes on phone plans: Text the data plan code to 131 and send.

Daily Plan      -  Data: 10MB      24hrs     Cost: N100     Code: 104 to 131

Weekly Plan   -  Data: 25MB      7days    Cost: N400     Code: 105 to 131    

Monthly Plan -  Data: 200MB    30days  Cost: N1000    Code: 106 to 131

Monthly Plan -  Data: 375MB    30days  Cost: N1300    Code: 109 to 131

Monthly Plan -  Data: 750MB    30days  Cost: N2000    Code: 110 to 131

Monthly Plan    Data: 1.5GB      30days  Cost: N3500    Code: 111 to 131

MTN Blackberry Internet Service (BIS):

Weekly Plan    - Duration: 7days   Cost: N500   Activation Code: Text BBCWEEK to 21600

Monthly Plan  -  Duration: 30days Cost: N1500 Activation Code: Text BBC to 21600

Quarterly Plan - Duration: 90days Cost: N4500 Activation Code: Text BBQ to 21600

To check your BIS balance or expiry date, text STATUS to 21600

General MTN Nigeria Data Plans (Bundle):

The following Internet subscription codes and data plans cover data modems for computers and iPad:

Daily       -  Data: 150MB   24hrs.                       Cost: N500.    Code: 103 to 131

Night       -  Data: 3GB.      9pm-6am                  Cost: N2500   Code: 102 to 131

Daytime  -  Data: 3GB.      9am-9pm(30days)    Cost: N6000   Code: 107 to 131

Weekend -  Data: 3GB      (Fri 9pm-Mon 6am)  Cost: N3000   Code: 108 to 131

Monthly  -  Data: 5GB      24/7 (30days)            Cost: N8000   Code: 101 to 131 

 

MTN Simple Surf Plan - Hourly Internet Bundle Subscription codes:

To activate your desired simple surf data bundle plan, text the keyword to 131 

2 Hours   N250        - Text 2H to 131      Validity(1day)

20 Hours  N1,500    - Text 20H to 131    Validity(7days)

100 Hours N5,000   - Text 100H to 131  Validity(30days)

300 Hours N13,000 - Text 300H to 131  Validity(90days)

To change to another data plan at will, text RESET to 131 and you're to go with a new desired subscription of choice with ease.

Was this info useful to you, if it was; kindly take the time to tell us using the comment. Keep sharing and cheering.

If you are a blogger and you appreciate the hard work, whether or not you copied this post, we implore you to kindly link back to this post here, you may do it anyhow you can. We consider that a great contribution.

SECRET OF THE RICH

Learning how to get rich is no more difficult than studying the piano or learning to paint. By changing the way you look at money, you'll realize there is nothing standing between you and your dream but your own self-imposed limitations and actions.

The rich are different. The super rich, or capitalist class, are very different. How does the wealthiest 1% think differently about money? They understand dividends, diversification, taxes, they don't follow what the rest of the market is doing, and they view business as a game. By studying them, you can learn how to get rich yourself.

Have you ever asked yourself: How much money does it take to be rich? That question has been the topic of research for some major psychologists for the past few years and, it turns out, they have come up with a range of numbers.  By knowing where the target is if you want to invest to be rich, you can better prepare your strategy and adjust your expectations.

What Does It Take To Be Rich?

These questions evoke visceral responses from people, from disbelief--as in, Not even close! to, well, disbelief, as in, "Of course!"
Million, sch-million, some say. It takes a lot more than $1 million to be truly rich today, and to stay rich.

Everyone has their own definition of "wealthy." Some say it's $1 million, others say $100 million. Some say it means making more than your brother-in-law. Others say it means not having to work or having strong relationships with family and friends.

But a new survey from UBS shows that most investors say "wealthy" means $5 million—with at least $1 million of that in cold, hard cash. A recent survey of millionaires put the number at $7.5 million, which may sound like lottery money. There is a way there -- and yes, it's very hard.
You can't get there, of course, until you decide exactly what constitutes "rich." It's a relative terms.

Yet being wealthy doesn't just mean having millions in investments or assets. It means having plenty of cash on hand to handle any expense. Driven by the bad memories of the crisis, when many of the so-called wealthy were caught short of cash, investors currently have an average of 23 percent of their overall asset allocation in cash or equivalents. That's the highest number since at least 2010.
Anyone who says that money isn't important obviously has not been without it for very long

Get a job?

We kept our financial woes quiet for the most part, but when a friend or family member found out about our struggles, the first question they always asked was, "Why don't you get a job?"

I often hear people say, "It takes money to make money." Is these true? I have read about people who had no money at their start and later become rich.
It also didn't take a formal education. because there are many degree holder yet they not rich,  I can tell you that achieving financial freedom had nothing to do with what you learned in college.

My answer: It takes a lot of planning, willingness to learn quickly, a lot of determination, persistent effort, a dream and perseverance and the ability to use your God-given assets properly, and to understand how money works and can work for you.

Have you ever asked yourself: How much money does it take to be rich? That question has been the topic of research for some major psychologists for the past few years and, it turns out, they have come up with a range of numbers.  By knowing where the target is if you want to invest to be rich, you can better prepare your strategy and adjust your expectations.

When most people try and figure out how to get rich, what they are really looking for is financial independence. By following a few simple steps, you can free yourself from being a wage slave. This will give you what you truly want - control over your time.

How to get rich

Warren Buffett has long talked about how he focuses on creating value through two "buckets": The earnings bucket and the investing bucket. If you are wondering how to get rich in your own life, you are likely to find that it is considerably easier to raise your net worth quickly when focusing on both of these, taking the same “double barrel” approach Buffett and his long-time business partner, have made a cornerstone of their empire.

The first bucket consists of the operating businesses in which the company holds a controlling stake and the second of marketable securities such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, et cetera, most of which are held through the insurance subsidiaries such as GEICO, General Re, or National Indemnity, just to name a few.

This arrangement provides several major advantages to Berkshire Hathaway. First, when stocks collapse, Buffett is able to rely on the cash generated by the operating businesses to provide him with funds to redeploy into the market, buying up assets on the cheap.

MEMORIES

Yesterday, I was, today I am; but tomorrow what? Every moment humanity vanishes continuously to unfamiliar eternity. Tomorrow or the next might be my turn to undertake, however unwillingly, the journey to infinity. Ever as this write-up is essayed my momentum is rallying at an indeterminate rate and zeroing to the terminal station. Constantly my mind posed the question, “what achievement shall I bequeath posterity in the field of humanities, science and technology”. Disappointingly, non whatsoever. No aspect of my life has been spectaculars just a specimen of myriads of faceless human being past and present, who entrained in continuity on a one-way transit across mundane medium, and whose individual contributions were indistinguishable from their common traits of survival of the fittest. Unlike the Northern star and such other luminous celestial bodies. Hardly is my twinkle noticed in the distant galaxies. This era to which I belong shall be remember and sublimated by the abundant monuments and historical landmarks of the colossus's and prodigies of the period. How fast the year fleet by! Childhood was only yesterday, a very impressionable age of worship and year of adults. A fertile ground for accepting and imbibing prejudice and superstition without questions. Adults were regarded with awe as giants and man-mountains to be face and addressed with head title backwards sharp incline. At the distance horizon, line with the foreground of woods and forests, the earth and the skies were seemed together like concave basin and its overlapping cover. The skies seemed supported by the trees. Hopefully one though he could climb the tree and reach out to the heaven with long bamboo poles; but frustratingly the nearer the approach to the further the horizons receded. The parents were the repository of knowledge and wisdom and must be idealized and sack games, of wresting on the sandy grounds, of crying with least provocation by the elders. Football game was most exciting. The ball were scarce and when available came in size of tennis-ball. Mostly improvise were-made by collecting rubber latex from the rubber tree into large rounds tightly bound with string of the rubber latex (dried). The ball when kicked it will bounce as other normal ball. Open space for games were absent; the house were mainly of mud walls either thatched or straw roof with no glass doors or windows. So the ball were played with abandonment, and relished without fear of protests for possible damages and very often when the ball is kicked, it will bounce so fast and lost in the surrounding bushes. It was play and enjoyed most of the time with minor house chores for distractions. At night after dinner, fairy tails fired our imaginations. The foxy and witty tortoise, with all the pithy saying and proverbs to its credit, was the star and center of admiration in the allegories of the animal kingdom. The night especially under the benign of moonlight glow provided special attractions. Dances and play were rehearsed in preparation for the imminent festival; and we chorused lustily the refrain of the story teller. Life was once stupendous amphitheater for entertainment; no dreams or vision; ambition was more absent than nascent; and the future only evanescent into immediate murky tomorrow. Yes, a moment ago the sunshine and the halcyon days of youth flourished and luster in full splendor and recede in to emptiness. The nights seemed fixed and reluctant to follow the sequence of the events of nature the mood was joyfully ebullient carefree and adventurous often risk were taken at the expense of precaution and safety old age was a very remote expectation for which no one bothered. Between the boys and girls mutual consciousness existed; the former was gregarious and extroverted, always exploring new field of conquest; but the later was dove-like and homely exuding confidence and alluring auras. Also came the age of adolescence. Boarding school and tutelage under fosters and masters, apprenticeships in masonry, carpentry, motor mechanics, tailoring and merchandising were very popular. A large number of homebody engaged in basic agricultural farming in supports of their parents earnings. Every dry session the tall and ubiquitous palm trees provided avenues for competitions among the youths for excellence in the number of branches of ripe nuts harvested. With special palm fiber ropes, and sharp cutlass in hand, the boys hurriedly climb up and down the tree tops and hacked down the bunchy fruits. And with the boat-like baskets on their heads, the girls scampered to the feet of the trees to carry to the collection centers. My imagination vanish and unrestrained. It downed on me the sun was setting; and the luminous disc was disappearing in the nebulae of the western horizon. The benign ray of the evening flood light faded and verged into the advancing twilight zone. We were a luminous crowd of co-travelers training heedlessly toward the zone. Gradually but steadily the twilight was creeping on us. From our vantage ground the foremost crowd was thinning down to a procession presently, the travelers began entering the corridors of the twilight zone. They were staggering, reeling, swagging and groping; and irreversible they continued the procession. But the yonder region of darkness intercepted their paths at various points. Nonetheless, they continued the processing ass if under the spell of a powerful and irresistible voice. One after the other they vanished into the bosom of the darkness. I was very much alarmed and unnerved, the more so, as our own vantage ground was flouting like the cork on the surface of a sludge’s meandering streaming, albeit imperceptibility towards the twilight zone. Surely, the direction of one way, and the destination well known and irrevocable. Posterity would pass this way, and would only remember and identify an insignificant few among mummies of the predecessors. So, I unleashed the pen, nonetheless a novice and inexperienced in the noble art of writing.