PRESS RELEASE No Stains Records Front man "Udo Jerry Ek" goes hard as he drops his first single for 2016, i bet you this kid is always out to please his fans with is magical flows Download & Enjoy!!!
The Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) said yesterday that implementation of the stamp duty policy would become a huge revenue base for the country. On January 19, the Federal Government announced that a stamp duty of N50 would be imposed
on bank customers for money received into their accounts via electronic transfers, cash and cheque. The CBN explained that the policy was part of efforts by the Federal Government to boost its revenue base in the non-oil sector. The Corporate Affairs Manager of the Lagos Island Territory of NIPOST, Mrs Valerie Ekeogu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the stamp duty would give government extra income to build infrastructure. Ekeogu said that income generated from the stamp duty policy would help in the effort to re-position NIPOST. “The funds will stabilise NIPOST as an organisation that is over 100 years and has, hitherto, not been well funded. The stamp duty fund will resuscitate NIPOST and reposition it in boosting the economy of the country,” she said. The manager said the injection of whatever percentage the government would give to NIPOST would go a long way to revitalizing and propelling the company to greater heights. She added that the fund would also re-awaken NIPOST to serve its customers better. According to the manager, the fund will give succour to the more than 10,000 people working in NIPOST and motivate them to work harder. She noted that offering stamp services was the sole responsibility of the NIPOST, adding that the NIPOST had been discharging the function for many years. Ekeogu urged Nigerians to support the policy, stressing that the benefits of the policy to the public and government could not be over-emphasised.
"Reflex Soundz"... Producer and Frontline Artist for "2k Entertainment Live" recently released his Producer Album titled "The Alternative"... Along with a video for his critically acclaimed Refix of Rihanna's #BBHMM featuring Boybreed and Profingaz.. The album which features over 34 Nigerian Artist's is gaining massive recognition with lots of positive reviews.. Here is an official new single off the album titled
"Amaka Can Dance" ft. Sojay and Sparkle (Produced by Reflex Soundz)
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, on Sunday, said that the statement issued by the Presidency on President Muhammadu Buhari’s sudden vacation was vague, saying, “Nigerians deserve to know the truth about their President because the President is an open book that every Nigerians should be free to read.” The governor, who said he was aware of the high-wire plot to use the Supreme Court to upturn his electoral victory, insisted that nothing will stop him from speaking the truth concerning issues in the country. Fayose and Buhari He said it was suspicious that a president, who told Nigerians that he was embarking on official visit to France and Britain, last Tuesday, would suddenly commence a five-day vacation while still in the United Kingdom. In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor, who prayed for safe return of the President, said “Nigerians deserve to know where exactly their president is spending his vacation.” He however commended the President for handing over to the Vice President as stipulated by the Constitution of the country. He said; “We were told last Tuesday, that Mr President was travelling to France and from there to London to attend the Syria Donor Conference, and that he would return to Nigeria this weekend. “All of a sudden, we were told that the President was embarking on a five-day vacation. Where and why? We were not told. “Curiously, it was at this same period, last year that President Buhari, who was at that time the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, disappeared from public, with lies told about him granting interviews in London. “It is therefore important that in future, the presidency should be more explicit in communicating with Nigerians on issues regarding the President because a nation’s president is an open book that can be read by anyone.
The Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has said the number of the primary contacts with the first index case of Lassa fever in the state, a 28- year- old lady, has increased from 60 to 110, and they have all been placed under watch.
He said this on Saturday at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital Sagamu, when he went to check on the victim of the viral disease kept in an isolation centre in the hospital.
He said the Ministry of Health had tracked 50 more of the former patients who were on admission “before and after the victim was brought into the two private hospitals” for treatment.
Ipaye while addressing journalists on Thursday on the first reported index case of Lassa Fever in the state, said the 28-year-old lady travelled to Ebonyi for a burial programme and returned to Ogun State on January 15, when she started manifesting the symptoms of the disease.
He said she had been taken to two private hospitals in Ota, Ruby Medical Centre and Central Specialist Hospital, both in Ado Odo/Otal Local Government Area of the state.
Ipaye added that it was the management of the Central Specialist Hospital that called the state Ministry of Health on Wednesday night, and reported that the victim was manifesting symptoms of Lassa fever.
He said the ministry swung into action immediately, carried out confirmatory tests on her and she was later moved to the isolation centre at the OOUTH, Sagamu
However, Ipaye said the victim was responding to treatment at the centre.
He said, “The increase in number of those under surveillance was due to the fact that those that have been on admission before and after the lady in question was brought into the two private hospitals have also been tracked down and put under surveillance.
“All the 110 persons have been given a thermometer each to monitor the level of their temperature with one Surveillance Officer attached to each of them.”
The 60 persons earlier put under watch were made up of health workers of the two private hospitals, and family members of the victim.
Ipaye said 35 were from the first hospital, 22 from the second one and three family members of the victim.
While appreciating the two private hospitals involved, the commissioner said the hospitals had been decontaminated by the state health workers and would be reopened as soon as possible.
He added that the government regretted any indirect inconveniences that the closure might have caused them.
Also confirming the state of health of the victim, the Senior Registrar, Internal Medicine Department, OOUTH, Dr Olaitan Abimbola, directly attached to the lady, said she was brought in with a confirmed case of Lassa Fever with temperature of 39. 8 degree centigrade.
She said when the required drugs were administered on her, the temperature had reduced to 38. 4 degree centigrade.
She said the persistence abdominal pain, restlessness, and breathlessness suffered by the victim, had gone down drastically, adding that she could now eat and drink with no sign of vomiting, diarrhea and no discharge from any parts of her body.
She said, “The victim has since been placed on Revavirin and other drugs and will be monitored until she has completed the 10 doses.
“Now that she is perfectly responding to treatment and no more abdominal pain, dizziness and any other complication, after she will be handed over to the Surveillance Officer for further necessary action.”
The Director of Public Health in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Yusuf Quudus, said the 110 persons under surveillance would be watched closely between 6-21 days incubation period before they would be released to their family members.
BIO: Apek from RB Nation drops this music to kick the year 2016 with a
bang.this is just a song for the upcoming #420 huz party coming up on FEB 12 @ikolaba near jesus palace don't dull come and hav fun unlimited
EX-SUPER Eagles goalkeeper, Peter Rufai in an interview with Saturday Sunsports expresses
his feelings on the current form of the Super Eagles, his perception
about Sunday Oliseh, causes of exit of the home Eagles in the ongoing
CHAN competition, where he thought the newly promoted Ikorodu United of
Lagos will be in the forthcoming Glo Premier League season and some
other issues. Excerpts…
Being one of the most capped goalkeepers in the history of Nigeria football, can you share some of your experiences with us? My experiences as a goalkeeper would have been meaningless without
the help of my teammates. Although, I had a stint with foreign clubs
like Lokeren of Belgium, Go Ahead Eagles and Gil Vicente of Portugal,
and I also served as goal stopper for Hercules and Deportivo La Coruna
of Spain, I gained fame while I was a kid during my days at Stationary
Stores of Lagos and defunct Femo Scorpion of Eruwa. I also learnt some skills from the likes of Ike Shorunmu, Wilfred
Agbonivbare, my senior man Joe Erico, Alloy Agu and a host of others.
As an ex-goalkeeper do you think the Super Eagles are on the right track with goalkeeper Carl Ikeme? To me, Ikeme is a fantastic goalkeeper. He got good reflection but I
don’t think he deserves the number one spot. Everything in life has a
protocol. We got good goalkeepers who served as an option after Vincent
Enyeama. The likes of Austin Ejide, Dele Aiyenugba and host of others
are fantastic goal stoppers but we have no choice because everything
deals with time and season. During my days, I sweated to be the first
choice. I got so many senior colleagues who fought for the number one
glove with me and when I was picked as the number one, it was obvious I
merited it. Anything can still happen. Nigerian coaches are fond of
changing players whenever they get appointed and I think the likes of
Ejide and other senior goalkeepers will soon be given a chance.
What do you think were the causes of the early exit of the home Eagles in the ongoing CHAN tournament? There are so many factors attached to their early exit. First, I
don’t think the name home base Eagles is right. Everyone deserves a
great name. Fans have refused to show love to these players based on
their name. Super Eagles is Super Eagles; why should people keep calling
them Local boys. Secondly, I think their level of preparation was very
low. Their head coach joined them few days before the tournament, which I
think also affected the guys and lastly; is the issue of fear factor.
Agreed, there are no more minnows in football but I think we still
deserve some respect from smaller teams. The Guineans brought the game
to us and we decided to settle for less. I will urge Oliseh to work hard
because the Eagles still got greater challenges ahead of them.
But do you think Oliseh can overcome future challenges with the Super Eagles? I can’t really say because a team is as good as its last game. Every
coach who loses his previous game will certainly be under pressure to
handle the next one. I am not calling him a failure because I know
coaching a team like the Super Eagles is like coaching the whole
citizens of Nigeria. But based on present form and statistics, I don’t
think we can make it to the next AFCON tournament in 2017.We have a game
with Egypt, which I consider a more technically sound side. The
Egyptians know what is at stake. They have quickly organised some
crucial friendly matches while we are here with no hope of organising
one. I think the NFF should put together a short time programme before
our crucial encounter with the Egyptians.
You just mentioned the NFF, how will you rate them? You see, everyone has his or her way of doing things. Presently, we
all know members of the NFF have some underground issues with each
other but I don’t think that can affect the winning mentality of the
boys. If it does, there will be a big trouble but I know some faces like
Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi and host of other peacemakers will not allow
that. We are not the only country facing such tribulation and I believe
with time everything will be all right.
After a career spanning over 20 years, will you accept a coaching role if you are offered to coach the Eagles? I have the attribute of becoming a good coach, especially in the
area of training and grooming goalkeepers. As a matter of fact, I have a
goalkeeping school in Spain where I teach young ones how to stop goals.
Nigeria is my fatherland and I will not reject any offer brought before
me. For now, I don’t think the issue of goalkeeping should bother us.
We have talented and fantastic goalkeepers and I think Alloy Agu is the
right man to handle the boys.
Will you allow any of you kids to play football? Yes why not. Football is now a noble job every one is willing to do.
As a matter of fact, my oldest son, Senbaty Rufai is also a footballer
and has tried out as a midfielder for Sunshine Stars of Akure in
Nigeria. During our days there was no money in football, but these days
it is funny footballers are now millionaires. If any of my kids wishes
to join the profession I will surely support him/ her.
Can you tell us about your unforgettable days while playing for the Super Eagles? I have so many unforgettable days. The good and the bad. I could
remember the bad day when I wept bitterly shortly after the game between
Nigeria and Denmark during the France 1998 World Cup, where I conceded
four goals. I will also not forget the last minute goal Italy scored
against us at the U.S.A 1994 World Cup. Life is full of ups and downs. I
also remember vividly the last goal I scored for Nigeria, a penalty
kick in a 6-0 win against Ethiopia in 1993 and the day we were crowned
AFCON Champion in Tunisia in 1994.
Lastly, Ikorodu United has just been promoted to the Nigeria Premier League, how do you feel about this? I’m very happy about the new development. I see them creating
surprises. They have talented stars and experienced football
administrators and I will not be surprised if they can return the lost
glory in Lagos’ football. It’s been a while we enjoyed good football in
Lagos. I could remember the days of my team, Stationary Stores, no one
dared us at home and being a Lagosian it was fun back then. I pray
Ikorodu United restores the lo st glory of Lagos football.
African
Women in Leadership Organisation (AWLO) will on February 15, 2016 hold
an intellectual symposium to celebrate the 70th birthday of Senator
Princess Florence Ita-Giwa, a former Presidential Adviser on National
Assembly Matters.
The symposium, scheduled to take place
at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, will herald the birthday celebration
slated for February 19.
A statement by her media aide, Mr.
Jonathan Eze, and the Founder of AWLO and the Director of Programmes
and Research for the birthday events, Mr. Elisha Attai, reads in part:
February 21 is dedicated to the foundation for the children of Bakassi’s
Red ball and Awards concert in Lagos. Former Liberian President’s wife
and a third-term serving Senator, Mrs. Jewel Taylor, and the former
Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Congo, Ambassador Jolaade
Onipede, would deliver the keynote addresses.
“Former Minister for Women Affairs,
Iyom Josephine Anenih, will also be among the panelists that would
discuss the role of women in leadership and extol the virtues of the
celebrant.
Supreme Court yesterday unanimously ruled that Senate President Bukola
Saraki’s appeal against the validity of his trial and the competence of
the charge on assets declaration preferred against him at the Code of
Conduct Tribunal, lacked merit.
The seven-man panel of the apex court presided over by the Chief Justice
of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, therefore dismissed his appeal,
meaning that Saraki must go before the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB to
answer all the charges.
Justice Wallter Onnoghen, who read the lead judgment, held that contrary
to Saraki’s contention, the Danladi Umar-led Code of Conduct Tribunal
was validly constituted by two members and that the tribunal was by the
provisions of its enabling laws, and the Constitution conferred with the
quasi-criminal jurisdiction and thus could validly issue a bench
warrant.
He thus held that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 was
applicable to the proceedings of the tribunal and subsequently dismissed
Saraki’s allegation that he was not properly served with the charges
and held that the charges filed before the CCT before the appointment of
the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF were valid.
He also noted that there was an attempt by Saraki to intimidate the CCT
by claiming that it disobeyed the order of a Federal High Court barring
it from continuing with the proceedings pending the determination a suit
filed by the Senate President to challenge the trial.
“I have looked at the records, there is no where such order was made,”
Justice Onnoghen ruled. The CJN and other justices on the panel agreed
with the judgment. The rest of the panel members who consented are
Justices Tanko Muhammad, Sylvester Ngwuta, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Chima
Nweze and Amiru Sanusi.
After the judgment yesterday, an army of political associates, who attended the proceedings walked out of the court quietly.
Following the Supreme Court judgment, it is expected that the CCT will
soon issue hearing notice for the continuation of the Senate President’s
trial on three counts of false assets declaration.
The embattled Saraki had filed appeal through his lead counsel, Chief
Joseph Daudu (SAN), challenging the majority judgment of the Court of
Appeal in Abuja delivered on October 30, 2015, which affirmed the
jurisdiction of the CCT to try him and the competence of the charges of
false assets declaration preferred against him by the Federal
Government.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Rescuers in the southern Taiwanese city of
Tainan pulled out 221 people and three dead from a residential complex that was affected with a shallow 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck
before dawn this morning.
The emergency response center told The Associated Press that three
people were killed, including a 10-day-old infant, a 55-year-old woman
and a 50-year-old man
The Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday visited the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi at his palace to pay homage to the foremost traditional ruler in Yorubaland.
Obasanjo,
Obasanjo, who lauded the moves being made by the Ooni to unite all Yoruba Obas and people urged other monarchs to support Ogunwusi to ensure that all of them were united.
The former president stated that the unity move by the Ooni was important for the progress of Yorubaland. He urged Oba Ogunwusi not to relent in his move to ensure unity, stressing that Ife remained the source of the Yoruba race.
He said, “I commend the role of Ooni in ensuring peace in Yorubaland. Continue what you are doing, especially your unity course. I am happy with the moves so far. It is only a sign of honour for the Ooni to visit anyone. That does not deny Ile-Ife of its position in the history of Yorubaland.”
Obasanjo, who was ushered into the palace by drummers and praise singers at the palace jokingly cautioned them from singing Owu la ko da ( Owu town was the first to be created).
He said that song was not appropriate especially at the Ooni’ Palace because of the paramount position of Ile Ife, which is the Source of the Yoruba people.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) said Friday it was backing Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain as its candidate to succeed Sepp Blatter as president of world body FIFA.
“The executive committee decided that CAF will give full support to Sheikh Salman with his candidacy for FIFA presidency,” CAF first vice-president Suketu Patel told reporters following an executive committee meeting.
CAF second vice-president Almamy Kabele Camara said the decision to support the 50-year-old Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president had been reached “unanimously” at the meeting during the African Nations Championship tournament in Kigali.
CAF has 54 votes in the FIFA election, the most of any of the world’s regional governing bodies, and four of the five contenders came to the Rwandan capital seeking to win the support of the African continent.
CAF’s decision to back Sheikh Salman came despite having a candidate from the continent in South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale, a former anti-apartheid prisoner alongside Nelson Mandela.
The other challengers in the vote for football’s top job on February 26 are UEFA’s number two Gianni Infantino of Switzerland, Frenchman Jerome Champagne, a former assistant secretary-general of FIFA, and Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.
Speaking before CAF’s decision, Sexwale insisted that he would not quit the FIFA race despite being widely criticised on the continent for his campaign. However, he has raised the possibility of some candidates joining forces.
Prince Ali, the only candidate not in Kigali, recently denounced a possible attempt to breach the election rules and called for an investigation after CAF signed a January 15 agreement with the AFC to organise tournaments and programmes for technical development.
Sheikh Salman and Infantino are seen as the frontrunners and the Bahraini hinted that a deal between the two could be possible ahead of the vote.
In Sheikh Salman’s election manifesto, he has argued for more than 32 national sides to play at each World Cup. He has also reiterated his support for Qatar’s controversial hosting of the tournament in 2022.
During his campaign the sheikh has been criticised by human rights groups who accuse him of involvement in the oppression of pro-democratic demonstrations in 2011 in Bahrain and the use of torture, claims which he denies.
All 209 FIFA member associations will vote at a special congress in Zurich for a successor for Blatter, who stepped down and was subsequently banned from FIFA, following corruption allegations which have engulfed football’s governing body.
The world football body is reeling from US corruption charges against 39 football officials, marketing executives and two companies. Swiss investigators are looking into the attribution of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.
Blatter is separately under formal investigation in Switzerland for criminal mismanagement over a “disloyal” $2 million payment made to UEFA president Michel Platini.
Blatter and Platini were banned from all football activity for eight years by FIFA’s ethics tribunal in December.
Microsoft has announced that it's axing the Photosynth apps on Windows Phone and iOS. Effective immediately, the apps are losing all developer support and being pulled from their respective stores. If you already have Photosynth installed, you can continue using it — but Microsoft is being very direct in warning that from here on out, you're on your own. "We are doing this because the new Photosynth Preview technology and its cloud processing is a more immersive way to capture a place than the spherical panoramas that our apps produce," the company wrote on the Photosynth website.
Users with existing panoramas created with the apps are urged to upload them to Photosynth.net (which isn't going away), where they can either be shared or set as private depending on your privacy preferences. Photosynth isn't the only app going away; Microsoft is also retiring a few (presumably unpopular) MSN mobile offerings. Thankfully in those cases, the end isn't quite so imminent.
Both MSN Travel and MSN Food & Drink for Windows, iOS, and Android will be discontinued on September 28th. MSN Health & Fitness for all three platforms will go away on November 1st. "We regularly evaluate our business to ensure we’re focused on the areas where our users find the most value," Microsoft said in a statement. "We will continue to support those apps with broad consumer appeal including News, Weather, Sports and Money, which will be made available as apps on Windows 10 and will remain cross platform."
Ellen Pao is trying to end her time as interim Reddit CEO on a note of positivity. In her resignation letter, Pao says her time at the helm of one of the internet's most vibrant and influential communities has "been an adventure" since day one. "I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly," Pao said, with the latter — especially recently — causing her to "doubt humanity." "I am just another human; I have a family, and I have feelings." But Pao says the good has outweighed the bad by a huge margin, and she's thankful for those who rejected and pushed back against the disgusting behavior exhibited by Reddit's worst users over recent weeks.
Pao isn't leaving because of the threats, twisted words, and harassment, though. Those "trolls" as she openly calls them are likely in the midst of a victory dance, but that's not what this really is. "Ultimately, the board asked me to demonstrate higher user growth in the next six months than I believe I can deliver while maintaining reddit’s core principles," Pao wrote. Her full letter follows below.
Emphasis added by Ellen Pao.
After more than two years at reddit, I have resigned today. My first day was April 1, 2013 (go orangered!), and every day since has been an adventure.
In my eight months as reddit’s CEO, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly on reddit. The good has been off-the-wall inspiring, and the ugly made me doubt humanity.
I just want to remind everyone that I am just another human; I have a family, and I have feelings. Everyone attacked on reddit is just another person like you and me. When people make something up to attack me or someone else, it spreads, and we eventually will see it. And we will feel bad, not just about what was said. Also because it undercuts the authenticity of reddit and shakes our faith in humanity.
What has far outshone the hate has been the positive on reddit. Thank you, kind strangers, for expressing your support. You gilded me 100 times. (For those of you who apologized for generating a wave of accusations that I gilded myself, please don’t feel bad. You did a good thing.) And thank you for sending cute animal pics and encouraging me to "Stay safe!" when the site overheated with expressions of hate in various forms. There were some days when your PMs inspired me more than you can imagine.
Most touching were the stories from regular users. Some told of people they knew who had committed suicide for being transgender or exposed in revenge porn. Others shared their experiences of being harassed and expressed empathy and gratitude. More recently, several users apologized for trolling me and for not giving me the benefit of the doubt when the troll hivemind moved against me. Initially users said they were afraid to post supportive messages openly; recently they started fighting back against the trolls publicly on reddit with support, corrections and positive messages.
So why am I leaving? Ultimately, the board asked me to demonstrate higher user growth in the next six months than I believe I can deliver while maintaining reddit’s core principles.
You will be in good hands -- our strong leadership team will now be led by u/spez, one of reddit’s original co-founders. Like u/kn0thing, he’s lived and breathed reddit since its inception and will work passionately to ensure reddit’s success.
Thank you to all the users who shared your excitement about reddit and what we’ve done and for encouraging everyone to remember the human. And thank you for making my time here at reddit an amazing learning experience.
Here we go again. The movie Predestination, released in the UK this week, is the very latest in the long history of time travel films. There's been more than 100 since theTerminator and Back to the Future franchises began 30 years ago — all of which are science fiction that have little to do with science facts.
Like many of them, Predestination has its own engaging twist: Ethan Hawke plays a time agent who nips back through history to snuff out crimes before they can be committed. Like all of them it's chronologically illogical: the split second a movie has someone monkeying with time you are doomed — predestined, you might say — to abandon the science and enter a plea of temporal insanity.
Things very quickly get very brain boggling. Consider this — if someone builds a time machine, what's to prevent them going back one minute and smashing it up before they first use it? Which means it never gets used — so how did it get smashed up? What prevents the whole parade of paradoxes thrown up by time travel to the past — becoming your own grandfather, killing Hitler before he starts World War II and so on — is that they trash big laws of physics. And the Universe, as far as we understand it, likes to play by the rules.
One of the fundamentals that underpins not just physics but every aspect of existence is the law of cause and effect, always in that order. Changing the past would violate that: your actions would affect what caused you to go back in the first place - so if you did manage to kill Hitler he wouldn't have done what led you to go back and kill him.
Who wouldn't want to feel just a little bit like Kirk or Mr. Spock? Here at Comic-Con 2015, the Wand Company is showing off a prototype of its upcoming Star Trek TOS Bluetooth Communicator, a working replica of the communicator Federation officers used on The Original Series. In truth, it's a glorified Bluetooth speaker. But holding makes you feel a little bit like you're on an away mission.
The little device was actually designed using one of the original props from Star Trek, and is composed of a combination of pressed metal, aluminum, and textured plastic. Without having actually lived through the 1960s, I thought it felt authentic — weighty and purposeful for people in Starfleet. The grill flips opens with the actual sound effects from the show, and the speaker and transceiver make it look truly like a 23rd century artifact.
Using the device involves just pairing it to your smartphone. We tested it using an older iPhone, so tapping one of the bottom-most buttons activated voice control, from which you can simply say the contact you want to reach via the Communicator's receiver. Calls came in loud and clear, so it works pretty well for a prototype.
The Wand Company partnered with ThinkGeek to make the Communicator available to the public by early next year
Google has announced it will no longer accept certificates from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) following a major breach of false certificates issued by MCS Holdings in Cairo, the company who handles quite a few .cn domains.
The false certificates may have allowed unverified and malicious websites to obtain clearance, passing through web browser checks. Google claims this is reason enough to pull CNNIC’s certificates, although the web registrar in charge of millions of domain certificates is not happy.
In a statement the CNNIC called Google’s decision “unacceptable and unintelligible”. The decision will mean banks and government sites certified by the CNNIC will not be given the green tick by Google, but show a red cross instead.
Google is holding onto terms with CNNIC for a short time, but will remove the certificates from its database. The search giant has said the CNNIC is welcome to reapply once it sorts its system out and make sure no internal breaches of interest happen again.
It is not the first time Google and China’s internet regulator have clashed heads. In 2010, Google removed search from China following a lengthy amount of government requests and privacy violations. This has lead to Baidu—the Chinese language search engine—becoming the second most used search engine worldwide.
Google has also been seeing recent activity from the Chinese government to block Gmail. Even though Android is the most popular OS and Google Chrome the most popular web browser in the country, Google Play is blocked and most of Google’s apps are banned or unused.
The Chinese government has also been busy attacking GitHub, the coding databank for developers and casuals, attacking two areas directly angering the government. The first was a network allowing Chinese people to see the internet without the Great Firewall, the other was the New York Times translated into Chinese.
Netflix has been giving mixed signals regarding VPN and geo-location tools, with the first reports claiming a ban would hit, followed by CEO Reed Hastings and other executives appealing to VPN users, and now Netflix has changed its policy to destroy VPN users.
The terms of service change allows VPN users to be banned from the service. It is the first move by the streaming company to crack down on people changing location to watch movies only available on Netflix US.
It is not clear if Netflix will actually go through with the bans, but it does show that studios are cracking down on content being watched in regions where it is not supposed to be watched.
Studios that license content to Netflix already have a lot to lose from the move, considering customers pay $6 per month compared to $2.49 per episode on iTunes or $15 on DVD. Considering the licensee will only receive a small portion of the $6 per user on Netflix as well, it is most likely not beneficial to be on the platform.
That means shows tend to be unavailable or incomplete in other regions, due to lack of interest or lack of subscribers. Netflix US is far and away the most popular service with over 40 million subscribers in the US, and just 70 million subscribers in total.
Netflix is clearly trying to remove the barriers that the film studios are laying down, but it is a losing race. Even though Netflix has a huge audience and the potential to make a low budget TV show the next big thing (see Breaking Bad, White Collar), it is not enough for film studios to give up lucrative TV and DVD agreements in other regions.
Game of Thrones airing in all countries and coming to several internet TV providers might be incentive to change the trend, but HBO is in an advantageous position to offer the most watched TV show to as many people as possible.
Google Fiber is preparing to launch in several new cities in North Carolina, Georgia and Utah in the next year, something that has shaken the traditional internet service providers to actually compete.
It must be an odd feeling for companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, who for the past decade have set oligopolies up to make sure competition in the American broadband market does not exist.
Sadly, Google Fiber has no interest in backroom deals. It is focused on bringing 1Gbps internet to millions of Americans, and is forcing broadband companies to fight tooth and nail for every customer—most of whom have already declared loyalty to Google Fiber.
In Atlanta, Comcast just announced it will launch 2Gbps speeds to customers through a high-tier package. It also plans to launch 1Gbps speeds nationwide, how convenient given the current uprise of Google Fiber construction cities.
It is still unclear whether the 2Gbps package will have any tacked on installation fees or massive monthly costs, knowing Comcast we are going to guess it will be out of the budget for many customers.
Comcast is not the only broadband provided feeling threatened, AT&T announced 1Gbps coming to Austin, Texas later this year, coinciding with Google Fiber’s launch in the city.
Time Warner Cable also announced customers in Charlotte, North Carolina will be receiving six times the current broadband speed on all packages, from 15Mbps to 50Mbps, in the next few months. That’s not exactly 1Gbps, but it is TWC’s attempt at customer loyalty.
Verizon and Cablevision have both announced nothing on the speed increase side, although they are both not available in the cities Google Fiber is planning to launch. Cox Communications announced it will double broadband speeds for customers nationwide by 2016, with 1Gbps options coming to some cities.
It is a great time for Americans, but in most cities there are still major issues with speeds and price. Google Fiber can only reach so many households, but with the net neutrality law coming into effect later this year we might see a surge in fiber movements by Google, as the utility rights grant them more freedom to construct and utilise older infrastructure.
Let’s not be naive here, Google is not the great guy that provides internet with no long term goal. Google wants as many users on the internet as possible without data caps or massive expenses, in order to have more users on Google services, and in turn more ads viewed.
on bank customers for money received into their accounts via electronic transfers, cash and cheque. The CBN explained that the policy was part of efforts by the Federal Government to boost its revenue base in the non-oil sector. The Corporate Affairs Manager of the Lagos Island Territory of NIPOST, Mrs Valerie Ekeogu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the stamp duty would give government extra income to build infrastructure. Ekeogu said that income generated from the stamp duty policy would help in the effort to re-position NIPOST. “The funds will stabilise NIPOST as an organisation that is over 100 years and has, hitherto, not been well funded. The stamp duty fund will resuscitate NIPOST and reposition it in boosting the economy of the country,” she said. The manager said the injection of whatever percentage the government would give to NIPOST would go a long way to revitalizing and propelling the company to greater heights. She added that the fund would also re-awaken NIPOST to serve its customers better. According to the manager, the fund will give succour to the more than 10,000 people working in NIPOST and motivate them to work harder. She noted that offering stamp services was the sole responsibility of the NIPOST, adding that the NIPOST had been discharging the function for many years. Ekeogu urged Nigerians to support the policy, stressing that the benefits of the policy to the public and government could not be over-emphasised.
Microsoft has announced that it's axing the Photosynth apps on Windows Phone and iOS. Effective immediately, the apps are losing all developer support and being pulled from their respective stores. If you already have Photosynth installed, you can continue using it — but Microsoft is being very direct in warning that from here on out, you're on your own. "We are doing this because the new Photosynth Preview technology and its cloud processing is a more immersive way to capture a place than the spherical panoramas that our apps produce," the company wrote on the Photosynth website.
Users with existing panoramas created with the apps are urged to upload them to Photosynth.net (which isn't going away), where they can either be shared or set as private depending on your privacy preferences. Photosynth isn't the only app going away; Microsoft is also retiring a few (presumably unpopular) MSN mobile offerings. Thankfully in those cases, the end isn't quite so imminent.
Both MSN Travel and MSN Food & Drink for Windows, iOS, and Android will be discontinued on September 28th. MSN Health & Fitness for all three platforms will go away on November 1st. "We regularly evaluate our business to ensure we’re focused on the areas where our users find the most value," Microsoft said in a statement. "We will continue to support those apps with broad consumer appeal including News, Weather, Sports and Money, which will be made available as apps on Windows 10 and will remain cross platform."
Here we go again. The movie Predestination, released in the UK this week, is the very latest in the long history of time travel films. There's been more than 100 since theTerminator and Back to the Future franchises began 30 years ago — all of which are science fiction that have little to do with science facts./cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/3864082/DSC_5070.0.jpg)
