Microsoft launches MSN Nigeria Portal

Devices and services company, Microsoft has partnered with Kagiso Media to officially unveil the MSN Nigeria portal in Lagos.

Accordingly, the partnership with Kagsio sees Ad Dynamo providing contextual advertising on Microsoft’s network of sites, including Windows Live Hotmail with over 800,000 users in Nigeria and Windows Messenger with over 820,000 active users in Nigeria.

This is part of the strategy to expand the Microsoft Network (MSN) Portal to deliver locally relevant news that are tailored to address local users in Nigeria and Africans in diaspora.

The Microsoft’s Acting Country Manager, Awawu Olumide-Sojinrin while speaking during a media round table disclosed that the MSN Nigeria portal features the trademark MSN homepage dedicated to Nigerian news, sports, lifestyle, entertainment and weather as well as links to other Microsoft-related services such as Bing, Outlook and Skype.

He told IT journalists that the portal is expected deliver locally relevant news tailored to address local users in Nigeria and Africans in diaspora respectively.

Also speaking, Justin Dewhirst, Area Executive Producer, CEE & MEA, Apps Media & Publishing Microsoft, tld the gathering that the, “MSN is about bringing contents together in one portal and Kagiso has built the expertise for great experiences on the Windows operating system”.

According to him, “MSN is accessible on personal computers (PC), smartphones and feature phones. He reiterated that MSN Nigeria is a way to synchronize great people with great technology in the process of building a greater content experience.

For Dele Akinsade, Director Developer Platform Evangelist, West East and Central Africa Microsoft during the demonstration of the portal, said that already, MSN Nigeria syndicated local news in Nigeria from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), as well as publishers such as BangShowbiz.

“It also features dedicated pages for news (national, African and world news), sport (local and world sport news), entertainment (local and global celebrity entertainment news) and lifestyle (including fashion, travel, tech & gadgets, motoring).” he expplained.

Throwing more lights on the partnership, Marcus Stephens, General Manager- Publishing, Kagiso Media said Kagiso Media has been partnering with Microsoft since 2010 to share the vision for building communities with local talent content providers.

“There is a growing hunger for localised content across Africa as undersea cables, mobile broadband and falling Internet access costs bring more people online. We aim to address this need with the same formula of locally relevant, easy to digest content that we offer our audience in South Africa,” he said.

US and UK 'crack online encryption'

US and UK intelligence have reportedly cracked the encryption codes protecting the emails, banking and medical records of hundreds of millions of people.

Disclosures by leaker Edward Snowden allege the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK's GCHQ successfully decoded key online security protocols.

They suggest some internet companies provided the agencies backdoor access to their security systems.

The NSA is said to spend $250m (£160m) a year on the top-secret operation.

Dangers and Consequences of Examination Malpractice

Examination malpractice is a social evil that can damage society to the extent of possibly leading to a failed state. It has very serious economic, political and social consequences. In the last ten years alone, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) had to cancel the results of 814,699 candidates in its May/June Examination (Aminu, 2006). Considering the cost of buying examination forms alone, this amount to a waste of about 2.5 billion naira. Apart from direct wastage of money, there is also wastage in the form of opportunity cost to the nation and society.

Causes of Examination Malpractice

Examination malpractice is caused by many factors which include:
a.    Student Factors: The students are the primary culprits in all matters of examination malpractice. Factors under student issues include:
i.    Laziness and lack of interest in academic work. Most students are generally lazy, they do not attend classes as at when due, and so become ill-prepared for examinations. Students often think they will be helped during examinations; therefore they pay little or no attention to hard work.
ii.    Inability of the students to cope with school work (examination expectations).
iii.    Inadequate preparation for examination by students is another major student factor that contributes to examination malpractice. Most students have very poor study habits and cannot cover their syllabuses before examination.

Perpetrators of Various Forms of Examination Malpractice part two

7.    The Society: The Nigerian society views certificate as evidence or proof of knowledge, rather than skills exhibition. Every parent is eager to see his/her child obtain 5 – 10 credits at O’ Level at a sitting. We all are in a hurry, and so pay extra for the children to go to rural areas to register for examinations where cheating is at a very high rate.

Perpetrators of Various Forms of Examination Malpractice

Examination malpractice is perpetrated by most stakeholders in the education sector of our nation. They include:
1.    The Students: The primary culprits in this menace are the students themselves. Students are no longer hardworking, they have little or no interest in studying to know and studying to face examination on their own, they lack concentration, during studies, have poor study habits and are generally restless, lazy and easily distracted by activities in the environment. Most students care less about culture of hard work and academic excellence, and so become ill-prepared for most examinations. Students no longer have confidence in themselves to write and pas any examination, without cheating. Dishonesty has become the order of the day, while honesty during examinations is no longer a virtue to covet by students. Dishonesty in examination halls is now an acceptable behaviour and life style.

How Can you propel 100 tonnes of metal around the world's oceans without fuel or even a sail?

For a pioneering group of Swiss investors and German engineers, the answer is simple - the sun.

Add some design expertise from New Zealand and you have the MS Turanor PlanetSolar, the world's largest solar-powered boat and a striking glimpse into the future of marine travel.

"The idea was to demonstrate the enormous potential of solar power by circumnavigating the globe," says Rachel Bros de Puechredon from PlanetSolar.

And with 60,000km (37,000 miles) successfully navigated, the team have achieved precisely that.
waoo, this is interesting. what do u think?