Yes, you may be surprised what we are up to here. But we mean business. The optimism or bubble of optimism in Silicon Valley cannot be explained in words. It is real and it is better you experience it. Do you know that Mark Pincus, the Founder of Zynga, is now a billionaire?  Yes, the guy has made it. And many of them are on the way to the money farm  while  the whole world is messed up.

That brings us to one question: if the guys in Silicon Valley are enjoying a world that is only available to them, very soon, they can miss that intuition to understand what the “other” world needs. Facebook Founder only eats cow he kills himself. His bush meat must be killed by Mark Zuckerberg.  In a world where property prices are rising, the unemployment is very very low, how can they understand what we need? Simply, Silicon Valley is in another world.

But remember there is a high competitive war in Silicon Valley. It is the typical Tech War that four companies are fighting. Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are fighting these wars and they are all fighting to win. Yahoo which is leaderless right now is not part of this war. Microsoft is somehow connected but in the grand scheme of things, it is not at the nucleus of this war. These are some of the signs of the war – they are throwing bullet of ideas, court suits, etc:

-Apple sues Motorola Mobility

-Google introduces Facebook killer, Google Plus

-Facebook copies the good stuffs in Google Plus

-Spotify finds home in Facebook (hu Apple iTunes)

-Goggle gets into hardware via Motorola Mobility

-Amazon launches a really good Android Apps Store. Soon, Android Market will close and Amazon one will rule

-Google unveils Google Music

-Amazon launches Amazon Cloud Player

• Apple releases Newstand (hey Kindle)

-Amazon unveils Android Fire

We are waiting to see how it will affect us, because as our elders say, when two elephants fight, the grasses suffer.

“Access to information is a basic human right,” said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, according to the World Bank Institute, at a conference on the subject last year in Accra, Ghana.   Information is also power, and more and more organizations are recognizing that it will play an essential role in Africa’s future. Having access to information enables people to do things like take care of their health, understand their rights, start businesses, and participate in political processes.

When it comes to information access, most of the discussions are about the delivery systems such as mobile phones, which in many parts of Africa are the computing devices of choice. Obviously, getting information into people’s hands is critical. But what good is it if they cannot understand that information once they receive it? Africa is home to more than 2,000 different languages spread across six major language families – Nigeria alone has more than 500 tongues spoken within its borders.  Some of them – such as Amharic, Berber, Hausa, Igbo, Oromo, Swahili, and Yoruba – are used by tens of millions of people.

Because of its incredible linguistic diversity, Africa presents numerous challenges when it comes to translation. However, multilingualism is extremely common among Africans, which means that there are large numbers of individuals who could potentially, and with the right professional training, provide translation services. Also, as our research shows, the markets for translation and interpreting in Africa have been growing steadily in recent years, fueled by factors such as global trade and international migration. This has led to a proliferation of language service providers spread across the continent. However, even these positive developments cannot begin to address the need for translated information.

It’s been said that until Africa prospers, the world as a whole cannot prosper. Translation plays an important part in giving people the information that will allow them to prosper in many aspects of life. For this reason, Common Sense Advisory is conducting a new study on translation in Africa on behalf of Translators without Borders. Today we launched a survey for translators of African languages in order to collect more information about the issues they face and to learn more about their views on access to information. We’re inviting all individuals who translate into and out of African languages – whether on a volunteer or professional basis – to participate. Please encourage all translators for African languages in your network or contact database to take the survey.  To read a joint press release about the project from Common Sense Advisory and Translators without Borders, click here.

from  Nataly Kelly, Common Sense Advisory.

Google has been dominating desktop internet search and advertising for almost a decade now. It has deployed an aggressive strategy which is swiftly occupying the mobile space. Google is dominating the global mobile search market with a market share of 97% for mobile searches worldwide. Optimising its core expertise, Google has managed to anticipate the mobile demand and is constantly optimising its services to anticipate future trends.

Google is currently facing a difficult task in forming a more cohesive internal strategy, which, if left too long, might see its strategic advantage in mobile evade it. This report analyses Google’s unique business methods, how it is leveraging its core competencies to consolidate its position and whether its strategies are effective in overcoming market barriers and industry challenges.

Expanding Core Competencies – Can You Afford to Stand Back?

Google is adding value to its existing online services and products by ensuring their availability on mobile platforms. Geo-target targeted information and data collection are enabling it to harness the full potential of mobile advertising. Its accelerated deployment of free services and open-source models is squeezing out competitors and conferring upon it a significant competitive advantage, allowing it to quickly overtake established market players. By 2016, visiongain expects Google’s Android to hold a 46% market share in the mobile OS segment. Find out in this report what areas Google is investing and if it is successful in acquiring and increasing its market share.

Capitalising on Mobile Success – Strategies and Potential Revenues

Google is committing considerable resources in order to better assert its market position, spending in 2010 more than $3.76 billion in research and development and $7.31 billion in acquisitions. It has been active in seeking new partnerships and making numerous acquisitions in order to offer competitive products. In addition, Google is expanding into new markets and investing in new technologies which it believes will shape the future of mobile. This report investigates Google’s ventures and projects and evaluates their potential with regards to product innovation, evolution in the mobile segment and the demands of the market.

Why is Google so Important?

The mobile industry is undergoing significant structural changes as a result of convergence and technological progress. Google is quickly dominating a broad spectrum of activities pertinent to industries beyond data services and the internet. It is proving to be one of the biggest and fastest-growing conglomerates in digital services and its enterprises affect everyone, from end-users to multi-national corporations. It is staking a place in the mobile operating system with Android in a bid to turn it into a multi-purpose OS but it is also facing significant challenges due to fragmentation issues. The success and the challenges of this particular mobile venture affect a vast and diverse number of companies and associations. Read this report to understand the intricacies of industry relationships which have evolved around the Android OS.

Editor’s Note: For the full report, email tekedia@fasmicro.com

Undoubtedly nations’ with massive population number plays major roles in determining how big and successful market could be for world investors. In today’s modern technologies in particular, this is being evident in  some of the few nations with numerical advantage in population.

A cull from a book by the Head of Asset Management, Goldman Sachs – the world leading investment bank, Mr. Jim O’Neil. According to Jim, said BRICs markets are growing faster  and even fully developed, that means, the BRICs are not an emerging market anymore. BRIC stands for Brasil, Russia, Indian and China, we cant underestimate impact of this group in world market, in particular China and now Brazil.

BRICs’ role in world trade is also expanding faster than expected. This is much apparent as the market accelerated largely because Brazil and Russian supply to the so many of the commodities needed by China and India.

According to Jim, stated that his analysis of world economies, amid all the information and hype, i have stayed focused on the benefits of an expanding, more productive workforce.

The research conducted by Jim O’Neil’ s team in 2005, inferred that, given the success of BRICs, it may not be surprise to them that many other countries are now competing to be the next market focus like BRIC. The team tried to determine which would be the next group of developing nations to follow in the BRIC’s market romance by world investors.
Based on the Goldman Sachs Asset Management department, the next emerging group of countries are – Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, and Vietnam.