DD
MM
YYYY

CATEGORIES

PAGES

DD
MM
YYYY

spot_img

CATEGORIES

PAGES

Home Blog Page 7693

Atlantic Lottery To Launch New GeoSweep Game By Year End

By
Ejiofor Agada
-
0

Atlantic Lottery Corporation will unveil a new online game called GeoSweep by year end, and officials are confident that a $2-million investment into a British company that developed the game will pay dividends for Atlantic Canada. “As GeoSweep grows, Atlantic Canada will profit,” said ALC spokeswoman Sarah McBeath.

 

Last month, the provincial government gave the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation permission to participate in an investment by the Atlantic Lottery Corporation in Roboreus Limited, a UK-based gaming company, with the New Brunswick Lotteries and Gaming Corporation’s share of the initial investment being up to $2 million.

 

McBeath said the investment is in the Roboreus company itself and also to acquire the rights to use the game in this country. The Moncton-based Atlantic Lottery Corporation’s core business has been in conventional games such as lottery tickets and video lottery terminals in Atlantic Canada.

 

The corporation has offered online games since 2004, which allow Atlantic Canadian residents aged 19 or older to register online and play the lotteries available at retail locations as well as online games like iBingo. But ALC wants to expand into online games that are based here, to compete with online games based outside of Canada.

 

The GeoSweep game, now available in the UK, is rather like placing your bet on a roulette table and hoping your number comes up. But instead of numbers on the table, you are playing with squares on a Google Map. According to the British GeoSweep website, the game is fun and easy to play online.

 

To play the game, you can go online and choose a grid square based on Google Maps. The squares on the map are called Geos. If a square is red, someone else has already claimed it. If it is green, it is available. The idea is to choose a spot on the map that has significance to you, like your house. Once you find your square, you can click on it and add it to your “shopping basket.” You then register online to reserve your Geos.

 

When you pay for your Geos, they turn blue on your screen. In Britain, each Geo costs one pound ($1.55 CDN) for 100 days of draws. You can pay by subscription or pay as you go. When you buy a subscription, your account is automatically debited and your Geos remain reserved, so you are automatically entered in the draws. If you give up your Geos, they become free for someone else to claim. If the spot you want is occupied, you can put your name on the waiting list.

 

There are two draws every day for 100,000 pounds. Once you have claimed your Geos, you can claim them as your own and check online to see if your Geo is one of the winners. The GeoSweep game sweeps the map and chooses a square at random as a winner. If the chosen Geo of the day is unoccupied, there is no winner.

 

There’s a bit of education involved as well, as GeoSweep talks about the significance of the plots of land in announcing the winners. For example, yesterday’s winner was Philbus with a Geo placed in Old Stratford, near the road built by the Romans to cross the river.

 

According to the post, “Old Stratford soon became a stop-off point for the Romans to get supplies of food and especially drinks, and they would often stop by the local wayside taverns to drink blood red wine from earthenware beakers. Nowadays, Philbus can go to his local pub, the Swan and celebrate his winnings with an anaemic but delicious local real ale.” Atlantic Lottery officials said last month it had carefully assessed the project and are convinced it is a good investment.

 

The New Brunswick government and Atlantic Lottery Corp. are gambling on a $2-million investment in a U.K. company that will attract a younger generation of players.

 

The provincial government has approved a $2-million investment into GeoSweep, a company that operates a game where gamblers bet on Google Earth locations.

 

Paula Dyke, the director of public affairs at the Atlantic Lottery Corp. (ALC), said GeoSweep is a popular lottery game in the United Kingdom and the Crown corporation would like to see it become a hit in North America.

 

“For us, it’s about getting in on the ground floor and looking at how that can benefit our own region, and ‘It really is one of those lotteries that appeals to what we would call the Facebook generation” Dyke said. Dyke said ALC is investing in the company hoping for a share of the North American profits.

 

The ALC official would not say whether New Brunswick is the only partner at ALC to invest in this company. The governments of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are all partners in ALC.

Zipnet Provides Broadband Services In Ghana

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

As Broadband services in today’s world enables the communication industry to make convergence of various classes of service achievable, Zipnet brings to the market an up-to-date listing of services.  This Ghanian company has pioneered some end customer focused products like Zipnet, Zipfon, Zipconnect and Zipvision.

 

Broadband provides users with a high-speed, always-connected Internet service – removing many of the current frustrations of standard dial-up access. Currently, most homes access the Internet via a standard dial-up modem, which is connected to a phone line. This delivers data at a speed of up to 56 kilobits per second (kbps).

 

Additionally users have the frustration of waiting to dial-up (connect) to the Internet. Broadband, on the other hand, has a higher capacity to send more information at a much faster rate. For example, a motorway allows much more traffic to move quickly from town to town than a single lane city road does. Equally, Broadband Internet via cable modem allows more video, data and audio ‘traffic’ to pass faster. In addition, Broadband is always connected resulting in no more frustrating dial-up connections.

 

They play in the broadband business with solutions have become popular over the years.  They understand that  broadband wireless technology is the fastest deployable means to the internet today. There is “No waiting” period to connect and once on, always on! Data, Voice, Video and Legacy data can all be downloaded forty (40) times faster than a standard 56k modem. And Zipnet gives you just about that and more.

Facebook Weakest Link – The Stone Aged Static Ads. Google+ Only Avenue To Disrupt

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

There is one product that Facebook has that is impending its growth. Its ads are very primitive. The static ads by the RHD of the profiles are easily ignored with no consequence. It is a product that Google+ could attack and take advertisers away from Facebook. Tekedia thinks that if Facebook does not get this right, it will lose the revenue game.

 

Take a case in point. Last week, we ran some ads in Facebook. We got good impressions. People saw them of course, but the  click rate was poor. If we had focused on showing our brand without expecting people to click towards buying decisions, it would not have mattered.

 

In our ad that ran last week, hundreds of thousands of people saw the different five versions we had. But just few hundreds clicked. We think that Facebook click rate is poor, simply because the ads are easily ignored. For Facebook, it is good for them as they have vowed not to disturb the user experience. Unfortunately, someone has to pay to keep Facebook in business and that is where the ad system comes into play.

 

Over years, we have run many ads.  We have always focused on brand introduction, not necessarily getting people to visit the site. But that is changing and Facebook does not offer a good platform for us to execute.

 

If Google+ has a very compelling product that can get people inside the network and still allow for solid ad system, Facebook could see a shift. They made $2 billion last year on ads with this static ad. If Google+ could add some flash or dynamism, we will choose them over Facebook. We make this comment from the perspective of an ad buyer and that is what matters to us. Users may think otherwise.

Tekedia Best Global Foundations For Africa – Omidyar Network, Indigo Trust And Legatum

By
Tekedia Editors
-
1

Today, we just commissioned  Tekedia Technology Quarterly, which mirrors the Economist’s Magazine Technology  but focuses on technologies in Africa. We understand that in this age of global redesign, no continent or nation must be left behind. This publication will provide the world with first rate information on the technology progress in the continent. We are talking with native doctors, local bricklayers, palm wine tappers, ICT experts and indeed all areas of technology to find if there are innovations in any of the business processes or operations. We are not skewed within the European model of innovation. We are looking for patterns in even how the local people are managing erosion control. If they employ any useful technology, we report it.

As we push to move into the domain of providing this type of information, we are also examining the Foundations that are helping the African continent. While the likes of Ford Foundation, Rockefeller, Kaufman, MacArthur and others continue to help the continent, in the last few months, the radar is shifting to the speed, pragmatism and execution of Omidyar Network. Following Omidyar Network is the Legatum. Indigo Trust has also evolved to become a solid powerhouse for funding. These three institutions, global and outside of Africa, are becoming vehicles to access capital for entrepreneurship. They enable the formation of ecosystem and incubation hubs to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship across our continent.

Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm, established by iconic and legendary eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam. Omidyar Network is  dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. They invest in and help scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic, social, and political change.  They just provided the necessary funding to help create Co-Creation Hub in Nigeria. They have also supported Africa Transparency and Technology Initiative, African Leadership Academy and the Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship which is managed by Legatum. These are instruments for sustainable development and not consumptive in nature. They want to build capacity and through that way give Africans the opportunities to make themselves whole. When you see these organizations, just note that ON is somehow around them: Ushahidi, FrontlineSMS, Africa Media Initiative, Praekelt Foundation, Infonet, Sahara Reporters, Enough is Enough Nigeria and the Africa Transparency and Technology Initiative. Recall that iHub Kenya is a brainchild of Ushahidi and ON is a key player in the Ushahidi vision.

Legatum has emerged as one of the platforms for entrepreneurs to get inspired in Africa. Tekedia continues to be impressed on what they are doing in MIT through the center which they help to mentor MIT selected students on the path of entrepreneurship. Many African students have been chosen and that continues to play a major impact in whatever we hope to become. But the best we know about Legatum is the Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship. It has become a pivot that opens the hope for any African to build a sustainable business, create jobs, be honest to all stakeholders and get to the global stage.

The Indigo Trust is a grant making foundation that funds technology-driven projects to bring about social change, largely in African countries.  It was founded by Fran Perrin and now runs it with the husband William.  The Trust, one of the 18 Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts (SFCT), focuses mainly on innovation, transparency and citizen empowerment. The Indigo Trust makes grants to African projects or programmes, or to organisations which operate at least partly in African countries. They believe that access to information for all empowers people to change their own lives and communities.  If you have visited Cameroonian Activ Spaces, this Foundation is playing a key role in what is happening there. Also, they invested in the C-Creation Hub, Nigeria.

Tekedia continues to thank all these progressive institutions that continue to offer the vistas for the next Africa. We want to wish them more opportunities in their businesses so that Africa can have more.

While Nigeria Must Follow Kenya And Launch An Open Data Initiative

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

Nigeria must get serious and follow what Kenya did by launching an Open Data Initiative. We have the FOI and now is the time to get the technology to make it more open.  Instead of asking for it, we have to be ready to give it. This is very imperative as democracy demands openness and we have to lead in that domain.

 

Some highlight of the Kenya Open Data Initiative include:

The  makes public government data accessible to the people of Kenya. High quality national census data, government expenditure, parliamentary proceedings and public service locations are just a taste of what’s to come.

 

Background on Open Government Data

Governments collect, curate and store public sector information (PSI) that’s typically used for their own purposes. When this data is released, in a digital form that can be freely found and used by anyone else for their own purposes, it becomes Open Government Data or ODG. 

 

 

What kind of data are we talking about?

In Kenya, data includes: various dimensions of population data; local and national government authority expenditure; public health indicator data and statistics including hospital locations; education data such as enrollment rates and school locations; parliamentary proceedings (digital Hansard); weather information and detailed census statistics on topics such as access to electricity, water and sanitation.

 

Why is open government data important?

This data already exists, it’s already been paid for, it’s about the public and it belongs to the public. Government data is a valuable resource for users outside government. Making it open means more people can benefit from it, in more ways than the government alone can think of or support. OGD can foster a better relationship between citizens and government and between citizens and citizens – it can create economic and social value for a country, and help people make better decisions in their own lives.

 

Who uses open government data?

Users include: different departments and ministries within government; members of the public; journalist and the media; academics and researchers; policy makers; technology developers; companies and private sector service providers; international institutions and even other governments.

 

How is this different to freedom of information (FOI) or right to information (RTI)?

FOI and RTI is about citizens “pulling data” out of government on-demand. Open Government Data is about governments “pushing data” out proactively: with good ODG, you don’t have to ask, you can just use the information that’s already accessible. If the data you want is not there, you can ask the government to publish it as OGD so that everyone can benefit from it.

1...7,6927,6937,694...8,046Page 7,693 of 8,046

© Tekedia. All rights reserved.

Term & Privacy

© Tekedia. All rights reserved.

Term & Privacy