DD
MM
YYYY

CATEGORIES

PAGES

DD
MM
YYYY

spot_img

CATEGORIES

PAGES

Home Blog Page 7908

Tech Bubble Come And Let Social Media Heat Up! May Nigeria Be Involved In That Bubble

By
Tekedia Editors
-
2

Facebook is valued at $65b, according to Nyppex – the private market equity solution provider. Ask yourself how many hours of your time on Facebook were included in that valuation. Hold on – Groupon is worth about $25b. Ohhh. Wait, Zynga – the gaming company is  worth $8b, according to Nyppex. Do these valuations make sense? Is a bubble near?

 

We do not know the answer and it may not matter, especially to Nigeria. Simply, a tech bubble brings small good things and many bad things also. Bubble corrects a cycle and before it, penetration is peaked. Nigeria missed the tech bubble of late 1980s that involved the PC companies. We did not participate. Then the dot-com bubble of early 2000 and we also missed that. We had no player in those sectors and we did not feel the busts. Too bad!

 

We want Nigeria to participate and to feel the impact of the next tech bubble. Yes, we can only feel it if we are into it. And it seems that social media will be the first opportunity for Nigeria to feel a tech bubble. We are not there, but if it can wait for extra five years, we might get there. If there is a bubble right now, we may go unscratched which will be very disappointing.

 

Why do we want to experience the bubble in Nigeria? After bubbles, technologies evolve. Every bubble leaves debris which are picked up and used to create the next technology and then a bubble repeats. It is  a virtuoso (yes, virtuoso) cycle. Without bubble, there will not be new direction. There will not be new approach. There will not be innovation. Without the late 1980 bubbles, we might not have experienced the dot-com. And without the dot-com, there will not be any Facebook or Google.

 

When the PC market crashed for the stocks of the players like Intel, Compaq, the world saw cheaper microprocessors everywhere. They quickly figured out what to do with those microprocessors – and they created the web-based companies. By the time that one crashed, web was everywhere. And likes of Google then built a behemoth on top of that. Tech bubble brings a new direction and provides new perspectives.

 

But this time around, we are not just the typical consumers or spectators; we are participating and if the busts happen, we will be affected in Nigeria. If those cloud operators fold, most businesses in Nigeria will disappear. And that is exactly what we think we want. We have to play the game and get burnt along. People, yes – let us rain in Lagos.

 

The government must invest and help the startups with tools and infrastructure to get  better. Only that way will the companies be involved in deep technology and reap the benefits.  We must play at the creative sides and not be bystanders of importers and consumers. Lagos is booming with ideas and if we get support, Nigeria will play at the highest level and when the good tides come, we will ride and if the worst comes, let it not spare us because those that will be left behind are spectators.

 

This tech cycle will surely come to an end. It will happen. The question is this? Is Nigeria going to learn from this social media cycle for the next one.  Just note that top tier firms like Facebook and Google will survive a bubble – only the lower tiers will be bubbled out! We want top tiers and let us go do it.

Where Are The Nigerian WANTS? – The Math Wizards of Social Network Data

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

Who is a quant? The math wizard that crafts financial algorithms for investment and trading. They are fast, smart and stubbornly optimistic. They come with equations that help make sense of many clusters of nonsense. They get rewarded – very well.

 

But in the social media, they have them as Wants. They do what the bank quant guys do – help make sense of huge data. Yes, develop clever ways to target that ad to you based on your online footprints. Wants are considered the most important people in Silicon Valley. The computer programmers are great, but the key guys are those that solve those equations they implement in software. Without the algorithm, the software engineer has no meaning. The Wants power most ad-hit-success technological improvements you experience in Facebook and other social networks – and they are mostly mathematicians.

 

We want to know the best wants in Nigeria. These are usually young men with unusual mathematical prowess that can see patterns and trends in massive overload of data. Think of all the data Facebook has collected since it was founded. Someone must go through that and come up with a way to make sense so that when you visit their sites, the ads are waiting for you before the browser finishes loading. It has to be – it must be milliseconds decision so that you get to see the right ad quick!

 

Let us know whom the Nigerian Wants are?

Founders Series: Zubair Abubakar – Young Thinker and Creator of Nigeria Constitution Blackberry App

By
Tekedia Editors
-
4

He holds the record of the most successful App ever created in Nigeria. His Blackberry App arrived, and we all received it – very well. Within 72 hours, more than 10,000 downloads have been recorded. Tekedia is not aware of any App that comes close.

His is humble, articulate and engaging. A young man with great vision;  he already has a solution for our educational system-  incorporate more practical projects in the courses and our students will be work-ready. The model of one final year project is inefficient and must be replaced.

Tekedia is proud to present Zubair Abubakar – one of the promising young minds in our nation. Enjoy our interview with him.

——————-

 

– Tell us your name and background

I am Zubair Abubakar, web/mobile application developer, a social entrepreneur and a volunteer. I studied computer Science at Ashesi University Ghana. I have experiences in software development, web development and recently I’ve been involved in mobile application development. I’ve been involved in strategic problem solving solutions, I remember in 2006 while in the university, we had some problems with student council elections so I developed an election platform that enabled the whole election process to be conducted online making the university the first university to conduct student council elections online in Ghana and possibly Africa. I also developed a web based patient management system for Ashesi Health Center, which was used to manage the records of students and staff that visited the center. In recently times, I’ve been the lead developer on the project I like to call Nigeria’s biggest online local search portal ConnectNigerian. I also developed a blackberry application that allows Nigerians to read the country’s constitution on their mobile phone anytime anywhere, it was a success as it was downloaded 10,000 times within 72 hours.

 

– Introduce us to your company, products and services

I am actually in middle of setting up another company, so I’ll just talk about the product/service. My goal is to provide relevant mobile solutions to tons problems faced in by Africans. Just as access to computers and internet solved a lot of problems, I believe that even more problems can be solved via mobile as more people have access  have access to mobile phones than computers.

 

– What are the opportunities for your business

Wow, the opportunity for mobile solutions/services is very huge and more interestingly the opportunities cuts across every industry from education to entertainment, health, banking and finance, law and the list goes on.

 

– Tell us the challenges your business is facing

As usual every business in Nigeria must first face the problem of electricity, without an alternative medium of generating electricity no business can thrive in Nigeria. Another challenge is the issue of funds, there are little or no means available to fund businesses , especially tech businesses.

 

– Share with us how you are mitigating those challenges

Well, I’m mitigating the problem of electricity by using a generator on the side, so when there is no electricity to work, I turn on the generator. As for the funds issue, I use income from my fulltime job to fund my ideas. Although I’m linking up with some venture capitalist, in the hope to some of my ideas funded.

 

– Your message to other founders and entrepreneurs

The first thing to say is that they should be patient and persevere all the time. They should also believe that what will be will be, but if it will be its up to them, nobody understands your ideas more than you so its really left to you to drive it home, no matter what it takes.

 

 

– Should you become a LGA chair, Governor or President, tell us how you will make technology to flourish in your country

The two major deterrent to technology flourishing in Nigerian is the lack of or poor internet and power supply. So if I was in any position that can influence things, I would ensure that these two ingredients are available.

 

Another believe I have is that for technology to flourish the people that use the technology must really understand it and know how to use it well and to achieve this I would revamp the way technical courses are taught in the universities and ensure that there are more hands-on training and per-course projects and not the conventional final year project. This would get the students familiar with the technologies taught per course, thus making it easy to make use of the technology in the future.

 

I would also build an I.T centre which would have constant electricity and internet, something like the iHub in Kenya. A place where like minded and technically sound entrepreneurs can meet work and network. This I believe would go a long way to ensure that technology flourishes in Nigeria.

 

Thank you Zubair

Thanks for the opportunity

Microprocessor Of The Future: Tilera Chip – 10x Better Performance Than Intel’s?

By
Tekedia Editors
-
1

Tilera has reassured again that its server chips with 100 core processors will deliver 10 times better performance than Intel’s best server chips. Yes, 10 times and that is what the startup is promising. They hope to challenge Intel that controls 90% of server chips market. If they succeed, we could be in for another phase of computing development. Why? Cloud based operations will be cheaper since the cloud operators will spend lesser energy, space and resources to get all the farms running. Of course, that cost savings will be felt in prices customers pay.

 

 

Current chips, says Tilera Chief Executive Officer Omid Tahernia, haven’t been able to keep pace with the requirements of giant server farms built by companies such as Google and Facebook. These data centers need to expand to handle growing e-mail, online video, and search traffic. Simply increasing the speed at which a processor handles instructions from software has its limits. That approach generates a lot of heat and requires expensive cooling systems. “Turning up the clock frequency has given us a great couple of decades, but it’s run out of juice,” says Tahernia, who joined the San Jose company in 2007 after a career at Motorola and Xilinx. “For the first time, the semi industry is in the way of progress.”

 

With 90% share of  server chip market, Intel controls prices and firms like Facebook, Amazon and Google spend  a lot in running these farms. If Tilera disrupts, it means we can get some of the services cheaper, including Facebook ad rate.

 

As Tilera makes progress, we are proud of the work of Prof Kunle Olukotun -a Nigerian professor in Stanford University who has played major role in developing software that enables these core processors to work seamlessly. In other words, Nigeria made a big contribution here.

National Semiconductor Letter To Customers On Planned Texas Instrument Acquisition

By
Tekedia Editors
-
0

 

Last few weeks, Texas Instrument announced that it plans to acquire National Semiconductor.  This is the letter informing customers about the impending deal, in case you did not get one.  A reader sent it to us. Thanks for the tips we get these days from all over Africa and now beyond.

 

April 5, 2011


Dear Customer,


Yesterday National Semiconductor and Texas Instruments announced that we have entered into a definitive agreement under which TI will acquire National. Attached is the press release we issued (View here), which has more detailed information, but I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you about the news directly and what it means for you as our valued customer.


 

This deal is a vote of confidence for our world-class products and our highly skilled team, and reflects the leadership position we have built in power management technology and other areas. It goes without saying that TI is a first-rate global company, and most importantly, they share our commitment to providing quality products and exceptional service to customers. We think you’ll find that our product portfolios are exceptionally complementary. Moreover, through this transaction, we will become part of a larger, dynamic organization, which means that this business combination will allow us to deliver additional value to you through a comprehensive portfolio of analog product offerings, expanded manufacturing capacity, and continued excellence in supply chain and support.


 

While we are very excited about today’s news, this announcement is just the first step in the process. We must obtain regulatory approvals and National shareholder approval, and we expect that the transaction will take six to nine months to close. Until that time, we will continue to operate as independent companies, and for us, it is business as usual at National. We remain focused, as we always have, on execution and results, and will continue to deliver the high-quality products and excellent support levels that you have come to expect from us.


 

We’ll stay in touch as future developments take place, and we look forward to continuing to serve you.


 

Please do not hesitate to contact your National account manager with any questions.


 

Best regards,


Don Macleod

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

1...7,9077,9087,909...7,969Page 7,908 of 7,969

© Tekedia. All rights reserved.

Term & Privacy

© Tekedia. All rights reserved.

Term & Privacy