Google has released a standalone app for Lens via Google Play Store. With it, you have yet another way to access the smart camera feature. It's especially handy if your Android device doesn’t currently offer it, or if you found it a pain to access Lens in general. The feature started out in Google Assistant on Pixel phones as a hidden icon before making its way into the Google Photos app.

The Lens app has the same functionality as Google Lens does everywhere else: It's an AI-powered technology that uses your smartphone camera and deep machine learning to not only detect an object, but understand what it detects and offer actions based on what it sees. Once you open the new Lens app, you'll be presented with a viewfinder that you can use to capture and identify nearby objects.
Google Lens is a super-powered version of Google Googles, and it's even quite similar to Samsung's Bixby Vision. It enables you to do things such as point your phone at something, such as a specific flower, and then ask Assistant to name the object. However, from what we can tell, the Lens app won't work on all Android devices. It currently requires a phone running Android Marshmallow or above.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/06/google-lens-app-is-now-available-at.html?m=1

According to The Wall Street Journal, Instagram is trying to put an end to 1 min video lenght upload. Instagram is developing “a new feature” that would let you post video clips of up to an hour in length. That would allow Instagram to better rival YouTube, as well as its own parent company, Facebook. The feature isn't official at this point, and the report made it seem like Instagram could decide against doing away with its existing video-length constraints.

Another interesting aspect of this new feature is that it would focus on vertical video, something Instagram Stories has long supported. The Stories feature in both Instagram and Snapchat showcase a tall video format. Instagram also allows videos in its Stories feature to be up to 15 seconds long each, while videos in the main feed are not vertical but can be up to 60 seconds long each.
The company has “in recent weeks” held discussions with potential partners, content creators, and publishers about the possibility of producing longer-form video, too. It'll be interesting to see if this feature does roll out, and if it does, how users take advantage of it.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/06/instagram-will-allow-up-to-hour-video.html?m=1

Sure

nymphomaniac:
Apple leads...others follow.

Lalasticlala over to u

We still wait for the 2018 iPhone to arrive with it top features but it seems that Apple has great plans for it 2019 iPhone.A leak has confirmed that Apple is going to include triple cameras on one if not all of it 2019 iphones that will be released. This cameras will feature 3D vision for augmented reality and 3x optical zoom.

According to source, two of this camera will serve a primary role of providing 3D images by capturing from different angles while the third camera is going help to provide a stunning 3x optical zoom for better picture and video quality. The three cameras are also going to help in optical stabilization.

Although this features are already seen in some latest smartphones like the Huawei P20 pro with the 3x optical zoom and the Asus zenfone AR ZS571KL with the augmented reality features. This will still be a major improvement to the iPhones of 2019 specifically in photography.

Apple is going to be requiring a large purchase of cameras to specifically meet this demands. No one is aware of the company that will deliver this cameras. Because of this, the tendency of this vision coming to reality is less than 50%. Until Apple agrees with a company with the capability to mass produce this cameras for this purpose we are not fully assured that this will happen.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/06/apple-to-introduce-triple-cameras-on.html?m=1

OLED screens are a unique kind of screen compared to LCD or LED screens. They have pixels that can produce their own light. They produce a large variety of colours with a high contrast. They are energy efficient to the point that they can shut down some pixel to produce black colours and allow the rest to produce other colours which can therefore save battery power.

Apple also said that it 2019 iPhone will have a better battery that will last longer. Therefore including an OLED screen can guarantee a long lasting battery on the 2019 iPhone.

The major problems about OLED screen is that they are too expensive and difficult to produce and the top manufacturer of OLED screens is LG. This was the reason why Apple skipped OLED screens until the introduction of the iPhone X.

If Apple truly has a plan for this then it no doubt that the 2019 iPhone will significantly be more expensive than the iPhone X. Apple has not confirmed this report yet but ET News has a good track on industry leaks so it could therefore be possible.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/06/apple-is-planning-on-releasing-three.html?m=1

While the standard DualShock 4 controllers that ship with the PlayStation 4 are probably enough for most gamers, there will always be a subset of users who want more customization options for their gamepads. Enter the SCUF Vantage, a new performance controller being developed as an officially licensed PlayStation product. If you want more options when it comes to control schemes, the SCUF Vantage definitely seems to be the controller for you, but only if you’re willing to plop down a significant amount of cash.

One look at the promotional shots of this controller is enough to know that it’s quite a bit more serious than the DualShock 4. Additions include a pair of sax buttons on either side of the controller, along with four paddles on the back side of the device. There’s also an audio touch bar at the bottom of the gamepad that allows you to increase and decrease in-game audio without taking your hands off the controller.

Things get a little more intense when we look under the faceplate – which is magnetic and can be swapped out if you so choose. The vibration modules in the SCUF Vantage can actually be removed, which will make your controller lighter and cut back on hand fatigue, at least according to Sony. The Vantage also supports interchangeable D-pads and control pads, so you can change between the two at your leisure, as well as adjustable hair triggers that can help with accuracy and response time in FPS games.

You can remap the buttons on the controller by pressing the remapping switch beneath the audio bar, and like most of these advanced controllers, you can also equip the Vantage with a number of different thumbstick mods. In the end, this is basically Sony’s answer to the Xbox One Elite controller, and the Vantage shares a lot of similarities with it – most notably, a left-side layout that seem to be heavily inspired by Xbox One’s gamepad.

If this seems like a controller you want to own, you might want to start saving up. Sony announced a $169.95 price tag for the wired-only SCUF Vantage today on the PlayStation Blog, while the wireless model will run you a whopping $199.95. We’ll see it launch later this summer at SCUF’s online store and at GameStop.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/06/a-new-performance-controller-on-ps4.html?m=1

Matthew Hutson, a freelance writer, has published a Feature article in the journalScience outlining progress in getting computers to learn and to think more like human beings. In his article, he suggests that a lot of problems will need to be solved before machines can learn to think the way people do. And at its root, he suggests, it will require figuring out how to get computers to learn both by trial and error and through baked-in features that correspond to instinct.


As Hutson notes, deep learning network-based systems have accomplished extraordinary things, such as beating humans at very difficult games or learning to flip hamburgers. But they still lack the ability to apply what they have learned to new and different environments. A chess-playing robot able to beat the best human player in the world would still lose when asked to play a game of checkers with a child. They also lack common sense. As a simple example, Hutson cites asking a robot butler to retrieve a red cup from the cupboard—how should it respond if there are no red cups in the cupboard? Instead, the cabinet is stocked with cups of other colors and plates that are red. A human would most likely choose a cup of another color rather than a red plate that partially matches the request, because she would understand the intended use of the required object. But how do we get robots to do that?
To get robots to be more able to handle real-world, random scenarios will likely involve getting them to learn the way humans or other animals learn. This will likely will require going back to the original design—the human brain. He suggests researchers like Gary Marcus of New York University as key developers. Marcus is a developmental cognitive scientist involved in research aimed at studying how humans learn from birth onward. Researchers like Marcus, Hutson suggests, are searching for the means by which humans and other animals are endowed with instinctual behavior. Indeed, Marcus has come up with a list of human instincts that he believes will need to be baked into computers before they ever learn things like causality and assessing cost-benefit situations.

Hutson notes that some computer scientists are jumping on such new ideas and he lists companies like Vicarious, in California, and DeepMind in England, which are hard at work trying to implement them. He also cites ongoing research efforts in places like MIT and the University of New South Wales, where teams are trying to learn how the human brain works and how machines can be made to function the same way.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/05/how-to-make-robot-to-learn-like-human.html?m=1

Back in 2013, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) introduced the A7 system on a chip (SoC) as part of its then-flagship smartphone, the iPhone 5s. The A7 was impressive for several reasons. Firstly, it was the very first 64-bit ARM processor to ever hit the market, which gave Apple some performance and efficiency advantages over its fellow mobile competitors (who, rather comically, tried to downplay the need for 64-bit chips as they furiously worked on their own).

What caught my attention at the time, though, was that the A7 delivered CPU performance at a frequency of 1.3 gigahertz that was very similar to chip giant Intel‘s (NASDAQ:INTC) very best processor, known as Haswell, at the same frequency. Now, Intel’s chips, at the time, ran at much higher frequencies (in excess of 3 gigahertz), but what the strong per-gigahertz performance of the A7 chip signaled to me was that Apple had built a very impressive base from which to build up in future smartphone chips.

Fast forward to today, and Apple’s best iPhone and iPad processors deliver performance for CPU tasks — Intel’s specialty — that’s competitive with Intel’s best notebook computer processors but in sleeker, lower-power devices than what Intel’s chips can fit into.
I believe that when Apple introduces its next iPhone in about four months, it will deliver equal or better CPU performance to Intel’s best notebook processors designed to consume 15 watts but at a fraction of the power consumption.
Intel, in my view, will be shown to be a clear No. 2 in high-performance, low-power processor design, behind Apple. This not only looks bad for Intel (since much of Intel’s brand value is predicated on its being perceived as the maker of the world’s best processors) but it could have serious financial implications later down the line.
Let’s look at how both Intel and Apple ended up where they are relative to one another.

Apple’s relentless pace of innovation
The quality of a processor is largely determined by its design — the better the design, the faster and more efficient it’ll be. Apple’s first in-house processor core, known as Swift, delivered performance that was right up there with Arm Holdings’ then-flagship Cortex A15 processor core, but the A6 was earlier to market and arguably more power-efficient.
Every year since the introduction of the Swift processor core inside the A6, Apple has rolled out new processor cores, with each new processor core incorporating substantial design improvements.

But while Apple is great at chip design, it doesn’t manufacture its own chips — it outsources production to third parties. Apple’s A-series chips through the A7 were manufactured exclusively by Samsung (NASDAQOTH:SSNLF), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM) was the exclusive manufacturer of the A8, A10, and A11 chips. TSMC and Samsung reportedly split the orders for the A9.
Both TSMC and Samsung have delivered new manufacturing technologies at a breakneck pace. The performance, power consumption, and economic viability of a chip are determined heavily by the technologies upon which it’s manufactured.

Apple’s A7 chip was built using Samsung’s 28-nanometer technology, the A8 chip was manufactured using TSMC’s 20nm technology, the A9 was manufactured by either TSMC or Samsung on their respective 16nm and 14nm technologies, the A10 using an upgraded version of TSMC’s 16nm technology, and the A11 using TSMC’s 10nm technology.
Apple’s upcoming A12 processor is believed to have gone into mass production recently using TSMC’s latest 7nm technology.
Each of those manufacturing technologies has brought performance, power consumption, and area benefits over its predecessors, allowing Apple’s chip designers to deliver increasingly capable processors.

The combination of Apple’s chip-design prowess and a highly capable ecosystem of contract chip-manufacturing partners has led to some huge advances in mobile computing.
Unfortunately, as bright as things have been for Apple, the situation has been much less rosy for Intel.
Intel’s design and manufacturing mishaps
For years, Intel had a clear leadership position in chip-manufacturing technology over the contract chip-manufacturing companies. Intel’s technologies tended to be, at any given time, denser than what the competition brought to market — and, more importantly, they incorporated more advanced transistor technologies than the competition did, allowing Intel to deliver better-performing and more efficient chips than its competition did.
Unfortunately, while TSMC’s manufacturing transitions have gone as expected for years, Intel’s haven’t. For some perspective, Intel’s 14nm technology was delayed by about six months, and its 10nm technology has been delayed by more than three years (it’s still not in volume production as of this writing; Intel’s current claim is that it’ll go into production at some point in 2019).

Intel has put out enhanced versions of its 14nm technology (known as 14nm+ and 14nm++) to try to hold the line as it works out the issues with its 10nm technology — a strategy that’s been successful so far — but the problem is that Intel didn’t really plan for these delays. So from a product perspective, Intel couldn’t bring out fundamentally new designs based on those tweaked versions of 14nm.

Beginning in 2015, Apple has released three SoCs — A9, A10, and A11. Each of those chips has had enhanced processor cores, graphics processors, memory subsystems, and all of the other goodies that make chips more powerful and power-efficient. Later this year, Apple will introduce an A12 chip that should incorporate substantial advances across the board.

Intel, however, is expected to release a new wave of processors for laptop computers known as Whiskey Lake built using its 14nm technology (likely 14nm++) that likely won’t have any real design improvements — it should be the same basic processor technology that Intel has been selling since 2015.
Since Apple has managed to aggressively innovate in terms of chip design and has had access to significant improvements in chip-manufacturing technology over the years, it’s little wonder that its processors continue to see performance, power consumption, and feature improvements that simply outclass what Intel has brought to market over the last three years.

Investment takeaway
To be quite blunt, given the relatively anemic pace of processor innovation on Intel’s part (which, admittedly, has more to do with manufacturing stumbles and poor planning than with Intel’s ability to engineer new processors) and the unreliability of Intel’s manufacturing, I can see why the rumors that Apple is planning to ditch Intel in future Mac personal computers are becoming louder and more credible with each passing year.

At some point, Apple’s processor designs could be so far ahead of Intel’s in all relevant metrics that Apple would actually be doing its Mac products a disservice by not switching over to its own chips. Furthermore, if it can open a comfortable lead over Intel, Apple could use the superiority of its in-house designed processors as a key marketing point against the hordes of Windows-based computers that use Intel processors.
As I’ve written before, Apple probably buys in the neighborhood of $3 billion in chips from Intel annually, so losing Apple would certainly sting Intel’s financials. Another issue for Intel, though, is that if Apple cuts Intel out and can successfully convince the broader public that computers with its own chips are much faster and deliver a superior user experience to Intel-powered computers from Apple’s competitors, Apple could make further gains in the personal computer market — to Intel’s detriment.

Ultimately, I think Apple is the most innovative chip designer in the world right now thanks to a combination of world-class engineering talent, exceptional management, and access to dependable manufacturing partners. Not only has Apple taken the lead over Intel, but I think that lead will continue to widen for years to come. In the short term, Apple’s chip-development prowess relative to Intel may lead to perception problems for Intel, but over the long term, if Intel falls too far behind, it could permanently lose billions in annual revenue should Apple decide that it’s had enough of Intel’s poor execution.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/05/apple-d-as-worlds-most-innovative.html?m=1

President Emmanuel Macron of France has announced that his country will offer $76 million (€65 million) for digital project that will offer funding for African start-ups. This offer was uncovered by Macron at the third edition of the VivaTech trade fair in Paris.
To carry on with this mandate, €30,000 to €50,000 would be provided from the French Development Agency (AFD) to African entrepreneurs.

President Macron has openly made entrepreneurship a core aspect of France’s domestic policy. After he became President in 2017, he quickly announced his plans to make France a start-up nation, meaning France will act and think like a start-up.
The scheme will be launched in the coming weeks so that African start-ups can apply.
Macron has made recent visits to Africa and has commended the impressive initiative coming from the continent.

“African startups have energy but the big providers of development aid and financiers have not adapted to that. We ourselves are too slow, too hesitant,” he said.
Fad or not, the African start-ups needs more of this input to bolster its fledging tech ecosystems; especially seeing that funding is a challenge for most African start-ups.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/05/france-offers-76m-for-digital-project.html?m=1

Most of us have been in a constant battle with our smartphones Interms of the battery power. Sometimes when you want to make use of your phone especially on a vital note, and yet you realise that it's already switched off.
To prevent misbehaving apps and excessive drain of battery power, Google has added a number of energy-saving features to Android over the past few years. Here's how they work and how you could make changes to fit your needs.

The future: Adaptive Battery learns your usage patterns

Google recently announced the next version of Android, currently codenamed “Android P,” which will deliver yet another battery-saving feature—this time with more machine learning. Adaptive Battery attempts to learn which apps you use when. Based on this information, it will restrict the apps it doesn’t expect you to open anytime soon.
Much like the other features in this guide, you don’t have to do anything for Adaptive Battery to work—it’ll just do its job in the background. You can, however, turn it off from Settings >Battery > Adaptive Battery. Android P won’t likely be available until this fall (or later, depending on your phone), but eligible users can download the beta now to test it out.

Oreo notifications tell you when an app is running in the background

Not all apps that run in the background are misbehaving. Some need to run constantly for certain features to function. In Android 8.0 Oreo, Google added a notification that lets you know when an app is using battery in the background. That way, you can choose whether or not that app’s features are worth a little extra drain. If it isn’t, you can disable the offending feature or uninstall the app entirely.
This notification can get annoying, especially if you have an app that runs in the background all the time, giving you a 24/7 notification. In Android 8.1, you can disable this notification by sliding it to the right, tapping the Settings icon that appears, and sliding off the toggle switch. Note that this will disable the battery usage notification for all apps, not just that one.
In fact, so many people found this feature annoying that Google has already announced it will get rid of the notification in the next version of Android. But for now, you know how to use it—and disable it.

App Standby sleeps apps you rarely use
Ever download an app, install it, and then forget about it for a month? App Standby keeps those apps from running in the background and draining your battery. If you don’t use an app for a few days—and if it hasn’t sent you any notifications—it’ll enter App Standby, where it’s no longer allowed to run in the background or access the internet until you purposely open it again. If you don’t, then it will only run briefly once a day or so, and when your device is plugged in, before re-entering standby mode.
You can exempt apps from App Standby the same way you do Doze: Just turn off Battery Optimization for that app, as described previously. If you’re curious about which apps are currently in Standby mode, though, you can check on them from Android’s Developer Options. Just be careful, as these options were not meant for users to tinker with.
Head to Settings > System > About Phone and tap the “Build Number” seven times. Your phone will tell you that you are now a developer, allowing you to access the new “Developer Options” menu in Settings > System. Head into that menu and scroll down to “Inactive Apps” near the very bottom. Tap that option, and you’ll see a list of apps on your system. The ones marked “Inactive” are currently in App Standby mode.
As a more productive activity, though, try checking out the “Active” apps. If an app is active even though you haven’t used it in weeks, it might be worth asking why. Perhaps you need to turn off notifications for that program, or maybe it just deserves to be uninstalled.

Battery Saver extends your charge when you need it most
Back in Android 5.0 Lollipop, Google introduced a feature called “Battery Saver” to eke a bit more life out of your phone when it’s almost drained. When you enable Battery Saver mode, Android throttles your phone’s performance, limits background data usage, and reduces things like vibration in order to conserve juice. This makes your phone a bit less convenient to use—it’ll run slower and notifications may not come through—but that’s better than your phone being completely dead.
You can turn on Battery Saver mode at any time. Just head to Settings >Battery on your phone and flip on theBattery Saver switch. While you’re in the Battery settings, if you tap Battery Saver, you’ll also see an option to turn on this mode automatically when your phone reaches 15% or 5% battery. That way, when your device nears death, Android will attempt to stretch thebattery as long as it can go before that final shutdown. If you frequently rely on this mode, then add a shortcut to the Quick Settings panel, which you see when you swipe down twice from the top of the screen. For easy access, just click the edit pencil and drag the BatterySaver option into Quick Settings.

Doze puts your idle phone into a deeper sleep
Ever notice that some notifications seem to come through at the exact moment you turn on the screen? That’s a result of Doze, a battery-saving feature that puts your phone into a super-deep sleep when it’s idle.
When your screen has been off for a while, your phone begins dozing. Doze mode, according to Google, shuts off network access and defers any syncs. Instead, it waits for occasional “maintenance windows,” when the phone wakes up briefly, to run those jobs. That means you’ll still get notifications, but they may be a bit delayed, since they’ll only come in during those maintenance windows. So-called “High Priority” notifications like text messages and phone calls will still come through right away, but emails, Facebook messages, and other less immediate notifications may lag.
If the screen is off and the phone is completely idle—that is, sitting on a table instead of moving around in your pocket—it’ll enter an even deeper Doze state. In this mode, Android disables certain types of alarms, GPS, Wi-Fi scans, and “wakelocks”—which keep your phone active when the screen is off—as well as cutting off network access and spreading out those maintenance windows even more. This super-deep Doze mode is particularly effective at saving battery.
When you turn on your screen, your phone automatically exits Doze mode. That’s why you’ll occasionally see notifications arrive just as you unlock your phone—those messages came in between maintenance windows, and waking your phone up allowed them to pop up.
Android activates Doze by default, and there’s no way to turn it off completely. You can, however, exempt certain apps from Doze mode if you want them to run in the background at all times. That said, I wouldn’t recommend you do this, since it will drain your battery faster. If you still want to exempt a few apps, head toSettings > Battery, tap the menu button in the corner, and choose “Battery Optimization.”
You’ll see a list of apps that are “Not Optimized,” which means they’re exempt from Doze. By default, this list will mostly contain core pieces of Android that need to run at all times. If you tap the “Not Optimized” header, though, you can see a list of “All Apps” on your device. Then tap any of these apps to change it to “Don’t Optimize,” which will exempt it from Doze and allow it to run in the background.
The real tip, though, is to take advantage of Doze as much as you can. If you’re sitting at your desk and not using your phone, put the device face-down on the table to turn off the active display. That will encourage it to enter deep Doze mode, which can really help stretch your battery.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/06/five-battery-saving-features-that-will.html?m=1

Come steal it then lol...

NicestDude:
The only thing we need to steal back is your school fees... Look at the title of this thread...!!!

The Sony Xperia L2 was launched in January 2018. The phone comes with a 5.5-inch IPS touch screen with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels with 267 PPI (Pixels per Inches).

The Xperia L2 is powered by a Quad core MediaTek MT6737T processor at 1450 Mhz and comes with 3 GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It has 32 GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 256 GB through a microSD card.

As for the cameras, the Xperia L2 includes a primary camera of 13.25 Megapixels in the back and a front of 8 Megapixels for selfies.

The Xperia L2 runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat and is powered by a Lithium Polymer battery (LiPo) - Fixed (Non-removable) of 3300mAh. It measures 150 x 78 x 9.8 (height x width x thickness) and weighs 178 grams.

The Sony Xperia L2 has connectivity options that include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, USB. The sensors in the phone include: Proximity sensor, Light sensor, Accelerometer, Compass, Fingerprint reader, Hall sensor.

https://naijatechstar..com/2018/05/latest-sony-xperia-l2-with-best-features.html?m=1

Dats right

henry007:

Just as it has ever been before, Apple fans will be in anticipation of another major hardware upgrade or two as new iPhones arrive over the next two years, the recent reports seem to suggest that the Cupertino company will offer up exactly Citing a research note from Deutsche Securities analyst Jialin Lu, Economic Daily News claims that the 2019 flagship iPhone will be the first from Apple to feature a triple-lens camera, similar to the well-reviewed Huawei P20 Pro.

According to a translation of the report from MacRumors, Lu suggests the triple-lens camera will enable advanced 3D sensing on the 2019 iPhone with stereoscopic vision. Two sensors will capture images of an object from two different angles. Then, using triangulation, the distance between the phone and the object can be determined.

The report also indicates that the 2019 iPhone will feature a 3D sensing apparatus on the rear (like the True Depth sensor on the front of the iPhone X) that will be used for augmented reality. This mirrors a report from Bloomberg late last year, in which Alex Webb made the same claim regarding next year’s flagship phone.

Finally, Lu also expects the third lens to have a longer focal length, which would enable enhanced zoom capabilities on the rear camera. With a long-focus lens, the 2019 model could be the first iPhone with 3x optical zoom. This would allow iPhone owners to zoom up to 3 times without any significant reduction in image quality. For comparison’s sake, the iPhone X and iPhone 8 Plus max out at 2x optical zoom, so this would be a significant upgrade.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/next-years-ipone-might-steal-feature.html

As a part of it’s commitment and ongoing investment in Arica, Facebook on last week Tuesday uncovered NG Hub in Lagos, Nigeria. Its first flagship community hub space in Africa, in partnership with co- Creation Hub Lagos. In a week-long celebration which will bring together developers, starts-up and wider tech community across Lagos Nigeria, the launch will showcase the new multi-faceted space which aims to bring together communities to join together, learn and exchange ideas.

With skills, creativity and excellence existing across all Nigeria, Facebook also announced partnerships with seven other hubs across the country including Abuja (ventures Platform), Jos (InHub), Kaduna (Colab Hub), Kano (DI Hub), Uyo (Start Innovation Hub), Enugu (Roar Hub), and Port Harcourt (Ken Saro Wiwa Hub). These will serve as centers of excellence and will feature dedicated spaces, where many of Facebook’s training sessions will take place, and a space where creative’s and developers can book to help them advance their skills.

Featuring bespoke works of art from local artists in Nigeria, the NG-Hub space, which includes workspaces, meeting rooms, games and chill out room, an event space and well created café, will also be the focal point for a number of training programs. Aimed at attracting the best talent and driving innovation in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem, these are all designed to equip Nigerian SMSs, tech entrepreneurs and the next generation of leaders to better understand and utilize the power of digital tools for economic growth. Training programs include:


· The Fb Start Accelerator Program

· Digify Pro Nigeria

· Boost Your Business


“The NG_Hub highlights our ongoing commitment to supporting local talent in Nigeria. We’re delighted to be in partnership with CcHub here in Lagos, as well as with many other Hubs across Nigeria to deepen our engagement, increase skills development and support the next set Innovators, tech entrepreneurs, start-ups, and others In our collective bid to change the face of technology and grow the economy”, said Ebele Okobi, Director of Public Policy, Africa in his closing remarks.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/nghub-launched-in-lagos-its-first-hub.html

Essentials1:
is that one car

Hmmm

Acer has announced a new gaming powerhouse today with the Helios 500, which is a bigger, more powerful version of the Helios 300 model it released last year. It bumps the screen size up to 17.3-inches and includes options for even more powerful graphics cards and processors.

The Helios 500 has the choice of either a 4K or 1080p 144Hz display (both with Nvidia G-Sync), and it can be configured with up to an Intel Core i9+ 8950HK processor, GTX 1070 GPU with 8GB of memory, and 64GB of RAM for the top-of-the-line model. Like Acer’s other gaming laptops, the Helios 500 uses the company’s “Dual AeroBlade 3D fans” for what it claims to be improved cooling. And, of course, there’s plenty of LED lighting built in.

Acer also teased a new Predator X line for the future, with products that will harness Intel’s commercial-grade Xeon processors for gaming, although there weren’t any actual products announced that will use the processors yet.

Also announced is a special edition update of the 15.6-inch Helios 300 model, with a new 144Hz 1080p display, an updated eighth-generation Core i7+ processor, Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU, and Acer’s Dual AeroBlade 3D cooling system in a new white-and-gold color scheme.

Lastly, Acer announced a new slate of Predator gaming accessories, including a wheeled hard case to carry your laptop and a Predator-branded gaming chair.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/acers-new-predator-helios-500-is-173.html?m=1

Acer has announced a new gaming powerhouse today with the Helios 500, which is a bigger, more powerful version of the Helios 300 model it released last year. It bumps the screen size up to 17.3-inches and includes options for even more powerful graphics cards and processors.

The Helios 500 has the choice of either a 4K or 1080p 144Hz display (both with Nvidia G-Sync), and it can be configured with up to an Intel Core i9+ 8950HK processor, GTX 1070 GPU with 8GB of memory, and 64GB of RAM for the top-of-the-line model. Like Acer’s other gaming laptops, the Helios 500 uses the company’s “Dual AeroBlade 3D fans” for what it claims to be improved cooling. And, of course, there’s plenty of LED lighting built in.

Acer also teased a new Predator X line for the future, with products that will harness Intel’s commercial-grade Xeon processors for gaming, although there weren’t any actual products announced that will use the processors yet.

Also announced is a special edition update of the 15.6-inch Helios 300 model, with a new 144Hz 1080p display, an updated eighth-generation Core i7+ processor, Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU, and Acer’s Dual AeroBlade 3D cooling system in a new white-and-gold color scheme.

Lastly, Acer announced a new slate of Predator gaming accessories, including a wheeled hard case to carry your laptop and a Predator-branded gaming chair.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/acers-new-predator-helios-500-is-173.html?m=1

Image-Line has just released the newest version of its Digital Audio Workstation FL Studio (Fruity Loops), and with it comes native Mac support for the first time since its creation in 1997, as reported by Pitchfork.

Although the ability to use the program on Mac is the biggest news, FL Studio 20 also includes other updates. This version has support for time signatures, freezing for clips in order to free up CPU, and the ability to have multiple “arrangements” so users can work with different versions of a project at one time.

The program is affordable in comparison to some other DAWs, and it has gained many prolific fans, like Martin Garrix, Metro Boomin, and Porter Robinson. The company initially said it had begun working on a Mac version back in 2013. It then released a version in 2014, which never moved beyond testing. The reason for the DAW’s delay in moving over to Mac was due to Delphi, the programming language used, which used to be more suited for Windows.

If you buy FL Studio, the license covers both Mac and Windows. Current FL Studio owners can download the Mac version for no additional charge, and projects are compatible between the Mac and Windows versions of the program.

You can get the most basic version of the program for $99, while the beefed-up FL Studio goes for $899 and includes a host of VSTs (only some of which, it should be noted, are cross-compatible with Mac).

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/music-production-software-fruity-loops.html?m=1

Microsoft has announced a set of new Xbox One dashboard features that will start to roll out to Alpha Preview members in the June update. These won't be available to the wider Xbox One user population until a later date, but as usual the preview features give us an advance look at what's coming.

A new customization option called Groups will allow you to create custom collections of games and apps. They're essentially custom sets of Pins, so you'll be able to display multiple collections on the Home and the My Games and Apps menus. Your Groups will be tied to your Xbox Live account, so they'll appear consistently across multiple consoles.

Other new features include an improved search, with the function mapped to Y across anywhere in the dashboard and easier access to displaying more results. You'll also be able to store multiple wi-fi passwords, and the Narrator will add five more languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, and Dutch. The notes mention an improvement to family sharing with child accounts.

Some users will also get experimental features as pilot tests for the future. The full announcement also includes notes on changes made based on user feedback, and bug fixes.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/latest-xbox-one-update-are-out-now.html?m=1

Looking for a deal on Xbox games? Microsoft has now announced all of this week's Xbox Live Deals With Gold offers, and there are some great deals to be had. Microsoft's Major Nelson rounded this up on his blog--see the full list here--and we're breaking out some notable offers to give you a snapshot of what's on sale for the week.

On Xbox One, some of the notable deals include Castle Crashers Remastered ($12), Fallout 4 ($15), Fallout 4: GOTY Edition ($40), FIFA 18 ($30), Inside ($, Limbo ($2),Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite ($20), and Star Wars: Battle.front II ($24). Additionally, Rainbow Six Siege ($25), Bastion ($7.50), and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 ($20).
Additionally, Battlefield 1's In the Name of the Tsar expansion is free, as is the Final Stand expansion for Battlefield 4; here's how to download those expansions for free.

There are some nice offers on Xbox 360 as well, including Grand Theft Auto V ($20), and Red Dead Redemption ($10). Rockstar's acclaimed western also plays on Xbox One through backwards compatibility, and it looks even better on Xbox One X. Go to Major Nelson's blog to see a full rundown of this week's Deals With Gold offers, some of which require an Xbox Live Gold membership. The offers are good through May 28.

In other Xbox news, Microsoft has detailed what's coming in theh next Xbox One update, get all the details here. Looking further out, Microsoft's E3 2018 briefing is slated for the afternoon of June 10.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/xbox-one-digital-game-deals-for-this.html?m=1

WhatsApp will now be able to play videos formatted for Facebook and Instagram. The Facebook owned messaging service already has integration to play YouTube videos within chats but previously wasn’t able to run videos from the parent company’s social media platforms of Facebook and Instagram.

The update will mean when you receive a Facebook or Instagram video link from within WhatsApp, you can watch it right there, in your chat. The result should be that playing a video appears the same as YouTube video playback currently on WhatsApp. Sounds great but there’s a catch. This is iOS only right now so only iPhone users can enjoy it.

This will appear to those who have updated WhatsApp to the newest version, 2.18.51, available now. Expect an Android update to follow soon. The update also gives the ability to add and remove admin privileges to users in group chats. Admins will also have the power to edit the subject, descriptions and image for the chat. This is all found in the Group Settings menu section. To remove an admin from a group, select the user in Group Info, then select Dismiss As Admin.

This could be the first step into a more video focused messaging platform for WhatsApp. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced at the company’s F8 developer conference that WhatsApp would soon support group video calling. Stickers are also expected to make an appearance on WhatsApp soon, including those made by third-party developers.

After WhatsApp CEO Jan Kuom left the company recently, there has been a lot of speculation about Facebook considering weakening encryption on the app. WhatsApp encryption is what keeps messages private so only the sender and receiver can see the content. Facebook is reportedly under governmental pressure to find ways to make WhatsApp accessible to law enforcement agencies.

Facebook paid $1.5 billion for WhatsApp in 2014 and is still reportedly trying to find a way to monetise the platform. Advertising has been one way that this may happen.

Facebook’s vice president of messaging products, David Marcus, told CNBC: "As far as advertising is concerned, we're definitely getting WhatsApp more open.”

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/whatsapp-now-lets-you-play-facebook-and.html?m=1

Facebook has admitted that it tracks people around the internet, looking at what they are looking at.

The site even tracks people who don't actually use the site and are not logged in, it has said. The admission, which reveals new information about how exactly Facebook watches its users, is revealed in a blog post published by the site's product management director, David Baser.

During questioning from US politicians, Mark Zuckerberg was vague on the specifics of Facebook's tracking, suggesting that data was primarily collected to ensure that Facebook was kept safe. But it has now admitted that the tracking is also being used to improve ads and for other products.

It does so for three main reasons, he said. Those include providing its own services within Facebook, making sure the site stays secure, and "enhancing our own products and services" – a category that includes tracking for ads.

"We can also use the fact that they visited a site or app to show them an ad from that business or a similar one back on Facebook," Mr Baser writes. That suggests that Facebook is tracking people as they head to other sites elsewhere on the internet, something that has been unclear in the way Facebook has described its own tracking.

The blog post also makes clear that Facebook is tracking people even if they are not logged into Facebook, or don't even use it.

"When you visit a site or app that uses our services, we receive information even if you’re logged out or don’t have a Facebook account," Mr Baser writes. "This is because other apps and sites don’t know who is using Facebook."

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/facebook-continue-to-track-people-even.html?m=1

Apple's developer conference WWDC is happening in less than two weeks, with lots of expected news on iOS 12, Macs, iPads and yes, the next version of its Apple Watch software. And while there are plenty of things I'd like to see in Watch OS 5, there's one thing I want most of all: a watch face store. It needs to happen, and it needs to happen now.

I like watch faces. A lot. In fact, it's the main reason I love smartwatches. The fun of a watch is how you can change the face. Show off something new. Make it feel different.

Unfortunately, the Apple Watch has a tiny number of available faces. Mickey and Minnie Mouse are probably the most famous, and Apple adds a few more each year, but they're limiting. I'm bored with them. And customization is limited: You can set your own photo as the background, but you can't add any complications.

Speciality designer-made watch faces, activity-specific ones, ones that can be even more customized. Let the Apple Watch finally adopt as many watch face personalities as the bands I can strap onto it. Maybe that'll happen, in a few weeks.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/time-for-apple-watch-to-get-watch-face.html?m=1

Earlier these year during the month of April, Apple terminated off its entire networking product line. The company announced that it would be sunsetting the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule. You can still buy the remaining stock (if you don't mind Frozen-era networking tech), and they'll still work. Just don't expect Apple CEO Tim Cook to pull out a shiny new next-gen Apple router on stage at June's WWDC keynote, or any other time in the future, unless the company feels it can somehow truly reinvent the networking space.

While some have lamented its demise, the death of the AirPort line surprised absolutely nobody. By not updating its networking products since 2013, Apple had effectively waved would-be consumers farther down the aisle, on to newer, better products from manufacturers that were actually moving forward in the space with innovations like mesh networking, Eero, Netgear and even Google, to name a few.

The death of the AirPort line is a stark contrast to the fate of the Mac Pro. Apple's highest-end computer was similarly left untouched for the better part of a decade. It had effectively been given up for dead by the Mac's creative community until the company revealed in 2017 that it would be resurrected in the future, completely redesigned from the ground up. Not only that, but Apple would be developing new standalone displays, too thus reversing its exit from the monitor business, when it had killed off the Thunderbolt display in 2016.

But what about those peers of the AirPort and the Mac Pro the other Apple products that have existed in limbo for years? They're not officially dead, but they feel impossible to recommend because "Apple has to be refreshing them soon, right?" Will they get an unexpected stay of execution, a la the Mac Pro? Will they be marched to the gallows, like the AirPort line? Or will they continue to occupy some middle ground product purgatory, limping along without updates?

With the June 4 WWDC keynote only days away, the anticipation is rising. It's a perfect excuse to look at whether Apple will keep or kill these four products.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/apple-terminated-off-its-entire.html?m=1

Acer's quick to grab the credit for shipping out Alexa-enabled laptops, but the reality is more complicated.

The manufacturer sent out a press release Monday morning declaring "First!" on shipping laptops with Amazon's voice assistant preinstalled. That's fine, but the first notebook to ship with it installed will be the Acer Nitro 5 Spin, which won't be shipping until next month. So if another company gets in there first, the Nitro 5 Spin may not be the first to ship with Alexa, as Acer claims.

Acer says its existing Acer Spin 5 and Spin 3 convertibles will be the first of its laptops to get an Alexa-enabling update, which will roll out on May 23 and May 25, respectively. But it wouldn't unequivocally confirm whether Alexa will actually work on those computers, just that the app will be installed.

This is just the latest in a trend to incorporate Alexa into Windows 10system. Lenovo's latest Yogasshipped before the Alexa app was available, but they can support the app, so all you'll have to do is install it.

Microsoft's making it desirable to incorporate voice-assistant technology into notebooks by mandating far-field, wide-array microphones in specific classes of laptops. These microphones were originally added in the hope that more people would use Cortana, Microsoft's own assistant.

https://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/acers-to-grab-credit-for-shipping-out.html?m=1

Jan Koum may be leaving Facebook Inc. but that didn’t stop him from getting stock awards this week worth $458 million.

The co-founder of WhatsApp, a Facebook messaging unit, had 2.5 million shares vest Tuesday, with about half withheld to satisfy tax obligations, according to a regulatory filing. Koum’s Butterfly Trust sold the rest on Wednesday.

Koum, 42, confirmed in an April 30 Facebook post that he’s leaving the social-media giant, without saying exactly when that will happen. He won’t stand for re-election to the board at the firm’s May 31 annual meeting, the company said in a filing. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment.

Koum still owns 4.6 million restricted shares, which vest in August and November. The awards are contingent on him being employed through those dates unless his exit is categorized as an involuntary termination or resignation for good reason, regulatory filings show.

Facebook shares rose 0.6 percent to $183.80 at 10:51 a.m. in New York, bringing this year’s advance to 4.2 percent.

http://naijatechstar..com.ng/2018/05/whatsapp-co-founder-and-ceo-jan-koum-is.html?m=1