₦airaland Forum

Which authorised dealers are you talking about ? Never seen one, never heard one. Can anybody shed more light on why Apple hardware is so expensive ? With the use of Intel processors and Nvidia graphic cards, apple is slowly seeing the light and giving up parts of its hardware to good manufactures.

That's an old story. You are preaching to the choir. Check out the numerous threads devoted to bad services in nairaland computer section. However, being curious which isp ripped you off and the details ?

Whether you like am, whether you no like am Starcomms Izap is still the best EVDO package. You get killer speeds and your moneys worth. All i can say for Multi links is wait and see.

@ Tayo-D

Yes, the the insurance company covering the NIGCOMSAT-1 is to pay fully for a new satellite if the present one is deemed to be unserviceable. Going by the conference done y the Min. of Science and Technology on AIT today, he assured nigerians that two options are available, service the the present one or build and launch a new one both at no cost to nigeria.

NIGERIAN SATELLITE BATTERY DEAD, NOT LOST IN SPACE

Wed 12 Nov 2008, 17:53 GMT


By Felix Onuah

ABUJA, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Nigeria's government said on Wednesday that its $340 million communications satellite was not lost in space, as reported by the local media, but that it was simply suffering from a flat battery.

The Nigerian Communication Satellite, or NIGCOMSAT-1, blasted off from a launch pad in China in May 2007 to great fanfare, with Nigeria hoping it would offer advanced telecoms, broadcasting and broadband multimedia services for 15 years.

Minister of state for Science and Technology Alhassan Zaku said engineers at ground stations in Abuja and China had noticed the satellite's solar-powered battery was not recharging and feared it could smash into other satellites if left unrepaired.

"After looking at the options we decided that the best thing to do was to park it, like you park a car," Zaku said.

"If it wasn't parked and it lost all its power there would be no energy to even move it ,  and it would be like a loose cannon and would keep rolling about and hit other satellites in the orbit," he told reporters.

Nigerian newspapers had reported NIGCOMSAT-1 was missing from orbit.

The satellite was supposed to make Africa's most populous nation a technological hub, saving broadband users and phone users hundreds of millions of dollars a year and enabling Internet access to remote rural villages.

Critics say the project, estimated to have cost the government 40 billion naira ($340 million), has done little to improve communications, with Internet connections notoriously unreliable and among the most expensive in the region.

Zaku said the satellite was insured and that it would be replaced if it could not be repaired. He said customers had been assured that television, radio and Internet services affected by the problem would be re-routed.

Nigerian Internet users have already been battling with service problems after damage to the South Atlantic Terminal III (SAT-3) underwater cable, the main gateway to the country for international calls and Internet connections.

Nigeria's formerly state-owned telecoms firm Nitel said last month it had invited foreign firms to help it fix the cable. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Writing by Nick Tattersall)

So, guys just lighten up a bit.

Am truly sorry but your English and lack of cohesion makes it difficult to understand what your problem is. Lack of details on your problem also makes it difficult to give a meaning analysis talkless of giving a recommendation. Please post your problems in a step by step manner and more details pls. Thanks.

And this is somehow related to computers ??

Na Lie ! Starcomms Izap no go kill me with downloading. My desktop of 160GB don full, my laptop 120GB na remain only 2GB remain. My Bearshare, Azureus, Emule and IDM are going at Warp 7 (that's the speed of light times 7 for those star trek newbies). A BIG ! BIG !! BIG !!! factor that i have seen time and time again is that your EVDO signal determines your speed. A guy browsing with 5 full bars will get faster download speeds than somebody with 3 bars. Whether you are using USB, expresscard or pcmcia doesnt matter. Make sure you get somebodys izap to your place and determine the type of signal you are getting before buying one.

Men, check out this things specs

Processor and memory
Intel Core 2 Duo

* 2.0GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
* 1066MHz frontside bus
* 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB

Display
13-inch MacBook showing display.

* 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors
* Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 640, and 800 by 500 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and
640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio

Size and weight

Height:
0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
Width:
12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth:
8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight:
4.5 pounds (2.04 kg)1

Graphics and video support
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M

* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory3
* Extended desktop and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors
* iSight Built-in iSight camera
* Mini DisplayPort


Communications
802.11n

* Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking2 (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification); IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
* Bluetooth Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
* Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)

Battery and power 5Hrs
Battery and power

* 45-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
* 60W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management system
* MagSafe power port

Input
MacBook showing keyboard.

* Multi-Touch trackpad for precise cursor control; supports two-finger scrolling, pinch, rotate, three-finger swipe, four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap, and drag capabilities
* Built-in full-size illuminated keyboard with 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys, including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys (inverted “T” arrangement)


Installed software

* Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard (includes Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools)
* iLife ’08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)

Optical drive

*

8x slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Maximum write: 8x DVD-R, DVD+R; 4x DVD-R DL (double layer), DVD+R DL (double layer), DVD-RW, DVD+RW; 24x CD-R; 10x CD-RW

Maximum read: 8x DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-ROM; 6x DVD-ROM (double layer DVD-9), DVD-R DL (double layer), DVD+R DL (double layer), DVD-RW, and DVD+RW; 24x CD

Connections and expansion
Connections and Expansion

* MagSafe power port
* Gigabit Ethernet port
* Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
* Mini DisplayPort
* Audio line in
* Audio line out
* Kensington lock slot

Audio

* Built-in stereo speakers
* Built-in omnidirectional microphone
* Combined optical digital input/analog line in (minijack)
* Combined optical digital output/analog line out (minijack)
* Supports Apple Stereo Headset with microphone

Thanks bigbrovar. Actually i have been following the release for the past week. I even checked the site around 12am yesterday but they had not released it yet. I have a question please, is it true that the linux kernel or the gnome or kde desktops have been steadily getting bigger and resource hungry. I think i read it somewhere but i cant remember actually where that they have started getting bloated and are now sacrificing their speed and consume more system resources. Thanks.

Electricity

Does anybody understand what language this guy is speaking ?

I will personally guarantee you the new Starcomms Izap. At N10-12000 per month, its even cheaper than the one provided by visaphone. Also, the speed is incredible. Imagine downloading a file at 200-400 KB/S (yes o! Kilobytes not bits). Thats your minimum speed o. I have never for once trusted visaphone. I always thought there was something fishy about them. I pity the ones subscribing to their network. 

Check out the Starcomms Izap thread for more info
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-155069.0.html

femzy:
i got a Software to bail you, what will you give me for my favour,

Ah ah, haba femzy. Help a brother in need.

@ LARRYMcCOY

Try getting Tuneup Utilties 2008. It has a file restoration function. Check also Recuva. It is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

Get Recuva http://www.recuva.com/download

P.S Do not create any new files or delete anyone before attempting to recover your files as this could affect the files. Also, the longer you go without recovering the files, the harder it is to get them back with good quality.

What are your views and opinions of the sacked ministers. Was their any minister that you thought did exceptionally well and did not deserve to be dropped ? Personally, i think all the ministerial cabinet are a bunch of useless, scallywags. None of them have achieved any signinficant impact in their respective ministeries or that affects the life of the ordinary nigerian citizen. Good riddance to filthy garbage.

Yar’Adua Drops 20 Ministers In Cabinet Reshuffle!

The Times of Nigeria
Wed Oct, 29 2008

The much awaited cabinet reshuffle by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua got under way today with the announcement of the dropping of 20 ministers considered by the Presidency as unproductive.

In a statement released by the Presidency after a Federal Executive Council meeting, presidency spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said, "The president thanked all the ministers and told them it was nice working with them,"

The statement continued:

“In furtherance of ongoing efforts to reposition and strengthen his Administration for enhanced effectiveness in service delivery, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on Wednesday October 29 relieved the following Ministers of their appointments:

1. Adamu Maina Waziri
2. Charles Ugwu
3. Ahmed Garba Bichi
4. Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu
5. Jerry Anthony Agada
6. Fatima Balaraba Ibrahim
7. Emmanuel Olatunde Odusina
8. Halima Tayo Alao
9. Aliyu Modibbo Umar
10. John James Akpanudoedehe
11. Tijani Yahaya Kaura
12. Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande
13. Alhaji Haruna Hassan
14. Sarafa Tunji Isola
15. Ahmed Mohammed Gusau
16. Felix Hyatt
17. John Okechukwu Emeka
18. Saudatu Usman Bungudu
19. Mohammed Sanusi Daggash
20. Abdulrahman Hassan Gimba

“At the conclusion of today’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council, President Yar’Adua thanked the outgoing ministers for their services to the nation since the inception of the present Administration and wished them well in their future endeavours.

“The President also directed that until new Ministers are confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office, Mr. Remi Babalola (Minister of State, Finance), will serve as Supervising Minister for the Federal Capital Territory Authority.

“Similarly, Mr. Demola Seriki (Minister of State, Agriculture and Water Resources) will serve as Supervising Minister for the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development while Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong (Minister of State, Culture and Tourism will serve as Supervising Minister for the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

“Alhaji Alhassan Bako Zaku (Minister of State, Science & Technology) is to act as Supervising Minister for the National Sports Commission; Elder Godsday Orubebe (Minister, Special Duties) will act as Supervising Minister/Vice Chairman, National Planning Commission and Mrs. Grace Ekpiwhre (Minister, Science & Technology) will oversee the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs.”

http://www.thetimesofnigeria.com/TON/Article.aspx?id=1137

Thats the problem with some people here. It's either freedom browsing or you click their free gift link. Its so annoying.

Microsoft always develops good user friendly products but at the end of the day, they always shoot themselves in the leg. Before you know it, you will be told to upgrade your CPU, RAM, Hard Disk, Graphics Card etc. That's apart from the numerous driver incompatiblity issues that would accompany all your peripherals like printer, scanner, digital camera etc. Pretty soon after the "BIG"launch you will start seeing Microsoft customers complaining (anybody remembering vista). Before you know it, the almighty Service Pack 1 for Microsoft 7 don land. Do they ever learn ? I hope they sincerely try to fix all these aforementioned problems before hyping it up and rushing it out to consumers. They are giving more ammo to Linux and Mac user's in the OS wars. Thats why the Mac vs PC ads by Apple are so popular. People can relate to the mentioned Microsoft Vista problems.

Chei, I pity the poor generator that would be responsible for powering this massive place . As far as am concerned, the era of internet cafe's has come and gone. The emphasis is now making a cafe a social place where people can go to relax and enjoy internet services as a by product. However, am not saying that its not relevant stiil in the nigerian market. However, with the number of people subscribing for internet on the CDMA networks shows you that the number of people going to cafes will be gradually dropping. Enough Yahooze go dey that place. Am so paronoid about data protection and intergr'ity that i don't go to cafes anymore.

Am in love with a macbook.  . I was going to wait till Jan when Snow Leopard comes out to get my Macbook and the Iphone 3G but damn, this guys are sorely tempting me to bring out my wallet. Any views or comments ? Ex

Redesigened.
Reengineered.
Re-everythinged.

To build something truly different, you need to work in a truly different way. Apple designers and engineers work together through every stage of product development. It’s a partnership that makes innovation possible. And it’s exactly how the new MacBook was created. With its breakthrough unibody enclosure, industry-first features, and environmentally sound design, it’s a revolution in the way notebooks are made.
Thumbnail of video explaining the design of the MacBook notebook

The New MacBook

Until now, all notebooks were designed the same way. By assembling multiple pieces to create a single enclosure. But once you include all the necessary parts, you add size, weight, complexity, and more opportunities for failure. Solving a problem like this required more than an incremental change. It required a breakthrough. To create the new MacBook, the design and engineering teams devised a way to replace many parts with just one. That one part is called the unibody — a seamless enclosure carved from a single piece of aluminum.
Unibody illustration
Unibody Enclosure

Every MacBook starts its life as a single piece of aluminum.

Of course, building only one part creates its own set of challenges. When you have multiple parts that are fastened together, tolerances don’t need to be perfect. You have wiggle room, both literally and figuratively. But when one part is responsible for many functions, it’s critical to manufacture that part with absolute precision, down to the micron. Every time. Millions of times over. There was only one way to achieve this level of precision: mill the unibody from a solid block of aluminum using computer numerical control, or CNC, machines — the kind used by the aerospace industry to build mission-critical spacecraft components.

When you pick up a new MacBook, you immediately notice the difference. The entire enclosure is thinner and lighter. It looks polished and refined. And it feels strong and durable — perfect for life inside (and outside) your briefcase or backpack.
MacBook laptop running Mac OS X
Interactive Gallery

Explore all the design innovations of the new MacBook.

The thickness of a notebook depends on the technology inside. LCD displays typically use cold cathode fluorescent lamps, or CCFLs, to create light and project a picture onto a screen. But that poses two problems. First, these lamps require more space, so the display can be only so thin. Second, just like the fluorescent lights in your home or office, the ones inside a CCFL display take time to warm up before they reach full brightness. That’s a lose-lose situation. And it’s why Apple engineers chose LED backlight technology for the new MacBook.
MacBook notebook computer's gorgeous LED display

An LED backlight creates the same amount of brightness in less space. So you can make the structure that houses an LED display much thinner. And unlike fluorescent lamps, an LED backlight reaches maximum brightness instantly.

Look at the MacBook display and you’ll see another big difference. Glass. That edge-to-edge, uninterrupted glass display does more than look good. It also adds structure to the LED display beneath it. And there’s no metal frame (another extraneous part) to distract you from what’s onscreen.
Macbook trackpad
Multi-Touch Trackpad

The spacious glass MacBook trackpad is also a button.

The new MacBook trackpad has no button because it is the button. That means there’s more room to track, more room to click — left, right, center, and everywhere in between — and one less part. Apple designers and engineers spent countless hours considering things like sensitivity (how much pressure triggers a click?), audio feedback (what does the click sound like?), and friction over the smooth glass surface (what does it feel like?).

And that’s just the hardware. Apple software engineers had a large part to play in the development of the trackpad, too. They incorporated Multi-Touch gestures, including swipe, pinch, rotate, and the new four-finger swipe. The result is the largest, smartest, most ergonomic MacBook trackpad ever. It’s one of many details considered and reconsidered during the design process.
MacBook notebook computer's new thumbscoop

There’s a story behind each part. Take the thumbscoop, for example. It’s the indentation that allows you to open the display. If the scoop is too deep, you put too much pressure on the display to open it. If it’s too shallow, you struggle to open the display. It may seem incidental, but if the thumbscoop is well designed, it makes the difference between a bad experience and a good one. The challenge of the thumbscoop was to create a crisply machined scoop that was still comfortable to use. The designers at Apple worked on hundreds of versions of the thumbscoop — even examining them under an electron microscope — to get it right.
Indicator light on MacBook

Then there’s the sleep indicator light. An indicator is functional only when it’s indicating something. Look to the right of the thumbscoop. You see nothing. Until you close the display and your MacBook goes to sleep. Then an LED glow appears from inside the enclosure. How? During the CNC process, a machine first thins out the aluminum. Then a laser drill creates small perforations for the LED light to shine through. These holes are so tiny that the aluminum appears seamless when the light is off.

The marriage of electronics and mechanical design makes the new MacBook as advanced on the inside as it is on the outside. The internal architecture has been reengineered from the silicon up. There’s a new logic board. A new chipset. And a new integrated graphics processor — a feat of engineering in itself.
Actual Nvidia graphics chip in new MacBook

Many notebook computers sacrifice graphics performance in order to save battery life. The new MacBook offers the best of both worlds. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor provides up to five times the performance of the previous-generation MacBook without draining your battery. So you can experience high-performance graphics ideal for playing 3D games or watching video.

Because Apple designs both the hardware and the software for the new MacBook, it’s easier to improve things like energy efficiency. Software tells the hard drive to spin down when it’s not in use. It tells the display and battery indicator lights to dim in low-light conditions. And it helps decide whether the CPU or the graphics processor would be best suited to the task at hand. That’s the kind of smart, integrated design that sets MacBook apart from other notebooks.
Illustration of MacBook laptop materials overlayed on MacBook laptop
A Greener Notebook

Made from recyclable aluminum and glass, the new MacBook is greener than ever.

Top-to-bottom integration also makes MacBook greener than other notebooks. Complete control over how the new MacBook is designed, how it’s manufactured, and how it’s packaged gives Apple an environmental edge. Take the MacBook display, for instance. Conventional CCFL displays use mercury to create a backlight and arsenic to prevent irregularities in the glass. The LED-backlit display on the new MacBook, on the other hand, is both mercury- and arsenic-free. LED backlight technology also conserves energy: This display requires 30 percent less power than a CCFL display.

Mercury and arsenic aren’t the only toxins absent from the new MacBook. Many computer manufacturers have only pledged to eliminate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their enclosures and circuit boards. Apple is removing not only PVC and BFRs, but all forms of bromine and chlorine throughout the entire MacBook.

Just how green is the new MacBook? It’s ENERGY STAR compliant, which means it meets the government standard for energy efficiency. It’s also earned EPEAT Gold status, the highest standard for environmental performance in the electronics industry. And every new MacBook is shipped in packaging that’s 41 percent smaller than any previous generation. That translates to fewer trees used for boxes and less fuel used to transport more MacBooks on fewer planes. And at the end of its long, productive life, you can recycle almost all of your MacBook.

Only Apple could make a notebook like this. Hardware and software. Design and engineering. Production and manufacturing. They’re all part of a single process at Apple. When you start using your new MacBook, you’ll discover what that means. The light and sturdy unibody protects the components inside. The LED-backlit display — along with the graphics processor that helps power it — gives you faster games and a brilliant canvas for your photos, movies, and more. The glass Multi-Touch trackpad feels as good as it functions. From the smallest detail to the biggest engineering breakthrough, the new MacBook truly is the next generation of notebooks.

(on knees with hands raised up to the sky)

To all nairalanders interested in getting a fast connection with no download limit, i am here to give a rounding endorsement and testimony to starcomms izap. I had been quite skeptical about it at first, but after using it and experiencing its speed for the past 2 weeks. i can satisfactorily say that starcomms have kept their promise. I am currently using it at CBN Senior Staff Quaters in Garki 2, Abuja. I get a minimum of 3 EVDO bars and use the Sierra Air Card 580. The speed has been incredible and worth it at N15000 per month. However, a word of caution. Make sure before subsribing that your area is well covered by EVDO signals before you start whining and complaining about poor service. Big thanks and a shoutout go to hayprof, dual core, flyuche, lynxnoon and all my fellow bandwidht guzzling friends on the starcomms network.

medube:
I enjoyed reading this thread, which showed how everyone was suffering when the SAT3 went down and were terming it 'THIS COUNTRY'. You all seem to forget that if you remove Lagos and a few other states which could probably be counted on the fingers of one hand, the rest of us in 'THIS COUNTRY' have been and are still surviving on VSAT technology due to the lack of infrastructure in relaying the SAT3 around.

So, in short, we never and still don't really know what the SAT3 is like because by the time it probably gets to us in other states, those of you in Lagos might be complaining as to what happened to the daily shuttle in 'THIS COUNTRY' which takes people to MARS

My point exactly. Apart from Lagos and for the sake of argument Port Hacourt and Abuja, the rest of the 33 states dont really benefit from SAT3 or whatever its called. Its all a "placebo" effect to me.

You just "but" 8 empty datalife cd's. . Chei, make i laugh small. If am correct, you were meaning to say "bought". Simple solution, get an LG CD. Most of the Datalife cd's on the market are fakes by the way. The way they are mass produced with no regards for quality makes them prone to a lot errors. That's why a lot of CD-ROM drives don't recognise them. LG cd's in my opinion are of higher quality and are just N80-N100 depending on where you are. Beware of Sony cd's also. They have been pirated beyond imagination. Its either your system doesn't detect them or they cause errors during the burning process.

Whatever !

Call me unpatriotic or whatever, but i prefer dealing with foreign isp's. They might be expensive but you are assured of quality service and the latest in technology. We still lack the necessary infrastructures in place to successfully deploy any form of technology in this country. Imagine if the web server hosting nairaland was in nigeria. Seun might likely pay 3-5 times as much for hosting because of the lack of steady electricity. Look at the GSM companies with their base stations each with its own generator. I rest my case.

As far as i am concerned, SAT3-WASC does not exist in Nigeria. Sure, some of these PTO's "might" be using it but it hasnt affected my internet usage. Majority of the isp's in this country use vsat technology by the way so i wonder how SAT3 breakdown affects them seriously in any way. 99.9% of the internet cafe's in this country also use vsat technology so for them its business as usual. I wonder why you guys are complaining. I use vsat for all my internet needs and the journey has been tumultous at best. If SAT3 was really working in Nigeria, we should be getting faster speeds dedicated connections and not the shitty bandwidht that people are paying an arm and a leg for as the status quo. They can roll up the entire fibre optic cables  from portugal to india and blast it to mars for all i care. I hate seeing a valuable piece of technology and a national asset being left to rot.

If the almighty wikipedia (the mother of all encyclopaedias) is moving to ubuntu. Then Linux has made a major milestone towards more other big names migrating to linux systems for their server systems.

Search thru the threads on this section and you should come across helpful topics.