Technology Archives - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always https://citifmonline.com/category/technology/ Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz Tue, 03 Apr 2018 11:27:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.0.8 https://citifmonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cropped-CITI-973-FM-32x32.jpg Technology Archives - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always https://citifmonline.com/category/technology/ 32 32 Apple to replace Intel chips in Macs with its own https://citifmonline.com/2018/04/apple-replace-intel-chips-macs/ Tue, 03 Apr 2018 11:26:39 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=415277 Apple is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel Corp, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The initiative, code-named Kalamata, is still in early developmental stages but is part of a bigger strategy to make Apple’s family of devices work […]

The post Apple to replace Intel chips in Macs with its own appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Apple is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel Corp, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The initiative, code-named Kalamata, is still in early developmental stages but is part of a bigger strategy to make Apple’s family of devices work more similarly and seamlessly together, according to the report.

Apple, which has used Intel chips in its computers since 2005, and the computer chipmaker both declined to comment. Intel shares closed down 6.1 percent at $48.92, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC ended down 2.7 percent.

Stifel analyst Kevin Cassidy said in a note he believed the market was “over reacting” to the report on Apple’s plans and that Intel’s prospects remained good. “We do not expect any other PC manufacturers will consider designing its own CPUs,” he wrote in the note.

“While it’s possible that Apple may replace Intel in some of its lower-end product lines, we think it will be difficult for Apple to completely replace Intel by 2020, especially on its higher-end offerings,” said Summit Insights group analyst Kinngai Chan.

The Mac plays a small part in Apple’s overall financial picture, with sales of 19.2 million units last year and accounting for 11 percent of Apple’s $229.2 billion in revenue for fiscal 2017.

But while the laptop and desktop computer market has been in a years-long slump amid the rise of smartphones and tablet computers, Mac sales rose 4 percent in 2017. The growth came even as PC sales declined slightly to 259.5 million units, the smallest drop since 2011, according to data from research firm IDC.

While Apple’s reported move away from Intel would be a major shift for its Mac lineup, it follows years of increasing focus on designing its own chips for its devices. The company has been designing its own iPhone processors since the release of the iPhone 4 in 2010 and has steadily increased the amount of chip work it handles itself.

“We can push the envelope on innovation. We have better control over timing, over cost and over quality,” Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said of Apple’s chip efforts last year.

Source: Reuters

The post Apple to replace Intel chips in Macs with its own appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Russian postal drone program hits wall in debut https://citifmonline.com/2018/04/russian-postal-drone-program-hits-wall-debut/ Tue, 03 Apr 2018 11:16:44 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=415273 A Russian-made drone on its way to making a first parcel delivery crashed into a wall and crumbled to pieces in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude on Monday, shocking local residents and regional officials at the scene. The unmanned aerial vehicle was sent to deliver a small package to a neighboring village in a ceremony […]

The post Russian postal drone program hits wall in debut appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
A Russian-made drone on its way to making a first parcel delivery crashed into a wall and crumbled to pieces in the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude on Monday, shocking local residents and regional officials at the scene.

The unmanned aerial vehicle was sent to deliver a small package to a neighboring village in a ceremony meant to showcase a new way to deliver mail in the sparsely populated Buryatia region located more than 4,400 km east of Moscow.

Video footage from the scene showed the drone lifting off from a miniature launch pad bearing Russian Post’s blue and white logo, buzzing through the air for several seconds before losing height and crashing into a three-storey residential building in front of a small crowd of spectators who were heard uttering expletives.

No one was harmed in the incident, which left debris from the drone in pieces on the ground.

Russian Post was quick to distance itself from the drone crash, saying it was present at the launch merely as a guest. It said the drone was made by a company called Rudron/Expeditor 3M, which had organized the testing. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.

Russia’s postal service had announced plans in 2016 to start using drones for parcel deliveries across the vast country.

Alexei Tsydenov, the head of the Buryatia region present at the crash site, said that the more than 100 Wi-Fi connections in the area could have disrupted the drone’s flight.

“We won’t stop with this, we will keep trying,” he said, adding that the device cost some $20,000. “Those who don’t risk don’t get a result.”

Logistics companies and retailers worldwide are starting to try out drones to reach remote customers or those paying a premium for speed.

Source: Reuters

The post Russian postal drone program hits wall in debut appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Facebook’s Zuckerberg fires back at Apple’s Tim Cook https://citifmonline.com/2018/04/facebooks-zuckerberg-fires-back-apples-tim-cook/ Tue, 03 Apr 2018 07:01:37 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=415200 Facebook’s chief executive has defended his leadership following criticism from his counterpart at Apple. Mark Zuckerberg said it was “extremely glib” to suggest that because the public did not pay to use Facebook that it did not care about them. Last week, Apple’s Tim Cook said it was an “invasion of privacy” to traffic in users’ personal […]

The post Facebook’s Zuckerberg fires back at Apple’s Tim Cook appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Facebook’s chief executive has defended his leadership following criticism from his counterpart at Apple.

Mark Zuckerberg said it was “extremely glib” to suggest that because the public did not pay to use Facebook that it did not care about them.

Last week, Apple’s Tim Cook said it was an “invasion of privacy” to traffic in users’ personal lives.

And when asked what he would do if he were Mr Zuckerberg, Mr Cook replied: “I wouldn’t be in that situation.”

Facebook has faced intense criticism after it emerged that it had known for years that Cambridge Analytica had harvested data from about 50 million of its users, but had relied on the political consultancy to self-certify that it had deleted the information.

Channel 4 News has since reported that at least some of the data in question is still in circulation despite Cambridge Analytica insisting it had destroyed the material.

Mr Zuckerberg was asked about Mr Cook’s comments during a lengthy interview given to news site Vox about the privacy scandal.

He also acknowledged that Facebook was still not transparent enough about some of the choices it had taken, and floated the idea of an independent panel being able to override some of its decisions.

‘Dire situation’

Mr Cook has spoken in public twice since Facebook’s data-mining controversy began.

On 23 March, he took part in the China Development Forum in Beijing.

“I think that this certain situation is so dire and has become so large that probably some well-crafted regulation is necessary,” news agency Bloomberg quoted him as saying in response to a question about the social network’s problems.

“The ability of anyone to know what you’ve been browsing about for years, who your contacts are, who their contacts are, things you like and dislike and every intimate detail of your life – from my own point of view it shouldn’t exist.”

Then in an interview with MSNBC and Recode on 28 March, Mr Cook said: “I think the best regulation is no regulation, is self-regulation. However, I think we’re beyond that here.”

During this second appearance – which has yet to be broadcast in full – he added: “We could make a tonne of money if we monetised our customer, if our customer was our product. We’ve elected not to do that… Privacy to us is a human right.”

Apple makes most of its profits from selling smartphones, tablets and other computers, as well as associated services such as online storage and its various media stores.

This contrasts with other tech firms whose profits are largely derived from advertising, including Google, Twitter and Facebook.

Mr Zuckerberg had previously told CNN that he was “open” to new regulations.

But he defended his business model when questioned about Mr Cook’s views, although he mentioned neither Apple nor its leader by name.

“I find that argument, that if you’re not paying that somehow we can’t care about you, to be extremely glib and not at all aligned with the truth,” he said.

“The reality here is that if you want to build a service that helps connect everyone in the world, then there are a lot of people who can’t afford to pay.”

He added: “I think it’s important that we don’t all get Stockholm syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you, because that sounds ridiculous to me.”

Mr Zuckerberg also defended his leadership by invoking Amazon’s chief executive.

“I make all of our decisions based on what’s going to matter to our community and focus much less on the advertising side of the business,” he said.

“I thought Jeff Bezos had an excellent saying: “There are companies that work hard to charge you more, and there are companies that work hard to charge you less.”

Source: BBC

The post Facebook’s Zuckerberg fires back at Apple’s Tim Cook appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Alibaba to buy all remaining outstanding shares of Ele.me https://citifmonline.com/2018/04/alibaba-buy-remaining-outstanding-shares-ele/ Mon, 02 Apr 2018 08:26:45 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=414939 As expected since February, Alibaba will buy all outstanding shares of Ele.me that it doesn’t already own. Best-known for food deliveries, Ele.me  claims to be China’s biggest online delivery and local services platform. In an announcement, Alibaba said the deal values Ele.me at $9.5 billion. Alibaba, which first invested in Ele.me two years ago, and its affiliate Ant Small […]

The post Alibaba to buy all remaining outstanding shares of Ele.me appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
As expected since February, Alibaba will buy all outstanding shares of Ele.me that it doesn’t already own. Best-known for food deliveries, Ele.me  claims to be China’s biggest online delivery and local services platform. In an announcement, Alibaba said the deal values Ele.me at $9.5 billion. Alibaba, which first invested in Ele.me two years ago, and its affiliate Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group currently hold about 43% of the company’s outstanding voting shares.

This is the latest in a string of investments and acquisitions by Alibaba to expand its physical retail presence as part of its so-called “new retail” strategy to combine e-commerce and offline retail. The company’s goal is to make it easier for users to move (and spend money) between brick-and-mortar stores and Alibaba businesses like Tmall and Taobao. For example, they may view products at pop-up stores and then order them on their smartphones for almost-immediate home delivery.

Ele.me, which will continue to operate under its own brand, is at its heart a logistics technology company. Founded in 2008, it utilizes its logistics system to provide services like Fengniao, an express courier for local deliveries. After the deal is finalized, Alibaba said that founder and chief executive officer Zhang Zhuhao (also known as Mark Zhang) will become chairman of Ele.me and special advisor to Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang on its new retail strategy. Wang Lei, currently vice president of Alibaba Group,  will take over as Ele.me’s CEO.

In a press release, Zhang said “Under the leadership of its founder and management team, Ele.me has achieved leading market share in China’s online food delivery and local services sector. Our shared belief that New Retail will create more value for customers and merchants has brought us together. Looking forward, Ele.me can leverage Alibaba’s infrastructure in commerce and
find new synergies with Alibaba’s diverse businesses to add further momentum to the New Retail initiative.”

Bloomberg reported at the end of February that Alibaba planned to buy the rest of Ele.me’s shares from its other investors, including Baidu.

The deal deepens Alibaba’s competition with Tencent, in particular its own local services and delivery platform, Meituan Dianping, which was formed by a merger in 2015. Alibaba previously owned shares in Meituan Dianping, thanks to its investment in Meituan, but began offloading them soon after the merger with Dianping.

In a statement, Alibaba said Ele.me complements its affiliate Koubei, a platform that gives restaurants and stores a way to go online and reach more local customers.

“By combining Ele.me’s online home delivery services with Koubei’s consumer acquisition and engagement capability for a range of restaurants and service establishments, Alibaba will be able to offer an integrated experiences to customers both online and offline,” said the company.

Source: TechCrunch

The post Alibaba to buy all remaining outstanding shares of Ele.me appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
China space lab to fall on earth on Monday https://citifmonline.com/2018/04/china-space-lab-fall-earth-monday/ Sun, 01 Apr 2018 11:58:46 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=414799 Debris from a defunct Chinese space station is seen crashing to Earth on Monday, scientists monitoring it say. China’s space agency said the station will re-enter the atmosphere in the next 24 hours – in line with European Space Agency (ESA) predictions. The Tiangong-1 was part of China’s ambitious space programme, and the prototype for […]

The post China space lab to fall on earth on Monday appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Debris from a defunct Chinese space station is seen crashing to Earth on Monday, scientists monitoring it say.

China’s space agency said the station will re-enter the atmosphere in the next 24 hours – in line with European Space Agency (ESA) predictions.

The Tiangong-1 was part of China’s ambitious space programme, and the prototype for a manned station in 2022.

It entered orbit in 2011 and five years later ended its mission, after which it was expected to fall back to Earth.

The latest projection from the Esa points to re-entry at 07:25 Beijing time (00:25 GMT) on 2 April, although the window is still “highly variable” – stretching from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning.

Most of the station is likely to burn up in the atmosphere but some debris could survive to hit the surface of the Earth.

The China Manned Space Engineering Office said on social media that falling spacecraft do “not crash into the Earth fiercely like in sci-fi movies, but turn into a splendid (meteor shower)”.

Where will it crash?
China confirmed in 2016 that it had lost contact with Tiangong-1 and could no longer control its behaviour, so we don’t really know where it will end up.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said re-entry “will take place anywhere between 43ºN and 43ºS”, which covers a vast stretch north and south of the equator.

Esa says this means the station could fall anywhere from New Zealand to the midwestern US.

The station is gradually coming close to Earth.

Its rate of descent “will continually get faster as the atmosphere that the station is ploughing through gets thicker,” Dr Elias Aboutanios, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research, told the BBC.

“The station will eventually start to heat up as it gets close to 100km [from Earth],” he says.

This will lead to most of the station burning up and “it is difficult to know exactly what will survive since the makeup of the station has not been disclosed by China”.

The station could reach speeds of up to 26,000km/h (16,156mph).

Should I be worried?
No. Most of the 8.5-tonne station will disintegrate as it passes through the atmosphere.

Some very dense parts such as the fuel tanks or rocket engines might not burn up completely. However, even if parts do survive to the Earth’s surface, the chances of them hitting a person are incredibly slim.

“Our experience is that for such large objects typically between 20% and 40% of the original mass will survive re-entry and then could be found on the ground, theoretically,” the head of Esa’s space debris office, Holger Krag, told reporters at a recent briefing.

“However, to be injured by one of these fragments is extremely unlikely. My estimate is that the probability of being injured by one of these fragments is similar to the probability of being hit by lightning twice in the same year.”

Does all space debris fall to Earth?
While debris regularly comes back down, most of it “burns up or ends up in the middle of the ocean and away from people,” says Mr Aboutanios.

Usually there is still communication with the craft or satellite. That means ground control can still influence its course and steer it to a desired crash site.

The debris is steered to crash near what’s called the oceanic pole of inaccessibility – the furthest place from land. It’s a spot in the South Pacific, between Australia, New Zealand and South America.

Over an area of approximately 1,500 sq km (580 sq miles) this region is a graveyard of spacecraft and satellites, where the remains of around 260 are thought to be scattered on the ocean floor.

What is Tiangong-1?
China was a late starter when it comes to space exploration.

In 2001, China launched space vessels carrying test animals and in 2003 sent its first astronaut into orbit, making it the third country to do so, after the Soviet Union and the US.

The programme for a space station kicked off in earnest with the 2011 launch of Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly Palace”.

The small prototype station was able to host astronauts but only for short periods of several days. China’s first female astronaut Liu Yang visited in 2012.

It ended its service in March 2016, two years later than scheduled.

Currently, Tiangong-2 is in operation and by 2022, Beijing plans to have number 3 in orbit as a fully operational manned outpost in space.

Source: BBC

The post China space lab to fall on earth on Monday appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Microsoft gambles on a quantum leap in computing https://citifmonline.com/2018/04/microsoft-gambles-quantum-leap-computing/ Sun, 01 Apr 2018 08:23:04 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=414776 In a laboratory in Copenhagen, scientists believe they are on the verge of a breakthrough that could transform computing. A team combining Microsoft researchers and Niels Bohr Institute academics is confident that it has found the key to creating a quantum computer. If they are right, then Microsoft will leap to the front of a […]

The post Microsoft gambles on a quantum leap in computing appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
In a laboratory in Copenhagen, scientists believe they are on the verge of a breakthrough that could transform computing.

A team combining Microsoft researchers and Niels Bohr Institute academics is confident that it has found the key to creating a quantum computer.

If they are right, then Microsoft will leap to the front of a race that has a tremendous prize – the power to solve problems that are beyond conventional computers.

In the lab are a series of white cylinders, which are fridges, cooled almost to absolute zero as part of the process of creating a qubit, the building block of a quantum computer.

“This is colder than deep space, it may be the coldest place in the universe,” Prof Charlie Marcus tells me.

The team he leads is working in collaboration with other labs in the Netherlands, Australia and the United States in Microsoft’s quantum research programme.

Right now, they are behind in the race – the likes of Google, IBM and a Silicon Valley start-up called Rigetti have already shown they can build systems with as many as 50 qubits. Microsoft has yet to demonstrate – in public at least – that it can build one.

But these scientists are going down a different route from their rivals, trying to create qubits using a subatomic particle, whose existence was first suggested back in the 1930s by an Italian physicist Ettore Majorana.

This week scientists from Microsoft’s laboratory in Delft published a paper in the journal Nature outlining the progress they had made in isolating the Majorana particle.

Their belief is that this will lead to a much more stable qubit than the methods their rivals are using, which are highly prone to errors. That should mean scaling up to a fully operational quantum computer will be far easier.

At the Copenhagen lab they showed me through a powerful microscope the tiny wire where they have created these Majorana particles. Later over dinner, Prof Charlie Marcus tried, not altogether successfully, to demonstrate to someone whose last physics exam was more than 40 years ago what was unique about this approach with three pieces of bread and some cutlery.

“What’s really astounding with this activity compared with what everybody else is doing is that we have to invent a particle that’s never existed before and then use it for computing,” he explains.

“It’s a profoundly more exotic challenge than what’s going on with other approaches to quantum computing.”

Other scientists taking those other approaches are looking on with great interest and a little scepticism.

“It’s one of those things that on paper look incredibly exciting but physics has a habit of throwing up spanners in the works,” says University College London’s Prof John Morton, whose research involves using good old fashioned silicon to build qubits.

“Until we see the demonstration we don’t know how well these Majorana qubits developed by Microsoft will really behave.”

He says this is a big year for the field, with the strong likelihood that Google or IBM will demonstrate what is known as quantum supremacy, where a problem that is beyond a conventional supercomputer is solved using quantum methods.

But Microsoft seems confident that its years of research will soon pay off.

“We will have a commercially relevant quantum computer – one that’s solving real problems – within five years,” says Dr Julie Love, Microsoft’s director of quantum computing business development.

She is already out selling the company’s customers a vision of a near future where quantum computers will help battle climate change, create new superconducting materials and super-charge machine learning.

“What it allows us to do is solve problems that with all of our supercomputers running in parallel would take the lifetime of the universe to solve in seconds, hours or days.”

So, the heat is on for the research team. Prof Charlie Marcus, who spent most of his career at Harvard before being recruited to run the Copenhagen lab, says his life has been about creating knowledge, not building products.

“My job is to find out what works and hand it off to the engineers and computer scientists who will turn it into a technology.”

Heading up the whole programme is Todd Holmdahl, the Microsoft executive previously in charge of the Hololens mixed reality headset and the Xbox games console – a measure of how serious the company is about making some quantum hardware pretty soon.

I pressed Prof Marcus on whether his team was going to hit that ambitious five-year target set by his employer.

“We’re sure going to try,” he says with a grin.

Source: BBC

The post Microsoft gambles on a quantum leap in computing appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
US may tie social media to visa applications https://citifmonline.com/2018/03/us-may-tie-social-media-visa-applications/ Sat, 31 Mar 2018 07:25:24 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=414623 The Trump administration has said it wants to start collecting the social media history of nearly everyone seeking a visa to enter the US. The proposal, which comes from the state department, would require most visa applicants to give details of their Facebook and Twitter accounts. They would have to disclose all social media identities […]

The post US may tie social media to visa applications appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
The Trump administration has said it wants to start collecting the social media history of nearly everyone seeking a visa to enter the US.

The proposal, which comes from the state department, would require most visa applicants to give details of their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

They would have to disclose all social media identities used in the past five years.

About 14.7 million people a year would be affected by the proposals.

The information would be used to identify and vet those seeking both immigrant and non-immigrant visas.

Applicants would also be asked for five years of their telephone numbers, email addresses and travel history. They would be required to say if they had ever been deported from a country, or if any relatives had been involved in terrorist activity.

The proposal would not affect citizens from countries to which the US grants visa-free travel status – among them the UK, Canada, France and Germany. However, citizens from non-exempt countries like India, China and Mexico could be embroiled if they visit the US for work or a holiday.

What’s the current stance on requesting social media?
Under rules brought in last May, officials were told to seek people’s social media handles only if they felt “that such information is required to confirm identity or conduct more rigorous national security vetting”, a state department official said at the time.

The tougher proposal comes after President Trump promised to implement “extreme vetting” for foreigners entering the US, which he said was to combat terrorism.

“Maintaining robust screening standards for visa applicants is a dynamic practice that must adapt to emerging threats,” the state department said in a statement, quoted by the New York Times.

“We already request limited contact information, travel history, family member information, and previous addresses from all visa applicants. Collecting this additional information from visa applicants will strengthen our process for vetting these applicants and confirming their identity.”

Who decides if it happens?
The idea is subject to approval by the Office of Management and Budget.

The public will have two months to comment on the proposal before it makes a decision.

How does this affect free speech?
Civil liberties groups have condemned the policy as an invasion of privacy that could damage free speech.

“People will now have to wonder if what they say online will be misconstrued or misunderstood by a government official,” said Hina Shamsi of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“We’re also concerned about how the Trump administration defines the vague and over-broad term ‘terrorist activities’ because it is inherently political and can be used to discriminate against immigrants who have done nothing wrong,” she said.

The social media platforms covered in the proposal include US-based entities such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit and YouTube. However, the New York Times reports that overseas platforms such as China’s Sina Weibo and Russia’s VK social network would also be included.

Source: BBC

The post US may tie social media to visa applications appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
iPhone update adds privacy ‘transparency’ https://citifmonline.com/2018/03/iphone-update-adds-privacy-transparency/ Fri, 30 Mar 2018 08:28:13 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=414445 Apple has updated its iOS, MacOS and tvOS operating systems to give people more information about how their personal data is collected and used. After updating, customers will see new information screens when they use Apple-made apps that collect personal data, such as App Store. The change comes ahead of new EU data protection rules, […]

The post iPhone update adds privacy ‘transparency’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Apple has updated its iOS, MacOS and tvOS operating systems to give people more information about how their personal data is collected and used.

After updating, customers will see new information screens when they use Apple-made apps that collect personal data, such as App Store.

The change comes ahead of new EU data protection rules, which take effect on 23 May.

Apple also plans to let people download the data it has stored about them.

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) toughens the requirements on how organisations handle the public’s data, and imposes harsher penalties for breaches.

Apple has previously promoted its services and smartphones as being privacy-focused.

The latest software update does not change how much data is collected, but new privacy information screens will appear when people use certain Apple-made apps for the first time.

Data and privacy screen
Image captioniPhone users will see a new screen when apps collect data for the first time

Tapping the notice will display detailed information about what data is being collected and how it is used.

However, customers will not be able to switch off some types of data collection. For example, they will not be able to download free apps from the App Store without first setting up an Apple ID account.

Apple also plans to release new tools in May that will let customers:

  • download a copy of all the data Apple stores about them, including photos, videos and iCloud back-ups
  • temporarily deactivate their Apple ID, which will stop Apple processing the data
  • permanently delete their Apple ID, which will erase all the data Apple stores within 30 days.

The privacy-focused Open Rights Group welcomed the changes.

“Making privacy settings more transparent and giving people more control is better. This is happening because companies are checking what they are doing before new data protection rules kick in,” said Jim Killock.

“The new rules have forced everyone to make changes, including some of the big US-based companies. That’s a victory for privacy and it shows that we can win improvements if governments listen to people’s well-founded concerns about privacy.”

Source: BBC

The post iPhone update adds privacy ‘transparency’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Pulsar 220, Discover 125 motorbikes unveiled in Ghana https://citifmonline.com/2018/03/pulsar-220-discover-125-motorbikes-unveiled-in-ghana/ Wed, 28 Mar 2018 14:00:29 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=413893 Somoco Ghana Limited, the authorized resellers of Bajaj motorcycles in Ghana, has unveiled the latest Pulsar 220 and Discover 125 motorcycles onto the Ghana market. These models are packed with the best of Bajaj technology to meet the aspirations of the Ghanaian youth. The Pulsar 220 is a 220cc motorcycle delivering 21 PS at 8,500 […]

The post Pulsar 220, Discover 125 motorbikes unveiled in Ghana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Somoco Ghana Limited, the authorized resellers of Bajaj motorcycles in Ghana, has unveiled the latest Pulsar 220 and Discover 125 motorcycles onto the Ghana market.

These models are packed with the best of Bajaj technology to meet the aspirations of the Ghanaian youth.

The Pulsar 220 is a 220cc motorcycle delivering 21 PS at 8,500 RPM (Revolutions per minute) and a torque of 19 Newton-meters (nm) at 7,000 RPM. The four-stroke, single cylinder engine is twin spark and both air and oil-cooled.

It has a five-speed gearbox with precise gear shifting for comfortable riding experience. The Pulsar 220 has front and rear disc brakes with adjustable nitrox rear shock absorbers to provide ultimate balance with super comfort.

The Discover 125cc is the new style statement for Ghanaians. It is crafted with progressive styling and attractive decals.

It is powered by 125cc, single cylinder, four strokes, and twin spark engine. It delivers 11 PS power at 8,000 RPM and 10.8 nm of peak torque at 5, 500 RPM.

It also delivers the best in the class of fuel efficiency and safety with its front disc.

The Business Head of SOMOCO Ltd, Mr Vinay K. Chaturvedi, at the launch of the new motorcycles, noted the new campaign by Somoco to promote the wearing of helmets and help reduce fatalities.

As part of this initiative, the purchase of each motorcycle comes with two helmets, one for the rider and the other for customers to improve safety.

The Director of Research and Training at the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Alexander Kweku Obeng commended Somoco Ghana Limited for the safety initiative.

He said the MTTD will, this year, embark on a sensitisation programme to ensure motor riders abide by the laws to ensure safety on our roads.

He encouraged all key stakeholders to play their individual roles at ensuring safety on our roads.

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, in a speech read by on his behalf by the Director of Public Private Partnership, Mr Philip Lartey, congratulated SOMOCO Ltd. on the introduction of these latest motorcycles in Ghana and urged them to organize training activities once a while for their customers to equip them to reduce motor accidents in the country.

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Pulsar 220, Discover 125 motorbikes unveiled in Ghana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Huawei P20 Pro smartphone ‘can see in the dark’ https://citifmonline.com/2018/03/huawei-p20-pro-smartphone-can-see-dark/ Wed, 28 Mar 2018 08:00:07 +0000 http://citifmonline.com/?p=413850 Huawei’s latest smartphone can take photos in near-dark conditions without using its flash or a tripod. The P20 Pro takes exposures lasting up to six seconds to get enough light. It then uses artificial intelligence to deliver sharp images and avoid the blurring and smearing normally associated with employing this technique handheld. The Chinese company […]

The post Huawei P20 Pro smartphone ‘can see in the dark’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>
Huawei’s latest smartphone can take photos in near-dark conditions without using its flash or a tripod.

The P20 Pro takes exposures lasting up to six seconds to get enough light.

It then uses artificial intelligence to deliver sharp images and avoid the blurring and smearing normally associated with employing this technique handheld.

The Chinese company recently told the BBC it could soon become the world’s bestselling smartphone brand.

At present, it is in third place behind Samsung and Apple, with US telecom networks’ refusal to sell its handsets proving an obstacle.

Like Samsung’s Galaxy S9-series phones – which recently went on sale – Huawei’s pitch to consumers for the P20 Pro is largely based on its new camera capabilities.

But while the South Korean company’s S9+ made the leap to having two lenses on its rear, the P20 Pro is distinguished by being the first mainstream phone to feature three.

“Huawei doesn’t have the brand Samsung or Apple have, so it’s almost had to go the extra mile in terms of the product,” said Ben Stanton, from the technology consultancy Canalys.

“And it’s nice to see it taking the lead with some of the hardware it’s producing.

“But the thing with camera technology is that unless you are looking at side-by-side comparisons [of photos] it can be very hard to tell which device is better.

“So, Huawei has its work cut out to sell some of the new features.”

The P20 Pro will cost 899 euros including tax ($1,115; £788).

That is less than both the Galaxy S9+, which costs 949 euros, and the iPhone X, which starts at 1,149 euros.

Three lenses

The new flagship’s three rear cameras each offer different capabilities.

The main sensor has an unusually high resolution of 40 megapixels.

But it uses “light fusion” software to combine data from groups of four adjacent same-coloured pixels to produce 10MP photos.

The benefit is that images taken in low-light conditions should be less “noisy” as a consequence.

“If you had an area of a table and put 40 little buckets on top and it was raining, it would take a longer time to get an inch-worth of rain in the bottom of each than it would if you had 10 buckets four times the size,” said marketing manager Peter Gauden.

“And that’s essentially what we are doing. Using light fusion to combine four smaller pixels together to make a much larger pixel, and therefore enhance our capability of absorbing light into the sensor.”

The facility can be switched off, however, if the owner wants 40MP snaps.

The two other cameras are:

  • a 20MP black-and-white sensor that can be used to take monochrome shots or to provide depth information to blur the background of images taken by the main sensor
  • an 8MP telephoto offering a hardware-stabilised 3x zoom lens, which can produce 5x shots when used in conjunction with a software-based digital zoom. This compares favourably to the 2x zoom of the Galaxy S9+ and iPhone X

The P20 Pro uses object-recognition technology to automatically adjust its settings to suit each subject, and then catalogue the imagery, which it can do without having to send data to the internet.

In addition, the software makes composition suggestions when appropriate – such as when to adjust the phone to keep it level with the horizon, or to loosen or tighten a shot.

AI-enhanced photos

Like the Galaxy S9, the P20 Pro has a super-slow mode in which 960 frames per second can be filmed at 720p “high-definition” resolution.

But it also offers its unique long-exposure trick.

To achieve this, Huawei says, the device uses its ability to distinguish objects to find the optimum frame for each item contained in a shot.

It then takes information from other frames to improve the definition of each object, while ensuring that edges do not become blurred as a consequence.

Finally, all the digitally finessed items are merged together to create a single photo.

As a result, a photo of the inside of a dim bar, for example, can end up looking brighter and more detailed than it appeared to the human eye.

But quirks can occur.

In one test by the BBC involving a person stood against a dim background, the frame selected of their face had them blinking despite the fact their eyes had been open for most of the six-second exposure.

Dialled-up threat

Huawei narrowed the gap with Apple last year, despite coming under pressure from other Chinese technology companies, including Oppo, Xiaomi and Vivo.

Manufacturer 2017 handset shipments Year-on-year change Market share
Samsung 317.7 million +2.0% 21.7%
Apple 215.8 million +0.2% 14.8%
Huawei (incl Honor) 154.2 million +10.7% 10.6%
Oppo 111.7 million +12.0% 7.6%
Xiaomi 92.7 million +75.0% 6.3%
Vivo 87.6 million +13.4% 6.0%
LG 55.8 million +1.2% 3.8%
Industry total 1.46 billion -0.5% 100%

However, efforts to crack the US market have been frustrated by AT&T and Verizon pulling out of talks to sell its devices.

Reports suggested local politicians had pressured the telecom operators to turn their backs on the company because of concerns it had ties to the Chinese government.

Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer products division, told the BBC that the Americans feared his company was “too competitive [and] too strong”.

P20 Pro

One industry-watcher, who is impressed by the new phone, said that was not necessarily good news for its rivals.

“Huawei is going to throw everything that it’s got at Europe now, because it needs to make up the sales volume expectation that it had in the US,” said Ben Wood, from CCS Insight.

“Other smartphone-makers should be seriously concerned that the threat it poses has just been dialled up a whole order of magnitude as it’s just released up resources and money to resolve some of its brand issues.”

Source: BBC

The post Huawei P20 Pro smartphone ‘can see in the dark’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

]]>