Tech
Blackberry Messenger finally Dies, Goodbye BBM
Blackberry Messenger was launched in 2005, certifying rights for the service were attained by Indonesia-based technology corporation Emtek 11 years later.
Some few months ago, a decorative door hardware company, Emtek had declared the end of BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for consumers. The once huge messaging service had a good run, outshining the popularity of its hardware namesake.
You will recall that BBM was launched in 2005, licensing rights for the service were attained by Indonesia based technology corporation Emtek 11 years later. For many years, BBM was well-thought-out BlackBerry’s (nee Research in Motion) strongest product. With some loyalists avoiding Android and iOS devices before it was finally ported to those operating systems in 2013.
However, the competition had ultimately proved too much. Technology and the world thus moved away from BBM and BlackBerry in general. The rewards, it seems, weren’t quite worth the resources.
“We rigorously poured our hearts into making this a reality, and we are pleased of what we have built to date,” Emtek penned in a blog post last month. “The technology industry, however, is very much liquefied, and in spite of our considerable efforts, users have moved on to other platforms, while new users proved hard to sign on.”
Meanwhile, Loyalists can still download files, photos as well as videos from the service today, before they disappear forever. Notably, BBM Enterprise will live on for business users, but the demise of the consumer version should be viewed as the end of a significant era for smartphones nevertheless
Modibbo Kawu, the DG of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has been put on suspension by President Buhari. This came following his corruption charges by the Independent Corrupt Practices, ICPC.
This development was confirmed by Armstrong Idachaba, NBC’s Director of Broadcast Monitoring. Further, the most senior director in the commission has been directed to take over from Modibbo Kawu.
Modibbo Kawu is currently facing a 12-count charge bordering on money laundering, abuse of office, and misleading a public officer with the intent of defrauding the government.
So, this contravenes Section 26 (1) (c) of the Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Act 2000 and punishable under Section 19 of the same Act.
Beisdes, Modibbo was first arraigned in May 2019 over the alleged misappropriation of N 2.5 billion for the digital switch-over (DSO) program of the government.
The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has disclosed that the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA, will compete favorably with the like of CNN if the $500m loan is ministry is requesting for is approved.
The Guardian reported that the Alhaji Lai Mohammed said this when he appeared before the senate committee on local and foreign loans to explain the importance of the loan which is included in the $30 billion President Buhari is requesting from the National Assembly to give assent to.
Speaking further, Minister said NTA would be upgraded to assist it sends signals that would make it rank with the likes of CNN emphasizing that Nigeria has all it takes to achieve this.
Also, the Information Minister said the creative is a major employer of the youthful generation.
“Apart from agriculture, which is the largest employer of labour in Nigeria, especially the youths, the next largest employer of labour is the creative industry,” he said.
“The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2006 gave June 17, 2015, as the deadline for all members of the organization to migrate from analogue to digital.
“Regrettably, we were unable to meet the deadline along-side most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the deadline was moved to 2017, which was not reliable and today the target is June 17, 2020,” he said
One of the leading on-demand transport platforms, Bolt, has announced the introduction of a new feature in its mobile app, enabling users to add extra stops to their rides.
The ability to include more than one destination will available to users that has the latest version of the Bolt App. Users looking for their required destination will see a small plus sign by the right side of the address box. Tap on the + sign to create an extra stop to your ride. Users can now have up to three stops in a ride, the last being the last destination of the journey.
The new feature makes users view the price up-front for a ride with several stops. The driver will see the route with all stops on the Bolt driver App after initiating the ride.
The feature will be made available to Bolt users on IOS and Android this month.
Bolt was launched in 2013 by Markus Villig and its one of the fastest-growing transport platforms in Africa and Europe. It has over 30million customers in over 35 countries.
