Tell a Tale

Your PC may not be as essential to you as your smartphone, but chances are it’s still pretty damn important. So it’s completely understandable if your first reaction is to freeze and freak out when you run into a PC emergency, such as a broken screen, accidentally-deleted important file, or a virus. But panicking is counter-productive, because time is often of the essence. Don’t worry. While you can’t call 9-1-1, here’s what you can  do to fix five common PC emergencies. Broken laptop screen A few months ago, I was working on my MacBook Air next to my French bulldog, Blanka. For some unexplained dog reason, Blanka suddenly decided he needed to be  in my lap , so he jumped on me—and landed on my laptop’s screen. A laptop screen is no match for a 27-pound Frenchie, so, needless to say, my screen was toast. First things first:  Check to make sure that only your laptop’s screen, and not something more important (such as the graphics card) has been damaged. If...

Cortana will be one of the major features to come to Windows 10, and at least one PC vendor plans to treat her especially well. Toshiba's Windows 10 laptops will feature a dedicated Cortana button, for launching Microsoft's digital assistant from your keyboard. The Cortana key will be on all of Toshiba's Windows 10 PCs—“across the board, top to bottom,” according to Jeff Barney, the general manager and vice president in charge of Toshiba America’s PC business. The key will sit in the upper left area, near the function keys, he said. Triggering it will launch Cortana, Microsoft’s digital assistant. Cortana was first introduced as part of the Windows Phone platform as a way for users to interact with the operating system without using a keyboard. Tapping and holding the phone’s search key triggers the service, which can respond to oral questions, set reminders, navigate to nearby locations, and perform a number of other tasks when verbally requested. With Windows 10...

Periscope, Twitter’s mobile app that allows users to stream live videos from their phones to the internet, recently released an iOS update that makes it easier for users to find videos from around the world. Among other new features, the app now includes an interactive world map that displays the locations of available live feeds. The ‘Explore the world’ feature for example, enables users to explore live broadcasts on an interactive map. Users can now see the most recent broadcasts sharing location all over the world. Twitter’s communication Officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, EMEA, Julie Dilger said that Periscope’s new developments are helping bring to life the original vision for the app. She said “When we started building Periscope, our first idea revolved around a map. We wanted to be able to see anywhere in the world, but we questioned whether we would have enough broadcasts for a map to be compelling. “What are the odds that anyone would even be live?,” we...

Piqued by the low exposure to information technology among girls and women, Intel Corporation Nigeria has embarked on an ICT based skills acquisition training aimed at improving the trend. Specifically, the computer firm resolved to achieve this through an enlightenment programme tagged, ‘She will connect’ scheme. ‘She will connect’, according to the firm is a model that incorporates digital literacy in women in order to provide opportunities for young women in the areas of social networking, and other socio-economic opportunities. Speaking at a training workshop for female journalists recently, the country Managing Director of Intel West Africa, Olubunmi Ekundare said, ‘’Technology and access to the internet is essential to women’s empowerment across the continent, and it is key to overcoming barriers such as poverty, illiteracy and discrimination. ‘’A report commissioned by Intel on the access to, and use of the Internet in low and middle income countries indicated wome...

Experts have proved that in Nigeria, and indeed across the world, Small and Medium scale Enterprises, SMEs, are the lifeblood of any economy. What is even a more obvious fact is that the world today is a global village powered by Information and Communications Technologies, ICTs. In this era of web 2.0, ICT is no longer just an independent phenomenon in itself; it permeates every aspect of human life.  It only makes sense that a union between SMEs and ICTs when rightly consummated would bring about the right kind of fruits for the economy. All over the world, success stories abound in this direction, the prerogative to ensure success in Nigeria however lies in ensuring that the right technologies are readily available, affordable and user friendly for SME operators. The Bank of Industry, BOI, aware of this need, recently launched five mobile digital product offerings to offer SME customers the benefits of speed, mobility and convenience that come with the digital world. T...

Nigeria Internet Exchange Point (IXPN) has launched a Measurement Lab (M-Lab), a network diagnostic tool for improved and faster connectivity. Done in support of Google and Glo 1, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IXPN, Muhammed Rudman disclosed that the Internet eXchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN) began a process of obtaining and hosting the M-Lab Network in 2014 in recognition of the critical role of independent Quality of Service measurements towards achieving policy and regulatory needs. Rudman, who said there are unfolding plans to build the necessary capacity and sensitize key stakeholders on M-Labs, opined that provision has been made to fund some research in some tertiary institutions in the country in the area of broadband. The CEO pointed out that all the parties involved in the installation of the M-Lab independent Quality of Service Measurements are rendering a social service to the community. “Although the motive is not profit-driven, it is expe...

What’s shaped like your friend and even sounds like your friend, but isn’t actually your friend? Why, a human-shaped pillow with a slot in its head for a cellphone, of course. One Japanese venture is looking to solve that problem of feeling distant when speaking on the telephone by offering cushions that look a little like small people, with a skin-like texture, that can hold your mobile device. The “Hugvie”, which has a head, a torso and short limbs — think Casper the Friendly Ghost, but without any facial features — is the result of a collaboration between robot engineers, a futon vendor and a textile firm Users put their phone inside the Hugvie when making call, and then embrace it, in what one researcher dubbed “cushion-style communication media”. Engineers at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) said they worked on the principle that people feel closer to whomever they are speaking when two or more senses are engaged, such as hearing...

It’s natural to be a little wary of self-driving vehicles, considering the frequency with which we curse at our PCs. But if Google’s self-driving car accident report is any indication, at least  some  of that anxiety may be unfounded. According to Google’s  Self-Driving Car Project Monthly Report  for May, vehicles in Google’s self-driving fleet have been involved in 12 accidents since the program’s inception in 2009. All 12 collisions were minor fender benders, and only six occurred while the self-driving car was in autonomous mode. In all cases, Google’s cars got bumped or clipped by other vehicles, and sustained minor damage at worst. According to Google, its vehicles were not at fault in any of the collisions, and none of the accidents resulted in reported injuries. Google’s self-driving fleet has clocked over 1.8 million miles since the program began in 2009, so its fleet averages one fender bender every 150,000 miles. Chris Urmson, the director o...