Tech expert Saheed Adepoju featured in WIRED

In its August 2011 edition, WIRED UK Magazine switches on its searchlight with a feature on Africa’s new tech opportunities. The magazine which is now on sale, showcases five African technology entrepreneurs including Encipher‘s Saheed Adepoju (Nigeria) and mPedigree‘s Bright Simons (Ghana).

According to WIRED, Encipher will give Africa’s market leading mobile-telephony company MTN a demonstration of its Android-powered tablet, Inye once internal testing has been completed. MTN, on the other hand would be a major distribution platform for the product, thereby putting the co-founder’s work in shops alongside international brands such as Apple’s iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy tab.

Beyond its functionality, the founders hope that the Inye’s local origins will give it an edge on rival brands, as they have also been working on local-language services, including a product that helps health workers to identify and explain symptoms in local languages.

As for mPedigree, Simons has signed deals with every telecom company in Ghana to convince them to work not just with mPedigree but with each other to create a single toll-free number across all networks, so that the service would be available free of charge to all Ghanaians.

The company is also working with government bodies and pharmaceutical manufacturers in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda and has already closed deals
to protect six million packs of antimalarials, amebicides, anti-inflammatory agents, oral care products and nutritional supplements, and has discussions and trials going on across Africa and south Asia.

The magazine also features Agosta Liko of Pesapal (Mpesa), Joe Muchero, Google’s Head of sub-Saharan Africa, Isis Nyong’o of Inmobi and Stephan Magdalinski of DealFish and Kalahari.

Download a PDF version of the magazine feature here.

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Pirated Nollywood movies flood Uganda

Despite being popular, most Nigerian movies sold in Uganda are pirated, affecting the producers' income, officials from the West African country have complained.

Alex Eyengho of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP) while in Uganda recently, noted that work from Nollywood-Nigeria's movie base was being sold on the streets for less than $1 (about sh2, 600).

"A 20-in-one DVD is sold for less than $1. The pirates are the publishers who are known as the marketers in Nigeria," he told Vanguard newspaper.

But Ugandan film makers complained that the pirated Nigerian movies were stifling the growth of the movie industry here.

According to Eyengho, "security stickers" would soon be attached to all movies as a way of differentiating original from the pirated copies.

ANCOP officials late last month met with Uganda Federation of Movie Industry (UFMI) to seek solutions to the problem.

Commenting about the discussions between the two bodies, UFMI boss Dr. Eddie Nsubuga said: "We are working with the Nigerians because we want our industry to grow."

The partnership, Eyengho pledged, would be "reciprocal."

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Nigerian activist hackers take down Nigerian army website

An anonymous group of Nigerian hackers earlier today took down the website of the Nigerian Army Education Corps(www.hqnaec.org) according to a twitter announcement sent to SaharaReporters.

NaijaCyberHacktivists posted their signature image on the website as also posted a youtube video about a virus that takes down nuclear reactors in Iran known as Stuxnet.

The Nigerian hackers announced that the latest attack on Nigerian website was in celebration of "Nigerian Army day" a celebration the group said should not have happened.
 
NaijaCyberHacktivists previously attacked several Nigerian government websites including the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and The National Poverty Eradication  and posted protest letters on their home pages.

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Video - ZR-7 theatrical trailer is here

"When life in boarding school got tough...we got even"

TJ is a young man in his late twenties, the first draft of his book titled ZR-7 is long overdue for the publisher to review. He decides the entire draft will be recorded on a tape recorder and only his butler (Alphonso) is an actual witness, he begins to tell his story as the action comes alive.

The story is a Classic life of boarding school adventure involving TJ with six of his friends (Rolly-D, Chiedu, UK, Tokunbo, Femi & James) while in JSS 1 (7th grade). The boys are initially shocked by all the hoops they have to jump in order to survive teachers, prefects, wicked seniors, dining hall food, thieves, cutting grass, washing toilets, discovering a Bushbaby, puppy love and all the other regular experiences anyone in a public Nigerian boarding school would experience. But when TJ and the boys accidentally see a man and two female students in an uncompromising position, what they do with that information is not their only problem in school, but the resulting scandal would change their lives far beyond their wildest dreams...

Written and Directed by Olufemi D. Ogunsanwo & Udoka Oyeka

Director Of Photography Bishop C. Kagho Idhebor

Editor Chidi Nwaozomudoh

RELEASE DATE: August 2011

http://www.zr7themovie.com
http://www.karmacauseproductions.com

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