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Internet day: Celebrating the new world order

There is no doubt that we are facing an element with great power. The Internet has been the most prominent innovation in the field of mankind’s history. To the purpose of being a practically essential instrument for a great variety of tasks or even simply in our social life.

Today the world commemorates the anniversary of the first message that was sent between two computers on 29 October 1969 through the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), the forerunner of the Internet. Since then, technology has become an indispensable part of our lives.

Today the Internet has transformed our lives in a monumental way, making it unthinkable to imagine a world without it. From smartphones and social media to cyber security the network is present everywhere.

This year the world celebrate the international Internet day as it appears as the world’s saviour during the Corona virus outbreak. It has driven many commercial and social activities online becoming an ever more crucial link for academic purposes by providing unbounded possibilities for learning.

The Internet has revolutionized communication, to the extent that it is now a preffered medium of everyday communication. Internet has become embedded in every aspect of our day-to-day lives changing the way we interact with others. To add on, the Internet has enabled users to move away from their former passive role as mere recipients of messages conveyed by conventional media to an active role, choosing what information to receive, how and when.

The cyberspace has transformed the world to a place full of immense quantities of information being uploaded and downloaded over this electronic leviathan, with a thousands of content creaters, commentators and publishers.

The world wide web is indeed the best place for selling and making money through online business. Banking, billing and shopping has been made easier with the development of the Internet.

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Netflix and UNESCO have partnered to launch an innovative short film competition on ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ across Sub-Saharan Africa. Winners of the competition will be trained and mentored by industry professionals and provided with a US$75,000 production budget to create short films that will premiere on Netflix in 2022 as an “Anthology of African folktales”. One key aim of this competition is to discover new voices and to give emerging filmmakers in Sub-Saharan Africa visibility on a global scale. We want to find the bravest, wittiest, and most surprising retellings of some of Africa’s most-loved folktales and share them with entertainment fans around the world in over 190 countries. It is important that the film sector acts to ensure the voices of Africa are heard, by supporting the emergence of diverse cultural expressions, putting forth new ideas and emotions, and creating opportunities for creators to contribute to global dialogue for peace, culture and development. -Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General. The competition, which will be administered by Dalberg, will open on 14 October 2021 until 14 November 2021. Each of the 6 winners will receive a production grant of US$75,000 (through a local production company) to develop, shoot and post-produce their films under the guidance of Netflix and industry mentors to ensure everyone involved in the production is fairly compensated. In addition, each of the 6 winners will also receive $25,000. -Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO and Chief Content Officer, Netflix UNESCO and Netflix both strongly believe in the importance of promoting diverse local stories, and bringing them to the world. They recognize that many emerging filmmakers struggle with finding the right resources and visibility to enable them to fully unleash their talents and develop their creative careers. This competition aims to address these issues and enable African storytellers to take a first step towards showcasing their content to a global audience. -Ernesto Ottone R., UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture This partnership will also help create sustainable employment and encourage economic growth and it will therefore contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, a series of targets established by the United Nations which aims to end global poverty in all its forms by the end of this decade. This film competition will also help reduce inequalities by facilitating access to global markets and by guaranteeing dignified working conditions. All of these are key goals within the 2030 Agenda. Africa has a rich storytelling heritage and a wealth of folktales that have been passed down for generations. When you marry these very local stories with Africa’s emerging talent, there is no limit to fresh new stories to connect people with African cultures and bring the world that much closer to each other. -Ben Amadasun, Netflix Director of Content in Africa For the first round, applicants will be required to submit a synopsis of their concept (no more than 500 words) as well as links to a recent CV and a portfolio/evidence of any past audiovisual work they have produced. Applications can be submitted via www.netflix-growcreative.com/unesco from October 14th at 16:00 CET and will close on November 14th, 2021 at 13:59 PM CET. For more information about the application process, please visit www.netflix-growcreative.com/unesco Media contacts: Tom Burridge, UNESCO; te.burridge@unesco.org(link sends e-mail) Mokgadi Seabi, Netflix; mokgadi@netflix.com Editors’ Notes: About The Application process: How to apply: Candidates will need to submit a synopsis of their concept (no more than 500 words) in a Creative Statement as well as a link to a recent CV and a portfolio of any past audiovisual work they have produced on netflix-growcreative.com/unesco  Applications open Applications can be made via www.netflix-growcreative.com/unesco from October 14th. They will close on November 14th, 2021 at 11:59 PM (CET).  Eligibility Criteria: The competition is open to individuals seeking to venture into feature film development and production. Applicants must have a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 5 years of demonstrable professional experience in the audio-visual industry. Applicants must have developed and produced 1 to 2 theatrical feature films, television fiction, documentaries, or 2-3 short films and/or commercials. Candidates must be a citizen of a Sub-Saharan African country and currently residing in Sub-Saharan Africa to apply. Applicants must be 18-35 years old at the time of submission.  Shortlisted finalists: We’ll announce our top 20 finalists in January who will then be invited to a “How to Pitch to Netflix” workshop. These workshops will give candidates the chance to prepare, polish, and present their film concepts with the help of industry experts. The Netflix and UNESCO judging committee will then mentor six winners to develop a 12 to 20-minute short film.   TIMELINE:  October 2021 – Application portal opens on October 14th  November 2021 – Applications close on November 14th  January 2022 – Announcement of Top 20 finalists  January 2022 – Workshop on “How to Pitch to Netflix” for shortlisted candidates  February 2022- Shortlisted candidates invited to pitch final entries to mentors  February 2022 – Final selection via a Netflix and UNESCO joint judging panel  February 2022 – Announcement of 6 winners  Spring/Summer 2022 – Development, production & post-production of films  September/October 2022 – Launch of 6 films on Netflix service 

Netflix and UNESCO have partnered to launch an innovative short film competition on ‘African Folktales, Reimagined’ across Sub-Saharan Africa. Winners of the competition will be trained and mentored by industry professionals and provided with a US$75,000 production budget to create short films that will premiere on Netflix in 2022 as an “Anthology of African folktales”.

One key aim of this competition is to discover new voices and to give emerging filmmakers in Sub-Saharan Africa visibility on a global scale. We want to find the bravest, wittiest, and most surprising retellings of some of Africa’s most-loved folktales and share them with entertainment fans around the world in over 190 countries.

It is important that the film sector acts to ensure the voices of Africa are heard, by supporting the emergence of diverse cultural expressions, putting forth new ideas and emotions, and creating opportunities for creators to contribute to global dialogue for peace, culture and development. –Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General.

The competition, which will be administered by Dalberg, will open on 14 October 2021 until 14 November 2021. Each of the 6 winners will receive a production grant of US$75,000 (through a local production company) to develop, shoot and post-produce their films under the guidance of Netflix and industry mentors to ensure everyone involved in the production is fairly compensated. In addition, each of the 6 winners will also receive $25,000. –Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO and Chief Content Officer, Netflix

UNESCO and Netflix both strongly believe in the importance of promoting diverse local stories, and bringing them to the world. They recognize that many emerging filmmakers struggle with finding the right resources and visibility to enable them to fully unleash their talents and develop their creative careers. This competition aims to address these issues and enable African storytellers to take a first step towards showcasing their content to a global audience. –Ernesto Ottone R., UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture

This partnership will also help create sustainable employment and encourage economic growth and it will therefore contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, a series of targets established by the United Nations which aims to end global poverty in all its forms by the end of this decade. This film competition will also help reduce inequalities by facilitating access to global markets and by guaranteeing dignified working conditions. All of these are key goals within the 2030 Agenda.

Africa has a rich storytelling heritage and a wealth of folktales that have been passed down for generations. When you marry these very local stories with Africa’s emerging talent, there is no limit to fresh new stories to connect people with African cultures and bring the world that much closer to each other. –Ben Amadasun, Netflix Director of Content in Africa

For the first round, applicants will be required to submit a synopsis of their concept (no more than 500 words) as well as links to a recent CV and a portfolio/evidence of any past audiovisual work they have produced. Applications can be submitted via www.netflix-growcreative.com/unesco from October 14th at 16:00 CET and will close on November 14th, 2021 at 13:59 PM CET.

 

For more information about the application process, please visit www.netflix-growcreative.com/unesco

Media contacts:

Editors’ Notes:

About The Application process:

  • How to apply:

Candidates will need to submit a synopsis of their concept (no more than 500 words) in a Creative Statement as well as a link to a recent CV and a portfolio of any past audiovisual work they have produced on netflix-growcreative.com/unesco

  • Applications open

Applications can be made via www.netflix-growcreative.com/unesco from October 14th. They will close on November 14th, 2021 at 11:59 PM (CET).

  • Eligibility Criteria:
    • The competition is open to individuals seeking to venture into feature film development and production. Applicants must have a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 5 years of demonstrable professional experience in the audio-visual industry. Applicants must have developed and produced 1 to 2 theatrical feature films, television fiction, documentaries, or 2-3 short films and/or commercials.
    • Candidates must be a citizen of a Sub-Saharan African country and currently residing in Sub-Saharan Africa to apply. Applicants must be 18-35 years old at the time of submission.
  • Shortlisted finalists:

We’ll announce our top 20 finalists in January who will then be invited to a “How to Pitch to Netflix” workshop.

These workshops will give candidates the chance to prepare, polish, and present their film concepts with the help of industry experts. The Netflix and UNESCO judging committee will then mentor six winners to develop a 12 to 20-minute short film.

  • TIMELINE:
    • October 2021 – The application portal opens on October 14th
    • November 2021 – Applications close on November 14th
    • January 2022 – Announcement of Top 20 finalists
    • January 2022 – Workshop on “How to Pitch to Netflix” for shortlisted candidates
    • February 2022- Shortlisted candidates invited to pitch final entries to mentors
    • February 2022 – Final selection via a Netflix and UNESCO joint judging panel
    • February 2022 – Announcement of 6 winners
    • Spring/Summer 2022 – Development, production & post-production of films
    • September/October 2022 – Launch of 6 films on Netflix service

 

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Rubie Trader – The digital market on WhatsApp

Rubiem Trader is an innovative digital platform that allows people to sell, buy products and to get tenders using WhatsApp anytime and anywhere. It is a one-stop-digital market for SME, informal market traders and corporates which saves you money, time. Zimbabwe’s economy requires speed, connections and access to different options given the price fragmentation and hyperinflation. Customer were enduring the hustle of joining dozens of WhatsApp and Facebook groups to track quick deals in the market. Some corporates use Mobile Apps but unfortunately, data bundles are expensive. To get a product one has to make several costly telephones, or spend lots of money on transport or walk for long hours searching for the option that suits the pocket. The economic challenges in Zimbabwe requires every cent to count but on the other hand, there are serious price distortions. The consumer and traders require low cost , quick and easy to use solutions. Continue reading “Rubie Trader – The digital market on WhatsApp”

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Twitter loses 9 million users amid bot crackdown


By Jacob Kastrenakes
Twitter’s monthly user count took another hit last quarter, diving by 9 million amid an ongoing crackdown meant to rid the platform of bots, spam, and other problematic accounts. The company said this morning that its monthly user base fell to 326 million from from 335 million the prior quarter, marking the second quarter in a row of declines.

The decline wasn’t unexpected. Twitter said last month that it had begun wiping out bad accounts far more rapidly. And the company warned that it could lose “mid-single-digit millions” more in the coming months, due to new technology that helped spot bad actors and prevent them from getting on the platform in the first place. Evidently, Twitter ended up wiping out more bad accounts than it added real accounts.
“We do see health [of the platform] as a growth vector over the long term,” Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, said during a call with investors this morning. “This is an extremely important initiative to us, not only for the experience of Twitter, but we believe the long-term growth of the platform.”

Cleaning out these accounts ought to lead to a better overall service. But for the time being, the adjusted figures illustrate how poorly Twitter has been growing. Not only has it lost users this year, its total user count is back to where it was at the start of 2017. For comparison, Facebook added 38 million monthly users just last quarter.
Twitter expects the user decline to continue, too. The company says it expects another “mid-single-digit millions” drop next quarter, though it doesn’t attribute the whole thing to its bot crackdown. Some of it is because of the company dropping SMS deals with carriers, and some of it is because of Twitter’s “decision to allocate resources towards GDPR.”

Ultimately though, if you’re a Twitter user, you want Twitter’s efforts in this space to succeed. Twitter believes it’s made “meaningful progress improving the health of the public conversation” on its site; and it sees a big success in the fact that its new signups have actually dropped by 20 percent from last quarter, because it’s added new verification requirements.
“In Q3, we made progress preventing spammy or suspicious new account creation by requiring new accounts to confirm either an email address or phone number when they sign up to Twitter, and we improved the detection and removal of previously banned accounts who attempt to evade suspension by creating new accounts,” the company writes in its quarterly filing.

The platform’s health is one of Twitter’s “highest priority areas,” the company says. “We will continue our efforts to remove spammy and suspicious accounts from the platform and to prevent their creation in service of a healthier public conversation.”

Twitter tries to put the user decline in context by noting that the accounts it’s losing are not good for the platform. But Twitter had been counting those accounts as users before now, and so it has to deal with the fact that in the public’s eyes, growth is going in the wrong direction.

There was one relative bright spot when it came to user growth: daily active users continue to grow. Twitter still won’t say exactly how many daily users it has, but it says the number is up 9 percent year over year. Daily user growth has, however, slowed — Twitter saw 14 percent growth this quarter last year. Daily users represent “less than half” of monthly users, the company said on its earnings call.

Twitter also continued to turn a profit, marking one full year of profitability. That’s something the company has never done before, since these are also the first four quarters it’s turned a profit period.
Source: www.theverge.com

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Tech breakthrough offers an early warning system for heart attacks

Philippe Lissac/Getty Images

A new method of analyzing images from CT scans can predict which patients are at risk of a heart attack years before it occurs, researchers say.

The technology, developed by teams at Oxford University and institutions in Germany and the U.S., uses algorithms to examine the fat surrounding coronary arteries as it shows up on computed tomography (CT) heart scans.

Reuters – A new method of analyzing images from CT scans can predict which patients are at risk of a heart attack years before it occurs, researchers say.

The technology, developed by teams at Oxford University and institutions in Germany and the United States, uses algorithms to examine the fat surrounding coronary arteries as it shows up on computed tomography (CT) heart scans.

That fat gets altered when an artery becomes inflamed, serving as an early warning system for what one of the researchers believes could be up 30 percent of heart attacks.

“If you are able to identify inflammation in the arteries of the heart then you can say which arteries … will cause heart attacks,” Oxford Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Charalambos Antoniades, told Reuters.

“With the new technology that we have we can achieve this by analyzing simple CT scans.”

Most heart attacks are caused by a build-up of plaque — a fatty deposit — inside the artery, which interrupts the flow of blood.

Currently, CT scans tell a doctor when an artery has already become narrowed by plaque.

With the new technology, for which the researchers hope to gain regulatory approval on both sides of the Atlantic within a year, doctors will be able to say which arteries are at risk of narrowing.

 

“(We) can say …your arteries are inflamed and a narrowing will be developed five years down the line. So maybe you can start preventive measures to avoid this formation of the plaques,” Antoniades said.

Heart disease and stroke are the two biggest causes of death worldwide.

“Although we have not estimated the exact number of heart attacks that we can prevent, we could potentially identify at least 20 or 30 percent of the people before they have (one),” Antoniades said.

An Oxford University spin-off company is now developing a service to analyze CT scans from across the globe in around 24 hours.

The research was published in late August in medical journal The Lancet.

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Chrome 70 will let users decline linking web, browser sign-in

 

Sign into Gmail without signing Chrome into your Google account too.

 

ENGADGET – Over the weekend professor and cryptographer Matthew Green noticed that in Chrome 69, signing into Google websites while using Chrome caused the browser to show him as signed in there as well.

Concerned about the implications of tracking behavior across a browser session even though he had intentionally not signed into Chrome, he wrote about it. Google Chrome manager Adrienne Porter Felt explained that the change happened to remind users of who is signed in, and that it did not sync activity to the server under the Google profile unless additional steps were taken.

Now, in response to the feedback, Google has announced that in Chrome 70, users will be able to “turn off linking web-based sign-in with browser-based sign-in.”

As Google Security Princess Parisa Tabriz writes, it will still default to on, but you can opt out of it and have an assurance that the browser is not syncing your data to the cloud in the background.

It’s also changing a confusing blue button Green complained about, so that instead of just “Sync as (your name)” it clearly indicates that pressing it will turn syncing on or off.

Finally, one other change comes to the “clear cookies” function. Previously, it would leave Google authorization cookies behind so that the user would still be signed in, but now it will blow those away too.

Source: Google Blog

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Google secretly logs users into Chrome whenever they log into a Google site

By Catalin Cimpanu for Zero Day

Google has made an important change to the way the Chrome browser works, a move the company did not advertise to its users in any way, and which has serious privacy repercussions.

According to several reports, starting with Chrome 69, whenever a Chrome user would access a Google-owned site, the browser would take that user’s Google identity and log the user into the Chrome in-browser account system –also known as Sync.

This system, Sync, allows users to log in with their Google accounts inside Chrome and optionally upload and synchronize local browser data (history, passwords, bookmarks, and other) to Google’s servers.

Sync has been present in Chrome for years, but until now, the system worked independently from the logged-in state of Google accounts. This allowed users to surf the web while logged into a Google account but not upload any Chrome browsing data to Google’s servers, data that may be tied to their accounts.

Now, with the revelations of this new auto-login mechanism, a large number of users are angry that this sneaky modification would allow Google to link that person’s traffic to a specific browser and device with a higher degree of accuracy.

That criticism proved to be wrong, as Google engineers have clarified on Twitter that this auto-login operation does not start the process of synchronizing local data to Google’s servers, which will require a user click.

When one or more users would be using the same Chrome browser, data from one or more users would accidentally be sent to another person’s Google account.

But despite this clearly logical decision behind this move, users are still angry. First and foremost, they are angry because they don’t have this ability to decide when they log into their browser, and second, they are angry because Google had failed to tell them about this new move.

Google Chrome 69 was released on September 5, more than two weeks ago, and if you haven’t been probing the depths of Twitter, Mastodon, or Hacker News, you wouldn’t have known of this change in Chrome’s behavior.

Almost all users who never used Chrome’s Sync feature before might find it surprising that they are logged into Chrome right now, as they read this article, if they’ve also logged into a Google account somewhere on Gmail, YouTube, or any other service.

 

But the criticism doesn’t stop here. Matthew Green, a well-known cryptography expert and professor at Johns Hopkins University, pointed out in a blog post today that Google has also redesigned the Sync account interface in a way that it is not clear anymore to users when they are logged in or what button they should push to start syncing.

He calls this change a “dark pattern,” a term used to describe user interfaces that have been intentionally designed to be misleading.

In its current form, the Sync interface is indeed misleading, and a user might be one wrong click away from giving all their browser data to Google by accident.

But some also suggested that Google’s move might have been planned well in advance. Chrome 69 was a major release for Google, coming with many new features, including a new user interface. Some claim that Google hid this new change in the Chrome 69 release, hoping that nobody would spot it among all the goodies the company added to its browser, hence, the reason why it did take over two weeks for Google aficionados to spot the update.

Green’s social media clout, along with some heated Twitter conversations, did manage to push things at Google’s HQ, and Chrome engineers have told Green that Google will clarify Chrome’s Privacy Policy to reflect Chrome’s new mode of operation.

Though this policy update may satisfy some lawyers in Google’s cozy offices, this does not address the issue that Google has modified a Chrome feature without telling users, and that modification might lead to serious privacy breaches.

Microsoft has suffered a major reputational blow due to its initially hidden Windows 10 telemetry practices, and so has Facebook in the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal. Twitter is also known to be flooded with bots, fake news, and political influence campaigns, and Reddit is a home for communities dedicated to abuse, harassment, and physical threats.

Through the years, Google has managed to keep a shiny reputation, despite being known to be the biggest data hoarder around. It’s usually shady behavior and small things like these that bring down a company’s reputation. – ZDNet

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EcoFarmer Club: Another First From Econet Wireless

Image Credits: Technomag

 

By osbert Hove 19 hours ago

Econet Wireless launched the EcoFarmer Club which provides farmers with premium farming news, weather forecasts, agricultural commodity prices and a mobile trading and advertising platform which links farmers to buyers at a colourful ceremony today attended by Farmers, business executives and members of the media.

Speaking at the launch of the EcoFarmer Club, Econet CEO Mr Douglas Mboweni reiterated the company’s public commitment to support sustainable local and national agriculture given that Zimbabwe is an agro-based economy.

“We are excited to launch this service that will serve millions of farmers and consumers of farming services throughout our country,” Mr Mboweni said.

“We always pride ourselves in our ability to use technology to address the needs of ordinary people. The EcoFarmer Club is an example of one such product,” the Econet CEO said.

Courtesy of Econet Wireless, Zimbabweans in the past decade have seen rapid development and adoption of technologies that change the way the live and transact through its EcoCash mobile money platform

Mr Mboweni said the EcoFarmer Club would come with a transactional personalised EcoFarmer Club Card, which entitles farmers to discounts on vital farming inputs and implements from approved suppliers.

Many organisations in the agriculture industry have partnered with Econet on the Eco Farmer Club initiative. Econet Chief Operating Officer Mr Fayaz King revealed this detail at the launch saying Windmill, Agricura, Tanaka Power, Agriseeds, Farm Shop, National Tested Seeds, Graniteside Hardware, Seedridge and Arda Seeds are some of the approved outlets.

“EcoFarmer Club members will be able to access seed, fertilizers, agrochemicals, stock feeds, animal health products, farming implements and inputs from selected agro-businesses – such as seed companies, fertilizer companies, poultry suppliers, as well as crop and livestock outlets – at special, discounted prices,” Mr King said.

He said the EcoFarmer service, which was originally introduced to the market in 2013, already boasted over one million registered customers on its platform.

The company’s Head of Agri-business Ms Caroline Mozhendi described the product in detail urging farmers to join EcoFarmer Club and enjoy several rewards.

She also highlighted that there are quality assurance experts and resources to provide research-based information in order to make better decisions.

In connection with joining EcoFarmer Ms Caroline Mozhendi said, “for existing, registered EcoFarmer customers to subscribe to the EcoFarmer Club, they needed to ‘subscribe’ to the EcoFarmer Club.”

New customers need to be a registered EcoCash users. Thereafter they would simply dial *144#, to register for EcoFarmer, and select the EcoFarmer Club on the menu to subscribe.- Technomag