The Devastating effect of using cracked Adobe software – Don’t Be A Victim

Everyone has used a cracked application or software at some point. Whether we took it from a friend or we downloaded it ourselves, we have used Windows OS, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, our most beloved anti-virus, from torrent sites. Downloading anti-virus from a broken version has always been, for me, very paradoxical as I grew up. Because humour me, why did I think it was smart to get anti-virus software that is supposed to protect me from malware and viruses from sites that is a virus breeding ground? It is almost like going to buy an authentic Louis Vuitton bag from Circle. It doesn’t add up.

Let me share with you how I moved from downloading single apps to getting the Adobe Creative Cloud which covers access to Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom and Photoshop, ColdFusion, Dreamweaver, Edge Animate,  Edge Web Fonts, Edge Reflow, Edge Code, Edge Inspect, Muse, After Effects, Audition, Premier Pro, Spark, Story Plus, as well as Acrobat (PDF viewer, creator, and editor) and a whole lot more from JB a digital reseller in Accra.

The turning points in my ‘if I can get it for free I am not buying’ lifestyle happened on a sober October day in 2013. It was the day before the deadline for my master’s application; I had postponed the final creative design piece to add to my application because I was demotivated (that is what I am going with, not laziness). I decided to use the ‘trusty’ InDesign software from my favourite hacked site as I had done for months; after spending four hours designing and perfecting my design, my laptop crashed.

I figured it was just the RAM needing a break, but I wasn’t too bothered; I had been saving my work as I went along. surely, I would get the work when I turn my laptop on. Words can’t describe what the next fifteen minutes felt like as I struggled to get my laptop to turn on; I legit saw my life flash before my eyes, and there was nothing I could do about it. I spent another thirty minutes struggling with the blue screen of death before I gave up and took it to a repairer friend of mine.

He told me my brand new Lenovo laptop was done for; I had had that laptop for only three months. It was a graduation gift from my family, and now the laptop was malfunctioning and making matters worse, I had a deadline to meet with my final design on this same laptop!

Luckily, the repairer was joking; I spent the next two hours with my heart in mouth while he recovered my file and gave me his laptop to submit my application. I managed to submit the design just in the nick of time.

After my near-death experience, the repairer gave me my laptop back working like new and told me I had caught malware from one of the numerous ‘broken software’ I had downloaded and that almost cost me my opportunity to further my education at my dream university. He gave me the contact to JB to call and purchase authorized Adobe Creative Cloud access.

As someone from the other side of the coin, I understand our first choice isn’t to pay for any software but to have my laptop free of viruses, malware and enjoy updates and new versions of my trusted InDesign, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Illustrator and others is something I can never compromise. The Adobe Creative Cloud access does not only give you untethered access to your favourite software; you get free updates and new releases, giving you the best option whenever it is launched, desktop applications that can be used on either Mac OS or Windows systems, hundreds of desktop and web fonts for free, 100GB cloud storage, Adobe Spark to design webpages, videos and artworks anywhere as well as Adobe Portfolio to create professional portfolio websites.

You may be a freelancer and need the flexibility of working on client projects in odd locations, and the Adobe Creative Cloud offers you that peace of mind. With access to mobile versions of all the apps and the cloud system to store your works, You can easily access your project and complete it on the go in the Uber or at the coffee shop when you can’t easily access your laptop.

Learn from my mistakes, contact JKlutse Ventures on 027283933 or 024572185 for your original Adobe Creative Cloud software. It’s 2021; don’t jeopardize your side hustle, information security or peace of mind by getting a ‘broken’ software.

Please note, JBKlutse Ventures is a Certified Adobe Reseller in Ghana.

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook.

source https://www.jbklutse.com/buy-original-adobe-creative-cloud-software-ghana/

Maiden edition of Africa Technovate Awards to come off April 2

Africa Integrated Development and Communications Consultancies (AIDEC) has re-launched the maiden edition of the Africa Technovate Awards and Fair to appreciate and reward players of the technological space.

The awards programme and a fair are scheduled to come off on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the auditorium of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), Accra under the theme ‘Information Technology and the Way Forward for Africa under the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ from 9:00am to 9:00pm.

As part of the new preparations to allow for more inclusivity, and to bring out the best in technology, innovation, and creativity in Africa, the closing date for nominations has been fixed for Tuesday, February 15, 2022.

The technology and innovations awards ceremony are to recognize and reward African technology companies who have blazed the trail for several years and budding young innovative and creative tech companies charting a path for Africa in a fast digitally transforming world.

The awards will challenge and motivate tech companies driving digital solutions to even do more to make Africa stay competitive, especially under the era of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Speaking at the launch, Managing Director of AIDEC, Ambrose Yennah said the ceremony will be graced with different key stakeholders and a number of distinguished guests who will share knowledge and ideas about their best experiences and practices and also share how they’ve stayed hopeful even in trying times of COVID-19

“Apart from the awardees, other key stakeholders made up of a number of distinguished invited guests will be attending from some technology training institutions, top technology companies in the services sector, academia and policy and regulatory authorities of the technology space, under the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization,” he said.

The event will be held both physically with about 150 persons in attendance and virtually for all persons throughout Africa and beyond. All countries in Africa are targets for inclusion in the Africa Technovate Awards particularly Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Kenya, Cameroun, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana, Gambia, Niger.

Awards Category

The award ceremony include three sections: Sector Awards (silver category), Regional Awards (Gold category), and the Africa Awards (platinum category).

The sector awards will comprise of Outstanding Edtech Institution of the Year, FinTech Company of the Year, Health/Medtech Company of the Year, Digital Agri-Business of the Yea, and the Tech Insurance Company of the Year.

The regional awards comprise the Digital Innovation and Creativity Award, Digital Business Transformation Award, Tech Startup Company of the Year Award, Young Tech Startup Company of the Year Award, Blossoming Tech Company of the Year Award, Mature Tech Company of the Year Award, and the Ambitious Tech Company of the Year Award.

While the Africa awards (platinum) category comprises of Outstanding Digital Entrepreneur of the Decade, Lifetime Achievers Award, Quality Standards Award, Digital Excellence Awards, and the Long-Standing Service Engagement Award.

Awards criteria

Ambrose Yennah, CEO of AIDEC

On awards criteria, the nominated individual or organization must be registered as an ICT company or service provider in the ICT sector and must show a track record of performance in the technology space.

Mr. Yennah added that the awardees must have demonstrated creativity, originality, and initiative in technology design and programming adding that they must also contribute to the development of technology products or solutions in the sector, country, or region. They must have industry standards by establishing and demonstrating organizational best practices.

The company as well must demonstrate standards and show evidence of innovation and creativity using information technology to transform business operations.

Speakers, guest of honour

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister of Communications and Digitalization and the Special Guest of Honour

The Special Guest of Honour is the Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful. The awards will be chaired by Ing. Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, CEO of Ghana Telecoms Chamber with Carol Annang, Country Director of Invest in Africa as co-chair.

Speakers for the event include Chairman, Ghana Dot Com, Prof. Nii Narku Quaynor; Executive Director, E-Commerce Association of Ghana, Paul Asinor; and President, Accra Institute of Technology, Prof. Clement Dzidonu. Goodwill messages shall be shared by the Secretary-General of AfCFTA, Wamkele Mene; and the Country Director of GIZ, Regina Bauerochse Barbosa.

The event will be graced with a lively performance by ‘the lioness of Africa’ Wiyaala with support from Patchbay band.

Other side attractions will be the exhibition of tech products and services at the foyer of the

Auditorium (UPSA). There will be an event brochure both in soft and hard copies and

advertisers and sponsors are encouraged to take advantage of the limited spaces available to

sell their business and products across Africa and beyond. For further information about Africa Technovate Awards, kindly visit the link: Africatechnovateawards.tech

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/maiden-edition-of-africa-technovate-awards-to-come-off-april-2/

Our guide to picking a phone this season: HUAWEI nova 9 is a must have and should be your go to choice!

Fancy a new smartphone? This is a good time to buy one, and our top smartphone guide will help you compare and contrast the top 2021 smartphones available on the market today in Ghana.

There are so many good phones to choose from right now but which one is the king of the castle? Is there even a winner? Smartphones come in all shapes, sizes and prices. Here, we have ranked and reviewed the top three 2021 smartphones money can buy today.

What can you expect from a new smartphone in 2021? There are many factors you need to consider but primarily the things you need to keep a close eye on are; design, camera, battery life and charging speeds in addition to cool features that spice up the user experience.

With that said, trust us -these smartphones are all top-notch and if you want to know more, simply read on to find out how each ones shines in its own way.

HUAWEI nova 9

Specs roundup:

Display: 120Hz curved OLED 6.57-inch display

Camerasetup: Rear Cameras: 50MP +8MP +2MP +2MP –Selfie: 32MP

Charging: 66W HUAWEI SuperCharge

Storage: 8GB RAM +128GB internal storage

Chipset: 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G

Dimensions: 160mm x 73.7mm x 7.77mm

Huawei recently released the HUAWEI nova 9, the latest addition to its popular and loved HUAWEI nova series. Dubbed as the Trendy Flagship Camera King, this latest hotshot from Huawei inherits the HUAWEI nova Series’ unique aesthetic and sophisticated design, bringing along powerful performance and features that help users capture and create.

It is a helpful assistant for creating and sharing video content especially when it comes to vlogging features!

The latest smartphone from Huawei debuts with a new colourway –Colour No. 9 that is created with an all-new Starry Flash AG Glass process that adds a unique texture to the chassis and highlights the iconic camera module, giving it greater visual emphasis.

Colour No. 9 is a mix of low-saturation blue and purple hues meticulously blends with the glittering particles to form a dreamy colour spectrum that gives off a hint of mysteriousness.

Under different lighting, the colour finish reflects vivid and colourful patterns. Under a spotlight, the whole device shines and sparkles. It reminds users of the subtle moments in their life, which are inspiring and exhilarating.

Both the front and back sides of its body are slightly curved, making it feel thinner and more comfortable to hold. Packed with a 6.57-inch curved display, the HUAWEI nova 9 remains sleek with a thickness of only 7.77mm and a weight of approximately 175g.

Speaking of display, the HUAWEI nova 9 sports a 6.57-inch 120Hz Original-Colour Curved Display that can render 1.07 billion colours delivering smooth visuals in fine details. The incredibly curved screen slides from the centre to both sides just like a waterfall, which offers immersive visuals and a comfortable grip at the same time.

The HUAWEI nova 9 follows HUAWEI nova 8’s Star Orbit Ring design concept that is similar to the old look, but comes with a nova ring emblem that highlights the Star Orbit Ring, making it even more recognisable and eye-catching.

The HUAWEI nova 9 comes with an Ultra Vision AI Quad Camera system, which includes a 50MP Ultra Vision Main Camera with RYYB colour filter array, an 8MP Ultra Wide Angle Camera, a 2MP Depth Camera and a 4cm 2MP Macro Camera.

Whether it is city night photos, panoramas, portraits with bokeh effects or close-upshots, the HUAWEI nova 9 lets users capture images in high quality and deliver pro-grade clarity.

Meeting the demand for an excellent vlogging experience, the HUAWEI nova 9 features a 32MP High-Res selfie camera. The HUAWEI nova 9 supports 4K video shooting at 30fps with high definition and high frame rate, it delivers an enjoyable video experience with fascinating details and smooth motion.

Moreover, users of HUAWEI nova 9 can easily switch between front and rear cameras whilst filming to produce a single video featuring both footage in one go. Alternatively, you can use Dual-View Video to show both front and rear perspectives simultaneously, or to put a zoomed shot and wide shot together, both taken on the rear camera system, in one frame.

Again, this switching of camera occurs seamlessly, allowing you to create unique videos by just pressing the record button.

Regardless of the task, the HUAWEI nova 9 delivers excellent battery life with the high capacity 4300mAh battery. In addition, charging down time is kept to a minimum, with the new smartphone supporting 66W HUAWEI SuperCharge for high speed charging.

HUAWEI nova 9 also boasts some Super Device features staying true to Huawei’s innovative spirit! For example, users can tap on the HUAWEI MatePad icon to activate Smartphone-Tablet Multi-screen Collaboration; tap the HUAWEI MateBook icon for Smartphone-PC Multi-screen Collaboration or tap the HUAWEI FreeBuds icon to seamlessly switch their audio output to their Huawei earbuds.

With the Distributed File System, the smartphone can also function as a wirelessly connected external storage unit for the PC, meaning users can access the files they want more easily than ever before.

This means when users are drafting an email on the PC, they can add smartphone files as an attachment or when they see an image they like when browsing the internet on the PC, they can save that image directly to the smartphone. Using the HUAWEI nova 9, users can also transfer MeeTime calls onto HUAWEI Vision smart TV and conduct the call by taking advantage of the larger display, camera and speakers.

Running on EMUI 12, the HUAWEI nova 9 offers a smart and seamless experience to users. The trusted, innovative and secure AppGallery is available on the HUAWEI nova 9, where users can download a wide range of high-quality apps.

Samsung Galaxy S21

Specs roundup:

Display: 6.2-inch 120HzDynamic AMOLED 2XDisplay

Camera setup: Rear Cameras: 12MP +64MP + 12MP –Selfie: 10MP

Charging: 25W Samsung Super-Fast Charging

Storage: 8GB RAM +128/256 GB internal storage

Chipset: 5nm Samsung Exynos 2100

Dimensions: 151.7mm x 71.2mm x 7.9 mm

From the front, the Galaxy S21 comes with a 6.2-inch 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED display complete with a neat punch-hole selfie camera in the top middle part of the screen. Look closer and you will see the S21 has dropped its predecessor’s curved display and opted for flat edges.

However, in practical use the Galaxy S21’s display is great. Stick it in “Vivid” mode and you will see heaps of contrast and colour. The display is also good for watching videos and movies, or simply scrolling through your pictures or playing games.

Hardware-wise, the Galaxy S21 comes with a triple camera array which comprises of a main 12MP wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 64MP telephoto lens with 3x hybrid optic zoom and 30x space zoom. On the video front, the Galaxy S21 covers a lot of bases. It offers up to 8K capture at 24 fps that lets you snap high-quality photos while recording high resolution videos.

Other high-end features include 1080p video recording at 30/60/240 fps, which makes them super-smooth. Speaking of smooth, the Super Steady mode, which uses AI to compensate for shaky recording, works on 1080p 60 fps video capture.

Samsung Galaxy S21 comes with a 4,000-mAh battery. Fast charging is on offer over the USB-C PD standard, charging up the battery to 55% in 30 minutes. Samsung only puts the USB-C cable in the box. If you do not have a charger then you can buy a 25W charger.

Samsung Galaxy S21 runs on One UI. The interface is elegant, complete with a redesigned Quick Panel and a notifications screen that feels less cluttered. Users would especially appreciate the redesigned lock screen widgets as well as the ability to place widgets on the screen and adjust their transparency. One UI 3 still comes with many options to tweak your Galaxy experience.

Samsung Galaxy A72

Specs roundup:

Display: 6.7-inch 90Hz Super AMOLED display

Camera setup: Rear Cameras: 64MP +12MP +8MP +5MP –Selfie: 32MP

Charging: 25W Samsung Super-Fast Charging

Storage: 8GB RAM +128/256GB internal storage

Chipset: 8nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G

Dimensions: 165mm x 77.4mm x 8.4mm

Dominating the front of the Samsung Galaxy A72 is a 6.7-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display. The screen is vibrant with colours, excellent sunlight visibility, and great viewing angles. A layer of Gorilla Glass 5 protects the panel.

In terms of colour, the Samsung Galaxy A72 is available in Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Violet or Awesome Blue. It comes in at 165 x 77.4 x 8.4mm and weighs around 203g. The overall design comes with a large camera block in the top left corner of the rear, and a –hole selfie camera in the top centre of the screen.

The Samsung Galaxy A72comes with a camera setup, which consists of four lenses. There is a 64MP wide camera, 12MP ultra-wide camera, an 8MP telephoto camera in addition to a 5MP macro camera. On the front, it comes with a 32MP camera for capturing some good selfies.

Samsung Galaxy A72 houses a 5000mAh battery and supports 25W Samsung Super-Fast Charging for a quick refill. Fast charging capability lets you spend more time playing, scrolling and sharing and less time charging. The Samsung Galaxy A72 comes with One UI 3.1 based on Android 11 out of the box. As it’s usually the case with Samsung phones, there is more than enough customisation on offer.

Choosing the right one

Making the final choice comes down to you and your preferences. A variety of reasons including sleek design, display, photography, videography, charging speeds, and of course cool features will be the ultimate deciding factors on what your next 2021 smartphone will be.

However, amongst all the 2021 trendy flagships, the HUAWEI nova 9 ticks all the above boxes and has an exceptional design and some cool futuristic features!

Preorder the new Huawei Nova 9 for GHS 3099 from the Huawei Experience Store Accra Mall and Accredited Retail Shops and get a free nova gift box, Bluetooth speaker, band 4, flip cover and screen protector. Visit: https://consumer.huawei.com/gh/phones/nova9/ to preorder online and learn more about the New Huawei Nova 9.

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/our-guide-to-picking-a-phone-this-season-huawei-nova-9-is-a-must-have-and-should-be-your-go-to-choice/

2021 100 most influential young Africans list announced by Avance Media

Leading African PR & Rating firm, Avance Media has announced the 6th publication of its annual ranking of 100 Most Influential Young Africans, a list that celebrates the brightest and successful young Africans in various fields across the continent.

With 52 males and 48 females representing 32 countries on the continent, this year’s publication throws a huge spotlight on various talents and personalities pursuing their dreams in pursuit of making the continent proud and setting an example for young people on the continent.

With individuals from industries such as technology, business, entertainment, MD of Avance Media, Prince Akpah mentioned that, the continent is blessed with a lot of inspiring young people who have the power to prove the worth of the continent’s future. He also mentioned that, African leaders must focus resources in training its youthful population to be ready to compete with other young people from across the world.

Nigeria leads with representation on the list with 21 people followed closely by South Africa and Kenya with 10 individuals each, Uganda with 7 and Ghana with 6 young people.

Some notable names on the list include musicians Davido, Burnaboy, climate change activists such as Vanessa Nakate, Adenike Oladosu, Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti, Joanita Babirye, Leah Namugerwa and footballers, Mohammed Salah, Sadio mane and Edouard Mendy.

Criteria for selection for Avance Media’s 100 Most Influential Young Africans included: Excellence in Leadership & Performance, Personal accomplishment, commitment to sharing knowledge, breaking the status quo and being an accomplished young African.

Below is the official list of Avance Media’ 2021 100 Most Influential Young Africans arranged in alphabetical order.

1. Abasi Ene-Obong || CEO, 54Gene
2. Abiodun Adereni (Dr) || Founder, Help Mum
3. Achraf Hakimi || Footballer, Paris Saint-Germain
4. Adenike Oladosu || Founder, ILeadClimate
5. Amina Priscille Longoh || Chad Minister, Women and Protection of Children
6. Amisa Rashid Kiligah || Founder, Nivishe Foundation
7. Anika Jane Dorothy || Executive Director, Green Congress of Kenya
8. Anoziva Marindire || Information & Communications Officer, AUICGWEA
9. Asha Jaffar || Activist
10. Axel Merryl || Comedian
11. Aya Chebbi || Founder, Nala Feminist Collective
12. Barrington Chungulo || Founder, Dream Factory
13. Berla Mundi || On Air Personality, TV3 Ghana
14. Bitania Lulu Berhanu || Special Adviser on Youth, EUCIP
15. Burna Boy || Musician
16. Charlot Magayi || Founder, Mukuru Stoves
17. Christelle Kwizera || Founder, Water Access Rwanda
18. Christian Achaleke Leke || Youth Development Expert
19. CK Japheth || Founder , The Innovative Village
20. Davido || Musician
21. Debo Adedayo || Comic Actor
22. Douce Namwezi N’Ibamba || Journalist, Uwezo Afrika Initiative
23. DUDU || Comic Actor
24. Eddie Ndopu || Activist
25. Edouard Mendy || Footballer, Chelsea
26. Elizabeth Wanjiru Wathuti || Climate Activist, Green Generation Initiative
27. Emma Inamutila Theofelus || Namibia Deputy Minister, Ministry of ICT
28. Fadji Zaouna Maina (Dr) || Scientist, NASA Goddard
29. Fatou Jeng || Founder, Clean Earth Gambia
30. Fejiro Hanu Agbodje || Founder, Patricia Technologies
31. Feryal Abdelaziz || Athlete
32. Filsan Abdullahi || Activist
33. Fireboy DML || Musician
34. Focalistic || Musician
35. Georgina Siaba || Founder, The N’Takou
36. Given Edward || Founder, MyElimu Innovations
37. Grand P || Musician
38. Gregory Rockson || CEO, mPharma
39. Hadija Jabiri || CEO, EatFresh
40. Hilda Flavia Nakabuye || Founder, Fridays for Future movement
41. Ibrahim Mahama || Artist
42. Ire Aderinokun || Co-Founder, Feminist Coalition
43. Iron Biby || Athlete
44. Islam Elbeiti || Co-Founder, Sudanese Innovation & Entrepreneurship Network
45. Iyin Aboyeji || Founder, Future Africa
46. JeanMarie Kalonji || Activist
47. Jemimah Kariuki (Dr) || Founder, Wheels for Life
48. Joanita Babirye || Co-Founder, GirlsForClimateAction
49. Joeboy || Musician
50. Joshua Cheptegei || Athlete
51. Kabza De Small || DJ
52. Kalidou Koulibaly || Footballer, Napoli
53. Karabo Mokgonyana || Activist
54. Khanyi Pearl Zungu || Chief Advisor Legal, Eskom
55. KiDi || Musician
56. Larry Madowo || Journalist, CNN
57. Leah Namugerwa || Climate Activist
58. Lelise Neme || CEO, Ethiopian Investment Commission
59. Lyna Khoudri || Actress
60. Manal || Musician
61. Mark Angel || Comic Actor
62. Maya Horgan Famodu || CEO, Ingressive
63. Mbosso || Musician
64. Melvyn Lubega || CEO, Go1
65. Mohamed Ramadan || Actor
66. Mohamed Salah || Footballer, Liverpool
67. Muzalema Mwanza || Founder, Safe Motherhood Alliance
68. Nadeen Ashraf || Activist
69. Nader Ahmed || Actor
70. Nadia Ahmed Abdalla || Kenya CAS, Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth
71. Nthabiseng Mosia || COO, Easy Solar
72. OBoy || Musician
73. Odunayo Eweniyi || Founder, PiggyVest
74. Ojima Benjamin Ufaruna || Founder, BuyPower
75. Olugbenga Agboola || Founder, Flutterwave
76. Omah Lay || Musician
77. Penton Keah || Comedian
78. Peres Jepchirchir || Athlete
79. Peruth Chemutai || Athlete
80. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang || Footballer, Arsenal
81. Richmond Bassey || CEO, Bamboo
82. Riyad Mahrez || Footballer, Manchester City
83. Sadio Mane || Footballer, Liverpool
84. Sam Nartey George || Member of Parliament (Ghana)
85. Samuel Alemayehu || CEO, New Co
86. Sarah Diouf || CEO, Tongoro
87. Soraia Ramos || Musician
88. Tatjana Schoenmaker || Athlete
89. Tayo Aina || YouTuber
90. Tebogo Mashifana (Dr) || Lecturer, University of Johannesburg
91. Tems || Musician
92. Theo Baloyi || CEO, Bathu Shoes
93. Tom Osborn || CEO, Shamiri Institute
94. Ubah Ali || Activist
95. Vanessa Nakate || Climate Activist
96. William Last KRM || Actor
97. Wizkid || Musician
98. Wode Maya || YouTuber
99. Zozibini Tunzi || Miss Universe 2019
100. Zuchu || Musician

 

Source: Ifeanyi Ahyia Adjei

 

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/2021-100-most-influential-young-africans/

SEO reseller programs: A starter guide for agencies

Picture this scenario: You agree to do SEO for an existing client because it’s a lucrative opportunity. But then you struggle with getting backlinks and organic traffic, which makes your team frustrated as well since they don’t specialize in that area of marketing!

Agencies these days either offer SEO services without knowing how it works or they waste time learning the ropes instead of focusing on their core competency.

Thankfully, there is an easy way around this problem: An SEO reseller that can step in to provide what your company needs when you’re not able to do so yourself (and at a significantly lower price). When you outsource your SEO optimization to a reputable company, it gives the boutique firm more time for new client acquisition and delivers their best work. It really does seem like an ideal solution!

What are SEO resellers?

SEO resellers are the backbone of any modern company because they provide quality service at affordable prices (typically design, development and marketing). The best way to get ahead in the digital world is by teaming up with an SEO expert. The expertise these professionals have will help your business shine through search engine results pages (SERPs) and increase visibility on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, where thousands more users see content from brands they engage themselves with every day!

SEO resellers use their connections and know-how to develop a strategy for content marketing. They’ll help you craft high quality articles that are optimized enough, so they rank higher in search engines like Google – all while providing value through link building services!

The reseller dashboard is a one-stop shop for all your marketing needs, from ordering links and tracking results to seeing what’s working in real time.

This makes it easy to stay on top of things without having an army of employees or spending big bucks doing so! Reselling SEO services is oftentimes the best option for businesses who require an outside perspective on their website’s optimization. By hiring a company to do all of your dirty work, you save time and money while still enjoying access to top-notch expertise in search engine marketing tactics that will boost organic rankings organically!

Why outsource SEO?

SEO is costly

In the past, SEO was an expensive endeavor for three main reasons: it took time to show results and there were lots of resources needed in order to build campaigns. Nowadays, with new advancements like AI-based programs that can do work on their own while still achieving high ranking online; this process has become more affordable than ever before!

The cost of an SEO consultant can vary depending on how you want their services, but it’s not uncommon for them to charge a lot. If your project requires more time than that and needs constant attention from an expert throughout its duration, then expect prices to go up even higher at only a slightly lessening quality!

SEO is a critical service

When it comes to marketing success, SEO is one of the most important factors. That’s because search engine optimization benefits businesses in both B2B and B2C niches by bringing them more customers from targeted searches on Google or Bing – which means you’ll get your message out there easier than ever before!

SEO is becoming more and more complicated

The complexity of SEO has changed dramatically over the years. You used to be able to get higher rankings by stuffing your page with keywords and buying some backlinks, but now it’s all about content optimization for Google algorithms, so you need more than just surface-level stuff on top!

The benefits of using an SEO reseller

You can focus on your core-competency

Design and development agencies need to focus on what they’re good at. The complex world of SEO is not worth your time if you want success; instead, just make sure that clients are satisfied by delivering stunning results for them! Resellers offer a solution for those who have been burned by other SEO companies in the past, and it’s easier than ever to get into this business. Plus you’ll be able to save time on labor-intensive tasks like copywriting or keyword research that can bog down your day while still providing quality results!

You get scalable results

When you work with a professional SEO company, it’s like having a henchman on the ground that takes care of everything for you. Resellers are there to take away any stress or hassle, so your team can focus its efforts where they matter most: innovation! Marketing is a highly process-driven industry.

Search engine optimization experts have established systems for finding link building opportunities, creating content and leveraging editorial relationships that can be scaled as needed by the client without sacrificing quality or service level commitments with each new project milestone achieved at their end!

The SEO reseller model is an excellent way for businesses of any size to get the attention they deserve in a competitive market. Whether you need 10 or 1000 links, your provider should have what it takes – and be able to expand as needed!

You can work with niche experts

Resellers know how important it is to serve both local search customers and E-commerce clientele. They have expertise in different niches, so they’re perfect for doing business with both types of companies!

This way, not only will your profits increase, but also the customer base that could potentially buy from you become larger too, because everyone who uses the internet nowadays requires at least some kind of content marketing services or else no one will even know about them.

You don’t have to invest in new relationships

As an agency owner it’s likely that at some point in time of your career someone came to work with one organization but started another vertical. As such, you need new relationships and connections outside your usual circle if you want these clients for SEO services!

The key to success in this industry is not a single strategy, but rather the ability of an agency’s personnel who are well versed across many niches. By partnering with SEO resellers like yourself they can achieve better rankings for clients regardless if their verticals or not because you have relationships that span multiple areas–this gives rise opportunities others don’t!

You get “on-demand” services

The SEO game has changed dramatically in the last few years. Quality freelancers will often demand a retainer before they start working, which can be costly for companies with limited budgets or who are just starting out as an organization of their own! But full-time employees aren’t always necessary when you have outsourced marketers that operate on “on demand” models–you only pay according to what services come through your door at any given time, so there’s no need to invest heavily.

Final Take

When you outsource your SEO to a reliable company, they can take care of all the tedious tasks that bog down an organization. You’ll have more time for something valuable: brainstorming creative ideas with clients or growing organic traffic through keyword research!

You don’t want to just pick a reseller at random, so take some time and vet them. Read reviews from real people who have been burned in the past or tested out their service before you do anything else!

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/seo-reseller-programs/

How can you distinguish a real fraudster?

Customers are the backbone of any business. No matter which industry are you working in, you need to have customers to be successful and competitive in the busy market. It is essential that you know your customer so you can provide them with the best service you can. You need to know who they are, what they want, what your business can offer them, and what you can do to attract them.

Not only knowing your customer is one of the most important steps you need to take to make sure your business stays successful, but it can also help keep it safe. By implementing proper KYC verification tools like the ones by SEON,  you can protect your business from fraudsters that are trying to exploit it for their own financial gain. From using people’s naivety and their trusting nature to exploiting faults in the system, fraudsters do not shy away from any opportunity to realize some financial gain.

Fraudsters are extremely good at staying innovative and up to date with the newest trends when it comes to their malicious actions which is why you need to do the same. Any anti-fraud solution you have in place needs to be optimized and able to continuously adapt to keep up with fraudsters.

The best and most effective way to beat a fraudster is by staying one step ahead of them because that way you are not just reacting to fraudulent actions but you are preventing it from ever happening and affecting your business.

How can you recognize fraudsters and their fraudulent actions?

There are various types of frauds that might impact businesses and it is important not only that you are aware of the dangers you are facing, but also what you can do to protect yourself from them having a disastrous financial impact on your business. As we mentioned previously, the key to growing your business and keeping it safe at the same time is knowing your customers.

By knowing who your customers are and what makes them tick you will be able to create a detailed business plan and targeted marketing strategies which will help you grow your business and keep it successful. At the same time, you can use this knowledge to distinguish between fraudsters and customers.

By using cybersecurity tools whose goal is to gather as much information as possible about the customers you will be able to discover patterns of your customers’ legitimate behavior and identify any red flags that might show up during your interaction.

And best of all, you can do it without causing user friction as it means that clients will not have to fill long and boring required forms since you will already have that details.

By using KYC tools like device fingerprinting, email lookup tools, or data enrichment you can collect data about your users by using your internal databases but also data from the third parties creating a unique profile for each customer and by doing so recognize any discrepancies that might arise while they are accessing your network.

For example, you can discover that out of a sudden your repeat customer changes their address or their IP address is not matching the home address they provided, or you can even find out if the customer’s email address was ever put on a blacklist due to suspicious activities related to it.

It can even help you weed out the possible new customers by checking the age of the email and confirming if it is an established email or maybe was just recently created or even if their email is connected to any social media platform.

By noticing these possible red flags or warning signs you can activate a secondary level of protection such as multi-level verification and additionally verify the identity of your users confirming if they are who they say they are or if they are a fraudster.

Conclusion

Knowledge is essential and the more information you have it will be easier to make more informed decisions in any aspect of your business, from protecting it from malicious actions to creating a unique targeted marketing campaign. The sooner you accept that knowledge is a power you can use in a fight against fraudsters, the sooner you can start protecting your business.

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/how-can-you-distinguish-a-real-fraudster/

Home surveys in the UK v. the US – Everything you need to know

If you’re thinking about purchasing property in the United States or are just curious about what the process looks like compared to the UK, you’re in the right place. Home surveys are an important piece of the puzzle when purchasing a property anywhere but can be overlooked as an unnecessary added expense.

This article will give you the knowledge to understand why this isn’t a step you should pass over and the tools to make the process of finding a qualified surveyor easy.

There are a lot of similarities to the purpose and process of a home survey in the UK, with some key differences. The terminology is slightly different – in the US, essentially, the word ‘survey’ is swapped out for ‘inspection.’ You can expect to see references to home inspectors, inspection reports, etc.

Similar to the UK, inspections are not mandatory but are strongly encouraged. Despite the prevalent refrain of “Buying property is already so expensive! Why would I pay even more if I don’t have to?”—the answer is the same. Home inspectors are trained and certified to spot things that even the most well-informed and knowledgeable potential buyers could miss.

Skipping this step in the purchasing process will save you money in the short term but can be extremely costly if there are undetected issues in your new property. This is particularly important for properties that are to be leased or rented. You can live in a primary residence while work is being done to address electrical, plumbing, or other critical components. Still, issues like this can prevent you from legally renting your new property.

Losing out on rental income while also having to sink money into repairs that could have been fixed as a condition of sale if they had been spotted by a home inspector is more common than you might think and a worthwhile reason alone to cough up the extra fees for a survey.

In the UK, surveyors belong to two leading certifying associations – the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors or the Residential Property Surveyors Association. The quality or content of the inspection does not change by association. In the United States (and Canada), home inspectors are certified by their state or provincial governing associations as opposed to a national system like in the UK. Finding a qualified surveyor is the same, however.

If you’re looking for an inspector, go online and find the state association, and they’ll provide a list of inspectors close to the area your potential home is. This is the same for commercial buildings; the title of the inspector may be Commercial Home Inspector if that individual specializes in commercial buildings, but the process they follow for an inspection is the same. Home inspectors specializing in commercial buildings can also inspect residential buildings and vice versa.

There are additional certifications that inspectors can pursue for specialized buildings, but the primary certification allows them to inspect both commercial and residential properties.

You might wonder why a commercial home inspector isn’t called a Building Inspector – there is a reason for this! A building inspector does a similar job to a home inspector, but they do not do pre-purchase inspections. Rather, a building inspector approves renovations or changes to a building instead of providing an assessment meant to inform a potential buyer.

For example, if you bought a commercial space that was once a retail store and were approved to change that space to become a restaurant, a building inspector would come once you had put in your seating, kitchen, etc. to ensure that all of the new elements met the building and safety codes of that area.

Let’s talk about the cost of home inspections in the UK versus the US. First, it’s important to note that home surveys in the UK are more comprehensive than those offered in the US and have several tiers that the potential buyer can choose from based on the property’s age, history, etc.

In the US, average home inspections are $200-$600 plus (that’s £150- £300). In the UK, prices vary from £500- £1,500. That seems like a big jump, but keep in mind the level of detail of UK surveys is much greater than their US equivalents.

There you have it – those are the key differences and similarities between UK home surveys and US home inspections. Now you can feel confident that you know the lay of the land should an investment opportunity present itself across the pond!

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/home-surveys-in-the-uk-v-the-us/

Travel in the Age of COVID-19 is about to get weird

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has wreaked havoc with professional sports leagues — from the NBA to the NFL.

For major sporting events (especially international events) to continue, airlines may need to radically rethink the way they transport passengers.

Removing the Middle Seat Is Not Enough

Affordable modern air travel is built on the premise of fitting as many people as possible into the cabin. Cabin-stuffing of this sort is what enables airlines to make enough money at scale to offer flights at a price the ordinary passenger can afford.

Unfortunately, this approach is not suitable during a pandemic, especially one where proximity is the main source of infection.

Many airlines have adapted to this situation by removing the middle seat. This approach worked as a stopgap, but it is incredibly expensive for airlines and it’s unsustainable in the long term. The other problem is that individuals are still very close to each other and therefore one case of COVID-19 is likely to spread rapidly to all the passengers in the cabin.

COVID-19 leaves airlines with two options. The first is to wait and hope that governments will get a handle on the pandemic. Japan’s ban on Olympic fans traveling demonstrates that this won’t work.

That’s because vaccination rates are sluggish in many countries and mask mandates have been lifted in places where the pandemic is still spreading. Since COVID-19 has proven that it can mutate into more infective strains, we will probably be forced to live with the virus for the foreseeable future.

This means that it is time for airlines to consider the second option: pandemic-proof cabins.

Radical New Cabin Designs Could Be the Key

Two main factors can exacerbate the spread of COVID-19:

• Proximity to an infected individual and
• Airflow in the environment.

Traditional plane designs are not suited to solving either of these problems so these areas are where innovation is taking place at the moment.

Short-term solutions — the most likely to be implemented — that do not require airlines to rebuild their cabins fall into a handful of categories.

Isolating Infected Passengers

The first method is isolating infected passengers. These solutions put contagious passengers into isolated bubbles. The best example of this type of isolation is Airbus’s PaxCASE (Passenger Containment Area for Symptomatic Events) design. This semi-transparent plastic sheeting encircles a row of seats to quarantine an infectious passenger.

Unfortunately, PaxCASE is designed as an emergency measure and is unwieldy to be applied across an entire plane.

Improving Passenger Safety Awareness

Another important consideration is passenger awareness. Boeing and the US Department of Defence have conducted studies demonstrating that airline ventilation systems are remarkably good at capturing the COVID-19 virus and do not spread it around the cabin.

The biggest risk of transmission comes from passengers unknowingly interacting with infected areas. One innovative solution to this challenge is to implement seats that change color when cleaned with UV, allowing passengers to clearly see safe seating areas.

More Innovation Is Needed

In the long term, more innovative designs will be needed. There are several proposals being considered by the industry, but one that stands out is Zephyr Aerospace’s proposal to implement lie-flat pods on the plane in economy class. Moving to a solution like Zephyr’s would allow airlines to seat people more comfortably than before while maintaining better social distancing.

Airlines Need to Adapt – And Quickly

The simple fact is that COVID-19 isn’t going away any time soon – but neither will air travel and tourism. The world probably won’t — and shouldn’t — end large-scale sporting events like the Olympics and people will always need to travel.

Airlines will need to rapidly adopt innovative methods to transport large numbers of passengers safely to their destinations while minimizing the risks of spreading COVID-19.

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/travel-in-the-age-of-covid-19/

West Africa-based SMEs to receive influx of capital, technical assistance through USAID-funded partnership with African Guarantee Fund

Limited access to capital remains a high barrier to growth for many small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in West Africa, a challenge compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.  In its continued efforts to support high-potential SMEs in the region during this crisis and the companies that finance them, the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub awarded a $2.5 million  co-investment grant to the African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (AGF).

AGF, a leading non-bank financial institution, will leverage this grant, as well as $20 million of private equity, to support its two-part COVID-19 Guarantee Facility.  The combined $22.5 million co-investment will allow AGF to absorb additional pandemic-related risk and provide guarantees to its partner financial institutions (PFIs) on more favorable terms and conditions while remaining financially sustainable.

Through the COVID-19 Guarantee Facility, African Guarantee Fund expects to issue loan guarantees to 30 partner financial institutions (PFIs), allowing them to unlock up to $160 million in financing for approximately 3,000 West Africa-based SMEs impacted by the pandemic.  In addition, it will provide technical assistance to the PFIs and SMEs benefiting from the COVID-19 Guarantee Facility to accelerate their post-pandemic recovery.

During AGF’s three-year partnership with the Trade Hub, the COVID-19 Guarantee Facility is expected to help SMEs create 15,000 new jobs, maintain 20,000 existing jobs, and collectively generate $100 million in sales and $8 million in exports.

“Despite the internationally recognized importance of SMEs, African small businesses often have difficulties accessing financing for growth and innovation from the formal financial sector. Over the past two years, SME financing challenges have further escalated due to economic uncertainties brought about by the impact of the pandemic,” said Jules Ngankam, AGF’s Group Chief Executive Officer.

“Our COVID-19 Guarantee Facility is a response to this challenge, and we are excited to partner with the Trade Hub to increase our capacity in bridging the SME financing gap through this innovative initiative,” he added.

The Trade Hub’s partnerships with AGF represent its forward-thinking approach to helping high-potential West Africa-based businesses with the financing needed to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Similar partnerships with Cordaid Investment Management and CrossBoundary, launched in 2021, are already showing success in bringing together the partners, capital, and resources that create a more stable environment for SMEs to grow and make a positive impact in the region,” says Robin Wheeler, the Trade Hub’s Chief of Party. “We are excited to add AGF as a co-investment partner,” he added.

 

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/african-guarantee-fund/

Introducing the AI Research SuperCluster — Meta’s cutting-edge supercomputer for AI research

Developing the next generation of advanced AI will require powerful new computers capable of quintillions of operations per second. Today, Meta is announcing that we’ve designed and built the AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) — which we believe is among the fastest AI supercomputers running today and will be the fastest AI supercomputer in the world when it’s fully built out in mid-2022.

Our researchers have already started using RSC to train large models in natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision for research, with the aim of one day training models with trillions of parameters.

RSC will help Meta’s AI researchers build new and better AI models that can learn from trillions of examples; work across hundreds of different languages; seamlessly analyze text, images, and video together; develop new augmented reality tools; and much more.

Our researchers will be able to train the largest models needed to develop advanced AI for computer vision, NLP, speech recognition, and more. We hope RSC will help us build entirely new AI systems that can, for example, power real-time voice translations to large groups of people, each speaking a different language, so they can seamlessly collaborate on a research project or play an AR game together.

Ultimately, the work done with RSC will pave the way toward building technologies for the next major computing platform — the metaverse, where AI-driven applications and products will play an important role.

Why do we need an AI supercomputer at this scale?

Meta has been committed to long-term investment in AI since 2013, when we created the Facebook AI Research lab. In recent years, we’ve made significant strides in AI thanks to our leadership in a number of areas, including self-supervised learning, where algorithms can learn from vast numbers of unlabeled examples, and transformers, which allow AI models to reason more effectively by focusing on certain areas of their input.

To fully realize the benefits of self -supervised learning and transformer-based models, various domains, whether vision, speech, language, or for critical use cases like identifying harmful content, will require training increasingly large, complex, and adaptable models.

Computer vision, for example, needs to process larger, longer videos with higher data sampling rates. Speech recognition needs to work well even in challenging scenarios with lots of background noise, such as parties or concerts. NLP needs to understand more languages, dialects, and accents.

And advances in other areas, including robotics, embodied AI, and multimodal AI, will help people accomplish useful tasks in the real world.

High-performance computing infrastructure is a critical component in training such large models, and Meta’s AI research team has been building these high- powered systems for many years. The first generation of this infrastructure, designed in 2017, has 22,000 NVIDIA V100 Tensor Core GPUs in a single cluster that performs 35,000 training jobs a day. Up until now, this infrastructure has set the bar for Meta’s researchers in terms of its performance, reliability, and productivity.

In early 2020, we decided the best way to accelerate progress was to design a new computing infrastructure from a clean slate to take advantage of new GPU and network fabric technology. We wanted this infrastructure to be able to train models with more than a trillion parameters on data sets as large as an exabyte — which, to provide a sense of scale, is the equivalent of 36,000 years of high-quality video.

While the high-performance computing community has been tackling scale for decades, we also had to make sure we have all the needed security and privacy controls in place to protect any training data we use.

Unlike with our previous AI research infrastructure, which leveraged only open source and other publicly available data sets, RSC also helps us ensure that our research translates effectively into practice by allowing us to include real-world examples from Meta’s production systems in model training.

By doing this, we can help advance research to perform downstream tasks such as identifying harmful content on our platforms as well as research into embodied AI and multimodal AI to help improve user experiences on our family of apps. We believe this is the first time performance, reliability, security, and privacy have been tackled at such a scale.

AI supercomputers are built by combining multiple GPUs into compute nodes, which are then connected by a high-performance network fabric to allow fast communication between those GPUs. RSC today comprises a total of 760 NVIDIA DGX A100 systems as its compute nodes, for a total of 6,080 GPUs — with each A100 GPU being more powerful than the V100 used in our previous system.

The GPUs communicate via an NVIDIA Quantum 200 Gb/s InfiniBand two-level Clos fabric that has no oversubscription. RSC’s storage tier has 175 petabytes of Pure Storage FlashArray, 46 petabytes of cache storage in Penguin Computing Altus systems, and 10 petabytes of Pure Storage FlashBlade.

Early benchmarks on RSC, compared with Meta’s legacy production and research infrastructure, have shown that it runs computer vision workflows up to 20 times faster, runs the NVIDIA Collective Communication Library (NCCL) more than nine times faster, and trains large-scale NLP models three times faster. That means a model with tens of billions of parameters can finish training in three weeks, compared with nine weeks before.

Designing and building something like RSC isn’t a matter of performance alone but performance at the largest scale possible, with the most advanced technology available today. When RSC is complete, the InfiniBand network fabric will connect 16,000 GPUs as endpoints, making it one of the largest such networks deployed to date. Additionally, we designed a caching and storage system that can serve 16 TB/s of training data, and we plan to scale it up to 1 exabyte.

All this infrastructure must be extremely reliable, as we estimate some experiments could run for weeks and require thousands of GPUs. Lastly, the entire experience of using RSC has to be researcher-friendly so our teams can easily explore a wide range of AI models.

A big part of achieving this was in working with a number of long-time partners, all of whom also helped design the first generation of our AI infrastructure in 2017. Penguin Computing, our architecture and managed services partner, worked with our operations team on hardware integration to deploy the cluster and helped set up major parts of the control plane. Pure Storage provided us with a robust and scalable storage solution.

And NVIDIA provided us with its AI computing technologies featuring cutting-edge systems, GPUs, and InfiniBand fabric, and software stack components like NCCL for the cluster.

…and doing it remotely, during a pandemic

But there were other unexpected challenges that arose in RSC’s development — namely the coronavirus pandemic. RSC began as a completely remote project that the team took from a simple shared document to a functioning cluster in about a year and a half.

COVID-19 and industry-wide wafer supply constraints also brought supply chain issues that made it difficult to get everything from chips to components like optics and GPUs, and even construction materials

— all of which had to be transported in accordance with new safety protocols. To build this cluster efficiently, we had to design it from scratch, creating many entirely new Meta-specific conventions and rethinking previous ones along the way.

We had to write new rules around our data center designs — including their cooling, power, rack layout, cabling, and networking (including a completely new control plane), among other important considerations. We had to ensure that all the teams, from construction to hardware to software and AI, were working in lockstep and in coordination with our partners.

Beyond the core system itself, there was also a need for a powerful storage solution, one that can serve terabytes of bandwidth from an exabyte-scale storage system. To serve AI training’s growing bandwidth and capacity needs, we developed a storage service, AI Research Store (AIRStore), from the ground up.

To optimize for AI models, AIRStore utilizes a new data preparation phase that preprocesses the data set to be used for training. Once the preparation is performed one time, the prepared data set can be used for multiple training runs until it expires. AIRStore also optimizes data transfers so that cross-region traffic on Meta’s inter-datacenter backbone is minimized.

How we safeguard data in RSC

To build new AI models that benefit the people using our services — whether that’s detecting harmful content or creating new AR experiences — we need to teach models using real-world data from our production systems. RSC has been designed from the ground up with privacy and security in mind, so that Meta’s researchers can safely train models using encrypted user-generated data that is not decrypted until right before training.

For example, RSC is isolated from the larger internet, with no direct inbound or outbound connections, and traffic can flow only from Meta’s production data centers.

To meet our privacy and security requirements, the entire data path from our storage systems to the GPUs is end-to-end encrypted and has the necessary tools and processes to verify that these requirements are met at all times. Before data is imported to RSC, it must go through a privacy review process to confirm it has been correctly anonymized.

The data is then encrypted before it can be used to train AI models and decryption keys are deleted regularly to ensure older data is not still accessible. And since the data is only decrypted at one endpoint, in memory, it is safeguarded even in the unlikely event of a physical breach of the facility.

Phase two and beyond

RSC is up and running today, but its development is ongoing. Once we complete phase two of building out RSC, we believe it will be the fastest AI supercomputer in the world, performing at nearly 5 exaflops of mixed precision compute. Through 2022, we’ll work to increase the number of GPUs from 6,080 to 16,000, which will increase AI training performance by more than 2.5x.

The InfiniBand fabric will expand to support 16,000 ports in a two-layer topology with no oversubscription. The storage system will have a target delivery bandwidth of 16 TB/s and exabyte-scale capacity to meet increased demand.

We expect such a step function change in compute capability to enable us not only to create more accurate AI models for our existing services, but also to enable completely new user experiences, especially in the metaverse. Our long-term investments in self-supervised learning and in building next-generation AI infrastructure with RSC are helping us create the foundational technologies that will power the metaverse and advance the broader AI community as well.

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/ai-research-supercluster/

The smartest ways to use your smartphone overseas

GIVEN THE pandemic’s twists and turns, picking a travel destination can be dicey these days—and the need to stay on top of potential obstacles has left globe-trotters extra-reliant on smartphones.

In uncertain times, data is a traveller’s best friend, and quickly hopping on the internet to research sudden changes to Covid rules has become as essential as accessing Google Maps, scanning restaurant QR codes or summoning an Uber or a Lyft. You want to cut loose and be carefree, not spend your vacation hunting down free Wi-Fi.

Here, are three different ways to let you maintain access to the internet overseas, wherever there’s cell coverage:

1. The Old Standbys

Stepping off the plane, turning on your phone and instantly having service is the simplest option for travellers not looking to drop off the grid. Of the three major U.S. carriers, T-Mobile offers the least expensive way to stay connected abroad. If you have either the company’s Magenta or Magenta Max plans, which cost $70 and $85 a month, respectively, you’ll immediately have service upon reaching your destination at no additional cost. The catch: Although you get unlimited data overseas, service can feel exceptionally slow (about 2G velocity). If that proves too sluggish to efficiently power navigation and ride-sharing apps, you can purchase T-Mobile’s day passes starting at $5 a day, which will boost functionality to speeds on par with what you’d experience stateside.

Alternatively, AT&T and Verizon customers can add an international roaming service to their everyday plan—with speeds comparable to those back home—but it could cost as much as $10 a day for data.

Best for: Time-pressed road warriors looking for the simplest, if not necessarily the cheapest, way to stay on the grid.

2. Unlock and Load

Most smartphones come either “locked” or “unlocked.” The former means that the phone can’t be used with any carrier other than the one from which you purchased the phone. The latter means that you’re free to swap out the phone’s SIM card, its tiny memory chip, anytime, handy when you’re travelling overseas. That’s because, as peripatetic penny-pinchers have long known, the cheapest way to travel with a smartphone is to purchase a local SIM card as soon as you land (often sold at phone stores or supermarkets) and pop it into your phone. With a local SIM card, you can access several gigabytes of data, usually more than enough, for as little as $5 to $25 a month, depending on the country. The downside—or upside, depending on how incommunicado you’d like to be—is that you’ll have a new phone number during your trip.

3. Google It

For the past few years, Google has been offering its own wireless service that rivals that of Old Guards such as T-Mobile and AT&T. At a monthly rate of $70, Google Fi’s “Unlimited Plus” plan offers customers 4G data speeds in more than 200 destinations. You can either use Google Fi with the company’s own Pixel smartphone or on many unlocked phones, though you’ll need to do a little research on the Google Fi website to make sure your phone is compatible.

Google Fi’s tethering features are also ideal for people who want access to loads of high-speed data when using their phone to connect to the internet with their tablet or laptop by creating a mobile hot spot. The only problem (a giant one for some): Google’s international tethering doesn’t work with iPhones.

To add to this article or start a conversation, join our forum to share your opinions with other readers. For stories of this sort and more, do well to log on to www.jbklutse.com or visit us on Facebook. 

source https://www.jbklutse.com/smartest-ways-to-use-your-smartphone-overseas/

Ways to use a free password manager and make your logins safer

Some of my old usernames and passwords are floating around the internet, and maybe yours are, too. After repeated notices of data breaches at websites, some I haven’t visited in years, I decided to get serious and use a password manager to create unique, unguessable passwords for each of my accounts. They’re so complex I don’t know what most of them are.

To find out if your credentials are exposed, plug your email address into Haveibeenpwned.com, a website by security expert Troy Hunt, to reveal which breaches contained your data. It doesn’t ask for your passwords (and you shouldn’t give them out to random sites anyway!).

Hackers commonly employ an attack called “credential stuffing”: They take usernames and passwords leaked from one breach and enter them at other sites in the hope that people reuse them.

This is why security experts always say don’t reuse passwords, especially those for important logins like your bank, your email and your work accounts. But it also means you’ll quickly end up with more passwords than you can remember.

A full-featured password manager is a good idea, but setting one up can be time-consuming, intimidating and sometimes costly. So, as someone who’s gone through the process for myself and several family members, I am recommending cybersecurity newbies start with the fast, free versions baked into the smartphones and browsers they already use.

The Best Password Manager for You

A good password manager:

• Creates strong passwords

• Stores login credentials

• Autofills usernames and passwords

• Protects your data

• Lets you export credentials if you want to switch managers

I generally recommend independent services such as Dashlane and 1Password, because those apps work better across different platforms and have more features. However, a good fit for less tech-savvy folks is Apple’s AAPL -1.28% iCloud Keychain and Google’s GOOG -2.56% Password Manager. They’re free, there’s nothing to download, and they are integrated with software people already use. Plus, they can generate new passwords and send alerts when a password has been compromised.

Even Gary Orenstein, chief customer officer at the open-source password app Bitwarden, agrees: “Using any password manager is better than not using a password manager.”

Just remember, iCloud Keychain is for people who live mostly in Apple’s ecosystem, and Google’s Password Manager is for people who use Chrome or Android for most of their internet activity. If you aren’t squarely in one of these camps, you might need a third-party app. Bitwarden is a solid free option that works across different platforms, while 1Password and Dashlane, which have monthly subscriptions, are good for families and people who need more features, such as secure password sharing.

Once you’ve set your system up, change the passwords to a few of your web and app logins first, then try using the manager across different devices, just to get the hang of it. If you’re using a built-in system, your device’s passcode protects your credentials, so don’t pick an easily guessed passcode like 1111. Here’s how to get started:

Apple’s iCloud Keychain

Where you find it: iOS/iPadOS apps, Mac apps, Safari for web and mobile, Chrome for Windows

How to enable: Turn on iCloud Keychain in your Mac’s System Preferences if you haven’t already. Click Apple ID, then iCloud, and select Keychain. Then, on your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, tap your name, iCloud, then Keychain. If you use a Windows computer, download the iCloud Passwords for Chrome extension.

When you create a new account or reset the password for an existing one, Keychain will automatically ask you to generate a strong password and save your login information for that website. The next time you visit the website, those credentials will be auto-filled for you.

Whenever you type in an existing password, Keychain will offer to save those passwords, too. Consider turning on biometric authentication for password autofill, so you don’t have to type in your computer’s password or phone’s PIN every time. On a Mac, go to System Preferences, then Touch ID. On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Face ID & Passcode.

Find your passwords: Want to look up a stored password? On a Mac, open Safari’s preferences, then select Passwords. On an iPhone, in the Settings app, scroll down and tap Passwords.

How to export: On your Mac, go to Safari and open Preferences. Click Passwords. At the bottom of the password list, click on the three dots and select Export Passwords.

Google’s Password Manager

Where you find it: Android, iOS (with the Chrome app), Chrome for web and mobile

How to enable: In the Chrome browser’s address bar, go to chrome://settings/passwords and enable Offer to save passwords. On Android or iOS, open the Chrome app, tap the three-dots icon, go to Settings then Passwords, and turn on Save passwords. When you create a new account or reset the password for an existing one, the browser will suggest a strong password and save it for you.

The easiest way to add existing passwords is to visit a website and type in your username and password—Chrome will offer to save those, too. If you use iOS, Google can fill in saved passwords in other apps as long as you have the Chrome app installed. Go to the Settings apps, select Passwords, click on AutoFill Passwords and select Allow Filing From Google Chrome.

Find your passwords: If you need to access your passwords manually, open a new tab and go to chrome://settings/passwords or passwords.google.com to copy and paste the password manually.

How to export: Go to passwords.google.com, click the Settings gear and select Export passwords.

Independent Password Managers

If you’re going to use an independent service, I have two pieces of general advice:

• Download the manager’s app or extension on every device and browser you use.

• Take the time to craft a strong master password.

If you’re using an independent manager, you’ll only need to remember one password, which you won’t have to change unless you think it has leaked somehow. Master passwords are private keys that are known only to you—not even the company knows them.

Pick a password that’s at least 12 characters long with numbers, capital and lowercase letters and symbols. It helps if it’s based on a meaningful phrase. If your favourite song is Queen’s “I Want To Break Free,” that could become “i Want 2BF by QueeN!”

You can also make your phrase simpler but longer: “Oh how I want to be free, oh how I want to break free!” Password length is more important than complexity because longer passwords are harder to decrypt, says Jameeka Green Aaron, a chief information security officer at customer-authentication company Auth0. It’s important to note that your master password can’t be recovered or reset, so you might want to write it down on paper and store it somewhere safe but accessible.

Don’t Forget Two-factor Authentication

No matter how you plan to strengthen your password game, you need to turn on two-factor authentication, also known as 2FA, in all the internet accounts that offer it. This protection requires an additional code or validation sent to another device—a text message or a pop-up phone notification, for instance upon login.

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source https://www.jbklutse.com/ways-to-use-a-free-password-manager-and-make-your-logins-safer/

Two ways U.S. messed up its new 5G rollout

The Biden and Trump administrations had years of warnings. But the government failed this week to avoid a collision between U.S. telecom companies and airlines over the rollout of new 5G cellular networks.

That failure, rooted in longstanding disagreements over potential risk and a lack of cooperation by U.S. regulators, led to a last-minute scramble that threatened the cancellation of thousands of flights and raised tensions between two powerful industries.

Since 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration has questioned whether decades-old aviation equipment would be disrupted by new cellular signals. The risk to aircraft from new 5G services has been dismissed by the telecom industry and its regulator.

Yet the FAA, still sifting through a flood of wireless-company data, was altering flight-safety instructions in the days leading up to the 5G rollout. Boeing Co., meanwhile, began talking last weekend with users of its 777 jets about possibly halting flights into major U.S. airports ahead of the 5G debut. Along with questions about shifting FAA restrictions, that set off days of panicked calls among airline chiefs and White House officials, people familiar with the matter said.

“I can’t believe that it’s come to this,” United Airlines Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Scott Kirby wrote in a Tuesday email to senior Biden administration officials that were viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

International airlines on Tuesday announced the cancellation of some U.S.-bound flights, and carriers rushed to adjust schedules until AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to limit 5G signals near major airports. That prompted the FAA to ease restrictions.

“It wasn’t our finest hour, I think, as a country,” Doug Parker, chief executive of American Airlines Group Inc., said on an earnings call Thursday.

Telecom companies are counting on fifth-generation wireless standards to keep up with growing demand by customers for streaming videos, mobile games and other data-hungry apps, as well as to develop new revenue streams.

AT&T and Verizon together picked up most of the industry’s more than $81 billion tabs to secure air rights for the new high-speed wireless service—a central plank of their strategies—and invested a fortune on advertising, personnel and equipment. They say real-world experience in other countries shows that aircraft are safe from any 5G-related disruptions.

That view is backed by the Federal Communications Commission, which controls commercial airwaves, but not the FAA, which is responsible for air safety. Telecom-industry groups say aviation officials disrupted multibillion-dollar investments with last-minute alarm based on thin evidence. Aviation companies and their regulators say the rush to reach 5G development goals threatens the safety and reliability of a global economy reliant on air travel.

“We have, in this case, two very different industries that have different ways of looking at risk, and I think over the last couple of months, we understand each other much better than we did before,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said Wednesday. “Keep in mind, the telecommunications companies, we’re not their regulator.”

FAA concerns grew after an aerospace research group flagged potential 5G interference problems in 2019. The agency’s views hardened in 2020 after RTCA Inc., a nonprofit group that establishes FAA technical standards with aerospace manufacturers, published lab test results that suggested aircraft altimeters could be vulnerable. The devices feed data to cockpit safety systems that help planes land in poor weather, prevent midair collisions and avoid crashes.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, NTIA, a federal office authorized to mediate disputes over managing public radio waves, had shuffled through several temporary leaders over nearly three years before a permanent chief filled the role last week.

An NTIA lab offered last year to start testing equipment used in civilian aircraft, but FAA officials didn’t accept, a person familiar with the matter said. The FAA worried it wouldn’t have enough of a role in the testing, according to another person familiar with the matter.

Countries including France and Norway have run basic tests with helicopters. U.S. engineers only this week started a process to measure 5G’s effect on military helicopters. Dozens of countries have deployed similar 5G services, though at different power levels and, in some cases, with limitations near airports.

The agreement Tuesday by AT&T and Verizon to restrict 5G signals around major airports helped avert broad disruption to passengers but the rushed process still had consequences. After the new signal began beaming to customers, some commuter flights on smaller jets were barred from landing Thursday in San Francisco because the FAA hadn’t yet cleared them for low-visibility conditions.

1. Faster 5G

The fissures that emerged over the past week have been developing since telecom companies began pushing for international standards to support next-generation wireless technology a half-decade ago. U.S. officials, wary of falling behind countries like China, plunged into a development campaign.

Starting during the Trump administration, officials encouraged policies to ease investments in new fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless services. Democratic and Republican lawmakers warned that without more spectrum licenses to fuel network upgrades, the American tech industry would fall behind China’s.

The program names reflected Washington’s sense of urgency. The FCC called its agenda to promote next-generation wireless the 5G FAST plan. Lawmakers later drafted related legislation called “Beat CHINA for 5G Act.”

FCC in 2017 began taking public comments about opening a set of radio frequencies known as the C-band to cellphone carriers and how it could affect satellite companies, aviation and other industries. C-band later became the basis for some telecom companies’ 5G expansion plans.

Aviation officials sought to delay an FCC auction of C-band spectrum licenses, which started in late 2020. A letter signed by Mr Dickson and then-Transportation Department general counsel Steven Bradbury to the NTIA warned of possible interference with radar altimeters in aircraft.

“The aviation industry needs a considerable transition period” to develop, test and retrofit potentially at-risk equipment, wrote Messrs. Dickson and Bradbury. “Depending on the results of further analysis, it may be appropriate to place restrictions on certain types of operations, which would reduce access to core airports in the U.S.”

Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council in the Trump administration, said experts at the White House Office of Science and Technology policy reviewed the altimeter-interference claims and rejected them.

“We looked at it and decided on science grounds and communications-policy grounds and national-security grounds,” he said. On Thursday, he added, “It’s hard for me to look at this any other way than a turf battle.”

Tom Wheeler, the FCC chairman under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017, agreed that the commission’s engineering judgment was sound. But he said the federal government should underwrite altimeter upgrades requested by the aviation industry. “If there’s $81 billion sitting in the U.S. Treasury, it should get fixed,” he said. “There’s the money.”

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, a Republican, said the Biden administration should have more forcefully backed the FCC over FAA objections that he called unfounded. “It was the job of the White House to say, ‘No, this process has been run, we’re siding with the science,’ ” he said.

An FAA spokesman said the agency has followed its long-established safety process. “This process is one of the key reasons that U.S. commercial air travel is the safest form of transportation in the world,” he said.

2. Warning bells

Late last year, AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay a planned Dec. 5, 2021, rollout of their new 5G services after FAA officials began drafting policies to restrict flights because of the new signals.

By early January, government officials endorsed a wireless-industry plan to launch the new 5G networks while dimming the signals near airports. The cellphone carriers agreed to delay the rollout until Jan. 19, giving the aviation industry more time to reduce disruptions by clearing certain aircraft and airports as safe for low-visibility landings that relied on especially sensitive equipment.

In the past two weeks, the FAA grew more concerned about related systems in many planes that rely on data from altimeters, according to people familiar with the issue. The agency also received shifting data on the number of cell towers that would operate near airports. FAA officials weren’t sure the signal buffer zones would be large enough to prevent potential interference, according to people familiar with the matter.

On Jan. 14, the FAA warned that many of the 50 U.S. airports of concern to major airlines would face restrictions keeping specific aircraft from landing, according to industry and government officials, as well as an agency presentation viewed by the Journal.

Late Monday, Boeing advised such customers as Emirates Airline and All Nippon Airways Co. that its 777 wide-body jet, a workhorse of international travel, shouldn’t fly to certain U.S. airports where the new 5G service would be deployed. Without FAA clearance, the jet would be effectively blocked from many of its destination airports. The 747-8 faced similar limits.

On Tuesday, AT&T and Verizon agreed to the 5G limits. Their new wireless services went live Wednesday, but any cell tower within 2 miles of a major runway wouldn’t use the new signals.

Verizon, which previously said its high-speed link would cover 100 million people, later downgraded that figure to more than 90 million. A company spokesman said Verizon planned to fulfil its 100 million targets for network coverage by the end of March.

Verizon spent more than any other wireless company to secure the C-band spectrum. Chief Executive Hans Vestberg said in a TV interview that the service activated Wednesday will substantially improve network performance despite the temporary limits.

Airline chiefs said this week that they believed the 5G agreement blunted the potentially worst impact to their operations. But government agencies and industry leaders should have worked to avert the problem earlier, they said.

“Frankly, we are the end-user of this dysfunction,” Mr Parker, the American Airlines chief executive, said Thursday. “We screamed as loud as we could. And fortunately, people listened.”

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source https://www.jbklutse.com/two-ways-u-s-messed-up-its-new-5g-rollout-united-state/