Hello readers, i have just read about these products coming soon from Apple.
I am looking forward to getting them after i must have saved some dollars and read other reviews about them, before then you can also have a feel on Apple’s website http://www.apple.com and from Techcrunch http://techcrunch.com/tag/apple/
Enjoy your money.
President Goodluck Jonathan
By Ahamefula Ogbu in Abuja
“Jonathan lists Nigerians’ protection, investment as priorities
President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday presented letters of credence to 93 ambassadors whom he gave a marching order to protect Nigerians in their countries of posting as well as to attract more investment to Nigeria.
The president, at the occasion at State House, Abuja, witnessed by top government officials and family members of the new ambassadors, among others, reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to make Africa the centre piece of its foreign policy.
Among those that got their letters were Bianca, widow of Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu; former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe; former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Fidelia Akuabata Njeze; former Oyo State deputy governor, Alhaji Taofeek Arapaja; former State House Chief of Protocol, Alhaji Abdullahi Tijani and Presidential Liaison Officer, Mohammed Abubakar Waziri.
However, it was gathered that Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Professor Adebowale Adefuye; High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Senator Dalhatu Tafida; Ambassador to China, Alhaji Aminu Wali; and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Professor Joy Ogwu, will retain their positions.
Although 93 people were presented with their letters of credence yesterday, a list of the posting obtained by THISDAY showed that only 48 of them have been posted.
A presidency source said the 48 ambassadors were the first batch whose accreditation process had been completed following the receipt of letters of agreement from their host countries.
The source said the list also omitted names of those being posted out as deputy chiefs to Nigerian missions, who though are of ambassadorial rank, they do not require Letters of Agreement.
Jonathan, while handing over the letters of credence to the ambassadors, urged them to forge a common front and de-emphasise ethnic associations for the greater feeling of oneness.
He told them to give higher priority to promoting democracy and good governance while at the same time pursuing multilateral diplomacy to the benefit of Nigeria in an ever-changing world.
He said: “You are assuming office at a critical period in Nigeria’s developmental history. As you prepare to depart to your countries of accreditation, you must always bear in mind that our foreign policy must reflect the aspirations and priorities of a democratic Nigeria.
“Economic diplomacy and Africa remain at the centre of our foreign policy agenda. In this respect, your responsibility to attract investments into the country and open up markets for our local goods and services cannot be over emphasised.
“Defending the interests of Nigerians living and operating lawfully in your countries of accreditation must be seen as a primary assignment.
“Protecting their interest through greater and more efficient consular support is also a priority to which you must remain fully committed.
“Increasingly, the Diaspora is shaping the growth and development of nations. Ours should not be different. We have a vibrant Diaspora that you need to constantly engage with so that it can effectively support and make contributions to national development, especially in the areas of finance, ICT and intellectual property.”
Jonathan explained that he deliberately included more career diplomats in the posting to underscore the need to achieve excellence in diplomacy while ensuring the gains of such positions.
“Today, we live in an international environment that is characterised by rapid change, intense competition, and driven by knowledge and technology. It is an exciting world in which only the best succeed.
“In such an environment, only a dynamic, confident and proactive foreign service can effectively and efficiently serve Nigeria’s interests.
“To build and sustain a corps of staff that can excel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must accord priority to recruiting the best and ensuring the regular training of its diplomatic agents.
“I believe that the objective of raising standards can also be achieved if senior Foreign Service officers are given challenges that prove their worth. They should be sufficiently equipped to act as veritable change agents, and lead in positively driving Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives abroad.
“My decision to give prominence to career officers in the current appointments was informed, in part, by the imperative to incentivise the career officers and enhance commitment to professional excellence,” Jonathan stated.
LIST OF HEADS OF MISSION
Names Country
1. Amb. Chive Lor Ignatius Kaave – Argentina
2. Amb. Felix Edobor Awanbor -Belgium
3. Amb. Lawrence Olufemi Obisakin – Benin Republic
4. Amb. Okwudili Odi Obidigbo Nwosu – Burundi
5. Amb. Hadiza Mustapha – Cameroon
6. Amb. Ojo Uma Maduekwe – Canada
7. Amb. Garba Abdu Zakari – Chad
8. Amb.Victoria Jolaade Bosede Onipede – Congo Brazzaville
9. Amb. Katherine Uyok Okon – Chech Republic
10. Amb. Grant Okechukwu Ehiobuche – Democratic Rep. of Congo
11. Amb. Sunday Benjamin B Bassey – Equitorial Guinea
12. Amb. Akinyele Oladipo Fayomi – France
13. Amb. Ademola Oluseyi Onafowokan – Ghana
14. Amb. Ayodeji Lawrence Ayodele – Greece
15. Amb. Abdul Rahman Sallahdeen – Indonesia
16. Amb. Tukur Mani – Iran
17. Amb. Eric Tonye Aworabhi – Italy
18. Amb.Olatokunboh Kamson – Jamaica
19. Amb. Taofeek Oladejo Arapaja – Jordan
20. Amb. Solomon Akintola Kayode Oyateru – Kenya
21. Amb. Haruna Garba – Kuwait
22. Amb. Ghigozie Fidelia Obi-Nnadozie – Liberia
23. Amb. Mohammed Lawan Gana – Malawi
24. Amb. Zhiri James Gana – Mexico
25. Amb. Matilda Kwashi – Mozambique
26. Amb. Biodun Nathaniel Olorunfemi – Namibia
27. Amb. Alexander Nwofe – North Korea
28. Amb. Akinyemi Farounbi – Philippines
29. Amb. Samuel Wodi Jimba – Poland
30. Amb. Abba Abdullahi Tijjani – Romania
31. Amb. Assam Ekanem Assam – Russia
32. Amb. Ayibakuro Peter Ogidi-Oke – Rwanda
33. Amb. Abubakar Shehu Bunu – Saudi Arabia
34. Amb. Katyen Catherine Jackden – Senegal
35. Amb. Eyo Asuquo – Sierra Leone
36. Amb. Femi Akenson Rotimi – Sri Lanka
37. Amb. Haliru Sodangi Shuaibu – Sudan
38. Amb. Fidelia Akuabata Njeze – Switzerland
39. Amb. Adamu Babangida Ibrahim – Syria
40. Amb. Chukwudi Newington Okafor – Thailand
41. Amb. Matthew Sunday Adoli – Togo
42. Amb. James Shuaibu Barka – Tunisia
43. Amb. Cornelius O. Oluwateru – United Arab Emirates
44. Amb. Frank Ngozi Isoh – Uganda
45. Amb. Ibrahim Auwalu – Ukraine
46. Amb. Francis Chukwuemeka Okeke – Vatican
47. Amb. Matthias Ojih Okafor – Vietnam
48. Amb. Sifawu Inu-Umoru Momoh – Zambia
Source: Thisday Newspaper
“Did your mouth water, your jaw drop and your eyes bulge over the beautiful new retina display MacBook that Apple announced at Monday’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference? Yeah, us too. As for the $2,199 starting price point? Well, pixels are pricey, especially when there’s 5 million of them.
But there is hope. Supplement your purchase of a stylish new gadget with money you’ve earned from selling the old ones.
First of all, don’t bother with eBay — the site is overloaded with used tech. At last check, there were 51,000 listings for MacBook Pros and 15,000 listings for MacBook Airs. Your gadget might get overlooked in the clutter.
Instead, we suggest you turn to one of these “re-commerce” sites, which specialize in trade-in and buy-back of used electronics. Simply enter information about your device, including its condition and original packaging, if applicable. Bing bang boom! The sites will give you an estimate right then and there; if you accept, they send you a pre-paid shipping label (and in some cases, even a box).
If your assessment of the device’s condition is fair, the money is yours — and your home will be less cluttered for it. I just wonder if the new and improved Siri could have told you that.
Keep in mind that when you’re trading in a laptop, unlike a smartphone or tablet, the resale value will vary by hard drive, RAM and optical drive. Those configurations will have a greater impact on the yielded value than the actual model of the device.
According to Jeff Trachsel, chief marketing officer for NextWorth, the best laptop trade-in values are for Apple, HP, Dell, Sony, Toshiba and Compaq. The highest-value laptops will likely come with Intel Core i7, Intel Core i5, Intel Core i3 or Intel Core2Duo 2.0+ GHz processors.
We’ve rounded up a selection of five re-commerce sites, each with a slightly different schtick. Pick the one that’s right for you, and sell, sell, sell!
Quick Tip: Before you send anything in for a re-sell, make sure all of your information is wiped from the device. It’s best to restore your gadget to its original factory settings to be sure everything is deleted. For full details on how to erase the contents of your devices, see Apple’s tutorials for iOS and OS X.”
Source: http://www.mashable.com
For the life of me, i don’t know why these scammers never give up on me as they keep trying in one form or the other. Here is another sample of a scam mail from our ‘dear Ms Usufu’, please enjoy. Thanks to the Yahoo plus option on my yahoo account ,mails like this end up in my spam box.
I just imagine the number of scam emails the likes of Aliko Dangote, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates get on a daily basis inviting them to one investment opportunity or the other.
| From.Ms.Grase Usufu, Abidjan,Ivory Coast, Email:(graseusufu@yahoo.co.jp) Good day my dear, In confidence,i have to introduce myself for i am Ms.Grase Usufu,21 years old, I am the only child of late Mr & Mrs.Herbert Usufu.I prayed before contacting you, please for God sake do not see my mail as embrassment as we do not know each other. I wish to request for your assistance in my efforts to procure the transfer of my inherited money for investment ventures under your care and directive,while i continue my education of there in your country. I inherited Six Million four hundred thousand Dollars (US$6,400,000.00) here in my name with one of the prime bank in my country and I will require your assistance in receiving the transfer of my inherited money in your local account for investment purposes,as it is my wish to come over to your country to further my education while you take care of the investment of the money. Please i am an orphane and i need your assistance to transfer my inherited money to your country and also your assistance to secure a nice school for me in your country where I will continue my education . Ms.Grase Usufu |
” ‘Dead’ al Qaeda Leader Appears in ‘New’ Video (ABC News) ‘Dead’ al Qaeda Leader Appears … A new video surfaced online Tuesday featuring al Qaeda commander Abu Yahya al-Libi — the same terrorist that American officials declared dead last week — but the video doesn’t appear to reveal whether it was made before or after his reported death. In the new footage, which was posted in jihadi forums with captions referring to al-Libi in honorific titles generally reserved for the living, al-Libi discusses the ongoing violence in Syria but makes no specific reference to any dates or significant events there. A bloody struggle between Syrian opposition groups and the government has been ongoing for over a year, since well before al-Libi’s reported death. Al-Libi was declared dead by U.S. and Pakistani officials last week following a series of drone strikes in Pakistan. Other al Qaeda leaders have not confirmed nor denied al-Libi’s death, and an analyst with the terrorist tracking group IntelCenter said that it is “not unknown for groups to release videos of key figures that were filmed prior to their death but had not yet been released.” Follow BrianRoss on Twitter Before his death, the U.S. State Department‘s Rewards for Justice program listed a $1 million reward for information leading to Al-Libi’s capture. In 2010, the National Counter-Terrorism Center listed al-Libi as one of al Qaeda’s top commanders and he was described by one U.S. official last week as among al Qaeda’s “most experienced and versatile leaders.” “There is no one who even comes close in terms of replacing the expertise [al Qaeda] has just lost,” the official said. Al-Libi is among the highest profile al Qaeda members to be killed by U.S. forces since a Navy SEAL raid killed top al Qaeda commander bin Laden in May 2011. He recently emerged as one of the most public faces of al Qaeda, appearing in several training and propaganda videos in the past two years. A letter from al-Libi chastising the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban was found among bin Laden’s documents captured during the U.S. raid. U.S. intelligence officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this report.”
Source: ABC News
“A couple weeks after Oracle bought Vitrue for $300 million and Salesforce.com bought Buddy Media for ~$700 million, the gossip we’re hearing is that the next social media marketing tools provider to sell will be Victoria Ransom‘s Wildfire Interactive.
That’s Ransom, a Kiwi, on the right.
On its Web site, Wildfire describes itself as “an easy-to-use yet powerful tool to grow, engage, and monetize your audience on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.”
Facebook, we’re told, is a leading suitor. This makes some sense. Facebook needs to find a way to tax marketers for the value they get out of pushing their products using Facebook’s free tools.
We don’t know a price, but you have to figure it would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. One number we heard: $250 million.
Our source on this gossip says Goldman Sachs is Wildfire’s banker, and that Goldman is pushing Wildfire to include more bidders.
Given that Google wanted to buy Buddy Media, but lost out, it’s probably safe to assume its interested.
We reached out to Goldman, Wildfire, and Facebook for this story. None responded. It’s OK, if they had talked to us, they would have declined to comment on rumors and speculation, which is actually what this story is. We thought you’d like to hear the whispers anyway.”
“Good day!” These were the last two words the courageous pilot told air traffic controllers before the Dana Air flight 0992 crashed into a residential building in Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, killing all the 153 people on board and 10 people on ground on Sunday, June 3, 2012.
The transcription of the last conversation between the air traffic controller and the crew revealed that the pilots did everything to land the aircraft safely on Runway 18 Right of the Murtala Muhammed Airport.
The recording, a copy of which was obtained exclusively from a top official of the Ministry of Aviation on Monday by our correspondent, showed that the flight crew did not lose hope even up till the last second before the aircraft crashed.
The crew had believed the aircraft would make it to Runway 18R of the Lagos airport.
The transcription revealed that the aircraft had indeed lost its two engines, shortly after which the pilot declared an emergency.
This revelation is, however, contrary to the view of Dana Air’s Director of Flight Operations, Captain Oscar Wason, who had said it would be premature to conclude that aircraft lost its two engines.
Wason claimed that there was nothing to indicate that the pilot told the air traffic controller that the two engines of the aircraft had been lost.
The transcription revealed that the pilot told the controller he had “dual engine failure.”
Apart from having dual engine failure, the pilot also told the air traffic controller that he had “negative response from the throttle.”
Overall, the transcription revealed that the airplane was in a very devastating condition.
This explains why it was said to have descended very fast shortly after the pilot declared emergency, saying, “May Day, May Day”
Air traffic controllers, who spoke to our correspondent under condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to comment on the matter, confirmed that the aircraft descended very fast.
The video recording of the radar also revealed that the aircraft pilot declared emergency at about 5,000 feet above the sea level.
It further revealed that the ill-fated Boeing McDonell Douglass-83 plane disappeared from the radar at about 800 feet above the sea level.
The recording, however, confirmed Wason’s claim that the pilot of the ill-fated plane never spoke with air traffic controllers in the Control Tower.
Rather, the pilot spoke with ATCs in the radar control room of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, which is also located at the airport.
The recording also revealed that the pilot was handed over to the ATCs in the Control Tower, but he never had a chance to speak with them before the crash.
From the recording, the last words the pilot told the radar control unit was, “1181, good day,” in response to some information he had received from the ATC on duty.
The ATC had told him to contact the Control Tower on frequency 1181. The pilot, who had declared emergency to the ATCs in the radar control room, replied, “1181 good day,” meaning he had got the information.
According to ATCs, “good day” is the usual parlance they and pilots use in signing off from a conversation.
From his accent, it was obvious he was the Indian co-pilot, Mr. Mahendra Roathore, who spoke with the ATCs during the last minutes of the tragic flight.
The pilot, an American, Captain Peter Waxtan, was said to have been busy, struggling to keep the aircraft in flight, while the co-pilot spoke with the ATCs.
Below is the word-for-word account of the conversation between the crew of the ill-fated plane and the ATC on duty.
Co-pilot: “Lagos Tower, Dana code 0992!”
ATC: “Dana Code 0992, this is Lagos radar, go ahead!”
Co-pilot: “May Day! May Day! May Day! Dana code 0992 Five November Romeo Alpha Mike! (5N-RAM) dual engine failure!”
ATC: “Dana Code 0992, read me?”
Co-pilot: “I read you five by five! Dual engine failure! Negative response from throttle! Requesting for direct straight approach!”
ATC: “Alright, position it one mile to touch down, Runway 18R! Contact tower now on 1181!”
Co-pilot: “1181 Good day!”
Unfortunately, the crew never spoke with the control tower. The aircraft crashed into the residential building a few seconds after this discussion.”
Source: The Punch Newspaper
“British embassy vehicles reportedly hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, which left two officers injured in Benghazi
Britain’s ambassador to Libya was in a convoy of cars attacked in the eastern city of Benghazi, a British embassy spokeswoman has said.
The convoy was hit about 300m from the British consulate office in the city’s al-Rabha neighbourhood on Monday.
“A convoy carrying the British ambassador to Libya was involved in a serious incident in Benghazi this afternoon,” the spokeswoman said.
“Two close protection officers were injured in the attack but all other staff are safe and uninjured.”
She said the injured officers were receiving medical treatment.
The diplomatic convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, local security officials said earlier on Monday.
The embassy spokeswoman earlier said that all staff were accounted for following the attack. “We are liaising closely with the Libyan authorities,” she said.
Leaflets found
Unis Sharif, Libya’s deputy interior minister, said the vehicle was carrying security personnel in a convoy for the head of the British diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
Al Jazeera‘s Omar al-Saleh, reporting from Tripoli, said that security sources in Benghazi had confirmed the attack, saying it had occurred shortly after the convoy left a restaurant not far from the British consulate.
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“Police at the scene said they have found leaflets from a group that calls itself the Brigades of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman,” he said.
Abdel-Rahman is an Egyptian national who is currently serving a life sentence in the US.
A Reuters news agency reporter at the scene in Benghazi said police had cordoned off the area. A damaged but still intact car windscreen could be seen lying on the ground.
Security experts blamed an armed group for allegedly attacking the convoy with a rocket-propelled grenade.
According to the experts, the area around Benghazi is home to a number of groups who oppose any Western presence in Muslim countries.
Five days ago, an explosive device was dropped from a passing car outside the offices of the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi. The blast that followed slightly damaged the gate in front of the building.
On May 22, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the city, blasting a small hole in the building but causing no casualties.
Benghazi was the cradle of the uprising last year, which ended Muammar Gaddafi‘s 42-year rule. Since then, it has become a hot-spot for violence. Arms remain readily available and state security forces are struggling to assert their authority.
The violence comes as Libya prepares to elect a general national congress, with the vote set for July 7.”
Source: Aljazeera News
“A super-stealthy warship that could underpin the U.S. Navy’s China strategy will be able to sneak up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic ‘railguns’ right out of a sci-fi movie.
But at more than $3 billion a pop, critics say the new DDG-1000 destroyer sucks away funds that could be better used to bolster a thinly stretched conventional fleet.
One outspoken admiral in China has scoffed that all it would take to sink the high-tech American ship is an armada of explosive-laden fishing boats.
Destroyer: A rendering of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy’s next-generation destroyer, which will be able to sneak up on coastlines virtually undetected and pound targets with electromagnetic “railguns”
With the first of the new ships set to be delivered in 2014, the stealth destroyer is being heavily promoted by the Pentagon as the most advanced destroyer in history – a silver bullet of stealth.
Though it could come in handy elsewhere, like in the Gulf region, its ability to carry out missions both on the high seas and in shallows closer to shore is especially important in Asia because of the region’s many island nations and China’s long Pacific coast.
Focusing on the Pacific: U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Navy will be deploying 60 percent of its fleet worldwide to the Pacific by 2020, he said new high-tech ships will be a big part of its shift
‘With its stealth, incredibly capable sonar system, strike capability and lower manning requirements _ this is our future,’ Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, said in April after visiting the shipyard in Maine where they are being built.
On a visit to a major regional security conference in Singapore that ended Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Navy will be deploying 60 percent of its fleet worldwide to the Pacific by 2020, and though he didn’t cite the stealth destroyers he said new high-tech ships will be a big part of its shift.
The DDG-1000 and other stealth destroyers of the Zumwalt class feature a wave-piercing hull that leaves almost no wake, electric drive propulsion and advanced sonar and missiles.
They are longer and heavier than existing destroyers – but will have half the crew because of automated systems and appear to be little more than a small fishing boat on enemy radar.
Down the road, the ship is to be equipped with an electromagnetic railgun, which uses a magnetic field and electric current to fire a projectile at several times the speed of sound.
But cost overruns and technical delays have left many defense experts wondering if the whole endeavor was too focused on futuristic technologies for its own good.
They point to the problem-ridden F-22 stealth jet fighter, which was hailed as the most advanced fighter ever built but was cut short because of prohibitive costs. Its successor, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has swelled up into the most expensive procurement program in Defense Department history.
‘Whether the Navy can afford to buy many DDG-1000s must be balanced against the need for over 300 surface ships to fulfill the various missions that confront it,’ said Dean Cheng, a China expert with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research institute in Washington.
‘Buying hyperexpensive ships hurts that ability, but buying ships that can’t do the job, or worse can’t survive in the face of the enemy, is even more irresponsible.’
The Navy says it’s money well spent. The rise of China has been cited as the best reason for keeping the revolutionary ship afloat, although the specifics of where it will be deployed have yet to be announced.
Navy officials also say the technologies developed for the ship will inevitably be used in other vessels in the decades ahead.
But the destroyers’ $3.1 billion price tag, which is about twice the cost of the current destroyers and balloons to $7 billion each when research and development is added in, nearly sank it in Congress. Though the Navy originally wanted 32 of them, that was cut to 24, then seven.
Now, just three are in the works.
‘Costs spiraled – surprise, surprise – and the program basically fell in on itself,’ said Richard Bitzinger, a security expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. ‘The DDG-1000 was a nice idea for a new modernistic surface combatant, but it contained too many unproven, disruptive technologies.’
The U.S. Defense Department is concerned that China is modernizing its navy with a near-term goal of stopping or delaying U.S. intervention in conflicts over disputed territory in the South China Sea or involving Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.
China is now working on building up a credible aircraft carrier capability and developing missiles and submarines that could deny American ships access to crucial sea lanes.
The U.S. has a big advantage on the high seas, but improvements in China’s navy could make it harder for U.S. ships to fight in shallower waters, called littorals. The stealth destroyers are designed to do both. In the meantime, the Navy will begin deploying smaller Littoral Combat Ships to Singapore later this year.
Officially, China has been quiet on the possible addition of the destroyers to Asian waters.
But Rear Adm. Zhang Zhaozhong, an outspoken commentator affiliated with China’s National Defense University, scoffed at the hype surrounding the ship, saying that despite its high-tech design it could be overwhelmed by a swarm of fishing boats laden with explosives. If enough boats were mobilized some could get through to blow a hole in its hull, he said.
‘It would be a goner,’ he said recently on state broadcaster CCTV’s military channel.”
Source: The Daily Mail UK.
Life is short,have fun!!! 