For anyone who either saw a wall post or received a message suggesting that Facebook may have changed  their advertising policies to allow third-party advertisers use your posted pictures, please note that it is completely false!

The Social Media Behemoth says it never made any such policy changes, categorically stating how it handles, and has handled privacy-related issues, not to mention security- Facebook Prohibits ads that cause a bad user experience, are misleading, or otherwise “violate our policies”.

Apparently the “rumours” were started due to advertisements placed by third-party applications. According to Facebook;

…. Those ads violated our policies by misusing profile photos, and we already required the removal of those deceptive ads from third-party applications before this rumor began spreading.

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So how Exactly does Facebook use your Photos?

In a bid to further clarify issues, Facebook’s Barry Schnitt tells us;

We’ve run advertisements from our own advertising system for more than a year that let your friends know if you have a direct connection with a product or service, in the same way that your friends learn through your News Feed if you’re connected with another friend or an organization’s Facebook Page. For example, if one of your friends becomes a fan of a Page, you may see an ad, like the one below, with your friend’s profile photo that indicates the action that friend has taken.

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I love a conspiracy theory as much as the next fellow, but one must always stick to the facts.
If you ever see the following message, or anything remotely close, I would suggest you ignore it.

FACEBOOK has agreed to let 3rd party advertisers use your posted pictures WITHOUT your permission. Click on SETTINGS up at the top where you see the Log out link. Select PRIVACY. Then select NEWSFEEDS and WALL. Next select the tab that reads FACEBOOK ADS. There is a drop down box, select NO ONE. Then SAVE your changes. REPOST to let your friends know!

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The world’s “sexiest” Search Engine- Bing seems to have added fresh vigour to Microsoft’s stand in the “Search Wars”, spicing up the competition between Microsoft and Google, as both companies have since been battling it out, trying to out-pace the other with every given opportunity.

First it was Google (in response to Bing’s “search market share stealing escapades” no doubt) who decided to enter the OS business with the announcement of plans to release Google Chrome- an open source, light-weight Operating System supposed to “re-think what operating systems should be”.

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them…..

…. Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.

… as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates.

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It’s quite obvious what Google was saying to Microsoft- Steal my market share will You?

I dare say Google’s Chrome ultimately aims to challenge Windows 7 (a.k.a. Cloud), taking advantage of the vulnerabilities in Microsoft OSs over the years. Truthfully so, the bane of many a Windows user over the last decade has been having to deal with viruses, malware, and the “incessant” need for security updates-especially with Internet Explorer (my personal non-favourite)

Earlier today, Microsoft hit back at Google as they announced “lightweight” versions of Microsoft Office products. According to the official Press release, the web-based suite Office 2010 is “the premier productivity solution across PCs, mobile phones* and browsers”. It gets better; the new Microsoft web-apps will be completely free — a direct competitor to Google Apps, most especially Google Docs.

Office Web applications will be available in three ways: through Windows Live, where more than 400 million consumers will have access to Office Web applications at no cost; on-premises for all Office volume licensing customers including more than 90 million Office annuity customers; and via Microsoft Online Services, where customers will be able to purchase a subscription as part of a hosted offering.

• Work anywhere with Office Web applications—the lightweight, Web browser versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote-that provide access to documents from anywhere and preserve the look and feel of a document regardless of device.

• Better Collaborate with co-authoring in Word, PowerPoint and OneNote, and advanced email management and calendaring capabilities in Outlook, including the option to “ignore” unwanted threads.

• Bring ideas to life with video and picture editing, broadcast capability in PowerPoint, easy document preparation through the new Microsoft Office Backstage view, and new Sparklines in Excel to visualize data and spot trends more quickly;

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It’s probably safe to say Google’s “greatest” leverage over Microsoft has been the free availability of Google web-based apps, an advantage Microsoft might just have blown away with Office 2010. At this rate God only knows what will happen next. The competition can only get more exciting.

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With regards to Africa, Ghana has been a “pioneer” in so many ways- from being the first African country to gain independence from colonial powers, to being the first African country south of the Sahara to host the “first” African-American president of the United States of America.

Needless to say that Barack Obama visit to Ghana sparked an unprecedented frenzy in the country.  The air tight security which characterized Friday night and Saturday in the capital- Accra and (arguably) Ghana’s most famous city- Capecoast was a sight to behold, as commercial activity in both cities literally came to a halt as a result of severe road blocks.

The excitement was however not limited to the ground alone. According to the Google Africa Blog, searches for “Obama” increased by 150% in Ghana over the week preceeding the historic visit. By the “D-day”, the figures were up by 350%

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The Tour

In a post by Estelle Akofio-Sowah, country manager for Ghana, on friday July 12- Google announced that they had teamed up with the Ghana Ministry of Toursim to create a “special site” for President Obama’s visit. The Obama visits Ghana website shows “places that President Obama and the First Lady will visit during their trip to Ghana”.

Using Google’s geo products, the site includes a pictorial tour in Google Earth of key landmarks along the historical slave route in Ghana, such as Gwollu in North West Ghana, where people created a refuge from the infamous slave raids. The tour also visits Salaga Market, a major slave market where wells and cemeteries have now been turned into shrines, and the Slave River at Assin Manso, where the slaves had their last bath prior to leaving Africa’s shores. The tour ends at Cape Coast Castle in the Central Region, now a UNESCO World Heritage monument, with the final Doorway of No Return.

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The maps also showed details of Obama’s schedule in the country;
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The Message

The climax of President Obama’s visit (at least to me) was his address to the Parliament of Ghana. The import of the president’s message, amongst other things, being the fact that “Africa’s future is up to Africans“. It would be completely ludicrous to think otherwise.

Growth and democracy is one thing, but until that growth is directly linked to the development of the communities whose welfare the “democratic” process is meant to serve, it remains an excercise in futility.

These steps are about more than growth numbers on a balance sheet. They’re about whether a young person with an education can get a job that supports a family; a farmer can transfer their goods to market; an entrepreneur with a good idea can start a business. It’s about the dignity of work; it’s about the opportunity that must exist for Africans in the 21st century.

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