Category: Science &Technology

{{Microsoft has said users of its Windows XP operating system will also get the security update it has issued to fix a flaw in the Internet Explorer browser.}}

It issued the update on Thursday to fix a bug that let hackers gain access and user rights to computers.

Microsoft ended support for Windows XP earlier this month, ceasing to issue bug fixes or security updates for it.

But the firm said it decided to make an exception as the flaw was discovered just days after the support ended.

“Even though Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft and is past the time we normally provide security updates, we’ve decided to provide an update for all versions of Windows XP,” Adrienne Hall, general manager of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, said in a blog post.

“We made this exception based on the proximity to the end of support for Windows XP.”

The flaw was reported earlier this week and there had been uncertainty over whether XP users would get the update when it was released.

{{That is up from an estimated 450 million as of late February, as the service’s reach expanded rapidly in countries including Brazil, India, Mexico, and Russia.}}

WhatsApp said Tuesday on its blog that its users are also sharing more than 700 million photos and 100 million videos a day.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced in February that his social network is acquiring WhatsApp for $19 billion.

The stock and cash purchase marries WhatsApp’s steadily growing user base with Facebook’s 1.2 billion active users.

The huge price tag raised eyebrows but Zuckerberg told the Mobile World Congress in Spain days after the announcement that he believes WhatsApp is actually worth much more.

He argued that there are very few services that reach so many millions of people in the world.

The acquisition would be Facebook’s largest ever.

wirestory

{{Hydropower plants developers in Rwanda have received training aimed at equipping them with financial and business skills.}}

The training focused mainly on helping the developers to understand costing and pricing; accurate records keeping, marketing and business management skills.

Other areas focused on during the training included off-grid distribution systems, health and safety, and quality standards.

Twenty developers attended and nine of them have tried and/or constructed pico hydro plants and are supplying around 200 households all over the country.

The training was launched by the Country Manager GVEP –Rwanda Mr Herbert Njiru Nyaga on March 31st and concluded April 5 in Muhanga district.

This training is completing the technical training that was organized and conducted by GIZ in September 2013 with the objective of equipping the developers with technical skills such as site identification, design, civil works, and basics of turbine design.

GVEP International is a non-profit organization that works to increase access to modern energy and reduce poverty in developing countries. GVEP is using an enterprise development approach to deliver longlasting change by helping markets and small energy businesses to grow, so that energy products and services can be delivered in increasing quantities and quality long after GVEP’s involvement is over.

This initiative is part of a larger programme “Capital Access for Renewable Energy Enterprises (CARE2)”, funded by the Swedish Government. It is designed to help energy businesses develop access capital and grow.

GVEP also supports other types of energy businesses such as improved institutional and domestic cook stoves, briquettes, and solar PV, hydropower and wind energy across East and West Africa.

At the end of the training the participants were capable of assessing the technical and economic feasibility of a pico-hydro site by:
– accurately determining the electricity demand and demand forecast at small scale
– Designing the distribution system and apply power quality concepts – losses calculations, cabling designing, choice of the materials ….
– estimating operation and maintenance costs and overall cost of the project
– formulating pricing and recognizing the revenue
– determining the cash flow and business plan
– identifying the risks associated with the project and risks management
– identifying partners in the project implementation and
– Assessing the environmental impact of the project

The participants appreciated the subjects discussed during the training and found them responding their needs in terms of business management and profitability.

For them the training will not only help them to manage well pico hydro project that they have or planning to construct, but the skills gained will also change the way they were used to do things as most if not all of them are in business since some years ago.

Among others, Distribution & costing / power quality / health and safety, Overall costing and bills of quantities and Economic feasibility and profitability were the most liked and interested subjects from the participants point of views with regard to how they found improvements to be made within their daily life as entrepreneurs.

Having had enough and strong technical skills; having got powerful tools and guidance for project management, operations and financing; the participants said to be ready to go on field and work on their Pico hydropower project and be able to light more and more lamps in their different villages all over the country and by then be able to reduce energy poverty as they grow in their businesses.

{{The winning team of the 2014 Microsoft Rwanda Imagine Cup, a student competition which centers on the use of imagination, creativity and technology to help solve some of the world’s toughest problems, was announced April 20. }}

This is the first time the competition had been held in Rwanda and it attracted participants from institutions such as the University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology, Adventist University of Central Africa, Kicukiro College of Technology and Tumba College of Technology.

As part of Microsoft’s YouthSpark initiative, Imagine Cup is a way for young entrepreneurs, innovators and developers to have the opportunity to develop an idea, create a product, and set a clear business plan that will take their product to market.

In total, seven teams from the universities competed during a challenging day of presentations, which brought together students from across the country.

Team Agristars, made up of four fourth year students from University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology, doing their bachelors in Computer Engineering were announced overall winners after scooping awards in the world citizenship and gaming categories.

While Team Dafy took home prizes in the innovation category.

Team Agristars will go on to present their Agriculture based solution, a software application they developed which analyses the fertility of the soil by one simply taking a photo of the soil with his or her phone and the software starts the analysis process.

“After analyzing, one is able to tell what nutrients are in the soil and what crops are suitable to be grown on that piece of land,” explained Dieudonne Ukurikiyeyesu, part of the winning team.

They will compete in the Imagine Cup World Semifinals, which will start next month (May) after which 10 winning teams from Africa shall be chosen to participate in the finals in Seattle, United States of America in July this year.

“We are so excited to have won today’s competition – and to have the opportunity to represent Rwanda at the semi finals,” said Ukurikiyeyesu.

Akaliza Keza Gara who was nominated as a youth member at the Microsoft 4Afrika Advisory Council said the winning team’s application had the potential to solve challenges in the agricultural sector.

“If they certainly continue working on it, it would have an impact in the future of our agriculture,” she said.

The other teams were Muhabura in the World Citizenship Category, and Attendance, Confidence, Special and Techforte teams which presented in the Innovation Category.

“Each team that competed in yesterday’s competition is deserving of the highest recognition for the creativity and imagination applied to some of the world’s biggest challenges.

We’re proud to honour these young students who we believe truly exemplify the spirit of the Imagine Cup competition, and we’ll be cheering team Agristars on as they compete on the world stage,” said Eric Odipo, General Manager for Microsoft East and Southern Africa.

“Imagine Cup is also directly aligned with the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative that was launched earlier this year as it drives access to technology, innovation and world-class skills. We believe deeply that technology can accelerate growth for Africa, and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world,” he added.

Theogene Kayumba, director of ICT at the ministry of education thanked Microsoft for honouring their agreement with the ministry to become partners in learning and hoped that the students go on to represent Rwanda in the finals in Seattle after succeeding in the semi finals.

“These students have shown that they are doing hard work something that would encourage other students to work harder in order to competitively participate in the next years,” he said.

This round allows all of these first-place teams to be celebrated on the Imagine Cup website so everyone can hear their stories, see their projects, and be inspired by their imagination and passion.

World Semi finalists will compete against each other in a global judging round to select the few teams invited to the World Finals – but every single World Semi finalist team will be eligible for prizes including Imagine Cup’s Visual Studio Online Boost, in which nine teams will receive $1,000 each for using the cloud-based power of Visual Studio Online to collaborate, plan, and implement their projects.

More than 1.65 million students across the globe have participated in Imagine Cup during the past decade, creating applications and games that address the world’s toughest social problems.

Last year, Team Code 8 from Uganda won the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Award for their app, Matibabu, which helps detect Malaria without pricking a body part.

By attaching a Kinect sensor to a user’s finger, their malaria status is fed into their smartphone within seconds, and for free.

“From the heart of Africa, here is an innovation that has the potential to save lives all over the world,” says Odipo. The team won USD 12 000 in addition to training and mentorship to develop their application.

Microsoft has been motivated by the Rwandan government’s focus on youth development through the use of technology. Imagine Cup gives an opportunity to Rwandan Students to use their imagination and their passion to create technological solutions which respond local and global challenges.

{{Kepler-186f is almost exactly the same size as the Earth and has temperatures that are mild enough to allow liquid surface water . }}

Scientists have discovered a new planet which is extremely similar to Earth and could be home to extraterrestrial life. Kepler-186f is almost exactly the same size as the Earth and has temperatures that are mild enough to allow liquid surface water.

If the planet has lakes or oceans, scientists say it would increase the chances of extraterrestrial life evolving there. But anything living on the world may have to withstand extra large doses of radiation from its active sun.

The find is described in the journal Science as “a landmark on the road to discovering habitable planets”. Professor Fred Adams, from the University of Michigan in the US, said: “One of the most interesting questions in science is whether life can arise on other planets or, alternatively, if life on this planet is unique.

“The discovery of planets with Earth-like properties is one important link in the chain required to answer this question. And the discovery of the planet Kepler-186f is an important step toward finding a planet that is like our Earth.”

Kepler-186 is an “M-dwarf” star 795 light years away that is smaller and cooler than the Sun. It is orbited by a family of five known planets.

Kepler-186f, the latest to be discovered, is the outermost. Because its star is cooler than ours, it occupies a habitable zone closer in than the sun’s.

The planet was found by astronomers scouring the Sun’s neighbourhood of the Milky Way galaxy for potentially habitable worlds.

Using the American space agency Nasa’s Kepler space telescope, they measured the very tiny dimming that occurs when a planet crosses or “transits” in front of its star.

The transit information allowed them to calculate the planet’s size and estimate its mass and density. Kepler-186f was found to be just 0.1 times bigger than the Earth.

While habitable zone planets have been identified around other stars, none of them so closely match the Earth in size.

{Kepler-186f..the new planet discovered.}