Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan have revealed that they are expecting a baby girl! The billionaire tech entrepreneur and his doctor wife also revealed that they suffered multiple miscarriage prior to this pregnancy. As you might imagine, the announcement was made via Facebook!
Read below;
Priscilla and I have some exciting news: we’re expecting a baby girl! This will be a new chapter in our lives. We’ve already been so fortunate for the opportunity to touch people’s lives around the world — Cilla as a doctor and educator, and me through this community and philanthropy. Now we’ll focus on making the world a better place for our child and the next generation. We want to share one experience to start. We’ve been trying to have a child for a couple of years and have had three miscarriages along the way.
You feel so hopeful when you learn you’re going to have a child. You start imagining who they’ll become and dreaming of hopes for their future. You start making plans, and then they’re gone. It’s a lonely experience. Most people don’t discuss miscarriages because you worry your problems will distance you or reflect upon you — as if you’re defective or did something to cause this. So you struggle on your own.
In today’s open and connected world, discussing these issues doesn’t distance us; it brings us together. It creates understanding and tolerance, and it gives us hope. When we started talking to our friends, we realized how frequently this happened — that many people we knew had similar issues and that nearly all had healthy children after all. We hope that sharing our experience will give more people the same hope we felt and will help more people feel comfortable sharing their stories as well.
Our good news is that our pregnancy is now far enough along that the risk of loss is very low and we are very hopeful. Cilla and our child are both healthy, I’m extremely excited to meet her and our dog Beast has no idea what’s coming. In our ultrasound, she even gave me a thumbs up “like” with her hand, so I’m already convinced she takes after me. We’re looking forward to welcoming her into the world and sharing more soon when she’s ready to come out and meet everyone!
AS the Times Higher Education (THE) Africa universities summit kicked off July 30 at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, the main buzz of the event was the landmark unveiling of a new African university ranking.
And it’s here, just released Friday, though only ranking the top 30 of Africa’s approximately 2,600 higher education institutions. THE Africa University Ranking
1. University of Cape Town (South Africa) 2. University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) 3. Makerere University (Uganda) 4. University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) 5. University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) 6. University of Port Harcourt (Nigeria) 7. University of the Western Cape (South Africa) 8. University of Nairobi (Kenya) 9. University of Johannesburg (South Africa) 10. Universite Cadi Ayyad (Morocco) 11. University of Pretoria (South Africa) 12. University of Ghana (Ghana) 13. University of South Africa (South Africa) 14. Suez Canal University (Egypt) 15. Universite Hassan II (Morocco) 16. Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) 17. Rhodes University (South Africa) 18. University of The Free State (South Africa) 19. North West University (South Africa) 20. University of Tunis (Tunisia) 21. Ecole Nationale d'Ingenieurs de Sfax (Tunisia) 22. Universite Mohammed V - Agdal (Morocco) 23. American University in Cairo (Egypt) 24. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (South Africa) 25. South Valley University (Egypt) 26. Alexandria University (Egypt) 27. Assiut University (Egypt) 28. University of Sfax (Tunisia) 29. University of Yaounde (Cameroon) 30. Minia University(Egypt)
These results are essentially based on the amount of citations there are for the university’s work. They are derived from the methodology for the current world university ranking, using the 13 factors (below), combining THE’s own enormous database of statistics along with the Elsevier’s Scopus database - a system that highlights some of the continent’s top performers in terms of how often research papers are referred to and cited by other academics globally. This methodology is designed for the research-led globally facing university. Times Higher Education emphasised that not everyone in Africa will find the metrics appropriate to their mission or their strategic priorities making this ranking a starting point of a longer, inclusive conversation involving African institutions. One of the big surprises was the omission of several African universities that have consistently featured high up on global ranking lists. Namely; Cairo University, University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria and Al-Azhar University in Egypt.
The other surprise was the appearance of unexpected or lesser-known institutions, such as the Universite Cadi Ayyad (10), Port Harcourt (6), the Universite de Sfax in Tunisia (28), Universite Hassan II (15) and several other institutions from Egypt namely; Suez Canal University (14), South Valley University and Minia University (30) . In an interview with M&G Africa, Phil Batty - Editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings - explained that even though they have spent the last 4-5 years modifying and refining a methodology that would be better suited to an African, as opposed to a global, ranking - “there’s still a long way to go”. He said that what THE has “created is a snapshot of research strength”.
Batty was also candid about the lack of extensive data in creating this first THE Africa university ranking. That this is “the very start of the story. [Because] world rankings are driven by research, innovation and tech development, we need to work with African universities on [indicators such as] their teaching and graduate success…the rankings we’re publishing are actually very much the starting point. We want to use this conference to convince universities to start collecting and sharing data more consistently.”
The build up
The ranking comes at a time when Africa’s universities are looking to experience a period of revitalisation, with a booming middle class and concentrated pan-African efforts - such as the Higher Education Summit in Senegal earlier this year - aimed at addressing their challenges. Yet, African universities have become lost in global rankings - measured against institutions in the rich, developed world which continue to dominate the leagues and without focused efforts that look to finding metrics which are appropriate to the African context.
One of the key actors in the creation of this Africa ranking is the University of Johannesburg.
In an interview with M&G Africa, Professor Ihron Rensburg - the Vice-Chancellor and principal of the University of Johannesburg - explained that, as part of the University’s 10th anniversary, they engaged THE to say “we have an apparently shared ambition, first you have a series of conferences where you create the opportunity for universities to reflect, [engage in] dialogue and debate on the state of universities in order to ramp up excellence in teaching and learning and research – we as the University of Johannesburg – share that driving ambition and that is important for us that Africa’s universities pursue global excellence and stature in internationalisation, collaboration, teaching and research.”
He emphasised that the University of Johannesburg “effectively founded and conceptualised the idea and asked [THE] to do it jointly – [bringing] together our driving ambition and creating a forum for African Universities to debate and dialogue.”
The president has asked US scientists to build the fastest supercomputer
President Obama has signed an executive order calling for the US to build the world's fastest computer by 2025.
The supercomputer would be 20 times quicker than the current leading machine, which is in China.
It would be capable of making one quintillion (a billion billion) calculations per second - a figure which is known as one exaflop.
A body called the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) will be set up to research and build the computer.
The US is seeking the new supercomputer, significantly faster than today's models, to perform complex simulations, aid scientific research and national security projects.
It is hoped the machine would help to analyse weather data for more accurate forecasts or assist in cancer diagnoses by analysing X-ray images.
A blog post on the White House website also suggests it could allow NASA scientists to model turbulence, which might enable the design of more streamlined aircraft without the need for extensive wind tunnel testing.
Such a computer would be called an exascale machine.
Bigger models
Richard Kenway at the University of Edinburgh says he thinks the plan is "spot on" in terms of strategy, bringing together both the ambition to develop new hardware and also improved analysis of big data.
He explained the computer could aid the development of personalised medicines, tailored to specific individuals.
"Today, drugs are designed for the average human and they work OK for some people but not others," he told the BBC.
"The real challenge in precision medicine is to move from designing average drugs to designing drugs for the individual because you can know their genome and their lifestyle."
There could also be benefits in long-term climate modelling, according to Mark Parsons at the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC).
Currently, climate scientists attempt to model how the Earth's climate will evolve in coming years, but the accuracy of these predictions is severely limited.
The Chinese currently own the world's fastest computer.
Today's fastest supercomputer, the Tianhe-2 in China's National Computer Centre, Guangzhou, performs at 33.86 petaflops (quadrillions of calculations per second), almost twice as fast as the second-quickest machine, which is American.
For Parsons, the latest US initiative is a clear attempt to challenge the dominance of the Chinese in this field.
"The US has woken up to the fact that if it wants to remain in the race it will have to invest," he told the BBC.
£60m electricity bill
Both Kenway and Parsons point out that the challenges of building an exascale computer are not trivial and would require years of research and development.
Chief among the obstacles, according to Parsons, is the need to make computer components much more power efficient. Even then, the electricity demands would be gargantuan.
"I'd say they're targeting around 60 megawatts, I can't imagine they'll get below that," he commented. "That's at least £60m a year just on your electricity bill."
Efforts to construct an exascale computer are not entirely new.
Recently, IBM, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) and the University of Groningen announced plans to build one to analyse data from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project.
SKA will be built in Australia and South Africa by the early 2020s.
The signature sneaker used by
former Chicago Bulls player,
Scottie Pippen on the court in
the ’90s will be seeing a
rerelease in 2016.
Known as one of the most
recognizable basketball
silhouettes in Nike’s archives,
the Air More Uptempo will
return in its original version.
Last Retroed by Nike in 2010,
the original black and white
colorway is rumored to be the
first iteration that will drop
from the Air More Uptempo
line. Including the signature
“AIR” letters on the side panel
of the shoe, Nike will keep the
Air Bubbles on the midsole to
give the shoe a vintage touch.
As of now, information remains
to a minimum on the 2016
release of the Nike Air More
Uptempo OG. Stay tuned with
XXL for more details
surrounding the release of this
shoe.
Koker of Chocolate City Music
group has released the visuals of
his single Do Something off the
Choc Boi Nation album.
This video is directed by Mex who
has delivered award winning
videos over the years. It has an
Owanmbe setting with Cameos
from M.I , Audu Maikori , Emma
Ohmygod, Tmxo and many
others.
A humble beginning it was, a
humble beginning he narrates.
It wasn’t so rosy for Olamide
the YBNL boss it was a rough
path to stardom for him.
Despite becoming a big star in
Nigeria, the hustling spirit is still
spelt out in Daddy Miliano as he
never relents from churning out
hits upon hits without letting the
previous ones fade out. This
assumption is well explained in
his last three tracks.
While Shakiti Bobo was still
making fans go gaga, he released
Melo Melo still trying to
familiarize with Melo Melo, Lagos
Boys follow suit. Real hustle it is
for Baddo.
In the Quest to support #
TheDanceCamp movement an
initiation put in place by Nigerian
dance queen, Kaffy, Olamide put
up a picture on Instagram with a
short biography-like caption. The
singer spoke about how tough the
journey was growing up in Bariga
a suburban in Lagos and becoming
the YBNL boss.
Iyanya and Yvonne Nelson
In his brief chat with MTV Base VJ
Ehiz, Iyanya speaks about how he
felt after their public breakup and
that, he still maintains a cool
relationship with the Ghanaian
screen diva.
Speaking on what broke their
relationship, he disclosed that
“Now this is the problem…famous
guy, famous girl. It’s hard man”.
Iyanya added that after the
breakup the public saw him as
the bad guy.
A new report just emerged that android devices can be hacked when you receive a text message.........so peeps be careful the text messages you receive and open
Android phones can get infected by merely receiving a picture via text message, according to research published Monday. This is likely the biggest smartphone flaw ever discovered. It affects an estimated 950 million phones worldwide -- about 95% of the Androids in use today. The problem stems from the way Android phones analyze incoming text messages. Even before you open a message, the phone automatically processes incoming media files -- including pictures, audio or video. That means a malware-laden file can start infecting the phone as soon as it's received, according Zimperium , a cybersecurity company that specializes in mobile devices. If this sounds familiar, that's because this Android flaw is somewhat like the recent Apple text hack . But in that case, a text message with just the right characters could freeze an iPhone or force it to restart. This Android flaw is worse, because a hacker could gain complete control of the phone: wiping the device, accessing apps or secretly turning on the camera. In a statement to CNNMoney, Google ( GOOGL , Tech30 ) acknowledged the flaw. It assured that Android has ways of limiting a hacker's access to separate apps and phone functions. Yet hackers have been able to overcome these limitations in the past. The bug affects any phone using Android software made in the last five years, according to Zimperium. That includes devices running Android's Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat and Lollipop iterations (Google names its Android versions alphabetically after desserts). Zimperium said it warned Google about the flaw on April 9 and even provided a fix. The company claims Google responded the very next day, assuring a patch would be shared with customers in the future. Typically, in these situations, companies are given a 90-day grace period to issue a fix. It's a rule even Google abides by when it finds flaws in others' software. But it's been 109 days, and a fix still isn't largely available. That's why Zimperium is now going public with the news. The issue now is how quickly Google will manage to fix this for everybody. While Apple can push out updates to all iPhones, Google can't. Google is notorious for having a fractured distribution system. Several entities stand in between Google and its users, and they routinely slow down the release of new software. There's phone carriers -- like AT&T (T , Tech30 ) and Verizon ( VZ , Tech30 ) -- and makers of physical devices -- like Samsung ( SSNLF ) -- all of which need to work together to issue software updates. Google told CNNMoney it already sent a fix to its "partners." However, it's unclear if any of them have started pushing that out to users themselves. For that very reason, Google recently put its own Nexus phones first in line to receive updates . This could be a test case that shows why it's so important to receive updates quickly. Chris Wysopal is a longtime hacker and now an executive at cybersecurity firm Veracode. He called this Android's version of Heartbleed , the devastating bug that put millions of computer networks at serious risk last year. "I'm interested to see if Google comes up with a way to update devices remotely," he said. "Unless they can do that, we have a big disaster on our hands"..........
Don Jazzy has offered Philadelphia rapper meek milla chance for him to win his ongoing feud with Drake.
Drake this morning released a highly rated diss track aimed at meek milltitled Back to Back. Don Jazzy on Twitter on Wednesday tweeted at Meek telling him he can offer him a beat.
@MeekMill Bro. you go need beat? Any way i can help. I’m here for u. — Michael Collins (@DONJAZZY) July 29, 2015
Don Jazzy also noted thatMeek Millmay return with a big diss track of his own
Bone. MeekMill will come back with fire ooo. — Michael Collins (@DONJAZZY) July 29, 2015
windows 10 is here. After nine months of public beta testing, the final version is rolling out to machines across the world. You can now upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge if you have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on your existing PC. While not every single machine will get the upgrade instantly, Microsoft is rolling out the install to millions of devices. All you have to do is register for the upgrade from the taskbar, and Microsoft will alert you once it's ready to be installed. See our guide for full Windows 10 upgrade instructions.
If you upgrade today you'll get a shiny new Start menu, built-in Xbox app with Xbox One game streaming, Cortana integration, a new Microsoft Edge browser, and a host of new built-in apps. Should you upgrade to Windows 10 or wait a little while?
System Requirements
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS
Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
Display: 800x600
Windows 10 might already be downloading on your Windows 7 and 8 PCs
Microsoft will start upgrading Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines to Windows 10. The software giant is preparing for this big release, at 12AM ET on July 29th (9PM PST on July 28th), by pre-loading the final version of Windows 10 on PCs eligible for the upgrade. A number of Windows 7 and Windows 8 users who have registered for the upgrade have started noticing that the full installer files for Windows 10 have been downloaded to C:\$windows.~BT as Microsoft gets ready for release.
Microsoft will unlock and activate the Windows 10 install at midnight tonight, allowing some Windows 7 and Windows 8 users to upgrade. Not everyone will get access to the Windows 10 upgrade initially, though. Microsoft is rolling the upgrade out gradually to compatible systems, and the company is creating a queue to distribute the update in waves. Windows 10 testers have already been testing the final bits and they will be the first to receive a Day One patch that Microsoft is developing. The software maker has also been rolling out daily hotfixes to existing testers, fixing issues just days and hours before the final release.
he Lagos State Government has vowed to prosecute a 70-year old woman for applying pepper in a 12-year old boy’s joystick for alleged stealing of money.
The government also vowed to prosecute another woman who engaged in begging for alms the two children she brought from the village to assist her in trading.
The children were brought to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA, after they have been rescued in Badagry, Ajamgbadi and Maza-Maza areas of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria by government officials and the police on Tuesday.
Permanent Secretary, WAPA, Omobolanle Ogunmola said the ministry got a text message that a 12-year old child (name withheld) was being abused by a woman, who is around 70 years of age for alleged stealing by applying pepper in his private part and beating him severely with marks on his body.
“Our team went to Badagry to rescue the boy who attends Ansarudeen Secondary School. From the information gotten from the school, the accused are old. The woman is around 70 years and the husband, over 75 years, so we could not arrest them, but that does not mean we are not going to prosecute them. We are going to prosecute them. We will take custody of the boy and take him to school in one of our transient homes,” she said.
Ogunmola said the state government had declared zero tolerance on child abuse and domestic violence, saying that government would not hesitate to prosecute people found to have violated the rights of children in the state.
On the woman who engaged two children in begging, Ogunmola said government was also going to prosecute the woman for engaging the children in begging, advising parents to live up to their responsibilities by not releasing their children to live with others without proper investigation.
She said government had lots of child abuse cases being prosecuted at various Family Courts in the State, with some of the culprits being jailed, saying that “as we arrest culprits, we hand them over to the police for prosecution.”
However, the 12 year old boy confirmed that the 70-year old woman applied pepper on his private part for stealing money which he admitted to, saying that since his mother left him, he had been staying with his relation who happened to be the aged woman.
He identified the aged woman simply as Mrs Amosun, but the boy refused to disclosed how much he stole due to shame and fear, admitting that the old woman applied pepper to his joystick for stealing some money.
One of the girls being engaged in begging (name withheld) said the woman, identified as Amaka told her parents in Abia State that she wanted to engage the girl in selling provision for her in Lagos, noting that on getting to Lagos, she was turned into a beggar and paid N100 every month.
The girl, 19, who was discovered to be pregnant, said one of the boys in the neighbourhood got her pregnant, saying that she detested begging which she normally did at Alaba Market in Ajamgbadi.
Intel and Micron say 3D Xpoint is the first new "mainstream" type of memory since Nand flash in 1989
A new kind of memory technology is going into production, which is up to 1,000 times faster than the Nand flash storage used in memory cards and computers' solid state drives (SSDs).
The innovation is called 3D XPoint, and is the invention of Intel and Micron.
The two US companies predict a wide range of benefits, from speeding up scientific research to making more elaborate video games.
One expert described it as a "huge step forward".
"There are other companies who have talked about new types of memory technology, but this is about being able to manufacture the stuff - that's why they are making such a big deal out of it," says Bob O'Donnell, from the consultancy Technalysis.
The 3D Xpoint chips will be manufactured at Intel and Micron's joint venture in Utah
If all goes to plan, the first products to feature 3D XPoint (pronounced cross-point) will go on sale next year. Its price has yet to be announced.
Intel is marketing it as the first new class of "mainstream memory" since 1989.
Rather than pitch it as a replacement for either flash storage or RAM (random access memory), the company suggests it will be used alongside them to hold certain data "closer" to a processor so that it can be accessed more quickly than before.
Until now, Intel and Micron have focused on the production and development of flash memory chips
Why do we need faster storage? The flash storage in my smartphone and PC seems more than fast enough to view and record the photos and videos I want.
Because there are other situations where using today's storage slows things down or introduces constraints.
So-called "big data" tasks are a particular issue.
For example, efforts to sequence and analyse our genes/DNA hold the potential for new and personalised medical treatments.
But copying the huge amounts of information involved backwards and forwards makes this an extremely time-intensive activity at present.
Faster storage would also help cloud services better handle big files.
That could be helpful in the future, for example, if we wanted to stream 8K ultra-high definition video clips without experiencing lags at their start.
Modern consoles have 8GB of RAM, helping games developers create large levels, but 3D Xpoint could give them further freedom
And it would also prove a boon to video game-makers.
At present, level designs are limited by how much data can be stored in the RAM - or, strictly, a type of RAM chip called dynamic RAM (DRAM).
That's why players sometimes have to halt their play while they wait for the machine to load a new section.
But if the data can be loaded more quickly from 3D XPoint, the developers should, in theory, be able to deliver them bigger, open worlds and a more seamless experience.
3D Xpoint is a type of "persistent memory" - meaning it retains data stored on it when the power is switched off, unlike RAM
OK. Let's go back to basics - why does it have that weird name?
It refers to the fact the technology is made up of a 3D structure featuring layers of wires.
On each layer, the wires run in parallel to each other, but at right-angles to those on the layer below.
In between each layer are vertical sub-microscopic columns, which connect the points at which the wires criss-cross.
Each of these columns contains:
a "memory cell", which can store a single bit of data. This represents either a one or a zero in binary code
a "selector", which allows a specific memory cell to be read or rewritten. Access is controlled by varying the amount of voltage it receives via the wires
So, what's the big advantage over flash memory?
3D XPoint does away with the need to use the transistors at the heart of Nand chips.
Nand works by moving electrons back and forth to an isolated part of the transistors known as their "floating gates" to represent the ones and zeros of binary code.
An issue with this technique is that it cannot rewrite single bits of data at a time. Instead, larger blocks of information have to be wiped and then rewritten to incorporate the changes.
"It's kind of like a parking lot where you want to move one of the cars, but they are all jammed in," Intel executive Rob Crooke says.
"So, you have to shuffle them all around to get one new one in there."
By contrast, 3D XPoint works by changing the properties of the material that makes up its memory cells to either having a high resistance to electricity to represent a one or a low resistance to represent a zero.
The advantage is that each memory cell can be addressed individually, radically speeding things up.
An added benefit is that it should last hundreds of times longer than Nand before becoming unreliable.
Solid state drives are up to 1,000 slower than 3D Xpoint, but are cheaper to buy
Sounds great, so is flash storage going to become obsolete?
Intel suggests not.
Solid state drives - and even slower hard disks - will remain significantly cheaper than 3D XPoint for some time to come, so it makes sense to continue using them to store most files.
The suggestion is the new technology will normally be used instead as an intermediary step.
Rather than copy data directly from the slower types of storage into RAM, programs will anticipate what data is likely to be needed and then transfer it in advance to the 3D XPoint.
As a metaphor, imagine a furniture retailer keeps most of its goods in a distant hub that is cheap to run but has slow road links.
It would make sense for it to build a second smaller depot on land that is more expensive but has motorway access, where it could store a selection of its most in-demand items. As a result, it should take less time to restock stores with bestselling goods.
DRAM chips are still faster than 3D Xpoint, but the difference is much smaller than when compared with flash
If the 3D Xpoint is so fast, why not just use it to replace RAM altogether?
RAM's speed advantage over traditional storage has long made it the chip of choice to funnel data directly into processors.
However, because it is relatively expensive to produce, computer makers tend to restrict how much they include.
Each megabyte of 3D Xpoint will certainly be significantly cheaper than the equivalent amount of RAM. And the new technology has the added advantage of being non-volatile, meaning it does not "forget" information when the power is switched off.
But, unfortunately it is still not quite as fast as RAM, and some - but not all - applications need the extra speed the older tech provides.
Online video game companies may wish to substitute 3D Xpoint for Ram in their computer servers
So, is there ever an advantage to using 3D Xpoint instead of, rather than in addition to, RAM or flash?
Online gaming companies might want to substitute 3D Xpoint for RAM.
At present, the amount of players that can be hosted on a single server is limited by the amount of RAM it contains.
Switching to 3D Xpoint would cause only a small - and possibly unnoticeable - difference to the performance of many of the simpler titles. But it would radically increase the number of people that could be supported for the same price.
One instance when you might want to use the new chips instead of flash would be to store operating system files that are required every time you boot up your machine.
Intel and Micron spent more than a decade researching 3D Xpoint before it was ready to go into production
Many users have already experienced faster switch-on times on new computers thanks to such files being kept on SSDs rather than disk drives. A similar performance leap would be experienced by adopting 3D Xpoint.
"It would make for an instant-on experience," says Intel's marketing director Greg Matson.
Whether that proves tempting will depend on exactly what 3D Xpoint costs and just how precious your time is.
![Yemi Alade - Duro Timi [Video Poster] 2](http://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Yemi-Alade-Duro-Timi-Video-Poster-2.jpg)
