iPhone 5C – first impressions (check for review)

The rumoured 'cheap' iPhone might be colourful but is really just a recycled iPhone 5 in a plastic case – and it's not cheap either


iPhone 5C: still commands a premium price. Photograph: Glenn Chapman

Price

The iPhone 5C was rumoured to be a "cheap" iPhone, and while it is slightly cheaper than the iPhone 5S, starting at £469 for the iPhone 5C off-contract with 16GB of storage and topping £549 for 32GB of space, it still commands a premium price. The iPhone 5C will likely cost significantly less when bought directly through mobile phone operators on a lengthy contract, but compared with its competitors, Apple's most colourful iPhone is still a pricy offering.


Camera

Apple has included the 8-megapixel camera from the previous generation iPhone 5, which although it is significantly down on the numbers compared with its Android competitors, produces solid, if unspectacular images.
The video-chat camera on the front of the iPhone 5C has been given a boost, with a 1.2-megapixel front-facing FaceTime HD camera featuring enhanced light sensitivity, which should make video calls much clearer and sharper.

Features

Apple's main feature for the iPhone 5C is colour. For the first time since the iPhone 4, Apple has produced a phone with a seamless, smooth plastic back. The rear shell is available in five colours: green, yellow, blue, white and pink.
The iPhone 5C also comes with special wallpaper that matches the chosen colour on the back of the device, and combines with a very colourful, newly redesigned iOS 7 – Apple's latest mobile operating system.
Screen-wise, the iPhone 5C features Apple's high resolution, pin-sharp 4-inch retina display, which is starting to look a little on the small side compared with most of today's 5-inch-plus Android and Windows Phones. But in terms of quality it should be as top-notch as ever, making photos look good and on-screen text very clear and easy to read.
Apple has also given the iPhone 5C access to its digital voice-activated personal assistant, Siri, which has been available on flagship iPhones since the iPhone 4S. While not often terribly useful for everyday tasks, the novelty of asking your phone questions while being able to set reminders and send text messages via voice, could come in handy.

Speed

For the iPhone 5C, Apple has essentially recycled parts from the iPhone 5 and put them in a vibrant new frame. The result is that Apple's new phone is just as fast as the iPhone 5 before it, equipped with the same A6 processor. That will make it significantly slower than Apple's new flagship, the iPhone 5S, which sports a new processor in the form of the Apple A7.

Overall, the iPhone 5C should be more than fast and slick enough for most users, and will maintain that speed for at least another year. Compared with the competition, however, it is slow thanks to its previous-generation specifications.


Battery life
The recycled parts from the iPhone 5 have been tweaked by Apple to squeeze out slightly more battery life for the iPhone 5C than the previous generation flagship. Apple rates its colourful iPhone has having 10 hours of talk time, and 10 hours of browsing time on Wi-Fi or LTE, with 250 hours of standby time. Real-world usage will, of course, vary.

Conclusions

The iPhone 5C certainly is colourful and forms a new approach for Apple, but when it comes down to it, it is just a recycled iPhone 5 in a plastic case.

Whether that is necessarily a bad thing, is debateable. The iPhone 5 was a fantastic smartphone last year, and is still one of the best around, but people buying the iPhone 5C expecting to get a brand new, next-generation smartphone will be disappointed. Smartphones aren't all about numbers and specifications, however, as the experience of the phone is what counts the most and the iPhone 5C is undoubtedly going to be a slick experience.

In reality, how the iPhone 5C comes across will be down to how much it costs. With a starting price of £469 contract-free, the iPhone 5C is certainly not cheap, although bought with a mobile phone contract the price tag should be significantly lower. The iPhone 5S offers a lot more in terms of specifications and functionality, and being only £80 more, would be a better buy.

LATEST DISCOVERY: Whisper Secrets Through Your Fingers, Not Lips

The party game Telephone may never be the same again. Research scientists in Pittsburgh have created a special microphone that you can whisper into and then transmit that whisper directly to someone else’s ear through your fingertips.

This interactive art installation called Ishin-Den-Shin is based on the Japanese concept of unspoken understanding. The phrase translates into “what the mind thinks, the heart transmits.” It was first developed earlier this year by Yuri Suzuki, Olivier Bau and Ivan Poupyrev at Disney Research in Pittsburgh, and New Scientist reported that it recently received an honorary mention for interactive art at the Ars Electronica 2013 festival in Austria.

You might remember Poupyrev from his Botanicus Interacticus interface for houseplants. This time, he and his colleagues made a system with a unique microphone connected to a computer’s sound card that can record sounds and transmit them through touch. First you whisper into the microphone, which records the audio. Then the message is transformed into an inaudible signal that’s transmitted to the microphone-holder’s body in the form of a lower power version of the recorded sound. This produces an electrostatic field around the microphone holder’s skin.

As soon as that microphone-holding person touches someone else’s ear, the field creates a tiny vibration that can be heard. ”The inaudible signal can be transmitted from body to body, using any sort of physical contact,” the scientists explained online. So, creepily or sweetly, your finger could deliver a whispered phrase directly into someone else’s ear.

A chain of people can receive the original message as long as they are in physical contact with the first person who holds the microphone. While I’m not sure what Disney Research plans to do with Ishin-Den-Shin technology, it feels like a hipster-y version of the Telephone game. Only it’s not how garbled the message gets by the end but how many friends can come together to feel one whisper.

Credit: Disney Research

LADIES AND BIKINI.....Yvonne Nelson Shows Off Her Bikini

Yvonne Nelson is just one of the numerous ladies these days that show case coded informations as free sources..... it seems bikini has come to stay in Nigeria.........WHAT DO YOU THINK??


She shared this lovely looking black and white photo of herself rocking a lovely looking Bikini.

Nigerian Politician’s Son Killed In Akure; Hired Assassins Murdered SS1 Student In Father’s House

Chief Adelegan

 SS1 Student, Comrade Solomon Adelegan’s Son Killed In Akure; Hired Assassins Murdered Boy In Father’s House

A 14-year-old Senior Secondary School SS1 pupil Oluwaseyi Adelegan who was the son of the National President of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, Comrade Solomon Adelegan has been murdered in cold blood by yet to be identified killers.

Oluwaseyi was said to have been murdered at his father’s residence in Aduralere quarters, Ijoka areas of Akure in the early hour on Thursday.

Report had it that the deceased was matcheted when the killers invaded their residence and was left to die by his killers. Saturday Vanguard learnt that the deceased on the ill-fated day was alone in the house while other siblings have all gone for holiday lesson.

Why he did not accompany others to the holiday lesson that day was not known. The killers according to Police source matchetted him in the room, leaving him to die there but he was said to have managed to crawl from the room to the sitting room but had no more strength to crawl further to the front door in order to raise alarm.

His dead body lying in the pool of his blood was met in the living room by the other siblings when they returned from the holiday lesson and they raised alarm which attracted neighbours who could not render any assistance as he was said to be stone dead.

Since the incident, Chief Adelegan has refused to speak to the Press but his recent post on social media reveals his deep love for his son.

“YOU RE THE SUN WHICH SHINES IN MY SKY, THE REASON WHY I AM ALWAYS INSPIRED GOODBYE MY PILLAR, MY LIGHT, MY HOPE, MY JOY. YOU COULD WAIT TO FULFILL OUR PLANS, WE BOTH AGREE YOU RE GOING FOR PHARMACY OUTSIDE NIGERIA, WHAT HAPPENS TO THE STUDENT ACCOUNT AND THE INSURANCE POLICY FOR YOUR SAKE? OLUWASEYI ADEWUNMI ADELEGAN ON THE INTERNET, PAGES OF NEWSPAPER, RADIO AND TV AS LATE OH OH OH OH YOU PREACHED TO THE WHOLE CHURCH ON SUNDAY ON PERILOUS TIMES, GOODNIGHT MY BELOVED SON. PLEASE MY SON SHOW YOURSELF TO ME AND LET US CHAT AND KISS AS WE USED TO….”

Meanwhile, the Ondo State Police Command has vowed to bring the perpetrator of the crime to book. Spokesman Wole Ogolo said the case had been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the state.

[Vanguard]

Scientists Demonstrate Ability to Erase HUMAN Memories

In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jim Carrey played a man who had his brain scrubbed of painful memories – only to have them eventually come back to haunt him.

While the selective deletion of memories may sound like science fiction, neuroscientists from The Scripps Research Institute have demonstrated just that in mice and rats, according to their report in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

The Scripps researchers said the technique might be useful for treating people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or battling a drug addiction.

“Our memories make us who we are, but some of these memories can make life very difficult,” said study leaderCourtney Miller, a TSRI assistant professor of neuroscience. “Not unlike in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, we’re looking for strategies to selectively eliminate evidence of past experiences related to drug abuse or a traumatic event. Our study shows we can do just that in mice — wipe out deeply engrained drug-related memories without harming other memories.”

When a memory is created, changes occur to the structure of dendritic spines found on nerve cells. These small, bulb-like structures receive electrochemical transmissions from other neuronsn and structural changes to them normally occur via a protein called actin.

In the new study, the scientists inhibited actin polymerization, a process that results in the creation of large, chainlike molecules. By blocking a molecule called myosin II in mouse and rat brains during the maintenance phase of methamphetamine-associated memory formation, the Scripps scientists were able to disrupt the polymerization process.

Behavioral experiments showed the rodents immediately and reliably lost memories connected with methamphetamine—with no evidence of other memories being affected.

In the experiments, the rodents were trained to relate the ‘rewarding’ sensations of methamphetamine use with a range of strong visual, tactile and scent cues. When they were given the polymerization inhibitor many days later in their same environment, the test subjects demonstrated a complete lack of interest when they were later given drug-associated cues. The subjects’ response to other memories — like food rewards – was unaffected, researchers said.

While the neuroscientists said they aren’t sure why these powerful methamphetamine-related memories are also so delicate, they theorized that the findings could be linked to the role of dopamine, a reward- and pleasure-associated neurotransmitter also known to modify dendritic spines. Previous research has shown dopamine is released during both learning and drug withdrawal.

“We are focused on understanding what makes these memories different,” Miller said. “The hope is that our strategies may be applicable to other harmful memories, such as those that perpetuate smoking or PTSD.”

The 6th Eco-generation Environmental Essay Competition (age 13-24)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The 6th Eco-generation Environmental Essay Competition is launched.Objectives of the Competition

To raise awareness among youth of the food waste problem
To commemorate and to foster the Think Eat Save campaign
To enhance the ability of essay writing at a global standard

ELIGIBILITY: This contest is open to anyone who are aged between 13~24

RULES AND REGULATIONS:
Topic: Think∙Eat∙Save -My effort to reduce Foodprint
Length: 800 words (-20% ~ +20%)
Contents : The contents of the essay must be based on individual thoughts,
experiences, achievements and future plans. Too much outsourced
scholarly explanations are not recommended.
The violation of the copyright is strictly banned. If there is any awarded essay found to be copied from other sources without appropriate permission, the award will be automatically canceled and an official inform will be sent to both of school and home.
All the courtesies should be revealed at the end of the essay. (it is not included in the length of the essay)
Total quantity of references cannot exceed more than 20% of the whole essay.
Before the final announcement, nominated essays will be released on this website from 1st October, 2013 to prevent the possibility of ghostwriting or plagiarism. If there are no objections during one week, the final announcement will be released via this page.
No multiple application is accepted.
In order to receive the award, correct contact information including full name, phone number, address and e-mail address is required. Incorrect or incomplete contact information may cause disqualification. Judging criteria

Criteria: Focus, expression, concreteness and originality
Procedure: 1st judge → 2nd judge → Releasing the finalists → Final judge → Final announcement

PRIZE:

HOW TO APPLY: Submit your essay to: ecogeneration@samsung.com

DEADLINE: September 30, 2013

Saka kisses wife in public as she narrates their love life

(photo credit) linda ikeji

Olaide Oyetoro is the wife of popular actor, lecturer and MTN ambassador, Hafiz Oyetoro, aka Saka. They have been married for 10 years and have three children together. They met while Hafiz was a lecturer at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education while Laide was a student at the college. Olaide recently opened up about life as Saka's wife. She said:

"I am so happy and lucky to have married a comedian. We didn't really date for a long time, he proposed to me the second time we met. He's a very lovely man, honestly he's incomparable. He truly loves me and I love him. Life with him is peaceful and I thank God"

 

NIGERIA: 12-year-old girl commits suicide in Bayelsa

A 12-year-old girl, Monday, allegedly committed suicide in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the police told the News Agency of Nigeria, yesterday.

Mr Alex Akhigbe, Bayelsa Police Public Relations Officer, told NAN that the girl allegedly hanged herself early on Monday.

He said: “Yes, police have confirmed the death of the young girl, who killed herself behind her father’s house early in the morning, yesterday (Monday).

“The police have also evacuated the corpse from the scene and deposited it in the mortuary. The corpse is still awaiting autopsy.

“It was a very strange act and a surprise to see a young girl of that age take her life; it is a real mystery.”

He, however, said that investigations were ongoing in the matter to establish the motive behind the girl’s alleged action.

“Her parents have not talked to the police. We are still investigating to get to the root of the matter,” he said.

“Parents should always keep a watch over their children. They should know the character and kind of friends their kids keep.”

“This is not good to our society. What could cause a young person of that age to hang herself to death?; we should improve on moral teaching of our children,” Akhigbe said.

UNTOP ASUU PALAVA: FG orders 53 gold-plated iPhones worth N662m for naija @53

The Federal Government has placed orders for 53 gold-plated customised iPhones from Gold and Co, a British luxury products company, for the celebration of the country’s 53rd Independence anniversary.
A Bristol-born businessman based in Dubai, Mr. Amjad Ali, told The Independent of the United Kingdom on Wednesday that the Nigerian government had joined his growing list of clients, including royal families, governments and minted customers across Russia, China and the Middle East.

The 42-year-old entrepreneur, who grew up in Glasgow, specifically said his company, Gold and Co, was working ahead to fulfil an order from the Nigerian government for 53 gold iPhones to mark the country’s 53rd year of independence on October 1.
“We will engrave them with the coat of arms, a shield and two horses,” he said, while referring to the Nigerian orders.
According to Ali, each of the gold-plated devices costs between £3,000 and £50,000, a revelation, which will translate into about N662m on the luxury phones.

Malawi: Several Injured After a Traffic Accident of the Football Team

More fear than harm. A group of the delegation of the National football team back from Nigeria had a road accident on Monday in Dedza District, about 50 km from the capital Lilongwe. Several members of the federation as well as four players pull through with minor injuries.

Players like Chirambo Douglas, James Sangala, Chimango Kaira, Chaima Owen, the team doctor Levi Mwale, the Team manager Aubrey Nankhuni were in the bus that was bringing the Flames from Nigeria after the defeat the eve 1-0 in the playoffs of the 2014 World Cup .

"I'm feeling very bad. I hit my head against the bus window. I just remember that the bus skidded and hit something. Chirambo received several glass splinters but all is well. We thank God for being alive ", revealed Chimango Kaira to SuperSport.

BREAKING NEWS: Jonathan Sacks Education Minister, Eight Others

President Goodluck Jonathan has reshuffled his cabinet, dropping nine ministers.

The ministers affected are those of Ruqayat Rufai (Education); Zainab Kunchi (Power, [state]); Buka Tijani (Agriculture [state]), Shamsudeen Usman (National Planning; Ita Okon (science and technology); Olugbenga Ashiru (foreign affairs); Ama Pepple (lands) and Hadiza Mailafia (environment).

President Jonathan had long been expected to rejig his lackluster cabinet which has largely failed to deliver services to the Nigerian people.

Ruqayat Rufai (Education)

Zainab Kunchi (Power, [state]

Buka Tijani (Agriculture [state])

Shamsudeen Usman (National Planning

Ita Okon (science and technology)

Olugbenga Ashiru (foreign affairs)

Ama Pepple (lands)

 Hadiza Mailafia (environment).

ALL AFRICA