News

Operator calls for tenure limits for non-EDs of banks nigeria-news
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and financial expert, Dr. Konyinsola Ajayi has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to also extend the limit placed on the tenure of chief executive officers of banks in the country to Non-executive directors of banks.

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Emerging markets will drive M&A this year, bankers in Davos say nigeria-news
Companies based in emerging markets will probably drive global mergers and acquisitions, as countries such as Brazil, India and China fuel economic growth, said bankers meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland.

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Microfinance bedrock of economic devt, VP nigeria-news
Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, has described the microfinance sector as crucial to economic development and nation-building.
He stated this during the presentation of the best state of the microfinance, small and medium enterprise and the first runner-up under Agric Credit Guarantee Scheme-Trust Fund Model Awards to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State in Abuja, last Thursday.

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Ecobank opens representative in South Africa nigeria-news
ECOBNK has opened a representative office in Johannesburg, making South Africa the 30th African country in which the pan-African bank has a presence.

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Skye Bank partners British Council on manpower nigeria-news
SKYE Bank Plc has entered into a strategic partnership with the British Council in the area of human capital and manpower development.

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NAICOM set to curb huge outstanding premium in 2010 nigeria-news
The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) said on Sunday that insurance companies would be given six months to clear their outstanding premium.

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NNPC charts Nigeria’s oil industry direction nigeria-news
THE Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the state-run national oil company has attempted to provide a clear cut direction for the oil and gas industry currently bedeviled by an atmosphere of uncertainty owing to the pending passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (Bill) before the National Assembly.

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Nkire predicts victory for PPA nigeria-news
By  Tony Edike
ENUGU—A member of the National Working Committee, NWC,  of the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, Dr. Sam Nkire, yesterday, predicted a landslide victory for the party’s candidate in Saturday’s Anambra governorship election, Mr Uche Ekwunife.
Nkire, who is also the National Treasurer of PPA, said it was amazing to witness the political waves Ekwunife was [...]

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Now that Apple’s long-awaited official announcement of the iPad has come and gone, Apple reviewers have had a chance to take a deep breath and take stock of what CEO Steve Jobs has delivered. In the wake of all the hype of the tablet computer as a “Jesus device,” Apple fanboys and the general public were struck with an anticlimactic feeling. “Is that all there is?” many asked.

In the week or so since the announcement, the technology press has made much of the iPad’s failings — starting with jokes about feminine hygiene products but continuing on to real shortcomings such as the lack of support for Adobe Flash-based video.

After all the hype, is the iPad a letdown? “It’s not a bad first-generation product; it’s a reasonable offering,” Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group, said in a telephone interview. “It’s going to mature a lot in the second and third generations, and the market will open up for them in that time frame. There’s too big a bar to get a big wave on the first generation.”

Ready for the Second Generation

What does the iPad need in that second generation? “We need another carrier other than AT&T, and we probably need a different screen that’s viewable outdoors,” Enderle said. He said this first-generation iPad is probably comparable to the original iPhone.

“The iPhone was kind of crippled when it came out — it took two generations to reach its potential,” Enderle said. By contrast, “the screen and the mobile provider can probably be done by the second generation.”

Jobs actually announced six versions of the iPad — three Wi-Fi-only configurations and three with a 3G plan. Enderle expects the 3G models to be more popular than the Wi-Fi versions, even with AT&T’s weak coverage. “The Kindle is so much better with…

Billions of microscopic cells on a single chip will soon add eight gigabytes of nonvolatile memory to smartphones and other devices, creating new possibilities for mobile applications and potentially lowering prices in the long term. IM Flash Technologies, a joint venture between chipmakers Intel and Micron Technology, on Monday unveiled a 64-gigabit NAND flash die based on 25-nanometer process technology.

The new process doubles the density of the partnership’s previous milestone creation, a 32-gigabit die based on 34-nanometer technology. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

Coming Soon

IMFT is currently market-testing the new chips with production expected in the second half of this year. About the size of a postage stamp, each die contains a memory array with more than 32 billion cells, each of which is only 25 nanometers wide.

“The smaller we make the storage cell, the more we can get into a die and the more capacity you as an end user will see,” said Kevin Killbuck, director of NAND market development for Micron, in a video posted on the company’s web site. He said the 8GB capacity is about the same as 11 CDs, enough to hold thousands of songs and photos and hours of video.

Killbuck said the technology will allow devices like flash memory cards and MP3 players to double their capacity while remaining the same size and consuming the same amount of power.

The new technology meets a growing demand for high density and low cost that has fueled the spread of cheap flash drives and other portable storage devices.

“More advanced manufacturing processes are bringing about computing functionality in a smaller package,” said Jeff Orr, senior analyst for mobile devices at ABI Research. “Smaller semiconductors allow for smaller device form factors by using less space on the system board, and they generally consume less…