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JSR 223: Scripting for the JavaTM Platform
This JSR has been Withdrawn
Reason: Withdrawn in December 2016 following the Maintenance Review.
Updates to the Original JSR (JSR)
JSR 223 moved to JCP 2.10.
Sundararajan Athijegannathan took over as Maintenance Lead.
E-Mail Address: sundararajan.athijegannathan@oracle.com
2.15 Please provide a description of the business terms for the Specification, RI and TCK that will apply when this JSR is final.
- The Reference Implementation (RI) will be delivered in binary form free of charge.
- This JSR will be included in the Java SE 6 platform release. The JSR TCK will thus be licensed as part of the Java SE 6 TCK under the terms described in the JSR-270 business terms.
- The RI source will be available under the Java Distribution License (JDL) and Java Research License (JRL). Licensing of the RI is not required for the licensing of the TCK.
- The JSR 223 TCK source will be made available at no extra charge to J2EE licensees.
- The JSR 223 TCK will be licensed at no charge, without support or any trademark license rights.
2004.11.15: The Spec Lead and Expert Group changed the name of this request from "Scripting Pages in JavaTM Web Applications" to "Scripting for the JavaTM Platform".
Section 1. Identification
Submitting Member: Sun Microsystems, Inc
Name of Contact Person: Eduardo Pelegri-Llopart
E-Mail Address: pelegri@sun.com
Telephone Number: +1 408 276 7234
Fax Number: +1 408 276 7191
Specification Lead: Mike Grogan
E-Mail Address: Mike.Grogan@sun.com
* Sun Microsystems, Inc.
* Macromedia, Inc.
* Oracle
* Zend Technologies
* Others TBD
Supporting this JSR:
* Apple Computer, Inc.
* Borland Software Corporation
* MySQL AB
* Zend Technologies, Ltd.
This specification will introduce the basic technical background to bridge the scripting and the Java community. The specification is concerned with how to write and package Java classes that will be accessible from different scripting engines. The Java classes may be part of a Servlet application or may be in a standard Java VM.
The JavaTM Servlet specification (Servlet 2.4, JSR-154, is the latest version) defines the set of core abstractions that are used by Java developer writing Web Applications. These abstractions include those of Web Application context, session, request, response, etc. When Java developers write Web Applications, they write classes that interact with these objects in well defined security, resource and class loader contexts. The proposed specification will describe which of these Java objects will be exposed to pages written in other scripting languages. The specification will be grounded on at least one concrete scripting language example, PHP, but the concepts will remain independent of the scripting language and, if at all possible, the EG will also explore the bindings to at least another scripting language. The EG will also explore the case where the Java objects may not be associated with a specific Web application but may just be instantiated in a Java Virtual Machine.
The specification may include a Java API that can be used, possibly through JNI, by an scripting language engine to access the desired Java objects.
This specification will describe how it is possible to bundle scripting pages into a WAR file, either stand-alone, or as part of an EAR. The specification will describe the different implications for security, resource, and class loader contexts both in the case of stand-alone WARs and as part of an EAR. The EG will also consider whether it is appropriate to deliver scripting and Java code outside of a WAR.
The specification may describe how scripting pages can be denoted as such in a WAR in a manner that is easily identified using only the machinery in any standard Servlet container. For instance, it may be appropriate to define a standard Servlet per scripting language; this would allow a WAR to indicate in its web.xml descriptor which files are in a given scripting language. The EG may decide that a container that follows this JSR can use a different mechanism, like a default extension value, to determine that a page is an scripting language known to the container.
The EG working on this specification will deliver the specific bindings of these ideas to the PHP scripting language, but the EG will ensure that the concepts can be applied to other scripting languages. It is unclear at this time whether the PHP bindings will be normative or not, but we believe the bindings need to be explored in detail to ensure that the concepts are well grounded.
We expect the Reference Implementation to be built on top of the Servlet and JSP reference implementations and to include at least the PHP binding.
We expect this EG to be grounded in the needs of both the scripting community and the Java community.
The target platform is the same as that of Java Servlets, specifically JavaTM 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.4.
Companies and groups in the Java Community have web applications written in a variety of programming and scripting languages. These organizations would like to take advantage of the benefits of the Java technology in as many of these situations as possible. This specification will allow these organizations to bridge a number of scripting languages to the rest of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition and to the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition.
Java Servlets define the basic concepts for a Web Application. We expect this specification to build strongly on the Java Servlet specification by spelling out the assumptions that are shared among all scripting languages.
The existing technologies can address some of applications today, when certain requirements are satisfied. For example, if the scripting engine is written in Java, then a WAR can be written including the implementation of the scripting engine, web.xml can explicitly require the use of that scripting engine and the whole application can be packaged into a WAR. This specification will enable a more flexible mechanism that does not impose as many implementation constraints and may provide more convenient packagings.
The key technology is the Java Servlet specification. The EG will use the PHP scripting language as a concrete example of a scripting language.
If an API is defined to access the Java Servlet objects, we would expect to use a package related to javax.servlet.
No; we expect that this specification will take advantage of the existing JavaTM Servlet model.
We anticipate a fairly quick specification cycle on the order of 12 months, but details are still TBD.
2.12 Please describe the anticipated working model for the Expert Group working on developing this specification.
The Expert Group will interact using the private e-mail alias and web site provided by the JCP's PMO in addition to conference calls and face-to-face meetings as appropriate. Expert Group members have strong ties into the Java and Web Services communities and will call on domain experts as needed.
2.13 Please describe how the RI and TCK will de delivered, i.e. as part of a profile or platform edition, or stand-alone, or both. Include version information for the profile or platform in your answer.
Stand-alone. We expect the Reference Implementation to be built on top of the Servlet and JSP reference implementations and to include at least the PHP binding.
2.14 Please state the rationale if previous versions are available stand-alone and you are now proposing in 2.13 to only deliver RI and TCK as part of a profile or platform edition (See sections 1.1.5 and 1.1.6 of the JCP 2 document).
Planned Business Terms for this JSR: The specification will be released in accordance with standard terms as specified by the JCP process.
The reference implementation (RI) will be delivered in binary form free of charge from http://java.sun.com. Licensing details are expected to be under the Binary Code License (BCL).
The source for the reference implementation is expected to be delivered via the Sun Community Source License under standard SCSL terms & licensing and available free of charge to all Java 2 platform, Enterprise Edition and Java 2 platform, Standard Edition licensees.
The TCK will be made available free of charge to all J2SE and J2EE licensees.
The TCK will be offered for license at no charge, without support or any trademark license rights, to qualified not-for-profit entities (including not-for-profit) academic institutions) and qualified individuals engaged in efforts to create compatible implementations of the Specification.
* JSR-154, the Servlet 2.4 specification
* JSR-152, the JavaServer Pages 2.0 specifications
* The PHP5 language description
* TBD Pointers to additional documents
See section 2.1.
No additional information.


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Posted 2017-07-17 by Stian Soiland-Reyes & filed under Uncategorized.
On 2017-07-17, Carole Goble presented two lectures at the 4th International Synthetic & Systems Biology Summer School.
Posted 2016-05-18 by Stian Soiland-Reyes & filed under News, Presentations.
On 2016-05-18, Stian Soiland-Reyes presented Make Research Reproducible Again at the ELIXIR organized hackathon Tools, Workflow and Workbenches at Institut Pasteur in Paris.
The hackathon had a very strong focus and presence for both bio.tools and Common Workflow Language, one of the activities was to explore how CWL metadata profile could relate to Research Object model, Debian's package descriptions, RDF, schema.org and provenance.
Posted 2016-01-29 by Stian Soiland-Reyes & filed under Presentations.
Posted 2016-01-28 by Stian Soiland-Reyes & filed under Presentations.
Posted by Stian Soiland-Reyes & filed under Presentations.
Posted 2015-07-17 by Stian Soiland-Reyes & filed under News.
BagIt is an Internet Draft that specifies a file system structure for transferring and archiving a collection of files, including their checksums and brief metadata. BagIt is commonly used by digital library communities for archival purposes, and is mandated by the Library of Congress for digital preservation.
Research Object bundles are structured ZIP-files for serializes a Research Objects, embedding some or all of its resources within the ZIP file, and list the RO content in a manifest, in addition to embedding and referencing annotations and provenance.
While BagIt and RO Bundle might at first seem to provide similar functionalies, the two approaches are complementary in the sense that BagIt focuses on the transfer and consistency checks, recording checksums for resources and their file sizes, while RO Bundles focus on the metadata, provenance and annotations about the resources, relating them to each other.
Research Object BagIt archive defines a profile for a BagIt bag to also be a Research Object. This approach builds on the RO Bundle structure, but modifies it to also be compliant with BagIt.
Posted by Norman Morrison & filed under Event, News, Presentations.
Norman Morrison presented Research Objects at BOSC including work on 'Research Objects in the wild', where Research Objects supported a reproducibility case study that was recently publish in PLOS One. This work was also presented at BOSC by Alejandra González-Beltrán from the ISA-team and you can get the slides here.
You can read more about the BOSC conference in Scott Edmunds excellent blog post 'Open Bioinformatics in The Irish Free Software State'.
On June 11th 2015, Carole Goble presented The Research Object Initiative: Frameworks and Use Cases as part of the bioCADDIE webinar series.
Why publish and be so damned hard to find?
Posted 2015-03-23 by Norman Morrison & filed under News.
Chris Parr from Times Higher Education Interviewed Prof Carole Goble at JISC Digifest. You can read and listen to Carole's views on the lack of transparency about academic research methods by clicking on the links below.


text:
FriendFeed Launches iPhone Compatibility
By Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins 2008-06-30 17:11:14 UTC
The feature that Mashable's Stan Schroeder has been "waiting for his whole life" launches today: it's an iPhone version of FriendFeed. The announcement was made earlier today on FriendFeed's blog, and there isn't much difference noticable from the regular web version - just a specialized interface, a few more gradients, and more readable type for the smaller screen size.
For those of you who don't like pretty things, there's also an easy way to revert back to the default view.
It's definitely a wise strategic move with the impending release of the iPhone 3G, a much sought after set of eyeballs for communication and community. There are a number of developers working on Twitter clients and clones to capitalize on the new influx of iPhone users in the hopes to capture some early adopter evangelism, but the biggest competitor to FriendFeed might just be ... FriendFeed.
No news from Shane Vitarana has been heard lately on it, but back in April he announced he was working on a FriendFeed native application, but subsequently clamped up on things due to a restrictive non-disclosure agreement with Apple.
Topics: friendfeed, iPhone, San Francisco-San Jose, Web Apps

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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(LONDON) GOVUK #Coronavirus Report: Everyone in England must stay at home except for permitted reasons during a new 3COVId19 lockdown beginning at midnight, this evening with schools and colleges will close, everyone in England must stay at home except for permitted reasons beginning at midnight, Boris Johnson has announced #AceHealthDesk report
#AceHealthReport – Jan.04: In a televised address, the PM urged people to follow the rules immediately amid surging cases and patient numbers: He said those in the top four priority groups would receive a first vaccine dose by mid-February: Speaking from Downing Street, Mr Johnson said the weeks ahead would be the "hardest yet"………….But he added that he believed the country was entering "the last phase of the struggle"
#Coronavirus Report: #COVID19 alert level: update from the UK Chief Medical Officers as Boris Johnson puts England into national lockdown …..
Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty
Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Dr Frank Atherton
Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Dr Gregor Smith
Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland, Dr Michael McBride
NHS England, National Medical Director Professor Stephen Powis
A joint statement from the UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) recommending that the UK COVID-19 alert level move from level 4 to level 5.
Following advice from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and in the light of the most recent data, the 4 UK Chief Medical Officers and NHS England Medical Director recommend that the UK alert level should move from level 4 to level 5.
Many parts of the health systems in the 4 nations are already under immense pressure. There are currently very high rates of community transmission, with substantial numbers of COVID patients in hospitals and in intensive care.
Cases are rising almost everywhere, in much of the country driven by the new more transmissible variant. We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days.
Although the NHS is under immense pressure, significant changes have been made so people can still receive lifesaving treatment. It is absolutely critical that people still come forward for emergency care. If you require non-urgent medical attention, please contact your GP or call NHS 111.
Scotland earlier issued a stay-at-home order and joined Wales in closing classrooms for most pupils:
Northern Ireland's Stormont Executive are also meeting to discuss possible new measures.
On Monday, the UK recorded more than 50,000 new confirmed Covid cases for the seventh day in a row: A further 58,784 cases and an additional 407 deaths within 28 days of a positive test result were reported, though deaths in Scotland were not recorded:
At-a-glance: New rules in England
These include essential medical needs, food shopping, exerciseand work for those who cannot do so from home
Restaurants can continue to offer delivery for food, but takeaway alcohol will be banned
Those who are clinically extremely vulnerable will be contacted by letter and should now shield once more, Mr Johnson said: Support and childcare bubbles will continue under the new measures – and people can meet one person from another household for outdoor exercise:
The government has published a 22-page document outlining the new rules in detail: Mr Johnson spoke after UK chief medical officers recommended the Covid threat level be increased to five – its highest level……………..They warned of a "material risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed" in several areas over the next 21 days: Level five means the NHS may soon be unable to handle a further sustained rise in cases, the medical officers said in a joint statement.
Scots ordered to stay home in new lockdown
Schools in Wales stay shut until 18 January
'More action needed' in NI to tackle Covid-19
82-year-old first to get Oxford Covid vaccine
NHS Providers, which represents health service trusts, said hospitals were at a "critical point" and that "immediate and decisive action" was needed: A new variant – first identified in Kent and since seen across the UK and other parts of the world – has been found to spread much more easily than earlier variants.
Announcing tougher measures in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year." ………..The new restrictions in Scotland mean it will be a legal requirement to stay at home except for certain essential purposes, similar to the first lockdown last March: Schools will be closed to pupils until February…………………….In Wales, all schools and colleges will move to online learning until at least 18 January.
Mr Johnson's pledge on vaccinations comes after an 82-year-old retired maintenance manager became the first person in the UK to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab………….The new target to vaccinate all those in the top four priority groups with at least one dose of a vaccine by mid-February covers everyone in England over the age of 70 and people of any age who are clinically extremely vulnerable:
← (ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) DOJ Court Report: A man has been charged today with attempted bank robbery a detention hearing is scheduled for Jan.05: 2020: #AceNewsDesk report
(SOUTH AFRICA) #Coronavirus Report: Country has been in talks with various #COVID19 vaccine manufacturers, including those in the West, Russia and China, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has said with intention to immunise 67-percent of its population by the year-end #AceHealthDesk report →


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Tech ·Twitter
Musk says ending remote work is the only way to save the bird: 'There is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn'
BYMatt O'Brien and The Associated Press
Elon Musk is making changes at Twitter, big ones.
Elon Musk has emailed Twitter employees, most working remotely, ordering them to return to the office immediately for at least 40 hours a week and warning of "difficult times ahead."
A pair of Wednesday night missives seen by The Associated Press marked Musk's first companywide message to employees who survived last week's mass layoffs. Many have had to rely on the billionaire Tesla CEO's public tweets for clues about Twitter's future.
"Sorry that this is my first email to the whole company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message," wrote Musk, before he described a dire economic climate for businesses like Twitter that rely almost entirely on advertising to make money.
"Without significant subscription revenue, there is a good chance Twitter will not survive the upcoming economic downturn," Musk said. "We need roughly half of our revenue to be subscription."
Musk's memo followed a livestreamed conversation trying to assuage major advertisers Wednesday, his most expansive public comments about Twitter's direction since he closed a $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform late last month and dismissed its top executives. A number of well-known brands have paused advertising on Twitter as they wait to see how Musk's proposals to relax content rules against hate and misinformation affect the tenor of the platform.
Musk told employees "the priority over the past 10 days" was to develop and launch Twitter's new subscription service for $7.99 a month that includes a blue check mark next to the name of paid members — the mark was previously only for verified accounts.
An executive last week said Twitter was cutting roughly 50% of its workforce, which numbered 7,500 earlier this year.
Musk had previously expressed distaste for Twitter's pandemic-era remote work policies that enabled team leaders to decide if employees had to show up in the office. On Wednesday, he ordered all employees to return to the office Thursday.
Musk told employees in the email that "remote work is no longer allowed" and the road ahead is "arduous and will require intense work to succeed." He said he would personally review any request for an exception.
Twitter hasn't disclosed the total number of layoffs across its global workforce but told local and state officials in the U.S. that it was cutting 784 workers at its San Francisco headquarters, about 200 elsewhere in California, and more than 400 in New York City, more than 200 in Seattle and about 80 in Atlanta.
The exodus at Twitter is ongoing, including the company's chief information security officer Lea Kissner, who tweeted Thursday that "I've made the hard decision to leave Twitter."
Cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos, a former Facebook security chief, tweeted Thursday that there is a "serious risk of a breach with drastically reduced staff" that could also put Twitter at odds with a 2011 order from the Federal Trade Commission that required it to address serious data security lapses.
"Twitter made huge strides towards a more rational internal security model and backsliding will put them in trouble with the FTC" and other regulators in the U.S. and Europe, Stamos said.
The FTC said in a statement Thursday that it is "tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern."
"No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees," said the agency's statement. "Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them."
The FTC would not say whether it was investigating Twitter for potential violations. If it were, it is empowered to demand documents and depose employees.
Twitter paid a $150 million penalty in May for violating the 2011 consent order and its updated version established new procedures requiring the company to implement an enhanced privacy protection program as well as beefing up info security.
AP Technology Writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report.


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Mount Mansfield
mountain, Vermont, United States
Mount Mansfield, highest point (4,393 feet [1,339 metres]) in Vermont, U.S., standing 20 miles (30 km) northeast of Burlington in the Green Mountains, a segment of the Appalachian Mountains. Mount Mansfield is actually a series of summits that together resemble the profile of a face. Individual peaks include the Adam's Apple, Forehead, Nose, Upper and Lower Lips, and Chin (highest point). On its western side the mountain descends more than 4,000 feet (1,200 metres) toward Lake Champlain. The mountain was named for the town of Mansfield (annexed to Underhill and Stowe in 1839). It is the focus of a state forest and resort area noted for winter sports; the Appalachian National Scenic Trail follows the crestline.
Mansfield, MountMount Mansfield, near Burlington, Vt. Joe Calzarette
Mansfield, MountHiker on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail standing on the summit of Mount Mansfield, Vermont, U.S. © bobmanley/iStock.com
This article was most recently revised and updated by Emily Rodriguez, Copy Editor.
Vermont: Relief
Mount Mansfield, at 4,393 feet (1,339 metres), is its highest point; and Lake Champlain, at 95 feet (29 metres), is its lowest. On the Vermont-Massachusetts border, the northern end of the Hoosac Range enters the state, and the Taconic Range rises along the southwestern side.…
Green Mountains
…metres), with the loftiest being Mount Mansfield (4,393 feet [1,339 metres]; highest point in Vermont) and Killington Peak (4,235 feet [1,291 metres]). Highways cross at the passes cut by the Missisquoi, Lamoille, and Winooski rivers. The mountains are noted for their scenic beauty and form a popular tourist resort area…
Burlington, city, seat (1787) of Chittenden county, northwestern Vermont, U.S. It lies on a hillside sloping toward Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains to the west, with the Green Mountains to the east. It is the largest city of the state and a port of entry; with South Burlington and…
Appalachian Mountains, great highland system of North America, the eastern counterpart of the Rocky Mountains. Extending for almost 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to central Alabama in the United States, the Appalachian Mountains form a natural barrier between the eastern…
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Appalachian National Scenic Trail, mountain footpath in the eastern United States extending from northeast to southwest for about 2,190 miles (3,524.5 km) along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains. The trail runs from Mount Katahdin, Maine, to Springer Mountain, Georgia, passing through 14 states (Maine, New…
More About Mount Mansfield
physiography of
In Green Mountains
In Vermont: Relief
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Paricutín
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Europe, second smallest of the world's continents, composed of the westward-projecting peninsulas of…
Africa, the second largest continent (after Asia), covering about one-fifth of the total land surface…
Antarctica, fifth in size among the world's continents. Its landmass is almost wholly covered by a vast…


September in Africa was all about startups, with a host of top events and the launch of new accelerators as well as the usual funding rounds, acquisitions and new product offerings.
Startup pitching event DEMO Africa took place outside of Kenya for the first time, with 40 startups pitching to entrepreneurs, investors and international media in Lagos, Nigeria. Speakers at the event included communication technology minister Omobola Johnson, Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holdings, and Jason Njoku, founder of iROKO.
French operator Orange launched its startup accelerator – Orange Fab – in the Ivory Coast, which the company says as aimed at supporting new digital players and helping them grow. Orange said it hopes to facilitate the development of startups in the Ivorian tech scene, and has already chosen four companies from 86 submissions.
The 440 program in Lagos, a joint venture between African investment funds 88mph and L5Lab, is also in the process of selecting startups for its first Nigerian programme. 10 startups are set to receive investment of between $20,000 and $110,000, and be admitted into a three-month accelerator programme, where they will be mentored by the likes of Stanbic IBTC executive director Obinnia Abajue, Mavin Records founder Michael Ajereh, aka Don Jazzy, and Obinna Ekezie, co-founder of Wakanow.
Another incubator adding new startups is the Nigerian government-supported iDEA, with the country's minister of communication technology Omobola Johnson announcing the addition of 70 startups at DEMO Africa. Johnson said the new startups are the latest addition to the country's fledgling ecosystem, and also announced the first close of the government seeded IT Innovation Fund will soon take place.
Again in Nigeria, Lagos incubator hub the Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) launched a US$500,000 seed investment fund for early-stage-startups, with sums of between US$10,000 to US$25,000 expected to help startups with business models and operations. The first beneficiaries were startups Vacantboards, Truppr, Traclist, 500shops and GeniiGames.
Kenyan incubator Nailab held its Demo Day, with four startups earning a total of KES1 million (US$11,000) each in funding. Mobile stock simulation game Hisa Play, online errand tracking platform TasKWetu, online fashion hub Mode Mara, and e-commerce fashion company Young Freddie Collections were the recipients.
Meanwhile, in South Africa Byte Orbit announced the launch of the third edition of its annual Startup Knight competition, which it says empowers aspiring tech entrepreneurs in South Africa. The winner stands to benefit from ZAR250,000 ($22,000) in prizes from the competition, which is themed "Technology That Enables".
In other startups news, startup bus organisers AMPION launched a crowdfunding campaign named "Adopt a startup", which allows supporters to support an individual entrepreneur or startup with donations of €99 ($125) and above.
Mobile money continues to prosper in Africa, with innovative new value added services regularly being launched. Tigo Tanzania has launched Tigo Wekeza, or "Tigo Invests", the world's first mobile money service which allows users to earn automatic returns on the balance in their wallet, while customers can also nominate a non-profit beneficiary.
Meanwhile, another pan-African operator – MTN – announced a partnership with online payments company Skrill, which is set to enable MTN subscribers to make purchases from global online brands integrated into Skrill's network using funds in their MTN mobile wallets, with the partnership being piloted in Ivory Coast and Rwanda.
Tigo is also entering the music streaming sector, with Tigo Music set to be launched in Ghana in the fourth quarter of this year, providing users with access to 30 million songs.Millicom, which owns Tigo, said the service is already available to 600,000 subscribers in Latin America, and that it had partnered with digital music company Africori to acquire and manage the rights to the songs on its catalogue through "Africa Music Rights" (AMR).
European mobile company Wiko has launched its portfolio of 10 phones in Kenya, boasting of world-class technology, cutting edge design and exceptional product quality. Wiko International Business Director Marcel Van de Pas said Wiko was delighted to launch its brand to Kenyan consumers, and said he was confident "combination of stylish design, technology, quality and pricing will be a huge success here".
Meanwhile, Tecno launched the Phantom Z in Ghana, saying the device has an expandable memory up to 32GB, a 5.2 AMOLED HD display and Gorilla Glass. The phone allows 26 hours of talk time and runs on Android 4.4.2.
Payments company Interswitch Transnational Holding acquired a majority shareholding in East African payments provider Paynet Group, which will see a new combined network connect over 100 financial institutions to create what Interswitch calls an unrivalled payment infrastructure across East and West Africa.
PayPal partnered South Africa's PayGate to help further strengthen its presence in Africa, with the partnership allowing PayGate merchants to add PayPal payment options to their online stores, while non-profit tech startup mWater has partnered Water.org to launch a platform making mobile monitoring and evaluation of water available to anyone for free. mWater Surveyor is designed to increase the capacity of local and global actors to gather data on water, monitor work and collaborate for greater impact.


I started reading Keith Ferrazzi's Who's Got Your Back. I had read his book Never Eat Alone years ago and enjoyed it, so decided to pick up this one.
There's been a distinctive trend in the "efficiency" and "productivity" books to determine not only how to spend your time more wisely, but also what that time should be spent on. I've read many of them and even blogged about a few, and I know from personal experience how challenging it is to choose the next "right" thing to do, but I have to admit I never connected the dots.
Given all the apps that help us be more productive and how connected we all are, it really is less about efficiency. Yes, building efficient and scalable systems still has merit and is still needed, but you have to first choose which systems to spend those valuable resources on. In other words, before you can streamline something, be sure that you should be spending your time on it to begin with!
So for those of us with too much to do, before you try to muddle through and/or use every productivity app you know of, stop and evaluate your choices first. I'd start by listing out—whether literally or figuratively, whichever you prefer—all the possible tasks and projects you could spend your time on, then determine which one is right for you next, given your priorities of the moment. Then and only then determine the most efficient way to tackle that task or project.
If you work for someone else, you may not have full autonomy on what is "right" for you or not. But you know (or should ask) what is most important for your boss and team and then be most efficient about that top priority.
To summarize, determine what is right (aka, effective) first and then how to do it better (aka, more efficiently).
So what would make you the most effective now?