My guy Oo has finally launched his long-spoken-about startup Gbedu.fm. As he describes it, “Spotify is the Gbedu.fm of the west.” To preview the app, check it out here.
In my predictions for this year, I said that data science was going to be big. I case you’re a new entrant in this field, here are a few book recommendations and they’re also free (for now) if you have a Kindle. If you’re in Nigeria and you are wondering how to get a Kindle, here’s my guide on how to do this.
- The Evolution of Data Products
- Big Data Now: Current Perspectives from O’Reilly Radar
- Building Data Science Teams
Enjoy.
I realize there’s been a lot of excite about Raspberry Pi on several geek channels on the web. I didn’t realize until I decided to check it out and now I just can’t contain my excitement.
According to the Raspberry Pi FAQ:
The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming.
What’s amazing about the Raspberry Pi is that you get a fully-functional computer (excluding input and output devices) for ₦4000 ($25). What more is that the computer can be plugged directly into a TV and with any cheap USB keyboard, you have a fully functioning computer. Even though I don’t see this really appealing to folks that can afford high-end widescreen laptops, this reduces the barrier of entry for those who can’t afford expensive laptops/desktops and sorry it wouldn’t run Windows.
I think we are looking at technology that will finally include those who have been formerly excluded from the digital age. Raspberry Pi is still just an onboard computer and at a stage where entrepreneurs can package it properly into devices that are more useful.
I’ve been seeing this all too often on our geographic places crowd-sourcing app CrowdPOInt. I check Google Analytics and I can’t find traffic generated by my own mobile device and after much enquiry I realise that mobile web analytics (just like desktop web analytics) also relies on the browser being able to load a one pixel (or transparent) image being served by the analytics engine. If the browser doesn’t load this image, then that hit isn’t tracked.
This is a big problem for mobile browsers that have loading of images turned off. The best solution for now is to have your mobile applications directly intervene by triggering the tracking on behalf of the mobile browser.
A better solution would involve requiring the mobile browser to load some other asset like blank css stylesheets or javascript files and performing the tracking on such hits.
Here are my top 10 technology predictions for this year, 2012. I’ve arranged them in no particular order.
1. Mobile Money will become ubiquitous
Believe it or not, mobile money, even though a relatively new concept in Nigeria, will gain a lot of traction this year.
2. E-commerce will boom
There are way too many factors that will ensure the flourishing of e-commerce in the country this year. From the policies put in place by the Central Bank to the introduction of mobile money, this sector is set to take off. If you are an investor or entrepreneur, you must start making your investments and keeping a close eye on this one.
3. Collaboration will be key
One problem we were successfully able to diagnose in the tech community last year is that there are too many people working in silos and the key to our flourishing and ultimate survival will be to collaborate. Enough said.
4. More HTML5 innovation
HTML5 was one of the biggest news of 2011. However, we’ve only began to scratch the surface on what this technology is capable of delivering. Watch out for more innovation this technology will bring. If you didn’t pick up this technology last year, it’s not late yet to hop on.
5. Opera Mini/Mobile will become more HTML5 compatible
Opera’s mobile browsers are awesome and very popular. The only limitation is it’s HTML5 capabilities. This year will see that browser come of age.
6. Data science will become even more relevant
Data science is responsible for the algorithms that enable social networks make relevant suggestions to you. More and more online services will become dependent on the value data sciences provide.
7. We’ll do everything on the cloud
It’s becoming a reality already. The most important software your computer will need will be the browser as our lives move closer and closer to being wholly cloud-based.
8. Decentralized social networks will gain more popularity
Open standards, open APIs and open source will spur the development of decentralized social networks as more people take control of their online privacy.
9. Mobile marketing will become as important and popular as traditional Internet marketing.
10. Android smartphones will gain mainstream popularity
A lot of people will disagree with me but wait until Chinese mobile phone manufacturers switch to using Android, which will be a smart move.