Tech Tip Tuesday - Turning off the new Feature that shares your WhatsApp Account Information with Facebook

Hi guys! It has certainly been a while. During this long period of time that has passed, WhatsApp has brought out a new update and while there might seem to be nothing interesting about this new update, it would seem it might affect the so-called privacy we get on Whatsapp.

On upgrading to this new update version, you are expected to agree to their new terms of conditions. Most of us do not read the terms and conditions. I know I am guilty of it. Most times, they are way too lengthy to go through and I don't have the patience to go through it. If it so happened that in that piece of document, we were being asked if we wanted to be sold into slavery, we wouldn't even know and we would voluntarily agree to it.

Anyways, in this new terms and conditions, once you have agreed, WhatsApp has the authority to share your account information with Facebook for the purpose to improving your ad experiences and product preferences. In order words, it would be used to specify the ads that appear or are displayed on your page when you log in to Facebook.

Please Note:
The information being shared with Facebook are not your chats. It is your account information and the purpose is to improve your ad experiences. The information that is being shared is shared with and not on Facebook. This post is not to be confused with broadcasts that have been going about saying otherwise.

Given the above information, if you are comfortable with this and don't have any objections with Facebook partnering up with WhatsApp in finding another legal way of listening in on you, then this is not for you.

However, if you have reservations about this new feature and you want to turn it off you can do so. You also have to do it quickly because by the end of September you won't have the opportunity to do so anymore.

How then do you do turn off this feature if you want to?
When you open your WhatsApp application, go to your Settings. Under Settings, head over to your Account menu button with the key icon on it and tap on it. Normally you would have 4 options under this. But with this new update there is a fifth option. It is usually checked once you agree to the new terms and conditions. Turn it off by unchecking the box i.e tap on the checked box to remove the Nike-like mark. You would receive a prompt asking if you really want to do that. If you are really sure you want to do that, select the option that agrees and it is turned off. Once it is turned off, you don't see that option again in your Account menu. That way, you have turned off this feature successfully.

Hope we have learnt something new today? If you did share it and comment too. Your comments and shares are highly appreciated and welcomed. See you next time.

Tech Tip Tuesday : Buying Mobile Devices and Mistakes to Avoid.

Hello guys. I am here to present you another episode of the Tech Tip Tuesday. Are you planning on getting a new mobile device? Then today's your lucky day because I am bringing you tips on some mistakes you should avoid when deciding on what device to get. Here they are:

• Automatically choosing the cheapest option available: 

This is one of the most common mistakes most people make when getting mobile devices especially in Nigeria. As we all know. the cheapest option is usually not always one of the best options. Likewise, the cheapest option in mobile devices is usually off brand and an older model with outdated software. So save up if you have to and invest your money in a quality brand with an up-to-date software. You'll end up enjoying your money's worth for a long time.

• Ignoring the software or operating system that powers a device: 

By ignoring the OS of the device you are purchasing, you could end up with a very sleek tablet which you don't even know how to operate well or a sturdy phone that is whose OS is not compatible with your favorite social media apps. Therefore, you should take into consideration the OS powering a device and how you feel about using that OS before you buy it. You could try to find out what specific OS it runs on, check the version of the OS and the compatibility of the OS with most of the apps you are going to be needing and using on that device. You should also remember to choose a device whose OS you are comfortable with and are familiar with.

• Not thinking of connectivity options: 

You want to avoid not thinking of the connectivity options . In other words you should ask yourself "How often do I connect to the internet?", " What ways of connecting to the internet do I use and are readily available to me?", "What do I usually do when I do connect to the internet?" Some devices are designed to connect to the internet only with WiFi connection while others  are designed with the ability to connect to the internet using both WiFi and you regular internet service provider or your mobile data. Also we have devices that run on 2G networks, some on 3G networks and others on 4G. It is therefore appropriate that you keep this in mind along with the method you are most likely to connect to the internet with.

• Not doing research:

 Successfully avoiding each one of the mistakes listed above requires you making some form of research before going into that store to get that mobile device. When you skip the research entirely you end up missing some of the details you should have been cautious about when buying the device. Therefore always do your research and when you do, you will be pleased with your purchase at the end of it all.

That being said, try to avoid these mistakes when next you are choosing a mobile device and I assure you my friends, you'll be glad you did. 

Want to find out what tips I will be dishing out next time? Watch out for this space next week. Till then, have a beautiful week ahead!

Women in IT - Ory Okolloh

   Today our woman crush Wednesday in the IT industry is the Kenyan lawyer activist and blogger Ory Okolloh.
   She has been covered extensively by the press both locally and globally in the financial, technological and business niches, primarily as a co-founder of the website Ushahidi.com, which as the site explains was "developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election violence in 2008" and strives "to create technology that solves global problems". The website has also been described as a "tech company that specializes in developing free and open software for information collection virtualization and interactive mapping" by IT News Africa.

   She is also the co-founder of Mzalendo, a parliamentary watchdog site that sought to increase government accountability by recording bills, speeches, standing orders and so on, systematically. She has also held the position of policy manager for Africa within Google.

   Ory Okolloh has been ranked second place in ITNewsAfrica's Most Influential Women in Science and Technology feature list, is described by Forbes as "a Harvard-trained lawyer activist and blogger... widely acknowledged as one of the most influential women in global technology" and has been profiled by Forbes.

   Lastly, Ory Okolloh lives in Kenya with her three children and runs a personal blog known as  Kenyan Pundit which was featured on Global Voices Online.

Tech Tip Tuesday - Using Less Data On Your Smartphone 4

Hey guys! I am really sorry for the break in transmission for those who have been coming back to check for the next tip. For this reason I am going to make it up to you guys by giving a 3-in-1 combo tip today to make up for the past few weeks that I have missed.

So, I have talked about how we could use mobile sites instead of apps, using a browser with data saving tools and installing an ad-blocker all in an effort to try to fight that data subscription monster that keeps eating deep into our pockets. How has it been going for you? I am sure you'll like to know the other tips I have for you on this subject matter. Well here they are :

• Leave some activities for when you are connected to a WiFi network:

For my Nigerian brothers and sisters, this may not necessarily apply to you as we rarely have spots where we have easy access to a WiFi resource. If you do however, you know all those your YouTube videos streaming, snapchat and periscope activities, they should be left for those times when you can connect to a WiFi network as they are mega data consumers.
What if you don't have such an opportunity? You could try the next tip below.

• Use the setting on your smartphone to set up data usage limits.

How does this work? For android users, go to your settings menu, and under Wireless and Networks, Tap Data Usage. You would see an option that allows you to set mobile data limit. When you set a limit for yourself, as soon as the specified limit is reached, your mobile data connection will be disabled. You can also set up warnings to track your data usage and check yourself.

For our beloved iPhone and iPad readers, don't worry, I didn't forget about you guys. Here's a tutorial on how you can do that on your smartphone.

Finally, here's the very last tip.

• Turn off data for some apps.

For android users, you can do this by carrying out the following steps:

1. Open Settings on your phone and tap on Data Usage.
2. Scroll down to view a list of the android apps making use of data on your phone which is usually sorted by amount of data usage.
3. Tap the apps you want to restrict data usage on and select Restrict Background Data.

For iPhone and iPad users, Here's another tutorial on how to do that.


If for some unimaginable reason, all these tips have been worked on and you still don't see any improvements, then it's time to completely turn off your mobile data and go for a walk, read a book with actual paper pages, learn an art like photography, painting or something and stop your addiction with the internet. You heard me right. No, I am not joking. Seriously, there's more to life than being fixated to a 5-10 inch device all the time.

Anyways, wondering what my next tip sequel will be? Find out next week Tuesday. Till then, Have a lovely week ahead.

Tech Tip Tuesday - Using Less Data on Your Smartphone 3

   We are still on the data saving tips for your smart phone. how has using the two previous two helped you out, if it has? Any visible changes in then rate at which your data runs out? Anyways, apart from using the mobile websites instead of the apps and using a browser with data saving tools to check the amount of data you are using, you might want to consider using this next tip.

Tip 3:

• Install an ad-blocker.

Reason? If you are using the mobile sites instead of the apps for most of your online activities, your browser is obviously doing most of the work. Since you are using a browser more often, installing an ad-blocker will keep your phone from loading all of the ads on each webpage you visit. This in turn can conserve data. Those ads that load advertising "Jumia" and co products consume some amount of data and by installing an ad blocker which prevents them from loading you are conserving data. Hence you use less data. This is turn can conserve data.

Do you need more tidbits tips like this? We'll be here next week with another tip. In the mean time, have a lovely week ahead.

Ray Tomlinson - Inventor of the Email.

   Google mail a.k.a gmail, Yahoo mail, Hotmail, e.t.c all have one thing in common - they are used to send electronic mails - and you have probably used one or more of these email platforms before at one point in time or the other. You have also most likely heard of Larry Page, Jerry Yang and a host of others who created their own platforms for sending electronic mails but the person who sent the very first email was a man named Ray Tomlinson.
   Ray Tomlinson was an American Computer Programmer who implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system which was the precursor to the internet.

• He grew up in Broadalbin, New York where he attended Broadalbin Central School.
• After graduating and receiving his Bachelor's degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in New York and receiving his Master's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the company now known as BBN Technologies where he helped developed the TENEX operating system which included the ARPANET Network Control Program.
• It was during the course of his employment there, when he was asked to change a particular program which sent messages to other users of a time-sharing computer to run on TENEX, that he added additional code from a file transfer program called CPYNET to the program so that messages could be sent to users on other computers. This was in reality was the first email.
• This system was thus able to send mail between users on different hosts connected to ARPANET as opposed to the previous method which allowed mails to be sent to others who used the same computer.
• He achieved this by using the @ sign to separate the user name from the name of their machine. This scheme ever since then, has been used and is still used in email addresses.
• Since then, Ray Tomlinson has been and is still internationally known and credited as the inventor of the email.
• He has had so many awards and honors to his name; the most recent given in 2012, when he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame which is an honorary lifetime achievement award given to individuals who have made significant contributions to the development and advancement of the internet by the Internet Society.
• Sadly though, his life came to an end on the 5th of March 2016 at age 74.

Then and Now - Taking Pictures

Then:

Antique Cameras.
Photo Credit: Google Images

Now:

Modern Smart Cameras.
Photo Credit: Google Images.