On the eve of its 15th birthday, Google turned the tables and gave the Internet a shiny new present: Hummingbird, the search giant's largest search algorithm update since 2001. The search engine's recent overhaul — which affects 90% of searches — aims to filter "fluff" content that is created solely for nabbing search engine optimization and instead deliver better, higher quality search results.

How the Google Hummingbird Update Works

The new Hummingbird update works in two ways: First, instead of traditional keyword searches, it uses conversational searches to deliver search results that are more on point with what users are looking for. It also displays search content right on the search pages themselves, which makes it easier for users to find the information they need.

"The main reasons Google created the Hummingbird update revolve around the nature by which people search more frequently," said Kenneth Wisnefski, president and CEO of WebiMax, an Internet marketing company. "Conversational search has become a large driver of the type of searches people search for, and the update provides a better result display to accommodate those requests."

In practice, this means that users' searches are becoming longer and more specific. Whereas prior search algorithms focused on keywords, the new algorithm will now focus on users' intent by answering questions that they are asking in their searches.

"Rankings in the past have been around generic keywords, such as a search for 'iPhones,'" Wisnefski said. "Now, more people are searching, 'Where can I find the best price on an iPhone 5s.' It levels the playing field as the company with the generic results will be pushed out for more localized and specific search returns."

How Does the Hummingbird Update Affect Businesses?

The Hummingbird update will likely result in a shift for business website rankings.

"Those businesses that didn’t have great results for generic terms will have more opportunity to see better placement," Wisnefski said.

To meet the search standards set forth by the Hummingbird update and not suffer in search rankings, businesses should rethink how customers are using the Internet to find products and services.

"Hummingbird's emphasis on conversational search queries and natural language parallels the growth voice powered search via iPhones and Android devices," said Amy Leefe, a digital marketing consultant at Arketi Group, a high-tech B2B public relations and digital marketing agency. "Google has been driving toward deeper support for long-tail queries for some time, and Hummingbird takes this further by concentrating on answers versus data."

This is because the keywords people use to search the Internet do not always reflect what they are actually looking for, unlike in real life or when using a voice search on mobile devices.

"For example, people may type things like 'buy yoga mat Buckhead' in Google on a browser, but would say a command verbally such as, 'What's the closest place to buy a yoga mat to my home?'" Leefe said. "A traditional search engine might focus on finding matches for keywords, such as finding a page that says 'buy' and 'yoga mat,' for example."

Instead, Hummingbird helps Google understand the meaning behind those words to deliver better search results, Leefe said.

"It may better understand the actual location of your home, if you've shared that with Google," she said. "It might understand that 'place' means you want a brick-and-mortar store. It might get that 'yoga mat' is a particular type of workout supply carried by certain stores. Knowing all these meanings may help Google go beyond just finding pages with matching words."

It's up to businesses, however, to help Hummingbird tell Google that their page is the page users are looking for.

"Businesses need to consider as many queries as possible, and what the searcher could really be asking," said Bill Sebald, owner of Greenlane Search Marketing, a search engine optimization consulting group. "If your business is relevant for a search like, 'the best Plasma TV to buy,' are consumers looking for bang for their buck in this case? Or rationale as to why it’s the best? Popular opinion? Content should now expand to cover as many meanings as possible to be more appetizing to the Hummingbird algorithm."

As an added benefit, the Hummingbird update also gives businesses more topics to write about and provides an opportunity to update older, evergreen content that suffers from short-sighted tunnel vision, Sebald said.

"Content for the sake of 'words on a page' doesn't have the base value it once had," Sebald said. "Now, your content really has to answer something. This should move content strategy higher on the list of business marketing objectives; it's now even more important for desktop and mobile SEO."

The Dark Side: Is Google Stealing My Data?

One of the biggest changes Hummingbird has to offer is search content displayed right on search pages.

"Say you were searching for Total Recall because you can't remember what year it came out. If you type in 'Total Recall,' Google will bring you back the results it normally does, but on the side, where there was normally blank white space, it will show you the IMDB picture, description, release year, actors, etc.," said Mike Evans, owner of Boost Rank SEO a Jacksonville, Fla.-based SEO company.

Although this is helpful for users, it can do a disservice to businesses, Evans said. With this feature, Google not only scrapes content from other websites to display information on search pages, but the process also promotes a Google-only user experience.

"Basically, what Google is doing is trying to keep you on their properties as long as possible," Evans said. Instead of visiting a website for the information, Google makes the data readily available.

"Imagine you were NBA.com and someone searched for 'Miami Heat score.' Google would scrape your site, take your information and display it on the search page. So instead of driving visitors to your site to check the scores, now they have all the information they need and go about their day — and you just lost a visitor," he said.

In the case of Total Recall, Google also provides a "Watch It Now" link that will take users to Google Play, if applicable, Evans said. Similarly, a search for "flights to Los Angeles" will display airfares that direct users to Google Flight Search, and a search for Staples Center takes you to a Google event ticket search when you click on an event.

"Whenever possible, Google will try to route you to one of their properties, such as YouTube, Play, Picasa, etc.," he said.

So what should businesses do when Google takes your data and uses it to prevent customers from visiting your website? Adapt, Evans said. "Businesses are going to have to offer something else to their visitors to make it worth the click for them to go to the site." Although Google does not tolerate content scraping, Evans said businesses have to roll with the punches.

"The Big G gets to make up their own rules," he said. "If they want to take your data, they do. As an Internet marketer, I've learned that's just part of the game. You've got to adapt and roll with it."

Digital switchover: Nigerians in the dark as Kenya, Ghana forge ahead

THOUGH countries of the ECOWAS sub-region are working on a common format of migration to digital broadcasting, peoples in many African countries are aware of the digital migration and what it entails, unlike the Nigerian public which largely is still ignorant of the development, save a few informed individuals.

Sensitization of the entire continent had been taken up by Multichoice, the global pay TV giant which has sponsored a series of conferences tagged Digital Dialogue, aimed at sensitizing publics in African countries of due obligations as the June 17, 2015 switchover deadline approaches.

The first of the sensitization conferences held in Johannesburg, South Africa, last year, followed by a second one in Lagos, also last year. The third in the series of Digital Dialogue conferences held last month in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Ghana, an ECOWAS country, is almost ready and the country’s public is aware of the digital switchover. Kenya is ahead of most African nations, by far. Daniel Obam from Kenya’s National Communications Secretariat disclosed that by December, Nairobi and environs, up to 70 km radius, will have its analogue signals switched off, while by March 2014, other cities like Mombasa, Kisii, Nyeru, will be switched off in phases.

ECOWAS nations are signatories to the GE-06 Agreement, under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which established a frequency plan for Digital Terrestrial Transmission (DTT) in the bands 174–230MHz (VHF Band III), 470 – 582 MHz (UHF Band IV) and 582 – 862 MHz (UHF Band V). The GE-06 pact requires member states of the ITU to complete a transition from analogue to digital transmission, in the first instance, by 17 June, 2015 in UHF Bands IV/V and subsequently, by 17 June, 2020 in VHF Band III.

What informed this
The onward march of technology spurred initiatives in this direction. Hitherto, whenever people switched on their TV sets and searched for channels to view, often they come up with some static, accompanied by much noise. In the case of radio, frequencies allocated to stations need to have “buffers”to guard them against interference from other stations. That is in the analogue format. Thus, Digital Terrestrial Transmission technology came up as a way of making broadcast signals transmission and reception more efficient in terms of clarity of audio and video.

It also ensures precision broadcasting. The only thing needed by the average man on the street for this is what is called a set-top box (STB). Call it decoder, if you like. Thus, from June 17, 2015, analogue signals will be switched off and nations worldwide are expected to be digital. In addition, with DTT, more stations can occupy the same frequencies than in the analogue format. Thus, a lot of frequency “space”can be freed for other uses, especially for broadband and related services. DTT is already in the second generation, called T-2. In a presentation, Gerhard Petrick of the South African Digital Broadcasting Association (SADIBA) said the the advantages of T-2, both for broadcast organizations and the viewing public are over-arching. For broadcast organizations, DVB-T2, according to Petrick, “yields 67% more payload at equivalent coverage and network cost” than T-1.

The Nigerian problem
The Nigerian angle of this digital migration is that the people just don’t know what is going on. While it is accepted that some work is in progress as the Federal Government constituted a “Digi Team” to oversee migration to digital broadcasting, the snag is that targets of the development — ordinary Nigerian folk — remain in the dark about the issue, despite the launch of DTT in the country.

For now, only pay-TV operators like Multichoice, Star Times, and others are on DTT platforms. Not many Nigerians, relative to the entire population are aware that Nigeria had opted for DTT-2 more than five years ago. Former director-general of the National Broadcast Commission, Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa had disclosed at the second Digital Dialogue held last year in Lagos that since 2008, late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had approved that Nigeria should key into the digital migration process with T-2, the latest technology in digital broadcasting.

Awareness problem
The public here is still unaware that there will be need to acquire set-top boxes (STBs) in order to receive TV signals in the future. They also do not know why, and in addition, they do not know how much it will cost. Excepting the sector of the population that can afford pay TV, the rest of the country is in the dark.

What is worse, the awareness problem had generated issues of its own, especially in the area of consumer protection. Despite the fact that government had opted for T-2, the broadcast regulator was indifferent as an operator, Star Times aggressively marketed T-1 boxes to unsuspecting members of the public at rock-bottom prices. This is what Gerhard Petrick warned against in his presentation, counseling regulators against “huge risk of DVB-T dumping.”

Work in progress
However, it is gladdening to note that some work is in progress. Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko, Manager, Engineering at Ghana’s regulator, the National Communications Authority of Ghana disclosed at the Dubai conference that ECOWAS member states at a conference in Abuja earlier in July agreed on:
la deadline of December 2014 as the date for the completion of Analogue Switch-Off (ASO) in the UHF band
lthe minimum specifications for Integrated Receiver Decoders should be harmonized by ECOWAS Member States in order to create economies of scale to drive down prices.

Fianko also disclosed in his presentation that a few weeks after the Abuja talks, member states again agreed at another summit in Accra that

*The First Draft Common Specifications (dated 30 Aug. 2013)should be translated into French and circulated by 10 Sept 2013

*Each member state shall apply for Original Network Identification (ONID) from DVB Services

*Each member state shall provide language character codes and power supply plug in the country specific annex of the draft DTT receiver specifications.

*Minimum specifications to be finalised 24-26 Sept 2013 for adoption by ICT Ministers on 27 Sept 2013 in Banjul, Gambia.

In fact, Fianko left the Dubal Digital Dialogue Conference to attend the talks in Banjul. Perhaps it is after all these that authorities here will begin sensitization programmes. Only time will tell.

Unilorin dons invent biometric machine

Ilorin - A team of engineers at the University of Ilorin has produced a prototype biometric machine that will adequately recognise physical features of black people, the team leader, Prof. Tunji Ibiyemi said.

Ibiyemi of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of the university, disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday in Ilorin.

He said that the breakthrough would help to improve in biometric identification of black people.

He said with the use of local content, the researchers have been able to unravel the challenge of the inability of the imported biometric machine to adequately recognise physical features of black people.

According to him, imported solutions to the challenges of impersonation, economic fraud, multiple voting, examination malpractices, election rigging, and security challenges do not work optimally among black people.

He said that such foreign devices were better fitted among white people, saying: “what we have just produced works better for blacks.”

The don said that lack of local content in the making of the machines used for vital national assignments explained why government’s efforts on various national projects had not yielded the desired results.

The national projects, he said, included e-voting, national identity card scheme, security intelligence on criminal citizens.

Ibiyemi, whose research effort was sponsored by the World Bank-assisted Science and Technology Education Post-Basic (Step-B) Project, claimed that Europeans or Chinese people could use their technology for better identification.

“When I was in Britain, any black person could pick any of his friend’s identity card and go anywhere across the country unfettered.

“Those working at the airports will confirm to you that you need local people to identify one another.

“Most imported machines don’t recognise tribal marks. These machines raise alarm when they see a masked face.

“But what we have produced can recognise tribal marks, faces that are masked and faces that are disguised using cosmetics,” he said.

Ibiyemi said that the machine could identify human face, human iris, finger prints, toe prints and sole prints, speaker and speech recognition, signature and hand writing verification.

The don said that the machine was cost effective when compared to the foreign device and produced sharper and clearer images than the latter. (NAN)

FG sets 2018 target for affordable broadband

THE Federal government on Monday said every Nigerian will have access to the internet in 2018.

The Vice President Namadi Sambo disclosed announced this while declaring open this year’s Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, CTO Forum with the theme: innovation Through Broadband.

The Vice President, who  expressed satisfaction with what he called the positive impact of internet on the country’s economy, said that the dream will be made possible after completion of the five year Broadband Plan.

Sambo, who was represented by the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said the government is presently collaborating with the private sector to get Nigeria covered with broadband.

According to him, the broadband will increase access to and enhance usage of ICT among the youth.

In his remarks, the Secretary General of CTO Prof Tim Unwin, said the forum is tackling problem of broadband connectivity facing some Commonwealth countries like Nigeria.

Prof Unwin said solving broadband issue is importance if full advantage of the Internet is to be gained, especially by the poorest and most marginalized people and communities.

“To do this, we need the combined expertise of companies, governments, regulators and civil society that the CTO is able to convene to deliver effective multi-stakeholder partnerships” he added

Meanwhile, Cisco’s Vice President of Global Technology Policy, Dr Robert Pepper says the broadband working group, otherwise known as Alliance for Affordable Internet, A4AI is perfecting plans to drive down the cost of broadband to five per cent.

Dr Robert Pepper disclosed this shortly after moderating the ministerial panel at the launch of the Alliance for Affordable Internet, A4AI .

He explained that the move was part of the group’s advocacy for open, competitive and innovative broadband market.

The coalition is expected to lead policy and regulatory reform and spur action to drive down artificially high internet prices in developing countries.

By reaching this goal, pepper said it will be easier to connect the two-thirds of the world that is presently not connected to the internet, and make universal access a reality.

Pepper who moderated on the topic:  What mechanisms are being employed to respond to technological change – how does this impact on regulation and policy?, said that Cisco is focused on helping businesses and governments drive sustainable growth in Africa by providing network-based technologies that help organizations innovate, drive new business models, increase productivity and create new jobs.

‘‘By advocating for open, competitive and innovative broadband markets, A4AI aims to help access prices fall to below five per cent of monthly income worldwide, a target set by the UN Broadband Commission,’’ he said.

Through its long-term commitment and investment in Africa, he stated that Cisco is helping governments, businesses and citizens build an economically sustainable future through the intelligent application of ICT.

He advised government and Nigerian business leaders to encourage social and economic transformation by focus on delivering universal broadband access.

“One of the most important steps government and business leaders in Africa can take to encourage social and economic transformation is to focus on delivering universal broadband access.  I’m looking forward to a robust discussion on how we can accelerate affordable broadband take-up across the continent, so that Africa can truly benefit from the Internet of Everything”, Pepper added.

Dr. Robert Pepper, a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Spectrum Management Advisory Committee and the U.S. Department of State’s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy, leads Cisco’s Global Technology Policy team in areas such as broadband, IP-enabled services, wireless, security, privacy and ICT development.

IT experts gather to discuss economic impact of internet

Sponsored by Google Nigeria and supported by the Lagos State Innovating Council, Mobile Monday Nigeria will today (Monday 30th Sept. 2013) in Lagos gather Information Communications experts to discuss the economic impact of internet in the Nigerian market.

Accordingly, the event is part of Google for Entrepreneurs Week which is an annual week celebrating innovators and entrepreneurs around the world.

The Executive Chairman of Mobile Monday Nigeria , Mr. Tomi Davies in a press conference at the weekend to unfold plans for the event told IT Journalists that the Minister of Communications Technology, Mobolaji Johnson, Deepanker Rustagi, General Manager VConnect, Simdul Shagaya, Founder and CEO konga.com, Shina Badaru, Founder, Technology Times Media, Jason Njoku, Co-Founder of Iroko TV and Spark.ng.

Iroko TV , Femi Taiwo, Manager, Technology Services at INITS Limited , Olayinka David-West, Faculty Director at the Pan Atlantic University/Lagos Business School, Olumide Balogun, Partner Manager, Developer Experience, Nokia West & Central Africa among other industry experts will speak at the capacity building forum today.

The Internet, according to him is a tremendous, undisputed force for economic growth and social change.

“The Impact of the Internet in Nigeria” report, he explained gives an insight into how the Internet has facilitated change in different sectors of the Nigerian Economy.

He informed that a representative from Dalberg Research will be available to present the report.

According to him, this report provides detailed assessments of the current and potential impact of the Internet on socio-economic growth across seven sectors: agriculture, education and labor, energy, financial inclusion, governance, health and small and medium enterprise (SME) growth.

He said that it also examines the role that government, private sector and donors have played in building the ecosystem for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovation and driving this impact.

He informed that there will be a panel of discussion with some of the leaders in the Nigerian IT Industry giving their own thoughts about the findings of the report.

“Not only has it unleashed new forms of connectivity, but it has also provided an outlet for new forms of innovation, entrepreneurship and social good.

“The Internet has also proven a dynamic tool for stimulating economic growth in developing countries, with the World Bank reporting that a 10% increase in broadband correlates to a 1.38% increase in GDP growth.

“Beyond GDP growth, the Internet also provides opportunities to pursue social and developmental objectives.

“Throughout the developing world, the Internet is connecting remote populations to markets and strengthening the overall efficiency of service delivery in areas such as health, education, livelihoods and financial inclusion, as well as creating access to government services for the most marginalized populations” he explained.

This year, from September 30 – October 4, 2013, Googlers in more than 45 cities around the world will host events including community meetups, mentorship sessions and training workshops. Google’s goal is to equip entrepreneurs with the skills they need to build and scale their businesses. Last year, more than 3000 entrepreneurs attended Google for Entrepreneurs Week events in 29 cities in 14 Countries.

BlackBerry Pulls BBM App for iPhone and Android

Following a brutal Friday when Blackberry announced 4,500 layoffs and a loss of nearly $1 billion in its second quarter, the company hit pause on the rollout of its BBM apps for iPhone and Android.

Just a few hours after launching the BBM app on the App Store in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, India and the United Arab Emirates, Blackberry removed it, citing an early Android leak

In a blog post on its website, BlackBerry explained the issue:

Prior to launching BBM for Android, an unreleased version of the BBM for Android app was posted online. The interest and enthusiasm we have seen already — more than 1.1 million active users in the first 8 hours without even launching the official Android app — is incredible. Consequently, this unreleased version caused issues, which we have attempted to address throughout the day. Our teams continue to work around the clock to bring BBM to Android and iPhone, but only when it’s ready and we know it will live up to your expectations of BBM

Those who already downloaded BBM on their iPhones can keep using the app, BlackBerry added. However, the company disabled the leaked version of BBM for Android, and delayed its official launch. BlackBerry didn't provide a timeline for the new rollout, instead advising customers to visit BBM.com to register for updates on Android availability.

After launching a staggered country rollout of BBM for iPhone — beginning with New Zealand — at midnight local time (just after 5 a.m. ET) on Saturday via Twitter, the @BBM handle tweeted about pausing its release:

We know you’re waiting. Pausing #BBM4All rollout to fix issues caused by unreleased BBM for Android app. Read more: http://blck.by/15gqlQ9

— BBM (@BBM) September 23, 2013

USB gets Condom against virus from public ports

With the spate of flying viruses and nasty malware spread, it could be injurious to consciously insert your USB drive disks into any port. The implication is that it may easily be infected or you suffer “juice jacking”, which is when someone is able to steal your data through a public charging station.

But technology has a way of replicating true life conditions and practices in technological innovations. From adapting the computer system from human brain cells, a lot of technological innovations have followed the human path.

Now, apparently having seen the uses of condom in protecting humans against the dreaded  HIV virus, tech experts have designed condom for USBs to protect against virus infection or data theft.

The solution is coming from the stable of experimental security outfit called Int3.cc. Tagged the USBCondom, the product is a go-between device that creates a break between the data pins of the USB connector and those of the public USB port it is being plugged into.

It allows the user to charge smartphone or other similar devices without getting his or her data transferred anywhere.

According to the company the fact that USB cables carry both power and data means they are potentially ripe for abuse when it comes to desperate smartphone users who plug into public chargers to boost their battery level.

The danger is that to pull data from such devices only takes the charger to be connected to some form of computer and that is where the USBCondom could easily come handy.