In addition to revamping its browser for Android smartphones with a new home screen and sharing features, Firefox is introducing Firefox Account to power the Firefox Sync.

With this upgrades, users can synchronize unlimited data, including passwords, open tabs, form data, history and bookmarks, between computers and Android devices.

With the Android upgrade, users can customize the swipe-able history, like Top Site they visit to appear as default. They can also hide the pages they do not use regularly.

New icons that are also available that appear on the ‘menu bar’ for two top sharing services, hence allowing users to share content faster.

The software is now available in more than 30 languages.

The Nigerian Federal Government should consider investing intensively on close-circuit television cameras to help curb insecurity in the country, says Prof David Adewumi, the President of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS).

Speaking last week during the opening ceremony of the 25th annual national conference of the Nigerian Computer Society (NCS) Prof Adewumi opined that the government should consider installing these devices on strategic places across the nation.

A simple technology such as CCTV would go a long in helping to check against the activities of insurgents that have taken guns against the country, he said, adding that appropriate use of ICT tools will effectively tackle insecurity across the nation.

Prof Adewumi also pointed out that as a way forward, the government needs to address and “extract functional utility from the present databases maintained by Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Police, National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Banks among others.”

In his view, the urgent thing government must do is establish a national biometric database programme to tackle insecurity in the country.

“We cannot be clamouring for digital when the security situation in the country is porous. Therefore it is critical for Nigeria as a nation to put appropriate security measures to secure the country’s sovereignty,” commented Demola Aladekomo, former President of NCS.

NCS recommends the immediate and appropriate use of ICT tools to tackle the insecurity in the land.

The British government’s Department for International Development (DFID) has partnered with the private sector to launch ‘Project iMlango’ initiative aimed at delivering e-learning programmes to thousands of marginalized girls in Kenya.

The integrated programme is viewed as likely to improve learning outcomes for some 25,600 marginalized girls, across more than 190 Kenyan primary schools. It is a first of its kind e-learning partnership led by global satellite operator Avanti Communications and its other partners sQuid, Whizz Education, and Camara Education.

Lynne Featherstone, International Development Minister at DFID, said: “Education is vital for helping improve the life chances of millions of marginalized girls and protecting them from harmful practices like child and forced marriage. Through this private sector partnership we are able to deliver innovative and cutting edge solutions that mean marginalized girls in Kenya get the education they deserve.”

Project iMlango is set to uniquely address the cross-cultural and economic issues that could contribute to reduced school attendance and drop outs, with electronic attendance monitoring and conditional payments to families.

At the programme’s core sits an internet learning platform, accessed via high-speed satellite broadband connectivity, where partners provide students with interactive, individualised learning tools. Project iMlangodelivers:

•         High-speed satellite broadband connectivity to schools;

•         Personalised maths tuition with a virtual online tutor, alongside digital learning content for maths, literacy and life skills;

•         Tuition and support to teachers to use ICT in their teaching;

•         Electronic attendance monitoring with conditional payments – to incentivise families to send their daughters to school – for use with local merchants;

•         In-field capacity in IT, technology and support resources;

•         Real-time project monitoring and measurement;

The programme can measure and benchmark Project iMlango’s impact in real-time. Data includes daily attendance statistics at the whole school level for over 100,000 children as well as measurement of access to the learning platform and monitoring each student’s individual progress over time.

Electronics giant Samsung is set to deploy its Solar-Powered Internet Schools Initiative in rural and remote parts of Ghana. Already, the move is seen as making the vision of digitising Ghanaian schools within reach by the end of this year.

Samsung’s Solar-powered Internet Schools consists of a shipping container fitted with desks, a 65-inch electronic board, Internet-enabled solar-powered notebooks, Samsung Galaxy tablet computers, and Wi-Fi cameras.

Internet School are specifically designed for Africa, specifically for off-the-grid remote regions in Africa. According to Samsung, the facility will ensure that children receive technology-rich education locally.

The Solar-powered Internet Schools-classroom can accommodate up to 24 students. Samsung says Internet Schools will teach students how to use computers and how to surf the internet.

Fold-away solar panels provide sufficient energy to power the classrooms’ equipment for up to nine hours a day, or one-and-a-half days without any sunlight. The solar panels are made from rubber, rather than glass, ensuring they are hardy and durable enough to survive long journeys across the continent.

Samsung is working with the Government of Ghana and the Ministry of Education, local educators, content developers, school administration and management to integrate the Internet Schools into local communities in Ghana by the end of July.

Congo-Brazzaville is set to launch a digital governance agency at an undisclosed date in the near future, according to a report. The new agency will monitor and control the implementation of the country’s ICT project.

The 2008 policy’s implementation was not adequate and effective. Its progress was also poorly monitored. However, the new national policy – developed, revised and updated by the government of Denis Sassou Nguessou with funding from the World Bank – will work towards reducing the digital divide with the view of building an information society where many people will have access to computers and the Internet.

“This is a small country with a small population, but the number of people having access to computers is appalling and  internet penetration is very low, demonstrating that the government, which is only waking up now, has not really made ICT one of its priorities,” said Longange.

About 1 percent of the population in this Central African nation of 4.4 million people have PCs, while 23 percent and 56 percent have access to TV and radio in other order, according to independent statistics.

Unlike the 2008 policy that had two pillars, the government reiterated that the new policy will have three, namely government and public authorities, stakeholders, and service providers.

Piilo Software is making its HR Pocket App, dubbed The Piilo HR Pocket App, available for small businesses.

This App allows business owners and managers to manage their employee administration such as time, leave, data, performance management and payroll using only their mobile devices. The application will run on Windows Phone platform and will come in English.

So employers will be managing their employees using their smartphones and if they will allow them to access, the employees are able to use their smart phones to submit time and leave requests while getting access to their electronic payslips.

Users can view balances, notifications and co-worker data as an employee search facility.

“We see the release of the Piilo HR Pocket App as a key step in enabling small businesses to automate at a fraction of the cost through mobility while providing 24×7 access,” says Phil Lötter, CEO of Piilo.

As with cloud computing, mobility doesn’t require any technical or physical infrastructure. The Piilo HR Pocket App is based on Windows Azure to back up data and ensure it’s available through the cloud. The App also allows users to work on and off line with data sync capabilities.

“It makes sense to go mobile for transactional HR activities as mobility enables employees to provide information any place and time with the ability of the manager to receive requests in real-time for approval,” Lötter remarked.

The Piilo HR Pocket App is part of Piilo’s strategy to simplify Human Resources for business. Piilo is currently driving more simplistic and easy to use solutions for SMEs while providing more integrated and comprehensive solutions for enterprises.

Piilo currently also provides HR cloud solutions for small, mid and large enterprises. “We are launching an exciting solution soon called, the Piilo Career Book that will allow enterprises to maximize their current investments in traditional ERP systems in combination with the cloud innovation, ” says Lötter.