Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda have a new partner in there internet circles as Google Afrca has expanded the YouTube partner programme.

This comes after the introduction of YouTube domains in those countries. Google says in its Africa blog that it had been ‘amazed by the quality and creativity’ of content producers in those countries.

It now offers the YouTube partner programme, which enables content producers to make money from their videos by allowing ads to run alongside individual videos, thereby generating revenue. To earn money and receive payments from these advertisements, content producers must associate an AdSense account with their YouTube account.

Mobile security market has become strong, growing sub-market of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM).

As Mobile Device Management (MDM), apart from evolving around application and content management, but the core driver for this evolution is the demand for greater security around corporate assets, wherever they may reside and regardless of format.

Concerns for data leak prevention; access control, compliance reporting, and monitoring are pushing EMM providers to increasingly provide more security-based mobility features to their existing solutions.

“While MDM will continue to provide the largest share of revenues, growth rates from other sectors, and, in particular, security and content management will increasingly account for a much larger portion of the market,” says Michela Menting, ABI Research’s senior analyst in cyber security.

The demand for security is enabling vendors to differentiate their offerings and stand out from the competition. But the window for MSM is short; security will become a basic requirement for all EMM solutions and successful differentiation will demand a long-term sustainable strategy. This could be through mergers and strategic acquisitions, or investment into other EMM submarkets, such as mobile network and identity management.

ABI Research estimates the current MSM market to total $560 million by the end of 2013 globally.

Embark Inc, yet another mapping company cracked by Apple Inc. It is a small Silicon Valley start-up that builds free transit apps to help Smartphone users navigate public transportation.

Signal distributor for the South African broadcasting sector, Sentech, announced that it will Re-brand Vivid as a universal access direct-to-home satellite platform, “Freevision”, from 30 September 2013.

This is expected a few days before the beginning of subscription-free satellite service, OpenView HD, from E-tv sister company, Platco.

The Freevision launch, according to Sentech, is a “gap-filler” as the systems are being moved from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT).

The state-owned signal distributor clarified that a direct-to-home satellite service was visualized to be part of the DTT migration for those few who would not be able to receive terrestrial TV signals.

All licensed DTT broadcasters will be able to use the Freevision platform, Sentech said.

Freevision will use the Intelsat 20 satellite located at 68.5°E, meaning, majority of viewers in South Africa would not need to install a second satellite dish or change the position of their existing satellite dish when joining Freevision.

Sentech also said that it would only announce the retail pricing and channel line-up later. The cost of a Freevision dish, installation and decoder is expected to be between R1,200 and R1,500.

The revelations at the Basic Education Portfolio Committee Meeting this week showed that the pledge to have all schools connected to ICT has fallen short by 83 percent.

The records show that only 4,195 schools out of 24,453 are on the run to make the ICT declaration a reality, scooping only 17 percent.

Part of the policy on ICT and education in South Africa reads:

“Every South African learner in the general and further education training bands will be ICT capable (that is, use ICTs confidently and creatively to help develop the skills and knowledge they need to achieve personal goals and to be full participants in the global community) by 2013.”

In some instances, the study revealed that there was actually a decline in schools that had ICT infrastructure for both teaching and learning.

“This is extremely concerning given the need for computer literacy skills for learners in finding jobs when they leave school. In a changing, modern economy, this could be the difference between success and failure. It could also be an opportunity for learners who are faced with under-performing teachers to access the information themselves,” the statement from the Department of Basic Education said.

The department now advises that the policy be revised to keep the education and ICT dream alive for many young learners in South Africa.

The youth of Zambia have formed groups which they call Safe Love who communicate to the deaf; these groups were set up as places to discuss and put into action messages from the Love Games television series, a Zambian soap opera that focuses on relationship issues, including HIV.

Zambia is a country where 14.3 percent of the adult population is HIV positive. The Safe Love clubs have the responsibility to educate deaf people About HIV; however, though the clubs started in 2011, classes for the deaf were launched only two months ago.

In the country it is estimated that 16,000 have hearing disabilities, and most of them go to school late making them older than most of the other children and are more likely to be sexually active.

Ben Miti, Executive Director of the Latkings Outreach programme, one of the partners of the initiative, said the decision was made to set up a club at Munali high school, Lusaka, after health workers discovered high levels of HIV among deaf young people there.

The school has a department for deaf children and young people, and out of 127 students who attend it were tested for HIV, 48 were found to be positive.

“Many of these young people have completely missed out on the conventional messages about safe sex. Lots of warnings are given out over the radio or on television, which is something they are cut off from. There is no programme designed specifically for the deaf. Even at health rallies, people use megaphones to give their messages and they are again left out,” said Miti

“When we saw the results we felt there was a need for an intervention. There weren’t any HIV programmes where deaf young people could go to learn. We released we had to engage them and that we needed to open a Safe Love club here. When we launched it we actually had too many members for one group so we now have two,” he continued.

Large age gaps between couples and young people having sexual relationships for material gain are common problems in Zambia.

There are 262 Safe Love clubs in Zambia as part of the HIV prevention campaign Safe Love. Think. Talk. Act. The initiative is run by the national HIV/Aids/STI/TB council and the ministry of health, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), through the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief.

The clubs are used to discuss messages raised in the soap opera, which has just begun its second series in Zambia. They include issues such as some of the risky behaviors that drive HIV in the country, including a high rate of concurrent sexual partners and low condom use.