NAIROBI (Reuters) - Tanzania is considering operating its bank payments system on Saturdays, allowing customers to transfer money around, with traders remaining confident that the move would not affect banks' trading positions

The opening of real time gross settlements (RTGS) will allow banks' customers to move money from one account to the next, a departure from the present when settlements have to wait till Monday.

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Lightweight, agile and simply affordable, seven-inchers did, at one point, seem capable of pushing ten-inch Android tablets out of business. Even Samsung, with its device-for-every-taste approach had to admit defeat. The Koreans all but threw in the towel with the Galaxy Tab line, consciously relegating it to the midrange.

The Notes are a different breed though - one we can't see Samsung giving up on any time soon. Of course, it's always the phablet enjoying most of the spotlight and the Note 3 has already had several occasions to emphatically prove that it deserved every bit of it.
But the ten-point-one that follows closely could turn out to be the even more impressive device in terms of the scope and depth of upgrades it brings to the table.
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I received a message (snap above) from someone introducing him/herself as working with the said ad media company.

It looked suspicious. As usual, it is not addressed to one person, it came through third party mass emailing bot, it even included a clause to 'unsubscribe' from receiving future messages of which I never subscribed (clicking that 'unsubscribe' link takes you to a different website, confirming to spammers that your email address as valid so they can sell it to other spammers so you can continue to receive more spam -- they won't tell you this though).

Search results about this company showed a number of bogus reviews in some review sites, of course saying all good things about the company but lacking substance, practicality and convincing power. Also a BBB says, "THIS BUSINESS IS NOT BBB ACCREDITED." Lastly, someone in this forum believes it's a spam mill (and the alleged company tried to brush it off). 

Facebook has backed down over the posting of videos depicting beheadings after being branded "irresponsible" by Prime Minister David Cameron.

The social media website said it had "re-examined" the issue and removed a beheading video after concluding that it "improperly and irresponsibly glorifies violence".

It vowed to "strengthen the enforcement" of policies on graphic content, removing posts which celebrate violence and taking into account whether they are being shared "responsibly".

This could include warnings about their content or blocking underage viewers from accessing them. Mr Cameron welcomed the move, but made clear he would be waiting to see whether the new approach was sufficient to protect children from being exposed to the gory films.
 
He wrote on Twitter: "I'm pleased Facebook has changed its approach on beheading videos. The test is now to ensure their policy is robust in protecting children."

David Cameron said he was 'pleased' by the rethink.

Facebook sparked a storm when it lifted a temporary ban imposed in May on beheading videos, on the grounds that the site is used to share information about world events.

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Picture By AFP

Facebook has announced that it was working on new ways to keep users from stumbling across gruesome content on its website following an outcry over the discovery of beheading videos there.

The controversy, which has drawn critical comment from British Prime Minister David Cameron, illustrates the difficulty of setting a universal standard across the social network used by one billion people.

Facing sharp criticism, Facebook Inc issued a statement clarifying that violent videos were only allowed if they were presented as news or held up as atrocities to be condemned.

"If they were being celebrated, or the actions in them encouraged, our approach would be different," the company said in a statement.

"However, since some people object to graphic video of this nature, we are working to give people additional control over the content they see. This may include warning them in advance that the image they are about to see contains graphic content.''

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It may not be available in some countries as yet, and in countries where it currently is available, you will have to wait in a list and even if you are lucky in getting it installed, you might not be able to use it immediately (but, click here for a work around tip, if you aren't patient enough to wait), since BlackBerry says has to ensure there are no servers harmed when many people access it all at once.

BlackBerry’s BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) is going to be available for non-BlackBerry devices for the first time. The official version of BBM™ from BlackBerry for Android says BBM is always on and always connected – no app to open and so you will be able to chat with friends on Android, BlackBerry and iPhone.

With BBM you will also be able to:

• Know when messages have been delivered (D) and read (R)
• Share photos, files, documents, voice notes and more 
• See when contacts are responding to your message
• Emoticons
• Groups – BBM groups help you share pictures, lists, and appointments with group members. You can even be in a group with people who aren't part of your own BBM contact list. 
• Multi-person chats – Invite multiple contacts to have a chat together.
• Broadcast messages – Send a message to multiple BBM contacts at one time

About privacy, BlackBerry says BBM lets you protect and control it:

• You chose how to share your information - BBM uses PINs instead of phone numbers or email addresses so that it's more private, and you always control who can contact you
• You chose your contacts – 2-way opt-in means you have control over who is able to message you 
• Post a profile picture using images, pictures or even animated pictures (GIFs).
• Update your status to let people know what you’re up to or how you feel.

LINKS FOR DOWNLOADS:

1. Click here for BBM for Android at Google Play
2. Click here for BBM for iOS at iTunes
3. Click here to go to BlackBerry

Previously, you were required to follow someone before they could directly send you a DM but Twitter has now made it possible to receive direct messages (DM) from other Twitter users without having to follow them.

• To enable this feature, login in Twitter, click "Settings" and check the box next to "Messages" (see image above).

Now any Twitter user that follows you can send you a DM, regardless of whether you decide to follow them back.

If you receive annoying messages, you still have the option to block that particular person i.e. Open their profile, click on the person icon then chose the "block" or "report for spam" option (click here for instructions).

Two American brothers have won a global competition dubbed “global travel superstar’s biggest, baddest and bucket list competition,” organised by My Destination  a global travel resource.

Mark Ayling and Alex Arlying are in Tanzania to witness the great annual migration of wildebeest and other tourist destinations. Tanzania is one of 25 countries the two winners are expected to visit.

The two brothers are also expected to visit Zimbabwe, South Africa’s Cape Town, Bangkok, Singapore, Bali & Lombok, and Whitsunday, Melbourne, and New Zealand.

Before reaching Tanzania, they visited British Columbia, Riviera Maya, Barbados, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Rio de Janeiro & Recife, Iceland, Edinburgh, London, Istanbul, Kazakhstan, Dubai and Oman.

On January 28, this year, My Destination launched a competition with a mission to find the next global travel superstar.

Aside from winning life-changing, all-expenses paid, six-month round the world trip based around their own bucket list, the lucky candidate would also be acting as an ambassador and reporter for the brand and their country, earning a sum of US$50,000 for their considerable efforts on completion of their journey.

While in Tanzania the two brothers will have the opportunity to explore Arusha, Serengeti National Park and a remote area of Loliondo, which has been most generously sponsored by Nomad Tanzania.

During their trip Alex and Marko are expected to experience two Nomad camps, Serengeti Safari Camp and Nduara Loliondo.

“The overall success of the visit is also due to the sponsorships of Machweo Wellness Retreat, Elewana Coffee Lodge, Rivertrees Country Inn, Shanga River House and Tanganyika Flying Company.

“After experiencing the unique diversity of Tanzania’s wildlife and cultures we will say farewell to the brothers as they make their way to Zimbabwe, for the next leg of their exciting adventure around the world,” Neil Waller, Co-Founder of My Destination.”

My Destination has over 15million unique users per year and they cover 80 destinations including Barcelona, Cape Town, Dubai, Hawaii, Kenya, Kuala Lumpur, London, Mallorca, Malta, Oman, Orlando, Phuket and Singapore.

While in Tanzania, the two brothers will visit SENAPA and witness the great migration comprising over 1.5million wildebeest.

Every year, wildebeest do migrate between Serengeti in Tanzania and Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Park, the situation that attracts many tourists to witness the God’s miracles.

The wildebeest migration follows the annual rainfall and does a circuit-type migration around the Serengeti. Even when they head up into Kenya for a few weeks in September - October there is nearly always a good time to see the migration.

Before getting into competition which involved over 122 contestants, Mark and Alex were interested in taking photos and writing about the world’s wonders and post it in social media including Youtube, and websites like the watchbbbtv.

Both Mark and Alex are no strangers to life on the road. Both are more than capable of making a feature movie about their adventures, like Mark’s US$300 Russian motorbike exploration across Asia or Alex’s dangerous hike across the Kalahari Desert to find a lost African tribe.

Mark and Alex use the social media to promote tourist destinations across the world including Tanzania and they are able to reach-out three million people.

“This is a very important opportunity for us to learn a number of issues including the Maasai culture,” Mark said.

According to Simone Paine, from 6 Degrees Communications Company, the My Destinations started in March this year and ended up in May, this year whereby competitors were required to say things they wanted to do before their death.

Both Mark and Alex expressed their wishes of visiting several places across the world to witness tourist destinations.

Simone urged Tanzanians to use social media to change their lives. He daid: “There are many issues which are good in Tanzania that need to be promoted through social media,” Simone said, commending different stakeholders, who facilitated the travel of the two Americans.

Nomad Tanzania was the sole facilitator of the travel arrangements for the winners. Mark and Alex were too excited with the opportunity to visit SENAPA and witness the annual wildebeest migration event as well as interacting with Maasai culture.

“We have been seeing wildebeest migration through television and videos but, now we’re going to see it with our naked eyes,” Mark said, adding: “We are also going to document this event and we’ll put much emphasis on culture, wildlife and national parks.

“We are also going to speak to local people, who would tell us the secret behind Tanzania’s beauty compared to other countries,” said Alex.

Welcoming the two Americans in Arusha, Executive Officer of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO), Sirilli Akko said the decision made by Mark and Alex is vital in endeavours to promote country’s tourist destinations across the world.

“This will put Tanzania and Serengeti National Park in particular on the world map as many people would get to know our tourist attractions,” Akko said, adding: “These two US nationals have more than three million people, who view their website and other social media.

“So, our tourist destinations will be known and this trip will attract more tourists to visit Tanzania,” calling on other tourism stakeholders to promote Tanzania’s tourist attractions. 

Tendency to embrace foreign farming methods like the use of genetically modified agricultural methods and those that promote use of chemicals that do not readily decompose coupled with the lack of necessary technology and know how to inspect their safety poses great risk to the health of Tanzanians as well as that of their environment.

The warning has issued by the Tanzania Organic Agriculture Movement (TOAM) at a symposium to mark the Global Green Action Week in Tanzania held in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.

TOAM Chief Executive Officer, Jordan Gama said in this period of fast spreading ‘alien food production technologies’, there is a need for authorities to raise public awareness and commit to ensuring farmers comply with proven sustainable food production and consumption methods.

In this regard organic farming was encouraged over all other artificial chemical or genetic modification based approaches if the country is to maintain a balanced ecosystem and biodiversity that can sustain it and its future generations.

CEO Gama lamented technologies that have been associated with ongoing climate change that has threatened the wellbeing of the entire planet with African countries suffering the most from decreased aid and adverse climate changes that hurt food production.

“It is true that we need to increase food production, but it does not help if the agriculture being emphasized is not sustainable,” he said.

He urged Tanzanians to change their mindset and make sure that they do not abandon traditional green economy even if they take on new approaches to apply these old methods.

“Doing so would help mitigate the effects of climate change,” he advised.
The Director for Environment in the Vice President’s Office, Dr Julius Ningu, said the government is ready to support efforts to promote sustainable production and consumption approaches.

He said as small scale farmers produce almost 98 percent of all food, there is a need to raise their awareness and educate them on appropriate farming systems which do not destroy the environment.

“We must increase our farmers’ knowledge of the potential life threatening effects of these chemical and also train them on use of traditional organic methods in a modern sustainable manner,” he said.

TOAM is the national umbrella organization for organic agriculture. It is among many such umbrella bodies around the world that are linked through the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Its role is to coordinate and promote the development of organic farming in Tanzania.
 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

For the second time in five years, Tanzania tourism sector earned $1.56 billion (Sh2.574 trillion) surpassing Kenya’s $1.3 billion (Sh2.14 trillion), a difference of $260 million, The Citizen has learnt.
This unveils the fact that Dar es Salaam has more of the world’s class tourist attractions compared to Nairobi.
Not only have WB data pointed out that but also said that Tanzania received $1.3 billion in 2008 compared to Kenya’s $752 million during the same period, all accrued from tourism.
It is understood that in 2008, the first time Dar surpassed Nairobi, Kenya was passing through a difficult period due to the post-election violence that left about 1,100 dead and over 600,000 others internally displaced, thus profoundly affecting tourism sector.

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Mr. Shirima (photo by:24tanzania.com

Precision Air founder, Mike Shirima is determinedly upbeat at a time when his firm faces tough times. He established the airline 20 years ago with a twin engine five-seater plane and remains optimistic that his airline will rise again and return to the good old days.

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Google is updating its terms of service so that it can use your name, face, reviews, and social networking activity in ads displayed to your friends or anyone else that Google thinks would be influenced by your opinion.
If you don't like it, here is how to opt out:-

1. Click here to to to Google's page ( it is a "Shared Endorsements" Google+ settings page)
2. Scroll to the bottom and uncheck the box next to "Based upon my activity, Google may show my name and profile photo in shared endorsements that appear in ads" 
3. Click the blue button which says "Save" (a warning will pop-up see image above)
4. Click the "Continue" button (which finishes the process)

If you have more than one Google account, you will need to repeat the steps  above for each account.

We've got good news for all international I9505 Galaxy S4 users. Samsung has just begun to roll out the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean firmware update for the LTE-enabled version of its flagship smartphone.

The first country to get the update is Germany, but other regions will supposedly be joining the whitelist shortly. German Samsung Galaxy S4 users can update both OTA or via the Samsung Kies computer software.

The Android 4.3 update brings quite a few new features, although most of them are part of Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz UI launcher and not the OS itself.

Here is the complete changelog for the update as compiled with SamMobile

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