Nigerian scientist upgrades social network website to aid business, social transactions
NAN-H-48
Upgrade
By Muhammad Suleiman Tola
Abuja, Nov. 1, 2016 (NAN) Mr Emmanuel Gabriel, a young Nigerian scientist, has upgraded a social network platform, known as OpenBinacle, which he developed, to promote smooth business and social transactions across the world.
Gabriel made the disclosure in an e-mail to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
Gabriel, in his 30s, who currently lives in Germany, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OpenBinacle.
He is also a Java and Robotic programmer.
He listed the six new features released as “WHEEL ADS’’, “ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE’’, “PUBLISHER’’, “CROWDFUNDING’’, “e-UNIVERSITY APP’’ and “e-CHURCH APP’’.
“Our Wheel Ads is with a great difference. A very powerful app built to empower people in Africa to become financially powerful. Users get paid whenever they spin our wheels and interact with Ads.
“This is completely different from Google Adsense. You are not required to own a website or blogs with a lot of viewers before you can earn money from us.
“Just spin the wheel and users can earn as much they can when they interact with Ads in their networks,’’ he explained.
On artificial intelligence, the scientist said the “OpenBinacle new facial recognition artificial intelligence algorithm can now detect voice and facial expressions/moods (sad, happy, disgust and angry) of our users and then use the detected information to provide suggestive health tips and other relevant information to our users’’.
According to him, the publisher allows people to build their own websites, blogs and publish their content and as well host their websites by themselves on OpenBinacle for free.
It also allows computer programmers to build their own projects and webapps and host for free on OpenBinacle.
Gabriel described CROWDFUNDING as an engine which allows venture capitalists, angel investors to set up their own funding website on OpenBinacle.
It would enable people to build their own crowdfunding pages, crowdfund projects and entrepreneurs within that geographical location to apply for funding.
On e-UNIVERSITY APP, the scientist said: “We have also just built our open-source university faculty departmental result and transcript management portal.
“This will also allow university management to process student’s entire session results and transcript and many more.’’
Besides, Gabriel explained that the e-CHURCH APP would help standardise social church solution work processes, boost work efficiency and enable knowledge accumulation.
“This will increase the competitiveness and efficiency of the church administrative systems and supporting the development of a modern church research.
“It is a conceptually advanced tool, thus creating transparencies, saving days of hectic work of thousands, millions of church financial transactions. It is developed for church scientific and religious research and development.
“Also we are currently testing our video call and video conferencing apps, which will be available on our upcoming Android and IOS apps soon.’’
NAN recalls that the platform was launched in July 2015 to offer free digital broadcast streaming services through locally produced chips and sensors to enable people across the world to interact uninterruptedly.
Gabriel had said during the launch of platform that several applications were introduced to harness, promote and exploit social, economic, health, education, science and technology as well as other fields of human endeavours.
He listed some of the benefits of the upgraded system to include getting better jobs or contracts, new businesses and getting more clients to businesses.
Others are gaining influence, becoming an expert in one’s field of endeavour as well as getting immediate feedback from business partners.
“Having a blog is the single most important thing a business or person can do to advance online.
“Even though blogging has hit it big, most people do not get what makes blogging so powerful, helpful and beneficial. Static websites do not attract many new clients or customers.
“But a regularly updated blog can produce a constant stream of good leads from all around the world,’’ he said.
OpenBinacle is a “next generation of social media and artificial intelligence portal’’ that captures all sectors of human endeavour and provide free advertisements, he added.
Gabriel said the platform is currently competing favourably with Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and other global digital platforms.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has called on Nigerian inventors in Diaspora to return home and contribute to national development.
The Director-General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr DanAzumi Ibrahim, made the appeal while reacting to the success story of Gabriel.
Ibrahim told NAN in Abuja that the exposure of Nigerian inventors to the Diaspora would help fast track the country’s socio-economic development.
However, he said that the country lacked the framework to harness some of the innovations and develop them in commercial quantity.
Ibrahim said such inventors needed to sojourn the Diaspora, to exchange ideas and experiences with other experts and broaden their scope.
“There is no structure in the country that can help them move their research to the next level; if that structure doesn’t exist I don’t think it’s wise to say they should not go outside.
“If the inventor can get a partner outside that can help him or her to translate that research and development effort into products and services, then the knowledge is broadened and can be better harnessed,” the director-general said.
According to him, most of the ancient inventors used the same methodology.
“We need that exposure; our inventors need to see other opportunities so that when they come back to Nigeria, they may be able to solve some of the problems we are facing,’’ he said.
Ibrahim said it was “important for Nigerian inventors to get that international exposure” adding that, historically, the most striking innovations could be traced back to external interactions.
He noted that most Nigerians in the Diaspora were patriotic and always willing to come back home to contribute to national development.
“They are itching to come home to see how they can contribute to the development of the country; what they need is the encouragement, sincerity of purpose and qualitative leadership.
“They are our strength and we just need to encourage them; I am happy that we have a Special Adviser on Diaspora who is working tirelessly to harness these strengths for national good.”
However, the director-general said that government had seen the need to close the gap between inventors and commercialisation of research findings by setting up an innovation body.
“I am also happy about the coming of this administration particularly the Minster of Science and Technology; he is now vigorously pursuing the establishment of a National Research and Innovation Council.
“The bill, I learnt, has passed second reading in the Senate; the bill when passed into law, will establish the council and allow it to have a dedicated fund that can take all the innovations to the next level which is the commercial level.
“So, we are making progress although it is at a very slow pace; this is not uncommon in developing countries; there will problems, but we will get over them,” Ibrahim said. (NAN)
PUO/MST/JCE
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola/Chukwudi Ekezie