My11: The New Twist to Fantasy Football League

Theydon International Limited recently released a new fantasy football league game called My11. According to their website, "My11.com is an exciting online fantasy football games community. We aim to enhance the way football is enjoyed by offering an extensive range of online fantasy football games; live football news and results; and a thrilling live football challenge."

They have this exciting video campaign, also reported by the Keta Sandlanders FC blog, going on:

The My11 package features three free games: My African 11, My Premier 11 and My Champions 11. The unique thing about these manager-based games is their focus on African players based in Europe. The company also has My11 Football Challenge in the pipeline.

This is quite interesting considering the recent release of iWarrior, Africa's first iPhone game. There's also a facebook application called My Ghanaian name. In general, it looks like the number of software applications made by Africans or targeted at Africans is increasing. The continent is becoming more and more tech savvy. I'd give this game a try, I hope you do too. Choose your 11 and lets get down to action!

5 Voices on Climate Change

Today is blog action day, a day on which bloggers from all over the world discuss a key issue of global concern on their blogs. This year's topic is climate change. Wikipedia defines climate change as "a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years."

Controversial Science
The phenomenon of climate has engaged the world's attention over the past decade, provoking debates in science, politics, business and technology. Within the scientific community, there is no consensus on the extent of man's involvement in causing climate change, and its overall effect on the sustainability of our planet earth. It is gratifying that many concerned global citizens are taking steps to counter the possible ravaging effects that climate change could have on the world's future. Below is a summary of views on climate change from five global leaders.

Former US Vice-President Al Gore
"Two thousand scientists, in a hundred countries, engaged in the most elaborate, well organized scientific collaboration in the history of humankind, have produced long-since a consensus that we will face a string of terrible catastrophes unless we act to prepare ourselves and deal with the underlying causes of global warming."

Noble Laureate Wangari Maathai
"The world's remaining tropical forests must be protected, because without them not only will the global climate not be stabilized, but the entire world will suffer." "This is particularly true for many in the global south, where protecting forests is not only about conservation but also about economic development. Forests are the source of livelihoods, water and energy, and in most places they host abundant biodiversity that attracts tourism income. Destruction of forests in many places has jeopardized key economic sectors."

US President Barrack Obama
"The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we're contributing to the warming of the earth's atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe."

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
"Climate change is the greatest humanitarian challenge facing mankind today. And it is a challenge that has a grave injustice at its heart. It is the major developed economies of the world which contribute the overwhelming majority of global greenhouse emissions. But it is the poorer and least developed nations that are hit hardest by its impact."

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro
"Consumer societies and the squandering of material resources are likewise incompatible with ideas of economic growth and a clean planet. The unlimited waste of non-renewable natural resources, particularly oil and gas, accumulated over hundreds of millions of years and which will be exhausted within barely two centuries at the current rate of consumption, have been the fundamental causes of climate change. Even if contaminating gases are reduced in the industrialized countries, which would be praiseworthy, it is no less certain that 5.200 billion inhabitants of the planet Earth are living in countries still to be developed to a greater or lesser degree, which are going to be demanding a huge consumption of coal, oil, natural gas and other non-renewable resources which, in line with consumer patterns created by the capitalist economy, are incompatible with the objective of saving the human species."

The Debate Continues
What are your views on climate change? Is it for real? Is it a myth? In what ways do you think that the world can use its resources more sustainably? Can developing countries contribute to reversing climate change?

Picture credit: http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/archives/2008/Jan/

Leti Games Leads Africa into Global Games Market With iWarrior

iWarrior, probably the first iPhone game coming out of Africa, made its grand entry into Apple's App Store yesterday, signifying the potential of African gamers to make their mark on the international stage. The game was created by Leti Games, a team of ambitious, talented and motivated young Africans who are determined to make great games for gamers worldwide to enjoy. Leti first came into the limelight when they released a video for bugzvilla, their demo game, on YouTube.

The Game

iWarrior is unique in many ways. The game simulates the challenges of life in an African safari setting. The goal of the player is to protect his village and farm from destruction against various wild animals. I've had a go at it and was impressed by its simplicity and intuitive game play. The game's sounds are great and a lot of effort has been put into making it as realistic as possible. White African and AppShopper have more extensive reviews.

You can download the game from itunes here and try it for yourself.

Team

The brains behind Leti Games are Eyram Tawia of Ghana and Wesley Kirinya of Kenya. Both Eyram and Wesley have experience in making computer games.

They first worked together building a game for the CAN 2008 football tournament. Eyram and his pal Francis Dittoh, used their undergraduate final project, The Sword of Sygos, to win Ghana Think Foundation's invitational programming contest in 2006. Wesley, on the other hand, was hailed in 2007 when he came out with The Adventures of Nyangi. The two trailblazers probably got the idea to start a game company in 2008 when Wesley moved to Ghana to work for the biometric company, Genkey Africa Corp, while Eyram served as a teaching fellow at MEST, a fully funded hands-on training programme for young Ghanaian software entrepreneurs. What's striking about these two fellows is their unrelenting passion for technology and their quest to put Africa on the global gaming map. They are an inspiration for the numerous aspiring game makers and software entrepreneurs living in major cities across sub-Saharan Africa.

The way forward

The folks at Leti Games are optimistic about the success of their foray into Apple's App Store and are mindful of what this means for other African iPhone developers. They've also just finished with a J2ME version of iWarrior for Java-enabled phones called Kijiji. Leti is exploring the possibility of reaching a deal with a phone manufacturer to get Kijiji out there. "There are more great games in the pipeline", Eyram tells me with a smile.

World Wide Web Inventor Interacts With Ghana's Internet Community

British Computer scientist, professor and inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee last Monday, 21st September, met and interacted with members of Ghana's Internet community at AITI-KACE, as part of his short visit to the country. Sir Tim Berners-Lee is famously credited for the invention of the World Wide World (WWW) during his research at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

Below, I share some insights I gathered from Sir Tim's short speech. This is particularly important as the Internet has reached it's 40th milestone and the world wide web is approaching its 20th year.

The need for a multi-disciplinary study of the web
The evolution of the web over the years has resulted in a very complex system that is an interesting subject for academic study. Closely related to this are developments towards the realisation of a “semantic web.” In Sir Tim's view, a collaborative and multi-disciplinary web science, will enhance the full understanding of the technologies driving the web as well as how people use it. The point is that if whole fields are dedicated to studying systems such as the brain, why not do the same for the web?

The barriers must be brought down
The web, by its very nature, has the capacity to make information freely accessible to everyone. Sadly, only about 20-25% of the word's population can be said to be on-line. The key challenge facing everyone is to get Internet connectivity to the doorsteps of the remaining 75-80% of the global population. Considering the enormous benefits that access to information through the web offers every sector of the economy, it is worthwhile to take bold steps to bridge the digital divide.

Why the web was made free
The web was made free to ensure that there is only one dominant platform through which information is exchanged. Sir Tim envisaged the implication of commercialising the world wide web, that is other networks would have been invented, and this may affect the free-flow of information. So, imagine, if the WWW was commercialised, we may have other networks such as MMM (multi-media mash), QQQ and HHH.

The web is a two-edged sword
Like any device, technology or piece of knowledge placed into the hands of man, the web has the potential to be used for good or for bad. And although, overwhelmingly, the WWW has served as a tool for technological, social, political and economic improvement, it has also been employed as a tool for criminal activities. The sad cases of cybercrime or “sakawa” and terrorism are but few examples of how the WWW has been misused.

At the gathering were various stakeholders in the Ghanaian technological sector including scientists, academics, business people, politicians and students. Some of the notable faces at the event were Ms. Dorothy Gordon, Director of AITI-KACE, Dr. Nii Narku Quaynor, the man credited for “bringing” the Internet to Ghana, Prof. Marian Ewurama Addy, Vice-Chancellor of Anglican University of Technology and Ghana's deputy minister of communication, Mr Gideon Quarcoo. There were also representatives of various groups such as ISOG, ghNOG, ghNIC, GISPA and GHARNET.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Dr. Nii Narku-Quaynor interacting with young enthusiastic Ghanaian technologists after the programme.

What Would Have Been Nkrumah's Aspiration for Ghana and Africa Today?

Last Monday saw Ghana and some other parts of Africa celebrate Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's centenary. As expected, there were lots of discussions and debates surrounding the personality of Kwame Nkrumah and the contribution he has made to Ghana's progress and development. Mighty African made a round up of blog posts that discussed this all-important occasion last week. My approach to remembering Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is to attempt to answer the question: “if Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was alive today, what would have been his aspiration for Ghana and Africa?” Please share what you think he would do?

Internet connection all over Ghana
The Internet has boosted productivity in health, education, business, agriculture and almost all aspects of human endeavour. In addition, it has spawned a whole industry from which many people earn their livelihood. Kwame Nkrumah, identifying this great opportunity, would advocate for the Internet to be available in every Ghanaian, home, work place and school. After ensuring this he would then make a statement like: “Ghana's connectivity to the Internet would be meaningless unless it is linked up to the wiring up of the whole African continent.”

Cheap and affordable energy
Nkrumah's vision to develop a vibrant energy sector to power Ghana's industries was truly significant. The fact that he constructed Ghana's sole hydroelectric power plant and proposed the one that is currently under construction is prove of the above claim. Nkrumah today would be a voice for the development of nuclear energy to satisfy the electricity needs of Ghana and her neighbouring countries. In the wake of the recent oil discovery in Ghana, our first president would ensure that there is more Ghanaian involvement in the actual drilling and refinement of the oil. He would lead the effort to build more oil refineries to process the crude oil locally, so as to increase the value of the oil exports.

Permanent African seat on UN security council
On the political front, Kwame Nkrumah, being a veritable voice for more African influence on the global stage, would definitely be one of the backbones for the current call for Africa to have a permanent seat on the UN security council. This is even more important in the face of the increasing complexity of the global political sphere as well as Africa's gradual emergence as a strategic piece in the global jigsaw.

Greater access to tertiary education
Nkrumah's efforts in the past ensured that many Ghanaians had access to at least secondary education. The dynamic nature of today's global economy calls for not only a skilled workforce, but a very creative workforce. In this regard Kwame Nkrumah would take steps to ensure that the doors of higher education be opened to every Ghanaian citizen.

African space exploration centre
Space science and technology will play a crucial role in the development of our planet in the future. We're all witnesses to the important role that satellite technology, for example, has played in revolutionising communication. If Kwame Nkrumah was alive, I believe he would advocate for the setting up of a space exploration centre, at least at the continental level, in order to ensure that Africa benefits fully from the advantages therein.


PS: Kwame Nkrumah is the common theme of the GhanaBlogging group for the month of September.