The “world’s smallest computer” unveiled

Engineers at IBM recently made news in unveiling what’s being touted as the “world’s smallest computer,” a computer that’s so small that it could be put in a salt shaker and would only stand out because of its color.

Presented during this year’s “IBM Think 2018” expo, the system – which is currently on its prototyping phase – is powered by thousands of transistors and can run on a basic operating system for specific applications and functions.

IBM notes that the real world unhindered application of the device can range from shipment- or delivery-tracking to theft-monitoring due to its small size.

Composed of a micro-sized motherboard and processor, the device is foreseen to make changes in current business transaction and tracking procedures, as well as resolve concerns pertaining to service-oriented authentication and verification.

Following the completion of its prototyping phase, the device is expected to go to its mass-production phase in 18 months’ time.

Bayad Center launches its first mobile application

Multi-bills payment service provider Bayad Center recently had the launch of its first application for Android and/or iOS-driven devices.

Mirroring the core service features of its payment centers all over the country, the app extends the service provider’s roster of services to the mobile ecosystem, arming smartdevice owners with an option to pay their bills using their phones and secure connections to their credit card, debit card or third party e-paywall accounts (like PayPal).

Billed the “Bayad Center Mobile” app, the app can currently facilitate payments to over 35 service providers. Apart from being a payment portal, the app also functions as a bills-payment tracker, and can be configured to function as reminder for due bills. More information on the app is available on its official Google Play and App Store pages.

The “Google News Initiative”

In response to the proliferation of “fake news” sites and misinformation in the net, Google had the launch of a digital program which aims to work with the news industry to help the journalism sector deal with the challenges it faces in the digital age.

Billed the “Google News Initiative,” the program, which was launched last week, is has a three-score approach; to highlight accurate and facts-verified reports, help media outfits sustain online business models and to arm journalists with new tools for accurate reporting.

With an investment of US$300 million for the next three years, the program was launched concurrently with the “Subscribe with Google” program, which simplifies subscription options to established online news sites.

Outside of the recently launched programs, Google’s anti-fake news initiatives cover enhancements on its search engine algorithm for news searches, the recent rollout of a “Breaking News” section on YouTube and partnerships with various research firms to weed out “synthetic content” (media which has been algorithmically modified) from “organic” news sources.