It 'just works'.

The reason to start a company is to solve a problem. It is that simple. The by-product or reward of making that solution, is money.

There are some technologies that just works. Some products or solutions that the most lay-men of people can pick up immediately and use without much of a learning curve.


Dropbox
Today, the best example that I can think of is Dropbox. When you visite dropbox.com there is almost nothing of the page, it is as if they stripped out all the junk and left the most important few buttons for the site visitor to click. The tagline you see is "Your stuff, anywhere".

And that says it all, doesn't it. Dropbox is a tool that allows your documents, photos and home videos to get synced on all your devices. Remember when you bought that ipod from 2007, and you had a computer, and another computer and you needed all your songs to be on all three and it was hell to get them all on all your devices, well founder Drew Houston has helped us to solve that problem.

In 2007, when he took the train from Boston to New York, as soon as he got there he realized that he had forgotten his thumb drive at home. Crap! And he had all the work that he needed to do for the day on it. Well instead of cursing the heavens and complaining, he opened his computer and started to write some code for a way to sync his documents from his computer to any computer in the world, as long as he signs in to that service using any computer. 

It would solve sending various documents over and over again, over email. It would allow multiple people to collaborate on a single document over the internet. It would be a service that is extremely simple to use.

One of the 'required' things today when you buy a new computer is to download dropbox. If you are not already using dropbox to sync your documents, you really should.  It's totally amazing, the technology disappears and its one of those things that 'just works'. I demo'd it to a colleague recently - held my phone, office pc and my mac closely together. Created a doc on the office pc, dragged and dropped it to dropbox folder, it took a sec to upload, immediately, my mac got the signal, and downloaded it to its dropbox folder. Same with the phone as I was able to access the doc there. The even more magical part is when I deleted the doc from my office pc, a few secs later, it got erased from my mac also. And that is why the founder Drew Houston is now worth $400 million in just 6 yrs since he started the company.

As of July 2013, Dropbox had 200 million users, 4 million businesses and 97% of the Fortune 500.
Dropbox is valued at around $5 to $10 billion.






Square

Another one of those companies is Square (squareup.com), which is a product that allows you to accept payments from anyone with a debit or credit card. It makes soooo much sense. Why should only retail stores and merchants be the ones to accept card payments? Why can't I accept payments from a friend who is buying by old iPhone with their card? I mean our cards are more available in our wallets than cash.

The image below says it all. Square is the little white square device that the company sends to you for free, you download the Square app, and you are good to go. Plug square into the audio jack, swipe the card, enter the amount or price, hit enter, ask the person to sign with their finger and the receipt gets emailed to them. No stupid paper receipt that will only end up in a trash can.

Square was founded in 2009. As of September 2012 the company was valued at $3.25 billion and the founder Jack Dorsey is worth $1.3 billion. 

Twitter
Twitter. Jack Dorsey also co-founded Twitter. An idea that spun out of a podcasting company that did not work. The twitter code was written in just 2 weeks, because it is quite a simple concept - to allow anyone with a phone or computer to post to the world what they are doing. Who knew that could turn into big business? 

The cheapest phone in the world, as long as it could send a text message can send tweets. That in of itself is was makes gives this product the ability to be ubiquitous - to be available to the 6 billion people who own phones.

Twitter is the 10th most visited site in the U.S. has 200 million active users as of February 2013 and had a revenue of $213 million dollars in 2012. On November 7, 2013, the first day of trading on the NYSE, Twitter shares closed at $44.90, giving the company a valuation of around $31 billion. The paperwork from November 7 showed that among the founders, Evan Williams received a sum of $2.56 billion and Jack Dorsey received $1.05 billion, while Dick Costolo, the current CEO's payment was $345 million.


Google
Compare Google's homepage to that of Yahoo or Amazon.com's and you will see the big difference. Almost nothing but the search bar in Google with a few buttons at the top. 

Google's search engine technology was one of the internet's first, "it just works". Type in a search and most likely you will find the result in not just page number 1, but the top 2 or 3 results. When in 2010, they introduced Google Instant which was as you type, results appear in real time, they cut the already milli-second time it took to produce results to even shorter.

Google.com is the #1 most visited site in the world. It made $50 billion in revenues in 2012 with a net income of almost $13 billion. Its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are each worth about $24 billion as of September 2013. 

To conclude, you create a "just works" product or technology and not only will you make people's lives that much easier, the world will reward you handsomely, financially.

By Folarin Osibodu

Pacific Rim - my review

Pacific Rim

Guillermo Del Toro is back with a new powerhouse flick called Pacific Rim. Before I begin, here is a post of my status review that I wrote on my facebook profile.

The first time I saw the first trailer to Pacific Rim, I remember thinking, I have not seen a movie like this before. Giant robots fighting giant monsters, and having that sense of scale that the effects sold to us.

Let us first do a little word and meaning exercise:

Jaeger (pronounced Yaeger) - Giant robot

Kaiju - Giant monster mostly popularised by Godzilla

Guillermo Del Toro is a director that does not seem to do the same type of movie twice. It is also important to praise this film because it is an original piece of work, not a sequel or an adaptation of which 90% of summer movies or most movies generally are. The film is set in the not too distant future because people still drive recognizable cars that can be seen when the Jaegers and Kaijus are either stepping on them, falling onto them, throwing them, or using them as boxing gloves. 

I admire directors who make totally different types of movies each time, some even taken on a different genre each time because its like learning a new field each time, and nailing the hell out of it everytime. Quentin Tarantino is at the top of that list, Danny Boyle, James Mangold, Ed Zwick, David Fincher, Terence Malick. Look at their filmography to see what I'm talking about.

Del Toro has said numerous times in interviews that in making this movie, he was satisfying the 11 or 12 year old in him. The movie is not complicated, yet it does not dumb down its audience. 

The plot basically is, at some point, giant monsters emerged from a portal in the ocean and started to wreak havoc. And boy did they do so effortlessly. And so to battle these monsters, the people created monsters of their own - giant 10 to 13 story high robots called Jaegers. The Jaegers would be piloted by humans in their head. If you have seen Avatar, the way humans drove the mechas, is similar to this movie, except on a much larger scale. During initial testing of the Jaegers, they used to be piloted by one pilot, but the neural (brain) load was too much for one person, so they were modified for two pilots. One controlling the left hemisphere, the other controlling the right. In order for both pilots to work in sync, they would have to form a neural handshake, which is when they both drift into each others mind and work as one brain. Then whenever a Kaiju is located as emerging from the sea, the gigantic action begins. 

The movie opens with a blast. Strongly narrated, and explained by the lead actor Charlie Hunnam, and efficiently edited and directed too. 

Every year the movie industry impresses with at least one movie that really pushes the envelope in visual effects and Pacific Rim is that this year. Of course most of these vfx are done by ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) - George Lucas' company, which The Walt Disney company acquired in 2012 at a valuation of $4.05 billion. The other vfx powerhouse is Peter Jackson's Weta Digital. A smaller third is Digital Domain. ILM did Pacific Rims', and I expect them to win the Academy Award for best visual effects in 2014's ceremony.

The effects are completely photo real. Most of the fights occur in the rain and at night, some half way in water, then final completely under water, which are all even more difficult to accomplish than in daylight. You feel the heftiness of them because they do not move so quickly, or when they do, you can sense their slow acceleration to gain momentum. It was fun to see all the various types of Jaeger and discover their characteristics. One is bigger, one is faster, one is even piloted by a set of triplets. The color palette is also awesome, as can be really seen in the China town sequences. 

The stand out effects are the way the pilots who move real, physical, mechanical arms and feet to interact with the digitally built Jaegers. It adds to the feeling to sell that the robots are really there.

One slight gripe that I had was that I wish they did not fight in the rain, because it made it a bit difficult to see, but I guess if a fight was happening in the rain and at night, it would not be easy to see either. 

I have used the word 'robots' a few times, even though I am aware that they are not actually robots, because they are being driven or piloted by people, therefore they should be called Mechas.

Most disaster movies, first of all have the distaster happening in New York or generally America, and America always gets to save the day -sigh-. Del Toro has said specifically that, "I did not want a movie where America saves the world, but a movie where the world saves the world." The film is very diverse with Asians, Germans, Americans both as pilots and as members of the military or government. 

Other cast members are Idris Elba as the leader of the Jaeger resistance program, Charlie Day as one of the genius and hilarious scientists, and Rinko Kikuchi who eventually becomes a co-pilot and has a nicely told back story. She is not some damsel in distress but holds her own well alongside her male counterparts...and of course a Del Toro movie will not be complete without Ron Perlman as who gets hilariously eaten by a baby Kaiju...but wait till the end of the first half of the end credits to see a bonus scene...shhhh.

I was in the US on vacation a few days before this movie was released, but travelled out 2 days before the release date. I was en route to the UK when it came out so even though it was my first time ever in the UK, as soon as I got to my destination, I went online seeked out the nearest cinema and made my way to see it and had a complete blast. I realized that in the UK, it is customary for the audience to stay completely quiet no matter how tense things get in the film. I did not realize this until after audibly reacting to awesome punches and cool moments, when I got a few head turns and then remembered a british friend telling that to me some years back.

Lastly the musical score by Ramin Djawadi, who scored Iron Man, is very well suited to the film, with the electronic guitar at its forefront. Very memorable score that will get your heart pumping with excitement.

This is a fun movie for all, who want to have a complete fun experience. See it in 3D too, it was well done.

- by Folarin Osibodu

2.4B Global Internet trends in 2012 - 8% Y/Y Growth, Driven by Emerging Markets

Title: 2.4B Global Internet trends in 2012 - 8% Y/Y Growth, Driven by Emerging Markets

As I was going through this presentation, I noticed that while USA ranked #10 in Internet user adds, Nigeria ranked higher at #6. Thumbs up!

Note: On this slide, while KPCB annotated the USA row, I annotated the Nigeria row.

Source: http://www.kpcb.com/insights/2012-internet-trends-update

Instructions to set up Guaranty Trust Bank online third party transfer

Training/ Instructions on setting up Guaranty Trust Bank Online Third party transfer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Step 1: Have a computer, desktop or laptop. We do not recommendusing a smart phone because of small screen real estate. GTB is not fully optimised for mobile yet.

Step 2. Have internet connectivity

Step 3. Have your phone ready, because a text message may be sent for additional security measures

Step 4. Have a token. You can get this by going to any GTBank branch. This costs N3000. 

Visit www.gtbank.com

Step 5. Click on the REGISTER  button under INTERNET BANKING

Step 6. I suggest calling GTConnect to register

Step 7. Your account number will be a combination of your select digits of your account number + the digits 01

Step 8. You will select a Password which can be between 4 digits and 9 digits (do not quote me on that). The point that I am making is it is can be longer than a 4 digit Personal Identification Number (PIN). This is why is it called a Password, not a PIN.

Step 9. After you have obtained your User ID and Password, you are ready to login

Step 10. Enter your User ID and Password, and click login

On subsequent days after you visit gtbank.com, 

Click on the LOGIN  button under INTERNET BANKING

This would take you to a new page 

"Simple Tips to Protect Your Funds and Account" that reminds you of the Dos and Don'ts of internet banking 

Scroll down a bit, click on 'Continue"

Step 11. You will see "Do Not Disclose your…"

Scroll down a bit and click on "Click here to view your Account (s).

You are now logged into you online bank account

Step 12. Click on the Transfers tab. Click on "Transfer to any GTbank A/C"

You will see the following statement and instruction:

"With Guaranty Trust Bank Internet  Banking third party transfer is now easier. You no longer have to pre-register your third party beneficiaries. You can transfer funds from your Account to any other account within the Bank. To effect transfer of funds, simply complete and submit the form below."

Please enter the third party NUBAN account number or use your regular account format

Step 13:

Transfer Details

From: (this shows your own account number)

Stored Beneficiary: (after you have sent money to someone previously, you have the option to save their account number for future easier use. I recommend you saving our business account number, for easier transaction)

Account Number System: You can select NUBAN or Regular

After you click on either, wait for the website to load the next text bar , "To: "

Amount: Enter the funds to be transferred. 

Remark: You may enter a comment like "For tutoring and management services rendered"

Answer your Secret Question: When on the registering your online account with GTConnect, you will be asked to set up a Secret Question. GTBank would say that for added security reasons, they would not remind you what that secret question is. Therefore you should either remember the question, or write down both the question and the answer in a file somewhere.

Click on Continue

You will see a "Third Party Transfer Confirmation" page

Beneficiary Name: Olawale Johnson

Account Number: xxxxxxxxxx

Amount: ###,###

Step 14: "Click the white button on your token and type the transaction code generated:" Press the button on your token and enter the 6 digit code immediately, try not to delay. You may have to repeat Step 14 until the token and the website are synchronised to accept the code.

Step 15. Then click Submit

Congratulations you would have now sent your first GTB online 3rd party transfer

Google.com in the main languages of Nigeria

The main languages of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are: 

English which is the Lingua Franca

Yoruba

Hausa 

Igbo

Pidgin - whether we recognize it or not, is a common tongue

pandodaily's office crashers: why it's fun and games inside ZyngaVille

updates - a feature for the future of e-books

I predict that the future of books, specifically e-books, is updates. Just like app developers make updates to their apps, authors would send updates to e-books too. 

For example - page 10 of Reid Hoffman's book, The Start-up of You (Feb, 2012), reads "...thinking through the future of the mobile Internet with Kevin Rose at Digg and Milk (his mobile apps firm)...". 

On March 2012, Google acquired Milk, and in July 2012, Betaworks acquired Digg, so that sentence is already dated. Therefore Reid could send an update to your kindle like, ."..thinking through the future of the mobile Internet with Kevin Rose formally of Digg (acquired by Betaworks) and Milk (acquired by Google)…"

Renowned photographer, Kelechi Amadi, Mania Magazine, likely Nigeria’s first Fashion Magazine.

MANIA- Fearless Fashion from Joel Benson on Vimeo.

Waiting for Happiness

The following was a text conversation with a friend.

Me: 

Side story - I was at an interview yesterday, great interview, he asked great questions, he was clearly well prepared (English guy, CEO of newly formed division at d company)...at a point of the interview, I basically said indirectly that if the job was not the right fit for me, he should not hire me.

I didn't know until the interview, but it was a project management job in electrical engineering, I also said that Information Technology is where I would prefer to keep my focus on, and I have only a 3 month internship in electric engineering (from my 2nd year in university)…even though I have a BSc in electric engineering. 

I basically gave him reasons not to hire me.

I felt better, cos simple honesty really beats, trying to prove what I'm not into, because I want a job.

So ill be expecting d results next wk or wk after :)

Friend:

Haha

Love it

Me:

Yea:

Friend:

I love when someone knows what they want in life and goes after it

Me:

Bear in mind that I'm broke as $#t

But I know the direction I wanna head to

The interview was at ******* (huge conglomerate group) btw

Friend:

Don't worry

Before daylight there must always be a night

Where you don't even know where to head

Everything seems dark

Me:

Yea, I'm not worried. Surprisingly enough, I'm happy.

Few months ago, I was bored to my teeth. You remember when I used to

tell you…

Now, I have so much to do, I use my calendar a lot now

I joined the church media team, I've started tutoring again

Got two job offers - the hard part is choosing. And I have two more prospective jobs that I'm in the interviewing stages of. 

I may not have money, but I live, eat, and drive a car, provided by the God via the parentals.

So..I just looked on the bright side jare. My...(personal device of mine)... was stolen - don't matter, I'll buy a better one soon.

Friend:

:)

That's the spirit

When you are waiting, it's always good to be active

Me:

Exactly

Plus another lesson I needed to learn..if I keep waiting for that next job, or that next gf, or to move into my own apartment to make me happier..I might wait a long time

Cos when those things happen, I'll still need that next thing

Friend:

Yup

Yup

Me:

So why not find a way to be fulfilled now, no matter what life has in store

Friend:

Exactly. Dang God is working on my Folarin

Me

:D (laughing)

That's why I didn't wait to be comfortable to begin investing. I started when I was/am broke.

Friend

:)

--------
Update
The 'personal device' that was stolen was my iPad. It was stolen while I was working at church. Graciously, the church elders met and bought/replaced me a new iPad with double the hard drive

Software will replace physical placeholders

CDs, DVDs and Bluray disks are placeholders until internet bandwidth is cheap enough and strong enough all over the world, for us to be able to stream TV and Films. When we get there, we will no long have disks. 

Paper money and debit/credit cards are only placeholders, until we have all embraced payments on our mobile phones.

Physical books are placeholders, until we all fully embrace e-books

Point and Shoot cameras are placeholders until our phones can do a better job at taking pictures. In-fact we are already at that point where point-and-shoot cameras are getting phased out.

Therefore, SLRs are placeholders until they become phased out when phone cameras become sophisticated enough with the help of camera apps

There are many more examples

Our phone's software has made obsolete or will soon make obsolete these placeholders:

Alarm clocks

Calculator

Calendar

Photographs

Paper maps

mp3 player

etc

2 years ago, I told a friend that cameras are placeholders until our eyes are actually able to take photos. Then Black Mirror also suggests that our eyes will soon be able capture video 24/7 that we can rewind and playback either to ourselves, or through a TV set.

For more, look at  slides 33 - 84 here:

KPCB Internet Trends 2012

The Amazing Spiderman review

The Amazing Spiderman is very aptly named.

It was an excellent movie. Well cast. The scenes with Peter Parker and his love interest were better than those in each of the 3 previous films. The relationship with his uncle Ben, and aunty May was fresh, warm and they nailed it emotionally when the scene needed to.

The way they tackled the uncle Ben demise was more grounded in reality than in the first Spiderman, and what a great choice to cast Martin Sheen.

Andrew Garfield is a superstar. Tobey Maguire was a great spiderman, but Garfield I think, really gets the character a little bit more than Tobey did. 

I was initially skeptical that the swinging was gonna disappoint, but it didn't. Having said that, I still prefer the swinging shots in Spidey 1 & 2.

I think what director Marc Webb did better than director Sam Raimi, was to re-imagine the spiderman character when he is in the suit. Spidey has more fun this time. He has is funnier. He moves faster in the cleverest of ways. My favourite action scene is when Spidey is fighting with the Lizard inside the school. When Gwen Stacy attempts to help, Spiderman unleashes this strong web of horror around this very powerful assailant. He weaves the web in a very fluid, musical way to hold him down. Then at some point, he crawls from the shoulders of the Lizard down to his legs and to his back…like a freaking spider. That was the best moment, that was the edge, the nuance of the character than Marc Webb and his visual effects team got over the previous spiderman films.

Don't get me wrong Spiderman 2 set the bar so high. I won't say this is better because they are so different. I can say this one is definitely better than Spiderman 3 which was crap, still don't know why I bought the dvd. Oh, yeah because of the extra features, and a few decent action scenes. 

Emma Stone nails...nails, the Gwen Stacy part. She is going to be our generation's Meryl Streep. 

African Leadership Academy - Fred Swaniker - Stanford - Part 1

Acha Leke - Africa New Era - Stanford

How to transfer contacts from a Nokia phone to a Blackberry

How to transfer contacts from a Nokia phone to a Blackberry using a mac. I had to transfer contacts from my mum's Nokia X3-00 to her new Blackberry Bold 9900 using my Macbook. Not a single website gave me a straightforward answer, so I decided to add my how-to to the internet space. First, you need a PC. Yes, this is one of those very few times, when the Mac is inadequate. Download the Nokia PC Suite. Install it. Connect your Nokia phone. Click on contacts, to reveal all your contacts. Highlight all (Ctrl+A) drag and drop into a new folder on your desktop. From this point, you can either use a Mac or a PC, but the computer has to have Blackberry Desktop Manager (BDM). If you don't have, google it, and download it for free. Connect your blackberry with the computer using the cable. On PC, copy the contacts to Outlook, fire up BDM, then sync your contacts with Outlook. On Mac, Use a flash drive to move this contacts folder to your Mac desktop. Open Address Book, create a new group, and drag and drop your contacts into it. Fire up BDM, sync contacts with the address book. And you are done!

The Descendants

Super-star actors like George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are at the top of their game for good reason. They are not just famous celebrities we see on the cover of People magazine which lies in the rack at the grocery store. They act and make the best films when compared with the films that their peers make. I suppose since they are already incredibly wealthy, money no longer is the priority when choosing projects. They would much rather choose to do films like The Descendants, Moneyball or In the Land of Blood and Honey (respectively), where they can gain respect by winning accolades and awards.

I had never heard of The Descendants, which stars George Clooney, and directed by Alexander Payne until the 2012 Golden Globe nominations were announced. The Descendants is a film mainly about family. Clooney is a father and husband whose wife was in a boating accident. She hit her head and is now in a coma on life support. Clooney has two daughters ages 10 and 17. They live in Hawaii. Clooney, who is a busy real estate attorney now has to learn to raise his children who he has not had much experience with before his wife's accident, because he travelled a lot on business and was hardly around. He now also has to learn how to deal with the imminent bereavement of his wife and manage his somewhat estranged children's feelings too. The other side of this film's story is that Clooney's character is the trustee of a massive land in Hawaii worth hundreds of millions of dollars, someone even offering half a billion. He and his 7 or 8 other 'cousins' are The Descendants of this land, which may or may not be sold by the end of the movie.

Clooney's voice over at the beginning of the film was quick to suppress our stereotipical notion that everyone who lives in Hawaii lives in paradise. Or that its residents are on some permanent vacation, where everybody sips on Mai Tais on the beach everyday, without a care in the world. No, Hawaii is like everywhere else. People there work for a living. "Its residents are not immune to life."

So, the movie is about Clooney dealing with the business of getting the land sold, and dealing with his children whose mother will not wake up. There is a clever tie-in between boths stories that raises the dramatic and comedy to a high level, because, Clooney, who was excited about the sale before, now finds himself in a dilemma.








Clooney decides to take the family on a trip to inform all family and friends about the state of the wife/mother. Alex decides she wants to bring some obnoxious and impolite guy-friend along with her. Clooney disagrees at first until she says she would behave herself more if he is there with her. It turns out she did behave. This guy-friend seems to be really annoying at first, many times, never realizing how insensitive he is to an old woman's Alzheimer's or the serious situation the family is going through. However as he travels with the family, we notice him understanding things better, he even has a few seconds of wisdom to disperse. We learn that he lost his father a few months back, so maybe that is the connection Alex sees in him, and therapy she needed.

This movie is very smartly written. It is also well grounded in reality. Nothing happens that could not happen in real life. As I listened to the characters talk, I kept saying to myself, yep, that is how I would expect that character to respond...yep, if I were her, I would do exactly that. But the reason we go to movies is to see something we would not normally see in real life, therefore the dialogue is pushed a bit beyond reality just a tiny bit, so that there are witty comebacks and clever remarks, which makes it more exciting.

There were amazing performances by every single cast member. Clooney is obviously great as always. He shows that he is as adept at comedy as he is at displaying and evoking strong emotion. Even actors normally known for comedic roles like Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer were great in their dramatic parts. Clooney's father-in-law, played by Robert Forster (popularly known from Jackie Brown), is amazing as a gentle but bitter father who blames Clooney for not giving her what he thought his daughter deserved in life. A stand out performance was Shailene Woodley as Alex, Clooney's teenage daughter. At the beginning, she is a rebel, but her character arch evolves to become her dad's partner who goes on hilarious family reconnaissance missions.

I normally would not be the first to seek out dramas, but I am begining to like comedy-dramas because as soon as a scene becomes too sad, the filmmakers inject something funny, but not 'haha' funny so as not to downplay the seriousness, but the kind that makes you wanna cry and smile at the same time.

Every character gets their time to grow, learn and cry.

Director irector Alexander Payne has only made 5 films, including About Schmidt and Sideways which already makes him a master at what he does.

The Descendants won the Golden Globe award in 2012 for Best Picture - Drama, and Best Actor - Drama for George Clooney. This is a film that will be a classic which will withstand the test of time.

By Folarin Osibodu

TIME magazine's 100 most influential people

TIME magazine's 100 most influential people

Main article:  http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,2066367,00.html

The purpose of this article is to test how wide my knowledge is of the news in the past year or years before.

I simply pulled the list from TIME.com, looked at it and typed a description of who I recognize, and why I think they were nominated...all without clicking on their names or googleing.

1. Joseph Stiglitz - World renowned American economist. He has either won a Nobel prize or is a strong candidate for one.

2. Reed Hastings - Netflix CEO. He found Netflix either in 1997 or 99. A forward thinker in the way consumers consume home media. Pioneered mailing of dvds to home and "no late fees". This reason along with the continual reduced monthly subscription rates both attracted 10 - 20 million subscribers. It also put Blockbuster out of business. Hastings named his company 'NET-flix' not 'RENT-flix' because from the every beginning he foresaw consumers "instantly watching" movies and tv shows through streaming. DVD rental was simply a means to that end.

3. Amy Poehler - American comedian. Became widely popular on Saturday Night Live, performing sketch comedy and reporting the news with comedy. She later branched out to doing feature films which include, Baby Mama with Tina Fey, and Hamlet 2 with Steve Coogan.

She can currently be seen on the successful NBC comedy, "Parks and Recreation."

4. Geoffrey Canada - founded the Harlem Academy. The goal was to bring young minds from low socio-economic status and prepare them for college. Canada's (graduate of Harvard) enthusiasm is so apparent for this calling of his that he has been profiled in magazines, on Oprah - numerous times, talk shows, and a popular documentary was made with him and his academy at the center. The documentary is called, "Waiting for Superman" directed by David Guggenheim.

5. Mark Zuckerberg - co-founder and CEO of Facebook.com - the social network that has had an impact in me, yours and all almost 600 million users all around the world. Facebook has permeated the entire internet in just a short period of time, since 2004. Zuckerberg, also attended Harvard, except did not graduate, donated $100 million to the New Jersey School System. This announcement was featured on Oprah in 2010 along with Geoffrey Canada and mayor of New Jersey, Cory Booker. A very critical acclaimed movie was made about the founding of facebook called "The Social Network" which earned the academy award for best screenplay. The movie also grossed over $100 million.

Many high-profile guests have visited Facebook head-quarters in Palo Alto, CA, including President Barack Obama who recently held a town hall meeting.

Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire, and Facebook is valued at about $50 billion.

6. Jilian Assange - controversial founder of Wikileaks - Assange was in the news pretty much throughout the whole of 2010. Wikileaks is a website that allows the anonymous submission of secret government details to be viewed openly, which does not make the U.S. government very happy.

7. Lamido Sanusi - Nigerian CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) governor. He was appointed the governor of the CBN at the height of the world economic collapse around June 2009. He immediately took drastic steps - he consolidated banks, fired about 9 bank executives and hopefully began steps to reducing corruption in the country.

8. Colin Firth - actor. British actor who has never made a bad performance (my opinion) finally got his due when he won the Oscar for "The King's Speech" he also won the BAFTA for the same role. He also made an acclaimed performance in A Single Man directed by Tom Ford.

9. Joe Biden - Vice President of the United States. Besides that, I really don't know why he is on this list.

10. Cory Booker - Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He has been very particular about the state of education in his city.

11. Michelle Obama - wife of President Barack Obama aka. First Lady of the U.S. - She was very particular about child obesity and the kind of food that children eat in schools.

12. Tom Ford - Fashion Designer and Director. Only directed one film and did an excellent job at it...A Single Man, with Colin Firth.

13. Nicholas Sarkozy - President of France.

14. Matthew Weiner - Creator of Emmy award winning tv show, Mad Men on AMC. Matthew Weiner also created The Sopranos which had a very long run on HBO (about 6-9 seasons). Interestingly, he pitched Mad Men to producers first but they turned that down. Only after the success and awards that The Sopranos had and won, was he able to make Mad Men.

15. Lisa Jackson - Michael Jackson's sister?

16. Justin Bieber - World wide singer/performer came into the limelight from posting youtube videos after being discovered by Usher. He has mezmerized young girls...and their moms, Beiber Fever. He has appeared an every talk show including Oprah, sang in the new "We are the world" video, and performed at every musical and movie award show.

17. Prince William and Kate Middleton - the are English. William in the royal family married Kate who he dated for about 8 years. They had a huge wedding in May 2011 which was broadcast live all over the world, including YouTube for the very first time.

18. Kim Jong Un - probably Kim Jong Il's son.

19. Oprah Winfrey - over 25 years of The Oprah Winfrey Show, enough said. She has interviewed everybody, presidents, royals, actors, regular people, Michael Jackson, and puppets. She ran the Oprah show under her production company, Harpo Productions (Oprah spelt backwards). She became the wealthiest African-American, a billionaire, Tom Cruise jumped on her couch, supported Obama and cried when he won. On January 1, 2011, she started her own network called OWN, in partnership with Discovery Networks. She has an XM satellite show, and has spawned tv and XM careers of Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and that guy that does home furnishings.

20. Larry Page - co-founder of Google, Inc. Page, along with co-founder Sergei Brin, worked on their Stanford project that hoped to index the entire web and make it search very easy and effective. After Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google recently stepped down after nearly a decade of running the company, Larry Page stepped up. Let's see where he takes Google with other prominent competition from companies like, Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, Apple and Amazon.

21. David Cameron - Britain's prime minister.

22. John Lasseter - founded Pixar animation studios along with Steve Jobs and Ed Catmul around 1994. With him as the head of Pixar, the company is about 11 for 11. All movies have been very very successful, most have taken academy awards for best animated film year after year, while some have even made it to the best film category.

Films
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
A Bug's Life
Monster's Inc.
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Cars
Wall-E
Up
Toy Tory 3

Upcoming Films
Newt
Cars 2

After Walt Disney Studios acquired Pixar, John Lasseter became head of Disney Animation. He is now both in charge of movies that Pixar makes, and the others that Disney makes.

23. Mukesh Ambani - Indian Billionaire, among the world's wealthiest few. He is the guy that has that 27 story house in India.

24. Bruno Mars - Singer

25. General David Petraeus - He is the leader of the U.S. Armed Forces, the guy that led U.S. troops to Iraq and Afghanistan and stuff.

26. Matt Damon and Gary White - Matt Damon is a Harvard trained actor, he lost many pounds to be in Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan". He played Ryan. He co-wrote the screenplay of "Good Will Hunting" with his close friend Ben Affleck which won each of them Oscars.

I'm guessing the reason he in on the TIME 100 most influential people is because of Water.org The organization that looks to provide water for the those that do not have easy access. Water.org posted a challenge for teams of students in universities to come of with creative ways of solving water problems. Scholarships was provided to the winners.

27. Sting - singer, who likes to do good things around the world, I guess.

28. Michelle Rhee - Washington DC School Superintendent. When she came into office, she fired bad teachers. She was also featured in the acclaimed documentary, "Waiting for superman"

29. Mark Whalberg - actor. Recently did a good job in "The Fighter". Heard he had to "fight" to get the movie made. Not sure why he's on the list though.

30. Arianna Huffington - Created the Huffington Post. This popular blog, quickly became a source of real news, to compete with newspapers such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New York Post and The New Yorker. Arianna a workaholic holds about 3 or 4 cell phones at any one time. She is a vocal proponent of better education. aol bought the huffington post for $315 million recently, Arianna banks some big dough!

31. Barack Obama - President of The United States. Won Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, and donated the million dollars to charity because he felt he had not yet earned it. Did something big in Health Care. He onced played basket ball for leisure got injured on his eye and got 12 stitches.

32. Scott Rudin - film producer. He produced the award winning and financially successful movie, "The Social Network."

33. John Boehner - prominent member of the Republican party of the U.S.

33 out of 100. 1/3rd not bad.

Oops, skipped over...
Hillary Clinton - U.S. Secretary of State. She campained hard for the presidency. She may not have won, but she holds a very strong position in the White House. She travels overseas a lot to speak with world leaders. She had that worried look in the photo while Barack Obama et al watched as US Navy Seals raided Osama Bin Laden's compound

The Commercial Appeal paper written on me on my day of Bachelors degree graduation

Long journey has a degree of satisfaction -- U of M ceremonies at Forum represent opportunity to new class of graduates

Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - Sunday, May 7, 2006

Author: Lindsay Melvin Special to The Commercial Appeal

Double-majoring in electrical engineering and computer engineering is no easy task, says Folarin Osibodu. But neither was leaving his parents and friends in Nigeria.

"Here you have a lot of opportunities," said Osibodu.[...]

[...]Before coming to the University of Memphis, he spent a semester at a Nigerian college where professors were underpaid and students jockeyed for computers.

"In Nigeria, we don't have one computer for each person, and that just doesn't bring out your best creative work," he said.

His sister attended U of M as well, and this past week, for the first time in two years, his family came together to see them both graduate with honors.

"My father says he's the proudest father ever," said Osibodu.


...


For Osibodu, school's not over yet. He's still planning to go on for his MBA, and although he'd prefer to stay in the "land of opportunity," returning to Nigeria with an education is the best solution he can think of to help better his homeland, he said.

"No matter how much money you spend, knowledge needs to be there. Knowledge is power," he said.

Caption: Photo
Mike Maple/The Commercial Appeal Yoon Hong (left), 27, shares a laugh with her friend and fellow graduate Kyunghwa Kim, 24, during University of Memphis graduation ceremonies at FedExForum. They were among 1,600 receiving degrees Saturday.

Edition: Final
Section: Metro
Page: B1
Index Terms: graduation college speech
Record Number: 1117F4F269C4FA35
Copyright (c) 2006 The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN

I saved someone's life...financially

August 2010.

I was on a flight on my way back from Los Angeles. While in the air, the flight attendant announced that she would be passing forms from a major credit card company. It was a Master Card that had rewards of about $500,000. Really? Now, the flight attendant really sold the idea of this credit card very well...so well that even I almost saw something good in a credit card.

Over the years, I have put many hundreds of hours researching the financial industry -reading, listening to podcasts, talking to professionals. I have looked at the advantages and disadvantages of owning a credit card, I have listened to experts on the subject...looked at the Word of God, and put my own thought to it...after all that, I have come to a conclusion.

THERE IS NO REASON TO OWN A CREDIT CARD. Period.

So, after the flight attendant went through her spiel, she asked for people to raise their hand if they would like to fill a form. A few people raised their hands, including a younger sista who sat by my left. As I watched a dvd digital copy of a movie on my Macbook, I watched her through the corner of my eye as she tried to decide if she wanted to fill the form. It would be her first credit card.

As soon as she began filling the form, I stopped my movie and turned to her.

I asked for her name, she told me, and I told her mine. I said, "You don't need a credit card". "All that $500,000 reward-bonus-crap that she said, it is a lie." [Legally, she did not lie, but for 99.9% of credit card owners, it might as well have been a lie]. I explained to her why she did not need a card. I told her my story about credit cards, and how I had come to the conclusion that one can live well and survive in the U.S. without credit cards. I mentioned that I had not used a credit card in over 3 years, and here I am sitting in a plane that I paid cash for (Debit Card).

I explained to her that one's finances should boil down to a few simple rules:

Work for your money. Save your money. If you need to buy something that you cannot immediately afford, wait till you have saved enough, and then buy it. Also, give away 10% of your income.

She understood what I taught, and accepted it. Then I told her to tear the Master Card application form. The paper size was too thick to tear, so I helped her and ripped the form to shreds. We both laughed and exchanged more personal stories.

My hope and prayer is that she follows, not just this teaching, but the teachings of our grand-parents about money. Simple guidelines that work, that save people from financial disaster.

Topmost Tutoring - the founder's history

I would consider myself as someone who knows Mathematics, understands it, and is able to solve difficult Math problems. In my 2000 SAT, I my score placed me in the top 5% in the entire country.

Despite this Math skill, Mathematics did not come easy for me. From a very early age, I put in a tremendous amount of time and effort into studying Mathematics. I remember specifically in high school, I had great difficulty with grasping the concept of the negative sign (-).
For example, why is 3 - - 4 = 7, -3-4 = -7, -4 + 3 = -1 and 3 - 4 = -1

I used to get headaches trying to understand the rules of the negative sign. They seemed counter-intuitive to the way the mind normally worked. So, I asked 2 of my closest friends who seemed to understand it, but I could not understand their explanations. I spent countless hours studying the textbook, working on most of the problems at the end of the chapter (usually over 20 problems), until I finally got it.

I have many examples of situations in which it was difficult for me to understand a concept, but when I finally got it, I felt like nobody in the world understood it better than I did. After many years, I looked back and I could see the reason why I was allowed to go through a lot of mental pain in Mathematics...enter Topmost Tutoring.

When I started college at the University of Memphis, I was told that Math tutors were paid $10/hr. Many desk assistant jobs were paid $6.50 at the time. So, since I knew I could tutor, I applied. The manager nicely explained to me that 1st year students were not allowed to tutor, only Sophomores and above. So, I took the desk job, waited a year, applied for the tutoring job again, was hired and so it began.

Over the course of 4 years in college, I have had about 6 or 7 various tutoring jobs, depending of which was available during regular school season or the summer, or depending on what tutoring program was available. I became better at reading people, quickly understanding how they thought about a problem, then guiding them to the solution. I say guiding because I did not just hand them the answers. I would solve the first 1, 2 or 3 problems, then watch them solve the rest.

I noticed many of my students making the same mistakes that I made back in junior high and high school, mistakes that I had learned from. Therefore, since I knew how they approached the problems, it was easy for me to say, “I understand why you are thinking of it that way. It may seem logical for you to think of it that way, but that is not how it works, this is the way to think about it.”

Now, after finishing my Masters program. I want to use what I know, to add value to my community, and the world.

Topmost Tutoring was formed with the slogan, “We make difficult courses simple”. Our goal is to show that Math problems are like puzzles. When scattered, they look very complex and impossible...but as soon as you put the pieces together one step at a time in the right spots, they form one big puzzle. Ostensibly complex math problems are made up of of simple rules. The challenge to solve the problem, is that one has to know and understand every single rule that is required.
And that is where we come in. We will find out where the student is deficient. What laws were not covered in elementary school or junior high, what rules have been forgotten, and we will put it all together in a way that is easy to understand, and maybe even fun.

A friend of mine who has difficulty with Math said, “Math can be taught if the teacher is good enough, and Math can be liked if the teacher makes the subject engaging enough.” - Roberta

I told her that I would include her text message in one of our business plans, and I just did.

Our vision for Topmost Tutoring is to be the very best in Math tutoring in the world. We will make Math easy and fun to understand. Our vision is to eradicate the Math deficiency epidemic.

Skype goes public...files for Initial Public Offering (IPO)

I feel like a proud father whose son has graduated high school who is on his way to an Ivy League. Skype, the most popular Voice-over IP service is going public! Skype which was found in 2003 was acquired by eBay in 2005 for $2.6bn. It makes me happy to see a company that was formed not too long ago, going public. Skype provides incredible value to the world’s internet users, saves them money, and makes their lives easier and a little more convenient. We all know that if you can improve people’s lives & add value, you will be rewarded…the money will follow. This is the reason I am proud of Skype. I use Skype at home, companies and organizations use Skype in the office. In fact, many companies are encouraged to use Skype for international calls, rather than use the company phone, for the obvious reason-Skype saves companies millions of dollars in international calls. That is a real value.

Congratulations Skype, can wait to watch you graduate college-whatever that metaphor translates to.

The brain – remembrance

memory: the power of retaining & recalling past experience
remembrance: the ability to recall past occurrences

How is it that I am able to remember the words of the song that I learnt at 7 years old?
How am I able to remember
-all 4, old and new, email accounts' usernames & passwords?
-my banks’ usernames & passwords?
-my ATM PINS?

How on earth was I able to memorize one of my bank's account number and routing number?

How was I able to memorize my SSN? Okay, I guess most people remember that one.

The brain is awesome!

We have evolved computers that can compute mathematics faster than the human brain can. However, we haven’t perfected image recognition, & voice recognition in computers. Today, the computer insn’t as creative as the brain is…maybe later…

Computers have a long way to go

Full time student...no more

I recently filled a form at the dentist's office.

"Are you a full time student?"
I checked "No" for the 1st time in my life, after 26 years.

Woo! That is almost 3 decades of studying. No wonder I have a small headache. Being a student is great in many ways, but that is a topic for a different blog. But being out of school, I can actually 'do'.

What do I mean by 'do'?

I can create things now. Things that I do not have to turn in on monday morning for a letter grade. In addition to creating, I get paid for the same projects that I did in college, at work. Google's Marisa Mayer said, "Google is like Stanford, with stock options"

...

Team Leadership in College

Team Leadership in College

Aug 15, 2010

In all of my college & grad school courses, I do not remember any one course/project where a team leader was selected.

Our projects usually went something like this- "Okay, the 5 of us are here for this Marketing project for the rest of the semester. I guess let's divide tasks among ourselves...and we'll see how it goes..." This was the way teams worked in my experience during college.

A leader for the team was never explicitly chosen. Usually, over time, you got the sense that Mary was the unofficial team leader, or me, or Ola. Someone usually either takes the stage as the leader or finds his/herself delegating duties and stuff.

This is fine, but the problem with not explicitly naming one as the head is that no one takes the blame when things go wrong. I would encourage teachers & professors to have their class teams to select a team leader in every project. This way, everyone knows who to report to. Tasks are delegated properly, and when the "defecation hits the oscillation" (-credit http://twitter.com/jeffcannata), we know who to blame...and that is important in preparing students for life.

My Life as a Business

My Life as a Business

I am my own CEO
I am my own CFO
I am my own Chef
I am my own Chauffeur
I am my own Wardrobe department
I am my own Publicist
I am my own Barber
I am tasked with thinking of Ideas
I am tasked with managing Schedules
I am tasked with having a Social life: family, friends, relationships.


I wake up in the morning, take a bath, prepare breakfast, pick out the clothes to wear for the day (Wardrobe dept), get in the car and drive to work (Chauffeur). At work, I have a heightened sense of self, making sure I present myself well (Publicist)

After work, I buy some food at the grocery store, come home, check emails.

I am now my own assistant - replying emails, providing customer service.

I look at my schedule. I prioritize from most important to least. I still want to have some fun, so I include parties and hang-outs in there.

Then I log-in to my bank account. Open my budget spreadsheet & mint.com . I am now my own Chief Financial Officer.
"How much have I spent this month?"
"How much have I made this month?"
"Am I cash-flow positive?"
"Will I have money at the end of the month or year (Net Income)?"

Time to prepare dinner. I want to make a good one this time, so I bust out the cook book. I am now wearing the Chef's hat.

Then I sit down and think of ideas. What can I do in the short term, and what can I do in the future. Write them down, create a plan, make sure to follow it up.

Overall, I am my own Chief Executive Officer. I have to make sure each department is optimized with maximizing the resources. I have to make sure everyone knows their job very well and each task is executed or carried out in a timely manner.

My board of directors are my mentors, which may include friends and family. They guide me, I present ideas and life strategies before them, and they offer constructive criticism.

At the end of the week, the hair on my head has grown to be too much. It is ready for barbing, I grab my clippers with my right hand, two mirrors (a wall mirror and a hand mirror in my left hand)...I am now my own hair salon/ barber.

You should think of your life as a business, because it is. Maybe if we did, things might run more efficiently.

What do you do that is similar to how a business is run?

Time

I take time seriously. I do not like to be late. I lived in the US for almost a decade, but I think my perception and principle/philosophy of time was
formed earlier than that. First, I would never be late for a formal meeting.
But further, even if I were meeting a friend for coffee, I wouldn’t be late. Anytime, I am running late, I call or text minutes before that time, and alert them. Usually, I end up being like 3 — 5 minutes late.

In college, my friends would host parties, if the party start time was 8pm. I’d be there at 8pm. The hosts would even say, you know 8pm means get here at 10pm or 11pm.

When I hosted my own party, I made sure the start AND END time for the party was clear. Cos I always thought it made no sense to have a start time but no end time. Then I got calls from my friends saying the party interval was too short, so I laughingly extended it, but still kept to the end time, because I was a busy guy — You don’t graduate with 2 Engineering degrees and not manage your time properly.

In Nigeria, where I live, being late is fashionable. Even being late for appointments is not uncommon. But despite the level of traffic, or mishaps on the way, I almost always arrive early, because it is the right thing to do.

Same principle goes for when I owe someone money, or when I have a project to turn in. Sometimes, my friends don’t like it when they say, “I’ll call you back” and I ask “When?” I like to know when, so I’ll expect and I’ll be ready for you. They are used to it now though. I am so used to scheduling
my time that I often astound myself. One time, I was at work, I said I’ll call my girlfriend in 20 minutes when I got home. 20 minutes later, not longer, not earlier, I called and she was very impressed.

Nigeria currently does not have constant electricity supply. The common phrase in the event of a power outtage is, “Light has gone o” or “Light has come” when power is restored. Many years ago, maybe 6 or so, the president assured the citizens that in two years there will be constant power supply. 2 years passed, 3, 4, 5, 6, still “No light”. The plans were not properly drawn out with milestones, and realistic events to happen to make it a success.

Anyway, there are many examples of that, but personally and in my own life, I will always keep to time because keeping to time is keeping a promise.

My Short Story

My Short Story


So, I remember this one time, many years ago, I think it was in 2004/5, when I called my uncle because I had some issues to deal with on my mind.

Okay, so I've called him a number of times because I had some issues to talk about out loud, but that's not the point..ha ha :) However this time when I called him, and I was scared. I was afraid of what I could become in 10, 20 or 30 years if I continued to do what I did. If I continued to follow that path that I had laid before myself.

I had always been a brilliant student. I was an A student. When I made a B, I would cry inside, sometimes outside too. Maybe there is nothing so wrong with that, but I saw a vision of myself, being this brilliant guy in my office at the University, solving equations for the rest of my life, doing research. Okay maybe there is not much wrong with that, people do it. On top of that, I was not very social. I was shy as a kid, I had a very heavy stutter, the former may have caused the latter, or otherwise. I had only a few friends, I could not wait to get out of the party, or the crowd, and go to my room to study.

After a while, I did not want to be that brilliant professor that invented stuff, but was not fulfilled and had no money.

So, I called my uncle, and told him that I was scared, and I did not want that life. Of course, he had no idea where I was coming from, but he listened, and tried to help with calming words.

You should know that I did not reach this decision all by myself, my dad helped. On one of his visits, he noticed I was still that brilliant student who enjoyed his books, so he tried to hint at me to embrace other things, like sports, other subjects, other interests. I guess I could not see past the hint.

He traveled, but asked one of his close friends to call me at home. His friend called and spoke to me, as an elder, and made me realize how important these other things are in order to maintain balance in life.

He asked me, "What month is the super-bowl held every year?".
"I don't know", I answered.

"Usually February" he stated. "What month is the presidential elections every 4 years?", he asked again.

I still didn't know.

"November"

He made me understand that, one should be as well rounded as one could. Have enough knowledge of the other things that are not your main passions so that you can carry a conversation with a stranger on the street, or with your co-workers at the water filter.

I knew he had a point, but he didn't have to talk to me like I was his son? Oh Yes!, he had to speak to me that way, that was the only way that I would have gotten the point.

Fast forward a few years, I had become a little more sociable, I went to business school, got a Master of Science in Management. Found the courses to be as interesting as I found in Engineering. I follow basketball, some football.

I created a podcast in 2006. I was part of the early adopters and producers of this new form of media. The feeling I got from this new creation was something I had never felt before. I created something that I could call my own. Bought a headset with mic, learned XML and learned how to create a website in 3 days. I learned how websites and servers work, I understood the technology and created the actual content. I was an Entrepreneur. I spent $14 to create a medium that radio stations spend millions of dollars on, yet I could be heard on the other side of the world, but they could not.

I sold my books online and made $3000 in 5 years. When my Teaching Assistantship was canceled due to budget cuts, even though I was abroad, I called all college departments to find openings. I called everybody I knew, that could help me find another job. When I got back, I networked with classmates, finally found another assistantship that paid almost double the original...in a recession by the way. From a shy kid, to a hustler.

I had a great relationship with a beautiful girl. The first time I noticed her, I went after her, asked her out a few days later, and shared a very fulfilling portion of my life with her. We are still friends today, and stay in touch very closely.

There are many more examples, that appear small but are really significant.

Even though I had influences from my family and friends, the final decision still remained for one person to make, to change the course of his life, ME. I decided I wanted to be more assertive in my opinions. If I knew what I was talking about, I said so. If I didn't want something, I said No.

I remember working minimum wage one summer while in undergrad. I called one of my many aunts and said, "I want to know about the law. I want to understand how the legal system works." A few years later I found myself in a Business Law class in grad school, and enjoyed it. Even though I did not know it would happen the way it did, I spoke it, and it came to pass.

Anyway, my point is, I was likely headed in a direction of an unfulfilled, unenjoyable life, so I changed the course. And oh my God, it was difficult, because people knew me a Mr. X, and all of a sudden I was acting like Mr. Y. But they had to get used to it, and I had to as well. I am a happier person today.

Thank God.