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President Muhammadu Buhari held his maiden presidential media chat yesterday, December 30 in the Aso Rock villa in Abuja.

Buhari was often criticised for speaking on the crucial issues to foreign media during his frequent trips abroad.

The leader of the nation answered questions from a panel of journalists on a number of national issues. The president has given answers to some questions from Nigerians.

The panel of interviewers were Kayode Akintemi (Channels TV), Ngozi Anyaegbulam (Media World International), Munir Dan Ali (Daily Trust) and Ibanga Isine.

Below is the compilation top 17 quotes of President Buhari:

On Boko Haram, Chibok girls

1. “We are looking for a credible Boko Haram leadership that will convince us that Chibok girls are alive. Our priority is on orphaned IDPs to get them back to schools, resettle them and giving them hope.”

2. “I am honest with you, I don’t know whether Chibok girls are alive.”

3. “If Boko Haram continues with suicide bombings, we might consider banning wearing Hijab.”

On fight against corruption

4. “Thirty years ago as Head of State, we collected those we perceived to be corrupt and put them in protective custody, until they prove they were not guilty. At present, those suspected of being corrupt are innocent until they are proven guilty.”

5. “Nigeria doing quite well in anti-corruption war, treasury looters will eventually end up in courts.”

6. “Money has been recovered, whatever has been recovered we have to end up in courts.”

7. “I swore by the Holy Quran to protect and obey the constitution, no one will be above the law.”

8. “If you find any of my 36 Ministers with a corruption case in court name them so I can look into it.”

On Shiite clashes with army

9. “I can not comment on the Shite crisis as I am a seating duck, I have to let investigations be.”

10. “We have a system of investigation as a government and as the head of the federal government, I have to wait for official report before I comment.”

On assets

11. “I have declared my assets four times in the past. You have the constitutional right to go to the relevant government agency to go and seek for it.”

On Biafra issue

12. “We will not allow anyone create a state within the Nigerian state.”

13. “There’s a treasonable charge against Kanu and I hope the court will listen to the case against him.”

On naira devaluation

14. “I need to be convinced. If you devalue the naira, against what? Dollar, sterling, yen, French Franc?”

On Dasuki

15. “If you see the kind of atrocities people like Dasuki committed you won’t give them bail.”

On minimum wage

16. “I assure you that Federal Government will not touch the minimum wage but we cannot determine what the states will do.”

17. “We may have to send the young unemployed youth seeking N5k fee to farm to earn the money.”

Best April Fools’ pranks in the wireless world. This is huge

Today is April 1. That means watch your cellphone, don’t leave your Facebook account open at any cost, and most importantly, don’t believe anything Google tells you.

On this day, the world celebrates mistrust and paranoia worthy of the Cold War. This is our list of the best April Fools’ pranks in the wireless world.

Google is perhaps the kings of April Fools’ pranks. Last year, it released the “Magic Hand,” a fake hand that operates your mobile device for you.

This year, they are offering up a bit of nostalgia in the form of Google Fiber “Dial-up Mode.”

As they put it: “The loading bar is a signal to many of us to take care of those little things –like making a cup of coffee, taking that bathroom break or just petting the dog. We have been told that Fiber’s seemingly instant connections have taken away that valuable time. So today we are introducing Dial-Up Mode to slow your Fiber speeds down. Relax to your 56k connection and get those precious moments back.”

Samsung got in the act a little early (or did they?) debuting the Galaxy Blade Edge, the world’s first smart knife yesterday.

On its blog Samsung said, “Samsung is taking its commitment to culinary expertise and cutting-edge technology even further – literally.” With smartphones becoming thinner with each new release, it seems like the logical next step.

With features such as a smart handle to “create the perfect rhythm and inertia,” a security system called KNOX that uses a “finger-detection mechanism” that will retract the blade if it detects a finger in the way of the blade and a human blood sensor that prevents the device from being used in violent situations.

Samsung has not officially said this is an April Fools’ joke, but if it is, they definitely put some thought into this one.

T-Mobile US’ contribution is the Pets Un-Leashed Plan.

In a press release, the major carrier branded itself the un-carrier for the day, proclaiming, “It’s true. The other wireless carriers hate their customers. But you know who they hate more? Their customers pets! They ignore them and treat them like they aren’t even part of the family.  That’s why today T-Mobile is launching Pets Un-Leashed, a revolutionary way to help yourentire family stay connected.”

The plan includes apps such as “Fetch Freedom,” an augmented reality version of fetch; “FitPet,” for pets to track and manage fitness goals (wheel not included) and “Pet Tinder,” “Where pets can swipe to find their ideal match (pets over 18 only in equivalent dog/cat/alpaca years).”

Amazon unleashed “Dash Buttons” that allow customers to re-order products immediately using buttons that you can stick all around the house.

Again, we are not sure if this is real, but folks on Twitter seem to be detecting deceits.

Ericsson and Russian telco MTS have partnered to trial 5G mobile network during global event

Russian mobile network operator Mobile TeleSystems and Swedish vendor Ericsson signed a cooperation agreement on the research and deployment of “5G” networks in Russia. The two companies plan to conduct network trials and develop technical requirements for the new telecommunications standard with the goal of conducting trials during the 2018 World Cup.

“Despite the fact that requirements for the network standard are only beginning to form, we believe it is of great importance to begin its development today by signing this agreement with Ericsson,” said MTS VP and CTO Andrey Ushatskiy. “In order for both sides to gain a comprehensive understanding of performance solutions for 5G networks in Russia by 2018, we plan to start testing our key vendor’s developments through a series of pilot projects on the MTS network next year.”

MTS and Ericsson agreed to implement a pilot project in LTE-Unlicensed/Licensed-Assisted Access that involves the use of the LTE radio interface in the unlicensed 5 GHz band together with Wi-Fi access points in 2016.

MTS and Ericsson also plan to deploy 5G pilot solutions using high-speed data transmission in the 15 GHz band in 2017 and construct the test area for the demonstration of 5G technology solutions during the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“By 2018, we plan to not only conduct research, but also test and implement key technologies that will improve MTS network performance and application coverage,” said Jeff Travers, head of customer unit at Ericsson Northern Europe and Central Asia.

Changing the way you think about stress can increase your chances of success

I’ve seen many business leaders and team members succumb to the pressures of stress as they try relentlessly to achieve their targets. They push to the limits and then crack. That doesn't do anyone any good, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Placing your teams under intense stress won’t magically result in high performance, and it could have negative impacts. However, getting things done to a tight deadline is often necessary, so it’s about getting the balance right. What is interesting is that well-managed stress can actually increase the performance of those it affects, enabling high performing teams to better achieve their targets. As a leader, it's about knowing how to best create this balance.

An interesting body of research I have been reading shows that stress, if managed well, has the ability to increase the performance of those it affects, as well, interestingly, as increasing life expectancy. This is in contrast to the established view that all stress in the workplace is negative. Going back to basics, the stress reaction is a result of being placed in a difficult or dangerous situation. It’s the "fight or flight" response in action, preparing the body and mind to be at their peak performance to deal with whatever is threatening. Physiological changes take place in the body to prime us to be at our best, putting our body and mind into top form. That should result in top performance if harnessed properly. The problem though is that we often perceive the stress reaction as a negative. It worries us, despite our physiology chemically changing to handle it well. The important concept here for leaders is to be able to recognise how to harness the body’s preparation to stress, to understand their own pressure points and those of their team and to be able to manage through this in the most effective way. If viewed with a positive attitude, the right level of pressure is very constructive to a team.

Recognise the pressure points

Different people have different tolerance levels and their ability to perform well under pressure will vary. Some of us thrive under pressure and deliver outstanding performance when we are part of mutually supportive high performing team. And some of us don’t.

Therefore, the starting point is to become aware of what your own tolerance to stress is - after all, you’ll do yourself and your team no favours if you are the first person to crack. You must also train yourself to be able to identify the same pressure points in your team members. They won't necessarily tell you or even know where their limits are. So leaders must learn to recognise the circumstances under which each member of their team may become negatively stressed, and have the foresight to react and intervene, before the pressure stops being constructive and starts impacting negatively on performance. Equally, your team must know that they can call on you for support, and the support of others, when meeting work challenges.

Change how you think about stress

It’s important to remember too that the majority of stress is subjective and very much under our control. We might not be able to change the circumstances we are in, but we can control the way we perceive those circumstances and react to them. If we think of stress in a negative context, then it becomes self-fulfilling and proves to be harmful. By rethinking your approach to stress, seeing it for what it is as a means of preparing yourself mentally and physically for a challenge, you can impact how effectively you deal with it. Try to think of your stress response as helpful to your performance at work, rather than harmful. Research shows that those who see stress in a positive light, see their body actually react differently to those who see it negatively. For example, the heart rate in both groups will increase, but our blood vessels dilate when we see stress as positive, allowing more oxygen to our muscles and brain. However, they constrict if we see the stress as a problem, cutting off the very fuel we need to function properly. So if you can change how you think about stress, biological changes will make you less anxious, less stressed out and more confident. As a leader, it is your job to help your teams get to this point. And if you have this mindset, it is far easier to instil the same way of thinking in your team.

A degree of stress in our work is a fact of life, but we can change the way we recognise it, think of it and act on it, in order to get the most out of ourselves and our teams. So next time you are putting together a team for a project, think about how you can positively position the pressure that team will be under from day one. That way you'll improve your chances of success and leave your team members with a few useful tips that hopefully make their own lives better.

Galvanise your online marketing strategy with these lesser-known ecommerce trends

So you’ve registered your business, formulated a financial plan and gone through all the other key steps to starting a business . What now? Yes, selling your products or services is the obvious answer, but how do you manage to do this in a way that breaks through the noise and clutter of the marketplace you operate in? By formulating an online marketing strategy, of course! To create a strategy that’s one step ahead of your competitors, you need to be au fait with the latest ecommerce trends. Ecommerce trends are so important that we haven’t been able to stop blogging about themhere and here.

In this blog we’ll take a look at four other ecommerce trends that you can incorporate into your marketing strategy to make you absolutely irresistible to your customers.

It’s all about a well-designed, professional looking website

How many times have you logged onto a business’ website – be that of a restaurant, bar, guesthouse or local shop – and been put off within seconds because the website is poorly designed, impossible to navigate or you can’t seem to find the information you’re looking for? It’s amazing how something that isn’t even tangible and sits somewhere out in the ether can make the difference between whether someone chooses to buy from you or not. Professional website design is crucial for encouraging potential leads to stick around on your website long enough to want to buy from you. It’s also true though, that if your product isn’t what your customer is after, no amount of professional website design is going to persuade them, but it is an integral starting point. Make sure you invest in a well-designed website, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend loads of money on a web designer. These days it’s possible to do it all yourself, via a decent and user-friendly online tool.

Offer your customers something they can’t get anywhere else

One of the reasons why staying on top of ecommerce trends is so important, is being able to differentiate your products and services from everyone else’s.YuppieChef, is an excellent example of a South African business doing ecommerce right. They send out a personalised thank you card after you’ve purchased something through their online shop and they also deliver for free. If you’re having trouble deciding which store to buy from, a feature like free delivery is bound to sway you. The same applies to visitors on your site. Once you’ve figured out how you can make your service offering even more special, don’t forget to advertise this clearly on your home page.

Local is lekker – especially when it comes to customers

The internet may have made the world smaller and its people more global, but the “local is lekker” notion is still an important part of online marketing. In the previous paragraph we discussed the importance of adding value to your products and services. If you design your marketing strategy with your local market in mind – give your customers in Joburg what they want, not what you think customers in the States want – then you’re sure to win the hearts of the people who are going to buy your products. The layout of your website and the style of your online store is also a big part of giving your local customers what they want. If you’re not entirely sure what that is, then ask them. Twitter and Facebook are perfect platforms to do this.

It’s all about integrating your website with your accounting software

Integrating your website and ecommerce store into your accounting software is one of the least talked about ecommerce trends. Accounting is a headache at the best of times – especially if you’re simultaneously trying to grapple with managing your online presence. What if there was a way to streamline both activities so you’d no longer have to manually update your books every time you made a sale through your online store?

With convenience, rapidity and usability some of the most important attributes of any online space, it’s not long before this ecommerce trend becomes more widespread among businesses wanting more sales, but less admin.

Very Graphic! Burnt Man Runs Out of Chickason Gas Plant Explosion in Anambra (Photos+Video)

A man luckily made it out of the gas explosion in the South-eastern part of Nigeria alive with severe skin burns.

This is life video account of Nnewi inferno at Chickason gas plant yesterday 24th of December. Reports have it that over 100 people were burnt to death and several properties worth millions of Naira were ruined by the inferno.

See more photos:

See video below:

Christmas: Ikpeazu Frees 20 Prisoners

IN the spirit of Christmas celebration, Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has ordered 20 serving prisoners in Abia State, who were convicted for offences ranging from stealing, armed robbery, conspiracy, intent to commit felony, advanced fee fraud, indecent assault, violence threat, among others, to be set free.

The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Umeh Kalu, who made this known, said the decision to free the prisoners, who were serving their terms in Aba, Umuahia, Port Harcourt and Enugu Prisons, was sequel to the recommendation of the state Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, which he chairs.

He, however, urged the beneficiaries to be law-abiding and collaborate with other Abians in the quest for a better future for the state and country.

Turkish Internet servers reeling under huge cyber attack

Nic.tr, a non-governmental organisation that administers addresses for websites using the "tr" domain in Turkey, says a cyber attack on the country's servers appears to be from "organised sources" abroad

Turkish Internet servers are suffering a powerful cyber attack, slowing banking services and fanning fears that it could be a politically motivated attack from abroad.

Nic.tr, a non-governmental organisation that administers addresses for websites using the "tr" domain, said Thursday that the attack appeared to be from "organised sources" outside Turkey.

The domain is used by websites belonging to Turkish ministries, commercial enterprises and banks.

Transport and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim called it a "serious" attack and asked an Ankara-based university to beef upsecurity measures, saying they were "insufficent".

Banking sources said the attack has seriously disrupted transactions.

Experts have been unable to identify the source of the attack.

Some newspapers said it could have originated in Russia, citing fraught bilateral relations since the downing by Turkey of a Russian fighter jet last month on the Syrian border.

According to local media, the Anonymous hacking group posted a message saying it would continue to attack Turkey for "supporting the Islamic State by buying their oil and tending to their injured fighters."

Chinese Students Create Electricity From A Spoonful Of Sugar

Welcome to the era of technology and science where the word impossible has no power. We have come a long way and there’s still a long way to go, however, with every passing hour it seems we are breaking new barriers and transforming dreams into reality. The concept of electricity isn’t foreign and the idea of renewable energy as well.

Meet a team of Chinese students that has managed to modify E. coli, Shewanella and B. subtilis bacteria to create a microbial fuel cell. When the bacteria is fed sugar, the fuel cell can generate about 80 hours of electrical output. It is more stable than wind and solar energy. It is also the first microbial fuel cell that has mixed various kinds of microbes.

The team belongs to Tianjin University and team adviser, Liu Yue said, “We hope to make the MFC much smaller with longer electrical output and a larger quantity of electricity, so that it can be one of the new energies of the future just like the lithium batteries that we normally use in our life.” The project has also been awarded the top genetic engineering prize in September 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGg3jKiqZ9o

FG To Reduce Petrol To N85 Per litre From January 1, 2016

The Federal Government would on January 1 next year reduce the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N85 per litre.
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu broke the news to journalists in the Port Hacourt Refinery Company (PHRC), where he spent Christmas inspecting the plant.
Asked when would the Federal Government release the new price template of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulation Agency (PPPRA), he said that he approved the new price for the agency on Thursday.
Pressed to reveal when the new price will become effective, Kachikwu, who is also the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said “like I said, we have done a modulation calculation and it is showing us below N87. I imagine that if PPPRA publishes it today, it will become effective immediately. But the 1st of January, that is when we are looking at.”
According to him, the new price is below the current N87 per litre and it would now convince Nigerians that the pricing modulation that the Federal Government promised to embark on a few days ago was not a trick.
He noted that following government’s analysis and research, it had been realized that the country can fluctuate the fuel market in accordance with the crude oil market fundamentals.
Justifying government’s reasons for scrapping the Petroleum Support Fund otherwise known as oil subsidy, Kachikwu explained that government can no longer afford to subsidize the product following the fraud that has attended its operation.
He added that it has become clear that government earnings are dipping on daily basis.
Source: Dailypost

Apps for Keeping New Year’s Resolutions

IT’S that special time of year again — a new year — where resolutions to celebrate the arrival of 2016 will be coming thick and fast. To prevent those promises from promptly being forgotten, many smartphone apps can help people stick to their new year’s goals of saving money, getting fit, losing weight and more.

One such app is a goal-tracking program called Strides, which is ideal for monitoring the progress in keeping to your resolutions. This elegantly designed app is flexible enough to help track multiple goals and it has built-in templates to help you meditate, save money, keep a journal and so on.

Whether you use a template or construct a goal by yourself, the app works the same way: You type in the goal’s name, enter data about your target (like a dollar value to save, or target weight to achieve), select a meaningful time scale, then set up regular alerts and reminders. The app will remind you when it’s time to act on one of your goals or log your progress.

Strides shows all of the goals on a dashboard with an at-a-glance indicator. To log your progress, tap the goal’s checkmark in the dashboard. Selecting the goal’s name takes you to a page that shows your historical progress, as well as statistics like the number of days you have kept up with your resolution and your percentage success rate so far. The app is free and is iOS only.

A similar Android equivalent is Goal Tracker by Mobillion. This app, with a minimalist style and an easy-to-use interface, also has the flexibility to track your progress on multiple resolutions. It is also free.

Coach.me is another goal-tracking and habit-forming app that’s free for both iOSand Android. The app has a social networking aspect that lets people share their progress toward goals with a community and earn praise, as well as being able to ask other users for advice. You can also use the app to find and hire a real-life coach to keep you motivated.

The app is popular, with a clean look, useful statistical feedback and built-in templates for different goals. Its makers have added an Apple Watch extension so you can get reminders or see progress on your wrist for convenience. I use this app on iOS, as Android app-store reviewers have criticized the app for being slow and not working well.

Learning a new language is a common new year’s resolution, and my favorite app for this task is Duolingo. This app can help people learn Spanish, French, Portuguese and a handful of other major languages. Its interface is cheerful. The app has motivational goals that help students progress through its levels. It’s free for iOS,Windows and Android users, but offers fewer languages on Android.

Tracking your finances is another common aim when a new year arrives, and the Level Money app may be useful. The app helps in calculating how much you can sensibly spend each day, tracks how you spent money in previous months, and predicts your bank balance and spending for the month ahead. It can connect directly with a number of banks to automatically pull in information on your balance. Level Money is free on iOS and Android.

If you’re planning on getting into shape next year, try the Human app. This free iOS appruns mainly in the background on your phone, automatically tracking and logging your exercise activity and prompting you to get up and do some mild activity if you’re behind your usual schedule. It has great graphics and is easy to use. Though the app is iOS-only, its makers say an Android edition is coming soon.

Lastly, keeping a gratitude journal is both a great new year resolution and a useful way to keep your spirits up during any dark winter days. The Bliss Gratitude Journal app is a free and user-friendly Android appfor this purpose. On iOS, there’s a $5 app called Day One that works either as a general journal app or as a gratitude journal.

Quick Call

Post is a new app from Adobe that, according to its makers, can help quickly combine photos and text to “create stunning graphics.” The app has many templates and fonts so people can really personalize their images. If you’re the type of person who likes annotating images with text and sharing them on Instagram, this is the app for you. Post is free on iOS.

Christ the reason for the season.

I hope life treats you kind
& I hope you have all you ever dreamed of.
I wish you joy, happiness, peace and prosperity but above all, I wish u love this Christmas. May this holiday season sparkle and shine, may all of your wishes and dreams come true, and may you feel this happiness all year round. Here's wishing you, your family and friends a very Merry Christmas... Celebrate Jesus Christ. He is the reason for the season!.

Nigerians criticize minister for saying Boko Haram war has been won

Mohammed made the comment on Wednesday, December 24, 2015, during his meeting with editorial heads of media houses in Lagos.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has been criticized for saying that the Nigerian military has met the December deadline to defeat Boko Haram.
Mohammed made the comment on Wednesday, December 24, 2015, during his meeting with editorial heads of media houses in Lagos.
The deadline was given by President Muhammadu Buhari to Nigeria's new service chiefs in August.

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)

The Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) is a certification issued by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). The purpose of the certification is to assist employers in hiring auditors who are skilled in measuring and assessing IT controls by affirming that a candidate possesses a baseline set of auditing skills. In order to receive the certification, applicants must pass an examination that includes sections on the following topics, among others:

Download Your Guide to the ISACA CISM Certification

Take a closer look at the ISACA Certified Information Security Manager certification, including the value it provides security professionals, how it compares to other security professionals, and what the CSX program offers

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• auditing practices and techniques
• gathering and preserving evidence in forensic investigations
• control objectives and reporting techniques

Before an applicant is allowed to sit for the exam, he or she must already have a minimum of five years experience in one of six information systems of expertise, as well as be willing to sign and comply with ISACA's Code of Professional Ethics.

The six areas of expertise are:

• Information Systems (IS) audit process
• IT Governance
• Systems and Infrastructure Lifecycle Management
• IT Service Delivery and Support
• Protection of Information Assets
• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

If the candidate has enough related experience, passes the exam and signs the code, he or she will receive the certification; maintenance of the certification, however, requires that practitioners gain Continuing Professional Education credits so that their skills remain relevant to their field.

For Parental Controls, iPhones Beat Androids

CHILDREN who were on the “nice” list this year may soon unwrap smartphones as holiday gifts. But parents may be wary of the naughty things that children can do with the devices — and with good reason.

Take the recent revelation at a Colorado high school of students’ widespread use of vault apps, which are phone apps with sexting capabilities that disguise themselves as calculator programs and other mundane tools. Other parents have complained that their children rack up exorbitant charges on their credit cards by buying goodies, such as extra game characters or poker chips, inside mobile games that were downloaded free.

“You’re giving your kid a lot of power when you hand them a smartphone, and kids’ digital savvy often outstrips their judgment,” said Caroline Knorr, the parenting editor of Common Sense Media, which evaluates content and products for families.

The scope of the issues is only growing. Astudy published in 2014 of seventh-graders found that 22 percent admitted to sexting. The availability of so-called freemium apps, which are free to download but include their own ministores to buy goods, dominate the Google and Apple app stores. Between 2012 and 2013, money spent inside freemium apps grew 211 percent, according to theresearch firms App Annie and IDC.

With all that in mind, I recently put the parental controls of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating systems through rigorous testing. I came up with a few common hypothetical situations for parents: 1) preventing a child from viewing adult content on a web browser; 2) preventing a child from deleting apps on your own phone; 3) monitoring for vault apps; 4) blocking exorbitant in-app purchases; and 5) preventing a child from burning through your cellular data plan.

The bottom line from my tests: While it may be tempting to save money by buying cheaper Android devices for children, parents who want tight control over their children’s activities on smartphones will be better off buying iPhones for the family. Apple’s parental controls were detailed and took a while to set up, but they accomplished all of the restrictions that I wanted. The Android system was sorely lacking in features for regulating minors and only offered incomplete solutions for a small number of restrictions.

“We want every customer, young and old, to have a positive and safe experience online with our products,” Apple said in a statement. “That’s why we’ve built parental controls into iOS devices, Apple TV and Macs, so parents have easy-to-use tools that protect their children online.”

Alphabet’s Google declined to comment.

The heart of the iPhone’s parental controls is a feature called Family Sharing. Setting it up involves designating a parent’s iTunes account as the primary credit card holder. The parent can invite multiple Apple accounts to join the group, letting family members make purchases from the same credit card and share content purchases with one another. In other words, if you buy an app on one phone, other members of the family can also use that app without having to pay for it again.

A key part of Family Sharing is a feature called Ask to Buy. With the feature enabled, whenever a child tries to download an app or make a purchase inside an app, the parent’s iPhone receives a notification and a detailed description of the content. The parent can then choose to allow or deny the purchase.

It took me about 20 minutes to set up multiple Apple devices with Family Sharing. But from then on, it was smooth sailing; trying to purchase content inside an iPadgame triggered the Ask to Buy feature on my iPhone with a description of the game content. The feature should come in handy for parents who don’t want their children to rack up hefty credit card bills with in-app purchases. It should also help parents who are concerned about so-called vault apps and want to vet the apps their children are downloading.

Inside the iPhone’s settings app, there is also a setting called Restrictions. It’s basically a switchboard full of features you can enable or disable on an iPhone. On a child’s iPhone, you can restrict the Safari browser from loading websites with adult content. For parents who occasionally hand over their own phone to a child to play a game, you can create a restriction on your phone that disables the ability to delete apps to minimize the risk of losing important content.

Another common headache for parents: Children who unwittingly burn through the data on a phone plan by constantly streaming video or music over a cellular connection. In the iPhone’s settings, you can disable apps like Netflix or Apple Music from using cellular content. Then in the iPhone’s restriction settings, you can block the ability to re-enable cellular data use for those apps.

The Android system, on the other hand, could only accomplish a few family-related tasks, and in imperfect ways: It could restrict children from downloading apps and other content at certain maturity levels, and it also was able to partly prevent a child from downloading in-app content byrequiring authentication, like a password, for making purchases.

Android lacks features for blocking adult content inside web browsers or vetting vault apps. There are some limited solutions: Google’s search engine can be set up with a feature called SafeSearch to prevent web searches for adult content. Some apps, like YouTube, can also be configured to filter out inappropriate content.

Similarly, the system also lacks the ability to disable cellular data use for certain apps, though one restriction in YouTube lets you stream high-definition video only over a Wi-Fi connection. Still, that won’t do much to prevent a child from using all your cell data.

Android users can also download third-party apps to help prevent certain activities. The app AppLock, for instance, can be used to lock down any app that a parent suspects to be a vault app with a PIN code. Another piece of software called PhoneSheriff can be used to monitor and block activities on multiple cellphones; it costs a hefty $90.

Over all, the lack of built-in restrictions for Android suggested that parental controls are an afterthought for Google.

Ms. Knorr of Common Sense Media said Google lagged Apple on parental controls, probably because of the open-source nature of Android. Google lets device manufacturers install Android on their phones and customize the system to their liking, like adding their own parental control settings.

Though Apple’s childproofing solutions are thorough, technology alone cannot solve all our problems, Ms. Knorr said. She encouraged parents to use phone restrictions to have a conversation with their children about what is right and wrong, and to help them earn privileges to different features when they prove they understand.

“Turning everything off and constantly being the Internet police is not going to really be a great position for your kid because they’re going to need to be able to independently manage their own time, what they download and all that stuff,” she said.

Kobe Bryant's top five player list is telling, and righteous.

Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Clyde Drexler.

“I have to — players is a little tougher for me because I came in the league where there were so many great players playing like John Stockton was still playing; Clyde Drexler was still playing. Gary Payton, Anfernee — I mean it was a lot of — so the top five players is a little tough for me.”

Just how “tough,” though, were Kobe’s go-rounds with the players listed? Considering he mentioned players who were infants during the Kennedy, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush administrations, it’s quite a wide swatch – a testimonial to Bryant’s longevity. Let’s take a look, as Bryant sets to retire, of the nights where these five roughed Kobe’s Lakers up the worst.

Hakeem Olajuwon: November 12, 1996

Kobe was just a pup in this one, playing only five minutes in what turned out to be a 58-minute, double overtime game. It was just his second week as a pro, and in a weird bit of foreshadowing, the 19-year old lost out on potential development minutes as Byron Scott played 40 minutes off of the Los Angeles bench.

Hakeem may not have even been the best Houston Rocket on the night, as new addition Charles Barkley led the Rockets with 33 points. The 33-year old played all 58 minutes in the loss, adding 16 rebounds, five assists, and three assists. Olajuwon, in his best game against a Laker team with Kobe on it, contributed 31 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and just one turnover (Barkley had seven) in 32 minutes.

Clyde Drexler missed eight of nine shots on the night.

(Kobe chose Clyde over Duncan, KG, and D-Wade!)

Clyde Drexler: December 12, 1997

Bryant, now in his second season, was now outplaying future Hall of Famers like Clyde while coming off of the bench. This is part of the reason he was voted into that year’s All-Star Game as a starter despite only starting once in 79 Laker appearances that year. In just 26 minutes, Bryant gave Houston 27 points on just 15 shots with only one turnover and five rebounds.

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Drexler had a great game – 21 points 8-16 shooting, six assists and five rebounds with just a single turnover – and it was hardly a pedestrian outing even considering his career marks. Still, this was in the season that Charles Barkley chided Clyde for taking his time in coming back from a hamstring pull (“people have come back from heart attacks quicker that Clyde has”), and despite Drexler’s brilliant career you have to wonder why he got the nod over so many other players.

It could have been gamesmanship. Or it could just be that Clyde Drexler, a shooting guard with myriad all-around skills, showed Bryant a thing or two despite not burning up the ledger with white hot stats.

Kevin Durant: December 7, 2012

This was Kobe in a weird place.

The Lakers were considered championship contenders entering 2012-13, but coach Mike Brown decided to run the Princeton offense for some reason, the team decided not to re-hire Phil Jackson as coach for some reason after Brown was let go, and Bryant decided to assert his unconventional on and off-court leadership skills on new teammates Steve Nash and Dwight Howard for, well, Kobe Reasons.

During this spell the Lakers rallied somewhat to improve upon an early-season swoon, but this loss to the Thunder left them having lost 11 of the team’s first 20 games. Bryant did well to score 35 points on just 24 shots, with seven assists, three steals and two blocks, but the Thunder (who won 114-108) were just the better team.

And Durant, at this point, was just the better player on the better, more cohesive team. He scored 36 points on 8-19 shooting, with nine rebounds and four assists. The Thunder, coming off the Oklahoma City franchise’s lone Finals appearance thus far, ably held the Lakers at arm’s length.

LeBron James: December 25, 2010

This is a tough one. James has never played Kobe more than twice in a season, they’ve never met in the playoffs, and yet their career overlaps more than any other player on Bryant’s all-time list. And, you may have noticed in the years since 2003: LeBron James is really good at basketball! Even against Kobe’s Lakers!

LeBron has scored more points than the 27 he cobbled together against the Lakers during this Christmas day game, but the 10 boards, 11 assists and four steals sent this thing through the roof. He turned the ball over just once in 38 minutes as his Miami Heat downed the defending champion Lakers by 16.

The Heat didn’t win the championship this year, but this needed bit of scent-throwing boded well for Miami – a team that struggled to start the season. Suddenly, Kobe’s Lakers (Bryant missed 10 of 16 shots) looked a little long in the tooth. In front of a national TV audience, no less.

Michael Jordan: December 17, 1997

Kobe Bryant didn’t exactly need any in-person insight to learn about Jordan’s exploits, not with all those VHS tapes filling up his bedroom, but this contest actually provided literal in-game help that would enhance Bryant’s already formidable game. Midway through the third quarter, with MJ’s Bulls running away with what would eventually become a 19-point win, Bryant caught up with Jordan just before he sat for a night to ask him about the footwork needed to stay a potent low or mid-post scorer.

Jordan was no doubt aware that he was passing the torch, but this short back and forth was likely far more influential than the first-hand sighting of MJ’s 36 points.

Was the lack of recognition for Duncan, Garnett or D-Wade a thought-out swipe? Possibly. It’s also hard to think of these things on the fly, when you know you’re on the record, even for someone as media-savvy as Kobe Bryant. We have to remember that Kobe also wasn’t asked to bring up his all-time favorite players, or his top-five stars from 1996 onward, or personal dream team.

Just the most impressive five. Jordan will tell you how tough Jeff Malone was to guard, and how hard it was to get a shot off over Doug Christie. Scores of Hall of Fame big men will talk up both Caldwell and Charles Jones, and hating to bang against them. Rickey Green still has some NBA team’s head coach shaking their head. He’s only played him once, but Justice Winslow will probably have Kevin Durant muttering in his sleep sometime in 2045.

So let Kobe have his five. He’s earned it.