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Education for all in Sri Lanka:

Mobitel launches 1GOAL

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, launched 1GOAL, ‘Education for All’, the global project aimed at ensuring that every child in the world has access to a formal education by the year 2015.

At present, 72 million children worldwide are denied the opportunity to go to school due to various social, economic, cultural and political reasons.

An estimated $16 billion a year is needed to make the dream of universal education a reality, but currently only $4 billion is spent on primary education and 1GOAL is calling for further funding from both rich and developing countries to get every child in to a classroom.

The 1Goal Mobile Campaign, the largest cause related campaign ever, is being coordinated by the GSMA, which represents the global mobile industry. It has seen mobile companies from across the globe come together to offer more than 1.5 billion people an opportunity to show their support for this campaign with over one billion text messages to be sent out to people in the coming weeks. Mobitel, as the official partner of 1GOAL in Sri Lanka is hoping to gather the support of its subscriber base for this worthy cause through an integrated promotional campaign to be carried out in conjunction with the FIFA Football World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

The Sri Lankan National Cricket Team has already pledged its fullest support to Mobitel for this campaign while internationally 1GOAL is being supported by more than 140 of the biggest names in football including Zinedine Zidane, in addition to entertainment icons such as Shakira, Bono of U2 fame, and Hollywood stars Jessica Alba and Kevin Spacey.

LG unveils world’s first LED 3D TV

LG Electronics of Korea, has unveiled the world’s first LED 3D Television.

The LG LX9500 LED 3D TV, a part of LG’s INFINIA 3D line, is illuminated by innovative panels of LEDs directly behind the screen for local dimming, with the 55-inch model having 1,200 of the semiconductor light sources. The LEDs help the TV to achieve a mammoth 10,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio while sporting an ultra-thin 22.3mm (less than one-inch) deep body with a stylish 16mm super-narrow bezel.

This TV also features full HD 1080p, TruMotion 400Hz (480Hz), NetCast Support, Wireless AV Link and HDMI 1.4 amongst many other high tec features. Video Calling using Skype is also possible with an optional video camera. The unit is DLNA ready with an optional DLNA dongle. The LG LX9500 is unmatched when it comes to viewing pleasure. The set up uses active shutter glasses that can be recharged via USB for upto 40 hours of uninterrupted viewing.

This TV can also play HD DivX, MP3, JPEG play and MPO files through its USB port. The low profile bezel hides the units 10W + 10W + 5W “Invisible Speakers”. The set also includes LG’s Clear Voice ii technology to help clean up and present crisp and clear dialogue.

The 47-inch and 55-inch versions of the LG LX9500 has been launched in Korea and will be available in North America, Europe and other key markets by May 2010.

The preamble to LG’s innovative LED 3D TV is the 42-inch LED “Borderless” TV which was launched by Abans recently. This state-of-the-art LED TV has a contrast ratio of 3,000,000 : 1 and is 1.9cm in width.

It has full HD 1080p and its innovative fluorescent blacklight provides unmatched image clarity, soothing to the viewing eye and helps to conserve electricity usage.

Forbes and Walker introduces Tea Plucker

Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers (Pvt) Ltd, held its annual awards night at the Waters Edge in Colombo recently. F and W felicitates its clients who achieved national or international recognition for their teas. The criteria for awards usually are the National Gross Sale Average (GSA), Most Number of Top Prices, Record Prices by grade and GSA ranking by Sub Districts.

The highlight at this event was the launching of the ‘F and W Tea Plucker’. This piece of equipment could be the answer to many plantations, estates and smallholders problems where labour shortages result in delayed plucking rounds and poor productivity.

The machine was invented in 2008 by Hunag Feng and was patented in China by him for a period of 10 years. In Sri Lanka the F and W Tea Plucker is licensed for sale only by Forbes & Walker. The local maintenance and spares are all carried out with the F&W guarantee.

This light weight machine can be operated single handed and on any terrain. It operates on a rechargeable battery which fits into a firm back pack. The rotating blades are of high density plastic and ensure the damage to the leaf is minimal. The steel cutting edges are fixed and facilitates a high degree of selective plucking. The harvesting bag which trails the machine can hold up to three to five kg of green leaf and could be filled in less than half an hour.

Emerald launches ‘I DO’

Emerald International, through research and development of trends and fashion colours of modern day Sri Lankan weddings, have launched a superior wedding collection named ‘I DO’.

With a choice of an array of 30 different hues to choose from, this collection is made of specially developed colours in elegant and rich fabrics for the discerning Sri Lankan Grooms and Bestmen.

The ‘I DO’ collection includes shirts with a touch of sheen for bolder personalities and matt/wrinkle free quality for the conventional, and are reasonably priced.

NCC offers Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Business IT

Originally part of the National Computing Centre, NCC Education Centre started offering IT qualifications in 1976 and from 2003 developed its higher education portfolio to include foundation and business programs, with accredited partner centres in over 45 countries. Five international offices and academic managers worldwide, NCC education employees the latest technologies for learning, assessment and support.

NCC education qualification range from ICT for schools to the international degree pathway in business or IT. NCC programs are recognized by universities, professional bodies and employers. Learner upgrades their skills on NCC professional development modular programs or completes their university degree and master in their home country or in the UK.

The NCC Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Business IT is designed for IT and Computer graduates or IT Practitioners who wish to further develop their careers leading to MSc in Strategic Business IT awarded by University of Hertfordshire, UK. The program covers a wide range of contemporary issues and develops the critical, analytical and technical skills needed by the senior staff. This program will also develop the academic skills required to further study at master’s level.

Assessment for all modules will be offered in four assessment cycles each year. Therefore students have ample time to go through each module and submit their assignments and course work accordingly. Singapore Informatics is hoping to introduce many more of these innovative programs here in Sri Lanka in order to develop the IT knowledge base in Sri Lanka bridging the gap between us and the world.

Singapore Informatics has tied-up with NDB Bank, with the joint vision of empowering Sri Lankan youth to be globally competitive; helping them achieve their lives’ ambitions. NDB Bank understands that paying for a globally competitive higher education is a significant investment in terms of financial resources and time spent but that it is also a lifetime investment.

That is why NDB Bank offers educational loans to overcome financial obstacles. Educational loans from NDB Bank are designed specially for local and foreign educational needs: and can be taken by the parents on behalf of their children or by potential students who are employed. A parent or potential student can also apply for a joints loan, giving them further flexibility. Mortgage backed education loans can be obtained up to Rs. 4.5 million and can be taken with a repayment period of up to seven years. NDB Bank will provide hassle free solutions with no guarantors required. Furthermore, tailor-made solutions are offered in line with the repayment capacity with ‘at-your-doorstep’ service.

Expolanka Holdings Group observes Earth Hour

Some 2665 employees of the eighteen companies of Expolanka Holdings Group came together to join millions around the world to observe earth hour. An initiative by the Expolanka Green Team appointed to coordinate the “save the planet” initiative to create awareness of the global need to protect mother earth. Earth Hour, a global climate change initiative led by the World Wildlife Fund, is an event during which millions of people worldwide switch off their lights for one hour as a symbolic call to action on the issue of climate change.

CEO Hanif Yusoof said “we will join hundreds of millions of concerned citizens and corporate houses throughout the world calling for action to save our planet for future generations by turning out non essential lighting at our business and localities for one hour from 8.30 pm.”

In 2008 more than 50 million people in 400 cities around the world took part as lights were dimmed at Sydney’s Opera House, Rome’s Colloseum and the Empire State building in New York. Even the Google Home Page went dark for one hour. In 2009, 4000 cities in 88 countries participated in making Earth Hour the largest global climate change initiative.

The efforts of the Expolanka Green team enabled Sri Lanka to officially participate this year. The initiative was driven throughout Expolanka group by the Expolanka Green Team, dedicated to carry out green initiatives within the group. Expo Green Team also managed to get Sri Lanka as an officially participating country in Earth Hour 2010, for the first time, by obtaining official support from the Sri Lanka Government through the Environmental Ministry. These initiatives subsequently led to the Green Team being appointed as Country Coordinators for the event in Sri Lanka by the WWF Earth Hour Global Organizing Committee.