I’ve just settled in to watch a ripped Blu-ray copy of The Adventures of Tintin. The first though that crossed my mind is that the film has not been paid for, and as such I am getting my entertainment off stolen goods. Technically, most people wouldn’t regard it as stolen, especially as the copy I’m currently watching was obtained from a friend, who also obtained from another friend, who actually downloaded it from a file-sharing website.

I should pay for the movies I watch! That covers the why-should-I portion of the problem, but how should I go about making this payment?

Most e-commerce websites that accept cards have deemed it fit, based on their myopic understanding of the risks of online fraud, to bar Nigerians from making online purchases using their well-known certified VISA and MasterCard Debit/Credit Cards. Sadly, they share this abhorrent umbrella rule that categorizes all Nigerians as online fraudsters. There are some very few websites that have made exceptions to this rule. Now, even if one’s card is accepted and billed, there is another ridiculous rule that most e-commerce websites have that rules out any product shipment to addresses in Nigeria. Lame!

There are more online discriminations against Nigerians than I can mention in this blog post, so I’ll simply focus on the free lunch I’m about to have.

Now, that said, I really do wish to purchase this film from any legit source, online or off-shelf. The problem is, I can’t. As such I’ll rid myself of any guilt towards my action of consuming pirated films, and go ahead and enjoy my Stephen Spielberg movie.

What is that? You think I’m despicable and criminal? I challenge you to give me a convenient way to purchase such type of products (films) from here in Nigeria, and I will oblige.

In my opinion, the problem of piracy in third-world countries can be curbed if special payment plans are introduced for users, making it possible for people like us (Nigerians) to easily purchase items, especially media content, online. Based on common statistics, there is a growing population of internet users in Nigeria. It will be shame if the power of this crowed is not harnessed into revenue.

It’s been 15 minutes since I started this little rant; I should get back to my movie. Ciao.

RT @ogundamisi: 4GET Nigeria! Read Interesting News: MAN dies after RATS gnaw his PENIS off http://t.co/5vSRxiFf

Any fireworks show in Abuja this new year?

The pleasures of being pushed around on a wheelchair.

RT @haacked: Instead of a .gitignore and a .hgignore, wouldn’t it be nice to have just a .ignore file?

RT @Sirupsen: The truth about new software projects. http://t.co/33vBX2sH

I have tirelessly tried to upgrade my iPhone 4 since the release of the iOS 5 operating system. The OS update is a whooping 790.7MB which is reasonable considering the features it packs.

For those of us that live in Africa, we typically have slow and epilleptic internet connections. Don’t get me started about power outages. At best I get a 1.5Mbps with my current internet plan.

Granted that most of Apple’s customers are based in more advanced countries, you will think that a company with a reputation for well-engineered products will consider people like us. How difficult can it be for the Apple team to implement resumable downloads? Alternatively, they should provide file downloads directly from their website.

So far, I have used up 5 attempts to update to iOS5. I wish I could give up and stick to what I have, but the geek in me wouldn’t let me. My hope is that someone in Apple will read this and consider this when updating iTunes with its next feature-set. For now, for all the pains you’ve caused me, from the bottom of my heart: Fcuk you Apple!

#nw Flypaper

RT @Pete_Brown: Facebook has a nasty habit of introducing features, making a big deal of them, then hiding the way to activate them.