“We already have 220 partners in Lagos, but we are soon expanding to Abuja and beyond. We want to be the universal food service for all Nigerians,” said Managing Director, Joe Falter. “We want to be the first place Nigerians think of when they need food: whether it’s for them at work, for their families at home, or to cater an event.”

To be that “first place Nigerians think of” of course, you’d need to go mobile because that’s where most of us are. So they’ve just launched Android and iPhone apps that bring the already convenient service to you on-the-go.

HelloFood is service from FoodPanda that has similar services in Europe, Asia and countries like Ghana, Kenya and Ivory Coast in Africa.

Now on to the good stuff: Put in “TNTT readers” at checkout and get ₦500 off your order. Again, you’re welcome.

What do you think about the service?

TaxiPark co-founders Rodney Jackson-Cole and Ugochi Ugbomeh have launched a new Taxi booking and place discovery service – Tranzit.

Tranzit retains the original business model of TaxiPark – booking and paying for Taxis, but encourages users to discover new places and things to do around them.

The service will be live for Nigerians on the 1st of August while currently running TaxiPark will be shut down.

We haven’t been given a reason for the closure of TaxiPark but industry sources say the co-founders had a conflict of interest as well as an unbalanced share structure. Rodney cites legal lessons he has learnt in an interview with cp-africa.

Here’s a video explaining the concept of Tranzit.

We’re also not sure what the third co-founder Timi Omai is up to and we’ve reached him for comments.

Tranzit is going to face stiff competition from Rocket’s EasyTaxi. Irokotv Founder Jason Njoku says in a blog post that Rocket and Spark offered to acquire TaxiPark earlier this year. Rodney confirms this in his cp-africa interview where he also says that Tranzit has gone through a first round of funding and will be raising more money soon.

What do you think about Tranzit and EasyTaxi? If you’ve used TaxiPark in the past, tell us how the service was. We hear it was great.

Gaming startup, Kuluya, has launched a new version of its website. The website still retains its popular games but the new twist comes with tokens, challenges and tournaments.

Kuluya now allows its users sign in via Facebook or email and get tokens for playing games. The number of tokens you get for playing each game differs based on your rank of Chairman, Expert, Intermediate, Learner or Newcomer. Chairman is as high as you can go. To increase your rank you have to increase your skill level at any of the games. Regular games are free to play.

Tokens

Each user starts with 500 tokens. Tokens are then deducted when a user enters a Tournament or Challenge. A token is equivalent to 1 Naira. You can buy Tokens via the website and win tokens by winning Challenges and Tournaments.

Challenges

A Challenge is effective when one user invites another user via his User ID or email address. Both users agree on how many tokens are at stake for the game and they play for it. Tokens are deducted transferred to your opponent if you lose. You’ll get notifications as soon as another user challenges you.

Tournaments

A Tournament on the other hand takes place with a random player in your skill level or rank on a particular game. You stake a recommended amount of token and winner takes all. You’ll be charged 100 tokens for taking part in a tournament.

Cash Winnings

After playing regular games, tournaments and challenges, you can decide to withdraw from your Kuluya account. Kuluya currently supports Interswitch cards so if your bank/service uses the Verve platform, you can withdraw into that account. Kuluya charges a transfer fee of N100 and you must have N1,000 left in your Kuluya account after withdrawal.

For more information, checkout this help page from Kuluya and the video below.

We’ve noticed that Kuluya has stopped running ads on its pages. This means they’re seriously banking on the idea that people won’t mind paying to play challenges and tournaments. They’ve recently raised more money and are now worth $2 million so they’ll have to get their monetisation strategy right before the investors start knocking.

What do you think about the new Kuluya? Please leave a comment.

If you were at Mobile Web West Africa last year, you would agree that it was one of the best tech conferences in Nigeria of the year. With top notch speakers and a wonderful venue, we learnt so much about the industry.

This year, All Amber, the organisers of Mobile Web West Africa, have added an extra day to the event. The event, will hold at Four Points by Sheraton, V.I and  run from the May 7 – May 10, 2013. The 7th is for a special Mobile Marketing West Africa Focus Day, while the main conference is split between the 8th and 9th. On the 10th is an invite-only App Developer Day hosted by Qualcomm.

Speakers this year include Elo Umeh, CEO of mobile advertising network Twinpine, Vytas Pauktas, CEO of fast-growing social network Eskimi and Michael Ugwu, CEO of music streaming and download service, iROKING. Here’s the full list of speakers.

Like last year, the seating arrangement is going to be in a roundtable format. Instead of everyone sitting as a usual audience and being lectured, MWWA will have a roundtable format so that presentations can fuel discussions and interactions.

Still not sure about attending Mobile Web West Africa this year? Checkout what everyone is saying about the last two sessions here.

Click this link to view different pricing plans for the event and register. You want to do that quick because there are only 165 seats available.

Hey, we might be there so watch out for us!

Nokia has launched a traffic tracking app for Lagos in conjunction with Gidi Traffic. The app pulls tweets from the @Gidi_Traffic and shows them on applicable Lagos roads.

Here’s the catch: the app is only available to Nokia phone users. Duuh.

Don’t fret yet. If you’re on a non-Nokia phone or on desktop browser , you can view mapped Gidi Traffic and Traffic Butter(stop jacking Gidi Traffic mentions guys) tweets on LGTNigeria.

For Nokia, that’s another reason to get one of their phones. Other crowdsourcesd traffic apps like Traffikator and Road Peer don’t have enough traction for users to get most recent updates. If you get any update at all.

Earlier this year, Gidi Traffic was nominated for a Shorty Award in the life-saving hero category and later won a Future Award for the Best Use of New Media.

We’re really hoping however, that all the questions people usually ask Google, won’t show up in traffic reports.

The first time we saw TaxiPark in March, it was a simple app that let you find cab providers within Lagos and call them. Interactive Shack  then added cab companies in Abuja and mapped directions if you needed. A BlackBerry app was also launched.

In this new iteration of TaxiPark, iShack will allow you do the ultimate task. You will finally be able to book a cab in Lagos via the internet from December 20th.

We’ve been given priority access and we’ll take you through simple steps in booking your cab via TaxiPark when it launches. You can signup on TaxiPark’s website to get a notification when the service launches.

From the landing page, TaxiPark asks for your phone number and email address.

Hitting the continue button leads you to a page where you can allow TaxiPark find your location automatically or you can type your pickup location manually. You then select a drop-off location, pickup day and time and select a cab company. TaxiPark currently has only one option of Metro Taxi for Lagos but they’re looking to add new companies soon. For return trips, you simply tick the button and hit “Book Ride”

After hitting the “Book Ride” button, you’re taken to a page that shows distance  and cost estimates as well as a map for directions. For example a return trip from Massey Street in Surulere to The Palms, Lekki will cost N5,594.  A trip from Co-creation, Yaba hub to the Muson Centre, Onikan costs about N1,200. The page also states that you may be charged for traffic delays. Remember we’re in Lagos and traffic is its synonym.

You can then accept the booking or negotiate the cost by hitting the “Get Exact Cost” button. The cab company will then call you and negotiate the fare. If you’re not satisfied with the cab company’s estimates, you can then cancel the request and try again.

TaxiPark’s booking service is currently only available via its website and Interactive Shack says they’re working towards mobile apps. If you’re on a mobile phone however, the website can still find your location and scale to fit your device’s screen.

How does TaxiPark make money? They sell credits to cab companies at N35 per booking and offer N4,900 per taxi per month for a cloud service that runs fleet management, taxi dispatch and web and mobile booking. Your taxi company can get on board here.

The major issue here is how long it will take a cab to reach you. For cab orders for the future, there should be no problem of arrival time but for immediate orders, the website currently doesn’t state how long it will take cabs to reach.

What do you think about this service? Will you use it?

You know how we keep complaining about how there isn’t enough “local content” out there? Maker Faire Africa’s aim is to sharpen focus on locally generated, bottom-up prototypes of technologies that solve immediate challenges to development.

Maker Faire Africa creates a space where innovations, inventions and initiatives relating to and solving African problems are showcased, supported and propagated. The first Maker Faire Africa was in Ghana in 2009. The second phase was held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2010, and the third in Cairo in 2011.

If you’re good with robots or you’ve built a small transistor radio, Maker Faire Africa is the place to showcase your talent and meet other makers. There is no cost to apply as exhibiting your project is free. Apply here.

Maker Faire Africa will hold in Lagos at the LTV Blue Roof on the 5th and 6th of November. Applications will close on the 15th of October.

Just so you get what Maker Faire Africa”s about, here’s a video from Maker Faire Africa 2010

Maker Faire Africa 2010 from Taylor Martyn on Vimeo.

The fair isn’t open only to geeks. If you’re brilliant with design, arts and crafts you can also apply to showcase your products.

Maker Faire Africa was founded by Mark Grimes (Ned.com) along with Emeka Okafor (TED Africa), Lars Hassleblad Torress (IDEAS Global Challenge), Erik Hersman (Afrigadget) and Nii Simmonds (Nubian Cheetah).

I so love it when people solve needs I have. You know all those times when you’re stuck on the road and you need to get a cab and you can’t remember the phone number of one of those private cab companies in Lagos? TaxiPark solves that problem.

Available on the web, mobile and for download on Android and iOS (they’re awaiting approval for a BlackBerry app), TaxiPark allows its users find cabs within local governments in Lagos State. It currently lists the names of drivers, codes and numbers of MetroCab drivers. It hopes to list other private cab services soon.

To use the app all you have to do is select a cab service provider, then select/search your location and pick one of the cab drivers available in your Area. Don’t forget to call them o!

Here are a few screenshots of the service

TaxiPark was developed by “Interactive Shark” a team of Ugochi Ugbomeh (C.T.O), Timi Omai (C.F.O), Adejola Adeyeye (C.O.O) and Babatunde Folorunso (Marketing guru for TaxiPark).

Founder/CEO of Interactive Shark, Rodney Jackson-Cole  says they were brainstorming for ideas last year when CTO and only female, Ugochi Ugbomeh suggested they build a taxi app like the many apps in the UK where she lives. They made a mock app and showed it to MetroTaxi who totally loved the idea. They then launched the first build in February.

Jackson-Cole says the next version of TaxiPark will include cool new features like GPS tracking and proximity alerts.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Source: TechLoy