February 2008 - KICTANet

Fourth Undersea Cable cut in Middle East as Egypt Rules out damage by ships
by brian 04 Feb '08

04 Feb '08

Oh my, this is beginning to look rather serious. Is there any doubt now that there are some strange forces at work? Brian ----------------------------- Via: AFP: Ships are not responsible for damaging undersea internet cables in the Mediterranean, Egypt’s Government says. Two cables were damaged earlier this week in the Mediterranean sea and another off the coast of Dubai, causing widespread disruption to internet and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia. A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said. Egypt’s transport ministry said footage recorded by onshore video cameras of the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the cables were damaged. “The ministry’s maritime transport committee reviewed footage covering the period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after the cables were cut and no ships sailed the area,” a statement said. “The area is also marked on maps as a no-go zone and it is therefore ruled out that the damage to the cables was caused by ships.” Earlier reports said that the damage had been caused by ships that had been diverted off their usual route because of bad weather. A repair ship is expected to begin work to fix the two Mediterranean cables on Tuesday.

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Kenya ICT Board launches Public Panels (1 attachment)
by Al Kags 04 Feb '08

04 Feb '08

The Kenya ICT Board yesterday launched the ICT Public Panels, which are special stakeholder forums that are designed to enable the private sector to collaborate with the government through the board to develop Kenya's ICT agenda. Speaking at the Kenya ICT Federation's "State of the Industry" luncheon, the CEO of the Kenya ICT Board, Mr. Paul Kukubo flanked by his two deputy CEOs, Mr. Victor Kyalo (Infrastructure and Programmes) and Ms. Eunice M. Kariuki (Marketing), presented the board's overall strategy, which is now being finalised. [Download it here: http://tinyurl.com/3cvmfo] They invited the wider ICT industry to participate in the validation of the board's strategy, which was presented as well as to contribute to the development of the ICT agenda through the Public Panels. "We feel that the work that we do can only really be productive if we adopt a policy of inclusion and ensure that we carry everyone along," said Paul Kukubo in his presentation. "We want to urge the public through the industry sector groups to participate as keenly in our work." Essentially the Public Panels will be co-convened by industry sector groups, such as the Kenya ICT Federation, the Kenya Business Process Outsourcing and Contact Centre Society (KBPOCC) and others and the board will facilitate their working sessions. The anticipated output of the panels includes policy recommendations, white papers, position papers and actual draft project proposals. The Chairman of the Kenya ICT Federation congratulated the board on the presentation of the strategy saying that it was clear that quite a lot of work had gone into its development. He said that it was a breath of fresh air to see the depth and breadth with which the board was working. "Clearly we are in good hands." DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION: http://tinyurl.com/3cvmfo ALT DOWLOAD PRESENTATION: http://tinyurl.com/25rnqo

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Third Undersea Cable Cut - conspiracy or not?
by brian 03 Feb '08

03 Feb '08

There are some blogs around the Internet that speculate about these cable cuts. One pretty plausible claim is that the launch of the Iranian Oil Bourse which was planned for this week might be the cause for such a scale of interference as the bourse would have negatively impacted the US dollar. -------- Iran Oil Bourse to deal blow to dollar Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:45:41 The long-awaited Iranian Oil Bourse, a place for trading oil, petrochemicals and gas in various non-dollar currencies, will soon open. Iran’s Finance Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari told reporters the bourse will be inaugurated during the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution (February 1-11) at the latest. “All preparations have been made to launch the bourse; it will open during the Ten-Day Dawn (the ceremonies marking the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran),” he said. The Minister had earlier stated that the Oil Bourse is located on the Persian Gulf island of Kish. Some expert opinions hold inauguration of the bourse cold significantly devalue the greenback. --------- Could this be why the 3rd cable cut has effectively removed the Middle East from the internet? ---------- Via: CNN: An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days. Dubai has been hit hard by an Internet outage apparently caused by a cut undersea cable. Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt. FLAG Telecom, which owns one of the cables, said repairs were expected to be completed by February 12. France Telecom, part owner of the other cable, said it was uncertain when repairs on it would be repaired. Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography, a research company that consults on global Internet issues, said the cables off Egypt were likely damaged by ships’ anchors. The loss of the two Mediterranean cables — FLAG Telecom’s FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, a cable owned by a consortium of more than a dozen telecommunications companies — has snarled Internet and phone traffic from Egypt to India. Officials said Friday it was unclear what caused the damage to FLAG’s FALCON cable about 50 kilometers off Dubai. A repair ship was en route, FLAG said. Eric Schoonover, a senior analyst with TeleGeography, said the FALCON cable is designed on a “ring system,” taking it on a circuit around the Persian Gulf and enabling traffic to be more easily routed around damage. Schoonover said the two cables damaged Wednesday collectively account for as much as three-quarters of the international communications between Europe and the Middle East, so their loss had a much bigger effect.

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Blogger of Mass Destruction - huh(?)
by brian 03 Feb '08

03 Feb '08

The stakes in the information economy are very high. Even moreso the interests of a sovereign state. A country like the USA takes this so seriously that they conducted the following as a test of their preparedness. Interesting amongst some of the simulations are scenarios where they test their ability to "control" the release of information to the public by the media.... It is good to think about Kenya's preparedness in this context. Brian --------------- Bloggers of Mass Destruction February 2nd, 2008 Via: Daily Herald: It’s the government’s idea of a really bad day: Washington’s Metro trains shut down. Seaport computers in New York go dark. Bloggers reveal locations of railcars with hazardous materials. Airport control towers are disrupted in Philadelphia and Chicago. Overseas, a mysterious liquid is found on London’s subway. And that’s just for starters. Those incidents were among dozens of detailed, mock disasters confronting officials rapid-fire in the U.S. government’s biggest-ever “Cyber Storm” war game, according to hundreds of pages of heavily censored files obtained by The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department ran the exercise to test the nation’s hacker defenses, with help from the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department, CIA, National Security Agency and others. The laundry list of fictional catastrophes — which include hundreds of people on “No Fly” lists suddenly arriving at airport ticket counters — is significant because it suggests what kind of real-world trouble keeps people in the White House awake at night. Imagined villains include hackers, bloggers and even reporters. After mock electronic attacks overwhelmed computers at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, an unspecified “major news network” airing reports about the attackers refused to reveal its sources to the government. Other simulated reporters were duped into spreading “believable but misleading” information that worsened fallout by confusing the public and financial markets, according to the government’s files. The $3 million, invitation-only war game simulated what the U.S. described as plausible attacks over five days in February 2006 against the technology industry, transportation lines and energy utilities by anti-globalization hackers. The government is organizing another multimillion-dollar war game, Cyber Storm 2, to take place in early March.

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NOKIA E61i for Sale - Ksh 25, 000 with all accessories and Boxes intact
by Robert Alai 03 Feb '08

03 Feb '08

You all know Nokia E61 – it's been among the most popular Nokia smartphones ever since it was presented. Its fans have always been divided over it not having a camera. Taking that into account Nokia decided to release an updated version of the handset marked with "i". Besides a camera, the new model features a number of small modifications, or otherwise upgrades, which would again reinstate it as a top-notch smartphone messenger. Now join us on our GSMArena journey which would try to answer a good deal of questions for you… and for us, for that matter. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Nokia E61i official pictures* Key features: - Rich connectivity options - UMTS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, Infrared - Outstanding battery life - 2 megapixel camera - Messenger form factor with a full QWERTY keyboard - Really large 2.8" TFT display - Solid, metallic body - Symbian OS 9.1 S60 3rd Edition UI - microSD memory card slot Main disadvantages: - Hefty weight - No HSDPA support - No secondary camera for video calls - S60 UI doesn't come with Feature Pack 1 Right from the start the Nokia E61 was a successful model that made itself a nice group of dedicated fans. Not having a camera was obviously not a big deal for those guys. Even now in workplaces where information confidentiality is strictly guarded, cameraphones are simply not allowed. The business messenger market though realized that office workers and businessmen need an all-in-one tool that would allow them to work efficiently during the day and to have fun or just relax in the evenings and weekend. So essentially it has come to this that purely business handsets are gradually being equipped with more and more extra features such as a music player, a video player, a camera, etc. The market niche for such devices is fiercely competitive and it seems that our new Nokia has plunged into the deep with some other serious swimmers such as Palm Treo, Blackberry Pearl, Motorola Q, HTC S620, Sony Ericsson M600, Samsung i320, iMate JAQ plus several HP IPAQ products. And if you look at the details, the Nokia E61i is even functionally identical to Nokia E70. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Nokia E61i and Nokia E70: functionally identical but so much different* When we started to review the new Nokia E61i we came up with a couple of key questions that had to be answered in order for this review to be complete and those are: - Is the camera positioning the E61i into another device category? - Is it worth exchanging your vanilla Nokia E61 for it? In the same time the review had to cover all the aspects that we cover in all other reviews – meaning that we should go over all the features of the smartphone in detail. So for those of you that are into smartphones for a long time now and wouldn't want to go through all of this, here is our low down on exactly how the Nokia E61i differs from the vanilla E61. The E61i is thinner than the E61 by a small margin but is 11 cc smaller. The E61i has a better build quality over the E61 and possesses a rather stable and solid body. The keyboard has definitely got a few updates – first, the navigation joystick is replaced with a D-pad, which is a great choice by the way. Then there are two new shortcut keys – the Phonebook and My Own key. The My Own key is a customizable shortcut key that you can use for starting an application of your choice. The keys of the QWERTY keyboard have gotten just a notch smaller, but the space between them has increased. Furthermore their tactile feedback is far better on E61i than on the E61. As a result the ergonomics of the QWERTY keyboard have greatly increased. Software-wise the E61i didn't stay long enough in development so that it can get the Feature Pack 1, that's now available for the S60 user interface. So obviously we would be waiting for other devices to try it on. Nevertheless, the E61i comes with several preinstalled applications that were not available in E61 – the WLAN Wizard, the Search application and the Team Suite. The WLAN wizard is a Wi-Fi network scanner, Search is a global search engine for your handset contents and finally, the Team suite is a more specific application that allows for creating so-called "teams" in order to make mass communication with your colleagues easier. Having those applications is not a big deal, though, as they can be downloaded to your E61, too. The E61i also has newer and more user-friendly Internet calling settings and finally, let's not forget – the new messenger comes with a 2 megapixel camera that can always come in handy for making snapshots of people and places. So what are the answers to the two questions we had, you might ask. Well, for that, our friends, you'll have to bear with us to this review's very end. As far as retail package is concerned, the box contents you should expect are the Nokia HS-5 headset and a data cable. Nothing more to please the eye – but hey, the E-series handsets are all about business. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Nokia E61i retail box contents* Enter the Dragon Being an updated version of the Nokia E61, the Nokia E61i has pretty much the same design as its predecessor. The dimensions are identical too - the Nokia E61i measures 117 x 70 x 13.9 mm and weighs 150 g. You all know Nokia E61 – it's been among the most popular Nokia smartphones ever since it was presented. Its fans have always been divided over it not having a camera. Taking that into account Nokia decided to release an updated version of the handset marked with "i". We are more than pleased with the construction quality of the E61i. The handset didn't produce any creaks during our test, and furthermore it didn't look like those are likely to show up even after months of use. As we already said the body construction and the way parts fit together is something that has improved over E61. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Nokia E61i all over* Well going over the phone you couldn't help but notice the LED in the upper left corner of the front panel. It is in fact an ambient light detector which is used for power optimization. It detects the available ambient light and thus controls whether backlighting or display brightness should be adjusted. It also serves the double purpose of an event light alerting you of different event – a feature that is totally customizable. Next to the LED/sensor, right in the dead center, is the in-call speaker grill. Due to the really wide form factor, it takes some time to get used to position your ear right on the speaker. Unaccustomed to it, during our tests we often tended to go left or right. Next to it is the On/Off key – it's made of white rubber that somehow doesn't follow the metallic design of the handset. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Nokia E61i top part: LED/light sensor and On/Off key* The QWERTY keypad is probably the most exciting thing about a handset with that form factor. It is the single thing that can make or break the pleasure of using the device to its full potential. As you would see later on in the review, the Nokia E61i keyboard manages to impress with a great usability. One can easily notice that there are several design updates over the E61 – all for the better, we might add. You might have noticed that the keyboard of our test unit is in fact not a QWERTY one, but instead a QWERTZ one. The simple reason for that is that it is the German version of E61i – fully localized with the added special characters. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Nokia E61i keyboard: design has changed* The left side of the device features a dual volume key and the voice key. A single press allows you to start an immediate recording of a voice note for example. A longer press takes you to the voice dial/voice command interface. The voice key is pretty well recessed so it isn't probable that you would press it accidentally in your pocket – a flaw that Nokia E61 had. Beside those keys is the loudspeaker grill – the sound it produces is nice – clear and loud. The loudspeaker position is well-thought of, as the sound doesn't get muffled when you put down the handset on its back, as is the case with most current mobile phones. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Left side view: voice key, volume key, loudspeaker* The bottom part of the device features the charger port, the Pop port for connecting the data cable and the headset, as well as the Infrared port. The charger port of the E61i can fit only the latest types of Nokia chargers – the ones with a thinner jack. Unlike N-series handsets the E61i doesn't come with a charger adaptor included which would allow for using the older types of chargers with it. Strangely enough, although we had that type of adapter we couldn't charge the E61i with an older charger. It seems that with this model Nokia has left behind the backwards compatibility we were used to see. The right and top sides of the handset don't accommodate any control elements. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Bottom side view • Right side view • Top side view* When you turn the phone over, you would see that its back is pretty bare. The only element that really catches your eye is the 2 megapixel camera lens. The lens is protected by a silver circular ring. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Nokia E61i back • camera lens* The most of the back is taken by the fully metallic battery cover. Removing it is done with a slide – much like inserting it back on. Note that we say "inserting" – the cover has to be inserted into tracks which allow it to slide all the way to the top. Now it isn't the most comfortable solution we've seen but it surely is among the most secure ones. When you remove the back cover the large Nokia BP-4L Li-Polymer battery is revealed. It has a capacity of the impressive 1500 mAh and is manufacturer-rated to be able to sustain the handset with power for up to 400 h in standby, and for up to 9 h of talk time in GSM-only networks. Our test showed that when used moderately in a UMTS network the E61i was able to offer the impressive six full days with a single charging – and that being the first one for the battery. When we say moderately we mean that the E61i almost never left our office and for those six days we did a total of around 35 minutes of talking, 1 hour of Bluetoothing, 30 minutes of WLAN web browsing, 2 hours of listening to music, 40 minutes of playing video, taking several dozens of pictures, and a lot of fiddling with the phone. So just to sum up for you – it is a nice mark for Nokia's latest messenger smartphone. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> *Removing the back panel • memory card slot • 1500 mAh battery • SIM card bed* Although being rather wide, the Nokia E61i feels pretty much comfortable when held in hand. If you try to work with it single-handedly and if you are dexterous enough to hold it in your right hand and to navigate with your thumb, you mind find that the left soft keys are a bit too far for you to press accurately. If you have bigger hands, that surely wouldn't pose any problem. The smartphone leaves an impression of a thin, stable and user-friendly handset – although a side jog dial would have come in handy. [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#> [image: Nokia E61i] <http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e61i-review-142.php#>

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Central Bank Website down? Which one is next?
by Odhiambo Washington 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

Trying to access the Central Bank website at 12:55pm... http://www.centralbank.go.ke/ Error: "Not enough storage is available to complete this operation." I am wondering if they have run out of disk space. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "Oh My God! They killed init! You Bastards!" --from a /. post

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Alari's Fundraiser
by Harry Hare 02 Feb '08

02 Feb '08

Dear Colleagues, I have information that friends and well wishers are convening at Tanager Restaurant (Kaunda Street---I think) in the city centre on Thursday 31st January from 6:00pm. Should you need further information please contact Henry Ochieng on 0725 777708. Kindest Regards Harry African eDevelopment Resource Centre 3rd Floor, Nelleon Place Raphta Road, Westlands PO Box 49475 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Cel +254 725 650044 Land +254 20 4453445 www.africanedevelopment.org *********************************************************** February 2008 Capacity Building Opportunities VSAT Field Engineering: 5-8 Records Management: 13-15 Fiber Optics: 26-29 Book Now, Limited spaces available

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Safaricom Down
by Robert Alai 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

Hello I have problems Accessing www.safaricom.com. Can someone help. Also I need a webdesigner good in PHP/Joomla and Graphics. Robert

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Day 4 of 5:- Quantifying the Impact of the Post-election Violence
by John Walubengo 01 Feb '08

01 Feb '08

Morning all, Here's part of what I could quickly gather as the possible short-term interventions from some of the posts. 1. Encourage balanced reporting by Media and avoid glorifying destructions, killings 2. Consider Filtering hate mails, messages, websites 3. Corporates going the extra mile (e.g mobile operator becoming banks to ensure service provision...) 4. Ensuring that basic Operator service is maintained particularly in the current environment 5.Create portals that provide linkages between the needy and their potential donors Feel free to add more. But today I invite you to attempt to quantify the loss this chaos continue to wreck on our organisations. What do you think is the the toll per day in terms of lost business opportunity, man-hours, equipment, etc? only 1 day on this theme because tomorrow we finish of this discussion. walu. Quantify the Impact of Post-election violence on ICT organisations (1day) -What is the toll per day in terms of lost business opportunity, man-hours, equipment, etc l Ensure balanced reporting by Media Filtering hate mails, messages, websites Corporates going the extra mile becoming banks Ensuring that Operator service continue Create portals that provide linkages between the needy and the donors Avoid glorifying destructions ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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