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Immigration Department - Illegal to give out complaints e-mail address?
by S.Murigi Muraya 12 Jan '11

12 Jan '11

Is it illegal for staff at the Immigration Dept to give out a complaints e-mail address? Why does one have to be referred to the Immigration website when they have made the trip all the way to Nyayo Hse?

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Beyond the doldrums of individualism
by robert yawe 12 Jan '11

12 Jan '11

I recently read an article on the new socialism and the opening paragraph quotes Bill Gates on open source "these folks are a new modern-day sort of communists, a malevolent force force bent on destroying the monopolistic incentive that helps support the American Dream". The author goes on to quote Clay Shirky who explains modern socialism "groups of people start off simply sharing and then progress to cooperation, collaboration, and finally collectivism". This statement says a lot about where we are as members of this forum, we are still working at the sharing stage many prefer to only receive but never contribute. We need to make this year the year of sharing ideas, thoughts, dreams and expectations which should help us progress to cooperation. Let us not be like Bill Gates with his idea of open source but more like Linus, Larry Page, David Filo and Jerry Yang. Share your thoughts today. Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Girls who created social network for farmers
by Dorcas Muthoni 12 Jan '11

12 Jan '11

Congratulations to Jamila and her team!! These girls are going places... we are are very proud of you! http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Girls%20who%20created%20social%20network%20for… -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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SA Digital TV standards row rages on
by Harry Hare 11 Jan '11

11 Jan '11

Looks like the SA cabinet and the SADC task force have confirmed the Ministry of IC's choice and push for DVB-T2 platform to be correct. I wonder what are possibilities for local assembly of set top boxes and other accessories on this platform are compared to the ISDB-T platform. In this story the promoters of the Japanese standard ISDB-T claim that this platform has more opportunities and potential for the local electronics industry than DVB-T2. Anyone on the know to educate? http://www.techcentral.co.za/digital-tv-standards-row-rages-on/20089/?utm_so urce=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+co%2FUqJF+%28TechCentr al%29 Kindest Regards Harry Hare Director eDevelopment House : : 604 Limuru Road Old Muthaiga : : P O Box 49475 00100 Nairobi : : Kenya T +254 20 3741646/7 : : C +254 725 650044 Training : : Research: :Consultancy: : Publishing

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4G Bombshell from Government
by robert yawe 11 Jan '11

11 Jan '11

Hi, I would to begin by wishing you all the best this year in all facets of your life's. Those of us who where fortunate enough to attend the CIO-100 symposium late last year might have heard the mouths of the mobile providers hit the ground when PS. Ndemo mentioned that the government will be rolling out the 4G spectrum and will make it open to all. From the reaction of the providers it was clear that they did not have the foggiest idea that it was forthcoming. Now we can move forward to a level playing field where your dominance is not dependent on the size of your wallet but by what services and solutions you can offer. In the same breath we need to support the government in making sure that SIGNET is allowed to offer digital channels to all and sundry, the oligopolistic behaviour of our mainstream media houses must not be allowed to stop progress. I am in the market for a digital channel to be able to provide relevant and sensible programming (backed by PCK as soon as I am appointed PMG). It is reassuring to see that when the government refers to super highways they mean more than just the tar covered ones. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Regarding the Girls who created social network for farmers
by Matunda Nyanchama 11 Jan '11

11 Jan '11

Congratulations are in order for these young girls in the above story; kudos. My reading is that there are many such stories and potential successes that could happen. This was reinforced when I saw presentations at the most recent AITEC event in Nairobi. We just need the right environment and our tech sector will take off to even higher heights than the present trend suggests. Couple of things that could help: * Protection of Intellectual Property: I marveled at the ease with which those at the conference shared their creations and even creations that were on the drawing board! Question: how do they know who the prying eyes are in the public event? And prying eyes with deeper pockets and better knowledge of the business of IT? * Risk Capital: Silicon Valley wouldn't have been without risk capital? RIM (that produces the blackberry), one of the most successful Canadian tech creations, would not have happened without risk capital. For the longest time, the latter depended on government grants, which allowed them to go thru' teething stages! In Kenya, we may not have the kind money Canada has thrown into R&D in form of grants. However, we can have a variation of this. One possibility I have shared with friends relates to incentives, i.e. tax credits, R&D Levy Fund from which companies can get back some of the money invested in R&D, and even some form of "insurance" where risk capital would be compensated at a given % should a venture not materialize! * Active scouting of ideas for development in science fairs, tech conferences, etc and investing in those that offer promise. Ukiona vyalea vimeundua or words to that effect from the wisdom of the old.Development cannot be left to chance. It reminds of a science project we did in high school: powering a radio using stored energy in a wind up spring! We got good marks; and off we went later to university, forgot about it and lo! years later, someone was selling wind up radios in rural Africa! Shukrani. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”- George Bernard Shaw ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail, including attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential or proprietary information intended only for the addressee(s). Any other distribution, copying, use, or disclosure is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete the message, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.

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Call for Papers - ITU Telecom World 2011 Technical Symposium
by Alice Munyua 11 Jan '11

11 Jan '11

http://www.itu.int/WORLD2011/forum/technical_symposium.html?WT.mc_id=cfa Do you have something to say to the global ICT community on future communications technologies & enablers? We invite you to submit your papers for the ITU Telecom World 2011 technical symposium <http://www.itu.int/world2011/forum/technical_symposium.html?WT.mc_id=cfa>. ITU Telecom World 2011 <http://www.itu.int/world2011/index.html?WT.mc_id=cfa> brings with it a new focus for ITU Telecom events, with emphasis on networking, knowledge sharing and consensus building. The technical symposium <http://www.itu.int/world2011/forum/technical_symposium.html?WT.mc_id=cfa> will be a crucial part of knowledge sharing activities. It will bring together experts from across the ICT spectrum to share and exchange views on topics such as /cloud computing, cognitive networks, e-everything, future access networks, interworking & interoperability, mobile broadband, smart grids, spectrum management, traffic management and many more/. This is your opportunity to have your say on the world's future ICT landscape. Be sure your views are represented. Click here <http://www.itu.int/world2011/forum/technical_symposium.html?WT.mc_id=cfa> for further details and information on how to submit your paper. Important dates * *Deadline for Submission of Review Manuscripts: 7th March* * Notification of Paper Acceptance: May 27th, 2011 * Final Paper: July 30th, 2011 --

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New "The 411..." Posts...
by Mike Bullut 10 Jan '11

10 Jan '11

Greetings, I hope this reaches you in the best of health & highest of spirits today. I've written some new posts on my *blog <http://kipsang.wordpress.com/>* & I'd like you guys to let me know what you think. I got them from material I come across the Net & in my e-mail. Here they are: Facebook: - *Inside A Facebook Server Farm...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/inside-a-facebook-server-farm/> - *Facebook Now Has 30,000 Servers...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/facebook-now-has-30000-servers/> - *15 Scary Facebook Statistics...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/15-scary-facebook-statistics%e2%80%…> Effects of Social Networking: - *The Young & The Connected...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/the-young-the-connected/> Societal Awareness: - *Improving Human Behaviour Key To Improving Road Safety...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/improving-human-behaviour-key-to-im…> (sorry if the audio is a bit off)* Security: - *Kenya Police website hacked...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/kenya-police-website-hacked/> * - *Creating E-mail Filters in Yahoo!...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/creating-e-mail-filters-in-yahoo/> The Workforce: - *10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/10-dirty-little-secrets-you-should-…> - *Employee Monitoring...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/employee-monitoring/> * - *Frustrated Employees...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/frustrated-employees/> * - *I.T. Life... Interesting! <http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/i-t-life-interesting/> * Humour: - *Wikileaks... <http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/wikileaks/>* - *Evolution of Man...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/evolution-of-man/> * Events: - *Christmas 2.0...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/christmas-2-0/> * - *Nokia C3 Chaos at Sarit Centre...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/nokia-c3-chaos-at-sarit-centre/> - *Nokia C3 Chaos at I&M Building...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/nokia-c3-chaos-at-im-building/> * - *Nokia C3 lands in Indonesia...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/nokia-c3-lands-in-indonesia/> * Warm regards, Mike. *-- "The computer programmer . . . is a creator of universes for which he alone is the lawgiver. . . . No playwright, no stage director, no emperor, however powerful, has ever exercised such absolute authority to arrange a stage or a field of battle and to command such unswervingly dutiful actors or troops."* * ~ Joseph Weizenbaum... --*

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Programmer
by Eric Aligula 08 Jan '11

08 Jan '11

Colleagues Happy New Year to you all. I am looking for a Programmer to assist in developing a User Interface for an Energy Demand Projection model we have developed. If you know of anyone, kindly request them to liaise with me off the list. Kind regards Eric Aligula Magolo, PhD Programmes Coordinator & Ag. Head, Infrastructure and Economic Services Division Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) P.O. Box 56445, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya Telephone: +254-20-2719933/4 Fax: +254-20-2719951 E-mail: jairah(a)kippra.or.ke <mailto:[email protected]> URL: www.kippra.org <http://www.kippra.org/> Proudly Kenyan "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility..........I welcome it." John F. Kennedy "To allow other people's assessment of you to determine your own self-assessment is a very big mistake" Columbia University President Lee Bollinger "Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt "Ex Africa semper aliquid novi"

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Google appoints Kenyan Ory okolloh to manage its Africa policy
by Alice Munyua 07 Jan '11

07 Jan '11

Congratulations Ory! best alice -------------------------- Google recently appointed Ory Okolloh, an online activist and co-founder of Ushahidi <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushahidi>, as Policy Manager for Africa. Ushahidi <http://www.ushahidi.com> is a famed crowd sourcing site dedicated to information collection, visualisation and interactive mapping. Google's appointment shows its confidence in Africa's digital growth and recognises the continent as a future tech giant. Okolloh is a TED <http://www.ted.com> fellow, Global Voices contributor <http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/author/ory/>and a Harvard-educated lawyer. She is a regular speaker at prestigious conferences such as TED, World Economic Forum <http://www.weforum.org>, Poptech <http://www.poptech.org>, CGI, Techonomy <http://www.techonomy.com>, Mobile Web Africa <http://www.mobilewebafrica.com>, and the Monaco Media Forum <http://www.monacomediaforum.org/>on issues around citizen journalism. She has been very active in building Africa's technological landscape. Okolloh comes into the role with a strong background in law having worked as a corporate lawyer for an organisation in support of entrepreneurs in South Africa. She has also been at the helm of Ushahidi for the last three years. Okolloh steps down as Ushahidi's Executive Director and will take up her new position in Johannesburg, South Africa mid January. According to a recent post on her blog Kenyan Pundit <http://www.kenyanpundit.com/2010/12/23/stepping-down-as-ushahidi-executive-…> she writes "the role will involve developing policy/strategies on a number of areas of relevance to Google and the Internet in Africa and will involve working with different parties including government leaders, policy makers, regulators, industry groups and so on. "It is a huge opportunity to bring Google's resources to bear as far as the growth and development of the internet in Africa. I'm very excited about the move and I hope I can continue to lean on your support and insight in my new role." ReadWriteWeb <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_hires_kenyan_activist_to_shape_…> noted that Okolloh's portfolio will include the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa. "Overall, I'll be working to get more people online and policies favourable to that, also (cultivate) support for local content and an environment which supports innovation," she tells ReadWriteWeb. -- --

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