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Fwd: [ke-internetusers] Free PC and cheap Internet for SMEs and Home Users
by Alex Gakuru 23 Apr '07

23 Apr '07

Alex Gakuru <gakuru(a)gmail.com> wrote: Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 08:51:01 +0300 From: "Alex Gakuru" <gakuru(a)gmail.com> To: ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net Subject: [ke-internetusers] Free PC and cheap Internet for SMEs and Home Users [This brightens a new dawn for Kenya's connectivity. I have often argued that lesser city traffic jams and higher national productivity can be achieved by taking internet outside the city centre, Nairobi currently having 80% of Kenya's internet. Many are bound to choose working from home to save on expensive city office rent overheads and "outsourcing" will definitely benefit considering the time differences become less of a problem, security is also a consideration. Forecasting on this possibility at a stakeholders workshop on 22 March 2007, I warned that it would only take "one clever ISP" to realise this enormous small business and home user waiting market away from the current "corporates-only" internet (used between 8am to 5 pm and half-days on Saturdays which drops at lunch-time. (see the first graph at http://www.isoc.or.ke/connectivity.html - website under development)] ----------------------- [Business Daily] ISP targets home users with free PC's Written by Okkutah Mark Monday, 23 April 2007 [NAIROBI] While most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) target corporate users, one new entrant into the online market is banking on capturing residential, small and home business users with a unique offer: a free computer. The company, Alunite, says most Kenyans would love to be connected to a high-speed DSL Internet connection from home, but the lack of affordable personal computers, and high bandwidth costs have kept most out of the loop. Lucy Kimani, the ISPs executive director said Alunite was partnering with Kenya Data Networks (KDN) and Keysde, a local company involved in computer assembly in which Keysde will provide PCs, under a guarantee that the ISP settles the bill within 90 days. KDN will provide the DSL linkage to it's Metro optical fibre. "As an ISP we are linking the home subscribers to the KDN's link which will provide them with a high-speed connection," said Ms Kimani. "We also realised that a majority of people don't own computers, and that's why we looked how we could solve this problem." The deal does come with a catch though. In exchange for a free computer, subscribers must sign a one-year agreement to subscribe to Alunite's Internet sevices, which cost 5,945 per month. The computeran Intel Pentium 1.2 Ghz PCretails for Sh10,300 in local shops. But Ms Kimani said it was more than just a freebie. "We eliminate the hassle of dealing with a separate connectivity provider and provide attentive customer service," she said. "Our company coordinates all aspects of the installation of the service including site inspection." _______________________________________________ ke-internetusers mailing list ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net http://www.bdix.net/mailman/listinfo/ke-internetusers --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

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* YOUNG COMPUTER EXPERT MAKES AFRICAN VIDEO GAME IN KENYA
by alice 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

From Balancing Act * YOUNG COMPUTER EXPERT MAKES AFRICAN VIDEO GAME IN KENYA A young Kenyan computer programmer has produced an adventure video game he says is first of its kind in Africa. Wesley Kirinya, aged 23, developed the 3-dimensional action game in his Gwimgrafx Studios in Nairobi. It is called 'The Adventures of Nyangi.' The game is about a character named Nyangi who has to find some rare African artifacts. Each artifact has an interesting and mysterious story behind it, Kirinya says. "I want to bring the entertainment from reading a book or watching a film on African stories into video games." He said the task took him about three years to accomplish. "Since there are no video game development schools in Africa, I taught myself the skill," he said. "I developed this game on a tiny budget. I'm impressed with the outcome, considering that it costs millions of dollars to develop games using the latest technology." The game can be purchased electronically as a digital download from the website: www.gwimgrafxstudios.com (SOURCE: Catholic Information Service for Africa )

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BARBARIANS at the GATES of KENYA: ATC’s moves to consolidate Wins from Africa Online Deal by Investing KSh 2 billion in Wananchi Online and sends signal that Private Equity Industry has its eyes firmly set on Kenya”
by alice 21 Apr '07

21 Apr '07

*BARBARIANS at the GATES of KENYA* *“ATC’s moves to consolidate Wins from Africa Online Deal by Investing KSh 2 billion in Wananchi Online and sends signal that Private Equity Industry has its eyes firmly set on Kenya”* Like the famous KKR acquisition of RJR Nabisco that put the Private Equity industry center stage in America in the 80’s, industry sources are seeing the Africa Telecom Company Ltd’s (ATC) KSh 2 billion investment plans for Wananchi Online as a signal that the Private Equity Industry in Kenya is set to explode. ATC shot to prominence last year when they purchased 30% of Africa Lakes/Africa Online at Stg 10 per share and then got into a bitter and hostile takeover battle with Telekom South Africa. They successfully extracted a heavy price from Telkom South Africa by eventually selling their shares for Stg 25 per share plus another US$ 1.5m of costs. Telkom South Africa’s share price fell significantly at the news and their CEO has subsequently been forced to resign. The deal was a classic private equity play. Africa Online’s revenues have been shrinking for 5 years at a time when the Internet industry in Africa as a whole was growing at record speeds. The cause was typical of many public companies in the UK: bloated head office costs, overpaid and inept senior executive management and a board that could not deliver change. Richard Bell a seasoned ICT entrepreneur turned Private Equity Manager saw the latent value in the business and realized that the only way to release the value was through change – with or without the permission of the board. Leveraging of this experience Bell/East Africa Capital Partners teamed up with Mark Schneider a US Media Entrepreneur and brought in local support through James Gachui (Chairman of Transcentury) & Jimnah Mbaru (Chairman of Dyer & Blair) both well known local financial investors, to use ATC to invest in Wananchi Online and create Wananchi Telecom. It therefore came as no surprise to the Industry when Wananchi Online announced to its shareholders this week that there would be an EGM on Friday 20^th April at which shareholders would be asked to approve a capital investment and infrastructure rollout costing KSh 7 billion over 5 years with the first two years accounting for nearly KSh 2 billion of capital. Commenting on the investment Richard Bell said that the funds would be used to rollout a country-wide broadband Wi-Max network delivering Internet and Fixed Line Voice services “…Wananchi Online’s roots were in making the Internet affordable to Kenyas now *Wananchi Telecom* will do the same by delivering the most inexpensive and affordable consumer broadband service in Africa – and that will be GUARANTEED. It’s a very exciting time in this industry and we believe that Kenyans are crying out for a true broadband service in their homes and our Wi-Max product will deliver this……”. The network will be ready in greater Nairobi by the middle of the year and in all major towns by the end of the year. Joseph Mucheru another local ICT guru and Deputy CEO of the new group went on to commend the Government for their efforts in developing the ICT sector and committed that Wananchi Telecom would support all of these initiatives including the governments plans for Schools, Universities and ICT Villages “…by the time TEAMS, SEACOM and EASSY maritime cables get to Mombassa our network will be ready and all Kenyans will have broadband available. We Kenyans (and some operators) tend to spend a lot of time complaining about the government without recognizing the government’s achievements. The Hon Mutahi Kagwe and PS Ndemo have in my view set the seeds of a great future for Kenyans in ICT……..” The sheer scale and audacity of their plans (3 times larger than Access Kenya’s IPO, with 5 times more base stations) for Wananchi Telecom have taken even industry insiders by surprise, but that’s typical of Private Equity. Whether you like them or hate them the one certainty is that the power, speed and agility *these Private Equity Barbarians *is going to be a big force in Kenya over the next 5 years.

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Ubuntu 'Feisty Fawn' released, hit by traffic
by Alex Gakuru 21 Apr '07

21 Apr '07

Ubuntu 'Feisty Fawn' released, hit by traffic By Stephen Shankland, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: April 19, 2007, 11:41 AM PT Canonical on Thursday released version 7.04 of Ubuntu Linux, nicknamed Feisty Fawn, but the company's Web site was unable to keep up with the demand for the software. The up-and-coming Ubuntu has yet to attain the commercially blessed status of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise, which have been in the marketplace years longer and are certified to work with many software and hardware products. But Canonical's software has built a significant fan base with its twice-yearly updates, user-friendly values and cutesy naming scheme. Feisty Fawn held up better than the protagonist in the animation Bambi Meets Godzilla: Canonical put up a bare-bones home page with just a single logo and a list of "mirror" sites from which the software can be downloaded. Still, the site was unavailable for more than half of the day, according to site availability monitoring company Pingdom. "We have been absolutely swamped with hits to the Web site and the mirrors," Canonical Chief Executive Mark Shuttleworth said in a conference call. "Fortunately there are 160 mirrors out there, all rapidly updating to include Feisty Fawn. We hope the logjam won't last much longer." Feisty Fawn features virtualization support and a new crash-reporting tool to aid debugging, but not the glitzy 3D interface Shuttleworth initially wanted. Ubuntu got an unsolicited endorsement from Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell, a computer maker that's been wrestling with how to meet demand for desktop Linux. On Wednesday, the company announced on its Direct2Dell blog that Michael Dell got a new notebook with Feisty Fawn installed. Shuttleworth said he didn't talk to Dell's CEO about the move and wouldn't comment on whether he was in discussions with the computer maker for some sort of partnership. But Dell's move "does suggest that the company is forward-looking and perhaps considering Ubuntu," Shuttleworth said. Ubuntu is chiefly popular on PCs today, but Canonical is following the well-worn path to the server as it builds its Linux business. On servers, the open-source operating system is a stronger rival to Microsoft Windows and functionally very similar to versions of Unix that many administrators are familiar with. Red Hat and Novell's Linux business comes chiefly from selling support subscriptions to server customers. Also on Thursday, Canonical announced a partnership with Sun Microsystems to bolster its server push. The company has integrated Sun's Java software with Feisty Fawn, making it available through the "multiverse" collection of preconfigured, downloadable software packages. Sun has begun making its core Java Standard Edition software open source and will finish during the first half of 2007, said Jeet Kaul, Sun's vice president of developer products and programs. Other components already are open-source software, including the Glassfish project for Java Enterprise Edition, a collection of extensions for running Java on servers, and NetBeans, a Java programming environment. Java SE, Glassfish and NetBeans all are available for Feisty Fawn, Shuttleworth said. "This is the first time the Java platform technology has been fully integrated into a Linux distribution to this extent," said Ian Murdock, Sun's newly appointed chief operating systems officer and founder of the Debian version of Linux on which Ubuntu is based. Though NetBeans is his own "preferred Java development environment," Shuttleworth said that its main rival, Eclipse, already is integrated into Ubuntu. The next version of Ubuntu, Gutsy Gibbon, is due in October. Neither it nor Feisty Fawn features the long-term support of version 6.06, called Dapper Drake. A version with long-term support, which lasts five years, likely won't arrive until the release of Gutsy Gibbon's successor, Shuttleworth said. --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

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Re: [kictanet] media workshop
by Frances Angalia 20 Apr '07

20 Apr '07

Hi Becky, Would be interested to attend. how much is it? Jane Angalia FEMNET COMMUNICATION <communication(a)femnet.or.ke> wrote: v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Dear Becky, Greetings from the African Womens Development and Communication Network (FEMNET). Thank you for your invitation to attend the workshop for journalists to be held on 26 April 2007. I will be pleased to attend on behalf of FEMNET. Best regards Magdalene Wanjugu For Communications Programme African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) Reseau de Developpement et de Communications des Femmes Africaines P.O. Box 54562, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254 20 3741301/20 Fax: +254 20 3742927 Email: admin(a)femnet.or.ke Website: http://www.femnet.or.ke FEMNET aims to strengthen the role and contribution of African NGOs focusing on women's development, equality and other human rights through communications, networking, training and advocacy. FEMNET est un reseau qui soutient le renforcement des capacites des femmes dans les domaines du plaidoyer et de la communication a travers le travail en reseau. Il facilite egalement les echanges d'informations, d'experiences, et de strategies entre les organisations feminines en vue d'une veritable promotion des droits humains et particulierement des droits de la femme. --------------------------------- From: kictanet-bounces+communication=femnet.or.ke(a)kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+communication=femnet.or.ke@kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Rebecca Wanjiku Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 9:36 AM To: communication(a)femnet.or.ke Subject: [kictanet] media workshop Kictanet and Kenya ICT journalists network will be holding a workshop for journalists on April 26 at Jacaranda from 9 am to 1 pm, the workshop, addressing OFC, FOI and ICT bill the workshop is basic and we expect to hold further training in a month or two, if you are interested in attending, please confirm with me directly, regards becky --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check out new cars at Yahoo! Autos. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jfrances02%40yahoo.com --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

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in the news
by Rebecca Wanjiku 20 Apr '07

20 Apr '07

ICT lobby group to educate users on their rights Written by Okuttah Mark Friday, 20 April 2007 [NAIROBI] Formation of an information and communication technologies (ICTs) consumer lobby group in Kenya, and a tender by the communications regulator for partners to educate Kenyan ICT consumers on their rights point to a shift towards reducing the vulnerability of users. As more people rely on ICTs in their daily lives, the more they open themselves up to financial and other abuses. According to Alex Gakuru, chairman of Kenya ICT Consumer Association, as the Internet, mobile telephony and other technologies take centre stage in Kenyan life, consumers must be made aware of their rights. "Consumers have a right to be informed about services they are getting," Mr Gakuru said. "Informed people always make informed decisions." According to Mr Gakuru, while ICT users remain ill-informed of their rights and have little legal protection against abuses, this is in contrast to corporate clients who often sign service level agreements with ICT service providers. The association alludes to complaints over services from Internet service providers (ISPs) as well as fixed and mobile telephone operators. According to Mr Gakuru, telephony users contend with costly local land-line calls, mobile network congestion and poor coverage in some areas, as well as too many failed calls. Some customers, the group adds, have lost pre-paid credit after buying it, or been charged for SMS messages that were never sent. <snip> <http://bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=679&Itemid=30…> __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Fwd: [UgaBYTES] Invitations to the 3rd EA-TLF
by chelimo kenneth 19 Apr '07

19 Apr '07

Dear All, Kindly go through the forwarded document. Iam sure it might be of interest to some of you. Thanks Ken Chelimo Note: forwarded message attached. --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

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[Fwd: [Aftld-discuss] AfTLD - Administrative Manager Post Announcement ..]
by Michuki Mwangi 19 Apr '07

19 Apr '07

FYI -------- Original Message -------- Dear Colleagues African Top Level Domains Organization ("AFTLD") was incorporated as a non-profit organization on December 19th 2002 in Mauritius. AFTLD acts as a focal point for all the African TLDs Managers, to discuss matters of policy that affect ccTLDs regionally and globally. Further, AFTLD presents the African region members position on global matters relating to the DNS and ccTLDs, and is a regional body of ccNSO (country code Name Supporting Organization), one of ICANN’s supporting organization. To achieve these objectives, AFTLD is seeking a suitable candidate to run its day-to-day operations (primarily based in Mauritius) in the position of AFTLD Administrative Manager. More information on the post visit www.aftld.org . Best Regards, Mohamed EL Bashir Vice President, Communications & Out-Reach African Top Level Domains Orgnization "AfTLD" - Home of Africa National TLD Registries ------------------------------------ Chers Collègues L'organisation africaine de domaines de niveau supérieur ("AFTLD") a été incorporée comme organisation à but non lucratif le 2002 19 décembre en îles Maurice. AFTLD agit en tant que point focal pour tous les directeurs africains de TLDs, pour discuter des points de la politique qui affectent des ccTLDs régionalement et globalement. De plus, AFTLD présente aux membres africains de région la position sur les sujets globaux concernant le DNS et les ccTLDs, et est un corps régional de ccNSO (organisation de support nommée de code de pays), une de l'organisation de support d'ICANN's. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, AFTLD cherche un candidat approprié pour courir ses opérations de jour en jour (principalement basées en îles Maurice) en position de directeur administratif d'AFTLD. Plus d'informtion sur la visite www.aftld.org de poteau. Les meilleurs souvenirs, Mohamed EL Bashir le vice-président de communications AfTLD.org -- Michuki Mwangi KENIC _______________________________________________ Aftld-discuss mailing list Aftld-discuss(a)aftld.org http://lists.aftld.org/mailman/listinfo/aftld-discuss

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Re: [kictanet] Sluggish Internet? This works fast for me
by Jose' 19 Apr '07

19 Apr '07

You sure off topic but its all good.I believe your new discovery will surely work in our R & D (Cyber Cafe') department at Kimathi Information centre.I have to try with one computer tho and see the aftermath and repercussions. Thank you Alex. Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || ----- Original Message ---- From: Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru(a)yahoo.com> To: ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 2:17:19 PM Subject: [kictanet] Sluggish Internet? This works fast for me Hi all, I know I am a little off-topic here but I could not resist to share this. For a while now, I changed my DNS server settings resulting in remarkable internet speed increase. Just this morning, one cyber cafe user asked "How come your internet is much faster" so I thought you should all know why, and also try it out if you like. Do not try this (at home or office:-) if you don't know how to change DNS Server settings on your internet connetion card. You know, that one with an IP address, subnet mask then DNS Server, alternate DNS (for windows). Remember to write down your current settings before changing so that you can revert to them whenever you wish, if your not on Linux-based systems which can take more than 2 DNS servers [>>FF>> <http://www.opendns.com/ (DNS 1 208.67.222.222 and DNS2 208.67.220.220 Would appreciate if you let me know (off-list) you if it helps.] They are saying: "OpenDNS helps you navigate the Internet in a safer, faster, smarter and more reliable way. Our service is free and requires nothing to download. OpenDNS doesn't replace your existing Internet connection, it just makes it better." "The only thing worse than a slow DNS service is an unreliable DNS service. When DNS isn't working it appears as if the entire Internet isn't working. Our service is built on our own high-performance network that is connected in multiple cities and to many different networks. We know reliability is important, and we stand behind ours." <http://www.opendns.com/what/> Simply put, when one types a website address on to their browser, your ISP's DNS Server resolve the characters into an IP address where and the browser is then directed to that IP address. What does DNS do? DNS, the Domain Name System, translates the human addresses of websites and servers (like wikipedia.org) to the numerical address used by computers (207.142.131.203). Do I use DNS? Every time you send an email or visit a web page, you are using DNS services. We estimate most people make at least 100 DNS requests every day. If you are unsure, readup some more from their site before making changes. Thxs Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check out new cars at Yahoo! Autos. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Please unsubscribe or change your options at http://kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngunjirijnr%40yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Sluggish Internet? This works fast for me
by Alex Gakuru 19 Apr '07

19 Apr '07

Hi all, I know I am a little off-topic here but I could not resist to share this. For a while now, I changed my DNS server settings resulting in remarkable internet speed increase. Just this morning, one cyber cafe user asked "How come your internet is much faster" so I thought you should all know why, and also try it out if you like. Do not try this (at home or office:-) if you don't know how to change DNS Server settings on your internet connetion card. You know, that one with an IP address, subnet mask then DNS Server, alternate DNS (for windows). Remember to write down your current settings before changing so that you can revert to them whenever you wish, if your not on Linux-based systems which can take more than 2 DNS servers [>>FF>> <http://www.opendns.com/ (DNS 1 208.67.222.222 and DNS2 208.67.220.220 Would appreciate if you let me know (off-list) you if it helps.] They are saying: "OpenDNS helps you navigate the Internet in a safer, faster, smarter and more reliable way. Our service is free and requires nothing to download. OpenDNS doesn't replace your existing Internet connection, it just makes it better." "The only thing worse than a slow DNS service is an unreliable DNS service. When DNS isn't working it appears as if the entire Internet isn't working. Our service is built on our own high-performance network that is connected in multiple cities and to many different networks. We know reliability is important, and we stand behind ours." <http://www.opendns.com/what/> Simply put, when one types a website address on to their browser, your ISP's DNS Server resolve the characters into an IP address where and the browser is then directed to that IP address. What does DNS do? DNS, the Domain Name System, translates the human addresses of websites and servers (like wikipedia.org) to the numerical address used by computers (207.142.131.203). Do I use DNS? Every time you send an email or visit a web page, you are using DNS services. We estimate most people make at least 100 DNS requests every day. If you are unsure, readup some more from their site before making changes. Thxs --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

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