m.zungu.net » africa

Africa panel @DEMO ‘08

Cedric Weber — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:26:04 +0000

This is a pretty interesting talk held at DEMO ‘08 conference with Erik of White African / AfriGadget, Juliana Rotich of Afromusing / Global Voices and Mike Stopforth of Afrigator. The talks give a basic overview on mobile technology and african web-technology and innovation. Mike also shortly presents some (mostly South-African) Web2.0-Websites. Watch the video here. (just could’t get brightcove-embed running with a plugin - any hints?)

2nd, 3rd BarCamp in Nairobi

Cedric Weber — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:48:00 +0000

BarCamps are really getting popular in Nairobi. Just last Saturday the 2nd BarCamp at Strathmore University, and today a third version as an informal Meet-up of BarCampers and participants of the Web4Dev conference. This is what JKE forwarded:

The BarCamp will be held at the Pizza Garden in the Jacaranda Hotel in
Westlands on Tuesday evening, 27th November from 5pm onwards. The Pizza
Garden is near Sarit Centre.

I guess I’ll have to move back to Nairobi soon. Mental promised to upload the sessions as podcast and has some BarCamp-photos on flicker. Thanx - and I’m waiting for the podcasts ;-).

(Btw. BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees. Everyone should come prepared to stand up and talk about something - this is interactive.)

Linux4Africa

Cedric Weber — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:47:09 +0000

Linux4Africa is a German Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) based on Ubuntu. Goal is to set up a thin client architectures in Schools in Tanzania and Mozambique together with local partners. The good about thin clients is, they do not require powerful hardware. It is possible to set up used PCs as thin clients. But also a new and powerful server is needed to supply some 20 thin clients in a network. The Linux4Africa Project thoroughly examines and cleans used hardware, sets up the clients and servers, organizes transport to the projects and gives trainings for IT-personnel and teachers. Donations of hardware and money and many volunteers keep the project going.

Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) is an add-on package for Linux that allows many people to simultaneously use the same computer. Applications run on the server with a terminal known as a thin client handling input and output. […] Generally, they are low-powered, lack a hard disk and are quieter than desktop computers. […]

This technology is becoming popular in schools as it allows the school to provide pupils access to computers without purchasing or upgrading expensive desktop machines. […] (from Wikipedia)

German TV has a short coverage online (yes, in german). Recently I also posted a presentation-video on a thin client network that has been set up in Malawi.

[via Daniel Kemper]

OLPC starts production

Cedric Weber — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 10:14:35 +0000

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) starts the production of their “100 Dollar Laptops”. The final price will actually be more than 100 USD at 130 EUR (about 175 USD). First delivery of the XOB4 Laptops is scheduled for October 2007 and is supposed to be supported by governments and aid organizations.� The XO runs with a special Linux System and comes with 1GB Flashdrive, 7,5′ display, 256MB Ram and AMD CPU. You can find all details on the OLPC website.

[via golem]

Portrait on Sub-Saharan Africa

Cedric Weber — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:27:20 +0000

Just found this poll on National Issues, Economy and Personal Well-Being, International Views, conducted in 10 Sub-Saharan countries (Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa) in spring 2007 by The New York Times. Quite some interesting figures, e.g. 54% of Kenyans say, that they are financially better off than five years ago, 17% think that things are about the same while 29% state that the situation is worse. Ethnic / religious conflicts and corrupt political leader are considered a big problem by 78% and 90%.

[via 58’s blog]

Note: Potential of Twitter in Africa

Cedric Weber — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:04:44 +0000

Soyapi Mumba writes on the chances of Twitter for a new communication network in Africa. I’ve recently used my twitter account to stay up to date with the german bundesliga soccer finals via my mobile while in Kenya. With Twitter it is possible to receive free messages of twitterers you follow to your mobile and give updates to people that follow you. Many newsagencies offer Twitter-stream, e.g. the BBC. Twitterfeed allows to integrate any RSS-Feeds into Twitter, e.g. your blogs posts. So get connected and stay up to date from anywhere.

How mobile phones change africa

Cedric Weber — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:31:08 +0000

I just stumbled upon a great article and video report “From Matatu to the Masai via mobile” by Paul Mason on BBC. It shows what huge on impact cell phones have in africa. It is fascinating how such simple apps as M-Pesa will (probably) revolutionize money transfers. (Check out this article on M-Pesa)

In five years the number of mobiles in Kenya has grown from one million to 6.5 million - while the number of landlines remains at about 300,000, mostly in government offices.

Just today I chatted with my family in Mbagathi via Skype trying to set up an email account. They are using a GPRS connection which seems to be a real improvement compared to the mostly broken land line before. Yet the GPRS network does not seem to work with Gmail’s SSL connections. At least we weren’t able to set up Outlook pop3-access to Gmail.

African Kings in Portrait

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 06:16:27 +0000

Have a look at some really great photos of african kings.

[via AN]

Free Software - A Chance for Africa

Cedric Weber — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 15:01:04 +0000

A very interesting talk of Alex Antener during the recent CCC-Congress in Berlin is now available:� download (~ 180MB, Talk is in German). Antener talks about his experiences on implementing Free Software at the Polytechnik of Blantyre in Malawi. He spent 7 month in Malawi, building up a Thin-Client-Network at the University based on Linux / GNU-Debian.

You can find more details on the Congress Website.

Collecting Crown Caps

Cedric Weber — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:14:12 +0000

I guess there are several websites presenting Crown Caps somewhere online. I just found this page and had to check what Kenyan Caps are around, here they are…

This just reminded me of the time in school when we used compete on how far the caps would pop. Since most of the sodas from the dukas arround were quite warm (except the frozen coke you buy in Lodwar ;-)) the flight paths were impressive. Until one day I shot the cap right into my own face, leaving a nice blood stained muster on my cheek. Well, quite dumb.