Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the tech category. Noteworthy entries are filed topmost.
Africa panel @DEMO ‘08
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?)
Safaricom vs. Twitter
Kenyas Mobile operator Safaricom provides some “new kind” of SMS-groups similar to microblogging services as Twitter or . This is what I read on their site:
tXt (also known as GroupSMS) is a mobile chat service that enables a subscribers to quickly send the same message to several members of a group from a single SMS, instead of having to manually resend the same message to all the members of a given group. It can be used in the various group scenarios such as a family, bible study groups, and golfing buddies, just to name a few.
Ok, bible study groups, *g*. I think it is great that Safaricom provides such a service that can be managed via SMS. But on the other hand, there are some drawbacks. They charge 10KSH per SMS.
Twitter seems to be good alternative to me instead. Since some weeks I have put up a network with family and friends from Kenya and Germany. Via Twitter it is possible to receive 250 SMS per week at no charge. Messages can be sent via SMS (at your normal SMS rates), Web or Messenger. Twitter does not depend solely on SMS. It can be managed via website or Instant Messenger as well. They also offer a handy mobile site that can be found on m.twitter.com. All you need is to put up an account for yourself and friends and start following each others “tweets”. The only function I am missing at Twitter is the possibility to put up your own groups within the people that follow your tweets - e.g. “bible study”, family or co-workers.
Jaiku is a similar service that also offers SMS, but not to the extend of Twitter. Good thing are their group-channels. I’m not quite sure why Jaiku isn’t as pupular as twitter, but maybe just because twitter came first. Safaricom’s tXt might be a real good thing for exchanging few information within a small group once in a while. Group-size is restricted to only ten participants, so this limits use e.g. as one way information channel for large groups. In case you need something of that kind, be sure to give Twitter or Jaiku a try. What I could not find on Twitter is a way to put up accounts solely by SMS. It is possible to invite friends from an existing account via SMS though. A quite extensive introduction to twitter can be found on Caroline Middlebrook’s weblog.
Here is the Twitter-FAQ answering most of your possible questions. This are the commands you can use via SMS or Messenger provided on twitter.com:
Twitter Lingo
Send these commands to +44 762 4801423 or over IM and interact with Twitter on your mobile phone or chat window!
Inviting or Adding People
- invite +49 454 784564 john sends a text invite to john (use the full number including the country code)
- follow username you will get phone updates from this person (requires initial approval)
Getting More Updates
- on enables twitter updates
- get gets recent updates from all your friends
- get username gets this person’s last update
- follow all turns on updates (entire friends list)
- nudge username encourages this person to update
Getting Fewer Updates
- leave username disables updates from this person
- leave all turns off updates (entire friends list)
- off disables twitter updates
Finding Out Stuff
- stats a few statistics about your Twitter account
- help sends back a list of twitter lingo commands
- followers sends back a list of your followers
Talking To Friends
- d username message sends a direct message to this person.
- To update your own Twitter timeline just text or IM whatever is on your mind.
I guess if Safaricom would extend their service on Instant messenger and web this would be much more useful. The Website they mention to manage Groups does not seem to be available (or is this just the case from Germany?).
2nd, 3rd BarCamp in Nairobi
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
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
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]
Note: Potential of Twitter in Africa
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.
RSS explained
RSS is a way to easily tap lots of information from the Internet. This video on the Bamboo Projcet Blog describes the huge advantage you have when using RSS-Feeds in a absolute simple way. Especially in places with low bandwidth a RSS-Reader can enable you to read many news-sites in spite of that.
How mobile phones change africa
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.
Free Software - A Chance for Africa
A very interesting talk of Alex Antener during the recent CCC-Congress in Berlin is now available:Â 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.
Kenya Telkom Website down several days now?
For several days now I have been trying to access the webpage of Kenya Telkom in order to get some information on alternative phonelines around Nairobi. They offer wireless phone connections via radio incl. web access. Is it possible that Kenya Telkom Site is down for such a long time!? Unbelievable! Does anyone use such a connection in Nairobi and can give me some details? Or are there any good VSAT alternatives for Kenya? ADSL seems to be supplied only to a few places until now. All I know about are very costly inmarsat solutions like BGAN or dead slow connections via Thuraya Sat-Phones. Are there any new field reports form users in Kenya? All I know is from my time in NBO in 2003. I would highly appreciate some links and advice.