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?)
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]
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]
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.
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.
Have a look at some really great photos of african kings.
[via AN]
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.
Well, I’ve been caught the 2nd time by some weird blogger hobby – I’ve been tagged, I got a “Stöckchen” as the german blogger scene calls it. Some folks seem to be in need of blog-content 
? Anyway I’ll forget about the long lost privacy on the web and publish some more irrevelant personal stuff about myself. Btw. who dares about any personal stuff? To 99,999…9999% this (false?) post will be completely worthless information anyway.
First, here, read tha dim rulz.
1. I am a TCK and am not quite sure what to say where my home is. I feel weird – and I love weird, crazy, crackbrained people. I am scared by the ordinary, sometimes of myself. Is a tagg-response ordinary? Hm, scary.
2. ok, first, I love this place. (The link is a Google Placemark. You need GoogleEarth and a swift web-access to open it). The place needs tusker and nyama choma.
this photo covers approx. three facts. please guess!
3. EEh. Me, I’m fongot this one.
4. I love music from “The Prayer Chain“, a band that split up I guess 1995. I am able to give very wired explanations (the whole night through) why their music gets better with every hearing. 58 bought the CD sometime 1994 by mailorder from Germany. We both didn’t like their music at first. Finally he convinced me to give him an other (crappy) CD I had bought in excange to “Shawl”. The only album that I miss today is their first, called “the neverland sessions”. I just can’t afford it. Only once in a decade some moron sells it on ebay – and all the other idiots pay more than 100 USD to get it *argh*.
Btw. have you ever wondered about 58’s domain fiftyeight.net?
5. I love piki-pikis and old cars and store a buch of them in my backyard to be repaired. The IT-stuff I do gets in conflict with that love. (I’m actually waiting for JKE to come and repair them for me )
6. I love to travel, but either I have time and no money, or I have a job & money but no more time. In both cases go back to 1.
Yeah, and over all this weird stuff I feel comforted and at rest beeing a child in the hands of a loving god concearned about me. Well, I just had to add this .
—
JKE, you are taggedback, 58 you are doubletagged. I want to tacker fred & pilgrim. I pass a “Stöckchen” to Tom and Alex. I wonder why the mzungu on the other side hash not been tagged (maybe because he is a hard-blogging-businessman?) and I want to remind Astrid that she has been tagged by the taggedback. And what are the rules?
What to do on a Sunday morning without any bread for breakfast? First of all keep calm and make a cup of chai or coffee. Pancakes, yes Pancakes! After a swift check through our cupboard we realized that we were missing the eggs. So the only thing we could think about were chapatis.
All you need is
First put some salt in to the flour, then mix the warm water into the flour and form a stiff dough. Place the dough in a warm place and cover it for some 30-40 minutes. Then divide it into approx. 8 small portions. Roll out each ball on a floured surface and brush a little oil on it. Then fold the disk into half, roll it to a bar and form a spiral. Roll out the dough to a disk again. Repeat these steps about three times. Then fry the cakes in a hot iron pan with a little oil until they turn brown.
Eat most of them on the spot. If some are left they probably could be served with Dengu-Soup, Sukuma or Cabbage.
For all who want some more Kenyan recepies have a look at the “Sukuma-Wiki” and feel free to add your own favorite Kenyan recepies (since this is the purpose of a wiki).
