Zinj Log

TriplePlay service in my house

2012-01-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

After arriving back in Kenya from an extended time away (close to 18 months), I decided that it would be more economical to set up a cable connection to the house and subscribe to broadband, TV and voice services with local Triple Play provider Zuku. At first I tried to access their website to obtain details on what the connection would cost, in terms of packages available, equipment requirements, setup costs, and monthly subscription. This proved futile as for some reason, my Safaricom 3G connection was rendering me very slow access to the media rich Zuku website. I opted to send an email to the sales email address listed on their website.

Having not received a response by mid-morning the next day, I decided to post a message to the local tech mailing list "Skunkworks" asking for help in making contact with Zuku. As usual I got a lot of very helpful responses, made a couple of phone calls and within 1 hour had a sales representative sitting in my dining room taking me through the various packages and options. I couldn't decide which TV package to get because he didn't have the printed TV Guide with the channel listings so we agreed that he would email it to me later and we would pick up the following day.

The next day, after reviewing the channel listings, I decided on the package I wanted, stopped by the sales office in my neighborhood and made the payment for installation and first month's service. I then went home to wait. Within less than 1 hours a technical team was on site doing the installation and 1 hour later I was flipping channels on my TV. It took a little longer to get the internet and telephone service up because the provisioning involved the installers getting a "customer code" and linking it to my service type. Nevertheless, within 2 hours I had blazing fast broadband (I chose the 8MB shared service) and a working telephone line in the house.

All I can say is that I was very impressed at the service. Having run ISPs for close to 10 years myself I know how hard it is to get a smooth transition between sale, service subscription, installation, configuration and commissioning. Zuku seems to have gotten it right.

Taste it Twice - Part 1

2011-08-16T10:48:00.001-07:00

A former business partner, good friend of mine, from the Asian community in Kenya once told me "You know you've eaten in a good Indian restaurant when you taste the hotness in the food twice, once when it goes in - and the second time when it comes out" I have never forgotten the statement and it always bring a laugh when I share it with friends and family. But even the graphic nature of that statement could not prepare me for what I went through during a recent trip to India.

It wasn't my first time to visit India - no - I was in Hyderabad in 2008 for the Internet Governance Forum conference which was hosted there at the International Conference Centre. The IGF attracted what looked like close to 1,000 visitors from all over the world and lasted one week. The food we ate, both at the event as well as at our hotel and at the various evening functions, while spicy, was not balzingly hot. It might be that in preparation a general circular was sent out to all culinary venues to ease back on the hot stuff for 1 week while all these foreigners are in town. Anyway, all in all - I enjoyed very much the food I ate during that visit.

This time, though, I was on a man-solo trip to meet with our two main point of sale device vendors. One was based in Bangalore and the other in Hyderabad. Upon arrival in Mumbai (where I spent the night) I had a series of rushed meetings before proceeding to catch the flight to Bangalore. I got to the airport well on time, joined the loooong queue for the flight to Bangalore, got to the check-in counter and presented my passport - shock! It was not my passport - apparently another Kenyan had checked into the same hotel the same night, a few minutes after I had, the guy was even a Kamba and had a name and looks similar to mine. So when I checked out of the hotel - the reception (which had retained the passport), gave me the wrong one. In a panic I called my business colleague in Mumbai - he sent his driver immediately to the hotel to pick up the right passport and get it to me quickly so that I could board. By the time the driver arrived with the passport (I gave him the wrong one to take back to the hotel), and I got into the queue and made it to the check-in desk, I was too late to board the flight. I asked to be put on stanbdy on the next Mumbai-Bangalore flight (they fly hourly) and the lady obliged. One hour later - I was back on the waitlist because all the booked passengers arrived. Another hour later and I was back on the waitlist again! Yet another hours and this time because I was at the top of the waitlist I was given one of two only available chairs on the flight. Got to Bangalore exhausted - took a cab from the airport to hotel (almost 1 hours drive) and slumped into bed like a sack of potatoes.

The Next morning found me up nice and early - ready to face this new city and busy day that lay ahead. But first, breakfast - since I arrived in the wee hours and got to the hotel too tired to order room service, I had overslept a bit and missed the 9.30am deadline for breakfast. No problem, I just headed out onto the street found a nearby coffee shop - asked for a chicken sandwich and black coffee and sat down to wait. Coffee and chick-sandwich arrived together - both looked delicious - I took a huge bite out of the sandwich, and..... aaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh..... it was loaded with tear-gas-like chilli. Needless to say my first reaction was to take a sip of the closest drink - hot coffee! Ouch! Well, that was breakfast....

Once I had regained my vision and general sense of direction I picked up my laptop from the hotel and headed off for my first meeting of the day. I jumped into a tuk-tuk better known as "auto" (3 wheeler moto-taxi), showed the driver my map and address - and off we went! 2 dreary hours later, soaked with sweat and dust I walked up the stairs of our prestigious partners office building and into the main entrance. The security guard at the main entrance took a visibly tighter grip of his firearm as I approached but when I asked for the boss in English, he relaxed, smiled - mumbled something to me and triggered the fingerprint biometric switch which made the door swoosh open and I entered the cool, air-conditioned interior. After 1 hour of an introductory session my hosts invited me to join them for lunch upstairs on the balcony canteen. As we walked up the stairs, the politely asked if I minded indian food - I proudly told them that indian food was my favourite whenever I went out for dinners back home in Kenya. At the buffet style counter - we were served portions of the various dishes on offer by a bunch of cute, chubby ladies. We sat down at what was clearly the table reserved for the executives and began to eat. With my first bite I am sure my face must have turned purple or some other strange color from the hot and spicy food because without a word, my host dashed to the water dispenser - dashed out a plastic cup full of water and hurriedly gave it to me. With my eyes watering I tried to excuse myself and gulped back as much of the water as I could. Not wanting to lose face, I gathered my manly courage, set my jaw firmly and proceed to finish the meal, spoon after flaming spoon.

After lunch we had a very productive afternoon - meeting other members of the team they had assigned to work with me, going over the salient points of our project and brainstorming on a workplan for the next 8 days that I would be in Bangalore. At the end of the day, they summoned an 'auto' for me - and I jiggled and joggled the next two hours back to my hotel. After a quick shower I decided to take a short walk around the neighborhood of my hotel. Less than 3 minutes down the road I came across a massive (to my Kenyan eyes) Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) spot. I immediately rushed in, and with my mouth watering ordered a takeaway meal and salad to go. Rushing back to my room it was all I could do not to start eating on the way up in the lift, no, I wanted to do this right. Got into my room, laid the meal out on my little bedside table - washed my hands thoroughly at the tap in the bathroom and then descended upon the feast with avengeance..... Ouch! Oooow! Sssss! That chicken was so spicy hot that for a moment I thought I was eating pili pili straight from the farm! Goodness gracious! There went whatever hope I had of a blissful KFC eatfest. I picked at the fries and the salad - put it all back together, snuggled into bed and flipped channels for about 30 minutes before drifting off into a somewhat troubled sleep.

Very early in the morning I got up to attend to my bodily needs in the toilet. I was still a bit groggy and sleepy as I sat on the ivory throne so I let loose with my usual gusto.... I barely managed to contain the scream that hurtled forth from the depth of my belly. I felt as if my intestines were being dragged out of my rear end.... with a blowtorch burning ever so brightly at that posterior to make everything nice and colorful. Agony of agonies! Torture of tortures! The next 5 minutes found me reduced to a shivering, shaking wreck of a person. After cleaning up I stumbled into the shower, turned the cold water tap onto full pressure and present the resultant, soothing jet of water to the offended area. Then it came back to me, what my asian friend had told me, so - this is what he meant by tasting it twice!

Lost my HINDIOT

2011-08-16T07:26:00.001-07:00

woiyeee, boohoohoohoo, nisaindie yameni.....

*wipes tears, blows nose and snuffles loudly*

I lost my beloved, cherished Huawei IDEOS smart(est) phone....

It was a cold, dark night in Gaborone - and it also happened to be my birthday. My work colleagues took me out for dinner and even before it was over, begged their leave and left me all alone in this vibrant, classy and quite well visited restaurant. Sitting on a stool next to our table was a vocalist - belting out golden oldies, and every two or three songs wishing me a happy birthday on the mic and dedicating a song to me (maybe it was the 100 Pula tip I gave him for singing "Malaika" so well).

So here I am, all alone - finishing my meal and wondering how the rest of my birthday evening was going to be. Then I get a pat on my back and a guy I had been introduced to the previous week says hi and asks if he can join the table. I welcome him and he sits down, waves a hand in the air and "poof!" 3 dazzling ladies appear - one is his sister, the other his girlfriend and the third a cousin. After about another hour, the vocalist's crooning get's a bit tiring and my newfound friends suggests we find a place with a little more 'life'. Of course I am game. After a short drive we arrive at 'G-West' - Gaborone's equivalent of F1. We join the already crowded top level, find a corner at the bar, lean back and try to allow the pulsating 'house' music to sink in. By around mid-night I'm kinda ready for bed, but my friends... no way! By now they know it's my birthday and want to make sure that it is well celebrated. So we depart - driving about 30 klicks outside of Gaborone CBD to the only 24 hour joint - "Magic King" - which is absolutely packed to the brim - we try to fight our way to the bar to get a drink, give up mid dance floor, and turn back to try get out of the entrance we came in.

That is when the "tsotsis" (mbulale mbastards) make their move - in a very well orchestrated motion, I (unknowingly) am surrounded by about 5 guys who seem to be dancing around me - their hands are raised, at least that's what it looks like, and their heads are bobbing to the loud, glaring beats of the 'house' music. As I try to shuffle towards the entrance, I realise something strange, these fellows seems to be dancing - moving in the same direction and at the same pace as me - we're like some kind of interconnected cluster of bodies moving synchronously towards the entrance. I push one guy who is resting on my chest away - and he immediately 'reconnects' - I do the same to another on my flank and get a similar response. It then dawns on me that I am or have been played - I swirl round, duck, lunge forward, and escape the clutches of this five tentacled octopeople that is trying to swallow me - and I'm out of the door and into the cold, fresh air outside. I find my friends out there and we all agree to call it a night and that they will drop me off at my hotel.

As we enter the car I decided to check my email/facebook/twitter - you know, the usual addictive impulse that hits us socio(net)paths every 10-20minutes. I reach into my jacket breast pocket and shock! Phone gone! ....... Billions of blue, blistering, barnacles! I've been robbed! thefted! stolen! plundered! - I quickly check the rest of my pockets and find that everything else is intact - even my Nokia E5 (bought same week as my beloved HINDIOT). But alas, my swiss army knife of mobile phones, my multi-purpose, multi-faceted, multi-factor interaction interface is gone! the only bean in the githeri of my technical arsenal is lost! I am bereft..............

..............Friends and family are meeting in my Google Plus hangout every evening from 5pm GMT for the next 5 days. Well wishers and those bringing condolences are welcome.

Palm about to release new Smartphone: Palm Pre

2009-04-24T03:04:00.001-07:00

According to the Palm website:
"The new Palm® Pre™ phone is always thinking ahead to make your life easier. Pre pulls your different online calendars into one view, bringing you the information you want without having to search for it. Pre links your contacts from different sources, giving you one place to find what you need. And Pre delivers incoming messages and notifications in an intuitively subtle way, letting you react or respond however you want. People, events, information that matters. With Palm Pre, it'll come to you."

Based on a totally new operating system, Palm's WebOS, the Pre has been garnering a lot of hype. With stories about pre-release sightings of the phone in the hands of the likes o Angelina Jolie - who apparently says that this smartphone is "better than sex".

Interesting, but this is definitely one pudding that will have to be tasted to prove.

ICANN@Mexico City

2009-03-05T13:55:00.001-08:00

Attending the ICANN meeting in Mexico City. Part of the Kenyan delegation that has come to support Kenya's bid to host ICANN the ICANN 2010 Africa meeting.

Normally the host for this meeting would be announced by the board during this session in Mexico City - but a last minute change in date for the 2010 Africa meeting has led the board to decide to defer their announcment of the host to April 2009.

Besides Kenya, other African countries that have put in bids are Nigeria and Namibia. We feel that since ICANN has already been hosted in West Africa twice, in North Africa twice and in Southern Africa once - but never in East Africa - our proposal should have a strong chance - based on the premise that ICANN tries to give/get as much exposure in local/regional settings by having it's 3 annual meetings in diverse locations.

An interesting thing I found at the meeting is a caricature service where a digital photo is taken of you - and sent to an artist in Texas, who within 24 hours does a caricature. Here is mine:

It is now part of my profile on the ICANNWIKI website at http://www.icannwiki.org. Very interesting!

The Ka-PC I want to pass on

2008-08-06T00:53:00.000-07:00

Sony Vaio VGN-ux27

Specs on the main device follow:

* Beautiful viewing: Clear Bright LCD

* Genuine Windows Vista® Business

* Visual communication: Dual Camera MOTION EYE

* Ultra lightweight: 520g

* Network freedom: Wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g / Bluetooth®

* Quick access: VAIO Touch Launcher & Fingerprint Recognition

* Security for mobile use: HDD Protection & HDD Password

* Handy presentation: Plug & Display

* Easy mobile typing: Built-in keyboard

* Touch panel: Stylus input & Finger touch selection

* Content sharing: Memory Stick Duo & CompactFlash Slots

* Supplied accessories: Display/LAN Adapter & Port Replicator

Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Business (English Version)

Architecture Processor Technology Intel® Centrino® Mobile Technology

Processor Name Intel® Core™ Solo Processor U1500 (1.33GHz)*1*2

Chipset Intel® 945GMS Express Chipset

Processor System Bus 533MHz

Memory Bus 400MHz

Main Memory

Pre-installed/Max 1GB DDR2 SDRAM (on board)*3

Hard Disk Drive

Hard Disk Drive 40GB (HDD Recovery Storage:max. 5GB*4, C:Remain) Ultra ATA/100

Graphics

Graphics Accelerator Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950

Total Available Graphics Memory (Max) 224MB*5

Display

Type 4.5" WSVGA (1024X600) TFT colour display (Clear Bright LCD: White LED, Wide View)

Interface

USB USB 2.0 x 1

I/O Connector x 1

Headphone stereo mini jack x1

Microphone stereo mini jack x 1

Memory Stick Slot Memory Stick Duo Slot (MagicGate compatible, Memory Stick PRO Duo compatible, High-speed data transfer compatible)*6

Wireless Connection

Wireless LAN Type Integrated Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11a/802.11b/802.11g*7

Network Connection Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

Wireless LAN Data Rate maximum 11Mbps (802.11b)/54 Mbps (802.11a/g)*8

Wireless LAN Frequency 5 GHz (802.11a), 2.4 GHz (802.11b/g)

Bluetooth Bluetooth® standard version 2.0 + EDR

Security/Utilities Fingerprint Sensor x 1

Camera

Front Side Camera Effective Pixels: 640x480, Image Device: 1/8", VGA CMOS, Lens: 2 elements in 2 groups, F4 (Focus distance: f = 2.6 mm)

Back Side Camera Effective Pixels: 1280 x 1024, Image Device: 1/4", SXGA CMOS, Lens: 3 elements in 3 groups, F4 (Focus distance: f = 3.8 mm)

Audio

Sound Chip Intel® High Definition Audio compatible, 3D audio (Direct Sound 3D support)

Speaker Built-in stereo speakers

Microphone Built-in monaural microphone

Keyboard/Input Device Keyboard

Mac vs PC Ads now showing in Kenyan Movie Theatres

2008-07-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

So a local skunker watched "Wanted" over the weekend and comments about his surprise to see a Mac vs PC ad boldly screened during the commercials before the main feature.

It looks like Apple is taking this battle to the fore - and placing alternatives in front of the public - go Apple go!

ONLY Kenyans.....hahaha!

2008-07-07T03:12:00.000-07:00

1. Are engaged for 5 years or more
2. Never bother to divorce, they just separate
3. Are late to church, work, and everything else EXCEPT when the disco is free before 9pm
4. Refer to diabetes as 'SUGAR'
5. Show up at weddings, showers, graduation, birthday parties with a new outfit on with nails and hair done but no gift
6. In relation to #5, they eat like parking boys and take a plate home
7. Consider 'clubbing' or 'henging' as a monthly expense
8. Leave bills (instead of insurance money) behind for surviving relatives.
10. have mothers who can use curse words and religion ALL IN ONE SENTENCE e.g. "Lord, give me strength because I'm about to knock the hell out of this kumbaff child"

11. spend the car insurance money on everything EXCEPT getting the dent fixed.
12. invite co-workers and all of their friends to their child's 1st birthday party which happens to have a professional DJ with only about 3 kids (including the child) in attendance. And then expect the guests to "changa" for the bash.
13. Start every sentence with "Me I..." e.g. "ME I donno why you are saying that I always say 'Me I'.
14. Say 'Spend' when they are staying the night elsewhere from home, e.g. "Are you going to spend at her place?"
15. Put in iron rods in all windows and main doors...referring to them as ''Burglar proof''
16. Use "Ngai" as an exclamation mark e.g. "Ngai, what are you doing?"
17. Believe "Ati" is an English word for "What?" ati what?
18. Think it is cool to drink and drive and get away with it "I don't know how I got home that day..the way I was soo drunk!"
19. Think all their economic and social problems are caused by "Moi" when in fact some have never been to school.
20. Pack up all their earthly goods to go to "shaggs" for a week in December, only to pack them all back again after that one week and return to "Tao"
21. Call travelling "flying out" e.g .. She flew out (no one ever seems to wonder where all these Kenyans fly to)
22. Think that taking a clerical job in a company is better and "cooler" than toiling in their parents' family business.
23. Prefer washing cars and dishes in USA to toiling in their 20-acre tea farms in Kenya .
24. Call their homes "at ours". e.g., "At ours, we eat Githeri every day"
25. Complain for five years about poor governance and corruption then vote in the same clowns back to parliament.
26. Have a chief Justice who has no law degree!
27. Go on strike for one day and expect the govt. to resign!
28. Sit back in their homes and expect their MP to "bring Development"
29. Refuse to insure against anything and expect you to bankroll them when calamity strikes... thro' Harambee.
30. Sit calmly and sometimes cheer as a mad man drives them in a ramshackle(MATATUS) at breakneck speed to certain death.
31. Drive with their windows wound up when they get to city centre because of 4-year-old brats armed with human feaces, and still claim to be free people!

Sounds so true, eh? I hope you are still Kenyan by All standards!

Me, I am Kenyan Damu, osa vinya!!

Swing Blues

2008-07-01T16:03:00.001-07:00

My golf swing has jammed, refused, kwama'd, kataa'd - basically I'm struggling with my game. No amount of playing rounds and rounds of golf seems to help ... well, that's not entirely true, there has been a slight improvement over the past couple weeks, but still nowhere near the game I want to play, oh sorry, the game I *know* I can play.

Maybe I need to follow the footsteps or my arch-foe and favorite playing buddy, Mambo. He had his swing 'rebuilt' after a couple visits with Zacks, the teaching pro at Golf Park - and then did lots and lots of practice. Within less than a month he is winning competitions every week and has dropped four strokes off his handicap. Needless to say his 'new' swing was a good investment (he has his hand in my pocket almost every time I have a match and bet against him). So, do I have the patience and discipline to take the time to see a teaching pro?

You bet I have! There's no way I can carry on like this. Nowadays when I stand on the tee I am so full of uncertainty because basically I don't know what's going to happen next. Last week on one hole i hit a beatiful drive with a gentle draw 270 yards out to the middle of the fairway and finished with par. On the next hole I duck-hooked into some vicious bush and finished with 3-over-par - arrggh. This kind of inconsistency wreaks havoc on one's game. So I guess I'll have to take my medicine and see the pro after all.....

On the Brrr side of life

2008-06-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

This time the folk at Coca Cola have caught it nice and clean. The
'brrr' phenomenon as depicted in their ad campaign is so contagious
(or should I say infectious).

It has caught my entire family. The most enthusiastic is 1.5 yr old
Temwa. He loves it. At every meal when he wants to drink he says
'brrr' - the other, older kids have picked up on this and sometimes
its all we can do to get them to stop 'brrr'-ing and finish their food.

Kudos to Coke.

Sent from my iPhone

2008-06-23T05:12:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to catch the dregs of the tech BarCamp held in Nairobi at the Jacaranda hotel.

I also brought with me a recent acquaintance, Gregg Zachary - who is an esteemed journalist and author on technology, tech sociology, business and policy.

We had the opportunity to spend a bit of time with two of the organisers, Erik and Josiah - who were bone-tired after a busy day and they introduced us to a couple of really sharp techpreneurs.

iPhone vs. Palm Treo 680

2008-01-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

After gleefully taking ownership of an iPhone mid-November '07 I quickly realised that I had in my hands a device with mind-boggling potential. All the way from the underlying UNIX to the insanely beautiful looks..

There were, hovwever, a few 'gotchas' that I simply could not live with. First and foremost among these is the 'locked' approach that Apple is taking to rolling out the device. Admittedly I had mine working with both Kenyan GSM operators within minutes of opening the box. But to do that I had to literally hack the phone with the kind assistance of fringe programmers known as the 'iPhone Dev Team'. Among others gotchas were the inability to manage SMS without 3rd party app, inability to manage call log w/out 3rd party app, difficulty in copying playlists from my old (1st generation) iPod etc. Add on to this the extreme grief I went through after my iPhone took a swim in the Indian Ocean and gave me hell on earth trying to open to dry out. Eventually got it working but that was after several scratches, bumps and bruises had soiled the sweet lines of this dazzling gadget.

As an afterthought I decided to 'retry' the Palm platform. One with which I have been familiar for some 10 or so odd years. The experience was totally life-changing. Almost like rebirth, I must admit that Palm still has the most incredibly intuitive and easy to use platform I have ever come across. With my black Apple Macbook and my Treo 680 I feel like I can do anything.

Palm rules!
(Sent from my Treo 680)

2007-12-18T05:44:00.000-08:00

Top ICT Businessman in Africa, 2007

Well, wonders never cease. I was totally bowled over when the announcement that I had been declared the top ICT businessman in Africa was made. This was at the African ICT Achievers Awards ceremony held in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 17th of November.

http://www.forgeahead.co.za/Achievers/2007_winners.asp

2007-06-11T10:57:00.000-07:00

Business for Development: This is the right paradigm to bring about a change in the economic status of what are normally referred to as "developing countries". Being a proud, cardholding member of the developing country called Kenya I am a firm believer in this philosophy. and having witnessed the economic transformation that the country has gone through over the past 5 years I must say that there is a lot of truth in that belief.

The other day, founder of the Enablis Entrepreneurial Network said it perfectly, "development will not come from poverty alleviation, it will come from wealth creation". It is my prayer that more countries in Africa look at building their entrepreneurs and private sector as the main thrust towards national development.

2007-06-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

Last night over dinner I had a very stimulating discussion with an icon of the computer age - John Gage. John had some very interesting ideas about how Google Earth could be used to track connectivity status of schools around Kenya.

I wasn't exactly sure how this would look or work until today when I saw how world bank is tracking the ease/difficulty of doing business across 175 countries. Check it out:

The "Doing Business Map": How easy (or difficult) is it to do business in 175 countries?

DoingBusiness.org is a part of The World Bank Group and offers a database to "..provide objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement. The Doing Business indicators are comparable across 175 economies. They indicate the regulatory costs of business and can be used to analyze specific regulations that enhance or constrain investment, productivity, and growth."

To make it easier to browse this database The World Bank Group has created a Google Maps mashup called the "Doing Busiess Map" which creates a map view to the the database they are providing as a service from their website. Now entrepreneurs and business people all over the world can more easily create business plans and develop their overall business strategy. It is truly a Google Maps mashup that has the potential to change the way the world operates.

2007-06-11T02:27:00.001-07:00

Another very impressive device that I'm itching to get my hands on is the Sony Vaio UX-280p. This device belongs to the class known as Ultra-Micro PCs. It has a 4.5 inch screen, which slides upwards to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. Coming with 1GB RAM, 40GB Hard Disk and pre-installed Windows XP and a number of productivity apps - this device is very attractive to the highly mobile proffessional. It is especially appealing to me because it means I can have two computers in my bag (main: Apple Macbook - Black, and UX280p) without the bulk, weight and inconvenience of two laptops in a bag!

Besides having Bluetooth, Wifi and WWAN (Edge Cellular Modem) as well as built in USB and Audio ports, it comes with a port replicator that provides 3 more USB ports, VGA out, Audio in/out and Ethernet. This is kinda neat because it means that while in the office, you basically can hook it up to full size screen, keyboard and mouse to get full Desktop functionality.

2007-06-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

Palm announces "Mobile Companion" - Revolutionary new approach towards Data/Mobility for "Active" Proffessionals

In a move that has attracted both strong criticism as well as raccous applause, Palms' Jeff Hawkins announced a new approach towards Mobility and Data with the "Foleo" - a new device tagged as a "Mobile Companion" and intended to work in tandem with a Palm Treo Smartphone (either Palm or Windows Mobile OS). It was also suggested that the Foleo will shortly be able to work with smartphones running any of the other popular smartphones OS i.e. blackberry & symbian.

The Foleo has a large screen and full-size keyboard (which makes email and working with documents much easier), Wi-Fi, and an on/off button that actually does just that...instant on, instant off (i.e. no boot up).

For more details:
http://investor.palm.com/pressdetail.cfm?ReleaseID=246403

2007-04-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Some friends I met in Bagamoyo, Tanzania when I was there recently as part of a Task Force that is looking at ways to get the 3 East African countries - Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya's Internet Exchange Points connected.

What a day that will be for the land of Zinj!

2007-04-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

ICT Hall of Fame! What a surprise it was for me to learn that I had been nominated, shortlisted and eventually chosen as Kenya's first inductee into the ICT Hall of Fame Proffessional Category.

This took place on the 9th of February 2007 at one of Kenya's biggest ICT events - a gala dinner hosted by the Ministry of Information & Communication in conjunction with events organisers.

http://www.ictvillage.com/_Fame_BrianLongwe.asp

Well, what can I say? I'm just extremely humbled that I would be granted this accolade. It is now incumbent upon me to set out the right example, serve as a suitable role model and also encourage and inspire the younger generation.

I think for me the most amazing thing is how difficult my road to this point has been. When I finished high school my parents couldn't afford to send me to college or university and because of constantly being out of class due to delays in school fee payments, my grades were not good enough to gain admission to a public university. After high school I made one simple choice, since I didn't have very much on my side in terms of financial and circumstancial support, I would have to work, train myself in whatever discipline and be extra committed to developing myself as a person into someone worthwhile. I must say now that I thank God, my family and everyone along this difficult road who has given me a chance or opportunity to learn and grow.

2007-04-04T23:28:00.000-07:00

World Bank approves US$ 164.5 Million for Connectivity in Kenya, Burundi and Madagascar

I'm very happy to see the level of international interest and allocation of funds towards communications infrastructure and ICTs in general in the land of Zinj. This is just one more milestone.

-----------------------------------
World Bank Approves US$164.5 Million for Connectivity to Make Kenya, Burundi and Madagascar More Competitive Up to 25 countries in East and Southern Africa could benefit from the broader US$424 million Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP)
--------------------------------------

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 2, 2007 ¡ª The World Bank Board of Directors
approved on March 29, an International Development Association (IDA) financing package of US$164.5 million for Kenya, Burundi and Madagascar as the first tranche of the US$424 million Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP) for high-speed connectivity in East and Southern Africa.

2007-04-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

Exactly one year since my last post! What a coincidence. This morning I just thought, why not put some of the thoughts I'm pushing to my favorite mailing lists into a blog.... then I remembered that I had set up, on a whim, with Blogger. Glad to see the account still active.

My last post was when my office got robbed. Well, we've come full circle - now the company has grown steadily and I'm getting ready for a financing round that will see the business move to the next level. It was tough but we managed to recover from the robbery - resupplied and retooled, but as they say "when the going gets tough, the tough get going". So I guess that maybe we are tough ;-)

2006-04-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

Robbed! Last night some thugs broke into my offices and took off with several computers, my DSL equipment, UPS and a bunch of other communication equipment....... arrgggh! These are some of the realities of living in the land of Zinj.

Unfortunately I hadn't set up insurance on the premises yet - only been there 2 1/2 weeks and with too much travel during that period. Anyway now I can safely say that insurance and security are among my top priorities. Just below off-site backup .... yes, I didn't have an off-site backup of the data on these machines, grrrrrr! Anyway thank goodness when I called my financial consultant to report the incident he reassured me by telling he had backed up my Quickbooks till February, so I only need to recover one month's data - phew!

And they call this living in the fast lane? Ha!

2006-04-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

Money, money, money - that's what seems to be on everybody's mind's these days. Needless to say that nowadays it's almost impossible to survive without the damned stuff in the first place.

They say that money makes the world go round. What I want to do is make money go round the world....

2006-04-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

After months of resisting the urge to get a personal blog on one of the free blog sites I have finally caved in today and set one up. I must say the Blogger setup is pretty straightforward and easy - which made the process less of a hastle....anyway let's see how this goes!