Africa Jobs through Microsoft Students-to-Business

Are you a graduating student looking for an internship or a job in the IT field? Are you a Microsoft Partner or Customer hoping to recruit students with the skills to meet the demands of today’s technology industry?

Welcome to Microsoft Students to Business, a community initiative connecting Microsoft, Microsoft Partners and Customers, with technology students from leading universities and colleges.

To register for the programme as either a current/ex-student or a potential employer visit the WECA Portal here and you stand a chance to recruit or get employment.

*The WECA portal is for the following countries : Kenya, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Senegal .If your country is not listed there , please visit www.microsoft.com/s2b to find it.

Reduce Data Rate and Increase Speed on Safaricom

Since web 2.0 became real, most of web users are not necessarily geeks and few I know have experimented with Opera on the Desktop. Thought I'd share a trick I learnt that actually works(very few that I learn do... hehe).

pera Turbo(Beta) is a server-side optimization and compression technology that speeds up data transfer and to reduces the amount of data that needs to be downloaded in order to view the page by up to 80%. Now this is quite something if you feel exploited by the TelCon's Data Rates in Kenya if you are charged by the MB. It does also speed up your EDGE if you are inZane. So far I'm doing rates of abit more than HALF of what I was using meaning my bundles last TWICE as long.

You can download the test version of Opera Turbo right here and start playing around with it right away.

There are however some drawbacks which are tweak-able trade-offs for compression like getting hazy images but if you may be desperate for information/research/mail (not really media and you-tubing) this is the tool for you. For torrenters it also has a built-in client. I am still testing and discovering, so I'll update.

PS: Telkom-Orange have a bundle of 2GB for 2K. Sounds quite enticing. Early reviewers sound happy about their EDGE quality. It should be worth checking out.

Ericsson Career Day

On the 14th May 2009, Ericsson Kenya will be hosting an Ericsson Experience Day at the Sarit Centre.

The aim of this day is to showcase Ericsson as an employer of choice to undergraduates/graduates from nine universities across Nairobi. Their main objective is to secure 15 top calibre graduates who will participate in a rotation programme with the purpose of securing a full time career as part of the Ericsson Kenya Team.

If you are interested to know more then feel free to visit:

http://www.joinericsson.com

WhereCamp Africa Nairobi 04.04.2009

New school GIS to the traditional mapper is 'Business Unusual' rather than 'Business as usual'...

This event was one of the highlights of my tech-calendar for '09. Hosted at the ILRI Nairobi(Uthiru) Campus Grounds, WhereCamp, was the free unconference for geogeographers, mobile location experts and social cartographers and all kinds of folks interested in place. It was an opportunity to exchange ideas, questions, projects, politics, technical issues and make new friends (or rather network, friends with benefits... ).

One of the memorable contributions were from my pal from M$, Wilfred Mworia who did an eye-opener on Mobile Computing Technology and gave a sneak-peak of Microsoft's Geo-Life Architecture, a research project in China. GeoLife enables user to share travel experience using GPS trajectories.
Will also coined 'ku-facebook' a term used in reference to the impact of the Social Network site and the commoditization of social networking.
PS: Check out Will's Afrinnovator Website. It is basically about putting Africa and African Innovation on the map!

Had a fun exchange with Micheal Lin, a Lecturer at Stanford Uni, who showed me some of what they are working on to create a Green Dorm, a virtually self sustaining 'Green' Building that would be the coolest(no pun intended) place to live on campus. He is currently teaching a course at Stanford University entitled Sustainable Development Studio, in which students are creating sustainable solutions to real-world problems, including designing the green dorm at Stanford slated to be completed in 2009. Micheal has recently been in East Africa to sampling miniature electricity generator gadget which could apparently pump a 20-minute(Talk-time) charge on your average phone with five arm-swing pulls.

Google, one of the sponsors of the event, who had launched Google Map Maker for Kenya which enables locals to create and contribute to GMaps. Jessica Pfund the Google GIS Specialist for Kenya show cased it and even gave us the Google Map Maker Kenya source data download for non commercial users here. So the next time you search for hotels, restaurants or even for Kenyan Currency/forex, just go to Google Maps.

Other outfits, too many to remember off-the-top, that participated were InternationalFoodPolicyResearchInstitute, AGCommons, ESRI, ILWIS, WFP, CharitySolutions, ILRIKenya, and more...

For those interested the next WhereCamp Africa will be held in Bamako 2010

In the Pic: @judemwenda and @whynnot, my Twitpals.

Freebies: Google Earth 5.0 CD, ILWIS Open Software CD, WhereCamp T-Shirt, Google T-Shirt, Happy Hour - Drinks Free.

The Genesis of the First Kenyan EV

For the last one month I have been doing some research on the EV's(Electric Vehicles) that are manufactured in the US and Europe to find out their best design criteria and approach. For those of you who missed this, De Uitvinders(The Inventors Foundation – Netherlands) in conjuction with Development Through Media (DTM) and the University of Nairobi among others are collaborationg in the production of a Film, The Inventors – The African Race (previously aka The Inventors come to Africa).

Our task as the University of Nairobi and more specifically as the WAZA Platform in this film is to see the actualization of the Electric Vehicle around which the synopsis of the film is based. Hugo Vrijdag who heads the project had been kind enough to provide sketches of his ideas of this vehicle but has given us the liberty to modify or even create a whole new design. Below is a sample of his design.

I immediately understood his train of thought and what came to mind was the popular three wheeler EV created by Rick G. Doran. The Doran is a front-wheel-drive (FWD) design that uses the entire drivetrain from a 1980-89 Subaru Hatchback.
The electric version uses an off-the-shelf series wound DC motor, deep cycle lead-acid golf cart batteries, and a transistor chopper for smooth speed control. In-town range is about 60 miles. Batteries can be recharged overnight using a conventional 110-volt charger.


A stunning coincidence is that the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering some years ago wanted to begin 'ambitious' project to convert to an Electric Vehicle, a 1985 Subaru-Leone 1800 GLF (donated by a sponsor- pictured).

Although this project never took off, Dr. K. Gachigi, a Lecturer at the Faculty, has seen this as a providential opportunity to jump-start it. As the Patron of the WAZA Platform, he is key to facilitating the projects' co-ordination with The University and also the wondrous facilities of the new FabLab.

As Project Leader, my first task is to do some background research on the budget estimates we will expect. The immediate decision would be whether to convert the existing Subaru as-is. Do we use it's chasis and build a light-weight(Fibre-Glass) body? Or do we build the Doran and use the Subaru drive-train as done by Rick.

I will be posting more information on our progress on this forum. I welcome your questions or advice if you are knowledgeable in this field, or if you have had the experience of building an EV! Stay tuned...

Is the future really here?

On the 10th of March 2009, students of the University of Nairobi held a demonstration across the Central Business District in protest of the murders of Oscar Kamau King’ara and John Paul Oulu (GPO, a student) of the Oscar Foundation that took place right in the campus grounds. These murders are alleged to be linked to the Mungiki Sect and are also alleged to have been committed by a unit of the police force. This among many other extra-judicial killings alleged to have been carried out by this unit motioned the demonstrators to chanting the now clarion call that has been echoed by members of Civil Society, “Ali Must Go!”. Major General Hussein Ali is the Police Commissioner of the Kenya Police.

They took the opportunity to also voice their protest on the several issues that have tainted the 'Grand Coalition's' governance of the state.


Contrary to the history of SONU(Students' Organization of Nairobi University) demonstrations, this one was a relatively peaceful protest save for the few incidents by rogue demonstrators towards the end of the march.

We -and I believe I speak with the majority of the student population- are deeply unsatisfied by the actions of our political leaders under whose authority we placed our beloved country only to be damned by tales of grand corruption, impunity and even murder!

Back to Regular Programming (Part I)

After a relatively long hiatus, I am determined not to abandon this forum for a while now. With my exams out of the way, I will do a round-up similar to the November post for purposes of catching-up. Here we go...


Aga Khan University: Projected Arts and Sciences University in Tanzania

Last month, on the 23rd Feb., I got an invitation to attend a workshop to discuss the projected Aga Khan University(of Arts and Sciences) in Dar es Salaam, scheduled to be be completed 2015. This will be a fully fledged university, an extension to the already existing Advanced Nursing Studies (ANS) Programmes at campuses in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

It was quite an eye-opener, for me, since I got to interact with the not too familiar 'Artsy-Types'. Although the workshop was what I least expected, considering the invite alluded to a Curriculumn Consultation session, I must say I enjoyed this most unorthodox atmosphere. Will update y'all on the proceedings in a dedicated post...


FabLab arrives at University of Nairobi



The Fab Lab is HERE! Yes, right here at the University of Nairobi, School of Engineering, courtesy of the efforts of one, Dr. Kamau Gachigi. He is the Chair and Coordinator of the Science and Technology Park Steering Committee at the UoN and Lecturer at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

The Fab Lab program is part of the MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), (and soon to be UoN CBA) and which broadly explores how the content of information relates to its physical representation.

The Fab Lab program has strong connections with the technical outreach activities of a number of partner organizations (eg WAZA Platform), around the emerging possibility for ordinary people to not just learn about science and engineering but actually design machines and make measurements that are relevant to improving the quality of their lives.

An immediate beneficiary of the FabLab are, but not limited to, the students currently pursuing Engineering at the UoN. This is a great stride in actualizing Engineering beyond the classroom and we are very greatful and excited about it. I am in the process of uploading some of the pics of some of the equipment so check me on twitter/twitpic (edObie) soon.

WhereCamp Nairobi

WhereCampAfrica is happening April 4th at the John Vercoe Conference Room, at the ILRI Headquarters in Nairobi.

"Society is being transformed by new maps and new mapping technology. Our mission is to help create a free forum for people to talk about, present, explore, and learn about projects that involve place."

WhereCamp is the free unconference for geogeographers, mobile location experts and social cartographers and all kinds of folks interested in place. We run shortly after the annual CGIAR-CSI meeting and bring together software developers, artists, geographers and academics for a one day extended discussion. WhereCamp is an opportunity to present on ideas, questions, projects, politics, technical issues that you have - and contribute to and get feedback from other people and to make new friends with similar interests. It's free and fun.


UK's Beem to up M-Pesa Model
Since the unprecedented success in M-Pesa in Kenya and now expanding to East Africa and even Afghanistan, there have been several attempts to replicate M-Pesa's business model in other western markets albeit to the realization that this unique solution was indeed a benefit to the unique market needs.

One entrepreneur thinks there's an opportunity for a similar service in the UK. His mobile money platform, Beem, went live just last month; 1,500 people have signed up so far. A further discussion of his approach was documented by Giles Turnbull for the Guardian.

In other news, Zain Kenya, launched their new money transfer services, ZAP, after a long battle to acquire licensing. This is a rebuttle to Sokoletu(of Celtel), which fell to competitor's M-Pesa(Safaricom). It will be interesting to watch the dynamics unfold since Zain have 'One Network' across three continents meaning their scalability in terms of service far out-does Safaricom's.