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12:50
From: My Africa Today
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Top 10 Windows Tools 1. Cain & Abel - Cain & Abel is a password recovery tool for the Microsoft Windows Operating System. It allows easy recovery of various kind of passwords by sniffing the network, cracking encrypted passwords using Dictionary, Brute-Force and Cryptanalysis attacks, recording VoIP conversations, decoding scrambled passwords, revealing password boxes, uncovering cached passwords and analyzing  routing protocols. 2. SuperScan - SuperScan is a powerful TCP port scanner, pinger, resolver. SuperScan 4 (Current Version) is a completely-rewritten update of the highly popular Windows port scanning tool, SuperScan. 3. GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner - GFI LANguard N.S.S. is a network vulnerability management solution that scans your network and performs over 15,000 vulnerability assessments. It identifies all possible security threats and provides you with tools to patch and secure your network. GFI LANguard N.S.S. was voted Favorite Commercial Security Tool by NMAP users for 2 years running and has been sold over 200,000 times! 4. Retina - Retina Network Security Scanner, recognised as the industry standard for vulnerability assessment, identifies known security vulnerabilities and assists in prioritising threats for remediation. Featuring fast, accurate, and non-intrusive scanning, users are able to secure their networks against even the most recent of discovered vulnerabilities. 5. SamSpade - SamSpade provides a consistent GUI and implementation for many handy network query tasks. It was designed with tracking down spammers in mind, but can be useful for many other network exploration, administration, and security tasks. It includes tools such as ping, nslookup, whois, dig, traceroute, finger, raw HTTP web browser, DNS zone transfer, SMTP relay check, website search, and more. 6. N-Stealth - N-Stealth is a commercial web server security scanner. It is generally updated more frequently than free web scanners such as whisker and nikto, but you have to pay for the privilege. 7. Solarwinds - Solarwinds contains many network monitoring, discovery and attack tools. The advanced security tools not only test internet security with the SNMP Brute Force Attack and Dictionary Attack utilities but also validate the security on Cisco Routers with the Router Security Check. The Remote TCP Reset remotely display all active sessions on a device and the Password Decryption can decrypt Type 7 Cisco Passwords. The Port Scanner allows testing for open TCP ports across IP Address and port ranges or selection of specific machines and ports. 8. Achilles - The first publicly released general-purpose web application security assessment tool. Achilles acts as a HTTP/HTTPS proxy that allows a user to intercept, log, and modify web traffic on the fly. Due to a cyber squatter, Achilles is no longer online at its original home of www.Digizen-Security.com...OOPS! 9. CookieDigger - CookieDigger helps identify weak cookie generation and insecure implementations of session management by web applications. The tool works by collecting and analyzing cookies issued by a web application for multiple users. The tool reports on the predictability and entropy of the cookie and whether critical information, such as user name and password, are included in the cookie values. 10. Netcat (The Network SwissArmy Knife) - Netcat was originally a Unix utility which reads and writes data across network connections, using TCP or UDP protocol. It is designed to be a reliable "back-end" tool that can be used directly or easily driven by other programs and scripts. At the same time, it is a feature-rich network debugging and exploration tool, since it can create almost any kind of connection you would need and has several interesting built-in capabilities. Customize your mobile with your Complimentary Ringtone!
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11:59
From: You Missed This
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archiveDid you know that Kenya boasts of professional campaigners. Yes, people who lie low and quite and then emerge every 5 years to earn some fabulous incomes helping barely electable people get elected. I am reliably informed that we even have International players who completely took advantage of a certain prominent presidential candidate. The guy who was telling me this story exaggerated it a little and added much spices (what would life be without a little spice) that made me laugh. He says that this presidential candidate almost swooned when he saw “mzungus” sweating on his behalf in a room full of TV sets tuned to different TV stations and people trying hard to “look busy” making print outs of so-called political and voter analysis. He was overheard telling an impressed parliamentary colleague; “this is my think tank,” (pointing to the mzungusSadly after 4 years of this think tank where this candidate must have spent a fortune of hi later father's money, what does the candidate have to show for it? Zilch in my opinion. The problem of course is that mzungus don’t understand Kenyan politics that is why one wrote in the Financial Times of London that Kibaki will easily be re-elected. These are the times I feel like borrowing words from some of the most abusive commentators in this blog. I would prefer a local think tank any time. Incidentally I know a guy who was member of the legendary Moi think tank. He was as local as they get and that team (paid peanuts) did some amazing work getting Moi elected in 1992 and 1997. Of course they also played dirty and did many crazy things inluding the famous Kanu briefs where they dug up dirt about certain key challengers and published it in that newspaper. Dirt sells and the Kenya Times, I am told had sales surging. And I believe the candidate in question lost credibility because they ended up third, after Kenneth Matiba in 1992. But they also got it wrong in a way. Because that time they concentrated on attacking Mwai Kibaki only for the upstart maverick Kenneth Matiba to energe from nowhere to be the major challenger. There are those who believe (including this blogger) that Kennneth Matiba won the presidential elections in 1992. Well, let all those professional campaigners and think tank consultants emerge out of the woodwork and make their money. Although it will be much harder this time round with an electorate that has wisened up considerably. Father and son seduced by the same woman called "death."Discover how the exciting new video web conferencing can make your business or web site much more profitable today. Vote for a fellow Kenyan today because when he wins, Kenya wins
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11:57
From: You Missed This
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archiveMarianne Brinner is my friend and I have no apologies to make for that. I do not find it funny that some hacker could take advantage and find a way to hack into her site. These are the “animals” we live with in cyberspace who must be strongly condemned. Here I reproduce a statement from her explaining the whole situation… Statement From Marianne Brinner I know that there are many rumours circulating since the access-address of my blog Distantlovers.blog.com/ had been mentioned in media-reports and statements around the world and when people wanted to enter had to find out that this name is now referring to a somewhat funny blog which even looks quite pornographic. The reason is quite simple: I first thought that somebody had taken advantage of the publicity of my blog and when I deleted it for just 2 days, registered his own blog under the same address. But I have been told in the meantime that this matter is quite different: somebody has 'hacked' into my blog, published some funny things and is now occupying my space and name. Blog.com has offered to find a solution and has registered my blog under a slightly different name. So take note: it is now [distant-lovers.blog.com]/ (difference: this 'dash' in between). I have already sent a new post informing people that I am at the moment putting together all the details for a book on the whole Jeff-Koinange-Saga which will come out in the States either at the end of July or at the very latest at the beginning of August. I will also continue publishing some details in my blog. So please look out for it. I hope that this will serve to erase any question and doubts - I wish to apologize for any inconvenience and hope that this will not happen again ....... Marianne Briner Father and son seduced by the same woman called "death."Discover how the exciting new video web conferencing can make your business or web site much more profitable today. Vote for a fellow Kenyan today because when he wins, Kenya wins
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11:40
From: assidous
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 One complete revolution of the earth takes 365.256 days, that is 29079Km per Second or 107,870.0Kms per Hour! One complete rotation takes 23.9345Hrs! Just food for thought.
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11:09
From: assidous
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 I came across this wheel when i was just waltzing or rather going from one blog to another with no serious mission. I thought that i may share it with my fellow bloggers. Its like the Toyota Town Ace and i can term it as a MPV, the kind that Kenyans of Asian descent love. Its only that Marshalls may not launch it anytime soon.
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9:58
From: bankelele
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National Bank of Kenya’s 38th annual general meeting was held on Friday June 22 2007 at KICC. The bank has been profitable for the last few years but has not been able to pay dividends to long suffering shareholders owing to an accumulated deficit from past losses. some highlightsThe debt and (no) dividend has dominated any discussion about NBK and following the government settlement of their debt via Kshs 20.3 billion in bonds, spread out over 15 years, there was some optimism that the shareholders would finally get their due. Their auditors (Deloitte) have raised this matter of emphasis for several years as NBK has continued to claim interest on these government initiated loans with the understanding that it was sovereign debt to be settled one day (which has now happened). However in a long statement by the chairman (Mr. Muhindi), he mentioned that they were still not in a position to pay dividends and shareholders should not dwell on the matter. He mentioned that NBK's share price had appreciated by over 30 shillings in the past year, and to any share trader, that was more than any Kenyan company paid in dividends last year. Unfortunately the dividend issue came up and even the first three shareholders all asked about it among the many questions they posed. The Chairman mentioned that the banking act, companies act, and NBK articles all forbade payment as long as there was a deficit in the revenue account – and that the government bond would not wipe out the deficit, only profits can do that which may not take another four yearsbad debts NBK collected 503 million shillings in bad debts which was up from 403m the year before. He said they have still not scratched the surface as many of their cases were still in court. privatization of NBK was mentioned in the budget last week; however the board does not know more than what was in the media. I.e. that GoK and NSSF would sell their shares either to the public or a strategic partner. On merger possibilities the board would consider the right merger opportunity if it came up (but not for share capital reasons) other shareholder Q’scorporate social responsibility NBK assisted in the famine relief program last year, set up a ward at Kenyatta hospital, assisted schools for orphans in Mombasa and is building a kitchen for Mbagathi hospital. directors why should directors get allowance when we have no divided and some directors don’t even attend meetings? who got paid? a small amount of dividend (174,000 shillings) was paid in 2006 and shareholders wanted to know to who! Management stated that the correct term should be dividend collected - as some shareholders still have not claimed their dividends (last paid in 1997 and amount totaling 271 million) what is statutory reserve it is a new rule for all banks in Kenya that even for performing portfolio, 3% must be set aside to provide for any eventual bad debts. path to dividends: Responding to the umpteenth question on dividends, the MD (Mr. Marambii) stated that there were two ways to get NBK shareholders back on the path to dividends (i) one was to accumulate profits to pay off the deficit – which could take several years or (ii) was rot approve a reduction in the banks capital which would wipe out the deficit. Going forward any profits thereafter could be applied to dividends. He said that shareholders had rejected such a move a few years before but the board was leaning towards bring the option back to the table goodies NBK tote bag only and lunch. Some shareholders not happy said that the company could have also given a t-shirt while another suggested that they could have saved the money spent on the bags, cold lunch, and printing the annual reports (mgmt: says they cost 60/= each) and paid dividend instead. I did not stick around for lunch which looked like it was going to be a chaotic buffet
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9:48
From: Walk of Kings:
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For those of us who don’t have the spiritual gift of evangelism, the word witness can stir up some unpleasant memories or paralyzing anxieties. In fact, I’ve sometimes felt like a complete failure when I tried to follow methods that were designed to make witnessing easier. Jim Henderson, author of Evangelism Without Additives: What if Sharing Your Faith Meant Just Being Yourself? has made the subject less threatening for me by suggesting another way of thinking about the subject. Instead of using someone else’s words or story, he suggests “just being yourself.”In courtrooms, second-hand testimony is not allowed because anything other than a first-hand account is unreliable. The same is true spiritually. The authentic story of the work Christ has done in our lives is the best testimony we have. We don’t need to doctor it or dramatize it. When we tell the truth about Christ’s power to save us and keep us from sin, our testimony will be credible.If the thought of taking classes or memorizing plans has kept you from witnessing, try a different approach: be yourself! Like the blind man Jesus healed, simply say, “Though I was blind, now I see” (John 9:25). — Julie Ackerman Link— Julie Ackerman Link--> Thinking It ThroughWrite out your personal testimony of when you receivedJesus as your Savior. Try including what your life waslike before, and what it’s like now. If you want others to know what Christ can do for them, tell them what He has done for you. ODB RADIO: Listen Now DownloadREAD: John 9:1-25You, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled. —Colossians 1:21
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9:45
From: bankelele
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Bottled water companies have been lamenting about the excise duty they have had to pay for years – and it got even worse after the budget was read last week, increasing excise duty from 2.05 to 6 shillings excise tax per litre. This is likely to increase the price of water by 3 shillings per bottle. But at least they dodged a bullet with the postponed increased in the price of plastic (Those small plastic bottles you use and throw away cost about 10 shillings each, including plastic labels)
Still it is an odd paradox of life that a litre of water [which anyone can make at home] could (until recently) cost more than litre of petrol [imported from thousands of miles away and undergoes several complex processes].
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9:26
From: Bizmambo
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There's no question that consumers are using the internet to navigate their way to local brick-and-mortar retailers. A recent study by ROI Research Inc. and Performics shows that online searches influence 20 to 30 percent of purchases made at retail locations--and that number is only increasing. More and more sites, like Local.com, are making their presence known by competing against major search engines like Google and Yahoo!. So study up, plan your budget and get in on the online advertising game.  1. Website: Google AdWords How It Will Help You: AdWords helps you target local online customers by setting your pay-per-click ads to appear only when people search a particular city, state or region. There's no minimum spending requirement--your daily budget is up to you. 2. Website: Yahoo! Local Listings How It Will Help You: Local Listings will promote your business to customers looking for information in Yahoo! Local. Choose from three different plans (one is free) to meet your company's needs. 3. Website: CitySearch How It Will Help You: CitySearch offers online advertising tools to easily open your account, manage your daily results and receive ad placement on MSN, Yahoo!, Google and Ask.com. Similar to the idea of pay-per-click advertising, CitySearch offers two paid plans, "Web Connect" and "Call Connect." 4. Website: Ask.com's AskCity How It Will Help You: Ask.com recently launched AskCity, a new local search application that's a one-stop destination for making plans. In one screen, consumers can map a route, make dinner reservations, purchase movie tickets and e-mail plans to others. Pricing for advertising on Ask.com varies. 5. Website: AOL's CityGuide How It Will Help You: AOL's CityGuide specializes in providing local entertainment information to AOL service members. Advertising with AOL allows marketers to target consumers specifically by lifestyle and market. 6. Website: Craigslist How It Will Help You: Craigslist gets an estimated 10 million unique visitors per day. With an online classified ad format organized by region or city, Craigslist connects buyers and sellers in more than 300 communities; for the most part, posting on the site is free. 7. Website: MerchantCircle.com How It Will Help You: This free site offers a local business listing service that allows you to better manage your online reputation and become more visible in search engine results. 8. Website: Dotster How It Will Help You: Dotster is a web domain registration and hosting company offering a local web advertising package called "Local Site Promotion." You set your monthly budget and Dotster will make your ad visible on all the major search engines. 9. Website: Local.com How It Will Help You: Advertising on Local.com will give you access to their 10 million-plus monthly customers. Choose from a free basic listing or pay-per-click options. 10. Website: Froogle Local How It Will Help You: Google's shopping search engine allows users to search for specific products by location. It's a great way for users to find retail stores regardless of whether you use e-commerce. 11. Website:ReachLocal How It Will Help You: This site provides a central location for businesses to set-up, maintain and track local search advertising campaigns. Pricing varies. 12. Website: RegisterLocal How It Will Help You: RegisterLocal is a service, costing $199.95 per year, that allows you to create a master profile they submit to search engines and directories on your behalf. 13. Website: TrueLocal How It Will Help You: This local search engine features full-text searching and offers advertising opportunities for businesses. Currently indexing more than 13 million local businesses, TrueLocal starts at just $1 per month. 14. Website: YellowPages.com How It Will Help You: YellowPages.com is a large online local directory site featuring city guides and advertising solutions. Basic listings are free. 15. Website: Web.com's MyEzClicks program How It Will Help You: MyEzClicks lists your business on more than 30 major search engines, including Google, Yahoo! and MSN for a monthly fee.
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9:20
From: My Africa Today
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High Five!!! Its sexy time!’ from Borat! And ‘Hollywood Baby Names’ from the Celebrity Cultural Milieu, Named Top Words from Hollywood Impacting The English Language The Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture. The Top HollyWORDS are released in conjunction with the 79th Academy Awards ceremony that were broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday.  Top HollyWORDS for Impact Upon the English Language in 2006 with commentary follow. 1. “High Five!!!! It’s sexy time!” (Borat) – Borat’s wedge into doing or saying anything he pleases on his American Tour. 2. Suri, Shiloh Nouvel, and the rest of the Hollywood Babyland parade. (Hollywood Baby names) -- Opening an entire new world of possibilities to young parents, who are taking to the idea of ultimately, outré, names to inflict upon, err, bestow upon their children. 3. Pursuit (Pursuit of Happyness) – Will Smith's stunning epiphany from the words penned by Thomas Jefferson some 230 years ago. 4. Nazi bullets (Little Miss Sunshine) -- "I still got Nazi bullets in my ass." Grandpa's excuse to do or say anything he pleases. 5. Non Serviam (The Departed) – “I will not serve” from James Joyce. Franks Costello’s pledge as he refuses to be a product of his environment. He wants his “environment to be a product of me”. 6. A reluctant cannibal (Last King of Scotland) -- Forest Whittaker's portrayal of an illiterate, brutal African dictator, who may or may not enjoy feasting upon his victim. 7. A Moral Issue (An Inconvenient Truth) -- … and not a political issue. Al Gore's chilling documentary about Global Warming and it ultimate impact upon the human environment. 8. "Will someone please save these people from themselves!” (The Queen) -- Tony Blair's observations of The Royals as he attempts to heal the rift between The Queen and her subjects. 9. "Help! Ayúdenme! HELP!" (BABEL) Crying for help in a land apparently with out ears. 10. "The details of your incompetence do not interest me." (Devil Wears Prada) – Meryl Streep with yet another nurturing remark to those who surround (and serve) her. 11. Classic Figures (Dreamgirls) –For more than 200,000 years of human history these were the celebrated dimensions of women. What was the tipping point? Twiggy in the 60s? 12. Labyrinth (Pan's Labyrinth) -- Before 'quagmire's' there were 'labyrinths'. In the 21st Century 'labyrinth' is perhaps the better word. 13. Film Noir (Black Dahlia) -- Plenty of 'noir' but not much 'film' in the Black Dahlia. Perhaps Film Noir is better suited to a less cynical age. 14. Arrgh! (Pirate of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest) -- Spreading ever more deeply into popular culture. 15. "Rotemorizing" (Akeelah and the Bee) -- The technique of blindly memorizing spelling words. 16. “Make us disappear!” (The Illusionist) – Sophie’s request to a young Eisenheim (Ed Norton). 17. maya yucateco (Apocolypto) -- Mel's Gibson's choice of language for his film depicting a collapsing civilization. (Actually still spoken from some 6 million Maya descendants in the Yucatan.) 18. Dame (Notes on a Scandal) -- What more can be said: Dame Judi Dench, Indeed. 19. Hero (Flags of our Fathers) – Some thing the ‘heroes’ of Iwo Jima never asked to be, much like their 9/11 grandsons. 20. Chica chica, boom boom (Happy Feet) -- That's just one sign that attack of spontaneous happy feet dancing is about to begin. Top Words for 2006 and 2005 In 2006,‘Brokeback’ from multi-Oscar nominated film 'Brokeback Mountain' was named the Top HollyWORD in the Global Language Monitor's annual survey of words from Hollywood that profoundly influenced the English Language. In 2005, 'Pinot' from the movie Sideways, was named the Top HollyWORD. Customize your mobile with your Complimentary Ringtone!
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9:16
From: For Love and Money
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 Summer's here and the bags are all packed in readiness for the travelling mayhem and madness. Clutching lots of luggage and kids in tow, we'll be spending the better part of the break in Kenya. This time round we've settled for something different other than the usual game drives through the great plains of the Savannah. With everyone bored of seeing the big fives, we've decided a trip to the coast will be in order as it has been a while since we were last there. I can only hope that our stay at the coast will be far much better than the experience of buying the holiday tickets from a well known travel agency in Nairobi. My online presence will depend on the internet connectivity speeds during the time I will be in Kenya. Since I'll have broadband connectivity in Nairobi only, I don't intend on surfing during the time that I'll be up and about visiting far flung places in Kenya. With work email taking higher priority, it is possible that I will not have the time to moonlight online if the downloading speeds are slow in Nairobi. Happy blogging KBW'ers.
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8:47
From: Afromusing
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Ethan had a great post A new wind blowing in Africa where he writes about William Kamkwamba and Simon Mwacharo.
The wind continues to blow…
From Refocus - International Renewable Energy Magazine (Print version),
South Africa’s first commercial wind farm is being built in Darling, near Cape Town. It will have capacity of 5.2 MW, and slated to supply Cape Town. A partnership between SA government’s Central Energy Fund, Development Bank of SA, Darling Independent Power Producer and the Danish Development Agency (DANCED).
And now for a different kind of wind
From Timbuktu Chronicles
The pioneering work of Olatubosun Adeleke (Obayomi) in Nigeria, in creating a household scale biogas production system, which you can read about and see great pictures here.
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7:05
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
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The recent push for computerization in Africa has come with new challenges of dumping which has posed environmental hazards in many African countries. Pictures of computer dumpsites in Nigeria have arrayed fears that western countries are using Africa as dumping ground for obsolete computers in the name of computer donations. At the just concluded e-learning Africa conference, the theme of collaboration was underscored and computer donations were at the heart of it. Tony Roberts, the Chief Executive Officer and founder of Computer Aid, sees the question of e-waste from a more generalized view. “People need to be asked and challenged about electronic waste, its not only computers, the mobile phone we use will one day need to be disposed, the hi fi system, the TV at home, will have to be disposed at one point,” says Roberts. According to Roberts, the world has now consumed more than a billion PCs, a billion mobiles and a billion TVs, which need to be disposed in an environmentally friendly way. Without underrating the environmental concerns, Roberts says the images from Nigeria and china is all about greed. Some companies in the west are said to promote such kind of dumping to avoid costs of recycling and purchase of computer components. The major metals use in computer manufacture are gold, silver, platinum, and copper, and their costs are up the roof, making recovery of such metals a booming business in most developing countries. Instead of breaking the components and recycling as required, Roberts says most companies engaging in such dumping do not care about recycling or environmental concerns posed by such activities. Though the costs are high, most countries in the European Union especially the Scandinavia have invested in recycling plants that are environmental friendly. But some countries like Britain are yet to invest in such measures. So, for the computers that are donated but do not meet the minimum required standard set by Computer Aid; they are shipped to Germany and Holland for recycling. The charity meets the costs of recycling. “We ensure that all the computers we get are in proper conditions, for anyone to use. We donate P3 and P4s which are professionally evaluated before shipping,” says Roberts. Gladys Muhunyo, the Africa programme manager at Computer Aid says the charity is concerned with improving people’s livelihood and not harming them. Locally, Muhunyo says there is a recycling project at Computer for Schools Kenya, one of the major computer recipients from the charity. “Computers are improving lives of people and businesses. That’s an advantage and the challenge is designing ways to recycle them at an affordable and environmental friendly way,” says Muhunyo. However, Muhunyo insisted that the issue of e-waste does not relate to refurbished computers only but also new computers which at one point will need to be disposed in an environmental friendly way. She calls for concerted efforts between communities, governments and organizations in designing innovative and cost effective ways to recycle the electronic products. Ends
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7:03
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
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When Tony Roberts and two colleagues came up with the idea of assisting communities in less developed countries with computers, the idea was termed as “crazy”. Roberts and his colleagues never gave up! They started Computer Aid, a UK based charity that refurbishes computers and ships them to various communities in the world. This year, the charity celebrates a decade with an aim of surpassing the 100,000 computers’ mark. To date, Computer Aid has provided about 90,000 computers to various organizations, 75 per cent of them in Africa, and the numbers are rising by the day. “It’s a good way to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Back then, the idea was termed as crazy but today, that question is not open for discussion,” said Roberts. At first, Computer Aid worked with major international organizations such as Action Aid and Oxfam where they identified community organizations in need of computers and worked together to make it happen. To make it easier, Roberts says the charity posted an application form on their website where the non governmental organizations were expected to fill and update on the number of computers needed. “We not only received feedback from our partner organizations but other people surfing stumbled on our site and expressed interest. We received applications from organizations working in sanitation, education, health, among many other fields,” says Roberts. According to Roberts, the various organizations wanted to introduce computers but lacked the money to buy new computers and even where they had the money to buy, they felt a need to make savings. Because Computer Aid could not meet the overwhelming demand, Roberts says communities were urged to meet the costs of refurbishing and shipping, which still ends up being cheap. From humble beginnings, Computer Aid has now provided 75 per cent of the 90,000 computers to African schools, colleges, hospitals, among other community based projects. Asked about community response, Roberts says communities have mobilized resources and applied for computers, as well as government institutions. Rwanda government has been at the forefront of embracing computers. Indeed, the Ministry of Health in the central African nation has deployed 500 computers in the national referral hospital, and is pushing digitization to the districts hospitals and local level. At the just concluded E-learning Africa conference, Roberts met with government ministers from Uganda, Zambia and Madagascar who all expressed interest to continue the partnership. In Madagascar, the minister requested 26000 computers in five years, which translates to about 6,000 computers annually; a task Roberts says is easy. “We have hit such numbers before Computer Aid provided 6000 computers in Chile annually during their computerization programme,” said Roberts. Whilst Roberts insists that the response has been good, he cites other challenges such as training of users and servicing of the computers once deployed. “Supply is one part, training teachers, providing installations and rolling out the ICT curriculum is another part that requires concerted efforts between governments and communities to work together,” he adds. The policy framework in African countries has also been problematic but more countries are formulating policies to guide the rolling out and implementation of ICT projects. In Kenya, the government has published the Kenya Communications (amendment) bills and is expected to b e debated in parliament soon. With donations to over 100 countries, Roberts has helped communities achieve the dream of having computers and making their work easier. “I could see in my own country (UK) computers benefit schools, hospitals, and in economic and trade. The EU has successfully built its economy on ICT for 15 years and I wanted that to happen in other parts of the world,” says Roberts, with a look of satisfaction on his face. But for Roberts, the real satisfaction is in hearing the story of James Muthoka, a farmer in Machakos who has used computer generated metrological analysis to determine what crop to plant and make a bumper harvest or the ministry of health official who is able to map the patterns of the malaria carrying mosquitoes and advise residents accordingly. His satisfaction is also reflected in the faces of students and teachers who are able to access computers in their schools. Ends
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6:51
From: KA-INVESTOR
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{Green list - this is a personal list of my prefered stocks in the market. It does not indicate certainity} They say the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Thats why everyone is looking at the IPO's; which seemingly are just disappointing them. Especially the retail investors like me. Short term nvestors ... aha! I sat back and watched them being massacred in the Access Kenya IPO and now they are waiting patiently for Kenya Re and Safaricom IPOs. Of which they will still be sidelined. So the earlier we learn the better. Thats why i've come up with my small list of the most profiatable counters: 1. East African Cables After their split last year the share has been rather stagnant and was minimaly affected by the market correction of early this year. At the moment it has picked up and the management is restructuring to ensure profitability. they are already moving into new offices and have emberked on a thorough advertising scheme. 2. Access Kenya After their IPO the price has stagnated between 12 and 13. most of the retail guys who got this shares are disposing and collecting their refund checks in disgust. and this is where the opportunity present it self. with this guys disposing off in mass the supply is too high making the prices to be lower than the intrisinc value. so once this guys have disposed and the prices move back to it true value which is higher than the current price, there will no turning back. it hit 20 before you can say AK. 3. KCB This is the biggest bank in kenya in terms of number of branches and they are still expanding in other parts of East Africa. After the share split of 10:1 in march the shares have not been trading in the market until today. when they hit the market floor i believe they will be headed downwards and this presents a clear way for you to buy. anything below 20 is a sure buy. with the rentrenchment and management change the profitabiltity is also still looking good in the medium term. so i will also have this in my green list. 4. Equity Bank this is the best perfoming stock in the market this year and things are still looking good. they are about to Acquire Housing Finance. the sooner you get on this train the better.
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4:23
From: assidous
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Harris Poll the world's longest-running and most respected poll has landed in Kenya. Harris Interactive Global Network owners of the poll have joined the market by tying up with Infotrak Research a market and poll outfit. Harris Poll is best remembered for accurately predicting the the US Presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 with a low margin of error of 2%! What this means is that polls in Kenya are going a notch higher and competition to the likes of the Steadman Group getting stiffer. It also means that we will get amore accurate and well researched polls. Coming at an election year, it couldnt have been more timely. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll
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1:01
From: KA-INVESTOR
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 Safaricom has done it again! After posting a Ksh.12 billion gross profit last year, they have increased their profitability by a whooping 40% to Ksh.17 billion this year. This is the largest amount ever in profits to be made by an East African company. You can imagine what this has done to investors appetite for it coming IPO,considering that during the budget Kimunya assured Kenyans that it will be coming before the end of the year. I'm counting. The big question is: ARE MOBILE COMPANIES OVERCHARGING THEIR CUSTOMERS? this is a question to be answered later. For more informatin on Safaricom's success story look here, here and here.
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0:14
From: White African
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 Keep your eyes on Peupe (www.peupe.net), a custom-made blogging platform, created by a Kenyan firm called Multiple Choices. Peupe is Kiswahili for “white place” or a “slate”, and claims to be the first corporate blogging platform in Africa.
I’m a little torn on the focus of this post actually… I’m excited about the platform, but I’m equally excited about the guy behind it - John Wesonga. You see, John is blogging too, from his own platform of course, and has this outstanding post today about the mindset of innovation in developers and designers in Kenya.
Africa and Kenya specifically cannot be empowered using technology when the mindset we have adopted is one of reuse rather then revolution. If we are truly to be the next frontier of untapped technology then we must strive to build skill and nurture innovation from the onset. I don’t mean to belittle my fellow web techies but the era of plug and play must come to an end, there is nothing wrong with downloading an application to learn the code base but only true knowledge is acquired when I use what I have learned to build something on my own. If we are to mentor and build the coming generation of techies then our skills need to be strong. If we are to be truly the next source of technology talent then we must move past this mindset.
(read the rest)
John obviously takes this mindset seriously. He built Peupe from the ground up, using open source tools like Ruby on Rails. This is a scrappy startup that knows what they’re doing and is executing on their vision. I had a chance to chat with John via Skype, and I was incredibly impressed with their positioning and the way they are going about marketing their product.
I asked John to fill me in on where he was going with Peupe as a blogging platform, and here is his reply:
Peupe is envisioned as a blog for CEO’s and corporate leaders, as a company we feel that Africa needs to develop a culture of putting their information on the internet through tools such as blogs, groups and social networking applications. We get so much information from external information sources but are yet to build our own information sources as a continent.
Peupe is a starting point towards achieving this vision, with CEO’s in Kenya and Africa blogging a community will be built around them as people realise that their is so much value in sharing and reading the words and thoughts of such influential people. Peupe will thus form the platform upon which people can engage and interact with this captains of industry. It is an enormous task which we intend to achieve and I’m always pleased when a popular blogger such as yourself inquire about it.
Make sure you sign up for the beta
Make sure to read Al Kags intro to Peupe at his blog as well.
 
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0:13
From: Me, Life & Everything
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time: 0813hrs
length: medium
mood: elated
stars: one
at: waxx
level: five
track: better than me - hinder, extreme behaviour.
Its friday again! The best day of the week..maybe because Mona is getting out of Hospital today…maybe because i intend to indulge in another tato weekend…you know while Mona recuperates…don’t want any dust and heat messing up the brand new paint [...]
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0:10
From: assidous
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I came across this article in Yesterday's DNation. This is just an excerpt. Finally, here’s what love, marriage and friends cost THEY HAVE DONE IT. Economists have finally put a cash value to love, happiness, friendship, and misery according to a report in The Times. A few days ago, in the first research of its kind, economists in the UK found that regularly chatting to neighbours brings the same level of life satisfaction as earning an extra £40,000 (Sh5.3m) a year. It’s almost as valuable as a successful marriage, with is reckoned to be bring a satisfaction level worth an additional £53,833 (Sh7m) a year. However, excellent health beats all of them, as it brings a satisfaction level that is the same as what you get from earning an extra £300,000 (Sh40m) a year. One of the most surprising findings was that moving in together was worth more than marriage. While marriage is worth an extra Sh7m a year, living together (in “sin” as the men and women of the cloth might say) is worth £82,500 (Sh11m). Dr Nattavudh Powdthavee, an economist at the University of London and one of the main researchers behind the study, said they were not exactly sure why this was so. Meeting friends and relatives twice a month is worth £35,000 (Sh4.6m) a year. Meeting them once or twice a week is worth £50,500 (Sh6.7m) a year; and meeting them on most days is worth £63,833 (Sh8.5m) a year. It gets more interesting. The results also show that people who see less of their friends and relatives also appear to be more satisfied with their marriages. This suggests that social relationships outsides the home maybe a substitute for poor relationships at home. So we now we have a fairly clear scientific road-map to happiness: Exercise and be healthy; meet your friends and relatives as often as you can (except if you are married); and live in “sin”. But you also do lose money. Being separated is worth losing £57,667 (Sh7.6m) a year. You lose less when you are divorced – minus £24,500 (Sh3.2m) a year. And it is disaster to be widowed. That one is worth minus £200,000 (Sh27m) a year. The researchers found that there was little difference between single people and divorcees, probably because both groups tend to live alone. And the penalty for divorce is lower than for separation, because people who divorce gain some happiness from being rid of an unbearable wife or husband. Story by CHARLES ONYANGO-OBBO | WHAT OTHERS SAY Publication Date: 2007/06/21 reblogged here by assidous.
http://www.nationmedia.com
Read the complete article at
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