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19:31
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
Two different persons approached me earlier last week, telling me about their plans of buying a new laptop. Knowing that they’ll be fine with a simple, stationary system (= forget about battery runtime) and a good cost/performance ratio, I told both of them to go for an ACER 5220 / 80 GB HDD / 1GB RAM + WinXPP for something around EUR 500,-.
I took this opportunity to also inform myself about current models and trends and came to the conclusion that I am just (still) VERY HAPPY with my HP (Compaq) nx8220. I’ve seen a lot of other equipment in the past and also lots of crippled corp. IT gadgets and then I always come back to my beloved nx8220 and think: Ahh, well done, JKE, it was a good deal back then. :-)
Really, I don’t care about fast CPUs or the latest gfx board if the machine does not provide a decent battery runtime under normal conditions and, most importantly, has a matt display, a real keyboard, an internal microphone, a lowered trackpad (see Sony VAIOs - horrible) and enough USB ports on each side.
So why not this dead cheap HP 530 running on Linux? Because it has its USB ports on the left side. Now imagine fixing your USB mouse to that port, pulling the cable once around the back of the machine to the right side. Or headset sockets: nice for fixing a headset - but given the (stationary) Celeron CPU, most users will keep this machine at home and may want to connect it to their stereo system. A cable in front just sucks. My colleagues in Mali are using such a HP 530 and again, I wonder how it performs under the heat…
Been standing in front of an MacBook Air ad tonight, explaining my Indian colleague the disadvantages of such a notebook and I would never go for it. He’s into Apple products big times (is there any secret or subliminal Apple advertisment in Google Talk or Orkut?? :-) but me, mimi I could nevaaaaa go for an Apple computer. (I’ve grown up on an Atari 1040 STF which should still exist somewhere in Nairobi so I’ve paid my dues to the UI on that platform…). I wonder why Apple assumes that most customers who are able to cough up enough pesa for a MacBook Air are also those who are frequent flyers and will be in such situations when this gadget actually plays out its advantages (light weight, energy consumption, data exchange limited to network connections, illuminated keyboard).
If my nx8220 dies one day, I’ll hopefully manage to buy another HP or, if they eventually switch the Strg and Fn key positions, maybe also an IBM/Lenovo thingy. But then, I’d prolly fix it and buy spare parts from eBay…
@M: are you still on that Toshiba?
@MB: what about your FSC Amilo - working again?
@CG: wie geht es Deinem DELL und wie oft nutzt Du Dein ThinkPad?
@Zed & CK: kommt mir jetzt nicht mit dem Apple! :-)
(vielleicht sollte man mich mal 1 Woche lang mit einem Apple PC einsperren, damit ich für das OS mehr Sympathien entwickeln kann…)
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17:23
From: Farmgal
Read This Entry & More At Farmgal
I was tagged by Madsvibe and one Modo
Rules: -Link to the person that tagged you. - Post the rules on your blog. - Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. - Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. - Let each random person know they have been tagged [...]
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17:02
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
If you get me in a room and we start talking about data, please forgive me if my eyes light up. You see, I confess to a certain amount of data-lust. Primarily because I believe that data is at the core of most great web applications. Secondarily, because I’m enthralled with how to move this data from a list of tables and spreadsheets and make it become real and understandable to anyone at a glance.
I wrote a post about African TLDs (the suffix that country domain names go by) a couple months back. Then, today I came across this visualization in a poster of the world of country TLDs. Simple, interesting and useful.
(You can buy this as a print at HistoryShots.com for $29)
Using graphics to represent data is nothing new, however, doing it well isn’t easy. The moment this became crystal clear to me was when I had the opportunity to listen to the incomparable Jeffrey Veen (before he left Adaptive Path for Google) discuss how to visualize rainfall data - going from database to consumer visualization. The main slides are seen below:
(It’s not nearly as good without his oratory, but you can see the Next Gen slideshow here)
There are now a number of excellent blogs, agencies and consultants who deal with this stuff every day. If you’re as interested in this as I am, you might enjoy these resources:
 
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12:41
From: Marian's Blog
Read This Entry & More At Marian's Blog
I am sooo excited about this! Thanks and appreciation to France-based Comite Marche du 23 Mai 1998 (and S. Flainville) on their workshop on Sunday, 24 February. It's in French, of course: "Comment j’ai retrouve mes parents qui ont vecu...
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12:41
From: Marian's Blog
Read This Entry & More At Marian's Blog
I am sooo excited about this! Thanks and appreciation to France-based Comite Marche du 23 Mai 1998 (and S. Flainville) on their workshop on Sunday, 24 February. It's in French, of course: "Comment j’ai retrouve mes parents qui ont vecu...
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8:36
From: Marian's Blog
Read This Entry & More At Marian's Blog
From Cuba this week, at age 81, Fidel Castro announced his retirement. As a child in the late 50s, early 60s, I remember the feeling if not every political detail, of the way Cuba's "surprise" revolution shifted forever the power...
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8:36
From: Marian's Blog
Read This Entry & More At Marian's Blog
From Cuba this week, at age 81, Fidel Castro announced his retirement. As a child in the late 50s, early 60s, I remember the feeling if not every political detail, of the way Cuba's "surprise" revolution shifted forever the power...
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3:52
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
On 27th of December last year, Kenyans went to the polls and spoke out loud about the people they wanted to see ascend the political ladder (and those they didn’t want to stay up there a second longer!). But the events that followed this “loud decision” clearly placed Kenya among the countries that do no not care two hoots about the welfare of its people.
Kenyans were (and have since remained) strangulated, asphyxiated and raped off their democratic right.
This led to the unleashing of the most potent ‘demon’ that resides in humans to take full course: hate, ‘violent’ suspicion, murder, ethnic ‘turbulence’, ‘incompatible’ co-existence and a host many other evils.
All of as sudden our very identities became a threat to our existence, to our freedom and to precious life. Our names became the determining factor. One mention of our names would determine the direction of the sharp machetes. Our identity cards spoke against us. “Wacha nione kipande yako” became a life-threatening question.
Millions of Kenyans have lost their lifelines, their jobs and hope of any possible respite coming their way. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and their properties lost in the innocuous ‘conflagration’ (both literally and metaphorically speaking!).
The wounds and hurt in our hearts, as Kenyans, beggars description. I believe that not even the most perfect and prolific wordsmith in town can put it in words (that includes our very own good writers here at Kumekucha Chris, Taabu, and Phil). Anyway, we don’t need words to explain the feeling.
Now there is talk of a political settlement between PNU and ODM. Well, this, to me, is like offering quack cures for old ills. A halfway house of sorts! We need more than our paunchy fellows at Serena are offering. How do they plan to deal with the frayed, threadbare fabric of society? On the ground, co-existence among different ethnic groups is stifled. “Gargantuan” amounts of mistrust rule the air among the different tribes. A very sorry state indeed!
Well, again, the very people who lost in the elections are the very guys who ‘want’ (want really? ) to give a piece of the action, a piece of the power, to the other group. Theatre of the absurd, methinks.
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3:24
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
Impeccable sources in Nairobi are this morning revealing that contrary to what is publicly being peddled that the Annan peace mission is aimed at creating a Prime Minister's post in a grand coalition government, the talks have actually been discussing ways of creating a TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT to be led by none other than Sabatia MP and former KANU Vice President Musalia Mudavadi. In yet to be verified claims, sources further reveal that Musalia Mudavadi will be deputised by a Vice President to be nominated from the PNU side. Kalonzo Musyoka's name had been mentioned but was outrightly rejected by the ODM side. Names that have been forwarded for consideration as possible contenders included Uhuru Kenyatta, Prof. Sam Ongeri, George Saitoti and even gender balance in Dr. Naomi Shaban have been put forward as possible contenders. It is unclear how the choice of the transitional leader was reached but Mudavadi has long been viewed as a moderate in ODM and as an individual who PNU insiders (read Athuri group) can work with. Ironically, this is the very proposal ODM put forward immediately after the disputed elections and they were rejected by the PNU side. The transitional government is the one that will be mandated to implement the deal that was agreed upon in Kilaguni Lodge last week. The Kilaguni agreement was very comprehensive and it included constitutional reforms that will comprise the following: - Comprehensive Constitutional reforms
- Comprehensive electoral reform – including of the electoral laws, the electoral commission and dispute resolution mechanisms
- A truth, justice and reconciliation commission
- Identification and prosecution of perpetrators of violence;
- Respect for human rights
- Parliamentary reform
- Police reform
- Legal and Judicial reforms
- Commitment to a shared national agenda in Parliament for these reforms
- Other legislative, structural, political and economic reforms as needed.
Even more significantly, the agreement reached at Kilanguni had also proposed the creation of an Independent Review Committee, that would be mandated to investigate all aspects of the 2007 Presidential Election and make findings and recommendations to improve future electoral processes. The Committee is expected to be a non-judicial body and be made up of Kenyan and non-Kenyan recognized electoral experts of the highest professional standing and personal integrity. The Committee will be expected to submit its report within 3-6 months and it should be published within 14 days of submission. It is scheduled to begin its work not later than 15 March 2008. The findings of the Independent Review Committee must be factored into the comprehensive electoral reforms that are planned by the interim government. If these developments are true and an agreement is signed next week, Kenya's political landscape will dramatically change overnight. However, it remains to be seen if such a development will eliminate the post election violence that has left the nation deeply scarred and divided. It is also unlikely that both Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga will seek re-election as president in the new political set-up. The former may bow out on account of age and health, while the latter may be satisfied serving as Prime Minister, a position that is bound to be created by the new devolved constitution that the interim government will facilitate.
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3:16
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
Read This Entry & More At REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
Media audit was a great idea. It would have been good to have a clearer picture of how the media performed. I was waiting to see which media house will be indicted. It did not matter who is doing it, at least we would have had a process in place, capable of being improved on in future.
But the credibility of such a process seems to be dented. Why?
The on going tug-of war between the Media Council and the Director of Information Ezekiel Mutua seems laughable, they all want to impose their superiority.
When Mutua says “I am the appointing authority and can disband” it sounds like the whole issue is all about who has the power to do what to who and nothing to do with the media audit.
Wachira Waruru on the other side seems to be looking down on the person issuing the threats and wants to prove that nothing can be done.
From the time he was Secretary General of the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ), Mutua has locked horns with media owners. He has been confrontational and demanded improvement on journalists’ packages, albeit for those working in “big media houses”.
He may have his own shortcomings like all of us but Mutua cannot be faulted for shying away from confronting media owners during his time at KUJ. He demanded action and faced managers in ways probably others did not.
The way he was bundled out of Nation left a lot to be desired, he was deemed to have rubbed the powers the wrong way.
From such confrontations and the call for the media to self regulate like the Law Society of Kenya, Mutua seemed to have the interests of journalists at heart. Even though he says only fools do not change their minds, I expected him to be a fool in the cause!
That is why his remarks about the media came as a shocker to me and made me feel that the confrontation had not to do with the media and the audit but the control of the whole process.
Eric Orina has had a long running feud with Mutua so I could not listen to him much. Yes I was prejudiced because there was no way Orina was going to be objective in handling the matter.
The beef is rather manifest.
The fiasco means that the audit will proceed but with a lot of controversy, and will be trashed by either party. Either way, it will be hard to know and quote the true position.
At the end of the day, the battle was that of personalities and nothing to do with the media audit.
Read the complete article at
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