I never really understood why ppl would publish boring cat (lolcat) content online – until we got to take care of one ourselves.
As far as I am informed, sterlizied cats kill mice and birds because they want to teach you – the dumb human being – how to properly hunt them.
This one survived and was released to the garden….
…while others didn’t make it….(killed a few minutes ago).
“Look, that’s how it’s done, JKE”.
“Must Kill All Humans”
Who needs hunting skills if the cat can do the job?
A few years ago, I used to write longer e-mails. Some recipients would appreciate it, others probably didn’t – but only my sister had the guts to directly tell me: “I don’t have the time to read your novels”.
She, being a lawyer by profession, likes it short and precise. Why waste more words on a story if you can say it with a few words?
Twitter taught me a similar approach – 140 characters may be enough for some basic messages and thr r sm hu hv lrnt hw 2 abbrev. cntnt 2 fit in2 a msg.
And this isn’t even about the length of messages, but rather about how 2 keep things short – and thus interesting?
I’ve experienced this myself while replying to customers or else writing to those who are known for receiving lots of e-mails per day. The moment I started keeping it very short, they instantly replied. This especially works with überwomen who like to handle their job, the kids na kadhalika at once. Another great way to receive a reply from such a person is to give her fixed options:
Am I prejudiced?
[ ] yes
[ ] no
[ ] maybe
Seriously, the shorter your question, the earlier you’ll receive an answer. Keep it short & simple.
Tell me, with the load of information out there in newspapers and your rss feed reader, which one do you actually read? The shorter ones? Would you just scan headlines and maybe also only read the teaser?
Am asking because my fiancée just told me that her 11-12 yrs old pupils in school do neither know the difference between China and Japan, nor that Tokyo (Metropolis) is the capital of Japan. “You can not expect them to know this”, she was told her by her boss. Which obviously changes all your plans while preparing lecturing material.
Kids do know a lot of other – sometimes useless – stuff these days. And what they don’t know, or what isn’t shown on TV or YouTube, will be searchable via Google. “Knowledge” as such has never been more accessible.
So…knowledge or information on one hand, and on the other hand the way we communicate. These very same kids have grown up with SMS, MMS, the telephone, video replies on YouTube, instant messsengers and collaborative Google documents.
Speed and instant communication matter these days, fame and/or followers, accessible knowledge 24/7/365, fast typing abilities, answers to questions. The journey way we communicate is the destination.
I am sure you’ve meanwhile all heard about Google Wave and how it will revolutionize the internet and the way we communicate. Well it may achieve this change, either now or within the next three years (see: Twitter breakthrough/acceptance in mainstream German media). But I keep on coming back to the initial question: is this the way we really want to communicate with each other? That is: typing short instant messages into our (mobile) devices and replying directly on point to a question.
A really good example for the attention deficit a lot of people are suffering from (I think it all started with MTV-styled cuts on tv) seems to be the Google Wave Developer Preview video which is over 80 minutes long. That’s 80 minutes of geeks talking about a new technology. Would you watch it?
Since 80 minutes are a damn long time for most presentations, there are various short versions of the Google Wave video available online that sum up all the differences between normal e-mail communication and the Google Wave approach.
Something similar applies to blog posts. With communication tools like Twitter all around, I feel that ppl not only minimize the time they’ve previously spent on blogs, but also stop reading those with longer blog posts. Not because their content isn’t that interesting – but a) because of other, competing online content (on the feed reader) and b) because it takes time to read all this stuff here.
What I am really afraid of and my reason for this blog post is that we will lose a feeling for the poetry between the lines and our ability to spend time on longer articles – just because communication as such is so much more different nowadays and somehow also unconsciously changes the way we read.
Could this scenario be true?
I recently had the chance of comparing the HP EliteBook 6930p with the Dell Latitude E6400, both 14,1″ business laptops (notebooks) for professional use.
Kilonzo, a friend of mine from university, had asked me a few weeks ago for some help with the purchase of a notebook. The choice quickly came down to a business notebook – even though you may get more high-tech details on the consumer range of notebooks, which are often a cheaper alternative. The business notebooks, though, usually have a designated life span of 5 years (as opposed to 3 yrs on the consumer range) and are of better quality. Plus, if you are buying refurbished machines anyways, the business range of notebooks almost guarantees a supply of (used) spare parts after 3-4 years on eBay & Co as most companies are returning their leased machines. The success of IBM ThinkPads and corporate Dell notebooks is partly based on this, I’d say.
I believe that a screen size of 13.3″ to 14,1″ is the best size for a notebook as it then still is small enough to be carried in a bag and big enough to be balanced on your lap (!) e.g. while in a conference. I’ve realized that netbooks are really nice and can already do most tasks in computing, but it actually looks quite ridiculous when a 6 ‘ 4″ tall man uses his fingertips to hit the keys on a 10,2″ netbook. So the 13-14″ screen size range works best for me – even 15,4″ notebooks are ok but I’ve used them in the past and now prefer the 14.1″ range.
The choice quickly narrowed down to my three prefered candidates:
I do have an HP 6930p which I am using on a docking station (as blogged on earlier) and quite like it. It has almost everything I need and I had even recommended it to Kilonzo because it is really strong. If you’ve ever felt the plastics on a Lenovo T400, you’ll quickly go for the Dell E6400 or HP 6930p, which are almost all metal.
HP bottom
Dell bottom
Body
The bottom plate on the 6390p is really massive. Not heavy, but strong enough to withstand any external pressure from carrying it around. If you are a frequent traveller or forced to carry your laptop with you almost every day, you may want to pay special attention to this. The E6400 comes close to the 6930p, but it only has a relatively slim (metal!) cover on the bottom which also provides access to all components (as visible in this image). There also is an ATG version available of the E6400 (the E6400 ATG) which may even be as strong as the 6930p as it apparently also supports the MIL-STD 810F standard (which obvisouly is more or less a marketing gag but nevertheless, good build quality is always appreciated).
HP
Dell
My method of buying expensive hardware is to get it “refurbished” from dealers on eBay who make a living out of selling almost new hardware from Dell, Lenovo or HP. That’s how I got our (really good) HP OfficeJet 7210 All-In-One printer, how I got my HP 6930p and how I also bought the DELL E6400. There’s a dealer in the UK on eBay who’s specialised in selling refurbished Dell computers. The offer was quite good for European terms, even though it would obviously be much cheaper to buy the laptop in the US. We’re hoping to get a V.A.T. refund though once the laptop is exported to Kenya.
The risk of buying refurbished hardware is that it comes with little dents or small scratches which are ok as long as they aren’t in a visible area. I had recently also bought an LED version of the 6930p which came with some massive dead pixels and which I had to return. My CCFL 6930p – the one I am currently using – came with a faulty docking station connector and a faulty display lock, so I had to send it in to JABIL in Poland (service center for HP, see story) where they exchanged the motherboard and actually failed to repair the display lock. I later on fixed the display lock myself, which means that I had to completely disassemble the 6930p up to the very last screw. Took me an hour but now it is ok.
missing hinge screws on the Dell… (now fixed)
Even the E6400 came with some problems: a longer dent just behind the display, on top of the battery and – really annoying – with a loose display. You’ll obviously loose any warranty by the dealer if you remove the dealer’s sticker on top of the main screw, but those covers that provide access to the display hinges weren’t sealed with a sticker. Turns out the screws which hold the display hinges in their position where completely MISSING! Missing screws because someone forgot to replace them after changing the display – that’s a clear no-go to me. Problem is: the dealer is in the UK, my friend’s waiting in Belgium and I wanted to get on with this. So I quickly opened it up myself and inserted two M2.5 x 4 screws. Issue solved. But, again, this must not happen with a refurbished devices. Goes to show how much they really care about their products, I guess.
HP 6930p
Dell E6400
Apart from these usual problems you encounter while getting a refurbished notebook – you know there’s a world wide 3yrs pick-up warranty on my HP 6930p – the first impression on the Dell E6400 is: WOW!
Unfortunately, most business notebooks are built-to-order or at least not displayed in showrooms, so while buying one of those notebooks, you clearly depend on user reviews. I always had the impression that the E6400 comes with a lot of plastic parts. But while the 6930p is really stronger as it comes with a metal hand rest around the touchpad, the E6400 is also good. Good enough, that is. And absolutely sufficient. And less plastic parts than expected. The HP still is stronger though – no flex of the body, almost stronger than a MacBook which imho is totally overhyped and overrated. But it also is HP’s own fault because they just fail to ship ALL of their notebooks with this build quality and never put them on display, so when people are talking about HP notebooks, many consumers think of the consumer models “HP Compaq Pressario” and others. Those are really shitty and not subject of this review.
Little gap on the top cover of the HP, just next to keyboard. Helps to absorb the mechanical tension while opening or moving the display.
Plastic covers are an important issue, because there always is some sort of tension on the surface next to the keyboard when you open the display. The moment you flip the display backwards (HP = opens > 180°, DELL = ~ 160°), you see how the top cover (that accomodates the keyboard) bulges upwards. This is normal on almost every notebook and depends on the hinge strength and how it is connected to the rest of the notebook. Go to the next computer store and check this “flex” with cheap Acer laptops and you’ll see what I mean.
On the HP, this is solved via a gap, but on the DELL it’s one long piece of plastic which could break one day or at least lose up the cover. Both display hinges are great though – the one on the DELL being slightly better (less play).
Maximum opening angles
Display
The WXGA+ (1440×900px) LED display on the E6400 actually is the biggest and most important difference between both notebooks because the WXGA+ screen on the HP 6930p is only CCFL. It’s the screen the HP should have come with.
Maximum brightness @ HP (left) & Dell (right)
Minimum brightness @ HP (left) & Dell (right)
For some unknown reasons, HP is just unable to sell these WXGA+ LED screens on their “EliteBook” notebooks as the 6930p is also known. What HP offers are “Illumi-Lite” LED screens at WXGA (1280×800px) only. I did a comparison between these two screen types the other day and posted my experience here. The WXGA LED and CCFL screens on these HP computers are just crap. They of course do the job for most business (read: office) jobs, but are useless when it comes to image editing and/or vertical viewing angles. Imagine you’ll have to present a document to your colleagues at work and they’re having problems seeing it on the display because viewing angles are so narrow. Well – that’s what these HP screens are alike.
HP (left) & Dell (right)
Colour saturation seems to be better on the CCFL-screen, the green colour is almost perfect on the HP but the white is foggy, viewing angles are almost the same, brightness is better on the Dell.
The display is also one of the reasons why I told Kilonzo to “let’s go for the Dell”. It may not be the ultimate screen, but best I’ve seen on a 14,1″ so far next to the one on the new Lenovo T400s.
The WXGA+ CCFL on my 6930p though isn’t thaaaaat bad. It’s a typical CCFL screen with uneven illumination and higher power consumption than an LED screen, but it still has better, or let’s say: more saturated colours. Both screens still have the usual grey or foggy touch to it. They will never be as bright as the one on my (low-budget) 22″ desktop TFT from LG.
Once display brightness is set to a minimum, you can see the difference as the CCFL-type will always be a bit darker. The Dell notebook will be exported to a country with frequent power cuts, so battery runtime and display brightness in a dark environment are important issues and perfect on the Dell.
The display lock on the HP is…..well, it is a nightmare. It’s supposed to be much better since the beginning of 2009, but at least mine had this issue that the lock wouldn’t close as the hinges created too much mechanical tension, resulting in a display lock that opened by itself. I’ve meanwhile fixed it but it is still far away from the simple solution on the DELL, which may not be as strong as the one on the HP, but at least the display just beautifully closes and is very flat.
Opened & repaired display lock on the HP 6930p
HP: matt, better colours on CCFL, uneven illumination, display lock a clear failure
DELL: matt, normal colours on LED, even illumination, display lock good
Keyboard/Touchpad
Both keyboards come with a touchpoint stick and extra mouse buttons – the Dell has three buttons, HP only two. Some GNU/Linux users prefer three buttons – me and Kilonzo both being WinXP users, this doesn’t really matter. The grip is slightly better on the HP, and feels a bit more stable, even though it has less key drop. The Dell keyboard feels like a mixture of IBM ThinkPads and Acer Timeline keyboards – a bit noisy and huge lift of keys, but good to press.
Keyboards (HP & Dell)
There also an option for a backlit keyboard on the Dell (the HP “only” has a little light above the display, very similar to IBM ThinkPads, but better), similar to MacBooks – but we chose this option of a normal keyboard because it would have taken longer and cost another EUR 30 to add a better keyboard. However, if I had to choose between both keyboards, I wouldn’t know which one I prefer as both are more or less equally good. The ESC key on the HP is in the top left corner which may be an advantage. Also, both keyboards have the CTRL key in the bottom left corner which is the setup I prefer (on Lenovo keyboars it’s the FN key). I also like the keyboard on my old HP nx8220 and if I could choose between all of them, then I would clearly go for the old HP type. Still have to test the backlit version though.
The HP “Clavilux” :-)
The indicator lights above the keyboard are much better on the DELL – less obtrusive, not as flashy and the user is provided with real keys for volume control. A lot of users are having problems with the uneven volume control touch slider on the HP (similar to the unlocking slider bar on the iPhone screen) and/or mistook the slider-design for an actual slider-bar. But it isn’t. If you know how to set the volume on the HP EliteBooks (= just hold your finger on the – or + to adjust volume), there are absolutely no problems with it. The Dell solution looks better though, even though there is no visual feedback for volume on the display.
The touchpads on both machines are equally good, I’d say. In the past I’ve often assumed that a lowered touchpad may prevent the user from any accidential use of the touchpad (=> you’ll touch it with the palm of your hand while typing and end up overwriting text, huge problem on some Sony notebooks), but the Lenovo T500 I’ve tested the other day showed me that even a well-adjusted flat touchpad will be ok. So this really depends on the touchpad itself and how it reacts to input. Both pointing sticks in the middle of the keyboard are ok. Of course, the IBM/Lenovo solution is better, but else they will also do the job. I think that most users will adjust to any keyboard within 3 days, so this really only depends on what you’re used to.
Heat / noise / BIOS
The Dell came shipped with a 250GB HDD from Fujitsu which is OK – at least compared to the 500GB HDD from Western Digital I added to my HP the other day and which is a bit louder (!). And this although I’ve already activated Advanced Power Management on the WD HDD. Strange.
Fan intake on the HP
Fan intake on the Dell
Fan intake unfortunately also is on the bottom on both notebooks. See IBM/Lenovo and their ThinkPad range where the intake is in the back on the side. That’s a much better cooling system. The rubber feet on the HP are a bit higher though, so we’re talking of about 1mm increased distance to the table on the HP, resulting in a slightly better air circulation.
I know that others have in the past complained about the noise / increased fan speed on the DELL, but I just can’t figure out why. It is very silent on this E6400 (latest BIOS revision installed) and even when fan is on full speed it isn’t louder than the one on the HP. You can set a “FAN always on” option on the BIOS of the HP, but it only worked nicely with my old HP. My HP 6930p runs better without this option activated (plus you will need to deactivate it anyways if you’re running GNU/Linux on it like I do).
HP notebook is slightly higher
The BIOS options on the Dell are great, much better than the rather limited range of settings on the HP. HP should update the BIOS and at least install an option like Dell or Lenovo where you can adjust when the battery may be recharged.
Connectivity
One of the reasons I am not comparing the usual specifications on both machines (CPU, RAM, etc.) is because both come with a similar CPU, RAM, HDD, GigabitLAN, WLAN, MODEM (which may be selected during online order anyways) and both may also be equipped with an internal WWAN modem (~ UMTS). I did this on my HP notebook and it works – but only with MS Windows and only when the battery is inserted. That’s so stupid! Don’t know about the DELL though, may be a similar scenario. As a consequence to the WWAN capability, both notebooks come with a SIM-card holder underneath the battery and are equipped with WWAN antennas on top of the display (inside a plastic cover on top of the display). While it’s nice to have an internal WWAN modem for an extra 80 – 150 EUR, I actually prefer external UMTS modems. They are cheaper and may be swapped between laptops. Makes more sense to me.
Horizontally aligned USB ports on the HP
4 USB ports on the Dell
The DELL comes with 4 USB ports, of which one is a powered USB port and one is an eSATA port. That’s REALLY great! The alignment of these ports is a bit better on the HP though as they are horizontally aligned so that you may use bulkier USB plugs (some USB keys aren’t as slim as they could be). It really depends on what you need them for, but I believe that it’s better to have 4 than 3 USB ports. It’s the ones you need the most. You can also set USB PowerShare on the BIOS of the DELL which enables you to charge external USB devices (iPods, Phones) while the computer is off.
Furthermore, you’ll also find an SD-card and SmartCard reader on both laptops, a FireWire socket and – what a surprise – a mechanical switch for the WLAN on the DELL + a “WiFi Catcher” button.
DisplayPort on the Dell
The DELL also has a DisplayPort on the back – something the HP doesn’t have at all. Both have a VGA port though – and a DVI-D port on the docking station to which it connects via the docking connector on the bottom. Another difference is the ExpressCard54 on the HP and an older PCMCIA port on the DELL. I have in the past used a PCMCIA UMTS Modem on my old HP but now haven’t found a use for the ExpressCard slot. Maybe once USB 3.0 is released we’ll find USB 3.0 cards for these slots. Unless you have a real need for these devices, both are just battery drainers so they remain unused most of the time.
There also is a webcam on the DELL which is said to only have 0.3 mpx resolution (compared to the 2.0 mpx on the HP), but I just can’t see why this should be worse. Instead, the camera on the DELL is just BRILLIANT compared to the one on my HP. It also comes with some DELL software aka Creative Live!Cam tools that add some funstuff to this device. I wish the webcam on my HP had the same luxury and I am still to find out why the performance of this webcam here is so bad. So….DELL being a clear winner here.
2.0 mpx Webcam on the HP
0.3 mpx webcam on the Dell
The HP also comes with a small slot for business cards and special OCR software which allows you to use the webcam for taking snapshots of business cards and saving the addresses on your personal information management tool (~ Outlook), but I’ve only used it once so far. It’s a nice gimmick.
You’ll also find a fingerprint reader on both machines, even though this DELL didn’t have one. Who needs a fingerprint reader that isn’t fully integrated into the OS? Maybe with Windows 7 this is an interesting feature, but let me be honest: HP Protect Tools, the software suite from HP used for the fingerprint reader and other TPM security chip related issues, delayed boot up process on my HP for 2 minutes – which is why I had to deinstall it and haven’t missed it since. Again, this may change with Win7, but until then: good riddance!
Oh, and both audio ports are on the right side of the DELL – which is where I prefer them. As for the speakers on both notebooks – well, they work, but I’ve heard better speakers on notebooks in the past. The sound on the Dell speakers is really thin, only delivers high tones, almost no bass.
Power Supply
The power supply on the DELL is lighter (450gr) and bigger (!) than the one on the HP (519gr) – and comes with an LED that shows activity. The HP ps doesn’t have an LED. Why? It’s such a simple thing to add an activity LED on the power supply and most other power supplies have such an LED.
Left: Dell power supply + cord // Right: HP power supply + cord
The power cord that came shipped with this DELL is for the German market (I ordered the UK version though) and is as slim as possible. I had actually scanned eBay for power cord alternatives for my HP the other day because this simple power cord adds weight to the power supply. So the advantage of the slimmer HP ps is gone just because it came shipped with this bulky & stubborn cable. Argh…
I wish these notebook manufacturers would come up with smaller & lighter power supplies. They will probably never have the magnetic plug as seen on recent Apple MacBooks due to Apple not licensing this to others, but any progress on the size, plugs and weight would be highly appreciated.
Another great feature on the Dell are the status LEDs on each Dell battery. In case of doubt, just press the button and these LEDs will inidicate the charging state. You won’t find this on HP batteries.
LEDs on the Dell battery
Verdict
Now that I’ve used both notebooks I am tempted to go for the DELL. The 4 USB ports, the LED screen (= better battery runtime), less weight (DELL = 2.273gr, HP = 2.424gr) and third mouse button are quite a temptation. It also has the necessary software solutions to adjust this notebook to much more specific tasks, e.g. how the battery should be charged (and when it shouldn’t!) and what you can set within the BIOS (as compared to the HP which is rather basic compared to the DELL).
I think the only reason that prevents me from swapping notebooks is that I like my HP and have learned to live with its flaws. It’s already fully adjusted, I do have a docking station and changing everything would indeed take some extra time. The HP also feels better built with almost no flex on the body which is quite important to me. You will notice the thin metal plate on the DELL that makes the bottom cover. It just isn’t as rock solid as the one on the HP.
For everyone else who’s still looking for a nice laptop that needs to come along on travels, is “powerful enough” and whose user hasn’t been infected with the Apple MacBook virus, the Dell E6400 may be the better alternative. Especially since there are dealers online who sell refurbished notebooks for almost half the price of a new notebook.
In any case: for a country like Kenya, any notebooks with a matt LED screen may be better than one with a matt CCFL screen. Glossy screens are a no-go and *maybe* only acceptable on MacBooks.
The reviews I’ve linked to above rated the Dell at 87% and the HP at 86%. This rating is very similar to what I felt while reviewing this Dell as it is slightly better than the HP (mainly because of the connectivity and the LED screen).
Dell Latitude E6400
+ really bright LED display, average viewing angles, normal colours
– bottom cover a bit too thin
+ optimised battery runtime
+ battery recharge point can be set
+ good weight, small size
+ light power supply
+ decent keyboard, touchpad and touchpoint stick; third mouse button
+ good webcam @ 0.3mpx
+ wwan capabilities
+ multiple BIOS settings possible
+ both RAM slots accessible from the bottom
+ finger print reader next to the keyboard (if installed)
+ 4 USB ports!
+ display port
+ charge meter on the battery
– no icons next to the keyboard that indicate the position of ports
– illuminated keyboard only available with special keyboard (+ 30 EUR)
HP EliteBook 6930p
+ stronger body, almost no flex, really nice to handle
+ average CCFL display with good colours but narrow viewing angles, has some light leakages on the bottom row
+ two (stereo) microphones (with holes on both sides of the display)
+ decent keyboard, touchpad and touchpoint stick; touchpad buttons could be more responsive
+ (good) webcam @ 2.0mpx, but without any additional software except for a simple HP webcam application
– HP Protect Tools = bloatware
– only available with a bulky power cord
+ wwan capabilities
– wwan (umts modem) only active while main battery inserted
– display lock is a failure
– irritating indicator lights (LEDs) on top of the keyboard
– 1 RAM slot hidden underneath the keyboard, the other RAM slot accessible via a bottom cover
+ crosstip screws on the bottom indicate the parts that may be exchanged without losing warranty, all other screws Torx
+ 3 USB ports
– too much play on the battery
– no icons next to the keyboard that indicate the position of ports
+ illuminated keyboard, better than on the Lenovo T400 as it doesn’t blind the user
+ opening angle of the display > 180°
+ HDD case protected & G-Fall sensor
Battery runtimes can’t be compared as both machines come with similar, but still different specifications (both on 6-cell batteries), whereas the biggest difference is the integrated graphics chip and an LED screen on the Dell while the HP comes with a discrete ATI graphics card and a CCFL screen. That’s a difference of around 2-3h between both machines. So if you’re into maximum battery runtime, go for a notebook with a matt LED screen and integrated graphics card (Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD).
The discrete graphics chip on my HP is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 which is supposed to be better, but then: you won’t notice the difference unless you’re playing games (and this does not include recent games which won’t run on the HP). So in doubt, I’d recommend the Intel GMA 4500MHD over to the ATI. You’ll be rewarded with a longer battery runtime.
I also made sure that the Dell comes with a WXGA+ screen. This higher resolution may not be suitable for every user as dots per inch are around 127dpi, but you’ll be able to display much more content at once. With Vista or Win7, fonts on the display may also be adjusted.
There are docking stations available for both machines – the one for the Dell even has two seperate DVI-D ports, so you could actually connect two desktop screens to the notebook.
The Dell or the HP? I’d say it depends on what you need these computers for. The really interesting part about these notebooks though is that they’ll be around for the next 2-4 years, while a fancy low-budget Acer Timeline notebook won’t. Which means you can buy either the Dell or the HP, take them to Africa and get spare parts even after the first battery died. If there is only one thing I could change on both machines, then I would probably change the fan intake from the bottom to the side of the frame – and also make it accessible for the user so that it may be cleaned anytime.
(Disclaimer: pictures taken in the living room of our landlord… :-)
64 years, 2 months and 19 days after my father’s family was evicted from the ground floor of this building in Liberec, Czech Republic under a Russian influence, I took a chance and paid a visit to the house, the city and the (beautiful) surroundings. It now accommodates a Kindergarten and still has the same green colour it obtained when it was built in 1938.
My aunt informed me the other day that my grandfather had plans of buying this house, but later on dismissed them as he got transfered to another place & the war came in-between, but still – isn’t it interesting to know where your ancestors lived before and what they did for a living?
The irony and my reason for blogging this is: you can travel the world and fall in love with many places, but in the end you become engaged to someone whose family actually hails from the same small town that your family is from. Both their houses where just 400m away.
64 years, 2 months and 19 days later on, it’s just an ironic little detail that deserves a blogpost, I think.
I am waiting for the Nokia E72 (phone) since it was first mentioned about a year ago (!) and then officially announced in June (July?) this year. It’s a successor to the very popular Nokia E71 which I had reviewed back then and features a nifty 5mpx cmos camera and a keyboard similar to the one currently found on the Nokia E63.
One of the best ways for staying up-to-date on product launches is Twitter Search. I’m scanning Twitter for E72 related news for quite some time now and I can tell you that many ppl are desperately waiting for the E72 to hit the market. I heard it will be October 6th or 12th…
The Nokia E63 itself is a very nice phone – I actually prefer its keyboard over to the initial E71 and so I am really glad that the E72 will not only have such a similar keyboard, but also come with a camera that will be able to compete with the really decent 5mpx cam on my Nokia N95.
My N95 is 27 months old now and – compared to other phones I’ve owned in the past – a bit worn out. The other day I also dropped it on the floor and it fortunately still does the job, only a few scratches on the (exchangable) cover. Back then I urgently wanted to get my hands on the N95, only to quickly realize that it has a “prototype” design and comes with other flaws I’ve mentioned on this blog in the past. Another problem with buying brandnew phones is that a stable firmware (~ the operating system on the phone) will probably only be released after a year. This isn’t a Nokia-only problem though, others like Apple have experienced similar issues.
The interesting part on this next purchase will be the question if I should get it like my N95 – with a 24month contract and a subsidized phone – or directly buy it without a contract and paying the full price.
The pre-order price for the phone currently is around EUR 360 and I am expecting this to change over the next coming weeks. Also, I think the current trend is that less phones are being subsidized these days and that mobile network operators and their resellers started leasing out phones, so you end up paying a hefty monthly fee + ~ EUR 15 for the phone. You’ll still find many customers asking for “a free phone” from their operator every two years (the way it has been in the past), but it is actually cheaper to get a prepaid card & buy the phone (unless of course you’re on a flat fee contract and using the phone a lot). I don’t call that much, but often check my mail via the phone, so “cheap internet access” is my main issue. I also like the browser on the iPhone, but then: I guess I am too stupid for Apple’s Monoculture and Operating System. The iPhone may have a great browser (the greatest?), but a non-removable battery, a lousy camera and no taskmanager (or is there?) are a no-go for me. Plus it is still too expensive in Europe.
I really can’t wait to get my hands on my own Nokia E72 because it will eventually enable me to return to the monoblock design. The 2-way sliders on the N95 are *interesting* but absolutely useless and it’s about time for me to upgrade from a T9 keypad to a full QWERTY (QWERTZ) keyboard.
The 2 best reviews so far are the one by Antoine of AllAboutSymbian (part 1,2,3,4,5 and his verdict) and Eldar’s piece on Mobile Review. These two reviews are also reason enough why I just want to own the phone and won’t do a review on it once it’s here.. :-)
OH, and it HAS A FLASHLIGHT!
Turnout of voters during the recent elections in Germany. (source)
Map of Federal German States in 1957. Blue = West, Red = East
(source)
Harambee, harambee, tuimbe pamoja… yeah, right. WTF.
[via]
I assume that about 99% of all knives and pangas sold in Kenya are Made in China. The remaining 1% are probably imported kitchen knives and/or multitools from the US and Europe.
Everyone who owns a knife probably knows that a dull/blunt knife is almost useless, so there’s a knife sharpening service available in most places like this one we’ve featured over at AfriGadget some time ago.
I also bought one of these rotating grinding stones from Uchumi (ex-supermarket chain in Kenya) many years ago (for Kshs. 265/=, actually) and have also been tempted to get one of these huge sharpening stones / hones for kitchen knives which also sold for something like 70 bob back in the days (they are much more expensive in Europe, btw – even though they are all Made in China). Sharpening a panga (machete) with a rotating grinding stone is “ok” – for kitchen knives the flat grinding stone (~ hone) is the better (and often only) alternative as you want to keep the angle of the edge.
This edge angle actually is the most important part on a knife, I think, at least when it comes to its sharpness.
Cheap and lazy as I am, I have in the past only used sharpening stones and other – cheap – sharpening tools that MAY work for the ordinary kitchen knife, but should NEVER be used on a hunting knife, or – in my case – a multitool.
Arkansas oil-stone
Just in case you didn’t know: the sharpening process itself is a peculiar task on which you’ll find various – dedicated – websites and forums that solely talk about how to best sharpen a knife. As far as I know, using a sharpening stone (with water or oil, sometimes also some polishing paste) is the best way to sharpen a knife. This, however, requires some basic knowledge on steel, how knives are usually made, what kind of steel was used on your knife and how this steel will behave under higher temperatures. Those Japanese kitchen knives (we have one at home from back in the days) for example are very sensitive to higher temperatures above ~ 160°C (of course, again, depending on the steel mixture it is made of), so you absolutely have to make sure the hone is cooled down and soaked in water anyways. The majority of all other knives in our kitchen are Made in Germany, which means they are not as sensitive as the Japanese kitchen knives and also keep their sharpness to some extent. They aren’t as cheaply made as the ones from China as I am yet to see a decent knife from China. My sister actually gave me a set of 5 really good kitchen knives from Zwilling, Germany, as a present during last christmas, and I have to admit that cooking really is a joy with these new knives. Good tools are a blessing!
As mentioned, I am a Multitool guy. I have four Leatherman multitools (the Wave I, Wave II, Charge TTi and a small Squirt P4). You won’t buy these tools for their knives because, well, the steel used on their blades isn’t that great (except for the Charge TTi which comes with an S30V blade).
The blade on my Wave II lasted about four years until it became too dull. Stupid and unknowing as I am, I of course only tried the usual tools (Victorinox Sharpening Pen = horrible, knife sharpener from the kitchen, Arkansas sharpening stone) – thereby killing the edge angle on the knife.
Left with an unability to really sharpen my multitool to a decent level, I brought it to a “professional” shop – a very popular gun & knives shop in Frankfurt downtown. For some unknown reasons, these jerks completely fucked it up, killing the edge angle even more and returning a somehow sharp knife that looked like being sharpened on a high speed sharpening wheel. That’s exactly what I had tried to avoid on my Multitool, so I backed off and told myself: Argh….maybe next time. This was half a year ago.
Ok, so I may be too German on this, but there’s this moment when things just have to be perfect. You either do it right or never. So I ended up buying this GATCO Edgemate Professional Knife Sharpening System for a hefty EUR 47.95 today any idiot like me can use to regain the much needed edge angle on a blade. The guiding rods attached to the hones are inserted into the holes on the clamp and will then glide over the edge at a constant angle. Sounds too complicated? Here’s a video on it…
And you know what? These four different hones on a guidance rod just work and allow you to set an edge angle of 11°, 15°, 19°, 22°, 25° and 30°. There also is a fifth rod for serrated knives – my multitool also has a serrated blade. I’ve been able to restore the angle on my multitool and also sharpened a really dull kitchen knife with great success. I understand that this set isn’t meant to deliver razor blade sharpness (which would probably require another hone with even finer grit and/or paste and some leather) but for everything else – and especially for hunting knives – this set is the best idiot-proof choice. Something like EUR 50 are a lot of money just for sharpening a knife, but I believe that it is well invested money that will enable me to enjoy sharp knives and send all other useless sharpening devices into early retirement.
The blade on my Wave II during the sharpening process. The – still rough – 25° edge angle is already visible (all pics taken with a Nokia N95, btw).
UPDATE: I just received a call by the main Leatherman dealer/importer in Germany who asked about the knife on my Wave II and offered a free sharpening. Amazing! Told them I’d be glad to accept this offer and will send in mine asap the become blunt again.
A Twitter meme, started by Alen Wekesa (@iAlen), a Kenyan resident in Tanzania, on how to know you’RE Kenyan.
In chronolocigal order, just because some of them are so true. Incomplete, mixed-up list as of 08. September, lunch time, RTs (re-tweets) not included. Enjoy + pls feel to add some more, either via a comment or via Twitter.
Know of any other reasons that fit into this meme? Go ahead and comment or participate by adding a “#youknowyourKenyan” to your Tweet!
(Twitter logo based on the wonderful work of Gopal – thx!)
I recently bought a new notebook (HP 6930p) and made sure it also comes with extra antennas (next to the WLAN antennas on top of the display) so that I could install a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN, pictured below) adapter which I had to buy separately.
HP un2400 wwan adapter on the HP 6930p
The good part about this wwan adapter – an HP un2400, also known as Qualcomm Gobi 1000 – is that it supports different frequency bands so it can work in many different parts of the world. This, however, and maybe that it is hidden under a cover inside this computer so you don’t have to carry extra gadgets, is the only good part about this modem.
My other computer is a netbook which also has a wwan modem – an Asus eeePC 1000HG. Just slip in your SIM card (underneath the battery), boot into WindowsXP or Ubuntu and you’re ready to go online, simple as that.
HUAWEI EM770 Mobile Broadband modem on the eeePC 1000HG
The HP un2400 modem on my HP notebook, though, will ONLY work when the (main) battery is inserted. HP names “carrier certifications” as the reasons for this requirement as:
Yeah…right.
Just to remind you: the 3g modem on my Asus eeePC will work either way – whether the battery is inserted or not, it just works.
And then there’s this thing called “Firmware” – which also is a very peculiar process on the HP modem. Whereas most gadgets will normally come with their own (preloaded) Firmware (which may or may not be updated by end users), this Qualcomm Gobi modem requires an initial load of the firmware prior to its use (HP’s Connection Manager will take care of this under Windows XP). Once you restart your computer, you will have to reload the firmware. The only possible reason for this – to my understanding – is that it enables the modem to adjust to different wwan environments. But that’s about it. Needless to mention that you won’t find any drivers for this device for Win7, and I’ve only come across a few users who managed to get this device working under Ubuntu after lots of fiddling.
And again, no problems with my netbook & its Huawei EM770 3g modem. Real plug & play, regardless of the operating system.
“So where’s the problem?”, you may ask, “aren’t laptops/notebooks and netbooks designed to be run from battery power anyways?” – Well, yes, BUT! I always remove the battery on my notebook when I’m about to connect it to a stable power supply for a longer period. Like when I plug it into the docking station at home, I always remove the battery. I do this to save it from being constantly charged. It’s a precaution that helps me keeping the battery at ~90% initial charging capacity after three years usage (as seen on my old HP nx8220 notebook). It’s a proven method that worked for me and saved me from spending another EUR 80,- on a spare battery.
And the worst part about this wwan adapter is that HP locked the BIOS to _ONLY_ use these modems. It wouldn’t be possible to use the 3G modem from the eeePC on the HP notebook.
Now, this is the part where I actually want to talk about alternatives to these internal solutions, which are often still considered to be the optimal solution. As described above, it’s a not-so-perfect solution for those who want to use other operating systems then Windows XP and/or Vista. It’s an epic fail that HP still needs to realize. And epic fail on all of their “EliteBooks” as HP calls this series (HP 2530p, 6930p, 8530p).
The eeePC I have is also available without such a 3g modem – the price difference used to be EUR 100,- less. People (not me, I got it cheaper :-) actually paid this difference in order to get a netbook with an internal 3g modem. As for the eeePC, the price difference is (was) justified as you had to cough up about the same amount for an external modem some time ago.
However, now, in September 2009, things are a bit different. Be it Germany or Kenya, you’re actually able to get an external USB-based 3g modem for something like EUR 20,- to 30,- – which is a decent price, I’d say. Sure, you could even get it for less (in Germany) if you go for a 24month contract with a network provider but I am only talking about prepaid solutions here.
the popular Huawei E169
And these USB sticks are the very reason for blogging all this. I think that these external 3g modems are still the best solution for the following reasons:
The disadvantage of course is that you’d have an extra device at the side of your notebook which blocks one of the often limited USB ports.
In the past I’ve also used thethering my Nokia phone to the computer and using its 3G capabilities to surf the net; and on my old & beloved (and now sold) HP nx8220 notebook I had used a PCMCIA (PC-Card) version of these 3G modems which I blogged about earlier. The PCMCIA version worked fine, albeit the PCMCIA port being known for quickly draining the battery (which also became obvious as it heated up pretty quickly). My new HP notebook has an ExpressCard slot, so this could also be an alternative if USB ports are really limited and already used for other devices.
To be honest, with this limitation of the internal 3G modem on my HP 6930p to Windows XP & Vista (and probably also Win7 one day), I’d probably go for another machine in future. I actually don’t know about the 3G modems on a Dell E6400 or Lenovo T400(s) – all of them seem to come with a Gobi device these days -, but I hope they aren’t as crippled as this Qualcomm Gobi? HP uses on their EliteBooks.? And signal strength (RX/TX ratio) actually isn’t so much better with the internal antennas which have to compete with the WLAN antennas for the limited space above the display. However, I understand that it isn’t the modem which sucks (some websites claim it even comes with an internal GPS chip?!) but rather HP’s policy which prevents us from using alternative operating systems and even locks the system down to this device only.
And with my policy of drawing a clear line between user data and the operating system + hardware, the external USB modem is just so much more convenient. It’s a plug & play device that adds modularity & flexibility to the system.
Story by KBW correspondent
Publication date: Aug 25th, 2009
FarmVille is a new Kenyan game on Facebook where you can grab land, excel in overgrazing farmland and overstocking sheep & cattle, buy luxurious decorations and spend the rest of the time idling with a sundowner in your hand.
A report by the KenyaTimes recently revealed that most employees in Nairobi CBD are spending their lunch break in front of computers, playing FarmVille. FarmVille is said to have 9 million users worldwide, a quarter of Kenya’s current population.
A personal computer, commonly referred to as an IBM-compatible device, is a machine often see in offices, hidden under a dust cover. The first personal computer was brought to Kenya by an US-American bible translator family in 1979.
One employee of Kenya Paraffin, Lanterns and Candles (KPLC) who wants to remain anonymous, told us that Kenya currently experiences a power rationing program due to an excessive use of Facebook.
Facebook is a very successful website on the internet (mtandao wa intaneti), often used as a dating site and for subversive political and digital activism. The website includes a microblogging service called “status update” which has recently substituted the blooming Kenyan blogosphere.
Another popular microblogging service called “Twitter” (ndege kelele) has meanwhile been condemned by the Government Spokesperson Dr. Alfred E. Neuman who said that “it can not send SMS” to him. In a related matter, Dr. Alfred recently anounced that those without telephone network should sms him directly so that he can forward the matter to the relevant ministry in charge of terrorcommunications.
A delegation of Kenyan MPs, who is currently touring the United States, recently wrote a letter to the Office of the President, asking for a national holiday to celebrate FarmVille Day. This, as they explained in their open letter, will also help those urban citizens who have in the past failed to secure their own upcountry shamba due to lack of funds and competition in their extended family networks.
A group of young Kenyan writers also published an open letter, claiming that FarmVille actually comes from the United States of America and was introduced to Kenyans by visiting UN interns and PeaceCorps youth who used their daily allowances to access the internet from remote villages. This, as they claim, is “clearly evident as there is no mobile version of FarmVille”.
A group of talented programmers from JKUAT is meanwhile working on a mobile version of FarmVille. The project is financed by Sufericom.
In other news, a Mr. Kamau from Muranga’a was today injured in a battle with Mr. Ezekiel Oluoch, an official from the National Bureau of Statistics who had approached Mr. Kamau for Kenya’s fifth national census. In a heated debate, Mr. Kamau refused to state the actual number of his lifestock.
The fifth Kenya National Census is an inititiative by the GoK to allocate farm land on FarmVille according to family size and fixed assets. In an unexpected move, the World Bank and outgoing ambassadors recently called for a country wide introduction of FarmVille so that no Kenyan will have to suffer from malnutrition in future.
“It’s Our Turn To Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower”, by Michela Wrong, ISBN 978-0-00-724196-5
After having read this interesting book by Michela Wrong, written in a similar style as “In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo” (which I really liked) – I am still confronted with some open, or rather: resulting questions this book has generated.
And this although the issue itself – the bogus deals by the “Mount Kenya Mafia” – have been debated elsewhere numerous times. I chose so call it “elsewhere”, as Michela Wrong also mentioned the (Kenyan) blogosphere where John Githongo’s seemingly sudden departure from the official job & disclosure of cosa nostra secrets had been ripped apart in the usual manner. I am yet to see a German publication where the German blogosphere is taken into account with so much attention. This, however, may be related to their media and German sceptism which doubts anything that’s not published or confirmed by numerous sources.
I take it that a lot of readers of my blog with an interest in Kenyan affairs also read, or at least read about this book, and have their own opinion of it.
Another reason for blogging about this – already closed? – chapter of contemporary Kenyan history is that I can somehow relate to the described silver spoon upbringing of JG in a sense that a) discussions and intellectual discourse where part of the family life and b) that our generation – JG is 10 years older than me but I think most of you are just as old as I am (>30) – still enjoyed this limited or filtered view of the world, where everything new was sucked up with great interest for the lack of multiple media resources that would otherwise constantly penetrate your brain with “news”. I actually enjoyed this part the most during childhood – being forced to live in an environment where news would only dribble in, instead of showing up on the web-based RSS feedreader. Why? Because it enables you to take your time for your own development and dreams. I consider this a luxury that I am not taking for granted. Michela also mentioned this part where listening to the BBC World Service (instead of the montonous “HE DT arap Moi today said…” on KBC) was part of the daily habits. And I wouldn’t limit this to a family’s financial status as most Kenyans actually read more newspapers than e.g. Germans.
Sooo…..my first question is: why was such a book written by a foreign observer? Why not by someone in Kenya or in the diaspora? Because of fears? Or because life is so hard & busy that there’s no time for such excursions? Or is it because of the culture which is so much forward-driven, with a focus on things to come instead of those that already happened?
After the first 100 pages into the book, I thought it is a bit too Kikuyu-centric, but then, again, I think it’s Tucholsky who once said it is best to view your own country from the outside – and if these stereotypes (she even mentioned the jokes) are what it takes to draw a rough picture of this group for the uninformed world, then so be it.
Which effect did this publication have on Kenyan society (within and outside of Kenya)? What’s with the role of a whistleblower (anyone still remembers David Munyakei?) in today’s Kenya and what about that anonymous reporting tool introduced @ KACC two years ago? What do you think about JG’s actions (as described via the book)?
“Kenyans tend to quickly forgive or forget”… in the light of the post-election violence, a corruption scandal may not be that interesting after all.
I also wondered how Kenyans would feel about this book + the story it tells. The way it was written, the examples used to explain historically-based feelings inside ethnic groups, the readership it was written for… questions that pop-up between the lines, how it feels to read about your own people, friends and known public figures.
Michela also mentioned the network: “..he became aware of a delicate cobweb of expectations, obligations and duties tying him down” which makes Kenyan politics so interesting to me. It’s like having half of the Kenyan blogosphere / diaspora as friends on Facebook and Twitter, and then publishing opinionated status updates in a Koigi wa Wamwere manner. And, again, comparing Kenya to Germany (which is an on-going mission of this blog, I think), I am yet to see an interesting book on a contemporary German politician. Most of them are just as boring as their political agenda – which is also why Angela Merkel will most likely win the upcoming elections in Germany and remain Chancelorette for the next legislative period. Not because she’s any better or because she’s a woman (only positive reason, it seems), but because she has a network where she remains the queen at the center of the beehive. This is btw the same woman who once refused to meet with Barack Obama and later on licked his boots just because his network is so much more influential then hers.
You know it’s a bit hypocritical to openly wonder about politics & corruption in an African state when at the same time Europe comes up with dictators leaders such as Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. You can write a book about just another African economy that has been corrupted in the past by the Hippo Generation and a laissez-faire mentality in society, and it will sell quite well. But a book on a corrupt European leader? No. Makes me wonder where our priorities are.
Another detail or theme that I’ve been wondering about is the change on Kenyan culture. Yes, Kenyan culture. As paradox as it may seem – and I am not talking about books like “How to be a Kenyan” by the late Wahome Mutahi, the national dress once artificially invented by the Nyayo regime (Nyayo car??!) but rather this new Kenya which developed along with Moi’s last years, NARC and the 2002 elections and the spirit it brought to society since then.
The appreciation of a society for cultural values – their own + shaped style, language, habits, new communication tools – has so often been an indicator to me of how a country actually performs. Please correct me if I am wrong on this, but I think that Kenya has in the past 10 years eventually found its own roots somewhere out there where local stars have become more interesting than foreigners, where the City of Nairobi is actually (& eventually!) regarded as a cosmopolitan place (despite frequent power failures & water shortages) and where there’s much more nationalism to be found these days which is not based on Obama’s Kenyan roots or just another sports athlete. And it’s not that Nairobi has never been that progressive before – only: the speed of growth seemingly increased tremendously, it seems (to me).
Taking this new Nairobi as an indicator (! – pole for the NGO lingo) for things to come, where do these worlds of the old and new mix up to the bigger picture? When will we see the political change in Kenya the electorate voted for in 2002 and 2007? A new Kenya where power failures are a thing of the past, where broadband internet connections will help the youth stay in rural areas (vs. urbanisation), where water bodies are actually protected and land grabbing reversed for the sake of a growing nation? Where education and proper health care are top priorities?
Questions which probably won’t be answered any time soon, but I secretly wish that integre characters like John Githongo are now using the time building up their support on the basis. Bottom-up instead of top-down – maybe that’s the new strategy these days – loosely joined forces that have a nation in mind and not their own pocket, where qualifications are more important than cosa nostra networks.
Politics. I actually decided not to blog about politics anymore since January 2008, and this isn’t even meant to be book review. I’d love to read about your opinion of this book though, and maybe also find some answers to my given questions above and other things I’ve most definitely left out for various reasons. Thx!
What you see in the picture above is a huge sign-board put up by (the supermarket chain) Mercadona in Cartaya, Spain, directly in front of the exit (”salida”) from their car park. Hmm….looks like a Eurofail to me. Ama?
A wide variety of Spanish pastries / cookies and mainly different variations of what’s otherwise called a donut. Took this picture in reference to the following from Embu (as seen in this post):
…because there actually isn’t much difference between the Spanish and Kenyan pastries you’ll get. Both countries have all it takes to produce tasty & different cakes, and the Spanish ones even come in different packagings. But still, most of these cakes just go down with a good tea or coffee because they are too dry. Or they are like those BlueBand “butter” cakes you’ll get for birthdays and weddings that look appealing but all taste the same in the end.
If I could start again, I’d probably open up a bakery for German cake in Nairobi or start selling Leberkäse to Nairobi commuters.
As I just can’t remember the correct Spanish names for the different kinds of squids and octopus (cephalopods), I took this snapshot at another local supermarket to remind me of what to order at a Tapas Bar where you’ll get huge plates of fresh fish every evening for a relatively low price.
As mentioned in my last post, we also spent a day in Portugal as it’s just a ~2h drive away from the place we’re currently staying in Spain.
40°C on the way back from Portugal.
Vertical cliffs in Sagres, Portugal.
I have to admit that I am such a geek that I was equally fascinated by these huge antennas:
In Sagres we also visited the Fortaleza de Sagres, a national monument from the 15th century:
It really is a huge fortress but well worth a visit. We later on discovered that the Reggae festival taking place (the same day) in front of the fortress in Sagres actually included 2manyDJs (my fav. mashup DJs from Belgium!).
So we continued our excursion to the next destination: Cabo de São Vicente …..only to find this German snackbar on the parking lot:
Anyone in for a German Bratwurst at Cape St. Vincent in Portugal? Me neither.
The trip to Portugal was very nice and an easy drive with our ugly rental car. Enjoying the luxury of a rental car is just very, very convenient as it enables you to see places you’d probably miss out otherwise. It also enables you to take snapshots like the following I took for my solar friends – showing a solar farm somewhere between Jerez de la Frontera and Seville:
For the remaining days here in El Rompido, I shall enjoy the following view from the very balcony I am currently sitting on, editing this blog post via a free wireless inet connection here (with pre-Seacom-speeds).
Huku ni kuzuri…. the hotel room is even bigger than our humble flat in Frankfurt.
Einfach mal 9 Tage lang an gar nichts denken, die Sonne auf den vom üppigen Frühstück gut gefüllten Bauch scheinen lassen, nachher mit dem hässlichen, froschgrünen Mietwagen durch die Gegend cruisen und am Abend dann gebratenen Tintenfisch mit frischem Salat und einem kühlen cerveza genießen.
Die Liegen am Pool befinden sich in idealer Handtuchwurfweite vom Balkon.
9 Tage lang die vielen baulichen Mängel eines solch typisch spanischen Hotels versuchen zu verdrängen (sorry, Technikmensch) und das Netbook trotz relativ guter & kostenloser Inetanbindung (LAN & WiFi, ungesichert) nur für 2h statt 24h auspacken.
This actually is supposed to be an English blog post – but! you quickly realize how German you actually are, even if it’s just Spain (where there are a lot of Germans). The fancy hotel we’d chosen for our much-awaited holiday (first since 2006) is located close to the Portuguese border, so we actually get two countries for one price plus a rented car which enables us to be mobile and tour the area. Great!
….so I just received my (new) HP 6930p back from repair which I had to send in to JABIL Poland where they were supposed to repair the display lock issue and check why the docking port connector had a problem.
the stuff you do when you receive repaired hardware:
open it up and double-check for any changes…
(both microphones weren’t inserted properly!!!)
HP Warranty Hotline was quite helpful, responded quickly and knew what I was talking about. My notebook comes with a 3yr warranty, so UPS came the other day, picked it up and returned it today. The whole process took 10 days to complete which is ok, I think.
JABIL replaced the motherboard (good!) and even tried to fix the display lock. The lock is still kinda sensitive to external pressure (opens up by itself as there’s too much mechanical tension on the springs), but at least it is better than before.
BUT!
Maybe I am too German to complain about such things, but the service technician with JABIL Poland actually removed the transparent business card holder which is on top of the licence stickers and service tags.
I had used this BC holder on both my notebooks in the past and am quite upset about this fault. You won’t even have to remove this plastic sheet in order to open up the notebook, so I can only assume that the technicians just didn’t care enough and/or removed it to have less reflections while reading those bar codes with a bar code scanner. And even if so, this is a 2cents piece that should easily be replacable, especially by service technicians.
So I once again called HP service hotline, informing them about this missing piece and the (very helpful) lady on the other end told me: “Yes, in such cases we normally dispatch a service technician who will come to your house and probably replace the whole bottom cover.” – “So what about these stickers?” – “The technician will use a hot air gun to remove these stickers and put them on the new bottom cover”.
3h work & someone else even spoiling the remaining stickers on my notebook just because HP is unable to provide such transpartent business card holders as spare parts? No way!
Case closed.
Besides, how will he apply those stickers if they are covered by a transparent business card holder sheet on the new bottom – the reason for an exchange? Ati?
Why can’t they ever handle these items with enough care and return it the way it came? The original plastic bag is also missing. I am really upset about these “technicians” and would like to hit them with the oversized UPS box. There’s nothing worse in the technical world than service technicians who just don’t care enough or hotline staff that’s just as dumb as the fee you’ll have to pay for calling special service hotlines. Fortunately, the ladies from the Hotline were nice and friendly, but their outsourced technicians still suck big times.
How does this moth know it is actually sitting on a beige surface (here: the inner side of the window blind) that somehow matches its camouflage?
I think it doesn’t actually know.
Some impressions from a recent trip to Hamburg – my brother-in-law managed to organise a tour on the Elbe (river) for the whole family with cousins and their spouses & kids. A nice and very exclusive event that once again reminded me how beautiful and interesting the port of Hamburg actually is.
view on parts of the Alte Speicherstadt
I’ve lived in Hamburg from 10/1975 till 01/1976 and 07/1983 till 10/1983 so I wouldn’t really call it “my home” even though my passport says something else. Lakini – if “home is where your heart is”, then maybe Hamburg qualifies for being one of those places.
The area of the HafenCity used to be part of the free trade zone and has now been changed into an area with offices, hotels, shops, official buildings and residential areas. The building on the right is Elbe Philharmonic Hall, a music hall that once used to be an old warehouse. Pretty impressive.
The top floor of this new building to the right will cost about 8.5 million €.
8.5 million € that will enable you to have a view on the city like this one:
So you take a boat like this one…
…from here…
..and start the trip!
Another view on the Elbe Philarmonic Hall…
… and the city centre from the port…
… as well as the new HafenCity.
Wait, what’s that in the middle?
Oh, it’s an aeroboat. When was the last time you’ve seen one live?
The AIDAcara, a German cruise ship. A friend of mine recently booked a tour on one of these AIDA cruise ships and met his (current, I think :-) girlfriend there. Obviously, a good place for meeting singles.
The Cap San Diego, a former general cargo ship that now serves as a museum. It probably is a testimony to the origin of the port’s main business which was L.C.L.
You also get to see some older dockyards.
View on the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken.
This actually is one of the best photos as it shows some protest against Germany and an energy company that recently messed up things on nuclear power plant further down the river. These building on (Hamburg) Hafenstraße are 0w3nd by squatters since 1981.
These people seem to have the funds for such buildings. Amazing. It actually reminds me of the Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam…
Some of these cranes in the background are imported (as one piece!) from China. The red buoy (a lateral buoy) is an indicator for the left edge of the channel
You can actually spend a nice & warm summer evening on such a beach.
(or do some skinny-dip :-)
The Airbus factory next to the Mühlenberger Loch. @Dave @czed – pls feel free to comment on this. Afaik, it used to be a harbour for aeroboats during WW2 and 1/5 of the area have recently been converted into factory groundy by EADS for the construction of the Airbus A380.
Blankenese, a suburban (beautiful & expensive) quarter in the western part of Hamburg.
These two light houses are leading lights that have to be in one vertical line (see below). Once you see them in line, you know you’re in the center of fairway.
Container ships
An destroyed quay wall, probably from a bomb during WW2. A few metres further down we came across this sign which indicates that it’s rather old and the WW2 theory is correct. Maybe someone knows the story behind this?
Two cargo ships that have been put out of service for the time being due to the global recession.
Some airplane parts (Airbus?) ready for shipment.
Roman Arkayevish Abramovich‘ new luxury yacht, the M/Y Eclipse. This is the most impressive luxury yacht I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if anyone really needs to have such a huge boat, but it sure looks great! Built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg.
You really get to see a lot of Hamburg from the river / port alone, and it is very interesting to see how much the City actually celebrates it’s port to a point where they are actually spending a lot of money on rebuilding old quarters. It’s a proud city and the port is a very good example to show where Hamburg wins over Bremen – another city in the North with similar interests & heritage. We’ll be back for more one day….
My new HP 6930p laptop unfortunately has an issue with the display latch (which is a “known issue” with this series) and also is very picky when it comes to accepting the docking station, which is why I called HP customer service last week and made use of the 3yr warranty it came with. Let’s see how HP performs – someone from UPS is supposed to come today and pick it up.
So…..since I actually need to have a working machine in my home office, I pulled out my Asus eeePC 1000HG netbook, removed the battery and connected it to my 22″ TFT and an external mouse & keyboard, a USB hub and a LAN cable.
Reason for blogging this is that I recently wrote about a netbook being a real AfriGadget as it could serve anyone who needs to have a light & flexible computer that’s good enough for most basic tasks. And it is.
Since I was in a hurry last week, I pulled out the WinXP recovery disc and installed WinXP on it – thereby killing my previous WinXP & Ubuntu dual boot setup. But then…I just need it to work out-of-the-box right now and it seemed to be the quickest solution, so I won’t mind about the 160GB harddisk being split into two partitions now – instead of five. Asus Recovery DVD is some piece of sh…..as it doesn’t provide clean installs of the shipped WinXP Home (I had previoulsy partioned the HDD with PartedMagic – resulting in a Grub error..ah, well..).
So, WindowsXP Home. It could be worse.
Is this Netbook strong enough for a 24/7 job, substituting my computing needs on a 90% desktop, 10% mobile basis? Yes!
The performance of this Intel N270 Atom CPU @ 1,6GHz with 2 GB of RAM and a simple Intel on-board graphics solution is said to be somewhere close to 5yr old Pentium-M processor notebooks. A geekbench I was once did scored something like 935 points (old HP nx8220 15,4″ 1,86 GHz single core laptop = ~ 1200 // new HP 6930p 14,1″ 2,26 Ghz Core2Duo = ~ 3060 points) and it sure isn’t the fastest machine, but it also hasn’t failed to deliver performance for most of my tasks so far.
It’s an interesting question, also since Erik of WhiteAfrican.com recently complained about his Acer AAO netbook he had to use while his MacBookPro was in for a repair. The tiny 10,1″ screen on the netbook itself is a joke if you seriously need / want to work on it. However, being connected to an external TFT (and supplying both screens at the same time) and an external keyboard, things are A LOT easier and turn this little toy into a serious machine. The integrated graphics solution is even strong enough for a quick session in UrbanTerror. Sweet! My eeePC 1000HG also comes with an integrated 2G/3G modem, so it is a really mobile machine (provided there is network coverage).
For as long as my new HP laptop is under repair, I will have to stick to this netbook and use it on a daily basis. It will be on and online every day (= about 18h per day), enabling me to see if a netbook is really strong enough to survive all of the given tasks. I will also go on a vacation soon and take the netbook with me. I am already very curious to see how it can perform on the road – I did my AfriGadget presentation on it as well, so I already know what it is capable of.
Another motivation for this experiment is to see how much computing power I actually need most of the time and to “make do with what is available“. I already like the almost inaudible integrated fan and the fact that it doesn’t become too hot (for some reasons which are probably related to battery charging, it is actually much colder now compared to when it runs on batteries or when the batteries are being recharged – interesting). As for the tiny screen size: most eeePCs come with a button to instantly adjust the screen resolution (a big plus for eee PCs, btw), and a screen resolution of 1024×600 pixels isn’t an issue, actually. What is problematic is the tiny size of the display – an 11″ screen would be much better, but then, again, with a 22″ TFT connected to it (via VGA only though) you can actually work on it without noting a difference.
Going home-home for an extended weekend actually means I can waste spend some time on my old computer and enjoy the following (Kenyan) sticker on the keyboard:
This computer urgently needs to be fixed (Ubuntu on a USB key is a wonderful life saviour), but I was actually much more interested in rummaging in those drawers under the table.
So I found this medal from Empire State Building in the USA:
…with my name on the back, dated July 23, 1979
Today is July 23, 2009.
This coincidence just made my day. I haven’t been there since July 23 1979 and I am wondering if they still produce these medals?
It’s about time for another hardware review as it reflects what’s on my mind these days. I know that a lot of people just go for anything they are recommended, but if your income depends on the performance and reliability of your computer at home (= home office), you’ll maybe pay extra attention to this and I know a lot of geeks who are much more demanding when it comes to their computer.
So I bought a new notebook today because I felt that my old machine from 2006 doesn’t deliver what I need for some applications. Mind you, I am a PC guy, running WinXP and Ubuntu only, where the performance of my old machine was sufficient for most tasks.
My setup consisted of an HP nx8220 notebook on a docking station with an external mouse + keyboard and a 22″ LG W2242T TFT. The computer is in a local network with an HP OfficeJet 7210 printer, a 500GB NAS and a VoIP phone + her notebook as well as both our netbooks.
The nx8220 proved to be a loyal workhorse, surviving dusty rural Kenya as well as running 24h/d. The docking station really is a huge advantage over to conventional consumer notebooks as it provides a) much more ports (e.g. DVI-D for the 22″ TFT) and b) makes it easier to use only one machine for both home office and mobile needs. This is also why I could never go for a MacBook as they afaik do not provide connectivity to a docking station.
Most users are better off buying a conventional consumer notebook and not a business machine like mine. It’s similar to cars: extras on a Mercedes or Volkswagen cost extra, while you’d get all of that for a much lower price on a SE Asian car. So you’ll equally have to pay extra for an LED screen or UMTS modem which you’ll also already find on cheaper Acer or Asus notebooks. Most of these consumer notebooks do not have a docking connector though and are usually designed for a 3years usage pattern (5years on business notebooks).
Since this docking station already existed (eBay is a great resource for used business hardware in mint condition), the idea was to get another HP as I would then just have to swap notebooks.
On the other hand, Dell offers a very nice Latitude E6400 (with an illuminated keyboard & LED screen – similar to MacBooks!) that comes close to my current choice – and the (IBM) Lenovo T400 with an LED screen and internal UMTS modem is one of those *i want! i want!* machines.
I’ve tested the T400 in a shop and was surprised how great it actually looks. I think I’ll have to buy an older T42(p) one day to satisfy my IBM-needs. Built quality wasn’t that good though – most reviews on YouTube where customers are comparing this IBM-successor are somehow true, at least when it comes to the material used on these machines. But still, I’d love to test the Lenovo T400 for a longer period one day.
Comparing these to cars, I’d say that IBM ThinkPads are like Volvos.
Back to my choice: I eventually settled for an HP 6930p which comes with a 14,1″ screen size (old notebook was 15,4″) and weighs “only” 2.4kg. Compared to my old notebook (2.85kg), it’s much lighter. It still seems to be heavier than other 14,1″ notebooks – but honestly: 200gr more doesn’t matter to me. What matters, though, is the power supply on HP notebooks which is really really shitty. Too big, too heavy, to bulky. Apple has the best power supplies, imho. And I of course also like those small ones that came shipped with the netbooks (Kensington also produces light-weight power supplies – may have to look into those one day).
power supplies: HP nx8220 vs. Asus eee 901
So my notebook is on a docking station most of the time and needs to deliver 24/7, which is why I went for a machine with an ATI graphics card even though it itsn’t that much better than the internal Intel graphics core and even though the ATI card drains the battery faster. Took me some time to decide on this though, as well as the screen resolution which is at 1440×900 (unfortunately no LED screen, just CCFL ) and I was afraid that it may be too small. But it isn’t.
Funny thing is: I bought this machine for a really good price on eBay (hey…!) and the offer said “Screen resolution: 1280 x 800″. Picked it up in the store (in Hanau, outside of Frankfurt) and realized it’s 1440×900. Thought they made a mistake and asked them a few times but it seemed to be correct. So now I am the proud owner of a notebook with the follow specifications:
HP “EliteBook” 6930p (p/n GW683AV)
No PCMCIA II card slot, so my PCMCIA / PC-Card UMTS modem (eBay, EUR 2,- :-)) can go into early retirement.
For a list of professional reviews on the 6930p, pls check out this page by notebookcheck.com (best site on this subject, imho).
As mentioned, the 6930p I got was really cheap as it is a used machine. Used ….as in: brand-new without any scratches or other damages but isn’t originally sealed. Which is why HP sells them for a lower price to wholesalers who are then reselling them on eBay (check for HP Renew or similar). That’s one sweet way of buying hardware and also how I got our printer, btw. You’re still given 3 years Warranty (checked the serial number via HP’s website) and get a proper receipt so basically it’s a new machine. Besides, I am geek enough to fix problems on my own and I do not have the resources to send in my machine for three weeks, anxiously waiting for a repair.
The machine came shipped with Windows Vista Business which is….well, I don’t know. I deleted it. You also get a downgrade option from M$ to exchange your Vista installation for XP (which I did).
Already tested Ubuntu 9.04 running as a live version from a USB key and: Heeeeyyyyy…. I may be a bit behind when it comes to modern hardware from 2009, but this Dual Core CPU and the RAM really kick ass on Ubuntu. Plugged it in, booted it up in less than 30 seconds and ..*baaam* , ready to go. Nice.
I also did a Geekbench benchmark on all four machines:
Meaning: you can really feel the performance increase. It was a good idea to invest some money on a new machine.
Based on my first impressions so far, here’s a list of things I noticed on this HP “EliteBook”:
1. Pictograms, indicating the position and function of ports on each side are just next to the port, not on top (like on my old nx8220). Would be better to have them on top to see where the USB ports are.
old: nx 8220
new: 6930p
2. Comparing the nx8220 with the 6930p is a bit unfair as it should rather be a comparison between the nx8220 and the 8530p.
I am used to the 15,4″ notebook with the headphone socket on the right side instead of the positioning of these ports on the left side on the 6930p. This really unimportant detail actually means a lot to me.
3. The touchpad and the pointing stick on the 6930p are a bit too cheap. There’s almost no pressure point on both touchpad buttons. Why not? You won’t notice the weakness of the touchstick unless you’ve compared it to an IBM laptop so this really isn’t a serious issue.
4. Webcam is 2mpx and is ok. Also comes with a special OCR software that reads business cards and adds them to your address book. Seriously, who comes up with such ideas? It’s funny. Tested it once, didn’t work for me, gave up. My business card is different anyways as it comes as a QR-code (see right sidebar on my blog). I am sure there’s QR-Code software out there that will enable this webcam to read barcodes (like the one on my phone).
5. Next to the webcam is a keyboard light which may not be that strong but is one of the reasons why IBM ThinkPads have in the past ruled the business world. Ok, not really, but their keyboard light has always been the little extra gimmick that made you me long for a ThinkPad instead of a Dell or HP (not knowing that the keyboard light on an IBM isn’t really that great). Good move, HP! The light elegantly pops out by pressing the button with the bulb icon and comes with a little diffusor in front of the integrated LED (no diffusor on IBM = problem!).
6. Keyboard is nice and firm, similar to my old one. Keyboards and displays are THE MOST IMPORTANT parts of a notebok. Which is probably also why Acer notebooks are so popular.
(a nice example which shows that some cameras just aren’t capable of getting straight lines – this Sanyo cam from 2003 has a splendid macro mode but is really bad on horizontal lines due to the internal prism lens)
7. The scratch-resistant external aluminium panels and the casing made of aluminium, plastic and magnesium really kick ass. Almost solid as a rock. Good quality. I actually only miss the clamshell design known from ThinkPads on this HP.
I am also mentioning this as you can easíly test the overall stability yourself by pushing the display back and forth and seeing where there’s tension on the body. My old nx8220 has a slight crack on that part due to its age and usage but this is normal with most other notebooks I’ve tested and seen so far.
8. Hinges: remember the Dellicious story? Broken hinges are soooo Dell and Acer. The hinges on my nx8220 are still fine (even though I’ve already tightened them a bit, using a simple screwdriver).
9. The 1440×900 (WXGA+) screen resolution produces slightly better colours than the normal 1280×800 (WXGA) screen (both CCFL technology). Relatively low contrast, brightness is ok, viewing angels are average. Not good for serious photographers and I am afraid to admit that but I think that you’ll either have to go for a Sony notebook or MacBook if you can’t edit photos on an external screen (and mine is just a cheaper, low-end TFT from LG but still better than both notebook screens). I actually don’t know why HP uses such bad displays on business machines and the better LED screens on their cheaper consumer notebooks. Well, I knew that and skipped this point in the end because of the external monitor I am using for editing pictures. And who knew that I’d be blessed with a better screen resolution & picture quality for the same price? I paid for WXGA screen and got a WXGA+ … how cool is that? :-)
Display also comes with a light-sensor to automatically adjust brightness. Deactivated it – like on my old nx8220.
LED displays are available from HP for this series, albeit at WXGA (1280×800) only and very hard to obtain and/or expensive (at least in Germany).
10. LEDs to indicate Wireless/Power/HDD acitivities are much better on the 6930p than on the nx8220 (and other, similar machines from that era in 2006). I once had to glue a little piece of plastic back between those LEDs on the nx8220 as it had broken away.
old: nx8220
new: 6930p
11. Weight: 2.4kg are a good weight. My Asus 1000HG netbook weighs 1.5kg and comes with a 10″ screen at 1024×600px screen resolution. There are those moments where you wish to have a bigger (!) machine (not neccessarily on the screen, but to elegantly balance it on your lap = laptop!) and forget about the weight issue. A 12″ notebook would also be nice, but these machines often only come with a crippled CPU, an expensive 1.8″ HDD and/or are ridiculously expensive. So the 14,1″ notebook is a perfect alternative. And yes, 13,3″ MacBooks are even better, at least size-wise.
12. The display latch: many customers on user forums actually complained about the latch/lock on the display, arguing that it would require them to use both hands to close it (true) and some force (true). I like it this way, even though it easily pops open even if you only slightly touch the button. So it may accidentally open inside a bag. Not good. Too much tension.
13. Design: I think it’s rather ugly. This mixture of silver and black colours..is this the influence of peculiar Asian taste?
There’s a row of touch-sensitive buttons on top of the keyboard which is a bit too bright & has too many different LED colors which may be a bit irritating, but else it is working fine for me. This touch-sensitive panel replaces conventional buttons (that would provide more tactile feedback), and a lot of users actually complained about the volume “slider”. The problem is: it isn’t really a slider, it just looks like a slider. Because if you don’t try to “slide down volume” but instead keep your finger on the “Volume (-)” area, it will quickly reduce volume. So users got irritated, thinking it works like a slider and consequently complained about it.
Why touch-sensitive controls instead of conventional buttons? Me thinks there are three posssible reasons for this: a) the SEAsian geek influence & an affection for iPhone-alike features, b) costs and c) less trouble with designing the PCB / more space.
14. Fan design still sucks. Maybe I am too much of an engineer, but I’d prefer if the intake could be on the back side of the notebook, not below the machine. IBM/Lenovo is a bit better on this. Proper heat dissipation is an important issue. Fortunately, the machine comes with an otherwise good cooling system and isn’t too loud.
I’ve also set the BIOS to “fan always on” as I’ve had good experience with this on my nx8220. Keeps the machine colder right from the start.
open fan on the nx8220 (without aluminium cover & removed keyboard)
6930p: heatpipe may remain on all chips even when the fan is being cleaned
Also interesting to see that there’s no extra cover for the pcb as compared to the nx8220 which had an aluminum cover betweeen the keyboard and the pcb (which also had the heat dissipitation pipes connected to it). Would be interesting to know what this looks like on the 8530p. On the other hand, it always irritated me having to remove the heat pipes from the graphics & northbridge processor just to clean the fan and I am glad it is different on the new machine. There usually is a lot of dust in between the fan and the cooler (= what you see as copper-coloured grill from the outside) which is only accessible once you open it up and use tweezers to remove the dust. Also helps using a vacuum cleaner and/or a camera lens blower to clean it
14. Users can exchange the HDD, the battery (now try that with a MacBook), add a UMTS modem or add more RAM – all without voiding the warranty. Nothing great, but still important as the Apple example shows that not all gadgets come with similar warranty conditions.
To know what’s “possible”, HP uses two different screw types. A Torx for service and conventional cross slot screws for upgrades from customers. Pls also note the sleeve for a business card which I also already know from my nx8220. HP was smart enough to hide both the licence key and service tag stickers underneath this protective cover. Simple, but effective.
15. This 6930p is a custom made model, hence the 120GB HDD it came shipped with as well as 4GB of RAM on a single board. Knowing that 32bit operating systems can only address a maximum of 3GB, I am wondering why it comes with 4GB and Windows Vista Business 32bit? (and don’t even get me started on the 800MHz vs. 1066MHz discussion the RAM is running on – these 4GB are at 798 MHz instead of 1066 // DDR2 vs DDR3).
Oh, and Vista ist just crap. This is MS Windows Vista Business and it instantly failed to reboot (endless loop of booting up and down) after an initial update. And needless to mention that I actually failed getting the HP Backup tool to do a copy of the installation. Vista alone used 20GB on the HDD. Incredible.
Now I am left with an XP downgrade & drivers DVD and will probably (& hopefully) never need a Vista backup. I’ve tested Windows7 on my Asus eee 1000HG the other day which is a bit better.
16. The battery is a bit too loose which is partly also due to the hook on the battery. I am used to this from the nx8220 though and these guys found the same fault on their test notebook. So I am not the only one who pulls out the sliding calliper to measure the play between the battery and the notebook body (I hope :-).
17. CPU Whining (CPU generates a high frequency sound): yes, it is there, but only slightly audible. Good.
18. The docking station I am using is an HP PA286A (used, cheap, eBay…) which *officially* doesn’t work with an EliteBook notebook but actually it does. It just doesn’t match the silver cover as it comes with the old grey colour tone as used on the nx8220. If you’ve come here searching for an answer on this: yes, it works. The PA286A 120W HP docking station is compatible with the HP 6930p (at least most standard ports – don’t know about Video-S which was supported by the nx8220 but not the 6930p). HP used to mention it on their website but have since removed this remark, probably due to marketing reasons. I initially had some problems with it as the LAN port wouldn’t respond but it was due to my 6930p which seems to have a picky docking connector that doesn’t properly sit on the docking station.
The socket for the docking station on the notebook itself also isn’t secured by any protective cover which may seem to be a potential problem. If in doubt, just use adhesive tape to cover it up. As mentioned earlier, the nx8220 also didn’t have this cover and it has never really been a problem.
19. Internal 2G/3G modem: this 6930p didn’t come with an integrated 2G/3G (GSM, UMTS) modem but with the internal 3G antennas already set up and a SIM card slot behind the battery cover. You actually just buy the additional UMTS modem card, plug it in, install drivers and start surfing. I must however admit that – based on my experience with this same procedure on the Asus 1000HG netbook – the internal antenna setup on top of the display usually isn’t that much better than a conventional, external USB 3G modem. Still have to double-check this though.
———————————–
Soooo…is the 6930p any good? Yes of course! It’s a good notebook for most tasks and it comes with a good mixture of usability and performance. It may not be the best notebook for serious photo editing (due to HP’s shitty displays), but it already is a best seller in all other categories and just delivers what it was made for. I’d recommend it to anyone who has previously worked with HP notebooks, likes them and wants to use a stable machine for the home office.
Comparing it to my old nx8220 and seeing the performance increase, I am really happy that I eventually upgraded my computer hardware. I especially like the Dual Core thing which will ease up a lot of tasks on my notebook.
I am also happy that I didn’t have to spend too much money on a new machine. I think that it doesn’t actually come from HP’s Renew Program and that it had only been previously opened which is why the price was so low.
If you’re more into power saving laptops and value battery runtime, it may be better to get the Intel graphics card version coupled with an LED screen which should provide another 0,5 – 1h of battery runtime. And you may also think about getting a lighter power supply. HP really needs to continue working on the displays and on the power supplies. Improve contrast on the displays (a lot of customers will appreciate this), extend their vertical viewing angles and construct lighter and smaller power supplies. This is 2009 where notebook computers have to compete with netbooks, at least when it comes to portability issues.
Pls note that I am reviewing this machine from my German perspective where the market situation is slightly different from e.g. the US where DELL and Apple seem to dominate the market. Spare parts on Dells are still relatively expensive in Germany and not as available as in the US or even UK & Ireland.
For a sound reasoning on what to look for in a new notebook, pls check out this comment from 2006 by Steve , thx.
Searching for reviews on the HP 6930p – which is supposed to substitute my beloved HP nx8220 – I came across this video:
Would you try that with your MacBookPro? ….eh?
Dieser Tage habe ich mich gefragt, ob es noch einen besseren Anbieter für meine Mobilfunkbedürfnisse als Blau.de gibt. 9 cent in alle Netze, 9 cent für SMS, 0,24 € / MB versurftes Datenvolumen und dazu noch eine bequeme, automatische Aufladung, so dass der ursprüngliche Nachteil von Prepaid entfällt.
Alleine: das E+ Netz ist so dermaßen beschissen, dass ich mit meinem Telefon manchmal keinen Empfang habe. Ist das Handy (ein Nokia N95, letzte FW) im Dualmodus eingestellt (GSM oder UMTS, je nach Verfügbarkeit), bucht es sich als UMTS-Gerät ein , im Display wird 3G und ein deutlicher Antennenempfang angezeigt – aber Telefonate kommen einfach nicht durch. SMS kommen dann entsprechend auch mit Verzögerung an. Abhilfe schafft hier nur die Rückstellung auf GSM-only (und das ist auch nicht 100% verlässlich).
Ich habe auch noch eine Fonic SIM-Karte, die ich in Verbindung mit der Tagesflatrate für 2,50€/d und einem 3G Modem (im Netbook und als PCMICA Version fürs Notebook) verwende. Fonic bietet fast gleiche Konditionen wie Blau.de, allerdings im O2-Netz und ohne Kreditkarten-basierter automatischer Aufladung.
Das eigentliche Problem scheint also im Netz zu liegen – oder aber Prepaid-Kunden haben eine andere, geringere Priorität im Netz (kann das sein?). Beide Netze (E+ & O2) sind nicht so rosig, und das obwohl wir hier mitten in FFM in fast direkter Sichtweite zur nächsten Basisstation wohnen.
Im März 2007 schrieb ich schon mal über meine Erfahrungen mit Vodafone (DE), deren Arroganz bis heute anzuhalten scheint. Vodafone hat eine (vergleichsweise) super Netzabdeckung bzw. -verfügbarkeit, vermag mit dem Rest aber nicht zu überzeugen.
Ab dem 3. Quartal kommt das Nokia E72 auf den Markt, welches eine gute Mischung aus den beiden favorisierten Handytypen Nokia N95 und Nokia E71 darstellt (QWERTZ-Tastatur, Monoblock, 5mpx Kamera). Selbstverständlich liegt da die Überlegung nahe, dieses Gerät im Herbst über einen subventionierten Handyvertrag anzuschaffen und dabei einen modernen 24-Monatsvertrag abzuschließen, der preislich mit den Prepaidtarifen konkurrieren kannn.
Bisweilen verwende ich hauptsächlich die günstigen Internettarife der Prepaidanbieter sowie deren 9cent Einheitstarif(e). Bei T-Mobile muss man sogar teilweise noch eine Tagesnutzungsgebühr iHv 0,19 € bezahlen, dass man überhaupt surfen darf. Solche hohen Kosten sind natürlich auch ein Grund dafür, wieso mobile activism in Deutschland immer noch nicht richtig ernstgenommen wird. DSL ist vorherrschend und mobile Internet”flatrates” zumeist bis 5GB Inklusivvolumen gedeckelt (oder aber ab 1, 5 oder 10 GB in der Geschwindigkeit drastisch reduziert). Im E+ Netz (= Blau.de, Simyo, AldiTalk, etc.) ist sogar nur eine UMTS Geschwindigkeit bis 384kb/s möglich, was mich aber nicht wirklich stört.
Manche Entwicklungsländer sind hier bedeutend fortschrittlicher und günstiger! Und ja, dies hängt sicherlich von vielen Kostenfaktoren ab und lässt sich nicht 1:1 von Land zu Land übertragen. Fakt ist aber unbestreitbar, dass die Mobilfunknutzer in Deutschland unverhältnismäßig mehr zahlen als eigentlich nötig. Bestes Beispiel neben dem überteuerten mobilen Internetzugang sind die immer noch hohen SMS-Gebühren. Lese ich dann ein Angebot (z.B. T-Mobile iPhone Tarife), in dem mit 40 InklusivSMS geworben wird, kann ich nur traurig lächeln. Sind subventionierte Handys ein Grund für diese Mischkalkulation? Oder sind die deutschen Verbraucher einfach nur zu träge für eine Revolution?
Zurück zu meinem Empfangsproblem: gibt es einen Anbieter, der preislich mit den o.g. Angebot konkurrieren kann und dabei eine gute Netzverfügbarkeit anbietet? Welche Angebote / Verträge habt Ihr und könnt Ihr etwas empfehlen? Vielen Dank!
What’s this?
A happy dog! :-)
I’ve recently developed an interest in….metal detectors.
That’s right. Metal detectors that enable the search for metallic objects hidden some inches below the surface. Contrary to other places, the geographical middle of Europe seems to be blessed with archaelogical treasures.
Which leads me to the actual dilemma:
1. I actually don’t have any time to waste on another hobby.
2. There are so many other interesting hobbies I have.
3. I’ve always thought it may be better to limit myself to a few leisure activities (due to 1. & 2.) and focus on them only.
4. Most of my friends are academics or intellectuals who aren’t as geeky as I am and/or won’t have an interest in …strange….hobbies such as using a metal detector to search the nearby forest for Roman coins.
So I did a quick test and asked the freakiest freak-friend of mine who usually rumbles around in military clothes all day long and looks like a potential metal detector freak (he actually looks a lot like Al Yankovic in UHF) if he would be interested in joining me on such a hobby.
“Naa…”, he said, “…not really”.
See? This is the same reaction I received from most of my friends in 1994 when I started being interested in amateur radio. Or fishing. Or guitar playing. Or shooting. Or blogging. Or while repairing my old ‘89 VW Golf. Or repairing electronics with a jua kali approach. Or my recently aquired toy helicopter. Or other handicrafts….
I’ve always been interested in geeky stuff – which isn’t that bad – but I’ve so often been alone on this. And then I’ve chosen those activities although there are other things I would really like to spend more time on. Like improving my guitar playing. Or learning more foreign languages. Reading the pile of books that’s next to my table – not fiction but books related to water & sanitation or political issues.
Well I am not complaining – for I am still free at this (advanced) age to do whatever I want to (uhuru!) and actually created this space in order to enjoy this variety. It’s only that I am wondering why I’ve always chosen such rather geeky hobbies instead of playing soccer with my mates or clubbing with the fiancée*.
What a luxurious dilemma this is! Get a life…
I know. I’m just sayin, u know…?
Oh, and btw, would you join me on a walk to the forest? Hey this is really cool, we can find great stuff!
*fiancée isn’t into clubbing and also says that metal detectors are for Spanish grandmothers who are combing the beaches, improving their pension.
[Disclaimer: I am yet to decide whether my I can afford to cough up USD 200 on such a metal detector if in the end I'll only use it about 20x and then sell it on eBay...]
Batteries for cell phones are a commodity and thus often quite cheap. The interesting part is that fake batteries will often cost the same as original ones and some dealers will swear by the fake Chinese NokLa phone in their hands that they are of course only selling “Original Nokia” products.
Original. Yeah, right.
What you see here:
A) original battery that came shipped with my Nokia 6230i
B) fake “original” battery from eBay @ 6,39 EUR
C) most-likely “original” battery from eBay @ 4,99 EUR
Battery B really pissed us off as it was drained within a few hours (!). The hologram is just very simple yet it looks like an original battery (except for the hologram and the deeper golden contacts). There are no hints on Nokia’s website other than the hologram (they used to have a form to double-check that number on the holo but imho even those numbers were faked).
Battery B was bulk-ware, meaning that it came shipped in a plastic bag while battery C was in an original Nokia packaging with a proper invoice. A bit irritating that there are two different mAh readings – a sticker that says 850 mAh on the front and a printed 970 mAh on the back. On Nokia’s website it says 900 mAh for the BL-5C, but hey – Nokia’s website has never been that accurate on phone details. Nokia also published a product advisory on the BL-5C type some time ago – a successful battery type has been produced over 300 million times and is built by five different manufacturers.
There are many, many dealers on eBay that sell BL-5C batteries for Nokia phones and I’d say that most of them are just fake ones. On the other hand, candidate number C was the cheapest, came in an original packaging and seems to perform like candidate A. Simbaya!
eBay as an online marketplace of course isn’t the best platform to purchase such electronics, but it is the one with the most competitive, or let’s say: comparable prices. Any other online-shop or even physical store will be more expensive (due to shipping rates & other general expenses). And it ain’t about the costs alone – I’d be willing to cough up more on a battery (but not too much!) if the dealer can assure that it is indeed original. I know this is a huge issue with product piracy and so on but – other than with cars where a non-original spare part may just as well be performing as required – most fake batteries also don’t last as long. There may be exeptions to this general rule, but from my experience with this and other phones, most copies aren’t good enough, not even close. Probably also because they are commodities and their Chinese manufacturers just don’t give a damn…
It’s almost 4 years ago that I published my first post on this blog.
The facts:
Blogging is easy. Go to WordPress.com (or any other blogging platform), choose a username, register a blog and start writing. And publish it.
Do it anonymously, put your name under it -just do as you feel. But make sure your voice is out there.
My mother once asked me “JKE, who’s supposed to read all this stuff??”. – “Well”, I replied, “…I don’t know. But some apparently do.”.
That would be you, dear readers. Without you and your comments, I would probably never have taken it to this level. I owe you big times!
—
Four other things I’ve also learned during the last 4 years:
1. A blog post without a photo is like chicken soup without chicken. You feel that something is missing. So here’s the mandatory and totally random picture:
2. The world is changing faster than expected. And we will need much more visionaries out there who are able to think out-of-the-box and and are willing to take a risk. Even if it means that everyone will start laughing about them.
I wouldn’t say I am a visionary, but I’ve followed my own path during the last 4 years and am happily working freelance now on projects I really like. I like my work and what I do. Do you?
3. Things I value the most: time, inspiration, freedom.
4. Everyone likes a good story. Had this colleague at work who kept on sending me links to “potentially interesting news” for our newsletter: “Here, this link is interesting”. – “Yeah, thx…”, I replied, “but where’s the connection and where’s the story to it?”. Silence.
Twitter taught us that news may be limited to 140 characters only. 140 characters that will either be read or ignored.
Now, scientists can sometimes be very complicated. Blogging really helped me shrinking news to a necessary length – and I am still only at the beginning. I wish that colleague would twitter.
Epilogue
SEO is a horrible buzzword, suitable for bullshit bingo. Thinking about this blog post, I keep on adding new stuff to the list of facts. 4 years are an interesting timeframe to draw a line and look back. Alas, this aim to categorize the blog with something else other than “personal” still remains the hardest part for me.
This snapshot of digitalis purpurea was today taken in a forest next to a Roman fort near Frankfurt – with the 5mpx CMOS camera on my 2y old Nokia N95 mobile phone.
It may not be the best photo, but it clearly shows what’s already possible with a decent camera phone.
Heute habe ich mir endlich einen Traum erfüllt und einen ferngesteuerten Hubschrauber gekauft, mit dem man im Zimmer herumfliegen und seine Mitbewohner (Frau, Hund, Katze) in den Wahnsinn treiben kann.
An dieser Stelle auch gleich das große ABER! – denn bei diesem ultraleichten Spielzeug aus Hartschaum und nur popeliger IR-Fernbedienung kann natürlich keine große Freude aufkommen. Jedoch, als Einsteigerset ideal und richtig interessant wird es dann wohl erst ab 99,- EUR mit dem E-Sky Lama V4 oder vergleichbarem.
Das abgebildete Set gab es günstig im Laden und nachdem ich den Kauf bisher immer verschoben hatte (”ach, brauch ich nicht wirklich”, “einmal gespielt und liegt dann in der Ecke”, “kostet nur Geld und bringt nix”, “hmm, nen HeliSimu fürn PC wäre auch fein…was kostn nen USB-Controller?”, etc.), hab ich mir dann heute gedacht: WTH? Nich lang schnacken…einfach mal kaufen und wenn scheisse dann halt Pech gehabt.
Dass wir uns nicht falsch verstehen: so ein Billighubschrauber mit 2 (3-) Kanalsteuerung kann natürlich nur hoch- und runterfliegen, sich schön im Kreis drehen bzw. gegenlenken und mit etwas Glück und bißchen Einstellungsgeschick zum Geradeausflug bewegt werden. Der Flug nach vorne interessiert mich aber gar nicht so – vielmehr das Schweben auf einer Stelle. Und das kann auch dieses Gerät (mit etwas Übung und Ausrichtung des Heckrotors).
Für dieses Kombiset aus Hubschrauber und Flieger hatte ich mich eigentlich entschieden, weil der Flieger im Gegensatz zum Heli mit einer Funkfernsteuerung ausgestattet ist und ich diese noch für ein weiteres Projekt verwenden kann.
Als Kind wollte ich immer ein ferngesteuertes Flugzeug haben, aber damals waren diese Bausätze noch ziemlich teuer. Erst seitdem es diese günstigen Fertigmodelle gibt (an denen man auch relativ wenig einstellen kann – was gut und zugleich auch schlecht ist), ist das Ganze erschwinglicher da populärer geworden.
Trotz des schlechten Gewissens, mit dem Kauf dieses Spielzeugs wieder Sondermüll Made in China gefördert zu haben, ist so ein Gerät die perfekte Entspannung für Zwischendurch.
Not a question of the location, but rather: from which movie is this?
Just when I thought that nothing could stop us from a well-deserved vacation, visiting some dear friends in London – a journey we had anticipated for a long time – parts of my body revolted and sent me to hospital on Sato evening.
Diagnosis: a spontaneous venous thrombosis on the left leg, partly inherited from my family, partly due to sítting too much time in front of my computer.
So I spent the best part of the week enjoying this view:
..or taking snapshots like this one:
This is actually where I was waiting for gastroscopy where this woman next to me asked the doctor for colonoscopy, telling him that she had too much anal intercourcse lately. Well….
Staying in hospital is ok – at least you’re provided with free food and I didn’t have to pay for anything. Now compare that with hospitals in Kenya and you know what’s better about Germany. Really, the health care system may be far from perfect, but it is better than in other countries.
Eventually, I was given these tights which are really *tight* but also help putting some external pressure on the veins.
The irony is that they’re selling this colour as flesh tone. It’s the moment where your mind goes: WTF?!?!?! U guys can’t be siriiiaaaas?!
But they are. These tights also available in black or white – and I will order a black pair asap. Will have to wear these for at least 6 months, probably even longer. Yes, I know, many women have been wearing such special tights for the last 30 years or so, but I am a man and just not used to such special underwear. It could be worse.
One reason for blogging all this is to remind you not to spend too much time seated (this also happens during long flights, btw!) – or else a thrombosis is what may follow. They do all kind of tests with you to exclude a tumor (which may be another cause for a thrombosis) and that ain’t nice.
The other reason is that the Angiological department at the Uniklinik Frankfurt shares the same building with the Infectological dept – where all HIV-patients are treated. You end sharing the place with other patients who are about 1/2 of my weight and who probably won’t survive another month. Makes you appreciate life.
Another positive aspect of all this is that your body is checked upside down – so it’s good to know (that) the rest is all well!
In reference to this story on the ongoing Tana River delta issue in Kenya (shared by Afromusing on FB earlier today), let me pls also forward you to this website & this excellent series of video clips on this pressing issue. The following video clip is part no. 3 out of 14 where Paul Matiku (Director of Nature Kenya) tells us something about the consequences of the proposed plantations in the Tana Delta:
Is Tana’s Sugar Really Sweet? – part 3 (Video by Adrian Seymour on Vimeo).
“Kweli Sukari ya Tana ni Tamu?” – Is Tana’s Sugar Really Sweet? – I guess we already know the answer to this rhetorical question…
Coke light for her.
A salad made out of parsley, lovage, coriander and fresh white cheese for me.
Bread.
A huge Kikoi blanket from the shores of Lake Naivasha.
Sunshine.
Really.
I was a need of a new sheath for my cards & papers as the old one was a bit worn out after a few years with daily use:
Green canvas is from Kenya, btw.
So I bought this leather wallet today for EUR 25,-
…which doesn’t work for me. One of the reasons I’d come up with my own sheath/wallet is that I only put my cards & papers in there and keep the money somewhere else. So it has to be as slim as possible – which isn’t the case with the new sheath.
After trying the new leather sheath for a minute, I quickly decided to make a new one, similar to the old one. Never change a running system.
Costs: 0,- EUR
old, new & soon-to-be-returned, new + the pile of cards that have to fit in there.
One of the reasons for using this special material is that it actually looks so strange that no one will really want to steal it.
I’ve started sharing links to videos and other interesting stuff on Facebook, Twitter and/or Delicious.com and often only use my blog for my own content (partly because I actually dislike reblogging someone else’s content), BUT! Daktari Hans Rosling of gapminder.org is a smart man with an important message:
I sometimes wish proper sanitation would have the same media attention.
Ever wondered what an opened 2.5″ hard disk drive looks like?
Now you know.
This is what happens when you trust that buying a used 60GB 2.5″ HDD will “be enough” to secure your important data.
It failed to work after a year, gave me some headache the other day (managed to recover 99,5% of my data) and has now received its final treatment.
Bitte lesen. Danke.
Aus einem Kommentar:
“In einer Gesellschaft, in der Unternehmertum gesellschaftlich mindestens genauso hoch angesehen ist wie Bildung und intellektueller Erfolg, werden vorrangig die Chancen des Internets gesehen (USA, Schweden).
In einer Gesellschaft, in der klassische Bildung das Maß aller Dinge ist und einem Ansehen und Einfluss garantiert, werden vorrangig die negativen Aspekte des Webs hervorgehoben. Wie in Deutschland.”
Genau das denke ich nämlich auch.
[via facebook, btw - h/t Cedric & Silke]
I’ve just returned home from London where I’d been attending AfricaGathering on Saturday 25 April 2009 which was held at Birkbeck College, University of London. A perfectly organised event (by Ed Scotcher & many helpful volunteers - thx!), the Gathering turned out to be quite a success, especially as it eventually provided me with the opportunity to meet some of my AfriMates in real life.
Kudos also go out to Karola Riegler who took lots of photos throughout the day and to @RedZola & @MatthewNcube who both helped me trying to get online as the University’s WiFi didn’t work out for me.
So instead of providing you with a summary of all talks (I also presented some slides on AfriGadget and couldn’t do any liveblogging), let me just forward you to the following blogs that already did an excellent job of blogging on the event:
There may be even more interesting posts on AfricaGathering. It also helps to do a Twitter and/or Flickr search on #africagathering to catch some additional links (Twitter Search is a gold mine for anyone interested in ppl and their opinions).
Ed also filmed the event and promised to upload some talks to Vimeo this coming week - so let’s stay tuned for an update. Filming such an event is really sustainable and helps those who couldn’t make it to London in time. Teddy of ProjectDiaspora.org was also supposed to attend the panel discussion, but stupid visa regulations killed this endeavour.
Some attendees already met on Friday evening for great Ethiopian food at Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant - including David McQueen and Sokari Ekine. It was very nice to eventually say hello to Sokari, who I’d been spamming with links via delicious.com for the past few months. Eh, Sokari - we will be back to London in June!
There have been so many inspiring conversations and shared ideas during this AfricaGathering that it would seem to be unfair to pick out a few selected ones -so I will only add a few words to my own presentation. I also need to work on my presentation style as I am bit too nervous on stage, often speaking too fast or having too many details on my mind that I want to include and then miss out. It was a great opportunity though to present our work and I am also quite passionate about it. Oh, and pls ignore that extra slide on a Liverpool flag as seen in a pub in Garissa the other day - unless of course you are like Ken of Kiwanja.net, whose pic on mobile pay phones we’ve used on one of the slides. :-)
My presentation on AfriGadget on behalf of the whole AfriGadget team (remember, it’s a group blog and everyone is invited to contribute and share interesting AfriGadgets - even you!) wasn’t primarily focused at displaying interesting or funny AfriGadgets even though I introduced it by saying that “we are not here to help anyone, we only do this for fun”.
My message between the lines rather was that there’s still so much undiscovered potential on the continent that needs to be commercialised (I hope I got this message across?). AfriGadget is just the vehicle to showcase that there are innovative solutions that work on a local level.
There’s a new generation of young & skilled workers who grew up with mobile phones & an understanding of how technology works. Skilled IT workers who can already take over programming jobs and develope their own tools.
Of course, IT isn’t the only sector and there are other sectors that will benefit from a new perspective on development in Africa. I, for one, believe that the upcoming sea cable(s) - which will help providing better broadband internet access to many African countries - will also help in providing some incentives for the younger generation to stay in rural areas. The internet has changed the way we live and work - I am also working as a consultant from my home office. Consequently, this progress in the IT sector could hopefully also influence other sectors.
Ecological sanitation concepts, for example, currently work best in rural areas. And with an increasing urbanisation, things are only getting worse. As long as we (humans) do not come up with sustainable cities and (much) more urban agriculture (as a way to provide real livelihood for everyone), there will be a need to “upgrade” rural areas and create markets in such areas. Better internet connectivity and the provision of sustainable power supplies is a way forward as it helps ppl to go about their business.
Business, or the consumer orientation, is my 2nd point on the AG presentation. I think that commercialism has for a long time been undererstimated in the African context. We need to return to free markets and an understanding that people knew how to trade goods (and make a living out of it!) a long time before outsiders occupied SubSaharan Africa and introduced new cultural values.
And by mentioning commerce, I am not talking about dealers in a small village who are ALL selling the same product (like the one pictured above where everyone sells rice), but instead a healthy trade of locally produced goods and services and much more diversity.
Someone from the audience asked if ppl would also be this inventive if they weren’t that poor and could afford to buy “better” products. It’s a tricky question because in reality it’s often not a question of being rich or poor, but rather the availability of affordable solutions. If you just can not buy enough welding machines that are required in the metal business and also won’t get a credit because you are not credit-worthy or because there’s no serious bank around, then you have to look for alternative solutions and make do with what is available. If the problem could be solved by being rich and just importing a welding machine from let’s say a Chinese manufacturer, the African economy wouldn’t benefit as much as when these machines are produced locally. As a consequence of that, ppl are instinctively doing the right thing by developing their own solutions and providing business opportunities for a local market. It’s a natural process that may not be that visible, or maybe even condemned by those who still believe that superior products have to come from the outside.
This btw also happened in Zimbabwe some time ago when local supply of sanitary towels was limited and women (not men) had to come up with their own solutions, e.g. using natural materials. Now, from a technical (process engineering) point of view, it’s much easier to treat natural (biodegradable) products than plastics - at least when it comes to the stuff ppl are flushing down their toilets. So these alternative sanitary towels may not be as convenient as those from the supermarket, but they are available and affordable. By the end of the day, products that work for customers will prevail. Everything else is just luxury and filed under “nice-to-have”.
Alasdair Munn also put it nicely on his blog:
“Technology solutions coming out of Africa are built with purpose, against objectives and within the boundaries of their resources. It is a solutions based approach. It is also a stripped down approach where only the relevant resources and tools are used. Simple works because less can go wrong and if it does go wrong, simple is easier to fix. There is a shift in the way tools and technologies are looked at.”
I believe that there’s no master plan for development in Africa, and even less a need for a well-meant guideline from the outside. There’s no one-way solution and this AfricaGathering certainly wasn’t meant to look for solutions “on how to help” etc. etc.. People in need know how to help themselves as most governments on this planet only exist to set a legal framework. We, the people, have to bring the change we want and so it was a valuable opportunity to team up with other like-minded folks during AfricaGathering who have understood that less help and more business may be an interesting alternative for a better way forward.
AOB: I spent less than 48h in London and met enough people to whom I was introduced as “Kikuyumoja”. It still amazes me that ppl know about this blog.
I never thought this would actually work. But it does.
We currently share a room in this row/town house, right under the roof. The DSL modem that connects this house to the internet is in the basement, and I have in the past used this Edimax router as a repeater for the wireless signal (not WDS-mode!) so that we could also enjoy the connectivity to the internet with our computers upstairs (see fig.01):
There are two floors in between the basement and our “penthouse” flat and the wireless signal would often fail to work, even though the data rate was quite good on the repeater. I think there is a microwave somewhere near our repeater and the base station in the neighbouring house which just jams the signal quality. Both the DSL modem-router-wlan-ap and the repeater upstairs had been tuned with 4dB antennas.
Wireless networks unfortunately tend to have the nasty habbit of interfering each other, especially if there isn’t enough “space” on the frequency range. And then, also, most of these conventional (= IEEE 802.11) wireless networks are still to fragile to deliver consistent data rates. By the time I set this network up in late 2007, most of our neighbours still didn’t have their own WLANetwork, but today most of them have do so it was about time for a change.
I had read about these “HomePlugs” - the “industry trade group for power line communication” which is a technology that connects LAN devices to each other through the power lines in a home. The manufacturers of these devices claim that it will only work on the same (electrical) phase, and since this house also has an electrical heating system and a second fuse box under the roof (next to the one in the basement), I initially thought it wouldn’t work. But it does!
Fig.02 shows the current setup using two HomePlugs I’ve bought earlier this week. There are different manufacturers selling kits with two such plugs - mine was relatively cheap - an “MSI ePower 85 Kit Version II“. MSI claims this device to deliver up to 85 Mbps in optimal conditions but the actual rate is around 30 Mbps which is perfectly fine with me as our DSLine currently is around 8Mbps only. It’s also said to have 56bit DES encryption and you can also give it its own network name. The best part is the installation: Just open the box, take a plug and connect a LAN cable to it and the other end of the cable into your LAN device (here: the DSL modem router) and plug it into the next socket (I’ve even used an extension cable which shouldn’t be done but it still works). I then plugged in the other plug to a wall socket upstairs and connected it to an 8-port 10/100 switch which distributes the signal to all four computers as well as a VoIP phone and an HP OfficeJet 7210 network printer. This MSI ePower Kit comes with utility software to set extra parameters such as a network name or the password (which unfortunately only runs on Windows systems), but you won’t have to adjust anything. Just plug it in and you’re done!
I was a bit sceptical if this would work out due to the additional power network in this house + possible intereferences that would spoil the reception of shortware radio (many radio hams actually hate this technology), but it just works like a charm and even my radioscanner hasn’t complained yet.
For anyone who’s been having problems with a wireless network - if the voltage is more or less stable (= probably not in Kenya?), I’d recommend these HomePlug/powerline devices as the perfect alternative to having (longer) LAN cables from one room to the other or even an unstable wireless connection.
AOB: I’ve once again changed the Feedburner link to my RSS-feed which should now be: [feeds2.feedburner.com] . To subscribe to my feed, pls use this new link by either saving it on your RSS reader, or alternatively click on the “subscribe me, baby!” on the top row of this page. Thank you. (thx, @Czed !)
If you own a recent Nokia phone with the Symbian S60 operating system (S60v3, S60v5) and are using the microblogging services Twitter or Laconia, you may be interested in using a new Twitter client for the phone:
Gravity v1.00 is the first fully-featured and native Twitter client for the S60 platform. It supports multiple accounts, Twitter Search, Laconica, TwitPic and wraps everything into a gorgeous looking interface.
- Compatible with Twitter and Laconica
- All functions available on your S60 phone: tweet, reply, DM, follow & unfollow, create favourites, search, auto-update and many more …
- Tabbed view of your Timeline, Replies, Messages, Friends, …
- Setup and use as many accounts as you want at the same time
- Twitter-Search section with multiple search tabs and Twitter Trends
- Post pictures via TwitPic
- Open URLs from any Tweet
- Kinetic scrolling on S60v5 ( Nokia 5800 and Nokia N97 )
- Theme support on S60v3 ( fixed dark and bright theme )
(source)
The only downside to this software is that it may create too much traffic whereas the alternative - Twibble (which I’d also used since its first day as a public release) - seems to generate less traffic.
I’m on a 1GB flat for my phone, which means I can generate 1GB in traffic via the phone and only pay 9,90 EUR / month. I actually don’t need 1GB at the moment because we also have DSL here, but it makes sense if you happen to download more than 41 MB / month (9,90€ / 0,24€/MB = 41,25 MB) + it isn’t limited to a proxy server, special online pages or other crazy limitations. And DSL sometimes fails, so it’s a good fall back option.
Creating a sceenshot of Gravity is a bit complicated as the Shift (Pencil) key on the phone (which is used in combination with the middle joystick button) also triggers the input form for new tweets on Gravity:
The beautiful part is that you can really SCROLL between tweets like you would do on an iPhone - bila the touchscreen on my N95 though..
And another good part is that it’s now much easier to insert images on your tweets (Twibble also has this but isn’t as comfy to use).
Gravity comes with a 10day demo version and I instantly (!) registered it after using it for only 2 minutes. Now, you’d have to know for yourself if you’re willing to cough up ~ 10,- € (in Germany - sijui why they are adding VAT on shareit.com for other countries) for an otherwise free and time consuming service such as Twitter, but then, again, there are other - much more useless - applications for the iPhone ppl are willing to spend money on and also: there are only a few really good applications for Symbian devices. Gravity is one of them.
You’ll also need to access the download page for the registered version via a normal computer as the phone’s internal S60 browser is having problems identifying the .sisx format. Jan, the developer behind Gravity, also mentioned that he’ll be working on some bugfixes now, so maybe there’s a way to include this as well (refers to the purchase of the software directly from a phone. Update routines are just flawless!).
Verdict: If you’ve been on Twibble before, you’ll LOVE Gravity. Highly recommended application.
—–
UPDATE: After some recent updates (currently 1.1x), Gravity also has the following additional features:
And while I think that Gravity is the best application I’ve ever bought for a phone, I’d like to add two remarks:
What’s better than a Netbook and a bottle of Stoney Tangawizi?
2 Netbooks and a bottle of Tangawizi.
Life is good to me these days as I not only managed to buy these two netbooks 2nd hand for a very good price, but also because there are people like my good friend Harry who sent me this bottle of Stoney Tangawizi and a bag full of Biltong (which isn’t pictured here as I’d finished it within 24h…ahem… :-). Asante sana, Harry!
The Asus eee PC 1000HGo pictured on the right is an upgrade to the eee PC 901 on the left which comes with:
The rest is pretty much the same, even the pcb layout is quite similar. Only thing that bugs me about the 1000HGO is that it has a blue-ish screen. The settings for the WinXP Intel gfx driver do not provide too much flexibility and I guess it’s just a bad display. Other 1000H owner also reported this issue. The screen on the 901 ain’t blue and far from perfect, but it’s much better and crispier. There also IS a difference between the 8,9″ and 10″ screen size - the 10″ being easier to the eyes. That weight difference isn’t much of a problem to me because I carry it in my messenger bag anyways but it would be if you are a woman and need a small netbook to carry in your handbag.
So…in spite of the display issue, the 1000HGO is just so much better to handle. And with the internal 3G modem (SIM card holder is underneath the battery) it’s really just plug & play - either on WinXP or Linux. Now that’s really great!
I am currently using a dedicated 02/Fonic SIM card (which is 2,50€ for unlimited traffic /d) for when I am on the road and network coverage could be a bit better on that one. I am in direct optical line of sight to our local base station and have since been wondering why reception is only around 40%. So I opened it up and realized that it only has one antenna connected to it (which is in fact located above the display, next to the WLAN antenna).
I already ordered a cheap internal WLAN antenna which I am planing to connect to the AUX ULF connector next to the already existing MAIN connector (as pictured, unplugged). Am quite curious if this improves reception on 3G.
Being able to surf from just about anywhere (where there is no WIFI/WLAN but only 3G - like @ GTZ ecosan office in Eschborn) is just AWWWW……very very connvenient. Sure, you could use the 3G modem on your phone but this way it’s much easier. Only advantage of the phone is that you can place a phone next to a window and hook it up via Bluetooth. So if you are in areas with poor 3G / UMTS coverage and have a 3G-capable phone, just try it this way. The internal 3G modem is great but it isn’t reason enough to spend 100,- EUR (!) extra on a 1000HGO if instead you could also go for a 1000H. I got mine for the same price though, so I happily agreed on giving up support for the n-draft WLAN and get a 3G modem instead.
Oh, look - it’s a fingerprint inside the casing! :-)
The aluminium foil mod underneath the keyboard (here on the 901). Highly recommended, also because the CPU doesnt “transpire” through the keyboard but only dissipates the heat. I’d even recommend this mod to Toshiba owners.
The 901 btw “walked away” to another member of the extended family - a development that beautifully justifies the purchase of the 1000HGO. :-)
Ein Artikel online über Demenz brachte mich auf Umwegen zu Tilman Jens, der ein sehr streitbares Buch über …. den Umgang mit seinem Vater, Walter Jens , geschrieben hat.
Überhaupt, dass ein 54jähriger Mann immer wieder als “Sohn von…” eingeleitet wird, wäre dann schon Grund genug, sich noch zu Lebzeiten zu differenzieren. Aber so?
Das Thema Alzheimer haben wir in der eigenen Familie von Anfang bis Ende durchlebt und nachdem der Spuk jetzt endlich vorbei ist, frage ich mich immer wieder: was bleibt?
Was bleibt - außer der Erinnerung, der Liebe, den Verbindungen - vom Intellekt, vom Schaffen zurück?
Menschen sind wie Bäume. Je älter sie werden, desto mehr Jahresringe bekommen sie und können besser verwertet werden. Spenden sie zu Lebzeiten Schatten und Schutz, können aus ihren Stämmen später lange und breite Bretter gesägt werden. Je mehr ein Baum erLebt, desto ergiebiger lässt sich davon profitieren.
Leider stimmt der Vegleich an dieser Stelle nicht mehr, denn Krankheiten wie Alzheimer oder Parkinson befallen Menschen wie ein Pilz, der die Substanz verändert und genau dort ansetzt, wo es am meisten schmerzt. Aus brauchbar wird unbrauchbar.
Eine ähnliche Frage stelle ich mir immer wieder bei Online Publikationen, die oft weniger breit und nachhaltig irgendwo im weiten Datennetz erscheinen und ob der Fülle an Informationen im Datennirwana untergehen.
Dieser Blogpost könnte auch ganz anders betitelt werden und ich könnte vielleicht von Anfang an hervorheben, dass ich mich viel lieber mit der Bedeutung von Onlineveröffentlichungen vs. Büchern beschäftigen würde.
Allein, ich vermag es in seiner Gänze nicht zu erfassen, gar zu überblicken, daher beschränke ich mich auf simple Fragen und stelle im Folgenden drei Bücher vor, die jetzt dank Amazon den Weg auf meinen Schreibtisch gefunden haben und sich elegant an der sonstigen Pflichtlektüre vorbeimogeln.
Die Pflichtlektüre besteht zur Zeit übrigens aus wissenschaftlichen Publikationen zum Thema Abwasserbehandlung in Entwicklungsländern, was zwar technisch überaus interessant ist, aber eben nicht faszinieren vermag - ganz im Gegensatz zu Gegenwartsliteratur über den afrikanischen Kontinent.
Eines aber noch vorweg: wenn wir in Zeiten einer WebCiety den Wechsel hin zu einer sich-ins-Netz-verlagernden-Gesellschaft bemerken, in der die Kommunikation miteinander an erster Stelle steht, stelle ich mir zwangläufig immer wieder die Frage: welchen Stellenwert haben Bücher (gedruckt, auf Papier) im 21. Jahrhundert?
Und: wer soll das alles lesen (?)…. in einer Zeit, in der die Aufmerksamkeitsspanne von Jugendlichen durch MTV und YouTube gerade einmal gefühlte 10 Minuten beträgt und wenn Informationen nicht mehr in kleinen Häppchen oder gar in Linkform präsentiert werden?
Wenn wir weiterhin davon ausgehen, dass sich moderne e-Book Reader (wie Amazons Kindle und kostengünstige Einsteigercomputer wie Netbooks als alternative e-Book reader) durchsetzen werden (oder gar Handyromane, wie in Japan schon sehr populär), wie werden diese Inhalte (und nur darum geht es eigentlich) mit dem neuen Konsumverhalten vernetzt? Werden unsere Kinder das Buch als solches wahrnehmen und konsumieren, oder eher als Teil des Wissens in einer virtuellen Bibliothek abspeichern? Und wie werden sie damit umgehen?
Alles Fragen, die mich immer wieder beschäftigen und die micht jetzt trotzdem nicht vom Kauf der folgenden Exemplare abgehalten haben:
Michaela Wrong: “It’s our turn to eat - the story of a Kenyan whistle blower”
Über John Githongo und seinen Kampf gegen die kenianische Korruption. Aufgeschrieben von Michaela Wrong, die ihn seinerzeit in seinem selbstgewählten Exil in England aufnahm. Michaela Wrongs Buch über Mobutu wurde schon gierig verschlungen und liest sich gut, ähnliches erwarte ich daher auch von diesem Werk, das die (größtenteils schon bekannten) Verstrickungen kenianischer Politiker in Korruptionsskandale beschreibt .
Dieses Buch wird in Kenia zur Zeit wohl nur unterm Ladentisch verkauft und dürfte sich zu einem Beststeller entwickeln, denn - anders als der Verfall Kongos - handelt es sich bei Kenia um eines der reichsten Länder Afrikas. Freilich hat Kenia nicht die Bodenschätze, wie sie Botswana oder der Kongo (DRC) aufweisen können. Seinen Reichtum zieht es vielmehr aus der geopolitisch günstigen Lage am Indischen Ozean (Hafen, Tourismus), den vielen Exilkenianern im Ausland (die für einen informellen Geldfluss sorgen) und vielleicht auch noch aus der Agrarwirtschaft (Kaffee, Tee, Blumen). Und während viele Ministerien immer noch vom Geldsegen der EU abhängen, die gelegentlich ein paar Pickups als Projektautos finanzieren, verfügen viele kenianische Politiker über ein sehr gutes Einkommen, das im sehr krassen Verhältnis zu ihren eigenen Leistungen, aber vor allem dem Durchschnittseinkommen im Lande steht.
Korruption als solche mag für viele als Ausgleichssystem für die vielen Ungerechtigkeiten in der Volkswirtschaft verstanden werden. Tatsächlich jedoch ist sie wie ein Pilz, der ein gesundes System zerstört und unbrauchbar werden lässt.
Die wirkliche Kernaussage dieses Buches scheint aber zu sein, dass das korrupte System vom scheinbar eigenen Mann aufgedeckt worden ist, der als Vertreter einer neuen Generation mit anderen Werten und Idealen aufgewachsen ist. Was wir hier sehen, ist der ungerechte Kampf zwischen den alten Männern eines über die Jahre gewachsenen profitablen Systems und einzelnen Vertretern wie John Githongo, die über einen viel moderneren Erfahrungshorizont verfügen.
Wäre ich ein bißchen Deutscher und älter - vielleicht so wie Tilman Jens - würde ich es vielleicht mit den Identifikationsproblemenen der 1968/1978er Generation im Nachkriegsdeutschland vergleichen. Interessant dabei: die wirklichen Auswirkungen erkennen wir oft erst an der folgenden Generation.
Dominic Johnson “Kongo: Kriege, Korruption und die Kunst des Überlebens”
Dominic Johnson ist mir als Afrika Korrespondent der taz bekannt, dessen Artikel seinerzeit mit einer der Gründe für mein taz-Abo waren.
Ich war noch nie im Kongo, jedoch steht die Region auf meiner Reiseliste ganz weit oben. Aufmerksame Leser meines Blogs wissen sicherlich, dass ich hier schon den einen oder anderen Artikel mit Inhalten zum Kongo (als Region, nicht nur DRC) veröffentlich habe. Kurzum: für mich ein überaus vielversprechendes Buch, in dem ich vielleicht auch meine Vermutung wiederfinden werde, dass sich die “Demokratische Republik Kongo” in den nächsten Jahren in Einzelstaaten aufteilen wird. Der Kongo ist die für mich zur Zeit spannendste Region Afrikas.
“Die Kunst des Überlebens” - ja. Trefflicher kann man es wohl nicht beschreiben.
Dambisa Moyo: “Dead Aid - Destroying the biggest global myth of our time”
Ein Buch im Stil von Prof George Ayitteys “Africa Unchained - The Blueprint for Africa’s Future”, das die “Ablasszahlungen” des Westens an Afrika beschreibt und einen neuen Weg aufzeigen möchte, der wirkliche Entwicklung in Afrika ermöglichen soll.
Da ich auch in dieser aufgeklärten Zeit immer wieder auf Zeitgenossen stoße, die ein komplett falsches Bild vom afrikanischen Kontinent und dem riesigen Potential haben, ist es umso wichtiger, Vertreter neuer Theorien zu entdecken, die - wissenschaftlich fundiert - eine eigene Lösung aus der Misere beschreiben und idealerweise auch noch über die nötige berufliche Erfahrung verfügen, die ihre Glaubwürdigkeit untermauert.
In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth. (Quelle)
Dambisa wurde letztens auch von der BBC im HardTalk interviewt und ich habe sie vorhin via Twitter auf das Africa Gathering Ende April in London hingewiesen. Mal schauen was draus wird…Sie kann nicht, ist auf Lesereise in den USA.
The silver lining der hier vorgestellten Werke ist für mich ganz klar die Erkenntnis, dass es Veränderungen in Afrika nur durch eine neue Generation geben kann, die - aufgewachsen mit traditionellen Verhaltensmustern und typischen US-amerikanischen SitComs wie dem Fresh Prince of BelAir - ihren eigenen Weg finden muss.
UPDATE: Fünf Wochen nach VÖ dieses Beitrags ist in der FAZ ein Interview zu Dambisa Moyos Buch erschienen. Und jetzt hat sie sogar wohl noch im Vortrag bei der Weltbank überzeugt. Wer sich auch nur ein bißchen mit Afrika beschäftigt, sollte dieses Buch unbedingt lesen - kann es wärmstens empfehlen. Weniger um einen möglichen Lösungsweg aufgezeigt zu bekommen, als vielmehr die moderne Einstellung des neuen Afrikas zu verstehen.
How much would you spend on having the ability to take a shower in the Central Business District?
I was just going through Ken Banks’ flickr stream when I stumbled upon these two mobile recharging stations which I had seen earlier (it’s up since ~2 years) but only now I just realized that SOMEONE urgently needs to convert this into an AfriGadget/-Biashara and combine it with lockers for e.g. shoes and other facilities.
(source: Ken Banks, kiwanja.net)
Those of you who have been to cities like Nairobi know that a lot of people actually carry two pairs of shoes around - one for the road and one for the office. While working in Nbo, I often wondered why there are almost no public lockers available downtown that could be rented and used by commuters to deposit stuff they usually carry to the city on a daily basis for the lack of secure alternatives. Yes, there are some alternatives available, but these are(afaik) often only connected to supermarkets which means no 24h/7/365 availability of such services.
While these mobile recharging towers may work in the UK or the US in such secured places (like airports), I am wondering if this would also work in Nairobi if someone invests some money on a mobile charging cubicle with extra lockers for shoes and other office clothes, maybe also additionally secured by a watchman or someone running a kiosk.
What would it require? And how much would it cost? And what kind of licences would it require from the local institutions?
For some reasons, David Kuria’s ecotact.org website is unfortunately offline right now (so I can’t really show you what I am talking about), but it would be nice to have much more Ikotoilets all over Nairobi. While I believe that ecological sanitation projects always require a demand for fertilizers from farmers in semi-urban areas, the Ikotoilet as a 50% ecosan toilet could be one of those ideal locations for such storage facilities.
After all, it’s nice that consumers can buy airtime credit almost everywhere in the country, but there are hardly any places - even in cities - where one can take a shower after work, have a decent nature’s call or even use extra services like such lockers and mobile chargers.
There obviously is a great demand for such services / facilities - but how much would you be willing to spend on it as a customer and what’s the ROI rate for potential investors? I hope to find some answers to these questions one day…
Lindt easter bunnies made of chocolate and already on sale although it’s still some weeks till Easter.
They btw started selling Xmas cookies as early as September last year.
Scary.
Leek Flower Paste. I still haven’t figured how to use this on food (@KPT - weißt Du es?) but it was really cheap so I HAD to buy it. Looks interesting.
Daifuku Mochi. I love these little sticky rice cakes and so often forget about buying them when buying food @ the Asian supermarket. The ones pictured were a little bit salty though - coming from Korea…
Sushi rolls for a hefty price in Frankfurt downtown. I love Japanese food but not when it’s that expensive + most of these rolls are filled with vegetable and other special combinations for the European market.
This new mall opened in Frankfurt downtown - the picture above is from Thursday last week when it opened. People stormed it until late in the evening like there’s no tomorrow. I haven’t been inside yet because - after all - it’s just another mall. Tapio was there and did a video on it.
Very interesting architecture. It’s also very impressive to see what modern reinforced concrete construction is capable of - such thin walls and floors, statically interesting (for an engineer, at least).
Over at AfriGadget, we usually call something an AfriGadget if it is a DIY solution to a problem or situation to which there just isn’t any ready-made solution available.
In places where you just can’t go to the next hardware store and buy a ready-made solution, an AfriGadget is such an attempt for a working alternative.
I would even go as far as saying that Germany, for instance, is a very modular country (with many regulations & technical norms) and consequently offers many ready-made solutions that can just be purchased and instantly used. Spare parts for cars, houses, technical equipment - you name it, there’s a norm on it and a place where you can buy it.
Erik of WhiteAfrican recently argued that “If it Works in Africa, It will Work Anywhere”.
You may or may not agree with this provocative thesis, but it also shows that we are still consuming many products in the “developed” countries which were actually made for our consumer behaviour. And these things are also exported to Africa.
Anyone in the diaspora who has ever exported his older laptop for members of the extended family back home also knows that it may probably be broken once he/she returns during the next holiday.
Most conventional laptops are just too fragile to withstand the heat, dust, unstable power supply, malware and other threats the relatively rough life on “the dark continent” has to offer. And battery runtime with an average of max. 2h is often below par.
Netbooks are different.
Netbooks are simple, often light-weight small computers with a simple (but modern) CPU, enough RAM, a harddisk, a small screen (7″-10″), 2-3 USB ports, a sound card, WLAN connection and a card reader. They sometimes even come with an internal Bluetooth adapter so you can connect your mobile or other Bluetooth-enabled equipment to such a little machine. Oh, and it also has a webcam which is neat.
Most importantly though, many current netbooks are quite durable and even survive rough conditions.
Take my netbook, for example. I’ve purchased this used Asus eee PC 901 a month ago - and while I am still struggling with it’s tiny keyboard layout - I just can’t stop thinking that it could or should actually be THE killer device for use in many developing countries.
My netbook doesn’t have a conventional magnetic (rotating) hard disk, but instead comes with (slow) SSD flash memory. Like the one found on USB memory keys. 12 GB for the operating system, programs and some private data. Battery runtime is beyond 5h on this little baby - which means that it’ll even survive the next power failure. And since the tiny CPU inside doesn’t consume too much power, it could also work from the electricity generated via solar panels (a technology that’s already quite popular in many rural areas).
And here’s the bonus: most future netbooks will be sold with an internal UMTS modem, so you just insert your SIM card and go online. From anywhere where there’s network coverage. (I am actually saving on an Asus eee 1000H Go which has a 10,2″ screen, a better keyboard and an internal 3G modem).
The term “netbook” may be a bit irritating though (besides of this legal battle) as we all know that Internet broadband connectivity is still very limited and expensive in many developing countries. Instead, these little computers are much more than just very mobile computers with very good battery runtime: they are sufficient for most needs.
I’d say that at least 90% of your average tasks can be done on such a machine. Surfing the www, checking your e-mails, writing texts, spreadsheets, games - you name it, it does it. The only thing it doesn’t have is an internal DVD player, so your illegal DVDs purchased at that junction downtown probably won’t play - unless of course you connect an external DVD player via USB.
As long as the iPhone or maybe also some new Google Android phones are the only mobiles with a decent web browser (@Nokia: the S60 browser is NOT a decent solution), netbooks may be the perfect alternative platform and substitute the missing alternative.
“If it works in Africa….”….no, if it works anywhere else, it will also work in Africa.
“70% of Netbook sales so far have been in Europe“ - where they are often only used as second computers or desktop alternatives to those who just want to surf the net from their couch.
In many developing countries though, Netbooks could imho be the entry platform and substitute the otherwise missing or broken (older) computer system. Why? Because they are cheaper, more durable, come with their own power supply and are mobile enough to be shared by many different members of a family or local community.
And that’s why I consider netbooks to be real AfriGadgets. A solution to a problem we have in the past often tried to cure with mobile phones and their still ailing browser software.
“Have you blogged about it?”, he asked. - “Yes, I microblogged it.”
Fellow blogger CG just reminded me to mention the upcoming Africa Gathering on Saturday, 25th April 2009 (@ Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College, Torrington Square, London, WC1 7HX, United Kingdom) which I had only briefly mentioned on the Afritwit Twitter account the other day.
“…a day for thinkers, supporters, sponsors, doers, geeks, dreamers - and everybody else to come and share, promote, highlight, progress and evolve issues related to ICT, social networking and technology in Africa.” (src)
I btw consider this gathering a follow-up to the other two AfricaCamps which took place in Vienna, Austria and MountainView, Goolge HQ, USA some time ago.
I secured my ticket for this fine event three weeks ago, but am yet to organize transport to & accomodation in London for the weekend 24-26th April. Flights from Frankfurt-Hahn via Ryanair seem to be quite affordable, but the rest is still open end - also because there are like a hundred other urgent tasks for me right now so that I am just doing it the hakuna shida / mungu akipenda way which means less planning (the German in me) and more believing in that everything will just work out fine.
The list of proposed talks is already quite impressive, so it will be particularly interesting to connect with other likeminded Afriactivists.
On a personal agenda, I am also still looking for a way to combine my three topics - sanitation, Africa and ICT - into a worthwile business because I am sure there’s a way to connect all of these three.
Oh, and if I get an opportunity to present some slides on AfriGadget, I will try to speak slowly, loud and clear :-)
Bought a Nokia 1208 mobile phone for someone else today because a local dealer had a 25% discount on EVERYTHING.
25% are quite a lot, so you can imagine that by the time I had arrived, almost everything was already sold out. Damn. 25% on an Asus eeePC 1000HE or 1000HA? Me likes! Well, maybe next time.
Back to the phone. As recently mentioned, the 1208 comes with an internal flashlight and is one of the cheapest - new - phones you can get for as “little” as 30,- EUR. How much would you pay for such a phone in Kenya? 1800/= Kshs? Sijui, but its obviously much cheaper than in Germany.
LED on the 1208 pcb
What I like about this no-thrills phone is that it just works. It isn’t the flashlight, it isn’t the enhanced battery life due to the small screen and relatively huge battery, it isn’t it’s compact size - no, it’s the dead simple Series30 operating system that never stalls and just delivers.
Nokia 1208, 6230, 6230i (with 6230 keypad), N95
It took Nokia two years to deliver stable firmware for the 6230, 6230i and the N95. The more features a phone has, the worse it is.
I am actually longing to go back to a monoblock phone once the N95 retires (no slider phone, hence no E75 or N97) and thought about going for the upcoming Nokia 6700. It only needs to have WLAN connectivity but it doesn’t seem to have that feature…or does it?
The 1208 is one sweet phone and I would love to keep it as a backup - but then, there’s the 25% discount I still need to cash in :-)
