Image Courtesy, newtimes .rw

KOICA (Korean International Cooperation Agency) from Korea has signed an agreement with Rwanda’s Ministry of Youth and ICT, headed by Minister Jean Philbert Nsengimana that will see an ICT and Innovation hub (a smaller version of Kenya’s Konza City) constructed in Kicukiro – Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Construction is slated to begin at the end of 2014 and should be completed in 2016 (24 – 30 months after ground breaking) and  is expected to cost 5.6 Million Dollars. The entire project has been positioned as a big step towards achieving Rwanda’s ICT and Innovation Road Map, Vision 2020, has a plan to give rural youth access to information and to put ICT centers around the country. This particular center will target about 78% of youth and is expected to help the young people in Education and Entrepreneurship in Rwanda to create, develop and run sustainable businesses after they have been trained and incubated in these types of centers. Read more »

Image Courtesy, the Verge

What is 2-factor authentication? As the name already suggests, this is a process that most companies are now adopting to ensure that you use 2 steps to login to your online accounts to reduce fraud/illegal activity on or using your account.

Who already offers 2-Step authentication? Google has had it since 2011. So has Facebook. Dropbox, the online file-sharing and cloud-store for files, has had it since 2012. Apple’s iCloud started the 2-Step verification in March 2013 and now Microsoft is also on board to offer good account protection to its users.

This allows you to set up a password on an account as well as the need to key in a code sent to your mobile phone to access an account. These settings are now available on Microsoft services like Outlook, SkyDrive and Office Web Apps and offer an excellent layer of security that wo Read more »

This new device from ASUS aims to disrupt the market by incorporating both phone and tablet devices into a single device by providing powerful hardware that runs on Intel’s Z2420 processor.

ASUS, one of the World’s top 3 notebook vendors has announced the ASUS Fonepad™, a phone and tablet which will be launched across Africa in early days of May 2013.

The ASUS Fonepad is the first android tablet runs on the new Intel processor. It is an affordable and pocket-friendly option for a tab in the African market. Built largely on the the previous successes of the ASUS 7 inch Read more »

I am a lucky Guy. I was even lucky enough to be in Kigali, Rwanda first week of April to witness the announcement of the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative in Rwanda. For those not in the know, the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative is a commitment by Microsoft to help up-skill 100,000 members of Africa’s existing workforce and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop skills for employability (by bridging the opportunity divide), to place tens of millions of smart devices in the hands of Africans and to bring 1 Million SMEs online all this by 2016. This commitment from Microsoft was set in motion by Microsoft aims to actively engage in Africa’s economic development to improve its global competitiveness. Louis Otieno, Microsoft Director of Africa Initiatives owns this project.

The goal of the 4Afrika inititative is to disseminate affordable smart devices built specifically ‘4Afrika’ with an AppFactory aimed at encouraging application development by Africans for Africans. The initiative will also run an education platform aimed to develop tech Read more »

Microsoft together with the Kenya ICT Board has unveiled the Innovate for Good program; a 2-day event that was attended by over 200 youth from various colleges and universities across Kenya. The Innovate4Good is a global program under the Microsoft YouthSpark Initiative that enables youth to collaborate, inspire and support each other while using technology to make a difference in their communities. The program aims at empowering young people interested in social innovation and social entrepreneurship to turn their ideas into reality by taking them through a set of training and activities.

The Kenyan chapter of #Innovate4Good will focus on developing innovative solutions around education, health, water and county devolution development.

Jeffery Avina, the Citizenship Director Microsoft Middle East and Africa said, “The Innovate for Good  progra Read more »

After a full energy packed day event at Makerere University this past Monday (15th April 2013) where I got to attend Imagine Cup Uganda Finals, the winning team of the 2013 Microsoft Uganda Imagine Cup finals, is team Code 8  from Makerere University Kampala  consisting of three students Joshua Busingye, Brian Gitta, and Simon Lubambo. These 3 gentlemen, together with their mentor, Josiah Kavuma,  will join the brightest young minds to compete on the world stage in July at St. Petersburg Russia. The 2013 competitors will gain real life experience, make new friends, and harness the power of technology to take on the world’s toughest problems.

The team exhibited Matibabu which is an app, that diagnoses malaria without pricking any body part.Speaking to the boys who won, their reaction could best be described as priceless. “We were speechless. To have won this year’s Ugan Read more »

Sometime in late 2011, we published  a blog-post on the effect of cyber bullies and how to eliminate/get rid of them by beating them at their own game.

Some of the strongest points from this argument were as follows:-

1. Cyber bullies Thrive on Reaction to Provocation and Conflict – The minute you start to curse out a cyber bully, you are fuelling their urge and interest to pound you even more. They get a kick out of having you react and throw tantrums. Trust that there are very idle people out there that pick out your rant as a weakness and you will never hear the end of it.
2. Cyber bullies Are Generally Weak – The Bully behavior is normally deep-rooted Read more »

Nokia has been rolling out new camera features and this will affect the entire range of its Lumia smartphones. This will include the Cinemagraph digital camera lens and updated Camera Extras with object remover.

These features are already available on Windows Phone 8 phones and this update will continue to roll out on the Nokia Lumia 900, 800, 710, 610 and 510 smart phones in the coming weeks.

Another update that continues to roll out is the Windows 7.8 software update. This update also has these new camera features and users just have to keep an eye out for them.

Cinemagraph as explained by Nokia’s Kingori Gitahi, is like a piece of Hollywood magic in your pocket because it lets you bring your pictures to life by animating a part of the picture. When combined with the new features on Windows Phone 7.8, Nokia Lumia will feel like a brand new device. The Read more »

Windows Phone 8 is the in thing now. Currently, Nokia, Samsung and HTC are the only ones doing mass Windows Phone 8 smartphones. There’s Huawei, but they have only done one so far so we will not include them in that list for now. 

Story Kidogo about the Design (and how it looks at first glance) - The build is something called a candy-bar. It even looks tasty, like something you could eat. It looks nice. Funny thing though, at first you cannot find out how you open it. But you do get the hang of it and then it becomes easy. You know how men never read manuals? This one you will have to read. I had to read it too so don not feel so bad. Was worth it too. Be sure that if you do not find out how to open this, you will break the darn thing. The plastic back cover of the Lumia 820 which is nicely rounded along the corners. I had the black version and I kept getting a feeling that buying a new back cover could make this phone feel totally brand new when you need to sell it. It is worth considering in this day and age of ‘new smartphones every day’ Thank God the battery is removable. SIM goes behind Battery. It weighs 16 Read more »

Developers have began warming up to BlackBerry. So much that more than 60 developers on Wednesday 20th March 2013 attended a BlackBerry® Jam Session for Kenyan Universities at Nairobi-based Mocca Hotel. This event follows that series of BlackBerry Jam Sessions that were held in Africa in 2012 and around the world as well with the largest being in Amsterdam, Holland in Feb 2013. The African event did however attract over 300 developers in JHB – South Africa, Lagos – Nigeria and Nairobi Kenya last year.

The Jam Session was an intense 10 hour programming session where developers in groups of 2-4 worked on transforming a social or business idea into a working App. At the end of the session, developers presented their apps to a panel of judges for a chance to win a BlackBerry® PlayBook™. Participants came from the following universities:

1. Inoorero
2. Strathmore
3. Jomo Kenyatta University
4. Kenyatta University
5. Mount Kenya University

All these participants are now expected to use the knowledge acquired from the hackatho Read more »