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Where Africa and Technology Collide!

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Firefox – Or, How I Kicked IE to the Curb

August 5, 2005 / / 5 Comments

Get Firefox!I’m a huge fan of Firefox. I have just recently begun to realize that because I work in the tech/web world that I assume that everyone else is aware of the same changes on the web that I am. Not true at all. In the same way that I am not as aware of current trends in other industries, things like biotech or current Angolan politics, others are not cognizant of the sea changes that are going on in the web.

Here is my simple intro to Firefox after discussions with non-technologically inclined family and friends:

Firefox is a web browser. You can use it in place of Internet Explorer, AOL, Safari, or whatever else you might be using. Why switch? There are a couple of easy answers to that question, the first being security compared to Internet Explorer, ease of use, tabbed browsing, and plugins.

You can have Internet Explorer AND Firefox on your computer at the same time. My suggestion is to download Firefox at here. Try it out and, try the tabbed browsing (ctrl+T), and read up on the different plugins. You can also import all of your favorites from Internet Explorer, so if you’re like me, you won’t be going back after the switch!

Online Revenue Growth

August 4, 2005 / / Comments Off on Online Revenue Growth

If anyone has any doubts about the revenue growth online, please reference the graph above. As you can see, there was a large dip from 2000 – 2002, which gradually caught up and overtook the best of the 90’s “boom” by 2003. This time the growth has a firm foundation and is no longer built completely on speculation.

Internet Revenue Growth - IAB

Search engine marketing (paid ads on search engines) has been a huge growth area. Media spending has experienced even more growth with increased usage of the internet around the world. The deterioration of eyeball time on traditional media like TV and print has caused a swing in the amount of money that large advertisers are pushing into the online world. When they no longer get their “bang for the buck” on TV, the web is a good place to go.

World Internet UsageFor reference, here is a link to the number of users in each country worldwide. Of particular interest to me is the fact that it looks like Africa is missing the boat here.

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Kenyan Students Replace Books with PDA’s

August 1, 2005 / / 6 Comments

What an interesting story! It appears that a school in Western Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria is piloting a project that give 5th graders PDA’s in lieu of books. The BBC reports the story here.

Kenyan Students Using PDA'sSo, where do you start on a topic like this? I guess I’ll first point out that I’m a gadget nut and a proponent of technology being used in Africa to help vault Africans into the Information Age. I love travelling around the country and seeing internet cafes in remote towns and areas. I’m incredibly happy about how cell phones have been used to negate the power of telephone monopolies. There’s nothing quite like bypassing top-heavy and overpowered bureaucracies with quick moving efficient new tools and practices.

Anyway, the real question here is: will it work? Good question, but only time will tell. What are it’s chances of working? Knowing only what I have read about the program in this article, and my knowledge of rural Kenya, Kenyans, and the Kenyan government… about a 20% chance. So, a totally unscientific and subjective opinion that you can choose to agree with or not.

[Hmm, it appears this is now being discussed at SlashDot, should get a lot more attention now.]

Wild African Animals as Pets

July 30, 2005 / / 10 Comments

It seems that our West African friends have taken to employing Baboons and Hyenas for protection and entertainment. I have had the luxury to travel over many parts of East and North Africa, but have never seen anything like this in my life!

Hyena Handler
Fisi / Hyena Handler

Pet Baboon
Nyani / Baboon Handler

I know that there has been a history of training and trying to domesticate wild animals in Africa, especially by us mzungu (white Africans). Here are some more images for your viewing pleasure (click for a larger image).

Doctor on a ZebraOstrich Racing

Lion Pet Lion Cub Pet

Pet Elephant Tame Rhino

Tame Cheetah Tame Hippo

Church Sign Generator

July 29, 2005 / / 1 Comment

White African Signs

Viral marketing at it’s best:

– Simple concept
– Gets passed on by word-of-mouth / email
– Usually funny

Check it out, and see what kind of signs you can make up. Link.

Of Africans, Snakes, and Reptiles

July 26, 2005 / / 130 Comments

Most Africans hate reptiles. I found this out when I collected lizards in the rocks around our place as a little boy, then trotted off to show them to John, our askari (guard). John was a fierce-looking and tough Kamba. He carried his rungu (fighting stick) with him everywhere, and also kept a bow and arrow collection in the guard house. Much to my dismay, he started cursing and backpeddling as soon as he realized what I was proferring up to him in my little 8 year-old hands.

Personally, most reptiles don’t bother me. As a good mzungu (white person), you’d find me catching little lizards, hatching their eggs, or chasing the big monitor lizards in the bush. However, I must draw the line somewhere, and that line is at snakes. If you have any questions as to why, please take a look at the following pictures, and read the story at snopes.

Click to see full sized images:

Rock Python in South Africa
Rock Python Fangs!

Let’s Talk Dowry

July 23, 2005 / / 15 Comments

Mentalacrobatics pointed the way towards a very funny article in the The Standard.

I have two sisters, the white kind, which for some reason seem to garner some attention in our lovely continent of Africa. While growing up in Sudan and Kenya, I was offered all types of farmyard animals if I would just petition my father for the unfortunate soul who only wished a beautiful mzungu as a wife. At least a couple dozen cows were an acceptable offer in my book, though I took offense at one young lout who only promised a few goats and a couple scrawny chickens.

On a more serious note. I know my African friends can set me straight if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that it’s not unusual today for a dowry to be a car, house, or even money paid to the parents for the rest of the parent’s lives! I sometimes wonder how prevalent dowry’s are within the city as compared to rural Africa. My guess would be that they are less likely to happen, or if they are, to be less of an issue and more a token to the cultural past.

From this white African’s perspective, I can tell you that I think the practice is a little dated. Just as centuries-old practices in Western culture have gone by the wayside (when was the last time you saw the wedding sheet hung out over the balcony?), I believe this will too in Africa. As the world economy becomes more global, the investment of livestock into a woman (as a commodity) just doesn’t make sense. Not to mention the social ramifications of women’s rights and everyone’s understanding of their place in society.

It’s just a practice that is bound to die out eventually in everything but token practice and lipservice. Lastly, I’m not sure Chelsea Clinton is worth 20 cows!

The Constant Gardener

July 23, 2005 / / 2 Comments

John le Carre wrote a book called The Constant Gardener a couple of years ago that takes place in Kenya. He is best known for his Cold War spy thrillers such as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. The Constant Gardener is a very engaging read about corporate espionage and murder. He showcases large pharmaceutical companies as unethical monstrosities and government agencies and embassies as beholden to outside interests. Through it all you’ll bump around in familiar Nairobi settings, that is if you ever got to the Muthaiga area, or if you know the Upper Hill area around the British Consulate.

Anyway, I just found out that the movie is being made (hopefully following this very well written book’s storyline closely). Here is a link to the trailer:

The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener – Trailer

What’s Your Superpower?

July 21, 2005 / / 11 Comments

What's YOUR superpower?

A colleague and I had a discussion recently regarding a particular client over what to do to deal with a potentially sticky situation. My reply was to play it down, and make as little of a deal of it as possible, then to shift gears into other areas of mutual interest to deflect attention from the negatives. To my surprise my colleague stated: “that’s your superpower!”

“What?”, I replied in confusion.

“That’s your superpower. You can somehow make a molehill out of a mountain!”

Now, the thinking-man in me started to ponder this idea. Not in the “am I spiderman?” sense, more of the “interesting…” type of way. I think it touches on what we usually recognize as peoples gifts. Lebron is a gifted basketball player, Mel Gibson is a gifted actor, and I have a friend who is gifted at making an ass of himself.

You see, each person does have a superpower. My colleague told me that hers was shopping. I’m not one to judge, but I’m quite happy with mine at the moment. True, it doesn’t allow me to make millions playing a sport I love, nor does it secure me in the knowledge that I’m wearing the trendiest clothing, but it does help me in other (less fiduciary) ways.

So, what’s your superpower?

Blogs in Deep Space!?

July 20, 2005 / / Comments Off on Blogs in Deep Space!?

What the heck is this craziness? So, now you can beam your blogs RSS feed into space via bloginspace.com. You know, I can’t admit to believing in aliens, but I still had to throw my feed up there. It’s a great PR stunt by MindComet for their new BlogStar Network, they’re all over the news, so you have to hand it to them. I’ve even added one of the cool little gifs to my blog:

Blog In Space!!!

I then sent off a referral message to my friend Swoosh, who runs the African Wanderings blog that sent this message (note: I did not write the body of the message, it was generated by the website upon filling in the email address and pushing “submit”):

Swoosh,
I have always wondered if there is alien life out there. I mean, I am
not saying that I believe in alien abductions or little green men,
but I have to believe that there is someone else out there…. and
maybe they are watching us. Anyway, I found a new site that lets you
transmit your blog into deep space for free. You gotta check it out.

http://www.bloginspace.net

Later,
HASH

When I first looked yesterday, they had 100 RSS feeds signed up. By tonight, the number is up to 830! This is the definition of “Viral Marketing” folks. Without one bit of advertising, they are getting crazy amounts of referrals from people just telling their friends.

PS. Swoosh’s reply to my website generated email:

no i won’t send my blog into space.
i told you to stop jaweezing at work, hash!

-swoosh

Tomfoolery at it’s finest, Good stuff!

NOTE: as of 7/21 at 7:45 AM EST they now have 1000 feeds. I’m going to keep following this to see how it grows over time, maybe I’ll make a graph too.

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