Tänään en oo kummempia tehny muutakun ollu kotona ! Kahvia oon juonu ja koneella istunu (ehe ehe ylläri). Mulla ei siis tänään paljoa kirjoteltavaa :<.

Päivän biisi on Chuckie & LMFAO – Let The Bass Kick in Miami Bich. Kova biisi, pimee video!

Putting MKK 2009 together was not without its challenges, like others we too have suffered due to the economic meltdown.

 We are proud to say that the 10th Media Kidocracy Konference (MKK 2009) which ran from the 14th to the 18th December 2009 was a resounding success.

On the final day the young delegates (12 – 18 years old) presented their productions in a four hour closing ceremony which included video, online, graffiti and radio presentations.

 The closing ceremony also included performances by young Capetonian talent such as Shaz & B, Apple and Cinnamon and Grand Alliance.

The photographers have captured the contrast between the beauty of our natural landscape and the filth that soils it.

The television group challenged us to re-examine our so-called natural ways of being as men and women with respect to violence within the home.

The graffiti group showed through their piece that although we may differ linguistically and/or culturally, we can live in harmony.

The online and radio groups have spread the word that violence is not and never will be an option, be it violence inflicted by others through forced child labour or self-inflicted violence in the form of substance abuse.

WATCH THE ONLINE GROUP’S POWERPOINT PRESENTATION (CLICK HERE)

LISTEN TO THE RADIO GROUP’S FEATURE (CLICK HERE)

Together these products send a resounding message that states that their vision for tomorrow is one in which they wish not to live in fear and is filled with hope.

We would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for their assistance through advice and contributions in making this conference a success:

St Agnes Primary School and in particular the principal Mr. Alfonso Louw and caretaker Mr. Marsh.

Mr. Darion Pillay from Woolworths Financial Services

Mr Neil John Smith from John Smith Photography and Design

Mr. Brad Hale from Wild Organic Foods

Superfoto Canal Walk

Shoprite Woodstock

Ms. Lache Woldson from MTN

The Indibano Group

Loaded Smoothies

MAK1

We would also like to thank:

Elroy Williams for logistical support

Brenda Leonard and Belinda Sepkit from Bush Radio’s admin department who made the lunches

All the production facilitators and content facilitators.

The guest speakers who joined us on the first day of the conference, especially Ms Jennifer Hartnick from the Provincial Parliament whose kind and gentle words set a good tone for the conference.

We would also like to thank our delegates who joined us from as far a-field as Northern Ireland (Public Achievement) and Canada (Canada World Youth).

Latest publisher innerActive joins to provide brands and advertisers with in-game and in application adverts

London, UK – 16 December 2009: Mobile marketing agency YOC today announced that monthly page impressions on its UK media network have increased by 41% since June 2009, resulting in more than 240 million page impressions being served each month. The company’s significant growth in the UK means that the YOC UK media network now represents almost half of YOC’s overall European media network which receives over 500 million monthly page impressions.

The latest addition to the UK media network is innerActive, an audience-publisher, aggregating mobile in-applications and in-games inventory across many developers and publishers, and directing it to premium ad sales partners. YOC will work with innerActive to provide brands and advertisers with in-game and in application adverts in over 50 ad-ready games available from various store fronts including Nokia Ovi, Fox Mobile, MTN, Vivid Games, Herocraft and C4M.

Since its launch in July 2008, YOC UK has signed a range of leading publishing houses, media companies and online portals to its media network. innerActive will sit alongside other publishers including 123play.com, GetJar, PC Advisor, Macworld, Pistonheads, What Car, Stuff.tv, Auto Car, Perez Hilton and Peperonity.

“To have increased the monthly page impressions on our UK media network by 41% is a fantastic achievement and a great high for YOC to end the year on,” said Christian Louca, UK Managing Director at YOC. “With us, advertisers can be certain that whoever they want to reach, whatever their target message and no matter what their chosen mechanism, they can get the very best value from their mobile spend.”

Ziv Elul, Co CEO and Founder at innerActive said of the partnership; “Joining YOC’s media network makes a lot of sense for us; bringing us into contact with a number of leading brands and advertisers. We can offer their advertising clients a deeply immersive and effective experience in the games and applications where the click-through rate is more than 3% and the audience consuming this content consists of 20-35 years old males (65%) and females (35%), tech-savvy with disposable income.”

Coverage in the press:

Mobile Entertainment

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/35410/YOC-UK-serves-240m-monthly-page-impressions

Marketing UK

http://www.marketinguk.co.uk/Mobile/YOC-have-announced-that-monthly-page-impressions-on-its-UK-media-network-have-increased-by-41-since-June-2009.asp

Mobile Marketing Magazine

http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/2009/12/yoc-sees-uk-ad-growth.html

MATT OWNER OF 33THIRD APOLOGIZES TO REVOK from WWW.REVOK1.COM on Vimeo.

This program is designed to provide investors with the opportunity to invest in REO properties with an emphasis on assisting in the reconstruction of the United State economy. The program is designed to be a quick, simple and safe process providing both the asset manager and the investor with an efficient and transparent way to prove up investment capital for bulk purchases of REO and notes.

Contact Me for info: onetrakmindz@gmail.com

I recently picked up a new pair of Nike low tops while out of town. Within two days of wearing them I spilled ink from a drippy marker on the front top, of the right shoe. I tried scrubbing the stain off with paint thinner but all it did was smear Navy Blue across more of the shoe.

It came to the point that I was about to give up on these kicks and go out to get another pair. Then I thought about color matching the shoes with spray paint to cover over the stain… I tried it and it worked! Stone Gray 94 seems to be a perfect match! The matt finish was even the same.

T$F linked to unwind from 2009 over last weekend. Took a couple field trips around L.A.  Always too much too do and too little time.

Caught some good flicks, tons of graf everywhere.  Some super sick burners in the ally behind Safety Cycle..  Ewok/Pose/Rime stunners over there— no pics of it here.

Checked out that new Gallery 66 place, pretty cool- saw that Creature Feature work and purchased a jar of Witches Brew.  There’s a dope Rob One mural on the wall outside, so huge I couldn’t get a photo of the whole thing.

Dope LTS / KOG work around there too..

Stopped by 33 1/3 to get some paint too…
Great El Mac x Retna mural on the way…

Took a couple pics of the back walls, but looked unfinished..
Some MTN sale/signing was going down on Sunday- but no time to come back that spot.

Graffiti is cool, saw alot of this weekend.  Burnt out on that tip, time to focus on other ventures.
Got some cold drinks at the bodega next to 33 1/3, they had some super strange “wanted-style” posters taped in the front.  I love reading this crap.

STOLEN CUSTOMER’S BIKE…
POLICE’S LOOKING FOR THIS GUY!10-30-09 5 hour Energe Drink Steeler!
What a nice Shame guy!!!

10-26-09 What a Shame!!

Hilarious.

NOVEMEBER 22ND in LA

mtn promo from viejas del mercado on Vimeo.

33third Los angeles / Mid-City Arts & Montana Present:

The 1st Annual Montana Exhibitiion This Sunday November 22, 2009 12-6pm

A FREE Live Painting Exhibition By Some Of The Worlds Top Street Artsits:

Apex (SF), Jase (SF), King 157 (SJ), Neon (SF), Revok (LA), Rime (LA), Saber (LA), Sever (ATL), Vulcan (SF)

All Montana Products Will Be On-Sale

This Event Is Free & Open To The Public.

33third Los Angeles / Mid-City Arts
5111 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles Ca. 90019
(310) 694-3460
midcityarts@gmail.com

Dear All,

If you receive a phone call on your mobile from any person, saying that, he or she is a company engineer, or saying that they’re checking your mobile line, and you have to press # 90 or #09 or any other number.

End this call immediately without pressing any numbers.

There is a fraud company using a device that once you press #90 or #09 they can access your ‘SIM’ card and make calls at your expense.

Forward this message to as many friends as you can, to stop it.

All mobile users pay attention if you receive a phone call and your mobile phone displays (XALAN) on the screen don’t answer the call, END THE CALL IMMEDIATELY, if you answer the call, your phone will be infected by a virus..

This virus will erase all IMEI and IMSI information from both your phone and your SIM card, which will make your phone unable to connect with the telephone network. You will have to buy a new phone. This information has been confirmed by both Motorola and Nokia.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS PIECE OF INFORMATION TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS HAVING A MOBILE.

Before we even start, let me say that this is not a slur. Everything I say will be based on pure fact. If you are familiar with my blog then you will know that I am not a sensationalist (I have NNW for that).

We’ll start with the one and only good point first because I do not believe in giving only one side of the story. Currently Cell C is, without doubt, the cheapest cellular service provider as far as data and contracts are concerned. Their data charges are marginally lower than either Vodacom or MTN. As for their contracts, they offer insanely good deals that seem almost too good to be true. Sadly, these benefits come with more strings attached than they’re worth.

As far as reliability is concerned, Cell C is just adequate when it comes to making or receiving phone calls and SMSs (Though they sometimes have to route traffic through Vodacom’s network). But when it comes to mobile internet, they’re reliability is less predictable than somebody with bipolar (No offence intended to people with bipolar). There are times when dialling up to the internet is simply impossible. I once waited three days before I could get online and since I use my phone as a modem, I had no other way of checking my emails or posting on my blog.

On the subject of mobile internet, I’d just like to point out that Vodacom and MTN both support 3G but Cell C does not so yes, my connection is laughably slow, averaging out at about 10 – 15k on a good day.

One of the core components of any service provider is their customer care. In Cell C’s case, it’s almost non-existent. I cannot fault their Customer Care departments in their Cell C Megastores. There was only one occasion when I was spoken to rudely in the three odd years I’ve been with Cell C and this is a good track record in South Africa. Their call centre on the other hand is dismal. Whenever I have phoned, I’ve always been treated poorly by a consultant whose education was likely nothing above fifth grade and whose product knowledge is no better. After much ado, one can get through to a “supervisor” but these “supervisors” are no more competent or willing to help than the consultants and after being on the line for ten to fifteen minutes, one tends to just hang up out of sheer frustration. Emailing them is no better as sometimes you get a very quick response while other times you won’t get a reply until the next day if you’re lucky.

Finally, let’s talk efficiency, or in Cell C’s case lack thereof. In the structure which is the dysfunctional body of Cell C, the left hand does not know or care what the right is doing. The staff in the shop will tell you one thing while the staff in the call centre will tell you the complete opposite. As for their accounts department, I’m sure it consists of an office with ten 286 computers and fifteen monkeys to operate them. I’m going to relate to you an experience of mine and try to abbreviate it as much as possible to illustrate my point so bare with me.

I took out a contract for R75-00 per month with Cell C (having been enticed by their insanely cheap deals) roughly three years back. The amount was to be debited directly from my bank account. Unfortunately I lost my job sometime later. Because my ex-boss was possibly the source of all evil, I had not been registered for unemployment (In fact there’s no evidence I ever worked there, kudos to him for circumventing employment laws). Immediately I went to Cell C and explained to them that I would not be receiving a salary and therefore my bank account would be empty, hence I would be depositing cash for my payments.

Despite being told that everything had been sorted out; when the time came for the next payment, I received an SMS from my bank informing me that a debit order had failed to go through due to insufficient funds. After confirming that it was from Cell C, I phoned them up and torn a strip off them only to be promised that it would never happen again. It did happen again however – a few more times at that. I also found my SIM being barred from out-going calls around the end of the month during this time. I finally sorted out the debiting issue but the call-barring continued once every month for a long time afterwards. Once a month I’d lose all communication with the world and once a month I’d have to make a trip to my Cell C Megastore and get them to reinstate my service. I came to learn two things during this time. The first was that it was apparently my duty to fax my deposit slip through to them (I could live with this) and that all payments were due on the 20^th of every month (It’s an insane date since nearly everybody in South Africa and possibly the world only gets paid between the 25^th and the end of the month). I explained the situation to a consultant and he promised to place a note on my account regarding my payments and to quote The Animatrix, “For a time it was good” but then the call-barring started again.

When I queried this some time around October last year, I was told that I was one payment in arrears. The first person I spoke to claimed it to be March. Luckily I keep all my deposit slips in a file so I returned the next day armed with March’s proof of payment. I spoke to somebody different that day who then told me it was actually April. I went back home infuriated. I returned on day three equipped with my entire file and spoke to yet another consultant. Upon producing April’s proof of payment, I was told that it was actually February’s that was outstanding. Smugly, I produced my entire payment history. I was then told that I must fax all of these to their head office. After much ado regarding the receiving of the faxes, it was all sorted out and things have been running smoothly since, so when it came time to renew my contract and get an upgrade, I didn’t think twice, especially in light of the fact that my mother’s phone had recently died on her and now I’d be able to give her my old one. At the time, I did speak to the salesperson who renewed my contract and I asked him if it would be okay if I continued to make deposits and was told that it would in no way be a problem.

Well, October 2009 comes and guess what? My SIM has just been barred again because my payment was “late”. Their excuse for this was that they had a new CEO now who had apparently decided that it was time to clamp down on customers and impose strict payment laws (I don’t know if this is true or not and I don’t care. I’m merely recounting what was told to me by a consultant). This eventually led to me having to reinstate the debit order and go to trouble of depositing money into my account so that they may debit it instead of just depositing it straight into their bank account lest they bar my SIM yet again.

My problem is not so much with Cell C’s policies. Ridiculous as they may be, I did agree to them when I first took out the contract. My proverbial “bone to pick” is more with the fact that I was, for all intents and purposes, lied to. If they had told me that it was not okay for me continue making deposits between the 25^th and the end of the month, I would have rather sort a slightly more expensive contract with Vodacom or MTN. Perhaps it was my fault for not getting this in writing and not Cell C’s fault for outright lying to me. In today’s society it is considered normal, even acceptable to lie to a customer in order to sell them something. As long as they do not have it in writing, you are under no obligation to uphold any promises you make to a customer.

Now I’d like to just recall an incident involving my uncle who is a Vodacom customer. His phone fell from his breast pocket one day and into some water – completely submerging the device. He was quick enough in switching it off to avoid a complete meltdown but there was significant damage and the phone was ultimately unusable. When he went to Vodacom’s shop and inquired as to the price of a repair, the assistant said it would be free since it was an old phone and they had some spare parts lying about and it wouldn’t take them too long to fix.

Prior to Cell C, I was with MTN for about four years and I never even had one delayed SMS. I got coverage even out in the countryside and the customer care, which I only had to phone once, was polite, caring, knowledgeable and willing to help.

I guess this all boils down to one simple truth: “You get what you pay for” as the quote goes. Consider this article a warning to all South Africans and any potential tourists considering coming to South Africa: If you want cheap, go to Cell C but be warned, you’ll get what you pay for.

*Disclaimer: I’m sure there are some people out there who have never had a problem with Cell C just as there are many people I’ve spoken to who have complaints about them. This is just a personal account of events together with some facts about the company.

Hoy 17 de noviembre del 2009 hemos terminado el trabajo de graffiti en el colegio Pedro Simón Abril situado en Cadiz ( La Linea de  la Concepción )

El trabajo esta realizado con Sprays Montana Colors y Los artistas conocidos como Kato y Bisho .

Os dejo unas fotos xD de como a quedado.

For those individuals tired of telephone lines and ADSL Lines being struck by lighting, stollen, being slow and fixed, with a contract….switch to pay as you go Vodacom, or MTN pay as you go. Further more this is also a good option for people that have a contract but seem to always need a few extra megs at the end of the month to get by. The new data bundles from MTN for example can’t be topped up so it could be that you are faced with issues relating data use and more.

The concept is fairly simple. Depending on the pay as you fo card (Vodacom or MTN) the tarrifs and data bundles will differ. Buying a SIM Card has recently become more complex, in that you have to take your ID and Proof of Residence with when buying the card to be RICA activated. If you wish to buy the card under a company the list of paper work grows so in general terms, do it on your name.

Upon buying a card for Vodacom dial *111# and the pickup button. A short list transactions/services will appear. 1 buying databundle 2 checking balances 3 etc. Press the button that states reply. Press 1. This has further screens and options so don’t worry about buying something by mistake. Vodacom in general has two “are you sure steps” before you are done. The list will give you various databundle sizes with progressive dropping per MB costing structures.

Choose the databundle that fits your needs. But now one could ask, what is my data bundle need. Well roughly smaller databundles will be for programs that run on the phone and use small amount of graphics and large amounts of text. Remember Text/words use the minimal amount of data whilst Pictures ( and depending of their size) use more and Video and HiDef Video the most. Files download and upload also uses data bundles quickly.

Alternatively, if this sounds Greek or Russian to you, you can load a smaller data bundle at first. Once it is used, you will be able to buy a larger bundle. The validity period of the data bundles vary, but knowing Vodacom it works out roughly to about the end of the following calendar month. Which if loaded on the first of the month gives you 2 months worth of surfing off the one data bundle or until its been used.

Vodacom also offers a data bundle pricing structure for standard data bundles and upgraded bundles. This depends on you phone or modem/ dongle you put the data card in. This works on the process of a straw. If your phone can go fast, (Like drinking water with a big straw) you can put a standard data bundle on it but it would be like pinching the straw. The reverse is also true if you have a slow phone and a fast above standard data bundle. Your Phone becomes your constraint.

Make sure you confirm the purchase and confirm that the money has been taken off your account before you think your done. As a security check dial *111# after buying the data bundle and check balances and check data bundle balances.

Connection can be done via USB or Bluetooth or Wifi setup Configurations either with Windows or Phone Software.

the speakers do not speak their mind and hide behind a tremendous amount of pr speak ..take the corporate hats off and give straight answers . To be honest Arthur Goldstuck from Johannesburg would have done a better presentation. Some of the speakers did not impart any meaningful take home info..sorry being honest

From http://m-e-f.blogspot.com/2009/11/mef-connects-south-africa.html

AfricaNews.com - The most compelling interactive Africa community, sharing news, photos, weblogs, videos, mobile reports and the untold stories by African people.

The growing number of mobile phones, and increasing access to affordable Internet, has resulted in the rise of African content. The African ‘blogosphere’ exemplifies these changes. Three years ago an Internet search resulted in only a handful of postings from across the continent. Now there are thousands of African blogs and the numbers continue to grow exponentially. Global Voices (United States), Afrigator (South Africa), Akouaba (Congo), Naijapulse (Nigeria) and BlogSpirit (Uganda) have emerged as Internet platforms that aggregate, organize and distribute the ever-increasing amount of information.

The rise in African blogs is joined by further developments in the African mediascape. In the last three years Africa has seen the emergence of Reuters Africa, CNN Africa, CNBC Africa and many others. Other global players see new opportunities too. Heavyweight Google has opened offices in East Africa, setting up local search engines, expanding their Google maps initiative and supporting numerous efforts to translate the web into local languages. Google has also made a big push to support its Android technology that will make the mobile phone center to its African strategy. This effort is only highlighted by the company’s launch of Google SMS and the recent Google investment in the O3b Satellite project. These events confirm the company’s long-term commitment to the continent, a business that depends on content for its success.

Africa is also starting to produce talented programmers and ingenious projects emerge as a result. In 2006, Nathan Eagle of MIT launched an innovative curriculum needed to train local programmers in Nairobi. The program has now expanded to universities in 10 Sub Saharan countries and reflects growing demand and interest in the subject. The Makerere University Faculty of Computing and ICT in Kampala, Uganda is the largest program in Sub-Sahara Africa. The university is training thousands of students a year as ICT professionals. The faculty hosts a 600 seat call center and is host to a software incubation lab and programs dedicated to digital mapping and mobile programming. The faculty is consistently oversubscribed. Appfrica Labs and Software Factory Uganda in Kampala offer private sector examples where local programmers are given the space and tools needed to develop their skills and incubate their businesses. Samasource is another innovative effort that aims to source projects in North America that can then be developed by local African talent.

An emerging community and a host of dedicated events support these new talents. 2008 saw the first TED talks in Nairobi and impromptu BarCamps have taken place in locations as varied as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Congo, Mauritius, Madagascar, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda. Dedicated workshops have been hosted by organizations like Facebook, Google and MobileActive08. These events focus on the potential local programmers have to develop Internet and mobile applications for the local market. Once unique efforts to establish viable networking platforms, new events emerge by the day.

It is not possible to speak about innovation in Africa without recognizing Ubuntu, a Debian-derived computer operating system based on GNU/Linux, otherwise a high quality desktop and server operating system that is freely available all over the world. Mark Shuttleworth, a successful South African entrepreneur founded the project in 2004, and is a driving force in mobilizing the open source movement on the continent. As a spin-off the project has resulted in the creation of a number of unique tools for free software developers, such as the Bazaar version control system and Launchpad.net. Sub-projects include specialized desktop environments for schools and platforms that address the needs of people in specific countries or industries e.g. Edubuntu and Kubuntu. These efforts play a critical role in making software available to developers across Africa, lowering barriers to participation, and part of a growing interest to engage local programming talents.

Africa’s lack of infrastructure presents unique opportunities and inspires creative thinking. Uninhibited by legacy infrastructure, as in N. America and Europe, Africa has been forced to innovate on mobile. In 2008 Vodafone introduced its M-Pesa mobile banking platform in Kenya. The company initially planned to register 200,000 new customers, what was an ambitious projection, and proceeded to surpass all expectations. The reality is that the demand for the M-Pesa service was so high their systems crashed and the company has been trying to catch up ever since. Within one year M-Pesa was already servicing 1.6 million Kenyans. Hammond, a director at Vodafone says, ‘look, microfinance is great; Yunus deserves his sainthood. But after 30 years, there are only 90 million microfinance customers. I’m predicting that mobile-phone banking will add a billion banking customers to the system in five years. That’s how big it is.’ Needless to say, mobile banking projects are being rolled out across the continent and are now innovating network structures and models that can be applied elsewhere. Increasingly, people from around the world come to Africa to learn about how such a service might work in their own country back in N. America or Europe.

The power of mobile is also being linked to the web. MXit is an example that demonstrates local innovation with wide scale impact. Developed in South Africa, MXit is a free instant messaging software application that runs on GPRS/3G mobile phones and on PCs. The website explains, ‘It allows the user to send and receive one-on-one text and multimedia messages to and from other users, as well as in general chat rooms. MXit also supports connection to other instant messengers such as MSN messenger, ICQ and Google Talk.’ The service is cheap compared to SMS. Instead of charging for one-on-one messages, and because messages are sent via the Internet, the cost per message is greatly reduced (typically 1c for a MXit message compared to approximately 75c per SMS). As a result, MXit has become a popular communication platform with over 11 million users. They calculate about ‘17 million log-ons per day and over 250 million messages sent/received per day.’ This project successfully shows that there is local demand for information services and its no surprise to see similar services emerging in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.

The success of mobile-based platforms does not stop with transferring money and/or messaging services. Mobile phones can also serve as a source of employment. Building on several years of experience, and learning from his interactions with local programmers, Nathan Eagle has gone on to launch TxtEagle as an innovative outsourcing initiative. He has created a service where African’s exchange a few spare minutes, needed to complete short assignments on their mobile phone, in exchange for mobile phone credit. This project highlights some of the innovative thinking that can be inspired by a truly unique African context.

Mobile phones are also being used to monitor, track and report on local events. This is part of a growing effort to bring transparency to issues that plague the continent. Ushahidi is an example of a project born out of an African experience. In 2008, and as a result of mixed election results, Kenya witnessed unexpected post election violence. As the media storm began to descend on the country, which remains a faithful recipient of foreign development aid and depends on tourism as its largest source of foreign currency, the government responded by closing down both traditional and new media channels. The government made a proactive effort to ‘lock’ the local flow of information.

Ushahidi, which means ‘testimony’ in Swahili, is an open source engine developed in the effort to better map out post election reports of violence in the county. On their website they explain that, ‘the core Ushahidi platform allows for a plug-in and extensions that can be customized for different locales and needs. The tool are open source allowing others to download, implement and use the engine so that they can bring awareness to crises in their own region.’ The core engine is built on the premise that gathering crisis information from the general public provides new insights into events happening in near real-time. In an African context people understand this better than anywhere else in the world. Where infrastructure is so limited, communication so costly, each kilobyte has significantly higher value. It is important to mention that programmers from several African countries have been fundamental to the project’s development and highlights a new generation of skills, talent and a rising African power to innovate locally.

This is an early initiative that shows how the development of an application, inspired by a political crisis in what was previously believed to be one of East Africa’s most stable societies, can be applied elsewhere. The platform has already been used to monitor events in the DRC, Madagascar and the recent conflict in Gaza. At the time of writing, there were also plans to use the Ushahidi engine as a monitoring tool during the 2009 elections in India. Because Ushahidi was born out of an African experience, where lack of communication infrastructure forces the design of inventive solutions; it is now positioned to meet crises anywhere in the world.

The entire African ICT space is experiencing extraordinary growth and development that changes the face of the continent forever. Like the success of mobile banking, now is the time to realize that innovation can also come from Africa. It is important to recognize the rise of local African talent, a new breed of individual that has the motivation, skill and power to develop solutions that tap into local opportunities and address local needs. Now is the time to explore these developments in more detail and from the perspective of the end user. Taking the time to recognize this dynamic context in which new actors emerge, it is paramount we review the ICT4D debate and our own role in this process. This is in an effort to better understand the changes on the ground and their implications for the future. In this way we can start to learn from these developments and benefit from this high level of innovation. Young programming talents are only now starting to emerge in African countries but the potential is clear. The more people in Africa who see the power to shape the technologies they use, the more Africa is capable of meeting its own needs. In turn, these new talents contribute to the global information society and play an active role in shaping its future.

The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant and pulsar wind nebula in the constellation of Taurus

Since these historic WSIS events (3003 and 2005) a lot has been achieved. Most governments have developed an Information and Communication policy and established a framework needed to foster the uptake of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in their respective countries. Many governments have established dedicated ministries and regulatory bodies and policy needed to coordinate their ICT efforts. Early framework and legislation have been implemented and considerable investment in infrastructure continues to be made. Public sector utilities have been liberalized and most governments now actively encourage private sector development. It is hard to find an African government who does not see the value of ICTs or encourage their implementation on some level.

As the result of African governments implementing many of these initiatives, the continent is in the process of experiencing a digital communications explosion. Nowhere has growth been so rapid or had such a marked impact. The uptake in both mobile and Internet access the last three years is significant and positively reflects these initial efforts. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) says that the mobile phone industry in Africa is growing at twice the global rate and remains the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world. David Rogers of Open Mobile Terminal Platform says, ‘More people have access to a mobile phone than have access to running water. More people have access to a data enabled mobile phone than there are desktop computers in the world.’ The spread of mobile in Africa is rampant and continues to spread faster than even our wildest expectations. More than 60% of Africa has access to a mobile phone that is soon to be the continent’s most ubiquitous piece of technology.

Some statistics 2008:
• The total African mobile subscriber base is roughly 280.7 million people (30% of total)
• The total African mobile subscriber base is expected to reach 561 million (53.5%) by 2012.
• The mobile penetration rate in South Africa is 84%
• South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Kenya constitute the key mobile markets in Africa in terms of potential growth.
• At least 15 operators have already announced plans of introducing 3G voice and data services (including among others, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria)
• SMS is being used in innovative ways such as pricing information for agricultural products, mobile banking and human rights abuse notifications.

This growth is also reflected in the spread of Internet connections that have increased by 1,031.2% between 2000 and 2008. 5.4% of the African population now has access to the Internet and the continent accounts for 3.4% of the global Internet population. Internet access continues to grow faster than any other part of the world. New telecom infrastructure is set to boost capacity and cut tariffs, further unlocking the continent’s high-speed Internet potential and creating new growth opportunities.

U.S. based advisory firm AfricaNext Investment Research expects Africa’s broadband market to grow from 2.7 million subscribers in 2007 to 12.7 million users in 2009. AfricaNext says submarine cables and national networks due to launch this year and next will only accelerate the process. This trend is strengthened by the emergence of wireless technology such as EVDO and WiMax. The group argues that, ‘2009 could represent the most significant opportunity for investment returns in the African telecoms sector since the mobile voice boom, which saw subscribers rocket to 270 million in 2007 from 2 million nine years earlier.’

East Africa offers the greatest room for development. Where West Africa benefits from high-speed Internet connectivity, supplied by the SAT-3 cable that connects the continents’ Western seaboard, East Africa still depends on slow dial-up and expensive satellite connections. A 2005 study by a U.N. task force found that 90 percent of calls between African countries are routed by satellite through Europe or North America at a cost of $400 million a year. Some experts claim that bandwidth prices in Africa can be as much as 25 times greater than equivalent service in Europe. BMI TechKnowledge, a research firm based in South Africa explains, ‘projects worth around $6 billion, including 10 undersea cables and several national networks, are planned or under construction in Africa.’ These recent investments in undersea cables and national networks could make the difference in ‘unlocking’ the region.

One example is SEACOM, the Mauritius-registered private equity venture. The organization has invested $650 million in fiber-optic undersea cable that will link east and southern Africa to Europe and Asia. The cable has reached the shores of Mombassa, Kenya and is currently making its way across the region. Another initiative is the EASSy submarine network, a second investment worth $265 million and scheduled to be completed in 2010. The project is owned by African operators, including Telkom Kenya and Telkom South Africa, and has the potential to supply additional bandwidth to 23 landlocked African countries. Richard Hurst, telecoms analyst at global telecoms advisory firm IDC, explains international bandwidth rates were expected to drop to a fifth or less of current rates of $3,000 per megabit after these two cables are in operation. Richard Hurst says, ‘Undersea cables are a major positive step in a right direction.’ Two other projects, TEAMs (The East African Marine System) and Lion, will only add to supply and further spur competition.

At the same time, African governments are starting to upgrade their national infrastructure. MTN, and second fixed-line operator Neotel, are rolling out 5,000 km national network in South Africa. Angola and Zambia have also either recently expanded or plan to beef up their national networks. The government of Uganda is in the process of completing a national fiber optic backbone that will serve to connect a large part of the country, most importantly in rural areas. AfricaNext says, ‘There is a confluence of indicators that suggest that for the first time in more than a decade, broadband growth in the African continent may be on the verge of truly taking off.’

Developments are not limited to cable and local infrastructure. Jersey-based O3b Networks, which means the ‘other three billion’ people, is working to build satellite-based infrastructure. An eventual network of 16 satellites will bring high-speed Internet to even the most rural parts of the African continent. This will be made possible regardless of a country’s local infrastructure. O3b’s approach is different from that of traditional satellite communication. Normally communication satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of around 22,000 miles, which can limit signal strength and bandwidth; O3b satellites will use cheaper medium earth orbit (MEO) satellites that only reach an altitude of around 6,000 miles. This design improves the strength of the signal and can provide speeds of up to ten gigabits per second. Greg Wyler, the founder of the company explains, ‘high-speed Internet access will bring a series of advantages to developing countries, including locally generated content, widespread e-learning, telemedicine and other enablers of social and economic growth.’ Google is one of the investors in the company and highlights the projects ambition to launch in the coming year. Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive officer, explains in an e-mail interview with the New York Times, ‘Africa is a huge long-term market for us. We have to start by helping people get online, and the creativity of the people will take care of the rest.’

Infrastructure aside, organizations increasingly understand that they need to adapt to the African context if they are going to successfully meet its needs. In the same article the New York Times expands, ‘People in the mobile-handset business talk about adding customers not by the millions but by the billions, if only they could get the details right.’ More specifically, ‘How do you make a phone that can be repaired by a street-side repairman who may not have access to new parts? How do you build a phone that won’t die a quick death in a monsoon or by falling off the back of a motorbike on a dusty road? Or a phone that picks up distant signals in a rural place, holds a charge off a car battery longer or that can double as a flashlight during power cuts?’ These are the issues that have been ignored in the past and are now a priority for organizations eager to work in the African context.

As a result, both Nokia and Sony Ericsson have opened research centers on the continent. On the Nokia website they explain, ‘Nokia Research Africa focuses on understanding the needs of the African mobile phone user and creates concepts and visions to fulfill these needs. The concepts are built into prototypes and pilots and then field tested.’ These African based research centers support the idea that companies have to embed themselves within a given context if they are to really understand it. This approach goes well beyond the techno deterministic approaches of the past as both companies now count anthropologists like Jan Chipchase amongst their ranks, people specialized in understanding the relationship between the technology and the user. Nokia goes on to explain, ‘the team must face some Africa specific challenges. The majority of Africans have extremely low-income level and less than 10% of the population has access to the fixed electricity grid. This creates a need for new models. Chris Kiagiri, a Google technology officer in Nairobi, says, ‘A lot of people assume Google is trying to replicate in Africa what it has done elsewhere. Sure, we want to bring existing products into this market. But we also want to organize information locally in a way we haven’t done elsewhere.’ Adding to the challenge is the more than 1000 languages spoken in 56 countries, sometimes in very isolated communities.’ Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Google and others highlight only some of the challenges organizations must overcome if they are to successfully engage the continent.

These developments are deep as they are wide and diverse. They mark a new era in which an increasing number of organizations and individuals recognize Africa’s potential to become a fundamental partner in this process. In a recent BBC interview with Dr. Diarra, the chairman of Microsoft in Africa, says, ‘Africa is really the last frontier in not only developing technology that is specific to people’s needs, but eventually even developing new business models that will enable the emergence of local software industries, such as young people who have the skills to be able to write their own applications for their own community.’ Microsoft is not known for making these kinds of statements. Historically the company has treated the African continent as a place to simply advertise and sell their products, as opposed to investing in African talent and developing company solutions locally. These remarks clearly acknowledge a shift in thinking and further hints to the emergence of something really new.

Interested in connecting with entrepreneurs and investors?
Join us on www.VC4Africa.com!

In case you missed this, last week during the Montain West Conference playoffs, New Mexico’s Elizabeth Lambert had to throw her weight around on her BYU opposition.

For more info go to: 33Third.com

Hello.
My name is Sweetson Phillip. I’ve been working in SA in a private hospital since September 2007 and have been enjoying it very much. Anthony has asked me to give you a bit information on life in SA.
1) Food
We get allmost everything here in SA, except real Indian spices… so please bring enough of those when you come to SA.
2) Cellphones
You can bring your own handset from India, and just get a simcard from SA. The cheapest one, according to me, is MTN. However, take note that it is quite expensive to phone / sms to India…. Rather use a worldcall card that you can buy from almost any shop here.
3) Clothing
Make sure to bring a jersey / warm clothes for winter time. That depends on which city you are going to. Cape Town is rather cold and wet during winter time.
4) Language
Please ensure that you speak AND understand english, seeing that this is the only way to communicate with non-Indians.
5) Religion
Seeing that I am a christian, I would like to inform all other christians that it is very easy to join any denomination. I have joined a very nice church and the people of my church became very good friends of mine.
6) Safety and security
Me and my friends here in Cape Town are very happy with our accomodation, and we feel very safe and secure.
7) Transport
We make use of our hospital transfer to get to work and back. For any other transport, we rely on our South-African friends and colleagues to help us. You also have the option of public transport (bus, taxi etc).
Banking
Me and my friends all make use of ABSA bank in SA. ABSA is linked to ICICI, so it takes only about 12 hours for your money to be transferred to India. Some of the other banks may take up to 15 days to transfer the money.
9) Last but not the least:
Bring some pictures of your family, nice music and books to read. If you can, try to bring your laptop from India. You can make use of a Flycard to connect to the internet.

I am very happy in SA! Hope you will have the same positive experience! Let me know if you want to see any pictures.
psweetson@yahoo.com
Sweetson Philli

a black swan

“A Black Swan … is an event with the following three attributes.

First, it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility.

Second, it carries an extreme impact.

Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable.”

– Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, in the New York Times

M-PESA: the Black Swan of Mobile Money?

Lately I have wondered whether the rise and stunning success of M-PESA is a Black Swan. M-PESA, a mobile money transfer service developed by/for Safaricom of Kenya, was launched in 2007 and has seen staggering growth. Much has been written about M-PESA and equivalent services worldwide (a search for M-PESA at CGAP yields a treasure-trove of articles). None of the launched services appear to rival M-PESA in growth, even in countries with similar target demographics (Tanzania, next-door to Kenya, isn’t doing so well with M-PESA).

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

While there doubtless are many factors explaning the M-PESA phenomenon in Kenya, the implicit expectation always seems to be that it is just a matter of time before a similar service somewhere replicates M-PESA’s success in Kenya.

I’m not so sure anymore. Here’s why.

With M-PESA’s success in mind, and its implications for a country’s financial institutions, regulators (hardly known to be trend-setters) are unlikely to approve a service with as much leeway as Safaricom had with M-PESA.

Being the first to market what was essentially an outlier, Safaricom in effect escaped the regulators’ scrutiny in the early stages of M-PESA. Infact, once M-PESA’s success came to the attention of Kenya’s banking community and to the Central Bank, they tried regulating M-PESA in a way that would have, at the very least, hampered its growth. Here’s an illuminating quote from Kenya’s Daily Nation:

Bankers are up in arms over the revolutionary innovation. They have complained that cellphone companies are operating bank accounts outside of any regulations.

“Money transfer on the cellphone is a great idea,” John Wanyela, an executive director of the Kenya Bankers Association, told the Sunday Nation.

“But you do not allow innovation to outsmart regulation….[It] has broadened access to the unbanked, especially those in rural areas. We can’t do what they (mobile phone service providers) do. All we are asking for is a level playing ground.”

Banks have put the Central Bank of Kenya on the spot, demanding to know what laws allow telecommunication companies to offer money services, saying Zain and Safaricom are invading their domain without much regulation, while they continue to operate under the stringent rules of the Banking Act.

The appropriateness of the regulation isn’t my focus in this post, rather it is the effect of the regulation (appropriate or not) on the growth of M-PESA and similar services.

It is unlikely, so it appears at this moment, that regulators in other countries would give any company such leeway. It is also unlikely that financial institutions, with a lot to loose from an M-PESA clone, would sit tight and hope for the best. What is more likely is that constraints, whether the result of banking-industry lobbying or well-conceived government policy, will be placed on any such services.

MTN’s Mobile Money in Ghana

The latest launch of a mobile money service in Africa, in this case Ghana, bears out my theory (Appfrica has more details). The MTN service, which has seen slow uptake, seems hamstrung by rules and regulations forced on it by banks and regulators in Ghana.

From the Appfrica article, MTN’s Mobile Money seems to burden merchants and customers in ways that Safaricom’s M-PESA does not. With MTN’s system:

• customers need ID to perform *any* transaction
• merchants are required to have a specific handset for customer registration (something Kenya’s Zain (then known as Celtel) tried and failed with Sokotele, its earlier attempt at mobile money (Zap is Zain’s current money transfer service).
• customers have to sign for every transaction
• merchants need a bank account from participating banks
• the growth of the money-transfer network depends on banks expanding and accepting more merchants

Part of the reason for M-PESA’s runaway success has been its relative simplicity and lack of constraints, from the merchant/customer perspective. Fraud levels are somehow, and curiously, kept to a “manageable” level (if the lack of public outcry from Kenyans is anything to go by).

White Swans Galore

Sadly, it appears that M-PESA was an anomaly that won’t be replicated elsewhere anytime soon.

M-PESA succeeded, it appears, largely because there was no precedent, and hence little legislation standing in the way.

Perhaps regulators ought to factor this into their deliberations.

My People FC’s Sani Emmanuel has been chosen as one of MTN Football’s African Players of the week following his sterling performance for the Golden Eaglets against Argentina, where he netted the winning goal for Nigeria!

You can Vote for Sani at MTN Football’s website!

What a God we have to worship, what a Son we have to praise, what a future lies before us!

Sani Emmanuel Weaves Past Two Argentine Defenders

My People FC’s Sani Emmanuel has been nominated as one of the five African footballers of the week by MTN Football following his blistering performance against Argentina for Nigeria’s cadet team, the Golden Eaglets. Emmanuel scored the winner for Nigeria, a goal that saw the Eaglets soar through to the next round of the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup at the top of their group.

My People FC's Sani Emmanuel - nominated for African player of the week

As can be seen on the MTN Footballl website, the five players nominated are:

Obafemi Martins
Martins had been on something of a goal-drought having scored just once in nine matches for the German champions Wolfsburg, but hit back with a brace against Mainz on Saturday. It was still not enough for his side to win, as they conceded an equaliser in the last three minutes to end the day at 3-3.

Bobo Balde
Veteran Guinea defender Bobo Balde made his first Ligue 1 start for Valenciennes on Saturday and put in a Man of the Match performance as his side claimed an excellent 3-0 away win at Stade Rennes. Balde spent the previous eight seasons at Glasgow Celtic in Scotland, though the weekend’s start was his first competitive club fixture since May last year, and just his second appearance in total.

Aruna Dindae
No English Premiership goals in five games for Cote d’Ivoire striker Aruna Dindane had many wondering whether Portsmouth boss Paul Hart had done the right thing in bringing him to the Fratton Park strugglers. But the Ivorian hit back in spectacular style with a hat-trick, the last a penalty which he earned, as Pompey finally won at home in the League with a 4-0 thumping of Wigan Athletic.

Jean Makoun
The Cameroon international midfielder won rave reviews for his performance in the 1-0 away win at Saint Etienne on Saturday, earning a place in the Team of the Week from respected French publication L’Equipe.

Sani Emmanuel
The substitute held his nerve to score from the penalty-spot as the hosts Nigerians claimed a crucial win over Argentina at the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup on Friday. Having earlier missed a good chance to seal the game for his side, Emmanuel was a picture of calmness as he stroked home the vital spot-kick to put his side into the Last 16.

You can make your vote for Emmanuel on the MTN Football Website!

With Nigerias next encounter against New Zealand scheduled to take place on Thursday, people are expectant that Emmanuel will once again be on the field and get his name on the scoresheet…!

Below is an open letter we will soon be sending to Nokia, Vodacom, MTN, Nuance and Code Factory. It is a proposal for combining the flood of second-hand phones in Africa with text-to speech software so that blind people in developing countries can share in the empowering accessibility of mobile phones.

Dear Nokia/Vodacom/MTN/Nuance/Code Factory

Please consider the below proposal both from a social responsibility perspective and a wonderful marketing opportunity. It is a proposal for combining the flood of second-hand phones in Africa with text-to speech software so that blind people in developing countries can share in the empowering accessibility of mobile phones.

Background

The development of text-to-speech software for computers and mobile phones has heralded a Gutenberg moment for blind people equal to, or greater than, the development of Braille. The empowering benefits of these advances have however been limited predominantly to rich developed countries.

The following two factors means distributing speaking phones for free in Africa can be both viable and inexpensive:

1. The incredible uptake of mobile phones in developing countries – particularly in Africa.
2. The availability of simple-to-use text-to-speech software. (Note that giving away licenses to these products in countries where there is no market will be of negligible cost, but of significant public relations value.)

How the project could work

Three things are required for such a project: 1. a source of compatible mobile phones, 2. Licenses for the text-to-speech software and 3. An organizational structure to ensure effective administration and implementation of the project.

These three factors are considered below:

1. Sourcing mobile phones

The currently available text-to-speech software packages work mainly with Nokia phones running the Symbian Series 60 operating system. (This is why this mail is also being sent to Nokia)

-         Compatible second-hand phones could be sourced from Nokia (through their existing recycling programme) or through service providers like Vodacom or MTN. When upgrading a phone, users can be given the option to donate their old phone to the blind.

-         Excess stock of older phones could be donated.

-         Organizations for the blind or service providers can run donate a phone for the blind projects or compatible second-hand phones can be bought.

1. Sourcing the text-to-speech software

Nuance’s Talks and Code Factory’s Mobile Speak software are the current market leaders in this field. These companies can donate X amount of licenses to their software, the cost of which will be negligible since the software can be downloaded and all that Nuance or Code Factory would have to provide would be serial numbers. As long as the project is restricted to countries in which these companies do not have a substantial footprint, the potential losses in sales would be negligible and more than amply made up for by the great public relations possibilities. In addition, such donations could be seen as a first step toward creating a future market.

1. Organizational structure to drive the project

-         The project would have to be driven by a large company such as Nokia, Vodacome or MTN who already has a footprint in the targeted countries. This way the project can piggyback on existing company infrastructure and have direct public relations value.

-         Organizations for the blind would have to be significant partners in the project. These could help with identifying eligible recipients of the phones, distribution, training and support in the use of speaking phones.

-         Note that the text-to-speech software is limited to certain languages. Thus, only countries where French, Portuguese, or English are widely spoken could be considered at the moment.

We hope that you will give this project serious consideration. In our view it is tragic that millions of blind people still have to do without something as simple as being able to send and receive SMSs. Empowerment does not have to be expensive!

Kind regards

The team at Accesswire



As you know, the soccer world cup is coming to SA next year – if you haven’t heard, then you’ve been living under a rock! I heard sneaky sneaky that Highveld is going to be doing something big involving tickets next week – and you knwo how scarce those are. They will probably let us all know from Monday…