Author: Cyrus

Samsung has confirmed that the iconic Galaxy 10.1 tablet will go on sale in Nairobi around 20th August. Speaking to us at an event this morning, Samsung Commercial Director for East and Central Africa, Robert Ngeru, was upbeat on the impending launch hinting that both the Galaxy SII smartphone and Galaxy 10.1 tablets would change the whole landscape of technology both in Kenya and the East African region. The Galaxy 10.1 tablet is one of the most anticipated Android based tablets having the slimmest build and best resolution of up to 1280×800 and 149ppi. The tablet has up to 64GB of…

HP hosted a breakfast even where they showed some of their new solutions. Among them was the ability of the users to use their faces to access laptop and their websites through a security feature built on to their HP laptops. What this means is that you will have the biometrics systems and facial recognition providing more security to your computing solutions. The laptop must have a webcam and it will be able to identify unique facial characteristics on your face. The facial recognition software can also be loaded on the phone and when the phone is paired with the…

mLab Southern Africa (SA), the region’s new incubator for entrepreneurs and innovators with a focus on mobile technology has announced a call for membership applications. The call has been made ahead of the  opening of the mLab SA HQ to be officially opened at The Innovation Hub in Pretoria on 15 September. Already mobile developers and entrepreneurs with a startup business, organisation or mobile idea are applying to become members. The mLab SA will also assist members in accessing finance, whether it be in the form of grants, seed capital, angel investors or venture capitalists. Members benefit from the shared…

In a world of spam and unnecessary e-mail marketing, NATIVE is seeking to provide relevance and context by implementing strategic e-mailing through the use of PMailer, a bulk email and sms platform. Even though mail marketing might be considered a dinosaur in comparison to its newer and sleeker social media cousins, it is still a very viable tool for a brand to get its message across to the public. Many sites use e-mail subscription marketing to alert subscribers to new offers, products and content. While having a Facebook page and a Twitter account might be seen as a replacement for…

Samsung Electronics has today announced that it has sold five million Galaxy S II smartphones worldwide. The Galaxy S II Smartphone which debuted in April 2011 runs on Google’s Android operating system. The phone is expected in Kenya anytime now with  Samsung Electronics East Africa Business Leader, Mr. Robert Ngeru saying that the country is one of the 120 countries targeted for the next phase of growth as the firm seeks to sell 10 million units globally. The phone is expected to be launched in Kenya in the first few days of August 2011. If introduced in the market, the…

Zuku TV will be officially launched tomorrow. The company expects to launch bouquets of up to 80 channels for as cheap as Ksh 2,000. Kenyans have expressed the need to have a strong competition locally to the DSTV monopoly which looks exploitative. But the Multichoice network is not taking the Zuku TV challenge lying down. The President of MultiChoice Africa, Collins Khumalo, will lead a high powered delegations into the country next week. We don’t know what the mission is but we expect lots engagement with the local media and also other key stakeholders.

They always fight on the opposing sides in many instances. But they are also sane enough to put their competitive aspects into good use. Airtel Kenya has announced that it is joining the Safaricom and KCB led Kenyans4Kenya initiative. KCB, Safaricom, Gina Din PR and Media Owners of Kenya umbrella launched the Kenyans 4 Kenya initiative to help save the 3.5 Million Kenyans who are facing hunger and starvation. Kenyans on the social media have been key in the campaign with more than Ksh 15 Million raised within the last 24 hours. The initiative aims to raise Ksh 500 Million…

You know competition is great. When DSTV recently boycotted Gor Mahia matches, they were later forced to eat humble pie and come begging for the chance to screen the matches as the club was being sweet talked by Zuku TV and Smart TV. The same happened recently when we had Zuku TV and KTN screen the LIVE rugby matches from Nyayo Stadium as DSTV was still bragging how important they were to Kenyan sports. Today, the company is announcing that it is introducing an extra channel named SelectSport which will screen LIVE  matches from major European and Africa leagues to all…

  We were in Mombasa covering the KEPSHA confrence and we were just looking out  for cool ideas out there. Not much happens techwise among our teachers who are mostly tech illiterate. But we did not fail to notice some products among some of the exhibitors and sponsors. We spotted Mark Matunga of Microsoft enjoying work on the RM slate. We asked for a test drive and for a basic user, we think that this is a good bet. And running the Windows 7, we think that it might just be very well taken up locally. The RM Slate is…

Kenya Shippers Council yesterday launched an e-portal hosting all the import and export information needed by those who want to carry out the same in the country. The Joomla based system was launched by Dr James Mwangi, CEO Equity Bank. The portal has all the rules, regulations and procedures on Kenyan imports and exports. The development of the system was done by Veviant Consulting and funded by Trade Mark East Africa. The shippers have been trying to implement the National Single Window system (NSWS) concept which relies on the use of ICT to simplify the sharing and processing of documents…

Microsoft East and Southern Africa yesterday officially unveiled mwalimukenya.org at a KEPSHA event in Mombasa. The portal is a formal communication platform for all Kenyan teachers employed under Teachers Service Commission. Through the portal, TSC  with the support of Microsoft will provide all teachers with a digital identity and a formal email address (can also be accessed through the Live.Com). Some of the features and advantages the teachers would enjoy through the portal are; Direct communication with their employer without physically traveling to the headquarters in Nairobi Ease of curriculum delivery Elimination of the need to carry bulky books Ease…

Safaricom Foundation, KCB Foundation, Media Owners Association of Kenya and Kenya RedCross Society have today launched a humanitarian initiative to assist the starving in Eastern, Northern Kenya and parts of Rift Valley. The initiative is christened Kenyans 4 Kenya Many other initiatives have been launched including the #FeedKe one by my great friend Ahmed Salims. I did my first serious online CSR through the Kenyan diaspora initiative in 2008 to help the Kenyans who were suffering after the 2007 General elections. Many lessons were drawn then. Key among them is that trust is very important. Any small dispute on…

Ok!! John Barorot was sacked from Safaricom in March though the official word was that he was one of the key managers who chose not to re-apply for their positions during the company’s realignment. Two months later, May 2011, he joined Airtel as the Network Director replacing Alec Mulonga from Zambia who was to handover by end of August. It seems like Alec might not be going anywhere or it is just a tricky affair. John Barorot’s resignation is expected to be complete within the next three months. Key sources have given different reasons why Mr Barorot resigned. First there…

I have been wondering where Nation Media got this lousy content system. I thought that Nation could get to try some superior systems which are out there with modern functionality. So I decided to check deep into the source code of the CMS and see if I could trace what system it was. Voila! It is the Mauritius system by Coremedia. The CMS lacks in many bits. It can not be well socialised. You can see how the social media bookmarking buttons comes out when they are added onto the CMS. For a media company like NMG, they need a…

The number of Africans techpreneurs are growing. They are great in the technical bit and somewhat trying to be good on the business side. What they lack in the continent is mentorship from real successful tech business leaders and funding. That seems to be what Start-up Africa cafe looks to fill. It started as a blackberry group with members mainly from Ghana and Nigeria and it is seeking to be a great business support forum in the same countries. The platform seeks to offer resource and moral support to African start-ups through Weekend Start-up Cafe’s, Start-up Seminars, Web and Mobile portals.…