Author: Cyrus

Despite acting in his first movie, Barkhad Abdi proved to be a great actor in the role he played in the very successful smash hit Captain Phillips. He even earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, but the Somali American is reported to be struggling to survive in Hollywood where he moved to after the movie. According to Business Insider, Abdi was paid $65,000 and some occasional per diem despite the movie netting $218 million in earnings and having a production budget of $55 million. A New Yorker story reveals that Abdi get to loan clothes from friends and fellow actors. “When Abdi is in…

Broke hip-hop artist who is just from washing dishes in USA, Bamboo is out with new allegations (this is no the first time he is making wild accusations). He has always picked fights with almost every industry bigwig to make a name, something which has not worked in his favour. He hit a new low today when he accused monied Music Producer Bruce Odhiambo of ripping him off his Ksh 3 million (yes Bamboo says he commands such) in performance fees. Bamboo went further and accused Bruce Odhiambo of raping his 17 – year old former girlfriend, Anisa Njeri Ndisi.…

Uganda has organised a two and half training for its 386 MPs on how to use iPads. But only 3 MPs have attended the initial stages of training as most MPs were reported to have joined President Museveni in State House Entebbe during the signing of the Anti Homosexuality Bill into Law. The 3 MPs who attended the training were Wamakuyu Mudiimi (Bulamburi County), Angellina Osege (Soroti district) and Sarah Mwebaza (Kibuku district). According to Uganda’s Parliament Director of Corporate Affairs Kawesa, the training is aimed at equipping the MPs with skills on how to use the iPads. The first…

Facebook has in a very quit manner, shut down its unpopular email system claiming that “most people haven’t been using their Facebook email address.” The system launched in 2010, gave all Facebook users @facebook.com email addresses. The social network was criticised by tech pundits when it changed its @facebook.com email address as the default email address for all Facebook users. The email address was generated from the vanity url which users gets by visiting www.facebook.com/username. With the discontinuation, all emails sent to an “@facebook.com” address will be forwarded to the users personal email address used in signing up for the…

Japanese electronics giant, SONY has sounded a profit warning indicating that it is booking a $1.08 billion annual loss as it cuts 5,000 jobs and sell off its overpriced but stagnant PC unit. The maker projects that it will save about $5 million through the jobs cuts starting in early 2015. The VAIO units have not  managed to register much success despite SONY being a giant in many verticals of the electronics market. SONY is selling the PC unit to Japanese Investment Partners for between $400 million and $500 million. Not much financial information on the deal was announced. Market…

Nairobi thieves are getting high tech. First the story appeared on Standard and I dismissed it as some imagination. But my friend recently found things stolen from his car without any forced entry. The same happened to another car parked at the big parking lot opposite the Laico Regency. Through investigations, I think that I now know what really happens. The tech savvy thieves have discovered that the remote car and gate lock systems uses the 433MHz frequency. Meaning that activation of the two simultaneously might have one interfere with the other resulting in either the gate or the car…

Players in Kenya’s telecommunications service industry are up in arms against a move by Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) to privatise KENIC, the dotKE domain manager without involving other stakeholders. While KENIC has two guarantors, CCK and the industry lobby group Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK), it is the latter which has been going through the headache of  trying to manage and ensure sanity at KENIC. TESPOK managers have in many instances had to make daily calls to KENIC managers calling for sanity when the board and management of the registry tried to run down the outfit through…

A dramatic video showing Administration Police officers (APs) begging an armed thug to lie down and be frisked has gone viral. The video posted by Nation Media owned Nairobi News show a single officers armed with a pistol in one hand run and grab the armed thug by the neck and begs him to lie down for more than 4 minutes before two other police officers arrive and order the thug to lie down. The Video The video show the good side of the cops but also the fact that they are not well trained in physically subduing such a…

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s son, Muhoho Kenyatta is said to be dating Moi’s grand daughter (Phillip Moi’s daughter), Tallisa Moi. They have been spotted at different functions having a good time with the young couple really enjoying time together. Muhoho is a student at Braeburn School doing his A-Levels while Tallisa is a student at St. Andrews University in United Kingdom. The university is famous as is it the same university where Prince William and Kate Middleton went to. The couple are publicly showing their love on Instagram where they together with a circle of who-is-who’s kids have a presence. Muhoho…

Burundi has officially launched its $25 million fibre-optic cable network project to widen access to broadband Internet to its population. The country still relies on some of the slowest internet speeds on the continent . The country ranks almost 136th out of 137 countries in internet connection speeds according to CIA World Factbook. The landlocked country of 8 million might change this as President Pierre Nkurunziza told a launch ceremony that the project is  part of a plan to ensure that all Burundians have access to the Internet by 2025. The country currently has a national fibre link spanning some 1,000km…

Airtel Kenya has just announced an offer of 25% bonus airtime to its prepaid customers who are topping up their accounts. All one needs to do to qualify is to buy and register a new Airtel SIM card from any of its shops, dealers and agents and load airtime to get going. For example one loading airtime worth Kshs.100 will get an actual value of Ksh.125 airtime credit for use. Customers may dial 13313# to check bonus airtime balance.

LG Electronics (LGE) has today launched its “Mosquito Away” residential air conditioner model in the Kenyan market. The ACs which are specifically designed for the local market incorporates a function that uses ultrasonic waves to combat mosquitoes. The air conditioner emits ultrasonic waves that, in a way, disrupt the mosquito’s sensory cells and cause paralysis, confusion and sometimes death. LG says that the mosquito repelling technology “is harmless to humans and represents a clean, safe alternative to dangerous chemical-based insecticides and repellants.” By pressing the “Mosquito Away button” on the AC’s remote control, a speaker within the air conditioner is activated that produces inaudible ultrasonic waves…

Lupita Nyong’o is becoming very popular especially now that she has been nominated for an Oscar for her supporting role in the “12 Years as a Slave” movie. The media is after her. Magazines like Vanity Fair have lined up to feature the star in their best sections. That is what the magazine was doing as they prepared to feature her in their “Vanities” section. They photographed her but social media users noticed that the magazine lightened up her skin in the photos maybe to make her look whiter than she is. They tweeted this; The stunning @Lupita_Nyongo photographed for…

The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) has banned the popular Wolf of WallStreet movie for various reason. According to Ms Redempta Amondi of the board, “the movie was banned after independent review because of explicit sexual content, profanity and abuse of drugs.” The movie is based on the true story of Jordan Belfort who rose to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and involvement in the government. It has a 8.7/10 rating on IMDB and runs for 180 minutes (3 hours). The board has revealed that they got the movie through Fox Film…

There has been talk on why Teacher Wanjiku quit the Churchill Show. Some have claimed that the show’s executive producer demanded money from her Airtel Kenya earnings. Some have said that success got into her head. What we can reveal is that nobody chased Teacher Wanjiku from the Churchill Show. According to artists who have worked under Laugh Industry, “Teacher Wanjiku thinks that she is at her peak and so she doesn’t need Churchill Show.” “She thinks that with Victor Ber who is her husband and also ‘a producer’, she can go places,” the artist added. “Anaona amefika. She is…