Author: Cyrus

Adobe yesterday unveiled its Adobe Creative Suite 6 product line along with the much rumoured Adobe Creative Cloud which is a cloud-based subscription service for creative professionals. Adobe CS6 is a toolkit for web & graphic design and video professionals . It features new releases of 14 Adobe applications and four Creative Suites – Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design & Web Premium, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Design Standard, Adobe Creative Suite 6 Production Premium, and Adobe Creative Suite 6 Master Collection. The new subscription-based offering, Adobe Creative Cloud is meant to provide adobe clients with the ability to download and install every Adobe CS6…

Apart from the desire for better or faster internet access, the main reason for buying a smartphone is to gain access to mobile apps, according to Ericsson ConsumerLab’s Emerging App Culture report. The report is the result of research conducted in the high-growth markets of Russia, India and Brazil, and also reveals that new smartphone users embrace apps at the same pace as mature users. In addition, 69 percent of smartphone users in the survey accessed internet using apps on a daily basis and 20 percent used data-intensive services like video, TV, maps or navigation apps daily. The top 10…

While the North Korean government continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on powerful weapons and rocket launches,  the regime seems to have a little to spend on PR. The reclusive totalitarian regime has recently redesigned its official state Web site, investing only $15 (yes fifteen dollars) on the new redesign. The regime bought a new theme designed by Robert Westmore (an American) who designs website themes and sells them on the ThemesForest portal. The theme which Robert posted on ThemeForest.com is now North Korea’s website homepage. “I had no idea,” Westmore told FoxNews. “Honestly, I didn’t even know North Korea had…

For most computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer. Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down. The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org , that will inform them whether they’re infected…

Chief Kariuki’s story has been told and retold. It is story which was first told worldwide by the international media before the local mainstream media got hold of it. There are a few social media lessons I have learnt from Chief Kariuki’s story; You Don’t Have to Be Tech Savvy to Use Social Media – Chief Kariuki is someone you would consider not to be tech savvy. He is a simple former primary school teacher turned village administrator using a very low end mobile phone which is not even GPRS capable to tweet. He uses TXT to twitter feature to share…

Some parents in the USA have reportedly sued Apple for luring their kids to spend real money on extra features and virtual gifts while they are while playing games using apps in the Apple app store. The California parents are claiming that Apple made it easier for children to use ‘game currencies,’ allowing them to use actual money to buy virtual coins and tools. The suit claimed that the kids could “purchase the currencies” without the knowledge of the parents while playing games which are mostly listed as “free”. According to report appearing on ABC News website, the parents are…

After the ‘Kony 2012’ YouTube video which was a great phenomenon, ordinary Ugandans felt that their voice were never heard and their story told. The Invincible Children’s video was viewed more than 100 million times and shared globally like has never been done before. The phenomenon was said to be the greatest, eclipsing the likes of Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber who were previously considered to be the kings and queens of viral videos. The #Kony2012 is now officially the most viral video / phenomenon in history. Great that Lord’s Resistance Army rebel leader, Joseph Kony, is now more known to the world, the…

Air travellers in South Africa might soon start to enjoy in-flight internet. South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) (CAA) has approved an application by ISPs, WirelessG and Row 44, to install Wi-Fi equipment in commercial aircraft in SA. The approval granted in October 2011 paves the way a May 2012 launch. WirelessG indicated that people should expect to pay less for in-flight Wi-Fi as opposed to the 3G data accessed elsewhere. The company believes that it would work best if travellers are given capped data and not charged per MB as is common in South Africa. The company has further revealed that…

Criminals are known to be dumb sometimes. We have the moderately foolish ones like the Anonymous hacker who posted his girlfriend’s cleavage on his website and the worst case scenario which we have today. Michael Baker, 20, from Letcher County in Kentucky state of USA is what we would call damn foolish (you remember the comedian who appeared on Diddy’s Bad Boy show? Yeah!). The guy siphoned fuel from a police patrol car. That was not stupid. The stupid part is that him and his squeeze decided to mock the police, show them the middle finger and say they think they commited…

Autodesk Africa the vendors of the popular 3D graphics design solution, Autodesk, has announced an amnesty campaign where people using pirated Autodesk solutions will not face any legal charges until 30th April. The users need only to approach local Autodesk channel partners to purchase legal versions of AutoCAD and related software products without fear of retroactive prosecution. Autodesk aims to increase the uptake of the software through legal channels as opposed to the current situation where most of its solutions used locally have not been acquired through the legal channels. Eric Mule, the Managing Director of Autodesk’s distribution partner in…

Spice VAS Africa has embarked on a regional expansion plan to reinforce its market-leadership position in the provision of mobile entertainment and infotainment services. The company now has fully-fledged offices in Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana and Kenya, which is the African hub. Some of the products the company offers include Mobile Radio, Caller Ring back Tones (CRBT), Voice Chat, Voice subscriptions, Religious Portals, Collect Calls, and Interactive TV. The company is in the meantime setting up operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Chad, Congo Republic and Gabon. Commenting on the development, Spice VAS Africa Chief…

CCK yesterday released the September 2011 to Dec 2011 report. It was all gloomy for the voice and SMS use in the country while data registered growth in use and uptake. The second quarter report shows that Safaricom and Esar gained the highest number of subscribers at 741 560 and 600 285 while Airtel Kenya and Orange Kenya registered 100 778 and 144 208 more users compared to the 1st quarter respectively. In relation to the actual operator’s subscriber base, Essar Kenya gained 36.83%, Airtel Kenya 2.42%, Safaricom 4.13% and Orange Kenya 5.25% growth. Despite registering not such a higher growth in subscriber numbers,…

Cisco has launched the first Africa Women Initiative, that targets young talented women at college and universities who have already shown motivation, talent and are potentially successful in their local environments, but in need of a small boost to widen their views. The initiative’s primary goal is to boost future prospects of talented young women by exposing them to women friendly technologies and to inspiring women role models who have positively impacted society. A select audience of youthful female participants from Kenya attended a session moderated by the Ambassador Seretse of Botswana to the United States. Ambassador Seretse shared her…

Buni Media, the creatives behind XYZ show, has today announced the launch today of a new VOD and mobile TV service called Buni TV. The service which will be available through www.buni.tv and on mobile through m.buni.tv will see users access shows and movies through their internet enabled computers and mobile devices. With the launch, Buni Meedia announced that the entire 5 seasons of the Kenyan political satire The XYZ Show is now available through the portal together with the Kenyan animation films like Kwame Nyong’o’s The Legend of Ngong Hills, documentaries by Egyptian filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky and Nigerian children TV…

Bharti Airtel has today announced the appointment of Shivan Bhargava who was previously the Chief Operating Officer as Airtel Kenya’s Managing Director. Shivan is expected to now fully engage in the local communications scene. Since his appointment as Airtel kenya COO in September 2011, Shivan has taken a low key almost completely avoiding media unlike his predecessor, Rene Meza, who took on key competitors head-on in the market. Announcing the appointment, Mr. Jayant Khosla, CEO (Airtel Africa Anglophone Region), said: “Kenya has always been a key market with great potential for growth within the region. Our leadership and management team…