Author: Cyrus

We saw this cool website focused on kids and decided to check it out. Tinkatolli is a virtual play and learning ground for kids. The site was created by concerned parents who thought that they needed a safe place for their kids to learn and play online. We talked to the co-founder and CEO of Tinkatolli, Kevin McLean. What is Tinkatolli? Tinkatolli is a multiplayer virtual world for tweens – basically its like a big virtual playground in a safe, secure environment. Kids can explore, discover, make new friends, hangout with old friends, play mini-games, compete with each other, share. Its a universe that…

Vodacom Tanzania has announced that it will not charge its clients to receive calls while roaming in 9 African countries where it has partners. The countries where the waiver will apply are South Africa (Vodacom), Mozambique (Vodacom), Lesotho (Vodacom), DRC Congo (Vodacom), Ghana (Vodafone), Kenya (Safaricom), Rwanda (MTN), Uganda (MTN), Uganda (UTL) and Burundi (UCOM). Previously Vodacom clients were charged to receive calls SMS and got huge data bills while roaming even in neighbouring countries. Some of the Vodacom Tanzania partners who will help in ensuring the affordability of roaming services are Vodacom Lesotho, Vodacom Mozambique, Vodacom South Africa, Vodacom…

A South African victim of robbery and kidnapping was last night rescued after his girlfriend tweeted for help. The man from Johannesburg was hijacked and put in the boot of hiss car while the robbers looked for where to dump him and get away with the car. The robbers forgot to take away his phone which he used to send his girlfriend, Lynn Peters, an SMS. Lynn then tweeted Be on the look for DSS041GP my boyufriend has just been hijacked and is in the boot please RT — Lynn Peters (@onebadvillynn) April 7, 2012 7 of her friends retweeted…

A Kenya Airways passenger has been taken to a Nairobi Court after arguing with KQ flight attendants on whether he should or should not switch off the phone in a KQ flight from Kigali to Nairobi. According to the passenger, Prasun Chaturvedi, his phone was in offline/airplane mode and so he found it had to fathom why the flight attendant would insist on him switching his phone off. The flight attendant did not later come to make sure that the phone was switched off but instead insisted that the passenger apologise for apparently using bad language in addressing her. The passenger…

Look here. First Peter Kenneth owns Mayfair Insurance which insures Harun Mwau related companies like Nakumatt supermarket. He also get good financial backing from Mr Mwau. His KNC has offices in Lavington which he rarely use and now he uses the Mayfair Plaza offices on 8th floor while his campaign team is located on the 6th team of the same building. Not much is known about KNC membership apart from the Alice Ng’ang’a who vied for the Juja seat using the party ticket. Peter Kenneth runs the party with an almost iron hand where allowances or salaries are never paid…

An Irish Catholic priest is having sleepless nights after accidentally playing 16 adult videos to kids, some as young as 8 years. Father Martin McVeigh, a priest in C ounty of Tyrone in Nothern Ireland, was making a presentation to parents of children preparing for Holy Communion about going to Confession. He wanted to make his work easier using technology like any modern priest would. He started doing the presentation that is when the explicit content popped up instead of his prepared one prompting him to unplug the USB and flee the room. His colleague took over and showed the…

Ugandan subscribers of the Orange Uganda’s network can now access Wikipedia for free, according to the media coordinator, Patience Tindyebwa. “Any customer with an Orange SIM and mobile internet enabled phone will be able to access Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopaedia in the world, through their mobile browser.”  Through the initiative, Orange Uganda clients can access Wikipedia encyclopaedia services for as many times as they like, at no extra charge as long as they stay within Wikipedia’s pages. With the service which will be rolled out to Orange subscribers throughout Africa, the network in Uganda now targets over 4 million internet…

Microsoft has announced that it plans to open an office in Zambia in the near future. Microsoft Corporate VP and President for Middle East & Africa (MEA), Ali Faramawy, said that the tech giant would significantly help reduce the cost of computer software if it had an office in Zambia. Currently Mirosoft software clients in Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and other Southern Africa countries rely on supplies from South Africa and Kenya where Microsoft has offices. The VP also added that Microsoft was considering setting up an ICT lab at the University of Zambia Great East Road Campus to enable students to easily…

It is not always serious when you think that you can do anything to get Apple’s iPad. But a Chinese teen did just the unthinkable in April 2011 to get the iPad 2. He sold his kidney to organ harvesters at a fee of $3,500. Since the sale reported by China’s GlobalTimes, the Chinese teen has developed various complications related to the kidney. Police in China’s Anhui province have now arrested 5 people involved in the organ harvest including the doctor, staff, and accomplices who  paid the boy 20,000 yuan ($3,500) for the organ. The buyers later sold the kidney for around $40,000…

Social sector startup investor and Micro-Finance Accion has launched Venture Lab fousing on India and East Africa. Through a press release, the micro-finance has indicated that it targets to provide seed capital and management support to startups worldwide. The Venture Lab looks to initially invest in startups in East Africa and India but there will be expansion to Latin America in the next few months. Armed with an initial capital outlay of around Ksh 820 million ($10 million) it will invest between $100,000 and $300,000 in the following focus area Mobile financial services: Mobile phone-based financial services or business models built on branchless…

A Kenyan, Benson Mugo, was this week fined Ksh 120,000 or be sent to prison for 12 years for sending abusive and threatening messages to his friend. Benson was charged before Murang’a Senior Principal Magistrate, Anthony Kanjaru, with the offence of misusing telecommunications systems. A woman, Esther Kamende, reported the incident at Murang’a Police Station according to Prosecutor, Chief Inspector Paul Gathara. Benson was convicted on his own plea of guilty. The Kenyan government is facing  a headache on how to handle crime where technology is involved as there are not any comprehensive laws to cover such. Recently Kenyan Police…

yuMobile has today unveiled a new day and night calling offer that will see its subscribers enjoy extended talk time all day and night. yuMobile subscribers who already enjoy FREE yu to yu calls  all day can now extend this to night chat for ONLY 3/- extra. The free calls are available as default and on a pay-as-you-use model which means customers who are not making yu-yu calls during day (6.00am – 6.00pm) or night (10.00pm – 6.00am) will not be charged. Speaking while unveiling the offer, yuMobile Country Manager, Mr. Madhur Taneja said the typical Kenyan mobile subscriber enjoys…

I have been a great supporter of Konza even when people started opposing the idea last year. There are times when even the local mainstream media could not touch it until when Ministry of Information lured them with adverts and paid assignment to promote the idea on Web, TV, Radio and Newspapers. You must have realised this when Nation Media Group ran the Konza campaigns on their website and advertisers announcements on the Daily Nation and Business Daily newspaper. The honeymoon seems like is over as most of the very well informed ICT investors are shying away from the over…

Research in Motion (RIM) has announced that it will be opening its first apps development centre at Egypt’s Smart Villages, local daily Al Ahram reports. BlackBerry which is facing an onslaught in its quest to have an impact with the smartphone mass market usage, is looking at Africa and Middle East for future growths. Though it registered a 45% sales in US sales and marginal loss globally, the Canadian based mobile solutions company registered a 140% growth in Middle East. According to the article, RIM’s manager for North Africa, Ben Quirin, said “the company had taken greater interest in Egypt in the…

Safaricom has indicated that its subscribers in sections of Nairobi will from next week access the Internet at speeds of 42 Mbps after a system upgrade. The announcement was made by Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore, on the sidelines of Connected Kenya summit. In the afternoon session, Orange Kenya also announced that it is testing its 42Mbps 3G connection with commercial roll-out expected in the next few weeks. Not much information is available on the availability of Orange Kenya’s 42Mbps network though its 21Mbps 3G network covers parts of Kisumu, Mombasa and Nairobi. With Safaricom, the CEO indicated that the initial…