Afromusing

• Nairobi: Recycling center overwhelmed

  Posted: September 25, 2008, 5:29 pm by AfroMusing

  The Karen Langata District Association (KLDA) runs a bottle bank at the Langata Link complex where residents of Karen and Langata can drop off empty glass bottles for recycling. Lately they have been receiving huge amounts of bottles and the glass company responsible for collecting these is not able to cope. They are looking for groups / organizations interested in collecting the bottles to contact them on tel. 891784 or 020-2304844.

  (Hat Tip B - From Kenya Buzz)

• Nokia Takes on Apple’s Digital Music Dominance

  Posted: September 19, 2008, 8:35 pm by AfroMusing

  Nokia Could Loosen Apple’s Grip On Digital Music:

  For years, Microsoft and others have attempted without much success to shake Appleâ??s tight grip on the digital music scene. From subscription services to the Zune, companies have searched for the winning alternative to the iTunes, iPod bundle. Analysts now believe Finlandâ??s Nokia may have a good shot of chipping away at Apple dominance.

  More than 80 percent of people would pay for Nokia’s Comes with Music service - particularly when it feels like they are getting tunes for free. Nokia says it will launch the handsets Oct. 17 in Britain.

  Strategy Analytics said cost and selection trump brand - even ones so tightly woven as Apple, iPod and iTunes.

  Nokia Comes With Music effectively bundles a year subscription of music downloads (PC and mobile) into the price of a handset, analyst Pitesh Patel told Cult of Mac.

  Patel said Nokia - the largest handset maker - could overwhelm Apple’s iPhone.

  Nokia’s strong distribution and handset marketshare means that it currently sells more music playing devices than Apple, the Strategy Analytics wireless analyst said.

  ….

  It turns out that brand is irrelevant,said Patel.

  “

  (Via Cult of Mac.)

  I often tell my friends to ‘Bet on Nokia’, and it seems like this is another reason to continue to do just that. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, though I would expect Nokia to continue its world dominance, and expansion in emerging markets. If Nokia can grab some of the Digital music market share, even better.
  Why am I rooting for Nokia over Apple? Because Apple, with its DRM and charging 99cents to create a ringtone( and only from songs bought on itunes) smacks of authoritarianism. Let alone the complete handset lockdown of the Iphone, with threats to turn it into an ibrick if you unlock the device then install a sw update. Sigh* With Nokia, you get an unlocked phone that affords you much freedom. You can use whatever song you want as the ringtone (at least that is the case with the E71), you can use your phone as modem, tether it to your laptop. This is particularly important when you are not in broadband rich areas, but are in a wireless-signal-rich locale.
  Speaking of the E71 do check out JKE’s series of E71 reviews. 1 mobile blogging, 2, 3 pics , 4, and stay tuned because the man is not done reviewing this phone.

  I often have to remind myself to buy music from the Amazon mp3 store instead of Itunes, because I believe DRM (Digital Rights Management) that Itunes still saddles on music is just plain wrong-headed. I am not about to be left in a lurch like the Yahoos who bought tunes from the Yahoo store (forgive me…I couldn’t resist!) To be fair, Itunes does provide DRM free music, but good luck finding the ‘itunes plus’ versions of the songs you want.
  So in conclusion…AFM recommends you Bet on Nokia and buy your music on Amazon mp3 download/or other DRM free service. You do reserve the right to ogle at Iphones, but only John Oliver, Anthony Bourdain and Joseph Kabila reserve the right to be awesome.

• Back to School - Chip in for Glady’s school fees

  Posted: September 19, 2008, 3:01 am by AfroMusing

  I struggled with whether to blog this or not, but decided that Kenyan bloggers are a wonderful bunch and would welcome an opportunity to do something good for a fellow Kenyan. So much so that its not a good idea for this to be something that just a few blogger pals do, but that we get others to chip in.

  For those of us who grew up in Kenya, we understand that the KCSE (Kenya Certificate Secondary Examination) is one of the most important tests for all students in the Kenyan school system.The pressure, the frayed nerves, the ‘trans-nighting’. Imagine the test being 1 month away and you are being kicked out of school because the school fees have not been paid and you do not have means of raising the Kshs 43,000 ($615) so you can take the exam. This is the situation that Gladys finds herself in. We have a short time, and I believe we can get her fee paid so she can sit for her exam. Josiah - The Alpha Quadrant got the ball rolling and has provided all the info we need in order to fulfill this through the remittance service Mamamikes, with the money going directly to her school. For Glady’s privacy kindly email jmugambi at gmail dot com or myself afromusing at gmail dot com and we can give you her full name and details to enter in the mamamikes page for fee remittance. Might change the post to include all the info, but for now lets just err on the side of privacy. Lets get Gladys back to school now shall we?

  Kshs 5530 donated already, Kshs 37470 ($535) to go.
  Update 9/25/08: Amount remaining is Ksh 27400 and pledges from the community total Ksh 20,000
  

• Opportunities for Physics students interested in RE (Renewable Energy) - Africa

  Posted: September 18, 2008, 5:01 am by AfroMusing

  Please see the info below, you can send an email to Spelly DOT Ramoshaba AT za DOT fujitsu DOT com

  I am looking for Physics students who are interested in Masters and PhD
  studies in the field of renewable energy technologies, ICT and/or material
  science (building materials). I have lucrative bursaries for the students of
  up to R100 000pa for Masters and R150 000pa for PhD for the period of 2
  years at masters and 3 years at PhD. The bursary will increase annually
  based on certain deliverables from the student. There is also an opportunity
  for them to do contract work for Eskom with us and top up their annual
  bursaries to above R250 000 for PhD and above R150 000 for Masters. I am
  trying to get some people from previously disadvantaged groups but I do not
  know anyone there, so if you know someone who might benefit from this
  lucrative offers, even if its not someone from previously disadvantaged
  groups, give them my contact details below.

  This is a very urgent call because the money is lying somewhere and we need
  to provide proof of students registration to get it to our account.

  I will appreciate your assistance.
  Cheers
  Sampson Mamphweli
  Researcher (Renewable Energy)
  Fort Hare Institute of Technology
  Tel: +2740 602 2311
  Fax: +27866659221
  Mobile: +27822140367

  Usual disclaimer: I am just passing the information along, please do your own due diligence when contacting the person.

  Update: The Acumen fund fellowship program is accepting applications, the deadline for that is October 20th 2008. For more info, click here.

• Monday September 22nd - One Web Day

  Posted: September 18, 2008, 3:27 am by AfroMusing

  If you celebrate Earth Day, spend a lot of time on the internet be it for work or play…It only fits that you’d participate in One Web Day. Makes even more sense if you experience withdrawal symptoms when your internet service goes down, or you find yourself doing ‘broadband over breakfast’ multiple times a week.

  Earth Day was the model when I founded OneWebDay in 2006, says Susan Crawford, a professor of law specializing in Internet issues at the University of Michigan. In 1969, one man asked the people to do what their elected representatives would not: take the future of the environment into their own hands.By 1972, the United States had a federal agency devoted to protecting the environment, the E.P.A., and today a worldwide citizens movement has put the environment front and center politically. According to Crawford, peoples lives now are as dependent on the Internet as they are on the basics like roads, energy supplies and running water. We can no longer take that for granted and we must advocate for the Internet politically, and support its vitality personally.

  The Internet has also become the means by which citizens around the world build movements to hold their elected leaders accountable and support those who represent their interests; it is also increasingly the medium through which citizens interact with their governments. The theme of this year’s OneWebDay is online participation in democracy, coinciding with the U.S. elections.

  The online hub for OneWebDay 2008 is www.onewebday.org. There, anyone can: plan or find out about activities in their community; learn ten things individuals can do to support the web; contribute their own stories; read posts from 100 OneWebDay ambassadors; and learn about Internet advocacy groups.

  I know its late notice, but perhaps the good folks at Skunkworks can organize something in Nairobi so we can be on the map too? More info on how to get things going on this link. There is a list of 10 things you can do for the web, one of the first is to use a standards compliant web browser like Firefox or Opera. Who is still using IE and why? I grit my teeth each time I am forced to use it.
  Grab the button for your blog/site here.

  As African bloggers what do you think we should do on One Web Day(complementary to the 10 suggested ideas)? You know we need better internet Infrastructure like yesterday…

• Film Competition by World Bank - Social Dimensions of Climate Change

  Posted: September 15, 2008, 8:40 pm by AfroMusing

  Crossposted on Global Voices.

  The world bank has a call for submissions of short 2-5 minute documentaries that show the social effects or aspects of climate change. The deadline for the competition is October 24th 2008. They would like submissions from developing countries (particularly from the youth), covering any of the following categories.

  - Conflict: As climate change results in scarcity of resources and economic and, in many cases, political instability, how may it lead to social unrest and armed conflict?

  - Migration: Are there any links between climate change and population migration?

  - Social Policy: How do governments prepare effective social policy to meet climate change challenges?

  - Drylands: What is the social response in drylands related to climate change?

  - Urban Space: How do climate change adaptation measures take into account the needs of the poor in the urban environment?

  - Rural Institutions: How do local level institutions in agrarian societies build capacity to handle risks associated to climate change and deliver solutions?

  - Indigenous Peoples: How are Indigenous Peoples responding and adapting to the impacts of climate change?

  - Gender: Are there different implications of climate change for men and women, boys and girls? How or where can instances of this be seen?

  - Governance: How can social accountability be promoted in climate action?

  - Forests: What are the threats and opportunities for local communities in efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation?

  - Human Rights: What are the human rights implications of climate change?
  More information about the competition is available here.
  Below is the call for submissions video.
  

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Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes