August 2009 - skunkworks - Skunkworks Site

chekelea.com is website of the week on Business Daily
by aki 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

Page 17. Thanks to the writer for an open writeup with strong end user impressions. All points have been noted and will be worked upon to make it even more effective. Asante Sana. :-)

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What REAL broadband costs out there...please don't shoot yourself?
by Gakuru Alex 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/18/31/41551958.xls

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ISP SLA's
by Phares Kariuki 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

Now yesterday, I had an interesting discussion with a Safaricom (Onecom) sales lady. She basically came to sell us their fibre offering at 69k monthly for non-contended 1mbs. They offered postpaid 3g in the event that we go down. Two problems; she touted the SLA's, then went on to mention that we were to pay our postpaid bill in the event that we went down... So basically, we pay Safaricom more when they go down. The incentive system is inappropriately skewed to their favor. They no longer have a need to be up. Even on the SLA, the fact that most ISP's say 99.99% Uptime guaranteed and don't provide it, meant that its' ok to go on saying that. My arguement is that if you can guarantee 98%, I will sign on 98% and expect 2% downtime. Don't tell me 99.99% then go on to tell me "but you know, shift (sic) happens". Guarantee what you know you can provide. Otherwise just tell us you guarantee 100%, save for employee incompetence, rain, anger of the almighty, supplier backlash etc... -- With Regards, Phares Kariuki | T: +254 734 810 802 | E: pkariuki(a)gmail.com | Twitter: kaboro | Skype: kariukiphares |

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Power rationing and personal electricity generation
by aki 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

While the rationing is forecast, It reminds me of the last time we had this. At that time, I designed a 2KVA invertor system from scratch with power MOSFETS which ran on 2 lead acid batteries with an external charger ( 100ah ). This thing ran for 7 hours continuos powering a 30amp load. This time around, no need for that as many things are cheaply available. noise free minimum requirements, power delivery at least 8 hrs at 40% load : - Power 2 energy saving bulbs. These are the AC philips 8watt ( 40 watt output ). DC load on good quality cable : 0.5amps max each - Laptop and charger. DC load on good quality cable : 2 amps max - Printer ( inkjet, not laser ) . DC load on good quality cable : 4amps max - Wifi Router. DC load on good quality cable : 0.1 amp max cheap options available : - For lighting, I can use DC flourecent tube 8Watt. These run on 12 VDC. run a separate DC line from the batteries @ 0.2amp each. - Use an invertor or modify a 650VA UPS for AC supply. split the DC and AC circuits while good ventilation is important - Purchase 2 batteries ( 100ah each stacked in parallel, total 200ah ) sealed maintainence free type ( must be in ventilated area ) - purchase a single solar panel with line charger or incase of UPS, increase charging transformer size. Or AC charger upto 10amps. sketch : !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! charging !------------! Invertor/ !-----------------AC Output ( fused protection) !system+batt ! ! UPS ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !-------------------------------------------------------------DC Output ( fused protection ) ( correct as necessary )

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Mapping traffic conditions in nairobi
by Josiah Mugambi 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

Any hope that we can do this... http://traffic.berkeley.edu/theproject.html <http://traffic.berkeley.edu/theproject.html> -- Josiah Mugambi Ogden Nash <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/o/ogden_nash.html> - "The trouble with a kitten is that when it grows up, it's always a cat."

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Web Developers Required
by MM 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

Hi, 2 permanently employed developers required to work on payment systems Basic Qualifications; 1. Linux 2. PHP 3. MySQL Expect practical demonstration during interview. Send resume to ninja(a)mobilepay.co.ke -- /"\ \ / ASCII Ribbon Campaign X against HTML email & vCards / \

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FWIW: Kenya's image getting a severe beating in the Canadian Press
by saidimu apale 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

I don't know how much press the following story got in the local media, but here's a quick summary: A Somali-Canadian, Suaad, left Toronto to visit her mom in Nairobi. On her > way back, just before boarding at JKIA, she was stopped by a Kenyan employee > of KLM who doubted her identity. The Canadian High Commission in Nairobi > (the one in a swanky building in Gigiri) was contacted and officials there > told the Kenyan officials that Suaad was an impostor and that her passport > didn't belong to her. So, with the help of the High Commission, Kenyan > officials charged her with a variety of crimes and whisked her to remand in > Lang'ata Women's prison. She spent 8 days there before she was released on > bail. She had 11 pieces of other ID on her (driver's license, medical insurance > card, etc etc) but the Canadian officials wouldn't listen. She pleaded with > them to call her employer and her relatives in Toronto but they wouldn't > budge. Finally after 3 months, as part of her case in the Kenyan system, a > DNA test was conducted and matched with samples collected from her son in > Toronto. She was determined to be who she claimed to be and is now back in > Toronto. The worst of Kenya - corrupt officials, airports, prisons, (in)justice system - has been on display for the past 2-3 weeks, loud and clear. http://www.thestar.com/Article/682824 (on prison conditions in Lang'ata) http://bit.ly/l01zc (for more stories) And, as expected, the Kenyan High Commision officials in Canada have been... well, who knows where they've been.

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The more things change...
by Glenn Sequeira 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

the more they stay the same... or so the saying goes. A friend just forwarded me a copy of an email received from his ISP announcing their new tariff plans: Dear Esteemed Client, Blah, blah, blah... landing of the submarine fibre cable... blah, blah, blah... Blah, blah, blah... Blah, blah, blah... Instead of limiting your access speeds, this new plan will see you enjoy the fibre experience i.e. high access speeds. High Speeds of upto 1 Mbps will allow transmission of all protocols, thus enable services like movie and music downloads, peer to peer applications, Skype and other Voice over IP service use, gaming and many others. Effective 1st September 2009 our service plans will be as follows: Pro 20GB 15,999 Classic 8GB 7,999 Eazy 4GB 4,999 Lite 2GB 3,500 Blah, blah, blah... Kind regards, John Doe General Manager ~~~ As a service to ISPs, I submit the template below that they can use to announce their new tariffs and plans. Dear Customer whom we've been @#$%ing for the last x [months|years], Thanks to the landing of the submarine fibre cable, you will now get @#$%ed much faster. Yours faithfully, Extreme @#$% Masters ~~~ gms

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www.businesslicense.go.ke: Good move
by wesley kiriinya 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

Seems like GOK has put info on business licenses online, and the website looks nice. Good move.

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.NET User Group Meeting Silver Springs Sat August 28 10:00AM
by Rad! 28 Aug '09

28 Aug '09

If you're interested in development and .NET in particular join us tomorrow at Silver Springs hotel from 10.00 where we shall be having a few short sessions and presentations. If you'd like to slot yourself in for a 10-15 minute presentation on ANYTHING technology & development related, shoot me a mail. If there are any Java/Adobe AIR guys willing to speak it'd be cool to hear from you. Free entry. Bring your friends

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