September 2009 - skunkworks

Re: [Skunkworks] [ke-internetusers] Re: Let's build an Electronic Payment Solution!
by wesley kirinya 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

As I said earlier in the thread, I would get back with a response of what I found. I won't go into the details of the companies I spoke to but rather I'll give a general overview of the payment solutions. I believe you guys will get to know about the solutions via the mail lists therefore I dont want to pre-launch any of them. I spoke to 3 companies, and all 3 seem to be at advanced stages with the payment solutions. One of the companies is not in Kenya, but is African. So basically there are 2 Kenyan companies. In general you, the software developer/content creator, will pay an annual fee of about 20-40K, and upto 3% per transaction. You will be provided with an API to intergrate with the payment solution. One of the payment solutions will provide ready plug-ins which I think is great for the non-techie guys (content creators: Music, videos, ...). The solutions rely on the Telcos money transfer services therefore customers will be charged normal M-Pesa/Zap fees. I did mention the idea of partnering with a retailer e.g. Uchumi to sell electronic top-up cards (similar to how you would buy airtime) and thus eliminate the M-Pesa/Zap fees (The retailer gets about 6%). The idea was received well but it's not immediate in the pipeline. Some of the issues I had in mind are whether people without IDs (teenagers) can use the system (coz of M-Pesa/Zap dependency) however the solution would be parents to do purchases on their behalf. Another issue was that transactions of < KSH. 100 are not worth it. These payment solutions might be rolled out before the end of the year. If you're a developer and you feel the above fits you then polish up your app 8~), ready for sale. Personally I think the solutions are good. More than that I think we're generally moving in the right direction. I hope developers and content creators make use of these services to sell products. 8~) --- On Sun, 9/20/09, Lucy Kimani <lkimani(a)yahoo.com> wrote: From: Lucy Kimani <lkimani(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] [ke-internetusers] Re: Let's build an Electronic Payment Solution! To: "Skunkworks Forum" <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke>, "wesley kirinya" <kiriinya2000(a)yahoo.com> Cc: "ke-users" <ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net> Date: Sunday, September 20, 2009, 3:00 PM All, Even as you write your code, I thought I would share a link to one of the most trusted/successful gateway outfits here in the US, I did some biashara with them and I found them to be outstanding, so you may check out their site that has a wealth of information.. How it works, http://www.authorize.net/resources/howitworksdiagram/ Stuff to think about: http://www.authorize.net/sitemap/ Document Library: http://www.authorize.net/resources/documentlibrary/ Case Studies http://www.authorize.net/resources/casestudies/ etc... LK --- On Sun, 9/20/09, wesley kirinya <kiriinya2000(a)yahoo.com> wrote: From: wesley kirinya <kiriinya2000(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] [ke-internetusers] Re: Let's build an Electronic Payment Solution! To: "Skunkworks Forum" <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Cc: "ke-users" <ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net> Date: Sunday, September 20, 2009, 7:35 AM LOL. I thought that title was taking it abit too far. I believe it's a news article that 'baptised' him. Some journalists tend to stretch stuff... Well, so long as it doesn't hurt him... 8~D --- On Sun, 9/20/09, Gakuru Alex <alexgakuru.lists(a)gmail.com> wrote: From: Gakuru Alex <alexgakuru.lists(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] [ke-internetusers] Re: Let's build an Electronic Payment Solution! To: "Skunkworks Forum" <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Cc: "Skunk Works" <skunkworks(a)my.co.ke>, "ke-users" <ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net> Date: Sunday, September 20, 2009, 12:29 PM Wesley, On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 11:41 AM, wesley kirinya <kiriinya2000(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > I know of 2 companies in that sort of business from Ghana. DreamOval, whose product is called iWallet. I've had the opportunity to work with one of their managers, Henry, and he's briefed me about their product. The other company is BSL. It seems to be founded by a Kenyan lady and a Ghanian AKA the 'Bill Gates of Ghana'. However from a lengthy article posted yesterday by a Skunker, it seems their operations are targeted at African merchants who want to sell to the diaspora. > > o_O! Quite frankly, I found the "Bill Gates of Africa" anectode stupifying African ICT intellect and innovation aspirations. The symbolisation represents a past era "Cathedral" business model while "the future is Open" and collaborative. I am inclined to consider those that subscribe to it as "clinging onto a past when the future beckons." What we need are incomparable, homegrown solutions successes, not trying too hard to imitate others nor 'feel too good', if at all, when compared as such. We have the power to read and write our own code, just need do it!:~) _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ ke-internetusers mailing list ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net http://www.bdix.net/mailman/listinfo/ke-internetusers

4 4

Safaricom to introduce unlimited internet service
by Kevin Ouma 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Reliable sources tell me that Safcom are planning to introduce an unlimited internet service fro 2k a month with a daily cap / limit of 240 MB after which its charged pro rata. I am therefore holding on to my Modem... Was planning to move to Accesskenya b4 that . Kevin

17 23

IMS Networks + IPTV in Kenya?
by nyarotho kennedy 22 Oct '09

22 Oct '09

Hi good people, i need to know if any IMS networks have been deployed in kenya, and if so how independent are they from the existing GSM/GPRS -are they piggy-backing on these networks? And also if anyone has interacted with a SIP deployed IPTV app. what was the streaming quality, type of compression and bandwidth utilization? I'll be more than greatful! Its kind of necessary. Most of you know what this line means ''.....submitted in partial fulfillment for the Award....blah blah'' yes that! God bless y'all! -- People should know when they are conquered.

3 5

Re: [Skunkworks] Matatu route maps?
by Arthur Buliva 22 Oct '09

22 Oct '09

At Kencom bus stop there is a route map for the citi hoppa buses posted on those notice boards.

5 7

Projects Itenary.....
by aki 07 Oct '09

07 Oct '09

Ok, since we did not suceed on the dream team webite, I'd like to list very briefly *my* *personal time on-going* *to future projects* over into the next 12 months, though not in any sequence and depends on many things. *- CDN Project:* Tentative date to go live is 1st week december. ( Began Sept 2008-Ongoing ) - Update : Awaiting bandwidth from a provider, delays are affecting further realtime testing and QOS placements. *If successful, will be offered to ventures. *- Web Portal Project:* ( 1- began July, not completed ) 3 portals, out of which 2 are classified. Nation has already beaten us to an online classified, however it should be ready for competition. Already learning about SEOs etc. *If successful, will be offered to ventures. *- Mbytetometer* - ( Began August 2009- not completed. Project Name credit : Washington ) A free windows based utility tool to allow for measurement and logging of data volumes used. A complete prototype will be offered for certification towards implementating a standard. Alex had offered to assist in getting certification which is a huge help. Conrad has also offered to help. ( Update 1 : Am studying WMI so as to use it as a query and logging api. Not much study material is available on WMI except for SDK. Seems VB.net is easier while c# is a bit more complicated on WMI ) A complete project will be offered to community at some stage. *- Revival of my Voip project *. * Will see if time allows. *If successful, will be offered to ventures. Thats my itenary, unless the local scene changes it. Will be updating as progress is made. :-) Rgds.

8 28

TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL: Wanted: One team
by Al Kags 05 Oct '09

05 Oct '09

*Wanted*: One team of freelance/ Independent Web Professionals *Deliverable*: Phase one of an Online Health Information Platform (Project Afya) An entrepreneur group is seeking the services of a team of freelance/ independent web professionals that would work together to deliver Phase one of an online health information project. This project will have about four phases and the team would continue to the next phase only if they successfully deliver the preceding phase on time. The team muct consist of a project manager to understand the business aims of the project, ensure timely delivery and detailed documentation of the project, designer who can deliver global quality CSS based designs from scratch (not plagiarised from other sources) and a developer who has indepth understanding of PHP5 as well as the strong ability to integrate open source applications especially those that are google based. The team must be able to incoporate other members as the case may be - especially in the future phases, which are larger scale. Interested? Send your expression of interest in the project, currently Codenamed project Afya stating clearly the following: - Give your team a name - Names and detailed profiles of all members of the team - including portfolios, experience and project referees - Skills sets and expected roles of each member of the team - Detailed Contact information Send this information to *Patricia*, who is your contact person for purposes of any aspectr of this project at *p_mukundi(a)yahoo.com* Only successful teams will be invited to meet with the Client team to review the project. DEADLINE: 10th June 2008. Good Luck. Al Kags ----------------------- Founder, The Desturi Trust http://www.alkags.com

10 13

some feedback to further improve skunkworks?
by Gakuru Alex 05 Oct '09

05 Oct '09

Hello all, Progressive establishments step back and stock take their past activities to improve where they did not do so well and drop what was not so good. Would it be a good idea for everyone to post their *constructive* views on how skunkworks could better serve this community? Entirely my views.. regards, alex

12 16

Re: [Skunkworks] For all Transmission Network Ethusiasts - 100 Petabits/second.kilometer
by John Doe 03 Oct '09

03 Oct '09

@ David, An SDH frame is transmitted byte-serially i.e 8 bits at a time. One frame lasts for 125 microseconds hence there are 8000 frames per second. The frame structure consists of 9 rows and 270 columns. Doing the maths we get 9x7x8x8000=155520000 bits per sec. i.e 155.52 Mb/s. This is an ITU-T standard (G.707 i think) so anything else is just noise :-)!!! Probably the confusion comes from Mapping the PDH signals; American ANSI standard 1.5,6,45 (T1,T2,T3) or the European ETSI standard 2,34,140 (E1,E3,E4) or the SONET STS signal to the SDH containers. On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 12:05 AM, David Kariuki <david.kariuki(a)kdn.co.ke>wrote: > Speaking of which, can anyone here clarify the exact capacity of an STM1. > We > usually have these three 155, 145 or 126Mb used in alternating contexts > > David > > -----Original Message----- > From: skunkworks-bounces(a)lists.my.co.ke > [mailto:skunkworks-bounces@lists.my.co.ke] On Behalf Of John Gitau > Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 8:49 PM > To: Skunkworks Forum > Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] For all Transmission Network Ethusiasts - 100 > Petabits/second.kilometer > > :-)) 155 lasers:- think someone wanted a rhyme with STM-1's > capacity..incidentallly the same lab was very instrumental here as > well... > _______________________________________________ > Skunkworks mailing list > Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke > http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks > Other services @ http://my.co.ke > Other lists > ------------- > Announce: > http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce > Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science > kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general > > _______________________________________________ > Skunkworks mailing list > Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke > http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks > Other services @ http://my.co.ke > Other lists > ------------- > Announce: > http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce > Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science > kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general >

2 1

Re: [Skunkworks] 1 Million Laptop Campaign
by Gakuru Alex 02 Oct '09

02 Oct '09

Folks, I have done my part:-) On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 12:07 PM, Paul Kukubo<pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke> wrote: > Thanks Alex for the communication. > > The Kenya ICT Board has finalised a proposed framework proposal > incorporating stakeholder input for the 1 million laptops. This has been > formally submitted to the PS Ministry of Information for discussions between > the parent ministry and the treasury. > > We await their feedback and approval. > > Paul > > On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Gakuru Alex <alexgakuru.lists(a)gmail.com> > wrote: >> >> Bw. Paul Kukubo, >> >> Wananchi watukufu wa skunkworks wanaomba wahudumiwe na ofisi yako. >> >> Tafadhali, revert with a message for onward communication to them. >> >> asante, >> >> Gakuru. >> >> >> Forwarded conversation >> Subject: [Skunkworks] 1 Million Laptop Campaign >> ------------------------ >> >> From: Mark Mwangi <mwangy(a)gmail.com> >> Date: Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 9:26 PM >> To: Skunkworks forum <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> >> >> >> Whatever happened to the above?. . . Any insight/update Mr. Gakuru?. . . . >> -- >> Regards, >> >> Mark Mwangi >> >> http://mwangy.wordpress.com >> _______________________________________________ >> Skunkworks mailing list >> Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke >> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks >> Other services @ http://my.co.ke >> Other lists >> ------------- >> Announce: >> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce >> Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science >> kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general >> >> ---------- >> From: Samuel Waithaka <samwaithaka(a)gmail.com> >> Date: Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 9:00 AM >> To: Skunkworks forum <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> >> >> >> Very quiet thread indeed; is quite an answer. Was trying to buy some >> time before getting a new machine which I need; but apparently this >> might not materialize in the near future. But hope it will one day >> -- >> Samuel Waithaka >> http://www.brighterdayweb.com >> http://www.linkedin.com/in/waithaka >> http://twitter.com/samwaithaka >> http://www.brighterdayweb.com/seo-articles.xml >> >> ---------- >> From: ndungu stephen <ndungustephen(a)gmail.com> >> Date: Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 10:32 AM >> To: Skunkworks forum <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> >> >> >> sssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..................... >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Skunkworks mailing list >> Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke >> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks >> Other services @ http://my.co.ke >> Other lists >> ------------- >> Announce: >> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce >> Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science >> kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general >> >> > > > > -- > Paul Kukubo > Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board > PO Box 27150 - 00100 > Nairobi, Kenya > > 12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street > > Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960 > > Fax: +254 20 2211962 > Cell: + 254 735 180001 > > website: www.ict.go.ke > skype: kukubopaul > googletalk: pkukubo >

2 3

cisco router
by lydiah ndirangu 02 Oct '09

02 Oct '09

is there any way of checking the exact traffic passing through a cisco router.

14 31