January 2010 - skunkworks - Skunkworks Site

iHUB sponserships : a question?
by aki 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

Will it be possible for individuals and the rest to sponser the initiative on an annual basis? What would be the costs of using iHUB logo with 3 different levels of sponsers eg bronze, silver, gold? So that sponser logos can be displayed inside iHUB facility and also the sponser can use eg iHUB " Bronze Sponser " on their websites etc while the sponser will have knowledge that the amounts went into training/facility access for upcoming talents. Maybe I'm asking too much, too early but better now than never. ( catchup on this thread late next week ) Rgds. -- "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." - Henry Ford

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Yum install mod_rewrite
by Dennis Kioko 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

I have tried installing mod_rewrite on Fedora 12 several times, unsuccesfully, via yum. I even regenerated my cache via yum makecahe, but nothing :~ [root@desktop Download]# yum install mod_rewrite Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, presto, refresh-packagekit Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * fedora: fedora.mirror.ac.za * rpmfusion-free: download1.rpmfusion.org * rpmfusion-free-updates: download1.rpmfusion.org * rpmfusion-nonfree: download1.rpmfusion.org * rpmfusion-nonfree-updates: download1.rpmfusion.org * russianfedora-fixes: ftp.us.unixeria.com * russianfedora-fixes-updates: ftp.us.unixeria.com * russianfedora-free: ftp.us.unixeria.com * russianfedora-free-updates: ftp.us.unixeria.com * russianfedora-nonfree: ftp.us.unixeria.com * russianfedora-nonfree-updates: ftp.us.unixeria.com * updates: ultra.linux.cz Setting up Install Process No package mod_rewrite available. Nothing to do Anything am missing? It worked 2 days ago, now it won't -- with Regards: Why you should not mind your own business, Find out at: http://gramware.blogspot.com

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The end of OpenSource as we know it?
by Al Kags 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

It occurs to me (after a spell of burying my head in some sand) that Oracle has bought Sun Microsystems (who in turn had bought MySQL). I have several issues in my head that are struggling to find words: 1) that Jonathan Schwatz, my favorite CEO blogger, is moving on (this is just that sentimental clinging - "don't go!") but more importantly 2) this buy-out may signify the end of Open Source as we know it. What is Kenya's position on the matter? I imagine that this has been discussed in the technology policy circles? Al Kags ----------------------- Author, Living Memories. “IF THERE IS SUCH A THING AS Kenya, these stories belong to us all, just as the pictures in Kenya Burning document the trauma of a nation during the post-election violence. The age of history written by white males is well and truly over.” - Star Columnist, Betty Caplan in the East African Weekly Newspaper. http://living.alkags.com

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Govt Investment & Local Involvement in ICT Parks
by Murigi Muraya 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

Day before yesterday, I talked with a US based Data Center (DC) engineer and realized even more why Government must take the lead on ICT Park Investment / Development. This particular engineer mentioned their DC is housed in a USD 60 Million (KShs 4.6B) Bullet Proof and Earthquake Resistant Premises. This is just the DC Premises not their DC Equipment. The engines of their Generators are the size of large (possibly 18 wheeler) trucks. These not so cheap Generators can run their DC for up to 2 weeks before needing to be re-fuelled again. They are charged like 1 million dollars for 1 hour of down time. If 1/3 of their State economy relies on this particular DC (as is the case) for electronic transaction integrity & resilience this is quite understandable. At PS Ndemo's recent (Jan 21, 2010) briefing (of KICTANET) about the Mailil ICT Park, Brian Longwe stated that a Mega DC uses more power than is available for all of Downtown Nairobi = the CBD. The same was mentioned by the US Based DC engineer even before I got the chance to ask him. Mailili will have a dam (and hopefully other energy sources) to generate enough power for such DC's to be located in it. 8 per cent of the park will be reserved for / should be utilized by software developers / for software development. Most of the space will probably be taken up by BPO / Call Centers. Anyways, there was much said including why the IFC is being used to get this ICT Park (feasibility study & other things) done. We locals had better learn how to privately finance & do these parks for ourselves ASAP. It is like how the first banks in Kenya were done and run by colonials (= foreigners who do consider us worth associating with as equals or capable of learning) until local bankers learned how to be more relevant within our socio-economic context. If only Foreign Private Investors finance & build ICT Parks, we (Kenyans) will NOT be included in the planning & design of these parks. Even if we are offered ownership (shares) in some ICT Parks as some Foreign Investors will do to (rightfully) exit with good Returns on their Investments, we will still require foreigners (likely to paid more than locals would be) to manage our ICT Parks for us if the GoK / MoIC does not involve us now. Foreigners should remain here to make sure their Data (Centers) are secure on Kenyan soil not to manage our ICT Parks. Is the GoK not strategically obliged to involve us locals in spreading the same all over Kenya as part of Vision 2030?

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KIXP in Coastal Region
by Shake Righa 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

Isnt it time that we had an IXP in Mombasa, with most ISP's having dropped capacity in the region and originating some of their blocks there? Regards, Shake

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Google's MapReduce patent: what does it mean for Hadoop?
by saidimu apale 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

A nuanced discussion of software patents, this time one filed by (and granted to) Google. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/01/googles-mapreduce-patent-wh… Hadoop is the open-source implementation of the MapReduce algorithms. I have mixed feelings on this one: - on one hand, "map" and "reduce" are as old as "divide" and "conquer" strategies in computer science. No one should be able to patent this. - on the other hand, Google's 2004 paper on MapReduce was a seminal event that unleashed the map-reduce pattern on a scale not seen before and enabled many open-source implementations (Hadoop being the most prominent). Saidi

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Re: [Skunkworks] SAP/Systems Audit Professional
by Joshua Mwendwa 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Joshua Mwendwa <jtmwendwa(a)gmail.com>wrote: > *Pls give out a email that works!!!!!!!!!!* > > > On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 11:20 PM, Joshua Mwendwa <jtmwendwa(a)gmail.com>wrote: > >> >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: Philip Musyoki <pmusyoki(a)gmail.com> >> Date: Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 7:13 PM >> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] SAP/Systems Audit Professional >> To: Skunkworks Forum <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> >> >> >> Why do people always have to take the glory out of the good old day? >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Skunkworks mailing list >> Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke >> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks >> ------------ >> Skunkworks Server donations spreadsheet >> >> http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AopdHkqSqKL-dHlQVTMxU1VBdU1BSWJxdy1… >> ------------ >> Skunkworks Rules >> http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 >> ------------ >> 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 >> >> >

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OTRS
by James Kagwe 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

Morning all, For sometime I've tried to configure OTRS to work with Microsoft exchange (receive and send emails), and have failed. Whoever has done it before please advice. -- ï¿½ï¿½à¡±ï¿½

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ADVERT : Graphic Designers
by Jeroen Krabbé 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

Beste Skunks n Skunkettes, Am looking for young graphic designers who shall work on a part time basis. They need to be able to visualize clients needs in regards to websites. Knowledge of CSS is an added advantage Please send CV's and brief portfolios to my email Regards Jereon

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How unique, and trackable, is your browser?
by saidimu apale 29 Jan '10

29 Jan '10

The good folks at EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) have a cool research project on digital privacy: Is your browser configuration rare or unique? If so, web sites may be able > to track you, even if you limit or disable cookies. Panopticlick <http://panopticlick.eff.org/> tests your browser to see how > unique it is based on the information it will share with sites it visits. > Click below and you will be given a uniqueness score, letting you see how > easily identifiable you might be as you surf the web. Reminds me of a question asked in a presentation in a conference on computing and its tremendous impact on human life: - Can we recognize fundamental patterns of human behavior from raw *digital traces <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_traces>*? (Jon Kleinberg video at http://bit.ly/7dbuXm) Kleinberg describes an experiment they conducted using geo-tagged images from Flickr: they placed those images on a blank digital canvas, using latlong as co-ordinates on the canvas. A million or so images later, the images traced a map of the US (complete with canonical images for famous landmarks). All this without human intervention in placement, or annotation, of the maps. Very very very cool. I think the companies that will set themselves apart are the ones who harness the power of all these "human sensors" (passive crowdsourcing<http://www.mobilebehavior.com/2009/11/05/trend-stealth-crowdsourcing/> ). Why ask someone an explicit question if their body language, and related signals, says it all? Saidi

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