March 2010 - skunkworks - Skunkworks Site

Credit Card payment-Mpesa
by John Maina 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

Ive been asked an interesting question, Is it possible for someone in the western world to buy a product say from Amazon and the seller receives money through MPesa?- Think Maasai market products for instance.Does anyone know of a solution in the works that can do this?

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A question to Dot Netters..
by aki 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

In my on going research into the gaming arena, I came across something that can allow users to look at assembly dlls of a dot not program/application. This does not look good. Anyone one of you come across this and were you able to encrypt/encode your code in your applications in someway to protect it? :-)

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Prequalifications of Supplier
by James Kagwe 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

Morning, Kindly check out details on prequalification of suppliers and tender information for KIPPRA at http://www.kippra.org/Prequalification.pdf just in case you may be interested. regards, James Kagwe -- ï¿½ï¿½à¡±ï¿½

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Re: [Skunkworks] [OT] bill@kplc.co.ke : Delivery to KPLC failed permanently
by maina 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

The easiest way to pay kplc bill is to use M-pesa,pay bills comfortably seating on your favourite sofa no long queues On Fri Mar 19th, 2010 6:38 AM PDT Alvin Jason Ochieng wrote: >To escape lines Ken...Barclays also take payment... > > > >On Fri, Mar 19, 2010 at 4:13 PM, Ken Teyie <kenteyie(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> But why does one have to go to Uchumi? >> >> On 3/19/10, David Njuki <njukey(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>> On 19 March 2010 13:55, Alvin Jason Ochieng <ajochola(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>>> KPLC have counters at UCHUMI outlets for BILL PAYMENT . They are not >>>> online >>>> though !! >>>> >>>> You have to know your bill !!! >>> >>> >>> They should be online Alvin, I was able to see my exact balance two days ago >>> at Uchumi Langata. >>> >>> -- >>> ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙ >>> 'spɹɐƃǝɹ >>> ıʞnɾu pıʌɐp >>> >> >> >> -- >> KT, >> M: +254 722 28 98 04 >> www.mondeas.com >> >> “When you are busy making excuses, you are not making money, making >> friends, or making the world a better place. Every loser out there has >> an excuse as to why they’re not a winner – but at the end of the day, >> they’re still a loser with an excuse.” -Tana Goertz >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 >_______________________________________________ >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

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Connected government workshop is on
by Mbugua Njihia 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

Safaricom looking at launching 4G in Kenya

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KEMSA ERP System
by Glenn Sequeira 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

Anyone on the list know of the status of this project? http://www.kemsa.co.ke/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Item… ~gms

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NEWS : IPad could be Kindle's first big threat in e-books
by aki 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

By RACHEL METZ, AP Technology Writer Rachel Metz, Ap Technology Writer – Mon Mar 29, 4:00 pm ET SAN FRANCISCO – Amazon.com, which has dominated the young but fast-growing electronic book market for the past few years with the Kindle, could get its biggest threat Saturday, when Apple releases its iPad multimedia tablet. The Kindle starts at $259 and is designed mainly for reading text on a gray-and-black screen. The iPad starts at $499, but with the higher price comes more functions: a color touch screen for downloading books from Apple's new iBookstore, surfing the Web, playing videos and games and more. It will take time to determine whether the iPad causes a tremor in the e-reader market, a high-magnitude quake or something in between. But in the meantime people who read electronic books or are considering buying a reading device will find their choices getting more complicated. If the Kindle e-reader falls out of favor with people drawn to Apple's offering, there could be a very thick silver lining for Amazon: It sells e-books that can be read on many kinds of devices, including the iPad and other Apple gadgets. That means the Kindle could fade and Amazon could still occupy a profitable perch in e-books. However, Apple could find ways to tilt the field in its favor. At least for now, both the Apple iBookstore and the Kindle service will be accessible in much the same way on the iPad — as "application" icons that users can click. Eventually Apple could give its own bookstore and reading program more attention on the iPad. Apple also could try to curry favor with publishers in a way that matters to consumers, perhaps by securing exclusive titles. Publishers' relationships with Amazon have been strained by Amazon's insistence on charging $9.99 for some popular e-books. Publishers have complained that it is an attempt to get consumers used to unsustainably low prices. Amazon takes a loss on some books at that price, and the publishers fear that if the $9.99 tag sticks, Amazon will force publishers to lower their wholesale prices, cutting into their profits. The iPad gives publishers an opportunity for a new pricing model. Some e-books will cost up to $14.99 initially, and Apple is insisting that publishers can't sell books at a lower price through a competitor. The iBookstore is launching with titles from major publishers such as Penguin, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan. One big publisher, Random House, has not yet struck a deal with Apple. Amazon declined to comment on the iPad's release. Although Amazon has tried to snag as much of the e-book market as possible since launching the Kindle in 2007, the company has never revealed how many Kindles it has sold. Analysts estimate it has sold 3 million. (Analysts believe Apple could sell that many iPads in the product's first year). Amazon has offered only sketches of the Kindle's effect on its business, such as by saying that when books are sold in both hard copy and the Kindle format, it sells 48 Kindle books for every 100 hard copies. Compared to the Kindle, the iPad would seem to have some disadvantages. The entry-level model is nearly twice the price of the Kindle, yet it can't download books everywhere. It can do that only where it is connected to the Internet over Wi-Fi. At 1 1/2 pounds, it is more than twice as heavy as a Kindle. And its battery lasts for just 10 hours, compared with up to a week on a Kindle when it has its wireless access on. However, among the elements in the iPad's favor is a touch screen that is 9.7 inches diagonally, compared with 6 inches on the Kindle. Ron Skinner, 70, who lives in Las Vegas and bought a Kindle last February, says he has ordered Apple's product because he thinks it will offer a better reading experience. Skinner, an Apple investor who reads about three books a week, says the contrast between the text and the background is too low on the Kindle's "e-ink" screen, and reading on it bothers his eyes. The difference between the Kindle screen and the iPad screen "is like daylight and dark," Skinner says. Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies Inc., says the iPad signals the start of a larger shift away from static digital versions of books and magazines. Eventually e-books will be expected to have multimedia dimensions, with video and interactive elements, he says, which calls for something more like Apple's tablet device than something that is largely dedicated to reading. The main question then would be whether Amazon wants to try to soup up the Kindle to be more like a tablet, or whether it will remain content to offer something more specialized. Consider that the Kindle also can surf the Web, but it's not a feature that's highlighted or encouraged much. Amazon stock has risen about 11 percent since Apple unveiled the iPad in January, while Apple shares have climbed 13 percent. But it's possible that investors haven't seen many risks yet for Amazon because it's not yet clear how people will see the iPad. People might not want it as an alternative to the Kindle and a laptop, says James McQuivey, a Forrester analyst. Instead, he says, they might see the iPad mainly as a big iPod, leaving room for other kinds of devices. And the hype surrounding the iPad may help Kindle sales with consumers who want a less expensive digital reading experience. "The iPad will bring all kinds of consumer benefits that the Kindle can't even pretend to attempt," McQuivey says, "but at the same time the Kindle solves a very focused consumer need in a way the iPad can't do well."

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IP Cameras
by Tomas Ndegwa Kimani 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

Morning Skunks Am looking for IP Camera installer and supplier for a big project coming up. If you know any one contact me off the list.

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NEWS : Red Hat Moves Into Desktop Virtualization
by aki 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

Joab Jackson, IDG News Service Joab Jackson, Idg News Service – Mon Mar 29, 4:30 pm ET Open source enterprise software company Red Hat has updated its virtualization platform, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (REV), to include support for desktop virtualization, the company announced Monday. The beta version of REV 2.2 will include a number of new programs that will allows customers to run a virtualized desktop infrastructure (VDI). "It will allow you to deploy a RHEL [Red Hat Enterprise Linux] desktop, or Windows XP, or Windows 7, on a secure high-performance hypervisor platform," said Andrew Cathrow, who is a Red Hat senior product marketing manager. "By using a VDI, you are moving the [operating system] from the end user's device into the data center, where it is easier to manage and maintain." REV is a package of a number of different Red Hat applications integrated for offering virtualization capabilities to the enterprise. It comes with a virtualization management console, as well as a bare-metal hypervisor, the Kernel-Based Virtual Machine (KVM). KVM is also included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). REV can run hosted versions of either Linux or Windows. This version of REV includes the SPICE (Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environments), for remote rendering of desktops. Red Hat acquired this software in its 2008 purchase of Qumranet. The package also includes a connection broker, a Web portal users log into to fetch their desktops form their client machines. Formerly, the desktop capabilities were available as a separate stand-alone beta offering of REV, but with 2.2 the server and desktop editions are merged into a single package. "We believe it is important to have a common platform. Customers don't want to have one tool for desktops and one tool for servers," Cathrow said. In addition to the desktop virtualization, REV 2.2 introduces a number of other new features. Chief among them is the ability to import virtual machines from platforms, such as those offered by VMware, Citrix and Microsoft. To this end, REV uses the Open Virtualization Format (OVF), an open standard for virtual machine images. This is also the first release to include the V2V virtual machine conversion software, which can convert VMware or Xen virtual machines created within Red Hat Enterprise Linux into KVM virtual machines. The company also plans to add functionality that will allow the conversion of virtual machines that were built on Microsoft Windows platforms as well. "It is very simple to migrate [virtual machines] from other hypervisor platforms into REV," Cathrow said. In this release, REV also includes a data warehouse for monitoring the performance and usage of virtual machines, the data from which can be piped into most other SQL-based business intelligence tools. Performance-wise, Red Hat has upped the maximum size for virtual machines, from 64GB to 256GB, and from 8 to 16 virtual CPUs. According to Cathrow, this expanded limit will allow organizations to run large enterprise applications, such as an SAP enterprise resource planning software, within a single virtual machine. Although a latecomer to the virtualization market, Red Hat has been devoting a lot of resources to gaining a foothold in the space, hoping its cost of implementation will lure customers from the market leaders. "Essentially, if you're running RHEL, the hypervisor is free. And our management suite is dramatically lower-cost than our competitors," CEO Jim Whitehurst told IDG News Service last December. Earlier this month, IBM announced that it would use REV as part of a cloud offering for test services. Cathrow said that the final version of 2.2 should be released "by the end of spring." He did not divulge pricing of this subscription-based offering but noted that pricing for REV 2.1 is US$499 per socket for standard support and $749 per socket for premium support. Customers subscribing to version 2.1 will have the option to upgrade to 2.2 for no cost.

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Re: [Skunkworks] Viral - Makmende
by N. Kenyatta Gray 30 Mar '10

30 Mar '10

Asante Joe, nice creative video ..now i kinda get what all the rage is about ..good stuff :-) Regards, N. Kenyatta Gray +1 (415) 754 ~ 3179 ________________________________ http://google.com/profiles/nkenyattagray Message: 3 Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:50:12 +0300 From: Joe MurithiNjeru <joe.njeru(a)gmail.com> To: Skunkworks Mailing List <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] Viral - Makmende Message-ID: <1269366612.2557.22.camel@localhost> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" http://www.makmende.com/ -----Original Message----- From: N. Kenyatta Gray <nkg(a)nkenyattagray.com> Reply-to: Skunkworks Mailing List <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> To: Skunkworks Mailing List <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] Viral - Makmende Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:48:56 -0700 (PDT) Mailer: YahooMailRC/324.3 YahooMailWebService/0.8.100.260964 any chance i can get the link...thanks guys

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