Attend Tech Week by Women In Tech Africa

Women in Tech Week is the first and largest Women in Tech event on the African continent. Created as a 5-day event that brings together stakeholders supporting growth of women in technology and leadership. It includes curated user generated events with event partners across 40 countries with 400 events tracks bringing together 40,000 users onsite and virtually.

Re-thinking your Facebook advertising

Facebook took the mighty leap from just connecting people with others to connecting them with businesses – a leap that completely revolutionized what disruptive thinking is all about and gave power to marketing content creators.

Chronicles of an Aspiring Digital Marketing Strategist: Part 2

“To app or not to app- that is the question”

 

Learn about The Nairobi Start Up Garage.

Between learning how to paint, reading through Warsan Shire’s poetry and spending quality time with family and friends, I have been interning at the Nairobi Start up Garage. Heard of it? Cool name right? It is located at the Brew Bistro building, 4^th floor.

Chronicles of an aspiring Digital Marketing Strategist: Part 1

In a year or so I believe that I will be your Digital Marketing Strategist, if you are planning to have a company or if you have one already. So get acquainted with me already.

Love: How some know it

There must be something really embarrassing about admitting that you are on a dating site? Explains why my friend rolled her eyes, made a weird face and vehemently denied my asking if she was on any dating sites. My guess is that people do not want to give off vibes of being ‘desperate daters’.

When a Prospective Employer asks for your twitter, facebook, LinkedIn Page

Recently, I got an invitation on LinkedIn to connect with one ‘Geornny Walker’ (pardon me if you read this Geornny) but it was a bit surprising. Why would one have such a name on such a professional site? If it was a social platform like Facebook or Twitter, it’s completely understandable. While Facebook is known to foster personal relationships (never mind that I don’t know a sixth of the people in my friends list), LinkedIn focuses on professional networks and twitter is a bit of both. 

App Review: A must-have app for ladies

The gods of the Blogosphere should have already struck me dead by now. I haven’t blogged in such a long time. While I would love to outline the various reasons for my absence, I find them a bit too personal to share because they are well… non-existent!! But I have been busy, am not sure with what exactly. Am in my final undergraduate year working on my project and that has shifted my focus a little bit.

Mystery of QR Codes unveiled.

QR codes are indeed one of the most innovative tools in the technology world. Despite the fact that they have been around for quite some time, they recently gained popularity and are being leveraged for marketing and creating brand awareness in several companies all over the world.

Technology for better Customer relations

Not enough emphasis can be put on the importance of having open, fast and reliable customer communication channels with each and every individual who purchases your products or services.

Open Data Systems: Had a look at your country’s yet?

Many countries have adopted the transparency and accountability policies that come with Open data systems. The open data policies ensure that data and information is efficiently managed and shared to the public for easier access, better disaster management and decision sharing, better project development and use of effective financing mechanisms. 

App Review: Lets pin!

Many business entities have taken to social media as a great tool for advertising. It is a smart move because advertisement costs are downsized tremendously. Successful stories of entrepreneurs who did not have any physical outlets for their products or spend a dime in advertising are common.

How a campaign can go wrong.

Designers Jennifer Shannon and Andi Cheung came up with an eye catching magazine spread dubbed ‘Women in Technology’ that showcases a model in a bikini made from junk computer parts. This campaign was supposed to highlight the negative stereotype of how women are more into fashion than technology and that the one of the most effective ways of ‘attracting’ them in this field is to fuse the two aspects together.

My MWEA (Mobile Web East Africa) experience.

The MWEA 2013 technology event went down last week at the Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel. It ran from 19th of February til the 21st. I got to attend it for one day but was so bummed since i wish i had attended the conference on all the days. The main focus for this year was taking Monetisation and content creation dialogue to the next level.

The techie genius behind Beyonce’s electric performances.

 If you happened to watch Beyonce’s performance at the Superbowl and during the Billboard Awards, you would be taken aback not only by her strength, high energy levels,flexibility, incredible voice, but also by the graphics play that takes place in the background. A while back, critics were on her case because the videography was very similar to that of the Italian pop star Lorella Cuccarini. Beyonce says she was inspired but critics say she lacked originality by using someone else’s idea. Whichever the case, the tribe inc. company is to blame for all this. Kenzo Digital and Rodgers Bruce are some of the masterminds. They did both productions and did not variate them much. These media artists focus on playing with video art on white screens, using digital dancers, interactive objects and frontal projections. quite spectacular. have a look:

 

 

In case you missed both performances, have a look at the awesome effect of technology: Here is one from Lorella Cuccarini:

Smartphones: DON’TS and DO’s of the office

Work habits: Don’ts

• Don’t download too many addictive apps to your phone. I can imagine if your boss were to find you by the water cooler playing “Angry Birds” minutes after you went to the ladies room.

• Don’t have adult content on your phone – The embarrassment the bubbly secretary might cause you when she accidentally plays an x-rated movie on your phone while browsing for ringtones for her newly acquired Smartphone doesn’t bear thinking about..

• Don’t have push notifications turned on – The sound of your phone vibrating every two minutes gets to peoples nerves eventually

• Don’t have sensitive data saved on your phone – The boss wouldn’t really mind if you lost your phone with photos of you in Mombasa on holiday…but try losing your phone with confidential work-related documents on it!

• Don’t have offensive ringtones – Here, you might risk upsetting the boss whole at all times thought you were a “jubilee” person whereas your ringtone suggests that you are “corded”

Work habits: Do’s

• Do use collaborative apps like Office suite, Quick office etc, sync your outlook and access mobile VPN. Chances are, if you forget something, no need to panic, normality is restored by your Smartphone.

• Do make use of the flexible working that the portable communication allows. This means that even if you are out of the office attending a meeting etc, you are not really “cut off”. You can still respond to your pretty secretary’s questions and make decisions

• Do use your Smartphone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. You don’t have to be confined by the length of the Ethernet cables, be creative, think!!!!

• Do use the maps and location services on your phone not only to tell the location of your spouse. You can use it to make sure you never get lost on your way to a meeting at some weird location!

• Do maintain your improved posture. Now that most of you don’t have to carry around your 3 tonnes laptops just to access Wi-Fi at the coffee shop, your backs should return to the normal upright posture now!

 

 

 

Celebrities: Who is investing in Tech

Have a look at celebrities who showcase their inner gadget geek, endorse technology products, work as creative directors of tech brands as well as put investments in them:

• The irresistibly handsome and tech savvy Ashton Kutcher has been looking to invest in the Silicon valley while he still has investments in companies such as foursquare and Skype. The two and a half men actor also started the A grade initiative, a tech investing fund among many more.

• Will I Am ‘s love of technology is quite evident from his music videos.he has a range of tech products that he has designed for iPhone and recently launched the i am++ that transforms the iPhone to an impressive 14 mega pixel Camera. He Is currently the Creative Director at Intel.

 

• Some of the technology start ups that lady Gaga has invested in include Turntable f.m which is a music sharing platform and Backplane, the celebrity social site for her little monsters where she coupled up with Google to have it launched. she has also been the creatives director at Polaroid and even designed a printer for them.

 

• Serena Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio and Lance Armstrong are among the many investors who have invested in the Israeli based company Mobli that allows users to share videos and pictures of their daily experiences.

 

• The Adorable Justin Bieber has a number of gadgets linked to his name such as the singing tooth brush and beats audio headphones. He also has investments in Spotify, a music sharing company.

 

• Remember MC Hammer? he frequently attends the tech meetings at Silicon Valley with the likes of Ron Conway and was among the advisers during the start up of dancejam.com. He and his team are working on a new search engine; WireDoo.

 

• The Dr. Dre’s beats by Dre are a huge hit throughout the world. Some of the celebrities he has worked with to endorse his products include 50 Cent and One Direction. Usain bolt endorsed the Ludacris’ soul Headphones

 

• Kim Kardashian is an online co founder of an online shoe subscription company that has grossed over $60 Million since its first launch.

• Alicia keys was unveiled as the new creative director during the launch of Blackberry 10. For more on blackberry 10, click here.

 

The new low cost smart phone in the Kenyan market – The “Intel Yolo Smart Phone” Review.

 

Kenya is privileged to be the launch market for Africa’s first Intel-powered smartphone, the “Intel Yolo Phone”. Intel has partnered with Safaricom to introduce the phone to the Kenyan mobile phone market at a reasonable cost of KES. 10,999/=. If you fit the bill, you may want to check out the Yolo as soon as possible

The Yolo phone may not be the thinnest device out there, its dimensions being 110.5*61*12.6mm and weight 132g. It has a 3.5 inch TFT multi-touch capacitive screen with HVGA resolution at 480*320 pixels. From the front view, you can see 4 touch sensitive controls at the bottom (namely Back, Home, Recent & Menu). You may not notice the volume rocker on the left and power button on the right due to their perfect blending. At the top, there is a USB/Power port and the 3.5mm audio jack. The back features a 5.0MP camera, the phone speaker at the bottom, a white “Intel Inside logo” and they just had to put it there too, a white “Safaricom logo”. At the bottom of the phone, there is a slot that to fit your nail in order to remove the rear cover for the purpose of inserting the Battery, Sim card and a microSD.

The phone responds very well to touch and its screen is scratch resistant.  It is supplied with high quality earphones hence good quality sound. The loud speaker is ok too, more like normal quality. Inside the phone’s packaging, apart from the phone and headset, you will find the USB cord, Charger and a “getting started guide”.

Intel Yolo is pre-installed with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Other pre-installed applications include Wireless display app (WiDi) which works by rendering a second virtual display broadcast via WI-FI to a receiver on the TV or PC. Chrome browser and doubletwist are other applications that come bundled in the phone. When the phone is purchased from a Safaricom store, you get a one year subscription to McAfee mobile security application. Not forgetting it also comes with a pre-installed SwiftKey keyboard, Swiftkey for Intel, which is a premium keyboard that makes the typing on phone quite easy and responsive.

The rear facing camera is a 5MP one and comes with a Burst shot feature (enables capture of up to 7 simultaneous photos) and panorama mode feature (for shots in panorama mode).

The Intel Yolo phone has a 1500mAh battery is quite good, say, it gives you a full day use on social media if that’s what you like to do.

IN SUMMARY:

• Dimensions -110.5X12.6mm -132g
• Display and user Interface -Size: 3.5″Capacitive touch TFT, 60HZ-Resolution: HVGA(480X320)
• Application Processor -1.2GHz IA CPU w/512KB L2$ -Intel(R) Hyper-Threading Technology -512MB 2-ch LPDDR2 memory -Avatele passage Lite MSIC

• Camera -5MP rear-facing Camera-No front-facing camera
• Cellular  -Intel Xmm265, HSPA+ Rel.7, Cat 14/Cat6 (21Mbps DL/5.8Mbps UL);-2G Quad-Band 850/900/1800/1900 -MHz; GPRS EDGE Class 10; HSPA+/UMTS Quad-Bad 850/900/1900/2100 MHz (I/II/V/VIII)
• Connectivity-Wi-Fi (802.1bgn 1×1 2.4Gz) , BT2.1=EDR, FM Rx, (A)GPS; Micro-USB 2.0 type-B with USB charging
• Audio -3.5mm audio jack (w/ FM Rx Support)-integrated Hands-Free
• Speaker – 1 analog microphone-Single vibra motor (haptics + silent ringtones)
• Sensors -Accelerometer, Compass, Proximity, Ambient Light Sensor
• Storage -4GB eMMC -MicroSD card slot (internal
• Battery  -Removable Li-IOn Battery Pack 3.7V, 1500mAh

 

Conclusion: This is a phone worth having. The price of KES. 10,999/= is good, keeping in mind it has Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich!

MWEA (Mobile Web East Africa)- Hyped event

 

It’s official: Mobile Web East Africa 2013 will take place at the Southern Sun Mayfair in Nairobi on February 20th and 21st.  The agenda is live on the event website and registration is open, so why not take a minute to have a look at what has been  planned?

92% of the people who came along last year rated MWEA as the best event that they had ever attended and all key players are back on board for 2013.  Plus, they’re going to be joined by the likes of MEF, iROKO Partners, Junk Mail Publishing and Thought Works, illustrating the growing international feel of the conference.

They will be implementing the popular interactive round table format once again, although this does mean that total capacity at the venue is limited to just 140 attendees.  Due to early registrations they are already more than half full so if you’re serious about attending this year I recommend that you register ASAP.  There’s a $123 discount available to anyone who reserves their place on or before this Friday, 25th January.

I believe that this will be the best Mobile Web East Africa event yet.  Visit the event website to see why I’m so confident or drop an email for the latest up to date information concerning the Mobile Marketing East Africa Focus Day that will be running.

Luxury taken to another level with Aston Martin’s transparent phone

To reflect its understated classiness, Aston Martin is coordinating with Canada’s Mobiado company to create a  transparent phone. how incredible!!! This luxury car brand has come up with one of the most revolutionizing concepts: a transparent phone. They are hoping to release it soon. it is intended to run on an Android operating system.

I noticed the whole transparent phone idea when i was watching the last episode of the eighth season of Weeds and found it to be too futuristic, but turns out the future is already here. Aston Martin started releasing phones sometime back with the Aston Martin Aspire being released last year and retailing at about $1500 because of the 24k gold casing.

The transparent screen is acquired by using solid sapphire crystals. both sides of the phone are made of platinum and this is where the Sim cards and electronics will reside to keep in line with the transparency theme. However, the Aston Martin logo as well as the Mobiado logo appear on the screen.

It is intended that the device be used hand in hand with the Aston Martin luxury cars by using the GPRS of the vehicle for foursquare as well as unlocking the doors automatically; acting like a key. It will also have social networking features like Facebook and twitter for easy photo sharing of all the places you visit in your car. A feature that i find really cool is the accelerometer that can be used to indicate precautions such as airbags and seat belt stiffening in case of accidents.

Am too excited about this; even though it is still but a concept. Hoping that it comes through!! Can you estimate how much it would go for?

 Am grateful that you stopped by!

Lenovo S400 review : The Beast

I stumbled upon the Lenovo S400 when i was looking for a replacement for my old crashed Samsung. At first, i was lusting for the Dell Aspiron convertible : duo hybrid tablet. but as soon as i saw the Lenovo S400, i fell in love :-). for more information on the dell Aspiron hybrid, click here.

The sleekness and functionality of this gadget makes it the ultimate laptop suitable for any programmer, developer, designer, blogger or business executive. Some of the basic specifications include:

• Intel core i3-2365m processor (4 processores)
• 1.4 Ghz default clock speed (*4)
• 4.00 GB RAM
• 500 GB HD
• 14 inch screen
• a generous touchpad that is multi touch capable.
• A chiclet accutype keyboard
• Intergrated bluetooth version 4 and Wifi
• USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI out and Card Reader

Other interesting features include the Intel graphics Card that will be of particular importance to gamers. The one key recovery system is very helpful when it comes to data backup and recovery processes. it also has a quick start key that lets you surf the web, photo manager, Skype and music player at the instance of a button before the windows operating system is loaded.

Its looks are breathtaking. apart from the fact that it weighs approximately 1.8 kgs, it is extremely slim and is therefore loved because of its ultraportable nature. It comes in crimson red and silver colors. The super sleek profile and a very sleek metallic finish is captivating to the eye.

This is the ultimate Ideapad. I happened to purchase mine at the Ibrahim’s Store opposite Stanley hotel. It was retailing for 45,000. Its initial price was 50,000 but lucky for me, they had a sale and were selling laptops 5,000 less if they cost more than 40,000 shillings. I had window shopped around at Avenue Electronics next to I&M bank, Bright Electronics and a couple of computer shops on the Ibrahim’s lane but they were either too lame (did not have it in their stores), or did not offer a good bargain.

One thing that is wanting about it is the battery life. It was indicated that the battery life would last for about 4 hours, which it did in the earlier days. However, right now, sustaining 3 hours is a miracle. Because of its slim nature, the battery quality had to be compromised.

Lenovo Group Limited is a China company that manufactures servers, laptops, computers and handsets. it offers some of the best quality products in the market. to have a look at more of their gadgets, click here. 

Thank you for taking the time to stop by!!