LADIES,GADGETS AND SOCIAL SITES

The cliché has been that women hate gadgets and the fear for many ICT companies was how they would excite our lady folk. Well as it is now, it’s the lady folk that is exciting the tech firms.

 

Am from Mars and am yet to understand and know my mother. She is a sweet lady but some days I do not know. Why am I going on about this …well consider this.

 

Ladies type text messages faster than men. To test these ask the lady colleague next to you to type the same message and time this. Ladies are always two words ahead. Also men think in CAP letters when using mobile phones.

 

Another interesting thing is that ladies have evolved new ways of using letters while guys stick to the straight and sure thing. Example while a man will type this text: ‘Where are you?’ ladies use letters: w r u.

 

Now if the un-secure boyfriend picks the phone and reads the message the girl can always say a different thing. ‘Oh it’s Mary she reminding me about grandma’s White Regular Underwear. That’s why guys can not cheat that well like ladies.

 

Before I digress any further the fact is that with many ladies having small fingers it’s easier for them to type on a mobile phone key pad than a dude. All the mobile phone makers need to do is to make their devices lighter. Mum and my aunties hate carrying heavy things.

And Oh yes about the colours, they must be pretty period. I have seen the reactions of some elderly ladies (over 50 years) turning into sixteen years old when deciding on a colour for over ten minutes. Apparently they were buying a phone for their college going granddaughter. I left them with a shade of pink and another kind of pink. They all seem the same to me.

 

An interesting thing about women is that if the happen to meet for the first time; they can easily strike up a conversation. Men need an intervention and beer seems to work very well. Now men dive into social sites not to chat but to get dates and hopeful hook ups. Women want to share their feelings and thoughts.

 

I heard this conversation in the office the other day:

 

Dude 1 – Hey are you on face book?

Dude 2 – yeah

Dude 1 – so what kind of friends do you have?

Dude 2 – all kinds why

Dude 1 – do you have girls?

Dude 2 – yap

Dude 1 – Invite me and we can intro me to them

 

An as it goes Dude 2 got invited and tried all the face book tricks. Am yet to inquire of any development.

 

My lady folks have made social sites the in thing. Recently while replying to a thread on face book. I was kept informed on the ‘wall chatting’ on a soap opera that runs on a local TV station. After 15 minutes I learnt all the characters and their motives.

Apart from such many ladies on chat rooms say a lot about what is happening to theirs lives and what’s mores exchange photos and photos of weddings, bridal showers, baby did this and that.

 

To the guys let it be. If there is one thing ladies enjoy is talking and social sites and the mobile phones are making it easier for them. Once they start they do not stop.

As for the men you can now keep the remote and watch soccer all day.

  

 

BONUS PAY – EASTER SHOPPING

Americans have been an angry lot. After a sterling show of their audacity of hope a black man now sits in the white house. Their hope of the American dream has of late been tested immensely with the current economic crisis. But as they try to fix these mess bonuses given to the AIG executives has elicited anger that is understandable.

 

How can an institution make losses then seek bailout from the people’s taxes pay people who really do not need that money in the first place a tidy sum of Dow? Well am also scratching for answers since this is a typical case of what happened in the ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell.

 

In Kenya March and April are seen by most employed people as the end of the long broke month of January. To me especially I was eagerly waiting for that bonus pay since the ‘Blue Chip’ I work for had improved on its performance. We made a profit better than the previous year but LO no bonus (off course the executives will get their nice cushioned bonuses).

Revenues are up but it seems they were magically created. So my Easter shopping seems to be going hay wire.

 

But if the bonus was there this is what was in my shopping list.

 

1. Acer is selling a nice laptop for just 19k. It has very good specs with an improved battery. The laptop comes with open office and you can always upgrade it to with windows XP.
2. Motorola Z3 is an excellent device that is sleek and interestingly has fast connection with GPRS/WAP/JAVA. The slide facility hides an efficient and durable device. Expect a memory slot and voice dialling facility. It’s just under 7k.
3. Zain or Safaricom modems. Safaricom has slashed its modem prices and one can get one for just under 5k. As for Zain they have just launched a service that gives you a modem after a deposit of 10k with a monthly fee of shs 3,999 which translates to paying shs 133 per day (all day) to be on the net. All you have to do is make sure that your battery is fully charged. Both modems come in a nice flash disk.
4. Any device from the Mi-Phone guys. Last time they had the Obama Mi-Phone all 5000 devices in the market were sold out. Guys who use this phone say they are durable, easy to use and battery does not disappoint. Did I mention they have an inbuilt FM radio? Well you can get one for just 3k
5. But what I am saving for is the Nokia N97 period. The grape vine says the wait is nearly over.

 

Just as an after thought I still have to pass through Bata Shoes they have new stocks and my a 30% off on its month long sale. You can not buy a device and forget about you poor feet. Walking around looking for deals needs a good reward.

To the surfers out there a special thanks to condrod.us; I found the posts especially insightful, hilarious and to the folk whose day was messed up by one phone call, I share your pain.

 

We made a huge profit I need my bonus!    

WILL SEACOM CONTAIN OUR PECULIAR HABITS

It’s Friday and the clock has just hit 3pm East Africa standard time. The behaviour of East Africans is the same all over the region. After a lethargic slow afternoon, a flurry of activities seem to take place at this time. Guys get to chat rooms, texting goes to overdrive and making a mobile call especially in Nairobi CBD becomes a tedious affair due to congestion.

   

One thing you must now admit is that the mobile phone and now any communication device was meant for the African. We have come to embrace it turn it around and even found new ways of how to use it.

Now a fibre optic cable has touched based.

 

So when the SEACOM fibre optic cable landed in Kenya, it was met by the same reactions as the mobile phone did. Remember back then, there was this cautious curiosity that came with the gadget. In fact the talk then was that; the devices use or emit a lot of ‘radiation’ and it can affect your manhood.

The suggestion then was that once you buy the device and you happen to be in the pub for a while, place the phone on the table, the effects will be minimised apart from the flossing.

 

So will the fibre optic cable experience curious caution? Are we ready for the possibility?

The permanent secretary of information Dr. Bitange Ndemo who I like and admire has been singing the same tune. We as a country and region can to be a people that just consume content from outside,we need produce our own content.- I FULLY AGREE

 

At the moment I have been encouraged by the number of innovative ways that young guys in the region are using the mobile phone technology. They have reinforced the idea that with these devices are their offices and services is just a phone call away. So imagine with the costs of communication drastically falling by as much as 60%  due to the fibre optic cable, what can’t you do?

 

The number of people learning dream weaver and other website design stuff has shot up considerable, now more companies have websites although they still are brochures on the net. Few companies or government agencies are making their site interactive which is a shame at this time of the day.

 

What I found even funny was that only 15 journalists in NATION MEDIA GROUP LTD know what blogging is all about. The company has over 200 journalists. Therefore if one of the simplest ways to produce content is by blogging and few understand how are we going to get our content into the World Wide Web?

 

To me it’s quite simple, provide or have most or all government services through the internet. And this is where we need Dr. Ndemo’s stewardship.

To turn all the government brochures on the net into interactive portals and as it happens everywhere else in the world the rest of the people take up the idea and turn it up side down and opportunities are created.

 

Its good that government has come up with E-Government, E-health and soon E-Dairy will be launched soon making our dairy farmers become among the most ICT savvy people in their industry around Africa.

 

Content is there and the ideas are there. What the vibe is and has always been is that  ‘kama gava imesema ni sawa basi ni sawa – if government says its ok then it must be fine’.

Well GAVA has said it ok thats why they have invested over a billion shillings on it. So guys lets get connected.

 

As for the folks in the region Fridays 3pm will always be Friday 3pm. This is the time to make contact and find out where you will be at and at what time, how long does not matter since as long as you and them are there its ok.

And by the way, the guys who are talking or communicating to each other are on the next floor and sit on the same table.

Makes you wonder what we will do since our peculiar calling habits are a site to behold leave alone understand.

NAIROBI MORNING BUS

I love my beer especially when it’s cold. My love for this frothy drink has even made me come up with new ways of cooking using beer. Experimenting on other foods and fruits also has made for interesting sessions. But recently I did find out to the annoyance of the people sitting next to me that beer mixed with pears is a bad combination. Apart from the short conversations that ended every two minutes, the counter seemingly looked very lonely after some time.

So imagine sitting next to a person whose phone rings every minute and the conversation is not done with the caller but with all sitting next to him. That is the daily scenes in any commuter bus in Nairobi. Where as fart can disappear in the air, the apparent yelling on the mouth piece becomes infectious and for some reason either people call themselves or it’s a Nairobi thing.

Take for instant Monday 23rd at 7.30 am. I decided to board bus from Donholm estate to the Nairobi CBD. The journey normally takes about half an hour and my my my. Entering the bus I could see very distinguished looking folks and I must say until 10 minutes into the journey it’s was heavenly.

Then a phone rang and the ring tone was loud very loud. The device rings for a while and people start looking at me since am not picking the phone, but it was’t mine but the dude sitting next to me.
Now I wonder why has a lousy bad ring tone and then not pick up the phone. If you do not want to pick the phone how about putting it on silence mode that way you stop annoying other folks.

And if that was not enough some guy decides to wake some very old man who was day dreaming.
Old man picks the phone the turns to young man sitting next to him. He hand his phone to him then says ‘who is calling?’ the young man baffled says ‘I do not know since its your phone sir’
Old man says to the young man ‘tell whoever that am in the bus I shall be in town at 10am I have to see the doctor about my prostrate ok’

But the best was the old lady who was called by her grand son. Here is just a snipet
Old woman – ‘hallo my dear where is mum?’
——
Old woman- ‘ati Daddy did what to mum? ….. you found them in the sitting room running naked and laughing? And all in the bus became red faced

I wonder what I will hear tomorrow and I have come to love this morning soaps

READ AND CHARGE YOUR BATTERY

I recently drove past the Pumwani Maternity Hospital in the eastern part of Nairobi. I smiled and my colleague in the car asked what was funny. I retorted by saying that this was where I came to this world. So where is the joke he must have asked? Well I just came to find out the other day that I had the same expression of shock like fourteen other folks scattered all over Kenya.

Apparently we all had same midwife during our births…so…. Well according to doctor a baby just needs seven seconds to imprint the anything it sees. And it appears that the midwife gave us the same look when we all opened our eyes for the first time.

Well what has that got to do with things gadgety? When you decide to by a communication device be it a laptop, mobile phone or other ICT device, the gadget always comes with a manual in several languages now even Kiswahili. The instructions are usually very easy to follow.

One set of instructions could be on an easy to follow pamphlet with the nitty gritty on the thick book. Majority of the comments and my friends questions have been on the performance of their batteries.

To most guys they say and I quote ‘this Nokia guys are full of crap how can they make a cool phone with a lousy battery’ or the other was ‘Henry I just made one phone call on my new Samsung and the bat is kaput should I return it I still have the receipt’ my answer is always question that start like this ‘so how long did you charge the battery before you used the phone?’ and a barrage of reasons are usually followed and the out come the same.

A new device on hand but a lousy experience due to the poor performance of the battery. Now it’s better to read the manual fast before using any device, I have learnt my lesson also.

You see the manufacturers forgot to tell you something about their battery; which is that, almost all batteries used in gadgets and other devices have a memory sensor. And the work of this sensor is first to know when the battery is fully charged.

Now since mobile manufacturers, computer makers and the like tested their products, its was found out that battery A needs 6 hours while B needs 12 hours of charging before using it. After the said time is used in charging the memory sensor knows that for a full charged and better performance, 6 hours is needed. I have tested this with the Nokia N96 and the results were very good.

After charging the battery for the required 6 hours, I took the phone for a road trip and after four days in Mombasa and with the constant use of the device I just had to recharge it once again, this on the last day. So unlike the baby who imprints something after seven seconds of life, the battery on the other hand will require assistance to get to their best performance level.

As a foot note I have decided to form a club of people who get shocked like me and if you have guessed it the midwife will be the patron.

The only problem is locating her. I wonder how I will ask her to be the patron….any manual on this out there.

THE VERDICT : N96

The Tana River begins from the foot of Mt. Kenya and weaves its way down on the eastern part of Kenya all the way to the coast near Malindi. At one of its crossing is the gate way to the town of Garissa. It has been called the capital city of the Somali people and in deed the vibrancy of the town is evident immediately you cross the river.

 

It takes you about four and a half hours to get to Garissa from Nairobi. The road there is rather good but the scenery becomes very boring after one hour. You get to see the same kind of tree over and over again. From a distance everyone as the popular song says ‘looks the same’ well the Camels look more the same on close up. As such you have to get something to read or do. And testing the various apps and battery duration of the nokia N96 became a good choice.

 

One thing I have to commend the mobile networks is that I was constantly in the networks throughout the journey. I did not experience a drop on frequency or even static noise.

 

So I decided to be online and chat with some folks. One thing about the N96 is the way it automatically to your set access point. This is even when you change sim cards. Unlike other devices the N96 is able to identify with the sim card and does a connection to the net. Simple things that make the phone easy. Well after chatting for some two hours my guys went mute. Apparently its quite cheap to be online with Zain. I ended up using only 27 bob on chatting and simple surfing about 9 bob over the 2 hour I was online.

 

The N-Gage games is must experience for any user of this devices. The thing it does is to connect you with a community of gamers on the net where you get options to download a free trial, share your online status, and play games with any people around the world.

 

You could always purchase the game you mostly like and come up with various players from anywhere. Being a dude Asphalt 4 was my choice and I did play till my battery started show the low battery sign. So after about three hours of being on line and playing games the battery conked out. The device aesthetics has really improved but due to its fast processor and the application the Finish phone maker forgot about the power source. The phone is great to handle and all but when you loose power very fast it becomes a let down.

However all is not lost because them guys in MIT have developed a new way to manufacture batteries that can be recharged in seconds.

 

Well when someone takes such long trips you need to archive memories. The camera was not a let down and its automatic features make it to change the picture quality in this harshest of places.

 

The heat of this area did not seem to affect the performance the device and I must say. The average temps of 90 degrees Fahrenheit so imagine. As for the other features you need to buy to experience. My verdict it’s a good buy if you are a multimedia fellow