South Africa Test

by on Jun 19, 2007 at 9:32 am

Test post

Wireless & Speed in South African Townships

by on Dec 24, 2006 at 10:30 pm

Although written a few weeks ago, I just came across this ZDNET article on South African township cell phone penetration. Having spent a chunk of time there, I know that locals use them frequently and have been ever since the growing bouts of violence – its important to always be connected. But in townships?

They mention Alexandra, a township not far from some of Johannesburg’s wealthiest suburbs. I remember seeing smoke hail from in the backyard of the home of my then brother-in-law in a nearby neighborhood. Smoke, noise and sirens were not uncommon in Alexandra at the time and I remember certain days more than others, since I spent many a day in their garden typing away on an old fashioned typewriter eating guavas and drinking tea. It remains one of the roughest townships and now, according to this article, you can use your laptop, a data card, read email and get wireless. It’s hard to imagine.

I learn that South African mobile operators Vodacom and MTN launched HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access), wireless broadband technology that is five times faster than the first third-generation (3G) networks six months ago. parental blocker dns information domain dns server . list of domains . ip analysis . i cloud web archive . website down . apache web server word cloud . English to Armenian . Brasov . Restosundsecge . peta dunia satelit .

Rediscovering eVoid

by on Dec 21, 2006 at 5:39 pm

Thanks to great search engines, I was able to track down an old African band favorite: eVoid, not to be found on U.S. soil. I had to order it from South Africa, however both CDs arrived and I’m a happy camper.

Their first album is still my favorite, as first albums often are. Their sound is an eclectic mix of African and 1980’s Rock, but closer to the style you found in Europe during the same period. I have been dancing up a storm until three am on more than one occasion since they arrived. It’s hard to sleep when something so good moves your soul.

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Highway Africa

by on Dec 13, 2006 at 5:33 pm

By accident, I ran into Colin Daniels at an industry event last week, a fascinating South African-based professor from Rhodes University.

Over here to learn about the latest technology and social media developments, he was blogging away in the last row when I asked him (and everyone around him) for outbound SMTP info since, once again, I couldn’t get Outlook to work on the road.

Sometimes it does, sometime it doesn’t. It’s like dealing with a temperamental baby with A.D.D. – always unpredictable. While he looked up port numbers for me, I recognized his accent, having lived in South Africa and having been married to one for awhile.

At a time when I’ve been longing to do anything at all out of the country (think about how American-centric you can become by default if you don’t explore foreign waters from time-to-time: its inevitable), he hits me with an upcoming event called Highway Africa. He says “come on down for it.”

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Arrrrrgh, don’t tempt me like that Monsieur Daniels. Even though the event itself is the largest gathering of African journalists in the world (and clearly I don’t qualify), my brain and heart lit up as I started thinking of how incredible the discussions would be…..

Having spent a chunk of time traveling and living in Africa and feeling far too removed for far too long, I tried to imagine my old life (backpack and exploration living) today. A little hard to run a business that way and yet……..

His New Media Lab’s focus is to educate and train journalism students and the media industry, advance knowledge through research and dissemination of that research, innovate and experiment with technology and engage with industry and relevant interest groups. Now it makes sense why he was here.

Highway Africa will be held in Grahamstown in September and is celebrating its tenth year. They’ll be discussing issues related to Internet governance, ICT policy and media for democracy. While not on the cards this year, maybe next.

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South Africa Approves Gay Marriages

by on Nov 14, 2006 at 8:00 pm

Today, South Africa Parliament approved gay marriages. This makes South Africa the first in Africa and the fifth in the world to make gay and lesbian unions legal. Others include Holland, Belgium, the U.S., Spain and Canada.

Apparently in most African nations, homosexuality is still treated as a “crime.” A crime? Egads. Some penalties are apparently stiffer than those for rape or murder. The new law allows both heterosexual and same-sex couples to register their unions either as marriages or civil partnerships. parental blocker dns information . domain dns server list of domains ip analysis i cloud . web archive . website down . apache web server word cloud Brasov . Restosundsecge

A Chat with Ory Okolloh

by on Dec 22, 2005 at 8:13 am

I decided to interview Ory Okolloh from Nairobi who recently spent a few years in the states studying at Harvard. I met her at PopTech in Maine this fall, where she spoke with several other Africans on a panel…..it was close to her final days in the states.

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She originally came to the U.S. to attend university and ‘become a lawyer.’ Overall, she found it to be a positive experience and says with a smile – “the American dream is alive and well….”

I asked her what she learned from her time here that she didn’t think she would and her response was interesting, but not surprising.

Says Ory, “I learned to appreciate the things that I took for granted about Kenya, such as the food and the great Nairobi weather. (poor girl was stuck in Boston during her stint – a drastic weather shift)….She also learned to appreciate the value of nurturing and mentoring others…

“What’s most important is having people surrounding you who really believe in you. Finally, I discovered I was black…race had never been part of my experience in Kenya so I had to learn to adjust to that here.”

In terms of her Harvard experience, she said that it took her awhile to get used to the fact that she actually ‘belonged there.’ She believes that both her education and life experience have resulted in a stronger belief system, that she can do ‘anything if she puts her mind to it.’

On her five year goal, she says, “I hope to get paid for I love to do, to be in a place where I can make significant contributions to my country and continent, and to make a difference in the lives of others in the same way that others have done for me.”

Ory has since returned to Nairobi. ip information . domain owner . parental blocker where is domain hosted domain dns server list of domains ip tech info i cloud . web archive . wall cloud website down . similar sites dns server . word cloud . English to Armenian Brasov Restosundsecge .