FortySouth

Startup Visa Bill Introduced in U.S. Senate

Shadrack Laanoi — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:23:21 +0000

Last year I read an interesting essay (Founders Visa) by Paul Graham that suggested a new visa class be created for technology startup founders. Evidence has shown that a significant number of successful technology companies in the U.S. were founded by immigrants and so a more elegant system needs to be designed to not only [...]
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Old Spice Ad: A Creative Win, Man

Shadrack Laanoi — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:46:54 +0000

Every once in a while an ad hits the tubes that just has this intangible sense of genius. Debuting during Super Bowl XLIV (Who Dat!), the 30 second Old Spice spot is curiously captivating, its unraveling totally unexpected and Isaiah Mustafa’s delivery is right on the money. The great thing about it is that the [...]

The CCK and Mitigating Mobile Phone Theft

Shadrack Laanoi — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:14:27 +0000

When most people are “relieved” of their phones, unconsciously or under duress, at least one of three things generally happen following: (1) you count your losses, sigh and dust off an old phone; (2) you call your provider and block your phone with a vengeance, or (3) outwit, outcall and outlast with Ujanja. Option 1 [...]
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CCIE Security Written: The Day After

Shadrack Laanoi — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:58:22 +0000

I debated internally whether to write this now after passing the 350-018 written exam or to wait till after the lab exam in a couple of months, which is what ultimately gets you the coveted CCIE designation. I decided to write anyway in the hope that it might help someone get past this first hurdle [...]

What Future Holds for Satellite Internet in Kenya?

Shadrack Laanoi — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:45:12 +0000

Kenyans tend to be a very optimistic lot. This was probably most evident after the 2002 election when we were widely regarded as the “most optimistic citizens” in the world. This sense of expectancy is here again, and this time it’s around the arrival of terrestrial fiber optic cables to the country. And with good reason [...]
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Kenya’s Explosive Voice and Data Growth

Shadrack Laanoi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:36:50 +0000

At the back of our minds we’ve known for a while, and it has been variously predicted, that mobile telephony subscribers will quickly outpace growth in fixed service, and that more and more users are getting connected online as internet access becomes more ubiquitous. But to what extent do the numbers actually back up these claims? [...]
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On Making Nairobi a Technology Hub

Shadrack Laanoi — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:56:00 +0000

Lately, I’ve been mulling over this thought: what does it take to create a technology hub? I’m almost certain Paul Kukubo has been onto this too for longer than I have, since the ICT Board’s vision is that Kenya becomes a top 10 global technology hub. Nairobi being Kenya’s, and arguably the region’s, technology epicenter, does [...]
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The Paradox that is the Undergraduate Engineering Education

Shadrack Laanoi — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:42:07 +0000

About two years ago I had a crisis of thought. As some most at the pinnacle of their undergraduate electrical engineering education, I wondered what I had gotten myself into. Don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t considering a change in major to anything else, not just because I was too far in already, but [...]
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Zero-Defect Hiring: Rethinking Job References

Shadrack Laanoi — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:46:41 +0000

A little while back I wrote about how job references are increasingly becoming irrelevant to smart managers because the said referees have the propensity to tell them what they want to hear – that you have a fine candidate. In essence, references inadvertently degrade to a factor of lesser significance when selecting “the candidate” from [...]
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Why The Daily Nation Beats East African Standard

Shadrack Laanoi — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:02:53 +0000

Yes, they do, within the context of respective online presence, at the very least: Note that it was in June ‘08 that Nation moved their content from www.nationmedia.com (now the host of their corporate brands) to www.nation.co.ke. So why is the Daily Nation (DN) the more popular site? Let me count the ways: 1. Navigation, navigation, navigation Having three different [...]