Kenyan Guru

Google Adsense Western Union payment now available to Kenyans

2011-11-08T11:14:00.000+03:00

For Kenyan Adsense publishers who have been groaning about cheque payment you no longer have to frown as Kenya has been added to the list of supported countries for Western Union payment.You no longer have to wait for cheques in the mail as all you have to do is visit a Western union agent once the funds have been disbursed.To change your form of payment just login to adsense and you will find payment settings under account settings.A national ID though is required to receive payment form the agent.Here is a list of countries supported so far;

Algeria
Argentina
Bahrain
Barbados
Benin
Bolivia
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Chile
China (Mainland)
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cote d'Ivoire
Croatia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
Ethiopia
Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Guatemala
Iceland
Indonesia
Jamaica
Jordan
Kenya
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Libya
Lithuania
Madagascar
Malta

Malaysia
Mauritius
Mexico
Moldova
Morocco
Mozambique
Nepal
Nicaragua
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian Territories
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Reunion (FR)
Romania
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Seychelles
Slovenia
South Korea
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam
Virgin Islands (British)
Yemen
Zambia

Kenyan Webcomics

2011-08-29T11:22:00.002+03:00

With the number of people finally discovering the power of blogger,there has been a rise in the number of blogs that are getting attention from the local internet users.Todays post will be concentrating on webcomics.Webcomics are basically as the name says comics that are published online on a website or blog.Majority of the most popular ones on the internet are based on videogame humour such as PennyArcade,NerfNow and AnotherVideoGameWebcomic just to name a few.For the scientists,programmers and physicists you will definately enjoy xkdc.So today I decided to track down some local webcomics and I was lucky with the help of google to find a few.

1.Corporate Caveman

A comic that started a few months ago and has been getting better and better with every new character they introduce.From the mind of Melman is a comic about a caveman who survived the ice age and now has to survive the daily challenges of a corporate job.Here is a small snippet,visit the main site for more.

2.Emergency Webcomic

Is a miniseries written and illustrated by Chief Nyamweya. It is based on pre-independence Kenya as seen through the eyes Chege Karobia and Kim (Dedan Kimathi).You may be familiar with Chief Nyamweya's work in the Star newspaper.

3.Shikwekwes

Simple comic about everyday life with a touch of daily fustrations.Looks like it hasn't been updated in a while but the older comics are still worth a read

If you know any other webcomics that you enjoy leave a link in the comments section and I'll add them here.

3G Wars,still needs more momentum

2011-08-28T11:48:00.000+03:00

OrangeKenya launched their 3G network this week and although the public was eagerly awaiting somebody to topple Safaricom from the 3G monopoly,they still have a long way to go if they wish to even put a dent in Safaricom's data market.It looks like we will have to wait for Airtel to launch their network maybe they will have a better chance of shaking some branches.
The orange modem will retail at 6999/= compared to Safaricom's 1999/=(current offer).The orange modem will also be available for 3500/= at Orange caravans.

At the moment Orange are not offering any unlimited data bundles but here is a price list of orange and safaricom bundles.

Safaricom

Data Volume	Price (Ksh)	In Bundle Price (Ksh Per MB)	Out of Bundle Price (Ksh Per MB)	Validity Period
50MB	100	2.00	8	30 Days
200MB	250	1.25	8	30 Days
500MB	499	1.00	8	30 Days
1.5GB	999	0.65	8	30 Days
3GB	1,999	0.65	8	30 Days
4GB	2,499	0.61	8	30 Days
8GB	3,999	0.49	8	30 Days
20GB	9.999	0.49	8	90 Days
30GB	14,999	0.49	8	90 Days

Orange

Data Bundle	Price (Kshs)	Pay as You Go Offer	IEW Modem Cost
50 MB	100	Ksh 4 per MB on pay as you GO down from Kshs 7 per MB	Kshs 6,999
100 MB	150
500 MB	500
1 GB	750
5 GB	2,750
10 GB	4,990
15 GB	5,990
20 GB	7,990

The truth about unlimited broadband is that you are most likely not getting it.

2011-08-03T14:42:00.000+03:00

I remember a time when it used to take half a day just to download an mp3 from the internet,a task which these days takes seconds which is happily welcomed but another problem is that ISPs have gotten into the tendency of advertising services which rarely come to pass.These days having a broadband connection is no longer something left for the wealthy and ISPs are taking advantage of this by putting very sweet and convicncing words in their advertisements just so they can get a larger market share.

Unlimited
Like telling someone you love them this term too is being thrown around a lot by ISPs and like a pick up line they float this around a lot.Of the various ISPs and bundles I have used very few have offered a true unlimited broadband experience.A few examples of those that don't are Zuku and Safaricom who offer unlimited broadband but limit the speeds.Zuku fibre users are well aware of this in that when you download a certain amount of data within an hour or two the speeds are cut by around a fifth or sixth.Lets say you are on the Imbps service,if you download around 500 mb in an hour the download speed will reduce from around 120KBps to 30KBps,it resets in around 2 hours.This is very understandable in that they are trying to protect bandwidth wastage which makes sense but if you are going to limit speeds at least put inform people of this or put some terms and conditions in the advertisement.Safaricom also recently launched a weekly and monthly unlimited data bundle costing 1000/= and 3000/= respectively.Speeds for this bundle are capped at 256kbps but since this is from Safaricom I am not surprised.I always laugh when Safaricom advertise that they are cheapest 3G network in the country,what kind of rubbish is that and they are the only 3G network.Nice one safaricom,Kenya Power is also the cheapest and most reliable electricity supplier in the country,I am also the richest human being in my bedroom.OrangeKenya's 3G+ and Zuku,s Wimax are the only true unlimited broadband services I have ever used.The problem of 3G+ is that the availability is limited and the speed is slow in congested areas.

Speeds of upto XMbps
This is a favourite of 3G and 3G+ ISPs,they give you the speeds they attained when they were testing the network and they know very well you will never attain these speeds in the domestic setting but those figures look very nice in those full page advertisements in the newspaper so never take those figures seriously.

Connection time
This is something Zuku frustrated many new broadband subscribers with,it is not your right to be connected in moments but the ISP shouldn't lie and keep you waiting thinking that every knock on your gate is them.

A price and quality review of some of the local ISPs

2010-11-26T10:04:00.000+03:00

Last year I did a review of the best and cheapest ISPs that were available in the market but I have got many requests to post an updated version and so in this post I am going to go over some of the favourite ISPs and give a quick review on their speeds,bandwidth and price.

ZUKU
Run by the Wananchi Online company Zuku offers Wimax and fibre connection that come come bundled with cable TV.
Price
Wimax-256 kbps @1499
   512 kbps @2499
   1 Mbps    @4499
Fibre-1 Mbps @999
   -4 Mbps @1999
   -8 Mbps @3499
All connections come with a setup and installation fee of 2999
Pros
Cheap
Wimax is available in most of Nairobi and Mombasa
Reliable connection

Cons
Fibre connection coverage very small
Initial setup takes them forever to start(weeks,months)
Customer service isn't the best

ORANGE EVERYWHERE 3G+
Data service that runs on the EVDO network.Orange offers bundles that start with 150 MB and climb all the way to 4GB and if you are like me and don't like being limited you can get the unlimited 7 day connection for 990/=.The modem costs 1999/= and comes with a free week of unlimited Internet and is available at orange shops and select retailers.The speed is really good with downloads speeds of around 120 kbps and bandwidth of around 1Mbps(the orange people will tell you 3.1 Mbps but I am yet to experience such bandwidth)

Pros
Cheap modem+cheap bundles
Fast Internet connection
Mobile and easy to use

Cons
Limited network coverage

SAFARICOM 3G
The only good thing I have to say about Safaricom's 3G is that it is fast and widely available,other than that there is really nothing good about it.I used to get download speeds of around 140 kbps and bandwidth of 1.3 Mbps.They recently introduced a bundle offer that enabled people to get 100% more data but even still they cannot care to the affordability of Orange.By the way they suspended the Bamba Unlimited offer and in a particular safaricom fashion didn't even tell anyone they have to wait for you to call customer care so they can tell you.But bamba unlimited was shit anyway(even thinking of giving me 32kbps and calling it internet) .the modem costs 2999 and if you already have one am sure it is rotting in a desk drawer somewhere like mine(but on the bright side if airtel offer a good deal when there 3G comes out you can unlock the modem and is use it for something useful)

LOOPNET
Loopnet is a free ad powered internet service that was offered by KDN but I think is now run by SwiftGlobal(KDN no longer deal with retail and home solutions but now deal with corporate solutions i.e they are the ISP of your ISP).But it looks like since SwiftGlobal started running the show it has lost most of its flare as majority of the base stations were shut down in residential areas were shut down and service outages are common.When it was available I used to get download speeds of around 300-500 kbps and bandwidth of around 5 Mbps

Pros
Its free
Its very fast,when few people are using it

Cons
Shared bandwidth so it is very slow during high traffic times such as mid-day

3DTV and the Nokia N8,why Im not impressed

2010-11-14T10:42:00.000+03:00

So the Nokia N8 has finally been announced and Safaricom were quick to advertise it in their usual style of full page ads with a price tag of 40000 bundled with 300mb of data which is quite fair and am sure will be a hit for a few months until people finally realise how Nokia completely missed out one vital component crucial to calling a phone a smartphone.One of the mistakes Nokia made in the past is not pushing for app development and now they are struggling to get attention from African developers who are more interested in app development for Apple and Android and I would not blame them.Nokia never fail when it comes to producing a phone with excellent hardware but they always fail on the software.At this junction a Nokia phone never crosses my mind when am thinking of buying a phone.The symbian platform despite being one of the oldest and most used mobile platforms still doesn't bring much to the table.The Ovi Store is just filled with apps that feel clumsy and rushed like they were made just to fill the store with apps so it doesn't look empty.In all honesty Nokia should just dump the symbian platform and go with Android.Im talking from an experience stand point since I recently bought a second hand Iphone 2G and on some days I don't switch on my computer cause I handle everything from there.Another silly thing Nokia are doing is saying they are focused on the African market and yet Ovi Maps doesn't even have the Kenya map.The Iphone would have been more popular if it was being sold by a more serious network such as safaricom,you may hate them for being ridiculously expensive but they know how to do things right.Orange are just wasting the Iphone4,you cannot sell a device that is 80,000 ksh factory unlocked for 60,000 ksh with a 2 year contract of 5,000 ksh per month to then have it be used on an EDGE network.Using an orange locked Iphone is just an embarrasment.You suck Orange Kenya
In other news Sony just launched their line of 3DTV products in Kenya and I was thinking to myself,who is really going to use this,we still even haven't migrated to HDTV yet

Cheapest fibre optic broadband in Kenya

2010-11-12T11:33:00.002+03:00

The Wananchi group has been very busy for the last few months setting up their fibre optic cables so that they can officially release their Zuku fibre triple play service which is going to be a welcome site for many Kenyans.The service will consist of broadband internet,cable tv and VOIP.The service is currently available in only limited parts of Nairobi such as Hurlingham,Kileleshwa and Lavington.the most surprising thing about their service is how cheap it is.
I Mbps-999 per month
4 Mbps-1999 per month
8 Mbps-3499 per month
As usual there is the set-up fee of 2999 and no equipment charges.Another good thing is that they have finally stopped using cheap chinese network equipment and are finally using quality products from Cisco Systems.
They are also offering cable TV that will support HD channels and upto 82 english channels which should give Dstv a run for their money.
For more details and a coverage map you can check out their site here-http://www.zuku.co.ke/b/home/

Send free SMSs to your friends from Gmail

2010-09-30T10:50:00.000+03:00

Stumbled on a feature today that has been active for quite a while but never noticed it.The ability to send free SMSs from a Gmail account to any mobile phone(at the moment I can only confirm it works to safaricom lines).Here is how to get it running

1.Log in to your Gmail account
2.Google should detect which country you are from and it will automatically show a pop up menu guiding you through it but if it does not continue to step 3
3.Go to the settings menu in gmail
4.Click on the labs menu and activate two options,text messaging in chat and sms in chat gadget
5.Once you have done this when you type a number in the chat box(the one written search,add or invite) it will give you the option to send an SMS
6.Receiving the SMS is free but a reply will be charged at standard network rates,you are also limited to 50 free sms every 24 hrs

For more details or if you want to sign-up to gmail click here

You can now receive send and recieve payments in Kenya via paypal

2010-08-31T14:23:00.000+03:00

During the world cup period it was with much excitement that paypal announced they would add South Africa to the list of countries that they would enhance support for by enabling members to recieve funds to their paypal accounts.Kenya is now proudly on the same list and together with South Africa are the only two countries in Africa from which you can send and recieve funds to your paypal account.
NB:You cannot withdraw your paypal funds to a local bank account just in case you did not know(yet)
For a list of which features are supported in which country you can visit their country list page here;

Send. Receive. Withdraw to a U.S. Bank Account.

Send and receive payments in these countries. Withdraw from your PayPal account to a U.S. bank account.

Bermuda
Bulgaria
Cayman Islands
Costa Rica
Cyprus
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Estonia
Gibraltar

Guatemala
Iceland
Kenya
Kuwait
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Malta
Panama

Peru
Qatar
Romania
San Marino
Slovenia
South Africa
United Arab Emirates
Venezuela

Keepin it real #2:Kenya in the year 2020

2010-07-09T17:53:00.001+03:00

In this post am going to give you detailed information about how life will be 10 years from now.
-Zain after being bought by Bharti then AT&T,then Verizon,Then most recently by Tigo will be sold to Safaricom(yes in the future safaricom also wins)
-Buying shares will become the in thing since land will have become to expensive
-The average speed on Thika road will be 150 km/h
-The government will then spend 200 million kenya shillings installing speed cameras on thika road,in 2 weeks 30% will have been stolen and 40% will have been vandalised because they contain special lenses(valuable on the black market)
-Due to succesful registration of sim cards,kidnappers will have resulted to using wire transfers to offshore bank accounts instead of m-pesa(as a result 5% of Kenyans will move to Switzerland and the Cayman Islands)
-Chris Kirubi will still be Dj CK
-Safaricom will release new sim cards that are to be placed anally,statistics will show 45% increase in reception
-YU aka Essar due to lack of income will close down in a manner similar to GTV,the helicopter will depart at 2100hrs carrying only the board of directors who will have by then successfully shredded all the evidence.Workers will report to work for the next month and stop when they realise they aren't getting paid.
-Bribes will become legalised and will be reffered to as facilitation fees.
-Members of Parliament will increase their salaries to 5 million a month,Raila will says its is unfair 3 times and then stop
-After legalisation of Chang'aa more illicit brews will pop up each more simple in ingredients than the next.The current one is basically just maize and kerosene mixed with sugar cane water,this one makes you deaf.usage by married men is up 4000%
-There will be a public outcry over people who died on the phone waiting to talk to Zuku Customer Care.Zuku could not be reached for comment,the line was busy.
-Pesapal will add one website to their list of supported websites bringing the number to 3
-KPLC will be completely privatised and then immediately bought by Safaricom,Charges will be per consumption and off- peak time will run from 6:00pm to 6.05pm.Usage of other amenities such as piped water at the same time will lead to increased cost.Also all electric posts and transformers to be painted green.
-Mombasa becomes independent of Kenya and becomes part of Uganda
-Toyota brakes become completely faulty,Toyota replaces brake pedal with another accelerator pedal that makes the car go in reverse,Toyota says problem solved.

Do not copy anything on this post,you are free to link to this page if you like.I don't know if I can copyright this post but if I can I have!!!

Keeping it Real #1:Why local internet content will likely never grow

2010-07-09T17:05:00.000+03:00

Every time I read the newspapers and watch the news I hear people complaining of how the fibre optic was supposed to change things but nothing has happened.People thought like the fibre optic cables were like huge pipes of oil straight from the Gulf or wherever oil comes from that would feed our growing need for internet but one thing you fail to understand is that it is a 2 way channel for upload and download.Even if a fibre optic cable is connected to every single house nothing is going to change,the international content still comes from those few cables that are stretching across the ocean and the only way to reduce dependence on them is to grow the local content.Local content means more Kenyan websites and more local file sharing and utilization.Sites that garner majority of the local browsing include facebook,twitter,youtube,e-mail providers and majority of bandwidth is also taken up by torrents.Now the problem with Kenyans is that;
1.Websites are never updated,a website is made in 2008 and never sees the touch of a website designer again until the owner decides to rebrand the site or money for web hosting eventually runs out an the site is taken down but still on people's business cards you will see those www.mwangibiz.com or www.kimaniprosperous.biz which are just pictures and words pasted together by an ameteur web designer out to make easy money.Corporations are the worst because many never update their websites at all which defeats the purpose of a website anyway.
2.Very few Kenyan websites are original,some fellow fresh out of Methodist Univeristy or Zetech College will decide to make a website and all he really does is just take the concept of an international website,slap on some Kenyan flag colours and add in some kiswahili words and bingo you have a website that might even show up in the Daily Nation being praised for its innovation,RUBBISH!For example pesapal.When I first saw the site I was quite excited but one year later the site has not changed one bit and still lacks purpose,I mean why would I sign up to have an online currency manager only accepted by two shopping sites which were clearly made and owned by the same person.Pespal to me is a guaranteed failure and a perfect example of my 2nd point.Another one is the various online bidding sites which are too numerous to mention and are all clearly rip offs of ebay but with usually absolutely no sellers or bids put up by the site owner.
3.Majority of the local web hosts suck or are just international web hosts who are accepting payment by m-pesa which really doesn't help the local situation at all

Okay after all the ranting you need some solutions,here is the low down.If you want to set up anything money based,forget paypal,visa and even making your own I don't know pesapal bullshit!M-pesa won when it comes to virtual money handling,deal with it.Safaricom is going to be shagging you,your children and everything else that lives for money so just deal with and maybe buy some shares and make maybe make the shagging a 3some.Also we don't want another facebook,youtube,paypal or ebay clone.Mmesikia!!!no more surachat,onavideo,patapesa!!!you get my drift!!Also if you want to make a company website and don't feel like hiring a website designer to keep it maintained just install wordpress and make it yourself,12 yr olds own wordpress blogs so it shouldn't be too difficult.The take home message is safaricom suck,and their competition suck even more,kwanza zain!

How to choose the right ISP for you

2010-06-09T19:32:00.000+03:00

I got a lot of hits with my previous post about which was the best ISP in Kenya and that post was written a year ago and most likely things have changed so consider this post an update.
1.SPEED
It is the first one because most of the times this is all you need to know.With the 3 undersea cables prices have dropped dramatically even though people don't want to accept it they have and they will continue to so if you are sitting at home with an internet connection you hate its you're fault.
Basically there are two speeds you should know,the upload speed and the download speed.Most of the time the upload speed is irrelevant but its good to know anyway especially if you are getting it for a home office or small business.The average lowest bandwidth you get is 256kbps.Now one thing I always get asked is 'My bandwidth is 256kbps yet my download speeds never go over 40KBps.You may not have noticed but the b in the bandwidth stands for bits not bytes.And 8 bits make 1 byte therefore to determine your average download speed divide your bandwidth by 8.
so for 256kbps you will get an average of 32KBps
for 512kbps you will get an average of 64KBps
for 1Mbps you will get an average of 125KBps
Yes I know I have just blown your mind but thats the reality of things.So now you can get a rough picture of the package you will be taking home.

2.PING
(The time it takes a message to be sent to a device on a network and a reply to be received)
Almost nobody cares about this and I am one of them but if you are a fan of online gaming(PS3,Xbox360,PC)(I have not put the wii beacuse it has the same graphics as my phone and I am a hater) this matters because the higher the ping the slower the gameplay online.But one workaround that is currently gaining speed is the establishment of local servers effectively reducing the ping.I don't know any but I know they are there,if you are running one you can give people directions in the comments section.

3.PRICE
Second most important consideration.For around 1000 ksh/month you can get a 256kbps connection on zuku which is enough for a basic internet user.I won't go into details with this as these prices change almost every month(hehe) so instaed I will give a link to each of the ISPs package details page
Zuku(Wananchi Offline,oh!I mean Online)
BOX(KDN)
Access@Home(AccessKenya)
Surf and Talk(Orange)
These are the main ones if you seek internet for your home
NB:If you live in an area where there are wireless hotspots and have come across loopnet you can use that for free,yes free.Its very fast but is ad sponsored

Comments
Zain internet is crap,don't even think fo it
Safaricom are thieves,everything,even if you have heard they have fast internet,it will cost you...Your life!!!hahaha!okay it won't but its expensive
Zuku is okay for the price and it gets reasonable uptime with few outages
BOX is lightning fast,but you have to pay a deposit 15000 ksh before you can start using it
If you have comments leave them in the comments section below....

How to purchase goods online from Kenya

2010-05-08T09:14:00.000+03:00

One question that always storms my comments section is users asking for ways to buy goods from online.One major myth that internet users from Kenya share is that paypal does not work here but this is very wrong.In this post I am going to show you how to sign up for Paypal from Kenya and another usable alternative called Google checkout

PAYPAL
Requirements
VISA debit or credit card
Bank statement
Steps
Go to paypal and sign up for a personal account,input all your information correctly especially contact address and credit/debit card number because this will be used as your shipping information and the card for payment
After sign-up and confirmation is complete you will be asked to verify your account,this is just to prove the account is yours and what happens is they take out around ksh 150 and this transaction will show up on your statement as
XXXXPAYPAL----------------------
Once you ask for verification you will be asked to input a code which is the XXXX on your statement(format might differ with your bank but there will always be a numerical code).You can go to an ATM and get your mini statement or for those with Mbanking you can get it from your phone.Once you input this code into paypal you are ready to go.
Note:You cannot recieve money to your paypal account(yet),the only money paypal can use is the one in your bank account
Shopping
Many online shopping sites accept paypal but you can start with the big dogs Ebay and Ioffer
When shopping online a few tip to getting a good deal is always to check the free shipping box when doing a search because products online are very cheap the only problem is the shipping cost.Once again make sure you input your address correctly as this is the information that will be on the package.On average shipping takes 1-2 weeks.

Google checkout
Google checkout is just like paypal only that you don't need to verify your account and you can start using it straight away,the only problem is fewer sites accept it as a form of payment.The goods thing about google is they have a search engine that searches for products for you,you can check it out here:http://www.google.com/checkout/deals.html

TIPS
I would not recommend doing these activities on a computer at a cyber cafe,just to be safe
Also update your antivirus to protect you from phising viruses

Free internet this christmas from KDN

2009-12-01T21:45:00.001+03:00

Don't you just love free stuff especially when there is no catch,this christmas until January 4th next year Kenyans will have the chance to enjoy free internet from KDN via their Butterfly WiFi and DSL.Im using the service as I write this and I am very shocked as it is 10 times faster than the internet I paid for from Zuku(you suck wananchi online).So put all those WiFi enabled laptops to use and get surfing cause you only have like 34 days left(approx).There are many butterfly hotspots around Nairobi so chances are high that you are near one but if not you can always go to a nearby Java and buy a soda and burn some hours.Here is a speedtest of the butterfly WiFi that I am currently enjoying and as you can see its really fast,youtube videos streaming seamlessly and 500 kbps downloads

How to make a network cable commando style

2009-11-27T19:57:00.000+03:00

Okay when I say make don't get me wrong,I don't mean fashion some cable out of foil and used up dental floss McGyver style,I was strolling through town the other day and I came to notice that some people are making money out of things that absolutely make no sense.I was at Bloomerg searching for an ethernet crossover cable because the one I had made had backfired so I quite excited when I found out that cable was like 15 bob per metre and so I quickly made the purchase and I presented the good salesman with 15 shillings cash and stood there eagerly waiting to be given a complete cable only to be given the cable and the RJ-45 connectors(you can google it if you aren't sure)[which are 3 bob where I usually buy them but bought them for 10 bob there because I didn't feel like walking far] and told to proceed to there 'workshop' upstairs where I would get the crimping done.

I reach the top quick and come across a room that looks like it was painted by a plumber and I quickly give the first 'technician' I see the cables awaiting a complete cable only to be charged an extra 100 shillings for crimping which is one of the simplest activities I have ever seen and that was my motivation to write this post.So if you want to make the ethernet cable youself here is what you will need.

1.Cat 5 cable(I don't about cat6 but cat5 is cheaper so I know you will get cat5 anyway) or you can steal one from your office IT department..muhahaha...

2.RJ-45 connectors(3-5 bob each,any more than that is pure robbery,....cough...cough...bloomerg...sneeze...

3.Time to waste(20-40 minutes preferably)

4.Wembe or knife

5.Tunes to keep you occupied

6.Beer or redbull to keep you going cos you need patience

7.Bottle opener(the swiss army knife type) or a flathead screwdriver

8.Ability to measure lengths mentally cos most likely you broke your ruler using it to generate static electricity to magically lift papers and small strings....back to the lecture at hand..

Make a straight through cable

This is the type of cable everyone is common and connects your computer to your router or to your switch/hub e.t.c

Okay the cable should have a white sleeve and the thing to do is cut like 1 inch of the white sleeve off with a wembe making sure not to cut the wires inside.Next spread the wires as shown below by gently untwisting them making sure not to twist below where you cut the white sleeve.It is not a must to peel the tips of the wires inside as the connector has picers that will dig through the individual wire sleeve's anyway

Once the wires are spread cut the of the tips of the wires so that they are almost equal like in the picture(this will make it easier to put in the connector)

Next get the connector and slide the wires in the order they are in above into the connector with the connector facing flat side up(the side that has the lever like thing is down),do it slowly so that each wire enters it own slot and continue pushing the cable until all wires are at the end of the connector.If you look at the front you should see the copper tips of each wire clearly(if you are not already drunk by this stage).Now you need to make you first crimp commando style.Get the bottle opener or screwdriver and gently press the clip on the upper side of the connector until it firmly presses on the sleeves(don't use to much force or it will break)if it does just pour some super glue in the hole and you are good to go.
The next step involves crimping the pin ontop of each individual wire until it penetrates the wire below.Do this one pin at a time until all 8 pins are in and level otherwise the connector will not make that lovable click whenever it enters the RJ-45 port on your computer(it might still work though,mine did)

Point B is the first crimp and point A is the second crimp(of which there are 8 of them)

Next,repeat the above on the opposite site and you will now have a fully functioning straight through ethernet cable(hopefully)

Make a crossover cable

This is better known as peer to peer cable or comp to comp cable.

Making this type just involves rearranging the wires a bit but the rest of the process is the same.One site will be normal like this

while the other will be like this

And with that you will have spend around 20-40 minutes to save 100 bob and that is totally worth it

KDN and FamilyBank team up to offer free WiFi internet

2009-11-20T12:53:00.001+03:00

The joint venture between Kenya Data Networks (KDN) and Family Bank Limited, will allow the bank’s customers, and the members of the public, to use the free Wi-Fi connections to the internet, within a radius of one kilometre of each of the bank’s 50 branches.Here is a list of some of the branches so you can know if there is a spot near you
in Nairobi
FourWays Towers, Ground Floor (Retail) Muindi Mbingu Street
Sonalux House, Moi Avenue
KTDA Plaza, 5th Floor (Corporate), Moi Avenue
Cargen House, Moi avenue
Pan Africa House, Kenyatta Avenue
Gikomba, Mt. Kenya Hardware Building
Githurai Branch, Muguga House
Kariobangi Branch
Donholm, Outer Ring Road
Tom Mboya Street, Opposite Fire Station
Kilimani Branch, Argwings Kodhek Road
Kayole Branch, At Kenol Service Station
Ngara Branch
Gikomba Sokoni Branch
Industrial Area

in Mombasa
Electricity house, Nkrumah Road
Mombasa II, Jomo Kenyatta Avenue

If you know of any more branches you can add them in the comment form

The soon to be paintless CocaCola can

2009-11-20T09:30:00.001+03:00

At the moment not much is known about the decision and it still appears to be in the project phase but not only does the can look good it will be more eco friendly as the process of painting the cans and removing the paint during recycling is not the there.
[Source site]

Find and advertise jobs online with Kazi360

2009-11-10T09:51:00.000+03:00

With the fast growth of the internet locally many new sites keep popping up every day and I just came across one that caught my eye called Kazi360 which is a simplified job advertisement board where you can find and post jobs online with ease.

What I really liked about the site was its simplicity and easy to navigate interface which consisted of a tabs in case you want to narrow your search by profession.The homepage has a list of the most recent and most popular jobs posted making it easy to find what you need fast.At the moment thje site has few listings because it has just started but the site has great potential and will gain popularity very soon.

Adsense payout now available in Kenya Shillings

2009-11-07T17:12:00.000+03:00

Just today I recieved exciting news that Google Adsnse was now offering cheques in Kenya shillings(Credit goes to collins over at Siku-moja for the find)
Here are the instructions on how to change the currency
-When you log in you will see a tip with a green background saying that earnings are now available in euros
-Click on the link and agree to the terms of service
-After that go to My Account then under account settings edit payment details and after selecting check you will see a drop down list from where you can select the checks to be Kenya shillings

Finally a useful wordlwide e-currency

2009-11-07T16:21:00.001+03:00

With all the buzz about the growth of internet banks have been in a rush to cope with the online craze and have started offering online banking and stuff like that but the thought of open international money exchange has been a long-time dream of many Kenyans.M-pesa has made favourable headway but it is still lacking in terms of international money exchange.This site is a great solution for people who have money that they would like to invest in online and not have to deal with the usual unscrupulous middlemen.Here is how it works.

The site is called liberty reserve and it is basically an online bank of e-currency.E-currency is very similay to paypal but like m-pesa does not require to be linked to your bank account.Therefore you can operate the account from any country in the world without restriction.The site itself does not offer deposit and withdrawal but these services are done by liberty reserve exchangers.These are sites where you can buy and sell your e-currency for real money and other forms such as alertpay or paypal.Many exchangers offers buying and selling of e-currency via moneygram and western union so the whole process can be done without even a bank account.To me this is an extremely better option as compared to paypal and alertpay which do not allow free deposits and withdrawals.They also have the lowest fees as compared to paypal in terms of transfers(free to send,1% to recieve)

Advantages
No bank info is required from you
No monthly fees
No sending fees
You will always make a profit if converting USD to Ksh
You can recieve money via moneygram or western union

Fee Comparison Chart

	Liberty Reserve	PayPal	MoneyBookers	Neteller
Location	Costa Rica	USA*	UK	UK
Balances flactuate with the price of gold?	No	No	No	No
Transaction Fee	1%	2.4%-3.4% + $0.30	1.9%-7.9% + 0.29 €	3.5%
Minimum Fee	$0.01	$0.30	0.29 €	$1.00
Maximum Fee	$2.99	$1000+	$1000+	$10.00
Monthly Fee	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Optional Privacy Fee	Yes	Not Offered	Not Offered	Not Offered
Cost of a $100 Transfer	$1.00	$3.70	$8.27	$3.50
Cost of a $1000 Transfer	$2.99	$34.30	$79.37	$10.00
Cost of a $10,000 Transfer	$2.99	$340.30	$790.37	$10.00
Notes	No chargebacks	Chargebacks	Chargebacks	Chargebacks

So for those of you interested you can check out the site here or sign up if you like.

Alertpay in Kenya

2009-11-04T12:43:00.000+03:00

Since I had previously done a post on how useless paypal is I decided to do a post on alertpay which all the Kenyans seem to be recommending so I looked into the site and here is a summary of what I came across.

What is Alertpay?
AlertPay is the rising leader in secure online payment solutions that was founded to facilitate safe instant payments between individuals and online businesses.

Is it supported in Kenya?
Yes,but you have to have a VISA enabled credit or debit card e.g from Co-op bank or any bank that offers VISA cards

What services are available to Kenyans?
1.Deposit money from your bank account in your alertpay account
2.Withdraw money from your alertpay account via a check in US dollars(direct transfer into bank account not supported)
3.Spend money and recieve money online

Is verification necessary to add, withdraw, or transfer funds?
To maintain compliance with these governmental organizations, we are required to get to know you better, and verification makes this possible. If you have a Personal Starter or Pro account, you can still add, withdraw and transfer a limited amount of funds, but you must get verified when it is requested of you. Business accounts must get verified to deposit, withdraw and send money.

Do you accept debit cards?
Yes, we accept debit cards only if they are issued by Visa or MasterCard. You can use your debit card the same way you can use a credit card. Please note that you cannot deposit or withdraw money with your debit card. You can only use it to make direct payments through the Send Money feature or a seller’s payment process.

Can you use an unverified account?
Yes,bu they can ask you to verify it anytime they like,but they usually do yhis for high risk countries such as Egypt,Morocco and Kenya isn't one of them.

Personally I have seen very few shopping sites,in fact I haven't seen any that support payment by alertpay but it is the closest to paypal that supports Kenya

Kenya's alternative to Paypal?

2009-11-04T11:28:00.002+03:00

Since paypal has totally ignored online banking in Africa people have been forced to seek alternatives,as I was doing my usual speed surfing I came across a site that has a lot of potential called pesapal

First of all back to hating on paypal,what is with paypal!!!Yes we have Mpesa and Zap and these services are very good when it comes to local money exchange but in terms of international exchange these sites are like goldfish in a bowl without the freedom of the open ocean.I always get irritated when I find something is half the price online than it is in the shops even minus the shipping costs.Go to ebay now and you will find kenyan curios being sold by chinese which makes absolutely no sense!On the paypal site they praise themselves about how they are growing everyday and increasing their international support.If you want to know where you country stands in terms of paypal functionality check this page here.For Kenya all you can do is be sent money from another paypal user arccording to the site.An angry person who tried to use paypal had this to say

'My PayPal account does not allow me to "attach" a credit card unless the credit card was issued by a bank in the US. It will not allow me to "attach" a credit card from a bank in Kenya. This makes it impossible to use the account even if I want to send money to another PayPal account. How does one PUT MONEY INTO the account ???

If I can't put money INTO the account, what good is it being able to send money ???'
----From Babo Africa-----
You can read the forum posts here

Okay back to the post at hand,pesapal is a new kenyan site that is very similar to paypal only instead of using your credit card you use your Mpesa or Zap account to buy and receive money online.Looks like a very promising site.You can find a comprehensive review here.

A few more kenyan online shopping sites

2009-09-26T17:53:00.002+03:00

Following the posts I did a while ago about some of the popular shopping sites i decided to highlight some of the sites that have gone unnoticed.

1.Rachel's bargain corner
A simple site that dwells on the sale of books and music both used and new that provides deliveries to Hurlingham, Community Area, Westlands, Upper Hill, Nairobi Cbd, Mombasa Road, Ngong Road, Murang'a Road, Ngara, Kiambu Town and Parklands.Modes of payment include zap and mpesa.They also deliver by post all over kenya,worth checking out.

2.Ravenzo Trading

A shopping site focussed on I.T equipment and accesories which also supports zap and mpesa.In terms of navigation it is a very user friendly site with fast load speeds and very advanced functions such as advanced search and item compare.

3.DukaWala

Another good site which has a wide variety of products and supports numerous forms of payment such as cheques,VISA and mastercard as well as the local mpesa and zap

4.Kenya Online Auction

Not exactly a new site but not very well known but it has been around for a few years but has never really gained the required popularity as it has rarely been updated and is still spotting a 2007 copyright which means the owners are not too serious about it.It is owned and operated by Kenya webhosting.It accepts only Mpesa.Plus the site design and logo are kind of dissapointing

No more money for your EC credits,and thats not all!

2009-09-13T11:57:00.000+03:00

I have been racking up EC credits ever since may that I could cash them out but to my shock when I transfered them to the cashout nothing happened,they just remained there for like 2 months and very unhappy about this I contacted entrecard and this was the message they sent me

Sorry we no longer offer cashout services on entrecard,thanks for your continuing support

Very annoyed I spent the 2000 EC I had been saving up on random ads that didn't bring me much traffic but I didn't care much.Later in the week entrecard later revealed that in order to stabilise the entrecard 'economy' they were going to remove the option of receiving a credit when somebody drops on your site.WTF!
Can somebody please make a better site so we can all move there!