Kenyan Guru

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!

A good looking kenyan online shopping site

2009-09-12T21:11:00.002+03:00

After my disappointment with onlineduka I came across a site that really caught my attention in that it was everything that a online shopping site required.I am not being biased and I have not been bribed to diss onlineduka and then praise this site but if you visit it you can see for yourself.These are the kind of sites I would be proud to promote
UzaNunua

Another disappointing kenyan online store

2009-09-12T11:48:00.007+03:00

I always get a feeling of joy when I see a new kenyan website thats innovative and string in concept but I always get disappointed when the idea concept is not fully carried out.Running a website I know is not an easy task but in order for a website to grow it has to provide something that the others don't.

So while I was surfing I cam across this new site called OnlineDuka Kenya.I was at first very pleased with the design and load speed of the website and so i automatically dug deeper to see what the website offered.The homepage is very well designed and easy to navigate and provides a simple navigation bar that is comprehensive.Each page has a hovering serch bar which isn't very effective in terms of advanced search as it only searches for tag words.[something the site admin should work on]
When you click on a product you get a picture of the product plus basic details about the seller and the price,below you get a tab of related items which you might be interested in but immediately i feel that something is missing,no cart or cashout option.How can it be an online duka that doesn't sell anything!then it should be called an online catalogue or online classifieds!
When you click on the seller details you get a nice page with basic info such as company products and the likes,a location map tab was available but many shops had no map.For all web developers out there who are in the dark these days Kenya is covered by GPS if you didn't know and there is always the google maps widget if you want to keep it simple.
Basically the site has so much potential that is going to waste,here is a summary of the pros and cons I came across.
Pros
Nice design
Nice concept
fast page loading
easy to navigate
CONS
Products not detailed
No cart/cash-out option
No advanced search option
Basically if you are going to set-up an online shop don't set-up an online classifieds!Website admins should take a look at the books first website,its not the prettiest website in the world but it gives you everything it promises including delivery options and payment via m-pesa,what more could you ask for(except something other than books)[that was a hahaha moment!,Im out!]

Xbox360 price change again?

2009-09-06T12:17:00.005+03:00

I know many of you were aware of the price change in august that led to a 100$ decrement in the price of the xbox360 elite system but know it has been confirmed.If you don't believe me check it out for yourself on the xbox360 page

PS3 Mod Chip?

2009-08-31T21:11:00.003+03:00

i was met with shock today when i was browsing the net and came across an apparent PS3 modchip and assuming this was a hoax I immediately dug deeper to investigate and I stumbled across something amazing

I am sure most of you are not new to the world of mod-chips and game consoles but for me this was a first,a mod-chip that can work on any console.Believe it!The chip is the
Infectus2.
InFeCtuS is the first versatile microchip ever brought out in the market, created to work with many different consoles. InFeCtuS will give you access to so many features that would be impossible to describe them all
Is the introductory paragraph on the home-page of the infectus website.
I browsed through the site that had claimed success with their chip on the Xbox360 and the Wii but had finished running beta tests on the PS3 and were ready to release it commercially in the next 4 weeks.
Here are a few features the chip offers:

The first work to be done is to allow our users to flash directly the PS3 BIOS by USB. So no more problem with firmware, you can install everything you want, when you want. All the complications due to firmware versions that cannot be downgraded will not bother you anymore.
This solution will be released in the next 4 weeks!
Another new feature that we want to add is a REAL TIME patching of the firmware part that you want to be emulated from the chip.

Here is a picture of the chip

Upload and share images for free with Sharedimages

2009-06-19T12:15:00.003+03:00

Are you an avid image uploader.Image hosting sites are very common these days with the likes of photobucket,flickr and tinypic but you may have noticed that most of these sites are very careful with their bandwidth and once your badnwidth runs out,no more image sharing.Now for people who share images on a large scale such as image gallery owners or photographers need a service that will meet to their bandwidth needs and lucky for them their happens to be such a site called sharedimages

What are the features of sharedimages?
1.Unlimited bandwidth
2.Unlimite storage
3.Files are never deleted
4.All image types are allowed even adult material
5.Various image upload methods such as via zip files,url upload and many others

If this is what you have been looking for then you can sign up here and start sharing
SharedImages

Download with ease using Jdownloader

2009-06-01T20:53:00.004+03:00

One big problem with downloading from file hosting sites is the inability to automate the download process forcing downloaders to be constantly monitoring their downloads because of the inability to queue downloads due to things such as countdown timers or captcha boxes such as that on Megaupload.Thanks to the guys over at Jdownloader they made a program that could automate the process without much hustle requiring you only to input the link

The program was built especially for file sharing sites and has various feautures to make downloading much easier,here are some of them

Platform independent. (Windows, Linux, Mac, ..)
Runs on Java 1.5 or higher
Complete Open-Source (GPL)
Completely portable-No need for installation
Download several files parellel
Download with multiple connections
JD has an own powerful OCR module (JAntiCaptcha)
Decrypt RSDF, CCF and DLC Containerfiles
Decryptplugins for many services. e.g. sj.org, UCMS, WordPress, RLSLog….
Youtube, Vimeo, clipfish video and Mp3 Download
Automatic extractor (including password list search) (Rar archives)
Theme Support
Multilingual
About 110 hoster and over 300 decrypt plug-ins
Reconnect with JDLiveHeaderScripts: (1400 router supported)
Webupdate
Integrated package manager for additional modules (eg. Webinterface, Shutdown)

For more info check out the jdownloader homepage

Play high end games without having to have a powerful computer

2009-05-04T18:19:00.003+03:00

In response to a comment I received I am going to write about a revolutionary service I cam across a few days ago refferred to as OnLive

1.What is OnLive?
This is an internet based gaming service that was though of by some bright American minds that aims at enabling people to play games over the internet without the need of having powerful computers and graphics cards which are usually a necessity with high end games.

2.How does it work?
Simple,you are in control of the game.You play the game on their servers but the images from the game are streamed to your computer or TV.Basically its like you are playing the game on their servers but you are being streamed the video of your gameplay so it looks like you are playing it right from your computer

What do I need?
1.Broadband internet(has to be fast)
2.Windows XP/Vista enabled laptop or PC
3.To play directly on the TV a micro-console is required

How do I join?
It is still in beta stage and they are only allowing beta testers to join

What kind of games are available?
The latest games from the big companies which they have partnered with such as EA,THQ,Eidos,Take 2
Some of the games they say are already available include;
Tomb Raider:Underworld
Crysis warhead
Mirrors Edge
Prince of Persia
Bioshock
H.A.W.X
and many others

When will it be available?
They promise by the end of the year but am I say probably mid next year

What are some of the things you expect to go wrong with this service?
Am glad u asked,
1.Its internet based so automatically you have to worry about your internet speed and also their servers sometimes not being available
2.Its still not as good as having the games themselves
3.Streaming will never be as good as the real deal

You can check out their website here for more details and screenshots.
OnLive homepage

How to bypass the rapidshare countdown timer

2009-04-23T09:36:00.004+03:00

UPDATED:Does not work anymore
This is just a simple method I came across for free users to bypass the waiting time which is usually about 50-30 seconds and go straight to the download link.
Here is how it is done,after going to the download page you should see 2 options one for download as a free member and the other as a premium member
-Select download as a free member
-You will be taken to a another page where you will see a countdown timer
-Go to your address bar and type the following

javascript:alert(c=-1) OR

javascript:alert(c=0) OR

javascript:var c=0; OR

javascript:var%20counta=0;var%20countb=0;var%20countc=0;var%20countd=0;
var%20counte=0;var%20countf=0;var%20countg=0;var%20counth=0;var%20counti=0;
var%20countj=0;var%20countk=0;var%20countl=0;var%20countm=0;var%20countn=0;
var%20counto=0;var%20countp=0;var%20countq=0;var%20countr=0;var%20counts=0;
var%20countt=0;var%20countu=0;var%20countv=0;var%20countw=0;var%20countx=0;
var%20county=0;var%20countz=0;

-Then press enter,a messagebox with a certain value will appear and after you close it you will see the download link

NB:I didn't find this very useful as it only saves like half a minute but you can use it if you want.This method does not bypass the waiting time which one waits after downloading a file from rapidshare.

Entrecard now accepting cash-out applications

2009-04-17T19:21:00.002+03:00

To all you entrecarders who were waiting for cashout to be released the system has been launched and members have to apply for approval before they can cashout which means that a lot of people are going to get rejected.They are also only accepting cashout via paypal.To apply for cashout just look for the Apply for cashout link on your entrecard dashboard under the my account section

Create online HTML forms with ease using Wufoo

2009-04-15T22:30:00.003+03:00

One drawback of being a blogger is the inability to integrate professionalism into our blogs.To go around this sites started offering functionalities such as widgets and plugins on their servers enabling people to access them as a 3 party functionality(one that is not embedded into the website).A few months ago I told you of kontactr which enabled you to create online contacc forms but what if you want another type of form.Then Wufoo is the site for you.

Wufoo basically takes online forms to the next level enabling you to make various forms with ease such as;
contact forms
survey forms
payment forms(can be integrated with paypal)
registration forms
online orders
tracking and much more

The generated forms are then converted into HTML code which you can embed in any compatible blogging platform.
On top of this members can fully customise their forms on basic characteristics such as colour and font and also upload compatible files to the form such as images.You can visit the site here and give it a try:Wufoo

Get useful and easy to use javascript widgets from Js-kit

2009-04-14T09:38:00.002+03:00

One thing about blogger is that it has a horrible comment from even the embedded one so I stumbled upon a site which has a variety of high quality widgets that you can add to any kind of blog

Their most popular widget is the comment widget which adds various functionalities to your blog such as user editted avatars,youtube videos,facebook integration and many more features which are fequently updated
Some of their other widgets include;
star rating widget
polls
minichat
user advisor and many more;
You can visit the site here:http://js-kit.com/

Entrecard yet to release cashout system

2009-04-14T08:58:00.002+03:00

The much awaited credit cashout system on entrecard which was set to be released last weekend is still not out

There is much speculation on how priority for cashout will be given but according to the Entrecard blog they will create an algorithm that will generate a number which will determine how active you are on entrecard on activities such as dropping,buying ads,accepting ads e.t.c
As for cashout it will be per 1000 EC but the amount is still yet to be determined

Entrecard soon to offer cash for your credits

2009-03-15T09:02:00.002+03:00

Word around entrecard is that very soon entrecard will be implementing a new ad system which will feature CPM ads

That is not all there will also be a new system where you can convert your entrecard credits into cash although the details on how this will be done are still unclear bu this has been met with a lot of excitement by entrecards members except the new rule that states all entrecard widgets will have to be placed above the fold i.e visible on your page without the user having to scroll down,which will be implemented as soon as the new ad system is released which according to entrecard will be next week.

Free Iphone and Ipod applications

2009-03-02T09:31:00.002+03:00

Since I am not a big fan of the Iphone am not very conversant with how it works but I recently came across a site that was offering free iphone apps for download
The site is called appulo.us and what it basically is is a collection of user submitted applications where viewers can read about the application and download it if they are interested in it

The site features all of the popular applications and even the ones you did not know about with detailed information about each and every application including compatibility and some screenshots also.
Visit the site here if you are interested

Can't see google ads,got Kaspersky?

2009-03-01T09:18:00.003+03:00

I recently added kaspersky 2009 to the long list of programs protecting my computers from viruses but as soon as I finished the installation when I cam to check on the blog I noticed my ads were not showing.After several failed attempts at re-adding the ad code I realized that the ad code was fine and that Kaspersky was the one blocking my ads.I usually don't notice ads that much but since I was in the process of changing my template I had to be able to see what I was editting

So here is what I did to get them back
1.Open the kaspersky window
2.Click on the content filtering sidetab
3.Under Banner Ad blocker you should see something that says 'White' and 'Black' list with a clickable button on its right
4.Click this and you will be taken to the Banner ad blocker window
5.Click on the white list tab and then add the following address mask(URL) *google*
6.Then click on OK and once you reload your page the ads will be back.

Download from rapidshare with ease

2009-02-27T19:46:00.004+03:00

Downloading from rapidshare as a free user can sometimes be a real bother and not only because of the speed but also the inconvenience of having to wait a few minutes after downloading a file
WHAT if you want to download a bunch of files and don't feel like waiting for each and every one of them to finish,there is a solution

The software is called Rapidshare Auto downloader and what it does is exactly what is in its name,you give it the rapidshare link and it does the rest.
What the software does is it accesses rapidshare under its inbuilt web browser and then downloads the file enabling multiple files to be downloaded(one at a time) without a wait time.
Here are some more features;
-Scheduled downloads function
-Auto-shutdown feature and many more

If you are interested you can download it here
Download

Free software alternative to Adobe Photoshop

2009-02-16T11:02:00.001+03:00

Adobe photoshop is one of the best image creation and editing software there is but with the price tag people are forced to seek cheaper or even better yet free alternatives which brings me to todays software of interest called Gimp(GNU image manipulation program)

Here are some of its features
1.Multiple image file format support such as:
JPEG,PNG,GIF,PSD,TIFF and many others

2.Customizable interface to enhance ease of use

3.Numerous photo enhancement features such as distortion,blur and others

4.Comes with hardware support for users of devices such as graphic tablets,pressure sensitive screens e.t.c

If you are interested in it you can check ouy more features and download it here

Get a disposable email with ease

2009-02-15T10:11:00.003+03:00

One major thing that bothers me about email is spam,and no matter how much you block them they just keep on coming and so people are forced to set up secondary emails for such things which ends up being a long process of signing up and the sorts.But recently I stumbled onto a website that changed all this.

The website is called mailinator and what it does is it gives you the ability to use any email address that comes to mind,in other words if you want your email to be lookimspamming@mailinator.com just send an email to it an it will be activated,as simple as that.
Because the site does not ask users for passwords it would be wise to use the address for non confidential purposes such as confirming offers on GPT sites and such.
So just think of an email address@mailinator and then send it an email to try it out.
Visit mailinator here