JKUAT, Moi win Jubilee Laptop tender

JKUAT, Moi win Jubilee Laptop tender

A pupil uses laptop./Allafrica.com

By MUSYOKA NGUI

The Jubilee Standard One pet project has gotten a breather after local universities won the coveted tender to supply laptops to school children.

The Sh.17 billon project will usher in job opportunities for the comrades and professors who will be involved in assembling computer parts and consulting for the information technology learning popularly called Digischool.

It is only 18 months to 2017 general elections and Jubilee pledge has been largely delayed by court cases and debates on whether kids really need laptops or tablets and/or computer labs will just serve them fine.

The laptop project is behind schedule by two year given the first batch of beneficiaries was to enjoy the digital learning by January 2014.

Dr. Fred Matiang’i who initiated the project as the ICT CS has since been moved to the education docket and is expected to oversee the roll out of the grand plan. Of late, he has embarked on impromptu visits in schools to assess their capacities as learning centers occasionally catching school heads flat footed.

Jubilee duo UhuRuto ran on digital wave to clinch presidency in 2013. It is not lost on observers that the laptop tendering has been mired in corruption allegations of which Jubilee rebel MP Alfred Keter(Nandi Hills) has milked considerable political capital.

In Kitui County, three schools will benefit from the pilot project for digischool. They are Kitui Central Primary, Kalumu Primary and Muthue Primary. They represent urban, peri urban and rural locations respectively. The full list of all selected schools for the pilot program is available at http://digischool.icta.go.ke/pilot/

Top tricks for taking smartphone selfies

Top tricks for taking smartphone selfies

 No one wants to appear clueless as if they are playing pranks with the camera lens./Shatterpics.com

By MUSYOKA NGUI

In this new age era people are looking for validation.  They are in dire need for being told they are okay. Better still they want to be liked, commented on and stand out. Whether that is genuine or not is a question for another day.

A senior colleague in the media industry admitted using an app that multiplies the likes on the colleague’s Facebook page when a friend or even a stranger clicks on him. You hit him and the likes flies in tens.

Do you feel happy? I asked. Yes I do. He said.

Any wonder that users are updating their profile and cover photos right left and center looking for the elusive validation. For others, it is a psychological  thing; the fear of missing out. They imagine that others are having better times than yours truly and they feel the urge to catch up so overwhelming like a scratch at the back.

Nowhere has the practice of finding visibility been toyed with more than in the selfie industry. Global smartphone makers are producing selfie phones exclusive for this purpose and customers are spending arms and legs to acquire the devices. Of course to show off. Consumerism that Pope Francis would condemn for its emphasis of physical Pharisee it is.

Taking a selfie is an art that amateurs get wrong and pros never quite master. Thus you’d see photos taken off angle and others obstructed.  To avoid this, use a timer and a selfie stick which prepares you for the photo opportunity.  No one wants to appear clueless as if they are playing pranks with the camera lens.

Let the tall photo subject hold the phone while taking selfies since they are better positioned to take the fullest view possible.

The background also matters. Busy background draws attention from the main men and women.  Choose a simple background that says “I was here” rather than the unintended venues you’d rather caught dead hanging around. Crop out objects which do not help tell the story. Remember you are looking for 1000 words, nay, 1000 likes and 1000 comments.

Photo editing software come in handy for polishing the rough edges. While they cannot entirely recreate an ugly face, they will improve the good looks that God gifted you. Keep clicking.

Tech savvy Uber undercuts Nairobi taxi drivers

Tech savvy Uber undercuts Nairobi taxi drivers

Uber app is causing ripples in Nairobi taxi biz/Citizentv.co.ke

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Uber has upstaged a Nairobi taxi association and cartels as we know them owing to their affordable prices compared to the incongruent and chaotic transport sector that needed the upstage the day before yesterday.

Uber is being lashed at its sin being a foreign company operating in a “sovereign republic” threatening to send the taxi drivers to inflation. The drivers, who did not show how they will do it, promised to counter Uber app by developing their own PSV software to counter the unprecedented growth of the US owned app.

In a characteristic American capitalist culture, Uber may just cannibalize the Nairobi taxi business. Seems human flesh is the sweetest after biscuit and sliced bread.

According to analogue 15,000 traditional taxi drivers, Uber is intent on cutting down their turn over by giving clients alternative availability and prices.

United Kenya Taxi Organization are alleged to have turned the transport business anarchy by attacking tech savvy Uber drivers and maliciously destroying the vehicles of Uber taxis.

Social media has been treated to Uber and UKTO taxi photos with the latter warning Uber reeks of monopoly and the government must move in to ensure Uber is regulated as UKTO have loans to service and families to feed.

Does this fly in the face of globalization of markets or protectionism of our infant industries is exposed to world business sharks? Hit me at musyokangui02@gmail.com

Why #Eritrean wives hoax trended on social media

Why #Eritrean wives hoax trended on social media

Social media frenzy to Eritrea hoax. / Naitrends

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Social media entertainment side was exemplified by the now popular false news that Eritrean men will be jailed for life for not marrying two wives. The hoax went on to reveal that the guests of the state will also be subjected to hard labour.

Kenyan social media users jammed Twitter and WhatsApp groups show their ufisi side. A popular male union club called Team Mafisi salivated on the offer revealing their eagerness to go to Eritrea.

Reaction to Eritrea polygamy hoax. /Tuko.co.ke

A Somali website named Diplomat News Network uploaded a fake memo showing the decree of the iron fisted government.

The article alluded to a demand and supply mismatch blamed on war. A sweetener was added that polygamists’ bills will be footed by the State.

Male Kenyan social media users openly showed their wishes to relocate to Eritrea. However, Nairobi women found the post sexist and offensive.

The Kenyan social media frenzy sucked in Nigerian, Zimbabwean and Ghanaian counterparts who also openly expressed their polygamist intentions.

Eritrean beauties?/Naitrends

An Eritrean blogger Filmon Zerai blamed Kenyan rags for popularizing the story online. He tweeted :“Ridiculous tabloid rumours on #Eritrea wives has gone viral in Africa. Polygamy is illegal but welcome those who want to visit.”

Article 322 of Penal Code 2015 criminalized polygamy in Eritrea but districts administered by Sharia/Islamic law still practice the age old tradition. Bigamy is punishable for a maximum sentence of one year and maximum fine of Ksh.300,000.

Twitter Trend on #Eritreawives

A Nigerian run US based website SaharaReporters quoted Eritrean diplomat in New York who “flatly denied the rumour, and expressed frustration that hoax had gained the traction it had”.

No doubt fool’s day prank came early for Kenyans this year.

Stealing digitally and its costs to Mwananchi

Stealing digitally and its costs to Mwananchi

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Cybercrime is harming the digital Jubilee government (pun intended). This comes in the wake of National Youth Service mega scandal.

As a consequence, the Auditor General has moved in with a cleaning task. The brief? To audit the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS). The AG hopes to reduce economic crimes in Kenya which is ranked among the most corrupt in the world.

A recent report authored by Transparency International last month indicted Kenya ranked 139^th corrupt country on earth out of the possible 168 countries surveyed.

It is not lost on TI that most of the sleaze stinks to the high heavens from the government procurement departments.

The Nairobi gubernatorial aspirant and former powerful Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru acknowledged that a cyber-attack was attempted at the National Youth Service to defraud the State Sh.800 million. It later emerged that IFMIS passwords were allegedly hacked.

Instructively, the 2015 Cyber Security Report reveals that Kenya lost Sh.15 billion via cybercrime.

In 2016, the government has earmarked Sh.13 billion to be spent on fighting cyber warfare.

Beating Hackers Online

Beating Hackers Online

Hackers capitalize on unsecured online accounts to rip off users. Photo/Daily Mail

By MUSYOKA NGUI

Nothing exposes web users than hacking. Accounts of users could be compromised while others have their confidential and personal information stolen. Cybercrime is real and threatens governments, corporates and individuals at all levels.

But it takes a discerning wizard to stay out of trouble with hackers who are on the prowl devising mechanisms to penetrate yet another account.

One way of keeping hackers at bay is changing one’s passwords often. The key in codes should be changed. Well as often as babies need new diapers. That is not to mean you be a control freak. Extra layers of authentication like email links and SMS short codes wired to your phone or computer make sure that you confirm your credentials before logging in.

Online security breaches target influential persons and businesses and out of desperation to save face, more often than not the victims never acknowledge or report the assault. A bank will be reluctant to announce that its IT personnel broke into its cyber store and stole. Email service providers too do not want to come off as vulnerable easy targets for the bloggers in masks.

One can update their antivirus in order to enjoy latest developments in cyber security. Avoid saving your passwords to servers you do not trust. These include public browsing centers like resource centers, hubs and lending your smartphone to strangers who could hack and post malicious stuff on your behalf.

Your employer will be less inclined to believe that the sensational news published on your social media timeline was by someone else other than you.

There is no a 100% proof to keep hackers at bay so keep trying and stay updated on musyokangui.blogspot.com for all the latest digital solutions.