BOOT CAMP UPDATE- DAY 1

The day was very chilly in the morning but nothing could stop the techies from streaming into Strathmore school for the annual Mobile Boot camp. First day was basically meant for keynote addresses from various known industry players.

Brief Summary of the Talks.

First was, as usuall, an introductory and welcome talk from Dr.Seville. He is the current head at the faculty if IT at strathmore and I must say he is really doing a commendable job.






Then came, Andrew Meme from Safaricom who gave a very enlightening talk on the growth of mobile applications and how to monetize your applications. Talked a little bit about Safaricom's plan on growing content on M-PESA. He also gave us the full structure of the IT stuff at Safaricom which I will blog about later in a separate post.

Secondly came, Daniel Southern from MIT who gave a talk on Mobile Web. He eventually doubled up as the facilitator in the Mobile Web class. He quite an interesting geek. Quiet in his talk but very effective. Knows a lot about Kenya and the technological events here than many of us who actually stay here.

Then there was Michael Wakahe from Shujaa Technologies. He did a presentation touching on the general mobile app development. His was quite simple and straight forward, giving the do's and dont's while creating mobile websites.

Before the lunch break we had a final presentation by Kaburo Kobia. Not really a presentation as such but an open session that solely dwelt on the ongoing "ICT grant". She tells me to remind you that everyone should apply for this and that the deadline is so soon. Both individual and Company grant are welcomed. For more information about the same visit their website .





After the lunch break we then had a couple of presentations. Most interesting were from, Amos Gichamba from Strathmore who presented on M-KULIMA.His project seeks to solve dairy farming record keeping and processing. He has designed as system that enables communication between milk processors and farmers.

Finally, came the most interesting 'show' by Paul Kukubo. Mr.Kukubo(in the photo) is the CEO of the ICT Board here in Kenya. The guy is a tough talker. He speaks so much sense in a very polite way. I can assure you, he has the passion for technology and would do anything to help Kenya's ICT grow as a sector. Meanwhile, he is asking developers to get marketers who can get their work to the market in a suitable business model. He really speaks for the non-techies but smart people coz he said he is the type. That he even has no idea of how code is written yet has so much stake in code written in this country.

Kevin and I also kept our cool at the same venue as we took in whatever we could. Here are some of the pics. We had a good time. For more live tweets follow me here on my twitter account.

STRATHMORE BOOTCAMP UPDATE!

So, I decided to register for the upcoming mobile workshop today. Had a couple of technical issues but all went well and finally got an e-mail confirmation for my registration. After the registration one is supposed to choose a LAB that he/she will attend. The sole reason for this post is to shed more light about the various LABS for the participants during the workshop. There are Five labs available and spaces may be limited. They are basicall divided along the major mobile platforms including symbian, iOS, Android, Blackberry, JavaMe and Windows Mobile.



1. Beginner Java ME- This will cater for J2ME programming. This basically involves programming for small devices with a limited processing power and small memory size e.g. mobile phones, PDAs, consumer electronics, and embedded devices are just some examples of J2ME capable devices.

2.SMS/USSD- Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) allows for the transmission of information via a GSM network. Contrasting with SMS, it offers real time connection during a session. USSD messages are simple to form and easy to send. User can directly enter the ussd string and press call to send the message. A typical USSD message starts with a * followed by digits which indicate an action to be performed or are parameters. Each group of numbers is separated by a *, and the message is terminated with a #. For example dialing *144*1# to check your free minutes on the Safaricom Network. This lab also include general SIM programming.

3.Intermediate J2ME- Basically a more advenced class of J2ME, best suited for those with a light background of J2ME programming.

4.Python- Python is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics. Its high-level built in data structures, combined with dynamic typing and dynamic binding, which make it very attractive for Rapid Application Development, as well as for use as a scripting or glue language to connect existing components together.

5.Mobile Web- This should be a very interesting lab. Most users of the web use their mobile handsets to view websites nowadays. This lab involves learning how to develop mobile sites that can easily be viewed by mobile browsers.

Lastly we have

6.Android-  This is an up-coming platform that has taken developers by storm. It is tipped to be the next big thing in mobile programming. Android is Google's operating system for mobile devices. It is a competitor to the Symbian platform, Apple's iOS for the iPhone and Microsoft's Windows Mobile for mobile devices.It is a Linux-based platform from the Open Handset Alliance, whose 34 members include Google,Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Qualcomm, and T-Mobile. Some believe Android to be the future of mobile.

That is basically an overview of the labs you will expect at the workshop this week. Meanwhile, make sure that you register. We meet at the SMS/USSD lab.I will definitely be blogging by the day to give up to date proceedings from the venue at Strathmore.

What came of the 4th KENIC AGM?

After some research on the KENIC  website and live tweets by Moses Kemibaro, the following points can be noted. If not yet familiar with KENIC then you may want to read this first.


-KENIC has resolved to set-up working groups for .ke domain name marketing and dispute resolution.
- The .ke domain names have to be registered through a local registrar(ISP) so payments would be done via wire transfer or m-pesa. (really good!!)
-The new .KE registry system actually automates the process of registrants managing their own domain names with kenic instead of registrars. This should be working really well.
-The controversial Kenya Communications Amendment Act 2009 was to de-link 2nd level domains from the kenic registry. This is still pending. We wait and see how it ends up.
-There is an issue of profane domain names that needs to be looked. For instance names associated with porn as is the case in gTLDs. (to control this is almost impossible, but we wait and see how they go about it).
-To-date, commercial .co.ke domain name extensions dominate uptake is over 11,000 in Kenya to-date. To me this is really low but commendable considering the current ICT situation in Kenya (a lot of unawerness, especially by businesses)
-Kenya has over 30,000 schools but only 34 .sc.ke domain names have been registered to-date. A massive opportunity? 
- The prices of the various domain vary as follows 
          1 .me.ke would be Kes. 500.00 
          2. .co.ke would be Kes. 3,000.00.    Both are pre-tax rates. Price also vary with re-sellers/registrars.

It is clear that KENIC is really trying hard to find a way of getting the domains taken up. Looks like they are really having a hard time marketing the new domains but I must say, the launch of the .me.ke is a good move to give people not only individual web presence but also professional presence. It now remains for the local registrars to come up with suitable and appealing products for the common mwananchi out there.
 

4th KENIC AGM forum.

The AGM is still on, I'm compiling info from live tweets on twitter and their site.
Meanwhile KENIC is the official government organization that is responsible for the management of the .ke domain. They recently had launched quite a number of product such as the the .me.ke sub-domains that should spur the uptake of the local domain and eventually add up to Local Content. It was also charged with the responsibility of facilitating growth of the internet sub-sect and foster uptake of ICT's in the country through a public private partnership (ppp's).  Click HERE for more info.