Ericsson’s ‘oven’  is at work, and late next year the company will be introducing new small cell products that are small enough to fit in a person’s hand and at the same time provides enough indoor network coverage for a crowd.

The electronic company intends to launch a cellular radio, which is disk-shaped and will be named the Ericsson Radio Dot System.

The Radio Dot System idea came about after two years of research and development and integrates 14 copyrights. The device weighs 300 grams and as the company says, it brings about revolutionary antenna element or the “dot” which will deliver mobile broadband to users.

This is how it will work, dots are connected and powered by ordinary internet LAN cables (Category 5/6/7) to indoor radio units that link to a base station.

Ericsson Radio Dot System can be combined with Ericsson’s carrier Wi-Fi portfolio which will allow features such as real-time traffic steering.

The electronic company said that the product has already been gaining interest from AT&T in the USA.

“With the Radio Dot System we lower the threshold to building indoor coverage. The dot is the most cost-effective, no-compromise solution to the indoor coverage challenges expressed by our customers. It is ultra-small but can scale to virtually unlimited capacity; it is easy to install, future proof and it is 100 percent integrated with existing mobile networks,” said Johan Wibergh, the head of Ericsson Business Unit Network.

Technology just got smaller, it is said that with this gadget internet covers those hard to reach areas especially in most big building, may be the dungeon is in that category of ‘hard-to-reach’ places. It may be the answer to the mobile internet problem.

Travel Easy Kenya, an application set to be launched in Mombasa wants to make bus travelling sane by introducing an online booking system for buses, taxis and cabs in the city.

Developed by Ahmed Mohamed BIT JKUAT, Yusuf Bhaiji, IT Manager at Captain Andys Fishing Ltd, Abdul Majid BIT Mt. Kenya and Huezija Dawood a high school student from Mombasa , the web-based app works simply.

One uses their social media accounts to log in, then choose the type of bus they want to travel with, choose the time and pay for the service.

Travel Easy Kenya, plans to integrate all the country’s bus booking systems so as the firms allow passengers to purchase tickets online from their system and then pay by mobile money. According to the founders, the system reduces the amount of time and money spend by passengers to move from bus company to bus company to find out about prices and schedules and also avoid the struggle that is associated with  booking buses and traveling.

“We were inspired by the craziness at bus stations during holidays. Its so hard to book a bus to go anywhere, said Yusuf Bhaiji, one of the co-founders. ” We came up with Travel Easy Kenya to end this menace.

“After logging in, you chose your destination, pick your preferred bus or cab company then proceeds to book by paying using M-Pesa or credit card. The system sends you an automatic email and SMS alert confirming your ticket is valid. At the end of the month, the bus and cab companies pay us our commission per ticket sold online.”

The team says their original market is Mombasa but they will expand across the country after roll out.

Mombasa has over 1.4 million people living there, majority of them from up-country. These travel home during holidays around the year. Many others still travel to the coastal town for their holidays burdening the city’s transport system even more. Travel Easy Kenya, when launched will help reduce that congestion at bus parking lots and significantly make the bus booking and ticketing convenient.

Kenyans have responded positively to an appeal by the Kenya Red Cross Society to raise funds for emergency rescue operations for the victims of Westgate Mall tragedy.

At least 100,000 Kenyans had sent a total of Ksh. 32 Million by mid day on Monday through mobile money M-Pesa PayBill number 848484, which was set up on Sunday by Safaricom Limited and by dusk the amount has risen up to Ksh. 45.9 Million. All the funds raised will go towards the Kenya Red Cross and humanitarian support service for the Westgate tragedy. As of 3pm today the contribution stands on 69 Million.

“In keeping with our commitment to positively impact the lives of Kenyans- we have set up a special Zero Rated PayBill Number 848484 to coordinate the fundraising effort towards the medical care and support of the victims of the Westgate Mall Tragedy. These funds will be administered by our partners; The Kenya Red Cross Society. I urge you to support this in any way you can,” said Safaricom CEO, Bob Collymore.

Red Cross has been at the lead in providing humanitarian services which include mobilizing the public to donate blood, psychosocial support for the affected, evacuation services and emergency triage services.

The General Secretary of Red Cross, Abbas Gullet told the public that the organisation needs more than Kshs.80 million to facilitate these services.

“I would like to thank Kenyans for their overwhelming support-we have seen Kenyans come out in large numbers to donate blood and share the proverbial ten cents to help out a brother and sister in need. The Kenyan giving spirit never ceases to amaze me and I would like to call on all of you not to tire because the task ahead may be daunting but with your help, we will overcome. Further, I would like to reassure all Kenyans that we will account for every penny received towards this worthy cause. Please continue contributing. Asanteni sana,” Said the General Secretary.

Nigeria’s Cross Rivers State, Igabi LGA, Firs and Halogen Security, all nterswitch clients have won the Central Bank of Nigeria Payment System Awards, held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Interswitch Transnational, said: “We are absolutely delighted that four organizations that use our Autopay platform, have won awards at the CBN’s Payment System Awards. The cost of operating a cash-based system goes beyond financials; it also has to do with managing available human resources. The gains of adopting ePayment solutions are enormous and we are glad and encouraged by the growing level of adoption.

“We work with our customers to understand the varying business challenges, and then develop best of breed solutions that would address those challenges while also delivering the overall corporate objectives. So, these awards are a true reflection of our commitment to the success of our customers.

“This achievement would not have been possible without the support of our partner banks who have been strong advocates of our Autopay solution and with whom we will continue to work closely to drive forward the CBN’s cashless policy.”

All four have been recognized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for adopting an end-to-end ePayment solution to run their businesses. The awards were given to organizations in recognition of the successful adoption and implementation of ePayment services by the CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, CON at the maiden edition of the International Conference on Payment System.

Cross River State won in the State Category as the best state to have adopted end to end epayment solution and Igabi LGA (In Kaduna State) won in the Local Government Area Category. Halogen Security limited; a security company that provides total and integrated security solutions, won in the Small Business Enterprise (SME) category, while the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), was recognized in the Special Category.

Using  Autopay (an end-to-end ePayment solution from Interswitch), the firms have addressed various operational challenges that stem from the use of the conventional cash-based system. Autopay delivers higher operational efficiency by enabling immense savings on costs and time. In addition, human resources are able to focus on core business needs and less of payment processing.

Autopay, used by over 500 leading organizations has been designed to enable organizations initiate, pay and monitor payments electronically. Launched in 2003, Autopay automates payments across multiple banks such as staff salaries, allowances, travel expense, petty cash to vendor and supplier-related expenditure all irrespective of the beneficiary’s bank. It also supports both one off and recurring direct credit transactions.

Ghana’s ICT will receive a drastic make over as the Communication Minister, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, has emphasized that the government is committed to make the ICT infrastructure and tools available to all the citizens of Ghana in the future.

The Minister said that the government knows the importance of ICT to the development of the country and creation of jobs as well as expansion of the larger economy.

He said: “Our commitment to universal access is unflinching and we are not wavering at all in that.”

ICT today cannot be ignored because this is where the life of development is, what the Communication Minister in Ghana should tell us is when this make over is set to start taking shape African leaders are known for their lip-service. He could also tell us what the plans involve so that people know what to expect.

It is wise if Ghana could think about doing this things fast enough because technological trends do not stay the same for a long time, we hope they get good advice.

TechMoran has known Idd Salim for long, he was a fantastic guy.

We loved his sanity, and devotion to work and God. We admired his guts. He was the blogger we always wanted to become-writing and speaking and tweeting without fear or favour.

We once met him behind the iHub Cluster late last year and loved his skills and met him at events and in hubs coding all night. He was fantastic and we liked his personality, but his journey has come to an end.

The Kenyan born, bred and hardened IT professional,  Unix (FreeBSD) and Linux (Debian) systems admin and concepts creator passed on  last night St. Marys Hospital, Nairobi after a chest complication.

The passing on of the thinker, open-source evangelist and IT Security Consultant has left a gap among Kenyan tech community, who have lost a brother and a friend. And before he is laid to rest today at Nairobi’s Kariokor Cemetery, TechMoran would like to pass their condolences to friends and family and the entire Nairobi tech community, we shall all dearly miss him.

In one of his coding sessions through the night, Idd told TechMoran he was “working on something amazing, what we had never seen before.” We shall all wait till light shines again. Strangely, as if he knew it all, Idd’s Twitter handle had Disappearance Act.

May God rest his soul in eternal piece.

Image:BusinessDailyAfrica.

Subscribers of Multichoice in Ghana now have a new and easy way of getting their Dstv and GOtv subscriptions paid as Multichoice Ghana Limited and eTranzact Ghana Limited have launched an online payment platform, Easy Pay.

Easy Pay platform, conveniently enables the user to make their monthly payment online for a range of services at any time, by using their mobile phones, the internet or an eTranzact Point of Sale device.

DStv and GOtv subscribers who also have accounts with Ghana Commercial Bank, Access Bank, First Atlantic Bank, Bank of Africa, First Capital Plus, Women’s World Banking, Midland Savings and Loans, Energy Bank, Zenith Bank and UBA, can make payments directly from their bank accounts using the mobile banking service by their various banks.

The other option is purchasing an Easy Pay card from the eTranzact Office in Accra or any of the Multichoice offices in Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi and pay their DStv and GOtv subscriptions via the internet.

The General Manager of Multichoice Ghana Limited and Director of GOtv Ghana Limited, Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, had this to say: “Multichoice is committed to ensuring that it provides easy and convenient payment options for DStv and GOtv subscribers to always stay connected and enjoy the best television experience provided by DStv and GOtv.”

The Chief Operating Officer of eTranzact, George Babafemi, noted that his outfit is excited to work with Multichoice as a payment aggregator across Ghana.

“This partnership is expected to make subscription payment a delightful experience for customers who will for the first time have the rare choice of Secured Internet Payment by using the eTranzact cards and other cards accepted on the eTranzact Payment Portal,” he said.

He added that all payments made through this platform are instant and he encouraged banks and other agents to seeking to collect subscriptions on behalf of Multichoice to do so by partnering with eTranzact.

Microsoft has updated its Surface tablets, the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2, which now have faster processors, higher spec’d cameras, display screens and not leaving out the expanded portfolio of accessories.

The major improvements include the processing power as well as the battery life and to the kickstand, now with dual angles, which Microsoft says will make each experience a comfortable one.

Other enhancements are seen in Windows RT and Windows 8.1 Pro which make the two Surface tablets more powerful and customizable.

So this is the catch:

Surface 2

 – It is powered by NVIDIA Tregra 4 processor it makes the apps run faster and smoother

 -The battery life will serve you for up to 10 hours, things are made easier and possible by the fast processor.

 -It has 10.6 inch ClearType Full HD display and it renders 1080p video

 -Has an upgraded USB 3.0 for faster file transfers

 -Frontal rear camera has 3.5 MP and the rear camera is 5 MP

 -It is also thinner than its predecessor and is available in 32GB and 64GB

 Surface Pro 2

– Just like a laptop, it is capable of running all Windows software as well as apps from the Windows Store

-It is powered by a fourth generation Intel Core i5 processor

-increased performance and up to 60 percent longer battery life than its predecessor Surface Pro

-it is offered in 64GB and 128GB configurations, with 4GB of RAM and 256GB and 512GB configurations with 8GB of RAM

Sales of this gadgets will start later next month, the Surface 2 will start at $449 while the Surface Pro 2 will start at $899.

This deals looks a little better than others but we are yet to try, these are good gadgets to keep us talking for a while as competitors  fold their sleeves and begin on a new gadget to rock the air waves.

Terrorists planned long ago to take down Westgate Mall, even starting a Facebook page for the public eight days before the real attack.

The shocking page, started September 13 and with no address or location on it might have been opened by the terrorists or an affiliated Kenyan or just anyone to drive public activity and confuse intelligence into the attack and probably cause terror and fear among Kenyans. The Westgate Mall siege was carried on September 21, a few minutes to noon.

The terrorists propaganda page claims it was”Providing the secret eye. Collecting Info From Kenyans Online And Sharing.Views Not Independent.”

It adds, “We have a system we call open source intelligence collection system where we collect all terrorist feeds and digets them into a database. Every info posted online by terrorists or that refers to terror is picked and we conduct-onspot intel charting and analysis. Its only after connecting the info to terror groups and sympathizers online that we post info.”

The page again terrifies its followers by adding that it had captured tweets such as , “5th and 7th mujahideen squads from tanzania
and uganda expected to carry out attacks in the next 24 hours! # westgate # AlShabaab Expanded Eye our fighters had intense training at black water facility in north carolina! and were expecting more! #westgate # AlShabaabcrawler.”

The page also said,”Al Shabaab turns to Communicating via E-mail as @Twitter engages them in an online war suspending all accounts with “HSM”.”

Our questions at TechMoran and as Kenyans remain unanswered. Could be a Kenyan somewhere trying to increase hits to his or her Facebook page or is it run by Al-Qaeda insiders? After a close scrutiny, we realized Facebook had no history on name change and the page’s URL remains the same.

Another Terrorism blog goes ahead to name the perpetrators and their places of origin but we rather ask Kenyans to keep off this dirty tricks.  Did the terrorists start the page days before the raid? Or is it just a hooligan  out to garner likes to his/her page then change its name? Are the master-minders walking free among us?

The Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) in conjunction with the Egyptian Government and Intel will bring forward the first ever tablet to be assembled entirely in Egypt and has an Intel processor, the Pluto.

The greatest hope in this launch is that it will bring a desire into other African countries into developing local technology and help to create the next advances by sourcing ideas from the locals and using the available manpower.

The tablet will be available in the market by the end of the year. NordixEgypt is now in charge of the supply, marketing, distribution and sales of the tablet.

The tablet has Andriod applications, and is said to offer fast web browsing, multimedia capabilities and will cost EGP 1,777, which is about $258, and will offer consumers fast web browsing, multimedia capabilities and Android applications.

“The Intel Atom processor offers impressive battery life, and always-on technology in sleek designs that are lighter, more responsive and enable a multitude of options for mobile users,” Intel said of the new product.

The company thought that new means of producing and creating an affordable tablet to the Egyptians will be a greater deal as the current one is still out of reach  because of its cost.

It is true that the cost of the tablet can be its major down fall if they do not come up with something to neutralise it. It is easier to trust the popular brands especially when it comes to gadgets and costs, this is what is killing African innovations