iHub has been a leading force in innovation in Kenya. It has provided an incubator and hacker space for people with creative minds since its inception in 2010. Over the years it has expanded into m:lab, UX Lab, Gearbox and iHub Research.
Today, iHub got a new managing director, her name is Mary Gicharu, she holds a Bachelors of Finance Degree which she completed on a music scholarship abroad. She has gotten a lot of experience from working in the US with globally respected companies such as Morgan Stanley investment bank where she worked as a Program Manager in the COO’S office for 8 years . Mary also had a role which included tenureship at Coca-Cola enterprises, Inc. Atlanta GA U.S. within Strategy & Planning, Portfolio Management. Most recently, she lead and managed the implementation of Equitel, it is now the largest MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) in Kenya.
At iHub, Mary promises to continue with the implementation of iHub 2.0, it currently holds the mantra of connect, build, invent. The previous Managing Durector, Kamal Bhattacharya will now serve as Chairman of the Board at iHub.
The Tecno CX and its smaller sibling the CX Air are already available in stores. This duo excels in photography thanks to high resolution selfie cameras and multiple flashes.
Tecno CX
Tecno CX Air
Display
5.5 inch
IPS
Full HD resolution
404 pixels per inch
2.5D screen slight curvature
5.5 inch
IPS
720*1280 resolution
267 pixels per inch
2.5D screen slight curvature
Internet
3G, 4G
3G, 4G
Camera
Rear 16MP f/2.0 with 4 LED ring flash
Front 16MP with Dual flash, 120 degree field of view
Rear 13MP f/2.0 with 4 LED ring flash
Front 13MP with Dual flash, 120 degree field of view
OS
Android 7.0 Nougat + HiOS 2.0
Android 7.0 Nougat + HiOS 2.0
CPU
MediaTek MT6753 chipset 1.5GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU
Samatha Jack, Andri Van Nieuwerk, and Mathew Winter, founders of Endoki, believe that their startup is the best way to make the world a greener and better place.
Endoki is a modern, urban farming project which sells live crickets and cricket flour, an alternative, nutritious, environmentally-friendly source of food which is farmed locally in Johannesburg and has created jobs in the green sector. The Endoki dream is to integrate innovative methods of farming which are sustainable and feasible in urban landscapes, providing access for all to food that is healthy and nutritious.
Insects are some of the most protein rich and nutritious foods. In addition, farming insects has proven to be the most water-wise form of farming. The initiative seeks to open the door to pioneering research and create local employment opportunities . “South Africa imported R7.3 billion worth of food last year alone. That’s food we can be growing in our country, that’s jobs we can be creating for our people”, says Winter.
Endoki is focused on farming two particular species of cricket; the Acheta domesticus, commonly called the house cricket and Gryllus bimaculatus, also known as the two-spotted cricket.
It starts off with a simple box, a playground for crickets, where they are feed and raised. In about 6 to 8 weeks, they are usually ready for human consumption. They are then ground up into flour, and can be included in cakes, muffins, but more importantly bread, a constant food staple for South Africans.
Orion Herman, founder of Liquid Gold, enjoyed reading through hundreds of National Geographic yellow boarder magazines. Captured in the beauty and misery of our world yet despondent by the behavior and attitude of society and communities towards our precious resources. He sees himself as a designer that is creating solutions for two of the biggest challenges we face in the world.
With Liquid Gold, he saves clients water and money through a unique water-less urinal waste system. They offer a special process to hygienically collect, store and treat the “liquid Gold” or urine, to obtain a valuable resource for agriculture and reduce the net waste push out by our cities. Ensuring good quality drinking water and discharging less bacteria into rivers and streams.
LiquidGold also provides better hygiene and is far less odorous than conventional urinals.
The water-less urinal, which is a urine-only system, works for both male and female systems in commercial, domestic and portable sanitation as well as public kiosks. The urine diversion system is suitable for both existing and new infrastructure. Using flow simulation, collection tanks are used for liquid waste management. The urine is then crystallized for a natural, slow release and environmental friendly fertilizer.
We flush urine into sewers its fertilizing potential ends up in the wrong places, with severe environmental consequences. But if we collect urine for recycling we can put it on farms where its fertilizer value is beneficial, supporting the agricultural systems we all depend on.
LiquidGold offers a way to save fresh drinking water reduce energy and remove nutrient pollution in our waste water treatment plants that land up in our aquatic systems. The solution enables closing the nutrient cycle on our farms by providing a natural fertilizer that is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements essential to plant growth.
The urinal will save over 150 000 liters of water per year, with no power or flushing required, and little maintenance and cost.
Like many girls and women across the world, 16-year-old Joan is self-conscious about bleeding on her clothes during her period.
“I used to use cloths that I would cut from my old T-shirts to keep the blood from staining my dresses, but they were not enough and blood would still stain my clothes,” she told a local NGO that visited her school to teach her how to make reusable pads.
“Boys used to laugh at me and I eventually simply stayed home whenever my periods started.”
Joan isn’t the only one, in South Africa, 3 out of 10 girls miss a week of school every month, totaling 150 weeks during their school careers – due to not being able to afford menstruation management products such as sanitary pads when they have their periods. This results in young girls dropping out of school altogether, as they simply cannot catch up their schoolwork.
All over Africa, the story is the same, UNICEF estimates that over 100 million school girls miss school for the same reason every month.
Kgoshigadi was lauched in 2012 to address the issue of menstruation-related absenteeism in girls from low-income families in the Soshanguvhe township of South Africa.
Kgoshigadi, which means “Queen” in the South African language of sePedi, is a social enterprise that is providing women’s employment opportunities through the manufacture and sale of menstrual health and wellness products.
In 2016, thay implemented their social franchising solution. Their business-in-a-box plan is anchored in an all-empowering revenue generation model with the benefit of positive socio-economic and environmental impact.
It is a social enterprise that sets up mini-factories in overlooked communities and upskills local women in townships to manufacture and distribute affordable, bio-degradable sanitary pads.
Kgoshigadi enables these women to become business owners of their own social franchise, secure their own livelihoods and address menstruation-related absenteeism in high school girls. The business-in-a-box solution also hosts women’s health workshops, which are safe spaces for women to discuss issues affecting them and access information that is both reliable and factually accurate. Kgoshigadi’s products do not negatively impact the land quality of the communities it supports. The product is bio-degradable, thus also addressing the problem of menstrual waste management, given that it is estimated that a single woman will produce between 125kg-150kg of waste over her life time.
A single Kgoshigadi mini-factory employs 5 women full time, with an additional 15-20 women acting as distribution agents. Up to 5 000 women and girls in the surrounding communities of a Kgoshigadi mini-factory can supplied with an affordable and eco-friendly sanitary product.
As part of the franchise agreement, Kgoshigadi provides their employees with sanitary pad manufacturing machinery, raw materials, business and production skills training, marketing and brand support.
There are plenty of blogs in Kenya, yet it’s always the same old websites that take all the credit. However, when you look a little closer you realise that there is plenty of talent out there, content creators that will leave you hooked and wanting more. Here are just a few of them;
Just as the name suggests, this blog consists of opinionated controversial posts that focus on societal issues and the hilarious experiences of a girl called Vanessa Kamau, the founder of the blog. From disputing the misogynistic opinion what is ‘wife material’, to her experience with clingy friends who can’t handle getting ‘blue ticked’ (we all have those), her content comes as a breath of fresh air, that more people need to check out.
More of her fascinating insight can also be found on her column at OMG voice.
Maybe another Biko Zulu in the making, or maybe he just likes telling stories. He considers himself, a social climber still hungovered over his first job; changing lifestyle and failed relationships. However he is also the brains behind The Rackster, an amazing creative writing blog, and you only need to click the link to understand why. He has an interesting way of weaving words into tales and making you get lost in his musings, and could easily become a favorite read.
A lifestyle blog by a woman called Wayumu with a focus on food, travel and adventure. She’s lived in 3 countries, and visited a few others and strives to continue exploring. You can catch her experiences, feelings, and thoughts on her beautifully designed blog.
This blog is actually a draft copy of Bobby’s second novel that focuses on the quest for wealth and an endless search for true love. You instantly get hooked with the story about the main character, who has two girlfriends, just like many people have at one point in their lives. Does he get caught two timing? That’s a question that will be answered as you read.
Solid Insight is a one-stop solution to manage resource use in buildings. It connects energy and water meters and other sensors in buildings and reliably brings that data to the web where it can be used to powerful effect. The interface allows users to create live dashboards presented in a clear and understandable format. From here, resource use may be controlled. By making energy and water management as easy as internet banking, stakeholders are able to easily understand and reduce resource use.
Whether used as a live dashboard in a building foyer, for carbon emissions reporting or to manage distributed solar production, Solid Insight brings energy and water data to the age of cloud computing.
They provide an easy to use admin dashboard where users can link any scada metering systems installed in the building to their database and manage their live metering charts. Pulled metering data is stored in their database and manipulated in background processes to provide speedy, live and customizable graphical representations of the building’s water and energy usage for tenant and public display, avoiding ugly metering hardware APIs, and the need to develop per building systems able to translate metering data.
Aquaculture has been one the World’s fastest growing Agri-sectors for the past decade and a half. Much of this growth has been driven by the need to find alternative fish supplies to rapidly dwindling fish stocks both marine and freshwater, also from increased demand in fish consumption.
Fish Farming and in particular Tilapia farming can and must provide relief to many of these people by the farming of high quality fish protein. To achieve this, fish farms must be established in both urban and rural areas.
Rydawi Fish Farms has developed a product, Farminabox, which is a complete farming system, ready to add water and Tilapia fish. The systems are easy to install, operate and understand, making it ideal for small scale farmers. The company provides training and mentorship. The farms are modular and scalable to any size.
Without the need for rivers and dams, Farminabox systems enable the farming of more fish in more locations to put more fish on more plates. Water is recycled and very energy efficient. Waste is 100% recoverable.
Over 30 years of practical experience and research led to the formation of Rydawi in 2014. The development of the FarmInABox Intensive Tilapia Farming System has met the demand and interest of Tilapia farmers in Africa.
Rydawi believes that the small scale farmer is vital to the food security of any economy. Fish Farming opens up new markets and economies which yield good returns, which in turn can be used to further develop other farming activities and diversification. Often farmers are at the mercy of external and uncontrollable elements such the economy, markets, diseases, and the financial institutions. FarmInABox farming can change that!
Rydawi has exported 98 systems to DRC, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Burundi, Nigeria, Angola, and Kenya and we now have over 40 systems in South Africa. This represents a major boost to Tilapia production in Africa. The compact packaging and light weight design and construction of the systems makes for cost effect shipping and logistics. Once their clients receive their units and stocked them with fingerling their skills are quickly developed. The package size of a complete ready to install system is currently 1200x1000x1000mm and it weighs less than 150Kgs.
The act of phishing has become more and more convincing nowadays; fake websites are now looking very similar to real ones. For those not familiar with the name phishing, it is the act of presenting oneself as a reputable company to lure individuals to give away their sensitive personal information such as passwords and banking details.
On Wednesday, a malicious email inviting people to view a Google Doc file spread all over the internet. Clicking the link led victims to surrender their contacts, email and other personal information. Google got word of this and they released a statement
‘We have taken action to protect users against an email impersonating Google Docs & have disabled offending accounts. We’ve removed the fake pages, pushed updates through Safe Browsing, and our abuse team is working to prevent this kind of spoofing from happening again‘
‘The site you are trying to visit has been identified as a forgery, intended to trick you into disclosing financial, personal or other sensitive information.’
The user will still have the choice to ignore the warning and proceed with the visit if they so desire. It is likely that some legitimate sites will still be red flagged, and in case that happens, the Gmail app will have a section to let you report an incorrect warning.
We are sure that this new feature will trickle down to other platforms as well, only that Android gets first dibs now that it is Google’s sibling and all.
Just the other day, WhatsApp users experienced an outage that lasted for several hours; this was just a few days after the same thing happened to Kenya’s biggest telecommunication company, Safaricom. The two incidences have no relation to each other whatsoever. The WhatsApp outage happened in several countries around the world.
The Instant Messaging giant released a statement to inform the users that they are working on fixing the issue just moments after it started at 20:00 GMT. However, many hours later, users could still not send or receive any messages over the platform.
Analysts blamed the issue on the fact that there have been numerous updates of the WhatsApp application lately, with every iteration, changes are made to lines of code which can be very risky. A mistake in one line can crash the whole system; sometimes even something as small as omitting a comma can be catastrophic. The team at WhatsApp must be under intense pressure to deliver all the features we have been reporting to you lately. Sure the beta app helps catch some of the bugs before they roll out to the masses but that plan is not always fool proof.
This outage comes after the status feature hit 175 million daily active users. This means that it has more usage than Snapchat (the inventor of the feature) which clocks in at 161 million daily active users. It seems that despite the criticism the feature got, people have slowly warmed up to it. The news brings two of Facebook’s product at a lead over Snapchat, Instagram just boosted of its 200 million usage the other day.
Ultimately, we do not feel that the recent outage will slow down the feature. People are too vested into the WhatsApp platform to let just one mistake make them jump ship. Now that the text based status is back, the two features will now complement each other and grow tremendously.
Traditionally, social networks have relied on algorithms to monitor what people post. It seems that, more than a couple of times, unwanted videos have slipped through these artificial filters. Facebook has decided to use actual human beings to scan videos sent to the social network. 4,500 people had already been hired for this task, however, the company announced that they will be adding 3,000 more to the lot. This puts the total workforce for filtering videos at 7,500 personnel.
This comes after a live stream of a 74 year old man being killed in cold blood went viral. On another case, a video was posted by a man in Thailand that he had filmed himself killing his 11- month old daughter. Zuckerberg announced that Facebook’s initial team had successfully stopped a suicide after a man had live streamed themselves hinting of killing himself, a representative from the team had called the police and they got the situation under control.
It is great to see the founder of this social giant go out of his way to take measures that put the users first above the financial bottom line. On the other hand, some investors are worried that the move would require the company to use funds to pay these new employees but they were assured that the move wouldn’t affect Facebook’s earnings.
The new employees were said to have the responsibility of scanning videos for violence, hate speech and child exploitation. It is also their job to work with law enforcement to prevent any issues before they blow out of proportion. Lastly, we are reminded that human beings can still do a better job than algorithms in some scenarios such as this one.
Last month, Apple decided to stop paying licensing fees to Qualcomm, the leading smartphone chipset manufacturer in the world, the company behind the popular Snapdragon processors. Sure the iPhone does not use these processors but that doesn’t seem to matter. According to a patent held by Qualcomm, they are supposed to be paid a percentage of every smartphone sold that has a modern high speed data technology. Now that Apple stopped paying up, Qualcomm has taken the case to ITC (International Trade Commission), they seek to ban the sales of the iconic iPhone in its home country.
The U.S is Apple’s biggest market, it accounts for 40% of their sales. A successful order for ban of sales would significantly cripple the company. The lawsuit specifically asks that the ITC stops the import of iPhones into the country. iPhones are built in China by a contractor called Foxconn, the rest of the world would continue receiving them apart from the U.S. The seek for the ban comes at a time when Apple wants to release their most ambitious iPhone yet, the iPhone 8 which marks the 10th Anniversary of these iconic gadgets.
For the ITC ban to occur, the President would have to sign off on it. Samsung had once successfully won a case against Apple that led to an order of the sales ban for iPhone 3GS and 4 as well as the initial iPad, iPad 2 and 3. However, President Obama used his veto power to overturn that order. It was within his constitutional right to do so, the economy of the U.S sure does benefit from the success of iPhones. However, this time round, both companies involved share the U.S as their home countries, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Africa’s Cellulant Group, a digital payments’ service provider that prompts, collects, settles and reconciles payments in real time, recently released Mula app, an operator neutral payments app targeted at the continent’s growing mobile-first generation and especially Kenya’s burgeoning mobile internet users.
Simply put, Mula app, which is still in beta, aims to simplify bill payments and airtime purchase easy by aggregating all the available payment platforms in one place in this case M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money (not yet), Visa and Mastercard, local bank mobile platforms among others. There is no promise of PayPal and bitcoin yet.
On mobile payments, Cellulant group is not new as it pioneered the purchase of ringtones using SMS codes from newspaper adverts over a decade ago. Let’s look at how it stacks in this new age of multi-network digital payments. I had downloaded the app and signed up after I was sent an SMS code earlier as I was part of the testing crew. That process needs no explanation and can be done in a few seconds depending on your internet connection. After signing up, let’s look at the interface.
First a look at the app’s interface.
Interface
The app interface is definitely one of its strong points. I personally like the light blue and white colours. Your bills and transaction history are well laid out in detailed lists that are not cluttered. I hope that geeks at Cellulant will personalize the app according to a user’s frequently used options. So that is I buy airtime more often than I pay for other bills, airtime comes first at the top.
Having bills in red could be a great way to highlight them but my little history with colours shows danger and I wouldn’t want to use Mula when all the bills are shouting at me every time. A cool colour would be more inviting. Mula’s work is not to shout at me to pay the bills, its to help pay them and the more I use Mula, the more I make Mula happy. If I were the developer I would have the bills in light blue like the sky when its brighter but without the stars.
Tapping on a transaction presents you with virtual receipt that even has the zigzag bottom as if it was cut off from a thermo roll. Cellulant does a great job of having a proper menu for the app namely Home, Airtime, Pay, Banks and lastly History. The menu is placed in a convenient location at the bottom of the main screen and are easy to access.
The app has a handy tutorial mode when you first open it; it guides you through the interface features step by step. Through the guide in the demo, a user can see the actual interface in the faded background. The tutorial is perfect.
The icons are very close, you keep pressing the wrong one
My only issue is that the ‘add favourite bill’ function is too close to the customer support button that you will, most of the time, press the unintended one. I think these icons would have been better placed on the side menu instead. Another issue I have with the menu is that it contains links to Mula’s social media pages; that is not the best design I must say and literally, it shows Mula is more interested in unreal social proof than daily happy users evangelizing the app to their friends and family by word of mouth.
Functionality
Yes, that is the whole list, very limited
The app, through the Pay tab, lets you set up bill details for utilities from providers such as Kenya Power, Nairobi Water and NCC Parking. There are also three TV and internet pay bill accounts namely DStv, GOtv and Zuku. This is a very limited list and is holding back the growth of platform but it’s still early and Cellulant might be on-boarding more clients.
For bills that are listed, like Zuku, the application picks your bills from your SMS inbox and lists them on the Home tab. It intelligently knows which bills are due and it sends you reminders before the deadline, all you have to do is press ‘Pay’ and enter your PIN, then it completes the payment. Isn’t that cute?
For airtime, you buy it across platforms from M-Pesa or your bank account. Our only problem is how does Mula make its money if it does these for free. Mula does not let you input custom bills such as rent to your agent or another internet provider, it is indeed very unfortunate but not the end as the app offers a place to describe what kind of bills you would want added to their menu, it’s called ‘Wishlist’ under the profile section but, the developer team need to add suggestions to prompt users to add whatever bills they frequently pay. I imagine many people would like to be paying their rent via the app with just a single tap, or even sending money to their favourite betting sites like Sportpesa or Betin with the same convenience.
You can share bills with other people
In addition, you can have someone else such as your guardian or roommate pay a bill for you via ‘pay with another number’ option. The recipient will receive an alert and once they approve it, the payment is completed. This feature is great for sharing bills with other people accordingly. Unfortunately, there is no option of splitting a bill amongst various people for instance those roomates that share a service such as Zuku or electricity. You will have to send a request to each person, one at a time.
You can also buy airtime for various service subscribers such as Airtel, Safaricom and Orange in the Airtime tab. This too can be paid for by other people. Also, if you buy a specific amount of airtime at set intervals such as daily or weekly, you will only need to be pressing the ‘buy again’ button, in the History tab, to conduct the whole transaction. Once you pay a bill or buy airtime, you are bombarded with very many texts, two from your service provider, two from Mula and sometimes even more, not to mention app alerts too.
Still under development
The Banks tab will let you pay bills directly from your bank account, the operative word here is ‘will’, that’s because the feature is still under development. I guess Cellulant put the tab there to let you know they are working on it but some might take it to mean that they are promising things they have not delivered yet.
The customer care is very responsive
On a positive note, in case you get stuck on the app, there is a very helpful support team that is very fast in responding to your queries.
Pros
Clean interface with uncluttered lists
Intuitive navigation with startup tutorial
Bill payment reminders are helpful
Automated transactions are done with only one single tap
Collection of bill information from SMS is very convenient, you don’t have to type it in
Very fast and efficient support team
No login needed, only a code sent to your number
Cons
Very limited list of support bills
No option of making custom bill such as rent, betting sites etc
Transactions fail every now and then
No bill splitting feature amongst multiple people
Some interface icons are too close together such as the help and ‘add favourite’ icon
Only two pay TV providers are listed Multichoice and Zuku the majority of them such Startimes, Bamba and the rest are left out
Some features are still under development such as the banking option.
Nigeria’s largest online shopping mall, Konga has launched Konga Daily, a new category that seeks to meet every shopper with their daily needs – perishables and non-perishables alike.
Konga Daily provides hygienic foods and daily needs of shoppers as it relieves them the stress of shopping in open markets since they can simply buy fresh foods, fruits, cereals, provisions, detergents and more on the platform –www.konga.com/daily
The platform is built on value offerings that include ease of shopping for customers, comfort, super-fast delivery on all orders,convenience and the supply of all the daily needs of customers in one place thereby simplifying buyers’ decision-making and buying process.
Speaking at the official unveiling, the Chairman, Konga Online Shopping Ltd – Sim Shagaya stated that: “Konga is a child that has grown & blossomed and the results of the past five years has been outstanding. Groceries is the most difficult category to manage as it has to do with the day to day needs of shoppers. This means that shoppers require them to be delivered quickly and in the best condition and for this to work, a robust delivery system must already be in place. While Konga Daily is a logistically challenging project, we are committed to seeing excellent results achieved as our logistics network is one of the best in the country. We are excited to go on this journey with shoppers.”
To further shed light on the launch, the CEO Shola Adekoya said: “Groceries form an integral part of the daily needs of the average Nigerian and our re-entry into this category which incidentally, we started with in 2012 is due to our commitment to adding value to our customers even in the seemingly mundane needs as food.
“Our logistics support is tremendous as we have built a logistics infrastructure that will support the delivery of any order placed on the Konga Daily platform within 24 hours. Our payment system – KongaPay also ensures that shoppers get discounts when they choose KongaPay as the payment option.”
On ease of use, he further added that: “Shoppers can even create a shopping list that they can update as they choose. This simplifies the customers’ shopping journeys as they can simply checkout all the products saved to their list at once without having to bother populating it again. With Konga Daily, we are providing best product quality, comfort, convenience and super-fast delivery.”
Konga Daily is currently available in Lagos, and delivery time is within 24 hours.
The word iBoni (pronounced [i:-boʊ-ni:]) is a South African township slang word which loosely translates to “bicycle”. iBoni is an innovative bicycle and scooter sharing start-up business founded in February 2015 and is currently based in the province of Gauteng in South Africa.
This start-up is in concept phase, bring about South Africa’s first commercial bike sharing business. The sharing economy is a disruptive tool that iBoni wants to use to create a more sustainable ecosystem with the existing public transportation infrastructure. The idea is that bicycles and scooters are shared among people in communities without individual ownership. Customers will rent the bicycles/scooters at a bike parking station near their current location, start their commute, and drop it off at a bike parking station nearest to their final destination.
The scooter and bicycle stations at transportation hubs will encourage motorists to use public transport. This will reduce traffic which will in turn reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality, and create more sustainable cities. The bicycles are GPS tracked, which is a crime prevention tool and also shows users how far they have cycled or travelled.
Their vision is to make car ownership an option and not a necessity. The realization that a fully functioning public transportation system is the backbone of increased economic participation and transformation. The sharing economy is a disruptive tool that iBoni wants to use with the public transportation industry.
The bigger picture is to contribute to the well being and sustainability of the environment and its inhabitants in Africa, by providing a shared eco-friendly mode of transportation in the form of bicycles and scooters. They aim to be at the forefront of creating bike friendly cities in Africa; creating a unique and novel way to commute with ease, convenience and comfort.
Ducere Holdings (Pty) Ltd was established in March 2004 and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Ducere Holdings develops products from the initial conceptualization to final product delivery. Currently, their major project and focus, The MISER Hydraulic Hybrid Transmission System, keeps them involved at the forefront of today’s automotive hybrid technology.
MISER is a new, hydraulic version of hybrid transmission for vehicles that costs less and is more efficient. MISER offers fuel savings of up to 70%. A fully automatic transmission, it achieves significantly reduced emissions. It is ideal for new vehicle designs but can also be fitted to existing vehicles. MISER covers a wide range of vehicles ranging from passenger vehicles to large earth moving trucks due to the inherent abilities of hydraulics. The system improves electric hybrids.
MISER allows the vehicle to store and reuse kinetic energy which is usually lost as vehicles stop and start. It also allows for engine optimization and fuel efficiency.
The MISER technology fundamentally enables more efficient energy recovery and engine optimization than any competing technology. MISER achieves this by means of the use of a combination of regenerative braking, hydraulics and using gas compression to provide a practically loss free medium for fast storing and release of energy for optimizing engine performance.
The MISER technology has been well proven, with results from tests done with a development vehicle all being successful. Collaboration is continuing with several government and private agencies in more than one market sector. MISER fits into the technology of the future, with developed economies already having put regulations and targets in place for recoverable/green energy.
Clean Street is a startup based in South Africa that supplies and services double-sided bins for disposal of cigarette and gum litter free to municipalities, which also feature double-sided advertising space to generate revenue.
The bins clamp around street light poles and traffic light poles, offering convenient points of disposal of cigarette and gum litter in full view of the thousands of daily commuters and pedestrians. The design blends the bin easily into various different environments.
The outer casing is made out of virgin and recycled weather resistant plastic, making it a cigarette and gum bin built to last longer. The actual inner bin, where litter will be deposited, is made from virgin fire-proof plastic. The mouth of the bin is fitted with a tongue shaped piece of stainless steel with a dual purpose. One for pinching of the cigarette butts before disposal. The other, is to create a smaller space on the bin mouth, making it difficult to deposit other larger litter.
Clean Street’s bins are made from 30% recycled plastic, which also makes it less attractive to thieves as the scrap value is low. Hence the cigarette and gum bin is smartly designed and constructed to discourage vandalism and theft.
Clean Street holds the patent for this product, in South Africa and 24 other countries. The business is focused on been environmentally friendly by keeping cigarette litter off the streets, as this is the one number street litter worldwide. The business has also managed to create new and sustainable jobs and empowers employees by giving them profit share. Its products are produced in Soshanguve, Gauteng, therefore creating indirect jobs as well.
Its advertising areas are in Eastern Cape, Kwazulu natal, North West, Free State, Limpopo, Northern Cape, and Gauteng, among other locations throughout South Africa.
Clean Street has been awarded as the SEDA national business competition winner-a contest that recognizes small enterprises throughout South Africa-beating 5500 businesses.
WhatsApp has been releasing features left and right nowadays, just the other day, it brought back the text based status update and now its readying itself for yet another new feature.
You know how new messages keep pushing your last conversation down the list of chats, well that will be solved in the next WhatsApp update. You can now pin chats at the top of your list so that you do not have to go scroll-searching for that person you frequently text.
This feature was found in the WhatsApp Beta app. Currently, you can only pin 3 chats, if you try to go for the fourth one, you will get an error message. It’s not clear if WhatsApp will allow more than 3 of them in the final version. This feature is found in other SMS apps as well, and in those, there is no limit of pins. I guess if they would let people have unlimited pins, it would mean that new messages from unpinned people would go unnoticed since they appear much lower on the list.
Fortunately, just like most WhatsApp features, you can opt in or out of any new additions. We applaud this feature and hope it comes along with the one of revoking sent messages. It would be very flattering if that person you have eyeing pins your chat.
Many know Microsoft as a software company based in Redmond, but for the last couple of years, they have been making hardware too. Last year they introduced the most powerful laptop/ tablet ever made, the Surface Book. Yesterday, they launched a new device alongside the Windows 10 S; meet the Surface Laptop.
This time, it’s a laptop in the traditional sense without the fancy detachable screen to make it a tablet. The Surface Laptop has 13.5 inch PixelSense Display and a high resolution of 2256*1504. The device will run on the just announced lightweight Windows 10 S.
The non-detachable keyboard is made of alcantara which is suede-like material that I can imagine will feel really gentle on the palm when typing. The laptop comes in the following colors; Platinum, Burgundy, Cobalt Blue and Graphite Gold. According to the Chief of Surface division, the laptop will be lighter than Macbook Air, Apple’s lightest laptop, and will be faster than MacBook Pro, Apple’s most powerful laptop. This claim seems to be true considering that the Surface Laptop is only 1.25kg, it measures at 14.5mm at its thickest and only 9.9mm at its thinnest. At this dimensions, the laptop only accommodates one USB 3.0 port and a Mini Display port.
The alcantara keyboard up close
Powering the device will be a core i5 (7200U) at the base version with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD which will go for $999 (KES 99,900). If you want more power, you can go for the Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD priced at a whopping $2200. It’s battery was claimed to last for over 14 hours of Netflix streaming thanks to the power efficient Windows 10 S.
This laptop seems to be an overkill for Windows 10 S which is supposed to run on hardware that goes for only $189, but it is good to remember that you can upgrade to the fully featured Windows 10 Pro to take advantage of all this power.
Just as it had been leaked, Microsoft released Windows 10 S, it is a lightweight version of the standard windows and is meant for the education sector. Traditionally, the company catered for this sector by offering students and teachers a 10% discount on Windows products, however with the rise of Google’s Chrome OS, a simple price cut wasn’t enough.
Windows 10 S plans to beat the competition by being able to run on laptops as cheap as $189 (KES 18,900). This is because all the OS needs is basic hardware specifications that will come at only the fraction of the cost of full blown laptops.
The OS will run applications only from the Windows Store, so developers will need to offer their apps through that platform to be eligible. With every purchase of a Windows 10 S laptop, you will get free subscription to Minecraft and free Microsoft Office 365 for education. Moreover, schools that already running Genuine Windows 10 Pro will get Windows 10 S for free. Remember, a user can upgrade from Windows 10 S to the fully featured Windows 10 Pro by purchasing one extra license.
This new lightweight OS will offer booting speeds of only 15 seconds and extra-long battery life of north of 10 hours. 10 hours is usually seen as a typical workday length for most people therefore, the battery will last you all day in the office.
Microsoft went further to launch an ironically high end and expensive machine, the Surface Laptop, to run this feather weight OS, they claimed that it would last 14 hours of Netflix streaming.
As far as comparisons go, Chrome OS has most of its laptops going for $200 and above, at $189 for basic models, Microsoft seem to have a winner here as far as prices are concerned. Sure, the Surface Laptop isn’t cheap, but my guess is that the company didn’t want to discourage third party manufacturers by offering a very competitively priced laptop, so they decided to cover the small high end niche instead.
Sometimes, we get taken unawares by bills. We know we have bills, but then forget to put plans in place, so we have the money ready when payment date arrives. Even when we do know the dates for our bills payment, being disciplined enough to save for a purpose is sometimes a challenge.
If you find it difficult to save and monitor your bill payments, then you should turn to SusuAI.
SusuAI is an Artificial Intelligence Savings Plan which help users manage and automate all their bills, such as, Housing, Rent, School Fees, Buy Car, Utility and more.
How it works? When a user wants to ensure he had his/her house rent bill ready on/before the due date, he/she can tell SusuAI the House Rent Target (e.g. 1200000), Contribution Type (e.g. daily or weekly or monthly), Duration (e.g. 10), the SusuAI will calculate the recurrent amount and cycle and always notify user when it’s time for each schedule payment.
Users can also instruct SusuAI to push funds to specified account (e.g. My Landlord Account) on savings completion by Linking the account to the savings.
Once contribution cycle is completed, SusuAI will seek user permission to push completed savings to specified account, and disbursement will be done at the instant.
Co-founded by I. Kennedy Yinusa and AbdulRasheed Lawal, the platform creates seamless and convenient platform for Nigerians to effectively manage and automate all their billings right from their mobile phone.
Another feature of SusuAI is its Vault/Wallet, that gives details and balance of user’s savings contribution and disbursement, this is to ensure that user can easily monitor how his funds moves on each saving lifecycle.
To ensure all savings done by users are safe, SusuAI has gone into a partnership with GTBank through Flutterwave Payment engine. The platform is also currently available in 3 Currencies – Nigerian Naira, Ghanian Cedi, and Kenyan Shilling.
SusuAI is present only for Nigerians at the BETA stage, with plans to scale to other African countries soon.
It is no doubt solving real issues, as quite a number of people have the challenge of managing their finances. We really can’t wait to see how it scales.
Online food delivery service in Nigeria has been in existence for quite some time now, but despite this, some parts of the country are still yet to enjoy it. One of these is Southern Nigeria. In December 2016, Isoko Walter decided to change that by launching Swift Delivery NG to cater for Southern Nigeria, and enable them enjoy the quick solution that comes with ordering their food online.
In this interview, he talks about Swift Delivery and his foray into entrepreneurship.
Tell us a little about yourself
I am Isoko Walter Jnr, co-founder/MD of Swift delivery. I am also a business developer, a self trained digital marketer. I was born and raised in Benin city. I studied Mathematics and Statistics at Ambrose Alli University, Edo state, Nigeria. I am passionate about developing businesses, creating job opportunities and helping Nigerian start-ups achieve strong market presence online
Tell us about Swift Delivery and what you’re offering?
Swift Delivery Nigeria, is an online food ordering/delivery platform that connects you to thousands of restaurants/fast foods online, where customers can easily order food from their favorite restaurants in their city and we deliver it to them. Ordering is very easy. All you have to do is visit the website, swiftdelivery.com.ng or download the mobile app on Google play store; Choose your favorite restaurants in your city, browse through the menus and select the food you want, then place your order. You receive a call confirming your orders. You wait, we deliver and you pay. It’s that easy
What motivated you to begin an online food delivery service?
Food is the most basic way for humans to connect and in the digital age there is a craving for that kind of contact. With platforms like Swift Delivery, people can actually connect with more fast foods. We saw it working in other countries so we decided to bring it down here. We also saw it as a means of creating more job opportunities.
Why did you choose to cater for Southern Nigeria?
Ecommerce in Nigeria is still very young and I believe people really need to embrace the trend. There’s also a large market here, it’s time more people know about things like this. It’s time to create a new reality over here.
Being the first food delivery service in southern Nigeria, how has the response been from residents?
So far, the response has been quite impressive. They actually love the platform because its new to them. We are also working on educating the market about e-commerce. So the response is very great.
What was kicking-off like? How were you able to secure funds to set the business rolling?
We launched the platform in December 2016. Starting the platform wasn’t easy, considering the current economic issues. But we were able to put things in place And get things moving. The platform is currently self funded.
What parts of southern Nigeria do you currently deliver to, and what are your plans for expansion?
We are currently in Edo state, Enugu and Delta state. In the next six months we would be in other six(6) states. Talking about an online platform that brings your local food produce at your fingertips, it would help consumers purchase/buy foodstuff, beverages and agricultural products online and we deliver it to them. The platform would allow you buy at the producer/factory price which is cheaper than market or retail price.
So we will open up our local farmers to the foreign market, as we gear towards being an online platform were you can get cheap, fresh and quality agricultural products.
Tell us a little about your entrepreneurship experience so far
It’s been great. I have failed a lot, but I don’t see it as failure. Swift is actually the Third company I am building, the first one failed. Failing was not a good experience but one very important thing about it is getting the opportunity to learn. I strongly believe there’s a lot ahead.
What do you consider the gains and challenges of being an entrepreneur?
Believe me, there is a lot of gains and challenges. But one thing I would say is, you actually get the opportunity to create your own reality. That’s something unique about entrepreneurs, and yes there would be challenges, too numerous to mention, but at the end the reward is larger and it’s totally worth it.
One word for people who are considering going into entrepreneurship
One word? I would say “dominate” what ever you find yourself doing, dominate. One word isn’t actually enough. Entrepreneurs need to know the truth.
If you are an entrepreneur then you are a blessing to this world, because you have what it takes to transform and impact lives. Yes, hard times would come, you are going to face challenges, you are going to feel like quitting but if truly it is what you want to do, then go for it, because nobody is going to do it for you.
International Girls in ICT Day was celebrated yesterday 27th April 2017 around the globe at hundreds of events showcasing the technological skills of girls and young women.
The day highlights the value of women in the field of information and communications technology (ICT), and seeks to encourage more girls to plan for a career in this expanding field.
Today is the international commemoration of #GirlsinICT. She Codes for Change is dedicated to increase girls’ participation in STEAM & ICT pic.twitter.com/4fgCaAOKmv
— She Codes For Change (@SheCodes4Change) April 27, 2017
The day is organized annually by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the leading United Nations agency for telecommunications and ICTs. A highlight of this year’s event was a virtual international meetup of girls in Geneva, Vilnius and Beirut through a shared game application and video link. This enabled them to explore ICT together in an interactive format in real-time.
The girls demonstrated new digital skills they learned in activities leading up to Girls in ICT Day and had the opportunity to meet women mentors from the tech sector. In Vilnius, the girls enjoyed a robotics workshop, practical demonstrations of virtual and augmented reality, and witnessed a presentation of winning projects from Lithuania’s biggest annual robotics and technology competition, ROBOTIADA.
“The important value that young women bring to ICTs was showcased today at hundreds of hands-on Girls in ICT Day events organized around the globe,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “ITU hopes that Girls in ICT Day will continue to introduce more girls to ICTs and to the real opportunities that exist for them in this innovative and expanding field.”
Other key events also took place around the world:
Across social media, messages came in from around the world with the hashtag #GirlsinICT. These demonstrated the broad global recognition of the day and the importance of supporting girls to explore the field of ICT so that they can one day contribute to future innovations.
Since its inception in 2014, over 240,000 girls and young women have taken part in more than 7,200 celebrations of International Girls in ICT Day in 160 countries world wide.The annual event is supported by a growing number of governments, community organizations, schools and the business community.
Infinix and Tecno are siblings of the same parent company Transsion, this however does not mean that they play along well. In fact, recently they have been going neck to neck, each trying to outdo the other at every turn.
The Infinix S2 Pro was seen as a counter product that was targeted directly to beat the Tecno CX. The only missing aspect needed put them at level ground was the update to android 7.0 Nougat. Finally, Infinix has gotten that sorted out. The S2 Pro now has the new android update live and ready for download. It will be reaching the users as an OTA (Over the air) update. All you need to do is relax and the notification alert for its arrival to your device will come to you. Alternatively, you can go to the ‘About Phone’ section in the settings and tap ‘Software Update’ to check its availability. The third option is doing a manual download and installation but we wouldn’t advice on it, it is not always the safest method. Infinix warns users that rooted phones might crash when installing the update, make sure to un-root your device first.
In terms of perks of the update, you will get my most coveted feature, split screen multitasking. It means you can run two apps at the same time each taking half of the screen real estate. This feature will do wonders to your productivity. In addition, a lot of user interface elements will get a facelift. They include the music app, the magazine lock screen, the phone manager, Xclub, Xshare and more. There will be improvements in battery efficiency, security and the camera.
This update is indeed a big deal with tons of improvements; that also means it will be a hefty one, it clocks in at 1.8GB and change, so WIFI download is recommended. I am sure there were customers that were in the fence about going for the Infinix S2 Pro due to its outdated software, now they can cross over to the dual camera selfie camp.
The Apple iPhone A series processors have usually been chart toppers year after year. Only the Samsung Exynos series challenges them. However, this year, it seems that even the Samsung’s mightiest and greatest stands no chance at beating the fruit company.
Yes, that’s how long the iPhone 8 display is alleged to be.
According to a leaked screenshot, the upcoming iPhone 8 will rock an Apple A11 chipset that has a clock speed of 2.74GHZ. It will be a quadcore CPU with unknown amount of RAM accompanying it. Apparently, someone got hold of that device and ran it through Geekbench 4.0, a popular benchmark that measures the single core power and the combined multi-core power of a chipset.
Now, as a premise, the iPhones usually lead the pack in single core scores this is because of the way iOS is made, it is designed to make the most of each core, that is why iPhones come with dual-cores and they still perform well. So, the single core performance of the upcoming iPhone 8 is said to be 4537, which is quite an amazing feat. The new Samsung Galaxy S8 scores only 2065. That means that the Apple A11 processor doubles the Galaxy S8 score and then some.
On to multi-core score, this is where android has always beaten Apple, unfortunately, that won’t be the case this year. The Apple A11 hits 8975 points, that is more than 3,000 more than android’s finest, 6440 on the Galaxy S8.
If this leak turns out to be true, the iPhone 8’s processor will be the undisputed winner and by a landslide. It is quite baffling considering that Samsung usually makes those CPU’s for Apple, I guess the magic is in the software they run on.
However, there is a disclaimer, benchmarks scores are easily faked and especially a screenshot. It is not the first time that leaked screenshots of unreleased phones have been photoshopped to exaggerate the benchmark scores. One last weird thing, the resolution of the screenshot was 2800*1242, that has never been witnessed on any Apple products, it leads to an aspect ratio of 2.25:1 which means the phone is narrow by really tall, taller than the new Galaxy S8 and the LG G6. Will the iPhone 8 go for such an unconventional screen? Food for thought.
The Techno CX made headlines with its camera milestones. It also premiered a new design language for the photography centric Camon line, the rear camera is now integrated in the antenna line and is accompanied by 4 LED flashes in a ring.
A Chinese company that prides itself in making phones with competitive specs and unbeatable prices tag called Meizu took note and they decided to integrate a camera right on the top antenna and even included 4 LED flashes (lined up on the atntenna too), they called the product, Meizu E2. However, the E2 has a 13MP rear camera and 8MP on the front while the CX has 16MP on both front and back.
Tecno CX spot the difference?
Meizu went further and powered their E2 with a Mediatek Helio P20 that is a much more powerful octa-core CPU and coupled it with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage, a 4GB RAM/64GB Internal storage version also exists. For comparison, the Tecno CX has a weaker Mediatek 6750T, 2GB RAM and a base storage of 16GB with no option for having more RAM.
The screen size stands at 5.5 inch with Full HD (1080p) resolution in both of them. As far as batteries go, the Meizu E2 has 3400mAh with mCharge fast charging technology, on the other hand, the CX has a smaller 3200mAh but with fast charging tech too. Despite the Meizu E2 having a bigger battery, it manages to have a slightly thinner body at 7.5mm compared to the 7.75mm of the CX.
Both run android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and each comes with their own custom skins on top, Flyme 6.0 for Meizu and HiOS 2.0 for the Tecno.
Ultimately, the Meizu E2 seems to have more wins than the Tecno CX, slimmer body but with bigger battery, faster processor, more RAM and storage. With such improvements, one would expect the E2 to be more expensive but that isn’t the case, it costs $188 (KES 18,800) for the 3GB/32GB version and the 4GB/64GB version goes for $230 (KES 23,000). The starting price for the Tecno CX at the launch event was $190 (KES 19,000) for the 2GB/16GB version, fortunately it has started getting cheaper with some retailers like Jumia. Right now the Meizu E2 is only available in China, but retailers like Avechi usually sell Meizu products and might bring it over the pond soon.
Media influence on teenagers can be measured for example, advertising is often directed at children and teenagers. This means that children and teenagers are increasingly conscious of brands and images. You’re not alone if your child has teased you to buy the next ‘in’ thing!
Kids nowadays are interested in sexuality very early in life, they start asking questions like how are babies made as early as 6 years and if they don’t get satisfying answers from adults around them they will try and find answers somewhere else. This “somewhere else” could be either their peers in school, the Internet or pornography. Taking the taboo out and having direct, frank conversations with children on sexuality is possibly the best approach to help them develop a healthy, respectful relationship with their bodies and with others. But our society seem hell bent in disallowing something like this in our schools.
According to some research, Kenyan teenagers want to be taught how to use contraceptives, including condoms and oral pills, as part of sexuality education in school and at home. Because they are already sexually active, they also want to know where to get these products so as to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases and prevent unwanted pregnancies.
After social media reaction, I realized that for anyone to have real impact on sexual education issues they need to take a bold and unconventional approach in solving the problem. Pussy footing on the issues won’t cut it. You better teach them what to expect about puberty, sex before they start having it. By doing this not only are we respecting the intelligence by provide them factual and medically true information but enlightening them to make better decision.
I looked at different approaches other countries have employed on sexuality education. Norway have had great success on this issue and we sort to see how exactly they tackle it. For starters they don’t wait until one is 18yrs to openly talk about sex, matter of fact their target group is 8 to 12 year olds, children who have either entered puberty or are about to. In the topic about puberty they convey openly and frankly what happens to the body in the transition from child to adult. How the skeleton grows, why girls bleed, about spots and blushing and involuntary ejaculations. What happens to breasts and sexual organs, how the voice changes and how emotions are in turmoil. In short, how the human body grows and changes from child to adult in order to make babies. Better and deeper, sex education has resulted to lower teen pregnancies and lower abortions rates.
A Norwegian video explaining puberty
The final stage deals with how conception happens. With the aid of models, they show, as clinically and pragmatically possible, how the sexual act plays out. This is a part of mandate to inform children about this aspect of the human body and biology.
A Norwegian video explaining aspects of human body
I believe this is the approach we should take not the subtle -you are too young to know this things- approach. Be as practical as possible with hard truths without fear or shame: Go close up, use visual in storytelling, and be specific.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is an amazing device. It has a deservedly high price tag and that amount is even higher once you factor in the repairs you might need to do on it with time. Sure Samsung did their best to make it withstand the abuse of daily life but sometimes people get unlucky and the device lets you down. The Gorilla Glass 5 that makes the front and back of the Galaxy S8/S8+ is currently the hardest protective glass in the market, in fact only a handful of models have it, Samsung owns part of Corning -the company that manufacturers the glass- so they get a sort of exclusivity on every new iteration.
In case you fall into the unfortunate encounter of having your screen break, it will cost you dearly. $250 is the figure that is being quoted to have the bigger S8+ Infinity Display replaced. Am sure replacing that of the smaller S8 won’t be cheap either considering last year’s Galaxy S7 Edge repair cost $200. To put it into perspective, $250 (KES 25,000) is a third of the device’s recommended selling price, if you get the screen replaced 3 or more times, you might have as well bought another Galaxy S8 altogether.
Needless to say, users will need to be extra cautious with handling their shiny new S8. As we noted in our quick hands on, the device feels really fragile, the smooth glass on the back and front is very slippery. You can slap a case on the device, which will end up covering all the beauty. However, there are clear cases that will not hide the attractive design but you will no longer feel the wonderful pebble like curved edges on your hand, it is a small price to pay in the end. Alternatively, you can opt for phone insurance; they will repair your phone and even replace it in case of theft.
The education sector has for a while now been enjoying solutions to many pressing, as more and more startup founders with their disruptive ideas, are unveiling tech startups that provide various solutions for the industry.
Meet SchoolsCompass, an online solution that helps parents choose the best schools for their wards…
Launched in August 2016 by Mytcodes, an indigenous software development firm, the startup presents equal opportunities for schools in Nigeria to tell parents what they’ve got to offer their children/wards, and also helps parents find the best schools to meet the unique needs and expectations of their child.
Schools are profiled on the platform by the school owner/administrator, displaying the school’s value proposition, academic records, admission form, as well as other facilities that genuinely convey the school story.
Parents can select up to four(4) schools and click on ‘compare’ button next to any of the selected schools to see more clearly and visually the difference in these schools by juxtaposing them.
If you they are satisfied with the any of the schools, they can contact it directly with the information supplied on the schools page.
It also serves as a platform where applicants interested in working with a particular school can upload their resumes directly to the schools. This feature is available for Premium and Exclusive member schools only.
SchoolsCompass has a number of competitors offering the same service, with Edusko being one of the most notable. Notwithstanding, they seem to be doing well, and have a number of reviews visible on the site. This only means the education sector is big enough to accommodate the best solutions.
The app interface is definitely one of its strong points. I personally like the light blue and white colours. Your bills and transaction history are well laid out in detailed lists that are not cluttered. I hope that geeks at Cellulant will personalize the app according to a user’s frequently used options. So that is I buy airtime more often than I pay for other bills, airtime comes first at the top.
