Africa Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Namibia Computing Technologies

StartupBus hackcelerates Sterio.Me, a new edu platform for Africa.

One of the startup initiatives launched on the StartupBus Africa 2013 is this nifty audio over GSM teacher/student bridge called Sterio.me. The founders Chris Pruijsen, Danielle Reid and Dean Rotherham figured that the issue of teachers engaging their students and tracking their students outside of the classroom in rural Africa without the added benefits of feature gadgets like laptops and smartphones could be addressed through providing a simple audio platform which both teacher and students could access through GSM. Continue reading “StartupBus hackcelerates Sterio.Me, a new edu platform for Africa.”

Is Google’s Moto G THE smartphone for Africa?

Brazil, UK and other parts of Europe got their hands on Motorola’s newest smartphone, the Moto G, today. At an utterly astonishing price of 179USD (1825NAD) with no SIM and NO contract, this true feature phone is set to shake up Samsung’s current vice grip on the African cellular market with it’s worldwide release this coming January. Continue reading “Is Google’s Moto G THE smartphone for Africa?”

Startup Bus Africa! Help us get ready for next year!

StartupBus is an annual entrepreneurial road trip, during which the ‘buspreneurs’ conceive, build, and launch their startup. This November, for the first time, it will run in Southern Africa, bringing together 15 African and 15 International entrepreneurs for a truly unforgettable journey… Continue reading “Startup Bus Africa! Help us get ready for next year!”

New study finds shocking truth of mobile penetration in Africa

Mobile penetration as measured by the number of active Sims in use in sub-Saharan Africa has reached 61% of the population. But this masks the reality that fewer than one in three people in the region actually owns a mobile phone. According to a new research report from the GSMA, an industry lobby group that counts most of the world’s mobile operators as members, only 31% of sub-Saharan Africans has a cellphone.

Continue reading “New study finds shocking truth of mobile penetration in Africa”

Rwanda rolls out free wireless broadband, when will Namibia follow?

An ICT bus in Rwanda

The Rwandan government last month rolled out an ambitious plan to cover 95% of the country’s landscape with free 4g broadband access. Starting with covering the lush rolling hills of Kigali with hotspots in their ‘Smart Kigali’ project, the country aims to transform itself into an ICT hub for East Africa and get rid of the usual connotations associated with its recent history. The country partnered with South Korean KT Corp to roll out the 4g network and access is granted freely in line with a new business model they are testing in the hopes that the Rwandan economy will grow fast and strong enough to justify the resources spent on providing free wireless broadband access. Continue reading “Rwanda rolls out free wireless broadband, when will Namibia follow?”

Namibia sets out to be most competitive tech economy in SADC by 2017

Namibia has set itself a target in the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP4) of becoming the most competitive economy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region by 2017. This was the message of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Minister Joel Kaapanda at the Polytechnic of Namibia’s first annual Technology Day here on Wednesday. His special advisor, Mvula ya Nangolo, read the Minister’s speech on his behalf at the day being hosted under the theme “Innovative technologies for enhanced teaching, learning and assessment in Universities of Science and Technology”. “You will all agree with me that without proper investment in education, and especially higher education, this will not be possible. Knowledge and intellectual property are key to achieving national development,” Kaapanda said.
For the country to achieve Vision 2030 and become a knowledge-based society, it is vital that its citizens engage in continuous lifelong learning to acquire knowledge and remain relevant and competitive. He added that monitoring and evaluation reports of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have also shown that some progress has been made in increasing enrolments in primary, secondary and tertiary education.

Continue reading “Namibia sets out to be most competitive tech economy in SADC by 2017”

Meet the Raspberry Pi, a computer the size of your debit card.

Rasperry Pi is a credit card sized computer that runs on Debian developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in the UK. It It sports

a Broadcom SoC (System on a Chip) that provides for CPU, GPU, SDRAM and USB
a 700Mhz ARM11 CPU
a Broadcom 250Mhz GPU with 1080p HD output capability
Audio&Video in/out (HDMI, RCA, 3.5mm and more)

Continue reading “Meet the Raspberry Pi, a computer the size of your debit card.”

A Look at Mutlipath TCP

Multipath Router is an example of a device in development that uses the mutlipath TCP.

Multipath TCP is is an effort towards enabling the simultaneous use of several IP-addresses/interfaces by a modification of the TCP protocol that presents a regular TCP interface to applications, while in fact spreading data across several subflows. Benefits of this include better resource utilization, better throughput and smoother reaction to failures. This means, for example, that your mobile device which up to now would utilize each of its connection methods (3g, 4g, Wi Fi) in isolation could potentially use each connection simultaneously making full use of multipath TCP’s intelligent load balancing algorithms to ensure the most stable and efficient connection.

This has big implications for the retail broadband/mobile market as now devices could be developed that manage to link all of the currently isolated methods of internet access and give customers a vastly more reliable, faster and efficient internet connection than current TCP methods.It was developed by Sébastien Barré in 2009 and has now seen adoption by major companies such as Apple in small but interesting ways.

What could this mean for Africa?: Continue reading “A Look at Mutlipath TCP”

Polytechnic of Namibia make electronic voting history

In keeping with its reputation as a progressive entity that recognises the value of technology in delivering a superior student experience, the Polytechnic of Namibia recently scored another technological first. At the end of September, the institution elected its Students Representative Council (SRC) members by means of electronic voting, thanks to a Mobi Election System developed by Adapt IT.

According to the outgoing SRC Secretary General, Kyllikkie Hamutumwa the fact that the election was done this year using electronic means is very exciting for the institution. She suggests that this is a milestone for the Polytechnic, one which comfortably falls in line with its transformation into the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). Continue reading “Polytechnic of Namibia make electronic voting history”

African inventor makes a functioning 3D printer from scrap!

Kodjo Afate Gnikou has imagination, talent and ambition. Using rails and belts from old scanners, the case of a discarded desktop computer and even bits of a diskette drive, he has created what is believed to be the first 3D printer made from e-waste. It has taken him several months to put together his experimental device. Lifting designs off a computer, the 3D printer produces physical objects. He shows us by “printing” a small round container.

And it doesn’t stop there – the 33-year old says he believes this model is only the prototype for something much larger. His aim is to one day transport e-waste to Mars to create homes for mankind. Continue reading “African inventor makes a functioning 3D printer from scrap!”