Enjoy!

Related links:

• YouTube videos for Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – A Film Review by James Berardinelli

If you’re a glutton for punishment, then go ahead and run their over-bloated Office suite with its bevy of macro viruses and bugs that’ll make the unsanitary conditions of Mathare’s flying toilets green with envy. Ok, maybe I’m over-exaggerating things a little in comparing material waste to digital waste.

By the way, Outlook is such a pussy when its PST file grows unusually large. One screw up and you’re FUBAR — fu!ked up beyond all recognition. All email data — gone. You already know about the gaping security holes in Internet Explorer, right? Well, suit yourself!

Free, functional & open…
What, you’re still using Windows? Well, try these 10 free apps if you’re looking for some high quality Windows software to get work done — without worrying about bugs. I can personally vouch for VLC media player and AbiWord. The former plays anything and everything relating to video or music formats. If you have a strange media file format, VLC will play it — guaranteed.

What I love about AbiWord is its simplicity and focus on the basics of (ahem) word processing. It’s light on system resources and it just works. Wish I could say the same for MS Word, which can be a pain in the ass at times. Ever heard of couples always fighting with each other over tiny, inconsequential issues. That’s Word for ya. And Word 2007? Can you say over kill?

Happy Windows computing!

I fondly remember my dear pal Anne Holmes (aka The Vigilante Journalist and photographer) who used to get her web stats via GA until we met up — as a result of being roomies in Lavington. Back then, I introduced her to StatCounter because she didn’t like GA one bit. Heck, she even subscribed to the paid version of SC.

BTW, this Franco-American gal travels the world like no other person I’ve met in a while. One moment, she’s living in Bangkok; the next moment, she’s hanging out in Chad, Turkey or some other “hot spot” doing the journalist thingy. And then she’s back at her Bangkok pad once again…with occasional trips back to France — probably to see her love: goood French wine. Aah yes, she’s a true Frenchie.

Anyhow, peek these links:

• Google Search (StatCounter vs Google)
• Statcounter vs. Google Analytics
• Iterating.com – StatCounter review
• Iterating.com – Google Analytics review
• Free Stats: StatCounter versus Google Analytics

) has the superior data network. Heck, I don’t give a sh!t about voice! Just show me the data pipe baby. By the way, I’m not the biggest fan of telecom companies. Just take a peek at these 2 posts I wrote in 2006 to know why:

• Telkom South Africa: Can a Company be this Hated?
• Tracking Jumbo Elephants with PostgreSQL, Flashcom sucks, Shirky rocks
  

Zain: the better option?
As a matter of fact, Zain is simply the better option when it comes to voice too. Safaricom subscribers are stooopid for paying KSh 10/minute when they can buy a Zain SIM and get unlimited daytime (6a – 6p) calls for KSh 99. That’s obscenely cheap folks. But it gets better. After 6pm and weekends, you only pay KSh 3/minute. And don’t forget that Zain has a tariff where you list the 3 Zain numbers that you call the most, and you only pay KSh 4/minute forever. Is this the same elitist Celtel (er Zain) that was charging ridiculous rates not too long ago? Oh my, how times have changed – for the better.

So, why are Safaricom prepaid subscribers not jumping ship in greater numbers? It absolutely boggles the mind that I have to keep my bloody Safaricom SIM in my celly after 6pm just so that my idiot friends can call me. In a sense, they’re inconveniencing me by not using the “better option” after 6pm and on weekends. How selfish of them, eh?

Zain not 3G yet…
Anyhow, Zain has not rolled out their 3G network offering yet to compete with Safaricom’s [HotSpot] data offering. But then again, can Safaricom beat Zain’s unlimited postpaid data package of KShs 2995 per month? Nope. Unlimited is not in their vocabulary – yet. Someone at Zain customer care did inform me that 3G is coming “soon.” I’ve heard that one before, and I don’t really care because it’ll probably be a while before them (or Safaricom) bring HSDPA data services to Ngong. Again, I don’t give a damn about voice. I can do all of that on the Information Super Highway – and a lot more. Yacking is for idiots who have money to waste.

One thing though…I read somewhere that Safaricom’s HSDPA download rates were fast as hell in areas such as Westlands, Upper Hill and CDB. Some Kenyan blogger mentioned speeds hovering around 1 Megabit/sec when he’s surfin’ in Westlands. Well, I’ll believe it when I see it. Heck, if that’s true, I’ll pack my things and relocate to Westlands. Nah, Ngong’s quiet and I can actually think out here.

Getting EDGEy…
Anyhow, over the past few days, I’ve been playing around with this Huawei modem on Mac OS X and I’m quite impressed with the ease that it installed. I’m still shocked because hardly anyone makes hardware that installs on a Mac since everyone’s hooked on virus-prone Windows. Way to go Huawei! I’m now a bigger fan of your products.
So, how does Zain’s network perform here in Ngong? Remember, this town is about a 40 minute drive by car from the Nairobi’s downtown Central Business District. On certain occasions, I’m sure you can do it in about 25 to 30 minutes. Yeah, at 2am in the morning!
Well, as you can see in the pic above, I was able to download at a top rate of 10.4 KB/s while topping out at a respectable 18 KB/s. Hey, remember I’m in Ngong – not Westlands or snobby Upper Hill.

My advice to Safaricom & Zain
I urge you 2 to focus on bringing affordable, reliable broadband data services to the rural communities because it’ll spur on economic development faster than any other government initiative. I know it’s hard to resist the lucrative markets like Upper Hill, Wetlands, CBD, Kilimani, Lavington, Runda, Karen, Muthaiga et al, but think about the impact you’ll have on the country. You 2 have the power to quickly change a lot of things in this country – for the better.

Cheap access to the Internet means that more people can connect, share ideas and try out new things. And let’s face it, you 2 have the infrastructure and know-how to do it.

Telkom Kenya, WTF?!?
By the way, I really don’t know what the hell the brain trust at Telkom Wireless are smoking. How on earth can they charge KSh 3 per minute for their CDMA data services when Safaricom and Zain are charging by the megabyte? Telkom, you havent a clue what the hell you’re doing, do you? What a disgrace you are to Kenya. How could you let so many people down? What were you thinking? Where’s your EV-DO service to match the 3G/HSDPA offerings of your rivals? I have lost all faith in you, Telkom. Luckily, you have the government to back up your uncompetitive behind. Do us all a favour, and just go to hell.

Ngong, a hidden treasure?
Lastly, I just have to say that it’s lovely up here, and the view of Ngong Hills from the back yard or from my good pal’s (Robert Ouko – former 72′ Olympic 800m Gold Medalist) flat is absolutely breath taking. And it’s so quiet in these parts…no noisy traffic disrupting your thoughts and everyone in this particular area (Kerarapon) is so friendly. Heck, we have monthly residents meetings for this 4 sq-km area that’s situated in Ngong, and the police attends them too. So everybody knows their neighbour and crime here is like a tiny blip compared to all the crap that’s going on in Karen and Nairobi.

Also, Kerarapon boasts its own natural springs that’s managed by the Kerarapon Water Commission where Mr. Ouko was the outgoing Secretary. He did a fabulous job by the way. Hence water rates are ridiculously cheap at KSh 2 per gallon. Yet Karen is like an 8 minute car (or matatu) ride if you need to go to Nakumatt or do banking at Karen Crossroads Mall.

Honestly, I see a bright future for Ngong – especially Kerarapon. Lots of peeps are moving from places like Runda, Lavington and Karen since the price is right. Heck the late, former Roads Minister (Kipkalya Kones) just recently purchased property on Kerarapon Drive where his wife now resides. I’m sure he would’ve seen that the main road was paved in a jiffy.

By the way, land only goes for about 800K to 1.2M per acre here. And the land that borders Karen goes for about 3M per acre. Now that’s what I call a sweet deal. Contrast that to Karen where land on average goes for about Ksh 13 Million per acre. I’ve seen plots there going for KSh 16M. No thanks! Once more development takes place by the 17th drive of Kerarapon, then the council will probably allow that bypass road to connect from Karen making travel to other Nairobi suburbs quicker than ever.

My goals while living in this area are:

1. Assist the community in getting the main road for Kerarapon Drive paved using applied techniques based on affordable, reliable termite technology for long-lasting roads. This alone will spur on more development. I’m to present this solution at the upcoming residents meeting in a few days.

2. Implement a “community” wireless mesh broadband project in Kerarapon that will attract more development in terms of companies relocating here and better access for the public schools here.
3. Develop a strategy with association members for a street light initiative (like Esther Passaris’ Adopt a Light campaign) so that Kerarapon Drive has affordable lighting throughout the night. This will give the residents here that community piece of mind and spur on more development.

Peace.

——————
Related links:

• Hacking the Huawei E220- Wikinerds (need to flash your E22o for Linux?)

It’s the little things…
Why did I break up with Windows? Well, she just didn’t pay any attention to me. For instance, I’m tired of catching all of her STDs (System Transmitted Diseases) when we’re together. Also, she has this insecure desire to be continually updated with the latest (bug) fixes in order to make me (and her) feel safe and secure about our “relationship.” There are times we’d be “together” and then she’d flip out on me, and get all blue in the face. Sometimes I’d insert my stick (USB) when we go on dates at the cyber cafe, and she’d give me a damn virus even though she’s supposed to have protection – considering she’s been around the block (Windows 95/98/ME/SE/XP) for so long now. You call that love?

In short, she was just a fussy gal that everybody wanted to take for a ride simply because she’s good at “playing games” and performing other unique hard/soft-ware tricks that no one else had an answer for. Plus, she was much cheaper to take home on dates compared to that red hot Apple gal. But I’ve learnt my lesson: You get what you pay for.

Viruses be gone…
All joking aside, I just can’t overemphasize to you all how “LIBERATING” (in more ways than one) it feels to go to a cyber cafe, connect my iBook to the network and not have to bloody worry about viruses. Heck, I’ve always been nervous as hell whenever I insert my USB stick into one of those sleazy Windows PCs at the cyber cafe, and then take it home to my “innocent” desktop PC. I’ve lost count of how many times that damn autorun file has started up upon connecting my USB stick to the home PC. Then, it proceeds to load a nasty virus, worm or trojan horse on my machine. You can see it just by hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL and peeking your process list.

Remember those annoying AdobeR.exe entries? Well, no more worries folks! What’s good about OS X is the fact that it’s based on the rock-solid BSD Unix architecture that goes waaaay back to the 1970s at that great American institution of higher learning: The University of California – Berkeley. Oh, BSD stands for Berkeley Software Distribution.

Mac die hards, reveal yourselves…
Ya know, I’ve read a lot of reviews on a wide range of topics since I became an Internet whore around 1993. Never in this period have I read a review that’s as moving as this one. This dude’s passionate beliefs about Mac computing is truly moving. He’s sold me. See for yourself!

It took awhile for me to understand this article…then it hit me. You can’t write an article about why Vista is better than Mac without your tongue planted firmly in your cheek! Congratulations – you had me going for a bit

The essence of the article is that Microsoft makes broken software intentionally – a blatantly ludicrous concept. It is broken, that is for sure. It is broken because they don’t know how to do it right, don’t want to take the time to do it right, have such powerful marketing that they don’t need to bother…but certainly not because it is better that way. Nobody is customizing Windows XP or vista because it is easier with all the broken parts. They customize it in a huge, costly and never ending effort to compensate for it’s flaws – not to celebrate them. In the Windows World, the word “customize” is a euphemism for “fix.” They do it because they have to.

With the Mac, which just works right out of the box perfectly, there is nothing you need to fix, or “customize” for most people (some gamers and scientific apps aside). Anything you can do on XP/Vista to actually customize usability you can not only do easier on a Mac, but now you can do almost identically with VIsta, because they knock off the Mac OS. But why even bother – the Mac works just fine as is for most people and is easy to learn.

Microsoft has been knocking off the Mac’s usability features for years, and never more “transparently” so than now with the coming of Vista. The real customizations users need aren’t in the user interface anyway – they’re in the hardware – more memory, bigger hard disk,faster graphics – and these days the Mac can keep up with anyone there. A Mac APPEARS less customizable to XP/Vista users only because it doesn’t need to be fixed or customized, but they need a justification to “believe” in. Like many mindless fanatics, so called “believers,” it is a blind act of faith not founded in facts.

That also applies to the more software argument. Other than some very technical, scientific or business apps or some games, most users will never need anything that is not available, and working better, on the Mac. You don’t even need Parallels to switch to Windows, unless it just makes you feel better or saves you the cost of replacing some software you already have. I do audio & video editing, photography and retouching, Powerpoint, flow charts, web development, office apps, you name it – all on the Mac. And there are some things I do now on a Mac and never could do on a PC.

And then there is the experience of FREEDOM the Mac gives you, freedom to get your work done without worrying, freedom from hours every day fighting off viruses and malware, freedom to just love and enjoy your computing experience. There is no price for that, it is quite literally invaluable. So there goes your cheaper PC argument. If you value your time, your “cheap” PC is far more expensive than the highest priced Mac, far too expensive to even be in the running. At minimum wage, a PC user is probably spending over $1,000 a year as a premium or service charge – for the time they spend servicing their own PC. Bill Gates made his billions stepping over the dead bodies of million sof Windows users. Businesses that bought PC’s because they seemed cheaper have been spending untold billions on computer support, repair and maintenance. In terms of total cost of ownership, productivity, reliability and every other measure, Microsoft has stifled industry, crippled innovation and reduced productivity. In the long run, there is never anything really gained by using something cheap and low quality to substitute for a quality, well made and effective product. The short term gains are illusions.

Since its inception, Apple has been reinventing every market paradigm it touched, inspiring innovation and creating new opportunities. The Apple II virtually invented the modern personal computer. The Mac, inspired perhaps by Xerox, reinvented computing. The Laserwriter reinvented publishing and typesetting, with help from Pagemaker. The Newton, though not successful at the time, was a vision of the future of PDA’s and smart phones ultimately leading to the iPhone, which successful or not will reinvent the cell phone for everyone. The iPod reinvented the MP3 player and turned the music industry on its ear. The Intel Mac is just such an opportunity.

What has Microsoft given us – incremental improvements in an operating system that was and still is a bad knock off of the Mac/Xerox concept? Crushing innovation and competition to the point they were investigated by the Justice Dept.? An OS so full of holes that it can never be secure (perhaps intentionally- ever wonder what happened to the vigorous pursuit of MS by the Justice Dept., and why they suddenly didn’t feel a need to keep pushing the industry for a “back door” into all computers in the name of national security?). Office apps that basically just copied, bought out or scavenged, and destroyed other existing products that were actually less bloated and better in some ways? The Xbox? Well, ok, I’ll give them that one.

I have a Powerbook G5, which I will keep another few years since I have learned to love life without anything from Microsoft (I love using open source software). I wouldn’t exchange even this slightly older Mac for the latest high-end Vista notebook … though I would consider donations of a new MacBook

What about you? Are you now convinced that Mac computing is the greatest thing since sliced bread, Barrack Obama, Bal en Blanc, The Winter Music Conference, The World Electronic Music Festival, and House Music? I knew you’d see things my way.

——————-
Related links:

• Review: Mac OS X Shines In Comparison With Windows Vista
• Vista vs. OS X? We want to hear from readers
• Apples Tiger vs. Windows Vista: Who Comes Out Ahead?
• Windows Vista Beta: A lot like Mac OS X
• CrunchGear.com – Apple vs. The World: OS X or Vista?

Bye bye expensive cybers…
Heck, in Karen (an expensive Nairobi suburb), everyone charges KSh 2 per minute to surf the Net. I remember this one cyber on Langata Rd. near Bomas. They were charging KSh 3 per minute. Can you believe that? What are they smoking? Please, somebody call the police for Information Super Highway ROBBERY. Gees. Anyhow, I’m just waiting for those fibre optic cables to connect at Mombasa in late 2009 or so. ISPs keep saying that prices should drop by 75%. I’ll believe it when I see. it.

Trim city…
By the way, this Diamond Shopping Plaza is one heck of a place. Why? Because it has tons of womens hair salons everywhere. It’s like the Golden Computer Arcade in Kowloon (Hong Kong) where you’ll find tons of computer hardware for sale at great prices. The only difference is that they’re tons of hotties working in this 3 floor plaza doing a fabulous job making their female clientele look hot too. Any how, don’t take my word. Just drop by for a “pleasant” visit.

The price is right…
Again, Faith Cafe only charges 50 cents per minute. Heck, that’s only KSh 30 per hour. How in Heaven’s name are these peeps making coin? In fact, most of the cybers in this area of town charge this rate. Some even dare to charge KSh 1. How rude.

All in all, I like coming here when I’m in town because the staff knows me, and they really take care of me. That’s why they keep getting my business.

Happy web surfin folks!