technology – Page 18

sitini na mbili thelathini

What is this?

It’s the built-in 640×480 (VGA) digicam of my Nokia 6230 mobile phone.
And?

Problem…. I got a short message on my mobile phone and realized that the vibrating motor inside didn’t work. Of course I checked the settings, switched it off and even removed the battery for a cold start. Still not working. Ayaaaa!
I got this phone a year ago and since then I always refrained from opening it further because, well, because it somehow (!) worked. Of course the internal firmware (v05.24) still has some bugs and I already had it flashed with a new firmware some time ago (I used to do this myself on those earlier DCT-3 models and even some earlier DCT-4 phones (Nokia 51xx, 61xx, 62xx, 71xx, 83xx) but those series-40 & series-60 phones require better hardware equipment for flashing the phone’s firmware and it just doesn’t make sense to buy such a machine if a) i am just doing this as a hobby & b) Nokia officially doesn’t like any firmware changes on the user side – not so Siemens, btw). However, this thing was LONGING for a small exploration of its circuits. It silently whispered into my ears: Kiku, tafadhali, saidia mimi…. OH my dear, help is on its way!
I pulled out my TORX6 screwdriver and removed those six screws…..Jeeeeeeeeeesssaaaaas! Nokia engineers – KUDOS to you folks over in that Sauna country – remember those early Nokia phones? YOU’VE COME A LOOOONG WAY and – apart from this firmware business and "occasional" software resets while typing an important SMS – the PCB layout is just awesome. For instance, those internal RF parts are normally sealed with a little metal cover which requires some patience to be opened. Alas, with this phone though, the cover itself is right under the keypad – which means that you don’t have to squeeze or pull anything open when you are trying to dismantle the phone – it just unfolds by itself! Perfect. What’s the biggest part in a phone? The battery..

So I opened it up, cleaned the vibrating motor and corrected some elec. contacts. Curriosity of course hooked me and I consequently removed the digicam of its socket… BAD IDEA … when I tried to put it back, this thing in my head called intelligence somehow went on a little vacation (presumably because of thinking about Mbuzimoja :-) and I inserted it in the wrong way. Well, it looked as if it was okay though – but still, you can even spot the problem in the above picture – those little noses don’t correspond to the metal frame around it. Dumb. Just dumb.
Of course I only realized that once I had everything back in place, so that thing had to be reopened and blablabla…. talking ’bout Murphy’s Law, eh?

The benefits of this little exploration, though: a) a nice view on good NOKIA engineering and b) SPEED! Upon switching it on again, this thing runs much faster now. What is it? I mean, wth? is the connection between the firmware, the acceptance of buggy MMC-flash-card-controllers and a normal hardware cleanup?

Technology sometimes gives me a lot to think about.

blog with flock

"We love Flock as much as you do (maybe more), so we’ve decided to make free WordPress.com blogs available to Flock users…"

Hehe….inspired by Ory’s latest posts from Poptech, I just had to check out Flock (these guys even have funny pics on Flickr – well, the usual start up stuff – as featured on BoingBoing et al the other day) and it’s just NICE! Flock is a new browser, similar to Firefox. The difference is that Flock make use of Web 2.0 stuff like tags, blogs and shared favourites as seen on del.icio.us. Of course I don’t want to share ALL my favourites/bookmarks with you out there – BUT!, it’s just a neat all-in-one tool for all those Web 2.0 related goodies like Flickr & Co.

So why would you want to use it?

Simple. ~~It’s a new browser and new stuff is always cool~~. LOL….that of course isn’t the only reason. I don’t know how long this hype around Flock will actually prevail, but what I do think is that it might take a full browser to help other browsers like FF, Opera or even MSIE get goin’ and eventually realize what users will need in the end. I am dreaming of a browser that works as the basis for all (a.k.a. reference for webdesigners) and still gives us the chance to make proper use of extensions as in FF & Co.

In any case – I am still thinking about this FabLab nini… (thx, Ory!)

Howtoons & SasaSema

Inspired by Hash’ BE on MAKE: magazine, I was just flickrbrowsing MAKE:’s flickrpool and came accross this Howtoons project, which is part of Instructables.com – a website full or step-by-step instructions on how to build your own stuff (searchable by tags!).
Now, since we don’t get this MAKE: magazine over here in Europe (or?), I don’t even know if Howtoons is part of their print edition. However, Howtoons >>are cartoons showing kids of all ages "How To" build things.<<

And that’s exactly when I thought of Lila Luce’ "Sasa Sema publications" from Nairobi, Kenya. In an article in the April 2005 edition of Eve Magazine she is quoted saying: "Philosophy makes you think and use the brain God gave you. The problem with the educational system is that it does not train people to think…. (…) …children need to overcome this by reading good books that make them ask questions….. (….) …Thinking is good because even when you get it all wrong at least you would have used your brain and not borrowed someone else’s."
That’s so true. Both initiatives are just nice. I also think that Howtoons would be a great partner for Sasa Sema Publications…. (ama?)

And then I come back to this basic question that keeps on bugging me: how can we bridge this gap between the Internet and real life?
I mean, Web 2.0 with awesome technologies like AJAX (as used in flickr, basecamp or kiko) are just the tip of the iceberg to bring people closer together. And isn’t this what the Internet is all about? This exchange, the direct interaction as sought-after way back in 1999 when we had those cluetrain discussions going on ("markets are conversations")? This technology has reached a much higher level nowadays which enables us to cooperate on a global scale, yet those things are still just too virtual. Or not? Where’s the connection between the stuff we do on the internet and things that will really have an impact on our life? Where’s the connection between the GTZ/USAID/etc. posting their Ecosan fact sheets & manuals (for instance) on the internet and a sewage treatment plant in Homa Bay, Kenya? How can the web be of any help to distribute knowledge? How can we change something in this world through technologies as used on the internet? Comments please!

msn search loves me

Oh my….oh….oh oh oh….omg!!!!

What exactly is it with MSN and my blog?

I was sitting here, thinking about these two great books I (eventually!) received today ("The Journey Is The Destination" by K.Eldon & "Third Culture Kids" by Pollock and Van Reken) and what I actually want to tell you about those books (in case you never heard of them) when suddenly I had this urgent desire to go through my site stats (as generated by this nice WP plugin)….

Ati??!?!

Seems like MSN search delivers my blog as the primary resource for anything like "KENYA AND PORNOGRAPHY". And someone actually clicked on it so this nini ended up in my shortstats!

Wot? You’re waiting for a picture of naked Bw Kikuyumoja? Tztz…weeeee…… Maneno makali hayavunji mfupa…

iVlog

"If they announce the iPod video, I’m going to start videoblogging." [WeBreakStuff]

Does that mean we will have to wait for this iPod video to be released? What about mobile phones then? My Nokia 6230 already has the ability to play (3GP) videos. The downside? 1. picture quality, 2. an even smaller screen and (most importantly) 3. you know how long it takes to get the video on that damn phone/sd-card ? Yeah.

@Apple.com: iVlog® (®=JKE’s :-)

YES, and while I’m still thinking about Web2.0 and the future of all those nice things: what about a Flickr-styled website for videos instead of just pictures? (hint, hint :-) ….in any case, the future will be BETA! LOL (~flickr beta, google earth/rss/blogsearch/etc. beta, etc.)

Googlerss

Another beta product: Google’s RSS Reader.

THIS THING ROCKS! …i was playing with it for a few minutes and found it very useful. Why any hassle with installing RSS software if you can have it online? You’ll just need a gmail account (gmail accounts are given away upon invitation by other gmail users to avoid spam – if you still need one, drop your email below in the comment and I’ll send out an invitation) and that’s it.

I searched the reader for "Kikuyumoja" (of course) and came accross this Kiku’s Blogcasting Corporation (KBC) entry. LOL I am not a podcaster as of yet, but I did have an mp3 file linked to the story – and Google’s RSS Reader instantly switched on a player plugin for easy playback. The UI is just awesome. …. Now what’s next to come? A Google OS? A Google mobile phone/mp3 player/gadgetimojanini?
[found via andreas.de & techcrunch.com ("beautiful, needs work")]

Kiku’s Blogcasting Corporation (KBC)

"So, tell us, how did you actually learn how to make those videos?" – "Well, I went to this website called current.tv and had a quick look at the VC2 survival guide, went to a shop, got a decent cam, a better mic, a tripod and a nice bag and …well, you know, I just let go, maaaan?!" – "Ah….is it that simple?" –
"Yeah of course, maaaan… I mean, look, many of us are of the so-called MTV generation and have been spoiled by sitcoms, so we kinda know what the viewers wanna see….you know?….we got the right timing it takes to make the point. …This is especially important if you just have 30 seconds for a spot. It’s all a matter of timing." – "Ah…and how did you promote your videos?" – "Simple. I started off with videoblogging in my blog and people would actually recommend to upload my stuff on current.tv. So there I went, promoting my spots on the world wide web and only paying for my internet connection fees, no needs for an agent or somethin’…it’s so simple, I tell ya, you just get your gear together, point that damn cam at somethin’, edit the shots on your mac and upload them!" ——

Fiction, dear readers, I am far far away from Vlogging or even making my own little film. Of course I wish to have some cash cow in my shamba that coughs up enough dough every morning, but till then, I’ll have to stick to my little Sanyo Xacti digicam and use it’s 30fps (at least!) movie function to produce short clips for this third-rated blog. One day.
In the meantime, I will enjoy good documentaries like the one on Wangari Maathai or another one on how to make fire in the wild (Kudos to afromusing for blogging about this the other day + Martin for giving me this nice hint!).

P.S.: And while you’re at it, please make sure not to miss out this video on a massacre which has taken place in Turbi/Marsabit. Or as MentalAcrobatics has put it the other day: "Show me; and I will remember."…

Googleardhi

I was really wondering about blogging this, but here ya go:
A good friend of mine, Lady Kikuyumbuzi, had this crazy idea of climbing Mt.Kenya. Having a great ability to assert herself, she quickly persuaded some other volunteers (read: unaware interns) to accompany her on this quest of climbing the highest mountain in Kenya.

I never had any doubts that she’d do that one day when she told me, but, to be honest, I never really expected her to do it this early. She dropped me a few lines from Nairobi on saturday and wrote: “yeah, and btw, I’ll be climbing Mt.Kenya on Monday…..and there’s this other appointment I’m having like at the end of the week”. Yeah….
CAN YOU IMAGINE why I adore her that much?!

Anyways.

So I am sitting here in my warm and comfy room in Germany and thinking to myself: Well, I can’t be in Kenya right now due to other obligations, but my thoughts (and prayers!) are with her anyways so maybe….maybe I’ll just start another Google Earth session and have a closer look at the slopes of Mount Kenya. Maybe somewhere between Bwana Whispers shambas I’ll find a little Mzungugoat holding up a sign that says: “Hello Bw Kikuyumoja, me I am here. Sound and safe”.

I think it started way back in 1982 (?) after the AirForce coup when the Moi-regime banned all detailed maps of Kenya. Before, I was told, you could get the most detailed maps of Kenya (YES, those ones with contour lines!) and after that ….well, we apparently all know what those city maps of Nairobi looked like during the 1990s. They were just cut down to a minimum and rendered useless for real Safari needs…

Now, imagine this lack of proper maps and try to think of it in GoogleEarth. And it doesn’t even matter if you’re in Kenya or Germany – small Kijijis like Naro Moru or Suderburg (which is where I study – boys, this place is SO lost!) are not indicated on the map. In fact, those ignorants over at GoogleEarth HQ (a.k.a. Keyhole.com) apparently lost the key to the room that contains all those juicy, detailed maps that would show us our beloved Nairobi in its full beauty.

The Internet community though, being as resourceful as a kenyan fundi, quickly came up with a working solution. Why wait for more zoomable maps at higher resolutions if you can have real pictures taken at ground level and overlayered into GoogleEarth’s maps?! This useful Flickr plug-in for instance, which shows the closests 50 images posted on Flickr (based on your current viewing area). Of course it’s just a few pictures now, but as communities grow, more and more images on Flickr & other web resources will hopefully become connected to placemarks on GoogleEarth. This GoogleEarth Bubudiu isn’t just a great toy – it’s a new way of marketing locations. And Kenya being a preferred tourist location, why not promoting it through Google Earth? (Which of course reminds me of EduVision’s eSlates project at this point and adding a tourist functionality to the programme where they give out PDAs to tourists (with some futuristic “GoogleEarth for PDA” installed) and clickable maps…”Oh, yes, we’ve already marked our route on the PDA”. Or somethin’…)

Yani, this all goes to show that I might not be able to actually put my feet on the slopes at this very moment, but at least I can have a closer look upon the route Lady Kikuyumbuzi is taking and….I guess upon reading this blog entry once she returns, she’ll probably never talk to me again. Why? Well…remember Whisper’s wife Thatcher? Haia….go figure…