150 Mbps download speeds

[Nairobi, Kenya]
WOW, DID somebody say 150 Megabit per second? Am I on Planet Earth? You betcha...courtesy of some amazing advances in cable modem technology, which always seems to blow DSL (via telephone company) out of the water. Too bad cable TV is not in these parts. Everything down here on the idiot box (oops, I mean TV!) comes in via satellite. Anyhow, check this out and be prepared to drool:

Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience Tuesday, showing off for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data download speed of 150 megabits per second, or roughly 25 times faster than today's standard cable modems.

The cost of modems that would support the technology, called "channel bonding," is "not that dissimilar to modems today," he told The Associated Press after a demonstration at The Cable Show. It could be available "within less than a couple years," he said.

The new cable technology is crucial because the industry is competing with a speedy new offering called FiOS, a TV and Internet service that Verizon Communications Inc. is selling over a new fiber-optic network. The top speed currently available through FiOS is 50 megabits per second, but the network is already capable of providing 100 Mbps and the fiber lines offer nearly unlimited potential.

The technology, called DOCSIS 3.0, was developed by the cable industry's research arm, Cable Television Laboratories. Instead of using one TV channel to transmit data, it uses four...

...In the presentation, ARRIS Group Inc. chief executive Robert Stanzione downloaded a 30-second, 300-megabyte television commercial in a few seconds and watched it long before a standard modem worked through an estimated download time of 16 minutes.

Stanzione also downloaded the 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica 2007 and Merriam-Webster's visual dictionary in under four minutes, when it would have taken a standard modem three hours and 12 minutes.

"If you look at what just happened, 55 million words, 100,000 articles, more than 22,000 pictures, maps and more than 400 video clips," Roberts said. "The same download on dial-up would have taken two weeks..." {source}

Good lords, but those are some fast download speeds. Do you know how productive I could be if I had access to that kind of technology? And can you imagine the implications for Africa if her ISPs were able to offer said technology to her bandwidth-starved netizens?

Patience, Max, patience. :-)

Using mobile phone network for security

[Nairobi, Kenya]
WITHOUT a doubt, there are tons of security companies here in Africa protecting the fortunes of the wealthy. Now, I wonder if this blog post over at Engadget will make a light bulb go off inside the heads of some security executives in the vicinity. What if surveillance cameras were able to beam images of a customer's property that's supposed to be under surveillance to their cell phones for peace of mind? This would use mobile network technology such as HSPDA or EV-DO. Unfortunately, Safaricom and Celtel are still in the EDGE/GPRS era so it won't work over here. Boo to them. However, you just might be able to pull it off with Zantel (EV-DO) or Vodacom (HSPDA) in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) -- assuming they have the capacity in their network infrastructures.

Oh...
By the way, it's amazing how cheap cell phone rates are in TZ. Could this simply be due to real competition? I think so. Let's see. You have Zantel, Vodacom, TiGo, and Celtel over there. Did I forget someone? Now, here in Kenya, Safaricom and Telkom Wireless have Telkom Kenya as their parent. What's got me puzzled is that Celtel seems like they're asleep at the wheel. I don't know, but something just doesn't feel right. You see, I once saw a TiGo advertisement in Dar es Salaam bragging about TSh 1 per minute rates. Fat chance of getting that kind of rate over here. :-) Hopefully CCK will make it easier for new competitors to enter this expensive (and very lucrative) mobile phone operator market.

BarCamp Nairobi Tech Unconference

[Dar es Salaam, Tanzania]
IF you're an outsider visiting Africa, one thing you'll quickly realize in most countries there - with the notable exception of South Africa - is the general lack of knowledge regarding the very diverse field of Information Technology (IT). To be more specific, organizations and individuals are not "as up to date" on the latest technologies (web, programming, infrastructure, networking, systems analysis, databases, etc.) as their counterparts in North America, Europe and Asia. There's no doubt that the Internet access infrastructure has a lot to do with that. But things are quickly changing though. BarCamp to the rescue
So, what the heck is a BarCamp, you ask? Well, I'll let Kenyan Pundit explain it for ya:

A BarCamp is “an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from participants.” Think of it as an Open Source (un) conference. For an idea of what goes on, check out the BarCamp Cape Town site. {source}

Here's another perspective of what a BarCamp is courtesy of my good Net buddy, HASH (aka WhiteAfrican):

BarCamps are open conferences that are free to attend and that are open for anyone to talk at. I’ve been to a couple and I can tell you that they blow regular conferences out of the water in the amount of networking and ideas discussed. {source}

Unfortunately, I'm unable to attend the upcoming BarCamp Nairobi (31 March 2007), but I definitely plan to take part in this amazing movement sometime in the future. It seems like a great opportunity to rub elbows with the movers and shakers of Africa's increasingly important IT sector. It's so true: Knowledge is power.

Will you be there? Then sign up here.

--------------------
Related info:

• BarCamp Kenya: A Call to Get Involved
• Skunkworks and BarCamp Nairobi: Techies Getting Organized in Kenya
• Skunkworks blog (weekly techie meetings in Nairobi)

Fresh Water from the Indian Ocean

[Dar es Salaam, Tanzania]
THEY say "the best things in life are free." Perhaps. Now, when it comes to fresh water, that's not the case in most places around the world - especially here in Africa. In all honesty, growing up in Canada has sort of spoiled me to the point where we, as Canadians, never had to worry about water. Why? Because Mother Nature was kind enough to bless us with more fresh water than any other country on the planet. The 5 great lakes (Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Huron, Superior) along with numerous other large bodies of water (Great Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, Georgian Bay, James Bay, Lake Athabasca, etc.) scattered throughout the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast provides us with, virtually, unlimited supplies. And with a population of only 30 million people inhabiting the 2nd largest country in the world, this means that water scarcity should never ever enter the Canadian vocabulary. :-)

Try to picture this. Lake Superior (see above) is the world's largest freshwater lake covering a staggering area of 31,720 miles (82,103 sq kilometers) with its deepest point at 1,335 feet. That's massive.

Seeing is believing
When I touched down in Africa (Nairobi) for the first time near the end of 2005, a new reality began to sink in. On numerous occasions, whenever I woke up, the watchman had to pump water so that I can proceed to take a shower. And if the electric company couldn't supply enough power on that particular day, we were in big doo doo because the pumps need electricty. This was a totally new experience for me, and I realized then and there just how lucky Canadians are -- to the point that we take a lot of things (electricity, universal health care, free K-12 education) for granted. I don't any more.

Water scarcity everywhere
Everyday in the news, I'm always reminded of how delicate the water situation is throughout Africa. In particular, this week is Maji Week (maji = water in Swahili) in these parts, and there's just no way to escape the "down pour" of negative news regarding maji (er water). It's agonizing to think that, at any moment, bad scenarios can result from the lack of this precious resource. I read some where the other day that Dar es Salaam (Haven of Peace) is not able to supply all the water that it's citizens demand. This is so sad because I absolutely looove this city. Knowing this, I decided to cruise the Internet to see what's new in the world of high technology that could end Dar's water scarcity once and for all.

Sea of hope
Without a doubt, a city like Dar would be wise to look at the Indian Ocean for its water supply. After all, it's right there, and so convenient to access. The only problem is the damn salt. Now what if there was a large scale method of extracting fresh water from the ocean - and cheaply? Well, I was watching the idiot box (um, TV) this morning and saw an excellent story (courtesy of SABC) about a South African company called GrahamTek that's making waves (pun intended). It appears that they've invented (or improved) a new cheap method (process?) to take the salt out of the sea water that's far more efficient and effective than desalination plants of yester year. The secret is reverse osmosis desalination and it's a technology that you'll be hearing a lot about - hopefully soon.

The salt on desalination
In a nutshell, desalination is a complex process of removing salt from sea water. I remember reading a long time ago about how Saudi Arabia was one of the world's biggest users of desalination plants. But I also heard they were expensive (about $400 million) to build and required a lot of power to operate. Well, Saudi Arabia has cheap energy thanks to its oil jackpot, but I don't think the old desalination plants they were using would work in Dar. Too damn costly. Enter GrahamTek Systems with some fresh, innovative thinking to the entire field of desalination.

GrahamTek to the rescue
After seeing that short SABC news article about GrahamTek Systems (runs Ocean Mineral Water), I was determined to find out more information about the company.

Ocean Mineral Water is run by local group Grahamtek Systems, which has been working in the field since 1994. They believe they are years ahead of other companies elsewhere in the world. Jean Vos of Ocean Mineral Water said: "The basic point is that we can give Cape Town water and that is a fact. "The company recently erected a plant in the Maldives that produces half a million litres a day and was erected in a single day at a cost of a mere R1.5 million.

In the past the prohibitive energy costs of desalination have prevented widespread use of the technology. However, the local scientists say they have improved technology and are now able to supply desalinated water at a cost of R4,80/1 000 litres, which is substantially cheaper than the water provided by most municipalities. "Seawater is the healthiest water on the planet as it has all the minerals that you need, reverse osmosis simply removes what is bad for you and retains the good part. This is the best water for any living being to consume and even for agriculture," said Martin Lyons of Ocean Mineral Water. {source}

Wow, that is simply amazing news. In short, I think GrahamTek has no where else to go but up. Heck, where can I buy some shares? :-) But honestly, I think Dar es Salaam should seriously look into using this technology to solve its water problems. I'll write more about this later.

----------------------
Related links:

• Water, water, everywhere
• Local water company develops more efficient technology to reclaim water
• The Good News - Affordable seawater desalination developed by SA company
• 'We can purify sea water cheaply'
• New water filtration system doubles output of NEWater
• Tanzanians mark water (less) week
• Tanzania targets water for all by 2015
• Royal Doulton's latest world news on water polution