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Comment Nothing new here (Score 1) 61

I don't mean to piss on this girl's project but, unless she's going to do this in places like Goma or Juba, she's not doing anything new or particularly special in Africa.

Many African countries have had successful domestic tech scenes for longer than most people realize. That includes robotics communities, network operator groups, Linux user groups, ICT associations, and more. There are a lot of incredibly talented and dedicated people here who have been tirelessly building these communities for a very long time.

Sub-Saharan Africa started to become hip about three years ago. Ever since then we've been practically drowning in hackathons and other feel-good tech events organized by "movers and shakers" from the west.

I'm ranting a bit, so don't get me wrong; all of these projects have a positive impact. I'm just sick of hearing about how "innovative" some people are for doing stuff that's already been done before just because they're the first people to yap about it on-line.

Submission + - Proposed NJ law allows cops to search phones at crash scenes (nj.com)

WML MUNSON writes: License, registration and cell phone, please. Police officers across New Jersey could be saying that to motorists at the scenes of car crashes if new legislation introduced in the state Senate becomes law. The measure would allow cops — without a warrant — to thumb through a cell phone to determine if a driver was talking or texting when an accident occurred. It requires officers to have "reasonable grounds" to believe the law was broken.

Comment Offline content + games + 3G router (Score 1) 172

To reduce reliance on connectivity, I suggest deploying games (especially multiplayer ones like OpenArena) and off-line educational content (e.g. RACHEL) on the LAN.

Developing countries tend to have poor connectivity, especially in rural areas. The only available option may be a data-capped SIM-based USB dongle, so I recommend deploying a low-power 3G router with battery backup and traffic shaping capabilities (e.g. ZyXEL MWR211)

Comment The counter-argument (Score 2) 65

Meanwhile: http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/kenyas-tech-industry-over-hyped-or-just-learning-to-walk/24767/

Since the launch of celebrated mobile money transfer service M-Pesa five years ago, Kenya has been labelled the ‘Silicon Savannah’ and an ‘ICT hub’ with its supposed technology revolution that has overshadowed other African countries. Yet, outside the tech-focused business incubation centres and conferences, many struggle to ‘feel’ the revolution.

Other than grants and donor funding, very little actual investment has been pumped into local technology startups. Investors say they can’t find investment-ready businesses in Silicon Savannah’s river of startups.

At last month’s Mobile Web East Africa conference, some participants tore into the hype, with some suggesting that Kenya’s ICT sector had no business going by the “cute” title, Silicon Savannah.

The influx of grant money and competitions where entrepreneurs are awarded cash prizes, have also been called a curse because it encourages developers to build apps with a social impact, but with little commercial potential.

Comment Re:And your Pro-NRA social programs are? (Score 1) 2987

If I look at the cross section of my friends who are NRA members, most are Republicans. Of those, most are for limiting all government programs, but especially those which treat "fake" illnesses like mental instability. They post about how the government shouldn't be providing social services because it raises the taxes which chip away at the money they work for every day in their jobs.

Nobody in the NRA ever seems to be asking Congress to fund programs to evaluate and assist the mentally unstable. Quite the opposite, they're more likely to call them weirdos or outcasts or cheats, living off the government dole and asking for service after service for nothing. These are the same people who made fun of the little kid in high school, or hurled epithets from their truck window at the way they dress or called them godless fags as they walked by in the street.

Nice anecdote you've got there. +5 Objective if you ask me. I support the NRA yet also support social health programmes. I also believe these shootings are merely a symptom of a larger, more complex societal problem. I am not, nor ever was, a bully. I am not alone.

Comment Re:Pussies (Score 1) 286

Am I the only one who thinks management teams that bring in consultants to do mass layoffs are pussies? If you fuck up a company so badly 30% of the employees have to go, the very least you can do is not hide in the proverbial closet until it's over.

One could argue that senior management doesn't have enough time in their day to organize and manage a mass layoff process at a company of this size.

Comment Re:Oh, FFS (Score 1) 813

The Gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.

- Homer, The Iliad

Comment The real power of IPv6 (Score 5, Insightful) 155

The real power of IPv6 is that it allows us to eliminate NAT. Because of the size of the IPv6 address pool, every mobile device can have a publicly routable address and thus function as a server.

Facebook was originally developed and hosted in a college dorm room. With IPv6, the next "big thing" could be developed and hosted in someone's pocket.

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