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The Namugongo Surveillance balloon

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A few days ago, 3rd June to be exact; Ugandans were all talking about that balloon thingy that was floating around in Namugongo.
This sophisticated piece of equipment caused a lot of noise among Ugandans about how it works, how much it could have cost and it also made it to headlines on every single News bulletin cross the country and am pretty sure also some nearby countries were in shock as well.

Skystar300
Skystar300

Let’s get the details down for this alien that appeared a few days ago. This balloon or blimp is considered to be the best equipment for monitoring borders, facilities and army bases. Similar to drones and those spy-flying devices in movies, this balloon comes with cutting edge cameras and sensors that enable you to zoom down on an ant walking on the ground. Yes, don’t argue.
These blimps provide real time surveillance and intelligence essential for protection and carrying out tactical operations. They are made by an Israel Company called RT Aerostats that was founded in 1996.
The biggest argument this balloon raised was about how much it cost. This 2-person controlled, helium floating, high-tech camera having balloon doesn’t cost a couple of thousand shillings, not even millions of Shillings but a few million dollars about 20. Uganda isn’t broke it’s probably your head that is broke.

Skystar300a
So, these Ugandan affandes deployed this bad boy at Namugongo and all these terrorists, phone snatchers and drunkards failed to report for business. The brave ones that managed to report for duty had their eyes locked on the floating thing in amazement. All went well; even I was there at Namugongo. There you have it folks.

Skylake micro architecture from Intel

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Skylake is a code-name for a micro architecture processor of Intel as we can say for now. This Skylake micro architecture is scheduled to be launched in 2015 and will replace the Broadwell Micro architecture.

This will of course be an Upgrade in Intel’s micro architecture design. This will definitely bring in more CPU and GPU performance and of course reduced power consumption. The Skylake is scheduled to be released at the Intel Development Forum to take place on 15th August, 2015.

Intel has gone ahead to consider Skylake to be its “most significant processor” for a decade simply due to the enhanced power efficiency and wire-free capabilities.

The Skylake will come in four variants SKL-S, SKL-H, SKL-U and SKL-Y. An overcloackable SKL-K variant will also launch around the same time.

skylake
skylake processor

Skylake chips will not be released when Windows 10 becomes commercially available on July 29th. Intel though, has built Skylake to work with the core features of Windows 10 including biometric authentication allowing fingerprint or face to replace a typed password.

Many big names in the Tech industry are pretty psyched about Wire-free computing. Intel wants to eliminate wire and cable cluster from PCs by offering wireless charging and data transfer circuitry. This will enable users to recharge their laptops by placing them on tablets that support wireless charging based on magnetic resonance technology. Intel has gotten restaurants, airplanes, cafes and car makers to install wireless charging surfaces.

More on the data transfer in the Skylake chipsets, through a technology called WiGig, laptops will wirelessly connect to portable hard drives, monitors and other external peripherals transferring data at 7Gbps. Thunderbolt 3 will also start with Skylake, a new data transfer technology running on USB Type-C cables transferring data at 40Gbps. Thunderbolt 3 is 2 times faster than its predecessor and four times faster than USB 3.1 technology. You can still plug your USB 2.0 flash disk in the Thunderbolt port but it’s only a question whether you need the blistering speeds.

 

SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA, PC WORLD

Apple Music Streaming service will launch tomorrow: Says Sony CEO

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The Sony CEO Doug Morris has confirmed the Apple’s rumoured music streaming. Service will be revealed tomorrow during the WWDC keynote.

This was confirmed during an interview with the Venture Beat in Cannes where Doug Morris said “its happening tomorrow.”

This has confirmed rumours of Apple launching a Spotify competitor but the Sony Music CEO did not give details on the pricing packages but he was clearly quoted to have preferred paid models.

Source: Venture Beat
Via: TNW

MTN Uganda reduces prices of Mobile Internet Bundles

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MTN Uganda has reduced prices of some data bundles for its mobile subscribers. The data bundles affected include the Daily 100MB  bundle which now costs 1,800/- instead of 2,500/-, the Weekly 50MB bundle now costs 1,800/- from 2,500/- and  monthly 1Gb will cost 35,000/- instead of 39,000/- among other reductions as shown below.

MTN will also reward users with an extra 15MB upon the use of the first 30MB in a month effective 1st July 2015.

Unfortunately the mostcommon Daily bundles were untouched and still remain the highest on the market  currently. Considering that the average consumer loads the Daily bundles of 50MB and 20MB which have not been touched, users will need to buy bigger bundles to take advantage of these price drops.

 

Here is a list of the Reduced MTN Uganda Internet / Data bundle prices

  Bundle   Validity
  (UShs) 
  15MB   Once every month after using your first 30MBs that month
  FREE
  10MB   24 hours   300
  20MB   500
50MB 1,200
100MB 1,800
  50MB   1 Week   1,800
100MB  3,000
25MB   1 Month   1,500
100MB   4,500 
500MB   20,000 
  1GB   35,000
2GB 50,000
  3GB   60,000
 5GB   90,000
 10GB   125,000
 30GB   285,000
 1GB   3 Months   45,500
2GB 65,000
 3GB   78,000
 5GB   117,000
 10GB   162,500
 30GB   370,500
Night Shift
1 GB
2,500
MTN PayAsYouGo 0.8 0.8

NOTE : MTN has reduced Prepaid Data rates as highlighted in BOLD.

Prices Source: MTN

 

Microdia made a 512GB MicroSD card but you probably can’t afford it

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The sound of a 512GB MicroSD memory is really mind blowing considering that it can easily get lost in you pocket or messy hand. A memory card is so small and delicate that even a baby could probably break it or a bunch of dudus (*read tiny insects) could carry it.

But Microdia though it wise to announce a 512 GB (Oh boy, you read that right, GB not mb) MicroSDXC card at Computex. This comes after SanDisk announced a 200GB Memory card in March this year and considering that Microdia was the first to create a 64 GB MicroSD card back in 2008, shows us the amibitiousness of the company to squeeze large storage amounts on physically smaller media.

This 512 MicroSD card will be available in July and it will cost around $1000.

Image Source: CNET 

Multichoice Uganda slashes DSTV Decoder price ahead of digital migration

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Multichoice Uganda has slashed decoder prices to 99,000/- just in time for the digital migration rush whose deadline is 21st June.
This however comes with an additional cost of installation fee of 50,000/- as recommended by Multichoice Uganda

[quote_center]

With 16 days to the Digital Migration deadline, we have vowed to be by your side! Get a fully connected HD decoder and dish set at UGX 99,999. *Inclusive of 1 month on Access bouquet #FeelEveryMoment
– As posted by DSTV Uganda

[/quote_center]

Vodafone just sliced the price of its 4G Modem

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The Digida promotion from Vodafone Uganda which offered a free data on purchase of am LTE enabled  device has had some changes.

The 4G modem which used to cost 149,000/- is now costs 99,000/-. This how ever comes with less free data. Previously the 4G modem can with free unlimited data for one month and it now comes with a mere 5 GB.

This is still remails the cheaps 4G LTE dongle in the country.

The 4G mifi remains at the same price of 149,000/- but it now comes with 5GB free data for a month instead of the old unlimited internet package.

The Indoor CPE router remains at 350,000/- with free data worth 10GB.

Well these changes come after a couple of incidents of 4G MiFis running out of stock when the telecom granted users a free unlimited bundle on the purchase of every device. But you with the trends of telecoms, free things tend to have a limit.

We shall be doing a second review of the internet experience to evaluate changes now that Vodafone has gained a couple of  customers and we have to test thing like congestion.

As of now you can take advantage of new offer at a less cost but a smaller bundle which still has value for money.

Hellofood wonders how to scare hunger away

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More than 800 million people in the world are currently suffering of hunger and poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence of hunger. One person in four is undernourished, according to the World Food Program. Hunger affects everyone, from individuals to businesses in the food industry. Today is World Hunger Day and to raise awareness of the scale of the issue, Hellofood has challenged its community to help people #ScareHunger away with a donation to their local foodbank and Hellofood Uganda is excited to partner with Dwelling places for the World Hunger day at their Mutundwe children’s Home. 

Since yesterday, Hellofood has been asking its community how they scare hunger away, sharing funny and serious ideas with them to discuss this important issue. What can be the solution? Shouting? Calling your mum? Dress up like a ghost?
According to Hellofood, the best way to scare hunger is… food.

Ron Kawamara, Managing Director of Hellofood – Uganda said, ““Considering the immense importance of this issue in Africa, we wanted to offer our users and partners an easy way to contribute. We hope this will raise awareness, improve the public knowledge and spread the word about world hunger.”

“We are humbled and delighted to support dwelling places on this particular day because the highest cost they face in taking care of the children is food and also most of the children on the streets are there to try and get some money for food to survive. All we want is to put smiles on the children’s faces and also remind the general public that the plight hunger is still a major issue even in our own backyard. Our online platforms make it possible for people to get food delivery allover Kampala everyday but this is by far our best delivery of the year. Credit has to go to our partner restaurants like Piato and Mackies, who on hearing what we wanted to do with Dwelling places, offered incredible support in making the day for the children memorable and we look forward to working together with them on other projects.” Kawamara added.

Rita Nkemba, Founder and Executive Director, Dwelling Places said, “Dwelling Places were delighted to receive the call from Hello Food to be the beneficiaries of their ‘World Hunger Day’ donation. Dwelling Places have rescued over 1000 children since 2002 from the streets of Kampala; we’ve given them a bed to sleep in and their first hot meal in weeks.  We have had children come into our homes hooked on aviation fuel which they have been sniffing to curb their hunger pangs. We are an organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, reconciling and resettling children from the streets; and are happy to stand alongside Hello Food for World Hunger Day.”
                                                          End

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ABOUT Hellofood
Hellofood and its affiliated brand foodpanda and Delivery Club, is the leading global online food delivery marketplace, active in more than 44 countries on five continents. It operates in India, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia and Serbia. Hellofood operates in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Nigeria, Morocco, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Algeria.

Google URL shortener now deep links to iOS and Android Apps

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You have probably seen the common goo.gl short URLs on your favourite social networks and a couple of websites. These short links from Google have undergone a specific upgrade and they no longer require you to first open a browser and then redirect to a particular application of your choice.

Starting Today the Google short URLs are deep linked to automatically open a particular section of an application if the link is opened using an Android or iOS devices. For example directions on Google Maps can be directly opened once they are shared using a goo.gl short url.

This change affects both new and old goo.gl shortcuts, so long as the website or app developer took steps to set up App Indexing for Android and iOS.

Google published a blog that clearly explains who to integrate the deep links into a website or App using its URL shortener API.

 

 

Microsoft will add a Headset port to Xbox One controllers

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Microsoft will be adding a headset jack to its Xbox One controllers starting from  June as seen in the new documentation for the Xbox One controller on the Xbox support site. Previously Gamers have ranted over the absence of an audio headset jack which was snot on the initial controller jack.

The new controller will allow users listen with arguably any audio headsets but the microphones will definitely have some issues depending on how different manufacturers design their audio cables on headsets.

This new 3.5mm audio port will be in the position labelled 16 in the Xbox Controller Image shown above.

 

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