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Orange calls for submissions for the 4th annual Community Innovations Awards

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Orange Telecom is organizing its 4th annual Community Innovation Awards (CIA) this year on and is calling developers to submit in their apps before 25th May 2014.

Orange, a telecom we have found to be a big supporter of mobile innovations, holds these the CIA awards to recognise and support the best locally developed apps in the agricultural, health and education sector.

All finalists will win Android phones, internships and cash prizes as shown in the announcement that appeared on Orange’s Google+ page as seen below.

[quote_box_center]
Submit your app in the fields of health,education and agriculture before 25th May to ciawards@orange.com and stand a chance to win.

1st prize: 10 million shillings towards the application pilot and internship for 12 months.

2nd prize: 5 million shillings worth of support towards the deployment of the application and internship for 12 months.

3rd prize: 2.5 million shillings worth of support towards the deployment of the application and internship for 6 months

Note: each of the 20 finalists wins an android phone.

innovation changes with Orange.
Today changes with Orange.
#OrangeCIA
[/quote_box_center]

Please share this with anyone you think is concerned

WhatsApp is ‘Free’ on Airtel but you can’t send media

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We have tested using WhatsApp without having data bundles on our Airtel numbers both 070 &  075 only to be shocked to see notifications from the popular messaging app.

Several users on the network have now confirmed to us that they have been able to send and receive WhatsApp messagea free of charge despite having no active Internet packages subscribed on their mobile phones.

The service has not been formally announced but it has been going on for about a week now though access would sometimes be denied or too slow.

However Airtel users without access active internet bundles cannot not send or download images, voice and videos sent using WhatsApp without mbs. Otherwise you could load the social pack or regular data bundles to gain full access.

Free Txts but no free image, audio and video download

We pray this isn’t a mistake in the Telecom but rather an offer. We also hope  that the offer actually lasts a long or reasonable amount of time.

Go ahead and text like no man’s business if you are on airtel

Get WhatsApp from here

Twitter unblocked in Turkey but YouTube is still blocked

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Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey had ordered the blocking of Twitter in Turkey previously after exposing corruption in his government.

However after the constitutional court passed a ruling that found blocking the Micro-blogging website as an infringement of the right to free speech.

This was after Turkey’s Gazelle published the court rulling which put telecoms on pressure to unblock Twitter. Erdogan’s office also released a statement saying the ban had been lifted.

After the court’s decision, President Abdullah Gul, who has opposed the bans, was quoted as saying both websites should be made available in Turkey once more.

When the Twitter was unblocked thousands took to the platform tweeting with the hashtag #TwitterFree.

However Google’s video sharing service is still unaccessible in Turkey after videos of illicit recordings of a high-level meeting about sending troops into Syria began to go viral.

Legal challenges against YouTube’s blocking are still going on and we shall let you know of any developments.

Source: Reuters

An indepth look at Cortana, Windows Phone’s new assistant!

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During, Microsoft’s Build Conference yesterday, The made several announcements such as the Windows Phone 8.1 and windows 8.1 Update 1. Microsoft released its voice assistant to the world, and their have named her ‘Cortana’, a name that comes from a Halo video game character. Cortana will be powered by Bing, Microsoft’s search engine together with collaboration and information from other web services like Yelp.

Cortana
Cortana’s welcome screen

Cortana is deigned to look like a circle and its colour will resemble the accent color you set for your Windows Phone and Microsoft says they are working to improve on the gestures and voice tones when she is giving different messages for example, Giving you scores of your team winning and being beaten will sound and Cortana’s look will be different. I like this move where they are taking this assistant emulation to the next level but since the feature has been dubbed BETA, we just have to keep waiting for updates.

 

Cortana comes prebuilt into Windows Phone 8.1 and will come preinstalled on new WP 8.1 devices and come as an update on Windows Phones that will get the WP 8.1 Update this summer. Cortana is designed to have a notebook in which she stores your private information and just like an assistant she first asks you whether its you permit her to store this information. I mean every real life assistant carries a notebook with her Boss’ private information such as favourite places and her Boss has to permit or deny her access to some information.
This is a better move and Microsoft developers focused on this because other assistants like Google Now and Siri that track your information without your notice which might be creepy.

Cortana’s Notebook is stored on the cloud and acts like a settings page on Google Now but lets you remove or add information that you might want her to know or remove the information you don’t. Items in your notebook may include your favourite Football team, restaurant, birthday, Questions that she asks you the first time you ask her.

NoteBook
Cortana’s Note Book

Cortana displays notifications similar to the Tiles in Google Now that appear in the Notification centre in Windows Phone. These include soccer from your Football team, stocks, location based cards, weather, flight details and more a  feature we have already seen in Google Now.

Cortana goes ahead to highlight main phrases in your emails and text messages such as Flight K780 or Lets Meet at 2.30 am and asks you whether she should set reminders of appointments extracted from this text or give your more details on a Flight she found in your email messages.

Microsoft also boosts that Cortana understands your requests better by returning results based on whether your query was singular or plural. For example if you asked for the Best restaurant in Spain, Cortana will return only on Restaurant based on the highest rating by users on Yelp. However asking for the best restaurants in an area returns a list of the highest ranking restaurants in an area. This feature imitates a real-life assistant who can not give his boss a list of places when he asked for the best place to have coffee.

Cortana also knows when you are travelling and once you arrive in a new country, Cortana will greet you with weather details for the new country, Forex rates, and destination routes.

Cortana Travel Notifications
Cortana Travel Notifications

Cortana will allow third party app integration, other apps can get information from Cortana as well as share it with Cortana through a developer API just like rivals Google Now and Siri.

Cortana further acts like a guard to the Boss, in this case you by asking you for your quiet hours where she will snooze all notifications except a few people in your inner circles just like a real-life assistant know when her Boss is busy or resting and lets in only a few people. Cortana will let you choose notifications from a list of people you choose like your wife, hubby, nanny or Boss.

You can also ask Cortana to remind you to do something when a particular action is triggered for example you can ask Cortana to Remind you to ask your Mom about her dog when you Call your Mom or your when your Mom calls you. This will appear onto of the Call UI or on top of Live Tiles. This feature is really awesome because its just like your assistant telling you ‘when to do what’ properly.

Cortana remiders on Live Tiles
Cortana reminders on Live Tiles

Cortana which is in Beta will roll out to the US and UK in June and will gradually roll out to China and other countries after the Windows 8.1 update is rolled out to existing phones with WP 8 in June.

Well lets wait and see how it fairs with competition like Google Now and Siri

Image Credit: WindowsPhone Blog

 

Samsung and HTC launch ‘Tech Gloves’ in Fool’s day pranks

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Samsung and HTC took Fool’s Day pranks to another level by posting images about products they had ‘launched’. Unfortunately the two Tech manufacturers pulled the same prank in different ways though. Their websites showed images and length blog posts of new Tech gloves with Samsung portraying Samsung Fingers and HTC showcasing HTC Gluuv. And its no parody post the companies actually posted the following statements.

Samsung Fingers

[quote_box_center]Samsung Fingers is the slimmest (0.2mm) and lightest (1g) wearable glove by Samsung and comes with a wide 3 inch flexible UHD Super Emo-LED display. Combined with an advanced 16 megapixel camera, Samsung Fingers offers the best-looking selfies you get your hands on. Samsung Fingers also supports the latest, fastest networks including 5G and Wi-Fi 902.11wz so you can keep in touch with the latest. Boost your creativity with dedicated features such as Finger Painter and S-tut[/quote_box_center] Samsung went ahead to show gimmicky features like S charge using solar energy and what killed me were the gestures as seen in the featured image. They even joked more by saying that Samsung Fingers came in several variations. Samsung Fingers, Samsung Fingers Class and Samsung Fingers touch.

Samsung Fingers Variations
Samsung Fingers Variations
Samsung Fingers Gestures
One of the Images on the Samsung Tommorow microsite with image of the prank
Talk to the Hand is Supposed to be a multitasking featured
Talk to the Hand is Supposed to be a multitasking featured
S charge lets you charge your Samsung Fingers
S charge lets you charge your Samsung Fingers

HTC Showcases the HTC Gluuv The Gluuv is supposed to be an accessory for the HTC One M8 and it boosts of an 87.2 MP camera on its selfie arm a Boom bass handle to take your music experience to the next level, and has wierd features like actually giving a thumbs up to like a Place on Facebook and comes with apps such as HTC Hi5, ProTekt, and NoMous

HTC gluuv
HTC Gluuv
Gluuv Features
Gluuv Features

The story goes  UNTIL you see a small message at the bottom of the website saying “Actually, as most of you will have noticed, this is not a real product or concept by Samsung at all – at least not yet. Happy April Fool’s!”

Google brings shareble Gmail Selfies on Fools Day

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Well, Google always plays pranks on us every Fools day and some pranks actually last. This year they have taken selfies to our Email. I loggined today only to be greated with a pop message Introducing Gmail Selfie.

It then requires users to set a background image basing on a selfie that is trending or share their theme, to the world. Imagine some guys’ nose, eyes popped up in the background of your email and your boss passed by. It will be a Typical fools day joke that isn’t funny.

Google also wants your Aunt, Mom or anybody with a crush on your to set your selfie theme as a Gmail background. That might sound nice to Google, but you sure don’t want your X’s photo showing up in your background worse still a picture of someone happy when your day isn’t going well. Uhmm if am in a election and my oponents selfie showed up since the trending selfies are based on location, I would ………………(lets leave that alone).

[quote_box_center]”Gmail is committed to being at the forefront of innovation in the selfie space. And we think it’s a tragedy that your handsome hair, luscious lashes and beautiful brows have been trapped in your own inbox. Until now, that is. Today, we’re proud to free your selfies by launching Gmail Shelfie, the SHareable sELFIE.”-GOOGLE [/quote_box_center]

So go ahead and play those pranks but at the end of the day some Fool’s day jokes won’t turn out funny.

Orange Uganda Leading in Mobile Innovations

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Every Year since 2011, Orange Uganda has been running Community innovations Awards (CIA) , a challenge aimed at getting the best mobile developer in the fields of Agriculture, Health and Education.

I remember my first encounter in this challenge in 2012 when i featured a social networking mobile app, when i really knew it was outside their scope. I just love Social apps and the thrill of engagement. Anyway, today I am going to point out why i think Orange Uganda through their Search for the best Mobile app developer in the fields above, have positioned themselves a dominant force in Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) and how this has favored them to be the Leading Mobile Innovators of the Telecoms in Uganda.

Scope of the Challenge. 

Anyone living in Uganda will agree with me that Agriculture, Health and Education are some of the cores supporting our Nation, these fields though are facing a lot of challenges. For a telecom company to come out and embrace such challenges and make them their own is an extra mile. The big picture orange is looking at here, is that farmer down in the village being able to know what pests are attacking his plant or a pregnant mother being able to know what diet she should be on or even a student trying to pick a career being able to access that information very fast on their mobile device, doing that for your customer is better the short time bills they pay to you, because then you are creating a lifetime customer.

Corporate Social Responsibility.

The one thing i loved about this challenge as a developer, is the way Orange as a company puts its experts to your disposal. When you enter this challenge you go through a vetting process, to assess your idea and its business model. This is usually done buy a couple of Judges no big deal, but when you emerge a victor in this challenge, your team gets time with the orange Lawyers to help you setup your company, then you you are always given an internship to work with orange a specific period of time. You benefit from not only trying to work on your idea, but you get to work with a couple of the Company employees on company time to learn something.

The Big Picture.

This challenge is focused on University student teams. In some way it doesn’t make sense, if these guys want apps why can’t they get their engineers to develop the apps for them or better some experienced developers out of campus. That is where the big picture comes in. Most of the innovation of the big companies has come from Universities, Facebook, Google you add to the list. Targeting University Students is no mistake at all, these guys are hungry for success than no one else. I also think the university developers are a niche that is being ignored by all the other telecoms and taking a bet on them ain’t bad at all.

Am very sure if Orange ventured in the mobile play store business, they will get more apps than any other telecoms in Uganda because they have tasted the business and they very well know how to target their target partners and customers. I work with developers everyday and i very well know there is something they bring to the table but without corporate companies coming out to support them, they will just remain a bunch of junkies behind laptops, but when these companies join hands with them, this will be a beginning to a great and fruitful partners.

I tip my hat to Orange Uganda for Leading the Mobile innovations frontier.

What do you think about Mobile Innovations in Ugandan Telecoms, are they doing enough, who do you think does it best and why? Leave a comment below.

wpid-wp-1395002020560.jpeg

Airtel Care App brings better customer care! [Review]

We got a chance to play with Airtel Care app by Airtel that has been announced. Its an app that brings customer care to user’s phone and I liked a couple of things and hated a few. Here is our experience with the app.

After downloading the app, you get a bright red splash screen that is followed by a screen that asks you to enter your country. At the time of review we collect only choose from 3 countries i.e. Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya. (I don’t why it only supports 3 countries yet they boast of large African coverage)

image

You are then prompted to enter your mobile number starting without the country code, then a 4 digit One Time Password (OTP) is sent to your in SMS form. You should copy this OPT code and enter it into your app for verification. Lets credit them for taking care of security, Just imagine your X checking your airtime balance. Though, I must say the SMS took a while to come on the 070 platform.

After Verification the app shows your name you probably entered for SIM registration , and welcomes you with a message saying you a ‘professional airtel customer.

image

When you tap the phone number you get a menu screen showing your airtime balance. You will find options like Data, VAS, Contact Us, Special Offer, and Airtel live

image

Vas which is loosely translated as Value added Services, gives you a list of subscription options to football teams like Manchester United and Arsenal as well as some caller tunes, though the caller tunes were limited compared to those on the website, you can also access a few more services eg. Magic voice but if you are the kind that hates sms please don’t activate anything.

The app lets you subscribe to data bundles by visiting the Data menu where you can scroll to the left or right to choose you preferred internet package. You will be able to view your data bundle balance in close to real time.

The Contact Us section lets you send your complaints, queries and help questions to Airtel customer care who laterrr… on respond.
Airtel wants you to know when there is a special offer and have integrated the feature. Airtel Live gives users access to games and music and generally media content to customers, you will have to spend quite some airtime to download this media content.

What we loved?

Activating a data bundle without entering annoying USSD codes like *100*3*10# was annoying and now I just have to swipe and I hit the activate button. This applies to the data balance and expiry date.
The caller tunes are in a list within the app which means goodbye to cramming the caller tune code which wasn’t nice.
Game lovers and parents who want games for their children will enjoy because their can get free access to Airtel games, some of which yield prizes from Airtel.
Oh, before I forget it shows your name, which shows you that whichever teller registered your name was technically sober and should it differ, please contact Airtel.

What we didn’t love

You can use it without a VALID DATA BUNDLE, when your internet runs out the app wont load and it only shows an Airtel splash screen if you have no data bundle.
Hey, Airtel, if you want me to use your app to activate a data bundle or get a caller tune, or later on recharge and I can’t do so, I will not think twice when my app memory runs low. This was so annoying one of the testers uninstalled it. We expected the app to be an improvement from the AOC webpage which shows an Nginx error when you try to buy a data bundle after it has run out. This took a large toll on the stars the app is getting.
“Dear Airtel please make access to the app free, even when my bundle is low” – Henry one of our testers.

The User Interface or design looks like it was ripped off the old iOS 6 app skin, something rather too curved, android apps are better close to flat.

Lastly we hated the fact that Airtel Live redirects to the browser (web version)

All in all, we love the innovativeness and care that Airtel has introduced alongside other customer care platforms like #StanAirtel @AirtelUg on Twitter and the call line which is not the easiest to get to. The diversity provides better service delivery and you can get the app from here. Airtel Care on Google Play

Google Now comes to Chrome for Windows and Mac

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Google Now is a service android and iOS users have been enjoying and using to keep up with daily tasks and information relevant to them. Google Now uses Cards to display weather, commutes, sports updates, forex and article updates and more.

Today Google Now has started rolling out Google Now to its desktop browser ‘Google Chrome’. Google Now will only be available for users who already have the activated the service on their mobile phones.

image
Google Now in Chrome

Google Now in Chrome will use location settings similar to those on your phone since its most likely your phone is near your computer. You will have ti edit your location settings if you have Google Now on multiple devices.
Some cards on Google Now are not location dependant so they will still show up.

This Chrome feature will bring notifications from users who are signed in with the same email address as that on their devices using Google Now. Notifications will show up under the cicle that shows Google + notifications.

Google lets you disable Now in Chrome, in case you are not pleased with the feature. You can disable it by unticking Google Now in the notification centre.

Google Now will follow you in Chrome, am pretty sure we’ll enjoy it.

Source: Google support (Google Now Cards in Chrome)

Turkey bans Twitter but Users can still Tweet!

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Twitter banned the micro-blogging website and had the service blocked today at around 11.30pm in Turkey.

This is after the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan minister blocked the service because he thinks its a ‘troublemaker’ after it aided the protest of closure of the park. During a rally in Bursa in the west of the country, he said “I don’t care what the international community says. Everyone will witness the power of the Turkish
Republic.”

Well the service was later blocked and visiting the Twitter website redirects to a message from the Turkish Government.

The drama unfolded on Twitter where hashtags #TwitterblockedinTurkey were trending and later tweets and screenshots of how to Tweet from Turkey were posted on thw social network.

Wikileaks also had a forum of how to access Twitter in Turkey.

Here is how Turks can actually Tweet;
SMS
The Turkish government did not block the SMS based platform for twitter and Twitter’s @policy handle posted how to Tweet using SMS on Turkish Telecoms. The message was tweeted in both English and Turkish.

Changing  DNS
Several users are reporting they are able to bypass the block by changing their DNS settings with solutions like OpenDNS or Google DNS. This however isn’t easy for non-techies however DNS numbers are being written on posters in Turkey.

Using Tor and VPN
Turkey’s firewall isn’t as strong as the Iranian firewall and use of Virtual Private Networks can let users to access the site. Some users posted that opening the site using the Tor bundle or browser could let you tweet. I mean if a network can run a drug marketplace it should be easy to access a poor firewall in the 21st century.
Since Tor is built to access to blocked news and sharing sites blocked by governments then using it to access Twitter is a good cause.

In fact over 17000 tweets per hour were tweeted from Turkey after the block.

Dictators can mess with social media platforms but the 21 century will always laugh at them. Just in case anyother website or service gets blocked users bypass and media content they desire.

This is the reason why I don’t get worried about the government blocking any website whether its a hoax or not, there are many ways to access such websites.

Source: Mashable

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