You probably want to visit the Manta Resort, a new getaway in Zanzibar—because, at the Manta Resort, you can actually get away from the getaway and stay a few hundred feet offshore in a floating hotel room. And then you can getaway again in the underwater bedroom built for watching fish.
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Don’t be fooled by the bright, jovial colors of this satellite image, because it’s hiding a darker truth: the world is being wrenched apart at its seams.
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Coca-Cola’s global distribution channels are so well-developed that a Coke can get pretty much anywhere on the planet—even places where there’s no access to fresh water. But Coke is working on that, too. As part of its mission to bring drinking water to the communities it serves, the company has developed a solar-powered, Wi-Fi-equipped kiosk with a water purification system—and it plans to drop them in 20 countries by 2015.
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While American consumers clamor for the latest and greatest in consumer electronics, our older digital devices are inundating and poisoning a generation of children in Ghana. Colorado Springs Gazette photographer Michael Ciaglo recently visited the largest e-waste processing site in the African nation and returned with some very damning images. That new iPhone of yours had better be worth it.
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While the Arab Spring and its resulting political upheavals have firmly held the world’s attention over the past two years, the Middle East’s conflicts are, sadly, far from the only ones going on. Wars in North, West, and East Africa have displaced millions of people and killed untold more. Those lucky enough to escape with their lives often end up living in a squalorous political limbo in one of these massive "temporary" encampments—like nine of the largest, below.
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Google Africa is asking volunteers to judge the quality of beta translations for African languages Hausa, Igbo, Somali, Yoruba and Zulu. That means it’s likely only a matter of time before they’re added to the 71 current Google Translate lingos. Users on a Google+ page who speak one of the languages were asked to rate the translation of passages to and from English on a scale of ‘poor’ to ‘excellent.’ While it still seems a bit buggy, it looks to be a great start — though users in isolated areas might need to wait for Facebook’s internet.org initiative.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google Africa (Google+)
In 2011, a United Nations commission came to a powerful conclusion: access to broadband internet is a basic human right, matched by the likes of housing, sustenance and healthcare. Arguments can be made that widespread access has transformed entire economies while kick-starting others, with Finland even going so far as to command its ISPs to provide 1 Mbps connections to all homes regardless of location. Both the United States and the United Kingdom have similarly ambitious plans, and all three of these countries have one particular catalyst in common: funds.
The harsh reality, however, is the economies that stand to gain the most from sweeping internet adoption are also the least equipped to enable it. In early 2010, the European Bank estimated that a project to roll out passive optical fiber to 33 cities in the Netherlands would cost nearly €290 million. The mission driving such funding? “To stimulate innovation and keep Europe at the forefront of internet usage.” It’s the answer to a problem that could undoubtedly be categorized as “first world,” but consider this: Internet World Stats found that 92.9 percent of The Netherlands’ population routinely used the world wide web in 2012. Let’s just say it’s easier to invest in an initiative that you’re certain nearly 9 in 10 citizens will use.
In the whole of Africa, just 15.6 percent of residents are connected to the internet, which is under half of the world average. It’s also home to vast, inhospitable landscapes that are economically inviable to crisscross with fiber. All of that being said, nearly a sixth of the globe’s population resides on the continent, representing a monumental opportunity for something — anything — to connect the next billion people. As it turns out, there are actions presently ongoing to make a significant mark in the course of history. Google, Microsoft, Carlson Wireless, Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa (TENET) and a host of other powerful entities are collaborating to bring high-speed internet to an underserved continent via TV white spaces — a low-cost, highly adaptable technology that’s poised to explode. For now, Cape Town, South Africa, is acting as a proving ground for what will eventually be a far larger experiment. The core goal is actually quite simple: to beam hope to a disconnected society, with unused bands between TV channels acting as the medium. %Gallery-slideshow67067%
Filed under: Networking, Internet, Mobile, Google
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.
Staying connected to the internet can be a challenge at times, especially for Kenya-based Ushahidi, a non-profit tech organization that battles with power outages and flaky ISPs in Africa. Though the outfit typically makes software used in situations ranging from natural disasters to election monitoring, it’s taking a hardware project to Kickstarter that aims to ease connectivity woes for itself and others. Dubbed BRCK, the solution is a rugged wireless router that connects to the internet via Ethernet, WiFi, 3G and 4G, and can switch its source on the fly if a connection dies. For example, if your home service goes out, it can start using a cellular signal instantly — if you’ve slotted in a sim card, that is. During power outages, the brick can stay online for up to 8 hours thanks to an internal battery. The package can support up to 20 devices on WiFi and has 16GB of built-in storage, which can hold data synced directly from Dropbox, connected devices or other apps.
Filed under: Wireless, Internet
Source: Kickstarter
Following the lead of co-founder Bill Gates Microsoft is taking more interest in Africa, announcing its 4Afrika Initiative with a stated aim of improving the continent’s global competitiveness. There are several plans under way as a part of the project, with one of the first being a new Windows Phone 8 device from Microsoft and Huawei. Pictured above, the Huawei 4Afrika phone is a specially tailored version of the existing Ascend W1 meant as an affordable option (no price announced yet) for first time smartphone buyers that also comes preloaded with apps created by African developers for African consumers, and a subsection of the existing Windows Phone Store that will continue to focus on “locally-relevant” apps and content. It will be available in blue, red, black and white when it launches later this month in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Another part of the push is a pilot project Microsoft is working on with the Kenyan government and Indigo Telecom which combines solar powered base stations using TV white space technology to offer affordable wireless internet access. Meant to bring broadband to places that currently lack even electricity, the deployment is called Mawingu, connecting a healthcare clinic and several schools in its initial test. After several years of pushing the tech, which takes advantage of unused TV broadcast spectrum, Microsoft hopes to convince other nations to make the legal/regulatory changes to start using it as well. There’s a press release after the break with more details, as well as a video and more information available beyond the source links.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: 4Afrika, Windows Phone Blog
Weaving is both an art and a learned skill. Given the fact that I cannot weave anything decent to save my life, I have utmost respect for weavers who know their craft, like Nigerian artisan Ojo Obaniyi from Ibadan.
Ojo is so good at weaving that he’s taken on the ultimate challenge for weavers: covering an entire car with wicker.
Images © Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye
Did he succeed? I think it’s pretty obvious that he did. It’s a huge feat for the likes of you and me, but it was probably easy as pie for Ojo, who’s been in the weaving business for the past 20 years.
Aside from covering every inch of the exterior of his Volkswagen pickup truck with raffia palm cane, he’s also weaved wicker into the interior seats, dashboard, and steering wheel of the vehicle.
Ojo explains: “I wanted to prove a point that it is not only the educated elite that can make positive changes in society. we, the artisans also have talents to effect a change and make a positive impact in the society. that is why I decided that I too must do something that will make people to recognize me and know me across the whole world and by extension prove to the world that African and indeed the entire black race have very talented people.”
I think he succeeded in doing that and more with this amazing project.
[via designboom]
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