Business News Holding

Blog

  • Collecting Testimonies of Violence Using Mobile Internet

    Kenya has taken a leading role in Africa by embarking on effective use of Mobile Internet to expose acts of political violence, murder and torture, Ory Okollo the founder of Ushahidi.com told Biz-news.com

    In an interview on the sidelines of Mobile Web Africa conference in Sandton recently, executive director of Kenya’s Ushahidi, Ory Okolloh, said her organization was primarily established to expose crisis situations to empower Africa.

    “In brief, Ushahidi means testimony. The name was derived from Swahili language and Ushahidi was developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post election fallout at the beginning of 2008.

    “This is basically about creating technological platform to enable anyone from around the globe to capture reports by mobile phone, web or email. With time, we would want this to work with other online tools,” said Okolloh.

    Ory Okollo

    She said Ushahidi was an open source application which could be downloaded, used or implemented, to bring awareness to regional crisis prevailing on the continent.

    Already some countries such as Uganda, war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi and Zambia are tapping into Ushahidi project to improve and track near real-time stockouts of medical supplies at pharmacies.

    Even renowned international television channel, Al Jazeera, is reportedly using some of the technology from Ushahidi in its work to expose elements of violence from around the globe.

    Ushahidi.com site collects “testimony” on violence as people see it. They can send reports using cell phones and computers to the site.

    The information is logged and registered according to the type of violence (riots, deaths, property loss, rape, looting, etc.) using Google Maps.

    In places and moments when reporting is dangerous and difficult, this kind of program uses information from ordinary citizens to record violence as its happening. Ushahidi was put together by a lawyer/activist, Okollo and a small group of Kenyan, blogger/techies while the post-election violence in Kenya was going on in the early part of 2008.

    It was then used in South Africa to track xenophobic attacks against foreigners, and then in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All these instances can be viewed on the website.

    In addition to offering a method of tracking violence, Ushahidi also serves as a bloggers’ space to talk about new uses of technologies in Africa. Videos produced on the spot that can be uploaded also add to the testimony. It is cutting edge technology married to a citizen empowerment project.

    The collected data is useful for all kinds of people and purposes from NGOs, media, human rights workers, aid organizations to ordinary citizens who want to know what is happening in times of crisis.

  • VideoWeb Introduces World First Hybrid HDTV Satellite Receiver

    VideoWeb has developed a receiver that combines HDTV broadcasting, internet TV and numerous internet applications in a single unit.

    The VideoWeb S500 brings WebTV programmes directly onto a TV screen and at the touch of a button on the remote control the television will screen an internet broadcast, in the same way as a conventional TV channel.

    It provides a wide range of internet services like Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Twitter or Google Maps through the VideoWeb TV portal. The satellite receiver has the ability to receive all unencoded standard-definition and high-definition TV programmes.

    Doris Kucera, Press Officer of VideoWeb gave Biz-News.com reporters a short introduction to the company as well as a live demonstration of Plus X Award-nominated WidoWeb S500.

  • What Do Consumers Do With Their Phones?

    A recent Canalys consumer study, which surveyed over 3.000 people across France, Germany and theUK, looked at what features consumers are using on their phones.

    The first conclusion is that the use of data services is limited outside of smart phone owners and that customers on SIM-only contracts consume more data than their pre-paid counterparts. “The results go some way to quashing the expectations that SIMonly customers will only use voice and text,” says Canalys.

    When comparing the usage habits of respondents with pre-paid contracts versus those with SIM-only contracts, usage was higher in every category for individuals with SIM-only packages.

    For example, 27% of SIM-only users regularly browsed web sites on their handsets compared with just 14% of pre-paid users. Equally, the number of customers accessing social networking services on their mobile phones was considerably higher among SIM-only users (16%) when compared with pre-paid users (7%). The use of e-mail was also greater among those who subscribed to SIM-only deals (23%) versus consumers on pre-paid tariffs (16%).

    According to Canalys, operators will hope that the uptake of data services will steadily increase across their subscriber bases. “The major challenge that operators face is ensuring there is a sufficient penetration of handsets that are capable of accessing connected services, a questionable factor, especially looking at the difference in usage between handset brands across data services,” the report says.

    The other conclusion is that social networking on mobile phones remains a relatively small, but growing service. The research shows that despite the large usage figures quoted by companies such as Facebook, usage of social networking in the mass market remains limited.

    Only 10% of end users regularly accessed this type of service from their mobile phones. iPhone users were by far the most active, with almost half regularly accessing social networking services. Figures for BlackBerry (27%) and HTC (23%) users were lower than those for Apple, but were still significantly above the average.

    “These results show that usage of social networking services is higher among smart phone users, and as the market leader in the smart phone market, it is fair to assume that usage on Nokia’s flagship products would be similar. Usage of social networking services across all of its products, however, was only 7%,” says Canalys.

    When looking at e-mail usage on mobile phones, BlackBerry owners were the most active with 68% regularly using e-mail on their handsets. Owners of handsets from Apple (67%) and HTC (53%) also used e-mail far more regularly than those who owned handsets from the leading vendors, where on average only 15% of end users were regularly using e-mail on their phones.

    Web site browsing also revealed contrasting usage patterns: 73% of iPhone users regularly browsed web sites on their handsets; 60% of BlackBerry owners and 56% of HTC owners had similar habits.

    Conversely, just 8% of Motorola owners regularly browsed web sites on their phones and, though web browsing was higher on phones from LG (18%), Samsung (17%), Nokia (16%) and Sony Ericsson (16%), it was still significantly below that of iPhone users.

    Navigation services were cited by 36% of end users as a feature that they wanted on their next mobile phone that they did not have today. The majority of respondents were keen to have an in-car turn-by-turn solution on their next phone.

    “But as many navigation solution providers are now discovering, it is not good enough just to supply the software. For in-car navigation to be successful on mobile phones the experience of portable navigation devices (PNDs) needs to be matched or exceeded. This means that car kits or cradles need to be supplied alongside the software at the time of purchase. In addition, events such as incoming calls and other alerts need to be handled in a way that provides minimal disruption to the navigation experience,” analysts conclude.

  • StromPhonie Powerline Telephone Technology from AGFEO

    VIDEO INTREVIEW.
    AGFEO, the Germany-based developer, manufacturer and distributor of ISDN/IP solutions, displayed Plus X Award-nominated AGFEO StromPhonie at this year’s IFA.

    The StromPhonie is an integration into the Powerline technology within AGFEO Telephone Systems and therefore does not require any telephone wire installation. With the aid of IP based ASIP (AGFEO System IP) technology system phones can be connected to the telephone system by using the standard 230 Volt mains socket.

    Lars Husemann, Product Manager for AGFEO gave us a short introduction to the company’s star products and a demonstration of the StromPhonie system.

    AGFEO assures they paid particular attention to the Apple community. They also claim the AGFEO’s StromPhonie is the first telephone system which offers system telephony in connection with a fully Apple compatible CTI solution, including the synchronisation with an iPhone representation.

  • Large-Sized LCD Panel Business Becomes Profitable Again

    After a year of losing money or generating zero return, the global large-sized (10” or larger) LCD panel business returned to profitability in the third quarter, according to iSuppli’s latest research.

    In an example of market trends, the 32-inch HDTV LCD, which is the most popular dimension for large-sized panels, generated a 13 percent profit for the LCD industry in the third quarter. In contrast, the 32-inch panel incurred losses of 12 percent in the second quarter of 2009, 31 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and 23 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

    The last time the LCD industry cut a profit on 32-inch HDTV panels was in the second quarter of 2008, when they generated a 19 percent return.

    Analysts say the main reason LCD panels have not been profitable for so long is the market’s extreme state of oversupply, which resulted in LCD panel pricing that was below manufacturing costs. However, reductions in production and utilization rates, combined with better-than-expected panel demand from China’s television market, helped spur the return to profitability in the third quarter.

    A shortage of glass used to make LCD panels also contributed to the tightness of the panel market during the third quarter, further boosting prices and profits.

    Worldwide shipments of large-sized LCD panels amounted to 148.3 million units in the third quarter, up 14.3 percent from the second quarter of 2009, and up 28.9 percent from the third quarter of 2008. iSuppli expects to revise this estimate as more companies report third-quarter results.

    LG Display was the world’s largest seller of large-sized LCD panels in the second quarter of 2009, accounting for 25.3 percent of shipments. This put LG just slightly ahead of chief rival, Samsung, which had a 24.6 percent share. Preliminary indications show LG and Samsung were engaged in a tight battle for the market’s No.-1 position during the period.

    iSuppli predicts that rising fab utilization rates and decreased panel demand following the Christmas purchasing season will drive the large-sized LCD panel market to oversupply in the fourth quarter of 2009, conforming with normal seasonal patterns. However, the reductions in prices and shipments are expected to be only moderate compared to those of a year earlier, in the fourth quarter of 2008.

    Many panel suppliers, having just returned to profitability, are maintaining tight control of their inventories and have little motivation to cut pricing drastically at this time, according to the research.

  • Telairity Intoduces Hot-Switchable HD/SD H.264 Encoder


    The BE8500, a H.264/AVC video encoder capable of hot-switching between a high-definition or standard-definition video source, was introduced by Telairity at HD World.

    The 1-RU BE8500 works either as a full-featured HD encoder or as an SD/SDI encoder. It auto-senses whether the video source is SD or HD, and enables users to switch live between the two video formats without powering down. Switch-over conversion is virtually instantaneous, enabling a smooth transition for live or live on tape programming.

    BE8500 delivers H.264/AVC (MPEG-4) compression technology capable of achieving more than twice the compression efficiency of the older MPEG-2 standard, with settable encode latencies ranging from 150ms to 2 seconds, according to the company.

    Since the BE8500 is based on Telairity’s proprietary TVP2000 video processor, which delivers 50 billion operations per second, and Telairity’s custom direct-execute AVClairity encoding software, the BE8500 features the same "instant on" capability, encode latencies as low as 150ms, “exceptional reliability”, “simplicity of operation”, and full software upgradeability, the company assures.

    "Our new encoder combines features widely sought by our customers in mobile production trucks and OB vans, small-market stations, IPTV, ITV, and government and military installations," said Richard Dickson, Telairity president.

    "Operations that need to switch smoothly between HD and SD feeds now have the choice of a single cost-effective unit able to satisfy both of their encoding needs. Moreover, they can combine Telairity’s top-of-the-line Series 8000 HD performance with either our 150ms low-latency Series 7000 or our 500Kbps low bit-rate Series 9000 technology. This is a system that, quite literally, can do any sort of H.264 encoding a customer might need or want."

  • Kolmisoft Releases Free Version of VoIP Billing and Routing Platform MOR

    Kolmisoft, a creator and developer of all in one solution – softwich with billing and routing functionality, has released a free community edition of its platform MOR focused on the startups and entrepreneurs who are willing to start a VoIP business, the company announced.

    Kolmisoft’s versatile application can be used for various VoIP business models (wholesale, retail, prepaid and postpaid), branded with provider’s logo and integrated with the provider’s back-end or toolbox.

    Running on Asterisk, MOR easily handles even 300-500 simultaneous calls on a single server, the company claims.

    The free version has the same features and functionality as the commercial edition, just limited to ten concurrent calls.

    “We had a free version in the past along with first release of MOR, then went to a trial version, but our customers did not like it because they knew the next call they would get was from a sales representative, or the trial period would expire before they could even finish testing,” Kolmisoft CEO Mindaugas Kezys said.

    “With the new release, Kolmisoft is hoping to help companies with low budget to start VoIP business and upgrade the software to commercial edition only when their business begins to grow.”

    Apart of 15 new futures, MOR 8 comes with two new modules: Mobile Number Portability add-on enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another and Recordings add-on allows to record selected users’ calls for monitoring purposes.

    According to Kezys, by using MOR 8, telecom companies can effectively provide VoIP services sparing more time for marketing their product instead of worrying about infrastructure. “Kolmisoft support team can easily take care of VoIP related problems by client’s wish,” he said.

    “This version of MOR is the most reliable and powerful in Kolmisoft history”, CEO of Kolmisoft stated.

    He added that the platform includes a “how to make a first call” guide and has default provider Kolmisoft so users could instantly test the system, see how call is billed and start using MOR system for their VoIP business.

  • Barracuda Launches Integrated Local and Cloud-based Backup Solution in Europe


    Barracuda Networks announced the European launch of its Barracuda Backup Service, a local and cloud-based data backup and disaster recovery solution.

    It combines the Barracuda Backup Server for restoration on the local network with the Barracuda Backup Service, a cloud-based backup service hosted by two data centres in Europe.

    This new service provides a SME/SMB data backup solution from a single vendor, can back up data directly from nearly all operating systems and comes included with backup software to natively provide application backups of Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server and Windows System State.

    The company claims they had designed an advanced data de-duplication technology: their backup service reduces the storage and transfer requirements for backups by analyzing each file at the bit level and only copying, transferring and archiving new bit sequences. This technology is applied within a single file’s revision history as well as across the entire backup volume.

    “Customers in Europe, particularly those in the midmarket, have trended toward on-site solutions for data backup and recovery primarily due to security and privacy concerns,” said Carla Arend, program manager, IDC European Storage Software and Services Research.

    “Barracuda Networks’ approach in combining a server on site for fast restore of data locally as well as replicating data offsite should serve this market, as well as larger enterprise customers, very well because it has a very reasonable pricepoint and is backed by strong security for data protection.”

    According to Michael Hughes, Barracuda vice president of channels, their backup service offers Europe’s SMBs and SMEs access to enterprise-class data protection and disaster recovery at a “fraction of the traditional cost.”

    “Simple to use and occupying up to 1/50th of the normal backup storage footprint, customers are welcoming the Barracuda Backup Service for its convenience as much as for its exceptional value,” he said.

    Barracuda Backup Server pricing starts at £899 depending on model and Barracuda Backup Service plans start at £59 for 100GB of storage per month.

  • IBM Delivers First Integrated Solid State Drive Support

    IBM announced that its storage virtualization offering, the IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller (SVC), “is now faster, more scalable, and delivers the industry’s first integrated Solid State Drive support.”

    SVC is a storage virtualization system that complements server virtualization technologies and enables a single point of control for storage resources (both IBM and non-IBM arrays) to support “improved business application availability, better IT infrastructure flexibility, and greater resource utilization.”

    Building on IBM’s Quicksilver technology, IBM is introducing SVC 5.0, which now supports Solid State Drives (SSDs).

    The tight integration of SSDs with SVC enables to take advantage of the high throughput capabilities of solid state by delivering up to 800,000 operations per second, and with response times of approximately one millisecond, nearly one-tenth of traditional disk storage.

    SVC support of SSDs is highly flexible with a minimum configuration of only one SSD, helping make the technology more affordable yet scalable without disruption to enterprise requirements, as the company claims.

    According to IBM, additional enhancements to SVC include 8Gbps Fibre Channel support, enabling higher throughout across Storage Area Networks, a tripling of the maximum cache to 24GB per engine, and support for consolidated DR configurations, enhancing SVCs business continuity capabilities.

    SVC also supports attachment to servers using iSCSI protocols over IP networks, which can help reduce costs and simplify server configuration.

    SAN Volume Controller 5.0 will be available November 6, with a US starting list price of $40,000.

  • Thumbs Up For SA's "Call Me Back" Technology

    South African mobile cellular phone companies have been praised for implementing a free “Call Me Back” short messages (SMS) information technology.

    Speaking at the inauguration of Mobile Web Africa conference in Sandton, Johannesburg on Wednesday, executive chairman for Krazyboyz Digital, Zibusiso Mkhwananzi, said the innovative information technology was simple and a popular way of communication for those who may not have airtime to send billed SMSes or make a call.

    “Voice and data messages are very expensive in this country (South Africa) thereby discouraging telephone calls by most local communities.

    “I would suggest that our local communities (in townships) utilize such technologies by packaging the mobile cellphones (Call Me Back) with contents that are sustained by advertising,” said Mkhwananzi.

    The two-day Mobile Web Africa conference was mainly focusing on harnessing the potential of the internet and applications on mobile devices aimed at improving people’s standards of life through affordable and readily accessible technology.

    Mkhwananzi was one of the panelists during the discussing on “Creating Africa’s New Generation of Mobile Designers, Entrepreneur and Success”.

    However, programme manager for Web Foundation/W3C, Stephane Boyera, said SMSes were not made for people who could neither read nor write.

    “It has to be appreciated that SMSes are not for people who can’t read or write. Voice message is the answer to those that can’t read or write.

    “They simply talk. They have voices,” said Boyera.

    The conference drew information communication technology (ICT) experts from as far as Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Algeria.

    Other issues discussed during the conference included topics on how to enhance the development of the technology ecosystem, reaching out to communities that may not be easy to touch base with, seizing the opportunity of the potential of mobile services and content, contributing towards bridging the digital divide by informing, involving and empowering.

    The Mobile Web Africa conference is the first of its kind in Africa and it is expected to be conducted annually on a rotational basis around the continent.