The Computer Society of Kenya

Since 1986

Embrace modern technology to make ATM fraud harder

atmThe Standard By Standard Reporter

Friday June 19, 2013

The National Assembly and Attorney-General are sleeping on the job even as criminals exploit gaps in the country’s laws and walk away with billions of shillings every year.

According to data from the Banking Fraud Investigations Department (BFID), fraudsters have stolen at least Sh1.5 billion from Kenyan banks in the past year alone.

Obviously, the majority of these thefts are hatched with the assistance of people working in these banks. It is also sad, but true, that many of the people charged with the responsibility of detecting, stopping and prosecuting these criminals get compromised, sooner or later, after their efforts to take these criminals to book are frustrated by weak laws or compromised members of the Judiciary.

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Deal paving way for digital TV lauded

FredMatiang27ipxDAILY NATION By NATION CORRESPONDENT

Friday June 19, 2013

An agreement with a consumer lobby to drop a court case against the government, paving way for the switch-off from analogue to digital TV in October 2013, was the biggest achievement of the Information ministry in the first 100 days of the Jubilee administration.

Information, Communication and Technology Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said following the agreement, issues like preparedness and pricing of set top boxes were easily ironed out.

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Bulk SMS platform has been my tech firm’s cash cow

dnkamcenta.2pxDAILY NATION By JOSHUA MASINDE

Thursday, July 18   2013

For Joseph Waweru, starting Kamcent Technologies, a firm that provides bulk short message services to businesses was an escape route out of dissatisfaction with employment.

The 29-year-old, who attended three different colleges in Nairobi to hone his skills in information technology, started working for a microfinance institution as a systems administrator, but always felt unsettled, wanting to go it alone.

In 2010, he opted out of employment and with about Sh100,000 savings, started Kamcent Technologies at first offering system administration and website design services for companies and acquaintances.

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Laptop project an idea whose time has come

laptopDAILY NATION BY ASHFORD KIMANI

Thursday July, 18 2013

“You may resist the invasion of an army, but you cannot stop an idea whose time has come.” These are words of wisdom by Victor Marie Hugo (February 26, 1802–May 22, 1885), who is recognised as the most influential French Romantic writer of the 19th century and is often identified as the greatest French poet.

As the Jubilee government marks its first 100 days in power, I want to revisit the commonly misunderstood pledge of issuing Standard One pupils in all public schools with a free laptop.

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Telecom firms face stiffer penalties over quality

telkomTHE STANDARD By Macharia Kamau

Tuesday July 16, 2013

Telecommunication firms face hefty fines in coming months for failure to adhere to the terms of their licences, including quality of services.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) is amending the Kenya Information and Communication Act and in its proposals, the regulator wants the fines to telcos to be based on their revenues. It has also proposed to backdate this to the number of years that the telcos have committed the offences as opposed to starting on a clean slate.

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Dawn of digital signage with innovative LG TV

DNTV2901pxDAILY NATION By ESMOND SHAHONYA

Tuesday, July 16  2013

During last year’s consumer electronics show (CES), LG Electronics hinted on a digital sign solution that would incorporate live TV without additional hardware. The innovative signage product, the EzSign TV, is now available in all sizes in the East African region. The tech giant has teamed up with Encapsulated East Africa Ltd to roll out the new TV platform in Kenya and the neighbouring countries.

Business owners countrywide can now enjoy the benefits of customised digital signage, courtesy of the LG EzSign TV package. The display gadgets potent state-of-the-art technology, with a simplicity that allows business owners to appeal or communicate to clients visually with picture-in-picture layouts capturing a live TV broadcast within signage. The new signage platforms are similar to the ordinary TV in physical appearance.

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Kenya’s phone use key driver of Africa trade

DNNYERICOMMUNICATION1205pxDAILY NATION By JOSHUA MASINDE

MONDAY JULY 15, 2013

Kenya’s use of mobile phone services has been cited as among the key pillars of trade in Africa.

According to a statement from the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), African countries, including Kenya, have used information technology and mobile telephony services to enhance trade on the continent.

The panellists from the ECA and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), meeting in Geneva last week, pointed out that the services sector, especially mobile telephony and information technology, have been useful in linking developing and the least developed economies to the global economies, contributing to the structural transformation of these economies.

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Take over of IT firm gets CMA nod

safaricomDaily Nation By Nation Correspondent

Thursday July 4, 2013

The capital markets authority has approved dimension data’s bid to fully takeover accessKenya Group, a move that will see the firm delist from the Nairobi securities Exchange.

In a statement, CMA on Wednesday said it was satisfied that the takeover document and circulars issued to directors, shareholders and financial advisers of access Kenya Group, disclose enough information to help them make an informed decision.

The regulator also gave accesskenya the go-ahead to serve its shareholders with a circular relating to the proposed takeover. Dimension Data will be expected to serve the approved offer document to the AccessKenya Group within five days.

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Regulator allows telcos to join fund after 3-year tussle

cofexBusiness Daily By Okuttah Mark

Thursday July 11, 2013

The communications regulator has rescinded its decision to exclude telcos and broadcasters from the board that will manage a multi-billion shilling fund meant to accelerate ICT services in marginalised areas.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) said it had expanded the membership of the Universal Service Advisory Council (USAC) to nine from six to include representatives of the telcos, broadcasters and postal operators.

The move ends a three-year standoff that had stalled the fund, which was to receive 0.5 per cent of revenues from firms regulated by the CCK like Nation Media, Safaricom and Postal Corporation of Kenya.

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CCK wants Telkom fibre contract ended

telkomBusiness Daily By Okuttah Mark

Wednesday July 10, 2013

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) is seeking an end to Telkom Kenya contract to manage the State-owned fibre-optic network, which earned the firm Sh250 million annually in fees.

The regulator said Tuesday it has informed the ICT ministry of plans to license an independent operator to manage and control the inland nationwide network NOFBI or National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure.

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Telkom may pay its ex-staff Sh3 billion

BDTELKOM2603CpxDAILY NATION By NATION TEAM

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Telkom Kenya may pay its former employees more than Sh3 billion if the Court of Appeal dismisses its application seeking to stop the execution of a High Court ruling that gave the award.

The company, through lawyer George Oraro, wants the award declared illegal saying the finding was not based on any legal document by the employees and that the retrenchment was done in accordance with the law.

But the former employees said there were no genuine reasons given by Telkom to warrant the continued withholding of the awards since the company is to blame for wrongful termination.

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Why government ICT projects fail

walubengoDAILY NATION By JOHN WALUBENGO

Monday, July 8, 2013

Research shows that globally, up to three quarters (75 per cent ) of ICT projects end up in failure. Indeed the bigger the project the more spectacular is the failure.

Kenya has had its share of this failure and it is prudent to investigate the typical reasons behind failing ICT projects.

Corruption – not surprising – is the leading cause of ICT project failure in Kenya.

This comes in many forms but the main one involves top leadership coming up with fantasy projects that sound exciting and in line with contemporary trends.

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Bill backs CCK on mobile cash deals

cofexDAILY NATION By CHARLES WOKABI

Tuesday, July 9  2013

The communications regulator is seeking a stronger grip on mobile money deals, according to a Bill set to be tabled in Parliament next month.

The Kenya Information and Communications Amendment Bill 2013, prepared by ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, also seeks to bring other financial services offered through a communication system, such as online banking, under the control of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) by changing the definition of the word “telecommunication service”.

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Safaricom rejects Makueni polls job, citing anomalies

collymoreDAILY NATION By NATION TEAM

Monday July 8, 2013

Safaricom has withdrawn its support services to the electoral commission ahead of the July 22 Makueni by-election.

CEO Bob Collymore said his company was not satisfied with the level of preparedness for the by-election caused by the death of Senator Mutula Kilonzo in May.

Safaricom had asked the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to first test the transmission of results before the day of voting.

The firm had wanted IEBC to send results from at least 80 per cent of its polling stations in Makueni within 15 minutes of each other.

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Laptops project gets Senate team backing

laptopBusiness Daily By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU

Saturday July 6, 2013

The Senate’s Education Committee is sold on the idea of laptops for Standard One children.

The chairman of the committee Mutahi Kagwe told the Senate Thursday that the project was too important to fail.

“An adult does not promise a child something and they do not deliver. It will be a shame for all parents in this country if we fail to give laptops to the Standard One children (having promised that they will get the laptops in the election campaigns),” said Mr Kagwe, also the Nyeri Senator.

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3D printing set to spur engineering and manufacturing

3dprintBusiness Daily By Isabella Mukumu

Thursday July 4, 2013

Imagine being able to create a three-dimensional solid object at the click of a mouse. Imagine being able to produce replicas of the same object many times over, without having to break a sweat carving it out to the desired shape.

This is the new precision of additive manufacturing, better known to James Kinongu — a pipe joint manufacturer — as 3D (three dimension) printing. It allows objects to be created from the bottom-up by adding material one cross-sectional layer at a time.

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Deloitte to audit social media event

safaricomtwitterDAILY NATION By NATION REPORTER

Wednesday July 3, 2013

OLX Social Media Awards have partnered with Deloitte for the auditing of nominations whose entries closed on Tuesday.

The financial services advisory firm is to provide quality assurance in the SOMA voting exercise which has so far attracted thousands of entries.

Judges have a fortnight to select winners from the nominees who had 26 days to enter the competition.

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Officials taught how to build Knowledge Society

afictaDaily Nation By PAULINE KAIRU

Monday, July 1  2013

On Friday, July 5, more than 150 mid-level to senior government officials from eight African countries, including Kenya, will be honoured for having successfully completed Africa’s first “leadership in ICT” training aimed at creating knowledge societies.

A knowledge society, as defined by Unesco, is one that “creates, shares, and uses knowledge for the prosperity and well-being of its people.” The concept is pegged on the reality that knowledge informs development.

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Technology failed, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Chairman Ahmed Isaack Hassan says

voterTHE STANDARD By Antony Gitonga

Thursay June 27, 2013

Kenya: The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ( IEBC) Chairman Ahmed Isaack Hassan has now admitted that the last General Election faced “serious technology failures”.

about four months after the hotly contested election, Mr Hassan said it faced serious challenges in the voter verification devices that failed on the Election Day. This forced IEBC to use printouts of voter registration.

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Kenya skips the African Internet Summit – again

walubengoDaily Nation By John Walubengo

Tuesday June 25, 2013

Kenya is without doubt one of the most democratic countries in Africa.

Other than Ghana, Zambia and perhaps South Africa one would barely find any other country in Africa that has entertained real competitive politics for over twenty years. By extension, the Kenyan people eat, sleep and drink politics – but only at a local level.

At an international level, Kenya has not found nor defined its strategy where it matters most. In the recently concluded African Internet Summit 2013 in Lusaka Zambia, Kenya's absence was conspicuous.

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