Posted inBroadband How To

How to: Ubuntu and mobile broadband connectivity

I have said elsewhere in the series that the Ubuntu experience is not complete unless you have internet; good internet I mean. In addition, I provided a guide to choosing your ISP. In this article I will provide you with a guide to connecting to the internet using mobile broadband (the dongles) but before doing so I must expressly say three things:
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Ubuntu: Downloading YouTube videos
Posted inConnectivity

Ubuntu: Downloading YouTube videos

One of the good things about the good old Firefox 3 was that when in Ubuntu flash videos were downloaded to the /tmp directory. All you had to do was wait for the buffering to complete, minimize the Firefox window, got to the /tmp directory and copy and paste the video into the folder of your choosing. Playing the video is easy enough; vlc plays pretty much any format from .mp4 to .flv.
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Choosing an ISP
Posted inBroadband

Ubuntu and choosing your Zim ISP

In my previous article I mentioned the fact that Ubuntu is not much fun without the Internet. It has been my experience that not all Internet Service Providers (ISP) are the same and that there are some caveats for a Zimbabwean Ubuntu user/administrator when it comes to either choosing an ISP or administering his system especially in the matter of upgrades and downloads and indeed sometimes this is critical if your system will get connected to the internet at all.
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Ubuntu Penguin
Posted inConnectivity

Playing music and movies on Ubuntu Linux

The first thing anyone ever notices after installing Ubuntu is that they cannot play mp3s, .avi/.vob/.mpeg/ or any of their videos unless you are one of those freaks that happened to have .ogg media files in your music collection. With this discovery comes shock, anger and finally frustration.
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modem-router-pc
Posted inBroadband

Set up your own home Wi-Fi with these simple steps

This guest post was authored by Tapiwa Mapani. He’s not a trained geek and says “I just have a restless mind that makes me experiment with this type of stuff and most of the time to great success.” He has a wireless network setup at his home office which uses a mobile broadband USB dongle and a wireless router. He shares how you can setup a similar wireless network.
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Posted inConnectivity Startups

Zimbos: Stake your claim in the startup goldrush

I believe that Zimbabwe and Kenya are similar in many ways albeit Kenya’s coastal advantage with regards to bandwidth access. As such the future is almost predictable provided the local infrastructure shapes up. We have a much higher literacy rate than Kenya with their only difference being that they have embraced tech in a huge and ubiquitous way. Everyone from the vendor on the street corner to SMEs and right up to policy makers are welcoming the info age with open arms.
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Get A Website Designed In Zimbabwe – Dark Secret Revealed!
Posted inConnectivity

Get A Website Designed In Zimbabwe – Dark Secret Revealed!

One of the first articles we wrote when we started this blog last year was about the broken state of some websites in the ICT sector. And just a few days ago, we noted that the official website of the second largest mobile phone network operator was taken down some 10 months ago and has been under construction since. There clearly is a problem here. And what better time to learn how to get the job done effectively.
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Posted inBroadband

No Real Broadband Yet In Zimbabwe

As the editor of an online magazine that is updated several times a day, the Internet is a critical tool for my team and I. Also, as a member of a web development team doing critical updates and uploads for several clients the Internet is indispensable. So it is totally frustrating the amount of down time we have to deal with in Zimbabwe.
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The Power Of Social Media For Communications
Posted inConnectivity

The Power Of Social Media For Communications

Social Media has changed human behaviour as it reshapes all structures – family, business, society, and governance. Ignoring social media has opportunity costs that Zimbabwe cannot afford as we deliberate our US$6 billion debt.
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Nhamo Ethelbert Mukonyora
Posted inMiscellaneous

Nhamo Mukonyora’s Untimely Passing Away

Born 01-09-1969, Mr. Nhamo Ethelbert Mukonyora died on 10-10-2010 in a car crash travelling from Gutu at the26km peg along Chivhu road. He was buried at Warren Hills Cemetery in Harare on Wednesday 13th October 2010. Nhamo is survived by his wife Victoria, and three children. He was the founder and Managing Director of Nectar Technologies.
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social engineering
Posted inConnectivity

Social Engineering as a Hacking Technique

Political science refers to social engineering as an attempt by government or private groups to change the views and behaviour of citizens. In computer security, social engineering is the art and science of tricking people into revealing confidential information
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Clouds of Change, Your Role in the Clouds
Posted inBroadband Connectivity

Clouds of Change, Your Role in the Clouds

Cloud computing and virtualization are bringing a paradigm shift for the classic IT function. Adapting your skills to the new technical requirements could make all the difference and ultimately increase your visibility and depending on your current situation, those clouds on the horizon bring welcome relief or are the beginning of the end to your career.
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The Need For IT Governance
Posted inConnectivity

The Need For IT Governance

Having had the opportunity to study, review and apply IT Governance, risk, security, audit and controls in my daily work, and observing the socio-economic landscape of my beloved country, Zimbabwe, I smiled and yet professionally broken because of the huge task ahead of us
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Why Organisations Should Worry About Security: Part 2
Posted inConnectivity

Why Organisations Should Worry About Security: Part 2

Due to the harsh operating environment in Zimbabwe, businesses tend to focus more on their core business areas and neglect information security. This is viewed as a non value adding activity. In order to address the security loophole, companies then invest in cheap ineffective solutions which are highly vulnerable to security threats. In most of the organisations, information security roles, skills and capabilities are not clearly defined.
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Solar Base Station
Posted inConnectivity

When Solar Meets Wireless – A Rural Telecommunications Solution

Recently the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) made an announcement that it had committed US$24 million from the Universal Services Fund (USF) for implementing eight projects in the rural areas. No specifics as to which telecoms operators had been tasked to carry out the rural network outreach programs. Also no specific areas in the 8 provinces were made public by Eng. Charles Sibanda who made the announcements. Studies that have been conducted worldwide have identified that telecommunications is an important tool for the economic development and self-sufficiency in any society. Indeed, mobile and internet penetration are now used as key economic indicators
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