Post Ideas

Hi guys,

My Name is zacck

I have a number of blog posts I  can do I am looking for suggestions on categories

based on the following

1. Technical Tutorials on Programming and Maybe Hardware In the future.
2. Ramblings of a young Developer on the loose
3. Entrepreneurship and how to not fail as I have done so many times 

Ok guy comment on what kind of material you would like posted and we can come up with a schedule to do this.

Unisoko Mobile App

Consider a scenario in which you desperately need some extra memory in your computer, or a particular component to fix your sound system, or possibly you have a guitar that you need to get rid of. The obvious thing is to go to a shop, part with lots money and possibly get some help. But you can't do that, seeing as most of your time is spent in class on campus. The next best alternative is to put up a poster, with no guarantee that you'll find what you're looking for at all.

Walking past any notice board, public place or other venue around any campus and one is constantly bombarded by the eyesore that has become the unspoken go to medium of communication-the poster. Stacked on top of each other, strewn across the floor around or just barely pinned/glued to the boards, these posters seem to be in a never ending fight for the attention of some intended audience who just as quickly dismiss them. Their efficacy notwithstanding, posters, flyers and the like are a costly, environmentally unfriendly and a poor medium for communication and feedback

Enter Unisoko...

Unisoko's Home Screen

Designed as a mobile application by Vivian Chenane, Evans Ogola, and Kibet Elkanah, Unisoko, seeks to bridge the gap between buyer and seller by conveniently providing an online marketplace where a seller can post a listing for a particular product they wish to sell with a buyer finding it relatively easy to find what they are looking for. Vivian, taking Bachelors in Mathematics and Computer Science, and Evans and Kibet, who are both taking Bachelors in Computer Technology, developed this app to address this concern. With Unisoko, one is able to browse through various listings, find a particular product of interest and contact the seller from the convenience of their phone.

The Seller's Log in

Product Listing

This application has been successfully uploaded to Ovi store where it is available as a free download and will work on any Nokia phone. Plans are at an advanced stage to have the Android version on Google Play in mid-June. Unisoko was voted as second best in the Mobile Garage Students' Exhibition. It is also under pilot test in campus (JKUAT)  with the aim of capturing how users will take advantage of the app, what they'll use if for and its general reception. Towards this end, the developers are calling on you to download the app and give it a try with any and all comments and thoughts welcome. They also have plans underway to have the app integrated with sms functionality such that one can interact with the service without having to go online i.e. sms query response.

Product Categories

Selling through sms

So like their page on Facebook, check out theirwebsite and go to ovi store and give it a try

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin)

Fast, responsive, intuitive and beautiful are but a few of the myriad ways to describe the just released Ubuntu 12.04 LTS code named Precise Pangolin. This release comes with a host of new features and tweaks top among them the Linux kernel upgraded from version 3.0 used for Ubuntu 11.10 to the current version 3.2. This of course means even more improvements to the file system, support for more hardware and software configurations, and better memory management which makes the system even more responsive.

The Head-Up Display

Some major eye candy comes in with the HUD (Head-Up Display) which not only looks pretty but also comes packs quite a punch as an alternative way to navigate around the system. It features search and autocomplete to quickly find what you're looking for.

The new video lens feature works with it to quickly find videos either on your hard drive or on most media sites on the internet. This version also continues with the UNITY interface which replaced the more traditional GNOME layout.

A special feature with this long term release version to note is that Canonical has extended support from the typical three year time period to five years.

Privacy Settings Tab

There's a new privacy settings page under the System settings that lets you decide what the system keeps in its history whether from file activity or individual apps therefore enabling one to turn off logs completely or just keep a select few.

 As with all releases of Ubuntu software, the pre-installed apps have been updated to their latest versions, meaning you get Firefox 11 and Libre Office 3.5, among a host of other upgrades. Software Centre has also received some tweaks here and there that make it friendlier to use and navigate around.

Get the latest version of Ubuntu at their official site and give it a spin

JLUG Meet

members keen on a presentation

Quite a fiery start to the new semester as team Afrosilicon graced our very first meet up with a showcase of their winning applications from the Ericsson and Imagine Cup competitions, namely "Funkiez" and "911niSave" respectively. Paul Mutie (@paul_mwanzia on Twitter), Munene Julius (@iuwej on Twitter) and John Nduli who together form Afrosilicon emerged an impressive first in the East African region category (Ericsson Apps For Africa Challenge) for their app, Funkiez,  which allows users to keep track of social events happening around them and reserve invites through popular mobile payment solutions. It also enables one to share these details on popular sites like Facebook and Twitter and notifies them of any upcoming events. They were also victorious in the Windows Phone 7 category for the Imagine Cup where they emerged first runners up with their app 911niSave which is a security solution that allows one to use location aware services on their Windows Phone to constantly broadcast their location especially in areas that may pose security risks. They are further able to make distress calls, sos alerts and get help.
Perhaps riding on their achievements thus far, or perhaps inspired by the spirit of the club, they have decided to offer classes on C# development, Android and Java development as well. Paul, who lives and breathes all things C#, and is an avid Windows Phone developer and enthusiast has confirmed that they will be holding C# classes covering everthing from the basics, including Object Oriented Programming to concepts such as UI via WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and Windows Form to databases, Windows Phone and WCF (Windows Communication Foundation). Those interested can register with JLUG here or hit his email on mutiepaul@gmail.com for registration. The classes are slated for every other Saturday morning with a nominal fee upon registration.
Making even more strides in the gaming world were Allan Mukhwana and his team who have come up with a first person shooter game and themed it as a "War awareness game" which highlights the need for Africa to end its war. This they achieve in various ways, for example on screen messages calling for peace, a slide show introduction highlighting the price many have had to pay for instability in their countries, and musical back drop feauturing the national anthem. They are still deep in development so expect a whole lot more to come later

How proxies work.

In a nutshell, what you're doing with a proxy is setting up a middle-person between you and the internet. Using the proxy, your browser hands off web page requests to the proxy server, which handles the request and fetches the page for you from the internet. The web site actually thinks the request is coming from the proxy server, not your computer, which is a good way to obscure your originating IP address. Additionally, the connection between your computer and the proxy happens over SSH, an encrypted protocol. This prevents wifi sniffers at the coffee shop from seeing what you're doing online.

Ignite hackaton by Nokia, Capital FM and Emobilis

JLUG Meet

Another successful meet up in the bag and this time it was all about matters football; to be more precise, the meeting point between technology and the local football scene. What I'm I on about? Well futainformer.com, an innovative solution which is the brainchild of Alan Mukhwana, Kevin Wambani, and George Mwangi.