Google Adsense Western Union payment now available to Kenyans

For Kenyan Adsense publishers who have been groaning about cheque payment you no longer have to frown as Kenya has been added to the list of supported countries for Western Union payment.You no longer have to wait for cheques in the mail as all you have to do is visit a Western union agent once the funds have been disbursed.To change your form of payment just login to adsense and you will find payment settings under account settings.A national ID though is required to receive payment form the agent.Here is a list of countries supported so far;

Algeria Argentina Bahrain Barbados Benin Bolivia Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cameroon Chile China (Mainland) Colombia Costa Rica Cote d'Ivoire Croatia Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt Ethiopia Gambia Georgia Ghana Guatemala Iceland Indonesia Jamaica Jordan Kenya Kuwait Latvia Lebanon Libya Lithuania Madagascar Malta

Malaysia Mauritius Mexico Moldova Morocco Mozambique Nepal Nicaragua Oman Pakistan Palestinian Territories Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion (FR) Romania Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Slovenia South Korea Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Tunisia Uganda United Arab Emirates Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Yemen Zambia

Kenyan Webcomics

With the number of people finally discovering the power of blogger,there has been a rise in the number of blogs that are getting attention from the local internet users.Todays post will be concentrating on webcomics.Webcomics are basically as the name says comics that are published online on a website or blog.Majority of the most popular ones on the internet are based on videogame humour such as PennyArcade,NerfNow and AnotherVideoGameWebcomic just to name a few.For the scientists,programmers and physicists you will definately enjoy xkdc.So today I decided to track down some local webcomics and I was lucky with the help of google to find a few.

1.Corporate Caveman

A comic that started a few months ago and has been getting better and better with every new character they introduce.From the mind of Melman is a comic about a caveman who survived the ice age and now has to survive the daily challenges of a corporate job.Here is a small snippet,visit the main site for more.

2.Emergency Webcomic

Is a miniseries written and illustrated by Chief Nyamweya. It is based on pre-independence Kenya as seen through the eyes Chege Karobia and Kim (Dedan Kimathi).You may be familiar with Chief Nyamweya's work in the Star newspaper.

3.Shikwekwes

Simple comic about everyday life with a touch of daily fustrations.Looks like it hasn't been updated in a while but the older comics are still worth a read

If you know any other webcomics that you enjoy leave a link in the comments section and I'll add them here.

3G Wars,still needs more momentum

OrangeKenya launched their 3G network this week and although the public was eagerly awaiting somebody to topple Safaricom from the 3G monopoly,they still have a long way to go if they wish to even put a dent in Safaricom's data market.It looks like we will have to wait for Airtel to launch their network maybe they will have a better chance of shaking some branches.
The orange modem will retail at 6999/= compared to Safaricom's 1999/=(current offer).The orange modem will also be available for 3500/= at Orange caravans.

At the moment Orange are not offering any unlimited data bundles but here is a price list of orange and safaricom bundles.

Safaricom

Data Volume	Price (Ksh)	In Bundle Price  (Ksh Per MB)	Out of Bundle Price (Ksh Per MB)	Validity Period
50MB	100	2.00	8	30 Days
200MB	250	1.25	8	30 Days
500MB	499	1.00	8	30 Days
1.5GB	999	0.65	8	30 Days
3GB	1,999	0.65	8	30 Days
4GB	2,499	0.61	8	30 Days
8GB	3,999	0.49	8	30 Days
20GB	9.999	0.49	8	90 Days
30GB	14,999	0.49	8	90 Days

Orange

Data Bundle	Price (Kshs)	Pay as You Go Offer	IEW Modem Cost
50 MB	100	Ksh 4 per MB on pay as you GO down from Kshs 7 per MB	Kshs 6,999
100 MB	150
500 MB	500
1 GB	750
5 GB	2,750
10 GB	4,990
15 GB	5,990
20 GB	7,990

The truth about unlimited broadband is that you are most likely not getting it.

I remember a time when it used to take half a day just to download an mp3 from the internet,a task which these days takes seconds which is happily welcomed but another problem is that ISPs have gotten into the tendency of advertising services which rarely come to pass.These days having a broadband connection is no longer something left for the wealthy and ISPs are taking advantage of this by putting very sweet and convicncing words in their advertisements just so they can get a larger market share.


Unlimited
Like telling someone you love them this term too is being thrown around a lot by ISPs and like a pick up line they float this around a lot.Of the various ISPs and bundles I have used very few have offered a true unlimited broadband experience.A few examples of those that don't are Zuku and Safaricom who offer unlimited broadband but limit the speeds.Zuku fibre users are well aware of this in that when you download a certain amount of data within an hour or two the speeds are cut by around a fifth or sixth.Lets say you are on the Imbps service,if you download around 500 mb in an hour the download speed will reduce from around 120KBps to 30KBps,it resets in around 2 hours.This is very understandable in that they are trying to protect bandwidth wastage which makes sense but if you are going to limit speeds at least put inform people of this or put some terms and conditions in the advertisement.Safaricom also recently launched a weekly and monthly unlimited data bundle costing 1000/= and 3000/= respectively.Speeds for this bundle are capped at 256kbps but since this is from Safaricom I am not surprised.I always laugh when Safaricom advertise that they are cheapest 3G network in the country,what kind of rubbish is that and they are the only 3G network.Nice one safaricom,Kenya Power is also the cheapest and most reliable electricity supplier in the country,I am also the richest human being in my bedroom.OrangeKenya's 3G+ and Zuku,s Wimax are the only true unlimited broadband services I have ever used.The problem of 3G+ is that the availability is limited and the speed is slow in congested areas.

Speeds of upto XMbps
This is a favourite of 3G and 3G+ ISPs,they give you the speeds they attained when they were testing the network and they know very well you will never attain these speeds in the domestic setting but those figures look very nice in those full page advertisements in the newspaper so never take those figures seriously.

Connection time
This is something Zuku frustrated many new broadband subscribers with,it is not your right to be connected in moments but the ISP shouldn't lie and keep you waiting thinking that every knock on your gate is them.

A price and quality review of some of the local ISPs

Last year I did a review of the best and cheapest ISPs that were available in the market but I have got many requests to post an updated version and so in this post I am going to go over some of the favourite ISPs and give a quick review on their speeds,bandwidth and price.







ZUKU  
Run by the Wananchi Online company Zuku offers Wimax and fibre connection that come come bundled with cable TV.
Price
Wimax-256 kbps @1499      
             512 kbps @2499
             1 Mbps    @4499
Fibre-1 Mbps       @999
         -4 Mbps       @1999
         -8 Mbps       @3499
All connections come with a setup and installation fee of 2999
Pros    
Cheap
Wimax is available in most of Nairobi and Mombasa
Reliable connection

Cons        
Fibre connection coverage very small
Initial setup takes them forever to start(weeks,months)
Customer service isn't the best                              

ORANGE EVERYWHERE 3G+       
Data service that runs on the EVDO network.Orange offers bundles that start with 150 MB and climb all the way to 4GB and if you are like me and don't like being limited you can get the unlimited 7 day connection for 990/=.The modem costs 1999/= and comes with a free week of unlimited Internet and is available at orange shops and select retailers.The speed is really good with downloads speeds of around 120 kbps and bandwidth of around 1Mbps(the orange people will tell you 3.1 Mbps but I am yet to experience such bandwidth)

Pros
Cheap modem+cheap bundles
Fast Internet connection 
Mobile and easy to use

Cons
Limited network coverage     

SAFARICOM 3G    
The only good thing I have to say about Safaricom's 3G is that it is fast and widely available,other than that there is really nothing good about it.I used to get download speeds of around 140 kbps and bandwidth of 1.3 Mbps.They recently introduced a bundle offer that enabled people to get 100% more data but even still they cannot care to the affordability of Orange.By the way they suspended the Bamba Unlimited offer and in a particular safaricom fashion didn't even tell anyone they have to wait for you to call customer care so they can tell you.But bamba unlimited was shit anyway(even thinking of giving me 32kbps and calling it internet) .the modem costs 2999 and if you already have one am sure it is rotting in a desk drawer somewhere like mine(but on the bright side if airtel offer a good deal when there 3G comes out you can unlock the modem and is use it for something useful)         

LOOPNET 
Loopnet is a free ad powered internet service that was offered by KDN but I think is now run by SwiftGlobal(KDN no longer deal with retail and home solutions but now deal with corporate solutions i.e they are the ISP of your ISP).But it looks like since SwiftGlobal started running the show it has lost most of its flare as majority of the base stations were shut down in residential areas were shut down and service outages are common.When it was available I used to get download speeds of around 300-500 kbps and bandwidth of around 5 Mbps

Pros
Its free
Its very fast,when few people are using it

Cons
Shared bandwidth so it is very slow during high traffic times such as mid-day      

More problems with Safaricom 3G

So I recently bought a Safaricom 3G modem because I was tired of waiting for Zuku to bring fibre to the crib(network like the wind Zuku,we need that net).I sadly parted with 3000 to pay for it but at least I got 300mb free(it didn't even last me 4 hrs,I surf like a mad person,16 pages at once).So I thought I'd give the Bamba Unlimited a try so I parted with another 1000 to load up the bundle.So I surfed the whole of Saturday and I was pretty impressed because I was sure I had passed the 300mb limit and I was shocked at how fast it still was.After I passed the 600mb mark the modem disconnected itself and when I hit up the customer care line 100(its been a while,didn't know they got some automation to answer the phone,so as soon as it answered the phone I started talking to it,took me a while to notice it was a comp) and got no helpful info so I hit them up on twitter only to find that I wasn't alone and many more people were experiencing the same thing.Apparently they introduced an offer recently that offered 100% more on the limited bundles which is now interfering with the Bamba Unlimited.Why?because they use the same number 450 i.e texting 999 to 450 instead of giving you 300mb and unlimited 32kbps internet(blazing fast speed if the year was 1994) it gives you 600mb limited internet.Now am no software developer or rocket scientist but you want to tell me that no one noticed the numbers were the same before they though this offer up,I mean seriously safaricom you guys are just taking us for fools now,you really thought no one would notice.I am by no means a person of conspiracy theories but this just stinks of corporate gameplay.You noticed that people rarely exhaust their bundles before getting new ones so you decided to unleash this 100% more offer(notice that in a characteristic safaricom fashion they draw you in with the big numbers i.e 100% more of 10 is 20)so that more people can get the bundle and not notice that they have taken the wrong one,and then you make the offer only a month long(wow,as in seriously only akina Scooby Doo would fall for such crap).Another thing that makes me angry is that no one else in the country have 3G and so their milking us dry while they still have the time(before you comment,what Orange have is not 3G,its EVDO,its like 3G but it isn't).Since I know am not the only one angry the comments section is open for all who want to insult Safaricom,no restrictions,let your angry heart free!

3DTV and the Nokia N8,why Im not impressed

So the Nokia N8 has finally been announced and Safaricom were quick to advertise it in their usual style of full page ads with a price tag of 40000 bundled with 300mb of data which is quite fair and am sure will be a hit for a few months until people finally realise how Nokia completely missed out one vital component crucial to calling a phone a smartphone.One of the mistakes Nokia made in the past is not pushing for app development and now they are struggling to get attention from African developers who are more interested in app development for Apple and Android and I would not blame them.Nokia never fail when it comes to producing a phone with excellent hardware but they always fail on the software.At this junction a Nokia phone never crosses my mind when am thinking of buying a phone.The symbian platform despite being one of the oldest and most used mobile platforms still doesn't bring much to the table.The Ovi Store is just filled with apps that feel clumsy and rushed like they were made just to fill the store with apps so it doesn't look empty.In all honesty Nokia should just dump the symbian platform and go with Android.Im talking from an experience stand point since I recently bought a second hand Iphone 2G and on some days I don't switch on my computer cause I handle everything from there.Another silly thing Nokia are doing is saying they are focused on the African market and yet Ovi Maps doesn't even have the Kenya map.The Iphone would have been more popular if it was being sold by a more serious network such as safaricom,you may hate them for being ridiculously expensive but they know how to do things right.Orange are just wasting the Iphone4,you cannot sell a device that is 80,000 ksh factory unlocked for 60,000 ksh with a 2 year contract of 5,000 ksh per month to then have it be used on an EDGE network.Using an orange locked Iphone is just an embarrasment.You suck Orange Kenya
In other news Sony just launched their line of 3DTV products in Kenya and I was thinking to myself,who is really going to use this,we still even haven't migrated to HDTV yet