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ISO Certified Kenya’s Institute Of Advanced Technology, Nakuru Officially Opens

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Tekedia Editors
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Institute of advanced technology (IAT) is well known for offering certificate, diploma and degree courses in Business and Information and Communication Technology. It is the first training institution in East and Central Africa to be ISO certified. They have also been for four consecutive years the recipients of the Microsoft award for Best Certified Technical Education Center (CTEC).

 

The organization was established in 1991 and has over the years amassed a considerable amount of experience in training both individuals and corporate clients. So there is no campus in your area? No problem. IAT also have offsite training as well. This means that they will come and offer training to you where and when it is convenient.

 

 Their participation in the delivery of ICT Training coupled by demand for the said services has seen them grow rapidly with campuses being put up in major towns in Kenya. The latest Campus is the Nakuru branch which was officially opened by the C.E.O of the Kenya ICT Board Mr. Paul Kukubo. The Kenya ICT Boar d is committed to delivering exemplary service to our clients through the application of globally recognized project management standards so that Kenya can adopt and exploit ICT for socio-economic enrichment. The above mentioned awards show that the organization (IAT) has been excelling in ICT training and has attained international recognition for their efforts. As further proof of the Government’s Commitment to supporting the growth of ICT in Kenya the area MP, who is also the assistant minister for Roads, Hon Lee Kinyanjui was in attendance.

 

The campus rests on approximately 18,000 square feet of land and has a state of the art examination center. At the time the school had 87 units but with the capacity to hold over 260 units there is room for expansion.

 

While the majority agrees that ICT development is a powerful tool towards attaining the Kenyan vision 2030 goals, it is also important to ensure that services delivered are of quality and are up to international standards.

Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communication Calls For Grant Proposals For Web And Mobile Apps – Top Prize Is $150,000

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Tekedia Editors
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The Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communication calls for web and apps proposals from its citizens towards the awards of grants in 2011 Tandaa local digital content. We must point out that this agency of Kenya is one of the best in Africa. You can find all the details at the grant website.

 

Other African nations must see what ICT Kenya is doing. Instead of the gimmicks from Microsoft and Google where African developers compete just for about hand shake or $25,000, Kenya is giving something in return. What this implies is that if the government plans well, they can motivate more than these MNCs. This Kenyan grant is more lucrative than anything out there in the world from these companies.

 

 

Call for proposals: July 21- Aug 22 2011

 

 

Grant amount: $ 10,000 per individuals; $ 50,000 per company; $ 150,000 matching grant for established companies

Number of grants to be awarded in 2011: at least 30

Eligibility: Kenyan citizen, companies registered in Kenya

Categories: Private Sector Innovation, Government Data Applications

 

The Ministry of Information and Communications, through the Kenya ICT Board is now accepting proposals for the Tandaa Digital Content Grant. The grant is offered to Kenyan citizens and companies registered in Kenya for the development of innovative web or mobile phone applications. Grants of up to $ 50,000 for companies and $ 10,000 for individuals and teams will be offered through the program.

 

The objective of the grant is to stimulate ICT innovation and creativity while promoting economic growth in the sector. For many companies that develop web and mobile solutions, access to funding to grow their company is a huge challenge. By supporting entrepreneurs with the funds they need to successfully take their products to market, the grant hopes to grow the number of relevant and local web and  mobile applications available to Kenyans.

 

The Kenya ICT Board awarded fifteen grants in 2010 and hopes to award at least 30 grants in 2011. The grant is available to individuals and companies in any sector and the Kenya ICT Board encourages any individual or company with ideas for web or mobile applications to apply.


Category 1: Private sector innovation 

The Tandaa Digital Content Grant is divided into two categories: Government Open Data and Private Sector Innovation.

 

In the Private Sector category, the Kenya ICT Board will select the most innovative proposals that demonstrate long term business viability. Proposal in this category must respond to a demonstrated market need and have a positive impact on the community it seeks to serve.

 

In 2010, the Kenya ICT Board awarded seven grants in this category including a diary farmer payment application and a social media marketing product.

Category 2: Government Data Applications

On July 8, the Government of Kenya made 290 datasets publicly available and accessible through an Open Data portal. Now, the Kenya ICT Board will support entrepreneurs to develop web and mobile applications that utilize the data to provide services or products for citizens.

Eduweb, an online school portal that use data from the Ministry of Education to provide a service for parents selecting schools for their children, was among seven grants awarded in 2010.

Eligibility

Kenyan citizens above 18 are eligible to apply for the grant. Companies officially registered in Kenya are eligible to apply for the grant.

 

Matching grant for established companies

A new feature of the second round of the Tandaa Digital Content Grant offers established companies an opportunity to participate in the program. Companies founded at least 10 year ago with  over 40 members of staff are invited to summit their proposals for a web or mobile application. The companies must match the grant in full. This categories allows otherwise profitable ICT companies to develop innovative projects within a short period of time.

 

Business Plan training

Another new feature of the Tandaa Digital Content Grant is a training component designed into the proposal process. Over 2,000 people participated in the first round of the Digital Content Grant. However, more than half of the applicants struggled with the business plan sections of the proposal. As such, the Kenya ICT Board will offer business plan training to the top 150 applicants. The training will equip the most innovative applicants with the tools to help them secure funding and grow the business–regardless of wether they are awarded the grant.

Application Forms:
•Individuals/teams ($ 10,000 each)

•Companies ($ 50,000 each)

•Matching grant ($ 150,000 each)

Grants Sub Menus:

— Status Update

— Eligibility: Individuals

— Eligibility: Companies

— Eligibility: Matching Grant

— Criteria: Private Sector

— Criteria: Government Applications

— Inquiries

Mobile Design Principles – A Presentation By Ushahidi iPhone And iPad Apps Developer

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Tekedia Editors
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We think you will like this presentation by one of the bests in the game – the guy that made Ushahidi  iPhone and iPad mobile apps. The presentation by Dale Zak is available on this link.

 

Simple – keeping it simple is key to good mobile design

  • single task – each screen should focus on doing one task really well
  • less is more – reducing features often provides a better overall user experience
  • uncluttered – clean, large, well spaced, readable
  • easy to use – should be intuitive the first time

Familiar – application should instantly be familiar to your users

  • native platform – familiar with the target device (shouldn’t feel like a BlackBerry app squished onto an Android screen)
  • other apps – similar user experience to other apps on their device
  • design standards – reuse basic ui elements (if you are building your own custom date picker when a native one already exists, you need to ask yourself why)

Consistent – should be a consistent user experience throughout application

  • element layout – similar location of controls, buttons or menu items like Done or Cancel
  • color, fonts, whitespace – consistent color, fonts and whitespace also important

Fast – performance critical on devices with limited processing power

  • quick launch – opening the app should be quick
  • responsive – actions inside the app should feel snappy
  • cancellable – long running tasks should allow user to cancel them or elegantly timeout

Feedback – providing meaningful user feedback a must

  • loading indicator – tasks that take longer than a second should display a loading indicator
  • show progress – long running tasks should ideally show the percentage of progress
  • highlight selected – changing the background color of current item is subtle but useful feedback
  • scroll to current – auto scrolling to the currently selected item can also enhance user experience

Efficient – strive to making input as easy as possible

  • minimize input – the more ways you can reduce typing the better
  • auto complete – provide suggestions as user types
  • easily searchable – filtering long lists for easier selection
  • remember last – intelligently remember last input for each field (example name vs city)
  • pre-populate – populating fields with available information like date and location, while still giving user option to change if needed

Scale – resizing elements to utilize the screen space

  • utilize full screen – docking controls to screen edges can help ensure controls stretch gracefully
  • fit to orientation – re-arranging elements to utilize portrait or landscape
  • easy to click – large easy to click controls makes it easier to select and input data
  • reduce scrolling – scrollbars are often painful on mobile devices, so providing alternatives like pagination worth investigating
  • expand for more – limit how much is displayed while giving the option to expand to view more

Offline – should function when internet is not available or connection limited

  • work offline – if your app requires a constant internet connection, why didn’t you just make a mobile web page?
  • load in background – intelligently pulling of data in the background can provide seamless user experience allowing them to do other tasks in the meantime
  • download now – ability to download data now can utilize wifi hotspots making the app useful in dead zones
  • upload later – being able to add content in a disconnected state, and then upload when internet becomes available

Context – remembering where user left off

  • remember state – the app should re-open at the previous state
  • auto save on exit – automatically saving content
  • user preferences – allowing user to customize the app and it remembering their settings

Design – balancing appearance and functionality

  • look & feel vs functionality – can you make it look nice but also be useable?

Fun – finally, make it fun

  • useful – does it solve a problem?
  • addictive – do you use it yourself?

 

We must point out that these features apply for any platform, and not just the iPhone and iPad. Thank you Dale for these insights.

U.S. Federal Government Certifies Blackberry Playbook For Its Enhanced Security Features

By
Tekedia Editors
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1

Good news just came to the struggling old giant.  The BlackBerry Playbook has been approved by the US government for use in federal government activities. This makes it the first ever tablet to be certified by the U.S. government for its secuirty features and good quality.

 

Research in Motion in a statement release stated the following:

 

“RIM is pleased to announce that the BlackBerry PlayBook is the first tablet approved under FIPS for use within the U.S. federal government,” said Scott Totzke, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Security at Research In Motion.

 

“This certification demonstrates our continued commitment to meeting the needs of security-conscious organizations and enables the U.S. federal government to buy with confidence knowing that the PlayBook meets their computing policy requirements for protecting sensitive information.

 

Fasmicro Apps Design Services – Android, Blackberry, iOs, Symbian, Java Mobile

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Tekedia Editors
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“Every business needs a mobile app. As it was in 1995 when firms moved online and got websites, we are in a transition where many are moving to the mobile ecosystem. Today, your business process is not complete without an app”, Fasmicro Publication, 2010

 

You can read this on Fasmicro website.

 

Fasmicro develops across many platforms and we have served more clients in France, Brunei, US and Africa than any apps house in Nigeria.

 

 



 


If you are looking for a partner in Nigeria and you are a corporate client, Fasmicro will help you develop any type of app in the following environments:

 

  • Android /Google
  • Blackberry /RIM
  • iOS (iPhone and iPad) /Apple
  • Java Mobile /clusters of makers
  • Symbian /Nokia

 

We have since expanded our platforms to cover the requests of customers. Windows Mobile will be added soon after we get the right mix.

 

We continue to train solely on Android, but developments and jobs can be in any of the platforms above.Contact the experts and Nigeria’s leading apps powerhouse. We have trained more apps developers  than any organization in Nigeria (we are truly sure).

 

We will develop your apps, maintain your database, support it, depending on what you want. If you decide to support it after development, that works for us. Email us at info@fasmicro.com and we will send you a proposal. You need a mobile strategy because now is mobile.

 

Meanwhile, visit our AppStore.

 

Please read our Ten Questions Before You Implement A Mobile App Strategy in Your Company


 

 

 

 



If you want to know why you need a mobile app for your business, please read this entry we have created for our blog:

 

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