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To be honest, I am a little frustrated that I had more posts on this blog in 2008 than I did in 2009. I am going to blame the transition from New York back to Tanzania and then to the UK for this. In any case, it's been a long year, and it's about to come to a close. What's been going on with projects, and what is in store for 2010? On the web design front, I was finally able to establish a clean portfolio and page for Ndogoworks . It is something basic that I can now work with in its own space and time, as opposed to being intermingled with other projects. Priority for Ndogoworks in 2010 will be to get my own domain and potentially register it as a business based out of Dar. Music will potentially dominate 2010 for me. I have not given much thought to the Solarvibe Sound homepage , it still remains the same from last year with a few updated mixes and gigs. I've only had one gig in London so far (boo!), but I need to look harder in 2010, and raise the bar with markettin...

My buddy Taha, who is also writing about tech on Vijana FM (more about Vfm in later posts) found out about TovutiYangu , a web host based out of Tanzania! Very neat news for us Tanzanians to see a simple, efficient web host that accepts payments through a mobile operator! Check out Vijana FM , or Taha's blog .

iA (information architecture) produces a cool Web Trend Map , which is a cool way to look at how major websites interact. Given this map, where do future opportunities for social development online lie, if at all? Click on this to check out the whole 2009 map , the image is just a portion of it!

This winter marks exactly 25% of my life having been lived in the Northern Hemisphere. Who would've thought?

If not now, when? If not us, who?

The world map in small change. FAAP Campaign - Change the World 2007 @ Lafayette College.

Loved seeing a lolcat on the cover of a Ubuntu guidebook today! Find "Ubuntu Kung Fu" by Keir Thomas on Amazon here .

This was filmed a while ago (2006), but what Sir Ken Robinson explained about schools and creativity at TED is still applicable today. Thanks, Aliya.

The DJ Mag recently let the world know global DJ rankings based on votes by the public. Full results for last week's results can be seen here , but here are the top 10: 1. Armin Van Buuren 2. Tiësto 3. David Guetta 4. Above & Beyond 5. Paul Van Dyk 6. Deadmau5 7. Ferry Corsten 8. Markus Schulz 9. Gareth Emery 10. Sander Van Doorn This is all very cool, but where do you draw the line between what the "public" wants to hear, and what the DJ/producer him/herself wants to play? And does this affect a DJ's/producer's work? Feel free to discuss below, but my point is that I hope DJs and producers who do what they do because of their true love for music continue to do it for this love, and not for a number in a magazine somewhere. Because technically, if it's about a number, then everything becomes a number, and skill is calculated for a reason rather than nurtured out of pure, simple passion.

"I don't know why these things have to be transmitted by word of mouth, he thought. It wasn't exactly that they were secrets; God revealed his secrets easily to all his creatures. He had only one explanation for this fact: things have to be transmitted this way because they were made up from the pure life, and this kind of life cannot be captured in pictures and words. Because people became fascinated with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the Language of the World. " - Extract from The Alchemist , by Paulo Coelho

Another BahariBeat session, this time with a some soulful house vibes. Tracklist: 1. Cafe Negro - In your eyes (Main mix) 2. Kevin Yost - Two wrongs making it right Mix (and more) can be downloaded here .

Two more mixes! Bahari Beats 002: Tracklist: 1. King Britt presents Oba Funke: "Uzoamaka" 2. Arnej: "Tomorrow never comes (Intro mix)" Solarvibe Sessions 002: Tracklist: 1. Matisyahu - King without a crown (Live @ Stubb's mix) 2. Thievery Corporation - Amerimacka (Original mix) 3. Sub Focus - Coming closer (Original mix) Both mixes (and more) can be downloaded here .

What can I say? Piratefunk was inspired. Tracklist: 1. Karen Overton - Your loving arms (Markus Schulz vs. Elevation intro mix) 2. Jonas Steur feat. Julie Thompson - Cold winds (Original mix) 3. DJ Tatana - Spring breeze (Martin Roth Summerstyle remix) Download available here: http://shack518.com/music/mixes.htm

I gave in to Virtual DJ and made a quick 10-minute mix. It's time to start experimenting with the lounge/chillout scene. Enjoy! Tracklist: 1. Crazy Penis - 3 play it cool 2. Moussoulou (remixed by Charles Webster) 3. Boozoo Bajou - Under my sensi (Thievery Corporation remix) 4. Crazy Penis - 3 play it cool (Solarvibe Comeback cut) Download available here: http://shack518.com/music/mixes.htm

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize this week primarily for his efforts and potential progress towards nuclear non-proliferation. It's important to keep in mind that hope plays a big part in Obama's promise when assessing whether the decision by the Nobel committee was a good or bad move. Sometimes, you have to give people incentive to live up to their promise. Obama has mentioned that this award is his "call to action". Check out what people are saying on BBC's forum . While you're at it, check out Nobelprize.org .

I think a collaboration between Akon and Sean Kingston might work really well.

I'll leave it up to Xplane and team for this one... This may have some big implications on the process of development in terms of creating freedoms for people. Enjoy. If you're interested in reading more, check out Karl Fisch's blog or Xplane's website .

"The problem is that large segments of all societies - in the developing world and the developed world - are unaware of the wealth of global cultural resources and, therefore, of the need to preserve the precious value of pluralism in their own and in others' societies." H.H The Aga Khan, Speech at the Prince Calaus Fund Conference on Culture and Development Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 7th September 2002

So often we ask ourselves, where am I going with this? Or, what lies ahead for me? Or, how do I know if I am doing the right thing? Perhaps an answer to our destinies lies in knowing where we came from.

Well hello friends, It's been a while since I wrote a post. I say this all the time, I am aware. But this time is a little special. Let's begin with a sample >> Edx - Casa Grande Now, there are times when we don't really know what we think we know. That is, physically, in this material world, we find things that happen to occur in our lifetimes, or within the realm of things we know during our lifetimes, that make it seem as though we can prove what we know. This is a completely understandable way of proving things. However, every so often, a human feels a vibe; of appreciation, of pluralism, of kinmanship, of care, of love, or of annoyance, of irriation, of anger, whatever it may be, we feel it. This exact vibe, of whatever emotion it holds, is not a physical vibe. I think this vibe has more than history, is more than a science, and is greater than our reality. This vibe, I believe, is purely human. Time for another sample >> Julian Vincent feat. Cathy Burton -...

Whatup world! I have been very quiet.. but I am home in Dar-es-Salaam enjoying my last few days here before I head to London for grad school. There have been a lot of developments. In short, web stuff is becoming "Ndogoworks", DJ stuff is becoming "Solarvibe Sound" and Vijana FM is scheduled to start in October 2009 (I may start earlier). Stay tuned!

Ahmed Ghailani, a Tanzanian, is to stand trial in a US court after being detained for having a role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. An excerpt from BBC: Ghailani, a Tanzanian, was seized in Pakistan in 2004 and was one of 14 so-called "high-value detainees" transferred from secret CIA prisons abroad to Guantanamo in September 2006. He was indicted in New York on charges related to the August 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed more than 200 people. According to the transcript of a closed-door hearing in March 2007, Mr Ghailani admitted delivering explosives used to blow up the US embassy in Dar Es Salaam. However, he told the hearing he did not know about the attack beforehand and apologised to the US government and the victims' families. The expected announcement comes as Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete is to hold talks with President Obama - the first African head of state to meet the new US leader in Washing...

There's been an explosion in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in which several people have died. The explosion was apparently an accident at a military camp. Excerpt: "Officials said it was a tragic accident and not a repeat of the deadly terrorist blast that rocked the country's main commercial center in 1998." Full BBC article here .

I found this a few weeks ago but forgot to post it. Word clouds aren't a new thing, but more and more people are starting to use them on their blogs. A word cloud is basically a group of words bunched together, but their size/color/format is directly associated with the number of times they are repeated on any given source or page. The NewsMap above ( check it out here ) is interesting because it makes a word cloud of out news pages, and divys everything up by country, topic, and type of news. Sweet idea that I was going to try and work on with my RSS project , but oh well... one closed door is another door opened!

I've written out a couple of posts about the pirates who have been seizing vessels off the Somalian coast. In recent weeks, pirates (likely to be from similar groups) have taken control of even more vessels, including those belonging to the United States, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. Now an American captain has been held hostage by the pirates, prompting the US to send in warships to "monitor the situation". I still hold my reservations about how the general problem of piracy is being acknowledged and responded to. I will ask the same questions I asked in a previous post about this: 1. Incentive I think it would be tremendously helpful to try to find out what is driving these pirates to seize vessels. They have held anything from lethal arms, to oil, to food aid. In my view, it seems to always come down to ransom, hence it seems the pirates are looking for money. They do not seem to want to hurt anyone (a recent BBC article mentions "pirates holding a US...

Leaders who have met at the G20 summit in London have pledged $1 trillion in funds to help stimulate global financial recovery through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions. Read the Al Jazeera article here (picture above from same article). An exercpt: " ...There had been indications before the summit that G20 members were divided on how best to pull the global economy out of recession. " The US and Britain are in favor of pumping more money into the financial system, seeing the strategy as a way to encourage banks to lend to consumers and thus entice them to spend money on goods and services. "The US has so far spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion - almost as much as the value of everything produced in the country in 2008. But France and Germany had signaled their opposition to further fiscal stimulus packages, calling instead for an emphasis to be placed on increasing regulation of the international financial system..." I wonder how t...

Woke up in the middle of the night last night, and checked my e-mail on my PSP when I saw that Gmail has started offering the use of an autopilot . Check out the details here , and the back-end system, CADIE, here . An excerpt about CADIE: "Although CADIE technology will be rolled out with the caution befitting any advance of this magnitude, in the months to come users can expect to notice her influence on various google.com properties. Earlier today, for instance, CADIE deduced from a quick scan of the visual segment of the social web a set of online design principles from which she derived this intriguing homepage ." Crazy eh? Now get this... It's all an April Fool's day joke. Wiki here . Hah! I was so taken for a bit.

South Africa's government has confirmed it will not issue a visa for the Dalai Lama to enter the country, because his visit is "not in the country's best interest ". The Dalai Lama was supposed to join Nobel laureates in South Africa this week to discuss how peace and co-existence can be promoted during the football World Cup in 2010, set to be hosted in South Africa. The meeting has been postponed after several members of the Nobel laureate pulled out after the Dalai Lama's ban, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu. BBC article here .

Al Jazeera had a story on the IMF report I mentioned in my last post. An excerpt: "Jakayo Kikweke, president of Tanzania, told those gathered in Dar es Salaam that the economic gains made across the continent in recent years are now under threat due to the global slowdown. "There are growing worries about the potential effects of the global financial meltdown, coming so soon after the food and oil crisis," he said. "Only a few years ago the prospects for sub-Saharan Africa seemed so bright; for the first time in two decades the region was growing at the same rate as the rest of the developing world, except China and India," he said. The IMF's assessment comes a day after the World Bank said that developing countries face a financing gap of $270bn to $700bn this year as trade income dwindles and rich nations vie for capital to deal with the global economic slowdown." Seen. Except... who is "Jakayo Kikweke"? Pretty sure that ain't my P...

The International Monetary Fund has released a report titled "The Implications of the Global Financial Crisis for Low-Income Countries". The report can be found through this direct link . The report identifies 26 countries that will be most-affected by global economic slowdown, 13 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa. I found the report while checking out BBC short-term blog focussed on economies in Africa affected by the crisis. Going to read the IMF report later tonight, but feel free to post your thoughts.

Enough said (seen?). BBC article here .

So after going live @ Lafayette College once, and seeing we had some major flaws, we took CampuSMS off the Lafayette homepage. Now, after a couple of months of working on the back-end and a little bit of front-end tweaking, Lafayette's gone live again with our service! For folks who don't know what CampuSMS is, it's a project to help stimulate the use of text messages on college campus communities. We're trying to help student and faculty groups get the word out faster, through a medium everyone seems to be using on an individual-to-indvidual basis already: SMS. We're also hoping that businesses surrounding campuses - in Lafayette's case, places like Cosmic Cup, Campus Pizza, Milo's, Wawa, etc. - will want to use CampuSMS to communicate any special offers, promos and events to the college studnets/faculty. Anyhow, screenshot above shows our service being linked on the left-hand side menu of the Lafayette homepage . You can also just swing by www.campusms.c...

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon will be in Tanzania today, addressing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha. This will be the first time the South Korean UN Secretary General will visit the Tribunal since he took up his post in October 2006, and the Tribunal itself is the first body to interpret the definition of Genocide set forth by the Geneva Conventions in 1948. More about the issues anticipated to be discussed on this Daily News Tanzania article . Above photo from this website .

What a glorious sunny day in New York! Made some quick changes to my blog... you'll see that I took off the navbar links that used to be at the top and put 'em to the right-hand side. Also added two news feeds to the right panel, both from BBC: One is the BBC world news front-page, and the other is Africa-specific. I'm hoping to make this blog and my twitter page places of frequent updates, and revamp my homepage to reflect ongoing, bigger projects such as Vijana FM, CampuSMS, music and web development. More updates will ensue in coming months. Ciao for now!

Just found out from an imeem exclusive interview with Deadmau5 about the JazzMutant Lemur, which is a touch-screen control surface for creating sounds using programmable dials and buttons! Sounds like a neat concept. Links? Homepage here , Wiki here . Price? Round about 2 grand here <grunt>.

HTC and Google have partnered up again to release the Android phone to Vodaphone in Europe! I've been waiting for the second official release, and this phone seems to be much more of a breath of fresh air compared to the first release. Check out the BBC article here, and the Gizmodo article there.

More neat wallpapers @ Interfacelift .

(Image from this website ) (Image from this website ) According to this article , China has been investing in Tanzania for a few decades now, and Tanzania plans on working more with China in the near future given recent concerns of global economic slowdown. Some excerpts: "Tanzania is looking to China for help to spur economic growth amid the global crisis. Central Bank Governor Benno Ndulu has said spending cuts may be needed because of pressure on foreign aid, which covered 34 percent of the 7.22 trillion shilling ($5.5 billion) budget this year. China's trade with Tanzania rose 30 percent in 2007 to $688 million. ... Economic cooperation with Tanzania dates back to the early 1970s when China built the $500 million Tazara railroad that runs 1,860 kilometers (1,162 miles) from Zambia's northern copper-belt region to the port of Dar es Salaam. Chinese aid also supported a textile factory that helped start a once-thriving industry now under pressure to compete with cheap g...

I'd been reading up for a little while now on the Somali pirates that first seized MV Faina, the Ukrainian cargo ship carrying arms to Kenya. I just saw that the vessel had been released a few days ago, and has finally docked in Kenya . There is now some discussion/controversy about where the arms on board were actually going. Some say it was meant for Kenya, others say it was Sudan-bound. Whatever the case, it is ironic how it took a group of bandits to seize a ship that would otherwise have gone unnoticed, and possibly affected serious international relations in the long-run (given Sudan's political crisis). Some excerpts from the BBC article : " BBC East Africa correspondent Karen Allen says if the allegations about Sudan are true, it would be a huge embarrassment for the Kenyan government, which helped broker a peace deal between the north and south of Sudan four years ago. ... This is in sharp contrast to the secrecy that has surrounded the ship and its cargo since...

8.45am in the morning, I've just walked into work, and Seba calls me from Dubai. Me: Eiii baba what is up? Seba: Eiii baba. Me: Where are you? Seba: I'm in Dubai, and I need your help. Me: What's up? Seba: I'm DJ'ing tonight, and I have my iPod and CDs. Me: Eiii DJ Seba... yeah, ok, and? Seba: I'm looking at the <blah blah blah> controller... Me: I don't know it man, I need to see what you're looking at. Seba: OK, but it's the <blah blah blah> thing. How do I connect my iPod to this thing? Me: Well... you'll probably need an RCA-to-Mini cable. Seba: What is that? <woman giggling in the background> Me: It's got two RCA plugs on one end, and one Mini jack to plug into your iPod on the other <assuming he's in a store> Seba: So how do I mix between tracks? Me: Well you would need 2 iPods and 2 of those cables, unless you have an iPod mixing console. Seba: <more giggling in the background> We have 2 iPods. Me:...

A shoe was recently flung at an Israeli ambassador in Sweden... Apparently, " another person threw two books at the envoy but missed ". Seems like we have a euphemism emerging here.

Hmm... as new head of the African Union, Gaddafi is saying some interesting - and perhaps even controversial - things about how African politics should work. An excerpt from the above-linked BBC article: "We don't have any political structures [in Africa], our structures are social," Reuters news agency quotes him as saying. "Our parties are tribal parties - that is what has led to bloodshed." The Libyan leader's remarks could prove controversial in a continent where people have struggled for decades to have more open systems of government, says our correspondent.

Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, has signed a constitutional amendment that will allow his opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, to become prime minister after months of talks and persuasion by neighboring African state leaders. I hope the the man holds this up. Here is Robert Mugabe's Wiki Page .

Woosah. Thanks, Interfacelift .

General Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has taken the seat of Chairman of the African Union from Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete. This comes at a crucial time for the African Union, right when Ethopia (and the AU) has been accused of reentering Somailia after a peace treaty, and during Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe's continued dictatorial-like reign on Zimbabe amidst a Cholera crisis . Madagascar, however, is seeing some order being restored in the streets of Antananarivo (the President is being called to step down though). More about Africa, including President Obama's Kenyan half brother's mishaps , @ BBC's Africa homepage.

It's been some time since I divulged what's been going on with various projects, so here's a quick update! Vijana FM: Working on preparing round 2 proposal documents for Echoing Green's grant application. I passed round 1, but that means there are 300 projects out there competing to be one of the 20 Echoing Green Fellowship recipients! Given that this is my second year applying, I'm trying to give the Vijana FM proposal my best. Getting the budget reviewed by some folks at work, which is a big help. Little feedback from you (the public) has started trickling in through my website's contact page , so that is an immense encouragement - thank you! I also promise to divulge a whole lot more information about the Vijana FM when there is more time to build Vijana FM's presence on the internet. Right now, I am focussing most of my time on refining the concept, business model and social benefit. I am also happy to answer questions via e-mail, so feel free to use my...

Day 2 of the Forum today, and Ban Ki Moon makes an appearance to appeal for funds in aid to the Gaza Strip. Also, India is concerned about an increased sense of protectionism. When there are global economic pressures, it's not surprising to see countries scouting to protect their products and services more aggressively. At the same time, Kamal Nath, India's Trade Minister, mentions: "We do fear this because one must recognize that at the heart of globalization lies global competitiveness, and if governments are going to protect their non-competitive production facilities it's not going to be fair trade. " More on this @ Al Jazeera .

Original, smaller photo in full color is from BBC . Second one is the same photo blown up and played with in Gimp . ... and I'm just going to throw a track out there onetime: Here's some Bittersweet vibes .

WSJ was saying today how one example of a New York-based non-profit, Harlem Children's Zone, is seeing less financial support from its Wall Street donors. Here's an exercpt frmo the article, written by Mike Spector : Today, the U.S. boasts more than one million nonprofits, up from about 774,000 ten years ago. Their biggest donations come from corporations, foundations and the ultra-wealthy. Many have been hit hard by the deepening recession. A drop in charitable contributions could shutter as many as 100,000 nonprofits over the next year, says Paul Light, a professor at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.

Thanks to everyone for making it out there for my 30-minute set @ Opera NYC! 1. Solange - Sandcastle disco (Freemasons extended mix) 2. Kaskade - Angel on my shoulder (EDX radio edit) 3. Deadmau5 - I remember 4. Anthem - Be my lover 5. Barack Obama - Yes we can (Rob Solomon 2008 edit) 6. Annagrace - You make me feel (Voodoo and Serano club edit) 7. Ce Ce Peniston - Finally (Bart B More remix) 8. Sebastien Leger - Majuro

While America is seeing its first black president in history being inaugurated into office, Rwandan troops enter the Democratic Republic of Congo in Eastern and Central Africa to aid the fight against "rebel Hutu militia". In Zimbabwe, talks between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai fail . As for the Middle East, UN Secretary General has also visited Gaza, making him the first international leader to visit the region since the recent armed conflict began, and is appalled by the destruction war has caused there . Funny how small the world is, and yet how big we treat it to be.

Barack Obama is being inaugurated into office of the President of the United States today. People here at work are already buzzed about it, and the boardroom is being taken over by folks who want to watch a live streaming video feed on big screen of the all-day event. To watch one of these live video feeds, you could use CNN's website which is working with Facebook to provide coverage. Alternatively, you could use an official US government website to view the inauguration. You may also want to check out the National Post's Live Blog . Congratulations in advance, President Obama! Your coming into office is certainly changing the way people think about leadership, prosperity and collaborative living. It is changing the way people think by empowering them with the hope that the United States can actually work with the rest of the world, not against or for them. (More high-quality and rare images of Obama @ the Boston Globe )

I'll get to why I made this post in a little bit. But I thought it would be cool to just browse a couple of different US university websites, and maybe compare the aesthetics. Above are screenshots of websites belonging to (in order from top to bottom): University of California, Los Angeles , Georgia Institute of Technology , Drake University , Georgetown University , Lafayette College , and Harvard University . So yeah, huge differences, often related to the kind of people each university is trying to attract. I noticed a wide variety in the usage of graphics and placement on the homepage. I love GeorgiaTech's simple blog-like look. In some cases, such as Georgetown University, because of the wide scope of academic programs, a listing similar to a blog doesn't work since there are major programs, subprograms, etc. Also many disparities in color usage, since this is related to mascots, logo colors and the overall brand of the school. UCLA's website background struck a...

So I pulled off a 30 minute set at Opera NYC last night! There was a fantastic crowd (a lot of my friends came through, which energized me), but I am disappointed at my first few transitional mixes. They weren't as smooth as I wanted them to be, and this is due in part to not being familiar with the club's DJ equipment. That's still not a valid excuse, so I'll have to do better next time. Tracklist (and hopefully some photos) are in the pipeline, so I'll update this post later.

... more photos from Gaza (Thanks, Merhawi).

The Center for International Private Enterprise is now accepting entries for its 2009 essay competition . Young folks (ages 18-30) who want to enter into the competition have to write 2000-4000 words on either one of the following topics: (1) Citizenship in a Democratic Society; (2) Educational Reform and Employment Opportunities; (3) Entrepreneurship and Leadership. More details on the CIPE essay competition website . Oh and did I mention that the winners of first, second and third place essays in each category (9 people altogether) will recieve $1,000 each? That comes down to between 25-50 cents for every word you write. Not bad at all.

Just heard back today that Vijana FM passed the first round of Echoing Green's 2009 fellowship! Next phase applications are due February 9, so I'll be cracking. Check out the rest of the 300 organizations selected as semifinalists . Echoing Green homepage here . For more information about Vijana FM, I'll be updating this website .

First round application results are out today by 5pm EST! <gulp>

Gotta love Twitter's error messages!

I happened to watch Rendition and The Siege this weekend, which both touch on detainee rendition policies of the United States. Coincidently, I found an article on the International Herald Tribune about an ex-Guantánamo detainee being released , and his thoughts on his detention there. Here's a few extracts from the article: When Muhammad Saad Iqbal arrived home here in August after more than six years in U.S. custody, including five at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he had difficulty walking, his left ear was severely infected, and he was dependent on a cocktail of antibiotics and antidepressants. ...Iqbal was never convicted of any crime, or even charged with one. He was quietly released from Guantánamo with a routine explanation that he was no longer considered an enemy combatant, part of an effort by the Bush administration to reduce the prison's population [...]

Yessir. Busta Rhymes' reaction to Barack Obama winning the 2008 elections!

Happy New Year everyone! It feels wack ushering the new year here in NYC, while the world everywhere else is struggling to keep itself together (or break apart?). The US is giving Palestine $85 million in humanitarian aid  . Right. I have my reservations about the justification of this aid, and how it perhaps has a strategic interest in swaying the media's reports about previous US-Israeli relations...  Tonight my prayers will be for World peace, unity, and prosperity. Carpe diem.