How to remove facebook timeline

 

Lot of Facebook users don’t like the Facebook Timeline and looking for ways to change the Facebook interface into the old one. there are lots of reasons why people didn’t like the features of Facebook Timeline, such as it seems that it’s too complicated, not getting used to it, already comfortable with the old interface, and the loading seems to be longer and more heavy. Because of those reasons they want to change it into the old Facebook interface.

So for you who wanted to deactivate the Facebook Timeline interface can use an add-ons “Timeline Remover” this add-ons works on some browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. with “Timeline Remover” you can get your old classical Facebook back. 

 

Basically the add-ons “Timeline Remover” hides the Facebook Timeline feature for the users, so you can see your own profile and others profile in the old interface. So it does not deactivate Facebook Timeline permanently, other people who doesn’t use this extension will still be able to see your Facebook profile in the Timeline interface. You also can disable this add-ons if you want to back to your Facebook Timeline. 

 

 

If you install the add-ons on Chrome browser such as the picture above, it will be seen as a small icon appeared on the leftmost side, by clicking the icon, you can enable and disable Facebook Timeline easily

Visit : www.timelineremove.com

Best, Leandre

About to release a second web

I am grateful to let you know that I shall be releasing my second work later next week. It is again a website for an organization (HVP Gatagara), it will be a platform for all centers of this big organization where each center will be given opportunities to update it content as many times as they want without my direct intervention. The website is powered with HTML5 , CSS and Javascript without forgetting the giant PHP. Unfortunately we have not yet released a product basing on any CMS as we look forward to make one.

 

I will let you know the link for this new work as soon as I register it. I look forward to hearing your comments.

 

Best, #TL

Microsoft releasing Windows 8 trial

what I like on this new OS is that for touch screen users, they will see how it rocks, for the casual desktop users , I think it doesn’t have a lot to interest. just have a look on the following video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p92QfWOw88I.

after downloading, you need a wired connection so to get all packages since a modem cannot work. Big up to microsoft.

Starting a new era

After university, I am faced with starting a new life, an on-field life, just observing what is going on. Fortunately after a month I am appointed to Home de la Vierge des Pauvres de Gatagara Hospital as an Electronic Medical Record clerk, and I am having fun in this countryside part. I have also the chance of working with network issue, whereby I had to troubleshoot wireless bias. The next step that is on hold is to work on Optic cable network, and the Hospital will be connected to the national network  .

                                             

 

Best, Leandre

The impact of tablets in Africa’s basic education

With the rise of the iPad, Kindle, and similar eReaders and touchscreen devices, tablet-shaped form factor computing power has become much more portable and yet sizable. This holds great promise for educators on par with the introduction of slates, which swept across classrooms at the turn of the century before last. Back then, the personal transcription device of chalk and stone slate tablets was seen as revolutionary.

Now we can envision one iPad per teacher and student

The digital equivalent has an equal promise in revolutionizing both teaching and learning activities. Teachers can have instructional support, literally at their fingertips, in the learning environment. In fact, David Stevenson of Wireless Generation says that 7-inch tablets are perfect tools for classroom teachers. Students can also be empowered with individualized instruction – think Teachermates on steroids.

But is this just hardware hype?

Yes, the iPad is intuitive, the Kindle and Nook are cheap, and Android is Open Source, yet is the tablet form factor really all that? There is the immediate e-reader usage model, but what other roles can tablets play? And are those roles most cost-effective with digital devices vs. analog or even paper technologies?

Or might tablets just be the OLPC of 2011? Will touch screen tablets be exciting until the real costs for change become apparent? Or are iPads, Kindles and the like a real opportunity for innovative instruction that will surpass laptop and mobile phone promise and usage in the classroom?

Mobile boom in Africa is so impressive, what do you think about a 3rd mobile communication company to open doors in Rwanda?

 

Posting this small item, I have consulted many online newspapers to strengthen my writing, and so far I think that our old continent can be a leading engine in this industry, that is why mobile programmers should benefit from this boom and gain money. I am waiting for your views ASAP…

 

Mobile communications have been one of Africa’s biggest success stories. In 2003 some 13 million new mobile subscribers were added, a figure equivalent to the total number of African telephone subscribers in 1995. Africa’s mobile market has been the fastest growing of any region over the last five years. The article also looks at the most significant socio-economic impacts of mobile phones on the lives of individual Africans.

The phenomenal development of mobile communications since the turn of the new millennium demonstrates the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to transform economic and social life on the African continent. After years of being an ICT laggard relative to other developing regions of the world, mobile communications have pushed Africa to the forefront in a new information revolution.

Consider these facts:

Africa has attracted more ICT users since 2000 than in the previous hundred (since ICT is a recent technological revolution, ‘…the previous hundred years’ sound more impressive than it really is);

Africa was the first region in the world where the number of mobile users overtook the number of fixed lines (in 2001) and by the start of 2004 there were more than twice as many mobile users as fixed lines

Africa has had the fastest growing mobile sector of any world region over the last five years and has the highest percentage of mobile users as a percentage of total telephone subscribers (Figure 1, bottom chart);

More than three-quarters of African states now have competition in the mobile market and more than 95 per cent of African users enjoy a choice of operator. Yet, paradoxically, this success story was not anticipated. The majority of forecasts regarding the adoption of mobile communications in Africa vastly underestimated the real demand for communications on the continent.

These failings in forecasting and measurement were based on the fundamental misapprehension that Africans were too poor to afford high quality modern telecommunications. The subsequent experience of growth in mobile communications has shown this to be false. Yet, there remains a temptation to repeat this myth in a different form. In particular, much of the current debate concerning the so-called “Digital Divide” seems to assume that the current status quo in access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) will continue to exist long into the foreseeable future and that market mechanisms-letting users decide what they want-will not succeed in closing the divide.

Revolutionary growth

Since 1998, the growth rate in effective teledensity has been 24.6 percent per year is more than four times higher than that of any comparable period in the past (ITU) This steep change is confirmed by the impact on annual change in effective teledensity. For many young Africans, their first experience of ICTs will be in using a mobile phone. But is there a danger that this will be their only experience? The popularity of mobiles in Africa may be to the detriment of growth in the fixed line Internet. Africa’s share of global Internet users (1.8 per cent) is far below its share of global mobile phone users (3.8 per cent) and mobile phones outnumber personal computers by five to one. At some stage in the future, the mobile phone network (or more accurately, wireless technologies in general) will provide a viable solution for low-cost, high-speed access to the Internet, but this is not likely to happen within the next five years. Thus take-up of Internet in Africa may be constrained by the lack of growth in the fixed-line network.

Do ICT’s in Africa matter?

Does it matter that there are now twice as many mobile phones on the continent of Africa as there were 18 months ago? Does the rise of mobile phones simply mean that already rich corporations that provide mobile phone service become richer, at the expense of poor Africans, who would be better off using lower cost fixed-line telephones? Should policy attention be focussed on addressing the “digital divide” as some have suggested, as a better way of raising productivity, than on addressing “digital opportunities” in ICTs?

ICTs do matter. It is no accident that Africa is currently enjoying its fastest rate of economic growth for almost two decades, and that this period coincides with the rise in mobile communications. But how do ICTs contribute to increasing productivity and general economic and social development? Although much research work on the links between telecommunications and development have focussed on evaluation of specific projects (e.g., creation of a multi-purpose telecentre, a telehealth project or distance learning university) the more profound impact is likely to be more modest, and to operate at a micro-scale. Arguably, the most significant socio-economic impacts of mobile phones on the lives of individual Africans in rural areas would include:

Entrepreneurship

Turning under-employment into self-employment and entrepreneurship. For the many Africans who work in the informal economy, access to a mobile phone can greatly extend the pool of possible clients. Resale of telephone service, e.g., through privately owned teleshops, is also an important source of employment.

Remittances

Income, in the form of remittances sent from family members working in towns, or outside of the country, play an important part in the economic life of rural areas in Africa. Access to mobile phones and other ICTs can make the payment of remittances more reliable, more efficient (fewer middlemen) and possibly more regular as communication helps to keep the extended family unit in closer contact. Price harmonisation

Any ICT that assists in the flow of information, for instance, the price of goods in different locations (town versus rural areas), will tend to improve the functioning of markets and combat excessive price gouging.

These beneficial effects of mobile phones may be less high profile than, say, the establishment of a major telehealth project, using leased lines to transmit X-Ray images to consultants in foreign countries, but they arguably reach more lives and are potentially more sustainable.

African Investors

Another interesting factor of the current mobile communications boom is that much of the investment has come from within Africa itself, rather than from outside the region. The leading five African mobile consortia, account for 32.8 million subscribers, on a proportionate basis, or 63 per cent of Africa’s total. The top three (Vodacom, MTN, Orascom) are headquartered on African soil and a fourth one (CelTel) has mainly African investors. It seems that foreign investors may have been scared away by the pessimistic outlook for African telecommunications that was promoted as the orthodoxy of the 1990s. This left the market open to local investors who have, on the whole, made a very profitable business out of supplying Africans with cell phones. Four out of the five consortia, for which separate profit and loss accounts are available, made US$0.73 billion in profits in 2003 on revenue of over US$6 billion. This profit level of 11 per cent would be enviable in many developed regions of the world.

Conclusion

There is an old saying, that a glass can be described as either half-empty or half-full. Both descriptions may be statistically accurate, and fully supported by scientific observation, but the former is backwards-looking and pessimistic while the other is forwards-looking and optimistic.

The same is true of the phrases “digital divide” and “digital opportunity”. The former is accurate, and it is possible to show the persistence of incontrovertible differences in level of access to ICTs, both within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world. But the latter is more likely to attract the investors, and is more in tune with what is currently happening in the region.

To quote from Benjamin Compaine (The Digital Divide 2001): “My policy recommendation: declare the war against the digital divide won and move on to issues with higher stakes.” Although this was written in a different context, it seems to apply very well to Africa. If we choose to focus only on Africa’s problems, we will be doing a huge disservice to the men and women who have been busy creating a revolution in the field of ICTs in the last few years. Let’s instead focus on Africa’s potential, and let us welcome Africa as the newest member to the global Information Society.

Dr Tim Kelly is Head of the Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU) at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an intergovernmental agency based in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

Finally, after reading this, I hope we are of the same view that Africa can become the hub of the global communication network no matter the hunger and chronicle wars  .

 

Best, Leandre

Entering the month of December

 

We have now started a new chapter of developing website with the latest CMS (Content Management System), here I mean Joomla 1.7.0 and Moodler, it will help us making not only dynamic websites but also well presented things, with better templates, and we think that in a short time we will be delivering our first site developed  either in Joomla, Moodler or TYPO3. This a promise, let us have a short look on what CMS is.

 

A web content management system (WCMS) is a software system that provides website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of webprogramming languages or markup languages to create and manage website content with relative ease. A robust WCMS provides the foundation for collaboration, offering users the ability to manage documents and output for multiple author editing and participation.

Most systems use a database to store page content, metadata, and other information assets that might be needed by the system.

A presentation layer displays the content to website visitors based on a set of templates. The templates are sometimes XSLT files.

Most systems use server side caching to improve performance. This works best when the WCMS is not changed often but visits happen regularly.

Administration is typically done through browser-based interfaces, but some systems require the use of a fat client.

A WCMS allows non-technical users to make changes to a website with little training. A WCMS typically requires a systems administrator and/or a web developer to set up and add features, but it is primarily a website maintenance tool for non-technical staff.

 

I personally got impressed by this technology a few days ago, I didn’t understand how much it could be that interesting, and I definitely encourage all of you reading this, either via my twitter www.twitter.com/TonzeLeandre, or via my facebook; www.facebook.com/byahuza.leandre  where I have many links to different tutorilas,.

 

Enjoy,

Leandre

The Critical Role of Academia for Information and Communication Technologies Development in Africa

 

I. ICT in Africa

There is no doubt that ICT penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa is accelerating, driven by recent infrastructure investments and new technologies.

In communication technology, Africa is the fastest growing mobile market in the world, crossing the 500 million mobile subscription mark [1] in third quarter 2010 and reaching 50% penetration, and as someone joked “there are now more mobile phones than light bulbs in Africa”. While in rural areas the rate of mobile penetration is lower, typically below 10%, this number does not take into account that in those underprivileged areas, mobile phones are typically shared between several people.

Broadband Internet access capacity has also significantly increased in the past years with the connection of several high capacity ocean cables like the 4.72Tbps EASSy cable on the East coast of Africa. In addition, new cables are following the changing trade landscape of Africa. Africa’s trade with other developing countries (sometimes called South-South trade) accounts now for more than half of Africa’s trade [2], up from less than 30% only 20 years ago. As an example, the 12.8Tbps SAex cable and the 3.84Tbps IME WE cable are linking Africa with Brazil and India.

Unfortunately, those high capacity cables only reach the coast of Africa and do not penetrate inland. There are only two exceptions: the SEACOM cable reaching Johannesburg in South Africa and Kigali in Rwanda. Africa’s inland is still mostly depending on satellite communication for Internet access which is not adequate for VoIP and cannot offer the same bandwidth as the cable technology.

Some tend to see the glass half empty: “The African Internet has the highest data packet loss and the worst throughput figures of any region in the world” [3]. I tend to look at the glass half full considering that 10 years ago the large majority of African population did not even have access to basic communication like mail, media or phone. The lack of effective communications infrastructure has traditionally been one of the biggest obstacles to economic growth. The changes in communication described above had more impact in the last 10 years on people’s lives than any other technology in the last century.

In information technology (IT) however, penetration has been much slower because the traditional IT model developed in Western countries was not appropriate for most of Africa. In that model, when enterprises want to use IT to manage their operations, they need to invest in buying the business software and the hardware (server or PC) to be installed on premises. That capital expense, but also the infrastructure (electricity and Internet) and more importantly the expertise required to manage such systems were not affordable or available to most SMEs in Africa. This situation can actually turn out to be an advantage as the absence of legacy IT systems will make it easier for Africa to leapfrog into the next technology generation.

II. New Technologies

In Africa hope comes from those new technologies [4]. Cloud computing technology integrated with mobile devices and broadband internet offers a new model for easy access to IT resources located in remote cloud data centers. Cloud computing is the use of the Internet for the tasks you used to perform on your computer. Instead the tasks are actually running on servers located in the “cloud”(in a cloud service provider’s data center). You don’t have to worry about buying anything, you pay only for what you use with no need for upfront capital investment and you aren’t on the hook to operate it.

The challenge is that most of the large cloud service providers do not operate data centers in Africa. This is where governments need to either lead by investing in the building of data centers or partner with telecom companies to provide cloud services from their existing data centers.

Another challenge for this cloud service model to succeed is for telecommunication providers to deliver guaranteed quality and stable Internet communication.

III. The need for new software

Beyond the need for these ICT infrastructure investments, there is a larger challenge. Most business software applications used by SMEs have been designed in the Western world for the traditional IT model based on PCs not mobile devices. In addition, their functionality is often not appropriate for Africa. E.g. e-commerce software is mainly based on the usage of credit cards for payment which are mostly not in use in Africa. Africa uses mobile money. These days anyone with a mobile phone in Africa can now pay for goods or transfer money to friends and family. Kenya for example has four mobile money transfer platforms: M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money and YuCash.

Therefore in Africa a new generation of business software will need to be developed based on the software-as-a-service model delivered from the cloud to Internet mobile devices.

Most existing business software has been developed in the Western world in locations where software engineering skills were easily accessible like Silicon Valley near Stanford University’s leading computer science school starting multi-trillion dollar software and IT services industry.

IV. The role of academia

It would be difficult to develop software for Africa from California as the environment and the needs of Africa’s market are quite different. It will require software engineers with a deep understanding of that market. Those engineers should be educated in Africa and this is where African universities need to play a critical role. Many universities in Africa develop curricula based on those from western universities’ computer science schools with the hope that it will provide them with better recognition and world ranking. But now that ICT penetration in Africa is finally accelerating, it is time for universities to be more aligned with relevant regional needs. This will require for academia to work very closely with industries and private sector to identify those priority areas where ICT can deliver significant value. Then they need to integrate those areas in their curricula to teach skills that address the regional industry needs. In addition, students’ internships in industry during their studies should become the norm. Only by having students working for several months in enterprise for solving real problems will they perfect their ICT skills. In addition, good internships should naturally lead to employment by the same company after graduation. More than any other measurement, the feedback from those internships should be a good indicator of the university education quality. Universities should integrate that feedback to continuously improve their education programs.

But the role of higher education must go beyond just education. It must nurture a new generation of entrepreneurs that will develop the innovative software required for the mobile digital society in Africa. Too many times, students’ innovative ideas developed during their studies are left as nice academic exercises on libraries’ shelves without impact on the society. Universities should extend their role by encouraging their best and most innovative students to start their own business in innovation incubation centers located on campus. The presence of those businesses on campus will further favor students’ interaction with industry and inspire them about future careers. It is that close interaction between students and businesses that was a critical success factor in Silicon Valley leading to companies like Google or Facebook.

V. is Africa up to the challenge?

While African students don’t always have access to the best schools, they have a major advantage over students from the developed world: their knowledge of their region and their innovative spirit that has nothing to envy to that of their colleagues in developed nations.

The question then becomes: are African nations up to this challenge? If they are not then other nations will seize this opportunity and take away the benefits from African hands. The ownership of M-Pesa by a British company is a good example [5].

One nation is already aggressively positioning itself to take over the mobile digital market and it is not from the Western world. That country is India [6]. India’s environment is much more similar to Africa than the Western world giving it an advantage for developing appropriate solutions. McKinsey reports that India’s Internet users will increase fivefold by 2015, and more than three-quarters of them will choose mobile access. Similar trends have been found in Africa [7].

To win this race Africa needs to implement the necessary conditions and reach the critical mass of expertise for the development of a silicon valley in the region.

VI. Can Rwanda lead?

Several countries have declared their intention of becoming that ICT hub, but the recent announcement [8] by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) that it will open a campus in Rwanda delivering master degrees in IT and Electrical Computer Engineering may give that country a leading advantage.

The Government of Rwanda (GoR) has just completed the second phase of their 2020 Vision building an ICT infrastructure in the country. That major investment has resulted in making Rwanda the only landlocked country in Africa with broadband internet access through the SEACOM cable. The ICT infrastructure also includes an optical fiber network covering the entire country and a national cloud data center making it probably one of the best ICT infrastructures in the region.

The 2020 Vision is now entering in its third phase with the GoR’s partnership with CMU. The opening of CMU campus is expected to positively impact the quality of education at other local higher education institutions through close collaboration, delivering expert ICT skills that will develop internet based services leading the country to a knowledge based economy.

The GoR’s strategic ICT plan also includes an innovation incubator, a mobility research center, an executive education and an advanced practical training program, all integrated with CMU-Rwanda in a Regional ICT Centre of Excellence to be built with funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) that was approved last April.

VII. A new model for higher education in Africa

Carnegie Mellon is the first highly ranked research institution to open a campus in Africa with an in-country presence and committed to deliver the same quality of education than on its main campus in Pittsburgh. Instead of adding to the ever increasing number young Africans leaving the continent in search of quality high education, this project’s goal is to develop a new model to deliver quality education in Africa that is adapted to regional needs, and that is integrally linked with economic development so that graduating students will have a direct impact in a region booming with opportunities in technology innovation. The model is based on a partnership between public (GoR), financial (AfDB), education (CMU), and private sectors. Several major IT companies have already expressed interest in partnering with this initiative. This partnership can develop the critical mass of expert ICT skills required to start a regional ICT hub that could represent Africa’s best chance to control its own ICT future and lead the new mobile Internet revolution in emerging markets.

[1] Thecla Mbongue, “Press release: Africa crosses 500 million mobile subscriptions mark”, Informa Telecoms & Media, November 2010

[2] C. Roxsburgh & co, “Lions on the move: The progress and potential of African economies”, June 2010, pp 14-15.

[3] R. Cottrell, “African Internet continues to fall behind”, TechCentral, October 22, 2011.

[4] M. Bézy, “The New Nomads and Cloud Computing in Africa”, Next Billion, October 27, 2010.

[5] P. Gakure-Mwangi, “M-Pesa earns Vodaphone sh1.8billion in 2010/2011in licensing fees”, Thinkmpesa.com, August 15, 2011.

[6] L.Narasimhan, “Can India lead the mobile-Internet revolution?”, McKinsey Quarterly, February 2011

[7] “Mobile Internet to close the Data Divide in Namibia”, Research ICT Africa

[8] Carnegie Mellon News, “Carnegie Mellon To Partner With Rwandan Government for Development of Graduate Engineering Degree Programs”, Press Release, September 15, 20111

Our draft, presented on 20th September

here is our project that I and my collegue Fiacre presented on 20th September, note that that it is just a draft, the definitive copy will be out in a few moment, you can download it here .

Thank you

First screenshots

dud

As I told you, we will be releasing our final project, in conjunction with Fiacre next month, here is a screen shot of our home page. I hope you like it.

Best