Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

Lying to Arsenal fans since 2004

What a game! Welbeck scored against a top-4 team for once. Park and Rooney did the usual. Scoring against Arsenal for Kicks. The last time Arsenal Conceded 8 goals was against Loughborough 115 years ago

The result… well, nothing to write home about, really. Man U team A beating Arsenal team C, at Old Trafford is nothing to be proud of.

Arsenal are in shambles and hit with suspensions, injuries (already!!).

It was like a 7ft tall muscular man taking a sweet from a toddler and boasting about his conquest. Even Liverpool beat us AT HOME and we drew to Newcastle. Big deal? Right? WRONG!!

But let us not lose perspective here. 2-1 or 3-2 is a normal score for a Man U vs Arsenal match. Like I said LOSING is not the problem. It is LOSING BADLY that is. Quite simply this game was a rout, an embarrassment, a roasting, a hammering, a devastating day for Arsenal.

My initial reaction after the match was to buy some Man U fans next to me a few rounds. Partly because my heart was at peace. I was happy to FINALLY and FOR ONCE share a table with Man U fans who knew something about football. People who know what position Dennis Irwin was playing. Who was wearing Number 7 before Cantona.

Not the 2008/Ronaldo/Beckham Man U fans we see all around. Also, I threw a few rounds to aid the celebration of beating Arsenal. Because they are Man U fans, generally, hawanaga doo. They had been BJ-ing the same bottles since the Man City game. Ahem!

I was sad for Van Persie. Sad for Arshavin and Sad for Rosicky and Theo. Worldclass players forced to play with toddlers against a team of the caliber and might of Man United (Yes. United. Not urinals today. We have to respect the winners.) I am not angry that we lost. I am SORRY for the players.

But that is where my Sadness ends. The rest is all bliss. A simple 1-0 win for Man U would have made Wenger think we are OK. But a complete annihilation that it became showed Arsenal up for the pussies they are. A team with no Spine and in need of a monster DM, defender and midfield maestro. Thank you Man United.

When Fabregas left, he stated that he left because:

He had been at Arsenal for over 7 years and won NOTHING. This is because of empty promises by Wenger of signing players that never materialized and continually being made to play with players of a low pedigree. Wenger killed hsi faith. With 7 years at Arsenal he won nothing. With 2 weeks at Barcelona, he has 3 medals. In Arsenal, as soon as players mature, they move on.

Players like Van Der Vaart were available for dirt-cheap. Stingy Wenger signs Chamakhkhk. Ashley Young was available for 15M. Wenger signs Oxygen Chamber for the same amount. Young showed his class today. I will not be Angry at all if I woke up in the morning and read that Van Persie has left. He deserves better than this.

City are signing Dzeko, Aguero, Silva, Baloteli, Nasri and the like. Chelsea are onto Mata. Man U are signing better young players and still RETAINING their best still. Fucking Wenger is on a firesale. Losing Fabregas and Nasri and Clichy and only bringing in 3 kids.

Discipline is also a factor. We can’t have Gervinho fighting on the pitch and getting a red-card EVERY GAME and hope to challenge for top 6. Soon we will receive a fine from the FA.

Most likely, the Arsenal Board was playing golf and not even bothering about the game. That is how much they don’t give a fucx. By December, Arsenal will be 13th, Just a point above Bolton and Blackburn. They will be out of the CL and out of Europa.

Ofcourse, most Man U fans will be palepale-kidoo but in heaven juu wanashinda hata kama hawanaga waafrika. The majority I know have no life outside football. Habari ya leo? Ball… Leo ume-unda doo ngapi? Ferguson. How is business? Rooney. What do you want to be in the next 6 months.. Shogaritto.

Back to code…

Wazi.

THINK for us, please

I have just finished the sad story of Spotify and it nearly made me spitify on my keyboard.

In the US, a lazy bum can just register a patent and sit there for years waiting for someone to ACTUALLY invent something related to the patent and the SUE them and live happily and rich ever-after.

Just a few weeks after Spotify entered the US Market, it hit 700, 000 users in the US and KUJA HAPA, they got sued for Copyright Infringement.

Pathetic. Sad. Really.

And so, you want to know, “What is this brain drain that you speak of, Salim?”. Well, read on. I will not leave you hanging.

Absence of Patent/Copyright

To my own knowledge (and I will graciously accept correction) IP law in Kenya is as nonfunctional as VB code on a Mac. Wine or no wine. Let us say I invent a way to make coders understand what all the fuss is about Justin Bieberre (See, I can’t even spell it.), It will take me 100 times longer, 100 times more hustle to get a patent for that in Kenya than in the US.

The bonus is that if I were (God forbid) a US Citizen, then it would be smooth sailing. I can come to Africa, Listen to an Idea and go patent it in the US. Then wait for these bloody Africans to go big and enter the US market with ‘My product’… and… Kaching!!

Tech-Challenges

We all know African Tech Solutions. Ushahidi, Mpesa come to mind. Apps made by Africans for Africa. Because African solutions are made on an empty stomach, they address a REAL need. A real problem. Not AngryBirds. HungryCoders. No one will give you USD 1M to start an experiment and ‘see how the market responds’ in Africa. So, Tech-challenges leave a lot of coders flat-nosed.

Tech-Challenges present another problem. We see them every now and then and I am big Fan of them, because of the investment opportunity they give local developers. But what about Idea Protection. Are we in a position to protect out ideas.

I am not going to be all nasty and disrespect IPO48, Pivo25, AppCircus or any of the local developer challenge initiatives. These challenges offer a NOBLE and REAL opportunity for Devs to get their app to the next level. But what happens after the events? What happens to the 17 who miss out after the top 3 slots have been taken.

What stops vultures from taking their ideas, shipping them to China or India and using the resources the developers don’t have (time and money) and killing another Kenyan Dream?

So, what now?

Are we fucked? It all depends. You need to decide what you want as a developer. Obviously, there is NEVER room for HelloWorld Apps in developer contests. But what about the Mutindas, the Wesongas, the HildaSams and the Mwais of the local space. How do we protect these people. How do we make sure that not winning in App contests does not spell the end?

What models can we adopt to make sure the Investor’s money is just a by-the-way. The only person I know who believes and invests actively in Local Techies financially is JM. The rest are just happy to invest old-money on old-models. 100 bob making 120 bob, instead of 100 bob making 600 bob.

I don’t yet think Mbetsa is a Millionaire as he should be. He invented a Kenya’s-First and possibly Africa’s-First. But what next after the invention?

Someone once suggested that we start a Kenyan SharkTank. But who will be the hosts?

What do you think can be done to salvage the sitiuation? Tell me. Discuss [20 Mks]

Back to code…

Wazi.

Hacked? Really?

Well, today morning I woke up to a barrage of ‘Iz How?’ messages from my friends.

Rimbui, Msupa, Archer, Zack, Mumbi, Vuyanzi, Lisege etc were all in lamentation.

Seems that someone/something had gained access to my Twitter Account in the hours between 6am and 9am and was sending them ‘funny’ links.

We are not speaking Funny, HAHA here. But links with Spam content, porn and Man U games highlights. The kind of things we ALL abhor. I was stuck between being embarrassed and impressed by the ‘hacker’. So i decided to investigate.

This article should actually be on TechMataa.com‘s Hacking and Security Section, but I will post it here, and there, later.

So, How can this happen?

When it comes to site passwords [gMail, Google, FaceBook, Twitter, Ngwati etc], there are ONLY 3 ways that your account can be used by someone else without your permission:

1. Someone using an active session from a machine you have used but forgotten to log out of. e.g. A CyberCafe. This is the most common one.
2. Someone guessing/sniffing your password. If you use public spaces [iHub, NaiLab, KICC] and don’t have a complex password, this will happen. People will sniff your password if you are not using HTTPS.
3. 3rd party sites that you have allowed account access getting compromised. The site hacker now has access to YOUR account.

What twitter recommends:

Twitter has a support page for people whose account has been ‘hacked’. I won’t copy-paste here and try to sound all-knowing. Read from there and learn.

My additional thoughts:

1. Services like Google and WordPress offer you a link to ‘Log Out All Sessions’, even from machines you don’t/can’t access. Twitter does not, AFAIK. Always log out before leaving! Don’t allow public browsers to ‘Remember Password’
2. A paranoid solution to password sniffing is to always use twitter HTTPS, although this will make your sessions slower and make twitter servers busier. HTTPs should be used sparingly and only on actions that REALLY require a secure connection.
3. Use a strong password. Yes, this was my mistake. We know this is ONLY twitter. Not your server, or email. But use a strong password. My old password had not been changed since 2009 and it was something like salim123. Very easy to guess and brute-force. I know. I am totally ashamed by this. Learn from my mistakes. Your password should have at least a special character, caps and numbers. E.g. &mAdemw@Kenya! or #manUniM%sh0_ga.
4. Allowing access to third-party sites is a good things as it saves you from having to log in every time you need to use their services. However, be careful who you allow! Don’t allow perpetually, and occasionally, go to the twitter page for App permissions and see who you don’t need to allow any more and revoke the access.

Back to code…

Wazi.

Private Initiative. One Winner

The IPO48 developer challenge just ended yesterday. The winners were announced. The prizes were awarded. Tusqee systems came out tops.

Some of my friends did not win and I was very sad. Ile doo ya kiwi na vaseline walikuwa wanikopeshe ikaenda down the drain.

So, I decided to make it personal and write a post about how much a circus and a sham the IPO48 event was. But gutter-press beat me to it. Pouring dirt and mud-slinging a very noble PRIVATE effort to fund local ideas and empower local developers.

My personal top 5 were PesaPay, mOrder, MyOrder, Tusqee, 6Degrees and Ghafla. In no particular order. This MAINLY because the solutions addressed an existing need, and ALSO  because they are people I have dealt with in various capacities and I see winners in them. Like I said in the Pivot25 Winners Post, you can only beat what is placed in front of you.

But let us analyze IPO48, without getting all hormonal.

IPO48 is an initiative by a group of Individuals who want to bootstrap startups and challenge them to come up with an innovative solution that makes people’s lives better AND has a practical revenue model. This is something the ICT Board has failed to do. This is something the Government has failed to do. Now we finally have it happening here, and we STILL talk badly about it?

IPO48 is not under the Government of Kenya. Not under RedCross or UN. It is not the techies’ equivalent of KenyansForKenya. It is not a mercy-model initiative that gifts wannabes and HelloWorld gurus. No. That is why only a select few make it past the elimination. The out of the chosen ones ONLY one or two can win. Logically. Everyone cannot be a winner. No matter how fair we want to become.

Like I said before, ‘Investor si mama yako. Unless ni mama yako‘. For those with a brain, learn and get better. Next year it will be you, if you are up for it and lucky/good enough. For those who want to go home and cry to mamma, have a blast!

As always, investors look for:

• Problem solvers. Solutions that address a NEED.
• Monetizable problem solvers. The solution must be able to generate revenue.
• Scalability. The solution must be easily scalable and replicatable.
• Practicality. Solution must be practical and NOT-NECESSARILY unique or ground-breaking. It should JUST work.

Tusqee had a solution to an existing problem. Nothing new. We have many SchoolSMS systems. But theirs was their PRIMARY BUSINESS. Not a by-the-way 5th product. Investors want to know that their money will be used on ONE thing.

SMS is easily accessible and requires nothing special e.g. JavaPhone, Internet and Installations. I think this is why more advanced systems like mOrder and PesaPay came short. The shortest path to market. Path of least resistance.