TLC Studio

It turns out that if you were planning to take part in TedAfrica ( This tech conference which usually happens in South Africa) this September, you have to reschedule. On a move I got wind of from whiteafrican, it turns out thet they have this to say

Dear Friends of TED

Regretfully, we’re having to suspend plans for our TEDAfrica event scheduled for the end of September 2008 in Cape Town.

As you may know, we sought to launch this event under the control of a local team, operating under a license. The goal was to build on the full impact and quality of the TED conference held in Tanzania last year. But after reviewing progress with our licensees, we have mutually agreed that that is not going to be achievable in the available time. Our licensees did all they could to deliver on an ambitious plan, and I commend their efforts.

We apologize to those of you who are disappointed or inconvenienced. TED remains 100% committed to continuing to serve its growing and passionate African community. We are considering a number of options, including holding an event in 2009, and expect to make a further announcement soon.

If you have any specific questions or concerns, please write to my colleague jane@ted.com. Meanwhile we will continue to promote content from the Arusha conference online and to work on Neil Turok’s amazing TED Prize wish: that the next Einstein should come from Africa. Please take a look at the nexteinstein.org website just launched by TED partners Avenue A/Razorfish, as well as this recent TEDBlog post celebrating the new AIMS Research Centre in South Africa.

Sincerely,

Chris Anderson
TED Curator

That in a way is sad, TedAfrica is one of those few cool conferences in Africa where geeks and other motivated people get to meet. More information on TedAfrica, click here.

An alterenative to tedafrica, if you are planning to be in South Africa, and love technology try out tech4africa.

Personally I never really felt the one laptop per child program thing, the idea of bringing low cost laptops to developing countries and giving them away. In earnest I never fully loved anything I got free, but that debate is for another day.

However on the other side you could say that some poor kids - our African kids- have benefited with the iniative.

It now turns out that that OLPC is now starting a program in which Microsoft to run a Windows version of the software on their machines. The software is probably going to be free I am assuming.

One Laptop Per Child will ship a special version of Windows on their low cost laptops for poor children, the two companies announced this afternoon.Previously the laptops, which to date have been tested in a number of countries, ran only Linux. Trials of the Windows version of the machines will begin in June in “key emerging markets.” OLPC is also working with third parties to port its user interface, called Sugar, to Windows, and is hoping to have a machine with dual boot options to allow “users” to choose between operating systems.

techcrunch

In a way the news comes as an interesting titbit, i don’t actually know if it will make any major difference. Linux is kinda boring/technical to use, but is very stable I heard. Windows has the social thing of all people loving it ( sort off).

It turns out both Operating Software will be offered, so in a way it offers room for the kids to know both OS, that can only be a good thing.

There is something about the names of African web 2.0 sites which I can never get.  They are all so totally different it makes you sit for a second and wonder. When I heard about wathii I was like wow.

Anyway Wathii is yet another African social network, but this one seems to be based in Kenya. As social networks go, they are not too bad, I give them a average rating.

The color scheme is ok; layout and design though is shakey and not as well planned out like the people for Naijapals, but it seems to work.

The greatest thing about wathii however is the way the site is Powered By Joovili 3.1.0. That in essence means these guys did not go the blueworld route and make they’re own software, they just used something which already existed and customised it to meet the market.

This has a few  practical appliations. It means that these guys cut costs down in development, and they got the basic social network stuff at a low cost.

However in the long run adding extra features could be a pain, but that depends on their platform.

Wathii is very rough  but one look and you can tell that they seem to have the part which really counts down, which is the community. So for that they are worth watching.

The significance of Wathii is that if they make it, we could start to see an emergence in Africa of social networks, powered on various different platforms.

Sturvs as a name I find really interesting, and I also like the product. Its hard to forget the name, thats why it works.

What is it: Sturvs is social bookmarking service for Nigerians. It turns out

“sturvs” is a nigerian slang for “stuff”. So basically this is just a place for you to view and share all your internet stuff.

Sturvs.com is a Nigerian web 2.0 sharing and voting website where users can share music, videos, articles, read news and also promote events and services. Sturvs can be used to share and also to store your web resources. If you find a really funny video you want your friends (and the rest of the Sturvs community) to see, all you have to do is post it on the website and watch it rise to the front page of Sturvs. You can also email existing “sturvs” to your friends and save them to your web bookmarks.

Sturvs.com

The design is Ok, but i personally didn’t fall in love with it. The idea of the site rocks, as long as you are Nigerian or marketing Nigerian content.

In terms of growth and prospects, I suspect Sturvs is in a very good position. Nigerian web 2.0 is growing, and they have a solid product.

Links

• Official blog
• AfricanPath

Africanpath is a brand which is very hard to classify. They can be compared to the blueworld communities, which is a collection of services, products and workforce. The idea is very unique, so in a way Africanpath can best be described as a collection of web products.

So to make it simpler, they will be two reviews of Africanpath, one concerning their main service, which can be compared to a news site, and the other a social network. The review of the social network is coming soon.

What is it: Africanpath is a place any everyday African can go to get their weekly dose of information. Very similar services like CNN.com and other news site, African path is your one stop place online to know what is happening in Africa

The articles at Africanpath are engaging and slight challenging. So heading there for your fix of news isn’t exactly boring. The stories as far as I can tell are constantly updated and moderately relevant to Africans .

The design is OK, but leaves a little bit more to be desired. The design is like eating chips without ketchup. Some will like it, others will feel a little disappointed.

They’re main services include

• Blogs: They have a big number of bloggers who arre constantly releasing stories
• News: Stories across Africa, at the click of the button
• Business: Almost like an online magazine, telling you of African business men you don’t know, but maybe should.
• TV: not exactly sure what this service is all about, but they said something about streaming videos online to watch. Right now service seems to be down or unavailable.

What Others Are Saying:

meskelsquare Says: African Path is created to fill a void in the marketplace for a strong Pan-African web site where news content and blogging can be merged into a unified voice. A lot of African bloggers are discussing issues relevant to the continent but online exposure to these blogs is limited.

Global Voices: African Path is one of the most exciting African citizen media projects. It is an online platform whose content comes from bloggers, readers, artists, and specialists. It also aggregates news on Africa from different sources.

Screenshot

Founder: Joshua Wanyama

This post is another one of the rants here at TLC Studio, so if you are not up to it, its better to skip.

In Africa, the whole theme of bridging the digital divide is a major issue. I bet there are like thousands of people not sleeping right now trying to figure out a solution to this.

How do you play catch up, how do work to reach your ever moving peers?

Who knows, its like a clever boy in school who is falling behind in class and decides its time to get the As everyone else is getting. Its a very interesting issue, and for me the below needs to be done

• Improve the quality of our universities. The young are the most able and capable ( also willing) to put the time, effort and knowledge to work hard to improve all that is tech in Africa.

The state of universities right now ( they are not bad, but they are not excellent either) is one of the reasons we are falling behind.

• More programs ( the government also has to get involved) to support and fund people with vision and love for technology, so their ideas don’t die
• Hiring clever talented people from abroad to teach, work, and show us the best in technology. Home grown talent is good, but the best of the best in the world is better.
• A revised school curriculum and plan which teaches kids about computers and the internet from a very early age.

This is what will help breach the gap I think. What I always keep in mind is the fact that we as we try to catch up, our peers are always in motion.

This post was inspired by this article.

Note: This post was written with very little research and does not cover all startups in Africa, just the trends.This post is written from authors own personal experience, so may not relate to everyone.

To grow is to diversify, to spread your wings and attack something which is not usually set in your sights. That is what growth to me means, a challenge to see where else you can grow, and how fast.

The general trend in Africa, however is that most startups start locally and aim locally and do all their stuff locally. There is no problem with that, actually that rocks, I know people who have done great things by fighting for their peice of the nieghbourhood.

However I wish they were more international African web 2.0 sites. They are some impressive ones out there like synthasite, but they should be more. The trend it seems is to aim for the local market, with minor exceptions.

The problem with that to me is that in local markets, there is a part in which is written

This is the limit of growth.

As African web 2.0 guys I hope we would aim for the world ( whih means billions), whilst taking care of our region ( meaning millions), more so than the other way around.

Extra Links

A different perspective on the story at allafrican.