Your Internet Bundles tariffs -- how affordable are they?

Our mobile network environment has been dominated by one party for so long that we are not really keen to check the price differences for the data plans available especially if you are on post pay plans.As smartphones are increasingly being acquired and mobile apps usage expands, we are frequently online knowingly and unknowingly and therefore getting the best rates for these online activities could save you some stress, i mean some money. 

Below see the comparison or the 3 major player, i mean the major player safaricom compared to other upcoming...we all want to be smart with our money yes?.

SAFARICOM DATA BUNDLES

AIRTEL DATA BUNDLES

• Bundle
• Rate
• Validity
• FREE Modem

• 50MB
• 80
• 30 Days
• No

• 200 MB
• 199
• 30 Days
• No

• 500 MB
• 399
• 30 Days
• No

• 1.5 GB
• 1000
• 30 Days
• No

• 3GB
• 1,799
• 30 Days
• Yes

• 4GB
• 2,299
• 30 Days
• Yes

• 8GB
• 3,499
• 30 Days
• Yes

• 20GB
• 8,500
• 30 Days
• Yes

• Bundle
• Rate
• Validity
• FREE Modem

• Monthly Unlimited
• 3,499
• 30 Days
• Yes

 ORANGE INTERNET

Now you know which to go with for the best pricing.

Internet of Things -- is online privacy dead?

Privacy is a hot-button issue in the tech world. Privacy is often thought of as a moral or a legal right. But is it really possible to maintain privacy on the internet?

Most internet users would like to be anonymous online, but many think it is not possible to be completely anonymous online.  Many internet users have experienced problems because others stole their personal information or otherwise took advantage of their visibility online.

Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, re-purposing, provision to third parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Internet privacy is a subset of computer privacy. Privacy concerns have been articulated from the beginnings of large scale computer sharing.

What online activities  reveal our data or information?

• Signing up for internet service -- the ISP company know your IP address & could reveal to third parties.
• Browsing the internet by use of search engines, cookies..
• Using email 
• Using Mobile apps
• etc

How do people get my online information? According to www.privacyrights.org people get your info. through;

• Marketing -- The Internet can be useful to businesses for marketing purposes.  Through the Internet, businesses can sell and communicate with customers.  The Internet also allows businesses to identify and learn about their customer base. 
• Behavioral marketing or targeting -- refers to the practice of collecting and compiling a record of individuals' online activities, interests, preferences, and/or communications over time. Companies engaged in behavioral targeting routinely monitor individuals, the searches they make, the pages they visit, the content they view, their interactions on social networking sites, and the products and services they purchase.
• Location tracking -- Any website or app can determine the approximate location of your computer or device by using one of several technologies.  If you are using a computer, your IP address can identify your approximate location.  Most IP addresses can identify you by your city or metropolitan area.  Some can identify a more specific location.
• Web bugs. Many websites use Web bugs to track who is viewing their pages.  A Web bug (also known as a tracking bug, pixel tag, Web beacon, or clear gif) is a graphic in a website or a graphic-enabled e-mail message.  The Web bug can confirm when the message or page is viewed and record the IP address of the viewer.
• Employee monitoring Individuals who access the Internet from work should know that employers are increasingly monitoring the Internet sites that employees visit.  Be sure to inquire about your employer's online privacy policy. If there is none, recommend that such a policy be developed. If you are unsure of what the policy is or if there is no policy, assume everything you do on your work computer is being monitored.
• Nigerian 419 letters. Nigerian 419 letters, also called advance-fee scams, are sent via e-mail to millions of people.  The letters typically relay a story of a foreign person who has inherited a windfall of money, but needs help in getting the money out of the country.  The sender offers the recipient a share of the money for help in transferring the money.   The assistance required is usually to front money to pay for "taxes," "attorneys costs," "bribes," or "advance fees.”  Although this scam sounds far-fetched the FBI reports that the average financial loss from these scams is $3,000.
• Malicious Links -- It is very easy to get duped into clicking on a malicious link. If you click on a malicious link, you will most likely be taken to a site that tricks you into providing personal information that can then be used to steal your money, or even worse, your identity. Clicking on a dangerous link could also cause malware to automatically download onto your computer.

According to Jat & Julia of The Guardian dot com;

If the web is anything to go by, the new hyper-connected world will only make things worse for privacy. Potentially much worse. More services and more things only mean more data being generated and exchanged. The increase in data volume and complexity might plausibly result in less control. It’s a reasonable assumption, and it leaves privacy in a rather sorry state.

The Big Brother question..???

According to Michelle V. Rafter of MSN dot com, Big Brother may be watching, but you don't have to make it easy for him. She recommends the below  tips for maintaining your online privacy;

Use encryption. Popular email programs such as Microsoft Outlook and Gmail have built-in encryption. So do websites that use Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), the latest communications security protocol. You can tell whether a website has HTTPS protection by looking at the site's URL in your browser's address bar. If the URL starts with "https" instead of "http" it has an extra protection, called secure socket layer (SSL), built in. Sites with HTTPS encrypt personal data and other sensitive information that users may share on the site

Shield your IP address. Downloaded to a desktop, laptop or smartphone, software programs such as AnchorFree's HotSpot Shield or Easy-Hide-IP mask the device's IP address, rendering it undetectable by the NSA, hackers, police, Internet service providers, or anyone else.

Become anonymous. The Internet's version of an underground railroad is Tor, a free, volunteer-run worldwide chain of more than 3,000 Internet network relays that anyone can use to conceal their identity and Internet activity from surveillance and traffic analysis.

Use a virtual private network. Another option for becoming the Invisible Man or Woman online is logging on through a personal virtual network. Software programs such as proXPN VPN create a secure, encrypted Internet connection and masked IP address for a home computer, laptop or other device. The software can act as an extra layer of protection if you're going online over a public Wi-Fi network at a coffee shop or airport, which might not be password protected.

Keep anti-virus updated. You may hate what it does to your PC, but if you don't have anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-phishing software on the devices you use to connect to the Internet, and you do get hacked, you'll hate it even more.

Clearly online privacy is one major issue that's here to stay but maybe we can start to be more mean with our information online, maybe its time to start taking action. What better way than to check out all your in-app privacy settings? You might be amazed at how much data you display to the world out there!

Evolution of technology - the growth

Growing up in the early 90s, only a handful of our neighbors owned television boxes and 99% of these were black & white screens. It was always a normal habit to knock at your buddies house door at 8:30 pm just to catch up on the captivating local drama Tausi on television. We all had something to say about Rukia, a lead actress in it. Radio stations were 2 or 3 with two of those being KBC English service & KBC Swahili stations. This is when sun-downer  was the coolest music session. I must admit i used to listen to my neighbors every evening since they couldn't miss the show.

A black & white TV with a multicolored screen                

It is unbelievable how technology & gadgets have caught up with us in just a short period of less than 2 decades. We are now having approximately 2 Million television set owners are in the rural areas while 1.4 Million live in the urban centers. These gadgets are now easily available and not only that but the technology has improved so much that we subscribe for TV viewing. We are now seeing introduction of more and more computer training in schools starting at the lower level of primary. As for mobile phones that's a whole new revelation.

An IT teacher in session


A young students class being introduced to computers

Computer lessons in schools has grown in the recent past as more and more people take up computers to run their lives. The government & non-government institutions have increased their support tremendously in the supply of computers to schools to enable our young be tech savvy at an early age. I remember that it was just the other day 2004 that i opened my first email address, Yahoo! of course. With a funny name that would have been an embarrassment to keep to-date.

Yahoo email logo 

The combination of multiple solutions into one gadget like a smartphone has completely changed how we learn and communicate.This has also totally revolutionized how we receive and propagate information. Smartphones have combined the different technologies and services into one, we have radios, TV, music players, internet among others all in one.

As we continue to witness this revolution with more and more innovations, we can agree that we are now under the rule of the machines, the computers. We have a new culture connecting the whole world, we are now a digital people using machines to accomplish tasks faster & more efficiently than ever in all areas of our lives. 


Technology in our hands

The world at our finger tips today.

Wi-Fi vs Wired/Ethernet technology..

According to Janko Roettgers of Gigaon, Wi-Fi will reign supreme by 2015, for the first time causing more worldwide IP traffic than wired devices, according to new data from Cisco. However, mobile network operators aren't off the hook just yet: Their networks will see data consumption grow 26-fold from 2010 to 2015.

He was talking on a report released by Cisco & here are some other key findings of the report;      --Global IP traffic will reach 966 Exabytes per year in 2015, up from 242 Exabytes in             2010.

• --The biggest driver for the global traffic growth will be video, which will account for 62 percent of consumer Internet traffic in 2015 (up from 40 percent in 2010).

• --P2P growth will slow, and P2P traffic will only account for 16 percent of global consumer Internet traffic in 2015 (down from 40 percent in 2010).

• --The Asia-Pacific region will become the biggest source of IP traffic, consuming 24.1 Exabytes per month in 2015, compared to 22.3 Exabytes per month for North America. In 2010, North America was ahead with 7 Exabytes, with the Asia-Pacific region seeing 5.4 Exabytes per month.

• --Worldwide, the average Internet household will consume 61.8 GB of bandwidth per month in 2015. Last year, it consumed merely 17.1 GB per month. A growing chunk of this bandwidth will be caused by passive networking, e.g. a PC downloading a software update in the background.

Lets compare Wi-Fi & Wired networks..


Wi-Fi is the industry name for wireless local area network (WLAN) communication technology related to the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless networking standards. BTW Wi-fi is a not the short name for Wireless Fidelity as many think. It isn't a short form of anything (read more  http://boingboing.net/2005/11/08/wifi-isnt-short-for.html)

The 802.11 standard is defined through several specifications of WLANs. It defines an over-the-air interface between a wireless client and a base station or between two wireless clients.

WiFi standards include -- 

802.11: This pertains to wireless LANs and provides 1- or 2-Mbps transmission in the 2.4-GHz band using either frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) or direct-sequence spread spectrum (DSSS)

802.11a: This is an extension to 802.11, that pertains to wireless LANs and goes as fast as 54 Mbps in the 5-GHz band. 802.11a employs the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) encoding scheme as opposed to either FHSS or DSSS.

802.11b: The 802.11 high rate Wi-Fi is an extension to 802.11 that pertains to wireless LANs and yields a connection as fast as 11 Mbps transmission (with a fallback to 5.5, 2, and 1 Mbps depending on strength of signal) in the 2.4-GHz band. The 802.11b specification uses only DSSS. Note that 802.11b was actually an amendment to the original 802.11 standard added in 1999 to permit wireless functionality to be analogous to hard-wired Ethernet connections.

802.11g: This pertains to wireless LANs and provides 20+ Mbps in the 2.4-GHz band.

Five Reasons to Go Wireless

1. Increased mobility and collaboration

2. Better access to information

3. Easier network expansion

4. Enhanced guest access

5. Improved responsiveness

Wired Networks.. also known as Ethernet; Is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs). Its a system for connecting a number of computer systems to form a local area network, with protocols to control the passing of information and to avoid simultaneous transmission by two or more systems.

There are three basic systems people use to set up wired networks. An Ethernet system uses either a twisted copper-pair or coaxial-based transport system. The most commonly used cable for Ethernet is a category 5 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable -- it's useful for businesses who want to connect several devices together, such as computers and printers, but it's bulky and expensive, making it less practical for home use.

Depending on how many computers you're working with, the office layout and other factors -- a wired network may make more sense than a wireless one.

Some of the major advantages of a wired network include;

Security

As wired networks are connected by physically plugging in a cable from one device to another, it is much more difficult to access them without authorization

Reliability

Wired networks bring with them a reliable, constant download and upload speed unaffected by the environment. As these networks are closed off and don't travel through the air, they aren't susceptible to fluctuations in speed or interference from other wireless devices. 

Distance

The fastest 802.11n Wi-Fi speed currently in widespread use can achieve a maximum range of 250 feet in the most ideal conditions, although substandard hardware, interference from other devices and physical obstacles such as walls and floors can substantially reduce this distance. Ethernet cabling, in contrast, can stretch up to 330 feet without any loss of quality. If you have a lot of floor space to cover, then a wired solution enables you to stretch your network further than a wireless one.

Ease of Use

The details depend on the computers and devices on your network, but broadly speaking, plugging an Ethernet cable into a laptop or printer is enough for it to recognize the network and get connected. There's no playing around with scanning for available networks, inputting security keys or trying to locate an area with a strong Wi-Fi signal.

There you have it. You now have a clue on the differences between the two types of networks. I personally prefer a wired connection when i need reliability & a wireless for its..wait for it..well for its "wirelessness"!