Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple

Steve Jobs, co-founder and two-time CEO of Apple, offered his resignation to the company’s board Wednesday.

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

Jobs has been in poor health for some time. In January, he announced that he would be taking a medical leave of absence from the company. He returned to the public spotlight in March to help launch the iPad 2.

Jobs advised the board to “execute our succession plan” — by naming Tim Cook to replace him. Cook, formerly the COO of the company, has been standing in for Jobs since January and was widely tipped to be his successor. Cook also stood in for Jobs during his bout with pancreatic cancer in 2004. “The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” said board member Art Levinson, chairman of biotech firm Genentech, in a prepared statement.

This is the resignation letter Steve Jobs sent to the Apple board:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Kikwete: ICT crucial in poverty reduction

President Jakaya Kikwete said in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday that upon its completion, the NICTBB which connects all regions and districts through a 10,000km optic fibre cable will help in achieving Millennium Development Goals.

"There is need to harness ICT to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and development Vision 2025.

"The national ICT policy is geared towards making Tanzania become a hub of ICT infrastructure and solution in terms of economic development and poverty reduction efforts," he said.

Mr Kikwete was officiating at the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) Sixth Annual Connecting Rural Communities African Forum in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday
President Kikwete noted that the theme was timely and relevant for African countries where ICT connectivity in rural areas has remained a challenging task.

"We are facing various challenges in building this network which range from inadequate funds, erratic power supply and human resources...," he said.

He noted that various border posts have already been connected to NICTBB, adding that the move would help in connecting to neighbouring countries.

Available information shows that various landlocked neighbouring countries have expressed interest to use the newly built national ICT backbone to get international links via the submarine cables laid in the Indian Ocean off the East African Coast in 2009.

Such countries include Zambia, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi.

Mr Kikwete noted that in Tanzania, ICT has facilitated rural development and has increased innovation, improved health services and general well-being of people.

"Farmers in Ifakara which is about 400kms from Dar es Salaam can now communicate to a businessman in Dar es Salaam and do all the transactions through M-pesa, this is how the cell-phones have simplified life, thanks to service providers," he said.

Earlier, the CTO Chief Operations Officer, Mr Bashir Patel, noted that African governments should ensure increased access of ICT services in rural areas.

"ICT plays a vital role in poverty alleviation and if implemented thoroughly it will help in achieving MDGs for African countries by 2015," he said.

Mr Patel noted that the fact that over 60 per cent of the population in Africa lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture, lack of connectivity poses a serious challenge for their development.

He emphasized not only in making services available but in ensuring that the services are affordable to all.

"If the government and private sectors work together in this undertaking, there will be a truly sustainable rural connectivity," he said.

In another development, President Kikwete launched a logo that will be used in a campaign to sensitize on the shift from analog to digital technology.

The target is to make sure that the country is using digital system by next year. The campaign will be engineered by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

Helios Towers to invest US$100m in Tanzania

Helios Towers Africa – one of the continent’s leading telecommunications tower operators -  is set to invest US$100 million in Tanzania’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector for five years.

Helios Towers is planning to invest US$100m in Tanzania's telecoms (image: file)

Helios Towers Africa, which was issued its first licence by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority to independently operate a network of telecoms towers, is fast expanding its operations in the East African nation as well as increasing dominance in its country of origin – Mauritius.

Helios Towers Africa Chief Executive Officer, Charles Green, said his company had acquired 1 180 towers and the new investment drive of US$100 million would increase investment in Tanzania.

The US$100 million project is a five-year investment aimed at delivering significant benefits to the Tanzanian market, notably providing higher quality service coverage including in rural communities.

The telecommunications tower sharing plan would allow increased competition between telecoms operators thus lowering costs for customers, and improve  environmental conditions by reducing the number of towers built.

The investment will complement the injected US$130 million Helios directed last year in the acquisition of 1 180 towers.

“We are very pleased to be at the forefront of such an exciting and important new phase in Tanzania’s telecoms industry,” said Green.  “Helios Towers pioneered independent tower sharing in Africa – this model is the best way to ensure accessibility, affordability and the highest quality of communications service through increased efficiency and competition.

Speaking at the issuing of the operating licence, Helios Towers Tanzania Chief Executive Officer Simon Horner said the deal marked a significant moment in the development and growth of Tanzania’s telecoms industry.

“We are deeply committed to delivering the greatest value to all telecoms operators and their customers across Tanzania,” Horner said in a statement.

Dar Developers Dash D3 - Hackthon Nane Nane‏

Hello BarCampDar Attendees,

As was anounced at BarCampDar, we're organising a Hackathon for Nane Nane for all the developers out there to show their skills. 

Description:

We want YOU the best and brightest developers in Tanzania to come match up your coding skills against your fellow developers with big prizes up for grabs. This event is being organized as part of the Startup Tanzania initiative and as a follow on to the successful BarCampDar 2011 held on 7/7.  This competition will be unique in that all the details about what you need to build etc will be provided to you at the start of the event and you will have only 48hours to put together a product demo and present it.

The goal of such events is to devise an application solution on any platform PC (windows, Linux), web or mobile(Symbian, android, iOS, Blackberry OS etc) to an identified problem. The event aims to utilize the shared problem solving abilities of skilled individuals to create solutions that can be utilized in the real world.

Event: Dar Developers Dash D3 - Hackthon Nane Nane

Date: Saturday Aug 6th 9am to Monday Aug 8th 3pm.

Location:
COSTECH Building
Dar Es Salaam
For more information click here: www.startup.co.tz/site/d3

Help us spread the word as well.

YTI on behalf of the Startup Tanzania Team

BARCAMP DAR ES SALAAM

BarCamp as an idea emerged in California at the end of the summer of 2005. Since then, the movement has taken the world by storm. There have now been BarCamp events in over 350 cities across the globe. And now it is Dar es Salaam’s turn. BarCamp Dar 77 is a grassroots movement that aims to foster collaborations and conversations within the city’s Information and Communication Technology community. Launched by a group of Tanzanians made up of technology developers, start-up enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, BarCamp Dar 77 promises to be a landmark event.
The BarCamp format is unique in that it subscribes to the ‘unconference’ rules of engagement. The event is not administered by a single organization or company, rather it is held by an open community of interested individuals. BarCamp draws on the knowledge, experience and passion of the community that hosts it. This style of gathering is participant-driven with attendees simultaneously acting as speakers. BarCamp Dar 77 will provide a platform for open discussions about the current state of the industry,  identify goals for our community and set forth strategies to achieve those goals.

A REPORT ON THE WORKSHOP CONDUCTED ON 28th and 29th OF APRIL ON THE TOPIC

YOUTH TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE

A REPORT ON THE WORKSHOP CONDUCTED ON 28

OF APPLIED ICT IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION

On 28

the workshop.

MODE OF DELIVERY

The workshop was of two hours time and it had four sessions. Session 1 was allocated 15minutes which were used for introducing YTI, its mission, vision and members. Session 2 was allocated one

hour and 15 minutes in which students were given lectures on introduction to computer and allowed to make practices. Session 3 was allocated 20 minutes which were used for lecturing students on

applications of ICT in socio-economic development. The last session was allocated 10 minutes in which students were allowed to ask questions related to ICT in general. The workshop was led by one main instructor who stood infront of the class and gave lectures to students and instructions to assistant instructors who helped students on practicals. The workshop room  had 15 tables whereby each table had 2 to 3 students and one assistant instructor.

MATERIALS DELIVERED

During session two the main instructor gave lectures on introduction to computer, the following areas were the areas of our concentration:-

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switching on and shutting down(four types of shutting down were addressed) a computer

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• application programs, word processing(Ms word, open office) was addressed

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internet and email: google search engine and gmail were addressed

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1. Switching on and shutting down a computer

The main instructor started by showing to students how to switch on a computer(laptop in our case) starting from the point of pluging the AC adopter charge on the laptop, switching on the starting button and waiting for the system to boot up. After showing them, students were allowed to practice how to start a computer with the help of assistant instructors. Then the instructor showed the students how to shut down computer whereby only four options were addressed. The shut down itself, restart, sleep and hibernate options were addressed. Students were allowed to shut down the laptops by using all these options and experience the difference of each option from the other

2. Uses of mouse and keyboard

Students were shown the type of mouse which is used on laptops and the normal peripheral mouse. All actions of mouse were treated for example right-click, left-click, double-click and drag. The laptop keyboard was used to show students the special keys, numbers, letters and function keys together with their functions. After showing all these to students, the assistant instructors guided the students on practices of how to use mouse and keyboard.

3. Application programs

Word processing was the area of our concentration, MS word for laptops which had MS operating systems was addressed and for those with linux open office was addressed. Students were shown how someone can create a word document such as a letter, after being shown they were allowed to create their own documents.

4. Internet and email

Students were lectured what internet and email mean together with their importances whereby education purposes were highly emphasized in the use of internet. Students were taught how to

use the search engines such as google, almost six ways of searching were addressed. Students were also taught how to create and use emails. After being taught they practiced how to search by using google search engine and they created emails by using gmail.

5. Applications of ICT in socio-economic development in the world

The reason for teaching students these applications was to show students the powerfulness and wideness of ICT and how it can act as a bridge to development of any country. ICT in Education and health sector were the areas of our concentration. In education students were taught about e-learning and how to get books and other academic materials from the internet. In health students were taught about Telemedicine and shown how it can help to improve the health sector. Other applications of ICT such as ICT in industries, agriculture, mining and military were just mentioned for simple curiosity.

PARTICIPANTS

The number of students who participated in the workshop was 73 students(38 from Azania and 35 from Chang'ombe) together with 16 YTI members(instructors) and two teachers one from each school.

VENUE

The venue in which the workshop was conducted on 28

 

EQUIPMENTS USED

The working tools which were used are laptops, mice, modems, extension cables and cameras.

During the workshop 17 laptops, 10 mice, 5 modems were used for practicals. Laptops and mice were

used in practicals for all the time while modems were used in the session of internet and emails whereby students were connected to the internet and learned how to use search engines such as google

and how to create and use emails. Ten extension cables were used for connecting the laptops into power suppliers.

OUTCOMES

The workshop met the expected outcomes of YTI, students were very excited and eager to learn more about ICT, the practical session was the most interested session of all, students were very happy to see how powerful are the search engines. This was proved by students themselves through the questions which they asked.

CHALLENGES

1. Insufficient tools for supporting the trainings: YTI is determined to assist students in developing their interests in ICT but still we have no enough working tools for example the last workshop was conducted by using laptops only without a projector.

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We only have 16 laptops therefore we couldn't accommodate a large number of students.

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No enough modems for practicals of internet applications

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We don't have our own projectors for displaying the teaching contents on the board.

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2. Sustainability of the program: the programs which have just started need to be sustainable what we just did is like planting a grain of maize in the desert. Students whom we have taught have no access to computers at their homes, so in order for them to develop what they have received from us, they need regular trainings and practices.

We don't have our own generators for assurance of power supply in case of unreliable power supply.

NB:

YTI is ready to conduct regular trainings and practicals to the students whom we have started with if and only if we are supported to do that, we plan to have our fixed centres where students can come and get the trainings. Right now we can not afford to run such kind of centres.

th of april was the Azania main hall while on 29th the venue was one of the class rooms at Chang'ombe Demostration school.applications of ICT in socio-economc development in the world: ICT in Education and Health were addressed

uses of mouse and keyboard th and 29th of April 2011, YTI conducted a workshop on Applied ICT in socio-economic development at Azania secondary school and Chang'ombe Demostration school respectively. This was done as one of the ways of YTI to accomplish its mission of initiating ICT to studentsThe workshop was intended to provoke the burning desire of learning and liking ICT by heart to students, the idea which YTI believe it will create self-motivated ICT experts. However the workshop aimed at showing to students how broad is ICT, how can ICT be used in Socio-economic activities. The workshop was focused to benefit 80 students, that is 40 students from each school, Azania and Chang'ombe. It was approximated that two students will use one laptop and have one instructor duringth and 29th OF APRIL ON THE TOPIC