Guess who won mobile phone of the year award? It is not iPhone

The List of tech winners is published below.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has beaten the iPhone 4 and a host of other mobiles to claim T3's phone of the year award.

It is the first time for three years that Apple or HTC have not won the category.

Talking about the handset, judges said: "Not content with pretty much owning internet search, Google has turned Android into a real threat to Apple's dominance on both mobiles and tablets."

Gadget of the year went to the Microsoft Xbox Kinect.

The console also picked up the gaming gadget of the year.

T3 Editor, Luke Peters, said: "The Kinect is not only an amazing gadget for today, it's a mouth-watering technological prospect for tomorrow too."

Other winners included Apple's iPad 2 (Tablet), Amazon's Kindle (Commuter gadget) and the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9780 (word gadget).

Apple picked up three awards in total with Samsung also winning the TV of the year.

Twitter was voted digital media service of the year while Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg picked up the gadget personality prize.

The winners were as follows:

Phone of the year: Samsung Galaxy S2

Tablet of the year: Apple iPad 2

Work gadget of the year: RIM BlackBerry Bold 9780

Innovation of the year: Razer Switchblade

Commuter gadget of the year: Amazon Kindle

Digital camera of the year: Canon Powershot G12

Gadget accessory of the year: Eye-Fi X2

Gaming gadget of the year: Microsoft Xbox Kinect

T3 design award: Apple MacBook Air 11-inch

Tech brand of the year: Google

App of the year: Flipboard

Digital media service of the year: Twitter

Music gadget of the year: Monster Beats by dre Dre Pro Studio

Home gadget of the year: Philips Airfryer

Retailer of the year: Amazon

Computer of the year: Apple MacBook Air 11-inch

Gadget personality of the year: Mark Zuckerberg

TV of the year: Samsung 8000 Series (UE55D8000)

Outstanding contribution to technology: Sir David Attenborough

Gadget of the year: Microsoft Xbox Kinect

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Blackberry Crashed and Caused Widespread Disruption across Europe, Middle East, Africa

Summary: BlackBerry service has been widely disrupted across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, after a fault at a near-London datacenter.

BlackBerry services across Europe, the Middle East and Africa have crashed, causing widespread disruption across the continents.

The glitch began disrupting services from 11am (GMT) after a service failed in one of Research in Motion’s datacenters in Slough, near London.

Users have been unable to browse the web, send or receive email messages across personal accounts, or use the popular BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging service. It is thought that at least 70 million subscribers around the world are BlackBerry customers, with as many as 50 percent of that in the European region affected.

Although corporate accounts do not seem to be affected at this time, tens of millions of BlackBerry consumers are nonetheless suffering with this outage.

Research in Motion in the UK confirmed that it is aware of the problem and is “investigating”. In a tweet, it states that “Some users in EMEA [Europe, Middle East, Africa] are experiencing issues. We’re investigating and we apologise for any inconvenience”.

T-Mobile UK confirmed the outage in a tweet this morning for UK customers, while in Bahrain the entire country is affected by a BlackBerry blackout, confirms network provider Batelco. Vodafone Egypt points the finger directly at BlackBerry manufacturer stating in a tweet to a customer: “There is a Blackberry outage, it’s from RIM side” [sic].

I noticed personally this morning when email messages were slow to come through; only to return home from coffee to discover an Outlook full of emails.

Though the company have yet to explain what the problem is, one can speculate that it could be as a result of the upgrade to BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) 4.1, the next-generation email service, for which only affects consumers.

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In Uganda You can buy ticket using your mobile phone

In Summary

Telecom operator MTN is considering the introduction of mobile ticketing to solve problems in Uganda’s ticketing market.

Telecom operator MTN is considering the introduction of mobile ticketing to solve problems in Uganda’s ticketing market.

Mr Steven Kirenga, the business products manager at MTN, said the company is willing to implement MyTicket, a mobile network-based ticket selling and buying solution. “We are holding internal discussions to see whether it can work for us. We can join hands to see that we make it a better application,” he said at a press conference in Kampala yesterday.

The consideration comes at a time when thousands of Ugandans are struggling to buy the Uganda verses Kenya Africa Cup of Nations qualifier football game, which is due to be played in Kampala tomorrow.

MyTicket was developed by a team of Makerere University graduates including: Nanghaka Daniel, Mordecai Musonge, and Emmanuel Odidiet. According to Mr Nanghaka the team leader, the mobile application will be able to save mobile phone users from the pain of booking and acquiring tickets to major events like the MTN Kampala Marathon.

The mobile ticketing solutions are among the 11 software solutions that were developed within 48 hours by a team of 56 developers during an innovation competition that was held in Kampala last month.

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Google Launches YouTube in Kenya

Search giant, Google launched YouTube in Kenya today. Through Youtube.co.ke, Kenyans would be able to discover and view local content as well as instantly view the most popular videos in Kenya whenever they visit the domain.
Kenyans with slow Internet connections also have the option of using YouTube Feather.

According to Google, YouTube Feather enables users watch pages with the lowest latency possible. It achieves this by severely limiting the features available to the viewer and making use of advanced web techniques for reducing the total amount of bytes downloaded by the browser.

YouTube is also currently available in Swahili and is accessible by scrolling to the bottom of the YouTube homepage, clicking “language” and choosing Kiswahili.
To seed the platform, Google partnered leading Kenyan media companies including the Kenya Broadcastng Corporation and the Nation Media Group’s TV Channel, NTV Kenya.
To learn more, check out the promo video for the launch below.

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Is your iPhone not responding or not operating as expected? These tips will help you resolve most common issues.

We all know that the iPhone is a fantastic invention, but that doesn’t mean that it is not without it’s problems. From low battery life to ridiculous predictive text alterations, there are times when we just want to smash it against the wall, but we can’t because its screen is just so breakable! So, here are our 10 most annoying iPhone problems and tips on how to solve them!

1. Low Battery Life

 

Problem: One of the most common bugbears of the iPhone is that it’s battery runs out so quickly; browse Facebook, listen to a few tunes and send an email or two and suddenly you are in the red!

Solution: The best way to preserve your battery life is to switch off all of the apps and notifications that you don’t need, such as GPS, Wi-Fi and push notifications on useless apps until you need them.

2. Screen Is Easily Broken

Problem: I have lost count of the amount of times that I have dropped my iPhone and watched the flimsy screen splinter into a thousand pieces, knowing that I’m going to have yet another premium tacked on to my insurance bill. The price of having a wonderfully responsive touch screen is that it is very easily broken.

Solution: Get yourself a case. You need to protect your iPhone from the world’s elements, so invest in a tough one with a screen protector.

3. iPhone not responding

Problem: iPhone someimes does not respond. Sometimes searching for network which it cant find and displays 'no service' warning.

Solution: 1. Reastart your iPhone.

To reset iPhone, press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least 10 seconds, until the Apple logo appears. Wait until it comes back on. This may take a while

2. If the above solution does not work, you may need to restore your iPhone back to its original settings.

Please note all downloaded Apps and files will be lost since your iPhone will be restored and behave as a new device. To make sure you do not lose your media data you must save them on your iTunes account. Find the information on how to back-uo your files on the link given below.

To restore your iPhone, first make sure the latest version of iTunes is installed on your machine
Next, connect iPhone to your computer and iTunes will launch automatically. In the left column under Devices, click on your iPhone, then click on Restore in the Summary tab.

For more information about backing up, updating, and restoring your iPhone software, see this article.

4. The Dictionary Won’t Learn New Words

Problem: Autocorrect is a fantastic setting if you are a sloppy texter like me, however if you want to use other languages such as Swahili, or slang or ‘naughty’ words, the iPhone can often correct them to the wrong word!

Solution: There are many ways to try and trick your iPhone into learning new words, but if you want these words to stick, you’ve got to Google it. If you search for new words with Google in Safari it forces your iPhone’s dictionary to remember your ‘new’ words and will retain them forever.
You may also consider downloading a special dictionary App of the language you want to use. 

5. The Next Generation iPhone Always Seems To Be A Lot Better

Problem: Whenever a new iPhone comes out, there’s always something in the back of my mind that makes me think that I should wait for the next one.

Solution: Write to Tim Cook, Steve Jobs successor and complain about his (genius) business model.

If iPhone is still not responding or not operating as expected, try get tips from fellow iPhone users at our iPhone Support Communities.

You can also email me for further help at goody.techmedia@gmail.com 

Enjoy your iPhone

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India Unveils $35 Tablet Computer “Aakash”

With the intent of spreading knowledge and awareness of information technology all across the nation, India is all in readiness to roll out the world's cheapest, government-subsidized tablets computer, pegged at around $35, to myriad needy villagers, especially students, in the countryside.

The tablet dubbed "Aakash", meaning sky in Hindi, has been advertised as the world's cheapest tablet computer.
The tablet is an outcome of years of patient and unnerving efforts made by manufacturer "Datawind", in corporation with the Government of India.

The initial intent was to develop a laptop for as low as $10. But, getting it that cheap was not exactly possible, and hence the government decided to subsidize the product by paying $45 to Datawind for each tablet, especially for its distribution among teachers and students.

The device is powered by "Android", and offers a colorful and sensitive 7-inch touchscreen. It is efficient in managing basic computing functions like using word processor, browsing the web, and even video conferencing.

Weighing no more than 350 grams, the tablet supports 256MB of RAM, two USB slots, and an expandable memory of up to 32GB. In addition, it will provide replacement warranty for 12 months, and will supports variety of file formats such as DOCX, PPTX, PDF, MP3, etc. Aakash also has 3.5mm standard audio jack.

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Teknolojia ni chombo muhim cha maendeleo sio luxury

(Angalizo: Kwenye article hii nitatumia neno IT na ICT kumaanisha kitu kimoja)

Penda usipende teknolojia imeleta mapinduzi makubwa sawasawa na wakati wa industrial revolution. Nchi nyingi zimepiga hatua kubwa kwa kuona umuhim wa kuwekeza kwenye sekta hii. Makampuni kama Amazon.com yamechukua full advantage of IT kutengeneza mamilion ya hela, kutoa huduma kwa jamii na kuajiri maelfu. Hata hivyo kusuasua na kusita kuwekeza kwenye teknolojia kumedhoofisha nchi nyingi na makampuni mengi.

Japokuwa hali ya uchumi wa dunia unayumba sana, watu wakiishi kwa hofu na mashaka, ni muhimu kuendelea kuhimiza uwekezaji kwenye sekta ya teknolojia. Viongozi katika sekta mbalimbali wamekuwa wakiona IT kama kitu ambacho ni kizuri kuwa nacho lakini sio muhimu sana. Kwa sababu hiyo imani imejengeka kwamba unawekeza zaidi kwenye IT pale unapokuwa kwenye hali nzuri kiuchumi na kuacha ama kutokuipa ICT umuhimu pale mambo ya kiuchumi yanapotetereka. ICT imekuwa victim kila inapotokea bajeti imeyumba.

Kwa kuendelea kuona kwamba IT au ICT sio chombo muhimu cha maendeleo, nchi na jamii zetu zimekuwa zikishindwa kuendana na kasi ya teknolojia. Hata tunapotaka sasa kuwekeza kwenye sekta hii wakati mambo yanapokuwa mazuri kidogo tunakuwa tumeachwa nyuma sana.

Kuwekeza kwenye ICT kunahusisha mambo makuu mawili:

1. Research in technology - hii ina-stimulate innovation

2. ICT/IT consumption - hii inahusisha education; infrastructures; hardware and software acquisation; n.k

Tunawahimiza viongozi kwenye private as well as public sector kubadilika na kujifunza kutoka kwa wengine. Inawezekana bajeti haitoshi, lakini kwa kui-sacrifice ICT ama kutokuona umuhimu wake ni vigumu ku-compete kwenye hii dunia ya leo.

Tunapenda kusisitiza kwamba ICT sio luxury bali chombo muhimu cha maendeleo. Tuendelee kuhimiza uwekezaji kwenye sekta ya teknolojia

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