Everybody is a foreigner

I don’t know very much about Swiss politics. But I am reacting to the SVP posters. Everybody is a foreigner, almost everywhere. I didn’t select the family, city, country or continent I was born into.

Nom de web: Nchenga

Today I talked to @sufranke about an event I am planning at the day job. Before long I was explaining how I was fascinated by the power of blogs and Twitter and the possibility they offer to bypass the gatekeepers who decide which media content you are supposed to consume. In my case, blogs and… Continue reading Nom de web: Nchenga

Chiperoni via RSS reader and email

I was surprised to see that I have over 60 subscribers on Feedburner. Maybe RSS feeds are not yet dead after all. Feedburner stats: The Chiperoni feed is here. If you would like to receive Chiperoni website updates via email, subscribe here: Enter your email address: Related quote via Dave Winer, the inventor of RSS… Continue reading Chiperoni via RSS reader and email

Get a blog!

Via this tweet, I stumbled across this article: “A new study from Forrester Research has found a decline in the number of content creators across social networking sites, even while general use and participation on these sites has risen.” High time to start blogging and creating content. I personally feel that we are moving back… Continue reading Get a blog!

Chiperoni goes Mobile (kind of)

As part of my ongoing research regarding internet access via low bandwidth connections, I saw App+frica displaying a mobile version at http://appfrica.net/blog/. I installed the same MobilePress plugin and activated it a few minutes ago. Based on the plugin description, it should detect if you’re accessing the website with a mobile device and display a… Continue reading Chiperoni goes Mobile (kind of)

Intro to SEO and SEM

I am faced with the challenge to explain SEO and SEM in a 1 hour presentation. The audience consists of business folks. Where to start explaining is the hard part. Also there are so many myths in this area – garnered by SEO vendors selling their services as a “Wunderwaffe” for instant web traffic success.… Continue reading Intro to SEO and SEM

Return of the Blog

Gigaom recently published an article that highlights an important point. A point that has been resonating through my head since Lift 07: In this incredible sea of data that surround us, what happens to my data when a service like Twitter or Flickr or FriendFeed is sold to another company. Gigaom writes: The cynical me… Continue reading Return of the Blog

Malawi Twitterers

As Malawi celebrates independence day tomorrow, here is a list of Malawi twitterers you might like to follow: Vincent Kumwenda – currently at Muloza border, Mulanje; topics include Malawi news, world news, interesting Malawi web pages, and soccer. He also writes a blog. Fred Bvalani – in Blantyre; tweets about mobile applications and phones, Oracle… Continue reading Malawi Twitterers

Social Media News Room

Cyberwiter posted the above tweet on using social media to enhance your company’s online news room. The article lists ways how to aggregate text, images, audio and video to make it useful for corporations and their target audience. Ein gutgemachter Social Media Newsroom ist essentiell für die Online-PR: Er … 1. eröffnet einen schnellen Zugang… Continue reading Social Media News Room

Hiding in Full Public View

In January my stats dropped to an all time low. There are a number of reasons, I guess. One reason is that I haven’t been writing much lately. Just an occasional link. Short cross-references to my Flickr stream. That’s it. Another reason is my retro-style homepage, which points to my other life stream options (Twitter,… Continue reading Hiding in Full Public View

How to Resize Photos

My family’s email account in Blantyre was blocked twice in the past week, due to well-meaning but over-sized Christmas and New Year email greetings. Attachments with over 2 MBs. The family is still on a phone line with a very slow connection rate. And downloading emails with a large attachment takes forever and a day.… Continue reading How to Resize Photos

The Fabric of the ‘Net

Kevin Marks picks up the recent meme on blogging being dead/old-fashioned/out-dated. He says: Blogging… has become part of the fabric of the net See these blog posts and articles: Nick Carr: Who killed the blogosphere? The Economist: Oh, grow up! Some things don’t change, though. Old and dying media still feel the need to criticize… Continue reading The Fabric of the ‘Net

Blogging is so 2004

LOL at this Wired article! Thinking about launching your own blog? Here’s some friendly advice: Don’t. And if you’ve already got one, pull the plug. I agree with the author. Blogging is so 2004. For the record: I installed WordPress on this server in September 2004. Time to pull the plug. Follow me on Twitter,… Continue reading Blogging is so 2004

Zemanta

I am learning a lot from the African blogs I am reading… App+frica recently wrote about useful web applications for bloggers in developing countries. In his list he mentions Zemanta: Zemanta, which just scored a new round of funding from Union Square Ventures, is a huge time saving tool. It’s a browser-side plug-in that scans… Continue reading Zemanta

Is the blog hype over?

Today I* was asked: Is the blog hype over? My answer: Yes, the hype is over, but blogs are still around and will not disappear any time soon. In my humble opinion, blogs are becoming more and more mainstream (read “boring” for all of those geeks looking for the next big wave). Reasons: I no… Continue reading Is the blog hype over?

Meeting Mlle A.

Last Saturday I met the elusive and mysterious Mlle A. at a coffee place* in Hannover. Once or twice during the conversation there was a cross-reference to something I or Mlle. A. had written or linked to. And for me that’s one of the powerful side-effects of blogging: there’s a regular reader’s familiarity built over… Continue reading Meeting Mlle A.

If you have something to say

The case for blogging, beyond the hype: If you have something to say, then a blog offers a cheap, easy global medium in which to express yourself. This is as true now as it was three years ago, regardless of what the groovy cats in Silicon Valley may be up to. Whether you have the… Continue reading If you have something to say

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Ant hill phone booth

Remember I wrote about the villagers in northern Malawi that climb an ant hill to get GSM reception? Looks like Soyapi saved the newspaper article and passed it on to Mike: Ant hill phone booth (Insert comment on power of blogging, impossible is nothing, etc.)