The Popularity of Programming Languages in Africa

The Next 2 Billion: China-Africa Relations

The Costs of Doing Business in Africa

Typekit For Arabophones: Arabic Fonts When You Want Them
Angolphone (and speakers of languages with similar alphabets) have many tools available to work with type on the web. As design becomes more sophistocated, designers need better and better tools to manage fonts online. TypeKit, for example, is a tool that will allow designers to use embeded professional fonts without requiring the end-user to download new fonts, however, the foundries and designers currently working on the project do not have plans to include non-Western fonts. The lack of Arabic fonts available for Windows, Apple, and Linux systems has long frustrated arabophone web designers, especially as they see their anglopphon

This Ain’t a Phone, It’s An Arms Race
It goes without saying that mobile is exciting business these days across Africa. Chris Andrews writes…. If you want a picture of explosive growth in mobile communications, look to Africa. A report from The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has found that between 2003 and 2008, mobile subscriptions surged from 54 million to almost 350 million; or a 550% increase in five years. In 2008, the report found, Gabon, Seychelles, a

Google Trader Extends Service to Web Users
Earlier this year Google introduced a suite of SMS services that brought things like search and electronic market places to the mobile devices so common to East Africa. Last week, in addition to their massive Geospatial technology conference, Google announced that they were launching a web platform for one of those products…Google Trader. Essentially, Google Trader is an online marketplace like we’ve seen a thousand of before; a place people can visit to search for, buy and

More Fiber Optic in West Africa
A few months ago, Phase3 Telecoms launched a plan to connect Ghana to Nigeria via Togo and Benin. This week, Phase3 finally signed an agreement with Benin and Togo’s Communauté Electrique du Bénin (CEB), allowing them to lay and operate fiber using the two-country network of powerlines. In an interview with Russel Southwood of Balancing Act, Phase3 outlines their plans to launch the fibre network in Q2 of 2010. The network will plug into undersea cables in Accra, Cotonou, and Lagos. Phase3 hopes to create a redundant network, allowing their clients to avoid month long outages like the one caused by the SAT-3 cut in Benin in August. Phase3’s Nigeri

OpenStreetMaps to Map Kenyan Slum
Kiberia, Nairobi’s million-person slum, will be mapped in November through a project initiated by OpenStreetMap and Jump Start International. OpenStreetMap’s Humanitarian team will collaborate with young Kenyans to map the slum and share the results. From the press release (PDF): Twelve young residents of Kibera will first be trained on current mapping techniques during a two-day workshop. Individuals from the growing Nairobi technology scene will help train and network with the larger community. The group will then map all of Kibera over a two-week period in mid-November and share the results