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Showing posts from August, 2013

Think Ghana on this day of the Supreme Court Verdict

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Frankly, I had tuned off all the election petition talk all year but today, I can't ignore it. Because today is the day of the supreme court judgment. All the funny pictures (with weaponry in them too) and jokes have caught my attention. Apparently, we Ghanaians joke so that we don't take things too seriously, Nice explanation. Ghana should be the winner today. Let's think Ghana. Here's a cool picture from the Daily Graphic. Sums up today in a really nice way. That's all I have to say. Back to work. This blog post took just about 2:33 minutes to finish :-) 

Celebrating International Youth Day in Ghana

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I only learnt about International Youth Day coming up when a lady who works in the UN alerted me about it when I emailed her about +Barcamp Tema . She wanted to know if they were connected. They weren't and they still haven't exactly been. Barcamp Tema was the 21st Barcamp organized in Ghana and it's a number that's been seen as highly impressive every time it's been mentioned as this has all happened in 5 years. Yeah, we ain't stopping till we hit Tuabodom, Tain and (Cape) Three Points. Follow the movement . Earlier this morning, I was made aware that I was going to be featured & highlighted by the  +US Embassy Ghana  and celebrated as part of International Youth Day celebrations in Ghana. Later, the featuring happened, and just around 2:33pm or as close as possible. I was featured alongside  +Alloysius Attah   +Kajsa Hallberg Adu   +Deborah Ahenkorah  and  +regina agyare  (all of whom have participated in Barcamps before, awesome!) Here's the po

Persevering with the Junior Camp Ghana project via St. Augustine's College

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After the successful organization of Junior Camp Ketasco and the implementation of Junior Camp Kalpohin ,  the next in line was Junior Camp Augusco. Cape Coast has always been a hotbed of educational institutions and it was prudent that it would host one of the earliest Junior camps. The  +Barcamp Cape Coast  team was bent to follow through a career guidance and mentoring event as part of the  +Junior Camp Ghana  project after the  +Barcamp Ho  and  +Barcamp Tamale  teams had taken the lead. St. Augustine's College became the third school thanks to the efforts of its teacher  +agent wilson seyram ameamu  amongst others. Junior Camp Augusco happened on July 27, 2013. The key learning here is teachers can really help drive ideas and solutions home. +nathaniel ALPHA  who had organized the first junior camp had just taken a leadership role on the project. Nathaniel is quite the vimful guy. He's a fresh graduate out of Keta Secondary School and is bent on taking the Junior C

Expanding the Junior Camp Ghana project via Kalpohin Senior High School

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 We have Ketasco students to thank for the formation of the  +Junior Camp Ghana  project. This project is to guide and mentor senior high school students in Ghana to give them insight and guidance on their academic and career ladders. You can read about the story of the first Junior Camp held at Keta Senior Technical School and it happened here . This event would borne out of what some Ketasco students (especially +nathaniel ALPHA ) saw while attending  +Barcamp Tema  &  +Barcamp Ho . It happened on January 30, 2013. The next one happened on July 13, 2013. In a school you would have never guessed. Kalpohin Senior High School in Tamale. Yes, I didn't know of this school until this year either. Big ups to  +Naomi Selorm ,  +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  and the  +Barcamp Tamale  team for making the event happen. After the success of Junior Camp Ketasco , the GhanaThink Foundation was looking for opportunities to do other Junior Camps . After seeing a Tema focused Junior Camp (to

Comparing the Samsung S4 to the Tecno Phantom A

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Chinese Telecom company Tecno has sold over 2 million phones in Ghana and is poised to eat into Samsung’s market share for Android phones in Ghana too. In this post, I’d compare the new Tecno Phantom A to the Samsung S4 . The latter is the flashiest baby on the block of Samsung Android Phones. The HTC One and Sony Xperia Z are a couple of other top-end Android smart phones but haven’t quite had the impact on the African continent as the S4. I’ve seen quite a number of S4s in Ghana and it was quite a statement when one of the local telecom operators organized an experiential launch of the Samsung S4 in Ghana earlier this year.  Samsung S4’s quad 1.9 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor is better suited for the smart phone use than the Phantom A’s 1 GHz Dual-Core processor. This is most important for phone users who do a lot of gaming, and media consumption. If the phone is for more regular use, there’s not much to give as per the respective hardware . The Tecno Phantom A  arr

Revealing the technological reality of the Tecno Phantom A

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Conservative estimates put Tecno Telecom as having sold about 2 million phones in Ghana. The introduction of the Tecno Phantom A is to make a dent on the existing Android market in Ghana and Africa. The economic benefit is the loudest statement that the phone makes, selling at Five hundred and forty Ghana cedis (540 GhC ).  That’s about $270 . The Phantom A is a very good deal. A relative of mine talked down the price as something to expect from Tecno as their phones as cheap. It was said tongue in cheek but I ensured she checked out the features and used the phone to notice how good it really is. Tecno wading into the Android market won’t be as easy as having a very good price point. Users will have to love the phone’s performance and productivity to make the Phantom A a best seller. In this blog post, I would go on to outline the phone’s functionality and performance. I would compare it to a major phone in this market in my next blog post.  The Tecno Phantom A runs on the A

Tweeting my #LightHouse Chapel experience in Accra

I was at church again today! What an experience it was. I won't talk plenty. I blogged this thing already while at the Light House Chapel Airport West service :-) At the Lighthouse Chapel branch of Airport West. Almost all the young ladies have worn African wear, n many guys too. Lovely. #lighthouse — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) August 4, 2013 Lighthouse folks have seen the light o. This house is full of very nice African attires. Spoting n shaddering be what! #lighthouse — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) August 4, 2013 I love wearing African attires . But you may know that already. I love seeing people wearing African attires. Especially my sisters. Ghana mmaa ho É”  f É› ! The ladies had 'spoated' paa! Some of the dresses had been made with about 5 different pieces of fabric. My people are full of colour. I was just loving this.   If you sit there n say this traditional 'African' material is from Holland n China, God is watching you :-) #lighthouse — Ato U

Zouk my love for Kizomba music, make my move for Kizomba dance in Accra

Instead of going to Afrikiko to go and sharpen my poor Kizomba dancing skills, I am here at home 'working' and listening a playlist of Kizomba songs. That sounds like something I would do but not Roberto Saudades . When he is in the right environment, he can really get his Kizomba grooves on. Since I am not really Roberto, I have some learning to do. I basically want to be able to move like this on the dance floor. See the video below I became a huge fan of Kizomba music as I continued looking for music from Angola. I discovered musicians like Ary , Ralph Anselmo and Yola Araujo . I knew of Perola and Bruna Tatiana already. In fact, Bruna is my Facebook friend. Grande som ! Bruna had made a name for herself participating in Big Brother Africa and even coming to Ghana. How I wish she would come again, to Ghana? #Coded. Yeah. Perola had a couple of hot songs, disappeared for a bit and then reappeared with this classic - Presta Atencao . And then Ary came out with Vai Da