Category: General

Cheap Android Tablets – Got one at R999.00

I was so exited when India announce their long awaited $35 android tablet; akaash they call it –a hindi phrase meaning sky. I have since been keenly following the Aakash story [1, 2] and also started digging for information to try and find out how datawind managed to lower their unit cost of production to a shocking $45 (the indian Indian government has formulated a grand plan to then subsidize it to $35 to indian university students). (more…)

Pay as You Earn Calculator – Zambia

There has been a lot of hype [1, 2, 3] about Zambia’s supposedly “Pro-Poor” 2012 budget… and rightfully so –it is perhaps the one most significant piece of evidence linking the Patriotic Front [4] to their Socialist agenda. The one thing everyone seems to be talking about though is the new PAYE Tax bands; and effective April 1, 2012 the new personal tax rates in Zambia be as depicted in table below. (more…)

Free International SMS using Gmail SMS

A couple of weeks ago, I sent out a tweet about how cost effect and convenient I was finding Gmail SMS –I mean I am behind a machine 95% of the time so clearly, its something quite useful for me… Plus, its 100% free –compare that with the R1.74 (ZMK1218) I have to pay for each SMS I send to Zambia if I use Vodacom. I think that very few people who read my tweet actually understood the idea behind it, and so I decided to write a short article about it, with the hope that someone else out there will find this service useful –as I do :D . (more…)