IGIHE

Category: Science &Technology

  • New Method of Fish Farming Initiated in Bugesera

    A new method of fish farming is being tried out in Bugesera district lakes where fish is left in the purposely built cases that keep afloat in the water.

    The method limits fish from moving all around water in the lake, with good feeding, they grow quickly promoting fish farming says Wilson Rutaganira the coordinator of PAIGELAC.

    These floating cases are made with small-spaced nets with about 2 meters in height; these nets are tied together around the cases and strengthened by stones to keep them from falling apart.

    This technical program is meant to promote fish farming and increasing the fish production in Rwanda.

    “Ever since we started testing this new method, the fish production increased on much percentage as we plant small fishes weighing about 30-40 grams and in 6 months the same fish weigh in between 400 and 500 grams.” Rutaganira explained.

    With each case having about 2000 small fish, each case produces about 7 tons of fish in the period of six months which is worth Rwf1.4 million when planting and maintaining is worth Rwf1million.

    This method is already being used in all lakes in Ruhondo, Muhazi and Burera district.

    Hope Magazine

  • Prime Minister Sets Deadline for Mukungwa 2 Power Plant

    The Prime Minister Dr. Pierre Damien Habumuremyi has asked the contracted Chinese company to hasten activities of constructing Mukungwa 2 Hydropower plant after activities were said to have slowed down.

    The Premier gave December 15th deadline of completion while calling upon contractors to increase manpower and machinery so that the deadline is met.

    Habumuremyi noted that energy is one of the country’s major concerns underscoring that the country generates only 115 megawatts of electricity while the intended target is 1000 megawatts by 2017.

    The Chinese company is working alongside a Canadian one known as AECOM for construction activities.

    The plant is located in Musanze district of Northern Province and it will generate 2.5 megawatts of power once completed.

  • Korea to Launch Naro Rocket into Space Friday

    (more…)

  • Apple Unveils iPad Mini

    Apple is set to start selling an 8-inch version of the iPad to compete with Amazon.com’s Kindle and other smaller tablets, but it set a higher-than-expected price tag of $329 that Wall Street fears could curb demand.

    Apple’s pencil-thin, smaller iPad Mini will cost much more than its competitors when it goes on sale on Friday, signalling the company is not going to get into a mini-tablet price war.

    The company debuted the iPad Mini on Tuesday, with a screen two-thirds smaller than the full model and half the weight. In a surprise, Apple also revamped its flagship, full-sized iPad just six months after the launch of the latest model.

    Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs once ridiculed a small tablet from a competitor as a “tweener” that was neither big enough nor small enough to compete with tablets or smartphones. Now Apple’s own Mini enters a growing small-tablet market dominated by the Kindle Fire.

  • Japan Makes Phone Call Translater App

    In Japan , an app offering real-time translations is to allow people in Japan to speak to foreigners over the phone with both parties using their native tongue.

    NTT Docomo – the country’s biggest mobile network – will initially convert Japanese to English, Mandarin and Korean, with other languages to follow.

    It is the latest in a series of telephone conversation translators to launch in recent months.

    Lexifone and Vocre have developed other products.

    Alacatel-Lucent and Microsoft are among those working on other solutions.

    The products have the potential to let companies avoid having to use specially trained multilingual staff, helping them cut costs. They could also aid tourism.

    However, the software involved cannot offer perfect translations, limiting its use in some situations.

  • DRC to Connect to Submarine Optical Fiber

    DRC is expected to get connected to the Optical fiber The Managing Director of the Company Congolese General of Posts and Telecommunications (SCPT), Placide Mbatika said October 18.

    Mbatika said the work of installing transmission equipment will start next Monday at the Moanda landing station, where the DRC must be connected to the optical fiber.

    According to Mbatika, the connection to the optical fiber must be made two weeks after the beginning of this work.

    However,Mbatika said that the commercialization of the connection will begin three months later.

    DRC missed a first opportunity to connect to the fiber in May. Thirteen other African countries had done at the start of the project WACS (West African Cable system submarin).

    This project Telecom giant MTN aims to connect fourteen African countries to use fiber optic broadband internet.

    “The DRC has not been connected because we’re a little behind the construction of the landfall to be connected to the optical fiber.

    In two months, the work [construction of this station] will be finished, “said Mbatika who attended the launch of the WACS in South Africa.

    Arrested at the National Assembly in June, about this failure, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Kin-Kiey Mulumba, said connecting the DRC to the optical fiber was blocked following the hijacking of the US$3 million for this operation.

  • Amateur Astronomers Discover Planet with Four Suns

    This week, reality trumped (science) fiction with an image even more enthralling: two amateur astronomers poring through data from deep, distant skies and discovering a planet with four suns.

    NASA’s website calls the phenomenon a circumbinary planet, or a planet that orbits two suns.

    Rare enough on its own — only six other circumbinary planets are known to exist — this planet is orbited by two more distant stars, making it the first known quadruple sun system.

    Researchers presented the finding Monday night at the annual meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Reno, Nevada.

    The discovery of the four-sun planet by amateur scientists takes crowd sourcing to new heights.

    The expression, coined by Wired magazine editor Jeff Howe, describes tasks that are outsourced to a disparate group of people to come up with a solution.

    In this case, the Planet Hunters group made data from NASA’s $600 million Kepler telescope available to the public through its website and coordinates their findings with Yale astronomers.

    In combing through the data, “Citizen scientists” Robert Gagliano and Kian Jek spied anomalies that confirmed the existence of the special planet, now known as PH1 — short for Planet Hunters 1 — the first heavenly body found by the online citizen science project.

    The planet is a little bigger than Neptune, with a radius about six times greater than Earth.

    “I celebrate this discovery for the wow-factor of a planet in a four-star system,” said Natalie Batalha, a Kepler scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California.

    “Most importantly, I celebrate this discovery as the fruit of exemplary human cooperation — cooperation between scientists and citizens who give of themselves for the love of stars, knowledge, and exploration.”

  • Microsoft launches New Music Service

    Microsoft announced October 15, it was launching a music service which offers free streaming for computers and tablets with the new Windows operating system to be launched this month.

    The Xbox Music service will allow users to stream custom-created playlists for free, along with music subscriptions and downloads, which will be managed in the Internet cloud to enable access on tablets, PCs, phones and television.

    Microsoft said the new service will be “on par with iTunes,” the leading music service from Apple, with a global catalog of more than 30 million songs.

    It will begin rolling out around the world this week on Xbox 360 and later this month on Windows PCs and tablets and on mobile phones.

    “The launch of Xbox Music is a milestone in simplifying digital music on every type of device and on a global scale,” said Don Mattrick, president of interactive entertainment at Microsoft.

    “We’re breaking down the walls that fracture your music experiences today to ensure that music is better and integrated across the screens that you care about most — your tablet, PC, phone and TV.”

  • TIGO Calls for Use of Social Media

    Tigo calls for their clients to “follow” or “like” the company and follow their daily activities through Facebook and Twitter.

    Social media comprise the new way of publicity and communication in Rwanda’s telecommunication companies

    The brand communication manager of Tigo, Andres Paz Micheo says it’s one way to get closer to the online communities.

    “Every day more and more Rwandans go online from their phones or computers and TIGO wants to partner with them not only in providing the platforms for them to do it but as active members of their online communities.

    “We strongly encourage our friends to talk to us through our social media channels and let us know what is on their minds on any subject.”

    “In addition, we see our social media as a great platform to get direct feedback about what we do from our customers, our dialogue with them helps us know where we are doing well and what we can do even better,” said Paz Micheo.

    “In the near future we will have ongoing offers, contests and promotions for our friends on social media. For example, right now we have launched a contest for our fans on Facebook and Twitter to hang out with the Urban Boys Crew at one of their favorite spots in Nyamirambo,” he added.

    By “liking https://www.facebook.com/RwandaTigo ” and “following @TigoRwanda ” everyone will get the opportunity of being part of different promotions and win different prizes. Also everyone will have a chance to be part of the increasing social media community.

  • Rwanda Signs Deal With Karnataka State Electronics

    The Rwandan government has signed an agreement with Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation (KEONICS) to develop the ICT sector.

    The agreement emphasizes the common desire to promote bilateral trade and an industrial relationship between the state of Karnataka and Rwanda.

    Williams Nkurunziza, Rwanda’s High Commissioner to India, said the pact will strengthen the cooperation of the ICT sectors of the state of Karnataka and Rwanda.

    KEONICS will soon expand its operations to Rwanda to provide expertise in ICT and electronics on mutually acceptable terms.

    Telecompaper.com reported that Karnataka State Electronics will provide advice and capacity building in the fields of IT education, consultancy, infrastructure, engineering and e-governance, among others.

    KEONICS is regarded as a pioneer of the IT revolution that has made Bangalore a global household name in ICT development.