5 Reasons Why You Need to Buy Teddy Afro’s New Album

Photo credit: DireTube/Fortune newsletter

Addis Fortune newspaper reports that Teddy Afro’s album realises on the eve of Ethiopian Easter. A million copies sold from his last album. It is everyone’s question if he hits the music industry one more time. There are interesting articles coming up about Teddy Afro – one is from the new magazine 360_One_world mag with Beate Wedekind. In my blog post I mention five reasons why you need to consider buying his new album titled – ‘Tikur Sew’

A Trip to a Mysterious Egg Bridge

The sign made by the lodge next to the bridge. Obviously, they want to attract turists mentioning that the bridge is built in 16th century

Ethiopia as a country is full of mysteries. The old nation holds so many unanswered questions. The finding of the True Cross, the Tomb of St. Mary, the origin of human kind, the new ocean birth and Such.

Recently, I visited a place known as “A Portuguese Bridge” or “The Egg Bridge”. 110 kms from Addis Ababa to the direction of Debre Liabones, you will find the hidden bridge.

A lot of scholars try to investigate when it was built and by whom and what kind of materials it was used. One of the comprehensive studies made by J.J. Hespeler-Boultbee who is an Art & Architectural Historian and Associate of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.

Citizen Media and You – Part I

picture credit: http://www.mosaicglobe.com

When the first time Internet was introduced to Ethiopia it was not actually planned for Ethiopians. The main goal was to reach the tourists and encourage Ethiopian tourism. Currently, less than 1% of the populations have access to the Internet, one of the least in the world.

As it was originally intended, Internet remained around foreigners, and foreign organizations. In early millinuem diaspora Ethiopians and college students start to use Yahoo! Mail services and pen pal sites (probably one of the first social media platforms in the world) as day to day Internet use. With 56kps modem connection, only the international organizations and universities were enjoying the relatively faster connection. Yahoo! Still remains the main email service in Ethiopia until now even the Ministers use it as an official email correspondence.

I Need My ThinkPad Back

Last week my laptop’s motherboard crashed and I couldn’t get a replacement so far (ThinkPad isn’t a common brand in Ethiopia). In result of this ,my productivity has been highly affected in the last few days. Keep in mind that I have a 4G HTC smartphone and a Motorola Xoom tablet.

My productivity decreases almost by 50% since my laptop crashed. The graph above is just the general illustration when you don’t have a laptop or when you get a new laptop.

Why SOPA will be a tragedy for Africa

By Frank Nyakairu

(This article is taken based on Create Common licence) – Thanks Endalk for sharing! 

A colleague of mine from Kenya highlighted in highly contextualized fashion about SOPA’s impact on Africa.Enjoy reading it and join the struggle againstStop Online Piracy Act

It’s been said that example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other. Perhaps the truth of this saying is attested in the infamous Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and “The PROTECT IP Act” (PIPA) are proposed laws in the United States. But Uncle Sam’s bill meant to stop online copyright infringements is bitterly opposed in what is probably the most detested legislation process beyond the United States. Debate is rife. Its contenders argue that, SOPA/PIPA will protect trademarks, especially entertainment giants by stopping online piracy of content such as music books and movies. To stop that, it grants the US Attorney General the right to inflict penalty on websites accused of hosting copyright content. It is also intended to crack down on offending websites operating outside the US. But prescribing SOPA/PIPA as a remedy for online piracy is way too strong that it will kill the ‘patient’. Africa, the world’s poorest continent, stands to be affected most.

Taking the Year 2012 for Granted: Lists

Photo credit: Quentin Leal (Vivian)

People usually like the end of December. Not that because they have accomplished a lot but New Year is coming with a message of Newness. We hear a lot of common expressions in these days that Time flies, getting old is scary, resolutions are insane but unavoidable, and what a year! ah!?

I love December. For me, the month which celebrates the end of the year is more important than the month which celebrates the beginning of the New Year. January makes me feel uncertain. It makes me feel I am challenging my principles on the power of now. I have all reasons to love January (even I was born in January 23^rd). Though, I am not ready to let go 2011 yet. It’s not over. Because I am counting a day – not a year!

Haile Gerima’s Sons of Payton

It is my first time to write a movie review. I watched Teza last night and it blew me out. To start with, this movie came out to the cinema in 2008 . Don’t take it on me. I am quite frustrated by the quality of Ethiopian movies and this one came for the rescue. The cinematography of this movie is wonderful and beautifully Ethiopian. The casting is fantastic. It is another proves that Haile Gerima is a natural filmmaker.

What does Haile want to tell us?

Ethiopian Blogosphere: the Smallest in the World?

Ethiopia is one of the least represented countries on the internet.  According to the ITU2009 report only 0.4% of the populations have access to the information on the internet. The traffic generated by Ethiopian sites has been limited. This makes the country less favorable to online businesses. Content is indeed king.

A few months ago Joern and I made a little research and we found out that Ethiopia had less than 20 bloggers in the country.

Contributing for GlobalVoices

I joined the GlobalVoices international bloggers community.  It is exciting to be part of the biggest blogging network in the world. Enalk and I are now analyzing and reporting major incidents and trending on Ethiopian social media.

My first post is about Aberash Hailay’s case. She is an Ethiopian Airlines flight attendant whose ex-husband, Fisseha Tadesse, stabbed both her eyes with a knife. 

Just Buddies

It is way dramatic.

In day to day life, there is some progress. Bad or good; High or low; Slow or rapid – But a progress.

The Chinese people say, “It doesn’t matter if you go slowly as long as you keep on going”. I can’t agree more. But the truth is I hate slow life. I hate it so much that I feel like choosing to stop instead.