I could say a lot about these ruthless people that are taking dvantage of innocent unsuspecting Kenyans through this recent fake paid volunteer job offering that they had posted over the last two months but the video below kinda sums it up.
Beware!!
A GUIDE TO MOBILE
CASINO: HOW MOBILE CASINO WORKS
IMAGE: slotsformoney.com
A BRIEF HISTORY
Since the internet’s ubiquitous nature became part of modern life, many if not all brick and mortar businesses have had to set up shop online as well. The casino business is no exception,
The first iteration of an online gambling platform sprang up
in 1994 and within a decade, mobile based casinos games came to existence. This
innovation was made possible by widespread internet enabled mobile devices and growth
in network coverage infrastructure.
WHAT IS MOBILE CASINO?
IMAGE: androidheadlines.com
These are online platforms made possible through the ability
afforded to the world today to have access to traditional casino games through their
mobile devices. These can either be via any
phone with internet access or any tablet
computer with internet access.
WHY PLAY ON A MOBILE
DEVICE
The growth of internet infrastructure has made it possible
for online growth over larger areas in many countries other than urban
metropolises only.
This means that a market segment that wasn’t yet tapped, now
has access to have a go at a casino game without ever having the need to find a
casino in the real world and having to own a stationary desktop at home.
It also enables one to space out their time whilst playing
and not have to stay restrictively glued to a casino game for hours on end
because of the option of logging in and logging out at one’s convenience.
In this aspect, both the house and player win.
TECHNOLOGICAL SPECTS
OF MOBILE CASINO GAMES
IMAGE:migrantsinkorea.net
MOBILE GAMING
COMPATIBLE DEVICES
These would include devices
which are primarily within the
v
Android
v
iOS
v HarmonyOS –Chinese operating system made during the android ban in China –platforms of operating systems.
The devices within the “ecosystems” mentioned above all have
internet access capabilities built into them and include hardware within the
smartphone and tablet ranges.
Honourable mention
has to be given to Nokia’s SymbianOS,
Blackberry
and Windows
phone devices over the last decade also enabled one to be able to
access mobile casino sites.
The usage of those three had slowly faded and now we
primarily have Goolge’s Android and Apple’s iOS as the two dominant players in
the online mobility market.
INTERNET CONNECTIONS
IMAGE:supertechman.com.au
As mobile casinos began in early 2000s, the existing mobile casino
platforms back then had to operate with the relatively slower 2G internet Speeds.
Mobile internet service providers these days have had
improved internet speeds by setting up 3G, 4G LTE and 5G network infrastructures.
This has been spread out over vast geographical areas for the ISPs to make sure
they get as many subscribers to their services as possible.
This has enabled mobile casinos to make much needed
improvements. Players have real-time view of cash balances they hold instead of
having to reload pages.
Higher internet bandwidth speeds mean higher quality
immersive in-play graphics and a better play experience overall.
INSTANT PLAY
Since many mobile casino platforms evolved from a more
traditional PC based casino website, Players find it easily adaptable to
migrate or play within either platform. This of course has to be enabled with
an easy-to-use Mobile friendly user interface.
Many mobile based
HTML5 browsers accommodate the ‘mobile version’ of a desktop site easily
without much of a learning curve for the user. Higher internet speeds have made
this also viable.
| IMAGE:casinous.com |
We also have to note that the graphics and interactive touch
UI wouldn’t be as smooth on a browser as it would have been on an exclusive app
built by a mobile casino platform itself. The browser software itself is prone
to lag and sometimes crash whilst a game is live.
A specialized exclusive phone app would also be advantageous
for the mobile casino because flaws would be easy to note and relevant tweaks
and updates made much faster from their end.
For the sites which do not have a mobile app yet, there are
tips to make shortcuts of the sites’ home screens with their favicons as app
icons on the mobile home screens for eased access.
Bookmarking from the browser to the mobile homes screen does
the trick.
iOS vs ANDROID
Since these two are the world’s largest platforms, many Mobile
Casinos in the market tend to pitch a tent on both of these platforms.
A notable difference with these two is basically the fact
that android has a larger global footprint due to this OS running on devices/hardware
manufactured by a wide variety of tech companies.
| IMAGE:astegic.com |
On the other hand, iOS Appstore
has more approved casino apps on its Appstore
than there are available on the Playstore
Android provides more in terms of volume and iOS in terms of
value because apple devices tend to be owned by marginally wealthier people.
HOW TO START GAMBLING IN A MOBILE CASINO
IMAGE:carlcare.com
First of all, anybody who wants to engage in a mobile casino
needs to make sure that their funds are secure and won’t be diverted elsewhere.
So looking ups trustworthy mobile casino sites is important
to begin with. For one to find a listing of reputable and disreputable sites to
avoid; this site is a great place
to begin.
After you’ve selected the site(S) that appeal to you:
o
Create an account – by following the sign up steps presented on the landing
page.
o
Read before clicking on Agree - since it involves your tangible finances,
ensure you read through the EULA-
End User Licence Agreement -of the platform before clicking on “agree” or “accept”
o
Ascertain Credentials – Make sure you have your
username and password working by logging in again.
o
Familiarization – play around with the UI - User interface - to see where
their menus and other user options appear.
Once you’ve got that done, you can go ahead to test out the
offerings that the site of your choice has. These include
·
Free playing options without using real money.
·
Free bonus cash provided by the platform for you
to try out the games they have.
It’s advisable for
any potential player to put in their real money only after they’ve built enough
confidence with the algorithm and the UI is comfortable for them to use.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
MOBILE CASINO AND DESKTOP CASINOS
IMAGE:hongkiat.com
Most online casino players who have been accustomed to
playing using a desktop will find the smaller UI somehow cumbersome at first.
Luckily most – if not all – of the major reputable desktop
casino sites have corresponding mobile sites which are adjusted for the smaller
screens. This has been necessitated with the higher and ever growing number of
mobile internet access usage all over the world.
The unrestrictive convenience is also markedly higher on
mobile than on desktop.
There’s however more relative broadband stability when it
comes to desktop casinos as compared to their mobile counterparts which tend to
have fluctuating internet speeds from one geographical locale to another.
MOBILE CASINOS VS
TRADITIONAL CASINOS
Example of traditional casino from Casino Royale
Mobile casinos tend to lack that ‘human touch’ due to the
fact for there being no human dealers in card games and such. Many mobile
casinos are just run on automated algorithms.
Mobile casinos however do not have the necessity of one’s physical
presence at a casino for one to have fun. Time is also not a limiting factor
with mobile casinos as well because access to the games is around the clock all
days of the week.
Mobile casinos have little to no distracting ambient noises –
this is relative/subjective because notification sounds and/or pop ups from
other apps. This as compared to traditional casinos would make it easier for
the player to focus more on the bets their placing.
ARE MOBILE CASINOS
LEGAL?
This varies from one country to another. In some countries
these mobile casino site are blocked and one has to use a VPN in order to
access such a site.
One can also look up whether online gambling is legal within
their nation’s jurisdiction.
Since there are legal casino desktop sites in existence and
a corresponding mobile version as a matter of course. It only makes sense that
they too be legal.
This matter is also covered all of their iron clad End User Licence Agreements.
Another important thing about the legalities of such a
platform is the fact that in most jurisdictions, as long as a gambling
addiction warning ever present on the app or site and the hosting mobile casino
platform meeting its tax obligation, its legality is
assured.
GAME OFFERS AND
SOFTWARE PROVIDERS
It’s also important to know which games are available within
which platforms of which mobile device(s). So that you can make some
traditional to desktop to mobile casino experience where necessary.
Even if you just want
to try it out. You’d find that some traditionally well known casino games have
some variants as well so that you do not give up on a platform altogether.
The rules and gameplay get some very slight changes made on
them in order to avoid copyright lawsuits and for the player, it is easy to
just from one to the other’s offerings also.
Some few examples of variations include (BUT NOT LIMITED TO):
Ø
VIDEO POKER variant(S) DOUCES WILD and JOKERS
WILD
Ø
SLOTS variant(s) THREE REELS CLASSICS, MULTI
SLOTS and VIDEO SLOTS
Ø BACCARAT variants(S) PUNTO BANCO
The list above isn’t exhaustive at all of course but those
are some of the most popular names in traditional casinos whose variations can
be found online. You can get a more exhaustive list of those traditional big
names here .
There’s also some more offerings on these mobile casinos
which break away from the traditionally
recognizable listings such as;
Ø
Playtech
Ø
Netent
Ø
Betsoft
These platforms have extensive offerings in the mobile
casino segment and more players in this sector are yet to be mentioned.
For a summation on strategies of how to win in mobile casino
games and online casinos as a whole, you can find a brief list on this site.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
OF MOBILE CASINOS
IMAGE:a2zelectricals.co.uk
Mobile casinos have done their homework in making sure that
theirs and their customers’ security is up to par.
Most legitimate Mobile casino sites do this using 128-bit
SSL bit end-to-end encryption.
This makes it harder for hackers to intercept the vital data
between the users and hosting platforms.
Once a potential player has done extensive background check
and legitimacy of the platform of choice, this should be not be an issue.
For more on the security tips and finding out the legitimacy
of a mobile casino site, this
article here would be of help .
WITHDRAWAL OPTIONS
& SUPPORT
If you have signed up
and joined a legitimate online casino platform operator, you’d find that these
platforms have undergone vigorous third party checks.
Most of these legitimate sites will have their third party
licences displayed at the bottom of the pages on the screen displays.
There are two types of withdrawals within most of the
platforms
| IMAGE:entrackr.com |
o
Cashout-
in case of a change of mind mid play (these forms of withdrawals are however
not instantaneous because the operators have to check on claim’s legitimacy)
o
Withdrawal
of winnings- This the usual way of a player to obtain the money won. Some major
payment processors such Paypal, Skrill, Credit and Debit cards and preferred secure
mobile wallets and in some cases Crypto wallets are the main means used during
the sign up and are the ones used by the players to withdraw their money.
These mobile casino operators also provide a “SUPPORT”
button within the platform where a user can get real-time assistance via a chat
pop-up window whenever the need arises.
SUMMARY
The options are limitless when it comes to the evolution of
the casino industry these days. Specifically with mobile gambling, we have a
multiple platforms and a very wide
The transition from PC and to mobile is has become much
easier because people tend to use both platforms to undertake different tasks concurrently.
In the cases of missing an app on the google playstore and
having it available on the iOS platforms, one simply has to create a bookmarked
short cut to the home screen of the android device.
Mobile casinos are here to stay and however mobile internet
access advances in the years to come. They will adapt into those technologies too.
| IMAGE:aliexpresscom |
FAQs
o
Can I use
the same accounts as on my PC?
Yes. The platform operators offer access on
both their desktop and mobile platforms with the same credentials for a user.
o
Will I
get a welcome bonus when I play on mobile?
This is par for the course these days with
all the mobile operators for a first-time sign up due to the competitive nature
of the sector.
o
Can you
play for real money on mobile casinos?
As long as this is allowed within a
jurisdiction of a country, then yes. Some countries have however forbidden this
and some legislation to cap the amount of money players can wager has been
passed in other countries.
o
Research
and more FAQs
You can find more Frequently Asked Questions
with brief answers; here
, here and also here .
ARGUING FOR THE (REPAIRERS) FUNDIS
In this fast paced world of ever evolving tech and
interconnectivity of everything that uses electricity from home appliances to
vehicles, it has struck me on where it’ll leave the fundis – people in the field of repairing - of this age. Having
been raised by a fundi of sorts and having engaged in the technical art myself,
this urge to regurgitate some info dump on the matter came naturally.
The skill of reparation/restoration is a key clean and
honest income earner and it needs to be defended for the protection of livelihoods,
consumers and the environment.
WHAT IS THE RIGHT TO REPAIR?
Well this is the ability of us having the free option to
have anything we’ve purchased-own- to be repaired by anybody we want to –other than
the manufacturer- should the need for repairs arise. On this post we’ll be
focusing mostly on electronic gadgets and how players in that industry are
slowly killing off the small-scale third party repair businesses due to their exploitative
business strategies.
A great example of an exploitative business strategy is
achieved by locking consumers of their products with bloatware, limited
compatibility accessories and online ecosystems that have a consumer continuously
forking out cash to the same manufacturer after having bought their brand of
phone, laptop or TV or any other ‘smart’/‘i’ thing that’s in our homes or
offices.
Another example is planned obsolescence where you find after
using something you had spent money on and used as carefully as possible for a
certain number of years suddenly just stops functioning well or lags or gets
incompatible because some guys somewhere have churned out some system
update which your dinosaur of a device cannot
handle anymore or the chipsets on your device just break and you have to buy a
shiny new one mostly from the same manufacturer so that your data gets
seamlessly transferred to your new slave device. Yay for you!
Anyway, should any of these devices need a repair in the
interim, the manufacturers are really hesitant to allow you get them repaired
by that guy at that repair shop that you kinda trust because they’d rather have
you buy a new device from them to keep their gravy trains chugging along and
their shareholders patting their bellies.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE RIGHT TO REPAIR
TL;DR – We won’t have more money and we love money.
The manufacturers argue that having you enjoying the right
to take your broken electronic device to anybody else other than them for
repairs is going to hinder innovation. This is because most of the components
within these devices need to be given to third party manufacturers who’d in
turn churn out substandard stuff and also infringe on their IP- Intellectual
Property which they have invested billions attaining in their R&D- Research
and Development departments.
So them having to willingly have their Patented products
manufactured by third parties- with the risk of them having been reverse engineered
poorly. That in turn would take away the incentive from the manufacturers to be
more innovative.
They also prefer having you buy a new product from them
because even if they are to be forced by consumer protective legislation to
come up warranty extensions, they argue that it would add to the cost of a
product’s initial purchase or it would just make them have to shut down because
they’d be repairing broken stuff instead of selling more newer stuff.
"Usiwai amini fundi wa kiatu, nguo, furniture, ama wa electronincs!"
HOW TO SOLVE THAT
Just make it so the ability by small scale repair workshops
to have the right access to OEM –Original Equipment Manufacturer- components
much easier. This can be achieved by better legislation on the government’s
part and manufacturers controlling their greed of making more e-waste dumped
around. They’d also have access to a new market of their inner components just
as they already have an established market of their accessories. Also nobody
will be having exploding DIY batteries.
CLOSING THIS UP
As earlier stated, innovation these days is very dynamic and
electronic devices are getting more and more sci-fi alien-tech-looking, smaller
and components within them are even assembled microscopically. If a fundi of
the 1980s and 1990’s would time travel to today, they wouldn’t know the heads
or tails of it. This makes it hard to even repair today’s tech either
intentionally by the greedy manufacturers or just by nature of advancement
throughout history, this is the reality we have to live by.
Another reality we cannot equally disqualify is that
innovation breeds more innovation across the board and as the tech evolves so
does the technical know-how in the repairers ranks evolve. The necessity to get
one fed will naturally have one get the necessary skills required to repair
whatever tech they come up with.
They Kenya Consumer Protection department, Parliament and
Competition Authority of Kenya needs to look into protecting young Kenyans’ right
to repair in order to protect budding fundis’ jobs, the environment and the
consumer from unscrupulous big exploitative electronics manufacturer players.
DIMINISHING INCOME STREAMS
The main reason I see the inescapable reality of the UBI becoming
more mainstream in the coming short years is the fact that the resources
available are constrained and the needs amongst the populace are constant if
not increasing. This is a global fact; not only here in a developing economy
such as Kenya.
WHO QUALIFIES
So far the metric used in determining the person(s) eligible
for such a scheme is the poverty threshold determined over a country or locale
and every citizen living within it gets support from the scheme. Another
variation is the social security unemployment benefits that developed economies
use to support people who have fallen on hard times. We'll have te equity and equality discussion later.
It is also important to note that in Kenya, this has already
been tried out by an NGO in the Bomet and Siaya counties, with a sample size of
14,474 households and the study started in 2018 to see if the beneficiaries
would lead sustainable lifestyles and not end up using the money to fund
tobacco and alcohol abuse.
WHAT WOULD MAKE IT POSSIBLE
For such a program to work, an authority – government/global
organization needs to come up with set standards to ensure the transparency and
security of funds being transferred.
Two ways to do this is to set up the necessary structures of
digital inclusivity and here we’re talking universality in digital ID systems
and accessibility to mobile telephony even in the most remote regions of a
country so that no one gets left out.
This would require robust investments in the digital
infrastructures especially in Sub-Saharan African nations.
THE POSSIBLE BENEFITS
Well, that’s pretty straight forward. In a nutshell, Thanos’
dream of full bellies will be achieved without having to wipe out half of the
global population and we just might achieve utopia to a certain degree.
Another benefit we’d hit is having that Universal Health
Care easily implementable with a synergistic database attained via the
universal digital ID.
Another key goal we’d achieve is eliminating corruption
through the traceability of the transactions done and ensuring the money ends
up in the hands of those who need it most.
HOW IT WOULD AFFECT EMPLOYMENT
We need to face the reality here and admit that in an
economy like Kenya’s many manufacturing modes of employment will not be
available in the not so distant future. The truth is we as Kenya-and many world
nations with the exception of China, Japan, Germany, South Korea and Taiwan and
maybe few countries which you can count with your fingers – are a service and
information economy.
There are many of us millennials who will never get jobs in
the manufacturing sector of our economy. Many of us will start rambling online
like I am with this blog of mine hoping to someday make some cash off of our
ramblings through vlogs and podcasts as well to bee proud of the content we’ve created and somehow get a shred
of dignity in it other being dependent on a capped cash allocation over a set
period. There are some others who’d be content with the UBI whilst others will
just hate it. The best case scenario is
to hope that not most of our population will be wholly dependent on the UBI.
Not that many people would want to seek employment if the comparitive incentive isn't worth their time.
 |
| We'd end up obese like these humans from that Wall E movie |
HOW OUR ECONOMY IS WORKING TOWARDS THE UBI
Our economy has already started working towards the UBI and
consequently the UHC(Universal Health Care) via The Huduma Namba digital ID and this is
not happening here alone it’s also happening all over the world . The
globalization of such schemes can easily be integrated into the Agenda 21, Agenda 2030 and ID 2020 schemes through one entity being given access seamlessly into
another’s database. We can see this with the Covid 19 Immunity passports.
There’s also a big four agenda which the Kenya government is
working hard to attain as well as its vision 2030 goals which are getting really
easily achievable as technology advances.
As I sign off on this piece just know that there has to be an authority overseeing all this Utopian yumminess and that this was not just a fluff piece.
Some sacrifices to our personal privacies will have to be made. To
whom, I’m not so sure.
| photo courtesy: gamingintel.com |
Whether we like it or not this was the road the planet was
heading to since the dawn of the industrial revolution and just like the
beginnings of it, it carries with it some pros (mostly for the producing class)
and cons which are heavily on the side of the working class. In today’s
parlance it’s dubbed: THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION by the WEF - World
Economic Forum and other experts or the guys you see on TV getting paid a whole
bunch for flapping their gums and sounds come out. Those guys.
It’s with this in my
mind and also with the rollout of the thing already happening in the world
around us, that we’ll be checking it out in this entry. Also, this post is not about promoting robophobia although to be honest there's a degree of apprehension in me about bots and botnets and the internet of things.
WHAT IT IS IN A NUTSHELL
The fourth industrial revolution/ Industry 4.0/ 4IR involves
the onslaught of automation in the manufacturing and service industries. With
it of course it means just like in The second industrial revolution where many
roles involved the on-hand availability of many manual labourers as was the
norm in The first industrial revolution – which were mostly rendered redundant
by the new mechanizations and standardizations – this 4IR will be and is
putting many an employed heads on the chopping block as well.
Don’t worry about the third industrial revolution, it pretty
much started after the invention of the semiconductors in 1949 or there about
and it brought it the digital aspect of human life on earth over the latter
half of the 20th century.
With brutally short explanations out of the way, let’s get
into the meat and potatoes of this one shall we?
HOW IT AFFECTS THE JOB MARKET
The 4IR is very beneficial mostly to the higher ups in
organizations because they won’t have any costs incurred with lost man hours
due to illnesses or some emergencies , no need to provide medial cover for
their bots, the ability to boost productivity by longer working hours of their
automatons has jumped through the roof and all that fun stuff.
On the other side of the coin what’s the human worker
supposed to do?
HOW TO GET EVEN
Well, the following is just me spit-balling on what we can
do when (not if) we find ourselves competing with AI (Artificial Intelligence)
in the job market.
o
Get more tech savvy.
Since we cannot beat the inevitable, we need to learn more and more about
the emerging tech-sphere and find out where we can fix ourselves within it. This
would involve seeking new tech based skills so that we are relevant and
valuable in the world today.
o
Look for alternative income sources
This
is pretty much inevitable and I’ll look into it more on another post here but
more governments in the world are looking to implement the UBI
Universal Basic Income where the citizens are assisted
through a social security program by giving the people a stipend every month to
live on so that people do not go hungry,
o
Getting into the service industry
There are certain emerging industries associated with the 4IR and these
would involve you getting a driving licence because of all the driving and
motorbike delivery services popping up. So acquiring that driving and riding
skill- whilst still viable- will keep you employed a little bit longer.
In other sectors such as the hotel and related industries would get you
fed for a while.
PS
Self-driving vehicles will replace you soon within the coming 2 decades
o
Acquire technical skills Through TVETs (Technical and Vocational Education and Training)
This is just like the measure above but with the context of a developing economy
like the one in Kenya, one needs to get technical training on what are
categorized as blue collar jobs. Examples could be in training to operate heavy
machinery use in major construction projects like bulldozers , cranes and such
, being a forklift operator, getting into masonry and carpentry as well as
getting trained in welding skills, artisanry and such marketable skillsets –
Also note that automation will completely take over these jobs over the next 2
decades.
This
discussion is not as exhaustive and conclusive due to the dynamics of today’s
job market. Plus this blog post is too long for many of us millennials or Gen-Zs
to have read to this point. I’ll be posting related aspects of it in at least
two more entries this week.
AFTER THE
INTERVIEW GOES SOUTH
Here you are
and things just did not happen to go according to plan on that job posting you
had anticipated that was yours. You had done all the prepping possible, got all
your necessary documents in order and got through the first and second
interviews - or however many the potential employer required - but at the last
one, you just didn't manage to get through.
So here we are. Stuck and confused and the
feeling of having been punched in the throat is a hard one to shake off. A
flood of emotion and hindsight checking and rechecking what you could have done
wrong because in certain cases it's clear to you and you'd know how to rectify
a certain flaw should you get a shot another time and in some cases your
presentation to the recruiters/interviewers was just spot on and you knew you
had it in the bag but you never really did.
That's what
this entry is going to cover today.
ACCEPTANCE
OF THE HAND DEALT
I've personally gone through a similar thing in the recent past and to be quite honest it was tough accepting that my application was rejected and that I never got called back to the firm I wanted to work in. It was slump that I got over and I'm sure that you would get over it too. Also remember when finding an ideal job the good old luck meets opportunity might get into the mix so do not be too hard on yourself. The following are just some tips to follow when handling this reality.
1. IT'S NOT
ALWAYS SUNNY
There are
certain times in life where we'll not always have things go our way and that's
just the way it is. It's also important to take go through that 'grieving
process' whilst also taking stock of what you could do better should such a
chance come your way. DO NOT ruminate in it for too long because it will also
build self-doubt and be detrimental to your confidence. It's important to note
that one's confidence is needed when facing the next interview in one's life.
Just dust yourself off after this L and get into that beast mode for the next
one.
2. ASSESS
THE ALTERNATIVES AVAILABLE
It's time to look over all the options available and cast your net wider. In this day and age it means making multiple applications to many companies that are involved with your industry of interest and even in unrelated fields of your expertise.
Cast your
net as wide as possible to improve your chances of getting employed.
The option
above is for the conventional listings of jobs you'd find online on the usual
recruitment platforms. There's another way still.
3. THE
HIDDEN JOB MARKET
CONCLUSION:
Whatever you
do after getting that gut-wrenching rejection from that particular office, pick
yourself up and don't stop hunting for your next job. Just take heart and keep
moving. Some may read this before going for any interview and it might shore
your emotions up and some might read this after getting the ''we'll call you''
that they know is a polite way of getting kicked to the curb. For the latter,
be strong it's not the end and the best is yet to come.
I could say a lot about these ruthless people that are taking dvantage of innocent unsuspecting Kenyans through this recent fake paid volun...
