Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Various observations from Cairo, Beirut and Uganda

A selection of images from the blog Future Perfect by Jan Chipchase. Fascinating observations and various fleeting glimpses into everyday life, urban fabric, graphic design, technology, micro enterprises and other particular subtle details witnessed in Cairo, Beirut, and Uganda.

Cairo

Cairo

17736 - Cairo

'Phone number for sale in the electronics market. 50 Egyptian Pound (6 Euro) premium for an easy to remember number sequence, and an additional 25 Egyptian Pounds premium for older operator prefixes that suggest the person has been ‘mobile’ for a while (the operator ran out of numbers, was allocated a new prefix).'

Run Don't Walk - MarsaMatruh
Run don't walk

Monopoly, Reverse Engineered - Beirut
Monopoly, Reverse Engineered

Chair Storage Norms - Beirut

The Man From Iran - Beirut

Privacy Extensions - Beirut

Don’t Worry. Don’t Be Happy - Beirut

When the Worst is Good Enough - Kulu

You’re a road-side vendor offering phone charging services – what are the pre-conditions for investing in a solar panel for your business? A lack of mains electricity or very poor mains electricity; cost to buy, maintain; versatility; risk of theft (for smaller panels); effectiveness (speed of charging, discharging); weather conditions; an ability to purchase said solar panel; and ultimately a willing consumer base in range of a cell tower.

Are you going to invest in a solar panel if its likely the grid to extend to your neighbourhood. This isn’t an environmental investment, its cost driven.

On this trip I’ve seen off-grid road-side charging services using a single solar panel to charge phones. The photo above actually shows a solar panel for sale – the owner stall was recently connected to the grid – his business undercut.

Cost of a car battery recharge? ~1,500 Shillings (~0.6 Euro)
Cost of a phone battery recharge? ~500 Shillings (~0.2 Euro)

For people of the grid power don’t come cheap.



Threaded - Kulu
Phone charging stall

Influencers - Kulu

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