Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Ten gadgets to buy for Xmas
1. iPhone 3GS - this is still a hot favourite for this summer and while its difficult to find a shop with stock, it becomes an even more sought after gadget.
2. Kindle - order you Kindle from Amazon and start ordering books as soon as you've recieved it.
3. With 2010 World Cup just around the corner, a new LED LCD, seems just like the toy to kickoff the new year. They are lean and mean and the coolest TV's available.
4. Want to become all green then buy a Sun Jar - this is the greatest green geek gadget of the year.
5. Transparent toaster - it allows you to see your bread while it is toasting so you can make sure you never burn toast again. This idea is based on a transparent heating glass technology.
6. The PS3 Slim is the ultimate gaming gift for 2009 and I hope there is one waiting next to the chimney on the morning of the 25th.
7. Windows 7 for those who still bow before their PCs.
8. PowerMat - this needs a bit more explaining, but basically you can charge and three mobile devices without any wiring...WOW, sounds exciting? Google it to find out more.
9. Apple magic mouse - my colleague has one and even though you have problems scrolling on Entourage its one mean mouse.
10. Blackberry Bold - this is lame, but trust me, with the free email and browsing options it becomes a great buy especially in countries where data costs are still high.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Ten ways to be more productive at work
1. Use SMS and call less especially for yes or no answers.
2. Don't use voicemail and also don't call back numbers you don't recognise.
3. Don't use a fax - time it took you to walk to the fax machine and send, you could have sent up to 10 emails.
4. Don't categorise your emails. Use search. Don't even delete emails, its a waste of time and you'll "never" run out of space.
5. Don't open attachments - they might have a virus attached and will take too much of your time. Think of it like this: it's like practicing safe sex.
6. Use email only to confirm a conversation as it will occupy too much of your time if you use it as a essential business tool.
7. Make minutes of meetings on you laptop while in the meeting.
8. Turn Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites off while at work, it will lead to procrastination and while you start just by poking a friend, 40 minutes later you'll find yourself adding comments to a person's wall you haven't seen since school.
9. Never give out your office land-line number. You will get unnecessary interruptions.
10. Never give out your business cards, except if its Donald Trump or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
2. Don't use voicemail and also don't call back numbers you don't recognise.
3. Don't use a fax - time it took you to walk to the fax machine and send, you could have sent up to 10 emails.
4. Don't categorise your emails. Use search. Don't even delete emails, its a waste of time and you'll "never" run out of space.
5. Don't open attachments - they might have a virus attached and will take too much of your time. Think of it like this: it's like practicing safe sex.
6. Use email only to confirm a conversation as it will occupy too much of your time if you use it as a essential business tool.
7. Make minutes of meetings on you laptop while in the meeting.
8. Turn Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites off while at work, it will lead to procrastination and while you start just by poking a friend, 40 minutes later you'll find yourself adding comments to a person's wall you haven't seen since school.
9. Never give out your office land-line number. You will get unnecessary interruptions.
10. Never give out your business cards, except if its Donald Trump or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Bionic Eye app for the iPhone 3GS with Augmented Reality
Bionic Eye is a new application specifically developed for the iPhone 3GS that enables you to visualize subway stations and Points of Interest (POI) located in your nearby environment, thanks to a unique Augmented Reality functionality using the iPhone camera. This application is available on AppStore.
Bionic Eye :
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ...
Bionic Eye UK :
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ...
Bionic Eye France :
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ...
Bionic Eye Tokyo :
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZ...
Shift Happens
This is another official update to the original "Shift Happens" video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, visit http://mediaconvergence.economist.com and http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Facebook: Beats local press on local SA breaking news story
I picked up an interesting breaking news story on Facebook yesterday.
I first saw it on a friend's status update and was later confirmed when a second friend posted the same update. The news was the death of Izak de Villiers. Izak de Villiers was a former editor of Sarie magazine and editor of the Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport.
I wanted to know more without asking too many questions and visited Nuus24 and News24 without any update on this story. As it was Sunday I knew Beeld and Die Burger would never have this story on their websites as they don't update their sites on a Sunday.
I started to lose interest in the story after a last attempt to look if Google News had anything to offer, but the reality was they they don't generate news and just republish publications (mostly print) news.
It was only this morning that I saw Die Burger covering this story on their front page. It had no more interest for me as I already knew that he passed away.
Newspapers thought that they had the upper hand on local news, but looking at this example it seems that the news carried by social networks are becoming much more relevant and spreads much faster that a traditional daily news cycle. Even over dead quiet weekends.
Will eReaders ever hit the fairest South African shores?
The debate/discussion continues whether users or advertisers should pay for the creation of content. Possible future business models will probably play out in mobile, web, print and broadcast environments.
But where do eReaders fit in? Is this a new platform or will it be a subcategory of mobile, print, web, or could it even include broadcast in the future?
All of the above is very much content driven and not device driven. In the case of the eReader, could it be that this is its own platform and driven by technology more than content?
It seems there is a global trend indicating that content providers, creators and technology provides are gearing up for EReaders.
Major players are:
Content
• Amazon
• Google
• Sony
• Hearst
• New York Times
Technology
• Microsoft
• Sony
• Adobe
• Apple
• Kindle
• EInk
The recent biggest shifts in the gearing up towards eReaders are:
• Google’s Book Search Settlement (that will make published content freely available)
• Apple’s possible launch of the iPad (EReader)
Here follows a probable future model for SA
• Initial costs of device carried by a mobile service provider (contract model)
• Possible “Pay as you go model” with customer carrying costs
• The device is sold with a data package including monthly subscription for exclusive content (Maybe a Vodafone Live)
• Niche market (Yr 1 initially 10 000 to 30 000 units) similar to iPhone market in SA
• Customers can use wifi/3G to download/sync content
• Email/internet functionality
• Long battery lifetime
Ultimately build a “Walled Garden” approach and anything outside is paid by customer.
But where do eReaders fit in? Is this a new platform or will it be a subcategory of mobile, print, web, or could it even include broadcast in the future?
All of the above is very much content driven and not device driven. In the case of the eReader, could it be that this is its own platform and driven by technology more than content?
It seems there is a global trend indicating that content providers, creators and technology provides are gearing up for EReaders.
Major players are:
Content
• Amazon
• Sony
• Hearst
• New York Times
Technology
• Microsoft
• Sony
• Adobe
• Apple
• Kindle
• EInk
The recent biggest shifts in the gearing up towards eReaders are:
• Google’s Book Search Settlement (that will make published content freely available)
• Apple’s possible launch of the iPad (EReader)
Here follows a probable future model for SA
• Initial costs of device carried by a mobile service provider (contract model)
• Possible “Pay as you go model” with customer carrying costs
• The device is sold with a data package including monthly subscription for exclusive content (Maybe a Vodafone Live)
• Niche market (Yr 1 initially 10 000 to 30 000 units) similar to iPhone market in SA
• Customers can use wifi/3G to download/sync content
• Email/internet functionality
• Long battery lifetime
Ultimately build a “Walled Garden” approach and anything outside is paid by customer.
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