the invincible green geek

The RICA process ... simple hey!

2011-06-30T11:05:00.000+02:00

I'm not about to judge anyone who have not RICA'd, I waited till the last day s myself. The thought of having to go through the entire process, stand in queues prove who I am and where I live and what I use my cellphone for and who I call and that I'm not a sgebungu ... and that and that and that; had always substantiated my unRICA'd SIM card. Little did I know the process was this short, quick and simple, I'm gonna try keep this post that way as well.

- What you need?
yourself, your ID, proof of residence and the SIM card.

Just take these to any RICA agent. Shouldn't be hard to find one; with almost every food, clothing, shop turned into a RICA agent. So I went to Checkers to RICA my SIM...

- The process!
They scanned my ID, captured my address and the SIM number... that's it.
I was in and out in less than three minutes.

- Have you NOT RICA'd?
Find out if your SIM is RICA registered or not... and GO RICA!

Wi-Fi business idea for anyone out there

2011-06-01T13:58:00.000+02:00

Just more than a month back, I wrote a blog saying We're the Wi-Fi Generation and mentioned the need for Wi-Fi at coffee shops and food restaurants...

-Coffee Shops and Restaurants

So I've placed my order, I understand you gonna take your time cause I want my steak well done... now what? There is so much I can do in that time, just give me the power of the Internet. I'm aware some restaurants already do this but I'm not so chaffed about having to pay for it... worst: paying for it separately. I'll let the fast food and take away restaurants go on this one.

Note the part about paying; Yes! I'll prefer it it free but if I have to pay for Wi-Fi access can't we devise a way to add it to the bill? Ahhhha!

So here the idea:
Restaurants can offer Wi-Fi access that enables you to login using your table number.
For security reasons and billing authenticity the login may require some form of authorisation;
a generated password can be provided by your waiter on request, this will activate login for your table.
You browse the internet, read your e-mails update your social network accounts while you wait for your order.

Now here is the interesting part:
When you are done eating and you request the bill from the waiter; this should imply you ready to leave and don't need the access. right?
So, when the waiter closes your table and prints the bill;
your connection will also be disconnected and Wi-Fi charges will be added to the bill.

This would be best if built as a add on that all restaurants can use to link to their existing billing system(s) as opposed to being custom built for a particular brand.

There: I've said it... who can do this?
Contact me if you wanna chat.

Ten Twitter Lessons (via @missbolani)

2011-05-23T17:46:00.002+02:00

Okay, so Miss Bolani (MISSNOITALL) posted on her blog a very concise list of 10 things twitter has taught her thus far. Much to my suprised, I read the list going "approved", "approved" ... LOL, basically I identify with the list.

Here it is: -

twitter is more than a micro-blogging site. it has become a module in the university of life. a very important one, i think. there are so many things one can learn on twitter, about one’s self, the world we live in and the friends and people who surround us. i will list 10 things twitter has schooled me on:

1. first and foremost: explore, participate and you shall learn and enjoy (the more you tweet, the more you get out of it)

2. it’s now okay to follow people you do not know. it’s no longer called stalking

3. my favourite: there’s no longer a need to wait for news broadcasts. twitter always has it first

4. i’ve also learnt that it’s better to laugh at yourself when those silly moments happen.

5. people are truly mean out there… so much unnecessary bullying happens on twitter (thank god, none of it is on my timeline)

6. people will force you to fall back if you continue with you bullshit (ref: nonhle thema)

7. even celebrities are human (much to popular belief). they too are hurt by vicious tweets

8. following your favourite celebs may not be the brightest idea… the most informative and funny tweets come from the random and ordinary folk

9. twitter is not for the illiterate. people are too quick to correct your spelling or cc @engrishspotter (i’m also guilty of such – *hides*). There is no room for typos and syntax errors.

10. and finally… twitter can make you famous in a day… just start a twar (an indirect war of words with another user)

I wanted to VOTE

2011-05-18T21:45:00.010+02:00

So, everyone has been there, done that and got their thumb inked; while I'm here twigging the same thumb. Before you even start; yes I did not VOTE, but I could have voted, I should have voted .... I mean I wanted to VOTE.

Just so you know; I am registered to vote but back home which is 600km from where I am today. I know what (or should I say 'who'?) my neighbourhood needs but I am stuck here. I had the time, I had the will, of course I wanted to exercise my democratic right. I now sit and wait for what others have decided for me, what others have decided for my neighbourhood whereas I could have voted, I should have voted .... I mean I wanted to VOTE.

If technology can allow us to withdraw money from any ATM regardless of which branch the customer is linked to; can't I just vote in any voting station regardless of which ward I'm from?
If technology can allow so much to be done without the presence of the actual human being and still be able to authenticate and validate that it's actually that person on the other end... I'm sure there is something that can be done to enable us to vote.

The IEC is doing a great job in making sure that the elections run smooth. The results centre set up is always high tech (look at that), the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes they've put in place is commended. Fast forward a few decades from now, the voting process could be streamlined greatly with the use of more technology... but then again, we could have that today.

I could have voted, I should have voted .... I mean I wanted to VOTE.

How to check if your SIM card is RICA registered

2011-05-05T17:04:00.003+02:00

Just in case you've been living under a rock or for whatever not-so-smart reason that you are not aware of The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (forget that, it's RICA), #believeitornot it is now looming in our faces. The deadline was extended to this year's end-of-June. bleh! and you still haven't done it.

Okay Okay, I won't try to make myself a double creamed doughnut; I myself have not RICA registered my SIM cards. The significance of having to give stalking rights to government, the service provider and the said RICA agents just because I could use my cellphone to organise crime has somewhat eluded me, needless to say I don't do crime. Mind you; my service provider, the one that gave me the SIM card, has a copy of my ID and they deliver my account statement to my residential address every month but I still need provide such information back... Kanti sifelani?

All you need to RICA register is: the SIM card you want to register, your identity document and proof of residential address. I can't tell you how the process is like as I'm yet to experience it myself. A few friends have given it three thumbs up for efficiency while others returned with mixed emotions; this is to me is as frightening as a visit to a dentist... pain/smile.

Furthermore, all service providers have provided means to check if you have RICA registered.

... and here is how you can check if you have RICA registered your SIM card.

- SMS

Service Providers have dedicated numbers that automatically reply to your SMS with your RICA registration status. For example Vodacom subscribers can SMS ‘RICA’ to 31050

- Website

If you login to your service provider's website, look around your account details and it should tell you whether you have RICA registered or not. MTN have gone a step further and created a website just dedicated to checking whether you are RICA'd; simply visit http://www.mtnsp.co.za/MTNServices/RICA and enter you MTN number [[kaboom]] "your cellphone number has not been RICA'd".

- USSD

Just so you know: that stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, it a gateway technology that allows the network to send information to you, you request that information by dialing a specific number (starting with * and ending with #). Good thing about it is that you can request you RICA registration status by simply dialing *124#; that's if you're using Virgin Mobile.

- Customer Care Call Centre

So the above sounds complicated? Just call your service provider customer care and ask in a cocky voice if you're registered. Be warned: long waiting periods (can't dzeal); boring recorded ads (kuyadabukisa shame); the conversation will be recorded (great! :-P) and a not so patient agent on the other end (if you're a bit patronising as I am). Remember Cell C's customer care number is 140 and Trevor Noah is watching them... what a joke!

Good Luck friends, I think you need it.

Update

- 8ta

I've just realised that on the post I mentioned all other networks except 8ta.

Here is the great news, anyone who has a 8ta SIM card is RICA registered and does not have to worry about being cut-off from the network. This is obviously because 8ta is new and the act had already been in place when they started issuing their SIM card.

When will you reply to my e-mail?

2011-04-12T17:39:00.000+02:00

Yes! no one sits around and write emails just for the fun of it... I may not be so sure of that but at best I don't. If someone sends you an email, they most probably expect a reply... at worst just to let them know you got the email or Thank you or just the "okay - bye" .

Believe it or not: the time it takes you to reply is just as important. Each person will generally have their expectations around when you will/may respond to the email. Below is my expectations; which I also seek at all times to conform to provided you email is not spam (or one of those forwarded chain mails).

- Work-Team Member e-mail
We work together, I can see you're at your desk/office, the email is work/project related and is sent during business hours. It's shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to read the email, think of what you need to say, write the reply (in some cases find the file to attach) and click send. I understand we all busy; but let's make this priority... an hour, at worst case.

- Business e-mail
I'm tempted to say the same time-frame as above (Work-Team Members) should apply to all business emails. It's not as clear cut as that. Business Hours and working conditions could be different; Your (non)response would not hamper my day to day activities; I'm prepared to wait longer cause I expect a precise well thought of response which could be binding in all imaginable sense. So let's make the hour an 'okay' time and 8 hours the later bound.

- Important Personal e-mail
Some of us cringe at the notion of having to attend to personal emails, for some the whole idea is just foreign. Let that aside: you've received an email from friend/family/relative which needs your reply. Best case: the email is sent to your business/work address; it will be awesome if you replied within an hour. Yeah right! you're busy... then do it before you go home or early morning the following day. Also get into the habit of checking your personal webmail for new emails at least once in 24hours.

- Friendly e-mail
Hooray! so we're friends, you decided to drop me a line, it's not that important, non-response won't kill? Hmmmm, but then again "non-response" ? ... kuyadabukisa! So get to that reply, even if it's immediate (awesome), an hour later (yeah), a day (that's fine) or the whole week (bleh). We're friends, drop a line, it's important non-response will kill ... eventually.

- Unsolicited Nonsense e-mail
Promotional emails, bulk emails, notifications, forwarded e-mails, chain letters and all other unsolicited e-mails fall in this category. Frankly, these don't deserve your time, let alone reply... one word for you: DO NOT REPLY.
Needless to say these are the same e-mails where you need to send to spam/junk folder and block repeat senders. The more you eradicate this nonsense; the better your chances of meeting the above and happiness for everyone.

smart(er)phones made by applications

2011-03-31T16:20:00.000+02:00

Yes, Each and every day, we begin to demand more from our smartphones... mind you: they are smart; aren't they? No, I'm not being sarcastic... credit gotta go out to mobile phone manufactures out there for raising their game almost everyday. Personally I’ll give more credit to the application developers.

Fact of the matter is: Nowadays smartphones are actually useless and dumb with applications. We today we can further expand our phones to do practically anything thanks to the mobile application phenomena that has been mastered by Apple, with Google's Andriod following suite (not sure if I should mention Ovi Store) << nearly forgot RIM's BlackBerry AppWorld. A quick scan of the AppStore/World would seemingly reveals a vast of applications that can assist you with pretty much most aspects of your life.

These little application thingies try to feature in almost all aspects of our life. Think of anything you wanna do and you’ll more or less find an appropriate application to assist you. The daunting part about it is: having to search and/or download the application; maybe SMARTphones will soon offer these with ease.

If you do dare: you can even go to gym on your smartphone; simply by downloading an application which turns your phone to a personal trainer.

Let's get toned with the ab workouts from Apples App-store (hat tip @fabbie)

I now await for the day when a smartphone application will do my laundry.

Avoiding TWAM (Twitter SPAM)

2011-03-30T17:18:00.001+02:00

In case you haven't notice. TWAM is on the rise. "TWAM?" Yes, Twitter SPAM ... precisely: unsolicited tweets that @reply/mention you. Protecting your tweets could curb the crap; not entirely though as your actual twitter name is protected <insert stupid laugh here> plus you can't escape your followers retweeting you straight into the twammers <insert another laugh here>. Actually, I don't see the point of having a twitter account if your tweets are gonna be protected <don't insert a laugh here>.

It pretty easy to just ignore the nonsense, that's if you also don't mind strolling through tweet that each just hit a nerve... not the mention the notifications on the application(s) you use. Okay stop fooling yourself, it is that time we started generating our own habits on Twitter to minimise the TWAM just as we have generated habits around e-mail.

Most twammers (twitter accounts that tweet twam) tweets are triggered by what we tweet, so this means we can do something about it. It starts with simple things.

- Who you follow
Carefully scrutinise the twitter account before following back. If you follow a twammer, they can't help but twam you. I basically avoid accounts following a lot of people but no followers and account that haven’t tweeted yet... let alone the twitter name. Needless to say; Twammers will follow you but then again you don't need to follow back everyone who follows you.

- The un-celebrate
Beware of accounts that are created in names of people who are popular, sometimes the name is altered slightly. If you wanna follow a celebrity, make sure it the correct person. Most celebrities should have their accounts verified by now.

- Trending Topics/Hashtags
So you scan the Trending Topics to see what you wanna tweet? Hmmmm... Twammers use the same list to track who they can twam. The same story with hashtag; #ThatAwkwardMoment when you receive a flood of twam just for hogging on a trending hashtag.

- Music (Artists + Title)
Yeah it's cool that you're listening to music and you wanna share; or you've bought that hit single of that international artist. Ahha, twammers glory... they'll hit you with music download links et al, Speaking of download: you may as well avoid that word. The popular the music artist/title the worse the effects, so do you still wanna tweet about the song on the number one spot of the Top 40 chart?

- Gadgets ... and their launches
This one pisses me off greatly. Mention any of the top gadget brands (e.g. Blackberry, iPhone/iPad, Andriod...) <> "You've got TWAM". Now I can't have a normal twinversation [yes: talking about gadgets is normal to me] without being hit by the nonsense comments +l inks from twammers. You may wanna avoid these on days when a particular product is launched; e.g. when Apple launches the iPhone ... just avoid tweeting 'apple' and 'iphone'.

Just as we've been unable to rid ourselves of spam in other communication mediums (#believeitornot snail mail included), twam is not gonna just disappear. However, Twitter does provide options to help fight the twammers. Over and above the link to "report as spam" on the accounts, twitter also suspends accounts that are blocked by more people.

Tweet well. :-)

PIMP Your Blog!

2011-03-29T11:54:00.002+02:00

Ahha, so that's what you wanna do?

Sorry I'm not helping anyone out this time around. If you had happened to see my last week tweet about PIMPing @fabbie's blog… that was kinda different or maybe this is where I should use the line 'It wasn't me!' That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But you're in luck… BlogMakeOver.net (yeah! Pretty new I know) is offering free blog make over. Gotta be quick… herd over to their website and fill in the simple form (name, email, blog). Who knows they may just give you what you need.

NB: Selected bloggers will be notified before 2nd April 2011 and posted on their facebook fan page.http://twitter.com/#!/masondo/status/50858080044453888

We're the Wi-Fi Generation

2011-03-28T15:11:00.000+02:00

With the rise of more gadgets/applications that demand Internet connectivity and the need to constantly be updated (news, email, social media et al): Wi-Fi everywhere is the future; Best of all if it's free.

I know a lotta you will raise their eyebrows at me and start pointing at the 3G signals. Yeah right, like that's any convenient? stable? affordable? ... my point exactly.

Just to put it out there: these are some of the places we (I'm sure I'm not alone) expect to have access to the Internet in wireless form (#TheNeed)

-Home
I advise friends who still have the not-so-popular telephone landlines to sign up for ADSL and look around for an affordable deal, ideally an 'uncapped ADSL package'. They can then setup a wireless network that they can all use to access the Internet; from their individual laptops, the bulky desktop, the tablets and smart phones they all carry... did I mention the TV and the music players (e.g. Zune, iPod).
Just one thing though: make sure the network is secure to prevent your neighbours from stealing your connection.

-Office
We should strive for the liberation of workers from the struggle to find a network cable at their workplace and meeting areas. Like seriously: all offices should have wireless networks by now. For a mere simple case of the ease of moving around with the laptop with missing that crucial email; I won't mention the convenience of being able to connect our smart gadgets (ipad, cellphones, etc) provided the IT guys and their policies are not stuck up.

-Library
Truth be told: I haven't been to the library closest to my home for some time now. The last time I was there; they had free-to-use Internet-connected computers (oops! I think they are called terminals there). I only hope that they have since upgraded to free-to-use wireless connection. No I'm not selfish; I hope the same for libraries out there.

-Coffee Shops and Restaurants
So I've placed my order, I understand you gonna take your time cause I want my steak well done... now what? There is so much I can do in that time, just give me the power of the Internet. I'm aware some restaurants already do this but I'm not so chaffed about having to pay for it... worst: paying for it separately. I'll let the fast food and take away restaurants go on this one.

-Hotels and the like
I pay to stay at the Hotel, I'm gonna sleep at the same Hotel, bath at the same Hotel, eat, ... , pretty much do everything at the same Hotel. How the hell am I gonna stay connected if no Wi-Fi is provided? I know I'm not the only one who asks about Internet connectivity while I check in. Needless to mention that I don't expect to pay for it... at least the first 24 hours as is the norm with most hotels.

-Airports and Airplanes
Airports: I know you all have it, please bring down the costs... phew!
Airplanes: I know you're talking about it or considering it or researching it or (some airlines) implementing it ... [shouting up towards the sky] Can you speed up your processes, we're dying of boredom in your planes... We want Wi-Fi! On a more polite note: I'd also appreciate not having to pay extra for the connection, the ticket prices and taxes are already flying high.

-Gautrain ... let's just say Train
If my memory serves me right, the notion of Internet connectivity while traveling on the Gautrain was one of the points used to sell the idea. I recall seeing a prototype video a kid sitting inside the train with a flat laptoppy like screen affixed on the seat in front. I know that isn't there and worse we lose all other forms of connection while the train traverses at 160km/h underground. Anyhow; I think it will be cool if they enter bullet point 'wi-fi connection' to their pipeline projects (no pun intended). Mind you the Internet may as well be as fast as the train.

I know all of the above is possible and some already beginning to emerge. I don't expect overnight changes just to accommodate the Wi-Fi generation. However; the sooner the better for everyone; most importantly... ME.

The New Kid In The Office

2011-03-25T17:07:00.001+02:00

Work is not just work anymore, it's part of life.

Okay, that's just a theory... theory I’ve just made up now.
Over the past few days I've grown a bit concerned over trend I all-of-a-sudden realised existed within my colleagues and friends who have recently entered the workplace. Is it a good thing or have we just became a bunch of workaholics early in our lives.

In a nutshell...
- They love their job
this is not a bad thing, but people don't generally love their jobs. What happened to the odd person mourning about nothing?

- Easily get over concerned with work stuff
yeah I understand we all should... but sometimes I feel it just work. When the code doesn't run as expected, it's not the end of the world. life.continue();

- Go home time is no rush
while everyone dreads the tick-tock to the hour where they can pack up and go... they (or should I say 'WE') don't even care when go home time is, we don't even have the time to count the hours.

- Never takes the full hour lunch
okay, this one I kinda relate to. Like seriously, who said we need an hour just to eat lunch? Take a break when you need to, eat, drink... go back to doing what you love.

- Fascinated by gadgets and cars
Most often this will be the small talk. The new release, the upgrades, the trends... who is getting what; full specification included. tl tl tl. Just to put it out there: I love my car and I'm not about to buy the iPad 2; thought you may wanna know.

Are you a new kid in the office?

Facebook using text message (SMS)

2011-01-24T17:23:00.003+02:00

I know this has been available for some time now, yes: even I had never given it much attention. Just to put it out there I don't think I'll be using it much (if at all). But I'm gonna go ahead and give it to you how it works... just so you know.

- Setup
First you need to activate Facebook Mobile buy visiting http://www.facebook.com/mobile and add your cellphone number. This should be simple: just follow the prompts, enter your cellphone, do the confirmation SMS thinga majix ... done.

You'll then be introduced to a simple SMS number that you'll use to Facebook via SMS. The number differs per country and/or cellphone network. South Africans can use the number 13999 (NB: currently works for Vodacom, MTN and Cell C subscribers... sorry Virgin, 8ta). The SMS are charged and standard rate and if you have SMS bundles you win.
If you need me to tell you: Save the number in your contacts.

- Status Update
Send an SMS to13999 (or the number you saved above) with your status update and it will be posted as is to Facebook. Simple isn't it? owkay, let's move on.

- Inbox Message
You can send a Facebook inbox message by SMSing the word msg [space] name of the person you wannna send message to [space] and your message. This means, if you wanted to send a stupid "hey there, how are you" message to my Facebook inbox; your SMS will be "msg Nkululeko Masondo hey there, how are you".

- Wall Post
Say you now wanna post on my wall. All you have to do is send an SMS "wall Nkululeko Masondo I think you're awesome" and the message "I think you're awesome" will be posted on my wall. Before I forget; PLEASE don't patronise me.

- There's more...
Of cause you can do much more with the Facebook Mobile text messaging service (check out http://www.facebook.com/mobile for all the info).
My opinion: if you going to text message, may as well send the message as SMS directly.
If you happen to have forgotten my number, then simply SMS "cell Nkululeko Masondo" and Facebook will reply with my cellphone number.

Science in Church

2011-01-24T00:57:00.001+02:00

Ever imagined attending a church service where you speak Science. The galaxy speak: sun, earth, orbiting ... the electromagnetivity, the speed and the delay light?

Well it happened: I attended the Calvary Methodist Church service on the 23th of January 2011 and that was all I heard. The well prepared sermon by Rev Siviwe 'Sva' Waqu still resounds as is in me.

Though it was Grade 10 Physics: it was still fascinating to hear a preacher fluently pronounce Science within the Church without having to go “Geez! What is this guy on about” The concepts were even pitched at the correct level for ~~an accountant~~ an old person to understand. <#note2self: I should have taken the picture of the drawing on the flip chart… LOL>

I could live with of that. As a matter of fact: I believe more young people will be willing listen to the Church speak if the church started speaking in these terms (just my two cents worth).

Well done Sva, Calvary ROCKS!
Let’s now hold our breath that the sermon will be posted on the website: http://calvary.org.za/

BlackBerry Torch 9800 Review: it's (not) just another phone.

2011-01-06T22:04:00.000+02:00

So here I am, with my BlackBerry Torch. A lot of you will most probably raise eyebrows following some of my comments about the BlackBerry phones in general (i.e. "It's just a phone"). After spending time (more than two months now) with the BlackBerry Torch 9800 Smartphone; here are my views:

Getting started with the phone is as simple as solving for x in Grade 8 *straight face*. There are steps that may be a bit techy there and there but it's far simpler than I could have ever imagines. I was able to get up and running in a few hours with everything setup; including syncing contacts and calendar, setting up all my e-mail accounts, social media accounts logged in... and a whole lot more.

The BIG screen: WOW! I just love the super responsive 3.2" screen of the BlackBerry Torch. Okay, I love the trackpad too. (Back to the screen) It is just the best for web browsing and for viewing movies and pictures. Speaking of movies and pictures: the BlackBerry Torch 9800 5.0 Megapixel camera with auto focus and flash never disappoints, clear+bright+super quality all the time... it could be phone or it could be the photographer *grin*.

The phone excels in helping you stay connected. The Social Feed also makes that simpler by combining all you social media streams into one, plus enables you to update them all with a single click of a button or tap of the screen. The messaging feature is the best, from threaded SMS view to push e-mails from multiple accounts. The phones native browser is also good, not to mention fast; in my past phones I had to resort to using Opera Mini but not this time, I'm happy.

Then there is the much talked about BlackBerry Messenger (BBM): powerful application that allows you to send pretty much anything on the phone to the person on the other side... text, pictures, voice notes, music, even map location. Wouldn't it be great if I could BBM everyone who is anyone? *thinks*. Then again: Naaah! BBM; not for me... or until that happens.

Time to slide out the QWERTY keyboard for 'the best of both'. If you wanna touch, 'touch'; if you wanna type, 'type'. After using a touch screen only phone and having caught myself touching on non-touch-screen phones, I knew it was gonna be hard to adapt back to the button clicks. Hello BlackBerry Torch... Thank you for pulling me out of my wavering. The onscreen QWERTY board is a bit difficult to use though.

My huge disappointment with the phone is its battery life. What they say the phone's battery can last! LIES. The battery lasts on average one day, two days maximum without any use. I've checked with other people and it the same. Coming from a phone that lasted about 3 days was a bit of an anti-climax... not a train smash though as I can charge the BB anywhere where I can plug a USB device; i.e. laptop (at work), car (on the road), TV (at home)... etc.

Final verdict: It's just a phone... but not just another phone: It's a BlackBerry.

Sent via my BlackBerry - let your email find you!

the okay bye

2010-12-30T00:47:00.002+02:00

Hello friends, this is just a quick post on how to use 'okay bye'

greet; get straight to the point; the shorter the better; the moment people start getting where you going with your statement(s) ...
* okay bye *

P.S: okay there should be no postscripts.
The whole thinga majix is to sound like you running away after saying/hinting what you wanted to say.
The 'okay bye' works well on voicemail and social media messages, practice the quick squeaky voice now.*okay bye*

iPhone 4 : This is the best one yet

2010-12-23T13:58:00.004+02:00

How could we ever forget the launch of the then "smartphone to re-invent the phone" back in 2007... the iPhone!
Four years later we have the 4th generation of the same hyped about phone (with 3G and 3GS in between).

Compared to the first iPhone, the iPhone has grown a lot. It got slicker with a more sexier design, it just feels like a piece of glass. It's slimmer, flatter... ohh! I think I should add smarter here.

Check it out on this video:-

Features we only dreamt of back in 2007 (e.g. multi-tsaking, Video Call, taking and sharing videos) are mastered by the iPhone 4. The first five minutes with the phone makes you go 'mmmmmh' but it ends there.

The phone comes plane; you have to add most apps that you need... okay: I wanted to Facebook and Tweet.

Setting up the phone is still a bit complicated, I also had difficulty using the Bluetooth feature of the iPhone.

All that aside: this is the best one yet!
Yeah; all good... I'm certain the iPhone 5 will offer more.
I'm lovesick and waiting.

The CEOs - Cell C vs Nando's

2010-12-13T00:06:00.003+02:00

Following the Cell C CEO ad spin off with Trevor Noah; Nando's is also at it (using Kagiso Lediga as their CEO)... kwaaaa! like a hawk! or should it be "like a chicken".

Given both ads to compete against each other: I'll vote for Nando's. #nufsaid
... and here are the ads in case you wondering what I'm on about:

Cell C

Nando's

Chiefs and Pirates (not) in the newspapers

2010-12-05T13:26:00.001+02:00

Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have landed the print paper industry in a bit of an instable state. This is following their repeated actions of the other beating the other... leaving the reporters with nothing but the same story to report on.

Some of the few newspaper headlines that have re-surfaced over a not-so-distant period include (but not limited to):
- "Chiefs Humble Pirates (humble pie rats)"
- "Chiefs bangs 3 times; Pirates"
- "Pirates took their defeat and left HAPPY... happy people"
- "Chiefs won AGAIN; Pirates lost AGAIN"
- "Amakhosi agebhule ezimnyama"
- "iChiefs izigwazele ibhece"

It appears that some newspapers weren't published on Sunday 05 November 2010 after Chiefs beat Pirates with 3 goals in the Telkom Knockout Final, just 3 weeks after they did the same. One of the editors explained "We can't keep running the same story over and over again... we may as well not print"

Newspapers that went on print have led themselves to huge embarrassments as subscribers complained that the publishers were using the same story from just a few weeks a back. Truth is there were not. Some of the trusted Sunday newspapers have hinted that they had to use the thesaurus to ensure that their articles appear different even though the content is completely the same.

The newspapers association has gone out in arms defending the newspapers, putting it out there that "it is not the writers/publishers fault that some things never change". The government is rumored to be in talks with all parties to ensure that a different outcome is eminent in the next encounter... for the benefit of the country.

These effects are yet to be felt by online publishers.

-Reported by Nkululeko Masondo (without the permission of the Editor)

Facebook in a nutshell... I mean 'shelf'

2010-11-02T15:35:00.001+02:00

Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. It's free, always will be.

(http://www.facebook.com)

The original idea for the term Facebook came from Zuckerberg's high school (Phillips Exeter Academy). The Exeter Face Book was passed around to every student as a way for students to get to know their classmates for the following year. It was a physical paper book until Zuckerberg brought it to the internet.

(http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebook)

Most of Facebook's features depend on the idea that there are people in your life that you like to stay in touch and connect with. Whether these people are best friends, family, coworkers, or acquaintances, once you connect to them, they are considered Facebook friends.

(http://www.facebook.com/help/?guide)

Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

(http://www.facebook.com/facebook?v=info)

There are also Fan Pages on Facebook. This is a relatively new offering. Fan Pages are targeted more toward a specific entity rather than an individual' social networking with friends and family. Just because they are labeled Fan Pages does not necessarily mean that the entity is a celebrity, a band, etc. Fan sites can be created for anything, especially online stores. More and more businesses are making use of Fan Pages to target their users to a Facebook entity that represents their enterprise.

(http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-use-facebook)

Sex battle on Facebook ... I like it

2010-10-16T02:09:00.004+02:00

One gotta applaud the great use of Social Media platforms for the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. In two years running; ladies have been confusing the living hell out of guys... let's make that some guys... with their Facebook status messages. And the guys are fighting back, kwaaa!

Following the viral spread of this year's earlier campaign of posting an update with colour only... which we immediately caught on that it the colour of their bras, eeeuwww!

Don't believe it or do: this year we saw:-

- I like it on the floor

- I like it on the bed

- I like it on the couch

- I like it on top of the fridge

- See More

My initial reaction was "What the hell! " only to find out they were updating about where they like to place their purse/handbag. Funny enough some of them ladies didn't get and went straight bang into the pit created for guys... without the pun.

They then went on to to brand names; that wasn't too much of a spin off. Not worthy of mention: I saw a lotta Gucci's on my stream. *hides*

- Gucci = Single
- Prada = In love
- Diesel = Unhappy in love
- DKNY = In a relationship
- Hugo Boss = Married
- Lacost = Engaged

I guess they gonna keep going: we've also seen cars, lengths... #DeathBy all this.

Now the twist: Guys have started their own meme spread by posting place names as their status updates. This saw ladies up in arms that guys are just not original, they are jealous, predictable, <yada yada yada>.

nuffsaid, *okay bye*

Outro Music: Should we fight back? Or should we just swallow our pride? We won't use violence, we'll try not to break too many hearts

Twitter is better than Facebook

2010-09-20T11:52:00.002+02:00

I doubt a lot of you will agree with me, I don't even agree with myself.

A lot of people are often fazed with whether to go for Twitter or stick to Facebook. Why put yourself through that... do you really have to compare the two? Just use what works for you.

Twitter is Twitter, Facebook is Facebook... nuf said, whether the new twitter is trying to be Facebook or Facebook is trying to be more like Twitter, they just not the same. The manner in which you get to interact with your friends (or should I say followers) is unique in its own way. Thank why linking Twitter and Facebook is a good idea, 'cause you get the best of both worlds.

The only difference I can put out there is that posting on Twitter is like speaking at a pub whereas Facebook is like speaking in church. That shouldn't make any much difference hey? unless you are a two-faced pretentious person who utters different words based on where you're (or with) ... shame on you! You're not alone though, I know a lotta people like that *hides*

As my friend Lindani Mazibuko would put it: "If you rate twitter more than Facebook. SMH you are mentally challenged. It's a fuckin social nertwork so wats the big deal bought dat. to me its d same sh*t" ... and I agree with him.

PS: I am on both Twitter and Facebook... look at me, I'm AWESOME.

Quickly Link Twitter To Your Facebook Account

2010-08-23T23:08:00.001+02:00

If you're still convinced that Linking Twitter and Facebook is a good idea you'll be glad to learn that the process of actually doing such is now simpler.

Imma quickly take you through it:

Login to Facebook, then search for the Twitter application.
or simply go directly to it at http://apps.facebook.com/twitter
Grant twitter permission to your Facebook application.
You almost done... now to enable twitter to post to your Facebook: mark the check box next "Facebook Profile"
Facebook will ask you whether you want to allow Twitter to post to your wall... Allow; that exactly what we wanted ryt?
Okay, you done. Go tweet about it now. :-)

Don't judge a book by its cover? ... I say do

2010-08-17T16:29:00.002+02:00

Yep, judge the book by the cover.

The saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" is a common English idiom that is explained as a metaphorical phrase which means "don't determine the worth of something based on its appearance" (The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3rd ed. 2002)

Picture this: you walk into a bookstore, one purpose in mind ... buy a book. Faced with the number of rows packed with 'interesting' books you now need to make a decision; you can't buy them all hey! Can you?
Well you have two options:

Don't judge
You can be the good guy, try reading each and every book in the store so as to make proper judgment.
It will take you some time but would be worth it, you'll know exactly what you getting.
Needless to say you have read the entire book by the time you pay for it, great!
This is a good option... but good luck in finding a bookstore that will make you do that.

Judge
Just judge the book by its cover. Yep, be the bad yet practical guy who looks at the cover of the book and decide whether you want to buy it or not (best case: read the synopsis at the back of the book) . This is to say, the cover alone should be enough to allow you determine what kind of book it is and whether it will be a good buy or not. Agreed?

If not convinced; the synopsis on the back of the book should help alleviate your hesitancy.

So What?
aaah! How do I put this? Our profiles on social media platforms also have book covers.
The same scenario applies in real life. As much as people don't wanna "judge the book by its cover"; it just way better to do so.
With that in my mind, people should also take caution of what they put up as their profile pictures (aka avatars) on Facebook, Twitter and the like, as these and their last post are their covers.

These are the things people judge you by, thus the book cover analogy. Your avatar and your last status are in a sense your "book cover".

(written by Nkululeko Masondo, Dibuseng Chiliza and Velemseni Sithole)

Stop the irritating Facebook Notifications that fill up your mailbox

2010-07-23T13:29:00.006+02:00

It's all been well and good, you logged in to Facebook once a week, posted a status and got an e-mail to go back there whenever there was an activity that was not "none of your business".

But things have changed, you login a thousand times as much you did, you've got ten times the number of friends you had and everything is now "your business" …
except for one thing: the number of e-mails notifications you get from Facebook have also increased a hundred times. Aaaaah!!

Here is a simple way to stop the whole irritating e-mails, free your Inbox from clutter and finally get to read your e-mails… I mean real e-mails.

· Login to Facebook by going to http://www.facebook.com/
· Click on 'Account' on the top right of the page, then click 'Account Settings'

· On the Account Settings page, click on the 'Notifications' tab.

· The page will show you the address where notifications are sent to, all you have to do is just clear the ticks on all notifications you don't want to receive.
· There… done.

You'll not miss your notifications as they'll still appear when you login to Facebook; Anyhow: even if you do… so what? :-P

Open 'Thank You' Letter to Phillip

2010-07-13T15:11:00.003+02:00

Dear Phillip ... the one who was here.

I just wrote to say Thank You, for the wonderful time you have brought to our wonderful land Africa ... let alone South Africa. Your friends came from all over the entire world and gathered in our beautiful cities, filled the newly-built stadiums; that made us feel really special. We have had the happiest month of our lives due to you being here. In light of the events that surfaced while you were, we would like to extend our full gratitude towards you.

Everyone here had well anticipated your arrival, we kept shouting your name everyday. We decorated our houses with the colors of the South African flag, actually we flew the flag everywhere we saw possible (sometimes not). Our cars were not amiss also: we got them undies for their ears to also hoot their support.

On Wednesday the 9th of June we blocked the streets blowing our vuvuzelas as loud as we could. WOW! it was fun =====<() paaarp!!!
For some very odd reason Phillip, someone called that moment the "Vuvuzela Moment"; meanwhile we all knew it was all because of you. Of all the teams that graced our shores in your name, all of them claimed you to be theirs, some insisted that you were mostly african and off course we all wanted you to be african. Even some restuarants have claimed that you eat there, you could have seen us rushing to them in pursuit of catching a glimpse of you.

When you finally arrived everyone was ecstatic; [wait an hour] When did you arrive Phillip? I can't remember. The spirit of your arrival was just too overwhelming that it got our Bafana Bafana to rise to the occasion against Mexico at Soccer City. Yeerrr, it was painful when we lost against Uruguay; we cried: not because we lost but because we thought you were gone.

Little did we know you were still here Phillip. France saw the better of your influence.

I'm glad you stayed on even when Bafana Bafana was... uhmmm you know.

Not putting the blame of our mis-expenditure fully on you, I would also go as far as to say it was fun spending all that money in your name. On a lighter note Phillip, who is this Paul? yes; Paul the Octopus. Is he your friend? I think he was trying to take the limelight from you towards the end of the tournament.

Thank you Phillip: In the short time you were here, you taught us how to love, cherish and mostly to tolerate one another despite our vast cultural and social differences. You have brought joy to even the saddest of people, softened the hearts of even the most vile people. You have brought laughter, belief, and you have raised the confidence of our once forsaken country. We went out into cold, rainy nights just to feel your presence, to rejoice with the masses in your name and to enjoy ourselves without limitations.

We can't thank you enough for you were here for only a month yet the influence you had on millions of people is enormous. You had the power to make us smile,cry and dance. We didn't want you to go Phillip but we understand.

Rumour has it that you will be in Brazil in 2014, if it's true then we'll sure meet up there. Go well Phillip, we will really miss you... *mimmic cry*

We hope you can come back soon though you didn't say you will or will not, we just won't lose hope.

Kind Regards,
Nkulueko Masondo

(Thanks to Dibuseng Moss and Velemseni Sithole for helping write this letter)