Monthly Archives: December 2009
And that’s a wrap…
WOW, 2009 has been an awesome year in blogging terms for me. My site has literally taken off, and has proved to me, after a bit of doubt, that blogging is still very well alive.
In June Apple released OS 3.0 for the iPhone, and included in the release was MMS & internet tethering. unfortunately Vodacom had not released the setting required for this to work. Thanks to the magic of PJ from Glucode, I hosted a file on my blog, which allowed you enable these settings if you were a Vodacom user. With that, my site exploded, and that specific post has almost had 15,000 hits to it. I soon realised that the South African iPhone market is not as small as we think. It is growing HUGE, and I honestly people are catching on the device, that is more than “just a phone”
I started doing a couple of posts of recommended apps, and then did a post on how to get a US iTunes account. Again, the response was phenomenal. We have a very limited selection of apps in the South African iTunes store, so getting a US account is imperative when setting up a new iPhone.
The blog carried on doing well, and I was beginning to make some money through Adgator, which is always a help. Then on the 21st of November this year, a meteor appeared over Gauteng, and I did a couple of posts on it. My wife and I saw a similar light over KZN that night, so I took quite a keen interest in it. Within about 4 days I had had about 8000 hits on the 3 posts that I had done. I couldn’t believe it. People were using the site to relay their stories about the meteor sighting, and even the planetarium in Joburg called me for some info. The site went crazy. Even today, I am still getting hits about this rather strange occurence.
All in all, I am really “stoked” about the way 2009 has turned out for my blog and, I am currently ranked as the 19th most popular blog in South Africa, according to Afrigator, which makes me happy :)
I thought I would close off the year, with a couple of my favourite apps that I have found for the iPhone through the year. There are so many to choose from, so I thought of breaking them down in a couple of categories.
Best Game:
There are a couple of choices here, but for me, Doodle Jump takes this one. It is one of the most addictive games I have ever played, and I just can’t seem to beat my highest score. The fact that the Developers keep updating the app with new fun features, makes it a steal at $0.99 as well as the best game for me in 2009.
Best Twitter Client:
I muddled over this one for a while, cause earlier this year I was a huge SimplyTweet fan. The app is brilliant, and the push notifications top it off. But then Tweetie2 came out. At first I wasn’t a fan, as it only loaded the last 100 tweets, and I had no way of seeing when my last read tweet was. That was until they upgraded the app and introduced gap detection, to allow you load older tweets. Now I use Tweetie2 to read my tweets and use SimplyTweet to notify me of new Direct messages and @ Messages. The developer of SimplyTweet is working on a new version which I will be helping to beta test, so watch out for some interesting developments there :)
Best Local App:
Another tough one, as all the developers have been working hard and have pumped out some really cool apps. the ZATV guide is awesome for checking whats happening on the small screen, and RadioPod allows you to check in on your favorite Podcasts. But for me the one app I use on a daily basis is the News24 app. The content is up to date with the website, and the latest update has introduced push notifications to allow you to be up to date with the world’s breaking news.
Best Photography app.
There have been loads of photography apps released this year, and I have taken a liking to iPhone photography, thanks to the Chase Jarvis book I ordered earlier this month. The slogan, ” The Best Camera is the one that is with you”,has inspired me to take loads more photos with my iPhone camera. Coupled with the release of the book, was the Best Camera app, which allows you on device post processing of your pictures, and allows you to post them to your various social media streams. I also started a site dedicated to the photos I have taken with my iPhone camera, called iPhonetoGraph.com
Best GPS App:
With the release of OS 3.0, Apple allowed developers to develop turn by turn navigational apps. TomTom wowed the crowd, and eventually were one of the first to hit the market. In South Africa, we have a choice of 3 navigational apps; NDrive, Navigon & Tom Tom. Having used Navigon and NDrive, I have to admit that NDrive is the winner in the category. The app is simple to use, and has the most up to date maps. I will be doing a review on Navigon in the new year and compare it to NDrive.
There are probably loads more categories I could go into, but the above are what has really stood out for me. I cannot wait to see what 2010 brings to the app store, as I think with technology evolving the way it is, we should be in for a few surprises from Uncle Steve next year.
So, thats a wrap from me for the year, and I hope that in 2010, I can share loads more with you on my blog :)
Jimmy’s Killer Prawns – Ballito
Cross posted from HelloPeter
Last week Saturday we decided to have a meal at Jimmy Killer Prawns in Ballito, with family members who were due to leave the next day.
When we entered the restaurant, it was virtually empty, something unheard in season in Ballito. This should have been our clue to get out of there, fast…
We waited a while for a waiter to take our drinks order, until I had to get up and go and call the manger for help. We then decided on a ‘shared meal’ they offer, with all sorts of starters & prawns.
Well, almost all of the starters were terrible. The holumi we ordered was covered in some salty batter, the chicken livers were beyond hot, none of us could eat them. The chips had been cooked in the oil from yesterday, and were burnt. Even the sauce on the prawns were drenched in garlic, which made them taste awful.
At the end of the evening when we approached the manager, who ended up serving us the whole evening, and told her we were unhappy with the meal, she just shrugged her shoulders and didn’t even apologise.It is a pity that this restaurant is going to the dogs in Ballito, and I can’t see many of us locals supporting it for very much longer.
XDrive & Mix Mobile
A couple of weeks ago I got an email from the guys at Mix Telematics letting me know about a new South African iPhone app they had developed, called Mix Mobile. Essentially what the app does, is that it allows you to connect to an XDrive device in your car, and then allows you to track various aspects of the vehicle. The XDrive unit is a simple GSM/GPS device which connects to your car’s battery, and tracks the vehicle’s movements. These alerts can be sent to you via email or SMS, and the awesome thing about the product is that there is no Monthly subscription fee. Everything is based on a Pre Paid system, and you buy credits through the XDrive website.
You can log into the XDrive website, or into the iPhone app, which allows you to see the current location of the car, you can also follow the car. You can also set up alerts through the website to detect Impact Detection, Over Speeding, Low Battery, Harsh Braking as well as specified Acceleration.
Some of the other features of the device are:
The iPhone app is really simple to use, and you can control all the features from the app, as well as an up to date status on the vehicle.
I received a test unit yesterday, from the chaps at Mix Telematics, and installed it in about 10 minutes. The installation is really simple, and you only need to connect 2 wires. Once the unit has been installed and secured, it goes through a simple self install routine, and downloads the latest firmware over the air. The unit has a sim card built into it, and uses a combination of GSM & GPS to detect and report your location and stats.
You can purchase the XDrive unit from Kalahari.net for R2999, and you can download the iPhone app for free from the app store. The app has a demo mode which allows you to see 2 vehicles in action, and allows you to get an idea of how it all fits together.
So far, I am very impressed with how the whole system works, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all shapes up over the next couple of months.
Let’s all be safe this silly season
Image courtesy of BlackTau
South African’s are the best nation in the world. Even if I say so myself. EXCEPT, there is one thing that really really annoys me with with our country. Drinking and driving. We have a really crap habit, of having a good time, and then getting in a car, and not only putting our lives at risk, but everyone else around you on the road.
I think a misconception though in South Africa though, is that people think even if they drink 1 or 2 beers they are “fine”. Research has shown, that, even 1 beer can impair your thinking and vision. Even 1 beer is too much.
Why am I writing this post ? Well 2 fold. This time of year is notrious for drunk driving. Everybody needs to wind down after a hectic year. We all want to just relax, and chill. So we all go for a beer with our mates, but then we foolishly climb into our cars to drive home.
This year, Castle Lager have come to the party and have started a campaign called “Castle Designated Driver”. The campaign is a competition that allows you nominate a designated driver, which blows into a breathalyser, as they arrive at the venue, as well as when they leave. They designated is allowed to order any soft drinks for free. If you all good to go at the end of the evening, you can win a years free rides from SACAB, who castle have teamed up with for the promotion.
Lets’s all be safe this season. Let’s try and bring our death toll on our roads down, and most importantly, lets have a great festive season, safely :)
*Disclaimer: I was sent a promotional pacakge from Castle in support of the Castle Designated Driver campaign, but was not asked to write an article. I did this to help support what I think is a fantastic campaign :)izimvo iPhone App
A while back, Shaun and I launched izimvo.com, and so far we have had a resounding success. We have interviewed some really great people, and taken a look at life in South Africa. So far it seems the consensus is that South African’s are happy. We love our country, and doesn’t look like anyone is keen on immigrating soon.
And the big news today is that have also just released the izimvo iPhone app, which we partnered up with the guys from MotherApp. If you are a regular, you will know that I am slightly “iPhone befok” :), So having an iPhone app for my pet project, has made my day, week, year.
A big thanks to the guys from MotherApp again for the opportunity to develop the app. MotherApp develops an app for your site/blog, and we have had absolutely ZERO issues, and got a mail this morning it was live in the app store. Brilliant service all round, and really helpful guys. Thanks MotherApp for the opportunity.
The app allows you to view all the past interviews, as well as keep up with our Twitter stream.
If you have an iPhone, give it a try and let us know what you think. You can download it from the image below, or simply just snap the QR code below on your iPhone to download the app.
Flickr Photos
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