MarcForrest.com

Month: April 2010

  • 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa iPhone Game

    With just 6 weeks to go, the guys from EA Sports have officially launched the 2010 FIFA World Cup iPhone game(iTunes Link). The game which showcases all the teams and host cities from the 2010 event.

    I downloaded the app this morning, which costs $6.99 on the app store, is well well worth the cash spent. This is a fully fledged game, which you would be paying close on R600 for the playstation version. The graphics are fantastic on the iPhone, and the live commentary adds to the overall experience.You can also choose a team and play the whole tournament, as well as play a once off game against specific teams. The app also has a mulitplayer option, which lets you play against your mates using WiFi. Check out the video on the EA Sport site

    From the EA Press release:

    The 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa videogame will feature all the emotion and passion of the fiercest national rivalries battling on the world’s biggest stage, with all 199 national teams that took part in qualification and all 10 official stadiums to be used in South Africa. Gamers will be able to play as their home nation from qualification right through to a virtual reproduction of the FIFA World Cup Final™ and feel what it is like to score the goal that lifts a nation.

    The models of the staudiums are modeled to perfection, and it’s awesome to see South Africa being represented on this global scale.

    Even if you aren’t a sports fan, or a soccer fan, but have an iPhone, I highly suggest you download yourself a copy of the game. Let me know your thoughts below on what you think of the game.

  • Jack Parow CD

    You may have heard of Jack Parow. You know that guy that sings “Cooler As Ekke“. That afrikaans rap tune, that every time you listen to it, cracks you up. It’s brilliant. And finally, he has bought out his own CD.

    If you haven’t heard it check out this video to get an idea about what we talking about:

    The CD features 12 tracks:

    1.  Ek Wens Jy Was Myne
    2.  Hier’s Hy Nou
    3.  Cooler As Ekke
    4.  Dans Dans Dans
    5.  Feite
    6.  I Miss
    7.  Ricky Louw
    8.  Farmhouse Brekvis
    9.  Die Vraagstuk
    10.  Byellville
    11.  Word Wakker
    12.  Tussen Stasies

    Kalahari.Net has the CD in stock and ready to ship to you for ONLY R119.65. If you want get hold of a copy of this CD, I suggest you do it soon, as I don’t think they going to be around for to long. Click here to order the new Jack Parow CD

  • Please help me go to #Tech4Africa

    You may have noticed this banner that I have on the right hand side of my page. The banner is for an upcoming conference in Jozi, in August, called Tech4Africa.

    The conference is run over 3 days, and includes some of the most prolific speakers in the tech industry, from South Africa as well as abroad. Some of the big names include WordPress founder Matt Mullenberg, as well as online legend Clay Shirky. Some of the South African internet hero’s include Mr Stopforth, as well as the newly engaged Justin Spratt (congrats :)

    The conference is aimed at everyone and anyone in the tech. Here is a lowdown on what the conference is all about, from the site:

    • Emerging tech and trends for Africa
    • Applications for Web 2.0 in Africa
    • Mobile & wireless innovation and trends for the next 3 years
    • Cloud computing and it’s relevance for business in Africa
    • Startups & business opportunities in Africa
    • African success stories
    • The funding landscape in Africa

    Now, as you can see, it looks like a phenomenal couple of days just browsing through the full schedule which can be found over here on the Tech4Africa site.

    And this is where I ask a favour :) I would really really (really) love to attend this conference. The thing is, the tickets cost R3,500 for an early bird ticket, which I assume are probably already flying off the shelves. But for me, that’s quite a bit of cash at the moment, so that’s where you, my loyal readers, come in.

    I would love if everyone who reads my blog, could sponser me a little something to get to Tech4Africa. I am open to suggestions on how to “reimburse” you using my site. We could do an advert on the site or write a product review. I’m open to suggestions. So, if you have something you would like to me write about on this blog, drop me an email, and we can have a chat.

    I have also added a PayPal donation button on the right hand side of my page, under the Tech4Africa logo, as well at the bottom of this post, and if you would like to donate a little something using PayPal, that would be awesome. One of my loyal supporters of this site, Steph, has already said his company will sponsor me R500 :) So we on the road already.

    If you have any other suggestions or ideas on how I can get to Tech4Africa, please feel free to drop me a mail at [email protected]




  • Tollgate at new King Shaka Durban Airport

    We knew this was coming, but now it has been confirmed by SANRAL, that as of 00:00 on the 1st of May, the new Toll Gate at the King Shaka airport, just outside Durban, will be operational.

    The Toll will only be applicable if you are traveling on the southbound on-ramp towards Durban as one exits the King Shaka International Airport.

    All vehicles travelling through the toll plaza will have to pay the relevant toll tariff per class of vehicle as follows:

    Class 1 R4.00
    Class 2 R8.00
    Class 3 R12.00
    Class 4 R16.00

    Think this is a first for South Africa ?

  • On The Marc – 28 April

    Here is this weeks On the Marc column. Unfortunately this will be the last one for a while, as I have decided against contributing to The Bugle newspaper for a number of reasons.

    I will still try and write a column every now and then, which I will publish on my site. If you have any suggestions on topics you would like to see, please feel free to leave a comment below :)

    How Social Media helped Europe in a time of crisis.

    Last week, the large majority of Europe came to a complete standstill when a small glacier volcano off the coast of Iceland erupted. Airline traffic in and around Europe was halted, as the ash from the volcano formed a cloud some 5 kilometers above ground. For almost a week passengers scattered around the world were unable to utilise flight services to and from Europe, and left many people stranded in foreign countries. Some had no place to stay as airlines battled to find accommodation for affected passengers, as well as being unable to clarify when they may be able to fly again.

    But it was popular social media tools: Facebook & Twitter that came to the rescue for some airlines and passengers. By utilizing the services offered by these Social Media tools, Airlines were able to instantly answer customers, who would have previously had to phone into a call centre. Twitter users started using the hashtag, as short tag in a tweet, #ashtag in their tweets to voice their concerns, which allowed fellow stranded passengers to interact. Soon, airlines such as KLM, Lufthansa & British Airways started using the hashtag: #ashcloud to update passengers on the situation. In just 7 days there were over 55,000 mentions of these hashtags. The European air safety control EuroControl, also used twitter for crisis management, by allowing official updates to be broadcast on twitter. Stranded passengers soon also started using the twitter hashtag: #getmehome, which would lead people in the affected countries to offers of accommodation and food from residents, whilst they were stranded.

    Airlines also used Facebook as a tool to update passengers of the situation, as well as allowing users to interact and query flight statuses with airline employees dedicated to answering such queries. One of the affected airlines, SAS Scandanavia directed users to their Facebook Fanpage to post updates on the situation and ask questions about their flights. Their fan base on Twitter almost doubled in the week to over 21,000 fans.

    It is great to see how companies are using social media as a crisis management tool and goes to show the value of using these tools in your everyday business.