MarcForrest.com

Month: August 2010

  • Let’s see if the iPad can become my laptop

    So I’m finally in Jozi for the long awaited and much anticipated Tech4Africa.

    I am sitting at the Vida in Sandton after being blown away by the Gautrain. That was amazing !!!! Airport to Sandton in like 15 mins. I honestly felt like i was in London :)

    So, I have decided that for the 2 days of Tech4Africa conference I am gong to only use the iPad. I left the macbook at home, and all note taking, blog posting and tweeting will be done between a combination the iPhone, iPad and MiFi. I think the biggest challenges will be the iPhone battery life as well as getting used to the iPad keyboard. I think it should be ok :)

    I am thinking of using Evernote on the iPad to take notes, and TwitBirdPro for tweeting on the iPad. The ever faithful Tweetie on the iPhone will suffice there.

    I will writing a couple of blog posts on the Tech4Africa blog, about the conference in general and 1 or 2 of the sessions. There is also a live Twitter stream on the site, which you can follow if you missing out. All in all, I am really looking forward to the next couple of days, and if you at the conf, please come say howdy :)

  • Cell C – The Joke is on YOU

    I hate using my blog as a platform to rant, and run down South African companies, but for the 2nd time in a month, Cell C have just got my goat. First they go with a “fantastic” concept of Photocode, who have had  a WHOPPING 15,000 downloads since they launched almost a month ago. wooot !

    But today, they really pissed me off. CellC have a press conference which announces a new look logo, and tagline, and then surprise surprise, they announce Trevor Noah as their new “Consumer Experience Officer (CEO) geddit. CEO. Laugh OUT fuckin Loud.

    [blackbirdpie id=”20293464437”]

    This comes off the back off a FULL page newspaper adviertisment in the Sunday Times (about R200k) this last Sunday (Memeburn Story), that started out “Dear Trevor Noah”. They go on to aplogise about their CRAP quality network, after Trever knocked them during a stand up gig.

    The stand up gig was “filmed” and the video was uploaded to Youtube. But get this. The video was uploaded 4 days before the advert ran, on the 28th July, by a user (SABobbyT)who had also joined YouTube on the 28th, and has a total of 1 video in their collection.

    Tonight Trevor Noah has his own TV show starting on Mnet. I can only guess that the show will be sponsored by CellC.

    I can’t understand how a Cell Phone operator can associate themselves with a stand up comedian. Yes, he is good, but really, he does the freakin on hold voice for Kulula’s call centre!! I think the joke is on CellC this time. “I know, I’m gonna let Trevor Noah know how shit Cell C really is” Hey Trev, if you read this, please like it on Facebook. Kthanx.

    Dunno why, but am slightly pissed with being made a fool of. Anyways, this is my rant for the day/week/year. :)

  • It’s off to Tech4Africa I go….

    You may recall a while back I did a post asking for a couple of pennies to help me get to the amazing Tech4Africa conference being held in Jozi next week. Well the response to the post was incredible, and I got a whole stack of mails from people offering ways & means to get me there. I got sponsored R500 from 2 companies in Joburg, and also got a couple of PayPal donations.A big big thanks to EVERYONE who donated. It is much much appreciated.

    But, the post was picked up by the Tech4Africa conference organisers, and soon I was emailing Gareth Knight, the clever man behind the whole show. After a couple of emails back and forth, I offered to write a couple of blog posts on the Tech4Africa blog telling people what the conference was all about, while also assisting with general social media stuffs, and become a T4A “ambassador”. Needless to say, I was in :) In exchange, the guys would offer me a discounted ticket, and help make my Tech4Africa dream become a reality.

    So, I’m pleased to say, that it has all worked out just the way I wanted, and this time next week, I will be boarding my flight to Jozi. If you going to be at Tech4Africa, please come and say howzit. I know I can.not wait :)

  • Awesome SA – USA YouTube collaboration video

    You may have heard of Cobus Potgieter. In fact, if you haven’t,  stop reading now, and click on this link, and watch some of his amazing YouTube videos -> http://www.youtube.com/deedlebag

    You check. He is insane on the drums. His one video, a cover of Face by Red Jump Suit Apparatus has over 2.5 MILLION views. And guess what, he is a boytjie from Bloemfontein. Yip. From the good old SA.

    But his latest video is, for me, awesome. Cobus teamed up with another YouTube rockstar, Tyler Ward, who lives in the US, and did a collaboration over 2 continents !!! They did a cover of Flo Riders Club Can’t Handle Me. Cobus played the drums, and Tyler did the vocals and gituars. Cobus then mixed the video tgether, and produced this insane video

    Very cool !!  Just goes to show that this internet thing they talk of, is huge. A music video collaborated over 2 continents !!

  • Nominations open for SA Blog Awards


    nominate this blog    The SA Blog Awards have officially opened for nominations, and the call for blogs to be nominated in the various categories has opened.

    Over the last year, I have put a lot of time into MarcForrest.com. And the rewards have paid off. My traffic has increased tenfold, and my search rankings are higher. The idea behind my site is just an information site, that allows people who love tech as much as I do to congregate. I know I should put more effort into the site, and with a whole bunch of other projects that I have worked on like SAiPhoneApps & StreetviewSA, taking up a lot of my time, I have decided that I am going to start pouring a lot more time and focus into this blog.

    I don’t really dig asking for people to nominate me for awards, purely because I believe people should nominate sites they feel are the best. But, If you do feel that my site stands out a notch above some of the other blogs in SA, please feel free to click on the SA Blog Awards banner on the right of this post ->

    Feel free to nominate me in any of the categories, but I think the one I would love to feature in is the Tech Category.

    Good luck to everyone who is being nominated. Hopefully see you all at the finals ;)