MarcForrest.com

Category: On The Marc

  • iPhone4 in South Africa

    The new iPhone 4 went on pre-order today in the US & UK, and I know I can’t wait for the iPhone4 to hit our shores in South Africa. The question on everybody lips though is when we will see it in sunny South Africa.

    I mailed the guys at Vodacom earlier today, and just got a response from CEO Pieter Uys (again, #brandplus for customer interaction):

    Hi Marc
    All we know at this stage is that we will be getting the first shipment around the end of September / beginning of October.
    We have not been given any idea of pricing at this stage, however the handset will be available on all Vodacom tariffs.

    Awesome. Can.Not wait to get my paws on one of these guys :)

  • Let’s get this party started – Bafana vs. Mexico

    They opening game of the world cup takes place tomorrow afternoon. I simply can’t wait. For me, this is one of THE biggest moments in our countries history, and I am overwhelmed by what is going down in our country at the moment. To be honest, I won’t be surprised if a little tear is shed tomorrow :)

    So, The first game tomorrow is out beloved boys in yellow,Bafana Bafana. They take on the Mexicans, at 16:30, and the game promises to be a cracker. With 90,000 fans behind them in the stadium and another 40 million behind them out in the streets, I am pretty confident that we have this one in the bag. It is going to be very tight I reckon, but I honestly think that the Mexicans will be pretty overwhelmed by the occasion and the noise from our national instrument, the Vuvzela.

    Greatodds.com, by far the best online sports betting site in South Africa, has some fantastic odds for tomorrows games.

    In the first game of the day,  South Africa has odds of 7/4 if they win. What this means is, if you put down R100, you could possibly get back R275. Bargain. Mexico is at 6/4, so you would get back R250 if they win. If it is a draw and you put down R100 you could get back R315 at 43/20. I would def put my cash on Bafana for this one.

    The 2nd game of the eve is France vs Uraguay. Uruguay are the underdogs for this game with 15/5 odds. R100 will get you R340 if they win. France being the favorites will net you R215 for 100 bux at 23/20. A draw will score you R310 if you part with R100 at 21/10.

    To check out all the other games betting odds for the games going forward, check out GreatOdds.com. I will be putting a few of my pennies down on our boys. I will also try and do a couple more of these posts during the big celebration that is going to be the World Cup.

    VIVA BAFANA BAFANA !!!!!

  • How to setup your own Blog

    Ever since I setup my first blog almost 6 years ago, I get asked the same question all the time, by all sorts of people; “How do I set up my own Blog ?”

    There are a couple of options available, including a couple of free options, as well as your own hosted blog. The 2nd option is probably the best option, as it gives you complete control of what you want to do, as well as the opportunity to use different plugins and themes.If you have any questions, please holla and leave a comment below. Again, there are loads and loads of options out there. I will put a couple of the platforms and options that I use below.

    Free Blog options

    • Blogger – The Google product. It is a bit limited in terms of functionality and customization, but hey, I started on a Blogger Blog
    • WordPress.com – A great hosted option for you, but limited in terms of ability to add plugins and different themes

    Self Hosted blog options:

    I think I am only going to focus on one option here. WordPress. You can’t go wrong. This blog is hosted on WordPress, and given the community out there, there are loads and loads of different themes and plugins available to make your site as customisable as possible.

    To get started  on a self hosted blog, you need to have hosting. There are a loads of different hosting options out there, with the overseas hosting options being much cheaper and offering more value for money, but it is a bit slower if you have a South African audience. That said, it really doesn’t make too much of a difference, and works out much, much cheaper. There are a couple of South African options, but you are looking at about a R100 per month for hosting.

    I highly recommend Bluehost hosting, which for $6.95 a month ( about R55) you get a full on hosting package, INCLUDING a free domain. This is a bargain, cause a domain itself is about R80. You also get unlimited space and unlimited bandwidth.If you want to register another domain, I would suggest using GoDaddy.com and I use a site called retailmenot.com which offers all sorts of discounts. You can usually pick up a .com Domain for about R50

    Once you have hosting space. Using the control panel in your Bluehost hosting, you can setup a WordPress blog, like this one, in about 2 mins. Really. You can also download the install files for WordPress from WordPress.org, and install it yourself. I promise you, the setup of WordPress is so simple.

    The wordpress interface is also really easy to use, and is always been updated. In fact, WordPress 3.0 is due out any day. So, once you got your WordPress hosting setup, you need to decide on a theme. There a are literally millions of WordPress themes out there. I am a huge fan of Woothemes & Templatic. Both these theme providers have premium themes which you can pay for, as well as some really great free themes. I am using a theme from Woothemes called BusyBee on this site.

    Right, so you almost ready to rumble. Now you can add a couple of plugins to your site, to enhance it, such as a contact form etc. I highly recommend Contact7 for contact forms, and All In One SEO which will help you make your site visible in Google rankings etc.There are thousands of plugins available, which can help enhance your site. You can even create a full blown e-commerce site using WordPress and a couple of plugins.

    You also need to add a stat counter to show you how many people are actually visiting your site. I use Google Analytics, which is free, and Statcounter, which shows you live up to the minute stats.

    Once you got your site all setup, You need to start adding some content. You can write about pretty much anything. If you have a niche you would like to concentrate on, even better. Remember out there, there WILL be someone who wants to read about what you writing about. I think the key to a successful blog is that it constantly has fresh content. That is probably the biggest lesson I have learnt with my blog. Keep the content going, and your visitors will return.

    And that’s about it. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below, and I will see what I can do. Good Luck :)

  • How to use Google Streetview on the iPhone

    Since Google Streetview launched in South Africa earlier this week, I have had a couple of people ask me how to use it on the iPhone.It isn’t that obvious and even I struggled the first time.So I thought I would quickly share on how to do it.

    1. Open the Maps Application on your iPhone

    2. Search for your location using the GPS button (Blue button in the bottom left) or using the search bar. You can also click the “fold” button on the bottom right, and tap “Drop Pin” which you can move around

    3. Once the pin has been dropped, you will be presented with an information bar. On the left of that bar is an Orange Man. Click the Orange man, and you will be presented with Google Stretview. If it is greyed out, then it means Streetview is not available.


    Remember to check out some of the cool finds on Google Streetview in South Africa on StreetviewSA.co.za

  • Flexicell – Easy cellular airtime

    I recently came across a service called Flexicell, which allows you to convert your prepaid cellphone account into a “month-to-month” contract, which also allows you to cancel at anytime you wish.

    Every month an fixed amount is debited from your bank account, and your cellphone is then topped up with the relevant amount. Something else that is also great about Flexicell is that the “contract” is not a stock standard 24 month contract, you can simply cancel at anytime, should you not want to use the service, or if you would prefer to go back to pay as you go.  The airtime from Flexicell is also a LOT cheaper than your standard pre-paid airtime, so you score as well.

    To qualify for the Flexicell contract you simply need to meet the following criteria:

    • Have a valid South African identity document;
    • Be between the ages of 18 – 75 years;
    • Have a bank account that allows for debit orders;
    • Earn a minimum salary of R2 500 per month;
    • Be permanently employed or on a long-term contract of employment;
    • Provide a business registration number if self employed.

    Signing up with Flexicell is pretty simple, and all you need to do is give them a call on 0861 83 84 85 or 0861 90 91 92. You can also SMS the word “Help” to 39131 and they will get back to you.