MarcForrest.com

Category: On The Marc

  • 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.

  • 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 :)

  • Cutting Jade – Go Your Own Way

    For those of you who know me, know that I am a huge Cutting Jade groupie roadie fan :) I have known the guys for about the last 13 years, and when I stayed in GP, I used to go out with them to loads of gigs. They had a huge smash hit with 10 Seconds a couple of years ago, and have since made a couple more albums, which unfortunately due to some play list selectors opting to ignore the hits :(

    The boys have just released a new single, which is a remake of the Fleetwood Mac hit, “Go your own way“. The song was produced by the acclaimed South African producer, KevinLeicher, and has a distinctive Cutting Jade feel to it, and Andrew’s, the lead singer, voice really pulls through in the song.

    Below is a press release from Authentic Idea’s about the new release:

    An exceptional version of the Fleetwood Mac smash hit – Go Your Own Way is being distributed to radio stations across the country today as Cutting Jade releases the embargo on their latest recorded single.

    Kevin Leicher – SAMA nominated producer and top SA live musician (Arno Carstens, Chris Chameleon, Josie Fields, and Louise Carver) lent his genius to the recreation of this worldwide radio single.

    Go Your Own Way – Cutting Jade style – is an intoxicating sing-a-long party rock song with all the hallmarks of a new future hit. Play it loud, play it everywhere. Send it to your friends. Let Go Your Own Way be your anthem for this summer season!

    Cutting Jade is renowned for their spirited power driven performances, amazing rock ballads and stadium sized rock anthems. This five piece Pretoria powerhouse is one of the longest standing rock bands in SA; which like a good wine, just keeps on improving and impressing.

    Catch Cutting Jade this summer around SA performing Go Your Own Way and all their other favourite songs.

    Click here to download a copy of Cutting Jade’s new single – “Go your own way”

    All in all I really like the new song, and hope that it will get the airplay it deserves.Let us know what you think in the comments below.

  • Umhlanga Lighthouse gets a condom for World Aids Day

    LH1

    A couple of weeks ago the guys from “The Unlimited“, the same people who were behind Winston the Pigeon, came up with a competition where you could guess how they would be transforming a lighthouse from around the world into something on the 1st of December.

    This morning they did the deed, so to speak, and covered the Umhlanga lighthouse in Durbs, with a “condom” to signify and celebrate world Aids day.Well done to The Unlimited for this fantastic initiative, and highlighting a huge problem we are faced with every day.

    LH2

    I took a quick swing past there on my way to work this morning, and took a quick pic or 2. Apologies for the distance and quality, was in a bit of a rush.

    You can also see a video of the whole thing on Zoopy: