BlackBerry Bold 9650
I remember my first Blackberry, about 5 years ago. It was clunky with a scroll wheel on the side and a cumbersome plastic 'pouch'. I was freelancing and needed to access my email when I wasn't in the 'office' and Blackberry enabled me to do this perfectly. While it wasn't great as a cellphone, it served my purpose and has continued to do so all these years. I just got my fourth one, the Blackberry Bold 9700, which I am thoroughly enjoying because of how far, for me, Blackberry seems to have come with the telephony and multimedia aspects of the phone's functionality. Also, when we first...
Sway Dcyphas Life
UK / Ghanaian rapper and producer Derek Safo - Sway - is an artist who has lingered on the edge of immense success for too long. Starting out as a teenager, he eventually created Dcypha Productions when others wouldn't give him the opportunity or didn't recognise the potential that he has. He launched his company with a couple of independent mixtapes before releasing his first album This Is My Demo in 2006. He followed this up with an EP One For The Journey and two more mixtapes. Sway also signed, in 2007, with Akon's Konvict Muzik. I had heard a couple of his songs because of family in the...
In Retrospect
Been behind schedule on posts so didn't get this out last week Friday. These are some of my favourite links from last week. Entertaining. Inspiring. Amusing. Irritating. Enlightening. Power out unplugs energy workshop Oh! The irony. Power outages at Johannesburg's Apartheid Museum have delayed a National Union of Mineworkers energy security workshop, attended by the industry's leading stakeholders. [Times Live] Suma Interviews Prof Mensah(Ghana) A comedic interview with an Indian man who speaks exactly like a Ghanaian [Video] Canopy Jar Online poetry publication [Words] Chinese Magic Aki...
Make life your art
IT WAS a random Saturday morning. I trekked out to a part of Gauteng I had never been to – Reiger Park on the East Rand. I was there to watch a small band play: four young men originally from the Eastern Cape who have come to the mad city to chase their dreams. They don’t have much but they do have immense talent that they use to play for the church which, in turn, provides them with a place to stay and food on the table. One of them has a couple of contacts – hustling, knocking on doors and getting them gigs wherever he can.... [cont]
Tell Your Story!
THE African continent is rich in culture, heritage and stories. From the deeds of iconic leaders and people such as Shaka, Yaa Asantewaa, Patrice Lumumba, Steve Biko and King Moshoeshoe, to the lives of the ordinary men and women, there are events, experiences and lessons that are universal. As our history fades into memory and we continue failing to document all of these stories, the world moves on, defining our future reality for us, without our influence, as Africans..... [more]
In Retrospect
6 Powerful Social Media Persuasion Techniques Let’s be honest, you don’t just want your voice to be added to the conversation; you want your voice to be heard, repeated, and valued—and your message to be influential. Ultimately, you’re after influence ... [more] Reminders of a Boy Returned to Russia SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — The toys in the backyard suggest generous parenting: a swing set, its green paint shiny and new; a red tetherball covered in cherry-red glitter; even a trampoline... [NY Times] Spoken Word & Music: Poet LKJ The legendary dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson live on tour...
Township Media Activists
We all seek voice. A platform to express ourselves. Those on the outside always seem to have the greater voice, to determine what needs to be done in our space. It must be a human condition. To look outward and see problems, instead of looking inward and solving them. The media - including online - always seems to be just that ... the outside looking in at the problems of others. I met Daniel Lurie last year and he shared some of his ideas and vision for changing this as well as using the media "to deter human rights abuses, create dialogue, unify the community, empower gender equality and...
Twitter® for BlackBerry®
I received this press release today and felt I should share immediately. I'm curious to see how Twitter® for BlackBerry® is going to do against Ubertwitter which has become the application of choice for any Blackberry user around the world. With the Twitter mobile and web site both lacking in the convenience of functionality that other applications have, Twitter® for BlackBerry® is long overdue. Try it and let me know what you think. The new Twitter® for BlackBerry® smartphones application launches in BlackBerry App World™ today, allowing BlackBerry users to engage with the popular social...
In Retrospect
Every week, through browsing, twitter, email, etc, I come across links that entertain, inspire, infuriate, inform and challenge me. I often share these on twitter and not much else. From now on, I will be sharing some of these every Friday as a look back over the week that I, and we, have just had. Hope you enjoy. Win $100 million Predict the outcome of all 64 World Cup Matches and win 100 Million Dollars! ... more And You Thought Pirates Was Bad With Penalties Kojo: This was emailed to me by a friend and the heading was his subject line. Hilarious... more A step-by-step guide to buying 2010...
Nokia N900
Being a layman, when I first heard that there was a new Nokia smart phone that was the closest to a mini-laptop as they have ever come, I looked to the geeks I knew. It was towards end of last year and I was attending a couple of Nokia events with those in the know who all reckoned it was Nokia’s best ever device. I had the opportunity to briefly fiddle with it but, at the time, it wasn’t going to be available in South Africa. The hype around and response to it from the techno gurus made Nokia change their mind and it will now be available sometime this year. While a bit heavy and bulky, the...
Red Bull Music Academy Radio’s Afro Picks Live
This last Sunday (April 4th, 2010) I took a drive to OST in Newtown to experience Red Bull’s Afro Picks, a live show that is recorded and made available on Red Bull Music Academy Radio. Initially recorded at the Red Bull Music Studios in Cape Town with telephonic interviews and music, this was the second instalment of the live experience and the second show in Joburg. Hosted by the legendary DJ Kenzhero and Lee Kasumba, each Afro Picks show focuses on artists from a different country on the African continent and last weekend’s show featured Kenyan artist Liz Ogumbo. The five Cape Town shows,...
A Beautiful Soul – Joolz Denby
In 2004, the British Council in South Africa put together a poetry show called The Writers Ball presents Joolz Denby. A couple of us were booked to come and share our poetry at the show, which took place at Horror Cafe in Newtown. We were still finding our own voices as poets and writers and I remember being worried that this poet they were bring in from the UK would possibly look down on our work. I had an image of a matronly woman steeped in the literary and poetic traditions from Chaucer and Shakespeare through to Wilde and Hardy without any interest or consideration for the contemporary...
LinkedIn® For BlackBerry®
Making sense of social media is a daunting task. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, various Ning networks, etc all vie for our time and our energy, each supposed to serve a purpose yet often seeming more like redundant spaces. Beginning last year, I made it my mission to figure out all these spots I had profiles on and understand better how to use them to achieve my online purpose. LinkedIn is one of these as the network for the more business-minded. I had a profile but probably only went onto it once every couple of months. I'm still finding my rhythm on LinkedIn but do find that it works for...
PayPal Launches In South Africa
Being a layman when it comes to most technical things, there are certain things that I always seem to discover late and PayPal is one of those. I had always heard it being bandied around but never really took the time to figure out what it was about. Until, a couple of months back, I was chatting to a potential client in the US who needed some writing work done. I had spent time selling them my services and convincing them that I am best person to do their writing. Everything was going relatively well until we got to payment. 'What is your PayPal account' was the question that had me...
The Skin I’m In
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg has a number of different experiential programmes that are designed to change and expand perspective. I have been fortunate to interact with the space quite a bit and, for the last four years, have spoken at the opening session of their programme for high schools students called Spirit of Youth. The first session is always on Race and Identity. Recently, I was invited to come share my story at their Nexus programme for session on Identity. Essentially, they had a number of guests and we were each assigned a seat with a couple of...
The Secret Millionaire
The reality television shows I enjoy have tended to have been ones that involve a real skill such as Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance or Top Chef. These shows do have a real impact on the lives of those who enter but none more so than The Secret Millionaire, which I recently got into. The show started in 2006 on Channel 4 (UK), and has also had four seasons in the UK and one season in the US and Australia. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWkvmqds7xo Essentially, a millionaire goes into a community (undercover as just another person) for 10 days and identifies people and projects...