March Geek Dinner

A lot has already been written about the Cape Town March 2007 Geek Dinner held on Wednesday, so I’m not going to add that much. You can read most of the comments on Planet Geekdinner. My favourite talk was Neil’s on OpenID. Sadly none of the major South Africa sites yet implement it, but let’s… Continue reading March Geek Dinner

Great experience with Cherrypicka

I finally got around to trying out the bottle of Taittinger champagne I bought through Cherrypicka. And it was great! Now normally I wouldn’t post something like this. It seems like an advert for Cherrypicka, and for Taittinger. But somehow Cherrypicka reminds me of the Talent Exchange. Supporting it feels good, that the benefits are… Continue reading Great experience with Cherrypicka

Telkom excuse of the day

Telkom came today to sort out the phone line, as the company I share my home/office with was moving out, and taking the line with them. I was impressed, Telkom arrived on time. Unfortunately they didn’t actually do anything as they were too short to reach the pole. They felt precarious reaching up so high.… Continue reading Telkom excuse of the day

FNB’s great new site

Vincent Maher has beaten me to it, blogging about FNB’s new site in a post aptly titled Why FNB’s new banking website sucks. Right now he’s understandably furious having been unable to make urgent payments. Luckily I’m not the Ethical Co-op bookkeeper anymore, so I don’t use it that regularly, but I still use FNB… Continue reading FNB’s great new site

Goji berries and Vitamin C

This is for anyone researching goji berries, in the hope they’ll come across this page, and not just accept the usual marketing page they come across. Goji berries are a great food. But they do not contain 500 times more Vitamin C than oranges, as is so often misleadingly claimed on marketing sites. Goji berries… Continue reading Goji berries and Vitamin C

South Africa’s toxic staple diet, and the language of attack

I was interested to read a Greenpeace report that GMO maize may be toxic. Since maize is a staple diet in South Africa, especially for poor communities, it’s long been a concern that South Africa’s poor has been experimented on in this way, as in most countries, GMO foods are niche foods, not a staple.… Continue reading South Africa’s toxic staple diet, and the language of attack

Vodacom comes out firing as the broadband pricewar hots up

Last week, MTN slashed their broadband prices. Some competitors responded quickly. Sentech quickly dropped their prices even further. Iburst’s response was disappointing, increasing their bandwidth allocation for contract customers only (which sorely peeved month to month customers), and adding data carryover. Meanwhile, Vodacom and Telkom were left as the odd ones out. Vodacom have put… Continue reading Vodacom comes out firing as the broadband pricewar hots up

Trying out Cherrypicka

The Ethical Co-op is considering trying out Cherrypicka as a form of marketing, and using this excuse, I decided to try it out as a customer. Cherrypicka allows companies to donate samples of their products. In exchange, Cherrypicka offers them marketing on the site. Customers visit the site, and can buy the samples at discounted… Continue reading Trying out Cherrypicka

The hell that is Telkom

Most days I’m just despondent about Telkom, the incompetent government-owned debacle company that afflicts all us in this country. The rates that are 2000% higher than comparative countries. The 6-month waiting list. The call-centre that never answers the phone. The fact that even when they look like idiots by having a mobile service cheaper than… Continue reading The hell that is Telkom