Geekery

iPhone 4: Hands on review

Posted on 29. Jun, 2010 by Jake.

Check out this complete hands-on review of the iPhone 4 with full specs, from CNet. I want one!

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bada-bing!

Posted on 25. May, 2010 by Jake.

So Samsung hosted a day for developers (and a few bloggers like yours truly), to tell them about their new OS bada.
Yes, in case you didn’t know, the massive technology company has decided to create their own mobile OS, which will replace Symbian and WinMo on all of their new cellular phones.

These new phones include the Samsung Wave. There were a couple floating around the event yesterday, and I felt lucky to get a peak since they aren’t officially available in South Africa yet. I have to say I was well impressed – the Wave will transform Samsung into proper players in the smart phone category, boasting as it does a very clear and high res super-AMOLED display, a 1Ghz processor and a five megapixel camera, as well as the bit that places it in the same category as the likes of the iPhone, Blackberry and HTC smart phones – the social networking aggregator Social Hub. It looks really slim and sexy too, and has an excelerometer, giving it ACC (or motion sensitive gaming.

But I digress. This piece is supposed to be about Samsung’s Developers Day, not the Wave. Basically, the day involved a lot of technical information aimed at developers, explaining how developing for bada works and what the advantages will be. These advantages include the fact that apps for Samsung will not only be for mobile, they will become compatible with other Samsung devices such as TVs and MP3 players. Also, for the first time this opens up Samsung as a company to develop for, as bada is open to all developers.

But by far the most exciting thing of all is the Samsung Global Developer Challenge, which will see dev guys from all around the world competing to make the best app for the new OS. There are massive prizes involved, the grand prize internationally being three hundred thousand dollars (over 2 million rand). The 300 top submissions will also receive the above-mentioned Samsung Wave. And rumour has it that there will be an additional prize for the best locally developed app, will let you know if I get more info on this.

This really is an incredible chance for developers to create great apps which will be sold on Samsung’s new phones, and to potentially win a bunch of cash (or at least a phone) in the process. Tell your developer friends, unless of course you want to keep it a secret so there’s less competition
Go to the site for more info and to register to compete in the Developer Challenge.

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The 27 Dinner: Giving geeks and excuse to party

Posted on 20. May, 2010 by Jake.

It is a gross misconception that we geeks don’t get out much.
Why, just recently me and some friends went to Iron Man 2.
Sometimes we get together and have epic Band Hero marathons. That’s just how we roll.

But recently I was pleased to discover that there is a regular dinner in my city, Johannesburg, where geeks aren’t only welcome, they’re pretty much the only guests.
The 27 Dinner seeks to bring together technology, social media and business minds for a night of networking. There are speakers, you get a meal and a welcome cocktail. The upcoming one costs R100. For more info or to sign up for the next one, which is taking place on May 27, check out the site.

It’s at the Metro Cafe’ & Bar Benmore Gardens shopping centre, Sandton.

The speakers are Clicks2Customers founder and Yola CEO Vinny Lingham, who’s topic is “Building a Global Business – Lesson’s Learnt”, Crowdfund founder Eve Dmochowska, who’s topic is “How the Crowdfund and the Geekspace will jumpstart Geekdom in South Africa”, and Aphelion owner Mark Stacey, talking on “The impact of social media on decision making in the enterprise”.

This is such exciting news that I may even stay up past 11am. See you there.

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Noto Modungwana wins Geek Gods part 1

Posted on 19. May, 2010 by Jake.

The tribe has spoken!
The first part of our Geek Gods competition, honouring local Geek heroes, has come to a close.
Part one is for developers using the platform Drupal.
And the winner is….
Drum roll…

Noto Modungwana
(http://notomodungwa.com/blog)

Nice one Noto! He was up against some stiff competition in the form of Adriaan Rossouw (http://developmentseed.org/team/adrian-rossouw) and Anton De Wet (antondewet.com/).

In the coming week the blog will feature a profile on Noto and his work!

Stay tuned for part 2: Developers: Joomla!

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Sixth Sense: I see new technology

Posted on 14. Apr, 2010 by Jake.

A discussion about Sixth Sense at the TED conference. It looks awesome!
It’s basically a mini-projector coupled with a camera and a cellphone—which acts as the computer and your connection to the Cloud, all the information stored on the web. It can also obey hand gestures!
I want one

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