As far as we are aware this is the cheapest yet! With reference to a great post on Chris Mills’s blog iMod as well as Hellkom, let’s look at what the others are offering. I have stuck to those offering 384 Kbps for less than R300.

MWEB

* 384k uncapped – R219
* 512k uncapped – R299
* 4096k uncapped – R539

The guys who kicked off the price war! They need no introduction, though it must be said they aren’t everyone’s favourite company.

OpenWeb.

* 384k uncapped – R219
* 512k uncapped – R299
* 4096k uncapped – R539

They are partnered with MWeb and with the same prices this is pretty much the same deal, although their support and services have a good reputation (and may well be better than MWeb’s).

Imagine (IS)
* 384k uncapped – R199
* 4096k uncapped – R499
Of course it was only a matter of time before IS joined the fray.

Snowball
* 384k uncapped – R199
* 4096k uncapped – R499
Must say I don’t know much about these guys but I saw their uncapped option listed on Hellkom.

AfriHost

* 384k uncapped – R197
* 512k uncapped – R297
* 4096k uncapped – R497

They were tied as the cheapest available until MyISP stepped it.

Axxess

* 384k uncapped – R196
* 4096k uncapped – R496

Going with Axxess instead of AfriHost means a whopping saving of R1!!!

If we are leaving anyone out please comment below. Also, if you have any criticism and praise for the above ISPs please help any readers of this article by telling us about your experiences below. Game on!

The phone, which will run on the Google Android 2.1 OS , will be called the Samsung Beam. Aside from its built in DLP Pico projector, it will feature, um, well, everything, ever. I will list it for you. Try not to drool. It will come equipped with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 user interface, a 3.7 inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, an 8 mega pixel camera, an FM radio, Bluetooth 2.1, USB 2.0, GPS, and, of course 11 b/g/n wifi. It also comes bundled with a 2GB card, and can take up to 32Gs.

This is the kind of phone that will herald a new era of telecommunication. On its global release, the heavens will open up, and the Lord will descend unto earth, to witness the glory of the Samsung Beam. On its release here, the South African constitution may have to be altered so that union between man/woman and phone is made legal. No, but really, it probably won’t be as cool as an iPhone. But it has a projector, and you have to admit that’s pretty neat.

The Poken is a little device that has ambitions to replace the business card. And, seeing as we need to decrease our carbon footprint and stop cutting down the trees, this isn’t a bad idea. Basically, the Poken comes in the form of a little device, like a memory stick but better looking, which has a hand on it. In the middle of the hand is a little pad. The idea is that when you meet someone else with a Poken you ‘high five them’, basically touch their device with yours, and the pads on each Poken will light up to let you know that it has worked. Then, when you get home, you plug it in like a normal USB and download the details of the people you have ‘poked’. These people are arranged into some kind of buddy-style social network.

Apart from the obviously dodgy connotations of walking around all night ‘poking’ random strangers, the Poken will, in all likelihood, suffer due to the fact that it does not provide a function that is particularly needed. Business cards have become less prevalent as it is, since most cellular phones are equipped so that people can very easily store each others details. Have you ever sat around thinking about how much your life would improve if you had a little gadget to automatically save people’s contact details through some kind of high-fiving ritual? No? Well exactly. It’s not about to replace the iPad as this week’s most talked about piece of technology.

In its defence, at R200, its affordable, and has definite novelty value. The device’s greatest challenge, though, its that it can only work if everyone has one. If it ever gets to the stage that everyone is poking away everywhere I go chances are I will feel left out and get one. But, if you go to a bar and only 3 other people have them (and, so far, even that amount seems unlikely), your poken is not going to get a whole lot of use. And, most probably, people in the near vicinity will look at you funny if you ever do get the opportunity to use it.

Pokens are cute though, and as bunnies and babies the world over would hope, that has to count for something.

You an pick up a Poken at ilovepoken, buycool or Digital Planet. For more info, go here.

Now that it’s out, the question is, is it all that? We have crazed fans in one corner declaring it a work of unmitigated genius, and haters in the other pointing out that, as far as they can see, it’s like an iPhone, only bigger. What do I think? The truth is probably somewhere between these two opinions.

The main thing to remember is that the iPad is still a baby. When the developers start working with it and for it, real innovations will start taking place. For now, even those who want a Wi-fi model will have to wait until March, and those after the 3G version will have to wait until April. And it won’t stay at $500 forever. For now it is, in my humble opinion, a beautiful and innovative machine that not a hell of a lot of people will have a use for. Yet.

Oh, and we’re South Africans, remember. So all we can do for now is speculate and dream. The dang thing ain’t even available here yet, and who knows when it will be.

Anyway, here are some pros and cons, which I’ve have based on extensive internet research:

Bad news for South Africans, as pointed out by MyBroadband.co.za is that on visiting the Nexus One’s official site right now one is met with the tragic statement “sorry, the Nexus one phone is not available in your country”.
But, don’t despair. As the MyBroadband article helpfully points out, Vodacom may bring the phone to SA soon, as Google have signed an agreement with Vodafone that covers all of the company’s countries.

But, even if Vodacom don’t release the Nexus One in SA, the phone, which is not network locked and has no APN in the handset, can still be purchased oversees (you will have to get it shipped to SA, though, and since there is no APN accessing all of the services in the Google suite will be a problem unless, like me, you are clever enough to install your own APN. Perhaps I should post a tutorial on how it’s done, so we can overcome Google’s decision to neglect the Southernmost tip of Africa together!

The phone, which uses the Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 Operating System, is available in the US and UK on the online Google Phone Store. It will set you back $529 (or roughly R4000, making it almost half the price of the iPhone when it was initially released). For full specs, go here.

Thank you to Engadget for the pic!

I don’t smoke, since I am unfortunately neither a wealthy playboy on a yacht or a rugged jungle adventurer. So to check out the Twisp had to rely on the testimony of my friend Wessel, once a committed smoker but now a despicable traitor who has sold out by buying the Twisp Dura C E-Cigarette. Wessel says that he has, so far, been able to stop smoking normal cigarettes due to switching to the Dura C. He says that it is more similar to smoking a hubby bubbly than a cigarette.
Wessel says that while he can get his nicotine fix using the Twisp he still finds it hard to get used to the feel of the cold, hard cigarette that appears to be made from porcelain, and to inhaling, which he says lacks the ‘burn’ that he craves most when smoking. On the other hand, though, he enjoys being able to finally smoke in restaurants and films again, and says that the device is also a good conversation piece.

Depending on which Twisp cartridge you choose you could pay from 800 to 1000 rand for a starter pack which will include everything you need to get smoking. On top of that one needs to replace the liquid that goes in the cartridges every now and then at R250 a pop. Expensive perhaps, but it works out as much cheaper than buying a pack a day over the course of a year. And yes, the Twisp is a lot healthier than normal smoking, but if you look in the mirror one day to find that, despite not owning a yacht or ever doing any jungle exploration you are still a smoker with rapidly decaying lungs, rather than rushing out to get gum or patches or even bizarre electronic cigarettes maybe the best option is to quit the old fashioned way – cold turkey.

The Faucet Light doesn’t just sit around looking pretty. It has a purpose. By changing the colour of the water using LCD lights when it gets hot, the product stops those who use its faucet from inadvertently burning themselves. Which may not win its manufacturers a Nobel Prize, but as someone who burns himself fairly often I can appreciate the sentiment.

All in all, a fun and not altogether useless product that will only set you back roughly R200 including packaging and postage if you order it from Amazon.com. My biggest problem with the gadget is that it makes water look so beautifully colourful that one’s natural first reaction would be to stare at it flowing from the tap for hours on end – which is not a great idea in these hard times of dwindling water supplies. But, used with restraint the Faucet Light may save you from a blister or two, and that’s never a bad thing.

Now the virtual guitar generation has taken it one step further by introducing the Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt, brought to you by everyone’s favourite purveyors of awesome although probably slightly unnecessary gadgetry – Thinkgeek.com. It’s a t-shirt with an image of a guitar on it, a mini-amp attached and a magnetic pick. Each button on the neck of the guitar triggers a different major chord, which means you can use the shirt to play any famous classic rock song as long as it is completely in major (which many are). Depeche Mode fans will have to wait for the next version to come out if they want to play minor chords. If you want to start a virtual t-shirt band you could always get a friend to buy the Electronic Drum Kit Shirt, also from ThinkGeek. Those who have to hear you ‘practice’ all day may soon learn to hate you though. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

According to its inventors, the Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt is ‘not a toy that plays pre-canned musical riffs, it is a real musical instrument that allows you to play your favourite songs and sound great doing it’. Which is a bit like Twilight author Stephanie Meyer saying that her books are ‘serious literature’. Make no mistake, no matter what those promoting it tells you, the Guitar Shirt is just a toy, a novelty item that people may laugh at in generations to come. For now, though, don’t let the virtual guitar revolution pass you by.

It will set you back $30 and you can buy it here: http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/

The eStartling WiFi Digital Photo Frame’s major innovation setting it apart from its competition is the WiFi bit – after connecting the frame via the seeframe.com website you can enable it to automatically connect to photo sharing sites on the internet. You can also register the frame with an email address, allowing friends and family to send images straight to the frame. Once its set up the frame will automatically scan the various sites you have connected it to for new pics. And, if you’re worry about dodgy uncle Dave sending you pics of his drunken exploits there is even an option that allows you to choose which email addresses you want to receive pics from. That is one intelligent picture frame.

The only thing that may stop you from rushing out and ordering one of these babies online is the price – they are $250 (for us economically challenged South Africans that’s nearly 2 grand for a picture frame). So for now, even if not for long, maybe the old-fashioned wooden version still has some leverage…

A small USB-powered hot plate that sits next to your keyboard as if to say, ‘c’mon, spill it!’, the USB Coffee Warmer is for those people who work too hard and drink their coffee too slowly. It has the sole function of keeping your hot beverage hot, a function that it fulfils with aplomb. So in a sense I suppose it’s a successful gadget.

Intuitively, though, I have fundamental problems with the concept. As a geek and a non-smoker, the only opportunity I ever get to do something other than sitting in front of a computer screen is when I go and get another cup of coffee. Similar to those offices which ban Facebook, this is one of those inventions which seems to shout ‘work harder! Why are you sitting around drinking coffee. Now you can drink coffee and work at the same time, thanks to the USB Coffee Warmer!’ I have worked at places that would not have hesitated to buy one of these for each of it’s employees and then ban coffee breaks.

I have a friend whose dad once said to me, ‘You know, when we were growing up they told us that all this new technology would make our lives easier, and allow us to work less. Turns out it has just forced us to work harder’. And I completely see his point. In an age where we are supposed to be connected to the world and ready to reply to another email at all times, the coffee break is sacred. Please don’t get me one of these for Christmas.