Tomorrow sees the start of a two-day, yes 2-day week. Cool for corporate workers, crap for business owners.
That been said, it's been scary the hearing number of parents who could not be bothered to send their children to school for those two days. The children have just come back from a three week holiday, giving families more than sufficient time to take advantage and do stuff with the family, go on a vacation etc.
The sad thing is, these are the same parents that will bitch and moan about the 'sad state of the education system,' (a massive assumption I know, but feel free to submit evidence to the contrary) It is a constitutional right for all our children to have access to education, and parents who decide that a few days away is more important than two days spent in the classroom then they need to be challenged on where their priorities lie. And then there is the message this sends to those children about the importance of said education...

Parent's please send your children to school tomorrow! Your children DO need their education.

Labels: children, education, holidays, south african constitution

Posted by eishman at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments

As I began my travels through the web-o-sphere deciding on this week's SA Music artist, I browsed through Peak Performances' artist catalogue. (for the first time I'm ashamed to say) As the first notes of Verity's single 'Perfect' came through my pc's speakers I knew it would be an easy decision. The fact that she comes from my neck of the woods and claims to have been inspired to write her first song on the beach down the road helped make the decision even easier.

Doing my homework, I found that she is quietly pushing the music scene here in an interesting direction. Ideate.co.za did an interview with her earlier this month where she explained how she has gone about financing her upcoming album.
She is pre-selling her album online and has already managed to pre-sell over 1700 cd's (Eishman's copy is #1703). While this doesn't sound remarkable, it must be explained that the pre-selling is in fact financing the production of the cd. Those buying the album before release are called official "Future Owners" and given the power to help choose the songs that will appear on the album as well as assist with the choice design of the album art. Thus becoming intimately involved in the development of the product. Further to this 10.6% of every album sold will be given to two worthy organisations People Opposing Woman Abuse & Live Your Dreams Foundation.

She currently has 21 songs you can give a listen on her website. Here adult contemporary style is reminiscent of early Jewel with heavy us of piano and acoustic guitar. She also has a few overly poppy tunes on the current playlist, 'Don't look back' as an example of one such song, but on the whole her compositions are easy listening with meaningful lyrics. My personal favourites being 'Perfect' and 'Box of photographs', with '18 holes' sure to get overtake them with a wee bit of extra production. But hey, you be the judge, take a listen and you can help her create a masterpiece!

• Website : http://www.iamverity.com/


• Blog : http://www.iamverity.co.za/

(Feel free to submit any artists you would like featured in the Friday SA Music Spotlight. Click here)

Labels: friday music spotlight, music, sa music, verity

Posted by eishman at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

I sneaked a quick look at my Facebook profile this afternoon and the little bubble pictured on the left popped up ate the bottom of the page.
You can now see who of your Facebook friends are online and chat with them realtime, instead of waiting for your wall to update.
The implementation is very neat, although do I really want my 'friends' to know that I am logged into Facebook?
I guess time will tell.

Labels: facebook, facebook chat, trevor immelman

Posted by eishman at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments

In South Africa the 27th April is a commemorative public holiday, Freedom Day. It's a day when we remember the miracle of our first democratic elections in 1994.
This day is also quickly becoming synonymous with the Freedom Swim. Billed as the extreme cold water swim in the world, there will be close to 110 solo swimmers and, at last count 19 teams making cold crossing from Robben Island to Blouberg beach.
Those making the crossing will be adhering to the Cape Long Distance Swimming Association and Channel rules, which means all swimmers (besides a few relay teams) are only permitted to wear a basic swimming costume, cap and goggles. With the current temperatures in the bay ranging between 10 and 13 degrees celsius, the challenge of the 7.5km distance pales into insignificance compared to the fight against the cold.
The organisers reserve the right to postpone the swim to Sunday should the conditions be too dangerous, however looking at the weather predictions, this seems unlikely this year. The swimmers are due to leave the island at 10am and will take between 90mins and 3 hours to make the crossing. This year spectators will be entertained on the beach with events taking place while waiting for the swimmers.

Once again the event's primary sponsor is Cadiz Financial Strategy Group, with all the proceeds in aid of the Vista Nova School for special needs children. The aim is to raise at least R75 000-00 and judging on the continual upward curve of the number of entries this target should be reached with ease.

Finally, it must be said that Eishman has been roped into swimming for Team Bouyancy! Eish!! what was I thinking?
Once thawed I will post on the experience.
You will also be able to follow the progress of some of the swimmers at SportsTrack.net

Related post : Freedom Swim 2007

Labels: eish, freedom day, freedom swim, open water swimming, robben island, swimming, vista nova

Posted by eishman at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

For those of you who missed this.

Enjoy

Labels: call, darren scott, east coast radio, humour, joke, prank, youtube, zimbabwe

Posted by roygbiv at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

Not been a great fan of local radio, there are times when I miss out when artists make it into rotation on some of the regional stations.
Natalie Chapman, by all accounts is one of those. But the SA online world (samusic.co.za in particular) lead me to her this week. Her music is described as acoustic folk, but I would add 'with a dash of country.' Her voice is easy on the ear, and her compositions extremely listenable. She is another one of our artists in the brink of becoming a household name as her music will hold a broad appeal, particularly those who appreciate the adult contemporary genre.
Although her cd "Between the lines' is advertised on her website as being available @ Kalahari.net, I was unable to locate it there, so I would suggest taking a listen at her Myspace page, and if you like click here to get a personalised signed copy.

Links :

• nataliechapman.co.za
• MySpace
• YouTube
  

Labels: friday, music, myvideo.co.za, natalie chapman, sa music, youtube

Posted by roygbiv at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments

Friday has morphed into SA music day here @ Eish!!

From now on, each Friday we will be featuring a South African artists, highlighting the exciting pool of talent we have here. The focus will be on (but not necessarily limited to)those artists with a web presence of some sort, those that are using the new media platform to get noticed.

Please, if you have an artist you would like featured, send a mail to eishblog@gmail.com (or comment below) with the artists name and links to web sites, MySpace, video clips etc. Or send the word out to those artists you thing could do with a little nudge.

Previous artists featured :

• Watershed
• Wesley Fredericks
• The Parlatones
• Lira
• Loiuse Carver
  

Labels: eish, entertainment, friday, highlights, sa music

Posted by roygbiv at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: humour, management

Posted by roygbiv at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

A quick look a South Africa's top 100 websites according to Alexa.com makes for interesting reading. Here's a some standout observations :

• The top 10 positions are all held by the international heavyweights. The only surprise for me was the presence of rapidshare.com, a file sharing service and bandwidth gobbler.
• News24.com takes first place amongst the South African based websites.
• gumtree.co.za, the internet based classified service holds position 12 (2nd for South African websites). It shows that this form of buying and selling is becoming increasingly popular locally. Amazon.com (23), on the other hand, is streaks ahead of local sites Kalahari.net(38) and Loot.co.za(85)
• Local auction site BidOrBuy.co.za is managing to keep ahead of the international behemoth eBay.com(35), but only just.
  
• Standard Bank(13) pips ABSA(15) bank as the most visited bank site but only by two positions. It is also the 3rd most visited web page overall. First National Bank(39) and Nedbank(95) fall far behind.
  
• Myspace(18) trails competitor Facebook(2) by 16 positions.
• DeviantArt.com(24) pips image sharing giant Flickr(25) by one position
• For a country starved of bandwidth there is a huge prevalence of bittorrent and video viewing sites in the top 100.
• While local news sites come out tops (News24 : 11; IOL : 20; 24.com : 52; IAfrica : 82) South Africans prefer to use the BBC to get an international perspective on the news over CNN, the former at position 22 and the latter only number 88 in the list.
• Apple.com(80) is still not making major moves up the log, perhaps explaining why the ITunes store has no plans of opening locally.
  

Take a look for yourself and see of you find other points of interest.

(List as of 16/04/2008)

	1		Google.co.za
	2		Facebook
	3		Yahoo!
	4		Google.com
	5		YouTube
	6		Windows Live
	7		Wikipedia
	8		Blogger.com
	9		Microsoft Network (MSN)
	10		RapidShare
	11		News24
	12		Gumtree.co.za
	13		The Standard Bank of South Africa
	14		Megaupload
	15		ABSA Group Banks
	16		Microsoft Corporation
	17		M-Web
	18		Myspace
	19		WebMail
	20		Independent Online
	21		The Internet Movie Database
	22		BBC Newsline Ticker
	23		Amazon.com
	24		Deviantart.com
	25		Flickr
	26		Bid Or Buy
	27		Mybroadband.co.za
	28		ImageVenue hosting
	29		ZA NiC
	30		Photobucket image hosting and photo sharing
	31		GameSpot
	32		Wordpress.com
	33		Megavideo
	34		Supersport
	35		EBay
	36		Kalahari.net
	37		Signmein.co.za
	38		Autotrader.co.za
	39		First National Bank of South Africa
	40		UserCash.com
	41		Mininova
	42		About
	43		Take 2
	44		Wm.co.za
	45		Career Junction
	46		Eskom
	47		Youporn.com
	48		Google UK
	49		Bizcommunity.com
	50		The Pirate Bay
	51		IGN
	52		24.com
	53		CNET Download.com
	54		University of Cape Town
	55		Vodacom
	56		Onemanga.com
	57		Zshare.net
	58		Digg
	59		Vodacom4me.co.za
	60		Mail & Guardian
	61		SA-Venues.com
	62		Hi5
	63		Double Click
	64		Mozilla.com
	65		Adult Friendfinder
	66		University of South Africa (UNISA)
	67		Go
	68		University of Pretoria
	69		Redtube.com
	70		Adobe
	71		MTN - Mobile Telephone Networks South Africa
	72		Telkom SA Ltd.
	73		Googlesyndication.com
	74		Cricinfo
	75		ImageShack
	76		South African Airways
	77		Yellowpages.co.za
	78		FileFactory.com
	79		888.com
	80		MediaFire
	81		Megaflirt.com
	82		Iafrica.com
	83		South African Weather Service
	84		Telkomsa.net
	85		Loot.co.za
	86		Apple Computer, Inc.
	87		Paypopup.com
	88		CNN - Cable News Network
	89		PriceCheck.co.za - South Africa s price comparison webs...
	90		ImageFap
	91		Person.com
	92		4chan.org
	93		SourceForge
	94		Katz Downloads
	95		Nedsecure.co.za
	96		XTube.com
	97		StumbleUpon
	98		Hewlett-Packard Industrial Ethernet
	99		AOL
	100		Isohunt.com

Labels: south africa, top 100 websites, top sa websites

Posted by eishman at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

Another great achievement by a South African (and Capetonian)

Labels: augusta, download video, golf, greem jacket, masters, trevor immelman

Posted by eishman at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments

If, like me, you are feeling a little out of touch with the South Africa/India test series due to the lack of terrestial television coverage click here, to watch online.
[You will need to install this little add-on : Sopcast]

Labels: cricket, free, india, live, online tv, proteas, south africa, test cricket

Posted by eishman at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments

Two weeks ago I brought the music of Lira to you (and promptly caused her bandwidth to dry up). Being a collector of music, I went off to the local music 'mega' store to purchase her cd and was pleasantly surprised to find it sold out. But I now found myself in a music store, with nothing in particular to buy ... I couldn't just leave without making a purchase!
As things turned out I have landed up buying a whole lot of cd's. One of which is the latest, albiet not new, Louise Carver.

Louise is another SA artist that is destined to become a superstar locally, and with a little luck internationally. She is a classically trained pianist, has vocal training since the age of 6, released her first single when she was 17 and album when she was 18 . Clearly there is a heap-load of talent here.
Her voice is extremely listen-able and music style pop with just enough rock mixed in to appeal to a broad audience. She has deservedly enjoyed pretty extensive airplay locally, with 'I didn't mean to call' featured below being one of the many songs that have done well in the charts around South Africa.

Her website louisecarver.co.za is, like Lira's well designed, easy to navigate and gives you a nice taste of what her latest album has to offer. Our local web designers are producing some fantastic portals for our artists fans.

Enjoy this week's musical interlude.

Labels: louise carver, music, music video, sa music

Posted by eishman at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

The success story of the South African rugby season so far, has to be the Varsity Cup. It has captured the imagination of rugby follows, young and old, and has become a regular topic of conversation around the braai, water coolers and bar counters.
Styled around Monday Night Football in the states, the competing universities have enjoyed substantial television coverage, and this combined with fanatical student support has probably seen it surpass the Vodacom Cup, as the the preeminent local rugby competition while the Super 14 is being contested.

Tonight is the final between two bitter rivals from the Western Cape(Let's hope the Province Union can keep these players) the Ikeys(University of the Western Cape) and the Maties (Stellenbosch University) . Kick off is at 18:45 at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.















As an interesting footnote, although the competition has brought in the crowds and must have exceeded the expectations of the organisers and sponsors, not one of the companies that have put money into the competition have any mention of the competition or final on their websites.

Labels: ikeys, maties, rugby, sa rugby, varsity cup

Posted by roygbiv at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

Labels: cederberg, rock jumping, video, youtube

Posted by roygbiv at 9:08 PM | Permalink | Comments

The SA Blog Awards has progressed to become a significant event in the online calendar year. The packed out venue last night attests to this, as does the fact that finalists and interested parties flew in from around the country to be there.

The event has sufficiently informal as one expects from this community and there was more than enough time before and after the 'ceremony' to mingle with fellow bloggers, media and those that had an interest in the web.

When the ceremony began promptly at 7:30, the finalists were surprised to hear that besides being able to sport the 'SA Blog Awards 2008' graphic on their page for a year, there were actual physical prizes they could take home with them. There was wine from Warwick Estate, an indigenous tree from Stodels, Dell sponsored some categories with a flat screen monitor and Microsoft gave away a Xbox360 to the overall winner. And suddenly things became just a wee little more intense!
Without a doubt the big winners were Durban's East Coast Radio who, along with the other big winner Mail and Guardian have embraced the blogging medium and it seems to paying dividends, not only at the SA Blog Awards, but by increasing their reach into South African society. While 'mainstream media' made a huge impression at this years awards, there was still more than enough space for the smaller guys to pick up awards. In fact, having the big boys doing so well made the victories of the others that much sweeter and it was great to see the excitement and genuine pride these winners exuded for the rest of the evening.

While there was the odd good natured murmuring about the mainstream onslaught this year, there was none of the vitriol that seemed to emanate after last year's awards.

All in all, it was a great evening. Well done to the winners, and to those who missed out, it's time to up the ante!

And the winners are ...

South African Weblog of the Year
The Best of the Best from South Africa
Winner:
thoughtleader.co.za

Most Humorous South African Blog
Witty, comical and written to induce uncontrollable laughter
Winner:
blog.ecr.co.za/breakfast

Best Overseas South African Blog
Best blog written by a South African in any foreign country
Winner:
cooksister.typepad.com

Best SA Blog about Politics
The best SA blog featuring mainly a political theme
Winner:
thoughtleader.co.za

Best New Blog
Best blog which was started during the year of 2007
Winner:
blog.ecr.co.za/newswatch

Recap of my prediction :

• Not knowing too much about most of these finalists before this review, it's difficult to guage which of these blogs have the readership most likely to take the time to vote. My guess is the fact the ECR has bothered to publicise the fact that they are in the finals means that they will take this one. Honestly, I hope I am wrong though.
• Eish's pick : vanielje.com/blog

Best SA Blog about Technology / Computers / Web Development
Best South African technology focused weblog
Winner:
imod.co.za

Recap of my prediction :

• This is an extremely tough one to call, as while there are many finalists that have impressive readership figures, these readers do not necessarily have any stake in the SA blogosphere and will therefore not feel obliged to spend the couple of minutes required to cast a vote. Nudjit.com is going to take some beating next year, but I am going to suggest that BandwidthBlog will take the crown this year.
• Eish's pick : Noboxmedia.com

Best SA Blog about Design
Best overall design and layout of a weblog page
Winner:
skinnylaminx.com

Best SA Business Blog
Best blog about business
Winner:
matthewbuckland.com

Best Website Promoting Blogging
Best South African blog content promotion service or blogging platform
Winner:
amatomu.co.za

Best Green blog
Weblog covering mainly environmental, organic or enviro-friendly related content
Winner:
urbansprout.co.za

Best Undiscovered Blog
Due to these blogs being 'undiscovered' with limited readership, last year's winners will make a selection from the unknown blogs nominated for this category. The selected top ten with then go through to the final voting stage as per normal.
Winner:
livinglifebreathlessly.blogspot.com

Best SA Entertainment Blog
Weblogs about movies, television, celebrities, theatre and topical issues with entertainment value
Winner:
blog.ecr.co.za/breakfast

Recap of my prediction.

• I suspect that chump-style, 2oceansvibe and imod are going to engage their readers and get a fair whack of votes, however the ECR Breakfast blog was very quick to marshal it's troops and has an obvious advantage over the others. I pick the ECR Breakfast blog to take this category.
• Eish's pick : themuso.co.za

Best Post on a South African Blog
The one post which stood out in 2007
Winner:
mushypeasontoast.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-not-to-buy-condoms.html

Best Original Writing on a South African Blog
Composition, attention to detail, advanced levels of subject investigation
Winner:
mushypeasontoast.blogspot.com

Best SA Photographic Blog
The best SA blog featuring original photographic content
Winner:
jenty-mylifeinpics.blogspot.com

Best SA Blog about Food and Wine
The best blog written primarily about food or drink
Winner:
cooksister.com

Best SA Music Blog
Best weblog about news of a musical nature
Winner:
peakperformances.co.za

Best SA Podcast
Best independently produced video or audio podcast in SA
Winner:
blog.ecr.co.za/justplain

Best Group Blog
Best blog with more than one contributor
Winner:
blog.ecr.co.za/breakfast

Best Sports Blog
A weblog written exclusively about any recognised sport
Winner:
keo.co.za

Recap of my Prediction :

• I have been unable to find any evidence of Keo.co.za mobilising it's readers to vote, otherwise I would say this category is theirs for the taking. The same goes with rugbydump.com, but I think they have fresh new appreciative readership that may just mobilise itself and pull them to the top.
• Eish's pick : AfricanSurfer.com

Best Travel Blog
The best South African blog featuring travel related content.
Winner:
capetowndailyphoto.com

Best South African Personal Blog
Covers diary type blogs of a personal lifestory nature
Winner:
tertia.org

Labels: review, sa blog awards, sablog awards

Posted by eishman at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments

CEO Jay Adelson and founder Kevin Rose of internet phenomenon Digg.com, announced today that they will be purchasing a controlling stake in www.muti.co.za.

Reminiscing about the 'old' days (Digg.com was launched in December 2004) Rose commented how the community that is currently active at Muti reminds him of how the Digg community was when it was before it exploded to become one of the web's most active sites. The submitters, readers and bloggers regularly engage one another as they debate issues, some important, some superficial.

Adelson said that, much like Google, they saw South Africa as an entry point into the untapped African market. He sees Muti's simple, easy to use interface ideal for mobile integration, the device Africans will use to connect.

Although no amounts have been announced, it's widely believed that R77, 7 million has been negotiated for the 51% stake in Muti. It's still uncertain how the windfall is going to be split amongst Neville, Dave, Charle and Eric, reports Igotua Gain.

Labels: digg, muti, You Are An April Fool

Posted by eishman at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments