Once South Africa's premier blog aggregator Amatomu has been slowly losing popularity with both content creators and readers.

It seems that things have finally died as evidenced by the following message currently been displayed.














Arg! It's broken indeed!

It's a pity as although we still have Afrigator, this has a more African focus as opposed to South African focus. Fortunately this project has not dropped the ball, let's hope it stays that way.

Labels: afrigator, amatomu, blogs

Posted by eishman at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments

Intersquash.com is the place to go to make your blog instantly iPhone compatible.
Simple enter your blog feed, the name of your blog and add an icon. A piece of code is generated for you to insert into the page's Html header and your page is instantly neatly viewable on the iPhone.

Check out the demo

intersquash demo from jon on Vimeo.

Labels: blogs, intersquash, iphone, iphoneize, web design

Posted by eishman at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

At the end of last month I wrote a post complaining about the month end bandwidth overusage. At the time of writing, I couldn't help but wonder what effect this would have on the general surfing habits of the SA's internet users and obviously blog reads.
So I sent a survey to a couple of SA's top blogs asking a few questions around this phenomenon. While not earthbreaking the results were interesting and brought up a seperate rather depressing trend.

My survey was short and sweet, we don't want to keep them bloggers from blogging now do we? Just three questions. From these three I would be able to spot the trends.
Let's start at the last question first.

3. What effect, if any, does the month-end congestion have on your site's response time, down time & hit rate? All respondents bar one replied that they do not see any noticeable effect. Eric Edelstein (ericedelstein.com/incuBeta.com/TrafficSynergy.com amongst others) also didn't "see much difference - although I do see differences on the different hosting company's I use - regardless of where they are based." So the slow response experienced by some users is not preventing them from reading their favourite blogs. That's good news. It could also mean that because critical mass has yet to be reached in SA we are still at the stage where it's the hardcore users that are viewing blogs in a regular basis. These guys and gals are not going to logoff and wait for tomorrow. They will rather open a few Firefox tabs, go make a cup of coffee and come back once their favourite, favourites are loaded and ready to be viewed.

Knowing the slow response inevitably effects those trying to surf sites hosted internationally more than those hosted locally, my first question was actually

1. Is your site hosted locally or internationally? Just short of 80% of all those polled use international hosting companies. If you consider that Rouvanne van den Berg's websites currently hosted locally are soon to be moved overseas and the Eric uses both local and international hosts, this percentage could actually be even higher.

Of course, I had to ask the important follow-up question :

2. What was your prime motivator for hosting decision? This was where the stark reality of our current internet costs become evident. The overriding reason was cost or, as Rafiq Phillips of Your Group of Web AddiCT(s); puts it "cost, cost, cost." Vincent Maher of My Digital Life and, of course Amatomu, fame goes one step further, "Its a blanket policy of mine because I feel that local ISPs are overcharging and their service is poor." Neville Newey, www.muti.co.za, lists support for python, a "cumbersome sign up process",bandwidth speed, reliability and the lack of cap as his reasons for using international hosting services. Vaughn of Ninjamonkeys.co.za illustrates how "for the same price you get 2gb bandwidth here, or 20gb in Germany."
   

So to summarise it seems that the month-end congestion is becoming less and less of an issue. The big issue is the cost of bandwidth & hosting fees.

Uno deWaal proposed bloggers should be taking action in his post "How to fight for Local Bandwidth." This proposal did not get much traction. Why not? The answer is simple and is illustrated by the results above. It's way simpler to use an overseas hosting company. Better, service, cheaper costs, easier sign up procedures. Who can argue with that? Nic @ nicharalambous.com emphasises the point in yesterdays post titled : "Locally Hosted SA Site Will Not Succeed." His very success with SA Rocks is what caused the site to go down. Sure this happens worldwide, as is evident by the common "Digg Effect" complaints, but that is as a result of many multiples more bandwidth usage and usually on those sites hosted on free services .The fact that his hosting company had to be "gracious" doesn't sit well with me.

Let me end by thanking all those bloggers who responded to my mail. The SA blogosphere is a fantastic community to be part of, however small that part may be. Everyone is so willinug to cross promote, give advice and contribute to the greater good, blogging. Let's hope it stays that way. Sure, it would have been nice if those bloggers affiliated to commercial entities could also have responded but, hey, can't expect too much now can we?

Labels: bandwidth, blogs, eish

Posted by eishman at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments

It seems that my question is not only being asked in South Africa.

Why are there so few women on Digg?

Labels: blogs, digg, eish, women

Posted by eishman at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

So, today is a nice slow day. Slap bang in the middle of what most people have made into a mega-long weekend.
I have noticed however that there are a few hardcore bloggers still posting and reading the blogs. (MyBlogLog is a whole lot cooler than I thought it would be)

So I thought I would take the gap, and ask some advice. But before I do let me warn those of you non-bloggers that this is not going to interest you. I am not a fan about blogging about blogging for the sake of blogging (and Amatomu rankings) so non-bloggers do yourself a favour and click here.

So, fellow, bloggers, here's my question. While I have readers from all over the world, I would like my main audience to be South African. Either those currently staying here in SA, those currently working elsewhere in the world, or ex-pats. I feel it's important to aim at a target market and not get drawn into trying to compete with the international bloggers. It will also allow me to pitch the blog to advertisers one day, should I decide to do so.
With this in mind, Amatomu becomes a very important tool. It's local focus means that the majority of the referrals coming from this portal are going to be local readers.
Thus the "Latest Posts" column offered by Amatomu on it's opening page becomes vitally important. This is the first thing casual surfers are going to use as a reference and it's an important leveler needed by the smaller blogs as the exposure they get is exactly the same as
the 'bigger' blogs.
When I first signed up with Amatomu they accepted your blog posting time as gospel. I found this out is my Blogger timezone was out of synch and I found myself sitting on top for hours with a post time way in the future. (Sorry, Vince & Matt) I eventually got that right, but others had cottoned on by then and took advantage of the loophole. Fortunately, they have sorted this out by assigning a random time if you post with a time that is in the future.
Now, my question. How do you ensure that you get the current time as the time posted? I have found that very often, despite constant pinging, it will take 20mins before a post will show up in the "Latest Posts" lists. By that time you are already way down the list. Clearly some of you have figured out how to get it right, so please share. I tried setting my time 15mins ahead, but that just got me penalised as it went through after 10mins and I landed up 3/4s of the way down the list anyways.
Help!

Labels: amatomu, blogs, eish

Posted by eishman at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments

In Friday's post I gave you some links to blogs, authored my members of the fairer sex. In the post I wrote "One thing I have learned while journeying through the submissions is that these girls can write! You will find very few quick one or two paragraph posts in this batch of blogs. The ladies have a lot to say, and they say it."

Unfortunately, I had not read ms Porcelains Friday's post @ Music, Life & Music. Because this lady really did have a lot to say and, in my opinion, she said it very powerfully. It's an awesome post highlighting her frustration at the way women are, and allow themselves to be, portrayed in popular culture. PLEASE do yourself, your mother, your sisters ,your daughters, a favour and read it. Then pass on the message. This needs to be heard by as many people as possible. If you have email, send the link to all you know, if you have blog do the same.

Below is a snippet from her blog post, the link follows. Ms Porcelain, eishman upgrades Music, life and music from "Nice one" to "A must read."

...

"Pop culture has a lot of power and influences young people in a way that is almost unbelievable. Yet the people who have this power seem not to know how better to use it. The use of words like 'bitch' and 'hoe (whore)' have become acceptable. Even the dreaded 'n-word' has become fashionable. believe it or not I've heard young South Africans call each other that. i much rather prefer the word 'cat' than 'the-n-word'... But that's just my opinion"

...

Link : The Hip-Hop issue

Labels: blogs, eish, music, pop culture, women

Posted by eishman at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

(... actually just a few)

Last week's 'Where are the SA Blogs Chicks' post resulted in a fair bit feedback to the Eishman. So I felt it was necessary to acknowledge those blogs that were brought to my attention. Before we get to them though let me say thanks to those of you posted comments and mailed me with suggestions. I can now safely say that these are just the tip of the iceberg. It would, however, be nice to get the profiles of a few more of those blogs authored by the fairer sex significantly raised and , in my opinion, the only way we can do this is to get more female readers. Or am I wrong?

One thing I have learned while journeying through the submissions is that these girls can write! You will find very few quick one or two paragraph posts in this batch of blogs. The ladies have a lot to say, and they say it.

Here's the quick list, with summaries gleaned from the blogs. Feel free to add more in the comments once again. (The list is orderless)

• Enigma : Merja, a 21-year-old junior journalist in Namibia. My friends back in Cape Town think I’m dodging bombs and bullets in the middle-east, they’re also under the impression that I’m next in line to win a Pulitzer award. I don’t have the heart to tell them that the only rewarding thing in my job is attending those ministerial visits that supply me with free food.
• Megan : If you can't impress them with your intelligence, confuse them with your bullsh@$t!
• Expensive Mistakes & Cheap Thrills : Eish say, the name is extremely descriptive .Eish recommends!!
• Peas on Toast : Break ups, #@%* ups, hook ups, cover ups. It's how I roll. Eish says, Multi - award winning blog. 2007 SA Blog Awards - Most Humorous Blog
• Thoughts and ramblings : These are just the random thoughts of a single girl living in Jozi, going about her own business in this crazy, interesting city and trying to find a little humour in everyday life!
  
• autumnal akika : Eish says, a wacky journal-type log.
  
• ChampagneHeathen : I am not one for first or quick impressions, so rather read the blog & work out all the intricacies of a Jozi chick trying to figure out where she wants to be this evening, let alone in 5 years time. Eish likes.
• MsMozi : Eish says, she gives us a little insight into her life.
  
• Limn : Jam is a sweet, slightly stewed person who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa
• Szavannablog : Remixing open source projects, music, and guru-shishya parampara. Szavanna_blog is about art, creativity, open source & open content topics, languages and more. Eish says, a great blog.
  
• Music, life and music : This my journey from being a journalism graduate with a stable-ish job in radio to being a full time muso... The ups and the downs and everything else in between. A 20-something who is trying her best to fufill her destiny. Times get rough and then they get good. I just want to share... That's all! Eish says, nice one. [Update : check out my 23 April post for my take on a recent posting, it really struck a chord with me]
  
• Glad to be a girl : ift through my insanity and revel in my genius! Modesty drips off me in buckets ;). Eish says, a lot of fun, this girl can write.
• So Close! : After being so close for so long, I have finally arraived. Life after infertility. Eish says, Tertia is SA's premier blogger. This is a must read.
• THG* The Home Girl : My universe is perfect so give me a good reason to leave the house
• Baze : Eish says, Always entertaining and well worth a regular visit.
• Whispers and wandering : Eish says, she takes he blogging seriously and it shows.
  
  
  

Schmaak this post!

Labels: blogs, eish

Posted by eishman at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments

In my recent travels through the SA blogosphere I have noticed a massive discrepancy. There some to be very, very little blogs authored by women, ladies, girls, chicks.
I find this both interesting and a little disheartening. I assume that there are female readers as Tertia @ So Close is consistently near the top of the charts. But I reckon that in order for the South African blogs to truly become mainstream we need to have blogs that appeal to female users, by female bloggers. I think an injection of views from the fairer sex will make for a much more dynamic SA blog world. Currently the top blogs are centred around sport, technology, the web (2.0) and blogs about blogs. Something I enjoy, but not necessarily topics that are going to appeal to the ladies.

We desperately need some SA Blog Chicks!! Come on girls, start blogging!!

Just to acknowledge Glad to be a girl & Sista2Sista.
I am sure there are others. Feel free to list them in the comments.

Labels: blogs

Posted by eishman at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments

Sunday's April Fool's story has caused some major excitement in EishLand! The story made it to the top "hot" spot at the www.muti.co.za and this in turn pushed up eishcoza.blogspot.com to 34th position in the www.amatomu.com top 500 blog list.

So in return for the increased traffic, I reckoned I would pay them back with a little featurette on these two fully fledged South African web services that I can guarantee will make your blog travels a whole lot more interesting.

Amatomu
It's has easy to navigate tabs which start with a 'full' top 500 listing (that oddly stops at 200!?). But then you can check through the top blogs by traffic for the past 24 hours, 7 days & month. The same can be done for each of the categories. It has a sidebar which lists new postings from registered blogs as they are posted. There is also a column for newest blogs and a "Zeitgeist" widget which displays most popular topics being blogged on the SA blogosphere.
As a blogger it's simple to register and as the rankings are calculated on actual traffic figures it's a fun way to keep tabs of visitor numbers in relation to fellow SA bloggers.

Muti
"An aggregator or news aggregator or feed reader is a client software that uses web feed to retrieve syndicated web content such as weblogs, podcasts, vlogs, and mainstream mass media website" : Wikipedia.

www.muti.co.za is an web based aggregator specifically serving postings originating from Africa.
Inspired by social bookmarking sites like digg.com and reddit.com, Muti allows registered users to submit stories they wish to share and others to then vote on the submitted stories. Those voted then move up and down the lists depending on the number of votes it gets. It gets a little more interesting in that you can also vote a story 'down' if you think it it's current score is underserved.
The submittor can then earn kudus, a word play on kudos, for their submissions and they too can be rated as good sources for news.
The user interface leaves a lot to be desired, but the concept has been tried and proven. A South African spin is necessary and welcomed. With continued development this could and should grow to become a major player in the SA Web 2.o market.
Take a look, register, see whats new and, of course, submit and/or vote for the latest story at eishcoza.blogspot.com!

Labels: amatomu, blogs, muti, ratings, technorati

Posted by eishman at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments