What a relief!

The water is still mineral water! I was worried there for a moment that maybe it had turned into sludge!

Remember the Poppies!

Today is the day to buy your poppy in remembrance of those fallen in the pursuit of freedom for the rest of us!

BlackApps: ScreenShot FREE

Enter my second installment of BlackBerry App reviews: ScreenShot FREE by S4BB Limited.

For the full list of BlackApp options, visit http://tinyurl.com/BlackApps or go to https://spreadsheets3.google.com/ccc?key=tzaQAeEd4i1RrTG4_ZO5Klw&hl=en_GB#gid=4



Vendor explanation:

With ScreenShot you can take a screen shot of your current BlackBerry® screen with just one click.

Features:
* Takes screen shots and saves them on the sd card / internal memory
* Illustrated how to for setting up ScreenShot on a convenience key for 1-click screen shot taking
* Real camera shutter sound
* After screen shot is taken it can be sent by email easily
* No time limitation

* This FREE version DOES NOT allow for program options change - if you want to do the following, please purchase FULL version.
http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/3301

* Screen shots can be queued up for easy batch sending by email
* No branding in screen shot
* Options can be adjusted:
-- File name conventions
-- Alert settings (camera sound, vibration, dialog can be turned on/off)
-- Time delay before screen shot is taken
-- Image format (PNG, BMP, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, WBMP)
-- Storage settings: custom directory

What it all means is that you get a free ScreenShot app to use on your BB. It will take shots and save them to your SD card and make a camera shutter sound when it takes the shot. You can then email the resultant file as an attachment. If you want to pay up, you get a host of additional options and features, including choosing file formats for your images and custom directories for saving the files. Of course, the FREE version watermarks the pictures, which is a downside with this app, but it still does the job and while somewhat limited, the FREE version still allows you to incorporate a convenience key and is integrated into your BB menu button.


PRO's of the FREE version:

• FREE
• Easy to use
• Integrated into menu
• Can email screenshots
• Supports convenience key

CON's

• Watermark
• Relatively large when compared to alternatives
• There appear to be better alternatives, but I haven't reviewed them yet.

ScreenShot FREE can be located here:

https://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/11567?lang=en

S4BB Limited can be located here:

https://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/vendor/102?lang=en

BlackApps: SMSRelay

I have a confession to make: despite owning a BlackBerry handset for almost six years I didn't really bother with BlackBerry App's until about two weeks ago, and since I started to dig into them I've found quite a few that are really fantastic - almost ESSENTIAL (oh boy, here BrYan goes again).

I've decided to entitle my series of BlackBerry App reviews "BlackApps" because it sounds cool :)

My first BlackApp review is going to be about SMSRelay by Manse eSolutions Inc. 

Getting the date and time right: YY/MM/DD vs. DD/MM/YY

A recent comment made by one of my readers (yes, you know who you are, since you're the only reader :)) has spurred me on to writing this reply. It's simply to put the world in the know, because I fear South Africa will forever be trapped in the cycle of inefficiency and stupidity until we see the logic in the way the date should be organised:


First of all, I don't change the time standard as my esteemed reader alleges. I USE THE LOGICAL time standard. Have you ever wondered why the USA is leaps ahead of RSA in terms of efficiency and development? Here's why:

USA uses the date format of YY/MM/DD vs. the RSA standard format of DD/MM/YY.
If we had a phone bill received on the 1st of every month, then they would be sorted by date as follows:

USA:
2010/01/01 (January)
2010/02/01 (February)
2010/03/01 (March)
and so on

RSA:
01/01/2010 (January)
01/02/2010 (February)
01/03/2010 (March)
and so on

If we want to file all of our telephone bills into folders, if they all arrived on the 1st of the month, then in the USA they'd be filed in a cabinet labeled 2010 in a folder labeled "January", "February", "March" and so on. In RSA they'd be filed in a cabinet labeled "Day 1" in a folder labeled "January". In the USA you'd need one cabinet per year, and in RSA you'd need one cabinet per day (i.e. 31 cabinets per year).

If we wanted to filter out the a phone bill from November 2010, if it was sorted by RSA format we'd need to dig into the file of "1st's" and sift through piles of notes from January through to December 2000 through to 2010 before we found the one we wanted. In other words, to find November 2010's phone bill, you'd dig into a folder of about 120 notes because they've been filed by the Day and then the Month and then only the Year.

The US standard of YY/MM/DD is much more logical because to find November 2010, you start in the 2010 (YY) folder, then the 11 (MM) folder, and then hey presto, there's only one phone bill in that folder.

I am not for the illogical pounds and ounces and inches stuff, but the date sorting makes sense, and that's how I've always used it.

To verify my explanation, go ahead and see for yourself: click on the DATE tab in your explorer and see how it sorts your files - if it's DD/MM/YY does it help you to find your date-organised files as efficiently as if you sorted by YY/MM/DD?

Prepare your clocks! 2010/11/12 @ 13:14:15

Yes, you got it; another fancy time moment is upon us, and this one is kinda nifty...

12 November 2010 at 14 minutes and 15 seconds past 1pm it will read:
2010/11/12 @ 13:14:15 ... that's 10/11/12@13:14:15 ... set your alarms!

Cool huh?

Google Chrome Options

I've recently taken the plunge to Windows 7 from Windows VISTA (yes, I know... enough said about that the better), and I have had to re-install GOOGLE CHROME (although I still think FIREFOX is my favorite browser ATM). With the new installation comes the usual tweaks, and here are the ones that I recommend you put in place before using CHROME extensively, since they are quite useful and in some respects ESSENTIAL tweaks:

Under Google Chrome Options

• Basics
• On startup: reopen the pages that were open last
• Personal Stuff
• Sync: if you want to set this up to synchronise across CHROME sessions on various PCs
• Under the Hood
• Download location: "ask where to save each file before downloading"

And that's about it. Gosh, I thought there would be more before I started to post this. That's quite embarrassing. Well at least the blog is living up to its purpose: being a reminder to me for things I need reminding of! 

Okay, um... then how about those CHROME TOOLS, huh? Some essential ones (IMHO) are:

• Google Mail Checker
• IE Tab
• Session Buddy
• Show Tab Count on Extension Icon
• Sexy Undo Close Tab

Do you recommend any others?

Taking full advantage of Afrihost's FREE 1GB offer

(want to save on AFRIHOST? http://tinyurl.com/AFRIHOSTsavings)

I may be a Christian (in fact, I am a Christian), which means I am an honest guy as far as I can help it, but it doesn't stop me from still being blessed (or cursed?) with a crafty mind.

You see, free things and me go together like mustard sauce and a boerie roll. If there's a way to score free stuff, or to save, I'll figure it out.

So with the latest craze of free ADSL bandwidth being dished out by AFRIHOST, I came to realise that if you are already an AFRIHOST subscriber, you get 1GB free every month automatically now. What else I already know is if you are buying 1GB or 2GB or 5GB from AFRIHOST per month, it costs nothing different per GB. In fact, as I've always advised my customers and friends: rather just get the 1GB AFRIHOST account and opt for an auto-top-up to your preferred limit. That's the first and most honest way to save money with AFRIHOST.

The second money-saving tip is this one:

With AFRIHOST dishing out free 1GB to every existing customer, everyone already wins if they're a member of the AFRIHOST Elite. For some, like me, I happen to have TWO 1GB accounts under my name, so when this special kicked in, I scored 2 free GB of bandwidth (and I don't think it's port-locked since the contracted accounts let you have concurrent logins) - this translates to 2 * 1GB bandwidth usable ANYWHERE!

• The 1GB FREE ADSL is port-locked to a specific number so you can't use it outside of the number you registered it for
• Existing subscribers also get 1GB additional and it goes onto your existing contract which in my case is NOT port-locked and supports concurrent logins.
• If you run 2 * 1GB accounts it's the same cost as running 1 * 2GB account.
  A more extreme example,:if you run 5 * 1GB accounts it's the same cost as running 1 * 5GB account.
  
  The bonus comes in with the way this special is implemented by AFRIHOST:
• If you have 1 * 2GB account, you get 1GB free = 3GB (2+1) per month now for R58
• If you have 2 * 1GB accounts, you get 1GB free per account = 4GB (2+2) per month for R58
• If you have 1 * 5GB account, it's 6GB (5+1) for R145 per month
• If you have 5 * 1GB accounts, it's 10GB (2+2+2+2+2) for R145 per month
  
• See where I'm going?

Another interesting tidbit is you can sign up with GMAIL accounts and use your email address as with the "+" alias, for example:

• joe_soap@gmail.com
• joe_soap+2@gmail.com
• joe_soap+3@gmail.com

And so on, and earn yourself additional free accounts.

Of course, I don't condone exploiting AFRIHOST since it will only kill them and mean we don't get such favorably revolutionary deals in the future, but I do want to point out that if you're a subscriber, WHY are you paying the full amount every month when instead you could just be paying the MINIMUM amount and still not be preventing yourself from the enjoyment of the full service IF and when you use it (at which point you pay for what you use)? Likewise, if you go the economical route, you can actually double your bandwidth per month for FREE and use it concurrently anywhere you like!

Stefan Terblanche is AWESOME

Stefan Terblanche knows he can fly

Saving on monthly AFRIHOST bills

[UPDATE: The following only holds true for accounts 5GB and smaller. A 10GB account is R19 per GB, but with R29 per GB top-up after that. So this is now only really applicable for 1,2,3,4,5GB accounts]

Many people subscribe to AFRIHOST because of their (currently) competitive per GB pricing at R29 per GB.

What many subscribers don't seem to realise is that it doesn't pay to subscribe to any account over 1GB, because whether it is 2GB @ R58pm, 5GB @ R145pm, or even 20GB @ R380pm, it still works out at exactly R29 per GB.

The benefit of going the cheaper route of 1GB per month is that you're only tying yourself down to 1GB per month: that means if you don't use bandwidth (i.e. TELKOM is down [again] or you're away on holiday) you're only debited for R29 for the month. If you are doing a higher bandwidth deal, you're being charged the full amount regardless of usage, and there's absolutely no need for this!

AFRIHOST offers an automatic top-up facility (interestingly, this was implemented 3 days after I emailed them about putting this feature in, so they took my comments seriously and responded - another big feather in their cap from my perspective) which enables you to set the limit (and size of your top-up increments) up to 20GB for recaps every month, and this method of, for example, 1GB plus 19*1GB top-ups achieves the same net effect (and total cost) as buying a full 20GB account up front but without the committed cost implications at the beginning of the month JUST IN CASE you don't use it all.

Let me simplify this:

• Buying 20GB @ R380pm means you are committing the R380 to AFRIHOST every month REGARDLESS of what amount of the 20GB you use - 0.1GB, 2GB, 5GB, 9.3GB will all end up costing you R380 for the month and there is no carry-over of your bandwidth so what you don't use is thrown away completely.
  
• Buying 1GB @ R29pm means you are only committing to R29 to AFRIHOST every month REGARDLESS of whether you use 0.1GB, 0.5GB, or 0.9999GB.
• The real savings come in when you employ the AUTO-TOP-UP feature on the 1GB account, and set the top-up to do 1GB at R29 each time, up to a number of times that you specify (for example, if you are a 5GB subscriber, you'd set it to automatically top-up only four more times at 1GB a time).

This allows you to still get up to the total bandwidth you want every month without any interruptions to your browsing, but with the luxury of knowing that if you don't use it, you don't pay for it (in the 5GB example above, if you used 2.8GB you'd save R29*2 for that month because you wouldn't buy the 4th or 5th GB).

So what are all of you 2GB and higher AFRIHOST subscribers waiting for? Go and downgrade your contract and enable automatic top-ups instead! You'll save yourself money in the long run and it won't possibly cost you anything more than your current bills are DEFINITELY costing you every month!

Stefan Terblanche is still so fit

[ UPDATED with more entries at the bottom ]


Following on from the mad craze that hit the world a year ago, and in honour of the Sharks impending victory over Western Province tomorrow in the final of the ABSA Currie Cup, comes the next iteration in Stefan Terblanche idioms (* The whole collection is now available from http://tinyurl.com/STisfit):


A friend's offering

• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ...Stefan Terblanche went for a run with Chuck Norris and made him sweat for the first time.
• This subsequently lead to Chuck Norris shedding his first tear.
• Which lead to excessive flooding in America
• Which lead to the start of global cooling

My version of his offering:

• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ...
  He goes for a relaxing stroll alongside Chuck Norris on Chuck's daily run.
• This is the only time Chuck Norris has ever sweat.
• This is also the first time Chuck Norris has ever cried.
• Chuck's tears led to excessive flooding across the world
• Which resulted in the beginning of global cooling.
• So
  Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... That he cools the earth down.

---

Other offerings:

Stefan Terblanche is so fit ...

• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... he can pop a wheelie on a unicycle.
• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... if you call them, Stefan will come.
• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... if you pass it, Stefan will score.
• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... every street in the WORLD has been named after him ("St.").
• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... light wishes it could go at the speed of Terblanche.
• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... he already knows what the result will be (for tomorrow's final), but he's not telling
• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... he's hot, so HE is the reason the global temperature raised in the first place
  ... but realising that no-one else can live at his level of hotness, Stefan fixed the problem just by being amazing.
  "Wasn't Stefan the reason the global temperature was raised in the first place? So ... He caused the problem, and fixed the problem just by being amazing? Amazing..."
• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... Stefan Terblanche IS the Force!
• Stefan Terblanche is so fit ... his future is bright. So bright in fact that he doesn't need sunglasses - the sun needs STEFANglasses.

FREE 1GB from AFRIHOST again!

http://www.afrihost.com/secret-early-bird

Get your chance to win 1 million Rand

I want everyone to have a good shot at winning a million bucks. Here's how to do it:

Send UPICK to 32082 to get a random entry for the next 4 consecutive draws.

Remember you get 2 free SMS every week to play!

1GB Free ADSL EVERY MONTH

There have been others to offer free bandwidth before, but this I believe is the first service to offer 1GB free and it's tied into your existing contract (ie. Free bandwidth as a reward for staying loyal), or 1GB free overall, so that's a sweet deal in the context of South African bandwidth right now!

Afrihost is sure doing their brand promotion right (first R29/GB and then BOGOF top-ups and now free ADSL).

Grab it while you can!

http://www.afrihost.com/site/page/free_1gb_adsl_account