Today is FRIDAY!!

Score for free kalahari stuff!

Have a R50 voucher but nothing to buy?

R35 shipping fee got you down?

Then just buy stationery to the value of R15 and get it all absolutely free!

Behold! The cheapskate Johnston's have done it again! One free marker pen and 100 post-it notes, delivered for a cost or R35 but discounted by R50!

Make your vouchers work for YOU!

Yummy!

R11 for an 'ass pie' at Westwood Food Lover's Market ...

Fingernail in my Nando's?

...?

Today is FRIDAY!!

FREE PC game: Portal

Portal is FREE for two days on Steam. If you don't already own this great title, grab it now while it's absolutely free!

This special runs until 20 September whereupon it reverts back to the regular retail price of $19.99.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/400/

SAOL: Freaky Friday R11/gig

SAOL is offering R11 a GB for today but you have to top up with a minimum of 5GB's to qualify for it and there's no roll over.


Want to secure this Freaky Friday special? E-mail info@saol.com or call 0861007265.

Katy Perry says today is FRIDAY!!

FREE PC Game: Dragonsphere

Grab MicroProse's epic fantasy point-and-click adventure game for FREE from Good Old Games!

Check it out here: http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/dragonsphere

Free Microsoft Points

It's a bit of a stretch but if you want to earn free Microsoft Points and you intend to be on your Xbox 360 for a while (and perhaps they'll carry over to the next generation console when it comes out) then just sign up for Xbox LIVE Rewards!

Fill in a quick survey (and it really is quick - I clicked my answer and clicked submit and earned my points) every month and get something back.

Sure, it isn't much, but if you did this for one year you'd at least have earned yourself 240MSP for virtually nothing :)

http://rewards.xbox.com/my-rewards/survey

Supersport.com is messed up

First, they totally screwed up online streaming for the Opening Ceremony of the Rugby World Cup 2011 and then also the first match. I mean, honestly, who in their right mind doesn't test the server capacity beforehand?

It's South Africa, everyone's at work, and we're rugby mad. Server overload? No excuse!!

Now, it seems, possibly, the site isn't quite right yet - I think the online live streaming isn't working properly either... you can view for free at the moment - I think...

http://www.supersport.com/video/play.aspx?id=104501 to test my theory :)

SAOL Wacky Wednesday

SAOL is running a Wacky Wednesday Special today. Top up with 20 Gigs for R99, today ONLY. No roll over.

E-mail info@saol.com or call them on 0861007265 to get your Wacky
Wednesday Top Up.

Ultimate Support CD for Computer Admin's

I know I'm probably stating the obvious here but just in case someone out there may not already know about Hiren's Boot CD, here goes:

• Bootable CD with a ton of diagnostic programs and tools, including -
• Partitioning agents
• Cloning and imaging tools
• Data recovery tools
• MBR tools
• BIOS tools
• Account recovery tools

The list goes on but I think you get the idea!

A link to the ISO is here: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/.

Grab the full list of tools here if you are ever in a bind: http://hiren.info/bootcd.

OR click on the << MORE >> link to get an expanded list of the v14.1 contents...

FREE PC Game: Ultima IV Quest of the Avatar

Good Old Games is giving Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar away for free.

I don't really know how they can do that except that it appears they have purchased the rights to a bunch of legacy games and can do what they want any way that they want.

Anyway, all that aside, it's a great game and if you want a trip down memory lane then go and grab it for FREE now!

Alternatively, buy Ultima 4, 5, and 6 for under $6 here: http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/ultima_4_5_6

Telkom 1Mbps special: last few days remaining!

[ UPDATE: Special has been extended until the 15th of October so you've got more time to order ]

If you're in the market for good value internet then you have a few days left until the Telkom Trial special is officially OVER. In fact, you have until the 15th of September to place your orders.

To order it online go to the telkom.co.za website and click on "Free Trial" near the center of the screen. Otherwise, just click here: https://secureapp.telkom.co.za/ido/index.do?utm_source=telkom_coza&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=home_banner&utm_campaign=telkom_ido

What you get:

• Fast internet (DSL access up to 1024 kbps)
• Sufficient data allowance to use:
  • 5 GB of blended data PLUS 20 GB local data
• Free line and internet installation.
• Free modem without contractual commitments.
• Line rental, call charges and out of bundle data (blended and local data) excluded.

Just remember to cancel the deal (to avoid the 1Mbps line costs if you don't want to keep 1Mbps, or want to downgrade the line, etc.) in time: https://secureapp.telkom.co.za/ido/unregister.do

Wi-Fi hotspot locations in Africa

Want to know where you can use your Wi-Fi on your tablet, BlackBerry, iPod, or other technology-capable device?

Check out this site if you're in the Africa region:
http://www.alwayson.co.za/hotspotlocator/default.aspx

Now with Afrihost offering their own Wi-Fi service, your options for enjoying a cuppa on the move while checking your GMail from your portable tablet have just grown that much bigger! Enjoy, and indulge!

Free Xbox 360 DLC: Red Dead Redemption

My buddy just reminded me of the soon-to-be-released free DLC for Read Dead Redemption, entitled Myths and Mavericks. It comes out on 13 September 2011 and is absolutely free. Time to dig up my copy of RDR and start playing some multiplayer again!

Thanks, Oltman!

More importantly, THANKS Rockstar!

http://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/18701/release-date-details-on-the-free-red-dead-redemption-myths-and-m.html

Superbru featured pools - free prizes!

[ UPDATE: added in a new pool, "Goodyz" - 24 Sep '11 ]

If you're a freeloader (like me) and a rugby fan then I strongly suggest you try your luck at the following Superbru pools to enter for some free prizes:

http://www.superbru.com/rwc/featured_pools.asp

Inside this page you will find links to all of the public pools which offer free entry and prizes (weekly, or overall).

As of now these are the pools available to join - you can only be in five so choose wisely:

• Shield RWC2011 - T-shirts for for everyone that uploads a photo (see page for details), and "R48,000 CASH up for grabs". This pool offers an absolutely free prize to anyone that uploads a photo. You could be scaley and sign up, win your T-Shirt, and quit the pool if you are over-subscribed.
• Sport24.co.za - Top player wins 12-month membership to Virgin Active. Yellow cap winners win 3-month memberships.
• Nando's - Yellow cap winners win a signed and framed South African Rugby Supporter Shirt signed by Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha (whoopee!). I have a feeling Nando's will offer other goodies along the way too.
• BruGolfers - Win 2 x fourball entries to the Sardine Run 3-day golf tournament on the South Coast including entry to golf, goodies, dinner, breakfast and accommodation for all 3 days. Package worth R60,000!
• Mr. Delivery - Best player wins R5,000.00 voucher from Mr. Delivery; yellow caps win R200 vouchers.
• Bonus pool: if you're a South Africa fan you should also be in the South Africa Fans pool which also opens you up to other prizes (best player on the Springbok fans leaderboard will win 2 nights for 2 at 5 star game lodge Lukimbi Safari Lodge).

South African Prizes also include a grand prize (4-day tour package on the Blue Train for 2 persons courtesy of JB Train Tours) and best each round prize (40 inch Hyundai Full HD LCD TV from Teljoy). For the full list of prizes (including pool vs. pool prizes) check out this link: http://www.superbru.com/rwc/prizes.asp

As a final observation, http://hectic.superbru.com/ is up and running for those people struggling to get onto the main site, and you need to make your predictions.

Enjoy! And may the best 'bru win :)

EDIT:  
Goodyz - Best player wins a BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone. There are only 121 players at time of writing so the odds are almost 1% per player, barring any consideration for rugby prediction talent!

Today is GANG FIGHT DAY!!

FREE Xbox 360 game: Crimson Alliance

It isn't every day that something comes along for free but when those rare days come, you can be guaranteed that I'm there like a ravenous bear.

Tonight I've found Crimson Alliance for free on Xbox LIVE - approximately 1GB of game and all completely for no cost besides your bandwidth.

It's an action-RPG adventure supporting up to four local co-op players as well as online co-op. No idea about whether it's any good or not but anything for free can't be all that bad, right? :)

Rugby World Cup 2011 Google Calendar Fixtures List

If you want to get all the Rugby World Cup 2011 fixtures or match line-ups on your phone (or Outlook calendar, etc.) then add this calendar to your phone, desktop, or bookmark the website link below:

• Any product that supports iCal format (usually MS Outlook, Google Calendar, Android phones, iOS devices, BlackBerry): https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/ct240d39oc9kq21cq3bn70jii8%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
  
• Website address to bookmark (and view from anywhere with a browser):
  https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ct240d39oc9kq21cq3bn70jii8%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Africa/Johannesburg
  
  
  Or abbreviated to 
  http://tinyurl.com/RWC2011SA

If you need help then post a request below in the comments and I'll try to help you out ;)

I cannot take credit for this calendar - the thanks must go Mike Riversdale of New Zealand for saving me a few hours of work!

Alternative calendar options are here:

• SuperSport: http://www.supersport.com/rugby/rugby-world-cup/fixtures
• http://www.upandunder.co.za/gear/rugby-world-cup-fixtures-calendar-download/

Enjoy!

An easy way to profit in retail

If I weren't such an honest guy, I swear, some of my ideas would make me super rich or super (in)famous.

Here's my latest pearl: going retail without much capital or effort.

The concept is simple. Many retail stores out there offer you a "we'll beat any price" promise provided you can furnish proof of a competing store's advert. All you need to do to exploit this is to either (a) print out a pamphlet promising below-cost prices for products that other major retail chains are selling or (b) set up a home office or website that fakes a storefront.

Let me elaborate:

• GAME will match any competitor's price on a product they sell provided the competitor has the same product in stock. Not only will GAME match the price but they'll offer you a further 10% discount on the product price difference.
• GAME will usually look at a printed advert and then phone the store to verify that the price is valid and stock is available.
• All you need to do is see what GAME sells (for example, a 46" FHD 3D LED TV for R19,299) and then print out an advert for the same product at some insane "opening sale special" of R1,929. Organise a landline or cellphone number as your store's "front" number and have two friends (or more if your friends can't put on accents) man the phone.
• Walk in to GAME and show them the advert and say it's an opening special and will they match the price. They have to because it's their policy but they'll first need to check that the special is valid.
• Dialing the number on the advert your first buddy answers the phone with appropriate background noise generated by a TV or a fake PA sound effect etc. and says "Bargain Discounts Electronics, Ronnie speaking, how may I direct your call?" and then GAME will ask about the product special at which point 'Ronnie' says, "hold on a moment, let me put you through to the Home Entertainment division" and hits a HOLD button to make the classic elevator music.
• Buddy #2 picks up the phone and says something official like "hello, despatch" and then undertakes a small conversation about how they've been put through to the wrong division and they'll transfer them.
• Buddy #1 picks up and says "hello, switchboard" and then transfers the GAME guy to Buddy #2...
• "Hello, showroom"... "yes sir, that product is on special - we have one left"... "okay let me put you through to my accounts department"
• Buddy #1 "hello, Gavin speaking..." and so on.
• The key to making this whole process work is faking a call-transfer and using big words like "warehouse", "showroom", and "despatch" to flummox the GAME guy. 
• At a loss, they'll have to mark their TV set down to R1,929 and then knock off an additional ten percent difference, which is R1,737, rendering the whole TV set to a new price of under R200. Even if you score just one, you've scored a huge bargain ;-)

Of course, from here, how you hit it big is if you really did genuinely advertise the product at your shopfront (assuming you want to go into retail) and then sell the TV at the advertised price (R1,929) - you'll have earned a R1,737 profit on one product and undersold GAME.

I know it's a very rough concept but it's the concept that intrigues me. GAME is not the only store to match and beat prices: Hi-Fi Corporation, House and Home, Hirsch's and many others do the same so you could just cut-throat market against them using their own policies and make a bit of cash on the side.

To be really authentic looking without running a store, just grab a picture off the internet of some store front and then edit it to make it look like your opening special. Here's an example:

• GOOGLE for "electronics store" images and grab one that looks good
• Spruce it up a bit
• Take it in to GAME :-)

Again, this is a really simple concept that I am putting out there to show how my mind thinks. If someone were crafty enough to put something like this into action I am certain they could pull off a few bargain purchases or at least make some cash on the side before GAME et al wise up to it.

License Terms for Microsoft Software

Ever needed to know whether you can use Microsoft Office Home and Student on three PC's?

Ever suffered with sleepless nights wondering whether you're compliant with Microsoft's end user license agreement that you clicked "AGREE" to?

Well, stress no more! Go here and find out the license terms for ANY of Microsoft's software products!

http://www.microsoft.com/About/Legal/EN/US/IntellectualProperty/UseTerms/Default.aspx

Today is FRIDAY!!

Software: yEd (free flowchart and diagramming tool)

yEd (pronounced "why Ed") is a free and powerful diagram editor that can be used to really easily generate high-quality drawings of diagrams. I've used it primarily for designing automated flowcharts for visualisation notices but it offers a lot more under the hood. It's got a great deal of automation and import and export options and is quite simply the best tool for the job that I've used, and best of all, it's absolutely free! The license agreement allows yEd to be used for free even in a commercial environment!

Why struggle with Visio or any other tool when yEd can do it all for you and takes no more than around five minutes to figure out?

Key features include:

• Import data for analysis from Excel spreadsheets or XML
• Create diagrams with ease using an intuitive user interface
• Auto-magically arrange your diagram elements
• Export your diagram to bitmap or vector graphics: PNG, JPG, SVG, PDF, SWF, ...

I've only used it for a brief while but the automatic layout wizard was enough to sell me on the product.

I strongly recommend it - try it out online here http://www.yworks.com/products/yed/demo/yed.jnlp or download it and try at home. Supports Windows, Unix/Linux, Mac OS.

Check out the promo video in 90 seconds here for a better advertisement than I can offer :)

PS: I did check out similar alternatives but didn't bother to download them when I came across yEd but you can also try out http://live.gnome.org/Dia and http://www.graphviz.org/.

BlackApps: RWC 2011 by iRB

The greatest sporting event of the year is almost upon us! Rugby World Cup 2011 is only weeks away and now is the time of mobile apps!

If you own a BlackBerry, love rugby, want to follow the Rugby World Cup in detail, or just want to overload your phone with trending apps, then the RWC 2011 app is for you.

It can be downloaded over here: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/54515?lang=en

Features include:

• Add fixtures for any match to your built-in calendar or add all the fixtures for your favourite team
• BBM6 integration (requires an upgrade of your BBM if you haven't already done so) provides real-time content sharing, automatic status updates, and live match in-app chat.
• Access the Match Centre for live match coverage, including real-time live commentary, stats and video highlights.
• Get the latest news and keep up to date with the RWC 2011 Daily video.

You have no excuse - download it now!