From Our Blog...
SA mobile operators to lower costs for not-for-profits
SaNGOnet is requesting that the mobile operators (Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom) and their affiliates – including WASPS and service providers in South Africa – combine to enable short code donations where 100% of the donation is received by the Non-Profit. In order to achieve this we propose: Operators agree to forward 100% of donations given via these shortcodes to the Non-Profits (via the non-profit WASP) A set of shortcodes be allocated by operators for the exclusive use of non-profits. SANGONeT and other interested NGOs establish a non-profit WASP (similar to Mobile Giving Foundation) in the US) to vet and process applications by non-profits, and to ensure that only bona-fide organisations benefit. This organization could also be responsible for dispersal of funds. The Non-Profit WASP and all users of its short codes would agree to abide by WASPA rules concerning marketing, maximum levels of donations, privacy and other issues. The Campaign We need to build substantial support for this proposal in order to convince mobile operators of the need to change how sms donations are treated.
Sign the petition here please:
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Hitler and the SA Blog Awards
via GottaQuirk. Congrats to all the finalists. You can vote for your favourite finalist in the SA Blog Awards here every 24 hours with the same address.
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6 ways to find value in tweets
Not too long ago, Industry analyst Jeremy Owyang tweeted: Twitter is the Vuvuzela of the Internet. Everyone has a horn, blows it loudly, resulting in pure buzzing noise.
His sentiments maybe true in some respect. And quite frankly, many people are thoughtlessly quick to dismiss twitter as a credible source of valuable information. However, intelligent marketers will acknowledge it as a free source of consumer data that can be mined in near real time. That is why; Harvard Business Review (HBR) compiled a comprehensive list, which included a 6-step guide to finding value in tweets.
The complex views that tend to come from twitter’s trending list has rarely appeared the results of opinion polls or attempts to finding a consensus between differing factions of twitterers. That’s is why building and maintaining an image of a brand on twitter remains therefore an immense challenge. Some companies are occasionally concerned that negative tweets tends to damage their brands every time somebody (famous) says something negative about their brand on twitter; other companies or brands, believe that all publicity is good publicity, but despite the evidence to the contrary, it at least assists in rendering their brand newsworthy.
Let’s take a closer look.
HBR’s study represent new developments. Approximately half a million tweets containing the word “ipad” were captured during the product’s launch weekend in April. And based on this, HBR developed a 6-step guide to finding value in tweeter’s noise.
I will just summarize the 6 important points, but for an in-depth analysis, please find the entire study at HBR.
1) Learn about the competitive landscape.
2) Look for unexpected themes
3) Dip deeper into the stream.
4) Look for user experiences.
5) Learn why negative words are coming up.
6) Learn about conversation dominators.
According to HBR, Tweets about your product that include the names of rival brands can reveal a lot about market positioning. In the same study, HBR point to an example on how the majority of the KINDLE tweets didn’t necessarily focus on the iPad being a Kindle killer. Instead, they applauded the arrival of the Kindle app for the iPad— which in turn alerted Apple that its own books app would face serious competition.
In the same study, HBR explains how customer service could be adjusted to address the most common user complaints. How? By finding why negative words /tweets are coming up — it might also turn out to be a great way to locate consumers’ pain points.
To conclude, I would like to your genuine thoughts on whether Twitter is just a Vuvuzela of the Internet, or a very valuable source of consumer data , if carefully mined . Tell us by commenting , Your Group of Web AddiCT’(s) will share them in another post soon.
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New look for Local List
New look Local List
Local List is the pioneering local-only search site focusing on indexing locally hosted content and powered by ISLabs and in the last two months Local List has pushed out a crisp new design, a new range of geotools and a number of add-ons, the first of which that has already been downloaded 500 times since a soft release just a week ago.
The new version of Local List boasts the features below:
- Firefox extension: Search from your firefox search box and find locally hosted content from the Local List database searched by Google.
(https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/215971/)
- Geolocation : You can now check where a website is hosted on the fly. For the nerds amongst us, you can also track the geolocation of IP addresses.
- Search : New enhanced contextual search of verified local sites, all search results are locally hosted and based on our database.
- Explore : If you are in a rush we also have quick links to some of the sites in our database.
- Popular : This is the most evident feature on the home page, a list of the most popular services with thumbnails for your convenience.
- Bookmarks : The original locallist.co.za was based on social bookmarking and we wanted to keep it as a feature, and you can find it under bookmark.
- Design : The new design shows off a lot more jquery for nice transitions and less page re-loading, the site is slimmed down and the emphasis is on the search feature.
With the mass influx of major web services to our shores and now hosting here (Facebook, Youtube and all other Google services like Gmail) local has never been more powerful. Check out the new Local List (http://www.locallist.co.za) and tell us what you think!
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Android powered Washing Machine?
How about checking the latest tweets on your washing machine while waiting for your clothes to finish its spin cycle?
Android and ARM powered washing machine.
The Moshi*Matic is a unique piece of connected washing device, powered by an ARM CPU and running on Android. Using the “app” on your Android or iOS cellphone, you can remotely control the Moshi*Matic, track its power consumption/water consumption and adjust them. Programming and monitoring running cycles is easy. THe Moshi*Matic is using specific and highly efficient soap capsules, stored into the an automatic loading tray. Oh ! this is the last capsule in your Moshi*Matic !! Don’t worry, it will order new capsules by itself – and if your kinda paranoid, you’ll receive a message to confirm the order on your mobile phone – . The new capsules pack will be delivered within 24 hours to your home. via behance
While we’re at it why not have our coffee machines powered by android too? No need to set a timer or even get out of bed. We’ll be able to control our coffee machines from our Google Android powered phone so we can turn it on from bed
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2010 SA Blog Awards ideas
Today is the second last day to nominate your favourite blogs in the 2010 SA blog Awards. If you’re wondering how to nominate simply read this or if you know how its done click the widget to the right of this post. It’ll vanish after tomorrow.
If you’re really eager to get those nominations in have you considered SMSing your subscribers? SMS Who? Well if you had the International SMS subscription Manager WordPress plugin installed since its been available on the WordPress Codex you could have been sending your readers who have chosen to share their mobile phone number with you and asked them to vote So far 1199 people have downloaded the SMS WordPress plugin that allows you to send a bulk SMS to any mobile number in the world. 222 countries and counting to be exact cos its powered by Clickatell’s Bulk SMS Gateway. I digress.
Seeing that the SA Blog Awards have come of age this year how about we evolve the prizes too? Every year the same type of sponsors come on board offering the same type of prizes. Social Lubricant that makes an awards evening one that is difficult to remember for those who partake. A joy ride in a dream car. Some other prizes and subscriptions. What all the prizes at these awards have in common is their short life spans for the winners of the awards and the sponsors alike.
What if a category sponsors came on board and agreed to give the winners (and runners-up depending on the sponsors budget of course) an advertising contract for the next 12 months until the next years SA Blog Awards come round? Just putting it out there. Only blogs give advertisers/sponsors this kind of growth year-on-year.
Does your site grow like this?
I’d also recommend reading imod’s post, The longevity of paying a blogger to blog your product or service, to better understand my thinking behind adding longevity to the SA Blog Awards prizes.
This year Afrigator statistics are also laying a vital role in the SA Blog Awards. I just happen to be wearing this tshirt as I type this…
Afrigator tshirt
What if Afrigator‘s aggregation technology was used on the SA Blog Awards website to aggregate all the finalists in this years blog awards? I’ve had a look at the sablgoawards.com’s analytics and the only time the site ever gets any traffic is during the nomination and voting phases. How about converting the awards site into a destination where you are able to read and stay up to date with all the best blogs as voted for by the judges and you? I’m sure this will give visitors to the site a reason to return to browse over 100 of the best blogs in South Africa in one central location. There will also be the endless sponsor benefits associated with a site that has a longer lifespan than the current seasonal site that is the SA Blog awards. With that I’ve reached just over 500 words in this post. There wont be daily posts during the week after getting the foursquare Jetsetter badge.
What if Kulula gave special offers if your presented this badge at check in?
Your Web AddiCT has hundreds of emails to respond to before reaching inbox zero, I’m fasting and need to spend quality time with my beautiful wife. Even though I won’t be very active on this blog over the next few days I will respond to any comments posted below or on any of the previous posts. You can find me on twitter (@rafiq) while I’m spending the rest of the week in Jozi doing blogging workshops of all things .
PS: Clickatell are one of the advertisers on this blog.
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Social & the Marketing Mix – SESSF
This is Your Web AddiCT(s); attempt at live blogging a session at SES San Francisco
In the last year, Social Media has seen a meteoric rise in exposure, insinuating itself into our collective vernacular & psyche through high profile mainstream media attention.
Whether it’s a TwitPic of the Hudson River plane crash rescue, Nick Swisher tweeting from the Yankees World Series victory parade, or Burger King’s misguided Whopper Sacrifice on Facebook, marketers around the globe have seen beyond the hype and started to really understand its power. If Social Media is the tool, then Social Media Marketing is the discipline. Whether you start the conversation with your audience on Twitter, Facebook, Windows Live or simply set up a blog to start talking, you need to make sure your campaign resonates throughout your entire marketing strategy.
In this session, you’ll hear from leading experts who’ll help you cut through the hyperbole and create some long lasting, meaningful consumer connections with some useful integrated social media marketing tactics and strategies.
Moderator:
Kate Kaye, Senior Editor, ClickZ News
Speakers:
Tracy Falke, Social Media Specialist, Freestyle Interactive
Bobby Figueroa, VP of Product Development, Yahoo!
Harry J. Gold, CEO, Overdrive Interactive
Harry Gold – “Don’t just ask people to tell them to become your fan on Facebook tell them why.” Download the Social Media Map for Social Media Marketing here. This map is very busy but they’re not trying to make it visually appealing or elegant. Its main purpose is to act as a social media reference guide that applies an organized and categorized view to a rapidly expanding and, what is for many, confusing landscape of sites and applications.
Tracy Falke – Take your content and re-purpose it for every marketing channel. Content, Search and Social needs to fit together like a puzzle and overlap like a Venn diagram. Ensure your content, search and social becomes part of your business processes. Have your online publishing schedule tie into all your other marketing channels. Social isn’t something you give to an intern in a room, it’s your presence. Create a context matrix- map out what your website says, create content that reflects that map for each social channel. She carries on talking about Social CRM.
Bobby Figueroa – Be genuine and don’t say anything stupid in social channels.
Web AddiCT note – This is unlike any other session I’ve been to, no slideshows, no presentations, just conversations by the panel. That’s all for live-blogging this session. I’ll be doing more detailed post of the sessions that have had the biggest impact on my SES San Francisco experience at MIH SWAT over the next few days.
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Lisa Casson – WordPress Developer
Lisa CreativeAddict Casson
I am very excited to introduce our first female developer in this series of posts on WordPress developers.
Meet Lisa Casson, an upcoming WordPress theme developer, graphic designer and a web designer.
This Johannesburg based lady is a self taught CSS fundi now, after learning how to build WP themes by using only tutorials available online. It’s only been just under a year since Lisa discovered WordPress; she’d been creating static HTML websites for about five years before that.
Her ability to design a website comes from her studies as a graphic designer. It was after completing this degree that she decided to become a web designer about two years ago.
Her knowledge of PHP is limited at this point but Lisa is keen to learn just about anything she thinks that will allow her working in WordPress experience run smoother.
Her inspiration comes from a good strong pot of coffee and her favorite music playing in the background. Unusual for a developer, but she says she never loses out on sleep over work and normally gets to bed by 11pm.
Some of her development websites include http://www.rikkihibbert.co.za/ and http://sailneptune.com/ .
Her design websites include her personal website , http://sailneptune.com/ as well as the soon to be launched http://villagechurch.co.za/preview/
Lisa has a full time job but freelances during every hour that she can manage to do so. She can be contacted via her website http://creativeaddict.co.za
Her most satisfying and rewarding experience while working with WordPress:
…the results my clients have achieved. Previously, I used to create static HTML websites that required high maintenance for updates. With WordPress my clients update their own websites and I watch their websites grow…and their business thrives as a result.
She especially loves creating WordPress websites for charities.
Advice to upcoming developers:
start with your own website… it is the best learning curb. Learn from pre-made themes, then learn to make your own. The rest should come naturally.
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Coming to you from San Francisco
Your Web AddiCT is currently in San Francisco for the Search Engine Strategies Conference. The amount of time spent flying was nearly 24 hours and the second flight went over the North Pole to get me here.
The conference will draw thousands of marketers and agency professionals who will attend sessions and labs focused first and foremost on education (no sales pitches!) covering Search Marketing (including SEO, PPC management & Social Media), keyword research, local advertising, mobile engagement, link building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, online video, site optimization and usability, in addition to high-level strategy, keynotes, an expo floor with 100+ companies, networking events, parties and more
If you’d like to follow the conference from where you are the twitter hashtags are #ses and or #sessf. Thanks to Bruce Clay Inc there will be lotsa non-stop SES San Francisco live blogging.
Apart from the really long flights getting into the US with an Arabic first name like @rafiq is another mission on it’s own. Racial profiling, you could call it. I was in the US just under a year ago and had to go through a double security check with the official saying ‘It’s probably just your name.’ This time I got to the first security checkpoint and everything appeared fine but when he handed back my immigration forms and passport the official asked me to go to the secondary security checkpoint where I had to wait a few minutes then was asked 20 questions before having my passport stamped. After I collected my luggage I got stopped again and had all my bags searched. Welcome to the United States of America
So now that I’m here I’ll be tweeting from the conference using the @mihswat account and posting pics to my posterous page here. You can also expect a blog post or two on the MIH SWAT blog comparing my SES experience to SMX along with the usual memes covered on this blog.
This movie might be worth watching after all.
Photo by Dawn Endico
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Automated twitter lists with Conversationlist
Are you following so many people on twitter that it has become really hard to keep track of conversations that you’re actually involved in? With Conversationlist the problem of not keeping up to date with the twittter users who matter to you is automated. What is Conversationlist?
A conversationlist is your attention transformed into a tweetstream
To be a little more specific, a “conversationlist” is a Twitter list of the people that you talk to (and about) on Twitter. The list is automatically updated daily, so that it always reflects the people that you are paying attention to right now. If you @reply (or @mention) someone, they’re added to your list. If you stop talking to that person, they drop off your list.
Why make a conversationlist?
If you create a conversationlist, the people following your tweets can get a little more context: once someone follows your list, it means that they automatically see the tweets from the people that you’re sending @replies to, retweeting, or mentioning, so your tweets don’t appear in a vacuum. Your followers see what the people who influence you are saying on Twitter.
Find out more about Conversationlist here via sznq
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Marc Perel – WordPress Developer
Marc Perel, co-owner of Obox Design has been developing themes for WordPress since March 2009 having been a developer for roughly six years in total.
Marc Perel - Obox co-founder
Apart from PHP, this developer uses Coldfusion, Javascript. He also uses Markdown code as required by Posterous and Tumblr.
Looking back at all the developers I’ve already featured, this is the one developer who had a different view to my question asking “If WordPress could be rewritten in any other language, what would it be?”
In my experience, Coldfusion would be a great language to use, it’s great for rapid deployment, and easy to learn which would open up a lot of scope for people who want to be coders, but don’t have the brain for scripts
The company, Obox Design, has released a few WordPress themes in the past year or so, PRESS , InkDrop and Through the Lens to name but a few. Selecta is their only free download and was designed for video blogging users.
The company also released a premium theme framework OCMX Live.
Apart from typing up lines of code during the day, in his Hout Bay office, Marc ironically is quite an outdoor person.
He runs, cycles, goes for walks and says that he hates being indoors and confined to a desk for too long. This developer gets his inspiration by doing exercises such as running / walking.
He says the keys to a productive day at the office is
- six to eight hours sleep
- clearing his head by exercising
- getting to bed by 11pm.
Marc is quite keen to get himself a laptop and see what developing in the outdoors will be like for him. Marc, please let us know how this works out for you. I am personally quite interested to hear what people’s working environments are like and to hear where their inspiration comes from. Nature should be a perfect environment for a developer in my opinion; especially if said developer is required to do creative design work as well.
His most satisfying and rewarding experience while working as WordPress developer:
It’s hard to say, I learn cool things all the time. Each time I learn something new and deploy it, I get the same gratification, although if I had to choose, I’d say releasing the Obox Signature Series Themes was one of my most rewarding experiences.
The development for this project took about 540 hours in total. The final 56 hours I had no rest. When launch day finally arrived, it was SUCH a huge relief, and made us really proud.
Marc’s advice for new or upcoming WordPress developers:
Don’t be shy, don’t whirl the idea round in your head for too long, just do it. And when you do do it, make sure you use as much of the core as possible, 90% of the time, there is a function which does what you need, you just have to go searching, and that way, there will be a lot less bug fixing for you!
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Google & Verizon hold a gun to Net Neutrality’s head
Web AddiCT(s); note – this is more important than NoCleanFeed.
In response to Google and Verizon’s “policy framework” unveiled today, MoveOn.Org Civic Action, Credo Action, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, ColorofChange.org and Free Press, all members of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, issued the following joint statement:
“The Google-Verizon pact isn’t just as bad as we feared — it’s much worse. They are attacking the Internet while claiming to preserve it. Google users won’t be fooled.
“They are promising Net Neutrality only for a certain part of the Internet, one that they’ll likely stop investing in. But they are also paving the way for a new ‘Internet’ via fiber and wireless phones where Net Neutrality will not apply and corporations can pick and choose which sites people can easily view on their phones or any other Internet device using these networks.
“It would open the door to outright blocking of applications, just as Comcast did with BitTorrent, or the blocking of content, just as Verizon did with text messages from NARAL Pro-choice America. It would divide the information superhighway, creating new private fast lanes for the big players while leaving the little guy stranded on a winding dirt road.
“Worse still, this pact would turn the Federal Communications Commission into a toothless watchdog, left fruitlessly chasing complaints and unable to make rules of its own.
“This is not real Net Neutrality. And this pact would harm the millions of Americans who have pleaded with our leaders in Washington to defend the free and open Internet. President Obama, Congress and the FCC should reject this deal, restore the authority of the agency that’s supposed to protect Internet users, and safeguard Net Neutrality once and for all.”
Read more at CruchGear and FreePress
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Killa Apps rap
This is one awesome way for a freelance web developer to get noticed (already on 11000 views and climbing). If you looking for freelance help with WordPress development in particular try any one of these individuals:
If you enjoyed this rap you might like the SEO rapper too.
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Why South Africa Needs WikiLeaks & #NoCleanFeed
What exactly is WikiLeaks and why do we need it in South Africa? With the recent threat to media freedom, the arrest of Mzilikazi wa Afrika, and the fact that deputy home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba wants to introduce legislation that will compel Internet service providers to censor certain material online. We’re heading down a slippery slope with the likes of Iran, China and even Australia.
In the following video Wikileaks founder Julian Assange explains why the wwworld needs Wikileaks. South Africa needs to become aware of and start using WikiLeaks in a similar fashion it is used in Kenya and the US.
Over at TechCentral Duncan Mcleod shares his opinion on why the South African internet filter is not a good idea.
According to a Sapa wire report last week, Gigaba intends “fast-tracking the passage of a yet-to-be-drafted law that will compel Internet service providers to filter content provided to users to ensure it does not contain any pornography”.
He reportedly made the remarks at a symposium arranged by the Film & Publication Board to find ways of protecting children from the harmful effects of porn on the Web and mobile phones.
“Despite recent amendments to the law and other efforts to stop the devastating effect on children of their access to pornography, it’s not enough,” board legal affairs manager Dumisani Rorwana said in a statement. “The law as it stands is not working, so we have no choice but to take it to the next level.”
That sounds ominous, especially given that these noises are being made at the same time as the ANC is ratcheting up talk of the need for a media tribunal, and as concern continues to grow over the Protection of Information Bill.
Blocking porn is only the cover story to censor a platform that was never meant to be censored. Australian citizens are already battling their governments attempts to censor the internet with No Clean Feed.
The Australian Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers [ISPs] to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan will waste tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and will not make anyone safer.
The filter will do almost nothing to prevent the people who are willfully making, trading, and accessing child sexual abuse material. This type of material is not distributed in the open and we need to fund police to continue to infiltrate and prosecute the groups of people responsible for creating and distributing such material.
The filter will not prevent children from accessing inappropriate material. The proposed category of censored sites will not be wide enough to provide assurances to parents. Parents will be much better served by installing one of the many voluntary filters that are currently available and ensuring that their children are adequately supervised and aware of risks they may face online.
The list of material to be banned includes much more than child sexual abuse material. The category of material that has been ‘refused classification’ includes websites about euthanasia, controversial movies such as ‘Ken Park’ and ‘Baise-moi’, and many games that are designed for people over 16 years of age.
Despite being almost universally condemned by the public, ISPs, State Governments, Media and censorship experts, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is determined to force this filter into your home.
I think we need a NoCleanFeed.co.za sooner rather than later. Also read the Daily Maverick’s piece on the bigger picture behind wa Afrika’s arrest.
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Foxinni – WordPress Developer
I’d like to introduce you to a very hard to get an interview person Foxinni, Malan Joubert (birth name) a WordPress developer of themes and plugins, and from Cape Town.
Malan Joubert aka Foxinni
Now before I get in to the whole introduction, recruiters please note that this dev is already “taken” by the company he works for, WooThemes, and does not take on any private work.
Malan started with web design in 2004 by mostly working on static HTML websites for clients. After the need to create a music site for himself arose, he was persuaded to use WordPress and hasn’t looked back since. He very quickly had to teach himself to use WordPress, PHP, CSS and MySQL.
In 2006 he worked at a company that used .NET but still he continued to progress in CSS and WordPress by taking on WordPress related work at a private capacity.
He joined WooThemes in early 2009 as the business’s growth, demanded a greater capacity for WordPress developers. Malan described the firm as the place where his knowledge really improved to what it is today.
When developing, he uses only Javascript and PHP. He does however take an interest in Python and Action Script but hasn’t had the opportunity to develop a production level site using these languages yet.
He has coded “countless number of themes” but says his best work on WordPress themes would be the themes he done at WooThemes; his best theme there at WooThemes was CityGuide which features a lot of Google Maps integration.
And the achievements list continues…
Malan not only develops themes, he also released two plugins to date.
http://themesmith.com. It’s a multi media shortcodes plugin that gives you more control with content you upload to your site, i.e. video players, mp3 players and galleries.
The other is a simple WordPress admin Pop Menus script. Developed for better menu access and usability.
Malan’s interests besides all the lines of code include music production, gaming and skateboarding – he’s known to ollie (skateboarding trick) up a pavement on a good day.
His homepage is at http://foxinni.com where you can find some of his basic social profiles – He’s not taking on private work due to his own web mastering outlook. “I’m more interested in my own projects and generating passive income than doing jobs once off”
His most satisfying and rewarding experience while working as a WordPress developer:
“Any developer gets a kick out of knowing their code is out there, being put to the test by users you’ll never meet. The WooFramework is another big accomplishment for me. I initiated the concept from the start and it seems to have been accepted very well and has remained extend-able as we are adding and contributing to it all the time. All the WooThemes are now using it as their backbone and making themes several times more powerful and functional.”
Advice to someone looking to enter the world of WordPress development:
“Go for it. The market is huge and the better you become at one CMS the better for you. Get to know your plugins as they will save you lots of time in the short run. More important is to conquer HTML and CSS, then jQuery. After that you can create a presentable project and not just some typical code monkey work.
Don’t be afraid to get a credit card to be able to purchase a server. When you start managing your own online real-estate, ie. domain names and servers, you will become empowered to try something new whenever inspiration strikes; instead of waiting for someone else to do it for you, not to mention the money you will save not making use of hosting companies charging you THEIR rates and them being in control of your domains.”
What drives your ideas and what inspires you most?
“Doing stuff really late at night is the best… when i have no one bothering me or when I have no one to bother. Inspiration comes from seeing a project being a success even before it’s built, even after taking a dose of reality. Some people tend to forget the reality pills before taking on a website.”
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SA Blog Awards 2010 are here – How to nominate
It’s time for the annual South African Blog Awards 2010. I’ve been a judge or involved somehow for nearly as long as I’ve been using WordPress but this year Chris Rawlinson & JP Naude have things pretty much under control.
What can we expect from this years awards? With sponsors like New24, Ogilvy and Kulula there should be some good prizes up for grabs. I’m sure other sponsors will be getting on board late as they have in the past.
We can also expect many of the bloggers who’d like your nominations writing posts containing empty promises of how if they’ll blog more or better if you vote for them. You can also expect a deluge of facebook status updates and vote for me in the SA Blog Awards tweets. I did that last night already. Getting through the to the final voting round is all about the numbers of nominations you receive so expect a month of non stop SA Blog Awards buzz.
There have been complaints about the UI and UX and you might find once you click on a nominate me badge you receive the following message: Thank you! You have nominated www.my blog here.domain But you haven’t actually completed your nomination yet. You are now required to nominate 2 more blogs, or a total of 3 blogs in the SA Blog Awards 2010.
What are the first 3 blogs that come to mind? Why not nominate them? Once you have entered 3 nominations you are then required to enter your email address and the captcha code followed by clicking submit. We’re not there yet, now you need to click the confirmation link via email you will receive a few minutes later.
2010 SA blog Awards
Now you have successfully nominated 3 blogs in the South African Blog Awards 2010. Nice and easy
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How To Manage Email Overload
Usually the longer you’ve been online, the more email you receive. If your a good old Web AddiCT and receive hundreds and sometimes thousands of emails a day you’re probably experiencing email overload. Herewith a few examples of how to cut down all that email in your inbox you never end up reading anyway.
1) Unsubscribe to email newsletters
Email newsletters is one of the oldest forms of online marketing and almost ever website has an email newsletter. Do you really read ever single newsletter you receive via email? Thought so. Start unsubscribing to those email newsletters you hardly ever read to cut down on the number of unread messages in your inbox. Do it! Do it now.
2) Deactivate email alerts from social networks
Every time someone follows you on twitter or your receive a direct message an email pops up in your inbox. If you’re a very active twitter user your inbox will be overwhelmed. The same can be said for Facebook too. All those Facebook fan page requests, comments on status updates you liked or commented on. All of these end up in your email. You should unsubscribe from Facebook email notifications or even receive your twitter direct messages via SMS.
3) What about email you have to receive and respond to?
Now we’ve unsubscribed to email newsletters and turned of social netwokr email notifications and your well on yor way to putting your inbox on diet. What is the best way to manage what is left and usually is important. Instead of spending all your time writing really long essay-like replies your could follow the five.sentenc.es mantra. The problem: E-mail takes too long to respond to, resulting in continuous inbox overflow for those who receive a lot of it. The solution: Treat all email responses like SMS text messages, using a set number of letters per response. Since it’s too hard to count letters your should count sentences instead. Keep your email 5 sentences in length max and use those 5 sentences to get the message across.
How do you manage email overload? Let us know in the comments…
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Sympathetic Moral Ethical People – Jamon White
Jamon White
Jamon White used to be a Web Developer in a previous life. Check the lyrics in bold below for his track Sympathetic Moral Ethical People. Follow Jamon on Twitter here.
Lying in bed, She turned and smiled
Let’s get up now and eat some breakfast.
‘Cause it’s good for you.
She turned on the tv, and all that’s on
is advertising disguised as morning tv
She said, Man, what you doing today?
I said wife, I got money to make.
She said life has become so soul-ess
and people, they dont even care
I’m afriad, it much more than I can bare
We need a new beginning, a brand new start
A new pick me up, for a fresh new heart
We need revolution, to change the world
We need sympathetic, moral ethical people
I put on my tie, and I went to work
Decided to walk, to9 save on petrol
‘Cause it’s good to bw green
I switched on my pc, and started to code
website, after website, until you’re old
I said Man, How did it get to this?
What am I doing here?
Selling goods for shit?
I knew life had become a train ride
a destination, left unknown
I’m ready to jump off, and leave it alone
We need a new beginning, a brand new start
A new pick me up, for a fresh new heart
We need revolution, to change the world
We need dream fulfilled, happy positive people
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Gerhard Potgieter – WordPress Developer
Gerhard Potgieter
This week’s WordPress developer, is Gerhard Potgieter (@diekloon) who listens to what people want, taking the frustrations that they’re experiencing and then developing solutions for them. Gerhard codes in a laid back environment, sipping on a cup of strong coffee with music from some Bellville rock bands blaring through his earphones.
The passion for web development started when he was about 14 years old, where he experimented on HTML. In his later years, at high school he learned ASP and at varisty level he learned .NET. Thereafter he focused on PHP/Javascript and in the last three years, WordPress specific development.
As his day job as a financial software developer, he mainly uses Delphi; he freelances at night. His WordPress related work he has completed includes a few websites for clients, modifying themes set out by the client and therefore feels that he “can’t claim this as his own”.
Recently he developed an SMS plugin for WordPress, an idea spawned by Rafiq himself. Its called International SMS Subscription Manager, a WordPress SMS plugin, and it is about two weeks old with just over 620 downloads to date.
His portfolio of work completed to date (both on WordPress and not) can be viewed here.
A few more personal and advice type questions:
Q: What is your most satisfying and rewarding experience while working as a WordPress developer?
A:The ease of working with the framework and seeing how your product simplifies task for WordPress site owners.
Q: What are your interests besides coding?
A:I love the outdoors, so when I get the chance I love to go camping or attending festivals. Online its just about everything web, I also like to blog.
Q: What advice would you give (if any) to someone looking to enter the world of WordPress development?
A:Just give it a bash, its honestly easier than you think. Start by unraveling some themes and plugins and or doing modifications to them to get to learn the platform and from there start building your own.
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The FLOSS INCLUDE project
FLOSS (Free/ Libre/ Open Source Software) refers to a collaborative, distributed, collective and innovative approach to software development. FlOSS has numerous benefits, especially for developing countries as it lowers the barriers to entry, usage, costs, adaptability, has been translated into more dialects and languages than any other software available including Vietnamese and Khmer and numerous other benefits as indicated by the FP6 FLOSSWORLD study. The FLOSSInclude project aims to strengthen Europe’s participation in international research in FLOSS and open standards, by studying what is needed to increase the deployment, development and societal impact of FLOSS in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The FLOSSInclude partners for Africa included the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT.
The FLOSSInclude project provided much needed insight into the way that FLOSS functions and the also highlighted the needs inherent within the different target regions. These results will be used to inform and augment current EU research into FLOSS within these regions. The research will also be used to compile a FLOSS roadmap for future EU FLOSS research.
The following areas were covered in the study.
- Analysis of available data to identify key problem areas and areas of blocked potential for FLOSS in the target regions. Dissemination and networking, to identify and federate local and regional initiatives
- Requirements analysis, to show with concrete cases the specific technical, business and socio-political needs for the growth of FLOSS use, deployment and development in target regions
- Validation and pilots, to ensure that FLOSS solutions, tools and services can be cost-effective and practical
- Prepare a cooperation roadmap, supported by regional initiatives, concrete cases for clearly identified requirements, with solution areas proposed that have been validated through pilots.
The case study conducted by the University of the Western Cape (UWC) was on e-learning at UWC and included a range of issues from e-learning structures to development problems of the world class, locally developed e-learning platform (Chisimba) to the challenges faced by the e-learning team at UWC in implementing a sound e-learning policy at UWC and placing UWC at the vanguard of e-learning innovation. It also documented the use of e-learning outside of the University within the regional context. For more information on the case study and project please mail Enver Ravat at eravat2@gmail.com
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