(apple)mac geek

This article is a call by Sipho Hlongwane for bloggers to join in the protest against the tactics the ANC Youth League are employing to try and destroy the freedom of the press. The Twitter hashtag for this is #SpeakZA

Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the reprisals against journalists by Shivambu. His actions constitute a blatant attack on media freedom and a grave infringement on Constitutional rights. It is a disturbing step towards dictatorial rule in South Africa. We call on the ANC and the ANC Youth League to distance themselves from the actions of Shivambu. The media have, time and again, been a vital democratic safeguard by exposing the actions of individuals who have abused their positions of power for personal and political gain.

The press have played a vital role in the liberation struggle, operating under difficult and often dangerous conditions to document some of the most crucial moments in the struggle against apartheid. It is therefore distressing to note that certain people within the ruling party are willing to maliciously target journalists by invading their privacy and threatening their colleagues in a bid to silence them in their legitimate work.

We also note the breathtaking hubris displayed by Shivambu and the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema in their response to the letter of complaint. Shivambu and Malema clearly have no respect for the media and the rights afforded to the media by the Constitution of South Africa. Such a response serves only to reinforce the position that the motive for leaking the so-called dossier was not a legitimate concern, but a insolent effort to intimidate and bully a journalist who had exposed embarrassing information about the Youth League President. We urge the ANC as a whole to reaffirm its commitment to media freedom and other Constitutional rights we enjoy as a country.

Blog Roll
http://thoughtleader.co.za/siphohlongwane
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/munadia/
http://vocfm.co.za/blogs/shafiqmorton/
http://blogs.news24.com/needpoint
http://capetowngirl.co.za
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sentletsediakanyo
http://thoughtleader.co.za/davidjsmith
http://letterdash.com/one-eye-only
http://boyuninterrupted.blogspot.com
http://amandasevasti.com
http://blog.empyrean.co.za/
http://letterdash.com/brencro
http://6000.co.za
http://chrisroper.co.za
http://pieftw.com
http://hamishpillay.wordpress.com
http://memoirs4kimya.blogspot.com
http://thoughtleader.co.za/azadessa
http://watkykjy.co.za
http://fredhatman.co.za
http://thelifeanddeathchronicles.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/common-dialogue/
http://www.clivesimpkins.blogs.com/
http://mashadutoit.wordpress.com
http://nicharalambous.com
http://sarocks.co.za
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/stompies/
http://helenmoffett.book.co.za/blog/
http://01universe.blogspot.com
http://groundwork.worpress.com
http://iwrotethisforyou.me
http://fionasnyckers.book.co.za
http://attentiontodetail.wordpress.com
http://blogs.women24.com/editor
http://www.missmillib.blogspot.com
http://snowgoose.co.za
http://dreamfoundry.co.za
http://www.vanoodle.blogspot.com
http://alistairfairweather.com
http://www.zanedickens.com
http://www.nickhuntdavis.com
http://guysa.blogspot.com
http://book.co.za
http://baldy.co.za
http://skinnylaminx.com
http://blogs.african-writing.com/zukiswa
http://www.mielie.wordpress.com
http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/gatherer/
http://thoughtleader.co.za/sarahbritten
http://stii.co.za
http://blogs.news24.com/FSB_AP
http://twistedkoeksuster.blogspot.com
http://whensmokegetsinyoureyes.blogspot.com/
http://trinklebean.wordpress.com
http://commentry.wordpress.com/
http://matthewbuckland.com
http://blogs.news24.com/colour-me-fran
http://gormendizer.co.za
http://www.exmi.co.za
http://moralfibre.co.za
http://gnatj.com
http://fsi.org.za
http://synapses.co.za
http://simon.co.za/speakza
http://cat-dubai.blogspot.com
http://khadijapatel.co.za
http://ravingfans.co.za
http://www.harassedmom.co.za
http://angelo2711.posterous.com/
http://www.macgeek.co.za
http://www.futurechurch.co.za

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I’m currently at the Net Prophet conference listening to some fine minds reaching into the future of the connected sphere in South Africa over the next 10 years. Since so many people here are familiar with e-commerce, I’m posing a question to the dev AND marketing minds here.

I’ve developed a few e-commerce websites for South African clients, and each time I go through the same process with them. To get to the point where it’s possible to sell products online, you need:

• A business plan to show to a bank where you will
• apply for a merchant account.

This means you’re paying something around R200 a month so that you can accept credit card payments…AND per-transaction fees of around 5-8%. Not that you’ve accepted any payments yet, but you have the capability. Then you need a payment gateway, which you’ll typically pay around R100 a month for, and you’ll also pay a per-transaction fee, either a set fee or a percentage.

Once all this is done, it’s time to set up a website with a shopping cart, and start selling. The costs look like this:

• R200/month for the merchant account, plus 5-8% transaction fee.
• R100/month for a payment gateway, plus per-transaction fees.
• Monthly website hosting fees, say around R100/month.

Total monthly costs: R400 plus per-transaction fees.

So before we even get to the website design and development costs, we’re looking at R400/month. Obviously people moving small volumes of product can’t spend R400 a month to do this, which is why most SME’s don’t have e-commerce sites.

A great solution is to have PayPal active in South Africa, but they’re not going to do that any time soon, or probably ever. Since I’m a drupal developer, I posted a thread on groups.drupal.org (which has grown quite a lot) to ask what payment gateways people use, and pretty much heard the same story.

So, 2 questions:

• Is getting a merchant account the only way of accepting credit card payments online, if you’re a South African?
• If so, is there an easier and more cost-effective way of doing this>

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This post has nothing to do with hacking Mike’s website. Since I’m going to be at another 27 Dinner tomorrow night I know that Mike is in the habit of screenshotting attendees websites…hence the cartoon about YouTube entering popular culture, and the tip about hacking his site. You probably can’t. 10 bucks to the first person who can.

Technorati Tags: 27 Dinner, Madam and Eve, Mike Stopforth

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But it’s a good story! I’ll tell all the people at the parties! They’ll be engrossed! It’ll be awesome! Just as much as the “I’m blogging this” t-shirts!

Technorati Tags: afrigator

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I spent this last weekend with my friends Jo and Andrew in Ladybrand and since he’s the local Methodist pastor, he (and therefore the rest of us) were invited to a local farm lunch in Excelsior (population under 200). Ye gads! What food! And compulsory brandy-and-cokes! In amongst this I met a fascinating lady by the name of Rina who runs the Pallecan Arts centre in Excelsior. She was a good friend of the late Father Frans Claerhout, a Catholic priest and world-renowned Flemish artist.

Besides using bright colours, Claerhout was also known for sketching peculiar donkeys. And there was a very specific reason why he painted these animals. Claerhout said: “I am expressionisties. If you paint a horse, you cannot make it funny or long tail or ear, maar a donkey…you can make it long ear, you can make them blue or yellow. It’s like a boerebok, you can give him a long beard and its tail up…but everyone wants a donkey. Maybe I’m a kind of donkey.”

Rina teaches locals at the art centre, who then make artworks which are sold – a fine coming together of creativity and business sense. She was also very interested in the interactive visual arts lecture I attended a few weeks back at The Bag Factory in Newtown. So visit the Pallecan website for a bit of Free State soul!

Technorati Tags: art, Claerhout, Free State

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Yes, it’s true: Iceland grows their own coffee. This is part of Bean There’s offering: a fair-trade coffee personally sourced from (mostly) Africa (except the Iceland blend, of course). They stock Habitaz, my place of (sometime) work – so stop if for a (free) cuppa sometime. Terry designed the site (a fun one to do) and I’ve added the online newsletter (courtesy: dadamail) and am about to add a wordpress blog…

Technorati Tags: Bean There, Iceland, coffee, Habitaz

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After staring with no small amount of shame at the screenshot of this blog at the first 27dinner I decided to finally re-theme it. Nothing fancy and pretty similar to the default “Kubrick” Wordpress theme, but I like it. Plus, if you load the page without images it still looks pretty good The theme homepage is here.

Technorati Tags: macgeek, theme, wordpress

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I’ve been tagged by Carl who Dave Gale decided was worthy of blogtag: “sharing five things about themselves that relatively few people know, and then tagging five other bloggers to be ‘it’. He tagged [2] Mike who got [3] Dave Duarte [4] Carl Spies [5] Scott Gray [6] Peas on Toast and [7] Max Kaizen. They’ve probably already written interesting and meaningful stuff (Max has about Richard Feynmann at any rate)…so here’s my contribution:

I was nearly kicked out of an internet security class at varsity for hacking other students computers. But in my defence, your Honour, we were all sitting in one class and it really was a security class and all of the computers were unprotected Windows NT boxes (permissions?! What permissions?!) and all I did was put a picture of a donkey making a silly face with the caption, “Get back to work!” on it as the IIS home page of a few unsecured computers…and showed one or two of my friends how to do the same thing. Yes, I concede that I probably shouldn’t have written in big red letters in <font size=”spammer-enhanced-largeness”> “YOU’VE BEEN HACKED!!!” Probably not that helpful in my defense, right? But it was pretty cool how the lecturer got cross and then the demi (RAU-speak for “assistant”) shouted at us and told the hacker to own up…because after I stood up and owned up and apologised (after he threatened to pull the access logs) he calmed down and let me stay – and seemed to feel a bit bad about the shouting bit. That’s where I first learnt the meaning of “street cred.” So I plead guilty. Lock me up with only Windows and a Telkom connection to access the net.

I’m learning to play the cello. Well, since last year at least – and it’s difficult. The bow must be held just so with just the right amount of pressure and stay parallel to the strings but the weight comes from the arm and…well, let’s just say there’s some way to go until I’m jazzing it up.

My superhero name is “Splotchy Tan Man”! I have my friend Kath to thank for this. Well – her, factor 50 suntan lotion, a December sun in Natures Valley and a rather “slappy” approach to personal lotion application. There are pictures but I’m trying to keep them hidden. My superhero costume is a speedo and a towel…and a tan so splotchy that people on the beach stare.

My useless talent is estimating how far it is to that hill faaaar in the distance. It doesn’t get more useless than that – unless you’re trying to shell an enemy position and your GPS rangefinder is down and that cool satellite laser weapon they have in Command&Conquer hasn’t been invented yet…who do you turn to? Me! Pick me evil army-type person guy!

I love the Goon Show. Just brilliant. “He’s fallen in the wa-ter!” brings a small tear of joy every time. As does hearing my favourite on-air couple: Minnie (you devil, you!) and Henry (Mor-NING!) taking their evening constitution in Bexley-on-Sea. “These cigarettes are strong, Henry.” “Yee-ee-es, Minnie. … Better not light them!” My collection is much smaller than I’d like it to be.

My favourite childhood TV series was Robotech. If I had to choose an imaginary world to live in it would be the Robotech world. I used to imagine wearing the Robotech armour, using the shoulder-mounted laser (before that stupid grey-suited monocled guy got everyone using air quotes) and rockets and then shooting with more powerful lasers on my BMX/Robotech fighter (imagine my delight when, in the last series, the soldiers had different coloured bikes which transformed into airborne fighting mecca…::delight!::). But coolest was the mecca at home (translation: “mecca” = “Robotech fighting equipment, usually a fighter which can transform in a humanoid robot with some nifty background music”). In my garden is a loquat tree which my friend Philip – who lived down the road – and I would climb and power up. Our afternoons were spent shooting down incoming enemy fighters (with appropriate sound effects and evasive actions). The tree gave me a handily positioned joystick and separate throttle/fire control as well as two seating levels and some awesome combat possibilities. Philip took care of navigation, weapons deployment and repairs while I flew the Mecca. Boy, if any aliens decided to try to take over our planet by invading my back garden first – THEY were in for a suprise!

And I’m passing on the favour to: Carly, Dave, Mandy, Brett and Spooh. You’re on! (You’re “it” is soooo American, although if you blame Calvin & Hobbes then I’m ok with that).

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For Mike.

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Stormhoek sponsored some fantastic wines for the Jozi Geek Dinner last night – I tasted some Rose and Cabernet Savignon which I would recommend to my friends, and would also recommend they don’t have more than 2 glasses. Graham (from Stormhoek Wines) told us how the blogosphere helped get their wines from unknown to world-famous on a tiiiiny budget. Thanks to Mike for organising, D for taking photos, Aiden for talking about how the connected web saves lives, Max for an inspiring talk (“I’m not a motivational speaker!”), Christoff for telling us an intimate story about him and a goat (real “hands-on” stuff…) and surprise guest, blog god Seth Godin, for telling us how well placed we are in South Africa right now.

I invited my friend Thando to come along kinda because she’s new to the whole geek thing (having discovered open source like, last week) but more because I was hoping she’d meet some people who could help her with her dream. She grew up in the rural Eastern Cape (close to Grahamstown) and her family raised enough money for her to study so she could get a job. She been in Joburg for a number of years doing the corporate thing and has realised she just doesn’t enjoy it. So she’s heading back to her roots, but wants to start an education/social upliftment thing – and a computer lab will be a big part of that. After looking into licensing fees from Microsoft she realised that wouldn’t be an option, and so has just discovered the open source approach. I would love to help her succeed in getting this computer centre off the ground, including full internet connectivity. Thando got several ideas from tonight – including blogging (with the view of connecting her vision globally with interested people and perhaps raising funds), getting people to donate towards the vision and getting the geek community involved (Jacques definition of a geek: a nerd with social skills…I’m not sure I agree!).

Other conversations worth mentioning: Stormhoek, geek groups and energy with Graham; getting together genius groups (and general energy!) with Max; the Nimda worm, DOS 6.22, Kings Quest, technorati stats, bad tech support and Macs with Jacques and George; China, Western sense of self, African cultures and the South African future with Tumi (thanks for the encouragement!); the good-lookingness of [name deleted for fear of incriminating people we know]’s cousin with Mike; BMW, CSS, splattermail, more regular blogging and broken sites in IE 7 with the inimitable Scott; custom php/mysql song database/print app with Chris and Justin; GTD, subversion and Drupal with Monkey Barrel Carl; rubbing up against a pillar with Jonathan (Mike’s fault, that – I disavow all knowledge); “I want to say just 2 things,” with Aiden; and a great moment of connecting Max and Thando who can hopefully have some synergistic sparks as they work out her dream.

So a great evening all in all. Thanks to Primi Piatti for excellent service and going the extra mile (“What?! Tap water?! Now? WITH ice?!”) – and thanks to Mike for organising. We’re sending you virtual hugs (because for f*&^s sake, you got given a 17″ MacBook Pro!).

[Uptime: 20 days 12:19]

Technorati Tags: Jozi Geek Dinner, JoziGeekDinner

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