aLans spot

Lessons in e-commerce, advisory sell Net 1 shares

2011-12-19T14:02:00.000+02:00

I've been using Easypay to pay municipal and Telkom accounts for the past 13 years (since 1998). The company was an offshoot from Pick 'n Pay who always acknowledged themselves to be more of a financial institution than a retailer (they make money off the cash flow rather off the goods), and they had been accepting Telkom and municipal payments for many years prior to the online payment company Easypay was established. The Easypay website and system was simple and easy to use, one could save ones account details and login monthly (anytime) to make payments with ones credit card. It took a few minutes....

The website and systems worked flawlessly for more than 13 years... then some bright spark thought it must be upgraded and changed everything. The new site took about an hour to work out how it worked, one needed to call the support line in order to get it working, and finally the banks stopped allowing them to transaction (Both ABSA and FNB that I am aware of). Now they say on their site:

EasyPay's SOLUTION will launch in 26 days: As you are probably aware, a number of reports have been published in the press regarding Credit Card fraudsters targeting EasyPay's website. This led to ABSA, and other financial institutions erroneously suspending all credit card transactions processed through EasyPay's website. Some banks inferred or simply blamed EasyPay for the failure of their own Credit Card security systems. "We at EasyPay have always adhered to all the rules as imposed by the banks."

Yes, Easypay you have always adhered to the banks rules and your new system failed because the users could not work it, and because your old system worked there is no wonder as to why the bad press is happening! It is so clear that Easypay are playing with words to try save face. We know that it's not fraud, it's the systems you built and changed to (which cause the people using it to revoke the payments they tried to make), since the new system is bad and customers revoked payments as they did not intend to make some that the system forced. I went through the whole process personally and I've spoken to others who had the same experiences.

Now they say "EasyPay have considered the weaknesses of the current credit card security protocols, and will in the following weeks educate our users with regard to a newly patented system, developed by EasyPay's holding company, Net1 UEPS Technologies, Inc"

Sad and disappointing from a consumer point of view, I can also see them spending heaps of money on even more systems development that will shed even more customers. I'm disappointed, Pick 'n Pay must have sold out... anyone know the best alternatives?

Fixing scale electric racing cars

2011-04-27T20:37:00.000+02:00

This is in dedication to my wife, may she be able to pursue her quest for knowledge to 120. Since she mentioned there isn't much on this topic I decided to write this up since it worked so well.

Photo above shows the method to lift the brushes 'clip' in the bottom of the car using a small flat screwdriver (also shows the fixed clip). See the album of photos of the fix

Whilst this is a generic fix for scale electric cars, we use Carrera racing cars which are not allowed to be changed or manipulated by third parties intended for sale. Since this is only a hack which we found works better than the original, it's not considered a commercial enhancement.

Since I was a kid we always suffered the loss of the brushes under the electric car, this deems the car ineffective and retired. It's often time consuming and complex to find replacement brushes and they're usually quite expensive. In this experience it took no longer than 12 minutes and all the cars were working better than the original.

All you need is some old electrical copper wire (usually called electrical flex) which you can cut off any old appliance destined for the dump. A blade or stripper gets to the wires inside, try keep the individual wires twisted flat. They are very fine so be careful they don't spike you or the kids.

Scale Electric racing cars - fixBe careful not to break the metal clips that hold these brushes. You can wedge them off the car with a small flat screwdriver (see photo on top). Then wrap them around the side that has the missing brush (or both sides). Then twist them so they appear as flat as possible (i.e. do not try twist round and round, flatter is better). They should have a little 'springiness' to them.

You may need to use a flat nose pliers to flatten the tips of the clip which holds the brushes, in order to clip them back into the car.

Try it out on the track, if it's not 100% check all metal connections are being made (ie all metal parts are touching where they need to).

Koreans all learn Talmud

2011-04-04T11:10:00.000+02:00

I was pretty taken aback this morning when I learned of the popularity of the Talmud in S. Korea (and North I suspect too). Almost no Jews live there and there is very little history of Jews ever living there, yet they appear to (all) know Talmudic stories they learned as kids. Clearly, the Koreans did not not somehow translate Steinsalz or the full Talmud Bavli (or any other). A homeschooling mother of four who lives a traditional Torah observant life in Israel married to an IT consultant working in Korea explains: "Rabbi Marvin Tokayer wrote a compilation of stories from the Tanach and the Talmud for the Japanese audience. Now this is fascinating in and of itself, because what the Japanese want with Agaddic tales is a probably a great story. But then this Japanese compilation was translated into Korean, where it’s really taken off. In the bookstore, my husband saw about twenty different editions of this work; there was a variety of different publishers with different illustrations. Some are aimed at younger children, some are aimed at teens. There’s even a five volume set."

An English-speaking young Korean woman explained what the book in his hand was. “The Talmudeh. It’s famous”, she said. The man asked her, what is in this book? “It’s children’s stories”.
He asked her, who reads this book? “Parents buy it for their children, so that they can have the knowledge of the Yutayne”, she answered. He asked her to translate the words on the cover. She told him it said, “Talmudeh, the Wisdom of the Yutayne”. “Who are the Yutayne?”, the man asked.
She did not know. She had to google, and it was clearly not a translation issue. The Wisdom of the Yutayne may as well have been the Wisdom of the undersea dwellers of Atlantis. Yutayne is the Korean for Yehudim. You know, Jews.

The Koreans believe that the study of Talmud is what makes the Jews smart and as announced in the past week by the Korean ambassador in Israel, they really love the lessons and there are probably more (translated) Talmudic stories in South Korean homes than in Israel!

On the right is a cartoon from the Korean Kids Times, take a look over here, there are hundreds more

Calling Australia's 1-300 numbers

2011-01-03T14:48:00.000+02:00

Just a quick note to remind anyone calling an Australian 1-300 number, these are mis-advertised as the same as calling a land-line (they maybe in Australia), but when calling from overseas they are really really expensive. I was put on hold and kept waiting for 7 minutes and the call cost me 2.20 Euros for just over 10 minutes.

Note to Australian companies, these numbers are advertised very widely and agressively with so many benefits. Please keep in mind that they are not telling you the disadvantages, you will lose brand loyalty from any overseas customers - TPP Internet, I hope you're listening.

Rewardco - anothr call centre selling cell phone contracts...

2010-09-29T11:12:00.000+02:00

I'm really frustrated at the number of calls I receive from noisy call centres with semi-literate people reading from scripts, trying to sell me a cell phone contract. I just received a call from Jevon at Rewardco who totally lied to me when he claimed he was not trying to sell me a new contract. After 10 minutes of listening to him read his script he admitted that in fact he had lied and he put the phone down on me. I get at least 1 of these per week and it's a complete waste of time. They tell me that they get my number from Vodacom but since this isn't an 'application provider' it doesn't appear to be covered by the WASPA code of conduct. What can we do about this? Is there not something that can protect a consumer from this voice spam (actually much more expensive to me than email spam).

Wow, streetview hits jit for World Cup! thanks Google...

2010-06-08T09:57:00.000+02:00

Yesterday wasn't there, today it is... quite incredible to have streetview in Africa. Now where are those wifi networks they were talking about?

Signing emails with mail on OS X (Snow Leopard)

2010-04-22T18:58:00.000+02:00

I struggled with this for too long and finally worked it out. Now that Thawte are gone, both Comodo and Startcom offer a free SSL cert.

They deliver it in to your browser and the problem was that I kept on exporting it from Firefox. Finally worked out that you need to 'backup all'. These are slightly different parts of the security section and remember not backup, backup all. Then you get the key and cert packaged nicely in a .p12 file (You can name it whatever you want and when you select backup all it also prompts you with the keyphrase you need to install it.

Once backup is done, just double click and it should install itself into your keychain.

To use it remember to restart Apple Mail and that it will only work with the email address you specified when you got it issued. Send me an email, now I need to test the encryption (2048bit) :)

Are computer games bad for your kids?

2010-04-02T16:04:00.000+02:00

Have you ever sensed anyone think "Computer games are bad for your kids". Computer games so often seem to be thrown in with the TV as a tool to make them stupid. Since our kids play computer games I decided to find out more. Ok, I admit that we're a bit different to most parents around here, my wife and I have always played computer games and our kids aren't yet at the age where we feel that they can decide what games to play. We know the games they play and either review the game ourselves or we teach the game to our kids. It's changing a now that they're getting a bit older but the principle remains the same and we've all grown through this experience. I'm writing a two part article and in part 2 I talk about my son and World of Warcraft (WOW)".

I looked at some of the literature, especially the research into gaming. The references (bottom) refer you to some, although on the whole the results are mostly supportive of gaming, with some reservations.

Some parts of some computer games are potentially harmful. Sound effects such as zapping noises can occasionally induce epileptic fits. It's a form of a condition called Photosensitive Epilepsy and usually stimulated by TV. It's relatively rare, occurs at one in three and a half thousand. It's more common in girls than boys, about sixty to forty; different from epilepsy, which is slightly more males than females. Most commonly occurs around puberty.

Dumbing games are also considered unhealthy especially for teenagers. I'm not exactly sure how to define a dumbing game, I guess that some of the arcade games of my youth could be considered dumbing. Some adults turn to midnight gaming looking for brain numbing stimulation, and I'm not sure that I agree with those that flippantly remark this may help the onset of Alzheimers. If you can think of a game that you think could do this, please leave a comment.

Whilst the older literature proves that there are some (identifiable) harmful effects of gaming, most of the more current research is showing the benefits of (modern) gaming. This is not to say that play outside with other children and physical interaction and to face to face communications should not be encouraged as much as possible. I agree that this is how they develop, train and retain their creativity and become good people. I also believe that computers can be used as a tool - together with appropriate applications - to enhance the physical activities that a child has in the 21st century.

Some of the potentially positive outcomes the research on computer gaming shows that the gamers:

Develop Motor and Cognitive Skills: Computer games can help to develop "motor and cognitive skills" (BBC News: 2006)
Social Element and tram-work: Computer games allow social interaction between social groups and individuals. Some games can be played as a multi-player game; this inspires individuals to work as a part of a team as well as gain communication skills. Playing a game with friends or a partner encourages communication between the group/individuals
Children learn through play: Children learn through play and computer games can help create imaginative play scenarios for them. Computer games can that involve imaginative worlds for a child's imagination to escape to, can encourage imaginative play. It goes well beyond imagination, they develop skills in reading, math and problem-solving. They use and develop upon previous knowledge, a valued process in the workplace and school.
Self-esteem and confidence: Children are made to feel comfortable with technology—particularly important for girls, who don't use technology as much as boys. As they master games they increase and master personal self-confidence and self-esteem.
Hand-eye co-ordination: Computer games can be attributed to improving the co-ordination between eyes and hands
Release built up aggression: "catharsis theory and drive reduction... suggest that aggressive play can also have a relaxing effect on the user and be a way of balancing aggression." (LSDA, 2004) I'm not completely convinced of this, worth looking into. It does confirm our previous experience with the toy gun though, we definitely found that our kids enjoyed playing with toy guns and it got them out of their system.

And the potentially harmful or negative aspects found include:

Health risks that can be attributed to repetitive game playing, include: Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI): Caused by using the control pad/controller of a console for long time periods. Sore eyes can happen from looking or squinting at the screen for long periods of time and headaches occur as a consequence of eyes being sore, they need a rest. I've experienced RSI myself. After more than 15 years of using the keyboard and mouse every day I finally had a bout of RSI, it's painful and you know about it. Probably best self-diagnosed. Quite simply it's very painful when you use the computer and something you must attend to immediately but definitely treatable (dealt with better in a separate post)
Addiction can happen and excessive gaming can produce severe negative psycho-social effects; these range from low self-esteem and dependency to asocial and aggressive attitudes and behaviors, such as gambling and stealing to finance play." Some computer game players become addicted to their games, never leaving their rooms until they have completed a level or the game itself. This can impact on other aspects of the individuals life, no differently to any addiction. I hope your children don't have addictive personalities although I've recently listened to a Dennis Prager talk about the benefits of understanding a child's addictive personality when you can still do something about it.
Violence: Some games stimulate violent tendencies, especially the category labeled first Person Shooter games.
Lack of Communication: Computer games some claim due to their addictive nature can cause a lack of communication skills in those who constantly play them. This can lead to 'gamers' becoming anti-social among their social groups and peers.
Less motivated: Children are less motivated to go outside and play sports, they prefer to stay in their bedrooms.
Gender and racial stereotyping - As with all forms of popular media, video games have the potential to influence how children perceive themselves and others. Most video games are designed by males, for males. While people of many cultures play video games, that diversity is not usually reflected in the games themselves. White male characters dominate in the majority of popular games, while non-white characters often play the traditional supporting roles of sidekick or villain.

You will decide what suits your family best, but keep in mind that you may only be seeing what you want to see. Changing your view is always uncomfortable, hopefully this will make you think twice and consider looking a little deeper. Can computer games stimulate communications between people? There are games that disconnect an individual from the outside world, so how will you recognize the opportunities for kids to play in imaginary environments and what are the real risks to your kids in multi-player gaming environments.

Over the past 5 years my son has been playing World of Warcraft, on and off. I'd say that he has times when one would perceive potential 'addiction', he is absorbed in the game during the times he plays. We have the normal concerns, just by glancing at the potential harmful effects in the list above keeps one thinking. And one also considers the positive outcomes. What are the lessons he learns in the game? [come back for part two next week :)]

References:

Adrenaline Vault (2001) Everything you know about computer violence is wrong, Date Accessed 16/03/06
American Psychological Association (2006) Violent Video Games - Psychologists Help Protect Children from Harmful Effects
Computer Addiction (2003) Computer Addiction Services.
ELSPA (2005) found in Boyle, R. and Hibberd, M. (2005) Review of research on the impact of violent computer games on young people, Date accessed 10/03/06
Facer, K. (2006) Computer Games and Learning, Date Accessed: 12/03/06
Games + Learning + Science (2006) Jim Gee
Gee, J P. (2003) What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, New York: Palgrave Macmillan
informit.com (2005) A History of Home Video Game Consoles: Sixth Generation: 1995–1998,
Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) (2004) The use of computer and video games for learning
Media Awareness Network (2006) Video Games: Special Issues for Girls.
Media Awareness Network (2006) The Good Things About Video Games
Media Awareness Network (2006) The Concerns About Video Games.
Nesta Futurelab (2004) Literature Review in Games and Learning.
Newman, J. (2004) Videogames, London: Routledge
OUT-LAW.com (2005) Video games and age restrictions–the US and UK
Video Game Revolution (2006) The History of Games
World of Software (2005) PC & Video Games Ratings
Esther Schindler author of "10 Business Lessons I Learned from Playing Dungeons & Dragons".
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - The Health Report 16th October 1995 - "How computer games can be bad for your brain"
Frankie Meehan - online exercise "Computer Games - Good or Bad?"

House to rent for the World Cup - or any big 'attraction'

2010-04-02T14:48:00.000+02:00

We wanted to share in the economic development we've seen happening in our city over the past couple of years, so we planned to rent out our house in our beautiful city of Cape Town during the World Cup. It's more difficult than we assumed and it appears the mass of visitors everyone expected may not materialise. Or is there a glut of accommodation and not the shortage the alarmists we're initially projecting. updated: July 2010: Cape Town - Green Point was rated by far the best location for the 9 games held here, but it didn't attract the players (it's sea level) nor the media teams and other infrastructure groups. It was ironic that we had no tenants in the house for the duration of "the silly season" and straight afterwards everything returned to normal. Hope others can learn from this.

Website at http://braemar.za.org

Block outbound caller ID on Vodacom or MTN

2010-01-13T10:54:00.000+02:00

People often ask me about this and I always forget (and it's seems not that easy to find). If you do not want the person you are calling to see your number (i.e. block your outgoing caller line identity - CLI) then you can:
a) ask the network to block it permanently (this isn't going to go down well with your friends and family, you want them to know it's you)
OR
b) dial #31# before the number, e.g. #31#0826008181 dial.

Works on both Vodacom and MTN and in most countries on most networks.

Eczema in the ear - especially sufferers of plugged ears

2009-06-17T12:20:00.000+02:00

I'm writing this to share my new experiences with what was diagnosed in February as eczema in the ear. Although my mother tells me that I had infant eczema I don't recall experiencing it or any other eczema and getting it in the ear at my age is not something that I had ever heard of before. There are so many resources on the Internet but none seem to stress what I think is the important and simple mechanism to control it.

Symptoms
I've been suffering with a symptomatic plugged ear since last May (2008 - just over a year now). My ear gets plugged because the wax doesn't find a natural way to drain from the ear. Most sufferers complain of the dry skin only or severe itchiness and sore canals. I have these symptoms too and they are uncomfortable but I don't find anything as debilitating as the plugged ear.

Initial diagnosis and initial treatment
My family doctor told me it looked like dermatitis and syringed the ear (using cool water), sent me home with drops and told me to come back in a couple weeks. He looked then and said it was much better. Three months later the same again. Less than six months later it was plugged again and I decided to visit the ENT (specialist). The ENT said that as we get older (I'm 40 now) so our ears can become less efficient at processing wax so basically I will need to come have my ears cleaned our (with their special suction instrument) and what I was experiencing was effectively a natural build up of wax.

Four months later I started smelling a rat. Literally... it started on occasion but then for about three hours a day in random situations, I would start smelling a dead rat. After searching the areas I started asking others and soon realised it was only me smelling the rat. It was an infection in the tube that links the ear to the nose. I went back to the ENT and spoke to the head of the practice who finally diagnosed the problem as eczema in the ear. It finally all made sense because the 'crispy' stuff I thought was wax, was really just skin and this mixed with the wax was caused the plugged ears.

He cleaned the ears out again and it is so relieving. You go in feeling miserable and come out like a new person but when one adds up the bills it's hard to digest a 3-6 monthly visit to a specialist physician. He gave me drops and suggested that eczema in the ears is related to dandruff, and I should wash my hair and ears with a strong anti-dandruff shampoo.

Four months later I was plugged again. The ENT was busy so I tried a new one (the third ENT so far). She was great, cleaned out the ears and confirmed the diagnosis. Confirmed it was common. And... advised that I should make sure the ear stays dry. So much so that for the first ten days I must not even wash my hair. She also gave me some new ointment and yet another type of drops but they were definitely secondary to the main change that the ear must be dry.

I've now met a couple of other people who have the condition although both have had it since birth. I'm still puzzled how it only started onset at the age of 40. I am more convinced now that by keeping the ear dry one can manage the problem better.

I hope that others that experience any similar symptoms or diagnosis will share their comments at the end, so please feel free to contribute to this and maybe we can even establish or join a more specialised community.

Mobile phones on aeroplanes

2008-12-04T18:02:00.002+02:00

Last month I spotted the WIRED burning question: Why Can't I Use My Cell Phone on a Plane? Answer: Because in the US the mobile networks don't like it. I'm puzzled... So why are the Air Hostesses or stewards, acting as if they are the police force (which I think it's a general thing, and that's why they're called stewards and pursers :because they purse their lips). And why does this effect us in South Africa? I'm not exactly sure but it is the law so you better listen. Read more from the August edition here and tell me why none of the SA airlines allow it.

Are you Proudly SA?

2008-04-07T14:13:00.002+02:00

My company used to pay a few thousand rands per year to contribute toward this "exciting" campaign to promote South African companies, products and services which (it says on the website) are helping to create jobs and economic growth in our country.

Unfortunately we did not find that the campaign was in any way exciting nor did we find that they promoted our (South African BEE) company. I am sure that it's different for bigger multi-nationals but in the meantime we thought it would be better to formally join the Internet Service Providers Association which does a whole lot for all the ISPs in SA.

The very sad part is now I can't get off their email lists, and I get so much spam from them. I've asked so many times now to be removed but sadly I think they don't read their email :(

Bottom line is I am proudly South African and my company is proudly South African, we're simply a little embarrassed that the organisation doesn't do a better job.

The sorting hat

2008-01-12T10:38:00.000+02:00

The sorting hat says that I belong in Gryffindor!

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those with brave deeds to their name."

Students of Gryffindor are typically brave, daring, and chivalrous.
Famous members include Harry, Ron, Hermione, Albus Dumbledore (head of Hogwarts), and Minerva McGonagall (head of Gryffindor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter
Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

South Africa - prepaid 3G HSDPA on Vodacom (and MTN)

2007-12-25T10:27:00.000+02:00

I've been exploring the options for travelers or those that don't want to (or can't) get a contract with Vodacom. A few months ago I blogged about how we have some of the cheapest (and accessible) 3G in the world so I recently went through a process recently of getting a Vodacom 'data bundle'. Unfortunately it's not as straight forward as you may expect.

You can get Internet access on the 3G/HSDPA network using your pre-paid (any Vodacom pre-paid card costs around R5 at any Pick n Pay or Spar, etc.) or contract SIM card using any phone or PC/USB card. If you phone doesn't 'just work' then you can register at Vodacom4me and follow instructions to download the settings to your phone (for MTN just enter *123*13#).

At the cost of R2, standard 3g HSDPA (or GPRS) may be globally competitive but it isn't ideal if you plan to use more than 100 MB.

The Vodacom web page here (and btw, MTN is similar here) describes the "Prepaid and Top Up data bundles". The table shows (prepaid) prices from 19c per MB to R1,19 (depending on the bundle) as an alternative to R2,00 using a 'data bundle', although it doesn't say anything about how to get a data bundle. So what do you do?

As a contract customer one would ask ones 'service provider' (SP) who usually won't know but will get back to you and explain that there are a few forms that you need to complete and fax to them (although interestingly you can order a once off data bundle at any time as well as a monthly recurring one).

So for prepaid the SP did not know and suggested to buy a 'pre-paid data bundle'. So I assumed that one could buy a data bundle anywhere where one buys airtime. After looking at half a dozen places that sell airtime I learned it's not the case. After I bought what I thought was a R49 data bundle from Spar, I followed the instructions and found that it was an SMS bundle, so I ended up with 60 useless SMS's. I spent half and hour navigating the ridiculous Vodacom IVR and waiting for a real person who kindly explained that the only way to get a data bundle is to load normal airtime first and then convert that to a data bundle by dialing *111# and following the voice prompts. I did that and then easily added a 500MB bundle for R189.

Some observations:
- although advertised, you can't get less than a 500MB (pre-paid) data bundle on Vodacom (although you can on MTN).
- you have a maximum of one month in which to use the data bundle (ie. use it or lose it)
- if you want to use pre-paid on a HSDPA or 3G modem, you need to take out the card and put it into a phone every time you want to reload a data bundle
- it may be desirable to buy the exact amount of pre-paid airtime rather than 2 x R110 vouchers but more on this thread

This is still the best (lowest cost with maximum coverage) way for an international traveler to get Internet access in South Africa.

The top posts over the past year

2007-12-20T03:59:00.000+02:00

The most popular posts on this blog (the titles and number of reads):

How to take ownership of a folder protected on an second hard drive in Windows XP. - 1345 views over the past year (more than viewed the home page) - says alot about Microsoft ...
Apple Macbook Pro Battery replacement - 703
Baby sleeping with eyes open - 383 - a recent post that seems to hit a hot topic
The Egg Man A Symbol of African Unity - 293 - a two-year old post that's still popular
Open Source Software and Information Society for South Africa

Then some of my own faves that I thought would be more popular:

Longevity of Blogger posts

2007-12-19T02:52:00.000+02:00

I'm confused. I haven't blogged for a month because I'm trying to work out some issues with the Blogger. My old posts aren't properly indexed on the search engines because they're 'archived' and no longer have their own unique URL. Some old posts do still have a unique page. I've played with all the Blogger settings but I can't seem to find a way to ensure every blog post gets and keeps it's own URL/ page. Am I missing something? Shall I just migrate to a proper Wordpress blog? Please help!

On the issue of confusion, I'm also a little confused about Jacob Zuma. Is he corrupt or not? Will we have a corrupt President or is he going to make some positive changes to the Parliament?

More confusion. We had an 'end of year' even at FPC last week. I took a few photos and I'm not sure where to share them. Do I post them to flickr (which I use less and less), picasaweb (which we use more and more) or Facebook (where I think many people I know may get to see them, or since it's a past event, may not), which also begs the question, where on facebook to post (on an event, my photos, a group or why not just via picasa or flickr plugin)?

I'd love to hear what you think.

Facebook, good or bad?

2007-11-22T09:11:00.000+02:00

Facebook has been banned in many organisations, and people have been fired. So is it bad? Good? Useless? I shared concern with many others about the recent sale of a minor percentage to Microsoft, I also use Orkut and LinkedIn (not Plaxo) and I'm very eager to see Yahoo's play here. Anyhow, the main reason for my post I saw in a recent FORTUNE, Brent Schlender writes a super story about it, "Facebook makes me cringe" ..but it's still the most profound Internet innovation since eBay.

Natural Swimming pools

2007-11-09T08:39:00.000+02:00

These look brilliant. They provide natural clean water, chemical free "with lasting beauty year round". Who wouldn't want a crystal clear swimming pools that uses natural aquaculture.

Sanarfil say:

Pools and Ponds | Natural Swimming Ponds - Guaranteed pleasure
The natural swimming pond is the ideal synthesis of the element water and an enchanting plant world. Joy, simple pleasures, and quiet moments await you here in the midst of nature. Your own natural swimming pond is the perfect place.

Amazon has this amazing book on it (click on the cover on the left) which I found after a spotted this photo of a simple design on flickr which then also led me to Pond Doctor Daves web site (which has a few links and pics).

If you work in travel in SA, please consider where someone could build one. I have no doubt it will attract a great deal of attention, great marketing idea.

Dabba - Rael hits the Business Report

2007-11-09T03:33:00.000+02:00

We've been working with Rael on Dabba for a few years, preparing and looking to setup some communities in the Western Cape. Finally Dabba gets a feature in the press, albeit still a little underground. I guess front page of the Business Report is no longer 'underground'.

The lead says "TALK IS CHEAP: Rael Lissoos, chief executive of Dabba Telecoms, says his latest venture aims to be the Vodacom of the people, with a spiritual slant". Read the interview and make up your own mind, less said the better...

Cape Town - Smart Community - Dark fibre and all that...

2007-10-26T09:42:00.000+02:00

Last night the Intelligent Communities Forum announced the list of the Smart21 Communities of 2008. We made it! Cape Town is there, and I'm so proud that it's largely due to great efforts and more than three years of work we've (Radian) done for the City of Cape Town (mostly work by my partners Mark Neville and Raven Naidoo).

We spotted this award - got the appropriate approvals to enter - and wrote the motivation. More importantly in the background, we've been helping the city with a Telecoms strategy since 2004. This year the Dark Fibre project was been accepted by the powers that be.

The dark fibre project is based on the Swedish example where the city of Stockholm provides dark fibre (i.e. not lit, just the cable) between point A and point B. We were amazed at how much the Economic Impact Assessment showed the benefit to our economy with be, see the ITweb article: CT network 'to add R211bn to GDP'

Ubuntu printing - fixed

2007-10-16T00:04:00.000+02:00

At the office the other day I noticed how the Feisty Fawn (Ubuntu Linux - April 2007 release) had fixed its printing. The 'Cups engine' just makes it easy to print. Another very good sign, IMHO, Ubuntu is ready for anyone who doesn't need to plat certain Microsoft games or other proprietary needs. At home it's our most stable (and oldest) machine.

btw, thanks to Mr Mandla, who helped me very quickly to identify the Lexmark Optra 321 driver for the Lexmark E232 (which incidentally cost me R699 (i.e. <$99) in South Africa) and works like a champ.

Adding a fat PVR - Windows Media Center (MCE), Joost, Snapstream or GB-PVR

2007-10-15T06:01:00.000+02:00

Its been eight months since our family of five added a PVR to our list of devices in the TV room. It was more expensive than what some call a PVR, although we believe we've got more out of it than we expected. After much humming and hahing and after having read dozens of articles and website s about them we finally purchased and installed what we a fat PVR, fat because it's NOT:
- a DSTV PVR (cable/satellite decoder)
- DVD with PVR (solid state device)
- USB storage with video
- slimline PC style PVR system, all in one package
- any other 'pre-built' (PC-based) PVR

Our fat PVR was custom built so that it can perform all the functions of the others as well play games that generally use a Windows platform (for the kids :P). The box, a Thermaltake Tenor is a dud but at least keeps things at a cool operating temperature. Once you add the gaming requirement, the specs increase and benefit those looking for better quality display. Games need a better display adapter than those which come packaged in a pre-built PVR. I look forward to an HDTV hi resolution set.

Tough decisions to make was the choice of PVR software. I wasn't sure about Windows Media Center (MCE), mainly because of my experiences with IE (and IIS). From reading many blogs and sites it seemed that MCE was the best choice, so we started with MCE. There were a few issues we found such as:
- giving names to, and setting up TV stations neatly, so they are easy to use
- giving names to TV recordings
- sorting music and dealing with playlists, and
- general functionality or the lack thereof.

We looked for others. I had installed Democracy player but that's something else (so is Joost). We tried Snapstream and kind of used it for a few weeks. We ran out before the time limited license did.

Finally we stumbled upon GB-PVR and we've used it ever since. It does all the things well, has great functionality, works with the Media Centre remote, good functionality and also stores all the files very neatly. It works on Windows and does the job well. http://www.gbpvr.com/

Too many in the To

2007-10-11T01:11:00.000+02:00

A colleague has a policy with Sanlam and today received an email from a 'Consultant'. He says in his email "In our endeavours to communicate more effectively, we make use of electronic communication via e-mail." Unfortunately, he sent the email to over 850 email addresses, in the 'To:' field*. It may not yet be illegal which I thought a pathetic irony, but is it? So what's to do about it? Please leave a comment.

*I believe that some email programs don't show more than the first few addresses. Those that do, show how much more bandwidth and space is used in the header, than the message itself.

Maybe the answer is that if you work in a big company, to tell the mail administrator to set alarms if someone tries to send 'to' more than 20 recipients. Use a mailing list broker (Vanilla do good business providing enterprise grade list services and education to ensure these remain legitimate).

Minister says no international fibre for us

2007-09-18T08:39:00.000+02:00

Well almost, she said "no undersea cables will be allowed to land in SA unless they are majority owned by local investors" see mybroadband for the full article.

Some have commented "Calling for major SA ownership will in several camps be interpreted as calling for final business control and looked upon as a big risk by many investors, operators & most parties outside SA" another said "You would have to look to George Orwell to find a higher level of irony in bureaucrat-speak." One person made the considered response, "I have seen so many bad decisions made in the name of African development and until we Africans with the technical expertise align our selves with the decision maker I think we will continue to see the same bad decisions made over and over again."

But basically we're heading for a new era. The information age is coming to South Africa! Government is selling their shares in Telkom which means good things. For example, it seems like by the end of next year we'll have over a dozen Telco's. Yay! Finally we will have affordable broadband. Good Luck!

SMS spam from Nedbank

2007-08-30T08:41:00.000+02:00

The law is definitely flawed! I was certain that we could improve on it by getting some precedent but I'm no longer confident that it's going to happen.

Through ISOC-ZA I set up the Spammer Bounty Hunter programme (read more at http://wiki.isoc.org.za). The wiki refers to the legislation which states that "Any person who sends unsolicited commercial communications to consumers, must provide the consumer— (a) with the option to cancel his or her subscription to the mailing list of that person; and (b) with the identifying particulars of the source from which that person obtained the consumer’s personal information, on request of the consumer."

I was getting annoying sms spam from Nedbank and lodged a complaint with WASPA see the complaint form here. It was handled pretty well and although it didn't take the promised 7 days, they did finally remove me from their database and tell me where they obtained my telephone number. So effectively the complaint was resolved and they get off the hook.

More importantly the company who sold them my details is also off the hook. Seems like the law cannot touch them. Maybe there's something in the privacy legislation, I don't know. I had to expose them somehow and hope that you can assist me to take some action against ETL. I've tried to get in touch with a manager but they do not take or return calls (which I can understand too).

Uhhh...what did she just say?? Miss Teen South Carolina 2007

2007-08-28T09:16:00.002+02:00

What has this to do with South Africa and Iraq... Funny...

but even better, an amazing response....

The Original Video of Lilly: The World Map Master

How SBC (AT&T) Pillaged South Africa's Economy

2007-08-27T10:24:00.000+02:00

Interesting thread on Slashdot today. We wrote about this on CTUF back in August 2001...

Related to Telkom profiteering was our president Mbeki's statements on friday "Pushing for fatal blow to Telkom monopoly".

Traveling (with) 3G HSDPA GPRS - don't roam - get prepaid

2007-08-24T09:31:00.000+02:00

I recently learned the tough lessons of roaming, whilst in Lisbon I received 6 calls which I screened and sent to voicemail. That cost me R450 (more than my average monthly bill for 220 minutes). I also learned that if you roam on your data connection (something that I would do), it will cost 20-100 times your usual cost. Ridiculous!

The way to beat this is have someone look after your phone at home. If you want to pay the international rate of forwarding, then get that person to set up a manual forward to your prepaid number that you get when you arrive in country of destination. (seasoned travelers have multiple SIMs - what's the best SIM pouch?)

So buying a local prepaid SIM is the way to go. Useful site - http://www.prepaidgsm.net/ - has info worth perusing. They don't have info on SA which generally has a cost of R2/MB (or ~£0.15/MB). But it appears from a brief scan of the UK that the SIM to get is Threepay - offering 3G: £ 0.50 per 60 minutes (max 2MB) or £ 1.00 for 24 hours (up to 4MB). As opposed to the one not to get is Vodafone GPRS/3G: £7.50/MB - €11.03/MB

Don't buy banner ads, especially NOT from Yellow pages

2007-08-08T10:44:00.000+02:00

I've been trying to get a response from the staff at the Yellow pages about the value of their banners and listings and they do not respond. I guess that if I was them I also wouldn't. One of our SEO clients paid them R1750 per month for 6 months and they received 77 referrals. That's hundreds times more expensive than advertising using Googles' adwords, and unfortunately other banner type advertising is similarly ineffective.

The frustrating part was that Yellow pages reported to the clients that they had 1781 click throughs although our logs and Googles analytics confirmed it was only 77. They still had the chutzpah to ask the client to renew the contract...

Beware of banner ads, especially in SA!

Nokia E70 review (it's got 3G, wifi and Mac OS X)

2007-08-03T00:26:00.000+02:00

After 6 months of contemplating, 6 weeks of writing letters, many forms, phone calls and sending faxes, I finally received my new E70 last week. After a day I was as pleased as I still am now. Great phone albeit slower than my previous. On a 'Talk120' package I also received a free Nokia bluetooth headset which works surprisingly well.

My first hour wasn't a happy one, I was trying to connect to a wifi network (that required a static IP). One needs to select the tools, settings, network and then a 'hidden' option called 'advanced settings' in order to find out how to set DNS and (static) IP address options. If you know this then you need not have any frustration at all. In order to sync my contacts and calendars all I had to do was pair the phone with my Mac (Macbook Pro OS X running an updated 10.4.8) fire up isync - make the basic settings as per my previous phone - and press sync. It worked first time and within 20 minutes my phone was fully loaded with all my appointments and (mobile) contacts. It also put my todo list on - which I am not sure I wanted and I don't know how to remove - and now I'm thinking to just load all my contacts.
I'll leave the letter of escalation to ICASA regards MNP related stoppages, and the headset for another post and stick to the phone here.

more earmarks

2007-07-23T00:46:00.000+02:00

From Mays edition:
- I love the fact that Mark S won a rave award (well deserved and well written/photographed, check out the video)
- Worth checking out these delicacies, Marcels molecular gastronomy. I wonder if Marcels been reading about the kosher trend, check this out (America goes Kosher)! Marcel, get back to me please...
- Social network fatigue (from Jargon watch, how true... no need to define - mostly)
- Bartenbach LichtLabor artificial sky
- Instead of 15 minutes of sex, play 7 minutes of Wii tennnis to burn the same calories (lol)
- Parsons project still going strong
- Archos 704 wi-fi personal multimedia player - very nice, on my wish list

Baby sleeping with eyes open

2007-07-16T09:44:00.000+02:00

During the last week Ethan's had his first real sickness (at 7 months). We're not exactly sure what it is but we've learned something we hadn't yet experienced. It was quite scary when he first fell asleep with his eyes wide open so we quickly googled it. Turns out that it's completely normal for an infant to do this. Our concerns were put to rest :)

South Africa = Wisconsin

2007-06-25T05:27:00.000+02:00

If you haven't yet had a look at this strange maps blog, it's worth a quick look. This one renames all the US States with countries of similar GDP (to the State). So South Africa has the same GDP as Wisconsin. :P

Israel the victim, or the root of all Evil?

2007-06-25T00:19:00.000+02:00

I left South Africa to avoid going to the army (I was not going to fight for politics I was not in support of) and went to Israel because as a Jew, this was very easy. As soon as the politics changed in SA I came home (for many reasons not discussed here). I've become silent about Israeli politics mainly because it has too many vested interests to view truly objectively. The article in last weeks Sunday Times (17 June 2007 - page 29) written by our country's Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, raised an interesting perspective. This post is meant to stimulate discussion and answers to some critical questions. What's your view?

Look again: Israel is the victim, not the root of all evil

Blaming the Middle Eastern conflict on the Jewish state is an error that could see many people unwittingly complicit in one of history`s worst injustices, writes Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein. Sometimes we make the most fundamental errors. When large numbers of people make mistakes - even monumental ones - it is almost impossible to challenge the resultant prevailing view.

It was once the conventional wisdom that the Earth is flat. In ancient times, if anyone dared to claim that the earth was round, they would have been denigrated as being detached from reality. When, in the 16th century, Nicolaus Copernicus dared suggest that the sun was the centre of the solar system and not the Earth, he was regarded as a heretic.

In today`s world, any attempt to explain the Arab- Israeli conflict in terms other than "Israel`s illegal occupation of Palestinian land" and the "denial of Palestinian nationalist aspiration" is often regarded like a declaration that the earth is flat and the centre of the universe. But what if this view is wrong? What if, in terms of understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict, we are living in pre-Copemican times? What if the Jewish state that is considered to be the root of all evil in the Middle East were instead the victim? What if the apartheid of the Middle East is really one directed against the Jews? And what if Israel is the ANC of the Middle East?

In South Africa, our conflict was caused by a white racist apartheid regime. The ANC was always ready to talk peace, but the regime refused to talk and so the conflict could not be resolved, and the ANC was forced into an armed struggle.

Like the ANC, the Israeli government has always been ready to talk peace but has been forced since the birth of the Jewish state into an armed defensive struggle because the anti-Semitic Arab world has not been prepared to talk peace. The ANC had to wage an armed struggle for many years until white South Africans were ready to talk, and then the long-standing conflict was resolved relatively quickly.

Unlike the ANC, Israel has not found genuine negotiating partners, and so its struggle continues, and peace remains a distant dream. What if Zionism is not colonialism but rather an ancient people`s deep connection to their native, historical and covenantal land? What if the real colonialism is Arab expansionism, which contests a Jewish state on even l/520th of the area of Arab lands?

Nearly 4 000 years, ago the forefathers of the Jewish People, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, lived in the land of Israel, which God had promised to them and to their descendants forever. That promise was confirmed at Mount Sinai, and was delivered upon by G-d through Joshua, after the death of Moses, more than 3 300 years ago, when the Jewish People entered the land after being liberated from Egyptian slavery and oppression.

About 3 000 years ago. King David established Jerusalem as the capital city of the Promised Land. The Jewish people lived in the land of Israel for 850 years until their expulsion by invading Babylonians. They returned in large numbers 70 years afterwards and remained for many centuries until their eviction by the Roman Empire. Despite unremitting anti- Semitism and persecution, some communities managed to remain in Israel during the long interval between the Roman dispersion and the re-establishment of the Jewish state in 1948.

What if the dispute has never been about Palestinian statehood but really about the destruction of the Jews and the only Jewish state on Earth? In 1917, the Balfour Declaration, confirmed later by international law through the League of Nations, declared the British Mandate of Palestine to be a national homeland for the Jewish people. recognising 4 000 years of Jewish connection to the land, and the injustice of the destruction of ancient Israel by the Romans and the forced removal of the Jewish people. In 1922 the British took 76% of the land designated for a Jewish state and allocated it instead to the Arabs, creating east of the Jordan River a new country called Transjordan, later to be known as Jordan, which to this day has a Palestinian majority. In 1947, the United Nations voted to establish two states - one Arab and one Jewish - west of the Jordan river on the remaining 24% of the original portion of land allocated for a Jewish state by the international community. In spite of this reduction to their original portion, the Jews accepted the offer, which was then rejected by the Arabs. This was the beginning of a long history of Arab rejectionism.

And so, in 1948, the newly reborn state of Israel was invaded by Arab armies from Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and the Arab Legion, all of which made it quite clear that they intended to destroy the tiny Jewish state at its rebirth and to massacre its citizens, many of whom were Holocaust survivors. Israel survived the war, and from 1948 to 1967, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were in Arab hands and there was no "occupation" of these territories.

If the cause for the Arab-Israeli conflict is the "occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza, then why did the conflict rage throughout these years unabated, with continued Arab refusal to recognise Israel and to make peace with its Jewish neighbour? Why was it that in mid-1967, just before the Six Day War, and before the West Bank and Gaza fell into Jewish hands, Arab leaders called for the destruction of Israel? What "occupation" was at issue? Why did Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad order his soldiers to attack Jewish civilian targets to "pave the Arab roads with the skulls of Jews"?

For the 19 years that Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt the Gaza Strip, the Arab world had the opportunity of establishing another Palestinian state in those territories, and chose not to. Why not? If the conflict is about Palestinian statehood, then why was there no talk whatever of a Palestinian state for all those 19 years?

After the Six Day War, Israel immediately tried to enter into negotiations with the Arab world about the political future of the West Bank and Gaza. The response came from the Khartoum Conference of all the Arab States on September 11967, in the form of the infamous three nos: "No peace, no negotiation, no recognition." And so, when in 2000 at Camp David, Yassar Arafat rejected without making a counter-offer at all, Israel`s proposed 95% of the West Bank and Gaza as well as land compensation for the remaining 5%, his rejection was wholly consistent with Arab rejectionism of any Jewish presence at all.

If the Arab-Israeli conflict is about a Palestinian state, then there has always been an obvious solution of two states living in peace side by side. The conflict is more fundamental and therefore, all the more intractable, and is really about Arab rejection of the very presence and existence of a Jewish state, and probably any Jews at all, in the heart of the Middle East.

And so the very charter of Hamas calls for the murder of all Jews, worldwide. And rockets from Gaza continue to target Israeli civilians even after Israel`s evacuation. And threats of genocide and a second Holocaust, together with denial of the first, emanate from Iran. And the Arab world is awash with the most rabid and pernicious anti-Semitism. What if the war directed against Israel is really the global war of fundamentalist tyranny against freedom and democracy? Then indeed, all of those who believe, with the best of intentions, that they are defending a vulnerable victim, are actually being compltcit in one of the worst injustices in the history of human civilisation. They will have sided with the forces of death and destruction, of fear and prejudice.

What if the world is siding against the only beacon of freedom and democracy in the Middle East, thereby endangering us all, because the fate of Jews is often a sign portending the future? Hitler came after the Jews first, and then he attacked the world. Suicide bombings began in Jerusalem and then migrated to New York, Bali, Madrid, London and Nairobi.

We need clarity to understand these tumultuous times. We also need an ultimate vision of peace and reconciliation between Arab and Jew. The conflict in the Middle East is between brothers, and that is the real tragedy. We are all the children of Abraham; Jews are the children of his son Isaac, and Arabs the children of his son Ishmael. The Talmud tells us that, although the sons of Abraham fought for many years, when Abraham was buried in Hebron, Isaac and Ishmael were reconciled at his grave. Let us all pray to God that we will merit to see the day when brother will once again be reconciled with brother in the Middle East.

Wired bookmarks

2007-05-21T00:11:00.000+02:00

Just got through my April edition and dog eared these:
- How to Ditch DRM (and the catch that they identified) : Wolverine ESP (media player - bulky and zero sex appeal), MythTV (PVR - 'is pricey because it requires a PC' a topic in my next blog post), Ubuntu (linux - 'requires some new learning'), eMusic (major labels steer clear of this service), Gamepark holdings (Linux game and media centre resulting in amateur games)
- The best google mashups - News Map, PediaX (cool!), safe2pee, gmap-pedometer.com (and other US centric sites)
- Organs for sale : you gotta love this, South Africa is the cheapest AND offers the biggest selection (heart, lung, liver, pancreas and kidney)
- blue stages of death - the dreaded winbdows screens - Vista = depression
- Sport beans - from the same manufacturer as power bars, look good
- Music review - El-P, 9/10

Finally, an African Regional At Large Organisation (AfRALO)

2007-03-30T02:16:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I returned from Lisbon for the final acceptance of the African Regional At Large Organisation by ICANN. I just missed the official signing of the MOU by the ICANN President and each of the At Large Structures. This is the culmination of almost five years of work to get direct representation of all the Internet users in Africa.

The term "At Large" refers to all Internet users that are not represented by other constituencies of ICANN. ICANN is the global organisation which determines policy (the rules) by which the Internet names (e.g. domains such as .com, .org, and .za) and numbers (the 'IP address' that every computer gets in order to connect to the Internet). So is this relevant? I'm not sure how much, but for me, yes, I want my voice heard when it comes to making decisions like who will get to own a new domain like .africa (eg. if I buy alan.africa who will benefit?) and how about a decision like who gets to benefit from the introduction of millions of new IP numbers? What if it's slow for Africa to adopt these numbers because of some bureaucratic oversight?

The latest episode of this five year project started at the ICANN meeting in Marrakech only seven months ago. After the meeting of ISOC chapters South Africa, Morocco and Sudan agreed to establish the chapter, to invite all other ALSs and establish an MOU with ICANN. At this meeting I volunteered to champion the process and I was asked to act as the interim secretary. Within a tight timeframe we managed to get the buy-in of all the accredited ALSs and the inclusive RALO was born.

We had some hitches as ICANN organised the resources to manage the At Large consituency and finally in October last year Nick Ashton-Hart joined ICANN and got things on the go. We had some back and forth and by February we had a draft MOU between the AfRALO and ICANN agreed. ICANN also kindly agreed to pay for a representative from each ALS to come to Lisbon to meet.

On Sunday we discussed and agreed on the nomination and election processes as well as roles and responsibilities (read more here). The salient points which we agreed as At Large structures to pursue communications with our members on were:

Users must be empowered in creating awareness of their ability to contribute to ICANN policies, and encouraged to participate through the ALAC and specific ALS
Users must be made aware of domain names and their ability to contribute towards 'fixing' any problems with their cctld
Internationalised Domain Names (special language characters in domain names)
What is a dispute resolution policy
What is Whois policy
The Western Sahara country code top level domain name

On Tuesday we elected Mohammed El Bashir (ISOC-Sudan) and Hawa Diakite (ISOC Mali) as the ALAC committee members representing Africa, and Didier Kasole as the secretary for the next year. I was so pleased to see such a great acceptance and buy in from all the ALSs and community. Success!

For more on the legacy (years of) work we did on this as the NAIS project (The NGO and Academic ICANN Study) please see the website : http://www.naisproject.org/

Vista wondering

2007-03-26T00:03:00.000+02:00

So there are heaps of MS Vista reviews and I'm wondering. The one that stood out for me is this somewhat academic "Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection". I'm also aware of some exceptional work that's been done on the IP stack which basically means that the Internet should work far better with Vista. This also enables the next generation of Internet addressing (IPv6) which is not native to other versions of Windows. At home we use Windows for playing games. Will we need to upgrade? And will we want to? Will we still be able to use DIVx and more importantly GB-PVR, I am wondering...

What about MS Office? We are happily using Open Office in a few situations, although for my work I have to use MS Office. This article featured in WIRED stood out: "MS Fights to Own Your Office Docs"

I'd love to hear your comments.

Open Source Software and Information Society for South Africa

2007-02-22T05:55:00.000+02:00

Great news today - especially for me - as three years of work culminates in new National Government Policy. As reported on IOL, Parliament has accepted the Policy on Free and Open Source Software Use for South African Government. An exciting day for the future of South Africa. Phew... some relief!

It has five basic statements, each of which are important and have impact on information society:

1) The South African Government will implement FOSS unless proprietary software is demonstrated to be significantly superior. Whenever the advantages of FOSS and proprietary software are comparable FOSS will be implemented when choosing a software solution for a new project. Whenever FOSS is not implemented, then reasons must be provided in order to justify the implementation of proprietary software.

2) The South African Government will migrate current proprietary software to FOSS whenever comparable software exists.

3) All new software developed for or by the South African Government will be based on open standards, adherent to FOSS principles, and licensed using a FOSS license where possible.

4) The South African Government will ensure all Government content and content developed using Government resources is made Open Content, unless analysis on specific content shows that proprietary licensing or confidentiality is substantially beneficial.

5) The South African Government will encourage the use of Open Content and Open Standards within South Africa.

Some of the things that we worked on leading up to today:

2003/4 - We won the bid to develop the Policy recommendations for the Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development on Open Source Software and the Information Society (2.8MB pdf packed with lots of research, insights into the economics and business models of Open Source, took a team some time). This forms the basis of the process in developing the new policy and provided a good basis for the next step.

2005 - Go Opensource Conference was held over two days in August at the Sandton Convention Centre. The campaign did a great job of contacting every government organisation in the country as well as representatives from academia, civil society and business. It's the first time I've been to a conference that's developed a declaration. Most of the content approved in Parliament over the past days, originates from the conference deliberations. Download the conference report here (pdf 464kB).

2006 - Working Groups on Free and Open Source Software were established as an outcome of the conference and for many months we tried to establish any committed projects. This step was largely unsuccesful. The project was abandoned in favour of supporting the next two steps (or different projects). See the http://wiki.go-opensource.org/wg/ for more info about the working groups and conference papers.

2006 - SANGONET (South African NGO Network) co-ordinated the Civil Society Petition to Government on Free and Open Source Software and Open Content, which hopefully assisted the process. Forty-eight South African NGOs endorsed the petition addressed to the Minister of Public Services and Administration.

2006 - Fortunately I had the opportunity to assist the Government IT Officers Working Group with the evolution of the final Cabinet submissions. (Linked to here soon)

It's really just a start. The strategy is a three year probably 5-10 year process and only then will part of it be completed. Government has made polcies before without sticking to them. This policy is a reflection of hope, of good intention and I'm excited to work with and continue supporting those few with a real commitment to these principles of openness. Well done!

Q20 in the eye

2007-01-23T05:11:00.000+02:00

Q20 in the eye? ...no problem!

Last night I was putting Ethan to sleep on my computer chair which somehow became squeaky. With him in my arms I went to the home tools cupboard and grabbed the Q20. Leaning over (still with him in my arms) to look under the chair to see where to spray, I caught myself sending a direct squirt into my eye. It may not have been more than a seconds worth, but it came at quite a force.

Good news: It causes only a small amount of discomfort. I kept the eye closed (handed the baby to Terri) and rinsed well with lots of water. I admit that I also used a bit of soap as it's quite oily (with my eye still closed) before I dunked my eye into the water. It was no longer than two minutes later and it was fine.

Apple Macbook Pro Battery replacement

2007-01-15T09:04:00.000+02:00

Google Battery replacement and Apple comes up on top. Position one for ipods and position two for other batteries. I've recently been without a battery for more than three weeks (in offfical language, 'shipping depends on availability'). I called in straight away but they are being brought from Europe. It's not that there aren't thousands of Macbooks sold every month in SA, just that Apple has a different view on batteries, and there are thousands sold here every month.

So what's their view?

Some observations:
- There's been a link from the Apple home page - centered on the bottom - for "iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 Battery Recall" ever since I can remember. This is before I bought my Powerbook G4.

- It says nothing on the main (laptop) batteries page (http://www.apple.com/batteries/replacements.html) nor on the page it links to for the MacBook Pro batteries about any battery exchange.

- Apple don't have the battery serial numbers matched to the machines they're shipped with, until you bring them back.

- I learned that there was a battery exchange program for 15" MacBook Pro's after my battery had died, and I called my local service centre. If you know that you can tell from the last few characters in the serial number (i.e. that ends with U7SA, U7SB or U7SC) then you'll know that in the support pages http://www.apple.com/br/support/macbookpro/batteryexchange/faq/, Apple mention the FAQ:

I've never had any problems with my battery. Should I have it replaced?
Please (i.e. you should) check your battery to see if it qualifies for the battery exchange program. If it does, Apple will send you a replacement battery and recycle the affected battery for you.

Oh, if only I had known I wouldn't have had to live for 3 weeks having to shut down and find the next power point (that's Volts and Amps, not .ppt's :). The machine is less than a year old.

- The service centre is doing ther best by following up with Apple but in the meantime I turned the machine on friday afternoon and used the track pad instead of my usual docking mouse and keyboard. The mouse was clicked and there was little I could do. What do you do when the left mouse is clicked? It's on. Can't click on anything because t's clicked already. The USB mouse doesn't work either. Try with just the keyboard... and stop.

- This morning after calling - and not thinking about it during the weekend - the service guys said they still don't have the battery it's being escalated but) they'll look at the mouse problem straight way. Bring it in... oh, the mouse problem is really the battery problem, you shouldn't keep the dead battery in the computer because it expands after it dies. And then it effects other things in the computer. So it's worse to have in that have it out when other things can get in.

- Apple don't have an FAQ about the dead battery having any negative effect, the service centre doesn't warn me, although there is an FAQ:

I have one of the affected batteries. Should I stop using it?
No, you may continue to use the battery until a replacement battery arrives. The affected batteries do not pose a safety risk.

I suppose that if it had done more damage they will have covered it, I wouldn't trade my MacBook Pro for another machine, but I wonder... Why is there the same old link to the Powerbook G4 batteries on the Apple front page? My best guess answer... okay it's a little more than a guess, the Feds passed these as not posing a safety risk, the older G4 warning was due to a safety risk "may cause overheating" and so they have to have it there.

- I spotted a photo (and links) on flickr, and although mine bulged in and not out like this one, I feel a little hoodwinked and hope the next one's better.

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox: Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design

2007-01-03T05:13:00.000+02:00

Usability is a definite interest of mine, and something I'm passionate about including in any web project. Jakob says this year "many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be" and published his 10 top mistakes...

Keeping in mind that Jakob is an academic on usability and in reality usability experts can never be as good as the user (and hence real user testing is an important phase), he makes some interesting and important points. Search - does anyone not use Google? (Even Sekamo (a local version made through google co-op) counts as Google), PDF - is an interessting one... "Users hate coming across a PDF file while browsing, because it breaks their flow". Good point, although publishers (and product pushers) want to 'leave behind' something for you to refer to. Hmm, worth keeping in mind. The rest, take a look on your own, I can't see anything glaring but definitely worth the scan.

Added 10 Jan: Keeping in mind that there are no hard rules, there are some exceptions to these 'mistakes', it's worth also seeing Vincent Flanders Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015

Citi Sprint Courier review

2007-01-02T04:30:00.000+02:00

I just had to write something after so many years of using these guys (and gals). It's not that we send many parcels it's just that occasionally there's one that requires essential timing and its just my understanding that the purpose of a courier is to get things there quick. Anyhow, in November we had a tender to get to Pretoria (which happens less than half a dozen times a year) and we had confirmed with Citi Sprint a week before sending it, that they would have sufficient time to get it into the tender box by 11am (it only really needs to get there by noon). As usual they confirmed and collected the tender docs the day before at 3pm. Unfortunately we received a call from them the following morning at 10:30am saying that they would not get it there in time. Their lame excuse was that the planes were full and would not take their bag. Our tenders usually requires over 60 person hours (this was no exception), so they're now fired! I can no longer recommend Citi Sprint (http://www.citisprint.co.za).

That said, who can I recommend, I'm not sure... The Post Office "Speed Services" has always been excellent for me and I'm not a fan of Post Net (mainly because they have forced me - as a recipient - to collect from some obscure location, and it was at a price premium). I'm sure that one of the other global players may work, but I'm not interested in dealing with underqualified call centre operators so we've chosen another small company, Internet Express. The sales person on duty, Janine Naude, gave me a full run down of how the industry works. Looks like that there was little that Citi Sprint could do at the time, other than be in better communication. Nevertheless, I'm confident that we're onto someone that will be watching carefully for our interests. All we really need is to get Government departments to adhere to the ECT Act and allow us to send tender responses by email (and thus not discriminating against us geographically disadvantaged small businesses).

Our new son Ethan

2006-12-27T10:16:00.000+02:00

Quick introduction to Ethan Levin, born November 30, 6pm.

He was a number of days overdue and there were signs that he wasn't coming on his own so the birth plan changed from natural to a scheduled Ceasar. Having experienced them all now (natural, emergency ceasar and scheduled ceasar) it's good to be able to participate in any discussions on the matter (please post your comments). I'm sure that I'll be posting more here and otherwise we've started publishing to the web using Picasa We're all thrilled to have him around, and we're all well and eager to see 2007, Baruch Hashem. Best wishes and love to you all.

My brother BradLeo's latest album

2006-12-07T09:36:00.000+02:00

My brother-in-law BradLeo recently released a new album reviewed here: www.browardpalmbeach.co...

Bidorbuy review - VAIO value?

2006-11-16T18:36:00.000+02:00

Bidorbuy (the SA version of eBay) has really worked for me. I managed to sell my Palm Vx when it was 2 years old, and my previous Powerbook when it was more than three years old, both for good prices. I've bought a few things too and it works.

Today I listed an old portable Sony VAIO I bought in 2001. At the time it was super and really lightweight, ideal for travelling to ICANN meetings around the world. Anyhow, it's a little old now, although it still works fine and it must have some value for someone. You can check it out and tell me how much you think I'll get? (hint, 7 people guessed what I would get for the Powerbook and all were less than 50% of the final selling price)

Broadband usage in South Africa - 2006 - not yet a turning point

2006-11-12T08:20:00.000+02:00

Oct 3, 2006 Myadsl wrote about South African broadband users number over 300 000. This follows Balancing Act’s report on North Africa Internet Country Market Profiles published early 2006 already noted “Morocco has over 300,000 DSL broadband subscribers (reaching 325,000 lines at the end of June), making it the largest broadband market on the continent . Not surprisingly, Morocco currently has the cheapest DSL connection on the continent, starting at US$17 per month for a 128/64k uncapped broadband connection.” And Balancing Acts followup on Maroc Telecom shows how their revenues are forging ahead with almost 12% growth.

The ITU puts South Africa at 7th place in Africa for Internet density, after Seychelles, Mauritius, La Reunion, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe. The latter being most interesting because of it's poor economy. Are all the islands here because tourism locations put pressure on the industry, or is it because these have the lowest base (populations), or is it that in the case of Sao Tome and Principe, that the .st domain name has been leveraged to bring great opportunities to those that cannot ordinarily access in the Internet in Africa?

The South African Broadband study we did last year (posted in June) predicts potential for more than 600,000 to 1m broadband users by 2010, but more importantly expresses the benefits to the economy of lower prices. Seems like the the price for broadband is decreasing at a rate greater than expected, but can it be sustained? Digital Pilgram writes about "A 60% drop in price". A 512kbps ADSL service was setting you back from R800 to around R320 today. "Use a dial-up for 30 minutes a day (at less than 56kbps) and you've justified a move to a 512kbps ADSL service."

Seems to be some innovation from the ISP industry plus the demand on Telkom to grow and roll out more adsl, which has brought dome some of the costs. The next issue we need to resolve - as the Pilgrim agrees - is the costs of expensive international bandwidth and access to SAT3. Pilgrim worries if we're bandwidth junkies or I ask, is this all what information society is about? Can Neotel help?

Myadsl writes just 3 weeks after the post about 300,000, how Broadband prices need to be drastically reduced to make it more attractive to a wide portion of the local population". They argue that our local broadband penetration rate of just over 0.7% is completely insufficient to be economically competitive. "The OECD Broadband Penetration rate is currently 15.5%, over 2200% higher than South Africa’s figure". We're not just far behind the rest of the world, we're falling further behind at a rapid rate. This will take more than Neotel, good adsl regulations, good wireless spectrum licensing, good SAT3/international. There are indications of this as Duncan McLeod, indicates in the Financial Mail, 3 November he lists 'the cracks opening up' as: Neotel, iBurst, Vodacom and MTN, Municipalities and ISPs.

Greedy, gutsy, goozy, gormandiser

2006-11-08T11:26:00.000+02:00

Something my dad used to say popped up at the coffee machine this morning. Know what it means? My dad said he didn't remember who taught him (Ronnie Socks probably) but his understanding was quite impressive. Greedy (well understood), gutsy (he said was fat) and goozy He said "Who knows what goozy means. It just fits well into the overall sentence", cool made up word. He said that it could mean he who eats like a pig, or he who slobbers and drools while fressing himself (lol!). Gormandiser he said means "he does not know when to stop even if he is full. He carries on until all the food has been devoured by him." Pretty close (and a better definition I would say) to what googlesearch results at Wordweb.

Internet Governance Forum - Athens

2006-11-03T11:54:00.000+02:00

The worlds leaders in Internet Governance met in Greece this last week for the first Internet Governance Forum. Anyone interested was invited to participate online. I tried, but without success so I sent the organisers an email with some concern...

snip....
I checked into the website hoping to participate or observe the proceedings in Athens today and tomorrow.

I find it extremely ironic that you indicated FOUR channels in which I would have been able to actively participate (i.e webcast, chat, forums and wiki) but NONE of them function for me. I do not know the reason or reasons although I sense that they are multiple.

The irony is that openness and accessibility and diversity requires reliable, interoperable, scalable and standards compliant systems. These are clearly not in place and until they are you cannot fairly address the principles of openness or accessibility or diversity or security.

You are, and have the leaders of the Internet Community in Athens, and access to the best intelligence, knowledge, systems and the worlds resources. I am certain that you can resolve what many small organisations in Africa (such as ours) can do with little and scarce resources.

Please forgive me for my cynicism.
../snip

SA cracker or crook?

2006-10-30T23:06:00.000+02:00

Picked this one up that shows the dark side of the Internet. This guy has two previous convictions, one of diamond smuggling and another of fraud, so clearly not much of a geek. Just shows! Are Hackers geeks? Know what a cracker is? As written by Lee Rondganger as published on iol, 26 October 2006 at 07h39 Police pounce on alleged cyber crook (Thanks Lee, for not using the wrong word).

Maths and Science Education in South Africa

2006-10-24T10:53:00.000+02:00

After unsuccesfully seeking funds (in 2004/5) - for the Activ Science UCT programme that supported black scholars doing Maths and Science - I have only a tiny taste of the difficulties facing poor students. We barely manage to send our children to a priviledged community school - where the students seem to all do very well - and so few of our peers have any idea of what poor scholars face. It's bleek, and it paints a limited picture of our future. Less than 50 non-white students in every 1000, get a C (60% or more) for Maths HG at school.

Solani Ngobeni , 22 October 2006 wrote a critical piece in (the Sunday Times) about Where are all the black postgraduate students? She also takes some power shots "Why are black students not enrolling for doctoral degrees en masse? Is it because we are lazy? Is it because of our crass materialism that we cannot wait to earn fat salaries in the private sector, to buy fast and expensive German sedans and expensive mansions in previously whites-only suburbs?"

That's pretty shocking but there could be another reason. Possibly there are just too few black science students to allow for this to occur naturally. It's a theme that's IMHO too often overlooked by business and civil society which it effects the most. It's hopefully being discussed in education circles and I noticed that it was recently recognised by the Minister Naledi Pandor as a critical priority. She says (on iol): "The impression that science is only for the rich, the clever or the select few should be dismantled", and also recognised that "strategies to encourage the many pupils who enrolled at SG to consider HG studies, and provide them with the necessary support to achieve success, had to be devised".

I've asked about the effectiveness of the HIP2B² campaign, but I haven't yet seen a reply. It's been more than a few months, although I sense it's going to take a bit more than a PR campaign. The web site is pretty cool. A big flash mural linked to a (still sparsely populated) community portal, puzzle "codebreaker community", well done animation tools, periodic table type info and other stuff.

SARS, thorough and complete

2006-10-23T23:46:00.000+02:00

This time we're lucky. We had paid (Inland revenue - South African Revenue Services) but they sent us a note anyway. Well a three page report for, R0.01 (a full bill for 1c?). We'd paid the amount as usual, but they had overlooked it (as the UIF contribution). We've written for their forgiveness, and pray for their forgiveness. I honestly thought that 5c (R0.05) was made the minimum tender. What was the story?

Skype 1.5.0.80 vs 1.5.0.77 OS X review

2006-10-13T11:26:00.000+02:00

I was happily running 1.5.0.77 BETA and last week (Oct 4) when I started it up it gave me a pop-up window that a newer version was out and I should download 1.5.0.80. All sounded good, I mean one would rather use a final release than a beta so I went ahead and installed.

Turns out that 1.5.0.77 (Skype os x with video beta) includes video and 1.5.0.80 does not. Actually the beta version works really well and includes all the functionality and interface enhancements of the 1.5.0.80 final release. Finally I can video conference with my windows buddies and vice versa, thanks Skype, finally my built in iSight becomes very useful in that it extends beyond just iChat and other Apple users. I must admit that iChat is a slightly better quality but the Skype video beta works really well. I've had about two crashes over a period of five weeks of usage. More often I get a 'playback error' but that's an ongoing problem that continues from previous releases and all it requires is a restart of Skype.

So if you're on OS X and using skype I recommend:
- use the video beta (currently 1.5.0.77 and link is above) and don't take too seriously the comment on their website which says "only recommended for experienced users and should not be used on a production system that you depend on".. it's really very stable.
- if you are already and get the popup to download the newer version, just select and click "Skip Version" and do not "Download now"

3 pins to start the new year

2006-10-06T00:38:00.000+02:00

My new economic focus on creating more jobs and sustainable shareholder value, got off to a good start this past week. Three posts published feature various projects we've been working on, in different collaborations:

We've been working with Edward and Nicholas from Nitric for some time on Billy Engine which got a mention in the Tectonic. There's so much to write about Billy it deserves it's own post. The article doesn't do it justice, but actually did it justice because we had some interesting queries and many new signups.

The Sangonet NGO petition in support of the government policy on Free and Open Source Software, turned out well supported as featured in a follow up report by Badumile Duma. Most of the significant NGOs came out in support of the petition and it will hold its weight in Cabinet. I wish the Minister great Wesuccess with that, I'm positively hopeful.

And our Vanilla ISP appeared on myadsl this morning with our shiny new superfast unshaped R59 package (500MB + R0.16/MB thereafter). Also attracting a fair amount of attention.

We're still a little rough on the edges, but very luxurious on the inside. All in all a great start, thank G_d.

New US Government (NTIA) ICANN agreement

2006-10-01T11:28:00.000+02:00

When it comes to the Internet, the US government is much like most other governments, our own included. My point is that they all have resource and expertise constraints - or limitations - which ultimately effects the decisions that they make. Why am I thinking this? read on....

Yesterday the National Telecommunications and Information Administration component of the US department of Commerce (DOC), published the new agreement between the US government and ICANN. Keep in mind that it was less than a year ago that they announced - prior to the World Summit on Information Society II - that they will continue to control the DNS and this was effectively not up for negotiation at WSIS.

That lead to their current renewal of the contract with ICANN, something expected after it was really legitimised by WSIS. The latest NTIA announcement follows a general trend towards accountability frameworks which makes some sense, if not for any other reason than it's a logical extension of Internet society and the IETF process of standards development. So all in all it's not a surprise, it's good news for Internet society.

You can see from Veni's blog entry that it's after a great deal of hard work from ICANN, and in addition to the CEO and staff I must especially mention the ICANN board, made up of more than a dozen global volunteers. Congratulations to them all, and I draw your attention to the ICANN announcement where Paul Twomey is quoted:

The major gains in this new agreement are:
- ICANN will no longer have its work prescribed for it. How it works and what it works on is up to ICANN and its community to devise;
- ICANN is not required to report every 6 months as it has been under the MOU. It will now provide an annual report that will be targeted to the whole Internet community;
- There is no requirement to report regularly to the DOC. The DOC will simply meet with senior ICANN staff from time to time.

A minor semantic point niggles me, ICANN's responsibility for technical co-ordination expands beyond the DNS, so why did they phrase it as such:

Preamble
The U.S. Department of Commerce (Department) has an agreement (the Joint Project Agreement) with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the purpose of the joint development of the mechanisms, methods, and procedures necessary to effect the transition of Internet domain name and addressing system (DNS) to the private sector.

The addressing system is not the DNS, so my suggestion to the NTIA author, is to move the (DNS) to immediately follow domain name, or is the mash up some political method of including the RIR's?

I must also mention Susan Crawfords blog post "ICANN and the DOC", which to my surprise looks at this from a whois perspective. The groundswell of people who think that ownership of a domain should not neccesarily be accessible seems to be growing. I'm concerned about it as to me this is an essential part of the DNS, keeps things transparent and does not remove the opportunity for registrars to offer privacy services. IMHO, loss of the whois could be a big blow to the whole industry.

Performers Rights

2006-09-26T18:19:00.000+02:00

Not your average topic for consideration, but something that I was confronted head on a few years ago. My daughter was chosen to be the Pampers baby for a big TV commercial, which - at the time - we thought was just wonderful.

In the end she/we made a few $100's but I wonder if it was worth it. For me it was worth the learning and the experience and along the way I created a little web site a) to assist other performers (and/or their guardians) to become more aware of their rights and b) to inform the Cape Town industry of how it needs to adapt. The site may be a little old (especially to blog), but it's not out of date. I'm posting it here as the final closure... doubtful that there'll be any further updates. URL: http://performer-rights.za.org

iWeek 2006

2006-09-20T18:44:00.000+02:00

over lunch at iweek
Originally uploaded by mralan.

This year was the tenth anniversary of the ISPA (in Saouth Africa) and the fifth iWeek. I'm proud to have been involved with the ISPA since it's second year (or maybe first) and this was a great conference, I really enjoyed it and as always, learned a great deal. I was also very lucky to have spent time with Esthr, Veni and James.
I can't write like these guys so you must see their blogs, Where's Esther? (in SA at the PIAC meeting), Veni's blog on his trip, and a special one on the authentic Bulgarian restuarant in Cape Town, and James Sengs stories on the venue, Joburg and Voip In Namibia.

Sending mail - SMTP service question

2006-09-12T18:40:00.000+02:00

I've recently been surprised how many people have been asking me what their SMTP server is. I guess that it's invalueable to be able to get to speak to customers directly but that's not why I'm writing....

After some investigation I found out that Internet Solutions is the only first tier ISP (in SA at least) that doesn't provide SMTP services (for business adsl users). So if one of their connectivity customers wants to make use of our application (POP3/IMAP/webmail) services, we also need to provide them with SMTP. I have no problem with this although when we sell connectivity, we always bundle it with SMTP service. I suppose it's a little ironic because many connectivity providers bundle POP3. I'm struggling to grapple with the theory behind not providing SMTP with connectivity, mainly because of the additional bandwidth/latency needed to traverse tier one networks. Okay, it is a potential revenue (and job) creation service, but how many others do this? Can anyone explain this to me?

Where've you bin?

2006-07-22T22:28:00.000+02:00

create your own visited country map

Spam from the World Resources Institute

2006-07-19T09:26:00.000+02:00

When I got to work there were four messages from BELL BELL @ the World Resources Institute. They were all the same and were to inform me of the postponement of a conference on poverty alleviation in China. Whilst I strongly support the efforts in poverty alleviation (I spend time every day on related projects) I cannot condone this type of unsolicited mail.

The worst part was that they "apologize for any inconvenience this postponement may have caused." although no mention of the unsubscribe or unsolicited email, AND to direct further inquiries to Sheri Willoughby at swilloughby@wri.org.

An email to her to request an unsubscribe resulted in this response: "I will be out of the office until Friday, July 28 with limited access to email". If you need to speak to someone in the BELL program immediately, please call Amrita Wassan at 202-729-7846.

Best regards,
Sheri Willoughby
World Resources Institute

The South African regulator - ICASA

2006-07-17T10:55:00.000+02:00

Whilst we hope that the situation regarding our regulator will change, the current structure is most concerning.

I've been writing to them about the number portability regulations to no avail. I can't even get an acknowledgement. I sent it by fax on June 14 to both chairpersons. Unfortunately I have still not even received an acknowledgment of receipt. All I want to do is move my 082 number from one Vodacom SP to another Vodacom SP.... but it's still totally impossible and there is no indication of when it may become possible.
The opening address made by 'CLR NADIA BULBULIA' at the end of last month reflects clearly in the Interest of the telco's and not in the interest of consumers. She stated "The Authority will ensure that the rights of the consumer are protected in full during the number portability process."
Where to next?
The councellors concluding remark - possibly her final remark as an ICASA counciller - caught my attention, "Thank you for attending this briefing and may I remind you that ICASA is leading the way in making telecommunications services affordable and accessible to all"

From: Alan Levin
Date: 18 May 2006 12:27:54 PM
To: Nadia Bulbulia , Paris Mashile <***@icasa.org.za>
Subject: Number portability - consumer appeal

Dear Chairpersons,

I am writing to you as a concerned end user of a range of mobile telecommunications services, and provider of services that depend on these networks. I believe that number portability has proven itself internationally as an effective mechanism for consumer protection and increased competition and compliment you on your priority placed on these regulations. Today, I appeal to you that ICASA ensures that the delay imposed by the network operators on number portability, minimises disadvantage to the consumer.

One way to protect the consumer that I propose, is you declare that from the date on which the number portability was to be effected, consumers of mobile services are allowed to put their number 'on ice' until number portability is properly enabled. By this, I mean that consumers should be able to retain ownership of their existing mobile network phone numbers without having to continue to pay (out of contract) monthly post-payment or pre-payment or other fees. This will allow users to choose either to continue with their existing service provider and/or contract or make some other interim arrangement, without fear of 'losing' their existing number. For example, an existing MTN post-paid customer could switch to pre-paid or even use an alternative Vodacom pre-paid account (with Vodacom pre-paid number) until number portability is enabled, without losing the right to use their current MTN number. Once number portability is enabled on the networks, then the user can associate their long-held or vanity number with any account that they wish.

My motivation for this is that it is currently in the interests of the mobile telephone network operators to delay number portability for as long as possible, as this locks current users in to existing contracts and ensures that prices are not effected due to the increase in competition. Even if users cannot yet port their long- held number to the provider/contract of their choice, they should be able to assert their right to a long-held or vanity number from the number portability regulation inception date. They will thus no longer be held captive to existing provider arrangements.

Whilst this proposal is not a satisfactory outcome for any delay in number portability, it is a small compromise to the consumer. Doing this will both move the market a step towards greater competition (as the number portability regulations intend), whilst putting some necessary pressure on the network operators to make full number portability a reality as soon as possible.

Lastly I point out that comments made by CUASA appear to represent consumer interests. I note that CUASA members include only paid up organisations, most of which are private companies. I am not aware of any inclusive process involving end users. Whilst many of their comments in this regard may be in consumers interests, I remain concerned about how to discern the interests of their members from individual consumers. They make a valid point regarding the pricing of number transfer can be used to inhibit the primary purpose of number portability and I hope that you will ensure that these costs are not directly passed onto the consumer as an additional revenue stream or profit centre, but covered by the network operators as part of their regulatory compliance.

I hope that you will consider this proposal favorably. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any comments or questions.

Sincerely,

Alan Levin

Open Standards in SA - know the law

2006-07-13T11:42:00.000+02:00

I'm sure you've reached a SA government site that breaks in your firefox browser. In 2002 I participated in a workshop at SITA to discuss the regulations on interoperability and I've recently got a bee telling me that it's time for an upate... Any champions out there, please get involved.

Here's some background...Published in the Regulation Gazette No. 7491 Vol. 449 of 2002, Ammendments to the Public Service Act states:
PART III. INTEROPERABILITY
A. PRINCIPLES
Building and continuously adapting minimum interoperability standards is necessitated by the quick obsolescence of information communication technologies, expensive nature of information communications technology products and services, and a myriad of non-compatible information communications technology products in the market. If interoperability is not carefully managed these factors can result in the public service investing in obsolete, expensive and non-compatible information communications technology products and services that impede effective service delivery. Mandatory compliance by all departments with minimum interoperability standards for the public service is essential for seamless and integrated service delivery.

B. MINIMUM lNTEROPERABlLITY STANDARDS
8.1 The Minister shall, after consultation with the Government Information Technology Officer Council (herein referred to as the “GITO Council”), issue Minimum Interoperability Standards (herein referred to as’ the “MIOS”) for the public service in the form of a handbook called the Handbook on Minimum lnteroperability Standards.
8.2 The MlOS shall include provision for standards and specifications for-
(a) interconnectivity;
(b) data integration; and
(c) information access regarding browsers and viewers.

Subsequent to the amendments to the Act the MIOS was developed. I attended a SITA workshop in 2002 where it was discussed and agreed.

Most recently an e-primer was released 29 june 2006 by IOSN, introducing readers to what and why they are important and explaining setting processes provides examples of policies (excl SA), initiatives and formats. It also addresses the challenges faced in implementing open standards.

At the establishment of the MIOS it was agreed that it needs to be extended and revised on a regular basis. I suggest that it's something that will have strong support from the GITOC and I am sure that SITA will be glad to facilitate the process again. If you want, I'm happy to assist by suggesting it through the GITOC OSS WG and/or through other individuals. Note: The MIOS is also mentioned in the FOSS policy docs (i.e. from the conference).

Bill Gates in Cape Town today

2006-07-11T15:15:00.000+02:00

Just overheard CITI's executive director, Viola Manual mitigating the MS government leaders' forum. She said that she was too busy to attend (although Bill Gates himself is there as well as who knows who else). Albeit scary - for empowerment and free software advocates - that MS is holding such a forum in Cape Town, we don't only not know who's there, we also have little clue of they're getting up to. I think Viola's is a great statement for the FOSS community and the local ICT industry. Hoorah!

Paul Vechiatto - an ISOC-ZA member - reports here: MS changes purely coincidental, MS focuses on African competitiveness, Technology the solution, says Gates

updated:27 July
Paul reports: "African leaders swear allegiance to Microsoft. This is only one of the impressions coming from Microsoft's Government Leaders Forum that left the media and observers with mixed feelings about its goals and achievements." full article here

South African Broadband study, looking at innovation and economic development

2006-06-16T01:16:00.000+02:00

Last year I assisted Prof Dave Kaplan (University of Cape Town), Prof Martin Fransman (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Raven Naidoo (my partner at FPC) to draft an academic broadband study named: "The South African Telecoms Innovation System and the Diffusion of Broadband".

It was initially presented by Dave at a conference last year but only recently publicised (thanks to the GSB PR company) in the Cape Argus. As you can imagine it's all about the harm that our laws relating to Internet access have done irreparable harm to our economy and society. Hopefully now that prices are heading downwards, things will improve. Whilst I wish the process would happen faster, I thank our President for finally making sure that its' happening at all.

Sponsor Canada Day

2006-05-30T14:43:00.000+02:00

This was a really well organised sponsorship drive. I received this email today and I had to share it not only because it's so nice for them to be asking me for money for a change, but it seems funny to me to see Canada asking Africans to sponsor Canada Day.

snip --------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr Alan Levin

Further to our correspondence of last week, where we took the liberty of asking for a donation in connection with the celebration of Canada Day July 1 2006, we wish to confirm that you have received our communication.

We have been in contact with an enthusiastic, South African restaurateur who has taken an interest in Canadian culture and is also keen to play a part in the organising of Canada Day. He is not, however, in a position to grant us a venue and catering at no cost, but has given us a very generous offer. In order to cover the expense of this event we would appreciate any contribution you can offer and would appreciate hearing from you in this regard in the near future.

As we noted support will receive appropriate recognition at this event.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Consul General of Canada
Cape Town South Africa

Pondoland must be God's country

2006-01-23T08:43:00.000+02:00

This article is one that touches a soft spot. We pray that the highway developers don't mess up this very special part of our country.

On January 19 2006 at 12:24PM Greg Dardagan wrote:

It's a place which inspires people to say: "I'd like to get married here." Others dream of being there to celebrate their 50th birthday or another of life's milestones.

Many just long to spend longer there. Whatever the reason, there's a magnetism which pulls hard on the heart strings - this must be God's country.

Mbotyi in Pondoland on the Eastern Cape coastline is wild. Inspanned oxen pulling heavy loads are a common sight on the beaches. Goats and cattle drink from lagoons while bathers enjoy themselves in the nearby surf.

The bird life takes one's breath away
The countryside is rugged but it supports the local people's lifestyle, which is probably pretty similar to what it was 100 years ago.

Time hasn't really caught up with Mbotyi. Holidaymakers bring their high lifestyles with them which must be invasive yet tantalising for the rural population. Thus security is a concern and there have been lapses which have caused tourist stayaways.

However, the management of the Mbotyi River Lodge - the only hotel in the area - is involved in forums with local chiefs and headmen with the aim of getting the message out to the people that tourism is good for the area.

Lusikisiki police maintain a high profile and lodge general manager Charles Lamb is positive. "The co-operation of local folk has been heartwarming. They know their prosperity is very much dependent on the success of the hotel.

"Our occupancy for December was around 55% which is encouraging. Visitors are mainly South African but foreign tourism has increased significantly in the past year."

If you want to just contemplate your navel - there's no better place
Mbotyi is Xhosa for "place of beans". The area has a climate and fertile soils which are ideal for the growing of beans.

However, it is tea which is the main crop in the area. The Magwa Tea Estates occupy large areas of land around Mbotyi, providing employment for hundreds of people.

Mbotyi, about 26km from Lusikisiki, is a four-hour drive from either Durban or Pietermaritzburg.

The bird life takes one's breath away. More than 200 species have been recorded, ranging from jackass penguin and shy albatross to spotted eagle owl and blue billed firefinch.

Fish eagles searching for prey above the lagoons and estuaries are a common sight. Well represented are forest birds including Knysna loeries, narina trogons, trumpeter hornbills and olive sunbirds.

The most recent official count found more than 10 Cape parrots in the forest.

Nestling in wilderness area at the mouth of the Mbotyi River, the Mbotyi River Lodge is the centre of organised attraction. It has 48 double en suite rooms grouped in wooden chalets with a choice of sea, lagoon or forest views.

The diningroom, pub, lounge area and games room are set in a single complex which has an open verandah overlooking the pool area. The view on to Mbotyi Beach is special. Accomodation comes with full meals. The farmhouse-type cuisine is excellent, especially the freshly-laid eggs for breakfast and the roast lamb for dinner.

There is so much to do at Mbotyi but the scenery alone is worth spending hours admiring and absorbing. And if you want to just contemplate your navel - there's no better place. For the adventurous and mildly energetic, guided hiking trails and unguided walks are on offer. The walks lead to several waterfalls and view points where the scenery is nothing short of spectacular. The fishing is great. Be it rock, surf or fly, they can all be enjoyed along the coast and on the estuary. Many spots are within walking distance of the lodge.

Whales and dolphins are a common sight, especially during the sardine run in June and July. Horse riding trails wind their way through the foothills and then on to the beach for an exhilarating canter or a gallop. It's also an area full of potential for mountain bikers as well as 4x4 enthusiasts.

The beach in front of the lodge offers safe bathing with lifeguards in attendance.

There's the true story about legendary South African bank robber Andre Stander who hid out at the hotel while on the run from the police in the 1980s. With him was fellow bank robber, Patrick McCall, who was later killed in a shoot-out with the police.

There's also a story about Jack Barber, a one-time owner of the Mbotyi River Mouth Trading Site. Jack fell in love with a nurse, Sally Barnes, while convalescing in a military hospital in France during World War 1.

He proposed to her in the 1920s and she accepted. She came out to Mbotyi by sea from her home in Boston in the United States.

The ship's captain was told to look out for a bonfire on top of a hill a few days before Durban as that would mark the spot where Sally should disembark.

Sally finally arrived at Mbotyi by ox-wagon and spent the rest of her life there, becoming involved in caring for the local community.

The pathway leading from the lodge to the beach is aptly named Sally's Alley.

I had a lovely dream soon after returning from a four-day visit to Mbotyi.

I dreamt I was an African chief who spent the day lounging around outside my five-star chalet-type hut moving with the sun while at the same time calling to my beloved to bring me another beer whenever the desire moved me.

Farcical, I know, but that's what I want for my next birthday.

For more details, see www.mbotyi.co.za.

Family holiday in Australia

2006-01-23T00:20:00.000+02:00

Last Wednesday we returned from a well earned family holiday in Brisbane Australia. The kids got to spend time with their grandma and cousins and we got some good fun and even a bit of relaxation.

Some updates on Flickr, and a couple reviews for tripadvisor, Australia Zoo and Tropical Fruit World.

khufu's (-2600 to -2480)

2005-12-19T00:15:00.000+02:00

khufu's (-2600 to -2480)
Originally uploaded by mralan.

I made it to the great pyramids of Giza, last week. We were in Cairo for AfriNIC III. Wow, after a day out at the pyramids followed by as many hours as possible at the museum, one can easily get blown away. That is quite some civilisation. One can only wonder.

The Egg Man A Symbol of African Unity

2005-09-29T10:13:00.000+02:00

This interview with Cape Town street artist, Gregory da Silva was emailed to me by Gregory himself. Please send me an email if you wish to be in contact.

In the first heady years of the African Union, the world's eyes are increasingly turned to the continent from which humankind first appeared. Beneath the seemingly impenetrable mask of violence portrayed in popular media, lies a living and thriving cultural climate which Des Warde finds well depicted by West African street artist Gregory Da Silva.

Gregory da Silva walks Green Market Square (in Cape Town). The outfit always turns heads - and each day it boasts a new feature, a new symbol of an African culture or practice.

His headdress weighs up to twenty five kilograms, his body is armoured with artifacts and his face painted with tribal patterns and an undying smile. Each day, Gregory Da Silva presents the city centre with a new display of his symbolic art.

Gregory's voice is lively and he repeatedly offers phrases and words in French. Born in Benin, West Africa, 1979, he was trained in computer science at university, but went on to found a theatre group in Benin called 'Voice of Spirit' or 'Voix de l'Esprit', which performed politically motivated as well as comic and poetic theatre at the Benin National Library.

After receiving an invitation to perform at the MASA - Market for African Performing Arts - Festival in the Ivory Coast in 2003, where he represented his country, Benin, for a week before flying to South Africa. He sold his creations at the V&A Waterfront and began to grace the streets of Cape Town with his unique form of art. It was so unique it initially led the bemused Cape Town police to put him in the back of their car and call their superiors for advice! Naturally the superiors advised them to let him go and now Gregory enjoys a good relationship with the city authorities...

...the Sangoma people would place "good spirits" in a bottle...

My attention is soon turned to his artifact-laden tunic which Gregory says is about "all African tradition, all African culture[s]" and he goes on to explain some of the more prominent objects displayed. First, he points out the clusters of sea shells hanging around his neck, saying that in Africa these shells were "old money" and once used as currency. He explains the eggs on his head dress as being symbolic of life and says "everything must be life, everything must shine, [and] be positive". Next his hands grab the arcane black bottle near his waist to explain that in his culture, the Sangoma people would place "good spirits" in a bottle, with which they would "heal sick people [they] passed while walking on the roads". The broken shards of mirror found on his chest bear similar spiritual significance, and are often worn by Voodoo people in Africa and are said to be a kind of window into the spiritual world, and a "way to talk to [their] ancestor[s]".

"how we can put all of Africa together to make one?"

Gregory says his main inspiration or motivation is to "make people laugh" and "make people happy" and to represent different African cultures. He says he always thinks "how we can put all of Africa together to make [it] one", adding that "not one country can be forgotten".

When he is travelling in Africa, be it in Senegal, Cameroon, Mali or the Congo, the local people invariably look at him and say "ahh, that is our culture" as they see something of their own represented. "All Africa is in my clothes," he says, drawing attention again to his peerless suit.

When not walking St George's Mall or Green Market Square, Gregory features at the Grahamstown Festival, the Hermanus Whale Festival, The Biltong Castle Larger Festival, The Penguin Festival Simonstown, The Darling Festival, has been hired to receive guests at hotels and airports, and has also appeared on SABC 2 and E-TV news, DSTV National Geographic, TV5 Europe... He is very popular with tourists, especially those from Italy, England, America and Germany, who frequently ask why he does not come over and do his thing in their own country, but he says his focus is on Africa. Pictures of him certainly do get back to their countries though, as Gregory says everyday "hundreds" of pictures are taken of himself, usually posing with
the tourists.

Asked about his dreams and ambitions, Gregory (or the "Egg Man" or "Ei man" as he is also known) says that this year he is planning on starting an art school, which is part of his 'Project For Africa' for this year. He wants to impart creative knowledge to South African youth, giving them the power to create beautiful things and also to support themselves, all part of his ultimate venerable ambition to "[bring]
Africa together to make one"

There's another pic on my Flickr photo blog

sophisticated spam

2005-09-25T20:52:00.000+02:00

I think it's worth taking more of a positive stance towards spam again. There is a new influx of local spam and I expect I'll have to be at a police station if I'm really going to make a difference soon. In the meantime a spam message I've been getting over the past few months has got me a little stumped and I'm writing for some help.

The following is cannot be caught in my greylisting as it's a forward from another mail server. I subscribe to a few lists and forwarding addresses and this one is chair at isoc.org.za. So now, I hope to be able to write a spamassisin rule. This must keeping a few people busy because although I've been seeing this for many months the latest version of the spamassasin rules don't grab it. I guess thats because it's pretty smart. In the past 48 hours more than five arrived for me...

Subject is always different:
Re: Mhedications more Of fr
Re: Medigcations You c an ride it
Re: Medmications Good f or your life
Re: Mednications Chil l up your life
Re: Pharmraceutical 70% for you
Re: Mredications S pecial

And although the content looks more similar..

The source looks surprizingly different. Ok this is only the stuff seen by text only clients although the content seems to have some key words. Look below to see the html...

-----------------------snip---------------------------------

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0049_01C5C08E.FB10D300
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

ALCVPXVMUC
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http://www.embassspok=
esm.com thousands of spectators, the whole staff of the Variety, and finally =
plumbers.

-----------------------snip---------------------------------

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_004A_01C5C0C6.632EDB80
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

AVPXLCVMCU=
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tell the truth, there was no need for that. There was nothing

-----------------------snip---------------------------------

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0049_01C5C08E.FB10D300
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

ALCVPXVMUC
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plumbers.

-----------------------snip---------------------------------

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_0028_01C5C137.93629280
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

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-----------------------snip---------------------------------

And this is the html (which is the part that most see, very interestingly done, I cannot seem to find any 'rules'..):

------=_NextPart_000_004A_01C5C0C6.632EDB80
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dus-ascii">
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Talking to the Owls

2005-09-05T15:50:00.000+02:00

I had an interesting experience talking to the Owl Club last month about "Is the Internet Governable?". The talk was challenging in that I was supposed to "Make it witty!", and interesting to see how a white anglo-saxon male 'club' (that's no longer restricted but still ends up this way). I hope that the write up of my talk maybe useful.

THE MAY MEETING

Following the Grace, said by Owl Nigel Bruce, and which triggered an immediate risible reaction from all present, 61 Owls and 7 guests sat down to an excellent meal of Caramelised Sweet Potato, Pear and Blue Cheese Soup/ Chicken Thighs with Sweet Pepper and Mushroom Sauce, Fine Beans, Butternut and Rice/ Raspberry Pavlova.

Owl Duncan Greaves has provided the following precis of the next item on the evening's programme: Guest Speaker's Address: "Is the Internet Governable?"

Owl President Duncan Martin introduced Alan Levine as an "Internet Man" or, in Alan's preferred terminology, as a "specialist change agent and governance practitioner". The President cited some of his more noteworthy roles:
* Alan is chairman of the South African Chapter of the Internet Society;
* a member of the board of Afrinic (the African registry for the allocation and registration of Internet number resources);
* a member of the Board, and
* Treasurer, of the ZA Domain Name Authority (about which more later);
* a member of the board of the Bandwidth Barn
(a Cape project which helps to incubate IT businesses);
* and a roleplayer in several e-govemment and research initiatives.

He holds a BSc from UCT in Industrial Psychology and Computer Science and an MBA. He was thus eminently well qualified to address the meeting on "Is the Internet governable?"

Having duly signed the Visitors' Book, Alan began his remarks by noting that, in addition to these descriptions, he had also been called "a man for whom the Internet is normal". He was especially pleased to be able to speak to the Owls since two previous arrangements to speak had failed at the last minute because of familial obligations - and today happened to be his mother's birthday! He was especially mindful of his mother because he had grown up in the midst of a cat-loving family, and cats, he believed, were very different from owls. Among their special properties was the ability to send messages instantaneously and over long distances through the "Cat Network", which might explain why the Internet was normal for him. For humans, the dream of sending messages immediately and afar has a long history, and that dream had now become a reality in the form of the Internet, which makes it possible for all of us to publish and to share.

What, then, is the Internet? It is actually very simple, said Alan: just an international network of computers, using a wide variety of connections, which has been operating since 1 January 1983. It is however a very special network because it is open - that is to say, anybody can join it - and it is not controlled by any one single organisation. The connectedness of the Internet is made possible because every computer joined to it gets a number. All the numbers taken together form the "number space" or "address space", and the size of this space is astronomically large. These numbers are "owned" (and allocated) by regional organisations on each continent, called Internet Registries.

Numbers however are difficult to remember, and sometimes they change. It's much easier to remember names, and a "mapping" between names and numbers developed to ease the burden on our memories. These names are called "domain names". "Domains" are entities such as the ".corn" domain, as well as ".net", ".org", ".gov" and ".edu".

Some of them are open to all (such as .com) and some are not (such as .mil, which is reserved for the US military forces, and .gov, which is used only by the US government). In addition to these "generic" domains there are also 255 country code domains. The people who evolved this system of names generally used the United Nations' country codes (such as .fr for France and .za for South Africa).

For a long time the mapping between names and numbers was managed on a personalised basis. The people managing the Internet were on contract to the US Department of Defence but they were generally academics, and in its early days the Internet was generally an academic network. Management of the country code domains was assigned by an Internet pioneer called Jon Postel, and Postel was clear that country code domains were not going to be given to governments to manage, but to impartial individuals who would assume stewardship rather than ownership and who would work in the interests of the community on whose behalf they acted. The role of stewardship meant they were not accountable to anybody apart from their own constituencies, least of all to their governments.

Names and numbers are managed in one way; the applications that run the Internet are managed in another. These applications are things such as e-mail, the World Wide Web, and more recently voice services. Voice traffic on the Internet is especially interesting because it has been migrating steadily from the telephone network to a public, shared network.

It is cheaper, or it ought to be, because nobody "owns" this network. Other applications include all types of things: banking, education, government, travel, shopping, events, theatre, movies, and much else besides. A great many commonplace activities are now done differently because of the Internet. But in South Africa the Internet is expensive: not because of the cost of names and numbers, but because of the cost of wires. In South Africa only one company may own these wires and the cost of using them is many times greater than in other countries. There is however reason to be hopeful. Prices are due to decline by 28% in the near future. In addition. Government has been active in managing the legislative environment within which the Internet functions. There has been much recent "e-legislation" of note. This includes the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, which among other things nationalised the .za domain - it took it away from Mike Lawrie, to whom it had been confided in a role of stewardship, and transferred it to a government-appointed Domain Name Authority. The same legislation gives the status of legal documents to electronic messages, which is of course very important for spheres such as electronic commerce, copyright, patent law, and contract law. Likewise, the Promotion of Access to Information Act now makes it possible for ordinary citizens to get access to information held by a wide variety of corporate and government entities. Other legislation, such as that governing publication and the interception of conversations, has also been modernised to make it consistent with the Internet Age.

Governments tend to want to control everything Who then should control the Internet? Proposals have been made to the United Nations about how the Internet's names and numbers should be controlled. Our own government was active in developing these proposals. This has led to the World Summit on the Information Society, the final meeting of which will take place in Tunisia in November. At that meeting governments will decide on the fate of names and numbers, and therefore on fundamental aspects of how the Internet will be governed.

The Internet is open: anyone can connect to it; no single organisation controls it. It is generally built on "open source" software, which is free to use and to modify, because the "source code" is openly available - unlike the source code of commercial software. This allows anyone to see into the software, as if it were a car with all the parts and plans visible: anyone can change anything and, more importantly, they can share the improvements that they make with the wider community. The pre-Intemet law of patent and copyright is not well suited to handling this radically new form of intellectual property rights.

The Internet is borderless. If governments do not control it, then who does? There are in fact two main co-ordinating bodies. One is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is a corporation under California State Law but with a global mandate and an internationally representative board, which, broadly speaking, makes sure that the Internet continues to work. ICANN is the ultimate sovereign authority over both names and numbers. The other co-ordinating body is the Internet Engineering Task Force (the IETF). The IETF sets the technical standards on which the Internet runs, such as the Domain Name System, which maps names to numbers and vice versa. The IETF creates rules through a process of publishing, refining and approving documents called RFCs ("Request for Comments"). The nature of these documents varies tremendously - some are strict technical rules, others are simply guidelines. Most deal with technical issues but some deal with human behaviour. An example of the latter is "netiquette", which is the etiquette of the Net.

Like any etiquette it is self-enforced and community-enforced, rather than policed by a central authority. The concept of netiquette reminds us that, in crucial respects, it is we, the users of the Internet, who are ultimately responsible for governing significant parts of it. That control we ought to assert and, where necessary, reclaim.

Alan concluded by encouraging Owls to embrace the Information Age and expressed the hope that they would use their inherent wisdom to embrace the information age and the information economy and to acquire parity with the cats and their cat network. He closed dramatically by saying: "See you out there next full moon!"

Sony Ericsson, T610, Firmware upgrade experience, South Africa review

2005-04-20T16:17:00.000+02:00

Sony Ericsson, T610, Firmware upgrade experience, South Africa review: "This is just a transciption of my experience - some time ago - to try obtain a firmware upgrade for my sony ericsson T610 in Cape Town. Just in case you think I am not a fan, I assure you that I will never buy another NOKIA because of their manipulation of their software to uniquely require proprietary hardware. I think the T610 and successors will become as common as the old 6110 I used to love." (Ok, this was written a while back, I am posting it here as this blog didn't exist then and my article was never properly indexed, hopefully it will now be).

So, I am also looking into what phone next. The T610 is nearly two years old. Do I go for the blackberry or the sonyericsson 910i. We'll see... I hope that I don't end up back with a Nokia (although I do sometimes curse the poor usability of the T610)

How to take ownership of a folder protected on an second hard drive in Windows XP.

2005-04-17T11:14:00.000+02:00

Tricky bit is that, one must first go >> windows explorer >> tools >> folder options >> view (tab) >> scroll down and uncheck "Use simple file sharing (recommended)". Apply that and return to your main windows explorer window.

Now when you right click on the folder you can select "Sharing and security .." >> select the Security tab >> a pop up message says "You do not have permission to view or edit the current permission setting for work, but you can take ownership or change auditing settings", press OK >> now click the Advanced button >> select the Owner tab >> Under the 'Change Owner to:' box, select the new owner >> check 'Replace owner on subcontainer and objects' and click Apply. You should see a working windows that states 'changing ownership permissions'.

Well done, data recovery, you have access :)

My ancient faces family photo re-discovered

2005-01-21T01:00:00.000+02:00

This is truly an ancient photo of my great great great grandparents. or my grandfathers grandmothers father. Rabbi Berl (Bar Nett) (1825/34 - 28 January 1902) and Mina Feinstein from Panevezys, Lithuania and later Hartford, Connecticut and later New York City. They had four kids. His fathers name was Solomon and mothers name was Rebecca.

The photo was submitted by Paul Fine, whose great grand mother was one of the kids, and sister of my great great grandmother. We've never met or connected before, but he spotted my tree online, and sent me the fuller story.

Amazing story though, I have a copy of this photo that my granny saved for me, but she didn't really know who it was. Besides that it was a relative of Sarah Feinstein, my grandfathers grandmother.
AncientFaces Family Photo

AFIX-TF meeting in Cape Town

2005-01-18T22:35:00.000+02:00

AFIX-TF
Originally uploaded by mralan.

African Internet Exchange Point task force (AFIX-TF) blast off meeting. Having worked online with colleagues from vast corners of Africa for almost six months the AFIX-TF travel many calendar days get together. Content reviewed and an ambitious strategy agreed. A productive meeting indeed, keep watching http://afix.afrispa.org

orchestrate innovative web services

2005-01-16T13:21:00.000+02:00

I can't imagine what my great grandfather would think if he could travel time and sit my office today. For a laugh, check this out... dack.com > web > web economy bullshit generator

Never mind where the .ORG money goes, where's the .net money going to go?

2005-01-13T13:31:00.000+02:00

James Seng wrote: Where did the .ORG money goes? but there's something much more topical for now... James, you definitely spurred this on, thanks. I sent this to the ISOC chapter-delegates list (made up of current ISOC chapter committee members) last month:

This is a proposal for your consideration. It concerns the future of the .net tld. Please allow me to explain.

The ICANN meeting held in Cape Town last week has turned out to be extremely interesting, not only because of some success with the South African Ministers welcome, ("There has been a perception that South Africa is anti – ICANN. Nothing is further from the truth than this." http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/internet/2004/ICANN_speech.htm), but also because of the topic that turned out to be on most peoples mind. Initially I thought it would be WSIS, where the ITU challenge on ICANN appears significant. A WSIS workshop was also held (see local news article ICANN rules out ITU merger).

But what was really concerning most delegates was the .net bid and Verisign. As I am sure you know, the .org bid was won by the ISOC which established the PIR (of which I was a founding board member and treasurer) together with Afilias (as the technical provider and also the operator of the .info registry). Regarding the outputs of the PIR, my understanding is that there are significant funding demands for the IETF and it's restructuring has created certain demands. Although the benefactors are largely private companies, this is an important resource that must be maintained in the public interest.

As such, and considering that Verisign are very aggressively bidding for .net, there is an opportunity to once again partner with Afilias, as a ISOC global and chapter partnership. I am confident that the ICANN board recognize the diversity between the standards element of ISOC and the global representation in the chapters. There is already a suggestion in the rfp referring to funds contributing to three areas "(a) a special restricted fund for developing country Internet communities to enable further participation in the ICANN mission by developing country stakeholders, (b) a special restricted fund to enhance and facilitate the security and stability of the global Internet’s system of unique identifiers, and (c) general operating funds to support ICANN's mission to ensure the stable and secure operation of the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers."

Under the shadow of the WSIS umbrella, I consider this as a good opportunity to make claim to a stake in the .net gtld. ICANN website states "ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to developing policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes." I am confident that ISOC/Afilias and their DNS hosting providers represents an excellent option for ICANN that considers a balance between the community and the security required to take over the globally critical .net infrastructure. The ability for us representing the global community and Afilias (with suppliers) as having the ability to deal with the scale and security issues, makes a good case for .net. The others may be able to offer either of these two main criteria, but very difficult to offer both in a significant way.

You may want to see the RFP or visit the net-rfp-comments: Chronological Index (extended period).

I propose that you consider supporting the establishment of a new .net global registry with the involvement of a consortium of ISOC chapters represented by ISOC global. I believe that with the support of a number of chapters, the ISOC president will have the mandate to pursue this opportunity further, or alternatively I have been offered some funding for us to consider doing it independently of ISOC global if so required.

Since there is a short period left to finalise a bid (due Jan 18) I suggest that if we're going to get serious, we consider this urgently.

Kind regards,

Alan

ISOC-ZA
Chair

the response was very positive from a number of the chapter representatives until it was snuffed out very quickly by the ISOC global response:

We need to be very careful here.

The question of whether or not to submit a bid for .NET was considered by ISOC and PIR. They took a decision not to submit a bid. The reasoning, in part, went as follows.

The partnership of ORG and ISOC made sense almost immediately. It was straightforward to understand and propose a mission for PIR when ISOC partnered with Afilias to bid on ORG.

However, if ISOC or PIR were to bid on another top-level domain, that mission would be questioned. In particular, we would begin to look more like a registry service provider, e.g., Verisign, than the organizations that they we are and want to be.

Also, I believe it is fair to say that ICANN recognized the value of the partnership as an important consideration when awarding ORG. We would likely lose that credibility if we bid on any other top-level domain.

The risk here is that we would likely increase the probability of losing the ORG registry when the contract is up for renewal.

So, while your suggestion has a lot of merit, I believe it is in all our best interest not to pursue it.

My main concern is that very few people are aware of what *really* goes on in ISOC, yet it is an open and public group. All BOT meetings are open to members and 'minutes' are published on the web. Although only 2 or 3 chapters out of tens are concerned about making the chapter delegates list public, ISOC employees appear to be against it.

My best suggestion is if you're not yet an ISOC member, join up as you have nothing to lose and if you are an ISOC member - please engage - our whole Internet society (with a small s) has much to gain from having a strong well run ISOC.

Fire behind our house

2005-01-12T15:25:00.000+02:00

Photo from IOL or see ours at flickr - mralan.

We had some awesome entertainment from our back door last night with a raging fire not very far away. Fortunately it's not the first time so we know that a gail force South Easter blows the flames only so far, but then they get snuffed out by the wind direction.

Cape Town Electricity for all campaign

2005-01-11T15:49:00.000+02:00

I got involved in this campaign relating to a call for input advertised in December. The City of Cape Town asked for public input to decide the most appropriate form of electricity distribution. The website details current activities in electricity restructuring and an argument on why the Regional Electricity Distribution (REDs) option is a very bad option for the City of Cape Town.

Some concerns include:

Why has the City not provided any background material or documentation to enable the public to make an informed input into the process?

Why has it has asked for public input during the Christmas recess – a tactic often used by those seeking minimum feedback and input from the public?

Internet Society of South Africa

2005-01-11T15:45:00.000+02:00

In South Africa, at least 80% of the population has never seen or used
the Internet. Considering that at least 25% of the population use
mobile phones regularly, and I would estimate that 80% have used a
mobile phone I believe that we have much work to do and opportunities
to do real outreach.

As such ISOC-ZA spent time over the course of last year trying to work
out and pondering what to do. After a visit to Senegal we learned that
the Internet Fiesta was a proven model and something that we could
easily replicate here. Over the past few months we've narrowed down the
potential locations for a pilot where we would reach >1000 individuals
over a weekend. If this is successful we hope to chose locations where
we can exceed 5000 per weekend.

Just updated the Internet Society - South Africa website with: "Internet Fiesta proposal v3 published - sponsors saught after...".

Flickr photo website, and a family photo

2005-01-04T13:48:00.000+02:00

Shai with milk teeth
Originally uploaded by mralan.

The reason why I didn't catch onto blogging for a while is really because I've maintained a personal web site for many years. The thing is that it is really quite time consuming dealing with many photos and the copy writing and coding and uploading etc. So besides creating this blog I started using flickr and I am impressed. I like the way that the tagging and various interfaces based on date and other embedded photo information is used.
This photo of my family - Chiara and Terri in the background and my son Shai in the foreground, taken during the Winter so I guess I'm still catching up :)

What is ICANN: comment on CaveBears Blog

2004-12-30T13:38:00.000+02:00

Karl Auerbachs CaveBear Blog: Comment To Bret, Ross, and Thomas::

"And it is certainly hard, in fact impossible, to articulate any real linkage between ICANN's DNS business policies (of which the transfer policy is but a part) and ICANN's role as the protector of the technical stability of the internet's DNS.

It seems to me that the kind of power to impose a worldwide domain name transfers policy ought to be wielded by a body that contains substantially more elements of public accountability, open processes, and transparent decision-making than does the private California corporation called ICANN."

I think Karl has touched on the main points and the topic is consistent with the ongoing ICANN problem. A big concern with Karl is that ICANN has become a personal issue but I think the key point is that we do need somebody to take care of regulating domain transfers. I prefer that ICANN does it than the ITU, but he correctly says that the body does need to do something about being a California Corporation.

Hot Spots in South Africa

2004-12-30T11:30:00.000+02:00

I was just asked about any hot spots in Cape Town and having written a couple of reviews for the IOZ mailing list, I realised I should post it here... it's a little outdated but here goes:

Internet Solutions/MWEB/Airports Company SA
Following my first couple experiences of the new hot spots at the airports (Cape Town and Jhb airports), I decided to write up a short review similar to the Telkom hotspots review I wrote couple months ago.

Overall I remain puzzled at how any organisation can leave a network in such a state (besides that the advertised SMTP server doesn't work, see images of the connectivity below). I have a friend that is linking up rural municipalities and like our homes, once they're set up we find them to be reliable. I am really amazed that we haven't had wifi in Airport lounges for some time and now that we do, how they can be so poorly implemented? (I mean this as a real question if anyone has any answers)

Firstly I have considered that it is the airport and secondly although when traveling on SAA I get to use the business lounge, I also occasionally have to use another line and get to see what the economy version is getting. Keep in mind that in the business lounge they have provided (local) dial up access free of charge for many years now (this must come with some Telkom expense). I would suggest that the costs of the the dial ups (they give free local calls for Internet dial up) would make it more cost effective to stick in an adsl connection and connect up the LAN points and put in a wireless AP. Anyhow, in theory they have noth now.

The first time I tried it was in August, and there was a free option for a couple of weeks. By September it was live and charged at R50 per hour, or one could use a IS or MWEB login. In my mind this definitely means that Telkom will also have to broaden their hotspots to the Airports, unless the current SP has some kind of exclusivity? Is anyone aware of more details on this?

To cut to the chase, it appears that these are no longer operational as the old URL is dead and none of these providers say a word on their websites about this service.

Telkom T-zone
Having attended the Futurex conference in Sandton in May I had an opportunity to try out a Telkom "T-Zone" hotspot firsthand. These are some of my observations....

1. WIFI broadband! - I did get it to work on the first day with a little playing around.... my Apple powerbook easily found the 'telkom' wifi network but I couldn't get Internet access at first. When I tried a web browser it did redirect me to a T-Zone URL (http://tzone.saix.net/onlinereg/RegisterServlet) Seems like this is only visible from the hotspot. A little peeking around showed that I could access all Telkom sites although I couldn't smtp yet. The URL has a login and a link to a registration page that after one completes the form a username and password is sent by SMS. This enables a user to two hours free connectivity (I assume a one time offer per cell number). I used the details to login and then a second step allows one to 'connect'. I must admit that for the time that I was connected the bandwidth was superb, way superior to an adsl line (downloaded a 3,5Mb file from my US ftp server in http://www.telkom.co.za/tzone. There is a note: " ADSL users logging in with their ADSL accounts will accrue data towards their normal account". So I tried my adsl login on the web page mentioned above. It failed many times. So I called the 0800 number and in typical fashion held and held and held. Finally someone answered and confirmed that it should work as it uses the same authentication server. He asked for my adsl login details and called back to confirm that they are correct for adsl logins but he could not test them on the wifi login page. Turns out that it's the same helpdesk as the adsl. The guy said he would investigate further and call me back but the second callback didn't materialise (unfortunately I didn't have a pen to write down his name when I eventually got through on my mobile...). I also tried to send an email to the address listed on the site for 'suggestions', the response was thanks for your email and "Kindly contact the following number, 0800 375 375, for further assistance." Further than what?

3. PPPOE over wifi - Having decided not to give up I went to the Telkom stand at the exhibition to seek help. On the first day I arrived the 'sales' staff manning the stands said the technical people had already left (at 4:30pm). When I went the next day it was the same story but they did allow me to use their landline to call the helpdesk again. This time the 'sales' person did the holding and immediately handed me to a lady who seemed to have more knowledge. She said that she had successfully assisted a Windows XP user to establish a PPPOE connection over wifi at a t-zone using an adsl login. Unfortunately Mac OS X doesn't support that (only PPPOE on the ethernet adapter) and she had no response about that. She said that she would investigate further and kindly gave me another 'two hour' free login.

4. Unreliable - Although the connection worked great on the first day when I did manage to connect, the ability to 'connect' (as opposed to login) was unreliable. Whilst I could connect to the telkom/t-zone wifi network and login without any problem, I could not connect to the internet at all (i.e. via the second step of the web page login) on the second or third day of the conference.

Question:
I'm not an expert on PPPOE vs. PPTP but I imagine that it would be useful if they enabled PPTP authentication over Wifi (and PPPOE). Mac OS X does support this and I suspect that it has many security and practical advantages over PPPOE over WiFi, as well as an ability to allow users to create VPN's over regular ethernet adsl connections. I'm interested to hear any other experience or perspective on this idea?

Others!
Okay, well considering that these above don't seem to be great, and considering that these reviews are somewhat dated I suggest that one cannot rely on a specific hotspot, but one can rely on finding one somewhere in Cape Town or Johannesburg. There are dozens of Internet Cafes and many will have hotspot facilities.

Alan Levin - about me - 2004

2004-12-28T11:50:00.000+02:00

Alan Levin - about me - 2004: "This page is my personal manifesto and was used in respect to selections for the .za (Domain Name Authority) and the ICANN 2001 elections."

First post

2004-12-28T10:17:00.000+02:00

I'm not quite sure what I'll be using this for. I'm used to looking after a personal site and communities themselves rather than commenting about them. I suppose I'll end up using this to keep track of what I do on each of them. Here goes!

btw, did you get to see some of the ICANN photos I recently put up at http://icannbid.za.org/meeting2004