A new chapter

I have decided after a few long chats with a very clever man, about moving my blog to my own personalised blog and domain. So this will be the last post of a long & exciting chapter that was
Durbzblog.

From now on this blog will be hosted at http://MarcForrest.com.
I will be focusing on ways to make our lives easier in the internet, and how with mini life hacks we can get this done easier and faster.
Big thanks to everyone who has supported me with Durbzblog, but for now, its time to move on to MarcForrest.com

Don't forget to update your RSS feed to http://www.marcforrest.com/feed/
Catch you on the flipside !!!

QR Codes & Data Matrix Codes

I have recently been doing some research into a newish technology that is the craze in Japan.

It is called QR Code or Datamartrix and is essentially a 2D barcode which allows you to loads more of than your traditional 1D (Every day barcodes), into a barcode format, which can be scanned to allow this info to be read.
Most popular at the moment is readers have now become available for Mobile phones. This allows a person to quicly scan the QR code, and then access a site directly from their phone. You can also generate a code to email you, or even SMS you.

Johnson & Johnson have started implementing these codes globally on thier products, that can be scanned with a 2D barcode scanner, which contains vital information, about the product, like Manufactured date, lot number, expiry date etc etc. Some info on it here

A site called Semapedia, have started linking Wikipeida Articles and Data Matrix codes that allow a full page to be printed out and placed next to the object. So for example when you standing outside a museum in London and you want to know the history behind it, you can scan the Data Matrix code with your phone, and it will take you to the Wikipeida Page, and tell you the history

Generating the codes is simple, and there are quite a few sites which allow you to generate these codes and share them.

To download a reader for your phone: Check http://reader.kaywa.com (Most phones including a Java Reader) or http://www.quickmark.com.tw/En/. You can also generate QR & Data Matrix codes on these sites.

I reckon this has a potential to become a whole lot bigger in South Africa & Africa where a vast majority of the population has access to cellphones. I would love to hear some comments and Ideas how this could be used in modern day life.

27 Dinners Rock

Last night we had our first 27 Dinner in Durbz, and it was awesome. Thanks to everyone who made the effort to come out and join us, and a BIG BIG thank you to Annice from Immedia who sponsored all the food for the evening. Awesome. Annice did a great chat about the development they have done for East coast radio, and how they have intergarted blogs into the radio. Michael Chadbourne also did an awesome talk about a new open source Maths project he is launching in the next few weeks...watch this space ;)
Also a big thanks to Eran eSquared for sponsoring a gift voucher for one of their amazing t-shirts. Stormhoek sponsored us way way to much wine, which never seems to be a problem ;) The more the merrier... Finally a big thanks to Ciao Itallia for a fantastic venue, everyone loved the vibe & food.

All in all it was an awesome evening, and a big up to Dave & Mike for giving me the opportunity to get this going in durbz. Can't wait for the next one on the 27th September. Book the date !!!

Another one for your reader - tycoon.co.za

Came across a new SA blog on the block, when browsing amatomu.com this morning. It is called tycoon.co.za, and covers a broad range of economic and everyday questions about money and the sorts.
"In simple words, Tycoon is a site for everyone who wants to find out a little more about how the world of economics and money affects the real world"

Everything from "What you really pay at the petrol pump" to "Why young SA cyclists are starting to make it..."

Interesting stuff -> www.tycoon.co.za

27 Dinner just around the corner...

Friday evening sees the first 27 Dinner being hosted in Durbz. Dave Duarte will be coming up to Durbs to join us and help host the evening. The venue is Ciao Itallia in Westville, @ 7pm.
If you still keen to join us, get your name on the wiki at -> http://27dinner.pbwiki.com/Durban

New look iPhone

This is how I would like to see the iPhone when it is next released :)

Blended into it's infancy.

I'm becoming a Hoeker

I have just received my bottle of 2007 Sauvignon Blanc from stormhoek, which I ordered through cherrypicka.com.
Cherrypicka is an awesome site from the cherryflava guys which allows you to buy a "test-ticket" to test out pre release items such as this wine

I am honoured to be bottle no. 41 of 102 and my name "engraved" on the bottle. Can't wait to test it out :)
Get your own bottle with your name @ cherrypicka.com for only 20 ZAR. Yip R20 delivery included...

Also join the Stormhoek facebook group -> http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2388408693

27 Dinners (finally) coming to Durbz

The boys from Cerebra have announced that they will be expanding the 27 Dinners to Durbz and Pretoria in July & August.

If you keen to come join us at the inaugural 27 Dinner in Durbz, sign up on the wiki and leave your name, for what is going to be a blast of an evening.

What a week...

I have finally landed back with my feet on the ground and returned from my week in paradise.
WOW...what an amazing experience. We stayed at Le Victoria hotel, which is on the North West coast of Mauritius, and did so many awesome things.
The one highlight was going deep sea fishing and catching and fighting a 20kg tuna. Was out of this world. It really is such a beautiful part of the world, and I'm really going to try and get back there soon.

See some more pics here

The time has come...

In just over 24 hours I will be climbing on the plane to Mauritius.

Ahh the life, I just carent wait :)

Pics will be forthcoming soon...

The Drunk Hoff

Check out the seriously pissed Hoff



More on the story at News 24

Afrigator

Recently there have been 2 new sites to hit the SA Blogging scene. Afrigator and Amatomu aggregate new blogs that have been posted. I have seen quite a few hits to this blog (even though I suck at posting), from both sites.

Afrigator is giving away a Video iPod to new users signing up. So get in there, and use my email (marcforrest[at]gmail.com) as your referrer and get yourself an iPod. Click here for more info.

Dear Graeme...

Please win the cricket today...

Thanks
Marc

P.S. Please don't make my heart sore and make me drink lots of beer. Make my heart happy and make me drink lots of beer.

The BUG has bitten...

A few weeks ago, I signed up for Facebook, and damn, what a mistake...
Eish, I am hooked

My profile at is here for anyone who would like to add me :)

Mauritius here I come...

A couple of weeks ago, I did my mini lifehack, on how to apply for a Passport.

The reason for me applying was because storm was offering an incentive trip to the top 20 performers in the country to Mauritius in May. Results were announced on Tuesday and I'm in. YAY !!! ....so in a couple of weeks, I will be packing the board shorts and heading to Le Victoria Hotel in Mauritius....

I just caren't wait...

My New Babe

Bailey Rose Forrest was born at 10h50 am on the 23rd March. 3.36kg's and 50cm
Just awesome. Will put more pics on my Picasa Album tonight.

More Ballito Destruction Pics

Some more storm pics from the wrecked Ballito. Also check out the East Coast Radio Blog to see how the Ski Boat Club in Ballito just disentegrated

Ballito Carnage

I stay in Ballito, one of the towns hardest hit by the freak waves that hit Durbz, and surrounding areas on Monday & Tuesday. It really is an ugly site, and yesterday while walking along the beachfront, sliding doors and gates were smashed in to smithereens. Really nasty. I went down to the main beach(Willard Beach) yesterday morning to take some pictures of what was once a really awesome beach.

Before:


After:

It really is quite a depressing site, and I think it's still going to be a long long while before all of this mess and debris is going to be cleaned up

More pics that I took here.

Ballito Beach - Freak Waves

Kevin Cadman also has a whole bunch of pictures that have been floating around

Naturally Seven - Live in Paris Subway

Been hearing quite a lot of these guys on the radio, but they pulled off an impromptu "concert" in the subway in Paris recently. Really awesome.

The next Freddie Mercury

I really think this guy has it in him to become the next American Idol.... (NOT)

storm hearts SA Bloggers

News Just in...

The company I work for, storm, have agreed to sponsor a brand spanking new "Mac Book Pro" for the winner of this years Best South African Blog.


Get voting now @ SA Blog Awards 2007
More info over at Dave Gales Blog

Crossloop

I have recently been helping a few family and friends setting up new pc's, but as always, the minute you mention the word "computer", you know EVERYTHING !!! (right)

Until I came across Crossloop. Now when I set up a new PC the first thing I do is install Crossloop, and when they call me for help, I just hook up straight into their pc and sort the problem out.

I HAVE to recommended this to everyone who does "grandma IT support"

get it @ www.crossloop.com

Bored ?

Try this for some mindless fun :)
wannaspell.com

Rip Off

Last year I raved about the A1GP which came to the streets of Durban.
Last year the tickets were a fair R360 for a gold stand, which was OK, not worth every single cent, but okish.

This year, the organisers decided to be GREEDY and up the prices to R650 for the gold stands, and for the exact same stands where we sat last year, have now been changed to Platinum, which goes for a spectacular R850 !!!

Guess where I won't be this year !!!

Lifehack: How to apply for a Passport easily

With an overseas holiday opportunity possibly on the rise in the next couple of months, I needed to renew my passport that expired 3 years ago (I'm not much of the experienced traveller)
So below is my mini Lifehack on how to get the passport easily.

1. Skip the middleman (Costs you double the actual amount !!!)
2. Visit our very efficient Home Affairs website
3. Download the required form BI-73
4. Fill in the form, and take some pretty ID Photos
5. Fill the iPod up with some tunez.
6. Set alarm early and take leisurely drive through to nearest home affairs office, getting to be number 1 in the queue at 6:30
7. Hit play on the iPod till 8am, walk straight up to first open counter.
8. Talk nicely to the lady behind the computer, asking how her weekend was (small talk, small talk)
9. Pay your R165 and say thanks to the lady, and walk out by 8:15


Easy. All it takes is some forward thinking and some smiles :)

Hot !!!

Add on about another 10 for discomfort, and I thank my lucky stars that I work in an airconditioned office :)

Ahh, the joys of living in Durbz

Update: South African Blogging

I have since found myself plenty of time, since my last post, and updated all my SA Blogs to be included into my del.icio.us bookmarks, with the tag of sablogs.

check it out here -> http://del.icio.us/marcforrest/sablogs

Comet McNaught

New SA Sports Blog

Media empire blogger, Jon Cherry has Announced a new blog into his stable of growing blogs.
Along comes Feverpitcher, a sports blog edited by Dan Nichol.
Feverpitcher delves into the in's and out's of the South African and world sporting arena.

Check it out at www.feverpitcher.com

Oh the irony...

As we all may know by now, our lovely Power Struggle Supplier, Eskom, is at it again.

Last year's buzzword, Load Shedding (uughh, don't want to dwell on that word for to long), is now being implemented all around the country. To see when you should stock up on candles click here.

But the irony of the situation. Reading this article this morning on MG, Eskom will be alerting us ON TV, as to when to turn off our "non-essential" appliances.

"Orange indicates an electricity strain -- consumers are prompted to switch off non-essential appliances such as tumble dryers and dishwashers."

Um, does that mean we get to keep our TV's on all the time ?

Dell Makes a Boo Boo

On Friday my RSS reader alerted me very nicely that Dell was going to give me a free laptop.
Word soon started spreading, and Mike Stopforth ordered 6, and was going to donate them to Baragwanath.

Until today, when I received the following mail from Dell SA.

"Dell Inspiron 640m and 9400

Dear Marc,

I am writing to you to inform you that as a result of a technical error we have inadvertently advertised the Dell Inspiron 640m and 9400 on our web store at R0. This is incorrect. The goods should have been priced at R6,990 and R10,990 respectively. As a result we are unable to fulfill your recent order for these goods. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused. If you have already paid for any associated goods, software or delivery charges forming part of your order for the Dell Inspiron 640m and/or 9400 please furnish us with your banking details and you will be reimbursed within the next few days.

We are in the process of correcting these technical issues. We hope to have this store up and running by early next week.

Please do not hesitate to contact me or your account manager if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely

Gavin Slevin
Brand Manager – Mobile Products
gavin_slevin@dell.com"

Pity about that, would have been great if we would have got a laptop for only R570. Pity Dell couldn't have made a plan and even perhaps offered a discount voucher on a future purchase.

Would love to see how this one pans out on the web.

just now...

*** Warning Rant up ahead ***

As a nation, South Africans are generally quite lazy. We all know the slang, "just now" or "now now". We all use it all the time, knowing that half the time, we will never get the job done, and when we do do it, its usually a half hearted effort. I'm not saying all South African's are like this, but there is definitely more a majority than a minority. A perfect example of this a couple of years ago, was the drivers licence cards. Why was it that on the last day there were "queues around the block", of people waiting to renew their cards. Same goes for when the gun ownership legislation changed.

Why the Rant ??

Well the company I work for, deals with the dialing of International and Local numbers.
Recently Telkom and Icasa announced that when dialing an international number, you need to no longer dial 09 as we have for thousands of years, we must now conform to the "international standard" of dialling 00. Like wise when dialling a local number in the same dialing code area, you now need to dial the dialing code as well, effectively making 7 digit dialing now 10 digit dialing.

Even though our company has known about this since October when it was announced, the project to change customers side equipment only started this year. Which means yesterday when the actual change took place, all of a sudden billing figures are not what they supposed to be, and means questions get asked, to me. Eish.

We need to change our attitude as a nation and start being proactive, and doing things before they HAVE to get done. I'm pretty sure it will solve many problems in our country as well.

*** End Rant here ***

The making of a Lego Brick

Almost 50 years ago, a little piece of plastic was moulded which has since provided millions of hours of entertainment for anyone aged 1-100. All of us have played with Lego in our lives before. Everyone.

Below is the link to the Business Week story that shows us how this ingenious invention is made.

Amazingly only 18 out of every million blocks made is found to be defective.

Read the LEGO making story here

South African Blogging

South African people have really cottoned onto the whole blogging scene, from the intimate personal blogs, to the Mommy blogs right down to the boys will be boys blogs.

I have been told recently that I am an RSS whore, and my google reader trends don't lie to me either.
Paul from chillibean recently started the "sablogs tagging project" on del.icio.us. Although I haven't had much time & energy to do this, I have to admit its a great project, and I'm pretty sure it will grow huge.

I do however have my blogroll on the right --> full of only South African blog feeds, check them out, we defenitley have some wierd & wonderful & interesting bloggers out there !

Why didn't I think of that ?

Having a 2 year old walk down the aisle in the local spar every second day demanding bubbles, which is inevitably spilt all over the floor as soon as she gets home, or gets bored with them in 2 and half seconds, I think to myself....why didn't I think of this ???

Zubbles... The World's First Colored Bubbles!

Great South African Podcast

We don't have that many podcasts in South Africa. There are a few floating around, and have just downloaded just heard Amplitude, a new podcast by Mike Stopforth and Dave Duarte's , it is a marketing podcast covering a whole lot bit of everything.

Check it out at Amplitude.co.za, and download the latest version. Some really cool inserts covering a whole lot of various topics.

The latest version can be downloaded from here.

Tigger & Elmo getting funky

After reading Jetstreakers account on how tigger is up for boxing a kid at Disneyworld, I came across this video of Tigger & Elmo from Sesame Street getting it on :0
Worth a laugh...

SketchUp 6 Released

The latest version of google SketchUp has been released, and is super awesome.
For those of you that don't know what SketchUp is this is the marketing blurb from the website

"Google SketchUp 6 is a free, easy-to-learn 3D modeling tool that enables you to explore the world in 3D. With just a few simple tools, you can create 3D models of houses, sheds, decks, home additions, woodworking projects - even space ships. And once you've built your models, you can place them in Google Earth, post them to the 3D Warehouse. "

In a nutshell it allows any average joe to become a super 3D designer easily. One of the new features of the latest version is that it has 3D text built in, which allows you create your own 3D words.

My attempt at the blogname above :)

via [Ogle Earth]

Supersize, to go please !

Came across this story on National Geographic where a Python ate a pregnant sheep.

Check the story out here

Gotta be hungry for that...eeeew (pun intended)

New Year, Fresh Start !

Well last year I officially sucked at blogging. Perhaps the year got a bit away with me. So this year, I really am going to make a concerted effort at blogging more.

as you can see there is a newish look today, and while I play a bit more with the new Blogger (out of Beta), I'm going to try and make it look all pretty.

A new addition on the right is MyBlogLog, which is really a big networking site connecting bloggers around the world.
You can check my profile out at http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/marcforrest/

Also have added my picasa album link on the right for some pictures from the silly season.

More to come soon !!!