Categories
Technology Web

The Grid Apps for iPhone and Android

DSCN0691
Image by movirtu via Flickr

While MTN’s social networking endeavours seem to amount to simply making more Africans text each other more, Vodacom actually seems to be embracing mobile social media with their “The Grid” location-based social network. It boasts a number of features, and is probably worth trying out – some pretty good stuff is being/has been rolled out, including Facebook and Twitter integration, a mapping solution for driving directions (!!) and an Instant Messaging feature. Even better, they haven’t locked the service into a single network provider – The Grid works the same no matter which network operator you’re using (apparently). And now that they’ve developed a The Grid application for the JesusPhone as well as the Android platform, the barrier of entry to joining The Grid is much much lower, so presumably more of your social circle will be using the platform.

Now all Vodacom has to do is make mobile data dirt cheap.

Personally I haven’t registered yet for a few reasons:
1) I hate Java apps but I love Nokia – there’s no native Symbian client, and Java kills battery life.
2) The niggling privacy issue where you can be tracked by a local company that is subject to South African law corruption.
3) DATA IS TOO EXPENSIVE STILL!

Anyway, enough of my bitching, here’s the latest press release:

Vodacom’s The Grid, South Africa¹s first location-based mobile social
network, today launched iPhone and Android applications, allowing these
users to see their friends on local street maps, chat to them via instant
messaging and upload or view geo-tagged content.

This new Grid iPhone application combines the iPhone¹s GPS functionality and
Vodacom¹s location based (LBS) technology to display a user¹s approximate
position on a map. Maps on the Grid are populated by user-generated content
(text, images and videos) that are geo-tagged to a specific location. In
addition users are notified when their friends log onto the Grid and are
shown their position on a map to make it easy and simple to meet up.

The Grid iPhone application is available for free download on the Apple
iPhone App store.

Android application

In addition a Grid application for Android, a mobile software platform
initially developed by Google using the Linux operating system, has also
been made available. Aside from having access to Grid functionality such as
instant messaging, map browsing and media sharing, the Android application
allows users to share photos and videos straight from their cellphone¹s
camera.

The Grid Android application is available for free download on OpenMarket,
Android’s online application store as well as on The Grid website,
http://www.thegrid.co.za.

Integration with other social networks

The latest Grid application releases, follow Grid integration with other
social networks Twitter and Facebook. Grid users can now automatically
update their Twitter and Facebook statuses from the Grid’s mobile
application or website, with the added benefit of their location being
tagged e.g. ‘Mark is in the mood for a coffee (near Bryanston)’.

Says Shameel Joosub, Managing Director, Vodacom South Africa: “The
opportunities offered by location-based technology is starting to have a
lasting impact on people’s lives. We’re making it easy to make use of the
Grid on new handsets and also by integrating existing social networks,
adding a whole new dimension to the way people communicate.”

For further information visit www.thegrid.co.za

Categories
Entertainment Humor

Monday Morning Marriage Videos

So here are some happy videos to kick off that boring, blue Monday with a bang and prove that there is still fun in the world. And don’t worry ladies/mum – The fact that they’re all marriage-themed means nothing. 🙂

First the invitation (Gotta love Vampire Weekend!):

And then the big-bang entrance:

Categories
Entertainment Music

Taxi Violence “The Turn” Launch Tour Dates

Awesome SA rockers Taxi Violence are releasing their new album “The Turn” this August. Looking forward to it. The launch dates are below, starting wiff: Benoni!!! Oh hell. Anyway, do yourself a huge favour and go watch this band. You won’t regret it.

And here’s the album’s “making-of” video:
Categories
Biking Rants

7 Points In Defense Of The Biker

Motorbikes on the Dragon
Image by TeecNosPos via Flickr

Saul K, from the Outlet, has an issue with bikers. Time to bring out the sparring gloves.

Actually, no. We all have to share the roads, and a large portion of bikers wish to do it in the safest manner possible. If you think our roads are currently bad for cars, bear in mind they are ten times worse for bikers. Lanes are narrower, road surfaces are carved into horribly uneven grooves-of-death, or stairs between lanes making lane changing on a bike impossible, and construction debris and dust covers the roads, making stone-catching sore, and making braking unsafe.

So to paraphrase from Saul’s entry, I’d say this is a brief summary of the contention points:

– Bikers are a hypocritical nuisance.

– Lane splitting is evil.

– Bikers never stick to the left hand side of the road like bicycle drivers do.

– Bikers tend to sit in car driver’s blind spots.

– Bikers change lanes too often.

– Bike owners feel the need to speed consistently.

– “when you learn how to drive we’ll stop running you over”.

I feel compelled to react to each of those points individually, and get some biker opinion out there.

1. Bikers are a hypocritical nuisance:

Of course we are, we’re arrogant too, we’ve every right to stamp our authority on the roads and what’s more, we’re cool. 😛

2. Lane splitting is evil:

The Happy Couple
Image by Shaun Dewberry via Flickr

Lane splitting is perfectly legal in South Africa, and let’s face it, you’d be a moron if you sat in the traffic, choking down exhaust fumes, when there’s a perfectly good gap between cars that one can use.

3. Bikers never stick to the left hand side of the road like bicycle drivers do:

Sticking to the left hand side would be silly unless you want to collect the tail-end of a truck, hurdle a random pedestrian or smooch a vehicle exiting from a blind entrance. (Or refurbish the face of one of those, ahem, bicycle drivers[sic]) We’re using engines, not legs, here. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re suggesting the building of dedicated biker lanes, well, hell yeah, absolutely!

4. Bikers tend to sit in car driver’s blind spots:

Unfortunately, yes, this is a symptom of poor mirror design and lane-splitting.  However, all drivers that did their driver’s license test were taught to check their blindspots frequently – do you think they do it? Well, yes, many do and I have absolute respect and always try to thank the driver who sees me and cancels his/her indicator to let me through, or shifts slightly to one side, but so often the driver feels there’s no time to check the mirror before they make a desperate lunge to sit behind traffic from a different point of view in the next lane.

5. Bikers change lanes too often:

See below discussion on speed. If you’re going faster than the traffic around you you’re going to need to change lanes.

6. Bike owners feel the need to speed consistently:

On the speed issue, yes, some bikers do ride at excessive speeds fairly often – most often Sunday mornings on empty roads long before cage-drivers wake up. But to be fair, biker’s speeding is often a symptom of vehicle driver’s speeding. If you ride to live it’s highly recommended you ride at least 20km/h faster than the traffic around you. Any slower and cars will start overtaking you – and not surprisingly being overtaken by a low-flying Ford is one of the scariest experiences on a bike. Yes, surprise! We can’t hear your eco-friendly green hybrid save-the-planet-but-pollute-it-with-lead batterymobile buzzing up behind us – we’ve got, yes, fresh air blasting past our ears (and maybe a nice loud pipe under the seat, too!). And what’s more, we can outbrake you by a country mile. At traffic lights we often live in fear of being rear ended by a ton of metal that just cannot brake fast enough. 160-170km/h is not excessive if the cars are traveling at 130-140km/h, it’s realistic.

7. “when you learn how to drive we’ll stop running you over”.

I doubt it. There will always be bad bikers and there will always, always be terrible drivers. I choose not to see car drivers as the enemy, as I too am a car driver, but I am exceptionally cautious around cars when biking. And by the same measure I’m exceptionally cautious around bikes when driving. We’ve only got so much tarmac to share and there are a lot of idiots out there. I’d like to get to where I’m going (even if it is a bar) in once piece, as I’m sure you would too.

C’mon, Saul, buy a bike!

Bikers, evil? What do you think?

Categories
Biking Entertainment

Paper Craft Motorcycle Replicas from Yamaha

PAPER CRAFT: Realistic Paper Craft

So say you perhaps crashed your motorcycle and hurt your knee and can’t ride are a bit bored and feeling like getting on with a rewarding new project, or you just want to test your patience in a manner that has nothing to do with getting stuck in morning traffic, head over to Yamaha’s Paper Craft site. They’ve got awesome design cutouts with full instructions which will keep your meddling fingers out of mischief and will teach you to build your very own desktop Yamaha R1, or a VMAX, or even the YZR-M1!