Powermonkey - eXplorer

I was given a power monkey – explorer kit a couple of months ago which I was thrilled about receiving. I reckon this is the quintessential tool for any mobile user in Africa as yesterday proved to demonstrate how effective this little device is.

Eskom with their newly renewed vigour to clamp down on outstanding payments decided that being 30 days late on a payment warranted switching off our electricity. This left me stranded for about 4 hours whilst I negotiated, pleaded and explained that the bill had been paid – they had just not accounted for it. Be that as it may in this time my phone and laptop ran dry of battery juice.

Ah ha time to test the new Power monkey I thought to myself ... and to my pleasant surprise it works. Well the battery pack recharged my device and the solar unit – well that was a little ineffective but I’m pegging that as a direct result of the weather which was overcast, wet and cold and on top of that it was late in the afternoon.

I have decided to give the tool a full test this morning and although I cannot use the Solar panel (as a result of the weather) the battery pack has proved to be exceptionally useful.

The pack comes with the following;

A battery pack (powermonkey-eXplorer unit)

Solar panel (slave)

Universal mains charger (which works in over 150 countries and has interchangeable heads for UK, USA, Japan, China, Australia and Europe.

Connecters for Nokia, Mini Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, iPod, Sony PSP, USB connectivity, mini USB connectivity, female USB connectivity for smartphones, MP3 players, blue tooth headsets and Digital camera’s. Quite significant coverage!

The battery pack and solar power units are water resistant and the battery pack has an LCD display that displays the battery capacity and level of charge in the powermonkey.

It also caters for short circuit protection, over charging protection and over discharging protection.

All of this is packaged very well and can easily fit into my laptop bag... I’m pretty stoked that I have one of these in my arsenal of techno toys.

The good news is that they are pretty well priced so even in this “recession” of ours it’s not going to make too much of a dent.

You can contact Rene Winter or alternatively log on to www.powertraveller.co.za

Indaba 2009

**Indaba 2009 is happening this weekend**.

SA Tourism will be showcasing their wares and deliver exciting news about what they are doing for their local tourist trade partners. The following can be expected;

* You can participate in product workshops and their local and international exhibitions
* You have the opportunity to network with international tourism companies.
* Through the Sho't Left section on their website you can advertise your packages for free.
* Their annual Welcome and Eteya awards showcase the best that South Africa has to offer. By entering, you'll receive additional local and international exposure.
* In preparation for 2010 they are launching a global marketing campaign, which you will benefit from.


http://www.southafrica.net is packed with valuable information for local, international and business travellers, as well as the trade. It's better designed to help increase your business' exposure.

Here's how:

* They'll market your business through our new website, this gives you global and local exposure at no cost.
* Your biz will be listed in the "Your Concierge" product search, available on +200 pages across the site and will appear in any main site searches that match either your name or service type.
* Relevant products are displayed alongside associated articles.
* Users can add your products to their Trip Planner, your contact details then appear in their Wish list - this is sent to the travel agent to book.


So, now that you know how they're taking your business places, here are some reasons to plan your next trip with southafrica.net:

* Trip Planner recommends best possible experiences in SA, based on your interests.
* National Product Database will help you locate the finest accommodation, activities and restaurants.
* Contact expert travel consultants online to plan your trip.
* Save your Wish list, share it with family and friends and send it to your travel agent for quotes.


So you may be wondering why I'm posting an article about Indaba 2009? Well we have had the pleasure of delivering a couple of elements on the mobile side which all focuses around this event and what you can expect to receive from SA Tourism.

If you cannot make it to the event there are 2 things you can do;

1) sms your name and email address to 34743 to register with the National Tourism Product Database

2) Log in to www.indaba2009.mobi where you can;

View what's on at the event

View the exhibitors at the event

Download the 2010 advert as well as

Experience the diski dance (also a download) and an brilliant concept which has huge potential for user generated content to be added.

In addition Garmin introduces Garmap for Mobile which can be downloaded off the site.


1. Launch your mobile internet browser.

2. Launch the application from the folder that it installed to.

3. Follow the onscreen prompts to start using the application.


Please note that roaming data charges will apply whilst using Garmap for Mobile

*Join the growing network of Indaba delegates on LinkedIn: http://events.linkedin.com/Indaba-2009/pub/34772.

So what are you waiting for.... go, register and check it out.

The Mobile Marketing edition

I was recently honoured to be asked to participate in the 17th edition of the Digital Edge podcast interviews - which is all about the Mobile Marketing.

"The Digital Edge is a new weekly podcast brought to you by Cambrient which will expose you to the inner workings of digital marketing, and profile some of the biggest stories in the business."

The list of contributors to this edition rank exceptionally high in the SA market space and all from different areas within the mobile marketing arena which makes for an interesting listen with various opinions relative to the spaces being worked in.

Michael Laws:
Michael is a Portfolio Manager for Mobile Marketing at Vodacom. He runs the "Adme" division, another part of the massive Vodacom mobile advertising offering.

Angus Robinson:
Angus is the founder of Brandsh Media -- a specialist mobile and social media agency -- and is closely involved with Cerebra Communications. He is active in the mobile industry and sits on Waspa's management committee, the mobile VAS industry's self-regulation authority. He has been in the mobile, media and internet industries since 1994 with the likes of MTN, MIH/Multichoice, Metropolis, Striata, and most recently iTouch.

Simon Davis:
Simon has a diverse background, including work on pioneering mobile social networks, launching B2B and Consumer e-commerce websites and working on commodity trading systems for a variety of companies including Socialight, AngloGold-Ashanti, MKS Finance and JPMorgan. FMBA Columbia University (USA), BA Philosophy (University Witwatersrand SA).

Jason Xenopoulos:
Jason is a filmmaker and entrepreneur whose media ventures have covered the areas of film, television, music and the Internet. His first feature film as writer-director, Promised Land, was released in January 2003 in Cinema Nouveau and Ster-Kinekor theatres across South Africa.

Saul Kropman and Jarred Cinman have delivered exceptionally well with this initiative and if you are working in the digital space I'd highly recommend subscribing to their feed.

Download the podcast here (view all relative links) and pass on your feedback - it would be great to stimulate more of a discussion around this topic as there are so many various areas of focus with so much scope and not to mention lessons to be learn't.

Vufone - essential and smart application

I can safely say that I haven't been suffering from writers block despite the fact that I have neglected posting articles for the past 3 months. It's been a chaotic couple of months to say the least and I'm happy to say I'm back - for today anyway.

I've been meaning to do a review on quite a relevent application that I was able to get my grubby paws on - namely Vufone.

The product is in essence an online mobile phone backup tool - on steroids - providing the following features;

Backup
Regular automated backup of your phone
No cables needed, over-the-air backup
Safe copy of your mobile information on a secure server
Contacts, messages, calendar, photos, videos or smartphone documents
Restore to any new phone brand or model

Synchronise
Get your Microsoft Outlook meetings or Google Calendar on your phone
Automatically synchronize Microsoft Outlook contacts or Gmail contacts to your phone
Synchronize your Microsoft Outlook tasks to your phone
Use your phone contacts in Microsoft Outlook or Gmail
Manage your phone contacts and calendar on the web

Upload and Share
Upload your camera phone pictures and videos and view them online
Create online albums and show them to friends and family over the Web
Send your pictures and videos to friends phone
Upload your mobile photos and videos to your favorite social network
Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube
View your photos online in full quality

Additional Features
Upload songs to your phone over the web
MyPersona – make your picture appear on your friends phone when you call them
Turn any web picture into your phone’s wallpaper
Listen to your mobile music online
Send cheap text messages from the web

Pretty neat and relevant as I have about 4 different phones which I can now easily share the same information on - maintaining consistency across all devices. I particularly like the way one can configure what you want synchronised and the ease of use in setting up as a first time user.

What did bug me a bit is that the application connects your phone to the site every day for it's scheduled synchronisation but this is something I can overlook as it's value outweighs the irritation factor.

So if like me you are looking for an application that provides a relevant and much needed service with so much more than just back-up - check out Vufone.

Gets a double thumbs up from me.

Mobile Youth 2009 Report 1 Samples

I just love what the guys at mobileyouth.org are doing. Some more insightful information on Youth Mobile Trends.

Mobile Youth 2009 Report 1 Samples

View more presentations from joshdhaliwal. (tags: mobile youth)