SA Rocks

I haven’t blogged about a great SA website in a while. Sorry about that, but here is one for the archives!

I can’t really recall how I found Loadtheshow.com but it seems to be a very interesting website indeed. At first glance it looks like any old music download website. After registering and a bit of investigative research I discovered a neat trick to the site. They offer a certain amount of free downloads per day.

From the website:

All downloads on loadtheshow are free!

Our sponsors pay to advertise on the site. We use the money to give you cutting-edge music for free and pay our contributing artists.

Unfortunately, when the day’s free downloads are used up, there are no more free downloads available until the following day.

When you register with the site you automatically receive a profile page. I don’t particularly think this is very necessary but it adds a nice web 2.0 feel to the site and i suppose helps them – and you – to track what you are downloading, listening to and viewing.

Each artist registered with the site also gets a profile page. There are a fair number of artists listen, not many some big names that I can see in the list – I found The Dirty Skirts, Hog Hoggidy Hog and the Diesel Whores – but I guess I’m no authority. It seems like a great place to discover new music. I even found a band I know personally, the awesomely entertaining and interesting Undone!

Downloading a song is easy enough but a bit different to other sites I have used in the past. Instead of immediately and directly downloading the song of your choice from the site, you are emailed a download link from “Marvin”. This is apparently done for security reasons which makes sense. The email tells you to save it as proof that you have legally downloaded the track from loadtheshow, which is cool. I reckon it’s a small price to pay for free music. I am going to become very good friends with Marvin very shortly.

Then there is a nifty little section called “Charts” on the site. This is a list of the top downloaded songs of the day as far as I can tell. Nice idea.

In general I think this is a fantastic site with phenomenal potential in SA as bandwidth prices decrease and users increase (whenever this all happens). Follow them closely and even maybe read their blog.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Let’s talk about bridging the digital divide: Knysna. There I’m done.

Knysna has become a bridge, I massive, invisible, wi-fi enabled bridge.

Working in conjunction with the town’s local authorities, internet provider UniNet has set up a system of base stations which spread wi-fi around the town.

courtesy BBC

Obviously providing wi-fi access to people without computers that are able to access the internet is a fairly futile exercise. So the Knysna community has been provided with computers that are able to access the internet throughout key areas in the community that enable all people from all walks of life to gain access to the global community that is the internet.

This is a phenomenal step forward, not only for SA but for the African continent. Let’s hope that more and more nations, city’s, villages, businesses, organisations and governments wake up and see the potential for growth that access provides to a community.

Popularity: 14% [?]

This is a follow up post from something I posted last week. The reason that I am doing a follow up post is that SA Magazine actually took the time out to email me, thank me for the mention on SA Rocks and to explain more about my statement regarding access to the information.

I stand corrected:

The sites content seems to be blocked and I can’t locate anywhere to actually read anything from the magazine online. There is a “Digital Magazine” section but that is locked to “unauthorised” visitors.

After review and a little direction from the guys at SA Magazine I must admit that I am thoroughly impressed with what they are doing. The magazine is literally available, page by page, online. All you have to do is register with the site and confirm your account. Then you are set.

They have created a novel and interesting way for readers to view their content. Instead of having a website that simply claims to be a “magazine online” there is actually a magazine that you can page through online. Pick up the corners with your pointer and flip the page over. Click and zoom in on a story, advert or section of the page and read it as you browse.

Have a look:

Above is a screenshot that I took while I was perusing the mag online. The picture quality is great, everything is legible. The action is smooth, the pages look and feel as real as one can imagine a page should feel online. Great stuff.

Go and register right now!!

Before I end the post I would like to mention a couple of things that I would like to see on the site. I would like to see some of the content available directly on the site without using the flash-generated magazine. I would also like to see the RSS feed feature the content from the magazine. What is an RSS feed without content?

Popularity: 3% [?]

I am not sure how reliable this information is as I have only read about it on one blog. But I read a post on Sunday that tells of Nelson Mandela’s book, No Easy Walk To Freedom is going to be made available online at Proquest.

Apparently:

The agreement has been made between Mandela and Proquest, a leader in collection, organization, and publishing of information. Initially published in 1965, the digital version is expected to be out by December this year.

And incase you were curious about exactly who had the rights to digitally distribute the work of Nelson Mandela, this is from the Proquest website:

ProQuest provides seamless access to and navigation of more than 125 billion digital pages of the world’s scholarship, delivering it to the desktop and into the workflow of serious researchers in multiple fields, from arts, literature, and social science to science, technology, and medicine.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tea and Biltong with the Queen: No, it is not the same as Beef Jerky!

I’ve written in previous columns about the distinct feeling of isolation I’ve experienced as a legal alien in the UK, and I’m starting to believe that it’s not so much the addition of a new feeling (isolation) but the removal of a feeling I had at home (belonging). This may seem like a strange thing to say as a South African, but at home I felt part of something – both a movement and a people – and it’s weird to think that I identify more with South Africans from a multitude of cultures, than I do with the British (my ancestral home).

Recently, with the floods in England, I felt an increase of national spirit from the locals here in the UK – sometimes a little adversity will do that. And it reminded me, firstly, that I am not at home here, and, secondly, how great it is to feel like you’re contributing, that you belong and are part of a greater whole. If press coverage of SA is to be believed, there seems to be a similar process happening at home.

It has been thirteen years since the first democratic election in SA. Thirteen years is actually not a long time. The problems we have in SA are going to take generations (yes, generations! Plural!) to fix but we must acknowledge how far we have come, and above all, not cease to strive. This means vote, protest, and foster equal opportunities.

There used to be a feeling of “jump ship” when faced with crime and unemployment in South Africa, now it’s more of a “dig in and get your hands dirty” vibe. Don’t believe me? How about the increase in websites like “SA Good News”, “Homecoming Revolution” and “Crimeline”? How about increased coverage of crime against the poorer sectors of our communities? People worry that more crime stories mean more crime, but often they mean more effective police work and increased awareness. This reflects a change in our collective attitude as South Africans.

It is a very exciting time for South Africa. The afro-pessimists will scream that its scary, sad, chaotic, but I see a full generation of people who attended integrated schools, who know of Mandela as a free man, who’ve escaped the economic isolation of the 80’s, who can travel and compete in international sport. We’re a people who have won the begrudging respect of our international peers, whose constitution is often lauded as the best in the world, who aren’t travelling just to escape, but for travel’s sake.

Yesterday I ran into the members of the Soweto Gospel Choir just walking down the street in Edinburgh. They’ve arrived for the Edinburgh Arts Festival, I guess, and although I was rushing in the opposite direction, and don’t know any of them from Adam, I couldn’t help myself yelling “Molweni” as I passed, to which they happily responded, and those few quick phrases exchanged in Xhosa made me happier than I’d been all week. I felt like I had met people I could identify with for the first time in months.

Popularity: 12% [?]

The polls are closed and the competition has ended. I was never particularly supportive of the process as I felt it should have been more formalised (I am assured that things are moving in that direction)!

But I thought that many of the sites on the list – which never reached 50 I don’t think – deserved a mention cause they rock and let’s be honest, we can all use some linklove.

So without further delay here are the top sites:

The top ranked sites were (in alphabetical order) -

* Amatomu
* Grabble
* iBlog
* Keo
* Muti
* MyBroadband
* News24
* SA Good News
* SA Rocks
* SA-Venues

The following sites also received nominations

* Afrigator
* Bed On Bricks
* BizCommunity
* Blue World
* Cape Gateway
* Cape Town Daily Photo
* Charity Wines
* Cherry Flava
* EishCoZa
* Friends of JZ
* Golfers Information
* Goldfish
* Good Citizens Club
* Grow South Africa
* Hunter of Genius
* iMod
* IOL News
* Jonga
* Jump
* Mahala Media
* Mail & Guardian
* Mnet
* Modelbase
* MoneyWeb
* Mweb
* My Kinda Prices
* MyVideo
* News Phorum
* Pixels For Charity
* Private Property
* SA AirForce
* SA Property
* SA Rugby
* South Africa – sourcing cheap flights to,from or within SA
* SuperSport
* Tertia
* The South African Insult
* Think Money
* Tomorrow Today
* Urban Mamas
* Vottle
* Weather SA
* Webtrepreneur
* Yeigo
* Yuppie Chef

And there you have it. I think the initiative received some good support and will hopefully pick up some weight in the near future!

Popularity: 2% [?]

I just read on Mike’s blog that Afrigator has been featured at number 20 on the Business 2.0 Magazines’ (CNN Money web’s) top 31 non-US sites to watch!

What a brilliant achievement for SA and this amazing group of guys!

The Afrigator team is not sleeping though and are well aware of their local competition that has international appeal:

That said, we have not been sleeping – we know full well Amatomu is a killer service with outstanding features – rest assured that exciting things are in the pipeline.

Isn’t Justin just so handsome? And he’s an SA Rocks contributor!

Afrigator features amongst a long list of highly impressive international websites such as OhmyNews and Joost.

Lets hope that Afrigator takes the international community by storm and achieves the breakthroughs that the SA market needs!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Believe it or not one South African is raking in the views on his stand-up comedy video on YouTube.

Khaya Dlanga is making a seriously funny name for himself online. His comedic approach is intelligent and funny with a local twang to it that strikes home. He has a massively animated face that tells his story for him while he tells the jokes.

Please take some time, do yourself a favour and watch this video:

His incredible videos have been viewed over 1.2million times since the end of 2006.

Brilliant!

Thanks to Dave for this cool post.

Popularity: 8% [?]

There is some coverage around and about the blogosphere regarding Online Trek’s post about the top 50 webgsites in SA.

From their site:

Time.com recently released their “50 Best Websites of 2007″. I thought it would be fun to generate our own list of 50 Best South African Websites of 2007.

I invite you to leave your suggestions in the comments of this post. I will collate the responses at the end of this month and post the results in August.

Rules :

1) The site must be based in South Africa
2) The site must be a current site – regularly updated

There are some awesome South African sites out there – lets honour them by giving them our vote!

There is also a Facebook group so join if you want to get involved.

I am personally sceptical of this sort of initiative however well intentioned it is. There has already been attempts to shamelessly advertise some sites. I think that this is a great idea that I would hope goes far but will need some sort of formalisation in the long run.

For now, pop over to the original blog post and vote for your top SA Site!

Popularity: 7% [?]

We all hate standing in the queues to pay traffic fines. This is a predominant issue in SA when it comes to anything related to government.

There is finally a solution: Payfine.co.za.

I am surprised that there hasn’t been more noise on the blogosphere regarding this site. I am happy to say that signup was a breeze and searching for my fines was even simpler. I don’t have any fines at the moment so I cannot confirm the simplicity of paying with your credit card, but let’s be honest, anything is easier than standing in line.

The only issue that I have about the site is that I don’t know who runs it and you have to enter your ID number to register.

Payfine supports the following areas at the moment:

- Cape Town
- Johannesburg
- Stellenbosch
- Paarl
- Swellendam
- Mosselbay

Other than, what a great and simple initiative to solve an irritating SA problem.

Popularity: 100% [?]