Today’s auditions in Cape Town will see thousands of frrrreezing hopefuls pitch up at the River Club in Observatory, dreaming of being South Africa’s next Idol.
If you know anyone going today, or if you’re doing the deed yourself, take an even bigger stab at fame by uploading your videos and photos to our new Idols channel. Then get your family and friends to start rating your videos - because there’s a great little surprise in it for a lucky wannabe-star in the near future.
If you think it takes guts to do it, don’t be shy. SA’s very own blogger extraordinaire Eric Edelstein has been immortalized in the Idols 4 ad currently flighting on TV (if you have earplugs or muffs in a cupboard somewhere, now’s the time to drag them out - quick!):
Eric Edelstein sings his heart out!
Idols auditions have kicked off to a freezing start in Cape Town this morning!
You have GOT to love being online in South Africa. We’re at the tip of this huge continent and yet so incredibly connected and in touch with the concept of sharing.
Thanks to Lloyd Dicks at E&Y Toastmasters in Cape Town and their web developer Stiaan (yes, THE Stii), we’re happy to bring you the new Zoopy mambot.
What’s a mambot? If you don’t use Joomla or Mambo as a CMS to run your website, then it won’t really matter much to you. But if you DO use one of these two, you’ll appreciate the time Stii’s put in to making embedding Zoopy videos a simple, integrated process for you when you next edit your site.
Jim Carrey was right. But he got the number wrong.
27 keeps coming up all over the place. Take today’s date for example: 25 June 2007. 2+5 = 7. And 2+0+0+7=27. Did you know that if you add up all the numbers between 2 and 7, you get 27? And that the coloured balls in snooker have a total value of 27? What about the fact that there are 27 bones in the adult human hand? And that the sun rotates every 27 days? FREAKY!
27 is also here and here, here and more specifically to this Wednesday,here!
We’re giving away a brand new Sony DVD video camera to one very lucky fish. You’ll have to come on the night to see who gets it See you there!
P.S. 60 seconds/min X 60 minutes/hour X 24 hours/day X 365.25 days/year = 31557600. Add them up and the total comes to? 27!
Driving through town this morning, on our way to ogle a couple of old nudie cyclists taking it off for Global Warming, we found ourselves in the middle of one of Cape Town’s longest, most intense hostage dramas - ending in a run-for-your-life shootout.
We arrived just before 12 to find a good portion of Long Street cordoned off. Police and paramedics everywhere. Fire engines just arriving. Forensic teams, explosives experts and Olympic gold medal snipers on the scene. In the middle of the road, pacing furiously, was the man in the middle: the hostage negotiator. We were quickly informed by spectators that a gunman had taken four people hostage at around 10am and already shot and injured two bystanders.
Six and a half hours after we arrived, the negotiations ended. The task force had entered a second storey window by ladder and hurled stun grenades into the building. Outside, near where we had been crouching, Kasper tyres were screeching, officers were shouting “GO! GO! GO!” to other police and “GET DOWN! GET DOWN!” to everyone else - including us.
You’ll see from the video that we ran, fast! We hit the floor but kept the cameras rolling. Loud explosions, gunshots and people screaming at the top of their lungs, including a crying relative across the road. All of this in Long Street. LONG STREET. The same street we’ve been up and down a thousand times, rushing to the bank or a business meeting. But a very, very different street tonight.
It was a frightening and unforgettable series of events. And even more tragic for those involved. Here’s the edited video of our very long day in Long Street.
Back to routine today, which involves spending 7 out of 10 hours taking care of Zoopy v2 and the other three gobbled up by admin, email, maintenance and user interaction (which is fun).
What’s also quite fun is waking up to the news that Zoopy’s been listed as a Killer Startup. Check it out:
Two of the three voters think Zoopy will ‘Survive’ and the third thinks we’ll ‘Get VC $’. That’s pretty encouraging. We happen to think we’ll do both
It’s always interesting when users can vote anonymously because some competitors and nay-sayers can easily jump at the chance to vote negatively. So if a few votes suddenly appear under the ‘Bomb’ option within a couple of minutes/hours after this post comes to their attention, just do what we do: imagine yourself on a tropical island (with your laptop, endless battery life and a free wireless connection), laugh it off and move on! We know where we’re headed, and so will you shortly, so don’t worry, be happy.
Happy Friday guys. If you have 13 seconds to spare before rushing off home, this video’s really worth watching … a few times!
So we’ve hit Day 3 at the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum, with Louise from Bizcommunity and we’ve barely had a chance to grab a snack. Time in the press room is dedicated totally to uploading, editing, clearing the cameras before running off to the next session.
So, I need to get back to all four of the above (emphasis on the last one) but I just HAD to share what I think is easily the most exciting piece of futuristic news publishing I’ve seen since we’ve been here.
One word: newsbooks.
You MUST check this presentation out (embedded below). It represents a whole new way of reading newspapers. Imagine a permanent digital newsbook, that you that you would buy for say R300 a year from The Argus, The Star, Mail and Guardian or any other title. You open the book and the news (photos, videos and text) comes to life on the A5-sized screen. It can be read horizontally or vertically and is updated 24 hours a day with the latest news, completely customizable to pull in whatever you’re interested in on the front page.
Built-in page turning technology means it’ll feel just like the newspaper we’re used to, but at a much smaller size. No more ink on your fingers, no more waiting for the ‘late final’ and no more missing your favourite read when you’re travelling. All you need is the newsbook and some form of internet connection (or possibly satellite / mobile?) and you’re all set.
All of what? Simone Puterman (Biz Sub-editor) and Louise have thrown their hats into the Web 2.0 ring with all the gusto and spontaneity that this initiative deserves. Louise now has her own blog and she’s updating it with videos, photos and even podcasts - live from this week’s congress.
We’re along for the ride to help make video and photo uploading as easy (and fun!) as possible. Our Zoopy Mobile app is in full swing, and you’ll notice a combination of video camera, camera and phone material going up throughout the day.
This is what the future of media in South Africa is all about. Less about drawing lines in the sand and more about doing whatever it takes to deliver the most comprehensive and engaging reporting possible, through every bit of media available.
Congrats Louise, Simone and all at BC. We’re thrilled to help put even more ‘community’ back into Biz
You have GOT to love being online in South Africa. We’re at the tip of this huge continent and yet so incredibly connected and in touch with the concept of sharing.
See you there!