I’m actually really excited
-A-

On Tuesday I joined a group of bloggers on a tour of Fire ID and Mxit, who are both based in the Stellenbosch Techno Park. The Tour was arranged byDave Duarte, known for amongst other  things the hugely popular 27 Dinners

FireID are a hugely successful and proudly South African Startup mentored by Justin Stanford of Silicon Cape Fame.

Second on the list of Startups we visited was the  now infamous Mxit.

Some interesting points about the Mxit Service I picked up:
- Currently has a 19Million User Base
- Approx. 20 000 registrations per day
- Has a vested interest in education, the launch of “Tixi” shows that Mxit is serious about this.
- Mxit Xchange, the new classified section has 1.7 Million subscribers
- Mxit Evo is the first PC Client that CEO Herman Heunis deems  ”Decent”

Mxit Offices with Herman Neunis

Mxit Future

2010/2011 Outlook

Mxit monitoring screens

FireID are a hugely successful and proudly South African Startup mentored by Justin Stanford of Silicon Cape Fame.

For those who don’t know what “OTP” relates to in terms of the online usage of the abbreviation, it stands for One Time Password. A technology which is become increasingly popular with websites which require secure logins.

I must praise FireID for their progressive workflow, one that pretty much tries to emulate a Google-like feel.
- Flexi hours (10am – 3pm core hours)
- Free breakfast and Lunch
- employee stock options
- Walking barefoot around the office is cool… etc

Watch out for FireID in the coming months as this will soon be one of our greatest South African Startups.

Some Pics below:

Painted by the Staff

Justin Stanford giving the welcome speech

a little humour?

Below are some images that I took on the day:

The Hot Water Band providing pre-match festivities

CTT Team, Living it LOUDER!

Cape Town flags flying at Cape Town Stadium

Helen Zille enters Cape Town Stadium

The Stormers warming up

The Ball Boy looking on, aspiration in his eyes...

40 000 Fans!

Go Stormers!!!

On the 25th of January the doors will open to this stunning Hotel.
I was Part of the Cape Town Tourism team that went on a Preview Tour today. The variety of Restaurants, conference venues and exquisite suites are highlighted by the fact that our tour lasted 2 Hours. Leanne, our guide for the day was extremely courteous and proffesional while being approachable and humorous. All of the staff had a similar demeanor and made it an awesome experience.
This five-star hotel is ideally located in the centre of historic Cape Town at the entrance to the famous pedestrian precinct, St George’s Mall. The Main entrance however is on Wale Street just before the bend into Adderly.

Taj Cape Town Lobby

Some information from the Official Taj Cape Town website:

Restaurants:

The Taj Cape Town offers an eclectic variety of cuisine and culinary experiences including an Indian specialty restaurant, a relaxed all-day dining restaurant, a champagne and oyster bar and a cigar lounge.

Some Pictures of the Taj Cape Town:

5 Star bathroom

Taj Bombay Brasserie Restaurant

Taj Presidential Suite View of Table Mountain

I’m sure to visit again, once the Hotel is officially opened. Perhaps a Proper review is in order?
-A-

Rafiq Phillips your Cape Town Web AddiCT has also been delivering great posts on Andriod Mobile advancement and it’s adoption by Cellphone Manufacturers.
His recent post to win a Android phone comes as a godsend as I’ve been considering Andriod as a replacement to my disfigured HTC S740.

Shoulda gotten a case... I know

I mean really, how is a self-confessed Geek supposed to enjoy my mobile online fix with such a device. Even had the screen not have been cracked the Windows Mobile 6.1 experience alone makes this a undesirable device (Dont know why I thought WinMo was a good idea)

For More on the OpenMoko FreeRunner check Rafiq’s post here.
-A-

While the cops were distracted... snap snap

While Officer Van der Merve was distracted (I didnt send that guy.. I promise… ) I took this picture.
Notice that other than the Number plate and the hidden lights in the grill this car is totally unmarked.

So expect them to be out in Force during the 2010 WorldCup, seeing as how they recently bought a few Silver Golf 6 GTi’s.
Read my first post with more photo’s here.
-A-

P.S. Do you have any pictures of the Ghost Squad in action? Send them to me via aslamlevy (at) gmail.com

Friday see’s one such dialogue happening at the Seapoint Civic Centre. I’m not too sure that I can attend this one, but atleast people are talking about Religion to gain a better understanding.

-A-

From http://www.businessghana.com:

Fifa’s Organising Committee today approved the procedure for Friday’s draw which will be held in Cape Town.

The seeding was based on the October 2009 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

Ghana, ranked 38th during the month of October 2009 are in Pot 3 with all the four other African qualifiers and three South American candidates.

Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England are therefore the seven squads that join hosts South Africa as seeded teams for the Final Draw.

• Pot 2 will be composed of teams from Asia (Australia, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic), North, Central America and the Caribbean (Honduras, Mexico, USA) and Oceania (New Zealand)

• Pot 3 will include teams from Africa (Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria) and South America (Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay)

• Pot 4 will have the remaining European teams (Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland)

The committee also approved the procedure for the final draw:

• hosts South Africa will be automatically positioned as A1; the other seeded teams will be drawn into the other groups B-H, but will always be in position “1” of their group

• groups will be drawn from A to H and the positions in the group will be drawn for Pots 2 to 4

• geographical criteria will also be respected, meaning that no two teams from the same confederation will be drawn in the same group (except European teams, where a maximum of two will be in a group). For example, South Africa cannot play the African teams from Pot 3 and Argentina and Brazil cannot be drawn against the three remaining South American teams.

Seedings:

Pot 1 – South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain.

Pot 2 – Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Honduras, Mexico, USA, New Zealand

Pot 3 – Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

Pot 4 – Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland

Looking Good Bafana, Looking Good
-A-

So, inform yourself and learn a few words from this unofficial 12th language

THE GAYLE

PS. As a straight guy thinking back on conversations I’ve overheard it’s quite interesting in hindsight.
-A-