Ek het die afgelope ruk besef ek raak effens geïrriteerd met aanhoudende oproepe. Ek luister lankal nie meer na my stemposboodskappe nie en voel deesdae gemakliker om per e-pos, SMS of een van die ander boodskapprogramme op my selfoon te kommunikeer.

Ek verkies natuurlik om deesdae van What’s App gebruik te maak. Indien jy dit nog nie op jou selfoon geïnstalleer het nie, gaan kyk sommer dadelik of dit met jou selfoon versoenbaar is en indien dit is, sal die program jou baie geld spaar. Dit werk net soos ’n SMS maar met baie minder koste. Dit gebruik ook jou telefoon se nommerdatabasis, so jy sal nie nodig hê om vriende se pinkodes of ander kodes in te tik nie. Indien hulle ook die program het, sal jy hulle in die program gelys sien.

Die groot voordeel van die programme is jy steur mense nie. Indien ek ’n boodskap ontvang, kan ek besluit of ek dit dadelik wil lees en wanneer ek dan op die boodskap wil reageer, kan ek tot besluit ek wil die boodskap heeltemal ignoreer. Indien ek ’n oproep ontvang, moet ek dadelik alles los en aandag gee aan die een wat my bel.

Ons lewe in ’n wêreld waarin ons elke dag groot uitdagings aandurf en indien ons vir elke oproep alles moet los, sal ons nêrens kom nie.

Is dit nie tyd dat jy jou onderneming aanpasbaar maak vir navrae wat nie telefonies plaasvind nie? Wanneer het jy ’n SMS-navraag vir jou onderneming ontvang en gereageer? Is dit nie tyd nie?

Dit kan so maklik gedoen word.

If you are a company, a researcher, someone who likes to stay up to date on specific issues or maybe just someone who would like to know if anybody is writing something online about you or your company, then this tool is for you.

Let us take the following scenario: You are a scrapbooking enthusiast. You love to create scrapbooks and you also love reading about scrapbooking. You have spent many hours visiting websites about scrapbooking. This you have been doing for months. You have visited hundreds of sites. But what if these sites are updated or new sites are added? How will you know? Will you have to visit all these sites again?

No, simply go to http://www.google.com/alerts. Enter the information required, like the topic you want information on and how often the information should be delivered to you. Enter your delivery address and create the alert. You will then receive an email to confirm you did request the service, whereafter you will receive regular updates of new websites or posts on the topic you have entered.

I highly recommend it for companies to monitor whether people are talking about your company or products. Keep a tab on what is said about your brand.

Obviously this is a perfect tool for researchers and teachers to keep up to date in their field.

Remember, this service is free and you are able to set many alerts. However, also remember, when you set many alerts, you will get many update emails about the topics of your enquiry.

I have noticed that MWeb has left most of their other packages unchanged but only time will tell if this is a step to test the waters and to see if there is an increased uptake of the service.

With more and more undersea internet cables connecting South Africa with the rest of the world we will see major price decreases in the next two to three years.

A few years ago we saw major price decreases when the Seacom cable became active. The great news is that most of the cables that are in the process of being installed are quite a bit bigger than Seacom. This would mean that more data can be transferred through these cables.

All of this boils down to major price decreases and huge savings for users. Each time one of these cables go live we can be sure that some type of price decrease will follow.

The great news is that the prices of ADSL connections will continue to go down and I am sure that in a year or two we will see high speed uncapped ADSL connectivity for under R100. This will make possible the growth of many online services in South Africa.

But this week I would love to share something with you that happened on the way.

We stopped over at my wife’s grandmother who is now 80 years old.

As we walked in the house I saw two computers.

Now if you do the math, you would realise that she probably retired before computers and the internet became main-stream appliances.

She taught herself to use these computers and now she even renders a service to two local businesses by taking care of some of their accounting needs.

She just decided one day that she would like to be able to use a computer and she started to teach herself.

If there is something she is not able to do, she would either struggle until she figures it out or she would phone someone for advice.

That is after all the only way you can learn a new skill.

The sad thing is that every week I hear from people that are between 40 and 60 that need help because they are BC Before Computers.

I realise now that if you hide behind this, it is definitely not your age that is hampering you and keeping you from making use of a computer, it is all in your mind and your willingness to try something new and maybe even being a bit lazy.

If she is able to learn these skills after her retirement, what excuse do you have?

I have fallen into this trap and unlike most online social games the games that are available on these mobile platforms are more stimulating on an intellectual level. Games that are available as social games are chess, scrabble and many more.

The game that is really very popular at this moment is Draw Something. This game is loosely based on Pictionary and it is very addictive. You can see your friends draw the pictures from anywhere in the world and you can answer when you know what they are drawing.

Most of these games make it possible for you to link to friends on Facebook or even by email. Most of these games are structured in a way where you do not need to be available to play synchronously. You play and then, whenever your friends are available, they can then make a move. You are then notified as soon as it is your move again. I highly recommend that you download and try some of these games.

They are usually available as a free download to give you a bit of a taste of the experience. You can then upgrade to a paid version if you like the game. Don’t worry, they are usually very cheap and for only a few rands you will be able to upgrade.

Go to the app store of your mobile phone today and take a look around at which of the games have a social component where you can play against your friends.

’n Paar jaar gelede het almal oor blogs gepraat en almal wou hul eie blog skep. Vandag is blogs so algemeen en so baie mense het hul eie blogs dat ons nie meer so baie daaroor praat nie.

’n Blog is basies ’n webblad en word deur baie maatskappye gebruik om gebeure in die maatskappy met die publiek en werknemers te deel. Dit is ’n maklike platform om te gebruik en elke nuwe inskrywing wat jy maak, word chronologies bygevoeg om só ’n tydlyn van gebeure te skep.

Ek stel ook as voorbeeld elke week dié rubriek op my blog beskikbaar, tesame met ander inskrywings wat ek van tyd tot tyd maak. Indien jy dus ’n rubriek misgeloop het, kan jy maklik na www.nicobaird.com gaan om dit weer te lees.

Die geheim van ’n blog is dat jy moet skryf oor dit wat vir jou belangrik is en waarin jy belang stel.

Daar is ’n aantal gratis platforms beskikbaar waar jy jou kan registreer en ’n bietjie kan eksperimenteer. Besoek gerus www.posterous.com, www.tumblr.com, www.wordpress.com en ook www.blogger.com. Kyk ’n bietjie wat elkeen van hierdie blogplatforms jou bied en kies een wat jy dink aan jou die beste opsies gaan bied. Registreer jou, kies ’n templaat en begin met jou eerste inskrywing.

Jy is ook welkom om jou adres met my te deel deur dit vir my te e-pos. Wie weet, dalk skryf ek nog eendag oor jou nuwe blog.

It is quite sad to find that professional publications do not know that the moment you create something you have immediate copyright.

For example, when a photographer clicks the button on his camera or even iPhone, or the moment an artist applies paint to a canvas the copyright is owned by that artist or photographer.

There are some exceptions, but they are very scarce.

Copyright is an automatic right and does not require the author to have to file special paperwork as is the case for patents or trademarks.

One of the rights that you have with a copyright is that you have the right to display your works publicly.

This includes the internet. By doing so, you do not lose your copyright.

Those images you find on Google are mostly copyrighted. Just because you can find them on Google does not mean that you have the right to use them. Make sure of the licences before using the images. There are many images available online that you can use legally under Creative Commons.

Publishers should think about it this way. Would you like it if someone republishes your work without your consent and without crediting you for the work?

It is vital to always credit the source of anything you use and also get permission.

I think the most important thing for photographers or writers to take from this is that you need not be afraid of the internet and the sharing of your intellectual property, you do retain the copyright.

Publishers, please remember that you need to be sure to respect copyright just as you expect your consumers to respect your copyrights.

I have, however, found that most of Bloemfontein is covered. I found the battery life on the device to be quite good.

We went to the Blue Bulls versus the Cheetahs game two weeks ago and it was amazing to have replays and commentary in my ear during the game.

Sport fans should run and not walk to get a Walka especially for major sporting events. I am hoping that quite a bit of the Olympic Games will be broadcast to the Walka later this year. If you are working during the day, it will be incredible to check in every few minutes to what is happening.

The number of channels available on the Walka is also increasing as time goes by and I am quite sure that in a few months most of the channels on DStv will be available.

I hope that in a year or two most of the major routes will also have coverage, because I think this could be a great device for keeping your children engaged on the back seat while you drive to your holiday destination. At the moment only most of the major cities have coverage.

I must warn you that the display is not the best I have seen, but really watchable. Do not buy the device if you expect HD quality images, but it is extremely watchable and if you just enjoy watching television you should not be put off by this.

After I wrote this column my friends asked me if I am getting paid by Walka to write it! NO! I honeslty love this device.

There are many new features which is worth reading through on www.apple.com, but I believe the most important feature is the fact that you can now stream high definition 1080p video to your television.

The iPad reinvented the way in which we create and consume content; in essence it redefined personal computing.

This new version was the main announcement of the event and lived up to expectations.

The new iPad now also has a Retina display which is the highest resolution screen available commercially. The device actually has about 1 million more pixels than your HD television that you may have at home.

The camera on the new iPad is now capable of recording 1080p video and also takes high quality photos. This device is now truly an incredible content creation device.

I believe that this would be the perfect device for recording your life, either with video or with photos; the advantage is that you can also use the same device for all your editing and gallery creation.

The device boasts with new 4G LTE compatibility which is much faster than the connectivity that is available in South Africa.

There are many new features and upgrades of some of the apps available for this new iPad and I think you will only believe it once you see it.

Please visit www.apple.com to read more about this new device.

The new iPad will be available all around the world faster than any other iPad release in the past, so start to save your money immediately.

Years ago we mailed a letter to someone, waited a few days or weeks for a reply. You would phone a friend on his home phone number and if he was out and not able to answer it was fine. We did not feel that he had to answer immediately. We then moved to email and cellular telephones. Today we expect people to answer the phone immediately, and that they always be available. Email, on the other hand, is also too slow these days. We expect a reply to our emails in at least an hour or two. We are always rushing, so now that is not fast enough. Now we are moving more and more to using instant messengers on our cell phones.

Now we expect an immediate response. Five to ten minutes. Now that we do not necessarily have to pay inflated SMS rates we feel that the response should be quick.

We need to slow down, we need to reclaim our time. Who would have thought that we would think back to the days when we used to only be required to reply to emails in a few hours. Those good old days when things were slow.

Yes, we are bombarded with loads of information and we are always available and connected, but remember that you determine the speed at which you use technological innovations. You should be in charge, do not allow the speed of technology to determine the speed at which you burn out. Step back and reclaim your time.