Thought you did everything on your phone?

24 year old Capetonian Bevan Ducasse has created a payment method to make that even more of a daily reality.

wiWallet is a payment system straight from your mobile phone to the cashier point.

Currently the payment method can be used at selected retail outlets with Primi Piatti, Mr Delivery and Scooters joining next week. “Most major retailers are interested in Wiwallet and some have already started projects to integrate” said Ducasse, mentioning popular grocery stores, clothing retailers and petrol stations. …

“I think for South Africans it will mean a simple, secure, convenient and stylish way of paying, but eventually what we are aiming to do is to literally cater for every one of their payment needs: account payments, credit card payments, bill payments and loyalty payments. So it manages all their needs of one platform.” - Ducasse

via News24.

My HTC Touch Diamond saga.

So I got the phone. And too, hated it. Not only because of the Windows Mobile platform, but because it took forever to do anything!

But I persevered, convinced it wasn’t the phone’s fault, but TouchFLO 3D. I was right.

TouchFLO 3D is by far the slowest software I’ve ever had to use. Pretty, definitely. Functional, if you don’t mind waiting a few seconds for it to do anything you ask. Pain in my arse, without a doubt.

So I killed it. Eventually. It took me 9 days to find out where to deactivate it. HTC didn’t reply to my email asking how to do it (fuckers), so I soldiered through and finally found where I needed to be. Thing is, I’m positive I got there a few times before, but that option was never available to me at first. And this is my concern.

It felt to me, and maybe I’m crazy, but that more options slowly became available as the days went on. Bizarre?

After 2 full weeks I’ve eventually got the thing working. 2 days to get Missing Sync working 90% correctly (my contacts wouldn’t sync, at all). 10 days to find the best software replacement (I highly recommend Spb Mobile Shell and Spb Diary from Spb Software House, thanks Rich). And finally, only 30 minutes ago, by some divine intervention (I did nothing out of the ordinary when connecting my phone to my Mac), my contacts synced with my Address Book, and now I am satisfied.

Eventually.

Before installing the Spb products I installed some rad Today add-ons. I also installed a bunch of rad little games and apps from Freeware PocketPC, including this little gem, which unlocks my device like the iPhone. Silly, but awesome.

I’d definitely recommend the phone, but expect to be very, very frustrated for at least a week while you get the phone to your working order. I’m hoping these tips will shorten your frustration.

You really can’t understand how much it irritates me when people drive without number plates. Fucking poser bitches, if you can afford the car, you can afford the fines (or is the futurefin lease maxing out the old finances?). Anyway, I love this bit of viral action from the boys at ArriveAlive (shot Cherry).

One wee mistake though, it’s not the speed that kills them, it’s the ego…!

The other day I was paging through Best Life on the plane when I came across what I think is the best ad I have seen in ages.

Here’s the deal, it’s simply a double page spread of the Aston Martin DBS, with no words, and no logo.

Then as as insert, just sitting there, was the financial pages. The message, if you want this super-hot bit of kit (you do), best you get investing (and at R3.6m you know you need all the help you can get).

Most people don’t seem to get it, but I think that’s kinda cool. Make’s you feel like part of the inner circle, and isn’t that what a car like that is supposed to do anyway?

Very well played to Aston Martin for yet again getting it right…!

Update: Wow, seems I’m not in the inner-circle that got it at all. Apparently the ad was for Old Mutual, not Aston Martin. Ha, now I can’t decide if it was good or not… although, I am talking about it.

…is almost exactly how long my HTC Touch Diamond lasted before I reverted to my iPhone (even though it has a cracked screen).

Now before you get on your high horse and accuse me of being a close-minded iPhone lover. I hate Apple, deeply hate them. I really wanted this phone to work. Minutes after turning it on though I feared the worse - but I persevered, hoping, pleading with the thing to be better.

But it just wasn’t the case.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s better than many devices, it’s just about 10 steps back from the iphone.

Pros:

Nice idea for the interface, very sexy

MMS

3mb camera with video

Lovely form factor

Text wrap when browsing

Cons:

Text input is horrid

Browsing is not nice, very frustrating

No headphone jack

Interface is very… very sluggish

Very limited multi-media support

Generally buggy

I hate to say it, but bring on the 22nd July, despite myself I’ll be in the queue for the biggest non-event in phone history…!

So yesterday I won 2 tickets to the Beijing Olympics from Nedbank because I used my VISA card. Sweet, thanks Nedbank.

The thing is, I discussed it with my wife and we both feel that there are other people out there that would get a lot more out of this than we would. My thinking was that I’d give them to two talented young athletes from CIDA. These guys work so hard, and for them it would be an opportunity of a lifetime.

Nedbank won’t let me.

They say it has to be someone from my company, or else they’ll give them away to someone else.

Wow! Really?

I cannot for the life of me understand this. Nedbank should be happy about this, we’re trying to do a good thing here, give young aspiring athletes memories they will cherish for ever.

This is a prime example of red-tape over reason…!

I couldn’t resist posting this snippet from episode 3.41 of my fav podcast; A foot in the crease (a must listen for any hockey fan). Show co-host Dave McCarthy asks TSN columnist James Duthie about the time he bumped into Tiger Woods in the l’il boys room right before the final of the 2002 Masters in Augusta…

“Tiger’s pulling out the driver today” Hahaha!

The Urinal Game

Powered by: Onlyfungames.com

Urinal etiquette, you gotta love it…!

Seems the dirty tricks thing is not the sole domain of British Airways. As a commuter based in Northriding, I take advantage of Kulula’s Lanseria - CT flight fairly often, and for the most part (other than the need of a yuppie class) I’m a happy guy. So when they launched their frequent flyer system, Jetsetters, I was there in a flash.

So off I went to login, and I when I saw that the customary “do you want to receive our marketing bumph” was pre-checked I was unimpressed, but not hugely surprised, most guys do this. So I immediately opted out, and carried on, slightly miffed.

First mail I got from them, immediately following my opt out, was this:

Aaarg. No dude, I’m not an idiot, I knew exactly what I was doing when I unchecked your box.

That’s not the worst of it though. Every time you login to the site and view your profile for anything, the sneaky bastards check the box again i.e. you need to opt out repeatedly.

Have they learnt nothing?

Gideon, I think you’re a marketing genius bro, so I’m assuming that you didn’t see this one, but please change it, it’s nasty.

When it comes to what I receive in my inbox, I should get the final vote. Otherwise you’re just a spammer, and there’s nothing fun or irreverent about that…!

Last night I got some ringside seats at Dragon Power’s Muay Thai/ MMA tournament courtesy of Derek and Marcus at Metal Machine.

The night was wicked cool with all the fights being worthwhile watches. The second last of the evening was the most brutal by far. Ricco “white tiger” Hattingh, performed a textbook shoot into mount, and rained a flurry of skull-crushing blows into the face of his opponent. It was a thing of beauty I tell you.

I couldn’t help laughing though at the scripture embroidered on our hero’s ass (this shit-kicking was given in the name of the good lord): Zachariah 4 : 6

“Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit”

Easy to say really, when you’re that mighty and powerful…!