I’ve seen the Wonderbag being used before… in fact, last year my mom blogged about how she used one to cook my birthday dinner because the power went out on the day we celebrated my birthday at her house… so, I was intrigued when I got invited to Microsoft for today’s launch.  But the launch ended up not being about the bag… but about how the company intends distributing it to communities.

Oh and we got to eat lunch that was cooked in the bag!!

Before I start, it probably makes sense to explain what it is.  It’s a bag that looks almost like a duvet with a cushion that you tie around the top.  The way you use it, is to boil your food in a pot, and once the cooking process has started, you take the pot off the stove and put it in the bag, seal it, and leave it.  And the bag’s insulation acts like a slow cooker and cooks the contents of the pot.

So, as you may think, this save electicity or fuel or whatever it is that you cook with, and is good for the environment… and effectively saves you money if you use it regularly.

What’s interesting about this product though, is the way in which it’s being “sold”.

Natural Balance has now reached agreement with some municipalities to distribute/sell the bags to the residents to reduce the power consumption as well as household costs.  The mayor of Newcastle spoke at the launch today and told us how 22000 of these bags will be distributed to the residents of the town who are on the ingident register (those households registered as only earning < R1900 income per month.  And then other residents will get bags if they prove that they pay their electricity bills for 3 consecutive months… as an incentive to paying for electricity.  They’re hoping to encourage the use of the bags to reduce power bills… and effectively giving the residents more disposable income to spend on other things.

Interesting hey?

I really hope that the community project is successful, because I think it’ll really help those that are struggling to pay for electricity… and to keep their consumption under the minimum “free” limit. In fact, there was a guy from the Ekhuruleni municipality at the launch trying to understand how he could get the concept working in his area… good sign!!

What was also interesting was that a product design agency Frog has built a mobile USSD application for field agents to capture basic information about the people that use the bags (and the data is then sent real-time to a cloud based database and system provided by Microsoft) in order for the company to monitor the use of the bags… and then enabling them to claim carbon credits.  Carbon credits are tradeable in Euros and will essentially mean that that money  received from the sale of the credits will be plugged back into the project enabling more bags to be produced and distributed.

Some facts about the bags which I found quite fascinating:
- The Wonderbag saves approximately 0.5 tonnes of carbon per year if it is used 2 or 3 times a week.
- With regular use, the Wonderbag can save at least 15kWh of electricity and 1.6 litres of paraffin a week, and as much as 50% of the energy needed of cooking.

Oh and it’s pretty!
I think it’s a really worthwhile project they’re embarking on… I think I want to get one for my domestic worker… I’m sure it’ll save her some money.

However, even though it’s so cool, I’m not sure how often I would use it… other than what my mom did… use it when the power goes out and you want to cook something for a long time.  We don’t really eat a lot of stewy stuff.  But if we did… this would make a huge amount of sense

PS. Some of the images taken with iPhone and Instagram and the others with my DSLR

On Sunday I met up with a bunch of girl geeks, who like me, write reviews for Girl Guides. In between tucking into cocktails and sushi at the Southern Sun Hyde Park pool bar (which is awesome btw) we had to introduce ourselves to the PR reps that were there too.
I found that surprisingly difficult! I couldn’t figure out how to explain who I was in a geek sense, and what kind of gadgets I like using.
Instead of saying that I like ALL gadgets and want to try them ALL, I went on about how I’m a photographer, a blogger, that I do social media strategy and banking strategy and that I’m a mom with 2 boys who are enamored with Xbox at the moment. Lame that explanation, isn’t it?

Anyhoo, I was listening to everything the others said around the room and it struck me how different we were, if compared to a bunch of male geeks in a similar environment.

We all love gadgets and blogging and social media. But… We don’t necessarily have the gadgets to support that love. If you had to ask a bunch of tech reviewers on a male dominated site guaranteed the majority of them actually own the gadgets already or something similar anyway.

In fact, it may surprise you to know this but even though we have an Xbox and my camera equipment is fab… We don’t even own a flat screen TV at home!! LOL!

When I thought about this topic on Sunday driving home, my feeling at the time was that it was because there’s always something else that seems more worthwhile spending money on.

I mean, I would give my eye teeth for an iPad2 or a Kindle or flat screen TV, but paying school fees and getting a new lens and clothes shopping and kids entertainment… and in fact, a new couch, is more of a priority.

And then on the way to work yesterday, I heard an interview on 5fm with a lady from FITE who is in South Africa working with local woman entrepreneurs and she was quoting some stats that astounded me, and also made me realise that my thoughts were in fact right. Do you know women on average, plough 85% of their income back into their family?

That makes complete sense to me. If the kids asked for a gadget I would buy it in a flash if I thought they’d gain from it. But I wouldn’t buy it for myself. I think it’s selfish.

Strange but true. Is this the case for you too?

I had to postpone a photoshoot this afternoon because of the rain, and when I got home I decided I needed a nap.  Just then the lightning started and I convinced the kids they had to stop playing on my laptop immediately… and I unplugged it.

They always look at me as if I’m daft when I do that… but seriously… my laptop CANNOT be struck by lightning… I’m mid-edit with too many photoshoots, and I’d lose too much… and not only that my backup was plugged in at that moment too.

So anyhoo, they decided to join me on the bed… literally a minute later there was a loud POP.

and the lightning struck our house and the phone next to my bed blew!! And the entire plug point actually. And then it happened again!! Twice!!

The kids as you can imagine were a little besides themselves.

THANK GOD I’d switched my laptop and modem etc off in time… I don’t want to even think about what could have happened!  Especially considering the study plugpoint that I use is literally on the other side of the wall to the one that got struck!

I don’t like not knowing what’s going on.

Not that that statement is a surprise to those that know me online LOL!

In the last few weeks I’ve been scarce online.  It’s so damn busy at work, and I’m trying hard not to fall behind with my editing, and I’m also trying to get organised so that I can handle more weddings etc, that my online time has slipped.

Well, I have been blog reading and doing research like normal, but I haven’t been keeping up to date with my twitter stream, and I feel like I’m losing touch with my friends .  It’s all very distressing.

There was a short time today where I was able to catch up on Twitter… and man, I had to follow so many trails to figure out what was going on with everyone.  I quickly caught up on the Eqypt debacle, the Mandela health “crisis”, Angel’s dad etc etc yet it wasn’t enough time.

One thing that was handy today, and made me realise again that I’m normally quite on top of what is going on in the world, was today at around 12:30pm.  I was busy facilitating a strat session, and everyone wanted to stop to listen to the Mandela press conference on ETV on someone’s iPad.  Just before 12:30, there was an ad break, and everyone groaned.  I got out my phone, and checked my twitter stream and within a few seconds had found the answer… Mandela was being discharged.  We didn’t have to wait for the TV news… and we could carry on… 

LOL, love it when Social Media helps me prove my case (the other part of my day job )

So…. do you like the new layout?  hmm? hmm?

It was designed by Judith Shakes Designs.  It’s not a local design (if you’re wondering), and it’s a custom layout design done just for me!!

Cool hey?

I asked for something plain.  Didn’t want too fancy, but I was quite specific about a few things.  I don’t think I was an easy client though.  In fact, when I sent her my list of requirements and links to sites that I liked, she replied saying that normally she gets examples that are similar… but she couldn’t find any similarities between the ones I sent her.

LOL! Sounds like me right?  Completely indecisive!

But somehow she got it right.  This was her first try and I didn’t even want one change.  I love the colours.  I love the simplicity.  I love that it’s very different to my photography blog (which is also crying for a makeover).

As for the circumstances around me getting Judith Shakes Design to do my blog… well… I actually won the custom layout on Sarcastic Mom’s blog because of the Weekly Winners challenge a year ago, and I finally got my butt into gear and followed up! LOL!  My blog was in desperate need of a new look.  I’ve been eyeing her designs out for ages though, and wanting something that was me… and I think I got it!

I love my new iPhone… just love it.  Now that it’s finally working that is… that’s a whole other story, but thanks to a certain Paul at MTN, it’s finally working after my week long battle!

You may think that weird, but seriously, for someone who has been struggling with a Blackberry’s issues with the scroll button thingy for months, and the somewhat Socially inept Samsung Wave for a few weeks, the iPhone is just too amazing for words!

Every time I do something on it for the first time I’m impressed… apart from the cost of the apps… but anyhoo it’s a small price to pay for this beautiful machine.

Today I tried the video… well actually the camera was set to video by mistake so I realised too late that I was videoing instead of taking photos.  But isn’t the quality cool?!

And aren’t my kids awesome

Next time though, the video will be a little longer

As for my favourite bits of the phone so far… the camera quality, the touch keyboard (just miles better than the other phone), the sync to my Macbook, Hootsuite app, Instagram app, Facebook and Foursquare.  It allows me to be as social as I want to be, and it syncs with my mail perfectly!

PS.  My phone number has changed so if you don’t have it, my contact details have been updated on my photoblog

This is the first answer from the questions posed to me the other day.  Cat wanted to know more about using Twitter, the basics, because she doesn’t feel that she gets it.  Well, it’s not that tricky actually, but it doesn’t happen overnight and I think that’s where people make the mistake with Twitter.  They give up too easily, and it looks overwhelming and they don’t know where to start, so they leave it.

Getting value out of it takes time, you need to build a network.  It only makes sense, and you get value out of it, when you have a network of people that talk about topics that interest you, AND you’re following people that follow each other.  The reasons are the following:

1.  You can only see replies to someone if you follow the person being replied to and the person who is sending the reply.  For example, if I follow A, and A sends a reply to B, I’ll only see it if I follow B too.

2.  People share/tweet information all day about topics they’re interested in (and random stuff too), so if you’re not interested in the topic they’re talking about, you’ll just think it’s noise.  But there’s value in that for someone… Twitter is how I learn.  For example, Cat would probably be interested in design (just guessing here) and parenting, so she’d get value by following other twin moms and some designers and architects.

It’s cool because you end up knowing about things happening in the world way before the news item hits regular radio or TV news, but it’s not overpowering, so you end up learning how to filter out the noise (the random drivel about what people are eating… which could actually be interesting if you’re hungry and need ideas for a meal).  You also get to learn about where people are shopping, and what they’re buying, and what they’re finding cool.  You’re learning from your peers.

Now building the network is the trick, and here’s one way to get there:

1.  If you’re following blogs, chances are that the blogger also tweets.  You already have some kind of interest in what they talk about, so follow them on Twitter too.  Their Twitter handle (name) will be somewhere on their blog… hint… a button that looks like a blue bird.

2.  Find your friends that you’re linked to on Facebook on Twitter… by searching for their names or linking to Facebook to find them.

3.  Now you need to find people that they’re linked to.  There are 2 ways to do this.  One is to go through their “following” list to see who they like to listen to, and start following those people too (don’t go through their follower stream because they might not find those people interesting).  Secondly, open their twitter stream, see who they’re replying to, or retweeting (like forwarding an email which means that they like that that person is saying), and if they’re talking to someone about something that interests you too, then follow them as well (by clicking on that person’s name and pressing the follow button).

4.  Look at the lists that are on your tweeple’s twitter page.  Most people’s lists are made by topic.  If you look at mine, I have one with mom-bloggers, and another with photographers.  If you’re interested in those topics, then start following some of the people on those lists.

5.  Don’t be scared that you’ll offend someone by following them.  It’s not like Facebook where you only link to people you “know”.  No-one on Twitter really cares that you’re following them, they just like their voice being heard.   And if they end up speaking a load of rubbish, unfollow them… again, you won’t offend them.  It’s not as personal as Facebook.

6.  Upload a photo of yourself.  Don’t have a blank avatar because no-one will take you seriously and people will think you’re a spammer.  You have to be real in the space.

7.  Start sharing.  Start tweeting links to sites that you like, or blog posts that you’ve read and think other people will like.  Talk about something.  Reply to someone.  Retweet something you like that someone else has said.

8.  Make sure that you give credit to people. If you’re retweeting something, make sure that the first person who tweeted it is in the tweet.  If you’re tweeting about someone, be sure to add them into your tweet with their handle with the @ sign, that way they’ll see it in their stream even if they don’t follow you.  If you want have a private chat, use the Direct Message format (or DM).

9.  If the website irritates you, like it irritates me, then use a tool to follow your streams like Hootsuite (I use this) or Tweetdeck.  Load a Twitter app on your phone like SocialScope, or Hootsuite or countless others.

And that’s how you do it   And if you want to link to me, then my handle is @jenty

When Exmi asked me a few months ago to participate in a new secret blogging project, just for girls, I was intrigued, and of course I said YES!

How could I not?  It sounded like such a cool idea… a bunch of girl bloggers from all walks of life, at varying degrees of technical proficiency… all reviewing the latest and greatest gadgets from a chicks point of view.  Brilliant plan!! Plus the fact that I like them all, and we get together every so often to talk about the gadgets and have wine… like a book club just better!!

Anyhoo, Girl Guides is finally live… in a beta version…

Check it out, and let us know if there are any issues with it

Oooh and also read my review of the Macbook Pro… which is why I bought it in the end

I can’t wait to play with my next gadget actually!

I just read a tweet that said “I don’t know how I would pass time without twitter” and it got me thinking.

I’m seriously addicted to Twitter, some days are worse than others.

I get all my news from Twitter.  Twitter is how I’m following the World Cup games because we have the only office in the building without a TV, and my desk at home is upstairs and I can’t see the TV.  Twitter is where I get my answers… it’s my Yellow Pages… it’s my first port of call before Google. It’s my SMS line (I don’t use SMS’es I contact everyone via Twitter or FB or email or Skype or BBM etc etc, but not SMS).  It’s my blogger friend update line. It’s my learning channel.

So, what would I do without it?  Probably watch more TV and use more Skype and go back to using online forums.  Seriously though, if Twitter failed completely one day, there will be something that everyone will move to… maybe Plurk will become big again?  You never know

And that’s all I can think of.

How would you get by?

I actually missed something in the local blogging scene!! That hasn’t happened in a while

There’s a new blog aggregation service called Myscoop.

So, for all you local blogging types, it’s got real-time aggregation and a very easy to use search facility.  I like it!  It’s an easy way to look for other bloggers who write about similar things to you and connect to them.

Link your blog there, and let me know, and I’ll follow you.