Nico Baird

THE world is embracing the use of greener technologies to not only save the planet, but in many instances to save money. The reduced consumption of electricity is lowering monthly costs and it is vital that we try to go as green as possible when it comes to the way in which we make use of technology.

First of all there is the fact that we should buy computers that are produced by companies that are environmentally conscious. This is very hard to write about as companies are doing their bit in varying degrees. The best bet would be to find out as much as possible about the product you buy and the company that produced it.

The second thing would be to consider reducing the paper you consume. When you buy a new book consider buying an eBook reader and then purchasing eBooks in the future. Students should seriously consider this. If you do the calculations you will see that you will also start to save quite a bit after a while. The initial cost of the device would be more than a book, but after about ten books you will start to save.

The third recommendation that I will have for individuals and companies is to make use of fax to email services. Do not use regular fax machines. You should have the option to print only the faxes that need to be printed. Fax to email services give you a private fax number which is connected to your email address. As soon as you receive a fax you get it in your inbox. Two of these free services you can try is www.faxaroo.com and www.faxineer.com.

Always remember to think twice before printing any document.

AUTUMN and spring are the times of year when most people plan to have their wedding. The weather is great and it is not too cold or too hot.

With winter approaching, I am sure a large number of brides are in the process of planning their spring weddings; getting the invitations designed and printed, making sure that they invite the right people and not forgetting the family from far away.

A trend these days is to focus on electronic invita- tions; this will not only save money, but time as well. You are also able to quickly get feedback from everybody you invite.

This entire process was still quite difficult, but I came across a website that was just launched to make your life as a bride a bit easier. I am writing about this now just to give you enough time to get things ready and still have time to get feedback before your spring wedding.

Weduary (www.weduary.com) makes it easy for any bride and groom to build a social and beautiful wedding website in minutes. Weduary is designed with a DIY spirit in mind you can personalise your entire site, from the domain name, to the registry info, to your custom colour palette.

The website includes an area where you can manage RSVP’s, photos and much more. You can even purchase a custom domain and link it to your own webpage on the Weduary.

I love the fact that the invitations can be linked to Facebook and you can then select those guests who are on Facebook and they will receive the emails even if you do not have a physical address or email address handy.

HOE kommunikeer jy deesdae? Maak jy nog so gereeld oproepe soos voorheen?

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.

ONE of the tools Google provide which I believe is of incredible value, is Google Alerts.

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.

THIS week MWeb dropped the price of their uncapped 1Mbps ADSL internet subscription. Is this the start of more price decreases?

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.

THIS past week we spent in KwaZulu-Natal, really just relaxing a bit and at times I was even “off-line”. Fortunately for me my wife now shares my obsession with the internet and the idea of always being online and being connected.

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?

SOCIAL gaming is really taking off, and I love it. Yes, for a long time we have had the Farmville and Cityville players on Facebook, but for the past few months social gaming on the iOS, BlackBerry and Android platforms have grown considerably.

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.

DIE winter is om die draai en ek dink dit is die ideale tyd om met jou eie blog te begin. Wat kan dan nou lekkerder wees as om in die winter elke paar aande met ’n glasie wyn aan jou volgende blog-inskrywing te werk, of om van jou foto’s te deel?

’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.