A year that was...

Looking back at the year that was, 2013, it was pretty good which is why I suppose I can't understand why so many are wishing it away. Yes, for most of them it must have been a pretty horrible year especially if you're a Western Province supporter hence they're wanting to start off 2014 in a fresh mindset knowing that it is a brand new year. That's the thing though, its all in the mindset, at the end of the day it is you and how you react, how you control your mindset that can change the course of how things happen. Why does one have to wait for the turn of the year when you can do it now? Well, that's my two cents on the matter, I'm no motivational speaker neither do I want to be a preacher but that is how I see things from my perspective. 

For me the year kicked off to a tragic start, many heard about the sudden death of South African model Reeva Steenkamp. It made shock waves in the news and media all over the world but for me and many of her close friends it was for all the wrong reasons as the attention was only focused on the person who committed the crime and not on the beautiful soul that was Reeva. Not many know this but she inspired me to put more effort into this blog, she was just meant to be another model I featured on here but instead of just being that, she got me to take this blog more seriously as she corresponded via email, sharing ideas, suggestions and other things I can do to enhance viewer ship on here. So from the success I've had with this blog, I owe a lot of it to her. Thank you Reevs.

For my online presence, the years keep on getting better as I was fortunate enough to be invited to some amazing events. Definitely a highlight for me was the BMW Electro Mobility Summit where I was flown to George to partake in a days discussion with others in the industry on the future of the motor vehicle as well as see and drive future products from the BMW stable, this in turn gave birth to a new feature on the blog, the Bucket Seat which I must thank you guys out there for keeping the views coming is as its turning out to be one of the popular ones on here. We're looking at expanding the brands in the new year so keep a look out for them!

Other major events included Microsoft TechEd Africa 2013, going in as a novice and not knowing too much about system development, it was a tad bit intimidating but after spending a week learning and meeting people it was a real eye opener into the industry and to see what Microsoft has up its sleeves for the future makes me wanting to attend next years TechEd as well! Be sure to check out the other new segment that launched as a result of this, Bucket Tech, where we and with the help of some guest writers will be reviewing the latest gadgets that are on the market.

This year also saw me make my stage début as I was invited to be part of a bloggers panel at the first ever Durban Digital Day. The turnout was fantastic and my time on stage was nerve wrecking to say the least but again, very fortunate and privileged to be given the opportunity and to be recognised as one of the Durban based bloggers to be looked to.

Now I for one would tell you right away that I am not very active, sure I go to the gym 2 times a week, maybe 3 though  I'm a far stretch from being an athlete but when Mr Price Sport came knocking on my door asking me to participate in their inaugural Blog Olympics, I couldn't turn the offer down. Spending the day, hanging around with some of the best in the local online world was a blast and even though I was totally useless in most off the challenges which probably caused my team to come last, I never regret taking part.  

For me working with brands is important and as much as there is many to chose from, I can't work with them all, for one there is very little time to juggle my paying job with this part time hobby. Also I feel that I need to give whomever I work with the respect and time they deserve, hence I've been picky with ones I have chosen and more importantly I chose them because I genuinely like them and like working with them. One of the major ones being Tsogo Sun, despite them being one of the largest hotel groups in Southern Africa, their on line presence is second to none, with the team being on the ball to deal with PR matters. I have visited 5 of their establishments this year and I can honestly say that my experiences at all of them were brilliant. I look forward to keeping this partnership in the years ahead and also bring you reviews on the hotels I've stayed at.

Whats a year without parties? From the most recent @iLuvDBN launch party to seeing the number 1 DJ in the world, there's been tons of them but by far the most memorable one was the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in Cape Town which involved a pain staking but fun road trip with mates from Durban to Cape Town. It tested all of our patience but at the same time gave us time to bond.... well mostly annoy each other but it was an unforgettable trip and one for the record books.

As the year started off on a sad note, it also ended on a sad note with the passing of former President Nelson Mandela. Like I said in my post about him, we must learn from him and practice what he has taught us, be able to forgive and move on because most of the time it is you who has to be the bigger person and most importantly be thankful for everyday that you live and don't wish them away. It's been a great year for me despite the losses and obstacles but without them life would just be boring. Make the most of it and don't wait for tomorrow to make the change, do it now. 

Have a safe New Years Eve and hope 2014 brings everyone much joy and happiness. 

Windows Surface Pro

Last year I had the opportunity to view and play around with the Windows Surface RT as I said its an awesome device, definitely a major threat to other tablet devices in the market. Whilst it was pretty good, the RT wasn't the range topper in the for the Surface. This is where the Pro comes in, a few weeks back I attended a presentation which showcased what the Surface Pro was capable of.

Firstly its size, the dimensions are pretty much the same as the RT apart from the thickness. It is a little less than double the thickness of the RT which isn't really that bad. Obviously with it being thicker the weight would increase but again, I've used tablets or slates that were heavier. The build quality like the RT is pretty good, the magnetic snap on keyboard works well and because its so thin one hardly notices it. 

One might get put off with the Pro by it being ticker and heavier but it is with good reason. The Pro is powered with an Intel CPU and is basically a fully functional ultrabook. If one has to compare it to any of the ultrabooks in its range, the Surface Pro would probably be better. Portability for many is a key factor and many with ultrabooks like myself often find the need to have a tablet when moving around, yet if one had a tablet, because its limited in many aspects they would find them self wanting a notebook/ ultrabook. 

The Windows Surface Pro provides the user with the best of both. It can be a hand held tablet when need be and if the occasion arises where you need to do work that requires a keyboard, within a matter of seconds you can setup the keyboard which doubles as a cover and open the stand at the back and you're good to go!

Now the Microsoft Surface isn't yet available in South Africa but as I learnt during my time at TechEd 2013, there are plans of it being introduced to the market in both the RT and Pro versions in the second quarter of the year. It will be interesting to see how the consumers react to this device, seeing that Apple has dominated the market especially with FNB's promotion of the iPad. Personally I would love to own one, Windows 8 does take some time to get used to but with the touch interface it works brilliantly.

Microsoft TechEd Africa 2013

I like to think of myself as a geek, I'm always in know of the latest gadgets, when the latest software releases are out and of course wanting them all! That's why when Microsoft SA invited me to TechEd Africa 2013 I couldn't say no. It was to be my first time so I had no idea what to expect, after receiving my agenda it dawned upon me that many of the topics that were being discussed were way above my level of knowledge but regardless of this I thought it would be cool to see what it was all about. This is a brief summary of my time at TechEd 2013, for those who didn't follow my tweets during the time I spent there.

Day 1

The opening day started off late, since many of the delegates had to fly in from various destinations and check in to their respective hotels before making way to the ICC to register and to attend the opening Keynote address. I arrived a bit early but it was fun seeing geeks in the bus loads invade the place, all of them beaming with excitement for what the next 3 days had in store. The opening Keynote wasn't what I had expected but basically gave us an insight into what Microsoft are planning now. Cloud computing as mentioned in my previous post is changing the world of IT. Previously people used to email documents to and fro in order to get work done, sometimes the documents were too big to send over email so it had to be cut to a disk or put onto a portable hard drive. With cloud computing, multiple people can now work with a single document that is stored on the "cloud" thus saving time, which essentially saves money and ups productivity.

They then went into examples which involved high end coding, explaining the how certain tasks could be integrated using Microsoft Azure and Visual Studio. During all of this they demonstrated something really cool called "Windows To Go", in the given example the two coders want to work with the same file in the cloud but because the file is made from the latest Visual Studio which requires Windows8, the one coder had Windows 7 installed on his notebook. This was a problem but with Windows to go, which basically is a USB flash drive with Windows8 on it he was able to reboot his laptop with Windows8 even though Windows 7 is his primary OS. No installation was required.

After the Keynote was complete we were invited to the opening party which was being hosted but the City of Durban at the City Hall. I'd hardly call it a party as the organization was poor, layout was terrible and the queues was horrendous, thus making most people leave early.

Day 2

I kicked off my first proper day at Tech Ed with the 'Unvieling of the Windows Phone" session, the speakers were Anthony Doherty and Luca Decour, both from Microsoft. They gave us an insight into how and why Microsoft developed Windows8 mobile the way they did. They looked at what the competitors had to offer and decided that there was a need for a change. What they came up with was rather cool. The only phone to have a live tile start screen that could be customized to your preference, hence making it more personal to you. They also researched the top selling apps and to date have 48 out of the 50 available on their app store. Instagram isn't one of them but will be available soon. Another cool feature is "kids corner", everyone has that problem where either your kid or someone elses wants to play with your phone but you don't want them access everything that's on there. This setting allows you to set which apps they can access but locking everything else. In some cases it wont only be handy for kids but also other adults!

The expo was a major draw point with many of the brands having set up exhibits, Global Micro who are one of the man sponsors of TechEd were having sessions every hour and at each session gave away an iPad Mini so you can imagine every one of them was full. Mimecast were giving away a trip for two to the Italian GP and many other stands had cool giveaways and freebies , so you can imagine me being an Indian, was in my element as we love our free stuff! I went home with loads of freebies everyday.

That evening HP hosted a private invite only party at the Bellagio night club in Morningside, not the best venue but as the night went on, it really turned out to be a great party. Then again there was an open bar so everyone was merry!

Day 3

After the late night it was a struggle to get back to the ICC by 8am on day 3 as the media were hosted to a round table discussion with members of Microsoft SA, Intel and Global Micro, the topic of discussion "The PC - dying, dead or very much alive?". A lot of scenarios were given and the general consensus was that the PC will never really die. As technology evolves, one would expect devices to become smaller but in the case of mobile phones its quite the opposite with many of the high level models getting bigger mainly due to screen size. Which leads us to the 3 screen lifestyle that many now lead (mobile phone, tablet, laptop/ desktop) and as technology progresses more and more things in our lives turn into "PC's" our day to day appliances are already under going this change with our fridges, televisions and also now with home automation our homes are capable of internet connectivity.

For the past 11 years, Microsoft have been running a competition that is open to University's world wide called the "imagine cup". The competition slogan is "Dream it, Build it, Live it" and that's essentially what it is, entrants dream up and idea, build it using resources given to them by Microsoft and live it in a real day scenario. This year a team of 4 from the University of Johannesburg consisting of students Jan van Niekerk, Lorenzo Boccetti, Merrick Bengis and their supervisor  Dr Ian Ellefsen took top honors with their winning solution "Sentimeter". What it is, is an innovative tool that allows businesses to see what people are saying about them on social media platforms. From this they can track the positive, negative and also queries related to their business. The team will be competing in June at the world final which is being held in St Petersburg, Russia, hopefully they can bring home the winners medal.

That evening was the official TechEd closing party which was hosted by Microsoft at the Durban Exhibition Centre. It was a grand affair with the entire arena decorated with the theme "Africa Rising". There was ample food and refreshments for everyone, I was lucky enough to score an invite to the VIP suite where I got to mingle with some of the main people that were involved in TechEd 2013. It was a night to let your hair down, sit back and enjoy the entertainment that was provided...well not many sat as the DJ kept the crowd on the dance floor.

Day 4

Yet another late night but this time round the organizers of TechEd took this into account as the first sessions of the morning began at 8.30am giving most of the delegates time to crawl into the ICC. First order of the day was attending another session on the Windows phone device. This time round we learnt how Microsoft took it upon themselves to find out from the public, what they wanted in a phone The first thing many mentioned was the importance of security, with many people storing personal info on their phone and now with banks offering apps for mobile devices, they were concerned if the devices got into the wrong hands. Hence the primary focus when building the OS was security and giving the user peace of mind.

The last session I attended was on Internet trends, Jaco Benaude gave us some interesting stats on the world wide web as well as other stuff pertaining to technology. One of the things he mentioned which caught my attention was that the quality of the internet in SA is averaged at 84% and we rank 39th overall in the world. Which is pretty good, obviously the downside is our pricing but lets hope that changes in the not to distant future.

Before I knew it, it was time to attend the closing  keynote. Most of it was about 4 Afrika, a Microsoft iniative to supply and educate the children of Africa from a young age with the latest technology and introduce them to the internet. 45% of Africa's population is under the age of 15 years old and they are our future, Microsoft is aware that this continent is our future and can see the chances of growth and that is why they are investing in it.

To end off, it was a very memorable experience attending TechEd 2013. I learnt a lot, met many new faces and got to know so much more about the company and what they're doing. Here's looking forward to TechEd 2014.

A big thank goes out to Natassia Badenhorst from Flesihman Hillard who made this all possible.

 

Microsoft TechEd 2013

Next week sees the start of the biggest IT conference in the continent, Microsoft TechEd 2013 Africa will be held in Durban at the Albert Luthuli International Conference Centre. It will see over 2500 technology fanatics invade Durban for those 4 days. I managed to crack an invite for the event and as you can imagine I am extremely excited to be attending.

The conference runs from the 16 to the 19 of April and will feature a host of local and international speakers, the main topics will be Microsoft Server Solutions, Cloud Computing, Office 365, Windows 8 and Windows Mobile 8. Focus around apps will also be key as Microsoft's latest operating system is very application orientated.

One of the interesting topics will be Cloud computing, its already taken off else where in the world and slowly more and more big businesses are taking into this in South Africa. An increase in cloud computing will see a demand for Data centres and that's where Microsoft's server solutions comes into play. This is sure to draw a lot of attention during the conference.

Apart from talks, there will be discussion sessions with the professionals where information will be exchanged and developers having the chance to chat with each other to discuss problems, solutions and other aspects of the software.

Windows8 and Windows mobile 8 will also be a keen topic that many will be interesting, it is becoming the fastest selling OS from the software giants and with good reason too. Its completely changed the look we're used to where by the desktop is done away with and a tile format is used. Learning more about what the operating system can do will be another one that will draw a lot to the talks and presentations.

Of course it wont be work for all 4 days, I've head from many that the parties are insane so also very much looking forward to the opening and closing parties!

Registration for Microsoft TechEd closes on April 10th, visit www.teched.co.za to register!