If luxury with a sense of hospitality is what you are after, you need to come to Cape Town. There is no other place in the world that can offer you renowned African hospitality like we can in our hotels. Western Cape hotels are not only stunning, but there is an option for every price bracket. From Lizwe’s Guest House in Guguletu (where you find the best township atmosphere and cooking that money can buy), to the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa just off Chapman’s Peak (this is really the height of discerning quality), Cape Town hotels can’t be beaten.

If a view of the sea is your thing, why not try the Table Bay hotel, which overlooks the harbour and has ample space for swinging cats, swinging your newly-wedded partner or just swinging yourself around in the fantastically decorated rooms.

So when considering a holiday, don’t pick a fancy but dull hotel in another bland city, come to a Cape Town hotel. Western Cape hotels can’t be beaten!

I like writing. No wait, let me rephrase that – I love writing, everything about it really. I like putting pen to paper or fingertip to keyboard and watching how the thoughts in my head miraculously transform themselves into tiny markings that together make up coherent words, sentences and arguments. It’s like making magic on a small scale; only instead of paper posies and vanishing rabbits you have metaphors, similes and idioms – language running riot on a page, recreating the images in your head so that someone other than you can experience it.

This is why I detest, despise, abhor, loathe, scorn, disdain, shun, have an aversion towards and spit upon the very concept of Lolspeak. Lolspeak, aaaaaargh! The very term puts my teeth on edge. Who on earth came up with the idea to desecrate our language in this manner, to backtrack on years of language evolution to create this incoherent mishmash of terminology that has all the elegance of a wounded wildebeest? When did poor spelling become avant garde?

What rubs me the wrong way even further is that there is no way of stopping it. The use of this detestable way of writing is spreading like wildfire, rabidly moving beyond the web into the realm of text language, written language and, most detestably spoken language. (I even heard of a law student who answered an exam paper in Lolspeak.) Have we no pride? What happened to being proud of your linguistic prowess? To being ticked over the fingers for poor spelling, sloppy pronunciation and illegible handwriting? I read the other day that schools in America are thinking about substituting ground level writing skills with keyboard literacy. You have to wonder if writing, like knitting, crocheting and embroidering, will become just another quaint historic skill in the space of a generation (“My grandmother used to write my grandfather letters on paper, with ink!” “LOL, no way! They haven’t done that for centuries.” “Yes way, come over this afternoon and I’ll ask my mother if I’m allowed to show it to you.”)??

The funny thing is, that the concept of Lolspeak (also known as internet language, Netspeak and Chatspeak) has been discussed since 1989 when a Computerworld article first mentioned the use of emoticons. There has been a variety of opinions regarding its ever increasing prevalence. Some experts maintain that internet slang is a brand new form of language evolution that should be embraced as way of extending the range, expressiveness and richness of our language. Others lean more towards my viewpoint and argue that it doesn’t serve to enrich, instead it merely abbreviates existing terms and stunts the linguistic growth of students that are meant to be mastering a language, not butchering it.

I am so adamant about this that in some ways I cut my nose to spite my face. If I type a long text message for instance, I will make a point of typing out every word (even adjoining terms) while using correct grammar, punctuation and spacing. I even leave a space after using a comma. And I would keep doing this even if I should ever resort to online dating. This might be a bit drastic and futile in the grand scheme of things, but it serves as my own personal rebellion against this rising force of stupidity. Suffice it to say, as far as I’m concerned people who use these terms profusely are either incredibly susceptible to lame trends, genuinely incapable of spelling or just plain lazy – none of which are admirable characteristics.

But, hey, that’s just me.LOL.

Currently, I work as the chief copywriter at ROI Media. They are most likely, Cape Town smartest and hardest working online business development team. Obviously I work for them, so I may gush slightly. Their search engine optimization skills and pure knowledge of the online arena makes them a foe to be reckoned with. It’s a fantastic team with copywriters, coders, seo experts and more making us capable of boosting any poor-performing website. I write and interact all day long and the upper management even listens to my suggestions. Well, sometimes

Anyone would be lucky to have a position like I do. Yet I worked hard and yes, I think I deserve this. You can read the further exploits and success of ROI Media on their nicely designed blog. It includes tips for, search marketing, seo and other interesting tidbits about us. With some luck, you may be working with us one day.

Stuck in a fairly run down area of Cape Town, The Good Hope Centre has been left to its own devices. Cape Town tours no longer highlight the once proud centre. The city of Cape Town has tried to keep its old warhorse running, but it is a constant reminder of the days of Apartheid and most international events stay far away, preferring to locate their shows on the sunny side of town. I recently attended an event at the Good Hope Centre and I was shocked to see the lack of maintenance that obviously had not been occurring. Tiles were broken and chipped; water dripped everywhere and the toilets had the appearance of a prison. Upkeep it seems is no longer the status quo.

I can see where Cape Town city council is coming from though. When 2010 Soccer world Cup hits, it’s going to hit hard. We can’t have tourist events happening all the way at the dirty end of Cape Town. We have a heritage to uphold. And it’s this proud heritage of being a city of transform and diversity that pressed the council to commission the CTICC. As a symbol of hope and new beginnings, it can’t be beat. However to leave the Good Hope centre wading in the cheap seats [with events such as world skipping rope championships] is a crime.

Was 2007 the year you wanted to learn how to kiss, crochet, skateboard, flirt or meditate? You’re not alone. Once again Google has compiled their fascinating annual lists of statistics to show us what has been on the mind of the global connected community, with their 2007 Year-End Google Zeitgeist pages.

The boys and girls at Google have spent many hours mining billions of search queries to read the group consciousness of Internet users over the past 12-month period and it seems we’re still wanting the definition of love, searching for God, (er, and someone called “Buckethead”) and wanting to know what autism, emo and bluetooth are, but were too scared to ask!

The fastest rising search words in order, globally, are reportedly:

1. iphone
2. badoo
3. facebook
4. dailymotion
5. webkinz
6. youtube
7. ebuddy
8. second life
9. hi5
10. club penguin

The last one is an interactive online game for little kids, which indicates that hardcore Internet users are younger than ever before.

The list also shows the rise and fall of searches for gadgets, celebrities, news and sports events and diet and fitness crazes.

So if you feel like you’re on the outside looking in, head on over to Google Zeitgeist and get with the program.

And in case you wondered, Buckethead is an American singer / songwriter who performs with a KFC bucket on his head.

No, seriously.

Rivals Microsoft and Google are at loggerheads again, this time over perceived ‘copyrighting’ infringements.

An attack has been launched by Microsoft on the super-search engine Google’s book-scanning service, which is in direct competition to their own project, Live Search Books.
Whilst Microsoft claims to adhere strictly to regulations by only allowing users to access publications where the copyright is no longer in effect, they accuse Google of contravening the law by allowing copyright-protected materials to be viewed on their site.They compound this accusation by adding that such action cuts into publishers’ profits.

Google, while preparing to scan literally millions of books and publications from around the world, making them available to their users, defends their actions. They claim to be working within the international copyright parameters.

Google’s chief legal officer, Mr. David Drummond, said, “The result has been more exposure and in many cases, more revenue for authors, publishers and producers of content.”

Microsoft lawyer Mr. Thomas Rubin cited YouTube, purchase by Google last year, as a perfect example of the way in which Google operated with blatant infringement of copyrighting laws.

Many experts are of the opinion that this attack is just a continuation of the ongoing rivalry between the two Internet giants.

This may seem harmless compared to drug or alcohol addictions as the physical impact is limited to lack of exercise. However, if unchecked, Internet addiction like any other addiction can impact negatively on one’s relationships, work performance, family life and emotional well-being.

Signs of Internet Addiction:

Social and Personal Effects:

*Friends / family comment negatively on the amount of time you spend online.

*You lose interest in spending time with ‘real’ people, preferring to socialize with your online buddies.

*You make up excuses or lie about the amount of time you spend on the ‘net.

*Your find your spiritual connection with God / your higher power is being compromised, especially due to online porn, gambling or other activities which go against your personal value system.

*You sneak home early from social events to get online – or maybe even decline invitations to go out as you don’t want to miss time on the Internet.

*You become sneaky about being online, finding places and times when your family won’t know what you are up to – e.g. Internet cafes etc

*You stay up late or get up in the night to go online in private. This in turn affects your sleep patterns.

*You have become moody or withdrawn, or increasingly irritable with your loved ones.

*You’ve tried to spend less time on the Internet but have been unable to resist logging on.

*You lose interest in sex with your partner.

Work-related Effects:

*Your work performance goes into decline

*You spend excessive time online during work hours

*You stay behind after work to ‘surf’ the ‘net.

*Your colleagues experience your change in behavior as you become withdrawn.

*Business owners should watch out for reduced productivity, a decline in job satisfaction and in profit margins and a general decrease in efficiency.

As with anything in life, one needs to strive for balance. If you think you or a loved one has a problem with Internet addiction speak to a counselor – preferably one who has experience in the field of addiction. Once you have your compulsive behavior under control you will be able to enjoy time online without letting it take over your whole life.

Remember to live here and now in the real world. Virtual reality still cannot compare with the real thing!

Get out there – go climb a mountain, have coffee with a friend, take up a photography course – get real. The Internet is an awesome tool which can enhance your life – not a replacement for living on this amazing planet.

Go on take the test to see if you are addicted to the net…

The idea behind the new legislation is to create greater transparency and accountability between government and taxpayers.

Bush explained: “Information on earmarks will no longer be hidden deep in the pages of a federal budget bill, but just a few clicks away. This legislation will give the American people a new tool to hold their government accountable for spending decisions. When those decisions are made in broad daylight, they will be wiser and they will be more restrained.”

The signing ceremony was held in the Old Executive Office Building alongside the White House in Washington DC. Also present were lawmakers and Internet bloggers who had taken part on the process of getting the new law through Congress. There was some delay caused by certain Senate members but with the assistance of and pressure from the bloggers the bill was finally advanced.

The Web site will go live by 1 January 2008, and will list federal grants and contracts for over $25,000. Around $1 trillion in government spending will be tracked on the database. Restrictions will be placed on those classified for national security reasons.

The site is specifically targeted at the man and woman in the street who would like to know how their tax is being spent but are not familiar with the budget processes.

As Bush elaborated, “The Web site will allow our citizens to go online, type in the name of any company, association, or state or locality and find out exactly what grants and contracts they’ve been awarded. By allowing Americans to Google their tax dollars, this new law will help taxpayers demand greater fiscal discipline.”

5 Values are available, ranging from Fastest to Slowest. It needs to be kept in mind that the faster values use the most bandwidth so don’t miscalculate when choosing.

However this innovation is still in the trial stages still, so don’t be surprised if you can’t locate it on your Google Sitemaps account just yet.

Spokesperson for Google Sitemaps explains:

“We are testing an alpha version of our new tool with a small percentage of webmasters who use Sitemaps. You should leave this control at the Normal setting unless you are having trouble with the speed at which Googlebot is crawling your server.

Simply select the rate at which you would like the Googlebot to crawl your server and click save. During this stage of testing, we will evaluate requests to determine the best way of using this data and providing this tool to everyone.”

The purpose behind Google Sitemaps is to provide a control panel for webmasters, offering statistics on searches, revealing crawling errors and allowing the submission of sitemaps which enable Google to locate their pages faster.

One of the ideas which came up on the boards recently was the screening of Google advertisements on cinema movie screens, sponsoring the film costs thus enabling the public to view movies for free.

The idea sounds interesting, but is it practical?

A key component in marketing is targeting the ad to the right market. With Google covering such a broad spectrum of information used by consumers from all walks of life, so this aspect may be do-able.

Keeping track of the effectiveness of advertisements screened during movies is a lot more difficult than tracking online ads. This is why only certain sectors utilise big screen ads, which are also harder to track than billboards, radio and television when it comes to effectiveness. This hesitance to break into big screen advertising could carry through into movie-screened Google ads.

Bearing in mind that in many countries product and service advertising already make up a good 30 minutes of pre-main feature ads, along with trailers, it doesn’t seem as if Google has anything different to offer in this field.

I feel that Google are right in wanting to branch out and not keep all their ‘eggs in one basket’ when it comes to advertising.
However big-screen advertising is not a new or fresh idea and already has certain limitations over and above the ones discussed in this article.

I don’t feel that what is being suggested meets the requirements of a new line of advertising.

Back to the whiteboard, guys!