Taking 3D to the lounge

For the past week I have been testing a 3D home entertainment setup in my lounge thanks to the guys at LG that sent me some equipment to combine with my own system. The picture above is of the wall in my lounge. Before we talk about the realities of 3D television, let’s take a look at the bits and pieces and their prices. Read more »

Why I cancelled my pay television subscription

On Tuesday I tweeted that I was pleased with DStv making it simple for subscribers to cancel their accounts. This prompted replies from people wondering why I cancelled my subscription. I can’t answer that with a character limit of 140, so I decided to put my answer here instead.

About a week before the 2010 FIFA World Cup I bought the new HD PVR 2P decoder for DStv. I had been without DStv for almost two years but made an impulse buy of the decoder when I saw the price – R2000. I wanted to check out DStv’s high definition channels and thought it would be worth having for the World Cup. I set it up myself, after returning the decoder because the first one I was sold had a mismatched smart card.

Watching the World Cup in HD was totally worth it – mostly because it was a great excuse to have friends over. Now, about a month after the event, I have cancelled my subscription. These are some of my reasons: Read more »

Hands on with Nokia’s N8: what you need to know

Today I spent some time with the folks from Nokia South Africa and got to play with the N8. This is the second time I’ve checked out the device, but I’m not allowed to talk about the first.

The N8 is a make-or-break play for Nokia. The Finnish cellphone manufacturer is the dominant mobile device vendor in the world but has been lagging behind in the smartphone market where it has had its ass handed to it by the likes of Apple and BlackBerry. The Nokia N97 was a bit a of a fail, but Nokia has astutely focused on services such as Ovi Maps and its Music Store – and services are key to winning in the smartphone space. That doesn’t mean you can get away with having crappy hardware, however.

The N8 is Nokia’s answer to the iPhone and the plethora of Android devices that are flooding the market. After playing with this device and seeing it in action these are the most important things I think you need to know: Read more »

How to buy a Kindle

With the launch of Amazon’s new 6″ Kindle reading device questions have once again been raised about whether or not the company ships to South Africa and where the best place is to buy a Kindle. The short answer is yes, Amazon does ship to South Africa and the new Kindle is officially supported. The only place you should buy it is directly from Amazon.

The misunderstanding surrounding Amazon’s shipping policies and availability of the Kindle are due to bad reporting in the media and grey importers who would prefer it if you bought the Kindle from them. Read more »