Posts Tagged ‘Apple’

Posted on February 22, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

A to Z of SA

In December last year I was invited by Apple to attend the launch of a new campaign called the A to Z of SA. In short, the campaign is about promoting South Africa in a positive light, rather than the negative one we see every day in the media. Apple have decided that, with 2010 being just around the corner, it’s time South African’s showcased the best of SA to the world in an effort to help change perceptions.

The launch in Cape Town was an experience to remember. The theme was the Ama-zing Race and we were told to find clues along the way and follow them. We were all given Nikon cameras along with our first clue and the key to a fancy Mini Cooper. The clue was simply to find which Mini was ours and I’m pleased to report we got the convertible.

Our next clue, inside the car, told us to explore the sights of Cape Town and take as many photos as possible along the way. Along with our cool, bright-red cabrio we each had a padkos bag filled with SA-only goodies and an iPod jacked into the Mini which, yip you guessed it, only had South African artists on it.

Adele and I drove for well over three hours in the basking sun, snapping away like German tourists all the while taking in the pleasures of Cape Town.

When we returned to the iStore we were tasked with creating a photo book from our pics using only iPhoto and the built in software. I must admit, after zipping around all day in a Mini, this wasn’t the easiest thing to do but the software did simplify our lives. Sadly our photo book didn’t with the super cool iPod but about three days later we received a hardcopy of the book which can be seen below.

The good news is that anyone can enter this cool campaign and win prizes along the way. Read the A to Z of SA website for more details on how you go about doing this.

This was an awesome day where I got to explore the beauty of Cape Town and I think this new campaign by Apple is one of positivity and hope which we should all get behind. If any of you would like to attend one of the upcoming Ama-zing Race (Jo’burg and Cape Town) where you too can experience a day similar to this – please let me know. You can post a comment below or email me directly justin@hartman.me and I can get you onboard.

 

Posted on July 7, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

Should companies fear Social Media?

In the last week or so there’s been a huge furore in the South African Social Media scene around the pricing of Apple products in the market. For those not in the know Apple is solely distributed by the Core Group who have had the monopoly in SA for a number of years now. I’ve been silently watching anti-Core websites being launched, poorly handled PR by the management and asking myself if I really cared.

It’s no secret that I love Apple and I’ve owned many of their computers and accessories for the last six years and to be honest I simply don’t see the issue with pricing in SA. I also have to concede that the Core Group have actually done a fantastic job at distributing and growing the Apple market share in South Africa.

With the advent of the Internet and more recently the adoption of Social Media many people would have forgotten or are not contextualising what it was like six years ago in the SA market. I remember when Beeld bought an Apple computer for almost R500,000 because it was the super-computer that would take them to a new level in production. Today, however, pricing of Apple products have dropped considerably and the company has positioned itself away from publishing and graphic design to the more lucrative consumer market.

I also remember a time when the Core Group had a lot of competition. Many years ago Apple granted multiple licenses to companies in South Africa yet despite this open market the only distributor to survive was the Core. At that time gaining market share was near impossible yet despite it they’re still around to tell the tale hence why Cupertino decided to award the Core Group with the sole-distribution rights to South Africa.

Granted that the Core Group have benefited by Apple’s overall positioning and mass global adoption but irrespective they have seen the best and worst of Apple and stuck to their guns.

So what’s the point of all of this I guess you’re wondering? Well the point is that not everyone is Social Media hates companies or are out to hurt reputations. I’ve sat in countless meetings with potential Adgator clients where I’ve explained that when a blogger takes the time to write something bad about their company it generally means only one thing – they care about you.

In fact not only do they care about you but they’ve taken the time to write something about you in the hope that you will respond. Most of the time, no one ever does.

It is because of this that I encourage people to engage users, no matter how tough it may seem, because by turning a negative response into a positive you start to create brand champions for your company. These brand champions will take your company a lot further than any marketing initiative could ever accomplish because quite simply put, people value their friend’s opinions more than they value yours!

From my experience, dealing with the negative responses in the right way is sure to change perceptions however the issue is that most companies have no idea how to go about this.

The Core’s situation is a case in point. RJ van Spaandonk retaliated, via Twitter, to the angry lynch mob which really just fueled the fire even further. While he tried to highlight similar pricing strategies from countries outside of SA it wasn’t handled in the right way and his strategy, or lack thereof, backfired badly.

The bloggers now hate the Core Group even more and RJ van Spaandonk is now recommending that companies stay far away from Twitter, bloggers and Social Media in general. In the end everyone has lost.

Had I been the Core I would have sought help from professionals before publicly making statements and retaliating. If you don’t know how to deal with this medium, ask for help – there are many professionals today who can help and advise you on the right Social Media strategy and how to mitigate negative responses around your brand(s).

For any company the message is simple. People are having conversations about you all the time and you really can’t afford to not be apart of it. Seek help, build a good strategy and above all – #DLFS*!

* Don’t Look For Shit! (this is Afrigator’s corporate motto and we stick to it, religiously! We learned our lesson the hard way.)

 

Posted on September 22, 2008 - by Justin Hartman

iPhone 3G now in pre-approval phase

Just got this email from Vodacom about the imminent launch of the 3G iPhone. I spoke to Apple earlier today and it is confirmed that the iPhone will launch this week in South Africa – just not exactly sure of the date yet.

Based on the email below it looks like you now get a chance to be pre-approved which means they will now credit check you and if you qualify then they’ll offer you a massive package. Anyway, I’ve applied. Let’s see what happens.

 

Posted on August 28, 2008 - by Justin Hartman

Apple iCal / Microsoft Exchange fix version 1.2 released

I have updated the Apple iCal / Microsoft Exchange fix for Leopard with a bug fix and a few enhancements.

Here are the release notes for this version:

• Fixed = iCal bug message saying “no data was added to iCal” thanks to Jon Milan.
• Added = London timezone support thanks to Ryan Hunt.
• Added = West Coast USA timezone support thanks to Ryan Hunt.
• Added = Tallinn timezone support thanks to Ryan Hunt.
• Added = Asia/Muscat timezone support thanks to Steve.
• Tests = Now confirmed to work on Leopard 10.5.1, 10.5.2, 10.5.3 and 10.5.4
• Tests = Now confirmed to work on all Apple computers.

Installing

If you’ve never installed this fix before then please read the detailed installation instructions found over here. If you’re upgrading from a previous version please read the detailed upgrade notes below.

Upgrading from version 1.1

1. Delete the folder /Applications/iCalFix/ in Finder.

2. Download this Upgrade Script to your computer and extract the contents from the ZIP file. The folder contains a Shell script (install.sh) which sets everything up for you.

3. Right-click on the install.sh file, select Open With and then click on Other.

4. Click on Applications –> Utilities –> Terminal. If you can’t select Terminal from the Open dialog then select All Applications from drop-down list below.

5. Terminal will open up and the install script will run. When you see the message “Installation Complete.” you can close Terminal.

6. You can now check if the bug fix was installed correctly by navigating to /Applications/iCalFix/ in Finder. If you see two files installed in that folder then installation was successful.

7. Done. Sit back and enjoy.

 

Posted on July 31, 2008 - by Justin Hartman

How to change Vodacom APN settings on iPhone 2 firmware

When I upgraded my iPhone firmware from version 1.1.4 to version 2.0 I realised that I had lost the use of EDGE on the Vodacom network.

Justin from WantItAll alerted me to the iPhone Configuration Utility which allows you to create custom profiles for your iPhone.

What I didn’t realise and what became clear when I played with the iPhone Configuration Utility is that Apple created the functionality for corporates to have customised profiles on an iPhone that have pre-configured settings for their network and by using this tool you could in theory change APN and other settings thereby bypassing the default ones set by the network.

That was the theory but I just couldn’t get the Configuration Utility to work properly and it also required some technical know-how which I couldn’t really be bothered to understand so I decided to search for something simpler.

In so doing I stumbled across an APN Changer website based in New Zealand called Unlockit.

Unlockit provides a simple tool for changing your APN and other settings by creating a custom profile for your file which you can install. It’s an identical method to Apple’s utility just much simpler and easier to use. Here’s the steps I took to get my iPhone back on the Vodacom EDGE network.

Step 1:

Visit http://unlockit.co.nz in Safari on your iPhone.

Step 2:

Click on Set Custom APN.

Step 3:

In the APN text box type internet and then click on Download Custom Config.

Step 4:

Safari will close and you’ll be asked whether or not you’d like to install the custom profile file. Just click Yes and once the file has installed you’ll be back on the EDGE network.

In order to run this hack you’ll need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network. I also suggest that you read Dion’s post on how to reactivate the Cellular Data settings in the Network settings tab. Dion’s solution is a more complicated but once done you’ll be able to change the settings as and when you need to.

 

Posted on July 21, 2008 - by Justin Hartman

Vodacom seem ready for iPhone 3G

After upgrading my iPhone firmware it’s clear to me now that Vodacom’s iPhone network is alive and kicking.

I upgraded Colin’s iPhone on a Cell C network and none of the localisation functions had kicked in like it did on my Vodacom phone. The real bitch in all of this is that EDGE/GPRS doesn’t work on my iPhone while it does on Colin’s.

The new version 2.0 firmware no longer has a menu to set you APN key like on previous versions so I decided to see if I could manually change this in one of the preferences files on my iPhone. Look at what I discovered in the XML file:

The APN key has now been set by the network as iphone.vodacom.za and nothing I do can change this setting as it simply overwrites the string each time.

The result of this is that each time I try connect I get an error message saying “Could not activate cellular data network: You are not subscribed to a cellular data service”.

Seeing as Colin’s Cell C iPhone connects to EDGE without any problems I have to believe that Vodacom are going to enforce a data package subscription when the iPhone is officially launched in SA. I also bought a data bundle from Vodacom to see if this would work but I still get that pesky message.

The fact that my iPhone is completely localised, as opposed to Cell C’s network, is interesting to say the least. It’s a little scary though because as a Vodacom subscriber I can see I’m going to have problems with an unofficial iPhone down the line.

 

Posted on July 21, 2008 - by Justin Hartman

First iPhone 2.0 firmware Hack in South Africa?

On Saturday evening the iPhone-dev team release PwnageTool 2.0 for Mac (version 2.0.1 has now been released as well).

This new version jailbreaks and hacks any 1st or 2nd Generation iPhone so you now have the ability to run the latest iPhone firmware 2.0.

When I tried to hack my version 1.1.4 iPhone with the PwnageTool I couldn’t get the damn application to pick up the latest 2.0 firmware file. It turned out that I had downloaded the 3G firmware instead of the 1st Gen firmware and this great tutorial from iClarified really helped seal the deal for me.

The hack took about 25 minutes and was easy to do once I had all the correct files and I’m now officially running firmware version 2.0 (5A347) on my Vodacom SIM card without any problems.

A couple of interesting observations about the new firmware:

• Under the Phone settings you can now use all the forwarding, call waiting and caller ID functions.
• Under that same menu is a Vodacom4me link… I wonder if this in preparation for iPhone launch in SA?
• All my settings were localised to South Africa – and this was before I set the phone up in iTunes.
• AppStore is awesome and I have Google, Apple Remote, Twitterific, Facebook, iYardage and Last.fm apps downloaded and running.
• Install.app is no longer available in 2.0. Instead, Cydia is the new “illegal” application manager and it runs off Debian Apt – VERY NICE!
• Google Maps actually works!!!! It pin-points me to my current location (which is a little inaccurate) and I don’t even have the GPS on my iPhone. It must use the Vodacom cell towers for this but I am super impressed that it works for the first time.
• You still can’t forward an SMS…….. and there is no copy and paste functions. Have Apple learnt nothing about basic phone functionality?

That’s it for now. Not sure if I’m the first SA hack but I’m loving it nonetheless.

 

Posted on July 11, 2008 - by Justin Hartman

WordPress for the iPhone

This is the best news I’ve heard coming from the new iPhone Application store. WordPress made easy for iPhone users.

 

Posted on March 31, 2008 - by Justin Hartman

Apple iCal / Microsoft Exchange fix for Leopard

One of the major drawbacks to working on an Apple Mac in a large corporate company is that most IT departments still use Microsoft Exchange Server for email and calendar support.

While we’ve found many a work-around to get email up and running using Apple Mail there remains this irritating bug that prevents Exchange iCal events from syncing correctly with Apple iCal.

The reason this bug exists is because Exchange doesn’t use standard compliant timezone information while Apple does and as a result iCal can’t figure out what the correct timezone is from Exchange iCal invitations. Here’s a quick example of the South African timezone differences between the two.

Exchange uses this format:
(GMT+02.00) Harare/Pretoria

While iCal uses this:
Africa/Johannesburg

This means that when a meeting request comes in from a Windows PC, iCal can’t read data beyond the GMT+02.00 and it simply adds on 2 hours to the event. So a meeting sent from Exchange, scheduled for 14:00 actually appears in iCal as 16:00. We’ve missed many a meeting as a result!

Over the last few months I’ve spent countless hours trying to find a fix but no one has managed to get this issue resolved – not even Apple. I’ve now resorted to creating my own bug fix which I’m releasing publicly this morning.

How this bug fix works

The install script downloads all the necessary files from my server and installs both an AppleScript and Shell script to a folder called iCalFix in your Applications folder.

The AppleScript is then assigned to a Mail Rule and runs whenever an iCal invitation is received. The AppleScript downloads the iCal file to a temporary location and the Shell script then runs on the temp file and replaces any incorrect timezone information.

Once completed the new iCal event is then imported to iCal with all the new timezone data in place. The beauty of this fix is that you don’t need to edit any of the package files for iCal and even your original iCal invitations are left untouched. This means that you can upgrade iCal at a later stage and you should be safe from any data corruption.

Installation

1. Download this Install Script to your computer and extract the contents from the ZIP file. The folder contains a Shell script (install.sh) which sets everything up for you.

2. Right-click on the install.sh file, select Open With and then click on Other.

3. Click on Applications –> Utilities –> Terminal. If you can’t select Terminal from the Open dialog then select All Applications from drop-down list below.

4. Terminal will open up and the install script will run. When you see the message “Installation Complete.” you can close Terminal.

5. You can now check if the bug fix was installed correctly by navigating to /Applications/iCalFix/ in Finder. If you see two files installed in that folder then installation was successful.

Setting up the Mail Rule

The last step before you can begin using this fix is to setup an email rule that calls the AppleScript file. Click on Mail –> Preferences –> Rules and create a new rule that looks identical to the one below.

If you’d like to read detailed instructions on setting up this particular Mail Rule then make sure you read the readme.txt file located in the Install Script package.

All done!

After completing the above steps any new iCal invitations sent from an Exchange server will automatically be converted to the right formats and you will never have an excuse to be 2 hours late for a meeting again!

I suggest that you test this fix out by sending an iCal event from an Exchange server to see if all is working correctly. If the fix isn’t working for you then your exchange server is probably using a different timezone format and you’ll need to read the section in the readme.txt file on customising timezone support for your country.

Caveats

• NB: Make sure you open the readme.txt file in the Install Script folder. This readme file contains important information which isn’t included in this post.
• This fix has only been tested on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.1 and 10.5.2 and there is no guarantee that it will work on previous or future versions.
• We’ve only been able to test this fix on three MacBook Pros and while it worked on all three YMMV. We’ve now tested it on about 10 Macs now and it has worked on every one we’ve tested thus far.
• Before installing or running this fix make sure you backup your iCal first. In iCal click File –> Back up iCal… and save a backed up version to your computer.
• When you recieve an Apple iCal invitation there is a message that pops up in iCal saying that “no data was added to iCal” but when you click OK the iCal event is loaded to iCal anyway. I’m not sure why this happens with iCal but I’m working on a fix for that.
• I can’t provide support. If you want help in setting up a unique timezone regular expression then I’ll assist with that but any other queries I cant’t respond to – I just don’t have the time, sorry.

 

Posted on February 28, 2008 - by Justin Hartman

Afrigator optimised for the iPhone and iPod Touch

We announced on the Afrigator blog last night that our site is now optimised for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

This is something I’ve wanted to do for some time now and once we had the standard mobile site completed, integration for the iPhone version was simple.

I think this makes us the first website in Africa to launch an optimised version for Apple’s highly successful devices but I stand to be corrected.

It is unclear how successful the penetration is of the iPhone and iPod Touch in Africa but it’s going to be interesting to see what sort of uptake we have on this new platform.

Here are some screenshots of the interface and you can view a whole bunch more over here.