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The iPhone 4 has been languishing on my desk for almost four days now.

Considering the fact that the unit is supposedly unlocked, my wait time to get the thing running has been due to the late arrival of the NooSY Micro SIM card trimmer. That device was, in my opinion, all I would need to get the iPhone 4 up and running.

I took the plunge and cut an old SIM card just to be sure the rather attractive Chinese stapler look-alike actually functions as advertised. A rather sickening snap later, I had a very neatly cut SIM card, albeit one that seem to have been cut agonizingly close to the golden contact area of the chip. Insertion into the the sleek new iPhone worked and the SIM was recognized. Time to cut my actual SIM, currently ensconced in the iPhone 3G. Again, the cut-out worked rather nicely, and after inserting the now Micro SIM into the unit, I was pleased to enter my PIN code and connect to iTunes. That’s where the happiness ended rather abruptly:

That message is a warning to all that are keen to be on the bleeding edge. Apple has apparently created an extra check in their backend systems to verify which SIM card is in the phone and where that SIM card originates. Since the check is in the backend, there is little anyone can do.

One option is to wait for the official release of the iPhone in South Africa. The other? Contact a friend or pay some cash. Let’s see how that goes…

Update: after a fair bit of fiddling, it would seem as though my unit is a dud. Needs to be swapped out for another one. Another week to wait for that

Saturday saw us waking very early to head to the smallish town of Potchefstroom, home of the South African Army’s 4th Artillery Regiment. A yearly event, access to information regarding the open day is fairly restricted and it took me a fair bit of effort to determine the when and where of the expensive fireworks display we were to be treated to. Never being one to miss a chance to see my tax money being blown to goodness knows where (at least in this case, the use of that money is reasonably transparent and the effect visible), I was rather interested in attending as I have never seen an artillery display live.

Gates opened at 08:00, with the static display of vehicles, guns and rockets an interesting way to while away the time until the actual display’s start at around 11:00.

There is no entrance fee and a fair number of visitors had made their way to Potchefstroom. The highlight of the day was obviously the firing of armaments of various sizes and potency, starting with machine guns, mortars and ending with G5 and G6 cannons and the most impressive piece of kit, the multiple rocket launcher.

A great way to spend the day and interesting for the younger visitors, too. Remember the sunscreen, ear protection and a few chairs for next year.

Just a message for those of you in parts of the world that have yet to enter the year 2010, regardless of your calendar: rhino horn in any form cannot cure cancer and is unlikely to increase any sexual prowess you are seeking. Hunting rhinoceros or any other animal for that matter is primitive, inhumane and cannot be justified for any reason.

Like homeopathy, you are believing in bullshit – your belief (like many others) is not supported by scientific fact.

Stop buying animal products in the mistaken belief that your pathetic life can be improved. Your poachers deserve little more than death – ideally in no less a horrible form than the death you are imposing on a dwindling population of harmless, innocent animals.

You need medical help? Seek out a physician. You need sexual potency? Take Viagra.

Leave. the. rhino. alone.

For photographers in the vicinity of Johannesburg, the annual Photo & Film Expo may be of interest.

Like last year, Canon‘s lack of presence is apparent. Nikon shooters will be happy to see that company’s branding prominently displayed.

The Photo & Film Expo is scheduled to run from 14 to 17 October at the Northgate Dome. More details should appear here soon.

Simply because this has been running on CNN all day and I find it absolutely fascinating that the individual driving survived.

Apparently unscathed.

Here’s the link to the YouTube video.

It’s been quite a while. In the mid-1990′s, I spent a lot of time in Kenya. Specifically Nairobi. My last visit to here was about five years ago.

Nairobi is one of the cities that I miss if I’ve been away from it for too long. It is cosmopolitan, with friendly people and great weather. As one of the largest and most populous cities in Africa, its proximity to the Equator is the main reason for a very constant temperature all year round. Like anywhere else, progress has been steady. The most noticeable difference is in infrastructure, which has without doubt improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years.

The airport retains its distinct circular layout, but provides visitors with brand new buses and bridges extending to the aircraft. Shiny signage and a much-needed revamp of the passport control area is a welcome sight.

Visitors not holding a Kenyan passport are also privileged enough to surrender a photograph and extensive fingerprint scans to the Kenyan immigration authorities. So much for advances in technology – the ever-increasing focus on authorities wishing to capture biometric information from a population that is guilty of little else than the wish to travel does not meet with my approval. What happens to the extensive database is anyone’s guess…

Driving into the city, the absence of potholes indicates that something has happened to improve the infrastructure. Mayhem in the roundabouts on Uhuru Highway replaces the awe that some potholes have disappeared with the realization that uncontrolled intersections do not bring out the best drivers.

For now, it’s time for a Tusker. Baridi.

Maybe two…

Of the many things to see and do around Johannesburg, Croc City is a venue we’ve often wanted to visit but never managed to get to. On Saturday, we finally made an effort and found the very neat, yet small crocodile farm a very interesting place to visit. Croc City is close to Fourways in Johannesburg, close to the N14 highway on the R114. As you’d expect, crocodiles form the main attraction, lurking in the water or baking in the sun.

Tons of them vie for visitors’ attention.

We we’re fortunate to arrive sometime before feeding time and had a chance to follow the very knowledgable guide along. The premises is in peak condition, featuring an area with tables for seating, children’s play area and a small store.

The most impressive aspect of the establishment is the fact that everyone had a chance to study a variety of Croc City inhabitants up close and personal. Only small crocodiles are to be handled, whilst the 6m behemoths should be kept at a safe range…

A variety of spiders and other creepy crawlies are on show, sure to pique the interest of young and old alike.

Some are not suitable for close-up inspection, though.

A very informative two hours that can be extended as you see fit. Entrance fees are very reasonable, with adults charged at ZAR 55 and children under 12 costing ZAR 30.

Since my last posts in April, a lot has happened, though nothing so earth shattering as to cause concern. 99% of all events were overwhelmingly positive and the break from the stress of having to update texts here remarkably easy to deal with. 

A big thank you to the folks who expressed initial surprise and later concern when updates stopped appearing here. It’s amazing to think that some of you actually follow what’s going on around here

The highlight of the period must be the World Cup. In that month a lot of traveling was undertaken. We got to see various stadia in a number of cities. Best of all, our tournament tickets to follow Germany through to the semi-finals could be used to good effect. An unfortunate loss to Spain did little to dent our enthusiasm for the tournament. We had a great time and I had serious doubts that normal life could be an actual reality…

There was a bit of travel and the usual influx of gadgets of which the iPad is everything I could have imagined it to be and more. It has now become the repository for all my digital magazines and books. The combination of the WiFi-only iPad with the MiFi for access to the Internet works extremely well. Wheras the iPad is a fantastic gadget, my idea to buy a TomTom for in-car navigation turned out to be less than inspired. As a long-time Garmin user, not even the Darth Vader voice-over can put enough shine on the TomTom.

I tried to do a fair bit of photography, using the World Cup as a suitable excuse. The ease with which a camera and 400mm lens could be brought along to all six games I attended was surprising. The same combination was used to good effect at this year’s Rand Airshow.

The 1D MkIV shoots 10 frames a second – fast enough to generate in excess of 1400 photographs in a scant 5 hours. I’ll be backfilling the archives to include some photos as I move along.

With some rather exciting happening initiatives in the work environment, I am now more involved with Linux, SAP and virtualization technologies, amongst other things. I’ll give some feedback of those as I progress.

My entire computing platform has shifted entirely to the Macintosh, with the MacBookPro being my primary workhorse. It’s an absolute pleasure to use and I often find myself stuck now when I need to work on a Windows system. Usually when looking for something in the Control Panel, for example.

I’ve managed to re-organize my entire photo library to conform to a filing structure I’ve had in mind for ages but could never actually set up due to practical reasons. With the photos organized, I’ve imported into Aperture 3 and am starting to add Faces and GPS information.

Thanks again for the support. I’m ready to get going again.

The place DOES look like a park. No menu in sight and the food is NOT worth ordering.

Anything laying around for a while without receiving attention attracts grime and dust. In the world of the blog that kind of neglect implies digital dust. Digital dust is an outdated look, comments from spammers and ratings that have dropped.

Thankfully, the digital realm is reasonably easy to sort out. First off, I monitor all comments and mail messages that are sent here. In the past few months, I’ve simply not been in the mood to respond or mark them according to their status. Of all messages coming in, a huge percentage is obviously spam and is caught by Akismet. There are a number of comments that masquerade as something useful. Those make it into the comments queue, ready for tagging by web spiders and inclusion into search engine results. Those need to be marked individually and deleted.

First off, I helped out the ailing WordPress installation by updating it to the latest version, currently 3.0.1. It’s incredible how easy the entire upgrade process has become, not that it’s ever been hugely difficult. A single click in the dashboard view of WordPress is the only action required once a good backup of the database has been generated. Even the update of plug-ins is hugely simplified, requiring a single click to update all plug-ins that are presently installed and active.

As an aside, WordPress is still a fantastic platform regardless what advantages a solution like SquareSpace provides.

With the update out of the way, I had a look at some of the comments and incoming links. The banality of these surprises me every time I see them.

I spend little time worrying – click and mark as spam…

Last, but not least, is the installation of a new theme to at least make it seem as though things are once again happening. The design is of my own making and still requires quite a few tweaks and improvements.

And there we have it. Back up and running with new software, a new look and a cleaned-up comments queue.