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It’s the last day to enter the first draw for tickets for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and, in true South African style, we’ve left it right to the last minute just to make things a bit more interesting…

A combination of four team specific tickets has been submitted along with a reasonable amount of cash that will likely earn FNB a fat bit of interest for them to recoup some of their sponsorship expenditure. The TST tickets are for us to follow , of course!

Now, we wait and see what the results of the draw will be. The draw is to be held on 15 April… Holding thumbs!

I’m not a huge gamer and rarely spend a lot of time immersing myself into any particular genre or title. But there are certain classics that I really enjoyed and I was overjoyed to see a port of Wolfenstein 3D being made available for the iPod Touch.

The game costs USD 4.99 on the App Store and includes the original adventure with all six episodes and almost 60 levels of action. Of all the games I ever played this is one I not only finished more than once, but kept coming back to.

I’m happy to say that the iPod Touch port looks exactly like I remember the PC version. Controlling the action is possible in one of two ways, by either using a configurable button arrangement for turning, walking and shooting, or by employing the motion sensor on the iPod Touch.

The use of the motion sensor takes a bit of getting used to, but works remarkably well after a couple of attempts – I kept straying to the left and running into a wall, but eventually learned to compensate by leaning more to the right…

For fans, John Carmack goes into a bit more detail regarding the coding and port of the iPhone version of the game, as well as offering the source code as a free download. You can get to that here. That’s certain to be of interest to developers of games on any platform, I would imagine. Best of all, he hints at a release of Doom for the iPhone in the not-too distant future. Now there’s another of my favourites I’d download the moment it is released!

Wolfenstein 3D for the iPhone is tons of fun and well worth the 5 bucks. I’m very impressed with the in-game soundtrack and have found myself humming the Wolf-tune every now and then…

By far a more enjoyable way to help the Earth along is replacing that gas guzzler with an electric vehicle. Currently, choices are severely limited, and that is not set to change any time soon. At least, 2011 should see the delivery of the stunning TESLA Model S to its first owners. The new TESLA model has been revealed and has an impressive list of specifications, plus a shape that should make Ferrari owners envious.

Incredibly, this sleek mobile seats five adult passengers and two kids and is said to have a hatch large enough to accommodate a mountain bike. The largest battery has enough juice to power the TESLA S over a distance of 450km and the quickcharge refills the battery in under an hour.

Performance is blistering, pushing the S from 0 to 90km/h in less than six seconds with a top speed of about 160km/h.

The fact that mankind is heavily dependant on natural resources should come as no surprise. Electricity, in particular, creates incredible pollution, defaces natural landscapes and wastes plenty of coal and water.

Tonight at 20:30, Earth Hour is being celebrated (or commiserated) by all and sundry. To partake in this activity, the idea is to switch off all lights one would ordinarily use for an hour. As a citizen of South Africa, I feel I’ve had more than enough unwanted electricity interruptions created by Eskom in the past year. Nonetheless, this is a worthy cause.

Eskom has promised to monitor how much electricity is being saved during the period from 20:30 to 21:30. What good that will do, I have no idea. At 21:31, electricity usage will be back to normal peak demands, I am sure.

I’m a bit of a brand zombie. Hence, I’d rather shell out twice the price for an original Canon battery for my camera than get a generic. I know full-well that the Canon battery is probably produced by the same manufacturer who also does the generic, but still prefer to see Canon’s logo on the end product. It’s stupid, but I’m wired that way. As with all hobbies, the accumulation of gadgets is part of the fun. The field of photography is certainly no exception and it’s fair to say that the capital outlay on all the assorted odds and ends one needs (or thinks one needs) is rather excessive.

A decent tripod is only a part of the solution when one is keen to do some macro photography. A remote shutter release is a really handy gadget of have. This is one area where my brand loyalty to Canon came to an abrupt halt: the 5D MkII has an integrated IR eye to a Canon remote control to be used. Problem is, that the remote costs upwards of ZAR 3000 and due to the IR interface is reliant on line of sight. That’s not very useful, since most  photography takes place from behind the lens. That amount of money is also ridiculous for a small remote control, something that could be bundled with the camera from the word go. So I looked around and found a far superior solution for less than a third of the price of the Canon original. Better still, the product is of German origin, though the company now has a seat in Ireland.

The pack for the Haehnel Pro Remote Control consists of a small remote control, receiver and two different cables. The remote has a single button to activate the camera’s shutter, a mode switch and a retractable antenna whilst the receiver accepts either one of the two cables depending on the model of camera to be controlled. The receiver can be attached to the flash shoe of the camera or simply be placed alongside. Like the remote control, the receiver has a shutter release button.

The Pro Remote Control is available for Canon, Sony, Olympus and Nikon DSLR cameras and each package contains the relevant cables to enable use with a wide range of cameras made by that manufacturer. So, the Canon version works with both my 350D and 5D MkII – the 350D utilizes the 3.5mm jack and the 5D MkII the three pin connector. To marry the remote to the receiver, the same four digit code has to be set by way of four dipswitches on both the receiver and remote. Batteries are supplied in the package and are user replacable.

Once connected to the camera, the receiver is switched on and awaits instructions from the remote control unit.

Instead of relying on line of sight, the Pro Remote Control uses RF, so it is not restricted to line of sight. In fact, use of the unit is possible up to 30m away from the receiver – that distance is obviously shorter indoors but nonetheless impressive. The shutter release functions as expected: a half press initiates autofocus on the camera and a complete press of the button takes a snap. The function selector allows selection of continuous shooting or bulb exposure.

In my opinion, the Haehnel Pro Remote Control is an excellent accessory to have in my camera bag. Considering its price in relation to the Canon original (which will more than likely be limited in its support for different camera models) there is no question that the Haehnel is streets ahead. On top of that, its wireless functionality is a huge advantage.

MacHeist is a somewhat controversial site, offering various software packages for the Mac at vastly reduced prices or often free of charge. The free applications can be accessed upon completion of a simple puzze-solving exercise and has netted me a couple of useful and interesting applications. The final offer after the MacHeist puzzle-solving stage is over provides a bundle of software that is, at least in monetary terms, excellent value.

This year, I may actually spring for the USD 39 asking price, though I’m watching the ticker to see whether or not I’ll be able to get  the Espresso web editor included once the requisite number of sales have been made. The ordinary cost for all the software in the bundle is roughly USD 627, so paying USD 39 is an absolute bargain, provided the applications make sense and will be used. It’s easy to be carried away by such bundled offers, only to discover that none of the applications will ever really be used…

Some of the applications in the bundle are pretty much worthless to me: iSale is for eBay sales, Big Bang Boardgames provides a fresh take on classic boardgames and  Hit List is just another list maintainer. Other than that, the aspiring photographer or creative individual will be delighted with the rest of the content: World of Goo, Picture Snapper and BoinxTV are all applications that would cost a lot of cash by themselves and are rather useful.

KineMac is a complete 3D animation environment and WireTap Studio an acclaimed recording solution for the Mac.

If you have a Mac and want to dump some new software on it at a very reasonable price, check out the MacHeist offer before it ends in a couple of days.

Canon USA has just announced a new model to their line-up of lower-cost digital SLR cameras. The new Digital Rebel T1i borrows heavily from both the EOS 50D and EOS 5D MkII, but is expected to go on sale costing less than USD 1000.

As current trends seem to dictate that a DSLR has to be capable of recording high definition video, the T1i includes the new DIGIC 4 imaging processor capable of 15MP photo capture as well as HD video. Like the 50D and 5D MkII, the T1i features a large 3″ LCD screen. High ISO values are supported, with respectable burst rates of 3.4 fps and 170 JPG images. The T1i utilizes SD and SDHC storage media and is bound to be worthy of consideration by many amateur and hobby photographers given its features and price. I’m expecting this to be branded differently for the European market – maybe EOS 600D or similar?

Update: the official model number for Europe is of course EOS 500D – I’ve lost track…

The full press release detailing additional features can be found here.

Having spent the last few days in Cape Town, we’ve been exposed to some great South African music talent. First up, the fantastic duo under the name of Goldfish. Both their current and older album are really enjoyable. This falls under the label Electronica, so you’ll know whether or not to give it a listen based on that categorization.

The warm-up act at the Goldfish concert on Friday night at Spier was a small outfit with the name jacSharp.

This is Pop, but similarly listenable.

Support South African music: there is some great music out there you may not yet have heard!

My 32GB iPod Touch is being used daily for a variety of tasks and to run various applications. So much so that I’m keen to get an iPhone – just want to make sure Apple doesn’t release something new in June…

The SwitchEasy ThumbTacks are a rather innovative and space-saving solution for anyone wanting to record external noise using an iPod Touch or new generation Nano. The device is absolutely miniscule, consisting of little more than a small microphone and a 3.5mm audio connector.

For USD 13, the price is right – the only prerequisite is that the very latest firmware be loaded on a new generation Nano or Touch.

The iTunes App Store has plenty of software to take advantage of the functionality the ThumbTack provides.The only thing to worry about is that the ThumbTack is so small, it can easily be lost once removed. Great for recording podcasts or possibly for students intent on recording lectures.

I think, I’ll give one a try…

The ANC is not my favourite political organization. This poster is a remake of one I saw on the streets of Cape Town.

Highly appropriate, I think.