The Samsung Africa Forum was held in Nairobi, Kenya this year and I was invited to attend the press conference where Samsung announced its product lineup for the African region.

The event is fairly new; the first one was held in Johannesburg last year (which I couldn’t attend), but those who attended said it was a huge improvement compared to the first one.

The products announced and unveiled were cameras, printers, monitors, home appliances and entertainment, a solar powered notebook (exclusive to Africa – and has up to 15 hours of battery life), a range of Smart TVs, along with the Galaxy S II smartphone and the main attraction: the Galaxy Tab (10.1 and 8.9)

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South Africa will be getting the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in July at a cost of R 5,499 (16GB) and R 6,499 (32GB). The Galaxy Tab 8.9 will arrive about 4-6 weeks later at a cost of R 5,299 (16GB) and R6,299 (32GB). The Galaxy S II will be available in July at a cost of R6,699.

All products were exhibited at the Kenya International Conference Centre where we got to demo them. One of the products that impressed me was the interactive e-board for learning, which lets you can draw on the board with the e-board pen or your fingers.

Samsung also very strategically placed what it calls the ‘worlds largest Smart TV’ (75” LED TV) at the entrance of the exhibition, making you stop and stare. And possibly or most probably want. Like Kojo did.

Personally, I don’t buy into the whole ‘Smart TV’ idea, like 3D TV. I use my TV for TV/movies/games. It just feels weird browsing the Internet on your TV or playing with apps. In a living room. In a house with other people. Who may have other interests. Also, I have other devices that can do the same thing, so it’s not all that exciting. It does make a good platform to turn your kids into geeklets, though.

The trip was rounded-off with a gala dinner at the (world famous?) Carnivore restaurant. The highlight of the evening for me was winning a Samsung P580 business notebook. W00t!

I think what (not only Samsung) but most companies hosting events need to do as a priority, is offer the media free WiFi (password protected – linked to registration maybe). It would have made tweeting/blogging/publishing easier. Having said that, we managed to get #SamsungAfricaForum trending in Johannesburg.

Thank you Samsung, for hosting us comfortably in the middle of Africa.

– This blog post was written on the flight back from Nairobi to Johannesburg, over the Mozambique and Zimbabwe border.

I was invited as a blogger to the media launch of the Opel Astra at Kyalami racetrack yesterday. It was the very first time I got to drive around the track – I was slightly nervous on the 1st lap – as I had no idea how sharp the corners were, etc, but by the second lap I drove ‘properly’ as in responsibly.

We were given a history of Opel – how their factory was destroyed during the Second World War, and how they made a comeback. We were shown various models from the different generations, with a little dancing sketch from each era. It was very interesting and entertaining.  After the formalities, we had lunch – which we ate very fast, so we could get into the cars and go for a “spin” around the track.

I initially had concerns, silly things like, what if I don’t adjust to the clutch or what if I switch off, etc but luckily, none of that happened. I didn’t go out and choose the best car in the range, I just picked the closest one to me. Which happened to be the 1.6 Turbo Sport – this one:

Of course we had to follow a certain set of rules. Like no over taking and keeping a safe following distance of about 5 cars, amongst others.

I was impressed with the drive of the car, it felt very smooth and the concerns I had were soon forgotten once I took off! I was slightly cautious around the bends, but drove what I would say, ‘more freely’ on the second lap since I was more familiar with the track.

The entry level 1.4 litre starts at around R218,000 and the top of the range 1.6 litre turbo sport is about R280,000. More info can be found on the Opel Astra website.

General Motors sent me to their Chevrolet Spark launch in July this year and I have to say, this one was much better! Thanks GM.

LG South Africa invited me to attend the LG Blogger Forum 2010, held in Berlin. It was a group of about 24 of us from South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa. The Africa quota was filled by 1 South African; me.

We stayed at The Steigenberger Hotel, where the presentation and explanation of products took place. We were then transported to the LG booth at IFA 2010 (one of the largest consumer electronics shows in Europe).

The lot of us were split into groups and given an opportunity to show off our 3D skills: taking pics with a 3D camera while keeping a “borderless” theme in mind.

Although my team did not win, we did have a wonderful time making 3D content. The only downside was that the pics could only be viewed on the camera (or a 3D TV if you have one) as 3D.

We were introduced to LG’s new line-up of TV’s: LEX8, LX9500 and LX9900. LG said by 2011 it wants to introduce nano LED technology to all their TV models, and eventually, the ability to connect to mobile devices.

The LEX8 is the slimmest LED TV ever made at just 8.8mm and a 1.25cm bezel.

The arrangement of LED’s are different in a nano screen than a normal LED screen. “Lighting technology with full LED enables a smoother, more refined picture quality by evenly spreading of the light from the LEDs. It’s brighter, but softer on the eyes.”

We were given a sneak peak of LG’s Real 3D sound home cinema, which offers a “perfect 3D experience”.

This means that speakers have a vertical 3D effect channel for vertical sound movement. It also features dual subwoofers for a more powerful and deeper bass. It also has a cinema dome effect, which means that wherever you sit, you will feel as if you are sitting in the centre of the room. They hope to launch this by Feb 2011.

I took a video of the coolest thing I saw at the LG booth – OLED TV:

Keep an eye out in the My Digital Life newsletter on Tuesday, 7 September for more information.

Last week I contacted @RSAWEB to find out if I could purchase a t-shirt from their geek gear ‘collection’. It was a shirt that read “I’m huge on Twitter”, which I wanted to wear to this event. I couldn’t get it in time but the person behind the Twitter account offered to send me the t-shirt, free! This is what arrived yesterday:

With the following note:

As promised, here is a pic of me in the t-shirt (excuse the badly taken pic, it was the best I could do alone):

Thanks @RSAWEB!

I was invited to the Chevrolet Spark media launch in Cape Town on Thursday, 22 July. General Motors decided to do something different and invite “influential social media folks”, people who weren’t necessarily motoring journalists; and so my name was put forward.

When we arrived in Cape Town (there was a large group of us from Johannesburg), we were told to choose a car from the fleet, get into groups of four and self-drive to a warehouse in Brackenfell. Everything was waiting for us: keys in car, parking ticket to exit the parkade, and directions to the warehouse. We got there easily with my directions, well not mine, but me directing the driver

After a short welcome, unveiling of the Spark and a quick performance by dancers, the formalities began.

We were told to get into the cars and tune in via FM transmitter to listen to the rest of the presentation.

Then the fun part began – driving the Spark! We got into groups of two and followed directions placed in the car, which took us to Franschoek. We had lunch, swapped drivers and drove back via a slightly different route.

The drive was scenic (well, it is Cape Town), and while I was doing 120km/h, I noticed a 60km/h sign with a camera below it. Oops. There was no point in slowing down; I (or rather General Motors) was going to pick up a fine anyway. Most of the journey was on a single lane road and there were lots of trucks. Overtaking was very tedious, but that’s what you’d expect from a car that size.

The Spark is a step up from the Spark Lite and two specification levels are offered, L and LS. Both are powered by a fuel-efficient 1.2L, 4-cylinder, 16-valve engine. The base L model offers power steering, air conditioning, radio / CD / MP3 player, Auxiliary USB port and driver & passenger airbags. The LS model additionally has electric side mirrors, ABS anti-lock brakes and remote boot release. These are just some of the features.

The Spark L is priced at R115 495 and the Spark LS is R125 495, which I’d say is ideal for students or as a first car. I wouldn’t be going out to buy one as I’d like a car with a bit more power. More information on the Chevrolet website here.

Thank you General Motors, for inviting me to drive the hot new Spark!

Earlier today I visited a new store called Rhinestone Cowboy in Craighall Park with the Single Syllable. The store has been open for 6 days as of today, so you might not have heard about it but it’s an absolute gem.

It is a mixture of geeky cool, funky, fashion, jewellery and accessories. If you’re a fan of Big Blue, you might like Rhinestone Cowboy. I liked the little odds and ends like Robo Keys [robot head for your keys] and Dunny collectable dolls that are a total mystery, you don’t know which one you’re gonna get until you open the box [tweeted here] which I ended up buying. I got Luke and he is so cool.

If you’re looking for a really cool gift for a kid, who is very imaginative [or not], I’d recommend getting the Pop Zolo. It’s a whole bunch of parts that you can put together to create a unique person/alien/thing-a-ma-bob:

Look at the awesome jewellery collection:

If you want to check it out, details here. I think it’s the ideal store for gifts. I’m definitely going back.

I find that people are more forthcoming in an online environment than in real life. I attended last month’s 27dinner and Johannesburg’s Twestival (yesterday, 12 Feb) and I found that (at both events) people weren’t quick to introduce themselves (well except for Lionel du Plessis, Reuben Goldberg, Richard Mulholland and Don Packett last night).

An event like the Twestival attracts the geekier crowd (Twitter has not gone mainstream), and I think it’s safe to assume that a lot of geeks are shy. I’m all for networking online and admit I’m one of those who wont just go up to someone and say, “Hi, I’m Nafisa and you must be….”. Sounds a bit stalkerish. If you’ve built a ‘relationship’ with someone online for a while, then introducing yourself comes naturally.

While chatting to the SingleSyllable last night, we agreed that people on Twitter know what they want and know why they’re there. Twitter is a very powerful tool, if used properly. It’s also natural to network with like-minded individuals. However, I think it makes a difference if you not only follow a person on Twitter, but their personal blog too and after that, the idea of meeting irl is just the next step. Relationships like these tend to have a more solid foundation.

During my time as content & community manager at My Digital Life, I built a lot of relationships online with numerous bloggers and when we had a MOB (meeting of the bloggers), introducing ourselves came naturally; there were no uncomfortable or awkward moments. Conversation flowed.

Social networking has indeed changed the way people communicate. There’s no beating around the bush.

Just the way I like it.

Last week I attended a media briefing where results from a study of digital lifestyles on South African consumers were presented. It is the first time such an indepth study within SA was conducted. I found it quite interesting because I lead a very ‘digital’ lifestyle. I rather spend money on electronic goods / gadgets than make up, jewellery or clothes.

Those surveyed earn above R 8 000 and live in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban. Basically, those earning less than R 8 000 were not leading the digital lifestyle and it didnt make sense for them to be surveyed.

Candidates were questioned on their internet activities, digital products, cellular / mobile activities. Based on the results, they were classified using the ‘Digital Lifestyle Measure’ (DLM). The classification, based on the score, was then divided into 4 groups (DLM1 – DLM4). Digital products like cellphones, flat screen TVs, camera’s, laptops etc were used to score points and more points were awarded for uncommon technologies.

Fewer digital goods mean you fall under DLM1-DLM2 and average would be between DLM2-DLM3, while above average DLM3-DLM4.

These were some of the results:

• The most common form of communication in SA is Mxit
• More than half of IM users are in the 16-24 age bracket and use IM everyday
• Mobile IM has more than doubled in the last 12 months.
• The percentage of registered Facebook users decreased with age, except for the oldest age group (45 and over).

The study also concluded that the higher the consumer DLM, the earlier they registered on Facebook.

The Digital Lifestyle predictor is an ongoing study.

Mxit was just fortunate they came out at the right time. I dont think (if they have competition out there) that anyone can take over easily. I’m not a Mxit fan, I find that its more for tweens / teens or people who are still dating and of course people who are bored in their current relationships.

Originally blogged on My Digital Life.