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!

Above (l-r): Patrick Henchie, Program Manager - Nokia SA, Brad Brockhaug, Vice President - Nokia Sub-Sahara Africa, International DJ Colleen Shannon, Jake Larsen, Head of Music - Nokia Middle East and Africa and Mathia Nalappan, General Manager - Nokia SA

It was also announced that the Nokia Music Store will launching in South Africa on 24 April 2009. The software for it, Nokia Music is currently available to test on Nokia Beta Labs. The software will only be available to Windows users, for now. All songs will be in the .wma format and will not be DRM free. As far as pricing goes, in the UK, it would cost 80p for a track and £8 for album. The local store will feature artists like The Parlotones, Gold Fish and Arno Carstens.

Really cool touch-tables brought in at Movida

Features of the Nokia 5800

• 3.2-inch TFT touchscreen with 16M colors (640 x 360 pixels)
• Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
• Alphanumeric keypad, full and mini qwerty keyboard, handwriting recognition
• 3.2 megapixel camera with Zeiss optics
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Wi-Fi
• TV-out port
• Stereo speakers
• Finger and stylus UI control
• 109 gm weight
• 8GB of memory
• Symbian OS v9.4, S60 5th edition

Unfortunately I didnt get to take the phone home with me last night, but I’ve been told I’ll get one to play with.

Patience.

I am very thrilled to have gotten the Wii and Wii Fit with balance board to take home to complete a 25 Day Challenge.

At the launch we were allowed to play games and it was loads of fun. I quite enjoyed the balancing games. Wii Fit is divided into four categories: Aerobic Exercise, Muscle Conditioning, Yoga Poses and Balance Games.

Last night after plugging in the console (without bothering to open the manual), was abit disappointed that the Wii Remote wasnt working. So I decided to check the manual and realised I didnt plug the sensor bar (duh). In my defence, the sensor bar was hidden in the box, so I totally missed it.

After creating my profile and basic training, a Wii age was given to me – which is 39. I dont feel so bad after hearing my colleague’s Wii age is 44. I have 25 days to get “fit”. You are prompted to select a goal after creating your profile. Since my BMI was 19.20, I made my goal to reduce my BMI to 19.

Each category comes with about four of five games that are unlocked. The more time you spend playing / getting a workout, more games become available. During my workout last night, I managed to unlock 5 games – but not all were to my liking. They open in different categories.

I started off with balancing games, did a bit of aerobic and under muscle conditioning, did some step traning. I did not attempt Yoga, yet. The most tiring activity was hula hooping. I was so out of breath after that (read: unfit).

I played for about 35-40 mins. Thereafter I played some Wii Sport. Its only been one day and I’m really enjoying it! I hope I have the will to continue my challenge over the next 24 days.

I will try to keep you updated on my progress.

Originally blogged on My Digital Life.