February 2010 – Nico Baird
Month: February 2010	Diabetes Focus – Tydskrif
Posted on February 17, 2010 by nicobaird	Soos ek ‘n ruk terug op my blog genoem het is ek ‘n paar maande gelede met diabetes gediagnoseer. Die skok en aanpassings het my natuurlik nie so hard getref soos die mense rondom my nie, maar so met die tyd saam begin ek besef hoe ernstig my situasie was en hoe gelukkig ek myself moet ag dat ek nie in die hospital beland het nie.
My suikervlakke was bo 25 toe ek gediagnoseer was en wanneer ek my suiker getoets het was dit soms selfs bo 33. Die meter het met tye nie ‘n lesing gegee nie, net ‘n “High” het op die skerm verskyn.
Ek spartel natuurlik nog al die pad om my suikers konstant laag te hou, maar dinge is darem aansienlik beter.
Die rede vir hierdie inskrywing is die feit dat ek vandag vir die eerste keer ‘n kopie van ‘n tydskrif “Diabetes Focus” gekry het. Dit is laasjaar se uitgawe en word deur die Diabete vereniging van Suid-Afrika gepubliseer.
Dit is ‘n wonderlike bron van inligting!!! Ek het maar die eerste paar bladsye gelees en ek het dadelik besluit om ‘n artikel te skryf daaroor. Die tydskrif is by Dischem of deur die vereniging beskikbaar en ek dink elke diabeet of familie lid van ‘n diabeet behoort dit op ‘n gereelde basis te bekom.
Indien jy onlangs gediagnoseer is en nog nie alles weet wat jy moet nie is dit belangrik dat jy dadelik die jongste uitgawe in die hande kry. Kry meer inligting by die Diabetevereniging se webblad by http://www.diabetessa.co.za/.
Ek dink ook die Amerikaanse weergawe kan van belang wees. Jy kan inteken daarop of jy kan aanlyn die artikels lees by http://forecast.diabetes.org.
Ek sal in die volgende paar dae ook van die wonderlike inligting wat ek bekom met julle op my blog deel.
Ek doen deesdae baie huiswerk oor diabetes, oorsake van diabetes, wat jy mage eet as jy ‘n diabeet is en ook wat op die mark is om die lewe van diabete te vergemaklik, dus as jy ‘n vraag het stuur vir my ‘n epos, dalk kan ek jou in die regte rigting wys. Ek is nie ‘n dokter nie dus sal ek jou nie antwoorde kan gee of wil gee nie, maar ek kan dalk vir jou in ‘n rigting op die Internet verwys waar jy kan gaan lees en jou eie besluite neem. Dalk kan jy dit dan met jou dokter bespreek en jou lewe verander.
Laat weet my gerus! Selfs nog beter is as jy dalk ‘n gedagte het om met my ted eel sal ek dit hoog op prys stel!
Posted in Uncategorized	27Dinner Postponed!
Posted on February 17, 2010 by nicobaird	Hi Guys!
Please note that the Bloemfontein 27Dinner will be postponed for about two months. I would have loved to have it in March, but on the 27th of March we already have the Photoshop Festival in Bethlehem! Remember to register for it as soon as possible!
For more information about that please email us at info@dreamagineers.com!
This blog is now listed at South Africa Online
Posted in Uncategorized	Twitter Killer?
Posted on February 17, 2010 by nicobaird	Could this be a Twitter killer? Most South Africans know all about Facebook and they know about social networking. Twitter on the other hand has not really taken off in South Africa as it has in many other countries , like the United States of America. If you feel you have missed something completely you may not need to beat yourself up about it for very long. I do believe we already have a possible replacement for Twitter.
Google last week announced a new networking tool that I am quite sure will take the world, including South Africa, by storm. Unlike some of the other tools that Google has been launching the past few months it looks like they will actually stand by this one.
Google Buzz (http://www.google.com/buzz is a social networking tool where you can interact and share ideas with your friends. It integrates with Gmail and is automatically active the next time you log into your account. Some of the features are that you can decide if you want to share ideas publicly or privately, see updates in realtime you can even connect with some of the other services that you are already using like Picasa, Flickr, Google reader and even Twitter.
Buzz also has wonderful mobile application that can be accessed if your phone has a browser at http://buzz.google.com .
If you make use of Buzz and feel that it does not exactly do everything that you want it to do, please remember that this is just the first release and that it will still be in Beta for a while to sort out all the little glitches. As with all software at the beginning it will be full of bugs. Luckily with Google we can be sure that if Buzz takes off they will sort these problems out quickly.
Posted in Uncategorized	Afrikaanse Sateliet Televisie – ASTV
Posted on February 12, 2010 by nicobaird	Ek is een van die mense wat in spanning sit en wag het vir ASTV om amptelik te begin met hul uitsendings. Die nuwe Afrikaanse Sateliet Televisiekanaal sou reeds aan die einde van 2009 begin uitsaai het, maar met ‘n aantal probleme vanaf diensverskaffers kon hulle nie soos beplan met uitsendings begin nie.
Dit is wonderlik dat daar ‘n nuwe Afrikaanse televisiekanaal die lig sien. Ek het navraag gedoen en indien daar nou al ooit ‘n winskoop was met die aankoop van advertensietyd op ‘n televisiekanaal dan is dit op ASTV. Indien jy ‘n besigheid begin of wil uitbrei kan ek werklik aanbeveel dat jy www.astv.co.za besoek vir meer inligting oor die pakette wat beskikbaar is.
Vir jou om ASTV gratis op te vang moet jy ‘n satelietdekodeerder he. Indien jy reeds ‘n satelietdekodeerder het kan jy dit maklik instel. Dit is net ‘n paar stappe en as jy kan lees sal jy dit regkry. Gaan vandag nog na www.clickkliek.com vir die skakel na die stappe wat jy kan volg.
Ek glo hierdie is net die eerste van vele kanale wat ons binnekort sal sien. Die dae waar slegs een of twee maatskappye alles wat ons kan kyk beheer is binnekort getel. Met die daling van Internet pryse en die verhoging van die spoed van die Internet gaan ons ook binnekort ‘n hele aantal Internet gebaseerde kanale sien. Jy kan nou al reeds deur ‘n aantal gratis Internetdienste jou eie radio en televisiekanale skep.
Vir nou dink ek moet ons fokus om hierdie gratis televisiekanaal te ondersteun. Hoe meer steun hulle ontvang hoe vinniger sal ons ‘n toename van hierdie gratis dienste sien.
Kliek op hierdie skakel om te sien hoe jy jou dekodeerder moet instel http://www.astv.za-host.co.za/Hoe.aspx
Posted in Uncategorized	Thinking about applications for the iPad
Posted on February 8, 2010 by nicobaird	Some random thoughts about the iPad.
I strongly believe that the iPad will revolutionise education around the globe. I do not think that we will all have an iPad and that we will all now all of a sudden use the iPad to consume content. I do however believe that the iPad has started a wave of change, soon we will all have easy access to digital books and other digital media on devices like the iPad.
The iPod started a change in the way we consumed digital music /mp3’s. Mp3’s have been available for a very long time but the iPod and iTunes made it easy to buy and manage. Many others followed and there are hundreds of online stores where you now can buy mp3’s and podcasts. Each individual was given the means to create and distribute recorded shows around the globe. Having the ability to create, distribute and consume on one device made the difference and others followed.
Now we have the iPad, I believe that this device will do for print media what the iPod did for the record industry. Others will follow with innovative more affordable designs and publishers will probably at first have DRM on all content, but I believe in a few years we will all have our reader in hand. Be it in church, at work, at school or on the plane. It will be the way we get our print media. We will save a tree or two and we will make it easy to keep up to date with new editions of a book.
Yes this is where I believe we will see a revolution like never before. If you buy a text book for your studies you now have a “living textbook”. As new technical information in the specific subject field comes to light your textbook can be updated automatically. When you buy a book you buy a relevant and up to date book. Like software the books will have version numbers. Sociology by Giddens Version 2.1 etc.
The iPad in my view may not be a revolution in it itself, but it has opened the gates for a revolution in the way we consume and learn and share knowledge. Always updated, always relevant, always fresh.
Now that I think about it, you will probably never really BUY a book, you will subscribe to a book! Authors can write a book the way many writers write a soap opera. Each week a new “episode’ is made available and published! Your book is a “living book” This will make War and Peace look like an abridged version of a book.
Please share your ideas on the iPad and also educational applications of this great new device.
Posted in Uncategorized	Innovative Thinking is Key
Posted on February 5, 2010 by nicobaird	One of the key 21st century skills that we need to nurture is innovative thinking. We need to get students at our tertiary institutions to innovate and not just use the technologies that are available to them. Obviously they need to use the technologies, but they need to use it to improve it and use it to build upon the technologies that are available.
We all have cell phones, but Steve Jobs decided that the phone needs to have a better user interface and it needs to do more. He designed the iPhone and today it has changed the way we interact with our phones. Not just on the iPhone but also on other mobile devices. Many other phone manufacturers have adopted some of the features on the iPhone.
All over the web we find that entrepreneurs have used available technology to satisfy a need that they see in society. One famous example is our very own Mark Shuttleworth, he used available products to design and develop software that fulfilled a need in the market. Later he sold his application for millions of Rands.
He thought innovatively. Ten years ago the top ten jobs in the world today, did not exist. Do you think that the top ten jobs in 2020 already exist or are these jobs made possible with technologies that have not yet been invented?
Will one of today’s learners or students from Bloemfontein change the world in a few years time by thinking innovatively?
Let’s insure that our learners and students are innovative in their thinking and that they will not just use but improve and expand the knowledge available to them.
Posted in Uncategorized	Addynamo Advertising
Posted on February 4, 2010 by nicobaird	Posted in Uncategorized	Photographer’s Festival using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom
Posted on February 2, 2010 by nicobaird	Grab this opportunity! For all those interested in Photography and Photoshop come and meet the experts from Morning Star Design and Dreamagineers who are co-hosting this amazing Photographer’s Festival, in the beautiful Eastern Free State town of Bethlehem (30Kms from Clarens).
Come and join us to learn and share, let’s celebrate together, with PASSION!
Programme for the Day: Mohammed Jogie – South Africa’s Photoshop Genius!
Talking on Photoshop Zen (earth/water/fire/metal & wood). How the elements can be co-erced in turning your photographs into masterpieces. Mo will rock you with ideas, effects and tips in an element-al way. In his unique style, he will show both beginner and advanced photographers the extreme power of Photoshop.
Miguel de Carvalho – Acclaimed Master of Design!
Will be discussing essential retouching techniques and sharing some tips and tricks. Miguel will show photographers how to make the most of their “people”- photographs. In an enthralling way, he will show beginner and advanced photographers how to really expose the windows of the soul, retouch skintones and turn normal photographs into classic masterpieces.
Igno van Niekerk – Photographic Storyteller!
Will be talking about using Lightroom for wedding Photography – how to cut your editing time in half, create all kinds of effects in a fraction of the time, and have the bride watch the photos on her honeymoon. Additionally, Igno will show you the Power of the story in terms of taking great photographs, as well as composition and editing techniques for landscape photography.
Time: Registration 08:30
Venue: Witteberg Highschool – Bethlehem
Cost: R 550.00 (includes lunch)
Space is limited, visit http://www.imsd.co.za/form.php to register.