Johnny Nash once sang "There are more questions than answers. And the more I find out the less I know". I find myself humming that song often.

KinectShop by Gregory Ferenstein


Augmented reality technology has made life much easier for individuals in various sectors in the professional world. This technology combines virtual reality objects with real life objects and makes these two fundamentally different objects interact naturally in a space. Sectors such as the medical, entertainment, military training, engineering, robotics and telerobotics are all making use of augmented reality technology.

During the past holiday season, my fancy took me to surfing online shopping sites. A form of consumerism that is becoming popular in leaps and bounds.

I finally did it.

No, not sell my soul to Satan, I bought something online. Yes, lil' ol' inexperienced me, I made my first internet purchase. I di an EFT and everything, and it scared the piss outta me. I ordered a Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch (which I hope to review once it arrives) from buycool.co.za, and so far so good. My order will take "2 to 4 working days to arrive", and all I can think about is all the scary faeces that may occur in that time.

What if my order gets messed up? What if my money went somewhere else? What if they send me the wrong thing? What if they actually don't even exist and it was all a bad dream? I know I'm sounding whiny but I'm scared dammit. I log into my account and my invoice says my order is being "processed'. The hell does that mean? Polony gets proceesed, not graphics tablets. I imagine apart from people who can't afford the internet, it's people like me that are the reason that internet shopping will never take the place of physically going to the shop. Sure it's conveniant and allows one to buy objects that aren't easily available, but it's too impersonal, too cold, and it lacks that ability to quite simply look and touch what you want to buy first. Maybe after this transaction is completed my mind will change, but until then, I shall keep on with the butterfiles in my stomach.

And damn you every single PC shop in Durban for not stocking Wacom tablets...

Recently the Shoprite Checkers brand has had a make-over worthy of mentioning. Aquamarine, lime yellow and white coincided with an attractive female voice-over singing the brand's affordable luxury praises. Talking about singing, all of this happens to the continuous background of Cabaret-meets-King Singers all-male (baritones and tenors) 'doo-doop too too too doo-wah'. At first this might seem a bit cheap and nasty, but at a second glance or rather hearing, a golden thread of skillful craftmanship appears.

Musically speaking the mode (major), tempo (medium fast), register (mid to high), lack of textual syntacts and cabaret feel, evokes an attractive experience for the viewer/listener. No other instruments are used, just voices singing a Capella, i.e. without accompaniment. The benefit of a Capella male voices basically humming along for 30' is an association of strength, playfulness, relaxation, skillful showmanship yet structure and reliability. These are qualities that any brand aspires to communicate to their current and future clients.

What's more is that you can immediately identify a Shoprite Checkers advert only via its audio brand, which makes its audio brand unique and so much more memorable.

I wish more brands invested in voicing their still silent brand qualities.

It's the digital age and some things never change - like lunch breaks and how on a busy day you just don't have time for them.

I was privileged enough to attend the launch of a new online distributor unique in product and market. This website caters exclusively for South African woman and is a definite Bookmark for any lady that loves being spoiled, but is always on the go.