A lot has been said about the trend of advertising on products, billboards and the like within computer games.
The British Government has become the first organisation to place recruitment ads within 6 games in the UK.
The interesting thing is that these billboards feature primarly the url where more details on these jobs can be found: www.gchq-careers.co.uk. The jobs advertised: SPIES.
Once on their site, there is even a link to the Guardian website where there is a GCHQ podcast. Just another sign how online tools are becoming more mainstream.
Gamers however, when interviewed, claimed not to have time to stop and read a billboard when being chased by a killer with a monster weapon and that they don’t play games to look for jobs.
The GCHQ spokesman in turn claimed that they just want branding and to be there where there potential candidates hang out.
Does this mean that computer game crazy, virtual gun-toting teenagers are the future spies of Britain?

So, like I guess a lot of people do from time to time, I decided to see what’s being said about me online that I did not know already.
There, at no. 2 on a Yahoo! search ( in CCN.com ) I found my name linked to a hunting safari company in Namibia. Never having hunted before, though I was invited to such an “outing” in Namibia 2 years ago, I was quite keen to see what my name was doing on that site.
Well, it turns out that there is in fact another Japie Swanepoel out there, or shall I say, there was another one out there. It seems that he has moved on to wilder pastures.
My problem however: I don’t hunt, in fact I don’t like or support the idea / concept at all.
Is it possible that Yahoo! might take note of this or should I email them and alert them to the fact…
You’re right, I have a better chance of convincing Telkom to drop their broadband rates than getting Yahoo! to remove a dead man’s name from their search results in favour of one that is actually still around.
Of course, I do have Alec Erwin on my side when it comes to the Telkom rates thing…

No, we’ve not disappeared or given up on blogging. We are just so busy trying to convince others to blog ( and email, and advertise online, and do virals, and embrace affiliate marketing, and focus on SEO, and try out PPC, and of course put online strategies in place) that our blogging is getting left behind…
Hopefully Johnson and Johnson, Home Makers Fair, Dulux and all the others we are working with will soon be taking up all of those emarketing tools to enhance their businesses.
It does of course not excuse us from preaching blogging and walking our talking..;)

So, we hear all these tales about how internet connectivity in Africa has such a long way to go, how it can impact people’s lives once they have access and how Africa is the last frontier for world powers to expand their markets.
I love reading and learning about Africa, the people, the opportunities and how I as an individual can in some small way contribute to the upliftment of the continent Africa. A slumbering giant as some may call it.
So, I have made this commitment to myself: once a year I will take time off, business pressures notwithstanding, to learn more about the people and in some small way to try and make a difference without any profit or business motive.
The time for this year’s trip is upon me. On Monday morning 8 October, I will set off for Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for 7 days.
While there ( without my laptop or cellphone ) I will also make a point of seeing what is happening wrt to connectivity, be it land line, cellphone or online.
So, until 16 October, count me out of this medium….

According to the Business Day, World Wide Worx has released its latest stats on online spending in SA.
According to them, online spend will grow by 35% this year to R 929m! This is just great news for anyone concerned with online and helping companies making the internet work.
The reason for this growth is what interests me. According to the article, the rise in online spending was to due increasing broadband penetration.
This is the one aspect that I would like to question.
Not being a researcher, I have no facts to base my assumptions on. However, if I look at my own online behaviour, I realise that I am spending more online, having had broadband access for quite a while now.
My question therefore is: can there just be just one reason for the growth in online retail spend increasing, as the research indicates, or is it a combination of factors?