Speculated to be 2010’s most anticipated game, Gran Turismo 5 or more commonly known as GT5 is expected to hit shelves later this year and so far has no arrival date. The game manufacturers have done a good job of leaking info about the game over the last few months and GT fans already have a good understanding of what to expect. A full list of the cars has already leaked and so has information about the “damage engine” and a few other cool things that GT5 packs like full online play.

The PSP version of the game is out already and if you have played it already, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Here are a few screen shots of the game.

While Twitter continues to explode to become the popular social web service that it already is, many people find it a new experience and are still unaware of the basic etiquette that has become expected of fellow Twits.

This is list not comprehensive, but is definitely a starting point for listing tweeting habits that will result in you being unfollowed or blocked.

Auto-DMs

The popularity of auto-DM’s has definitely died down and it was a lot worse a short while ago, but there are still a few schmucks who have these set up. They are annoying, impersonal and spam. Whether your auto-DM is to welcome me to your Twitter stream as a new follower or to get me to read your blog, this habit will get you unfollowed. No negotiating this one!

Consistent requests to become your Facebook friend

Why would I? I mean really! Facebook is a bit more personal for me than Twitter and I want to keep it for my friends and family. Even though the word “friend” is slightly screwed up on Twitter, I have at least met each of my friends and I know who they are and I trust them enough to share personal information, photos, videos, etc.

Consistent tweets about “How to get more followers”

I am not sure when this became a competition. I believe that people who value my tweets, will follow me, those who don’t, simply don’t follow me. I will not go out SEARCHING for followers like the Jehovah’s Witness chaps that disturb my Sunday afternoon. They annoy me and so do those tweets!

Retweeting my tweets, but replacing the URLs that I share

By doing so, you are “putting words into my mouth”. I hate it, its rude and most times your links are spam. No-one likes a spammer. Really, we don’t!

Get rich quick schemes

Seriously dude, you probably don’t make $100 000 per month so stop telling us that you can make us rich. Most of us believe in hard work and think that the easy road works. It’s just lame and you are annoying! We don’t WANT to listen to sad stories of you wanting to share your wealth. If you have spare cash and don’t want it anymore, give it charity, idiot

Follow me on Twitter as @DChetty

Google is reknown for launching brilliant services, offering it free to use with little if not any monetization model at all on the service, in then move on politely to kill the next big thing. They did this with mail with the launch of their GMail service, with Picasa, the photo management software and site, GTalk, the IM and VOIP service, etc. Disruptive technologies with high impact viral marketing from the geek world with their blogs, Twitter accounts and other sharing platforms work for Google.

Their latest offering is a stab at content sharing and uses GMail as a platform to house the technology and fuses the concepts of Google Wave, Twitter and GMail into a seamless inteface that is usable, easy to understand and practical.

The biggest advantage that it has to other services, is that all Google products use the same consolidated Contacts list. Google Buzz looks to integrate Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, YouTube, etc.

Here is a video released by Google to highlight the concept of Google Buzz:

GMail has really grown up since its launch as it now hosts mail, IM, docs, and now Buzz. Best of all, it’s available for mobile too!

I have just received my Nokia N900 and I am totally excited. My first impressions are that its bigger, but sturdier than the Nokia N97, the UI is amazing and the touch screen responsiveness has improved drastically from its predecessor as Nokia’s flagship, the Nokia N97.

The Nokia N900 runs on a different operating system to all other Nokia devices and this is the Finnish companies first Maemo powered device. Over the next few days, I will post my opinions on the phone and also do a bit of benchmarking against some other mobile devices.

Here are a few pictures of the unboxing:

The device ships with few accessories:

• Mini-USB charger
• AVI cable
• USB to Mini-USB cable
• Screen cloth
• Headset
• A stylus pen

This accessory list has become the Nokia standard and is expected to ship with all their devices and I feel that perhaps they could have gone the extra mile with the accessory list and included a pouch, as with the Nokia E-Series and a few spare stylus pens. these are items that come to mind immediately, but I am sure that this list will grow as I use the device. You may think that I am being fussy about this, but please keep in mind that this is the flagship device and will ship at a premium price in any case.

Some more first impression pictures:

I have spent a few minutes setting up the phone so far and just getting used to the device and so far I am truly impressed and would go as far as saying that this is the best UI on any Nokia to date. The user experience is well thought out and logical. Transitions are smooth, are not over done and just generally slick to look at.

Watch out for my thought in the coming days…

I have been contacted by an agency with reference to a job opportunity in Cape Town and while the position does not suit me, I am sure that one or two of my readers will definitely be interested in the opportunity. I can tell you that it is with a very dynamic company and actively involved in the mobile sector in SA.

I am not affiliated with the agency in any way and neither am I advocating the company to which the position is with. If you are interested, I have included the agents details at the bottom of the post, so feel free to contact them directly.

Good luck and don’t forget to keep us in the loop if you do get it!

Content Manager

A dynamic technology company based in the Western Cape is seeking the expertise of a Content Manager, the purpose of the job is to establish dominance of my client’s international content offering through defining and implementing the mobile content strategy across all defined lifestyle categories.

You will need to have honed these  skills

§  Business analysis skills

§  Good written and verbal communication skills

§  Facilitation skills

§  Relationship skills

§  Customer Centric

§  Proven problem solving skills

§  Time management skills

§  Conflict management

§   Conceptual thinking skills

§  Ability to manage in a diverse environment

§  Strong motivation and influencing skills

§  High Attention to detail

And have these  Attributes

§  Positive, enthusiastic attitude

§  Teamwork

§  Presentable, well spoken and professional

§  Reliable

§  Integrity

§  Flexible -  thrive in a dynamic environment

Minimum Requirements

§  Degree or Business qualification in Commerce, Marketing IT or Information Science

§  At least 5 years experience in product development, product management, content management or marketing

§  At least 2-3 years experience in a similar management position, in dynamic fast moving industries.

§  Sound financial, product management and product improvement knowledge

§  Knowledge of local and international mobile and content trends/markets

§  Knowledge of cellular telecommunications best practices

§  Mobile portal knowledge

§  Knowledge of product management methodologies

§  Business acumen

§  Understanding the regulated environment

§  GSM knowledge

§  Market Research

§  Knowledge of and experience in working in the mobile and/or telecommunication industry

§  Technical System knowledge

§  International exposure to mobile content is advantages

Should you meet the above criteria or have industry experience in the mobile /new media/ social media space

Kindly forward CV’s to jackiej@hboconsulting.com or contact me directly on 072 387 3387

So after a few weeks of anticipation of the latest firmware for the Nokia N97, it is now available as v21.0.045 which includes better call handling, improved scrolling, video and photo stability enhancements and better browsing.

Heres a screenshot of OVI with details on the Nokia N97 firmware v21:

Once that is done, I highly recommend that you update Ovi Maps to 3.0.3 which includes lifetime free access to voice navigation and lifecasting. Details on how to install Ovi Maps can be found on my previous blog post.

Nokia has recently announced that it will give away Ovi Maps with turn by turn voice navigation free to all of its devices enabled with GPS units. Sadly, it could launch the Ovi Maps 3.0.3 for the Nokia N97 when it launched it for the rest of the mobile giant’s lineup due to memory space issues on the C:/.

A Nokia representative then announced on the forum that the Ovi Maps Free versions will be available to Nokia N97 and N97 Mini users after the release of the latest firmware for v21. After much anticipation for the latest firmware which was expected today, Nokia has made available Ovi Maps for the N97 and subsequently delayed the release if the new firmware. #uncool, but honestly, it doesn’t matter because now all 79 countries maps are available to me free of charge on my Nokia N97.

Follow these instructions to install Ovi Maps 3.0.3 for the Nokia N97:

Select Applications from the Main Menu

Select SW Update

Ovi Maps – with free navigation will be in the menu list

Select Options > Download

Upon completion of installation, I recommend that you restart the phone.

On the back of the Apple iPad launch yesterday, this is a parody TV ad that has surfaced on the web.

We all know that Twitter generates an insanely massive amount of data and just in case you had the urge to print it all, you might wanna read some of the interesting bits below first. Thats just in case you actually DO want to print all of Twitter, of course!

Still want to print Twitter? Let me know if you plan to, just so that I can stand around laughing at you while you do!

It looks like Microsoft is going to be bringing Xbox Live to the Windows Mobile platform in the near future. One of the better and more reliable sources for what is coming for Microsoft’s mobile platform is Microsoft’s own job postings. They are looking for a program manager and software test engineer for the project.

MobileTechWorld has the details of the two job postings. The first is for a “Principal Program Manager.” The key sentence in that posting is:

“We need a Principle Program Manager who can help drive the platform and bring Xbox LIVE enabled games to Windows Mobile. This person will focus specifically on what makes gaming experiences “LIVE Enabled” through aspects such as avatar integration, social interactions, and multi-screen experiences.”

For the software test engineer, they describe it as “The focus area of this team is our full end-to-end gaming experience, and it’s our teams challenge to ensure the highest level of quality and fun in all aspects of that experience.”

Microsoft has already integrated gamertags from Xbox Live with Zune IDs and now it looks like they are bringing Windows Mobile into the fold. That may also be a stepping stone to getting Zune bits on Windows Mobile, something that has been long rumored.

My guess is this is something for WinMo 8 or perhaps a “Second Edition” of WinMo 7. WinMo 7 is due to ship this year and the OS should be fully baked by the end of Q1, or perhaps a month or two after that, but not any later. It should be in consumer’s hands by Q4 2010. That means any projects being hired for now will be in the next version at the earliest.

I’ll be interested to see how they plan to integrate the two. Having avatar integration and social interactions is nice, but isn’t really a killer feature. The multi-screen integration could be interesting. Could you be playing Halo and using your phone as a tracking system or some other instrument panel? We’ll have to wait and see. If you are really curious, apply for the jobs. Who knows? You could get paid to sit all day long and play with an Xbox 360 and a super-secret build of Windows Mobile with Xbox Live integration.