Andy Hadfield

I had a very strange experience today. It was a warm winter's day, and we had a fire going outside. Glass of wine in hand, I was fiddling around with the iPhone (as one does - usually to one's wife's discontent) - specifically a cult favourite app of mine, Mood Agent.

As I launched the app, it popped up a message telling me that I needed to uninstall and reinstall to "see all new features". Mmmm. Bit of a pain in the ass.

I like the app, so I dutifully plugged in, uninstalled and reinstalled. At which stage, I noticed that the app icon had changed to say: Mood Agent FREE. Anyone who has any experience with the Apple App Store knows exactly what that means:

This is a feature hampered version. Like the shareware model, but with more tease.There's a better version waiting out there, for some cash.Now here's the interesting bit of the user experience. Firstly, the app caused me some hassle with a reinstall. I don't know why, and frankly I don't care. T…

The Twitter Wine Review Social Experiment. I never understood wine reviews, the classy ones. Sure - 3 stars, 4 stars, but when they got to acidic bouquets and well textured noses. They lost me. Here's a social trend: man-in-the-street wine reviews, from someone who knows what he likes, probably knows what others would like, but refuses to hoighty toighty it up.

Enjoy!

My Twitter Wine Review List for May 2010:

2006 Du Toitskloof Cellar Shiraz. Not my favourite. Like the Lions. 3/10.

2007 Glenwood Merlot. Undertones of Sugus Rasberry. Would go GREAT with Chuckleberrys. 6/10.

2008 Nederburg The Winemasters Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Light, sneaky lunch wine. Needs lotsa oxygen. 6/10.

2005 Meerlust Rubicon. Prob a bit young. But hauled out in celebration of future son. That rhymes. Still a great wine. 7/10.

Tucking into a 1999 LBV Port. It's porty.

2009 Zonnebloem Sauvignon Blanc. Like a fruit salad. With grass & apricots. Yum. Helps me forget the crappy sports results. 7/10.

…

The Twitter Wine Review Social Experiment. I never understood wine reviews, the classy ones. Sure - 3 stars, 4 stars, but when they got to acidic bouquets and well textured noses. They lost me. Here's a social trend: man-in-the-street wine reviews, from someone who knows what he likes, probably knows what others would like, but refuses to hoighty toighty it up.

Enjoy!

My Twitter Wine Review List for April 2010:

2009 Bergkelder Fleur Du Cap Sauvignon Blanc. Tart. Like lime pie. Stick with the 2008. *sticks nose in air*. 6/10.

2008 KWV Merlot. Delightful! Smooth and buttery. Like butter. And berries. 7/10.

2008 Van Loveren Pinotage. Jaaa. A bit Ave Lavigne? Nothing remarkable. 4/10.

St. Pettie Pink Heavenly Bubble. I'm not even sure this is a wine. It's like I left strawberry juice in the sun. 2/10.

2008 Nederburg Baronne Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Reserve. Leathery. Like a Porra. Bit of earth as well. I like! 8/10.

2004 Ridgeback Cabernet Sauvignon. Bursting. Like when you s…

The Twitter Wine Review Social Experiment. I never understood wine reviews, the classy ones. Sure - 3 stars, 4 stars, but when they got to acidic bouquets and well textured noses. They lost me. Here's a social trend: man-in-the-street wine reviews, from someone who knows what he likes, probably knows what others would like, but refuses to hoighty toighty it up.

Enjoy!

My Twitter Wine Review List for March 2010:

2007 Jade Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon. Caught between remarkable and unremarkable. But as drinkable as a 2am hoddog. 6/10.

2006 Terrazas Malbec Reserve Blend. Fruity. Goes nicely with the 2kg of Texan beef and coronary. 6/10.

Of course, nothing smack like some good location-based fun than the World Cup - and GoWalla and FourSquare have come to the party with customised content, badges, pins and lists of cool spots in SA to check out.

First off, FourSquare has partnered with CNN to bring you 40+ cool spots to check out. Mostly in South Africa with a couple from the US thrown in for good measure. There are badges to get (only spotted a SuperFan one myself) so get going.

GoWalla's World Cup offering is a little easier to grasp. Their blog post covers how "The Beautiful Game" now interacts with their location based offering. There are custom pins for certain events, World Cup Badges, Stadium Badges and much more.

It's nice to see how the world's eyes really do turn on us during this time. We always knew it, but nice to see it in action.

(PS: There were 27 people checked in to Ellis Park for the Argentina vs Nigeria group stage game. Not big numbers by any stretch of the imagination. But he…

The vibe is just amazing. The Internet is exploding with SA spirit and World Cup passion. Vuvuzela is trending on Twitter. A 12 year old from PE designed the Google Doodle. And it's just beginning...

Enjoy it fellow South Africans. This happens once in a lifetime - where the world's attention is firmly on our lovely country.


Twitter will be the place to be for on-the-spot reporting, pictures and opinions. Check out the Twitter World Cup Page for some nice aggregation, and feel free to follow my World Cup Twitter Coverage as well!

Go Bafana!