BlackBerry voted best brand by young South Africans for the third year running
The youth of South Africa has once again independently voted BlackBerry® as the 'Coolest Brand Overall' in the Sunday Times Generation Next 2013 Brand Survey Awards. Young voters also named BlackBerry the ‘Coolest Cellphone’, and BBM™ as the ‘Coolest Cellphone App’ for the third year running.
The results of the ninth annual Generation Next Brand Survey Awards were announced at an event at Montecasino, Johannesburg tonight (30 May). The ongoing popularity of the BlackBerry® brand among young South Africans is a result of the company’s focus on offering an experience that enables tech-savvy young people to lead increasingly connected lives.
Alexandra Zagury, Managing Director for South and Southern Africa at BlackBerry says: "We are delighted that BlackBerry is the coolest brand for the third year in a row and sincerely thank our young fans for their loyalty and support. Smartphones are a lifestyle choice in the youth market, so BlackBerry focuses on designing cool and stylish handhelds that are also packed with excellent features that keep young people engaged and connected, such as BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), social networking and plenty of apps.”
She adds: “Success in the youth market is not about selling products, it’s about sincere engagement with your audience. Young people want a relationship with the brands that they love and BlackBerry gives South Africa’s mobile and hyper-connected youth the tools to communicate and co-create with the world around them.”
Zagury says that the award is especially pleasing in the year that BlackBerry has successfully launched the new BlackBerry® 10 platform and smartphones. BlackBerry 10 has been re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented to create a new unique mobile computing experience. Both the new BlackBerry® Z10 (all-touch) and BlackBerry® Q10 (touch with physical keyboard) smartphones are available in South Africa, and the newly announced BlackBerry® Q5 smartphone is coming soon. The BlackBerry Q5 is the perfect smartphone for young people and makes it easy for them to have fun, create, share and stay connected.
BlackBerry 10 builds on many of the strengths that made earlier BlackBerry platforms so popular with the youth .For example, BBM, which enables users to share text and voice messages, pictures and video clips – provides an even richer experience on BlackBerry 10 as it includes video chat, and introduces the ability to share your screen with other BlackBerry 10 contacts.
(Source - Blackberry)
Upcoming Events at AFDA Durban
OPEN DAYS
Date: Saturday 1 June 2013 | Saturday 3 August 2013
Time: Starts 10am | Ends 12noon
Place: 2a Highdale Road, Glen Anil, Durban North
A day when we WELCOME all prospective students, parents, guardians, teachers and the public to the campus. With introductions to each our departments from our Campus Dean to the heads of schools and lecturers. You will have the opportunity to tour our campus, observe demonstrations within the departments offered, watch performances by our students and schedule an interview with an HOD, lecturer or other staff.
AFDA FILM FESTIVALS: Our film festivals are a platform upon which our students are able to showcase their work to friends, family and the public.
AFDA Experimental Film and Music Festival (Mid-Year)
Date: Friday 14th of June 2013
Time: From 14h30 til late
Place: On Campus at 2a Highdale Road, Glen Anil, Durban North
With Durban campus being so young, we will be screening our current first years' short films made this semester and include the top third year experimental short films from our Johannesburg and Cape Town campuses. A selection of the best theatre and musical pieces from our current students will also be performed. Please enquire with us regarding tickets/entry, program etc.
AFDA Annual Film Festival
Dates: Friday 22 – Saturday 23 November 2013
Time: TBC
Place: TBC
A showcase of a variety of this years films screened in cinema including the First Year Films from Durban, Best of 3rd Year, Honours & Masters Degree Films from Johannesburg and Cape Town. Further details will be confirmed later in the year.
HOLIDAY WORKSHOP in film and entertainment is a one day taste of what the AFDA Program entails should you be interested to enrol in one of our Degree programs. This workshop is during the school holidays and will give you an introduction to some essential practical skills in creating a good Entertainment Product, whether you want to act, make films or tv productions. This will include practical demonstrations and exercises.
Date: Thursday 4 July 2013
Time: 9am – 4pm
Place: On Campus at 2a Highdale Road, Glen Anil, Durban North
Cost: R50 per person – includes light lunch, please inform us if vegetarian on booking.
Booking is ESSENTIAL as space is limited. Open to Matrics, Grade 11's and students who have finished school already.
Hilton Arts Festival
Dates: 13th - 15th of September 2013
The Hilton Arts Festival is held each year at Hilton College in Hilton and AFDA is thrilled to be apart of this festival again this year! AFDA will be situated in The Crookes Block near the Long Table where we will be giving workshops on filmmaking, storytelling and performance as well as screening the work of our students.
Please enquire with us for more details.
For more details about AFDA Durban visit their website - www.afda.co.za
(Source - AFDA Durban)
King Shaka International improves service levels at Arrivals Pickup Zone
King Shaka International Airport, 21 May 2013 - The current Arrivals Pickup Zone at King Shaka International Airport has proven to be very convenient for airport users since its upgrade in June 2012. As part of further enhancing the facility, Airports Company South Africa has decided to cover the entrance and exit of the facility so that it would be more convenient for users especially during adverse weather conditions.
Colin Naidoo, Communications and Brand Manager at King Shaka International said, “This enhancement will allow vehicles to safely enter and exit without the tickets being damaged, adding to the inconvenience when exiting. To ensure that this project can be completed in a short space of time, the pickup zone will have to be closed for at least 45 days so that the canopies can be properly erected”.
Naidoo continued, “As King Shaka International is constantly striving to improve its service standards and takes airport users suggestions seriously, we believe this enhancement will go a long way to improving service delivery and ultimately taking our service standards to a more positive level”.
The closure of the Pickup Zone will be from 24 May to 26 July 2013
We are mindful that the construction work and the closing off of the Arrivals Pick up parking will impact users, especially those who park on a short-term basis. To ensure that our users are not inconvenienced during that time, we will be directing vehicles into the multi-story car park during that period only.
- The Multi-Story Parking (MSP) park will be the alternate parking facility during the construction period
- An area on the ‘O’ level closest to the entrance to the Terminal Building will be allocated for all pick up
- Free Parking of 20 minutes will be implemented within the MSP
- Once the 20 minutes free parking has elapsed, the normal MSP tariffs will apply
- Entrance to this demarcated area can take place via the north and south entrance of the MSP
- Payment may take place at any of the pay stations situated within the MSP
Naidoo mentioned, “During this period, there will be directional signage and additional manpower in place, to direct the public to the designated parking area within the MSP. As always, our customers are important to us and these changes will improve the customer experience, at King Shaka International Airport. We do apologise for the inconvenience caused and ask for your patience during this period”.
For any parking related queries during this period, please call (032) 436-6626 / 6654.
“Parking Solutions, WITH YOU IN MIND”
(Source - King Shaka International Airport)
Now for some writing.
Frank Ketchup Visits Durban: Interviewed by De Wet Bronkhorstspruit
Frank Ketchup, famous and illusive bon vivant, rock star and suffering from the concussion caused by rap, and a presumption that his music career will take wing. Rip van Winkle was popular once. On the perimeter of his designs, Ketchup holds the fort for his new band One Off The Wall Clanging Circus. Ketchup is on a tour of South Africa; but Ketchup reveals that Durban is the only destination for this tour.
Ketchup who insists on walking everywhere between night venues; in between reading such obscure books like Louis-Ferdinand
CÉLINE’s “Voyage au bout de la nuit,” and avoiding the radio, at all times might a create a frisson among the pompous. He refuses all public transport including bicycles. After putting aside his cigarillo box, his third since sunrise; it is two o’ clock and Ketchup is sitting in a chair at the Elangeni dreaming of absinthe in lieu of friends.
Asked why the tour bisects Cape Town, Grahamstown or even more surprisingly, Johannesburg, (the former are one) Ketchup announces that “Joburg’s architecture with its dishevelled collection of buildings annoys him while the other fills him with ennui.”
When probed about his table manners Ketchup gives a glowering stare. Ketchup is part of an inexplicable rock revival; think: Duran Duran,Tears for Fears, Falco he of ‘Rock Me Amadeus’, and a mongrel cross a Radiohead departing from practice and speaking in full sentences, breaking plastic chairs at every opportunity: Ketchup ends our chat by holding forth: “people today have an aversion to concept albums, or concepts per se, Guinness Beer and condensed milk.” It seems for him this is a serious predicament.
Next to my chair in St. Lucia’s Bar in Kloof Ketchup went on a tirade of Olympian proportions about anything from split infinitives, writing calligraphy in Latvian and Norwegian embroidery. When Frank Ketchup was told that very little of this could be considered practical, he stubbed out his secretary- she was told to leave and the Rock vivant quoted Cassius “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141. There is a question mark here. “Yes, I once visited that establishment in Melville, involving a mirror, a camera and the crisp Highveld air” Ketchup poured forth. He lost me somewhere after this sentence because of some unprintable stuff about sculptures at Wits University, the Old South African Flag (he retorted ‘Which one?’, the Benguela Current, Seagulls, Cadets, billowing cigarettes smoked by Uncles in cinemas: deserts, chimeras, cul de sacs, dingy bars and other probable Civil Wars. We can back to earth when he mentioned the old L.A. Hotel in Durban.
Imagine Casablanca in 2013, with the smoke removed by a land of interdiction that I imagine draws Ketchup, Copenhagen-like to these shores. He wants a country with more sauce, humid in the indulgence of wit, not merely side partings and coiffures. Frank Ketchup never goes cap in hand, but it would be stupid and a folly to spend oneself, in the effluence of his diatribes.
(This Satire Piece is proudly brought to you by some hack.... excuse me writer, Timothy Sparks)
email him your thoughts on tpwsparks@hotmail.com
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