UPFRONT: Reader Comments

Hi,

Is it true that Digital Life has ceased production of their magazine?
I received a notification via e-mail requesting my bank details for a refund, and was wondering if this was in fact a genuine notification.
Please reply so that I can proceed.
Thanking you
Dr. S.Goldbaum

Dear Dr Goldbaum,

It is unfortunately true that the printed version of Digital Life magazine is no longer. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in reading the publication, and I trust that you enjoyed every minute of it.
Regards
Theo

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I am heartbroken about the news. My condolences. I loved Digital Life, in its printed, polished form. It has always been slick and sexy and what a gap it will leave behind.
I wish you all the best,

Best
Kristi

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I am sad to learn of the discontinued publication. It was definitely one I looked forward to. In fact, I was quite distressed when I found out it was only published every two months. This is another huge loss for us, the readers.
Regards,
Craig

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“Another One Bites the Dust”. Damn!
I started off buying Digital Life off the shelf every month, then was a subscriber for the last couple of years. It’s a great pity that, for whatever reason, the publication of the magazine was no longer viable.
There was, I thought, great value in the fact that the content had relevance to products available in the South African market. Where to now? The statement in the Tuesday Digital Life Mini Newsletter has me worried: “you will still find the Digital Life Newsletters in your inbox twice a week, for the time being,” especially those last four words.

Regards,
George Young

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I'm so sorry about the closure of your magazine. It is my favourite mag out of all those on the racks!  Please remember that change will usher in something more wonderful for you all.  God bless you all and thank you for all you have done for us.  I know that you all have promising futures to look forward to.

Love
Valerie

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Dear Theo,

I see that on the Digital Life website there are very few or no roundups. Are you planning to publish any roundups on the website as you are doing in the magazinel?

Regards
Caroline

Hi Caroline

Thanks for your e-mail. Yes, we are putting up roundups on the website and just for you, today we have a roundup of projectors.

Enjoy!

Theo

 

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Hi there

Nowadays, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to things like cellphones, netbooks, cameras, etc. But as an ordinary consumer, I often don’t know which one to buy, as every salesperson will wax lyrical about whatever they’re wanting to sell you. Which is why I like Digital Life magazine and the newsletter so much. You do nice, in-depth reviews (especially in the mag) and aren’t shy to point out a product’s shortcomings, which is really helpful.

So thanks for doing such a great job, and for putting the consumer’s needs first.

Amanda, Bryanston

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Hi Tallulah!

After reading your review of the Stereomood website, ansd being a music lover, this website has become an instant hit. I am always looking for music with a difference and there is loads of it on this site. Great review and many thanks for the heads-up on this site.

Regards,
Craig McLaurin
The Humble Scot!

Hi Craig,

I'm really glad that you found it useful. I have also discovered a few new favourites from that site. I hope that you find our future reviews as rewarding and remember that if you have any other websites you'd like to share with others, please let us know.

Regards,
Tallulah

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Dear Digital Life team / Theo

Ouch! On the iTrip auto universal plus review, there are some errors.
“…the iTrip will find the strongest FM frequency to broadcast the music device’s content through the car audio system.”

These units scan to find a free/available frequency, i.e. it does not have anything to do with finding the “strongest” frequency.

Also, the review states: “It’s important to note that the sound quality will depend on the FM frequency strength and you might experience some good and bad signals while you are driving around town.”
There is no such thing as “FM frequency strength”. I suspect you mean signal strength. Problems may likely be caused by interference from commercial broadcast stations on the same frequency/close to the same frequency the iTrip is set to.

I generally like the newsletters, but please keep in mind your audience also has tech-savvy members who expect accurate information.
I hope you will see this as constructive criticism and use it to improve.

Regards,
Andries Visagie

Dear Andries,
Thank you for your feedback. We really appreciate it, because it does help us when we do get something wrong so we can correct it.

I tried contacting the Griffin people in the US to help out with some explanation, but have still haven’t heard anything from their technical team.

You are correct in saying that the iTrip searches for an available FM frequency, which I should have made clear. As I understand, it also searches for the best/strongest available FM signal at the point where you pair the device to ensure good quality audio.

On your second issue of "FM frequency strength", you are correct. I did mean signal strength. The quality of the signal will affect the quality of the sound, as the signal might be different as you drive around town from where you first paired the device. It is the same as with your normal radio, when you go through a tunnel, the music on the radio will start to present audio noise.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention and helping us get the correct message and information out there to our readers.

Cheerio

Theo

(Letters have been shortened and edited.)

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Hi Theo

I’m writing with regards to the Sitecom modem. How much is it and does it work with a USB Huawei MTN modem or iBurst USB modem? Also, where can I buy it?

Thanks,
Joe

Hi Joe

The Sitecom gaming router you refer to (Sitecom WL-309) will be available for order in South Africa in July and will retail for R2 499. You can call Digital Channel Solutions (DCS) on 011 466 5099, or contact Lynne Strever at lynne@dcs.co.za to find the closest retailer to you.
It, however, does not work with the USB Huawei MTN modem or the iBurst USB modem, as these products are 3G products and the WL-309 is not 3G-ready. But there is a Sitecom 300N 3G router, which will cost you between R1 399 and R1 099 and is currently available at Hi-Fi Corporation
 
Cheers

Theo

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Hi,

Thanks for the great mag and the weekly electronic updates. The content is fantastic! I just have one question: will you also be running competitions in the electronic newsletter, as you do in the mag? That would be awesome.

Matthew

Hi Matthew,

It’s always great to hear nice feedback from readers, so thank you. In terms of the competitions, we are working hard at it to get competitions running in the newsletter and on our website, as we do in the magazine. Keep your eyes peeled, because you never know when we could introduce this as a regular feature.

Cheerio

Theo

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Hello Theo,

I have read your newsletter and I really think it is great and would just like to tell you we at Wired Communications are looking forward to becoming a Digital Life fan on Facebook.

Thanks and regards,

Lina de Carvalho

Hi Lina,

We are happy to hear that you enjoy the newsletter and happy to have you guys as fans on Facebook. Remember to suggest our Facebook page to all your other friends too.

Theo

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Good afternoon,

I really enjoy reading every issue of Digital Life magazine.

Would you know where I can have my faulty YAMAHA Digital Home Theatre Receiver Type RX-V630 repaired?

Thank you so much for your assistance.

With best regards

Urs Jordi

Hi Urs,

We are glad you enjoy reading the magazine. Remember to tell all your friends about it and get them to subscribe on our website at www.digitallife.co.za.

To answer your question regarding fixing your Yamaha Home Theatre Receiver, the official agent for Yamaha locally is Balanced Audio. Their number is 011 314 0760, or visit their website at www.balancedaudio.co.za. I'm sure they will be able to help you out.
 
Cheerio

Theo

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Hi,

I simply want to say thank you for the great newsletters each week. It has helped me make better choices when it comes to technology and gadgets, even my husband has said so.

Keep up the great work guys!

Thelma

Hi Thelma,

We appreciate the kind words and are very happy that you are gaining so much from our newsletters. It's great to be empowered, isn't it?

Have fun in showing your hubby you're no techno fool!

Cheers

Theo

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Hi Theo,

Always great reading your newsletters, which are filled with great content.

Thanks for the update on the "snot-siekte". I hope you get well soon.

Regards,
Craig

Hi Graig,

Thanks for the well wishes and compliment on the newsletter. I can’t tell you how much I wish this flu to be over.

I guess we all have to get it sometime. J
Have a good weekend and keep on reading.

Cheers

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Hi Theo,

Will there be a Digital Life Expo this year?

Kind Regards,
Sandy-Lee De Sousa

Hi Sandy-Lee,

Yes, this year’s Digital Life Expo will be held at the Coca-Cola Dome in Northgate, Johannesburg, from 5 to 7 November. And, as always, it is going to be great! So don’t miss it.

Cheers

Theo

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I really enjoy the Digital Life newsletter and can’t wait for it to pop into my mailbox twice a week. It’s so nice to read something that isn’t too complicated. I like keeping up to date with what’s happening on the tech front, but I’m not a geek by any stretch of the imagination.

I also enjoy the magazine, as it has a great mix of `geeky’ articles and more mainstream pieces. I just wish you guys were coming out on a monthly basis, as opposed to every two months! Thankfully, there’s the newsletter to give us our tech fix until the next issue hits the shelves.

Keep up the good work.

Cheryl

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Were can I buy Digital Life? The Checkers, etc. in my area don't seem to keep it. I live in the Kempton Park area. I picked up a copy in the dentist rooms and found it really interesting.

Thanks

H du Plessis

Hi Hennie

The closest places you would be able to purchase a copy of the magazine would be at Spar Karaglen or Spar Glen Arces. Digital Life magazine is available at over 780 retail stores across the country, including CNA, Exclusive Books, Spar, PNA, Dion Wired and Incredible Connection stores, among others.

Theo

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Hi

A friend sent me your newsletter and I am very impressed with the content, so I subscribed online. I also saw that you guys have a magazine of the same name and was wondering if everything you put in the newsletter also gets printed in the magazine?

(from Retha)

Hi Retha,

We are glad that you joined our newsletter circle and thank your friend again for introducing you, because he/she gave you a big gift by doing so. To answer your question, the stories in the newsletter are all exclusive to the newsletter and we do not duplicate it in the magazine, except if we want to cover something in much more detail. It would, therefore, be a good idea for you to also subscribe to the magazine for more tech info.

Cheerio

Theo

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Hi Theo

I want to direct your attention to the weight and size of laptops that can be used with the Grace Stand, which is on our website (www.gracestand.com), as well as on the leaflet and packaging on the Grace Stand box. It is made clear that the stand is for 15-inch laptops only. We have several 17-inch laptop customers that use the Grace stand as a desk stand to have their laptops eye-height, and then use an external keyboard to type on, which addresses 99% of ergonomic ailments.

It is also due to this that the Grace Stand is fully endorsed by the Chiropractic Association of SA and why it was also approved to be sold on Discovery's Vitality Mall.

Karel

Dear Karel,

Thank you for responding and helping to clarify things a bit more for our readers. We understand that the Grace Stand is not made for 17-inch laptops and that is why we tested it with a 15-inch laptop (as you will see when reading the article again). However, we experienced exactly what we wrote about, even with the 15-inch laptop. Our experience was simply worse with the 17-inch laptop.

We apologise if it was not very clear that we tested the stand with both sized laptops and found the same result.

Regards

Theo

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Hello

Where do I find the iPhone/iPod accessories that were advertised on the top of some of the previous newsletters? There is no link to them.

Don

Hi Don,

Thanks for your inquiry. All the information regarding the iPhone accessories you saw advertised can be found in our feature article in the printed issue of the magazine (the February issue of the magazine, which should still be on sale in the shops ‘till the last week of March).

In short, there are many places/retail stores you can get iPhone accessories in South Africa these days. They include places like Apples iStores, CAB (Cool Apple Buddies), Incredible Connections, Dion Wired and some Vodacom outlets. Plus, you can search the web for online stores in South Africa that also sell some of these.

The best thing to do is get your hands on the Feb issue of the magazine to check out what we think are the coolest accessories around, what they cost and where to get them.

Cheers

Theo

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Good day Theo.

Please excuse my ignorance in this, but I’m in need of a computer and I’m not sure what the difference is between the following devices:

  1. Netbooks
  2. Laptops
  3. Notebooks

Thank you,
Sonnyboy

Hi Sonnyboy,

No worries, a lot of people get confused with the various terms.

  1. A netbook is a small in size (10-inch) ultra-portable PC. It was initially designed as an entry-level computer for simple tasks such as sending e-mails, connecting to the internet, viewing photos and listening to music. You couldn’t do any real work on them such as running applications and software that are very power and process intensive such as Photoshop or video-editing software. You still get entry-level netbooks at around R3 000 – R4 000, but netbbooks are now made to function like full notebooks or laptops and to run big applications and programs while still being very small in size (10” inch or 13”). However small, these optimised netbooks can still knock you back between R8 000 and R15 000.
  2. Laptops and notebooks are actually one and the same thing. When they were first introduced in the late 80s and early 90s, they were called laptops, as you could work with them on your lap. Now they are increasingly referred to as notebooks. Laptops and notebooks are like a full desktop PC that can process large applications and software programs, but are portable. They generally range in physical size from 15”to 17”. The graphics are good and processing power faster and stronger than the average netbook. Prices for these can range from R4 000 to R27 000, depending on the make, model and configuration.

 

This is explained in simplistic terms to highlight the differences between the devices.

I hope this helps.

Cheers

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Hi Theo 

I like the newsletter, but I’m finding the two times per week annoying. I thought that this newsletter was only once a week. Are you continuing on this basis or will you revert to weekly?

Regards

Nicole

Dear Nicole,

Thank you for your response, we appreciate your comment and concern.

In response to your issue, we are still investigating how we can create an option for readers to choose which issue of the Digital Life newsletter they want to receive, as there are readers who enjoy the twice weekly updates and others, such as yourself, who only want to receive one newsletter a week – either the Tuesday or Thursday newsletter. Unfortunately, for now we are continuing to send out both newsletters.

While we are working on the option for people to choose which newsletter they’d like to receive, I suggest that you create a rule in your e-mail settings to have both mails sent to a separate folder, when they arrive in your inbox. This will, in the meantime, give you the ability to go and read them when you want and have time to read them. You will also not be bothered when they arrive and it will not feel as if we are spamming you – something we really do not want you to feel like.

When we have sorted out the issue, I will publish it in my editor’s note in the newsletter as well as publish it on our website at www.digitallife.co.za.

We really do believe that what we are offering our readers through the newsletters are valuable information addressing the important issues concerning living a digital lifestyle.

I trust that you will follow our advice in creating that rule in your e-mail settings and continue to be a reader, until we have fully addressed your concern.

I hope this has put your mind at ease a little and also show our commitment to listening and addressing the needs of our readers.

Cheerio

Theo   

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I’ve been a subscriber to Digital Life for almost six months now, and enjoy it very much. I regard your opinions very highly, and therefore need your assistance in choosing the best Windows mobile phone available, please. I don’t trust the sales people too much!?!
Currently I have a Samsung SGH-G800 cellphone and enjoy it very much. It’s still going strong!
I just don’t know. There are too many good phones out there, I suppose, and two years is a long time to wait when a wrong choice is made!
Thank you, and looking forward to your response.

Regards

Tinus
(Shortened e-mail)

Dear Tinus,

You are right, making a wrong choice and being stuck with a phone you don't want for two years is a problem.
Honestly, we’re not sure you should go for a Windows-based phone. The other mobile operating systems are, in our opinion, much better. We have not yet had the opportunity to test a Windows Series 7 phone, as they only ship later this year, but maybe seeing it in action might change our perceptions.
Phones we would recommend according to your requirements in your detailed e-mail are:

  1. Samsung Jet
  2. HTC Hero
  3. HTC HD2 (Windows)
  4. Samsung C6625
  5. Nokia E72

Hope this helps.

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Hi,

Thanks for a great read. I want to know if you guys might consider featuring other home appliances and equipment like fridges, ovens, toasters, blenders, vacuum cleaners and those sorts of things as well. I would definitely benefit from stories about these products and I'm sure other readers would as well.

Louise

Hi Louise,

Thanks for your feedback. We will definitely discuss it around the office. You might just get what you asked for.  Theo

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Dear Theo,

Thanks for the newsletters. I like the content, as does my teenage son. We get the magazine every time we spot the new issue in the shops and bond over it a lot. But, we would like to know if you can feature technology that might be more affordable for us? Not everybody can spend thousands of rands on gadgets, like you mostly feature.
Thank you again for the great magazine and newsletters. Keep up the good work and I hope you can bring supply readers with information on more affordable technology.

Peter and Sean

Hi Peter & Sean

We will do our best to bring you tech that is more affordable. Unfortunately, we sometimes struggle to find these things. We will, however, not give up the search.

Thanks for your letter and loyalty.

Later. Theo.   

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Hi Theo

Congratulations on the Digital Life newsletter. The content is great - but I'm not sure it warrants a twice weekly communication. Receiving a weekly newsletter I didn't subscribe to is one thing. Biweekly starts to feel a little bit like spam. Well done on the professional, quality content. I just think that if your energy was devoted to a once-weekly, it would be more likely to be warmly received and read, rather than just deleted, like the other 48 unasked for newsletters I get rid of every week. 
Good luck with it. G

Hi G,

Thanks for the kind words. We also think the content is great and we love that you love it too. We’ll take your comments on the frequency of the newsletter under advisement. After all, we do not want to spam people and have them unsubscribe to the newsletter or simply delete it.
Have a good one. Theo.

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Hi,

Interesting newsletter and short enough not to have to wade through tons of info.
I would like to find out were the i1300S solar charger can be purchased.

Regards, Nick Aucamp

Hi Nick,
 
Thanks for the compliments on the newsletter. We do try.
 You will be able to get the solar charger from DGPen/DGPaper. Here are the contact details:
DGPen - Digital Writing Solutions
164 Lyndhurst Road, Lyndhurst, 2192, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 882-0058
Cell: +27 83 212-8794
The website is www.dgpen.co.za

Theo.

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Hi guys! I like some of the content in the newsletter - despite not knowing I'd subscribed to it, I still found a few cool bits to read. Two questions, though: I noticed I got a newsletter on Tuesday, instead of Thursday. Is this a second one? Is there no way to just make it all one letter? Also, is any of the newsletter content going to be available on the Digital Life website at all?
Dean, Pietermaritzburg

Hi Dean,

Thanks for your inquiry. There are now two newsletters a week. The one on Tuesdays is a mini-newsletter. We will take it under advisement to maybe combine the two, if readers feel it is too much. And on your second question: all the newsletter content is available on our website. Cheers, Theo.

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Hi there
I subscribed to the Digital Life newsletter (which I love!) and picked up a Digital Life magazine (February/March edition) the other day and I must say I really enjoyed it.  I got an iPod for Christmas so I was thrilled to see all these iPod accessories mentioned in the mag. I must say that the entire issue kept me busy for a while. There were loads of interesting articles. It’s a pity I now have to wait two months for the next issue to come out! Thankfully, I have your newsletter to keep me busy in the meantime. Nqobi

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Dear Theo
I went to see Avatar and was completely blown away by the 3D technology. I see you did a little piece on the movie in your newsletter a couple of weeks ago. Any chance we can get a more in-depth article? Johan

(Hi Johan. We hear you. Be sure to get the April/May issue of Digital Life magazine, where we’ll be featuring an in-depth look at the making of Avatar. Theo)    

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Hi,
A friend told me to subscribe to the newsletter, which I love, by the way, but have to admit that the subscription process is not the best. Firstly, you get taken to some unfamiliar site that looks all business-like and you are not sure if you are at the right place. You take a chance and search through all the newsletters to find the Digital Life one and many clicks later you finally get to subscribe, only to be faced with having to fill in all the stuff about your company, etc. Maybe you guys should think of simplifying the process. Maryna

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Dear Theo
Congratulations on the first issue of the newsletter and thanks for deciding to do one. I really like it and I have told all my friends about it.

I liked the article on violence and computer games by Tallulah Habib. I hope that you will continue publishing articles like that and not like some other magazines and websites only product reviews. I’d love to read more about the internet and how it is influencing people’s everyday lives.

Keep up the good work! Bye Lucas

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Hi. Thanks for creating this newsletter. It’s great that I can now get more regular updates from my favourite magazine, while I eagerly await the next issue. Thanks for the great job, guysMike

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Big up for following the digital route. I love the printed mag (I’m a subscriber), but must confess that the two-month wait between issues is torture. Has Digital Life considered going monthly? Lungi

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