Justin Hartman

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Digital

Digital strategy in SA simply doesn't exist

If you know me at all then you'll know how difficult it can be for me to make big decisions. It's not because I'm indecisive but rather due to the fact that I often over analyse these decisions by looking at each possible scenario...

General

My Tattoo, what, where and why I did it

When I was 16 my father gave me a framed copy of the Rudyard Kipling poem titled "If" which hung on my wall for the entire duration of my high-school career. This poem was very special to him and when I was 21 he read me the poem in his speech at my 21st birthday celebrations.

Afrigator

Social Code goes public, finally

Almost twelve months ago I had an idea, largely from on my experience with Afrigator, to provide social media services to corporate companies looking to dive into the space. It’s almost a year later since that initial idea and we’ve only gone public with Social Code in the last two weeks.

Afrigator

Social Media ROI... does it exist?

In the ever growing world of Social Media businesses are often scared to dabble in the industry. I ask the question about whether or not Social Media can deliver a ROI or not.

Apple

My US trip as visualised by Flipboard

Last night I decided to create a new section in Flipboard that just aggregated my own personal Twitter account and I have to admit I loved the results. To demonstrate what I’m talking about I thought that I’d share my Flipboard tweets of my recent US trip to New York and San Francisco.

General

My Sabbatical

Over the last few months it has become clear to me that the loss of my father has had a much bigger impact on my life than I realised. I’ve also had a number of personal issues which have really played a major part in defining where I am at today.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin Rapide Cape Town Launch

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to attend the Cape Town launch of the Aston Martin Rapide all thanks to Justin Stanford. Aston Martin has long been an aspirational brand for me personally and I’ve had my eye on the DB9 for a long time now.

General

In Loving Memory - Rodney John Hartman 25/02/1949 - 18/05/2010

At exactly 00:00 today my father passed away after a long battle with Cancer. Back in 1995 my father was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and at the time I was only 15 years old. I remember thinking that my dad was going to die but the beauty,

Apple

A to Z of SA

In December last year I was invited by Apple to attend the launch of a new campaign called the A to Z of SA. In short, the campaign is about promoting South Africa in a positive light, rather than the negative one we see every day in the media. Apple

Adgator

My presentation at the Addynamo Blogging Workshop

If you missed it, here’s my presentation from the Addynamo Blogging Workshop that I did yesterday. There are some interesting Adgator insights which haven’t been seen before. Addynamo Blogging Workshop View more presentations from Justin Hartman.

Audi

Audi MVP Day

The legendary Chris Rawlinson was kind enough to invite me to the second Audi MVP day which is an opportunity for eight geeks to drive around for a morning in the latest and greatest cars that Audi Cape Town have on offer. It was an experience that delivered thrills way

Adgator

I've made it to the finals

I love a good competition. Nothing like the thrill of the chase to drive one nuts. If you’re reading this blankly then let me elaborate by saying that I am now one of two finalists in the $3,000 adtech content revenue strategies giveaway which includes a trip to

Adgator

ad:tech, Adgator and me - it's the perfect fit

Jeremy Schoemaker who runs the blog Shoemoney is offering one person an all-expenses paid opportunity to attend ad:tech New York in early November. Now I’m not big on entering many competitions but attending ad:tech is something that is critical to me and my business. In addition to

General

Twitter introduces lists and becomes a lot more useful

Twitter have today started rolling out a Beta feature to select users called Lists. To me this is the most useful feature that Twitter have added since they launched. I’ve had my Twitter account since March 2007 and during that time I’ve accumulated a whole bunch of followers.

Family

England, thanks for ruining cricket for my son

First let me state that Luke, my 5 year-old, is a cricket fanatic. If we’re not watching cricket he’s bowling balls down the passage or setting his imaginary field and he’s driving me nuts with wanting me to purchase every piece of cricket equipment that has ever

General

Why are Clocks so prominent in my life right now?

I’m struggling to find the meaning behind this but for some reason children’s clocks are featuring very prominently in my life right now. Two days ago Colette and I went to see a psychologist about our eldest son Luke. There’s nothing wrong with him but we were

Afrigator

Our experience of sending bulk emails to users

Let me start by saying that Mailchimp is an amazing company and their bulk email service is worth every penny. They deliver a punchy service and their UI is awesome however we no longer use them as our account has now been deleted. I certainly can see the value in

Concert

The Parlotones make a Giant Mistake

If you haven’t heard the news yet then let me tell you that The Parlotones are now wine makers and last night we were privileged to attend a private, intimate launch party for their new red wine called Giant Mistake. It is no secret that I’m a Parlotones

General

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic iSync Plugin

Last night I decided to hook up the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic which I received from Nokia. Unfortunately for me this phone is not supported on Apple Mac – at all! When I say at all I mean at all. For example, Nokia Software Updater isn’t compatible, Nokia PC Suite isn’

General

Nokia and their disruptive model for the music generation

On Thursday Nokia South Africa announced their new Comes with Music range of mobile phones. This new range is not just a series of sexy mobile phones but rather a new, disruptive model to take on the entire music DRM model. What’s particularly special about Comes with Music is

General

TechEd Africa 2009 Summary

TechEd Africa 2009, Microsoft’s pinnacle conference that attracted more than 2000 delegates has ended amongst a hive of activity within the Microsoft community. Microsoft sure does know how to get its users and developers excited by the prospect of new software, approaches and company developments! Attending the conference was

General

My thoughts on the TechEd Africa 2009 Keynote

A couple weeks back I was contacted by Eben De Wit who is the Microsoft Developer Advisor for the broad developer community in South Africa and was invited to attend Microsoft’s TechEd conference in Durban. Eben wanted me to attend as a non-Microsoft person in an effort to get

Afrigator

My presentation at the MIH Media Lab Entrepreneurship Workshop

This morning I delivered the following presentation to the students of Stellenbosch University’s Media Lab. My topic was on the start-up lifecycle and I think it went alright. Students are sometimes hard to gauge but I hope that this provided some insight into life running a startup. There’s

Apple

Should companies fear Social Media?

In the last week or so there’s been a huge furore in the South African Social Media scene around the pricing of Apple products in the market. For those not in the know Apple is solely distributed by the Core Group who have had the monopoly in SA for