Geeks need love too. Its true.

Showing that special geek in your life that you care this Valentines Day might be the smartest move you’ve made since moving from Windows to Linux. We can help. We’re giving away 5 limited edition Valentines Day Geek Gear coffee mugs to help 5 lucky Geeks give a gift that says more than Twitter could ever express.

To stand a chance to win one of these testaments of love, simply ‘like’ this post (Facebook fans only) or leave a comment / geeky love poem with this post to enter the lucky draw. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, 10 Feb.

Here’s that link again.

When it comes to preparing for the Cape Epic, hard work and gutsy determination will only get you so far. Serious riders know that the science behind using the correct nutrition will give them an edge to prepare themselves for what is truly one of the greatest mountain biking challenges on the planet.

Team RSAWEB nutrition sponsor Biogen provided the team with a carefully selected range of products from their Enduro range, which is designed for athletes that need to perform over longer periods of time under demanding conditions.

In preparation for the Team RSAWEB 2010 Cape Epic Mission, our pro riders Nic & Simon Lamond put these products to the test in a “light” training ride from Cape Town to Sedgefield. After conquering some rather interesting terrain (see pic below), and pushing their fitness levels to breaking point, the lads had this to say about their new trail companions:

“The recovery drink (Recovergen) works well. It’s thick and milky and feels like it rebuilds us after a hard training session. Ready for the 9-5, or the next session!”

“We are both impressed with the taste of the Energy drink (Cytogen) and the Gels (Energy Gels). Seriously. The naartjie flavour drink is awesome. You can drink it all day which is critical on a 5-hour training ride and will be a god-send during the race.”

“As for the gels, they give a boost much like most gels out there do, but these ones don’t clog up, or make you wince at the taste and texture. Easy to swallow, and pleasant on the palate.”

Special thanks to Biogen for powering our team. Literally.

With the new-year in full swing, lets take a look at what strategic technologies we think are already beginning to take root, and will play a big role in shaping IT in South Africa during 2010:

1. Cloud based Technologies
With the success and rapid adoption of cloud based technologies in international markets, it’s only a matter of time before this game-changer reaches our shores, offering services that are faster to market than ever before. Expect some big developments in this space from RSAWEB in the near future.

2. Modular Data Center design
A more modular approach to data centre design will be employed, only providing resources for space being utilized. Previously, newly-built data centers often had huge areas of vacant floor space, fully powered and backed by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), water-and air-cooled while they were predominantly empty.

3. Flash Memory
Flash memory is not a new technology, but it is only now beginning to gain momentum as the price drops with increasing demand.

According to international research company Gartner, at the current rate of price drops, this technology will enjoy more than a 100 percent compound annual growth rate during the new few years and become strategic in many IT areas including consumer devices, entertainment equipment and other embedded IT systems.

4. Virtualization for Availability
Recent developments in virtualization technology such as live migration, has brought a new focus on this technology, which now provides higher availability than before. Such developments will allow for the cost and complexity systems to be reduced.

5. Mobile Applications
An often overlooked factor in a country that has 3 times more mobile internet users than broadband users. By the end of 2010, Gartner predicts that world wide 1.2 billion people will carry handsets capable of rich, mobile commerce providing a prosperous environment for the convergence of mobility and the Web.

Domain name choice is a critical factor for any online venture. Securing the right domain name will maximize the amount of search engine traffic that comes to your site, maintain brand consistency and make sure you’re easy to find on the web.

Those with foresight can book or ‘park’ their desired domains, so that they can own the domain without having to pay the monthly hosting costs while they are not using it. This can prove useful if you have an idea for a blog/business/ecommerce site, and want to secure a domain name ahead of time or even if you see a particular domain that will become valuable to you in the future.

Parking a domain with RSAWEB is easy and cost effective. All you pay for is the annual domain registration cost, and parking fee of R25 per annum. So for example, if you wanted to park www.thisismysupernewdomain.co.za, it would cost you R50 per annum for the registration and R25 for the parking – a total cost of R75 per annum (R6.25 per month). When you want to start using your domain, simply order a web hosting package, and you’re ready to go live.

Ready to get parking?
Check if the domain you want to purchase is available using our domain search tool.

We caught up with U23 UCI World MTB champ and Durban local, Burry Stander at a recent Cape Epic event.

Burry, one of South Africa’s brightest cycling prospects, took some time to share with us his thoughts on the 2010 Cape Epic, what it’s like riding with international mountain biking legend Christoph Sauser and some advice for first time Epic riders taking on the race in 2010.

Burry and Christoph will be one of the big teams to watch at the 2010 Cape Epic.

Stay up to date with our Cape Epic 2010 Mission coverage as it becomes available on:

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