Happy Holidays From brainwavez.org And What's In Store For 2007
brainwavez.org News

by Mandy J Watson
Posted: 22 December 2006

As 2006 draws to a close we look back at some of the 2006 highlights for brainwavez.org as well as mention some of the plans we have in store for 2007. If that sounds like too much reading for the end of the year, the short version is: "Happy holidays! Thanks for visiting and for supporting the site!"

We launched brainwavez.org towards the end of 2005 with virtually no plan, an unfinished interface and design, and just an idea that we wanted to write - the rest would evolve later. Over the last year the site has done extremely well, with the number of visitors growing every month although, as with the surfing trends that most sites have been experiencing this year, our visitors are primarily people who drop by, via a search engine, to read a specific article rather than repeat visitors interested to see what new content we have published.

Two of the most popular articles have been my November 2005 article on DStv's PVR Decoder, which is consistently well visited every month, and, more recently, Jase's M&M's "50 Dark Movies Hidden In A Painting" in our fledgling "Centre For The Easily Amused" section. Admittedly, most of the visitors are desperate for the answers, but we're keeping them in an envelope in a sealed box that's buried in the ground on a remote island somewhere in the Pacific, so you'll have to struggle on a little longer until we post them early next year.

As for the PVR article, I will be writing a followup next year as news on the PVR (besides the current holiday price of R2 459, excluding installation) is remarkably lacking right now, so I've delayed the article that I originally started conceptualising in May this year. I presume that M-Net is waiting for the news-making event of the closing of its Open Time transmission, in April next year, before it starts pushing the PVR again and, hopefully by then, some new features for the decoder or other interesting news. Incidentally, I was correct in my predictions on a number of points, one of which is that 80 GB is definitely not enough storage space. I know of a few people that keep filling up their hard drives. Enough about that, though. There will be plenty of time to discuss it in more detail in 2007.

We have a number of plans for the site in the new year, including an eventual one to get it out of beta (wish us luck!), which is actually the state in which it currently resides (we just haven't really mentioned it). We intend to develop some of our sections more aggressively, as well as add some new ones, and the focus will be on updating more regularly, as well as getting the design and final interface finalised (which will include getting the search-engine interface up and running).

You may have noticed affiliate links and ads on some of the pages to sites and service such as:
  • Kalahari.net (South Africa),
  • Amazon.com (the US and the world),
  • Amazon.co.uk (the UK and the world),
  • Eil.com (the UK and the world),
  • iTunes US (the US),
  • Google (the world),
  • and a few others.
Next year we will be developing this further into a full-on shopping section highlighting some of our favourite products (especially those that we haven't had time to review but would still like to showcase in some way), as well as items we've mentioned on the site. We would appreciate it if you would think of us when you need to shop at any of these sites and click through via the affiliate links to help us with the running costs. It's a surprisingly warm and fuzzy feeling to see that someone's track purchase on iTunes has earned us five (American) cents. I know that sounds ridiculous, but to us it's very exciting. I would also like to point out that between the five of us currently working on brainwavez.org we've shopped at all those primary shopping sites listed above and are happy with the service, so it's not a matter of picking random affiliate partners in the hopes of earning loads of cash. We think those stores and services are appropriate for our visitors in terms of their interests, as well as their geographical location. (As an aside we have a large number of Australian and New Zealand visitors and are on the lookout for programmes that we can join that will be convenient for them.)

One of the problems of all of us at brainwavez.org having full-time jobs is that this site often has to come second to more pressing things, so we have both a huge backlog of articles to post (look out for a large collection of Cape Town Cappuccino Quest entries in January, probably in a frantic mass posting), and an increasingly huge list of items that have - sadly - dropped off our lists in favour of more important or topical articles. However, we don't want to compromise the editorial quality that we strive for, so it's not a matter of just chucking something on to the site - every article you see here goes through at least two - but sometimes as many as six or seven - revisions, proofing sessions and back-and-forth cross-continental Q&As.

If you're interested in writing for us (regularly, or perhaps you just have one great idea for an article or a special local exhibition you'd like to cover), please email me (mandyw at this domain). We're always looking for new writers and interesting articles. We would like to have more localised international flavour, as well, so don't feel threatened by all the South Africans (and one American) behind the site.

This is turning into an article instead of a quick "state of the site" roundup for the year, so I shall end it here. Thanks to all of you who have visited, posted comments (thanks especially to the Missy Higgins fans!) and shown your support by shopping through our affiliate links.

This is the last post for 2006. Most of us are going to be on holiday for a while. We will be back sometime in January, so we hope you'll stop by then!

On behalf of this site's reasonably silent majority (and Jase) I would like to wish you all a wonderful holiday and a happy new year!

- Mandy J Watson

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