Dining and Music

My sister chose "The Brass Bell" in Kalk Bay in a fairly random manner (well she wanted fish, and I wasn't that keen on Waterfront). Upon arriving we discovered that they were hosting live music on their "Bikini Deck", which offers the experience of seeing crashing waves up close (made more dramatic due to the high tide).

It was a fairly expensive cover charge, but it was Arno Carstens and Albert Frost, playing two sets (of approx 40 minutes each). The pop-rock music is hardly slow, background accompanying dinner music - but it did create quite a vibe. I am not too familiar with either soloists music, but there were quite a few Springbok Nude Girls classics; and I assume quite a few from Albert Frost also. His guitar playing was particularly impressive, and was certainly the highlight of the show - especially when he went into his Latin American inspired solos; which would have been perfectly at home in the Cuban restaurant next door.

The Brass Bell is a nice restaurant, but to be honest, I think it is better for its views and service than its actual food. Overall, I still prefer Hout Bay harbor restaurants for their seafood; but the music was a nice touch and thoroughly enjoyable.

The Great Tech War

FastCompany has a brilliant article analysing the four tech giants (Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google), and their turf war for supremacy - from social networks, to media to consumer products. It is strange to see an analysis of tech giants that excludes the traditional powers - Microsoft, IBM and Oracle - but then the traditional giants are more enterprise focused than mass market consumer focused; and the new powers have made money from the masses.

The article however does ignore non-American contenders. At this moment in time, that is correct - but I think the second tier of Foxconn, Samsung, Baidu, AliBaba, Softbank, HTC, etc. are going to provide significant challenge to these four, and will ultimately have a big say on the outcome in this "war". Be it Foxconn's mass production facilities, Samsung's silicon or the business platform provided by Ali Baba; there are many more companies that cannot be ignored.