Update: I had a chat to MNet about the voting, and they have implemented stricter control over the voting and have also removed the votes that were not supposed to be counted. Here’s to hopefully a successful end to the competition!

The past 2 weeks or so saw the launch of Seduction101.co.za - a site to submit and vote for pick-up lines and seduction tips. I know some details about seduction101 from behind the scenes and posted a few pick-up lines that did pretty well early on as they got to the top rated list pretty easily. (I was actually just testing the service out in the beginning…)

Then, after a prize of an iPod Touch was announced for the top rated pick-up line by the 14th of July, I gave it a real shot by posting to my Twitter and Plurk streams to garner a few votes from my friends and followers.

Then the mess.

The site runs off cookies and no user registration is necessary to vote up or vote down pick-up lines. You can also vote once an hour.

So by clearing your cookies, using multiple browsers and voting up your pick-up lines, and voting down others, you can imagine the mayhem. I chatted to Wezzo on GTalk about the down voting, and MNet New Media (developers of the site) removed the down voting. That’s half a step in the right direction, except for 1 small thing I came across after all of this - the parameters are being passed via the URL.

http://www.seduction101.co.za/wap/Vote.aspx?d=1&t=60

Change the d to 100, or even -100 and select your pick-up line with t, and you have full control of the site. ;-(

That coupled with the cookie clearing and multiple browser hacks as well, means you could sort of do as you please.

And, I’ll admit it. I did all of that. But, by doing that, I also caught okes cheating just as much as I did - Al, Saiyuuki, Sorceror and Nathan (not 100% of Nathan, but anyone on the top rated list at the moment are cheaters).

I had good intentions of trying to win legitimately (blogging about the competition, Twitter, Plurk and I even wanted to start a Facebook group), but after seeing other cheaters go at it, I stooped to their level and joined in. :-(.

I’m disqualifying myself, but in doing so I want to offer my help. MNet, you can fix this competition and here are my suggestions.

The Long Way

• Users have to register to submit tips
• You have to login to the site to be able to vote

The above method will take a while to code, test and get up and running. It will also spoil some of the hard work that has gone into getting the current pick-up lines submitted etc. But, their is another way of solving this…

The Easy Way

Change the rules of winning the prize!

• a random pick-up line wins an iPod Touch on the 14th of July
• You are able to submit multiple pick-up lines, but it only constitutes 1 vote in the draw

I’d just like to apologise to the guys running the site - MNet and Wezzo in particular - for my cheating. I have to admit, it was somewhat fun being able to manipulate a competition in such a way and cause some of the other cheaters to think I am some sort of god, but, it will go down in my books as one of the stupidest things I’ve done, and I’m apologising for that.

It was a great concept, but totally flawed from the beginning and I hope we can sort it out as soon as possible!

Like I did with the Soccer World Cup in 2006, here is a list of the teams and their kit sponsors.

Puma

• Switzerland
• Czech Republic
• Austria
• Poland
• Italy

Nike

• Portugal
• Turkey
• Croatia
• Netherlands
• Russia

Adidas

• Germany
• Romania
• France
• Greece
• Spain

Umbro

• Sweden

I’m predicting either the Spanish, Portuguese or Dutch to take Euro 2008. My firm favourites are the Portuguese. They really looking strong this summer and with Big Phil coming to Chelsea after Euro, I would love to see them lift the trophy for the first time.

I just finished “watching” Apple’s WWDC via Macrumors and Gizmodo. You almost feel like you drinking the Apple Koolaid watching Steve Job’s keynote presentation.

So, the big announcement was that Apple have released the iPhone 2.0. It now has 3G and GPS, it’s thinner with a black plastic back, solid metal buttons, same gorgeous display, camera, flush headphone jack, and dramatically improved audio. There will also be a white version!

It is also a lot more affordable. When it first launched, the 8GB iPhone cost $599 (R4700). It now will retail worldwide for $199 (R1500). So I’m guessing when it launches in South Africa on the 20th of July, you’ll be able to pick one up on some of the more affordable Vodacom contract packages!

Read more about the iPhone over at Gizmodo.

I have had a pretty crazy and awesome time the last few days. What with me turning 24 on Thursday, selling my car, buying a house, winning a prize and my personal favourite, my new BagWii!

Nintendo Wii

I’ve been asking my fiancé to buy me a Wii since it launched in South Africa, and on Thursday it was my lucky day! When I told her we could download the original Super Mario Brothers and play it on the Wii, she was ecstatic! She is a total pro at it, having played it way to much as a kid she says. (She finished it the first time she played it on Thursday…. Freak.)

House and car

About a week ago, I also went and bought my first house. It really is an amazing little place overlooking a river. ;-)

Then, for the last week or so, I have been trying to sell my car. Trading it in wasn’t really an option, as I would of seriously lost at least R10 - R15k. So instead, I went down to Vehicle Traders in Strand, and for R200, they take pics, load the car onto all the online car dealers, Auto Trader, etc. and in 4 days they had a guy that was interested in the car. So I dropped the car off at Vehicle Traders on Thursday morning, and that was the end of that! The guy test drove it, they took it for its roadworthy certificate, settled my vehicle finance and had my cash waiting there for me the next morning! I actually can’t believe how easy it was. I am currently car-less, but I signed a purchase to offer on another vehicle on Saturday. I’ll keep you in suspense as to what it is, until I get it.

It has really been a whirlwind past few days and weeks. I also launched the beginning of my wedding website - jasonandkarina.co.za yesterday. It still needs some work, but the overall design and layout is there. I can’t believe its only a few months until I’m getting married. Cold feet?! (Naah! Just kidding…)

So, anyone up for a game of Wii Tennis?

I attended the 3rd WordPress Cape Town meetup held at the Bandwidth Barn last night and it really was excellent. At least 50 people turned up during the evening and a couple of really cool sponsors saw to the snacks, food, drinks and t-shirts!

From imod:

A big thumbs up to the following sponsors who made the event happen: Nomad-One, FormFunction, Frogfoot Networks, Radiiate, WorldWideCreative & Butlers Pizza. Without these great sponsors, events like this would never be as amazing!

Personally I enjoyed Adii’s and Rafiq’s talks the most. Adii for his total enthusiasm for WordPress and Rafiq for handing out some really cool tips on SEO for your blog.

Also a big up to Nur from nomad-one.com for organising the event and giving me a quick spot to announce Wordcamp South Africa that will be happening in Cape Town on the 23rd of August. Check out the blog for information or get in touch with me and I’ll let you know whats happening.

Once again, attending these events makes for great networking opportunities and I got to meet Joey from FormFunction, Paul from the WorldWideCreative crew, Marcel the magician, Ashley Shaw, Nur and a few others. (Sorry if I’ve forgotten someone). Also spotted the regulars, imod, Rafiq, adii and foxinni.

There will be a few pics up this evening of the event, and I’ll update this post when they available.

Can’t wait for the next meetup!

Update! The pics are up at Paul’s Photostream.