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Power outages in South Africa has had everyone up in arms for the past couple weeks. A simple search on M&G, The Times or Thought Leader will give you its history and interesting commentary on it. Load-shedding by Eskom, the local power supplier which also provides electricity for surrounding countries, has been the cause. If you run a web-based company, this has got to be one of the most annoying things with which to contend.

A tool for troubled times
MyEnergy Monitor for power outages in South AfricaIn the midst of it all, a local software-development shop has come up with a nifty little tool (Windows/PC only) that allows you to monitor South Africa’s power status. MyEnergy Monitor claims:

It will give the user the ability to monitor selected load-shedding schedules by location; for example, at home, at work, clients, suppliers and branches … simultaneously!

MyEnergy Monitor aims to eliminate the confusion surrounding the schedules currently available to the public and present only relevant information in a logical format.

That’s pretty handy, actually, especially when you’re trying to juggle business schedules that rely on power to operate — even if this means making sure you create a generator schedule, or time your internet time around the open windows of power availability. I love to see small utilitarian applications like these, made by people who are in the same situation as everyone else.

Being the web-focused guy that I am, I wonder what they could do with this data online. Would it be useful to have this data online in an equally usable format? How about a way to get an SMS reminder for your area one hour before the power is due to be shut off?

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Erik Hersman

Erik Hersman is an international technology influencer with a keen eye on the impact of mobile and web technology advancements across Africa. Read his blogs at AfriGadget...

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