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Ten years ago I had the perfect bank. When I called its contact centre they would greet me by name and their internet banking solution was revolutionary at the time. That bank was 20twenty and its service gave you a real sense of the people that worked there. It was a breakthrough in the financial sector. Now the same minds that created 20twenty are back with another ambitious service and I have the opportunity of working with them – something I am super-excited about.

Starting in April I will be joining 22seven to head up its product strategy and design.

This doesn’t mean you’ll stop seeing my articles in Finweek, hearing my show on 5FM or the ZA Tech Show. I’ve always managed to deal in opinion from a media perspective while maintaining my own business interests and this doesn’t change. I do make sure that I fully disclose those interests, however, out of respect for my readers and listeners.

Everything I wrote or said about 22seven before this announcement was before my discussions with the company turned to business. When I originally blogged about 22seven it was way before I had any idea I would be joining the team.

I believe that Christo Davel, the founder of 22seven, and his formidable team are onto something big.

A fundamental shift is underway that centres on technology and its ability to transform industries when addressed from a anthropological perspective. We have seen this shift underpin revolutions in social networking, information management and mobile technology.

22seven is at the forefront of this movement in terms of personal finance and I am proud to be part of it.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is awesome. I’ve said this since it launched in 2011. It has the best user interface of all tablets I’ve tested, incorporating an ingenuous touch-sensitive bezel. It has a blazingly fast processor, good battery life and used to have the best screen on the market until Apple unveiled the new iPad with Retina Display. But despite the PlayBook being a rocking piece of hardware, it had major flaws that prevented me from recommending it to people.

Until recently, when asked what I thought of the PlayBook I would say, “It’s rad. But don’t buy one.”

It had no native email or calendar client. Its app store was like a ghost town. It might’ve had a bitching interface and hardware, but it sucked in every other regard.

That’s changed. A recent update and general improvement in logic at Research In Motion have stacked up to make the PlayBook one of the best tablets on the market. Here are five reasons why I think you should consider buying one.

1. PlayBook OS 2.0
   The PlayBook has always been awesome from a hardware perspective, but its original operating system left a lot to be desired. You  had to connect to a BlackBerry smartphone to do email that and other basic things like calendaring – unless you were happy with web interfaces. The new OS, however, mends all of these problems. It has a kick-ass email client, nice calendar app and no longer makes the PlayBook feel like a smartphone accessory. It also has one of the best user interfaces I’ve ever seen. Much better. Thanks RIM.
2. Price
   After a troubled launch, the PlayBook is now one of the cheapest tablets on the market. In my home country of South Africa you can pick it up for less than R3000 and in the USA prices go as low as $200. For that you get some of the beefiest hardware available on a really well-built tablet that has just had fresh life blown into it with OS 2.0. At prices these low it’s worth buying even if all you use it for is an espresso tray.
3. Accessibility
   File management on the PlayBook is near-perfect; you simply access shared folders on the device over your WiFi network. It makes it really quick and easy to drop a movie file, for example, onto the PlayBook for viewing on the go, without even having to take the tablet out of your bag. It also supports Adobe Flash better than any other tablet platform I’ve tried. While I still find tablets to be a very limited computing environment, and prefer just carrying around my laptop, the PlayBook is less limited than most. The form factor and light weight also make it easier to transport and less cumbersome to use than bigger tablets.
4. Charging
   This might not sound like a big deal, but bear with me. Remember, it’s the small things that matter with tablets. The PlayBook uses an industry-standard, micro-USB connection for charging. This means that not only can you use any other BlackBerry smartphone charger with it – but any other phone charger too, from Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, or whoever. One of the things that drives me crazy about other tablet brands is that they each have a proprietary charger than can’t be shared with my phone – except the iPad. And since Apple has its own connector for iOS devices, the PlayBook is the most universally compatible by far. For someone who travels weekly as I do, being able to carry a single charger is a killer feature.
5. Apps
   The single biggest problem with the PlayBook at launch was a lack of apps. There was no Evernote, Dropbox, Angry Birds or any of the apps that people had learned to love on iOS and Android. But that has changed. BlackBerry App World is now full of awesome apps for the PlayBook including an official Evernote client and, yes, Angry Birds. Twitter was also conspicuously missing from the original PlayBook OS, but it is now incorporated in the universal messaging platform of PlayBook OS 2.0. While the PlayBook still trails way behind Android and iOS and in the apps department it is now way, way better than it was and can actually be used for stuff now.

I own a small menagerie of tablets – an iPad, Motorola Xoom, several other Android tablets and the PlayBook. Out of all of them I find myself using the iPad most, but it has recently started taking a backseat to my PlayBook, especially when traveling. Watching movies on the PlayBook is second-to-none, and that’s mostly what I want to do with a tablet while flying.

If the iPhone was the Jesus phone then the PlayBook is the Lazarus tablet. It was dead and gone, but now lives again – kicking ass and scaring disciples.

Yesterday a new personal financial management service was launched in South Africa called 22seven. The service allows you to track your personal spending and savings with tools for financial planning. The interface is slick and the intention of the developers, who I have spent some time in conversation with, is to make people more aware of their habits surrounding money. It’s a great service in my experience, but has been met with some backlash from South Africans concerned about handing over their internet banking details. I don’t blame people for being concerned, but they really have nothing to worry about. Here’s why…

First off, let me state for the record that I have no affiliation to 22seven. I have met the founder, Christo Davel, and enjoyed many chats with him about behavioural economics and his plans for the business – but as my readers and listeners should know by now, I put emotions aside when it comes to giving people the best possible advice. Especially when it comes to their money.

Personal financial management (PFM) tools have been around for a long time. One of the leading examples of this kind of service is Mint that launched in the USA in 2006. Mint does some of the things that 22seven can, and was met with similar criticism in terms of security when it first launched. But Mint was, and is, very safe to use – and for the same reason that 22seven is.

22seven uses a third-party service provider, called Yodlee, that interfaces with banking systems to extract transactional data. Mint used to use Yodlee too, but has since switched to a system called Intuit.

22seven doesn’t actually log in to your bank account, Yodlee does. The necessary data is then extracted and passed on to 22seven’s servers.

22seven does not store your usernames and passwords either – in fact, 22seven’s systems can’t even see them. When you provide your banking details on the 22seven website, you are actually entering them directly into Yodlee’s secure servers over an encrypted connection.

The above has been confirmed to me by the Managing Director of Yodlee, Jason O’Shaughnessy, who I met last year, and Christo Davel.

So 22seven can’t see and doesn’t store your online banking credentials. But what about Yodlee?

Yodlee is an international company that has been doing this stuff for 11 years. It claims to have over 30 million users worldwide and has not had a security breach. Yodlee has a better track-record of protecting banking credentials than any South African bank.

Yodlee is also officially partnered with some of the world’s top banks. HSBC, for example, who I bank with for my offshore needs, is an official client, supplying data to Yodlee. The big international banks all play ball with the system in developing their own PFM tools and making sure that their customers are supported when using third-party systems.

Does that mean that Yodlee is 100% foolproof? Of course not. No system is perfect. We take some degree of risk every time we interface with financial systems. That’s life.

I was recently a victim of credit card fraud. Thousands of rands were stolen from my account by someone who had managed to capture my card details. The experience made me very wary of security surrounding my banking. But I’m not worried about 22seven. I take much more of a risk every time I let a waiter swipe my credit card in a restaurant.

I don’t blame South Africans for being concerned about handing over sensitive details. You should think twice about doing it and research the people who are asking for it. There is no way I would sign up for a service like 22seven without doing my homework.

What does surprise me is how South African banks – instead of partnering with Yodlee like their leading international counterparts have done – are advising customers not to use the system. It’s just another example of how backward our banks are in their thinking about personal finances, even if they are improving on the service front.

I signed up for 22seven and gave them my details. After chatting to Mr. O’Shaughnessy and researching the Yodlee system I am satisfied that my information is much safer with 22seven than it is with my own bank.

I challenge our South African banks to start thinking about personal finances and how they can empower their customers to make better decisions. It’s 2012. Ripping people off by keeping them in the dark about their own money isn’t cool. Why don’t they want to partner with Yodlee? Why are they warning you against using a system that helps you to make better financial decisions? Those are the real questions to be asking. And you won’t like the answers.

UPDATE: As has been pointed out elsewhere, one consideration with Yodlee is that your bank will not support you in fraud cases. So if Yodlee is compromised, your bank has no liability – unlike in the case of credit card fraud. It’s a good thing Yodlee has never been compromised then.

I’ve been a guest on Tech News Today a couple of times, but always via Skype. This week I got to make my first in-person appearance on the show at the TWiT booth at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012. It was awesome to hang out with Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane and Iyaz Akhtar in the flesh. We discussed gaming consoles, Google TV, Intel-based smartphones and bunch of other stuff.

Prosumer photography is bigger than ever, and somewhat of a phenomenon in my home country of South Africa – probably because of the wide variety of beautiful things on display. I am often asked for advice in choosing a first SLR camera – it can be very confusing and something that perplexed me when I first took the plunge some years ago. So herewith the simplest advice I can think of, based on my own experience.

I’m also steering away from things like post-processing software and speed-lighting because those are best addressed in isolation. I won’t elaborate on terms like aperture or shutter speed either as those are easily referenced elsewhere and should be in your vocabulary before purchasing an SLR anyway.

Spend on glass, save on cameras

A lot of first-time buyers make the mistake of fixating on camera bodies. They want to know whether to choose Nikon or Canon, generally, or whether it is worth getting one of the less-conventional SLRs from Sony or Pentax, for example. That’s the wrong question. Instead, you should be considering what your first lens will be. Spend more on your first lenses than you do on your first camera.

Digital photography has taken giant leaps forward in recent years and cameras are constantly updated, replaced and improved. The cheapest “entry level” SLRs from Canon and Nikon today are as good as the best professional bodies of five years ago, even if they aren’t full frame.

The body you choose is important, but not as important as your lens collection. Lenses will determine what you can shoot and how. A good lens on a cheap body is much, much better than a crap lens on a good body.

Your choice of lenses is also what will lock you into a camera system – be it from Canon, Nikon or another manufacturer. Start with a really good, versatile zoom lens like the Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II or equivalent Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. After that you might want to buy a good, prime lens for shooting portraits or a nice telephotofor wildlife – whatever floats your boat.

You will likely upgrade your camera body every so often as new models are released, but glass will be with you for much longer, unless you have so much money that buying expensive lenses whenever you feel like switching systems isn’t an issue.

Avoid kits

I will probably get some flack for this recommendation – but I believe that beginner photographers should avoid the temptation to buy cheap camera kits that include lenses and camera bodies. The reason I say this is because all the kits I have seen include inferior lenses – see my first point, above.

My first SLR camera was bought as a kit and I regretted it almost immediately. I had a great camera body and a mediocre lens. This is the wrong balance for a beginner. What you want, as I’ve said, is a good lens, even if it’s mounted on a cheaper body.

Ignore the zealots

Some people will tell you to buy Nikon, only because that is what they have chosen, or Canon because they have some weird attachment to the brand. Ignore them.

The best camera for you might be a Sony or a Pentax. Or, if you’re loaded, you might consider a Leica. I recommend playing around with friends’ cameras or picking up and handling cameras in a store to get a feel for them.

I love the accurate colour-reproduction of Canon cameras and lenses, but prefer the build quality and feel of Nikon. These are personal preferences and you will have to find yours.

I’ve also recently been messing around with Sony’s new single-lens translucent (SLT)cameras. These are great for beginners because they allow you to view the effects of shutter and aperture settings in real time on the camera’s display or in its digital viewfinder. I also like the built-in GPS on some Sony models that automatically geotag photographs – something that generally costs extra for Nikon and Canon bodies. The Sony Alpha 65 is particularly good thanks to the high quality of its digital viewfinder.

So the right camera system for you might not be a Nikon or a Canon – and that’s OK.

Ask the big question

Do you really need an SLR? You might find a compact camera that covers your needs and presents less frustration than a full-on SLR. Learning to master a single-lens reflex camera will take time and practice whereas you could get a really good compact that will allow you to just point and shoot. Oh sure, you can put your SLR into Auto and just start shooting, but then you aren’t really capitalising on your investment even if you are benefitting from better lenses.

Compact cameras have come a long way. The Canon S100, for example,  is ridiculously good and features a remarkably powerful image processor. Or you might consider the Nikon P7000 or Canon G12 that many professionals use as travel cameras.

Buying a good compact will save you money and might allow you to achieve what you want from your camera without breaking the bank or causing headaches.

Follow the experts

There are so many great photographers that make their knowledge available on social networks and elsewhere. Follow these people and use them for inspiration. Below are some of the photographers, both pro and hobbyist, that I follow:

• Chase Jarvis -  Chase is an edgy photographer that experiments with lights, mobile phones and other things to create new effects. Check out his website and follow him on Twitter.
• Light Stalking - A fantastic community of photographers that freely share their tips, tricks and work. I strongly recommend following Light Stalking on Twitter.
• The Strobist - Lighting is one of the most overlooked elements of photography, especially by beginners. The Strobist is all about lighting, and specifically using speed-lights – or flashes. This site is indispensable and should inspire photographers to pick up some lighting equipment.
• Dustin Diaz - I met Dustin in 2009 and spent some time with him in the bush in South Africa where I was blown away by his photography. Based in San Francisco, Dustin is a wealth of knowledge on speed-lights and shares his setups with the world. Be sure to check out his Flickr stream where you’ll find links to his book for Kindle, iOS and other platforms.
• Darren Smith – Darren is a friend of mine from Johannesburg and one of my favourite photographers. He takes photos for the best reason – because he loves it. And he’s bloody good.
• Craig Rodney – Another friend of mine, Craig takes photos for the sheer joy of it – and he is massively talented. Be sure to follow him on Instagram and see what he can do with an iPhone when not shooting on his 5D.

You never stop learning in photography and I consider myself to be a beginner. The important thing is to take time and learn. Equipment is not as important as knowledge. And the best camera is the one that’s with you

Got any other suggestions? Want to argue any of my points? Please share your thoughts in the comments section…

With mixed emotions Ben Kelly, Simon Dingle and Samantha Beckbessinger discuss memories of Steve Jobs who passed away this week, the iPhone 4S breaking pre-order records, Windows 8 and the future of Nokia, the BlackBerry and Seacom outages, India’s $35 Aakash tablet, debunking the BBM rumour, and much more – including our picks of the week.

Is there still hope for BlackBerry? Can Lenovo make a dent in the tablet market? We don’t know the answers to these questions, but are willing to speculate wildly. This week Andy Hadfield, Simon Dingle and Steven Ambrose discuss the Lenovo K1 tablet, Samsung pulling the Tab 7.7 from its stand at IFA, the Amazon tablet, app stores and operators, iOS 5, the launch of Telkom Business Mobile, Evernote acquiring Skitch, Google shutting down old projects, and more…