MarcForrest.com

Category: iPhone

  • iTunes app store “Invalid Address” Error

    If you use a US iTunes account, and have a “fake” address, you may be getting an error that says you have an “Invalid Address” when trying to purchase or update apps. It looks like Apple has implemented address validation on your iTunes account, and I have had quite a few people contact me today about this issue.

    The reason this is happening, is because your address is not in fact a valid physical address. You will need to update your details either through iTunes (iTunes Link) or using the App store app on your iPhone/iPad.

    Your address needs to be valid, so I would suggest finding one an address that actually does exist, like your favorite hotel or Fast Food Resturant :)

    If you are getting an error using a Valid address, try changing “Street” or “Drive” to “St” or “Dr” or vice versa.

    Make sure you your new address’s telephone number matches your new address as well.

    Good luck :)

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  • Qrafter the ultimate iPhone QR Code App

    A while back I did a test of a couple of QR Code apps, and eventually came up with a list of the Top 5 iPhone QR Code apps. The tests were pretty comprehensive, so I thought my test was done. Until I came across Qrafter (iTunes Link). This app seems to blow all the others out the water with no issues !! Scans every single format I tested.

    The app is developed by Kerem Erkan, from Turkey, and offers a whole whack of features. Here is some info from the app store:

    Features:

    • Very fast QR Code scanning
    • Color inverted code scanning
    • QR Code regeneration for scanned codes
    • Embedded web browser with vCard support
    • Support for opening vCards directly from Safari
    • Embedded map browser
    • Embedded SMS sending
    • Embedded email sending
    • Embedded contact adding
    • Embedded event adding
    • Embedded Twitter integration
    • Support for sending history information by email
    • Full localization support

     

    Qrafter can extract the following information from the codes it scans:

    • Web page and Bookmark URLs
    • Map URLs
    • iTunes URLs
    • Facebook URLs
    • Foursquare URLs
    • Foursquare venue URLs
    • Yelp URLs
    • Gowalla URLs
    • Data URLs
    • Raw geographical coordinates
    • vCard information
    • meCard information
    • vCalendar event information
    • Tweets
    • Phone numbers
    • Email addresses
    • YouTube video URLs
    • Wi-Fi network information
    • BlackBerry Messenger PINs
    • Android Market searches
    • Plain text2

    You can also buy an advanced functionality pack for $1.99, which allows you to regenerate your QR code that you have snapped, as well as email yourself your history. You can also save vCards if you have snapped them using Qrafter.

    After trying it out and doing all the tests, I had no issues at all, and everything just worked. Very impressive. I have also been chatting to the developer of the App quite a bit, and there are lots of surprises in store. He also has a web based QR Code generator, which is awesome.

    If you looking for a QR Code generator for the iPhone, I highly recommend Qrafter.

  • Powermonkey – The ultimate lifesaving gadget

    I came across this awesome gadget the other day called the Powermonkey. At first glance you could, well, be mistaken for its use, given it’s rather “interesting” shape, but this is one gadget that is a MUST have.

    The Powermonkey is essentially a battery recharge on the go. So, you out and about using your phone like a madman, tweeting, checking mail, connected to WiFi etc etc, and suddenly your phone beeps and says, ” Battery low” And you nowhere near a charger ! I know this has happened to me. Not once, but plenty times !

    The Powermonkey comes with a whole bunch of connectors for almost any device you want. You can plug it into your phone, PSP, camera, iPad anything, and your device instantly starts charging. The Powermonkey comes with a 60% charge as you take it out of the box, so you can use it straight away. You can recharge it using a USB slot on your computer, or with the supplied adapter, that comes with a whole whack of travel adapters. Recharging to full 100% takes around 3 hours, and then that should give you about 96 hours charge on your phone or around 1600 pictures on a camera.

    I been using one for the last couple of days, and I can honestly say, this this is a must have. Especially if you travel quite a bit, and always find yourself running out of battery power on your phone.The Powermonkey retails for around R500, and you can in a variety of colours. You can also download the full fact  & spec sheet with more info.

     

  • Get Facebook birthdays on your iPhone

    One of the “handy” things about Facebook, is the fact that it stores all your “friends” birthdays. I know I use it for that, and it’s a great way to rememebr birthdays and wish people. But, to do that you need to actually log on, see who’s birthday it is.

    I found a neat little way to display all your Facebook contacts on your iPhone calendar, so you can get a quick heads up on your iPhone without having to log into FB every day. To get your friends birthdays on your phone, follow these steps.

    • Once you have logged into FB, click on Events -> Birthdays on the left hand side of your news feed
    • Scroll to the bottom of your birthday list , click on the option called “Export Birthdays“
    • You will now see a URL that looks something like: “webcal://www.facebook.com/ical/b.php?uid=xxxxxxxxx&key=xxxxxxx”
    • Right click this, and copy the URL to the clipboard.
    • Email this URL to yourself  and open the email on your iPhone (I used this method, but there may be other ways that you prefer)
    • On your iPhone go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts & Calendars -> Add account -> Other
    • Select “Add a subscribed calendar” and past the URL you sent to yourself & click next
    • Select your options. (I turned off the notifications)
    • Open your calendar app on your iPhone, allow it to sync with the new entries, and you will now see all your Facebook Friends Birthdays in your calendar

     

    And that’s it. Simple. And the list is kept in sync as changes are made on Facebook.

  • Check or change your SMS message centre number on the iPhone

    I had a mate ask me about an issue the other day where he was battling to send SMS’s on his new iPhone. So after a bit of research, we found that the SMS message centre number had been changed. This sometimes happens when traveling and it seems to change it on the sim card. So when you put in a old sim card into the new phone, it is still trying to use the old settings, hence not being able to send SMS’s.

    Unfortunately, on the iPhone there is no where to manually set this, so below is how to check and set your new SMS message centre number.

    To check your message centre number

    • On your Phone app, go to keypad and type in *#5005*7672# and Call
    • Message number is displayed

    If the SMS message centre number is incorrect, you can change it by doing the following

    • Vodacom
      • **5005*7672*+27829119# and Call or
      • **5005*7672*+27829129# and Call
    • MTN
      • Prepaid number -> **5005*7672*+27831000113#
      • PostPaid Number -> **5005*7672*+2783100002#
    • CellC
      • Awaiting confirmation of correct message centre number
    • 8ta
      • Awaiting confirmation of correct message centre number

    And that’s it. Easy :) Once the change has been made it is instant, and you should be able to start sending SMS’s again. If you have the 8ta or CellC settings, please feel free to leave a comment