MarcForrest.com

Category: iPhone

  • The Grid iPhone App

    Vincent and his team from Vodacom have *finally* released “The Grid” app for the iPhone. I know they have been working on it for quite a while now, so it’s great to see another SA app finally hit the App store.

    The Grid is a location-based social network, that Vodacom has developed. It uses location based services based on your proximity to the closest cellular towers and plots those on a map

    From The Grid site: The grid is a mobile social network that allows you to chat to friends, see where they are on a map and share photos or videos with them. You also get to view photos and videos relevant to the area you’re in.

    The iPhone app allows you to:

    • Explore your vicinity on a map
    • Chat with friends & bots
    • Track your friends location and activity
    • Share your photos and thoughts as blips
    • Discover blips from other users,
    • Join a group with shared interests
    • Update your status’s to twitter

    Click here to download the app from the app store

    *pics coming soon*

  • Free data on Vodacom

    vodratesI know the last couple of posts have been all Vodacom/iPhone/Vodacom/iPhone….(you get the point, sorry :)), but I came across an awesome deal on Vodacom today.

    They are currentley running a promotion called “With Vodacom the internet is Maklik” where they are giving up to 2 gigs of data away for free. So I did a couple of calculations around these figures, and found an simple & easy way to save yourself up to 500% on your data costs.

    Basically the deal is Vodacom will either give you 25MB or 10% of your data package back to you up until the end of August. Now the easiest way to do this, and score is to activate a 5MB Add-On Data package. Usually this package costs R9.25, and you get 5MB of data. Fair enough, works out to R1.85. BUT, if you do this before the end of August you get another 25MB of data valid for 60 Days. This means you get 30MB of data for only R9.25 which works out to a staggering 31 cents, per Megabyte. THAT is a bargain. I have attached a screen shot of the calcs above (click to enlarge), which show the savings. This is an awesome deal, so if you are a Vodacom subscriber & use data on your phone, this is a MUST.

    To activate the packages you can either call 082 111 from your phone, or you can activate it on http://www.vodacom4me.co.za

    Disclaimer: I am in NO way affiliated to Vodacom, if you have any questions on this promotion, please call them :)

  • ZATV Guide iPhone app

    img_0442The guys from immedia have released thier 2nd iPhone app, which is an awesome app that allows you to view a TV schedule from all the DSTV channels.

    The app is called the  ZATV guide, and I have had a chance to play with the submitted version for the last 2 weeks.

    Overall the app is clean, and simple to use. Once the app opens you are presented with a “My ZATV” screen, where you can chose to keep a list of your “Favorite channels” or “Favorite TV Shows” The next screen is  “All Channels”, which allows you to view all the DSTV channels, and you can click through to see what is on each channel. You can search by either Channel Number or by A-Z of the channel name. Home Screen

    Once you have gone into the channel, you can then add this channel to your “Favorite Channel” screen on the home page. You can also select a specific programme, which will allow you see what is happening in that specific episode.

    img_0444

    The 3rd Screen allows you to search for a specific show or Series. This will then show you when the show is showing and on which channels, as well as give you detailed information on the series. You can then also add the show to your  ‘Favorite TV Shows” on the home screen

    img_0446img_0447All in all this is a well rounded app, that is simple to use, and is going to be very useful when deciding what movie to watch on a Sunday night.

    The app can be downloaded from the iTunes store for Free from here – > Download

  • Activate Internet on Vodacom iPhone

    I have had a couple of people emailing me asking how to activate the internet connection on the iPhone on Vodacom.

    Vodacom uses a specific APN (Access Name Point) for the iPhones, which come pre-configured on the iPhone. The APN they use is “iPhone.Vodacom.ZA“. If you have a standard Vodacom Contract, and recently bought an iPhone, or have recentley had an upgrade, you will need to activate this APN.

    There are 2 ways of doing this. You can can call the Vodacom Data Service Helpdesk on 082 155 (Free call from your phone), or log onto Vodacom4me.co.za. On the Vodacom4me website, log in, and go to My Account-> Services -> Modify Services and select the iPhone APN.

    To check what APN is currentley set on your iPhone, go to Settings -> General -> Network -> Cellular Data Network, and you should have iphone.vodacom.za set under your Cellular Data APN.

  • Enabling Push Notifications in iPhone OS 3.0

    A new feature of iPhone OS 3.0, Push Notifications, are not enabled by default. A quick simple way to get them on, is by installing this awesome iPhone app, I came across earlier today, called “Hey Where Are You: Location Service”, or HeyWAY for short.
    Essentially HeyWAY is an app that allows you see where your authorised contacts are located in an embedded Google map. The way the notifications integrate into it, is that you can be alerted when your contact alerts you to their position. You can also request to see where your contacts are, by sending them a notification, which will appear as a Push Notification on their side.

    Adding a contact is simple, as the app composes an email for you that you can send to your contact with a pre – defined URL that will authorise you to share your location with them.

    One question I know will come up is, What about getting bugged at 3am when my mates pissed at the pub ? Well you can disable Push notifications on an app Level, as well as on an overall full iPhone level. You can also disable notifications from a specific user within the app.

    Notifications

    The push notification alerts you even when you not in the app. A sound is made (freaks you out the first couple of times :))

    Notification

    You can then view your contacts location in an embeded Google Map

    Map View

    The app is Free in the iTunes store and can be downloaded Here -> “Hey Where Are You: Location Service”

    Feel free to add me if you would like add me, my email address is on my Contact page. Just don’t let me know you in the pub at 3am please :P