MarcForrest.com

Category: Apple

  • Monitor your Vodacom balances on your iPhone

    I came across a really really cool (Free) iPhone app the other day called Consume (iTunes Link). The app allows you to view your balances from cellphone & broadband providers around the world, but only Vodacom has been added so far in SA. The other cool thing is you can add other web service such as Dropbox, Evernote, Gmail & Google Docs.

    The app is really simple to setup, and once you have downloaded it you need to enter your Vodacom/Vodacom4Me login details, which the app then uses to check your balances for both PostPaid & Prepaid.

    This is a screenshot from the Vodacom Prepaid option that shows how many minutes you have left, as well as how many promotional minutes I have, as well as when the next rollover is. Currently it doesn’t show your data bundle usage, but I have sent them a mail (begging) them for this.

    I don’t have a prepaid sim, but I assume the screen shows you your current balance, as well as expiry ?

    All in all a very handy app to have to keep track of your spend etc, and it’s free :) Oh, and there is an iPad app in development as we speak…

  • MTN 280 meter scalectrix track WTF!!!

    Check out these 2 INSANE videos that got secretly sent to me this morning.

    The videos are to promo the new HIGH speed MTN data network. The ad will only be airing on Sunday evening, so you saw it here first ;) shhhh

    The video is a high speed Scaletrix car chase over 280m built in some guys lounge, with cars chasing through the “interwebs”. Seriously cool. Kinda reminds me of  my childhood days, to see who could make the longest Scaletrix track through the house.

    Check them out below. First one is the video that will be airing from Sunday, and the second is the sneaky sneaky behind the scenes video :)

    We used 280 meters of scalectrix track to demonstrate MTN’s new upgraded network. When MTN upgraded for the 2010 World Cup, they upgraded for all of us here in Mzansi. Ayoba!

  • On Jailbreaking…

    I’ve always been a “non-fan” of Jailbreaking. Simply because I have never really understood what it is supposed to achive. Yes, there a couple of cool apps which “enhance” the iPhone & the usability, and yes, we all know you can get cracked apps, without having to pay for them. But for me, that kinda feels like stealing & dirty, especiallly for those apps that the developers have put hours and hours of work into ?

    But I still don’t get it ?

    With the release of the limera1n Jailbreak, which was released yesterday, and now works on the iPhone 4, I thought I would give it a bash and jailbreak my phone (once again, after 2 years) and see what the fuss is all about. The install was pretty easy, download an exe, and patch your phone. After that, I installed cydia, which is like the app store for jailbroken apps (not cracked apps)….and then…..I dunno. Nothing. Bit of an anticlimax actually.

    So, I mailed a few jailbreaking friends and asked them what apps are recommended to make your new jailbroken iPhone EXTRA cool. Got a couple of replies, only to find out that for most of the COOL apps, you need to pay for. Um…Pot…Kettle…Black ? One or 2 of the recommended apps came back as not being usable for iOS 4 given that they Jailbreak only came out yesterday

    I even sent out a tweet asking what the benefit was, and got a couple of replies. None which added any value to my rather let down of euphoria of re-entering the world of jailbreaking.

    Maybe I am missing something ? Can you recommend any MIND-BLOWING apps which will take my newly jailbroken iPhone 4 to another level. ? What are your thoughts on jailbreaking ? Leave a comment below, would love to hear :)

  • Business Trip Logger iPhone app

    As you may or may not know, if you receive a travel allowance from your company, SARS requires you to keep a logbook of all your travelling you do in your personal car through the year. At the end of the year, you need to submit a logbook with your tax return to show what kilometers have been used for business & what have been used for personal travel.

    This  from the SARS website:

    The income tax system allows taxpayers who receive a travel allowance to claim a deduction for the use of their private vehicle for business purposes. In order to claim a deduction, the first step is to record your vehicle’s odometer reading on 1 March each year (the first day of the tax year for individuals) and again on the last day of February the next year (the last day of the tax year for individuals). These opening and closing readings give you your total kilometres travelled for the year. And recording your mileage will help you make an accurate claim when submitting your tax return.

    TIP:  SMS your own car’s kilometre reading as on 28 February 2010 to your own cell phone for safekeeping.

    Hellz, hows that tip hey. What a CLEVER idea hey….If you are still stuck in the stone ages. You can download the “logbook” in PDF format from the SARS website, and then keep scraps of paper in your car, until the dude at the car wash thinks it “rabbish” and chucks it away, never to be seen again.

    Enter the Business Trip Logger iPhone app. From the smart dudes down at New Media labs, the VERY simple app allows you to record your mileage as and when you use your car for business, and then simple at the end of the year, export it to CSV, and BOOM ! you done. No Mess. No Fuss.

    From the app store:

    This application allows you to log all your business trips to a website. Each entry stores a client name and reason for the trip, a start odometer reading, trip distance and an end odometer reading. A list of all trips can then be downloaded as a CSV and submitted with your tax returns.

    Simple hey. And it’s free. Just do yourself a favour, and get it :)

  • My quick iPhone 4 review

    It’s been over a week since I got my brand spanking new iPhone 4 from the chaps at MTN. All I can say is wow. There is a remarkable difference between the iPhone 3GS & 4, in all sorts of categories.

    For me the kicker has to be the screen. I have never seen such a crisp & crystal clear screen on ANY device before. I honestly can’t spot any pixels, except in some of the apps I already have on the phone. That seems to be an issue is that the legacy apps need to be updated to take advantage of the screen, otherwise they just look crap. But that said, every time someone asks me about what stands out the most about the phone, I point out the screen and whip open the Epic Citadel app, which shows how awesome & clear it is.

    But it’s not only the screen that has caught me. The battery life on the iPhone is remarkably improved, and get loads more use out of the phone. With the 3GS, I charged it every night, (after using it a fair bit during the day) and now I can get almost 2 days out of it.

    The camera on the phone is also another plus. That and the HD video recording. Check out this video I took of my boy playing air drums. Awesome quaility. There is also a huge difference in speed on the phone. Apps load a lot faster as well, as well as app switiching.

    The one gripe I do have with the phone, seems to be the shape. I think cause I am accustomed to the “rounder” 3G & 3Gs shape, this feels a bit awkward to hold. But I’m sure I can get my head around that :)

    Overall, so far, the phone has been brilliant. I even landed up getting my wife one, so I could chat to the kids using FaceTime, when I am not around. Brilliant.

    Did you pick up an iPhone 4 ? What do you think ? Leave a comment below and lemme know ;)