MarcForrest.com

Category: Apple

Uber – Not your average “taxi” service (Free Promo Code)

I’m sure by now you would have heard about the new service Uber, which recently launched in South Africa. Uber is your own private driver. As simple as that! And it’s awesome!

(Promo Code – UberiGuyZA– R150 off your first ride in an Uber vehicle. Details below)

You “order” your Uber driver using the iPhone, Android or Uber Mobile website (Blackberry or any phone with a browser), and get picked up in a luxury vehicle (think C-Class Mercedes, BMW 3 Series etc), and within a couple of minutes you have your own personal driver at your door. One very important thing to note is that Uber isn’t a taxi service. Uber is your own personal driver. So if you want to head to Cape Town from Durbs, he can do that (sure it may cost you a few R’s, but it is possible)

I have used the Uber service a couple of times over the last few weeks, in both Joburg & Durban, and I can honestly say this is one of the best services I have ever used. From the guy offering you a chilled bottle of water as you get into the car, right through to the invoice being emailed to you as you leave the car, this is truly a world class service.

So, Uber has officially launched in Cape Town, Durban & Joburg in South Africa. I did a quick comparison to see what the prices are in the various cities, and to be honest they are VERY reasonable for the service offered.

Below is a quick comparison of all the prices in SA, and compared to some of the other cities around the world that Uber Black is available in

(Updated 10/1/2014 – Joburg Rates & Exchange Rates)

* JHB rate is based on either R3.90 per min OR R10.90 per km depending on speed
* DBN & CT rates are per min PLUS per KM
* Flat rate is a charge from the city Airport <-> City CBD
* 10km trip is an estimate using the Uber Fare calcultor
* $/R = R10.15 & €/R = R13.63
* Mozzie cab is a taxi service based in Durban

As you can see the rates are very reasonable and compare quite well to other services & the rest of the world.

As I mentioned above I have an awesome promo code available to any new Uber users. When signing up simply use the code – UberiGuyZA – and you will get R90 off your first uber ride, anywhere in the world ! You can also click here to sign up using the code.

Have you used Uber yet ? What are your thoughts around the service? Comment below :)

[app url=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/uber/id368677368″]

November 22, 2013
2013 iPhoneographySA exhibitions a huge suceess

It’s been pretty quite around here over the last couple of months, because I have been putting the 2013 iPhoneography Exhibition together, which finally culminated over the last 2 weeks with exhibitions taking place in Joburg & Cape Town.

This year was a phenomenal success with just over 2,500 images entered from around 650 entries. We had 250 images on display at our Johannesburg Exhibition and 180 at the Cape Town Exhibition.

Joburg Winners

There were some amazing images on display in both regions, and selecting a winner was a seriously tough task. This year we had an amazing judging panel who sat for many hours before the exhibitions debating who the winners should be.

Cape Town Winners

All in all, this year has been an amazing success, and I would personally like to thank the whole team at iStore once again for this amazing opportunity to showcase South Africa’s best iPhoneography talent.

Did you manage to catch the exhibtions ? What were your thoughts ? For more info on iPhoneography in South Africa visit iPhoneographySA.com

November 11, 2013
2013 iPhoneographySA exhibition entries now open

It’s (finally) time again for this years 2013 iPhoneographySA exhibition, held in conjunction with MarcForrest.com & the team from iStore. Following on from the huge success of last years event, the 2013 exhibition will take place in Joburg on the 31st October & Cape Town on the 7th November. Entries are now officially open

This year, we going bigger & better and introducing a hand-picked Judging Panel, as well as some awesome prizes for the winners.

An exciting new inclusion to the competition this year is the Community choice award where the iStore Facebook community will vote for their favourite iPhoneographySA picture by ‘liking’ their picture of choice.

As mentioned above this year we have chosen 5 individuals to judge the entries, and get a broader input from the community. We are excited to have Dean Oelschig, Liezel Els, Craig Rodney, Justine Darby & myself selecting our final entries for this years exhibition. Read more about the 2013 Judges here

Also on offer this year are some amazing prizes sponsored by the iStore team. The overall winner in each region will receive a Macbook Air, while each category winner will get a brand new iPad Mini. The community choice winner will also walk away with an iPad Mini compliments of their Facebook Fans.

With excitement already building from the iPhoneography community in South Africa, we are sure this years exhibition is going to be a cracker, and we can’t wait to see the entries start pouring in.
If you would like more info on the competition, feel free to pop us an email on [email protected] or visit the iPhoneographySA website for all the details

September 5, 2013
SA App of the week – Private Property iPad App

The latest version of the Private Property iPad app, which was launched on the 1st of June, has quite a spot with me. Before I left Private Property last year, I was involved with the conceptualizing of the redesign of the app, and although not all of the original aspects have been used, there are still quite a number of small tweaks we introduced into the new look app.

Private Property has recently gone through a whole new look & feel with a site redesign, and with that a new iPad app was launched, as well a iPhone update in the works as well.

The new updated app takes full use of the screen with big bold images and a clean design look & feel. The listing pages have also been updated to include as much information as possible, as well as ranking the properties according to how much info is displayed.

Info from the App Store Listing

The Private Property iPad app puts the largest selection of private and agency listings in South Africa at your fingertips.
Whether you’re planning to buy or rent, the Private Property iPad app will inspire your search and ensure you find the home
of your dreams.

Below are some of the features of the new Private Property iPad app:

• Find Properties – Find your perfect home using text search, location-based search or suburb navigation search.
• Find Agents – Find all agents in your area and contact them effortlessly.
• Slide-Menu – Access your favourite tools from anywhere in the app using the new slide-menu.
• Modern Design – An elegant and simple design makes the app easy and fun to use.

I am looking forward to seeing some cool little tweaks being introduced into the app in the future, as I still think there is loads you can do with it !

Nice one PP team :)

[app url=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/private-property-ipad-version/id407755805?mt=8″]

June 18, 2013
SA App of the Week – Gautimes

I have been meaning to start this series for quite a while now, where each week I will focus on a newly developed and released iPhone app from a South African Developer.

This week, I wanted to showcase a very slick looking app from the chaps at Glucode, called Gautimes. The Gautimes app is a free app which makes travelling on the Gautrain a breeze. The design of the app is absolutely amazing with a clean interface and has a really simple interface when using the app. Even if you aren’t a frequent user of the Gautrain, this is still one of those apps you should download to keep in the back of one of those “unused apps” folders, and keep it for a rainy day.

App Store App Description

Getting to the Gautrain station and your destination on time has just become a whole lot easier! Now Gautrain commuters can easily plan their train trips.

Whether you’re a frequent, occasional or first time Gautrain commuter you can now confidently plan your meetings, airport arrangements, shopping sprees or exciting adventures that the tracks may lead you on.

Gautimes will automatically locate the Gautrain station nearest to you. You can then easily view arrival times for all stations on your line based on your selected departure time as well as set departure reminders so that you can make sure that you catch your train on time.

Key features
– automatically locates and selects the Gautrain station nearest to you
– see a list of all Gautrain stations to make a custom selection
– see your current distance from all Gautrain stations
– see a map of all Gautrain lines and stations
– see which trains are 8-car trains
– see future date specific train schedules
– set reminders on train departure times
– see arrival times based on a departure time
– Gautrain schedule changes are updated automatically

[app url=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gautimes-for-iphone/id648890879?mt=8″]

June 10, 2013