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  • 2013 iPhoneographySA exhibition entries now open

    2013-iPhoneography-Exhibition

    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

  • SA App of the week – Private Property iPad App

    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″]

     

  • SA App of the Week – Gautimes

    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.

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    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″]

     

  • Lenmar Meridian BC5 iPhone 5 Battery Case

    Lenmar Meridian BC5 iPhone 5 Battery Case

    I recently got to test the awesome Lenmar Meredian iPhone 5 Battery Case before it launched in South Africa. There aren’t too many iPhone 5 battery pack covers on the market in SA, because Apple has strict policies when licencing to use the lightning connector, so when I got the opportunity to test it, I jumped at the chance.

    The Lenmar Meredian iPhone 5 Battery Case (RRP 799) is a sleek designed, and super lightweight. Unlike other battery pack covers when the case is on your phone, it doesn’t feel bulky or add on too much weight. The crux of this case for me was it offers a 2300mAh battery which means your iPhone gets charged back to 100% in record time from 1% battery, and then still extra battery if it goes flat again. To put this in comparison the standard iPhone 5 battery is only 1400 mAh, and the nearest rival battery pack only offers a 2100 mAh battery pack.

    I can’t tell you how many times this case has been a life saver, and I simply cannot recommend it enough. We all know the iPhone 5 battery sucks, so if you often find yourself with that dreaded 1% battery on your iPhone, then you have to get this. The only downside to this case is that there is no adapter for the headphone jack, but it is not a trainshmash as there is a inlet for the headphones, albeit quite far in, so if you using an L-Shaped headphone connector you may struggle.

    The Lenmar Meridian BC5 iPhone 5 Battery Case retails for R799 and is available on Geekshop.co.za. Click to see the full Lenmar Range

  • How to ensure Find My iPhone is activated

    How to ensure Find My iPhone is activated

    I recently read a couple of horror stories of break-ins and robberies from houses around South Africa. One of the articles I read had a guy chasing after the fleeing robbers, barefoot in a cop van, in Alexandra township with his neighbours iPhone in hand, tracking his iPhone and iPad which had been stolen in the robbery using the Find My iPhone application on the phone.

    Loads of people have asked about Find My iPhone and how it works, and how it is activated. So I thought I would put a quick blog post together with some info.

    • Check the Find My iPhone service activated. To do this on your iPhone or iPad go to Settings -> iCloud
    • Make sure you are signed into iCloud using your iTunes username and password. If you share multiple devices, you can sign into 1 account multiple times
    • Make sure the Find My iPhone switch is set to ON. This will ensure you are able to locate your device using the Find My iPhone app or iCloud when it is switched on
    • This will only work if it has internet connectivity, so if you have a 3G iPad, ensure it is always on

    There are a number of ways to check and see where your device is:

    • Download the Find My iPhone iOS app which can be installed on any iOS device. Using this device, you sign in using you iCloud username & password set above. This will display all the devices associated with this username & password
    • You can track your device online by going to the iCloud.com website. Again, sign in with your username & password and click on the Find My iPhone Icon. All your devices that are online will be viewable on the map

    Once you can see your devices on the map or in the app, there are a number of different options to alert the person with the device

    • Play sound – This will play a pinging sound for 2 minutes on the device at full volume, even if it is on mute. I have used this plenty times to find the iPhone when it’s slid down the back of the couch
    • Lost Mode – This mode allows you to put in a number where you can be contacted when someone finds the phone. It is important to put the phone number in International format (ie +27xxx) as this will allow the finder of the phone to call the number without having to unlock the phone. You can also set a message here to alert the finder of the phone that it is lost and has been locked. The phone will be locked using your existing lock code if you have one, otherwise you can set one from the App/Site
    • Erase Mode – This mode will erase all the content on the phone and set it back to factory reset. The biggest issue here is that the phone can no longer be tracked when it is set to Erase Mode. I suggest only doing this in extreme cases.

    Another cool tip is that Mac OS also offers Find My Mac functionality for your Macbook or iMac. The biggest downfall through is that the computer has to be connected to the internet to send the signal. You can set this up by going to System Preferences -> iCloud -> Activate Find My Mac

    Have you used Find My iPhone or Find My Mac before ? I think it’s an awesome little add-on which not many people use.