Tag: APP

Prisma Beagle 

Posted on

It was the Ad Wizard who introduced me to Prisma “Turn your photos into awesome artwork”, but it was ever so laggy and that was off-putting.

Now though, there’s been an update and the blockages seem to have been removed.

      
Cue a pencil drawing and a van Goghy kind of effort of the beagle. The beagle looks fairly unimpressed with the whole thing.

I’m fairly sure that I won’t use Prisma for anything important, nor necessarily make any “awesome artwork”, but it’s kind of fun and the kids love what I’ve done with the dog.

Prisma on Google Play Store

Cinema

Posted on

Off to the cinema again this evening (yes, I know).

cinema

No, I don’t even know what’s going on.
I’m not a huge fan of going to the cinema, but I’m happy enough to go along every once in a while to keep Mrs 6000 or the kids happy. Especially during a week with no football. *hyperventilates*

And I used the Ster Kinekor tablet app to book the tickets. And it was super smooth. And then it put the appointment onto my calendar. And then Google Now gave me directions to the cinema (although I actually know where it is) and suggested a suitable time to leave home to get there with a few minutes to park and buy popcorn.

I feel like I’m living in the future. And isn’t it nice when things just work?

Super 15 Android app

Posted on

With the new Super Rugby season recently arrived and looking like it’s going to stick around until Christmas (ish), I’ve been looking for a decent app to replace the rather slow and often iffy “Rugby Nut” I used last season.
And it seems that, after trying a couple of other contenders over the weekend, I have found it in the Sportsmate Mobile Super XV app, here.

qrcode.11790450

Yes, it’s Aussie based (but that makes no difference on matchday) and at 22MB, it’s not small, but it’s free, fast and accurate. It also has live text commentary options, plus loads of stats which will make you look smarter than your average bear at the Saturday afternoon braai.

Go get it.

Learn a language

Posted on

As many of you will know, I have family ties to the Isle of Man, that gorgeous little lump of rock ‘twixt England and Ireland. And, on the Isle of Man, they speak Manx Gaelic. Or rather, they did. It’s been dying out now for a long while and the Manx Heritage Foundation have decided to do something about it.

Their latest step in this direction is a free smartphone app to assist people with learning Manx:

The ‘Learn Manx’ app is based on the successful adult language course ran by the Manx Heritage Foundation in the Island and is a fantastic resource for all those who are interested in getting to grips with Manx Gaelic.  ‘Learn Manx’ consists of ten units, each consisting of a variety of activities, whilst two additional revision lessons feature the TT Races as learning tools. The app will eventually cover 30 units in total, providing a fantastic introduction to the language to those unfamiliar with it, as well as a great revision course for those who already know some Manx.

The app development has been supported by a telecommunications company on the island.
Their spokesperson:

It was a pleasure and a privilege to be able to support the Manx Heritage Foundation in a merger between 21st Century technology and our Manx Gaelic language with origins dating back to the 4th Century.
Whether you use the Manx Language App for fun or serious learning it keeps our language very much alive.

And that’s the idea, right?

I’m going to give it a go and see how I get on. There are more gutteral sounds than in Afrikaans, so it might sound like I’m struggling with a nasty cough at first, but pretty soon, I’ll be able to fluently order a pint of Okell’s Ale or fluently find my way to the nearest pub to fluently order a pint of Okell’s Ale.

What could possibly go wrong?

Now all I need is an app to learn isiXhosa as well. Anyone?

Learn Manx (or Ynsee Gaelg) is available FREE from the Google Play store or from iTunes if you’re more Apple than Android.

Android link:

 

Waze and means…

Posted on

I’ve been fiddling with the Waze app on my Android phone this week. It’s not the first time I have played with it, but I found that it was of very limited use last time out (probably about a year ago), simply because I was the only (slight exaggeration) person in South Africa bothering to use it.

Described as:

…a free social mobile app that enables drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation for an optimal commute. 100% powered by users, the more you drive the better it gets.

Waze allows you to send information about your journey to other Wazers on the road, so that a real-time map can be built up and the app can help other users to avoid troublespots. Because of this, it requires a “critical mass” of users to make it worthwhile and, as I pointed up above, it didn’t have that. Now, however, it has joined forces with MiX Telematics who already have 30,000 users using realtime reporting through their vehicle tracking services.

I found out about this from a rather enthusiastic John Maytham on Cape Talk, who has been enthusing enthusiastically about Waze ever since. Quite how this sits with Primedia’s support of the Lead SA campaign, I’m not sure. After all, they aren’t usually very impressed with people using their cellphones while driving.

My first impressions haven’t been brilliant. There are still very few users in Cape Town, and the information seems only to state the bleeding obvious: traffic is bad into town in the morning, traffic is bad out of town in the evening. Add to that the fact that because of the MASSIVE lump of rock we like to call “The Mountain” and its proximity to Table Bay, there aren’t an awful lot of alternative routes to take in the Mother City and Waze’s usefulness is immediately limited.

And then there’s the battery drain. Wow. I have never known an app like it for using power. A journey from Ysterplaat, via town, to home (about 30km) took over 50% of my (admittedly old) battery life. All of which means that even with a fully charged phone, you aren’t going to get much more than 90 minutes of Waze-related driving fun.

I’m too worldly wise to give up on apps very quickly, but Waze is already on the danger list.
Anyone care to tell me why it deserves to stay on my phone?

More on Waze in SA.
Waze on Android Market Google Play Store [QR].

UPDATE: Ooh – looks like 5fm Breakfast is running a Waze promotion next week as well. 6000 miles… slightly ahead of the curve again…