WeatherSA.co.za, the online hub of the South African Weather Service, has unveiled a brand new weather application for all iOS devices, including the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The app is designed with South African users in mind, and supported by the South African Weather Service.

Several of the app features are a first for South Africa, such as storm warnings and push notifications, which are sent directly to the user’s device daily. Other highlights of the application include breaking news alerts, seven day tables of weather across the country, an outlook for various outdoor and sports activities, sunrise, sunset and moonrise times as well as hourly and weekly graphs covering rain, wind, temperature, pressure and humidity.

The WeatherSA app will be available as a free download and allows users to customise the weather notices sent to their device(s), from daily to weekly forecasts and local news to national warnings and provincial forecasts. The app can also predict the best time of day for outdoor activities such as cycling, swimming and going for a jog, making it the perfect lifestyle accessory.

One of the most novel features of the WeatherSA app is the ability for users to share alerts with their contacts via email, Twitter or Facebook, which links in perfectly with WeatherSA’s broad spectrum social media campaign. Their Facebook and Twitter pages will provide followers with daily updates, news and interesting information surrounding both the weather and lifestyle features.

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OK – lets start off with a tip. If you are planning to buy an iPad, you might want to wait a few weeks.

According to AllThingsD, Apple is planning to announce the iPad 3 in the first week of March 2012. In the past this meant that the device will land in US stores about a week after that, and other territories about 2 months later. In 2011 South Africa didn’t have to wait too long to get the iPad 2, so hopefully it will be the same with the iPad 3. Apple does not typically deviate from their release cycle when it comes to iOS devices (except with the iPhone 4S), so this is one rumour that will probably turn out to be true.

So what will be new in the iPad 3? Is it worth waiting for? Seeing as the iPad 2 was not a massive update from the iPad 1 (slightly faster, thinner and cameras added, see our review here), the iPad 3 might be a bigger update than expected. Also, Apple does not seem to increase prices with new models, so it might be well worth your while. Here are some of the changes you can expect: (more…)

Apple’s stock price jumped up quite a bit in the last few days (up to $493), which now makes it worth $456 billion, which is worth more than the two other computer superpowers, Microsoft and Google, combined.

Google’s shareprice is currently trading at 189.9 billion, after it took a 9 percent knock on recent missed expectations for earnings and revenue. Microsoft’s Windows division took a 6 percent revenue drop to $4.7 billion, but the rest of the company did very well. This is also thanks to the Xbox division which has finally turned profitable for Microsoft.

Now Apple’s market cap has grown tremendously, part in thanks to the iPhone business, which is alone worth $222 billion. Think about that for a second – the iPhone business revenue is now worth more than Microsoft. And this from a product that did not exist 5 years ago. This makes this interview with Steve Ballmer even funnier – watch his reaction after he gets asked what he thinks of the iPhone:

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US customers of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has had access to Google’s NFC based Google Wallet service, which enables instant contactless payments. Google Wallet works with a simple PIN code that is stored on the phone, in order to enable the NFC payment features on the phone, which is connected to bank accounts, loyalty schemes, etc. Even though the PIN code is encrypted, a security firm called Zvelo, figured out a way to get hold of that PIN code, provided the Android phone has been rooted.

Seeing as NFC is still in its infancy on mobile phones, it was only a matter of time before its security vulnerabilities would have been figured out. The problem with the current Android Google Wallet implementation is that the PIN code is not stored on the NFC chip itself, but rather on the phone, which is secured by the Android operating system. Many users of Android devices go through the effort to root their devices, which enables the users to become “superusers” who can then alter the root permissions on the devices. As soon as that phone is rooted, the thief can simply install the Google Wallet Cracker app, and the PIN code will be revealed.

Check out the video below to see how easy it is:

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As an official sponsor of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Gabon-Equatorial Guinea 2012, Samsung today announced the availability of the ‘Africa Cup of Nations’ App, on the Samsung South African Apps store.

Says Deon Liebenberg, MD of Samsung South Africa; “As Samsung has been a long-time supporter of African football, we felt it only natural for us to invest in such an application; the application will offer fans an opportunity to keep up to date with the latest information and results around the event, with ease and while on the move.”

The application features competitions, galleries, live scores, downloads and fixtures for the 2012 tournament and is available for all fans to download for free.

“We are committed to our customers and through this app we aim to offer the best possible enjoyment of the tournament. Fans can now follow the tournament passionately and not miss out as we understand that it is not always possible to catch all the live action. We, at Samsung, are again meeting the needs of our consumers – in this case sports fans – and are providing them with content that not only allows for great entertainment, but fuels the spirit of African soccer,” concludes Liebenberg.

Vodacom has slashed data prices with a new promotion for contract customers, including Top Up. The launch of a Broadband Standard MyGig 1 and MyGig 2 data contract promotion which runs from 07 February 2012 to 06 May 2012 is the latest in a series of data promotions from Vodacom. With this latest promotion, Vodacom has broken the R100 price point on big data bundles – customers will now pay only R99 for 1GB.

“Our previous data promotions proved to be so successful that we decided to do it again. This time we’re giving savings of up to 60% to our customers. It is just the value proposition our customers are looking for at the beginning of the year. And as with all our data products, these promotional contracts will use Vodacom’s high speed data network with the broadest coverage across South Africa,” says Chris Ross, Managing Executive for Commercial Development at Vodacom.

The Broadband Standard MyGig 1, 24 month contract has been reduced from R249 per month to R99 per month, giving customers a 60% saving and the MyGig 2, 24 month contract has been reduced from R349 per month to R149. After the initial 24 months contract period, the contract can be renewed or will continue on a month to month basis, at the then prevailing rate for the relevant bundle size. The promotional offer includes a free modem and normal out of bundle prices apply. There are no restrictions on the use of these data bundles – they can be used any time of the day.

“We recently offered our prepaid customers a 20GB promotion that offered them great value and now we are offering our contract and Top Up customers great value” adds Ross.

Customers can visit their nearest service provider to sign up for a promotional Broadband Standard MyGig 1 or MyGig 2, 24 month data contract or Top Up data contract.

Since Windows 95, Microsoft has been using the Start button, which eventually became a Start “orb” button in Windows 7. Leaked screenshots from the upcoming Windows 8 Customer Preview build shows that the familiar Orb button is missing this time round. Users will be expected to simply hover their mouse over any corner of the screen (almost like hot corners in Mac OS X), which will then bring up the new Metro-infused Start menu screen.

Touch screen users will also just hold their screen over a corner of the screen (or use a swipe action). Windows fans might be peeved at the lack of the Start Menu in Windows 8, but it should be pointed out that in future the Start Menu is now being replaced by the “Start Screen”, which uses Metro style apps that look very similiar to Windows Phone 7, and also share a lot of the code base. This will make future cross-platform development between Windows 8 and Windows Phone a lot easier.

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We non-US Apple fans have a bad of a hard deal – all of the best media and many of the top apps just do not show up in the SA iTunes store. So if you are really desperate to get Angry Birds, the only way to get hold of an iTunes voucher is to make Apple believe you live in the US. Luckily that is not too hard, and I will explain to you how to do that here.

Before you get started, you have to know that in order to buy content from the US iTunes store, you will need to buy iTunes vouchers. Your non-US credit card will not work with the US store, but luckily it is easy enough to buy vouchers through sites like WildTwig. But first you need a US iTunes store account:

How to Open Your US iTunes Account:

1) First off, you obviously need iTunes, and an internet connection.

2) Open iTunes, then go to iTunes Store on the left.

3) Make sure you are signed out of any iTunes account. Make sure the top right of the iTunes store states “Sign In”. If it is signed into another account, click on the account name, and click Sign Out.

4) Scroll to the bottom of the iTunes Store page, and click on the country icon. This can be any country’s flag.

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