Installing Waze on an Android 2.1 phone [Solved]

So, I found an old Android phone and wanted to set it up with all my favourite apps, but I was upset when Waze wouldn’t install from the Google Play store – the app store told me that the app was “not compatible with your device” :(
Now, if my sense of direction was good then I wouldn’t need this awesome all to help me get around… so, I tried a bit harder and after a bit of Googling I found a link which mentioned a download for my specific phone: Freeware4Android:

I opened the browser on my phone and clicked on the link and the file download started.  When it was complete I clicked on it and (to my surprise) it started to install :)  After the celebrations I started the app and it installed fine!

 


Click here to download Waze for Android version 2.1: http://www.freeware4android.net/vodafone-845-device-1569/waze-get-15899.html

iPad solution for cheaper calls than Telkom [Solved]

I recently replied to a question on the MyBroadBand forums. Ettiene69 asked: “Is there any VOIP App or service provider which I can use on my iPad, which IS ACTUALLY CHEAPER than normal Telkom or Cell Phone Rates?”

I provided this 3 step solution:
Step 1: Install the MobileVoip app (available for iPhone, iPad, iPod, Symbian, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone):  iStore link here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/mobilevoip/id362528311?mt=8
 
Step 2: Register and purchase 10 Euros of any Voip provider - for South Africa I recommend Rynga: http://www.rynga.com/calling-rates.html#letter-S
Rates comparison:
Rynga rate for South Africa (Landline)  FREE (for 120 days, then R0.31c per minute)  [Telkom rate is R0.57c per min]
Rynga rate for South Africa (Mobile)    R0.558 per minute [Telkom rate is R1.35 per min]
Telkom rates from here:  http://www.telkom.co.za/general/pricelist/automaticexchanges_worldcall.html
See Rynga’s rates list here: http://www.rynga.com/en/calling-rates.html

Step 3: Purchase data for your iPad - for low usage per month, I recommend CellC prepaid:
http://handytechtips.blogspot.com/2012/04/winner-of-no-contract-non-expiring-pre.html 

Remember to add the CellC data costs per minute to your total call cost comparison… Working on about 1MB per minute for a voice call – add CellC’s rate of 16c per minute to the call:

Rynga rate for South Africa (Landline) FREE+16c per minute (for 120 days, then 31c+16c=47c per minute) [Telkom rate is R0.57c per min]
Rynga rate for South Africa (Mobile) 56c+16c=72c per minute [Telkom rate is R1.35 per min]


So, with all 3 steps done you should be able to take your iPad anywhere in South Africa, start up the MobileVoip app and make calls cheaper than using Telkom and cell phone rates :) :)
At home or when within range of WiFi point, switch to WiFi and save even more. 

Let me know if it works for you.

Search for those specials in the newspapers online using Guzzle

If you are tired of paging through all those advertising catalogs and pamphlets in your daily newspapers then it’s time you went online and started using the online searchable site called Guzzle.  They scan in all those adverts and allow you to search for what you are looking for.  The results can then be sorted by price and you can then see what are the best prices around.  You can also see the expired specials and see whether it’s worth waiting for those specials to “come around again”… or grab it now!

 

All the major retailers in South Africa are listed and it’s fast and so simple to find what you are looking for!  You can even set up alerts for products that you are thinking of buying soon – and when there are specials listed that match your requirements then Guzzle will send you an email.
Also, you can set up an alert for when new specials from a specific retail store are added to the site :)

Example of search results for “LED FHD TV”:

Expired specials: 

If you are a techie then this weight loss “diet” is for you! (Ok, it’s more of tool than a diet)

Yes, I’m a techie and I love online services, I also love my food and the past few years have seen an increase in the number of beers that I carry in my beer-boep (and some hidden in all sorts of other places!). 
However, I’m no techie when it comes to counting calories and fat and carbs and sugar and fibre and cholesterol and protein and sodium – that’s where this amazing, free service comes into play: SlimKicker
After (free) registration, all you need to do is enter your current statistics and your target goal weight – it will then estimate when that target will be reached – mine was 5 months away – which didn’t seem too far away – so, I decided to get started!

From then onwards, it was a pretty routine set of things that I needed to remember to do:
1) enter what I ate
2) enter what exercises I did
3) enter my current weight

The site does the rest: calculates how many calories (and fat and carbs and sugar and fibre and cholesterol and protein and sodium) I consumed and compared that with the targeted amounts.


Each time I entered a food, it would (in bite size text) feed back the good and bad of what I had eaten. {Excuse all the puns in there!}
There’s a points system to help motivate you to the next levels.

All of this is very nicely presented and your statistics are charted to show progress.

The difficult bit is remembering to enter the food eaten – in fact, the less I eat, then the less I have to enter – that’s motivation in itself!

There’s a social part to the web site too: you can make friends for additional motivation.

There’s a huge selection of exercises that people have entered – and you can add your own:


Check out their “Food Calorie Calculator”: http://slimkicker.com/foodDatabase
I mean, did you know that ‘Canned anchovies’ had all of this in 1 anchovy?: 8 calories, 0.39g fat, 1.16g protein.

Also, Cappuccino beverages will be rich in calcium and protein content if prepared with low fat milk.

The resources and articles are well written and brief and to-the-point so it’s quick and easy to learn about food and how to eat healthily.

I can really say that this site has motivated me to watch what I eat and do some exercise.  The points and charts and badges and levels have in fact added to the motivation factor (believe it or not).
I also enjoy updating the web site and learning (a little at a time) what’s good and healthy to eat and what isn’t.

So, if you like the web, and you like looking at your “figures” – then why not get started and start losing all that unhealthy fat now?
Register here:  http://www.slimkicker.com/sign-up

Follow SlimKicker on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/#!/SlimKicker

Forget that fuel log book – switch to storing that info online – much more powerful and convenient

Yes, I used to log all my fuel fill ups in the log book and manually work out my fuel consumption and try to spot that increase in fuel consumption to alert me to something going wrong in the engine compartment…. Wow, that’s a mouthful, and so was doing it manually.

The schlep of finding a pen and filling in the details, then remembering to calculate the fuel consumption per Km – is it litres divided by km or the other way around…. Ummm, well I don’t really care anymore – I switched to a web based app that calculates all that for you. 
Fuelly: It draws charts on consumption and you can even compare your consumption with similar vehicles all over the world.  There are also fuel saving tips.  All of this for free!  Register and start using it now.

All you need to do is remember to enter 1) Kms since last fuel up; and 2) Litres of fuel purchased; Optional info to enter: Price/Litre, notes, tags.
It will then immediately show you the last tank’s fuel consumption statistics:


The user interface is configurable to use metric or US or UK or L/100km or Km/L, and currency (eg: Rands) 
The overall historical statistics is shown using a customisable dashboard:

 

Also some nice charting to show your statistics over time:


It even gives you that (old fashioned) log book view:

The “Fuelly Mobile:” URL is a lean and fast way to enter those fuel-ups at the petrol station:  http://m.fuelly.com
I have stored a bookmark in my phone to jump directly to my car’s fuel-up page.
And a bookmark in my wife’s phone to jump to her car.

See here for videos on how to use Fuelly: http://www.fuelly.com/about

Importing and exporting of your data is also possible.

 
Follow them on Twitter here:  @fuelly

Download South African postal codes list for free

I’ve seen various requests for the postal codes of South Africa (or zip codes) to be made available in a downloadable format but couldn’t find any available for free. 
There’s the official South African Post Office (SAPO) page that allows you to only search for the one you are looking for: Search by location name or by post code
As well as the listings on SouthAfrica.co.za

So, I decided to create my own and make it available to all for free download here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/201gi68niys161n/SapoPostalCodesSouthAfrica19Nov2011.xls

Did you know that there are 16,740 postal codes in South Africa?

Please post comments if you notice any errors or omissions.

Send free "messages" to BlackBerry phones – it works!

Send ‘Blackberry Pin Messages’ using The Internet: If you know someone’s BBM number then you can send messages to their phone for free by connecting to this web page:  http://www.web2pin.com/web2pinfree.aspx and filling in the details: your name, your reply address, their BBM number, subject and message.

It takes about 20 seconds for the message to go through.  All you need to know is their BBM PIN number.

It does not come through on BBM, but appears on their phone in an e-mail-like format.  It is called a ‘PIN message’. 

The "From Name" appears at the top of the sent message.

The sent message looks something like this:
Reply to: 'From Name' at ‘Reply Addr’
Then your message appears…

The message also has an advertisement for the Web2Pin.com web site ie: “A free service of Web2Pin.com  http://www.web2pin.com”

So, if you don’t have a BlackBerry phone and you can’t install WhatsApp, then you can still use your phone’s Internet browser and send a BBM message to your BB friends for free :) :)

Other related posts:
WhatsApp for Nokia Symbian phones is now available
What’s the cheapest cell phone to run WhatsApp on?
Calculator: How much data does WhatsApp use and what are the costs?

Calculator: How much data does WhatsApp use and what are the costs?

WhatsApp is one of the few apps that I will gladly pay for when the beta period is over, but how much data does it use?  I have done some experimentation over this weekend and have published the results in the attached calculator.   
Click here to download the calculator: HTT’s WhatsApp Costs Calculator
Note: This is by no means a scientific experiment/calculator, I just wanted to get a feeling for how much data is being used and what charges are actually being charged by Vodacom on my prepaid, no data bundle account that charges R2 per MB.If you are on a BlackBerry then WhatsApp uses your BIS or BES service (refer to WhatsApp FAQ), so it doesn’t incur any additional data costs (as long as you are not roaming internationally).  See posting here for how to set up your phone while out of your home country: Roaming using your Blackberry and don’t want to use Data Services from the cell phone network: SOLVED

If you have a phone that can connect to WiFi routers (like your ADSL router at home) then WhatsApp will connect over that WiFi connection rather than incurring costs on your cell phone’s data bundle.  As you can see from the spreadsheet the costs for 4KB over WiFi on ADSL is 1/100th of a ZA cent.

Polling data costs:
OK, so how much are we spending when we send WhatsApp messages and how much when we’re not?
Hold on there…. how much do we spend when we’re not sending messages? – What on earth does that mean?
Well, I noticed that even when you aren’t actually sending text messages there are data packets being sent (and charged for).  I call these data costs “WhatsApp polling” overheads.  I assume that WhatsApp is communicating to their server to keep the channel open. 
It’s difficult to figure out how many polls are made per hour.  I’ve noticed sometimes up to 4 per hour – and some hours with none at all.
I’ve taken an average of 3 polls per hour, makes 72 per day, of 1,024 bytes charged at ZAR0.01 per poll: costs R21.60 per month 

Messaging data costs:
Then there are actual costs for sending messages.  The receiver will also incur data costs if they are not on BIS/BES or other cheaper data connections.

Note: cell phone network providers allow you to buy pre-paid bundles of data at a much reduced rate – beware though, it’s on a “use-it-or-lose-it” basis. Vodacom gives you until the end of the following month to use up the data. Note: that’s not a 2 month window! (unless you buy on the 1st of the month). If you buy a bundle on the 20th of April, then the data will expire at the end of the following month ie: end May in this example.

I sent some experimental messages and one specific message of precisely 100 characters to see what was actually billed by Vodacom.
I checked her mini-statement online using Vodacom’s online “Mini-Statement” – updated hourly (more or less).
BTW: @Vodacom, please allow prepaid users to see more than 1 page of their billing for free!  Unless you are really trying to keep them in the dark on the costs – the last 10 transactions is really so pre-data connections!… like ummm so 1990‘s

Note the 100 character message that I sent:
     a) row 9: WhatsApp message of 100 characters was charged ZAR0.22 by Vodacom.  I expected that to be much less than that – so I resent that message later in the day:
    b) row 3: WhatsApp message of 100 characters was charged ZAR0.01 by Vodacom – that’s more like it!  So, I tried it again – to be sure (if that’s possible)
    c) row 2: WhatsApp message of 100 characters was charged ZAR0.01 by Vodacom – OK, so now I’m sure… the first message must have included some polling “extras”.

It also seems that Vodacom round the data charges to the nearest KB (thousand bytes).

So, as you can see it’s not a scientific analysis, but I am pretty sure the SMS and call costs that I would incur if it were not for WhatsApp would be much higher than the above illustrated costs. 

Battery cost:
The “always on” way that WhatsApp communicates with its home server uses the phone’s data channel – which uses more power than if there wasn’t data communications happening.  So, expect to be charging your phone more often than before.
This is not a problem for me – but might be for some.
I guess, it’s a trade-off between how many SMSs you normally send vs how many you don’t now that you have WhatsApp.  For me, it’s a no-brainer! 

WhatsApp program cost:
You can use the app for free for 12 months, then you need to pay per year.
Download by clicking these links:
Nokia and BlackBerry and Android: $1.99 USD/year (~R13.50);
iPhone $0.99/year (~R6.75); 

The latest versions of WhatsApp allow sending of group messages and photos and voice notes – note: these are larger in size than “plain” text instant messages, so costs will go up due to higher data costs – but it’s still cheaper than sending MMS messages (MultiMedia messages).


WhatsApp, you are great – thanks… and I will definitely be purchasing an annual license for my phones!

GoogleDocs for sharing documents

Google Docs is a great way to share your documents and even edit them online at the same time.  Use it to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations online.  Another advantage is that your documents are available online and whenever you need them just hop onto the Internet from any PC and connect to your Google account.

If someone at work shares a document with you using your work email address (fred@work_address.com), there’s no need to create another account to access those shared documents – just login to your Google account (fred@gmail.com): https://www.google.com/accounts/b/0/EditUserInfo?hl=en&service=mail
then in the “Add an alternate email address to your account” section
add your work or alternate email address fred@work_address.com email address.
Then “save”… easy as that!

I struggled a bit to figure out how to share a folder in GoogleDocs… but this article solved the problem – turns out you need to share a collection, then each document that you add to the folder will automatically be shared to a group of people.

Roaming using your Blackberry and don’t want to use Data Services from the cell phone network: SOLVED

So, you are travelling/roaming abroad and don’t want to be charged those horrendous fees for data services?  Using my Blackberry 9700 Bold this is what I did to ensure that I used free WiFi connections abroad:
1) Options->WiFi: and connect to your free WiFi service
2) Options->Mobile Network->Data Services: ON
3) Options->Mobile Network->WhileRoaming: OFF
4) Network selection->Automatic
5) In the BB Browser->Options->General Properties->Default Browser->Hotspot Browser

That should do it :)
Now my WhatsApp, BBM, browsing works

Thanks to this post that helped me figure this out: http://www.blackberryforums.com/general-9700-series-discussion-bold-2/235028-cant-connect-wifi.html

Of course, you could decide that you want to be mobile and not “tied” to the WiFi in your hotel or office – so you should then purchase a local SIM card and put it into your phone and use the local GSM network.   But remember that with a Blackberry phone - you need to buy a BIS package otherwise your phone cannot access the Internet AT all!

In other words, if you just buy a prepaid SIM card you can't use WhatsApp or Viber or similar - it won't work without a BIS package!  Perhaps you should then take another phone (eg: iPhone or Nokia or Android or whatever other non-BB phone) with you on holiday.

Morph your photos online and free

I found this fun site that allows you to morph photos quickly and easily – I was impressed by the ease and accuracy that the web site provided: http://www.morphthing.com
It allows you to upload photos and then you “prepare” the photos so that the site knows where the parts of the face are.  So, it doesn’t rely on technology to automatically recognise where the outlines of the face, mouth, nose, ears, eyes, eye brows are… it makes you tell it where the outlines are:
     (Wow, nice eyes!)
    (Sexy lips!)
You can also select photos of celebrities – to see what would happen if you had kids with/for them ;)

So WTF? No, ‘What’s That Font’… that they are using?

How often have you seen that advert or logo and you wonder What’s That Font they are using?  Well, sometimes it’s a self created (custom) font, but maybe not.
Here are a couple of great sites that help you to match the font that you have seen by either allowing you to upload the logo to their site for (online) analysis, or by asking you questions about the font and in doing so, limit the possible fonts to a handful.  Very clever!

A Twitter friend @Benjaminleach asked the question: “Does anyone know what this font is please? http://yfrog.com/69n56j”.  He was referring to the “Sport Leader” logo below:
 
So, off I went to Google for options… found a pay program called “Font Matching Tool” [1MB] for $20.. and 2 online tools.

  and

MyFonts/WhatTheFont allowed me to upload the Sport Leader logo


and it then correctly identified the letters in the logo – except for one, which I needed to UNselect.

It then gave me the results (5):


IdentiFont: allowed me to identify a font by answering a series of questions (and much, much more).  I entered the letters on the logo so that I would only be asked questions that can be answered from the letters specified:

I started with a possible 7315 possibilities and after each question, the number reduced:

After 17 questions, it gave the results: 30 possibilities and displayed all of the letters.

None of which were an exact match, which probably means that it was a custom font.


With information on the type font and where to buy it… nice, very nice!

While I’m writing about fonts… here’s the font that I found while creating this avatar for another Twitter friend @bryon13 
Here is the font for this Android logo: DroidSans-Bold.ttf

 












Update on 24Aug2010:
Here's another great site for free fonts:  http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

How to block your kids from accessing those web sites like wwe.com

It’s no secret that I’m against all that WWE and WWW wrestling on TV these days!  I’m also against my children accessing the wrestling Internet site www.wwe.com   (surprise, surprise!).  So, I decided to morph my earlier posting “How to block your own PC from skewing your site’s Google Analytics statistics” into an article that shows you how to block your PC from connecting to their site. 
Note: there are other ways of doing this via your firewall and/or router – but this method might be easier for some.
Note: the proper way of blocking undesirable sites would be to install a professional tool (like the discontinued free Crawler Parental Control – email me if you want a copy)

If you’re interested in reading my 2 older blog posts that inspired this one: “eTV - remove all that WWE wrestling from the airwaves.. in fact, I'll rid it myself! Here's a way to block those images from entering your home!” and “How to block your own PC from skewing your site’s Google Analytics statistics”

We are going to add wwe.com to the Windows hosts file and it will then route traffic to the wrong place:
Edit the 'hosts' file: edit %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
and add the following 2 lines (add more if you know of other undesirable sites that your kids visit):
127.0.0.1 wwe.com
127.0.0.1 www.wwe.com

Save the file and voila - all traffic destined for wwe.com will get routed to your local PC!

Free online telephone directory for South Africa, and more…

The Phone Book is South Africa's most comprehensive listing of residential, business and government contact details in alphabetical order. 
The information is now also accessible online on http://phonebook.yellowpages.co.zaEnter the surname or business name, then (optionally) the city or suburb and then the results are displayed.  You can then search within the results to reduce the hits further:
Some businesses also have a ‘free call’ link which rings your phone and connects you to the business:
You can also share the number that you have found:
  
‘Save it’ to your address book, or FaceBook
’Share it’ allows you to SMS the details to your cell phone, or email it to yourself or others, or Instant Messenger it, or Blog it.

Downloads various toolbars and accelerators as well: http://www.yellowpages.co.za/downloads.jsp
*) Toolbars for Internet Explorer, Firefox.
*) Search Bars for Google Desktop, Windows Vista, Mac OS.
*) iGoogle module.
*) Accelerator: Yellow Pages IE8

Now, if everyone used this service then we wouldn’t need to print and deliver those unwieldy telephone directories to all corners of South Africa!

Other services from the web site is: http://maps.yellowpages.co.za/ to get maps and directions for South Africa.