SPLICED Issue 04\r\n\r\nISSUE 04\r\n\r\nMINI REVIEWS / APPS\r\n\r\nThe Entertainer\r\n\r\nTelegram\r\n\r\nGarmin Connect\r\n\r\nAVAILABLE ON / Android, iOS,\r\nBlackberry, Windows\r\nPRICE / Free to download, city packs\r\navailable for purchase \r\n\r\nAVAILABLE ON / iOS, Android\r\nPRICE / Free \r\n\r\nAVAILABLE ON / iOS, Android\r\nPRICE / Free \r\n\r\nL\r\n\r\nong established as a useful\r\nresource for many travellers,\r\nThe Entertainer was initially a\r\nbook that offered special discounts.\r\nThe company has now expanded\r\nits range from a physical book to\r\nan app on multiple platforms. The\r\nbasic premise behind the concept is\r\ndiscount vouchers. You download the\r\napp, browse through the list of offers\r\navailable in your city, and cash in on the\r\nvouchers, which offer great discounts.\r\nYou’ll be able to make use of all the\r\ncoupons on offer, from discounts at\r\nrestaurants, to accommodation offers,\r\nbeauty treatments and leisure activites.\r\nIt’s easy enough to use, just log\r\nin, select your city, and then when\r\nyou’re at your selected vendor, redeem\r\nthe voucher. You enter your pin,\r\nthen the vendor enters theirs, and\r\nit calculates the discount and gives\r\nthem a reference number. Pretty\r\nstraightforward.\r\nWhile the app itself is free to\r\ndownload, and there are a couple of\r\nfree offers that don’t require you to pay\r\nadditional money, if you want the city pack\r\nyou are going to have to pay an additional\r\nfee. It’s not a lot of money for the value\r\nyou’re getting, but you\r\nmust use it then of course,\r\notherwise it’s a waste.\r\n- Pippa Tshabalala\r\n\r\n8\r\n\r\n16\r\n\r\nE\r\n\r\nveryone you know is on\r\nWhatsapp right? But of\r\ncourse Whatsapp is now\r\nstarting to charge, it crashed a few\r\nweekends ago and in a bid by many\r\nto resist the ever-increasing net of\r\nFacebook, a new app has arrived on\r\nthe scene offering an alternative.\r\nTelegram is the latest messaging\r\napp to hit the market, and while on\r\nthe surface it’s almost identical to\r\nWhatsapp, it offers a level of privacy\r\nthat many people are currently\r\nsearching for in a messaging app.\r\nIt gives you the ability to send\r\nmessages and photos affixed\r\nwith a self-destruct timer, which\r\nmeans you can engage in a secret\r\nchat that isn’t stored on Telegram’s\r\nservers (unlike Whatsapp), and\r\nusing end-to-end encryption, only\r\nthe sender and recipient can read\r\nthem. Yeah ok, it’s likely that most\r\npeople will use the secret chat for\r\nsexting more than anything else, but\r\nthe possibilities for those paranoid\r\nabout privacy are very attractive.\r\nAlthough it doesn’t include\r\naudio messages as yet, we have\r\nno doubt this will soon be on the\r\ncards for Telegram. Oh, and did we\r\nmention it’s free? As in completely.\r\nNo subscription services, nothing.\r\nAnd they promise it\r\nwill remain like this.\r\nWhatsapp, watch out.\r\n- Pippa Tshabalala\r\n\r\n9\r\n\r\nY\r\n\r\nou might have noticed that we\r\nreviewed the Garmin Vivofit\r\nin our tech section. For you to\r\ntruly get the most out of your Vivofit,\r\nyou need to have the Garmin Connect\r\napp installed on your phone, because\r\nwhile you can easily track the number\r\nof steps and so forth directly on your\r\ndevice, if you want to get an overview\r\nof your progress, you need to sync\r\nyour device regularly with your phone.\r\nThis will give you an idea of the\r\nnumber of steps you’ve taken in a\r\nday, your periods of inactivity, the\r\nnumber of calories you’ve burned and\r\nwhether or not you’re meeting or even\r\nexceeding the daily goals the Vivofit\r\nsets for you.\r\nWhile the app itself is simple\r\nenough, after prolonged use I did find\r\nit a bit buggy. It syncs to any Garmin\r\nfitness device via Bluetooth, and at\r\ntimes, no matter how many times you\r\nclose the app, reopen the app and\r\nturn your Bluetooth on and off, the\r\nonly way to get it to sync is to restart\r\nyour phone.\r\nPretty darn annoying when\r\nall you want to do is transfer the\r\ninformation from one gadget to\r\nanother, but overall it’s a\r\ngood companion app to\r\nyour device.\r\n- Pippa Tshabalala\r\n\r\n7\r\n\r\n