Apps ensure that users can customise their smartphones to such an extent that one can easily socialise on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, always be online via Skype, MSN or GTalk or work remotely – all through your smartphone. Don’t know which apps to install? Below are a few suggestions.

TripIt

Need help planning an upcoming trip? TripIt keeps all your travel plans in one spot and allows you to access your travel itinerary anywhere, anytime. You’ll never miss a flight again

Photoshop Mobile

With Photoshop Mobile you don’t have to wait to get to your desktop to edit photos, you can do it directly from your phone. Read more about the app or download it for your iPhone or Android OS smartphone.

Dropbox

This iPhone app allow users to store and access documents, videos and photos in the cloud. The free account offers storage space of up to 2G, if you need more storage space you’ll have to upgrade to the paid-for version. Read more about Dropbox and download the app for easy file sharing when you’re on the go.

JoikuSpot

Available in either a Light or Premium version JoikuSpot turns your 3G smartphone into a wifi hotspot. This is one of my favourite apps and while the free version has limited capabilities it is definitely worthwhile to purchase the Premium version. The app can be used on Symbian or Windows operated mobile phones, download it here.

Gravity

Gravity is arguably the best Symbian Twitter client on the market. Albeit paid-for, I think it is money well spent. The app allow you to upload photos directly to third-party sites like TwitPic or Posterous and you can easily manage multiple Twitter accounts from your phone. The latest version of the app allow you to ‘draft’ and ‘schedule’ tweets – very handy! Download Gravity here.

AccuWeather

AccuWeather comes pre-installed on most smartphones and provides you with access to up-to-date weather forecasts for most of the major cities world-wide.

Nimbuzz

Need all your social networks in one place? With Nimbuzz you easily manage all major IM networks (GTalk, Skype and MSN) and social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, MySpace). Read more about Nimbuzz or download the app.

What is your favourite app and why? Let us know in the comments!

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has generated quite a bit of online noise.  It has been called the biggest web event ever (even bigger than President Obama’s election campaign) and the amount of World Cup related tweets per second has set a new record.  Twitter on average process about 750 tweets per second but when Cameroon scored against Japan last Monday there were 2 940 tweets per second.  That’s a lot of online noise!

With the World Cup a number of apps, dedicated websites and video channels have been introduced.  Below are a few that stand out:

CNN introduced an interactive new section focused on the World Cup where you can keep up with all the World Cup action.

If you’re an iPhone user and want to keep up-to-date with match schedules, standings and more download the AP 2010 World Cup Coverage app for free from the iTunes store.

Don’t own a vuvuzela?  With the Pocket Vuvuzela iPhone app you can blow, shake your phone or press a button to make the vuvuzela horn sound.  Note:  this app is highly addictive

Interested in what happen behind the World Cup scenes?  Check our www.soccerbabe.co.za or their YouTube channel for the latest, juiciest soccer gossip.

What is your favourite app or website to keep up-to-date with the World Cup happenings? Share it in the comments section!

For the last two weeks I have been having major issues with my Telkom line, and not knowing what to do about it, until know…

I stick with Telkom because I’ve signed a contract, but I voice my utter disgust at the service delivery while singing the praises of an age old method of getting a message, and now data, from one point to another via the wings of a carrier pigeon.

Winston the Pigeon, owned by The Unlimited,  has gained overnight fame on all  social and media fronts with over 2600 Facebook fans, nearly 400 followers on Twitter and mentions across many news channels.The idea for Winston was born from the concept that a pigeon could do a better job transferring large data files than a Telkom landline. And who did a better job? Well, Winston was able to get a 4Gig card from Howick to Hillcrest in an hour and 8 minutes according to Kevin Rolfe of Unlimited, this excludes the download and short travel by car. This added to the total “data transfer” time which took it to two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds, giving Winston an upload/download speed of about 525kbps. The Telkom line was at 4% complete by the time Winston was picking at seeds and being admired by many, for his awesomeness.

So with the arrival of Seacom and now Winston, at R1 per day, it seems that Telkom might have a bit more competition than it had initially expected.