However, it only supported up to 6 people in total, which was rather limiting to me. Recently, that number has been bumped up to 11 – includes the group chat initiator and 10 others. You will need to download the latest versions that support this feature. For the iPhone, it’s version 2.6.3 and you can access it here.

If you have no clue on how you can use the WhatsApp group chat feature, here are some ideas.

1. Create a family group – you can keep everyone updated on where you’re traveling to, send them photos of your experiences.
2. Create groups of specific friends – could be cell group, closer friends, etc.
3. Create groups for your project team – everyone can be updated on happenings quickly.

Which are you?

Source: submitinfographics.com

It’s probably still in the test phase, as we can seemingly only have a total of 6 people in a WhatsApp group, whereas I have never hit the limit in PingChat! – my largest group has 8 of us in it.

After installing the update, WhatsApp will run through an optimization process afterwhich you will have the ability to Group Chat from within the Chats tab.

You will be able to create a new chat room and add your friends. As mentioned, it only allows up to 5 participants in addition to yourself to be added to a group chat – a tad disappointing (come on, unleash your full potential, WhatsApp).

Here’s how an actual group chat looks like and what happens when you hit the new Info button at the top right of a group chat.

This morning on the 1st of January 2011, my iPhone 3Gs (iOS4.x) alarm didn’t go off as scheduled and I thought it strange. My wife’s iPhone 3G (OS3.x)  alarm rang, though. I didn’t give it much thought, until I read a status message on Facebook from a friend whose alarm also didn’t go off.

My dear Steve Jobs, are you trying to ruin the start of the year for many? It’s a really, really bad bug – I’ve already read on forums some cases where people have missed tour bookings due to their alarms not ringing.

It’s not the first time Apple has had bugs with their alarms either – they’ve had similar problems due to daylight savings too.

Time for me to go traditional, I guess… Especially since I’ve got flights to catch and events to go to in a different time zone over the next few days. Let’s hope this bug only affects the world today, otherwise the iPhone will surely be the disaster for many.

Alex signing out and heading to the airport for a flight to Bangladesh…
01.01.2011

The fix for this problem is quite simple and you can go through these steps periodically to update your list.

I’ve found that by editing an existing contact’s number or adding a new contact VIA Viber, it will force the app to refresh.

1. From the Contacts tab, click on a contact.
2. Press the Edit button and make a change to the mobile number (you can change it again right after).
3. Click Done.
4. Click Contacts, then the Viber button in the top-left corner.
5. Your list should now have refreshed with the latest Viber users.

What really is Viber?

In a nutshell, it is to voice calls what WhatsApp is for text messaging. This means, 2 persons with Viber installed can exchange phone calls for free (merely using a 3G data plan or WiFi). For now, there are no ads at all, and no fees. Very honestly, I wouldn’t mind paying WhatsApp prices for an app like this.

Viber is a VOIP app, much like Skype. Benefits of Viber over Skype are, you do not need the app to be open to receive calls. It scans through your contacts and picks out friends who have installed Viber. It’s currently only for the iPhone, but Android and BlackBerry versions are promised soon.

The proposition sounds too good to be true, and you have absolutely nothing to lose by trying it out.

Back to my story…

I was halfway up a space needle ride of sorts, but decided to comply with my persistent friend. 2 minutes later, I had installed Viber, in between gawking at the marvelous views of Malacca city around me. From up top, I made an interstate phone call over 3G to test the voice quality, and was very pleasantly surprised. I would not have been able to distinguish between a regular phone call and Viber.

I hope this quality persists, as we are still in the early days – when the traffic surges, let’s hope there are enough resources to sustain the strain of voice calls.

To activate Viber, a text message access code will be sent to you for authentication, as you must prove ownership of your mobile number. Unfortunately, many people spanning the globe from as far as Malaysia to UK to Mexico, Taiwan and Japan seemingly have problems receiving this access code. A solution to that is posted by Viber here.

One thing I did was to omit the prefix of my phone number when signing up. For instance, if your phone number is 0414.xxxxxx, when keying it into Viber for authentication, select your country, which already gives you the country prefix (e.g. +61), then key in only 414.xxxxxx. Leave out the first ZERO.

Application Screenshots

The interface has been made extremely similar to the native iPhone phone application, and it’s rather surprising Apple didn’t kick up a fuss about it – or the many telcos they partner with. Here’s the Favorites and Recent screens – showing you can make calls via normal mobile (defaults to the native iPhone app) or Viber.

The only gripe I have with making normal mobile calls is that it does not return you to Viber upon call completion.

Then we have the Contacts and Contact Details screens, which look identical to the iPhone’s. I like the way Viber is boldly demarcated.

And finally, the actual process of making calls… If you choose a Viber number, you will get a regular call screen, except for the icon that allows you to switch to the regular GSM network – possibly in the event of poor data reception.

Making calls to regular numbers (righthand side screen) will fire up the regular iPhone app again.

To end, here’s the official Viber introduction video.

WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT, STEVE?

Anyhow, after searching for awhile, it was evident there was some kind of corrupt playlist, specifically for voice memos. If you delete it, you will be able to sync again. Hope this helps someone.

I’ve been working with video for more than a year now and have learnt so much over that period. I really want to thank my wife Grace who runs her video/photography company called Stories for teaching me so much. Now, I teach her stuff too!

With all these awesome videos, I want to show them off on our iPhones and iPad. Digging around for the best and optimum video settings to compress to is just a pain. I’ve summarized my options here for you (and skipped all the lengthy explanations).

When converting / compressing videos, I use Handbrake – it’s an excellent FREE software.

Standard settings for all devices

Format: MP4
Video Codec: H.264
Framerate: Same as source
Quality: Constant quality: 100%

The only settings that differ between devices are the Picture Settings. Click on the button and set Anamorphic to None, check Keep aspect ratio, then adjust the width as shown below. All widths are in pixels (px).

iPad / iPhone 4

General info: iPad screen resolution: 1024 x 768
General info: iPhone 4 screen resolution: 960 x 640

If compressing HD / Blu-ray videos (or anything wider than 1024px), set width to 1024 (height will automatically adjust accordingly)
If compressing DVD, set width to 720  (DVD resolution is SMALLER than your iPad, so we don’t want to blow it up unnecessarily)

iPhone 3 / iPhone 3Gs

General info: iPhone 3 & iPhone 3Gs screen resolution: 480 x 320
Set width to 480 (height will automatically adjust accordingly)

* Disclaimer: I don’t claim to be a guru on all things video related, but these settings work for me. If you encounter issues, do leave a comment and let me know. All the best.

Today, the Daily Mail, UK’s 2nd biggest-selling newspaper made a boo boo by quoting a parody Twitter account, thinking it was the REAL Steve Jobs. Many of us who spend copious amounts of time on Twitter are familiar with the popular @ceoSteveJobs account that spews lots of funny one-liners aimed to poke fun at all-things-Apple.

So, what did the parody account say? Just 13 simple words.

We may have to recall the new iPhone. This, I did not expect. – @ceoSteveJobs

Then, the Daily Mail went on to publish the following news piece online.

I can only imagine how embarrassing it must be for the newspaper, when the entire twittersphere picked up on their mistake and started *rolling their eyes* at the gross misreporting.

Soon after, the article was pulled from the Daily Mail, but a copy still remains here at TheBackpackr.com – read it, if you wish. At the same time, a seemingly similar post (view here) with the same imagery was found on the Daily Mail, though dated earlier. Bizarre.

Here’s what I found really handy. (Of course I didn’t install ALL of them! Some are based on findings and recommendations by friends). They’re my unbiased reviews of apps I’ve found. Do feel free to share with others if you have favorite apps of your own.

Clock

Need to find out the time in various parts of the world? Use the in-built World Clock app that comes with all iPhones. Select the cities and countries you’d like to keep tab of and you’re all set. Simple and effective!

Google Maps

It comes installed by default with iPhones and it is simple the best application for locating where you are, restaurants and hotels nearby and so much more. It’s saved me on quite a few occasions. It’s already installed, so use it. The only downside is that you will need to be connected to the Internet to get access to it.

Airline apps – Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines

If you’re traveling a lot in the US, these airline specific apps will help you out to no end. For Southwest (my airline of choice! No, they don’t pay me a cent!), you can even make reservations, check-in for flights or get push notifications for special deals. On Alaska Airlines, you can check existing reservations, check-in and view flight schedules.

Booking-related apps – Priceline, Kayak, Travelocity

Find hotels, car rentals and airfares quickly and based on price. These sites compare various vendors and provide you the best possible options. You can even book via these apps.

Unit Conversion – MultiConvert, Currency

Coming from a country that uses the metric system, the US is a nightmare. From kilometers to miles, liters to gallons and shoe sizes that are non-standard! Convert more than 1,000 different measurement units with this nifty app.

And what about converting the cost of an item to your native currency? Is your mushroom soup really worth it? Or should you be buying the seemingly cheap Coach bag from the factory outlet? Find out quickly with Currency – the simplest and FREE app you can find.

Location based recommendations – AroundMe, Local Picks by TripAdvisor

Looking for something to do in your vicinity? Or, looking for great restaurants but don’t know where to start? Local Picks is a service that pulls up restaurants based on the extensive TripAdvisor database and displays it in a manner you choose. Sort by rating, name, distance or price. AroundMe helps find points of interest based on categories, such as banks, gas stations, hospitals, hotels and lots more.

Communication – Fring, Skype

Keep in touch with your office or loved ones with both these apps. Fring will allow you to connect to your existing instant messaging networks for text based chats. If you need to make free Skype-to-Skype calls, or cheap VOIP calls, use Skype and call from the nearest wifi hotspot.

Update your friends – Facebook, WordPress, TweetDeck

Who can live without Facebook these days? We all have an inherent desire to broadcast what we’re doing and brag about the sights and sounds to all those back home, right? Grab this app, and you can update your status and upload photos instantly on-the-go.

If you blog using WordPress, there’s also an app that connects you with your loyal readers. You can upload photos, approve comments and more. Finally, you can leave your notebook behind!

You do know what Twitter is, and you already use TweetDeck on your desktop/notebook, right? Continue using the same familiar software on your iPhone to broadcast your messages and keep in touch.

Travel Organization – TripIt, TripAssist by Expedia

If you’re traveling for a fairly long duration in different cities and hotels, whether for business, pleasure or your honeymoon, you’re better off installing one of these apps. They are gorgeous because they keep tabs on flights you have to catch, hotels you are staying at and more. They also help when you’re doing your pre-travel planning.

Weather – The Weather Channel

Nobody wants to get caught with the wrong clothes while traveling, or plan to go to the beach only to find it pouring! Avoid freezing to death and getting drenched by simply checking on the weather report before you arrive. Thus far, it’s been pretty spot on for us while on our travels. It’s not foolproof, but it does offer some guidelines to follow.