This free app called "Thai Showtimes" helps you to check the times of movies in Thailand for both SF and Major cinema chains. Unlike the dedicated apps for SF and Major you don't get any pictures or synopsis of the movie. What you do get is a fast and simple app that lets you find out the showtimes of any movies. There is also a button to call the cinema if you want to reserve a seat.

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Some people might find this simple Thai calendar app useful if you spend any time in Thailand. What it does is basically show all of the holidays that we have here in Thailand. As well as public holidays, there are also details on national days. In this example it tells you about Teacher's Day on 16th January. However, it is not comprehensive as it missed Children's Day a couple of days earlier. One nice feature is that you can be reminded about any of the holidays.  The free app is bilingual and is supported by advertising.

Download for free from iTunes >>>

With the new ThaiVisa Connect app for the iPhone and iPad you can now keep up with the popular expat forum while on the go. You can browse the different forums either by name or category. If you are a member you can also log in to reply or post your own comments. As it is free it is a pretty basic app which is supported by advertising at the bottom of each screen. Would be nice to have a search button. Maybe they will add that in a future update.

Download Thai Visa Connect for free on iTunes >>>

If you are a citizen journalist, then you have probably heard of the Demotix website where ordinary people like you and me can send our pictures in and have a good chance of seeing them in print in newspapers around the world. This is what happened to some people during the Red Shirt protests in Bangkok. But, what happens when you are at a news event and you didn't bring your camera? Well, if you have the latest iPhone then you don't need to panic. The quality is good enough to print in any newspaper. Now, with this new Demotix app you can upload the pictures straight away and maybe beat the pros to the punch.

Download for free on iTunes >>>

The website for Buffer has been out for a while though until recently I never really paid it much attention. The concept is good as it saves you from spamming the timeline of other people on Twitter. Instead of sending out a dozen or so tweets in a row and then going silent for the rest of the day, Buffer makes it easier for you to spread these tweets out during the day. On the Buffer website, you can set up certain times during the day when you want tweets sent out. Then, as you write tweets, it will go into this queue and will then be automatically sent out at the appointed time.

A few days ago they brought out the iPhone app for Buffer which is when I started to play with it. From what I have seen so far, I do like it a lot. Early in the morning, when I am feeling more inspired, I can enter a series of tweets and these will then be sent out during the day. I like it that you also have the option to change the order of the queue or change a scheduled time to send a tweet out straight away. There is a workaround bookmark that you can set up for your favourite browser. When you choose this bookmark while browsing a website that you want to tweet about, you are sent straight to the Buffer app and the title and link is there waiting for you. One thing that it doesn't seem to have yet is the ability to change the time within the app. You need to go to the website to do that.

Download Buffer for free on iTunes >>>

Before iPhone 4S was launched, I had decided that I would only upgrade if the camera was significantly improved. I know on the outside everything looks the same which I am sure made quite a few people disappointed. But for me, and more importantly for my work, the camera is the crucial part. I think I would agree with most people that if you have an iPhone 3GS then upgrade to this one. If you have an iPhone 4 then you might want to wait for the iPhone 5. But, for myself, as I use the iPhone for my work and also 24/7, I decided that the changes were enough to make it worthwhile.

Hopefully in these first two pictures you can tell straight away that the top one was taken with my iPhone 4S and that this one was taken by my friend with his iPhone 4. You can see that his picture has a lot more noise. That was always the problem with the iPhone 4 in low light. But now the new one can do a much better job. During the day the colours are much more vibrant and realistic. The second test we did was to see how long it took to open the camera app. Something that really frustrated me before and made me miss some pictures. But, the iPhone 4S is significantly faster.

The reason I bought the iPhone 4S was because of the new camera. But, I have also now been sold on Siri. I didn't think I would use it. But it is so useful. You can ask Siri to call someone for you or even text them. Kind of fun but I am not sure how often I will use that. But, what I will use a lot are things like the alarm clock and reminders. In the left picture, I asked Siri to "wake me up at 5:15 a.m. tomorrow". What you see is the result. She turned the alarm on for me. In the picture on the right, I asked Siri "remind me to go to the post office at 11 a.m. on Wednesday". She then put this in my "To Do" list and she will remind me at that time tomorrow that I should be going to the post office. She does a lot more but I am still exploring.

One final thing that has really made me happy with the upgrade is the microphone which can now be found on the keyboard. It is next to the space bar. Siri cannot open any of the apps for you yet, so you cannot ask her to tweet something. But, this is the next best thing. Just open your favourite Twitter client, click on the mic icon and then dictate your tweet. I found it to be remarkably accurate. What is also interesting is that it seems to be learning as it goes along. So, I can now tweet without typing, upate Facebook status and even type in notes without even touching the keyboard.

One of the more interesting apps to have come out recently is the official app for CNNGo. If you didn't know already, CNNGo is both a show on CNN and a popular website that offers local insights into what is happening in our region. Cities that are covered include Bangkok, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Categories include Life, Eat, Drink, Play, Shop and Visit. The app is virtually the same as the website which means you can read all the latest articles and view the galleries while on the go. You can also send links of anything that interests you to your followers on Twitter or on Facebook. This is now one of the first apps that I check when I get up in the morning.

Download CNNGo for free on iTunes >>>

If, like me, you have been using the official Twitter client on your iPhone, you are probably annoyed with the recent upgrade. I loved the simplicity before. The ease of use. And most importantly, the familiarity. Which is the main reason I never switched to a different client. The upgrade forced me to go looking. Lots of people were recommending Tweetbot. But at $2.99 I didn't really want to pay that much while others were offering the same for free.

However, I woke up this morning to see that they have reduced the price for a limited time to only 99 Cents. This is the first time they have ever done a price reduction. Their aim is to obviously grab the people who are wanting to jump ship. It seems to be working. I downloaded it this morning and judging by the latest stats, downloads for them have gone through the roof.

So far I am liking it a lot. It has everything that I want. It also has a few things that were dropped in the upgrade to Twitter such as translate. I don't normally post "reviews" without testing an app out for a few days, but I am not sure how long they will keep the price at 99 Cents. So, if you are disappointed with the new Twitter upgrade, then consider downloading Tweetbot.

The official prices for the new iPhone 4S have now been announced on the website of True Move. The other carriers such as DTAC and AIS are expected to sell at the same price. As you can see, the prices are slightly cheaper than iPhone 4. The following prices include VAT:

• 16GB - phone only: 22,450 baht / with data package: 21,700 Baht
• 32GB - phone only: 26,350 baht / with data package: 25,400 Baht
• 64GB - phone only: 30,250 baht / with data package: 29,100 Baht

Source: http://www.truemove-h.com/iphone4s_prebooking/

It is now official. The iPhone 4S will be released in Thailand on 16 December 2011. It will be officially distributed through AIS, DTAC and TRUE. Contact your provider to register your interest. They will then get back to you soon about how you can pre-order. No news yet on official prices. But you do have a choice between black and white.