UPDATE: Looks like Apple has pulled this app from the iTunes store.

A couple of days ago, a new TV app came out for the iPhone/iPad. It is called TV English Premium and as the name suggests, it seems to have all of the main TV channels from the UK. At least the free ones. When I last lived in the UK there were only four channels in total. But now there seems to be four BBC channels and four ITV channels. Plus a lot more. Normally, the only way to watch UK channels from abroad is by using a VPN. But, for some reason, this one works without it. In fact, in the tests that I have been running all day, it is working better for me than the iPlayer ever did. Short buffering time and only a few drop-outs. The quality on the iPad is really good. Apparently if I had an Apple TV I could also send it to the TV using Air Play. However, it is evening now and I am noticing more drop-outs. But still watchable.

The price at the moment is $.99. The full price is apparently $3.99. But be careful before you rush out to buy as you need to consider the following points. Firstly, if it is indeed illegal then the BBC or ITV might at some future point pull the plug on the feeds. Even if they fail or not, Apple could possibly remove it from iTunes. So, if you go for this, it is a gamble. Secondly, some people are reporting problems. There are a few bad reviews on iTunes. Graham Rogers also gave a mixed review here as he had some problems in getting it to work. I should also add that the 5 star reviews on iTunes should NOT be trusted. Mine included. It was a trick of the developers to get you to do that in order to get the extra HD channels. I have these extra channels now but they seem to be more problematic.

Of course, once you have all these new channels, how do you find out what is on? For that I am using a free app called TV Guide. In the set-up you can choose the channels that you want to monitor. You then get to see what is on now and what is coming next (top left). You can then click through to see more information (top right). It seems to work very well. I will play around with this for a few more days before coming back to give you a follow-up review. If you do decide to go for it, let me know in the reviews how it went for you. But make sure you have a good internet connection first.

News has just come out today about the release date of the new 3rd generation iPad for Thailand. According to the website siampod.com, Apple has set the date of Friday 27th April 2012 for the official release of the new iPad in Thailand. This matches what we heard a few weeks ago that the iPad would be released in Thailand after Songkran. There is no official word yet but it looks like that on that date you will be able to buy the new iPad at all iStudio stores. It is also likely that the three main mobile phone companies (True, DTAC and AIS) will also be selling them but they haven't released their strategy yet. In addition, we are still waiting for Apple Online Store to release details which should be out by about next week. There are no official prices yet, but if you are thinking of buying a new iPad at the moment, don't do it yet until you see the prices.

These are the prices quoted by Siampod. You might find cheaper/more expensive if you go yourself:

iPad 3 WiFi: 18K (16GB), 22K (32GB), 26K (64GB)
iPad 3 WiFi + 4G: 29K (16GB), 33K 32GB), 38K (64GB)

If I was buying one this time round, I would go for the iPad 3 WiFi, either the 32GB (enough with some spare disk space) or 64GB (plenty of space for growth)

We don't have an official release date for Thailand yet for the iPad 3 but we expect it to be about mid-May 2012. This is based on the timeframe for the iPad 2. We are also expecting these prices for the new iPad:

iPad 3 WiFi: 16GB 15,900 Baht, 32GB 18,900 Baht and 64GB 21,900 Baht *
iPad 3 WiFi + 4G: 16GB 19,900, 32GB 22,900 and 64GB 25,900 *

* not confirmed

For people learning to speak or read Thai, the latest update to the Google Translate app should be of interest. As of yesterday, it now speaks Thai! You can enter both single words or phrases and have them translated. However, during my quick review this morning, I did notice it had some problems with a few phrases. It even got some simple things wrong by mixing up a "where?" question with a "what?" question. But, single words seem fine so far.

You can download Google Translate for free from iTunes >>>

Today saw the announcement of details about the New iPad 3. The release date is Friday 16th March 2012 in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Germany Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The following countries will then get the new iPad on Friday 23rd March: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Puertostan, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

No news yet about an official release date for Thailand. However, it can be almost guaranteed that shops at MBK will have them in stock by Monday 19th March. Of course, you will have to pay a premium for this. The iPad 2 was released in the US on 11th March 2011. It then came to Thailand officially on 6th May 2011. This timeframe sounds about right for the expected release date for the new iPad 3. So, we could be seeing the new iPad 3 released in Thailand on Friday 11th May or 18th May 2012.

As for the price of the new iPad 3, we are expecting it to be around the same price as the present iPad 2 prices which are:

Expected new iPad 3 Prices:

iPad 3 WiFi: 16GB 15,900 Baht, 32GB 18,900 Baht and 64GB 21,900 Baht *
iPad 3 WiFi + 3G: 16GB 19,900, 32GB 22,900 and 64GB 25,900 *

*Not confirmed

In anticipation of this, the Apple store in Thailand has already reduced the prices of the iPad 2 as follows:

NEW iPad 2 Prices:

iPad 2 WiFi: 16GB 13,500 Baht, 32GB 16,500 Baht and 64GB 19,500 Baht
iPad 2 WiFi + 3G: 16GB 17,500, 32GB 20,500 and 64GB 23,500

If you like attending events or concerts at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani then you might find this app handy. It is basically a bilingual events calendar with information on dates, times, locations and ticket information. There are also Google maps showing directions and building maps. You can download for free from iTunes.

I first came across this app when @IsaanLife tweeted a link to watch a live webcast from the area where he lives. This is obviously not new technology, but as fast 3G and WiFi is becoming more widespread, it is something worth revisiting. To watch, you can either follow the link that you see people tweet for "twitcasting" or install the free TwitCasting Viewer. That is what you can see on the left hand side. The advantage of the viewer is that you can set it up to send you a push notification whenever someone you subscribe to starts doing a live webcast. If you are logged in with twitter, you can also take part in the conversation and see what other people are saying.

The second app is TwitCasting Live and this one is also free. All you have to do is log in with you twitter or Facebook account. You then get a screen like the one on the right. This is the view from my front door. You get the choice between using the back camera or front camera. When ready, click on "go live". You then have the option to send out a twitter message. If people missed a webcast, they can get a replay on twitcasting.tv - you can also embed the player on your website. It all seems very interesting and I might test it out the next time that I go on a trip. Though, of course, it depends a lot on what the internet connection is like.

True Move have just made a bold, if not shocking announcement that they are cutting the prices of their iPhones starting from an amazing 50%. There are of course strings attached, but if you are in for the long term and don't mind paying up front for your data package, then this special offer could be very attractive.

The new prices are as follows:

iPhone 4 (8GB) 9,250 Baht
iPhone 4S (16GB) 13,500 Baht
iPhone 4S (32 GB) 17,200 Baht
iPhone 4S (64GB) 21,200 Baht

Here are the strings which come attached:

1. The offer is from 21 February until 12 April 2012
2. You must apply for the XL data package for 18 months
3. You must pay for 7 months upfront
4. You must be a customer of True Online or True Visions for more than 12 months

The XL Package is 899 Baht per month which gives you 500 minutes of talk time, 300 free text messages, 50 MMS messages and unlimited 3G+ and WiFi.

The CEMA Interpreter is an iPhone app that contains the most commonly used 1,000 phrases used by travellers. You can buy individual apps at $9.99 for each of 14 languages, however this version has all target languages. These are: Chinese, English, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Turkey, Arabia and Thai. The normal price is $99 but for a limited time it is free! So, be quick. It has just about every category and major phrase that you would need. However, I have two minor grumbles on this app. There is no transliteration of the Thai and on longer phrases the speaker often reads too fast. There are also a couple of places where the Thai text doesn't match what is being read. Hopefuly they will correct those mistakes on the next update. But, like I said, it is free at the moment and it doesn't hurt to download. Just don't buy it when it goes back up to $99!

Download CEMA Interpreter from iTunes for free today - Normal price is $99 >>>

Recently I have been doing podcasts and videos with my students using the iPhone. This has the advantage over other devices as it is more portable and that you can not only do the editing on the device, but also upload it straight away. However, even though the built-in microphone of the iPhone is very good, it does pick up a lot of ambient sound. As I was shooting inside the school, it was difficult to find a quiet place. Unfortunately you cannot just use any microphone with the iPhone. When I first started researching, I found that most microphones weren't much bigger than ear-buds and plugged into the headphone socket. Great for podcasts maybe but not so good for shooting video where the subject is further away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SpRgcIKe8I

Then I discovered the iRig Mic which was being sold on Amazon.com for $59.99 (presently reduced to $48). I bought this microphone and have liked the results so far. However, don't expect high quality sound. It's not going to give you anything better than the built-in microphone. But, it will cut down a lot on ambient sound. In the video I shot above, the students are using this microphone in the playground. All around them their friends were playing and making a lot of noise. There was also a strong wind and birds singing. As you can hear from the video, none of this is picked up. You can only hear the two students.The microphone is doing exactly what I need it to do. This means I can now video at any time and any where.

One thing I am concerned about is the lead. It is attached. If you have used microphones a lot like me then you will know that these break easily and result in a crackling sound. There is no way you can replace the lead unlike with normal microphones. An alternative is to buy an adaptor for your iPhone which you can then use a normal microphone. This is a cheaper option though of course you also need to buy a microphone if you don't have one already. Also, having adaptors means something else that could go wrong. If you want to buy in Thailand you don't have much of a choice. I have seen this iRig Mic selling for 2,790 Baht at places like .Life and Sanook Gadget shops. At the latter shop they also had a Tascam iXZ which is an adaptor where you can plug in normal microphones. This was 1,890 Baht. They both have branches in Central World.

If you have any practical experience about buying microphones for the iPhone in Thailand then please post in the comments.