You don’t have to grin and bear it

The MyEskom app will take the headache out of looking up your power outage schedule.

The MyEskom app will take the headache out of looking up your power outage schedule.

Published Dec 20, 2014

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Durban - Load shedding. Everyone hates it (except burglars and generator salesmen) but some clever apps and gadgets are making it a little easier to bear.

 

MyEskom app

This mobile application provides the latest information on the status – current and predicted – of the national power system via a dial that, alarmingly, seems to hover almost perpetually on the red, or “high”, end of the spectrum.

It also provides energy-saving tips, weather information, as well as a “Talk to Eskom” function – I pity the poor soul manning that channel.

The app lets you build a personalised profile, based on the types of appliances you have in your home and depending on the status of the national grid will prompt you to turn certain appliances and fixtures off. A useful guide, but if I’d followed it to the letter I’d have been living in the dark amid a pile of dirty clothes and dishes for the past few days.

There’s also a link to schedules for load shedding, the usefulness of which will vary depending on which part of the country you live in and how accurate your municipality’s schedule is.

You can also opt to receive notifications, although I haven’t been using the app long enough to tell you how helpful that feature is.

Eskom plans to enhance the app to include meter reading info and the ability to buy prepaid electricity directly.

It’s free to download for owners of Android and Apple mobile devices. Just search for “MyEskom” in your app store. If you’ve got another brand of phone, point its browser at the mobi site www.myeskom.co.za for access to pretty much the same functionality.

 

Load Shed app

As the name suggests, this free, Android-only app aims to alert users to when load shedding is about to strike in their area. Unfortunately, I only stumbled on to it just before this column went to press so I haven’t had a chance to personally experience how well it does that job.

But if you read the comments in the Google Play Store it seems to get it wrong as often as it gets it right. Just how much of this is down to glitches in the app or to municipalities not sticking to the published schedules, I don’t know, but the developer recently included a “report area” feature which allows users to identify outages which should increase its accuracy.

 

Let there be light

When the power goes out and you’re plunged into darkness at home or, more alarmingly, a giant shopping mall, don’t be alarmed because you’ve almost certainly got a pretty good torch in your pocket or handbag. Yes, I’m talking about your cellphone. Not that pale glow from the screen that some people try comically to use, but the LED light your phone’s camera uses as a flash.

Most newer phones have a standard feature that allows you to use it as a torch, but it’s sometimes buried in a long list of apps, so take the time before the blackout strikes to find it and work out how to use it.

I personally find the stock “assistive light” feature on my Samsung smartphone a little dim, so I’ve installed a free widget called “Tiny Flashlight” which is a lot brighter and placed it prominently on my phone’s home screen for easy access.

Do be careful when installing third-party torch apps on your Android phone, though, as some require access to your phone’s contacts, location and other data they have no business knowing.

The stock flashlight feature on the iPhone is quite bright enough, but various third party apps offer extra features, like flashing SOS in Morse code, and thanks to Apple’s stringent app vetting system you won’t have to worry about developers slipping any dodgy permissions in under the radar.

 

Powerstick+

Picture the scene. It’s Christmas morning. The geek in your life has just reached a crucial level in their smartphone game when the low battery warning sounds… at precisely the same time load shedding kicks in.

Aren’t you the hero for buying them this nifty gift for R350 at Cape Union Mart. With a capacity of 5200mAh, it’s got enough juice to fully charge all current smartphones, and even get a tablet back in action.

l Got any favourite power-related apps or gadgets of your own? Let me know by e-mail: [email protected] or Twitter: @alanqcooper

Sunday Tribune

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