When it comes to iPhone apps there are many people out there who have made a killing by coming with something and selling it to the masses for $0.99. Not all of use are technically minded enough to build an application for a smartphone. We may have a good concept in mind but hit a brick wall when it comes to developing it. You can however do what Chris Guthrie has done and look for someone on oDesk and get them to develop the app for you.

If you don’t want to get that far in and are looking for an easy way of making a bit of money with your smartphone, you may want to try out WeReward. It is a mobile platform where you get rewarded for carry out certain tasks and actions. These tasks can be something as simple as taking a picture of yourself at a certain restaurant and sharing the experience on Twitter or Facebook to get rewarded.

Each point is worth a penny and you can cash out your points via PayPal once you have reached 1,000 points ($10). The WeReward site claims to have 15,000,000 businesses on their platform so getting to reach the payout amounts shouldn’t be a problem.

At launch it was only available as an iPhone app but now they have a android app available for download and soon enough they  will have Blackberry app too. All that you need to get started with them is:
- a compatible smartphone
- a Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare account
- a PayPal account

At the moment they are only available in the US but hopefully they will go global in the near future.

Cashback offers are all over the place and they seem very appealing as you are in theory getting whatever it is you are purchasing at a discount that is if you bother to redeem it. More often than not however, people just can’t seem to be bothered to fill out the forms or they don’t fill them out correctly and don’t get the cashback. That is exactly what the companies want you to do as they get to keep  more of your money.

Sometimes it may be better to just hunt around for ‘that thing’ at an up-front discounted price without the need for a mail-in redemption. If the cashback offer is your best choice then make sure you take time out to:

• read the fine print to see what you need to include to get your rebate – as is the case with just about everything out there, the small print is where we usually get caught out
• fill out the form correctly
• fill it out in a timely manner and make sure to mail it off well before the closing date
• take copies of everything – if you experience any problems later down the line you will have proof to back-up your claim

Rebate offers can seem to be more of a pain to redeem than they are worth but the way I see it, if you do purchase an item that has a cashback offer it is worth your while to take a few minutes to follow the steps above. Stop telling yourself that you don’t have time to fill out the forms or that it’s just not worth it or not bother at all. It is after all a few more dollars back into YOUR pocket.

Forget about 5 degrees of separation. As far as 2degrees sees it, there are only two degrees of separation between people in New Zealand and they want to make it even easier and hopefully cheaper for them to communicate. They are set to launch New Zealand’s third mobile network in August which with the added competition will mean cheaper calls all across the board.

It is no secret that it costs a bit for Kiwi’s to make mobile calls and that the Commerece Commission is trying to change all of that and get Telecom and Vodafone’s rates lowered. As you can imagine, the two networks see their rates as being justified and don’t want that to happen. A third operator in the mobile network market may see an all around redution in call prices especially since 2degrees promises to have everyone talking more for a whole lot less.

With 2degrees set to launch next month, they are getting peole to join the ‘Great New Zealand Chinwag‘ where all you need to do is enter your details to get a free 2degrees sim card loaded with $5 of free calling.

It doesn’t hurt to join the Chinwag and get a free SIM card and If 2degrees does live up to their promises of cheaper calls, it could very well be the network of choice if you want to save money. We will just have to wait a few more weeks to see just what they have in store for us.

Here is their TV commercial if you haven’t already seen it: