Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Extend Your iPhone’s Battery Life

Update 6/20/15 - a few new tips now at
- How To Extend Your Smart Phone Battery Life

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Low Battery.

It's a common warning for iPhone users.

Is it because the battery is terrible or because iPhone users really, really use their phones more than other devices?

It's the latter.

The Apple iPhone.  It is the most amazing phone ever.  And that means that users use the phone for voice, text, and a wide range of computing uses.

And these activities all drain the battery.

So what can you do?

Here are my favorite two tips for extending battery life on the iPhone.

First, be sure to keep your iPhone out of the sun or other hot place like your car or the glove box.  Heat will significantly degrade your iPhone's batter life.

Second, close any app that you are not using.   While multitasking can be useful, it can drain your battery.  Double click on the home button and then press and hold on the multitasking app icons.  Then click the "x" to close them.

Other things you can do to extend battery life:
  • You should also keep your iPhone upgraded to the latest software available for your phone.  Apple engineers often include such mundane things as extending battery life in upgrades.
  • Minimize use of location services: Applications that use location services such as Maps may reduce battery life. To disable location services, go to Settings > General > Location Services.
  • Turn off push notifications.  Many apps use the Push Notification service to alert you of new data. To disable push notifications, go to Settings > Notifications and set Notifications to Off. 
  • Fetch data less often.  The more often email is fetched, your battery may drain quicker. To fetch new data manually, from the Home screen choose Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data and tap Manually. 
  • Turn off Wi-Fi: If you rarely use Wi-Fi, you can turn it off to save power. Go to Settings > Wi-Fi and set Wi-Fi to Off. 
  • Turn off Bluetooth: If you rarely use a Bluetooth headset or car kit, you can turn off Bluetooth to save power. Go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set Bluetooth to Off.
  • Use Airplane Mode in low- or no-coverage areas.  You won't be able to make or receive phone calls.  To turn on Airplane Mode, go to Settings and set Airplane Mode to On.
  • Adjust brightness. Dimming the screen is another way to extend battery life. Go to Settings > Brightness and drag the slider to the left to lower the default screen brightness. 
Finally, it's often useful to have power chargers wherever you are.  Having your phone fully charged makes your iPhone experience a bright one!

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Playing it Safe on Facebook

With so many people on facebook, hackers and spammers are having a field day spreading their mischief among the world's largest social networking site.

Most often users may see that a friend's account is posting unusual messages.

Don't click that link!  Or your account may suffer the same fate.

But if this happens, here is what facebook says you should do:

 If your account has been taken over and used to send spam, you should follow these steps immediately:
  • If you can’t reset your password because the email address you use to log in has changed, or if your account has been disabled, visit our help page.
  • Make sure you have up-to-date security software on your computer, run a scan, and remove any malicious files. If you don’t do this, and your computer is infected, your account may be taken over again. If you don’t yet have protection for your computer, you can download a complimentary six-month subscription of McAfee security software. Learn more on the Software tab.

If a friend’s account has been taken over and used to send spam, you should follow these steps immediately:

  • Tell your friend to check out this Page and follow the steps above.
  • Warn those who received the spam not to click on it, and to delete it from their Walls and Inboxes.

In addition, here are a few more tips to keep in mind.
  • Don't click on unusual links, even if posted by one of your friends.
  • Use the "mark as spam" button to remove a post and mark it as potential spam post. Click the "x" after a post to access the "mark as spam" option.
  • Don't download applications that you are not sure about.
  • If you think your account has been hacked, go to www.facebook.com/hacked to alert facebook and lockdown your account.



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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Check In with Foursquare

Do you want to be a mayor?  That could be a lot of work in the real world.

But you can become the mayor of your local Starbucks.  Or local hangout.  Just for being close by.

And by using the new Foursquare app on your iPhone, Android, Palm or Blackberry device.

Foursquare is a social-networking app enables users to connect with friends and discover new places and things to do around town.

You'll earn points and badges based on how many times you check-in to certain locations.

And if you check-in often enough, you can become the mayor.

So, what's the point of being the mayor of a location?

Mostly bragging rights.

However, some Foursquare-friendly locations offer a free premium like discounts and free items just for checking in or becoming the mayor.

Go check it out.  Learn more at Foursquare.com




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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Let Google Search Your Desktop

UPDATE 6/1/2015.  Sadly, Google has discontinued the Desktop Search tool.  Microsoft dramatically improved the search function within Windows and Google's normal business model of displaying ads next to search results would creep people out when displayed next to results from a PC's disk drive. (Although DS never did that, there was no way to make money for Google in the future).  While there are some other apps, Google's was the best.
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Where did you put that file?  Or that email?

Searching for documents on your PC can be a nightmare.  So many documents.  So many emails.

Sometimes it's like searching for a needle in a haystack.

But Google offers an elegant solution.

Their free program, Google Desktop, indexes your hard drive the way Google's own servers index the Web. Your search results are returned on a web page similar to when you do a real Google web search.

After you download and install the software, Google Desktop gets to work indexing your hard drive.  If you have a lot of files, this can take a while.  Just sit back and relax.

You'll be able to find those files in no time.


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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Yahoo Upgrades New Mail to All Users

Yahoo has started making its newest version of its e-mail service available to all of  its 284 million users.

The company unveiled a test version of the new service last fall. 
The redesigned service now includes integration with a number of social media including Facebook and Twitter into Yahoo's e-mail service. Users can post messages to Facebook and share notifications and updates from Twitter and Facebook from a new Updates tab.
Users can chat with Facebook, Windows Live and Yahoo Messenger contacts within Yahoo Mail.
Users can upgrade to the new version online. A demo video is also now online.

Monday, May 23, 2011

How to Take a Screenshot on an iPhone

Do you ever need to take a screenshot on your iPhone?

You're in luck.

This mostly unknown feature has been built into the iOS operating system since version 2.0.

To capture the screen image or take a screenshot just press the Home button and Sleep/Wake (On/Off) key at the top of the mobile device simultaneously at the same time.

You'll hear the camera shutter click and your screenshot will be saved the camera roll on your phone.

You can then view and send your newly saved image to others by email or SMS like all other photos.

Now you know!



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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Don't be Smurfed! Beware of in-App Purchases

UPDATE 6/12/2015: Since this post was originally posted in 2011, both Google and Apple have improved their online stores to warn users that apps have in-game purchases.  Nothing like losing some court cases and refunding millions of dollars to get a company to change.  But parents should keep their passwords safe and ensure the settings are secure so that in-app purchases must be approved.

When is a Free Game not free?

When you can buy in-app items that cost real money.  Your money.

To the shock of many users, free games, downloaded from iTunes onto mobile phones, allow users to purchase items for the games from within the application itself.

Many parents have received unexpected and costly iTune charges because they allowed their children to use their iPhone or iPods with the mistaken belief that these games were "free".

This problem is not just limited to Apple devices.  But the iPhone devices and the iTunes store have made the headlines.

A well-documented story appeared in MSNBC late last year and involved the iPhone game "The Smurf's Village.

While The Smurfs Village is indeed "free" to download, items within the game can cost.  Especially, apparently, smurfberries.  At $59 a pop for a cart.

So what can you do?

  1. Update your iPhone, iPod or iPad to the latest version of the iOS operating system.  This updated version requires the iTunes to be re-entered before an in-app purchase can be made.
  2. Keep your iTunes password safe from other users.
  3. Go to Settings, General and change the In App option to not allow purchases within applications.
  4. Always read the notices before you download an application from the iTunes store.  And open it again to read any notices about the option to purchase in-app items.

So with a little knowledge and common sense, you can avoid being smurfed!


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