Guest Author

iPhone Tech Talk World Tour

Guest Author ∙ Updated October 16, 2017

I just got an email saying that apple will soon be "traveling the globe" to talk about technology and the iPhone. According to the email:

Learn about the tools and technologies you'll use to create great iPhone applications, then work with the experts to optimize your code, refine your user interface, and apply the knowledge you gain from the sessions.

Whether you're new to iPhone development, a seasoned professional, or an IT pro, you'll find a session designed just for you. Plus, learn how to get your application in front of millions of users on the App Store. Don't miss this unique opportunity. The event is free, but space is limited. Register for an iPhone Tech Talk today.
Read More

Using your iPhone to Record Programs to your DirecTV DVR

Guest Author ∙ October 7, 2008

I was looking at a TV Guide app in the store the other day and I thought it was pretty cool, but because I am a DirecTV customer, it is often difficult to find TV Guides that are not aligned with zip codes but with Satellite Regions.

I remembered that the DirecTV page posted a great guide. So I tried to navigate to there page with my iPhone. I could see the page, but it wasn't formatted for the iPhone so it was really difficult to navigate. After a little bit more research I did identify a DirecTV mobile phone page that seems to work well on the iPhone.

This web app doesn't let you browse the DirecTV Guide, but it does allow you to do something even cooler. You can use this site to search and setup your DirecTV DVR to record shows remotely. You can also sign up to see Pay Per View shows and set up series.  If you have more than one DVR, it lets you pick which ones to use to record a show.

This is a really cool feature because if you are away from home and you hear about a show you want to record you can now use this page and your iPhone to set it up remotely.

If you have a DVR, just go to the DirecTV.com page and create an account. Then navigate to the mobile compatible page and login.

It has a very basic menu, but pretty much lets me do what i wanted. It has "Search For Shows", and a "Manual Record" feature. No guide, but search is pretty useful.

The Search for Shows feature lets you enter a search string. It display a list of matching shows. Pick one, and it gives you a description and the option to "Record Once", "Record the Series", or see more show times. I have multiple receiver, so when i pick "record", I get a list of receivers. Once i pick the receiver, i can give it a recording priority. Since I can't see the list of what is already set up, I can say "record if possible" or "Definitely Record this".

The Manual Record feature lets you pick a channel, date, time, duration to record just like recording on your old faithful VCR. This is usually only useful when the guide data is not accurate, but neat to have.

Also, I had high hopes for the login part, because the sign in form has a "Remember Me" checkbox, but it doesn't seem to work. Each time I go to the web page, I have to enter it from scratch.

Read More

Using Backgrounder to Speed up Categories

Guest Author ∙ Updated February 5, 2016

I love Categories and use it to organize my apps on my iPhone but it takes forever to load a folder, especially when it contains a lot of apps. Two recent application upgrades have really helped with this problem. 

Backgrounder allows you to run processes in the background and the new version of Categories(2.2) takes advantage of this new functionality. By using the Background feature, you can set up folder by folder background loading. This makes it lightning fast to open  folders. In normal iPhone mode, open the folder you want to speed up. Press and hold the menu button until you see the message, "Backgrounding Enabled". It will exit the folder but opening it again will be really fast. Press and hold the menu button again while the folder is opened to turn it off.

Read More

iPhone Humor Series

Guest Author ∙ October 7, 2008

I am going to start posting a different piece of iPhone humor each day to lighten things up.

This has been out there for a while, but it is one of my favorites. Although I warn you it is hard to think of your iPhone being the victim of such brutalization.

Read More

Apple and Starbucks – Honeymoon Over?

Guest Author ∙ Updated September 20, 2016

Something is going on between Apple and Starbucks. For a while, it seemed that they seemed to be getting closer, but now I think there might be trouble in paradise.

The Starbucks Icon in the iTunes WIFI store seems to be broken. For those of you who haven't tried this feature, you get an extra Starbucks icon in iTunes whenever you are in a participating Starbucks.  When I first got my iPhone, I went to a Starbucks and tried it out.  The Starbucks page showed me the name of the Currently Playing song, a history of the last songs played, and links to find out more about the Song and Artists, and links to buy these songs in the iTunes WIFI store.

Users are reporting in many support forums and discussions that instead of seeing the Now Playing Starbucks screen when they touch the Starbucks Icon in iTunes WIFI Store, they see a never ending "Loading..." Screen.

Apple not only seems to be ignoring these threads, they seem to even be trying to remove Starbucks References on their Web pages. Even the links to the Starbucks agreement on Apple.com are no longer there (www.apple.com/itunes/starbucks) and reroute you here instead. A search on "Starbucks" on the Apple site shows you the preferred link to iTunes WIFI store, but takes you back to the same place as before. In fact if say "View All Search Results" after searching on the Apple page, all four top links take your right back to the same place. It's as if they had removed references to Starbucks from everywhere but their support forum.

And there are lot of links there. All where people are saying that instead of getting a Starbucks page in the iTunes Store, their iPhone is just showing a screen with the word "Loading..." that goes on and on.

There are many other forums out there with people talking about this problem.  So far, I haven't seen a published work-around or response from Apple.

After my first upgrade to 2.0.1, it stopped working. Each time I go into Starbucks now the endless "Loading..." screen.   Every 30 seconds or so I see a flash of the screen that is supposed to be showing, but it quickly goes right back to "Loading..." again.

I have been trying to pin point the issue. I have read that the older iTouch's don't seem to have this problem, but I have tested on both the iPhone 3G and the iTouch 2G and they both have the same issue.

Talking to support on both sides of this is getting me nowhere. Support on both sides of this issue don't seem to be aware of the feature, never mind the problem. I talked to the Manager at the local Starbucks and they had no idea that the feature was even available. They had a "guy" that they used to fix their network problems, but he only came in when they called him. They seemed to think it was a non-issue and I could tell fixing this wasn't there first priority.   So I called the Starbucks customer support and they said that it was an iPhone issue, not a Starbucks issue. They said they would talk to the local manager of my Starbucks and have them see what they could do. The follow up phone call I was promised never happened.

So then I tried calling Apple support.  At first, they too were confused about the feature even existing.  After explaining it to the Customer Support rep, they switched me to the iTunes Support group. This person said that it was a known problem and had to do with the way the network was configured at the Starbucks.  They sent me some links and encouraged me to go back to the Starbucks and get the Network Administrator to call Apple. I printed out the links (which really said nothing much) and tried again with the Starbucks. No Joy! This was about two weeks ago and it still is saying "Loading" each time I go.

Anyone else have any experiences to report on this? Please let us hear about it.

Read More

Creating an iPhone-Controlled Wireless Home Audio System

Guest Author ∙ Updated March 18, 2019

I am a bit of an audio geek and I have been longingly looking at the multi-room music systems for years. They have really started to get a lot cheaper lately but the price for most systems still start at $1,000.00.  It is hard to convince my spouse that the idea of having a central music server and music piped into other rooms is $1,000 cool. So when I got the Remote [iTunes link] Application for my iPhone, i started to think about what I could do for a lot less money. Remote lets you control your iTunes library using wifi anywhere in your house.

We had already encoded all our music into MP3 and placed it on a central computer in our kitchen.  We installed some really great speakers there, but what happens if we want to listen in the bedroom or living room? We could run speaker wires throughout the house, but we have an older house and it is expensive and/or unsightly to run speaker wires throughout the house.  Also if we did have speakers wired in, we would need a multi-room receiver and we would still have to run back to the kitchen to change the song or pick another playlist.

I had looked in the Apple Store at Airport Express recently and read about how you could use it to create "wireless" speakers and noticed in my iTunes settings dialog box,  the ability to send music to these "Airtunes" speakers. After purchasing a refurbished Airport Express from Apple Store, and a few hours fiddling with them, I came up with a pretty nice and cheap solution.

I used Airport Express and a pair of old but cute PC speakers to create a remote speaker set. I bought and installed Remote on my iPhone, configured it and now I am able to control my iTunes, sitting right next to the remote speakers.

It works pretty great so I thought I could share with you what worked for me. These instructions will let you broadcast music in iTunes. You can use Airfoil to broadcast music from other music players to your Airtunes Speakers.

What you you'll need to get started:

Apple Airport Express Airport Express Stereo connection kit (or a Monster mini-to-RCA left/right audio cable or  Monster mini-to-optical digital Toslink audio cable A Mac or PC with wireless connectivity (Mac with AirPort or AirPort Extreme wireless capability - PC with 802.11a, 802.11b, or 802.11g card) Powered speakers (computer speakers work great!) or a local amplifier and non-powered speakers. iPhone or iTouch with Remote [iTunes link] application installed.

Getting started:

Plug in the airport express wherever you want to place your remote speakers. Install the Airport Utility application on your Mac or PC.  You can either download it at this link or use the accompanying CD to install it. Use the Airport Utility to scan for the Airport Express Hub. When it is located, click Continue to set it up. The Utility will read the configuration information and prompt you for a name and password. Name it something that will instantly let you know which speakers you are turning on and off. For example, "Downstair speakers" or "Kitchen Speakers" works well.  Click Continue. Use this guide to continue making choices as you set up the Airport Express. The easiest path is to just add it to an existing wifi network, but if you don't have one you can set up one between your pc/mac and the Airport Express.  When done, the airport Express lcd light should be a solid green. Plug in your speakers and then using either the Airport Express Stereo Connection Kit or individual connectors you can purchase at Radio Shack, connect the Airport Express to your speakers. Repeat steps 1 through 6 for each airport Express you want to install (ie for each set of speakers you want). Test that you can broadcast to your remote speakers from iTunes. Go to iTunes and purchase Remote application. Follow these steps to set it up and connect it iTunes on your PC or Mac. Launch Remote on your iPhones. Using Remote Settings, turn on the speakers you want to control. Sit back on your couch and pick playlists and songs to play.
Read More

Don’t overlook those iPhone earbuds

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

If you are like me, you look at the iPhone earbuds and leave them in the box.  The ones I got with my previous iPods were pretty non-descript and very basic.

It wasn't until i started reading the manual (ughh) that I realized that these earbuds are not the typical iPod headphones. They come with a special switch/microphone that lies between the earbuds and the place where the two separate wires join together. You can use this switch to do all sorts of things. And it even works when the iPhone is locked.

When you are listening to music:

Click once to pause, and again to play. Click twice quickly to skip to the next track

If you get a call while the headset is plugged in, you can hear the ringtone through both the iPhone speaker and the headset. HERE IS THE COOLEST PART. If you are listening to music when the phone rings, The music pauses itself and then resumes when you hang up.

When the phone rings:

Click once to pick up the call. The microphone allows you to talk with just the headphones on. You can also reject the call. Press and hold for about two seconds, then let go. When you let go, two low beeps confirm you declined the call. (you can also do this by pressing the on/off button at the top of the phone)

When you are already on a call:

Click once to end a call

When you are already on a call, and you get a second call:

Click once to switch to an incoming or on-hold call and put the current call on hold. Click again to switch back to the first call. Press and hold for about two seconds, then let go to switch to an incoming call and hang up the first call. When you let go, two low beeps confirm you ended the first call.
Read More

Mind Maker Mindmap application for iPhone/iTouch

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Although many people I work with use mind mapping software, i am much more of a "draw it out on paper" person and it has never felt spontaneous to capture my thoughts using such a tool. I don't like to lug my laptop to every meeting and when I got spontaneous ideas while walking or working out, paper always seemed to be the best approach.

So as I was browsing through new apps in the App Store, I saw the Mind Maker [iTunes Link] app developed by Ultravague, and the idea of having mind mapping software that is a lot more portable and always accessible might make the difference in usability for me.  So I decided to give it a try.

So for two days now I have had it installed on my iPhone and I have tried to use it for all my meetings (which are considerable these days!).  It takes some time to reorient yourself from linear written notes to the relationship-based tree concept but I like the end product.  Much easier to navigate through when you are trying to drill down and go back and add more detail later.

The tool is pretty intuitive.  It was easy to make new branches and nodes.  I kept trying to connect a node to more than one parent and I guess you can't do that.  I think that  one of my problems with these types of tools is that my mind doesn't always link things in an hierarchical fashion.

But my personal issues aside, I was able to create a tree really quickly and and organize it the way I wanted to.  I couldn't figure out how to export it so after a quick browse at the web site I found out that the next version 1.1 (which they say is almost ready to submit to Apple), will support exporting mind maps to images and the following version 1.2, will allow mindmaps to be published to the web and exported in a variety of formats.

Features that I would like to see added:

The ability to associate a text, images, or url's with the nodes, this will be especially useful when version 1.2 comes out and I can publish my mind maps to the web. The ability to create cross associations (a node has more than one parent) so that I can map more complex relationships The ability to name the relationships because connections are sometimes the most important thing to remember.

All in all it is a good deal at $4.99.

Read More

But I still want to check out the new iPhone Apps!

Guest Author ∙ Updated March 27, 2017

If you are like me, i was looking in App Store at least once a day to see what new apps were out.  I would go to the iTunes Store and click on App Store in the left hand column.  I would then click on "All Iphone Applications" and sort by "Most Recent" so that I could look at all the latest updates and new apps.  When I logged on the other day and couldn't find the All iPhone Applications option, i was a bit shocked. However I have figured out a few ways to still let me get my new app fix.  Here is my advice to those with the same OCD need to see what is new.

1)  Use the View Menu/Show Browser Feature in iTunes to see a list form of apps. From there, click on the App Store list item in the iTunes Store listing.  Click on "Release Date" column header in the browser row area.  Now click on the different Category list items to see a sorted list by date of all the applications in that category.  It is a bit slower than seeing all categories at once, but maybe we can convince Apple to put in an All Category option here.

2) Subscribe to the Pinch Media's New Application RSS feed. These are really useful app store feeds.  They also have a feed for free new apps and one for updated apps.  Here is how they describe this great service:

We’re happy to announce today the release of a few new RSS feeds which provide a way to view activity in the Apple App Store without having to load up iTunes or the App Store on the iPhone yourself. The first two feeds are the most recent stream of new and updated applications added into the App Store updated hourly.

Check it out.

Either way, I can still get my fix.

3) Follow our New Apps & Games category :-)

Read More

Using the iPhone for traffic reporting?

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 9, 2017

I know that Google Maps for the iPhone lets you see traffic data in certain areas, but it is very limited by the quality and quantity of available data.  With the huge number of iPhones and there wide geographic dispersion and with its GPS and "always on" internet capabilities it should be pretty easy to to actually capture traffic data with an iPhone app.  This data could then be shared and distributed back to other iphone apps.

There have been other GPS's with this approach, but it would pretty simple to create a simple app that has a "Traffic Start" button and a "Traffic End"  button that would then use the GPS coordinates and the time between the two points to calculate the location and amount of congestion. This very small packet of data could then be sent to a traffic data base (and maybe validated by other reports) and then retransmitted back to the other worthy iPhone users.

It would have to be something you could do while driving so I am envisioning a very simple screen tap to turn on and off.   Also it would take some data finess and number crunching on the server side, but wouldn't it be cool!

Maybe we could just get Dash to write the app for us.

Read More

Web Apps Rock!

Guest Author ∙ Updated February 14, 2018

A lot of talk has been centered around the App store and Jailbreak Apps but what i find really exciting is the web apps that are being designed and formatted for the iPhone/iTouch. No installation, no jailbreaking, no disk space is necessary.  And with the iPhone's/iTouch's ability to store a bookmark on the Home Screen, these apps can appear and be accessed just like any other app.

There are several different ways to locate web apps.  First, Apple has a web page that allows people to register their web apps.  I highly recommend those with RSS readers subscribe to this feed.   Some very cool apps are showing up.  Another cool way of seeing these web apps are using the Web Apps [iTunes Link] application that you can download from the Itunes App Store. It allows you to create a list of favorites and navigate to them easily (if you don't want to have a direct bookmark icon on your desktop) and lets you see what is out and try out the apps on your iphone.

Some of these apps are just web pages reformatted for you iPhone/iTouch, but some of them really take advantage of the IPhone GUI and technology.   One that caught my eye yesterday is the Dominos Pizza Tracker.  According to the Apple page "The Domino’s Pizza Tracker takes a phone number as input and connects to Domino’s Pizza Tracker XML backend to return information regarding your order, including time of creation, cooking, and delivery status. "  I haven't tried it yet, but i think i'll be having Pizza tonight!

Read More