iPhone

, ,

Tips for iPhone and iPad iOS 7

, ,

        An iPhone and iPad user guide describing the new features of iOS 7 is recommended to us by PMUG Secretary Bobbie Pastor.  See it here. 
       She also reminds us of the Joint PC and PMUG SIG (Special Interest Group) that meets Saturday, from 1 to 3 pm in the Prescott Library Founders Suite.  John Carter will be speaking about helpful tips and tricks for the iPad.  

, , , , , , , ,

iOS 7 and 10.8.5 Update

, , , , , , , ,

       John Carter reports on his experience with updates. "I updated my iPad 4, my iPhone 5, and Jackie's iPhone 4S.

        "No problems with my stuff. It took a long time, but everything came up normally.
        "Jackie's 4S was a different story. I did that one last.
        "The short story is that Verizon was overloaded with updates, and they couldn't keep up. Apple was also inundated, and they couldn't keep up. Hence, during the update process for the 4S, Apple had a hiccup and the 4S was crippled during the update. Not to worry. A fresh start made everything right — almost.
        "One thing that happened with the 4S that did not happen with the iPad 4 or the iPhone 5 was right after the iOS7 update completed. I got a notice that a new update was available for the carrier on the 4S. I did that, too.
        "When I finally got to use the 4S, it would not connect to Verizon. Getting on the Internet was no problem — but no phone service. A call to Verizon revealed that many people were having the same problem. The fix was to do a complete reset of the phone (wiping all data off) and restore the phone from a backup through iTunes. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention this - MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP YOUR DEVICES BEFORE YOU START THE UPDATE!
        "After the 4S was restored (the second time), I was able to validate the connection to Verizon and everything worked."
                                  Take a deep breath, John has more info to share! 
        "So what's really new with iOS7? I mean, really new? Not just in appearances, but in functionality. The calendar had the biggest surprise. The familiar interface is not only gone, but one of the features is hidden. In order to see your calendar entries as a list, you have to tap on the Search icon. To see the calendar in the month mode, you tap on the name of the month. Then the year shows up where the name of the month was, and tapping on that shows you the whole year. Actually, this is far easier to navigate than it sounds, and I quickly got used to it.
        "I tried to take a snapshot of the screen, but the snapshot does not show everything that you can see. So the image below is a screenshot showing both what the calendar looks like (left side) and what you get when you take a screenshot (right side). (Yes, it was tricky getting this shot.)
        To enlarge the illustration click on it, then click to go back to the post.
        "So what does Jackie think about the update? She was very angry that the phone didn't work, and she had to leave before I got it working again. As for everything else, she's flexible enough to not worry about the changes. Besides, she has me to fall back on.
        "I very much like the new Compass. Apple has added a secondary feature to it - a bubble level. Very neat, especially for me when I need to level my telescope mount."
                                      Here's John's report on the OS X update:
        "So what about the Mac update to 10.5.8. Quite painless on the Mac Mini, the MacBook Air, and my two MacBook Pros. But one thing happened with Mail that I am not very happy about.
        "I have several mailbox aliases below the Toolbar (boxed in red in the image below.) This gives me quick access to my most frequently used mailboxes. 
        "They were all greyed out. No access. I quickly discovered that I had to remove them and add the aliases back in.
        "Then I discovered that NONE of my Rules were active. I had to go through each of my several dozen Rules and reference the action back to the original mailbox that the message was supposed to be moved to (see red circle in image below). The weird part was that when I reset one, that same mailbox showed up as the default location for the next one that I needed to fix."
        "I'm quite sure that many people will have a serious problem with this, and I'm very surprised that it didn't show up in the Beta testing."
                        Here's John's recommendations: 
        "Do I recommend getting the updates right away? To this I always say, why not? How long do you think you will have to wait before you can know for a fact that  you won't have any problems with the update? Can you live without the update? Certainly! But eventually you will be faced with having to update when one or more of your apps are no longer supported with your old operating system— just like when Classic 9 became unusable. And if you trade your device in, you will get the latest operating system anyway.
        "To update the iPhone, you have to have your computer to get the update. I recommend updating the computer first.
        "One last thing. The iTunes update (11.1) modifies the iTunes library. So if you have more than one computer using the same iTunes library, you're forced to update iTunes on every computer. Besides that, if you are accessing the same iTunes library (or iPhoto library) from different computers, you have to shut down iTunes/iPhoto on one computer before launching iTunes/iPhoto on any other computer. This is such a rare situation that it probably isn't even worth mentioning. But if you have, say, a MacBook Air with a small hard drive and a Mac Mini with a large hard drive, it won't be long before you realize that you should have bought a bigger hard drive for the MacBook Air. This cannot be remedied except by sharing files with another computer or by adding an external hard drive to the MacBook Air - and that uses up one of the only two USB ports on the MacBook Air. And you can't run an external hard drive off of a USB port expander along with any other device, even if the USB expander is powered (or so my experience tells me).
        "For the most part, the updates do not change how any non-Apple app looks or behaves. As vendors start providing updates for their apps, this will undoubtedly change.
        "For the iPhone, just take a deep breath and get the updates in a week or so when things have settled down at Apple and Verizon.
        "For the Mac, get it now."   
, , , ,

Another iOS 7 Upgrade Report

, , , ,

       Prez Art Gorski reports on his experiences with the iOS 7 upgrade.  "Well, I upgraded my decrepit iPhone 4 to iOS 7. Even though a lot of features aren't available on a phone this old, I like the improvements that I do get. Mary Ann upgraded her iPad 2 with no problems as well.

        "Macworld.com has a huge list of articles covering all aspects of iOS 7 that are very informative.
        "We'll be upgrading to iPhone 5s's shortly, so that will be even better."  
, , , , , ,

iOS 7 Comments

, , , , , ,

        Here's Jim Hamm's comments on upgrading to iOS 7.  "Realizing that it's better to wait for some time before updating to a new iOS, I, of course, ignored my own advice and went ahead just now and updated my iPhone 5, iPad 2, and iPad Mini to iOS 7. 

       "All went well, and so far no problems or bugs noted, but discovery still underway. iOS 7 is quite different visually, functionally, and aesthetically -- but so far I like it quite well. I'm listening to the new iTunes Radio as I type this, and I'm gonna appreciate this as I enjoy listening to music as I surf the net on my computer. I suspect iTunes Radio may well put a little hurt on Pandora and other radio apps."
        And now, what did Zee do?  "My wife was showing me a few tips after her update and one she liked was telling Siri to play James Taylor -- which Siri obligingly did. And she asked Siri 'what is the weather in Prescott?' -- which Siri kindly told her. Kinda cool."
        Jim winds up this report with, "I did the update by plugging my devices into my MacBook Air, and the process went much quicker than my wife's updates, which she was doing via Wifi only and not plugged into her Mac. If you decide to update to iOS 7, don't forget to do a backup first, just in case. I backed up both to iCloud and my MacBook Air -- belt and suspenders, don't you know...(grin)." 
, ,

Camera Features in iPhone 5a

, ,

        He starts off with, "I'm not much of a camera buff, but if you are here is an article describing the new and enhanced camera features in the new iPhone 5S," and then Jim Hamm gives a bit of detail, ending with his grin! 
        "Looks mighty impressive to me. Bet the manufacturers of 'regular' cameras are a bit bit disconcerted to read about all these improvements in the iPhone 5S which, nominally, is supposed to be a phone."
        How to Know If the iPhone 5s Camera Upgrade is Right For You
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how-to-know-if-the-iphone-5s-camera-upgrade-is-right-for-you

, , ,

Apple's Announcements Today

, , ,

        Today was the big day.  Take a look at the latest here:  http://www.apple.com   and see keynote,   and look here for two entries posted today: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/ 
       Prez Art Gorski sends along this link http://arstechnica.com/apple/2013/09/apples-overhauled-ios-7-is-coming-september-18-to-an-idevice-near-you/ , with his comment, "In just over a week, your iPad or iPhone will have a software update to iOS 7.  This will be a total makeover, changing the look of just about everything, and adding some new features.  It will take a little time to get used to it all, and hopefully Apple will provide some tutorials for users."  

, , , , ,

No, Your Data Isn't Secure in the Cloud

, , , , ,

          John Carter wants to share his viewpoint on security in the Cloud.  "You do understand that it's the government that is insisting on an open book for all personal information, yet they also insist on not telling us anything they don't want us to know about - like what really happened at Roswell and other places.

        "I really don't care how deep the government is looking into my personal affairs. In fact, I want them to be able to pry into the private life of any citizen planning on running for a public office at every level of government from our local supervisor and councilman to the President. 
        "The ONLY way to have access to my passwords across all devices without using the cloud is to carry a thumb drive —and it won't connect to my iPhone, iPod, or iPad. That makes no sense. 
        "So, using iCloud or Dropbox to store my passwords is my only sure way of being able to access them when I need them from any device. And with 128 bit encryption, that is secure enough to prevent Joe the Plumber (and even my high-tech buddies) from getting at them. I'm safe from the hackers, and that's all that really concerns me.
        "Now, if one of those hackers works for the government and is nefarious enough to steal encrypted data for personal gain, I can't stop that. No one can. It would take an act of Congress to prevent even the government from accessing encrypted files, and then only foreign governments would be able to access my personal files. Right back where I started from."  
        And thanks to John for adding to this discussion.  
, ,

iPhone, iPad and Facetime Calls

, ,

        Jim Hamm asks for information and insight.  He says, "A friend has posed the question whether using Facetime on an iPhone use cellular minutes or data from one's data plan if connected to wifi? From reading the comments on the Verizon Wireless Forum, some say yes and some say no. Apparently calls to Verizon get different answers. 

        Here is yet another set of conflicting comments on a mobile forum.
        "I did a bit more research on my iPhone 5 and in settings I turned off  'Data Cellular' wherein no data can be transmitted over the cellular network. I'm connected to wifi and initiated a phone call on Facetime and it went through fine, but I know it's not using any data from my data plan. However, It may still be using minutes from my cellular minutes plan even though I'm connected to wifi -- but I'm not sure of that. 
        "This  question is important for my friend in that she has a certain amount of minutes and cellular data and doesn't want to burn through that unwittingly. 
        "If an iPad is connected to wifi one can make a Facetime call and for sure no minutes or data cellular are used. But an iPhone is different in that a cellular plan normally is initiated in order to use the phone. Some carriers now permit a Facetime call over a cellular network (no wifi) and in that case for sure the call is using minutes and may be using the data plan as well since video is involved."
        Jim asks for input,  "If anyone has further insight into whether an iPhone connected to wifi uses cellular minutes when making a Facetime call, let me know if you would. Thanks."
, , ,

Mayo Clinic Using iPhone, iPad

, , ,

        A recent posting at www.apple.com/hotnews brings up an interesting article about Mayo Clinic.  www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/mayo-clinic/   Using custom apps for physicians and patients on iPhone, iPad and iPad mini Mayo is "transforming the capabilities of individualized patient care."  It describes the app Synthesis Mobile that gives physicians instant access, and iOS provides security for patients using their password for personal information.  
        You can get Hot News info updated via RSS to NetNewsWire. 

, ,

iPhone: Lost! Then, Found!

, ,

        John Carter left his iPhone on a plane!  There's a happy ending! There's something for us to learn from this!
        "Suppose your iPhone gets lost (you left it on the plane). Frantically, you go online to iCloud.com and configure the iPhone to be erased if anyone attempts to use the iPhone. This seems to be the best way to protect your information, right? Wrong! The iPhone will only be erased when someone attempts to connect to the Internet — or so the story goes. So, if they never access the Internet, they can open Contacts and browse any file on the iPhone at will.

        "So maybe the next choice is to lock the iPhone. But this choice also only comes into effect when the person attempts to access the Internet. So even this isn't the best way to protect your iPhone.
        "What's left? Well, you should have set the iPhone to require a passcode as soon as the iPhone is turned on.
        "In my case, I did recently leave my iPhone on the plane. It was found and returned. What made it possible to be returned to me was that I did NOT have a passcode set to lock my phone, and the baggage claim person opened the phone and did something to discover that I was the owner of the phone and sent me an email message."
        What a relief, read on!  John has more to say,  "But, I had already gone online to icloud.com and set the phone to be erased when the Internet was accessed. Fully believing that my iPhone would be erased as soon as I tried to get on the Internet, I was totally surprised that it didn't happen!
        "Bottom line is, as my wife says, don't believe what you see. Protecting your information in a lost phone is only going to happen if you have set a passcode to lock the phone. Add a label to your phone on the outside that identifies you as the owner and no one needs to open the phone to find out how to contact you. Better yet, have your contact information engraved on the back side of the phone."