If you are jealous of the Roku 3's new, very cool "private listening" feature (headphone jack is on the remote) and would like to achieve the same on your AppleTV, here's a way to do so:
Ingredients needed:
? AppleTV 2 or 3, running AppleTV software 5.2 or newer (need not be jailbroken)
? iOS device (iPhone, iPod touch or iPad)
? Any one of the following apps to make the above device act as an "AirPlay Speaker"
- AirView, AirFloat, or something similar (previously downloaded from App Store, as these routinely get pulled from the App Store)
- Airfoil Speakers Touch, with in-app upgrade for direct AirPlay feature already pu ...
Keep iPhone silent except for selected callers
March 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The iPhone's Do Not Disturb setting (in Settings > Notifications) is a way to turn off rings, alerts and other sounds on your iPhone; it's great when you're in meetings, or in the movies.
However, you may want to not be disturbed and still want to be notified when you get calls from specific people. There's a way to do this, but it's a bit complex; a Stack Exchange member explained how to do it.
It involves creating a group for the person or people you want to "disturb" you in Contacts (either on your Mac or on iCloud.com; you can't do this on the iPhone), and selecting that group in Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb. You can choose to allow calls from Everyone, No One, Favorites, or specific groups. So you might have a few people set as Favorites, so you can call them quickly from the Phone app, but if you want to lim ...
However, you may want to not be disturbed and still want to be notified when you get calls from specific people. There's a way to do this, but it's a bit complex; a Stack Exchange member explained how to do it.
It involves creating a group for the person or people you want to "disturb" you in Contacts (either on your Mac or on iCloud.com; you can't do this on the iPhone), and selecting that group in Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb. You can choose to allow calls from Everyone, No One, Favorites, or specific groups. So you might have a few people set as Favorites, so you can call them quickly from the Phone app, but if you want to lim ...
Set iPhone to flash LED for alerts
February 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment
A recent post on The Mac Observer pointed out a useful way to set alerts on an iPhone. If you dig deep into the ACcessibility settings (Settings > General > Accessibility), in the Hearing section, you'll find an option called LED Flash for Alerts. If you turn this on, you'll get a flash whenever you get an alert, such as for phone calls, text messages, etc. This is most useful if you're in a situation where you need to turn the sound off on your iPhone, or if you're in a noisy environment, and may not hear any alert sounds.
[kirkmc adds: This only works if the iPhone is asleep; in other words, if the screen has gone dark. It would be helpful if it flashed in all cases. Also, if you have the iPhone on a table with the LED on the bottom, you may not see the flash.]
[kirkmc adds: This only works if the iPhone is asleep; in other words, if the screen has gone dark. It would be helpful if it flashed in all cases. Also, if you have the iPhone on a table with the LED on the bottom, you may not see the flash.]
Added features when using Stocks app in landscape mode
February 15, 2013 By Leave a Comment
In iOS 3.0, Apple introduced landscape view for the Stocks app. At that time, it still only allowed date ranges of 1d, 1w, 1m, 3m, 6m, 1y, and 2y.
At some point since iOS 3.0, Apple enabled two extra time-spans when using the Stocks app in landscape mode. In this view, you can also see share prices going back 5 or 10 years.
Landscape mode also lets you tap and hold the stock price graph and reveal a line that can be dragged to the left or right to reveal the stock price on specific dates. Furthermore, if you tap and hold with two fingers, you can select a pair of time points and see the change in share price between those dates.
At some point since iOS 3.0, Apple enabled two extra time-spans when using the Stocks app in landscape mode. In this view, you can also see share prices going back 5 or 10 years.
Landscape mode also lets you tap and hold the stock price graph and reveal a line that can be dragged to the left or right to reveal the stock price on specific dates. Furthermore, if you tap and hold with two fingers, you can select a pair of time points and see the change in share price between those dates.
Bookmarklet to send webpage URL to iOS Gmail app
February 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment
If you want to send an email via the Gmail iOS app containing the URL and title of a web page, you can't simply use the Share button. But you can use a bookmarklet, as posted by Federico Viticci on MacStories. Save the following bookmarklet in your browser:
Select it from your browser, and it will open the Gmail app, and create a new email with the title of the web page as the subject, and the URL in the body of the message. Note that this may not work if the Gmail app is not paused in the background.
javascript:window.location='googlegmail:///co?subject='+encodeURIComponent(document.title)+'&body='+encodeURIComponent(location.href);
Skype and iPhone battery life
January 28, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I was on the road for a bit the other day, and when I left home at noon, my iPhone's battery was about 95% full. About 4 hours later, I saw it was down to about 25%, and I wondered what it could have been doing to deplete the battery so much. I thought of the usual culprits, like brightness (it's not at the maximum), Bluetooth (it seems well behaved with iOS 6, going in standby mode when not in use), or push email. Then I looked at which apps were open. I quit them all, including Skype. An hour later, my battery had only dropped another 5%.
When I came home, I did some googling, thinking it could be Skype, or it could be another app. I came across a Skype forum post where someone said they lost 70% in four hours, just like me. There were no other apps running that would have been keeping a connection open, so it's safe to say - given the vast number of people who have commented on the relationship between Skype and poor battery life - that there is a link.
So, if you use Sky ...
When I came home, I did some googling, thinking it could be Skype, or it could be another app. I came across a Skype forum post where someone said they lost 70% in four hours, just like me. There were no other apps running that would have been keeping a connection open, so it's safe to say - given the vast number of people who have commented on the relationship between Skype and poor battery life - that there is a link.
So, if you use Sky ...
Press the + key on the Phone app number pad
January 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Sometimes when calling other countries, I have trouble getting through. For some reason, my phone provider seems to not like numbers with the 00 prefix (the international access code from France), though I never have problems with numbers beginning with + saved in my Contacts.
Rob Griffiths, during a chat the other day, found that if you press and hold the 0 button on the number pad, it types a + character. So to make an international call, all I need to do is press that button, then enter the country code and the number. This will make my international calls a bit easier, at least for people who are not contacts, and who I don't want to make contact cards for.
It's worth noting that pressing any of the other keys, the ones that show letters, such as ABC, only types the number. I guess the fact that the + is on the 0 button makes one think there's a way to get it to display; I had tried in the past, but didn't hold it long enough.
Rob Griffiths, during a chat the other day, found that if you press and hold the 0 button on the number pad, it types a + character. So to make an international call, all I need to do is press that button, then enter the country code and the number. This will make my international calls a bit easier, at least for people who are not contacts, and who I don't want to make contact cards for.
It's worth noting that pressing any of the other keys, the ones that show letters, such as ABC, only types the number. I guess the fact that the + is on the 0 button makes one think there's a way to get it to display; I had tried in the past, but didn't hold it long enough.
Easily add photo or video to email message in iOS Mail
January 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment
You can add a photo or a video to an email message in iOS Mail without gong to the Photos app, though it's not very obvious how to do this.
While composing your email:
1. Tap on your email and hold until the "Select, Select All, Paste" menu displays.
2. Tap the arrow button at the right of this menu.
3. Tap Insert Photo or Video.
4. Select the photo or video you want to embed.
[kirkmc adds: I'm sure plenty of you know this, but I certainly didn't. A little curiosity would have found it, but I never tapped on that arrow button.]
While composing your email:
1. Tap on your email and hold until the "Select, Select All, Paste" menu displays.
2. Tap the arrow button at the right of this menu.
3. Tap Insert Photo or Video.
4. Select the photo or video you want to embed.
[kirkmc adds: I'm sure plenty of you know this, but I certainly didn't. A little curiosity would have found it, but I never tapped on that arrow button.]
