Posted by Technology Guider On January - 30 - 2009
I’m sure you’ve heard many times that the Apple iPod Touch is basically the same as the Apple iPhone except for a few notable differences. The Apple iPhone has a camera and can make calls. Well not anymore. With a free application from the App Store, now the only difference between these two devices is the fact that the iPhone has a camera.
Download Fring or TruPhone from the App Store. I prefer Fring as it offers not only free calling, but it offers Skype, MSN, Twitter, Google Talk and much more. Once you’ve done that, register for all the services that you apart of and now you are one step closer to start calling. You are allowed to dial straight from the Cellular tab within Fring. A small drawback for the application, Fring, is that when you search for your buddies it will only look at the beginning of the personal name. For example. Your buddy Bob has an email called bob@cool.com and has a personal name called (L) Bob (L). If you search bob, nothing will up. If you search (L), Bob will come up. This search feature is horrible for people who have friends that constantly change their name.
Next, what you’ll need is a set of headphones much like the Apple iPhone ones that offer a pair of headphones and microphone. Xpress Canada offers very cheap in-ear headphones that offer the required mic.
If you’re looking for a more true calling application then TruPhone is the better option. It allows you to make free Wi-Fi calls with VoIP with other Touch users and Google Talk users. They have plans to add the ability to place calls to landlines. They also plan to offer services such as MSN, Twitter, Skype and Facebook.
Do you have a different method for turning your iPod Touch into a phone? If so, share it here.
Update: The new Apple iPod Touch that will be released sometime in September will have a built-in mic so you won’t have to buy headphones with a microphone. Read about the new Apple iPod Touch.
Posted by Technology Guider On January - 28 - 2009
In a shocking move today, the United States House of Representatives denied the bill to pass that would extend the digital tv transition date to June 12. Around 6.5 million American households are still not prepared for the switch that will now take place on February 17th 2009. All of them will have no access to government funds that would have helped them get discounts on the required equipment to prepare them as the fund has run dry. It was almost certain that the bill would pass and even this writer thought the date would be changed. This bill was special though as it needed 2/3 of the vote to pass. The vote was 258 to 168 in support of changing the transition date.
Personally, I am happy to hear that the transition is back on track where it should be, as I’ve seen countless ads supporting the move and to say “If you don’t have it, your screen is going to go black on February 17th 2009″ and not follow through on it, that would just put another lie in the books for the government. Soon the airwaves will be free for better things to come including more cell phone coverage and would open up competition.
What’s your take on the situation? Do you feel that the U.S. government made the right choice by sticking to the date? Share your opinion on this controversial issue.
Update: I’m sad to announce that the U.S. government somehow got the date pushed back to June 12, 2009. This is a setback and it has further caused the U.S. government to spend more money on advertising when it could have just bought those 7 million people a converter.
Posted by Technology Guider On January - 26 - 2009
Recently the iPhone Dev Team has created yellowsn0w and this has allowed users to unlock their Apple iPhone very easily. Once your contract is done, you’ll be able to switch it to any carrier or you can do that right now. The process to unlock your 3G iPhone is very easy. First off, make sure you have the correct Modem Firmware which is 02.28.00. To find this, go to Settings–>About and scroll down to the bottom. If it isn’t at this Baseband then go into iTunes and restore it, and update it back to 2.2. Then you’ll use QuickPwn to get it to 02.28.00. Now we are ready to unlock your iPhone.
Steps
Click Cydia
Click Manage
Click Sources
Click Edit
Type in apt9.yellowsn0w.com
Go back to Home screen
Take your old SIM card and insert your new SIM card
Power off and wait 10 seconds
After waiting 10 seconds power it on
On the top left, it should have the bars and your carrier
If not, repeat steps 8 through 10
Now you should have any unlocked Apple iPhone ready to use with the carrier of your choice. Remember if you are using T-Mobile that you’ll need to turn off 3G.
Do you have an iPhone? If so, share your thoughts on which plan is best to couple with the iPhone as there are many different alternatives as I am totally confused on this issue.
Posted by Technology Guider On January - 12 - 2009
The Apple iPod Touch is a unique device that has many options that are available to its users. Alot of people have no clue what the iPod Touch is capable of. It reminds me of my brothers BMW 3 Series where there are tons of small features that make the car more luxurious such as automatic side view mirrors that reflect down when you reverse so you can better see the parking lines or curbs. The Apple iPod Touch has tons of these such small features.
1. Take a Screenshot
Like your computer, the Apple iPod Touch can take a screenshot. Now there isn’t a print screen function but if you click and hold the Home button (round button at the bottom) and then tap the sleep button at the top left, it will take one for you. You’ll know its worked when the screen flashes. The screenshot will be saved in your Saved Photos section of your Apple iPod Touch. This unique feature is how I got many of my pictures for this post.
2. Save an Image
You can directly save a photo onto your Apple iPod Touch with the touch of your finger. All you have to do is hold down on the image with one of your many fingers and a screen will come up that allows you to save the image directly to your saved photos folder.
How to Save an Image
3. Magnifying Glass
I discovered this tool by accident and some of the best things have been discovered by accident. This is no exception. This tool will let you pick the exact place you want to put your cursor. By holding the text and moving your finger you’ll be able to exactly place your cursor. Sweet!
Magnifying Glass Tool
4. In-Screen Music Player
Hate it when you have to click the Home button to change your music or put it on pause while you are in an application? We’ll Apple has the solution for you. Click the Home button twice and an in-screen music player will pop up giving you control of your music.
In-Screen Music Player
5. Move Your Apps Around
I discovered this tool by accident as well and it provides another bonus. You can delete your apps with this method. Hold an app for about 2-3 seconds and they will start moving around. They will also have an “X” on the top left so you can delete any of them except the standard ones which come with your Apple iPod Touch. You can also move your apps anywhere you’d like by clicking, holding, and dragging them to there desired place.
6. See the link before you click it
A computer will tell you where a link is pointed to if you hover over it. Likewise with the Apple iPod Touch, if you click and hold any link, it will tell you where it’s pointed to.
With these little tips and tricks, you’ll be utilizing your Apple iPod Touch to its full potential.
For Christmas this year I got an Apple iPod Touch. This device, I have recently realized, is much more capable and versitile than I originally thought. It boggles me my people don’t pay the extra money to upgrade from a Nano to an iTouch. Since it is a 2G Apple iPod Touch, you cannot jailbreak it…yet. So with that, I am forced to download from the App Store and choose from the assortment of free Apps since I don’t usually like paying for things I don’t have to.
Update: After further examination of the applications available at the App Store I’ve decided to add more to the list.
1. MMPG – There are numerous possibilites if you want a Massive MultiPlayer Game such as iMob, iMafai (and its affiliates…New York & Los Angeles), Race Wars and its affiliate San Fransisco, Mafia Wars, iVampire, iNinja and iKnights. These games basically focus on Missions for the mob to get money. That money is used to buy properties which by the way pays rent, and the money is used for weapons so you can fight other users.
2. 2009 Awesome Facts – This application is so amazing. I was lucky to get the Pro version for free for a limited time but what you get there is a bunch of categories with random facts such as “Milton Bradley originally wanted to name the game Twister, Pretzel; but he could not since the name was copyrighted.”
3. IM+ Lite - This application is essential for people that want to be connected to MSN, GMail, Yahoo or anything like that. It organizes by categories if your in MSN and is really fast. It organizes your conversations all in one place so you can go back and forth. All you need to do is swipe left or right.
4. Howcast – This is a nice little application that focuses on How to videos by users that are big like VideoJug. It differs from Youtube because of the niche it hits, The How-to market. The application is very easy to use, much like YouTube and it has a wide variety of videos to choose from with its massive directory.
Sudoku
I’m a big fan of Sudoku and I hate erasing my notes and it really gets messy. So with this App, you can play Sudoku with “Smart Notes” which automatically get erased when you can no longer put that number there.
It also gives you the option of putting numbers in red when they are wrong. This is the best Sudoku App you can get and it’s free. It’s gotten me interested in Sudoku once again and you usually can’t keep me off of this.
Big Oven
What to cook is always a big question but with over 160 000 recipes located on this database you’ll never go hungry again. Shake your Touch or iPhone and it will give you a random recipe or enter some keywords into the search engine and you will get a bunch of different recipes. Having a huge recipe book in the palm of your hands is great.
Topple
This is one of the largest downloaded games on the AppStore because it is fun, challenging, and has a creative twist on Tetris. I personally haven’t gotten past the 5th level but it still is fun to try. There are challenges and regular levels for you to play and it definitely doesn’t seem like a free app to me.
TapDefense
This game is absolutely amazing. You can play without going online and it is just like the games developed on online sites like Flash Element TD and Canyon Defense on Miniclip. This game is much more challenging than these two and it will provide hours of entertainment. I do believe though it drains a bit more battery than normal but it’s well worth it.
AroundMe/Where
These two apps are very closely related and I just can’t seem to decide which one is better. They both basically as they seem, are apps that tell you what is around you such as gas stations, restaurants, and other things. It can be fully taken advantage of with the iPhone but it definitely has its uses. I find the Where app has more unique things whereas AroundMe is more traditional.
Honourable Mention: OntheGo
This app tells you the gas prices for the places in your area. It uses the database of gasbuddy.com to populate the numbers for gas price. This tool is definitely handy when you are just about to go out. Again, it’s even better with a data plan for the iPhone so you can access it all the time and “on the go”.
Do you have a favourite free iPod Touch application that isn’t on this list? I certainly do as there are just too many applications to list.
I recently purchased an iPod Touch 2G and I noticed that my battery was draining a little faster than I’d like it to. So I did some tests and tried to figure out the best ways to preserve the battery life and basically, they are pretty common sense.
1. First things, first, turn off your Wi-Fi when not in use. When I’m at school, I can’t access my Wi-Fi so there is no point, or if I’m at my house most of the time, I have easy access to my laptop.
2. On a related note, you should also turn off the “Ask to Join Networks” setting. Turning off the push data is also recommended.
3. Having anything customized like wallpaper will be a drag on your battery life. Keep the black screen as it really is traditional and cool.
4. Only every 30 charges or so should you let the battery go down to almost zero and then recharge. Usually you should charge in short bursts. I found this part on the internet and it seemed to work although it goes against my logic of constantly recharging drains the battery.
5. Keep the iPod Touch Auto-Lock feature to less than 3 minutes. It comes pre-set at 1 minute which I currently have.
6. Keep your brightness setting to a minimum. Personally, I still like to splurge and always have it on automatic but if you want to save more battery, let it sit around 50%.
7. Your iPod Touch should be up to date at all times. In the first generation, an updated firmware provided better battery life so it’s always good to keep your options open.
From using these tips and tricks, I know have noticed a considerable difference in my battery life and can do more on a tank of power.
iPod Touch Charging
If you any other ideas that worked for you to increase your battery life for your iPod Touch or iPhone then please don’t hesitate to share. I just might add it to this post.
