Top Ten Tips and Tricks on iPhone, Auckland, New Zealand, David Lim

Here are top ten tips and tricks for iPhone which will make your navigation process easy.

Check the following top ten tips and tricks for iPhone. You can use these tricks to make your digital life simpler.

Home Button This button is your all time best buddy. While playing around with iPhone if you are lost, just press the Home button. You will get back to your familiar iPhone Home screen. The Home button is always located at the bottom.

Remember your own Phone Number

• If you have problems remembering your phone number, first hit the home button.
• Select settings in the bottom right corner.
• Scroll down to Phone, select it, and then look at the top center of the screen. You get your number there.

Modify iPod Menu Buttons Go to main menu. Select the iPod icon. Now select the More icon. Click the Edit icon. You can drag the icon down into the menu over the icon you want replaced.

Mailing Safari URL Go to the page that you want to mail in Safari Now tap the address bar, which will show the address bar. Click the Share button at the top left corner. A compose email shall open with the URL included as the message of the email. It will also have the subject line. You can add the email address and click on send.

Exit Frozen application

If you think a program or an application is frozen for quite a long time, you can close it by pressing and holding the home button for few seconds until it releases.

Move and Delete items

• Need to go into your favorites or mail messages or other items screen.
• Now click the Edit button.
• You can delete an item by clicking the red icon beside the name.
• Confirm the deletion.
• If you want to move a Bookmark or Favorite, click the icon to the right of the name.
• And then slide the name to the position you wish.
• One more way to slide your finger from left to right, over the item, which shows the delete button.
  

Hard Reset Press and hold the sleep or wake button on top of the iPhone, and the Home button on the button front for few seconds. You will see the apple logo.. let it go and iPhone will reboot.

Power down and Power Up

• Press and hold the sleep or wake, which is at the top of iPhone for several seconds.
• You will see the screen changing and will display Slide to Power Off.
• Slide the Power off button from left to right.
• If you want to turn your phone back on, press the same on/off button on the top of the phone for a few seconds. It will start up again.

Automatic mail checking

• Go to home screen. Tap the settings icon, and then the mail section.
• Tap the Auto check option. You will get it once you scroll down.
• Select the how frequently you want your mail updated.
  

Enabling Caps Lock Feature

• Click on Settings in the home screen.
• Click on General on the next screen.
• Now touch the keyboard button.
• You will find a tap next to Enable Caps Lock. Click on it.
• To use this feature, double tap the shift key and you will see it turning blue. It implies that you are in the caps locks mode.
• Tap the shift key again to quit the caps lock mode.

3G Apple iPhone Short Cut, Auckland, New Zealand, David Lim

Iphone3gidea_3 The iPhone has many hidden (or, at least, not so obvious) shortcuts that can make the iPhone much easier and faster to use. For example, as noted in my last post, the latest iPhone software update adds the feature to press the Home button to return to the first page of your Home screen. Here are some other shortcuts that I use all the time. [UPDATE: Click here for a more recent post with even more shortcuts.]

1. Comma shortcut. When you are typing and want to quickly add a comma, press and hold the 123 button and then without lifting your finger, slide your finger over to the comma and then release. After doing so you will have a comma and will be back in the letter mode and can keep typing your sentence. You can also use this trick to get a period, although if you are at the end of a sentence the faster way to get a period is to tap the space bar twice. In fact, the hold 123 and slide method can be used for any symbol, such as the question mark or the parenthesis, although it is a little easier for those keys closer to the 123 key.

2. Scroll to top. In Safari and many other applications, you can very quickly scroll back up to the top of the screen by taping on the status bar at the top of the screen (where the time is displayed). This is useful not only because you can start reading the top of a page, but also because many applications put useful fields at the top of the page, such as the address and search field in Safari or the search field in Contacts.
3. Domain resolution. When you are typing an address in Safari, you don't need to type the "www." part or the ".com" part. For example, if you go to the URL field and just type iphonejd Safari will automatically change it to www.iphonejd.com and take you to this website.

4. Reset. If something seems to be wrong with your iPhone, you can reset it to start fresh. To do so, hold down both the Home button and the sleep/wake button (the one at the top) for about 10 seconds. You can also force quit just a specific application that you are using by holding down the Home button for about 6 seconds or so.

5. Hold on. When you are using the keyboard, you can often hold down a key for a few seconds to see more options. For example, when you are in Safari and typing a URL, the .com button at the bottom allows you to easily enter .com, but if you hold down the .com button for about two seconds you will see other options pop up (.org, .edu, .net, etc.). Or if you are typing an e-mail and you want to add an accent to a letter you can just hold down the letter for two seconds. Hold down the E key for a few seconds and you can enter an é. If you are typing an e-mail address in the TO field of an e-mail, you can hold down the period for two seconds to see a pop up menu that lets you quickly add .com, .org, .net, .edu, etc.

6. Swipe to delete. The fastest way to delete a single e-mail when you are looking at a list of e-mails is to swipe your finger from left to right across the e-mail, as if you are crossing out an item on a list. That will cause a red Delete button to appear so that you can confirm that you want to delete. If you want to delete a bunch of messages, then the fastest way is to tap the Edit button and tap the circles next to the left of each e-mail you want to delete and then tap the Delete button.

7. Tap the bottom corner. As noted above, you can now quickly get back to your first Home screen by pressing the Home button. Most people switch between screens by swiping across the screen to the left or the right. Another way to do it, one that sometimes feels faster, is to tap once near the corner, just to the left or the right of the row of dots that indicate which screen you are on.

8. Contractions. When you are typing an e-mail, the iPhone suggests some contractions automatically. Type cant and the iPhone will suggest can't. (And of course, to accept a suggestion you just tap the space bar; to reject a suggestion you tap the x next to the suggested word.) But if you type well the iPhone normally won't suggest we'll because, well, well is a word. But for we'll and many other words, if you type the last letter an extra time, the iPhone will then suggest the contraction for you. Type welll and the iPhone will suggest we'll. Type weree and the iPhone will suggest we're. In the past, I used the trick with I'll and it's, but now I find that when I type ill and its the iPhone automatically suggests the contraction without needing to add an extra key. This happens because the iPhone learns your words as you type and adds them to the custom dictionary -- which, by the way, you can always reset if necessary by going to Settings --> General --> Reset --> Reset Keyboard Dictionary.

9. Get a 3G signal. Sometimes I see that blue E at the top telling me that my iPhone is using the slow Edge network when I know that I am in an area that has 3G. A quick way to get your iPhone to lock in on a 3G signal is to turn on airplane mode for just a second and then turn airplane mode off. Airplane mode is the first option when you tap Settings.
10. I'm sorry, your Honor! We all know to flip the switch and put your iPhone in vibrate mode when you are in court, a deposition, etc., right? But what if you forget and need to QUICKLY stop your iPhone from ringing before you get sanctioned? Press the sleep/hold button at the top of your iPhone once and it will silence the ringer. Press that button twice and it will both silence the ringer and send the call to voicemail -- and hopefully you already had the New Voicemail alert sound turned off. (Settings --> Sounds --> New Voicemail).

Hopefully some of these are new to you, and I would love to hear about your favorite tips and tricks.

Wierd News: Tight Squeeze

A woman squeezes herself into a transparent suitcase to raise awareness about human trafficking and mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at an airport in Munich, Germany, on Dec. 11. The sticker on the left reads: "Stop Human Trafficking! 60 Years of Human Rights." Note: Viewership of this blog is 5,887 as of 8:56PM, 12-Dec-2008

Worst Business Jargon Phrases (Auckland, New Zealand, "David Lim")

Worst business jargon phrases, according to a British survey. (Use them as much as you can today!)

1. Thinking outside of the box.
2. Touch base.
3. At the end of the day.
4. Going forward.
5. All of it.
6. Blue sky thinking.
7. Out of the box.
8. Credit crunch.
9. Heads up.
10. Singing from the same hymn sheet.
11. Pro-active.
12. Downsizing.
13. Ducks in a row.
14. Brainstorming.
15. Thought shower.
16. 360-degree thinking.
17. Flag it up.
18. Pushing the envelope.
19. At this moment in time.
20. In the loop.

(Source: Telegraph.co.uk)

Largest Christmas Tree in New Zealand to be lighted up! 2008, Xmas, Monavie

TVNZ, 08-Dec-2008, Auckland, New Zealand--Hamilton's night sky is sparkling as its giant Christmas tree is switched on.

The tree took over 10 days to be assembled.

It's believed to be the largest artificial tree in the country, standing at 25 metres and boasting 130,000 lights and 4000 baubles.

The tree cost $170,000, with the money being raised by the community and local businesses.

Note: Viewership of this blog is 5,761 as of 11:33PM, 08-Dec-2008

Hercules: The World's Biggest Dog Ever According to Guinness World Record

Hercules: The World's Biggest Dog Ever According to Guinness World Records. Hercules was recently awarded the honorable distinction of World's Biggest Dog by Guinness World Records. Hercules is an English Mastiff who has a 38-inch neck and weighs 282 pounds.  With "paws the size of softballs" (reports the Boston Herald), the three-year-old monster is far larger and heavier than his breed's standard 200lb. limit. Hercules' owner Mr. Flynn says that Hercules weight is natural and not induced by a bizarre diet: "I fed him normal food and he just "grew" and grew....

The Fastest Turtle in the World: The Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea)

Have you ever think of what is fastest turtle species? The Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest of all living turtles. This is the only living species of the genus Dermochelys. As a sea turtle, the leatherback turtle is the largest and heaviest. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by the absence of a reservoir bone. Instead, the shell of the leatherback turtle is covered by skin and turtle meat fat. Dermochelys coriacea is the only existing member of the family Dermochelyidae. They are also the fastest reptile on record. The 1992 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records has the leatherback turtle as having reached a speed of 9.8 meters per second (35.28 kph or 21.9 mph) in water. Source: Wikipedia

If the Shoe Fits . . ."Just Do it", Nike, Urban Legeng, Folklore

Claim: The Samburu tribesman appearing in a Nike commercial was supposed to say the equivalent of "Just Do It" in his native language, but he said something entirely different instead.
Status: True.

Origins: Everyone loves a good tale of corporate mayhem. Here's a short version of this 1989 news story:
Nike has a television commercial for hiking shoes that was shot in Kenya using Samburu tribesmen.

The camera closes in on the one tribesman who speaks, in native Maa. As he speaks, the Nike slogan "Just do it" appears on the screen.

Lee Cronk, an anthropologist at the University of Cincinnati, says the Kenyan is really saying, "I don't want these. Give me big shoes."

Says Nike's Elizabeth Dolan, "We thought nobody in America would know what he said."
Business blunders delight us in that we like to see the powerful with a bit of egg on their faces. The facts of this story aren't in dispute — there was such a commercial, it was shot in Kenya, and over a subtitle of "Just Do It" the tribesman said "I don't want these. Give me big shoes" in his native Maa. But why did this happen? And was Nike aware of what the man was really saying, or had they been caught flatfooted?

Nike's explanations were contradictory:
Nike spokeswoman Liz Dolan said Cronk is correct. "We knew what he was saying," Dolan said. "It was our line."

She said Nike originally intended to have the commercial end with a joke line in which the tribesman complained that Nike sent him the wrong size. But the editors decided the simple Nike slogan worked better. "It was so lovely and beautiful, we dropped the joke," she said.

Dolan also said the tribesman repeated a phrase that is the Maa equivalent of "Just do it," but the video of the other phrase worked better. "The Maa version of 'Just Do it' was too lengthy" for a 30-second spot, she said.
and Nike contends that an earlier script called for the tribesman's ironic comment, but the company decided in the end to stick with its slogan in the subtitle. So far so good — at this point it sounds like Nike changed the script at the last second, that they knew what the fellow was saying but went with it anyway because this particular string of Maa sounded better to North American ears than an accurate one would have. Bit brainless of them not to realize that someone in the viewing audience was bound to know enough Maa to get the joke, but still a far cry from unintentionally ending up the goat in this story.

Another explanation was surfacing, however:
An embarrassed Nike spokesman admits the film crew had to improvise after having difficulty in obtaining a Maa version of the slogan. "We never really knew what the tribesmen were saying," concedes director Hannah Hempstead.
All spin doctoring attempts aside, I'm inclined to believe the director. Adding to her credibility is this snippet from a 1990 magazine article:
The Samburu tribe was Hempstead's cast for the :30 Nike spot. The Samburu speak the Mah language, and the crew's translator spoke Swahili. This caused a minor communication glitch that was partially remedied by pointing to pictures in a book on the Masai tribe to show the cast what was needed on film.

True or not, tales of inappropriate foreign phrases sneaked into films have been around for many years, as evidenced by this anecdote from the pen of M*A*S*H star Jamie Farr:
I remembered one Saturday night back at the Rivoli in Toledo. Everyone in the neighborhood (including most of the Arab-American community in Toledo) had turned out to see "Sirocco" with Humphrey Bogart [1951], set somewhere in North Africa. There was one scene in a crowded bazaar. As Bogart passed through, and the scene began to fade, one Arab voice rang out, "Ya hallah deen bayak!" That almost brought the house down. "What?" The non-Arabs in the house wanted to know: "What is everybody laughing about?" My buddy, Gregory Morris, decided he would translate . . . "That means, 'Goddamn your father.'"

Okay, so what's the international sign for "Just do it"?

The art of the toilet in Japan

Smart young women at Panasonic show off the latest waresDuncan Bartlett discovers how, when it comes to lavatories, Japan is a step ahead of the rest of the world.
No country takes toilets quite so seriously as Japan.

Machines with heated seats, built-in bidets and a dynamic range of flushing options are almost ubiquitous in homes and public buildings.

A poem recently published by a stressed-out salary man captured their comforting appeal with haiku-like brevity. "The only warmth in my life is the toilet seat," he mourned.
But lavatories here can do much more than keep you warm. One even sends a tiny electrical charge through the user's buttocks to check their body-fat ratio. The master of the modern convenience is the Panasonic Corporation.

Booming market

At its Tokyo showroom, located in a skyscraper near the BBC's office, a group of smart young women, dressed in uniforms resembling flight attendants, showed me the company's latest wares.
The lids lifted up when I approached. If I stood in front of one, it took a guess at my gender and lifted up the seat as well.

There was a loo that glowed in the dark and another that had built-in loudspeakers.
With manicured fingernails, the demonstrator pushed the control panel beside the seat and gentle light classical music began to play. Pleasant enough, I thought, although I preferred a pastoral sound effect that provided the impression one was seated upon a white plastic throne surrounded by songbirds in a springtime meadow.

Japanese people do not see cleaning as a demeaning or shameful jobKyoko Ishii, who heads up the public relations department for Panasonic, explained to me that most of the people who choose luxury loos are older women, so this is a booming market in rapidly ageing Japan.
Kyoko says that for this core customer group, the emphasis now is less on the gadgetry and more on convenience and cleanliness. A new flush has been invented which does away with the need for a tank and saves dramatically on water.

The device costs about £1,950 ($3,000) including installation. But it is not easy to sell outside Japan as bathrooms in other countries are rarely fitted with the right mixture of sophisticated plumbing and electronics.

Clean culture

A visitor to Tokyo recently told me that he was surprised to find Japanese women rather than foreigners cleaning the toilets in his hotel.

Advertisements for toilets are screened on public transportIt is of course often immigrants who take on such jobs in rich countries. But foreign-born workers are rare here as only about 1.5% of the population are made up of non-native Japanese.

However, the low immigration level is only part of the explanation. Japanese people do not see cleaning as a demeaning or shameful job. School children are trained from a young age to sweep their classrooms and scour the playground for litter. Lorry drivers wash their trucks at the end of every day. No restaurant ever serves a meal without first offering the customer a cleansing towel.
Recently, I visited a small technology company in Osaka. The president, Mr Sugimoto, is trying to inspire his staff to work harder as recession takes hold.

The Japanese - like the British - do not seem to mind too much when comedians sink into vulgarity and joke about scatological matters He is noted for his drive and enthusiasm and that came across in a punchy presentation which he showed me on his laptop.

It included photographs of his staff on their knees scrubbing the urinals. His point was that in preparation for a new project, the whole team had mucked in to clean up the workplace and this was clearly a source of pride to be included in the company's publicity.

Source of comfort

But toilets can raise a smile, too. Television comedies sometimes include scenes of pranksters luring people into loos whose walls then collapse, and the embarrassment this causes the victim is a source of great hilarity.

The toilet then appeared to give a welcoming robotic smile and its seat began to glow an inviting orange colour as it heated up, ready for action The Japanese - like the British - do not seem to mind too much when comedians sink into vulgarity and joke about scatological matters. But there is also a dark underground trade in DVDs filmed in ladies' toilets by hidden cameras, and only last week a man was arrested for placing "spycams" in the lavatories of a girls' school. Most of the time, though, the Japanese are happy to think of a toilet as their comfort and their friend.

The other day, while catching a commuter train to work, I found myself transfixed by an advertisement which was being screened on a TV inside the carriage.

A young girl slowly walked towards a loo, which automatically raised its lid to greet her.
The toilet then appeared to give a welcoming robotic smile and its seat began to glow an inviting orange colour as it heated up, ready for action. Fortunately, the advertisement ended there. But not before a broad and appreciative smile broke out across the face of the girl.