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Book DescriptioniPhone: The Missing Manual Sneak Preview: David Pogue's Favorite iPhone Tricks
The iPhone's finger-driven interface seems natural and obvious. But when you really think about it, making it seem that way was no easy task. There are no menus in the iPhone software, for example, and no checkboxes or radio buttons. Everything on the screen has to be big enough for a fleshy fingertip.
On the other hand, the finger makes an outstanding pointing device; heck, you've been pointing with it all your life. It's much faster to scroll diagonally with a fingertip, for example, than with fussy adjustments on two different scroll bars.
Here, then, are some of the iPhone's unadvertised taps, double-taps, and other shortcuts, all culled from iPhone: The Missing Manual.
Double-Tapping
Double-tapping is actually pretty rare on the iPhone. It's not like the Mac or Windows, where double-clicking the mouse means "open." On the iPhone, you open something with one tap.
A double tap, therefore, is reserved for three functions:
- In Photos, Google Maps, and Safari (the Web browser), double-tapping zooms in on whatever you tap, magnifying it by a factor of two.
- In the same programs, as well as Mail, double-tapping means, "restore to original size" after you've zoomed in. (Weirdly, in Google Maps, you use a different gesture to zoom out: tap once with two fingers. That gesture appears nowhere else on the iPhone.)
- When you're watching a video, double-tapping eliminates or restores letterbox bars.
See, the iPhone's screen is bright, vibrant, and stunningly sharp. It's not, however, the right shape for videos. Standard TV shows are squarish, not rectangular. So when you watch TV shows, you get black letterbox columns on either side of the picture.
Movies have the opposite problem. They're too wide for the iPhone screen. So when you watch movies, you wind up with letterbox bars above and below the picture. Some people are fine with that. At least when letterbox bars are onscreen, you know you're seeing the complete composition of the scene the director intended. Other people can't stand letterbox bars. You're already watching on a pretty small screen; why sacrifice some of that precious area to black bars? That's why the iPhone gives you a choice. If you double-tap the video as it plays, you zoom in, magnifying the image so that it fills the entire screen. Part of the image is now off the screen; now you're not seeing the entire composition originally broadcast. You lose the top and bottom of TV scenes, or the left and right edges of movie scenes. If this effect winds up chopping off something important--some text on the screen, for example--restoring the original letterbox view is just another double-tap away.
Secrets of the Sensors
The iPhone has three cool sensors. First, it has an accelerometer that detects when you've rotated the iPhone into landscape orientation. In programs like Photos, Safari, and iPod, it triggers the screen image to rotate as well.
Camouflaged behind the black glass where you can't see them except with a bright flashlight are two more sensors: a proximity sensor that shuts off the screen illumination and touch sensitivity when the phone is against your head (it works only in the Phone application), and an ambient-light sensor that brightens the display when you're in sunlight and dims it in darker places.
Apple says that it experimented with having the light sensor active all the time, but it was weird to have the screen get brighter and darker all the time. So the sensor now samples the ambient light, and adjusts the brightness; it does this only once--each time you unlock the phone after waking it.
You can use that tip to your advantage. By covering up the sensor (just above the earpiece) as you unlock the phone, you force it to a low-power, dim screen-brightness setting (because the phone believes that it's in a dark room). Or by holding it up to a light as you wake it, you get full brightness. In both cases, you've saved all the taps and navigation it would have taken you to find the manual brightness slider in Settings.
Earbud Cord Switch
Without close inspection, you'd have a hard time telling the iPhone's white stereo earbuds apart from a regular iPod's--but don't get them mixed up. The iPhone's earbuds have a tiny, embedded clicker/microphone partway down the right earbud cord.
That's right, "clicker/microphone." The tiny bulge is the microphone for phone calls. But if you pinch the bulge, you'll find that it clicks.
- Pinch once to answer an incoming phone call. Pinch for a couple seconds to dump the call to voicemail. (You can also double-tap the Sleep/Wake switch on top of the iPhone to send the call to voicemail.)
- During music or video playback, pinch once to pause the music; pinch again to resume playback.
- During music playback, double-pinch to skip to the next song.
Customizing the iPod Buttons
The iPod module on the iPhone starts out with buttons along the bottom for summoning four lists: Playlists, Artists, Songs, and Videos.
But what about Albums? Genres? Composers? They're there, all right, but hidden; you have to tap More to see them.
But what if you use those lists more often than Artists or Songs? No problem: you can replace one of those starter buttons with a list of your own.
Tap More, and then tap the Edit button (upper-left corner). You arrive at the Configure screen. Here's the complete list of music-and-video sorting lists: Albums, Podcasts, Audiobooks, Genres, Composers, Compilations, Playlists, Artists, Songs, and Videos.
To replace one of the four starter icons, use a finger to drag an icon from the top half of the screen downward, directly onto the existing icon you want to replace. It lights up to show the success of your drag.
When you release your finger, you'll see that the new icon has replaced the old one. Tap Done in the upper-right corner.
Keyboard Speedups
Don't bother using the Shift key to capitalize a new sentence. The iPhone does that capitalizing automatically. Don't put apostrophes in contractions, either; the iPhone will put those in for you, too.
Force Quit, Reset
The iPhone is pretty darned simple and stable, but it's still a computer. In times of troubleshooting, these tips may come in handy:
- Force quit a program. Press and hold the Home button for six seconds to force-quit a program that seems to be stuck.
- Reset. If the entire iPhone locks up--it can happen--press and hold both the Home button and the Sleep/Wake switch for eight seconds. You'll see the screen go black, and then the Apple logo appears as the iPhone reboots.
McCallum's Awesome iPhone Period-Typing Shortcut
I have in my possession a nugget, a secret bit of iPhone information that's so valuable, such a headache- and time-saver, that I don't know what to do with it.
One voice in my head says, "Hoard it! Keep it a secret until your book is published! If you reveal it, it'll be all over the Net in hours, and all your competitors' books will have it, too."
But another voice says, "But this information is too good to keep quiet. Plus, you didn't discover it yourself. And besides, you're not gonna starve, either way."
Eventually, the second little voice prevailed. I'm going to share with you the solution to one of the most annoying things, if not THE most annoying thing, about typing on the iPhone:
The punctuation keys and alphabet keys appear in two different keyboard layouts.
So every time you want to type a period or a comma, it's a three-step, awkward dance: (1) Tap the ".?123" key in the lower left to summon the punctuation layout. (2) Type the period. (3) Type the ABC key in the lower left to return to the alphabet layout.
Imagine how excruciating it is to type, for example, "a P.O. Box in the U.S.A.!" That's 34 finger taps and 10 mode changes!
And therefore imagine how thrilled I was to receive an email from reader Andrew McCallum, containing a method of typing a period or a comma with only a SINGLE finger gesture.
The iPhone doesn't register most key presses until you *release* your finger. But Andrew discovered that the Shift and Punctuation keys register their taps on the *press-down* instead.
So here's what you can do, all in one motion:
1. Touch the ".?123" key, but don't lift your finger as the punctuation layout appears.
2. Slide your finger a half inch onto the period or comma key, and release.
Incredibly, the ABC layout returns automatically. You've typed a period or a comma with one finger touch instead of three. In fact, you can type ANY of the punctuation symbols the same way.
This makes a HUGE difference in the usability of the keyboard.
Type on, bro.
* What's on the DVD:Provides step-by-step instructions for completing the following tasks: Setting Up Your iPod, Getting to Know the Controls, Locating Your Content on Your iPod, Playing Music on Your iPod, Adjusting and Limiting the Volume, Charging and Maintaining Your Battery, Getting to Know iTunes, Playing Your iPod through iTunes, Importing Music into iTunes, Ripping Music from a CD in iTunes, Burning Music to a CD in iTunes, Installing Software Upgrades, Setting Up an Account at the iTunes Store, Buying and Downloading Content from iTunes, Searching for and Sorting Content in iTunes, Retrieving Song Information Online, Editing Content Information in iTunes, Creating Playlists, Cross-Fading Playback on Your iPod, Synchronizing Your iPod with iTunes, and Backing Up Your Music.
* Series features: Information presented in the straightforward but fun language that has defined the Dummies series for more than fifteen years.
Focusing on building your ability to resolve end-user incident requests by configuring and troubleshooting the Microsoft Windows XP operating system in the corporate or home environment, this official study guide covers system installation, managing access to resources, configuring and troubleshooting hardware devices and drivers, configuring and troubleshooting the desktop and user environments, and troubleshooting network protocols and services.
Ace your exam preparation by working at your own pace through the lessons, hands-on exercises, and practice tests. The flexible, best-of-class test engine on CD-ROM features 425 practice questions. Choose timed or untimed testing mode, generate random tests or focus on discrete objectives or chapters, and get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers—including pointers back to the book for further study. You also get a 180-day evaluation version of Windows XP software and other resources on CD-ROM—making this kit an exceptional value and a great career investment.
Written by Doug Lowe, who's been managing corporate networks for more than 20 years, this helpful guide shows you how to work with all Windows XP service packs as well as Fedora Linux. It's made up of nine minibooks that cover
- Networking basics
- Building a network
- Network administration and security
- Troubleshooting and disaster planning
- TCP/IP and the Internet
- Home networking
- Wireless networking
- Windows 2003 server reference
- Linux reference
If you're a networking newbie, the first two minibooks gives you all the startup information to get your network up and running. If you've already done that, you're probably interested in keeping it running at peak performance. Book IV is loaded with information about finding, diagnosing, and fixing problems you might encounter. Looking for the scoop on keeping your network safe from online bad guys? Check Book III. Want to go wireless? Book VII tells you what you need to know.
In these pages, you’ll find out how to
- Plan your network, select interface cards, hubs, and routers, and install all the hardware and software
- Set up your network so it’s easy to use but hard to break into
- Create a disaster recovery plan
- Understand IP addresses, subnetting, routing, DHCP, DNS, and other TCP/IP protocols and tools
- Incorporate other gadgets into your home network, including VoIP Internet-based telephone service
- Take advantage of the economical Linux networking alternative
Best of all, it's easy to locate what you need. There's even a handy "cheat sheet" that puts really important information about cabling rules, private IP address ranges, valuable network administration tips, and helpful Web sites at your fingertips. With this book on hand, you’ll experience a net increase in your networking prowess!
This book is perfect for people with little technical training but a lot of interest. Maybe you're a science teacher who wants to show students how to monitor weather conditions at several locations at once, or a sculptor who wants to stage a room of choreographed mechanical sculptures. Making Things Talk demonstrates that once you figure out how objects communicate -- whether they're microcontroller-powered devices, email programs, or networked databases -- you can get them to interact.
Each chapter in contains instructions on how to build working projects that help you do just that. You will:
- Make your pet's bed send you email
- Make your own seesaw game controller that communicates over the Internet
- Learn how to use ZigBee and Bluetooth radios to transmit sensor data wirelessly
- Set up communication between microcontrollers, personal computers, and web servers using three easy-to-program, open source environments: Arduino/Wiring, Processing, and PHP.
- Write programs to send data across the Internet based on physical activity in your home, office, or backyard
- And much more
Comprehensive Real-World Guidance for Every Embedded Developer and Engineer
This book brings together indispensable knowledge for building efficient, high-value, Linux-based embedded products: information that has never been assembled in one place before. Drawing on years of experience as an embedded Linux consultant and field application engineer, Christopher Hallinan offers solutions for the specific technical issues you’re most likely to face, demonstrates how to build an effective embedded Linux environment, and shows how to use it as productively as possible.
Hallinan begins by touring a typical Linux-based embedded system, introducing key concepts and components, and calling attention to differences between Linux and traditional embedded environments. Writing from the embedded developer’s viewpoint, he thoroughly addresses issues ranging from kernel building and initialization to bootloaders, device drivers to file systems.
Hallinan thoroughly covers the increasingly popular BusyBox utilities; presents a step-by-step walkthrough of porting Linux to custom boards; and introduces real-time configuration via CONFIG_RT--one of today’s most exciting developments in embedded Linux. You’ll find especially detailed coverage of using development tools to analyze and debug embedded systems--including the art of kernel debugging.
- Compare leading embedded Linux processors
- Understand the details of the Linux kernel initialization process
- Learn about the special role of bootloaders in embedded Linux systems, with specific emphasis on U-Boot
- Use embedded Linux file systems, including JFFS2--with detailed guidelines for building Flash-resident file system images
- Understand the Memory Technology Devices subsystem for flash (and other) memory devices
- Master gdb, KGDB, and hardware JTAG debugging
- Learn many tips and techniques for debugging within the Linux kernel
- Maximize your productivity in cross-development environments
- Prepare your entire development environment, including TFTP, DHCP, and NFS target servers
- Configure, build, and initialize BusyBox to support your unique requirements
About the Author
Christopher Hallinan, field applications engineer at MontaVista software, has worked for more than 20 years in assignments ranging from engineering and engineering management to marketing and business development. He spent four years as an independent development consultant in the embedded Linux marketplace. His work has appeared in magazines, including Telecommunications Magazine, Fiber Optics Magazine, and Aviation Digest.
Apple’s iPhone, puts the world virtually in your pocket. But because it does so much, there’s a lot to know about using it! This full-color guide shows you how to find and play music and videos; use the full-featured keyboard; get driving directions and stock quotes; send e-mail; take, browse, and organize photos; work with contacts and appointments — and even talk on the phone. You'll find out how to:
- Activate your own service
- Master the multitouch interface
- Turn on the speaker phone
- Use Visual Voicemail
- Get video, podcasts, and RSS feeds
- Surf the Web with your iPhone
- Browse your iTunes library and create playlists
- Send and receive text messages and notes
- Choose wallpaper and ringtones
- Troubleshoot problems
- Lock your iPhone and secure your stuff
iPhone For Dummies comes complete with tantalizing lists of awesome accessories, wonderful widgets, and fantastic things to wish for—once you finally stop gushing and drooling and playing with your sparkly, new iPhone long enough to wish for anything else!
Whether you’ve been using Windows XP, Vista, or even Linux, you’ll find simple, straightforward ways to make your transition go smoothly. That will leave you plenty of time to get familiar with Mac’s prodigious and dynamic OS X capabilities. You’ll also connect with iLife, Mac’s amazing integrated software suite that lets you turn your computer into a powerful media center—not just for listening and watching, but for creating music, video, and much more. Discover how to:
- Decide whether the switch to Mac is right for you
- Choose the Mac that will change your life
- Keep and reuse elements of your old setup
- Go online with your Mac
- Connect to your home network—even that old PC
- Go media crazy with iTunes, iPhoto and more
- Take advantage of Mac’s business capabilities
Complete with handy cheat sheet of common Mac short cuts and commands as well as a glossary of Mac world lingo, Switching to Mac For Dummies ensures that your switch will be the smartest thing you ever do.
BlackBerryFor Dummies,2nd Edition comes to the rescue with just what you need to know to get the most from this amazing device. It covers the newest BlackBerry models and all the latest developments, like SureType vs. QWERTY keyboards and the new trackball navigation method. You’ll discover how to set up your BlackBerry as a full-fledged PDA, but also how to use the camera, play music and videos, make phone calls, and know where you are with GPS. BlackBerryFor Dummies, 2nd Edition shows you how to:
- Surf the Web and send and receive e-mail
- Keep your calendar, contacts, and to-do list
- Make your BlackBerry a mobile mini-office
- Sync data with your desktop
- Install a MicroSD card for extra memory
- Watch movies and listen to music
- Let your BlackBerry double as a laptop modem
- Protect your personal information
- Use your BlackBerry almost anywhere in the world
Because the BlackBerry world changes so quickly, BlackBerryFor Dummies, 2nd Edition features a companion Web site that maintains the latest news and updates, so you’ll always be up to date. It’s a pretty sweet deal!
* Descriptions of the various distributions from people in the Linux community help users zero in on the best Linux for their needs
* The perfect migration guide for Windows and Macintosh desktop users who want to switch to Linux, as well as for systems administrators who want to set up secure, fully functioning server systems
* Covers Linux embedded systems, firewalls, and routers plus desktops and servers
* Includes Fedora Core 3, Debian Linux, SUSE Linux, Knoppix, Gentoo Linux, Slackware Linux, Mandrake Linux, Damn Small Linux, and a Linux firewall and router on DVD
* Laptop sales recently surpassed those of desktop machines-a trend that seems likely to continue
* A must for laptop newbies as well as road warriors who need to get the most out of their machines
* Covers synchronizing with the desktop, accessing the desktop remotely, coordinating e-mail pickup between two machines, wireless networking, managing power, and securing a laptop
BUILD IT. FIX it. OWN IT.
A Beginner’s Guide to Building and Upgrading a PC
Build It. Fix It. Own It. is the ultimate beginner’s guide to building and fixing your own PC. With a friendly, knowledgeable tone, this book shows the beginning PC builder everything he or she needs to know to build a computer or upgrade an existing one.
We step you through the parts that lurk inside a PC, from the motherboard and power supply to the CPU, memory, hard drive, video card, sound card, and networking hardware. In each case, you will learn how the hardware works, what it does, what types of hardware are available, and what to look for when buying the hardware.
Then we walk you step-by-step though a series of PC building projects. We show you how to build five different types of PC: a basic business PC, a home theater PC, a high-performance PC, a killer gaming PC, and a budget PC. And if building a new PC from scratch isn’t in your budget, we show you how to resurrect an old PC by swapping out a few key components.
When you have your PC built and running, we show you how to set up a wireless network and the BIOS and maintain your new rig.
Build It. Fix It. Own It. is the ultimate PC builder’s guide, even if you’ve never ventured inside a PC case before!
Author Bio
Paul McFedries is one of the industry’s most well known and respected technical writers and is a passionate computer tinkerer. He is the author of more than 70 computer books that have sold more than three million copies worldwide. His recent titles include the Sams Publishing books Windows Vista Unleashed and Windows Home Server Unleashed and the Que Publishing books Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista, Formulas and Functions with Microsoft Excel 2007, Tricks of the Microsoft Office 2007 Gurus, and Microsoft Access 2007 Forms, Reports, and Queries. Paul also is the proprietor of Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), a website devoted to tracking new words and phrases as they enter the English language.
Category Hardware
Covers PC Hardware
User Level Beginner—Intermediate
