Category: Cool Features

Battery Saving iPhone Tips Of The Day!

 

 

Happy Sunday Guys! Hope you’re having an awesome day filled with endless mimosa’s, friends and laughter!

 

but…

 

Whatcha going to do when your iPhone dies? And you’re stuck full of mimosa’s and you can’t figure out how to get where you need to be!? Huh? huh Mr & Mrs Mimosa? Because…

 

 

We got you! If you’re worried about the battery on your beloved iPhone running out, there’s a couple of things you can do. Hoorah!

 

 

1. Are you in a cave? No? Turn your brightness down!  Settings> Wallpapers & Brightness ( Or Brightness & Wallpapers on pre-iOS 7).

 

2. At a concert? No? Turn your volume down! (uh… we hope we don’t really need to say this, but it’s the buttons on the side.)

 

2.  Sometimes you just don’t need to be sending diagnostics to Apple, you know? This eats up your battery life, so turn it off!  Settings -> General -> About -> scroll to the bottom of the screen.Click on Diagnostics & Usage and switch it to ‘Don’t send’.

 

3. Turn things off. Like Bluetooth. What, are you playing music through a wireless speaker while drinking mimosa’s? Well, that sounds pretty awesome actually. But if you need to save battery, turn it off!

 

We figure Unless you’re in a foreign country and relying on Wifi – turn that mother off! Settings> Wifi> switch to off.

 

If you’re down to urgent battery levels you can even turn your phone on Airplane mode until you need to use it, saves a boatload of battery!

 

4. Close out all of your Apps. in iOS 6 and below, double click the home button, press an App until it wiggles, then touch the red circles until it disapears. On iOS 7, double click the home button then swipe each image of an App that appears upwards until it disappears.

 

We hope these tips will help you out some, and we’ll be letting you know some more long term battery saving tips and tricks in the next week!

 

High five!

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Maypalo.com, Quickmeme.com, 8tracks.com, & Grandfather.com

Perfect Valentines Day iPhone Accessories & Apps!

 

 

Happy Valentines day! Here we have loads of lovey dovery, sweet fun & funky Apps and iDevice accessories especially for the day that celebrates love and all of it’s weird and small relations.

 

1. You can’t go past custom made iPhone cases on handicraft E-commerce site Etsy! Just look at these, you’ll either go ‘awwww’ or throw up. Like this one: 

 

 

 

 

2. Also on Etsy, romantic iPhone case designs that spread across both your and your partners iPhones. Awwwblurhg

 

 

 

 

3. Be Mine ($0.99) or Be Mine Lite (Free). An App for making Valentines day cards complete with the ability to use your own text, images and photos overlaid into one spectacular card that saved and exported. We made this one, because we’re pretty specially talented.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Nordstoms have a bunch of Love themed iPhone cases that are pretty radical.  $14.99

 

 

 

5. Valentine Radio. An App that lets you hear all the sweet dulcet tones of love songs from radio stations streaming live to your iDevice from all over the world. Free!

 

 

 

 

6. Foodie Recipes. Free App that has awesome recipe’s for two for that romantic valentines meal you’re cooking together/for each other. Homemade Ravioli, Croque Monsiur & Avocado Dark Chocolate Madeleines? Heck Yes I love you!!!

 

 

 

 

7. Cyclops iPad cover dude! Microfibre Arms! Makes your love one’s iPad cuddly and cute for when you’re not around to be cuddly and cute! Get it for $25 at ilovehandles.com

 

 

8. True Love – Cute Snail Cartoon Travelling Speaker from Zazzle – $22.95

 

 

9. Pink hearts pattern sleeves for iPads – A little bit expensive at $48.95, but what wouldn’t you pay to make your true love happy? Huh? HUH?

 

 

 

 

10. For those a little bit web-savvy, why not create a surprise website for the one your heart desires? It’s kind of like naming a star for them, but on the internet and in the future. No stars in the future! Godaddy.com has cheap domains for sale, like the following, which we may or may not own now:

 

 

 

 

 

11. For some, Valentines day is commercial and stupid. On Etsy, get something like this to tell them how you really feel:

 

 

 

 

 

12. And finally, if things are looking a little craptacious this year and you want a better valentines day date next year- Try out  Ok Cupid and Tinder. Eiffel tower with champagne and pearls / Monaco with poker and steak here you come!

 

 

 

 

If you’re going all out and getting him or her what they really really want (apart from the above, obviously) – an iDevice – check here to see when you need to order it online from Apple so it makes it to your place before the big V day!

 

( And then tell them that you know the perfect people to sell their stinky old iDevice to.. uh, Sell your iPhone with iPhone Antidote!  Cos then they can use that money to buy YOU something awesome because of the awesome gift you got them for Valentines Day! And because they love you. Yay!)

 

Also! VALENTINES DEAL OF THE DAY! The good old melting hearts over at iMore.com are giving everyone 14% off everything in the iMore store! Here’s the link, simply use coupon code VDAY13 at checkout!

 

 

Last but not least, Happy Valentines Day Guys. We… well, it’s hard to say this but.. we really, really, um, like you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of  Petmd.com, Etsy.com, Nordstroms, Wisdomportal.com, Quickmeme, ilovehandles.com, Zazzle, Etsy, Viator & Inotternews.com

iPhone Tip Of The Day! How to lock your screen orientation!

Sometimes, we wanna look at the world like this:

 

 

 

 

Horizontally! ( Cos it’s like the horizon, see?)

 

Sometimes, we wanna look at the world like this:

 

 

 

 

Vertically! (Coz, it’s, like, vertical)

 

Your iDevice does both! Magic! Your device should switch from vertical to horizontal orientation depending on at what angle you’re holding the device, and it should choose the view based on what is best for you at that point in time.

 

But.

 

It does get it wrong, sometimes. Sometimes you’re lying in bed and reading and it decides that BAM NOW YOU SEE THINGS THE OTHER WAY.

 

 

Except sometimes looking at life from a different perspective is just realllllly annoying, stupid orientation moving the wrong way.

 

So here’s what you do! In iOS 7- simply drag the control centre from the bottom of the screen. Three quarters along to the right you’ll see a lock symbol. Like this:

 

 

 

Angle your iDevice so it’s vertical/horizontal- however you want it to be for task you’re doing (playing mushroom wars does SO count as a task). Press the lock and it will say Orientation Lock on. Press it again and it will say Orientation off.

 

In iOS 6, press the home button twice. This will bring up the dash, which, if you swipe to the right you’ll see the same lock as pictured above. Press it on and off to turn the orientation on and off.

 

CAKE!

 

mmmm cake…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of  Gizmodo.com.au, imore, findyourmiddleground.com, osxdaily.com & Solofoods.com

Website Overstock now accepting bitcoin

 

 

Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin. What are we to do with you? Not a lot of people know about you, far less understand you or how you work, you’re super unstable and yet you’re growing. You’re the new in thing to talk about in media and that somehow continues to be the new in thing to talk about as if you know what you’re talking about.

 

Honesty corner: We don’t really know what we’re talking about when it comes to Bitcoin, but this is what we do know: It’s a cybercurrency that is created, distributed and authenticated outside of banks or governments.

 

 

People mine for them using their own computers by assisting other people’s Bitcoin transactions. And then they have them, and they can spend them. Right? We’re learning! We feel like it might be a thing we really need to learn, because it’s moving from a thing that you read about on the internet, to a thing that people are using as proper currency on the internet quite quickly.

 

Case in point: Online discount retailer Overstock.com is now accepting Bitcoin. In fact, more than 800 purchases, equaling $130,000 were made in the first 24 hours the company was accepting the cybercurrency.

 

Patrick Byrne, the company’s chariman and CEO had this to say:

 

“Digital currency will be an important part of the future and Overstock is excited to be the first major online shopping retailer to accept it,” said Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com chairman and CEO. ”As one who believes in limited government, this attracts me because it is a form of money that no government mandarin can will it into existence.”

 

More retailers are saying they will be accepting Bitcoin – most recently the Sacramento Kings, making them the first professional sports franchise to accept them starting on March 1st this year in the team store and in ticket sales.

 

Kings owner Vivek Ranadive says accepting Bitcoins is the next step in allowing fans to leave their wallets at home. Solving situations like this one, at the very least;

 

 

 

 

Other companies such as Paypal are considering making the move to accepting the currency in the future. In the meantime they are perhaps waiting for it to stabilize, perhaps they too are unsure of what the consequences are of accepting the currency. On Thursday, one Bitcoin was worth approximately $850.

 

Meanwhile, Kanye West has sued, and won against similar cybercurrency Coinye for using his image. Silly Fish Sticks. Doesn’t he know it’s the way of the future? We could’ve all been using Coinye!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Watchdog.org, Fundaminer.com, Quickmeme & Dailymail.co.uk.

 

iPhone Tip Of The Day!

 

Wassup kids? IT’S ALMOST THE WEEKEND!!

 

Want an extra way to see all the phone calls and text messages you’re getting inviting you to awesome parties this weekend?

 

We got you!

 

Your iPhone can give you a visual alert for incoming calls and texts. Just go to Settings > General > Accessibility and turn on LED Flash for Alerts.

 

It’s like your phone’s already getting the party started!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Quickmeme.

Another Google secret!

Happy Humpday!

 

Wednesday is almost Thursday. Thuuuuursday is so close to being friday which is pretty much the weekend and the weekend means beers and the beach right? Or, wait, family quality time. That’s what we meant.

 

To help you guys out with some Wednesday afternoon procrastination for the nation, how about some time with the original ladies man?

 

 

 

 

No, not that guy! Pacman, duh!

 

 

 

Originally bought out by Google for the 30th anniversary of Pacman on May 22, 2010, the link is essentially an easter egg where instead of searching for stuff you need to find out about, you can play Pacman!

 

It was so greatly received and proved to be so popular, Google left it there on the internet. Just for you guys!

 

 

What heroes. Kinda like this guy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the link! http://www.google.com/doodles/30th-anniversary-of-pac-man

 

 

Also take note: Clicking on the right and left arrows will also take you through a gallery of previous Google ‘Doodles’ celebrating various anniversaries and special dates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Simpsons.wikia.com, Fightersgeneration Cattime.

Happy Birthday Mac!

 

 

 

 

30 years and one day ago today, the Macintosh computer was introduced to the world by Steve Jobs at the Macworld computing conference in San Francisco.

 

To celebrate, Apple have added a new section in the App store, devoted to wishing their grand old computing dame a happy dirty thirty. Called  ‘Happy Birthday, Mac’, it features  apps and games from Apple and third party app designers aimed at capturing the spirit of what makes the Mac, and it’s thirty year existence, extraordinary.

 

Apple said the following about the celebration;

 

 

“When the Macintosh debuted on January 24, 1984, it fundamentally changed what a computer was – and what it could do. Software developers had an incredible new playground for their imaginations, allowing them to create groundbreaking apps and games unlike any seen before. And that’s just as true of the Mac today as it was then. Celebrate the Mac’s 30th anniversary with our specially chosen assortment of apps and games that capture the spirit of what makes this computer so extraordinary.”

 

 

Apple has also created a tribute to the Mac on their homepage with a visual timeline and a “Mac 30” video that looks at the Mac’s past and present.

 

 

The Mac was a revelation in computing, making the need to type in commands when using a computer unnecessary, instead recquiring point and click menu’s and a clear, graphical interface that is now used across the world today. It had a 9 inch screen, used floppy disks, cost $2495, and  had 128KB RAM. The current Mac Pro starts at 12BG of memory – more than 90,000 times as much as the 1984 model.

 

 

In traditional Apple form, the computer was first sneak peeked to the world in a infamous ad, directed by Ridley Scott and aired during the 1984 Superbowl.

 

 

The ad alluded to George Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ and was seen as a dig at Apple’s leading rival at the time, IBM. The Mac, apparently, was going to save people from a future dominated by IBM.

 

 

 

 

Happy Dirty Thirty Birthday Mac! We love you and everything you’ve brought into the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of  Computerhistory.org & Oldskull.net

iPhone Tip Of The Day

 

In iOS 7, swiping right to left will get rid of a notification without opening it!

 

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Quickmeme

Episode 3,56789 of why it’s so good to work at Google

 

 

 

Hands up who wants to work for Google? Even though the company’s presence has become somewhat controversial recently in it’s hometown of San Francisco, there’s no doubting that it is one of the best tech companies to work for, with perks up the gazebo, including free haircuts, healthcare and awesome food.

 

You also get to ride sweet buses equipped with Wifi to transport you to and from your home to the Google offices. These are awesome and good for traffic and carbon emissions but have recently been targeted by angry San Francisans who see them as a symbol of their city being taken over by rich techies, making the city unlivable.

Apart from what they symbolize, they’re still an awesome perk. Now we have news of another one- a Google Ferry. Take a look at this little sexy lady:

 

 

 

This  83-foot, Wi-Fi-equipped catamaran names ‘The Triumphant’ is now being used to carry Google employees, for free, between San Francisco and the Redwood city port in the South Bay, where they can catch a Google bus to their offices in Mountain View.

 

The ferry service is apparently a test – with Google having the permits to operate the service for only 30 days currently. What lucky little Googlers. We wish we could get a ferry to our offices! Or…. like a submarine. A glass submarine. Yeah! That’s a thing right?

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Business Insider, 9to5Google and Obviousmag.

All the reasons you want to work for Google

 

 

 

Google has been rated the number one best company to work for by Fortune for the fifth time this past Thursday. It’s kind of getting silly now. We mean people are going to stop trying to beat them soon, and just sell their own companies to go work for google. They have a roller hockey rink for crimeney’s sake.

 

Here’s some of the reasons why you want to work for Google. We’re sorry if you’re reading this at work.

 

Google donates $50 for every five hours an employee volunteers. Cos they’re GOOD PEOPLE, ya get it? They’re rich and smart and good people.

 

Google employees get free onsite haircuts. Cos they’re rich and smart and good people and they’re pretty.

 

Google employees have a full gym and laundry service, both for free. Because they also have nice bodies and have well laundered clothes.

 

They also have access to swim-in-place swimming pools ( kind of what they use with racehorses… a bit weird).

 

 

Also available are ping pong, billiards and foosball tables as well as video game consoles.

 

There are onsite doctors and nurses at Google as well as a subsidized massage program. (subsidized? C’mon Google, that doesn’t sound like best rated company behavior!)

 

What does sound like top rated company behavior is the 20 percent program. Basically, every employee gets to use up to 20% of their working time on their own unrelated projects. To let creative freedom do it’s thing you see?  If we had something similar, we would be working on creating our tiny pet dinosaurs, obviously. Rawr!

 

 

Then there’s the food. Google employees get breakfas,t lunch, snacks and dinner all free of charge. We’re not talking bagels and oranges here, guys. We’re talking more than 30 cafeterias serving fresh, organic foods ranging from vegetarian to Japanese to Morrocan and back to good old American food.  There’s also snack rooms full of delicious snack type things. Mmmmm snack type things.

 

To rub in how awfully good they are, Google donates leftover food to food banks and collects the used cooking oil from its cafeterias and sends it to another company to convert it to biodiesel. Then Google buys back some of the biodiesel to supplement its power needs. Because obviously.

 

To get around, employees can hop on free electric scooter found littered around the Mountain View campus, or alternatively they can use real pedal powered bikes, or one of the all-electric cars that they can check out for several hours each day.

 

 

Googlers and their families are covered with travel insurance and emergency assistance even on personal vacations and Mama’s get to spend time with new bundles of joy as well as a bundle of extra spending money. Because Google cares about the future!

 

Google will reimburse you for classes or degree programs that help you with what you do, give you legal aid for less, and they provide a free schedule of classes called Learning@Google which apparently ranges from sign language to open source web applications.

 

Every week, founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin sit in the main Google cafe and give everyone a run-down of what happened that week. Afterwards, they open up the floor to questions from Googlers.

 

Ready to quit your job yet?

 

 

But wait there’s more!

 

When you start at Google, you’ll be taken to the ergonomic center where you pick out your laptop, mobile phone, keyboard, monitor, mouse, desk and chair. An ergonomic expert takes your measurements and shows you the options. The IT team installs your chosen configuration overnight.

 

When you’re stressed out from all the free food you’re eating, you can go rest and de-stress in the community gardens. The food grown here goes either home with the employees, used in the google kitchens or given to food banks. Cos Googler’s are so healthy!

 

You can also get to take naps in sleep pods.

 

 

AND just in case you’d forgotten what kind of people we’re talking about here, three winners of Google’s annual talent show opened for Bruno Mars at his Las Vegas in April at the Global Sales Conference. Because obviously they did.

 

Ok, ok, we’ll stop now. But hey, think of this as inspiring rather than annoying ( stupid googlers with being so lucky and stupid and pretty). Make a new years resolution to incorporate one of the above into your workplace. Boss or not, it’ll impress, improve the workplace and everyone will love you. 

 

We’re going to start with the free onsite haircuts and the learning program. Learning how to do haircuts. Sounds pretty sweet to us.

 

 

 

 

Images courtesy of Google, Edition.cnn.com, The Guardian, Sodahead, QuickmemeGeek.com & Sodahead.