[muglo] OS X Daily: “How to Make & Set a Retina-Ready iOS Bookmark Icon for a Website” plus 5 more
- From: Frank Birch <fbirch@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: muglo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:53:45 -0400
If you subscribe to this website you may find the daily messages helpful.
Regards
Begin forwarded message:
> From: OS X Daily <osxdailycom@xxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 29 March 2012 14:25:12 EDT
> Subject: OS X Daily: “How to Make & Set a Retina-Ready iOS Bookmark Icon for
> a Website” plus 5 more
>
> OS X Daily: “How to Make & Set a Retina-Ready iOS Bookmark Icon for a
> Website” plus 5 more
>
>
> How to Make & Set a Retina-Ready iOS Bookmark Icon for a Website
> Set a Custom Lock Screen Message to Aid Return of a Lost iPad or iPhone
> iTunes 10.6.1 Released With Bug Fixes
> Change a Login Name in Mac OS X
> 51% of US Households Own Apple Products
> 10 Tips to Reduce iPhone & iPad Personal Hotspot Data Usage
> How to Make & Set a Retina-Ready iOS Bookmark Icon for a Website
> Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:06 AM PDT
>
>
> Web developers and website owners pay attention: you need to set a
> retina-ready iOS bookmark icon. Called an Apple Touch Icon, these custom
> images become the icon that is displayed on a users home screen when they
> bookmark a website on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Without a custom
> apple-touch-icon set, users will get a boring and often ugly thumbnail of the
> web page itself, and without using a retina-ready icon, the bookmarks icon
> will look pixelated and generally awful on the new iPad screen. Here’s what
> you need to do:
>
> 1) Create the Retina-Ready iOS Icon
>
> Use a template or design your own. I used the easy DIY retina icon kit
> mentioned in a previous post, it’s a PSD file that makes designing nice
> looking iOS icons as easy as a click or two. Paste in a website or company
> logo and you’re pretty much good to go. If you don’t have something to edit
> PSD files, Photoshop CS6 beta is excellent and free to download and use until
> the final version comes out later in the year.
>
>
>
> 2) Save as PNG & Name the Retina Icon as Desired
>
> The icon must be a PNG, and it must be named one of two things. Each file
> name offers a slightly different appearance of the icon as displayed on a
> users home screen:
>
> “apple-touch-icon.png” will add the highlight bubble overlay to the icon
> “apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png” will display the icon as originally
> created, without the highlight overlay
>
>
> Use the latter -precomposed option if you created your own highlight, or if
> you want the icon to appear more flat without ubiquitous bubble that appears
> on most of Apple’s default icons.
>
> 3) Upload the Touch Icon to the Base Web Directory
>
> Use an SFTP client (OS X includes FTP in the Finder, and CyberDuck or
> Filezilla are free) to copy the apple-touch-icon.png file to the root web
> directory. This is usually the same location that the sites main index file
> is located. Once uploaded, confirm it’s in the proper location by opening a
> web browser and going to “http://SITEURL.com/apple-touch-icon.png”; and making
> sure it loads.
>
> Here is an example of a 512×512 retina-ready bookmark icon from OSXDaily.com:
>
>
>
> Notice that without the -precomposed flag, the above icon will display the
> highlight bubble. You can see the difference between the two by comparing the
> actual icon to the one shown in screenshots as the bookmark.
>
> 4) Use an iOS Device and Bookmark the Site
>
> This is the easiest part, grab an iOS device (preferably an iPad 3 to confirm
> the retina aspect) and open Safari. Refresh the web site you uploaded the
> icon to, and then tap the arrow icon and select “Add to Homescreen” name the
> bookmark, then return to the Homescreen to confirm it’s there.
>
>
>
> Despite being 512 x 512 pixels, the retina icon will scale down fine on older
> iPhones and non-retina devices. If you really want to, you can use CSS and
> HTML to display different sized icons to different devices, but it’s really
> not necessary.
>
> Now if someone bookmarks your web site on an iPad with a retina display, it
> will look a lot better on their home screen. That’s really all there is to
> it. And yes, we’ve written about the Apple touch icon before, but it deserves
> another mention now that iPad 3 demands significantly higher resolution icons
> and graphics.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Set a Custom Lock Screen Message to Aid Return of a Lost iPad or iPhone
> Posted: 29 Mar 2012 09:34 AM PDT
>
>
> If you’re worried about losing an iPad or iPhone, you can greatly assist the
> chances of getting the iOS device returned to you by setting a custom “If
> Found” message as the lock screens wallpaper. This only takes a minute or two
> to set up:
>
> Use a drawing app (Paper for iPad is free and popular right now) to write out
> a simple “If Found” message, include a name, phone number, email address, and
> physical address for best results. When finished, save that image to the
> Photos Library.
> Open the image from Photos app, tap the arrow box in the upper right corner,
> and select “Use as Wallpaper” then tap “Set Lock Screen”
> Be sure to situate the image so that the message is always visible regardless
> of device orientation, this can be tricky to get perfect, but using a more
> squared “if found” image fits well.
>
> Combine this tip with a secure lock screen passcode and Find My iPad/iPhone
> (configured within iCloud set up) to provide some added security and to
> further improve chances of tracking down a lost or stolen iOS device.
>
> Mac users can set a similar lock/login screen message in OS X as well, though
> Lion or newer is required and it’s slightly less obvious than the wallpaper
> method.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> iTunes 10.6.1 Released With Bug Fixes
> Posted: 28 Mar 2012 10:31 PM PDT
>
>
> iTunes 10.6.1 has been released, the minor update includes a variety of bug
> fixes but otherwise provides no new features. The official list of changes is
> as follows:
>
> • Fixes several issues that may cause iTunes to unexpectedly quit while
> playing videos, changing artwork size in Grid view, and syncing photos to
> devices.
> • Addresses an issue where some iTunes interface elements are incorrectly
> described by VoiceOver and WindowEyes.
> • Fixes a problem where iTunes may become unresponsive while syncing iPod
> nano or iPod shuffle.
> • Resolves an ordering problem while browsing TV episodes in your iTunes
> library on Apple TV.
>
> The update is recommended for all users of iTunes software, even if the
> aforementioned issues have not been encountered.
>
> Users can download iTunes 10.6.1 through Software Update, from iTunes, or
> directly from Apple.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Change a Login Name in Mac OS X
> Posted: 28 Mar 2012 02:45 PM PDT
>
>
> Want to change a user name that appears at the login screen of Mac OS X? It’s
> very easy to do:
>
> Open System Preferences and click on “Users & Groups”
> Select the users name you wish to change from the left side
> Look for “Full Name” on the right side options and click in the box, enter
> the administrator password to authenticate the name change
> Type the new name as you want it to appear at the login screen
>
>
> Exit out of System Preferences
> Confirm the login name change took place by logging out or by locking the
> screen, both of which will bring you to the standard OS X login window. This
> is the same for OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
>
> The full name/login name is not to be confused with the short user name of an
> account, which controls the directory name and SSH logins.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 51% of US Households Own Apple Products
> Posted: 28 Mar 2012 02:44 PM PDT
>
>
> 50% of households in the USA own at least one Apple product, and 10% of those
> without intend to buy an Apple product sometime in the next year. This
> finding and others were discovered by a recent CNBC poll, which revealed some
> other fascinating statistics on the ubiquity of Apple gear in the United
> States.
>
> 55 million homes have at least one iPad, iPhone, iPod, or Mac in the house
> Apple buyers tend to be male, college educated, and younger
> 57% of homes on the West have Apple products, with an average of 2 per
> household
> 47% to 51% of homes in the remainder of the country have Apple products
> 61% of households with children own Apple products
> 48% of childless homes have Apple products
> 28% of households making $30,000 a year own at least one Apple device
> 77% of households earning over $75,000 a year own at least one Apple product,
> and average three devices per home
> Owning Apple gear is also a nonpartisan affair, with 56% of both Republican
> and Democrat party members owning a device.
>
> Some of these figures are unsurprising given the tremendous sales volume of
> Apple gear over recent years, though it’s still an impressive feat for a
> company that was nearly bankrupt in 1996.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 10 Tips to Reduce iPhone & iPad Personal Hotspot Data Usage
> Posted: 28 Mar 2012 11:14 AM PDT
>
>
> Personal Hotspot is one of the best features of an iPhone and iPad, allowing
> you to share the devices 3G or 4G LTE internet connection with up to five
> other connected devices through wi-fi, be them Macs, iPads, iPods, or PC’s.
> Personal Hotspot may be a mobile users and telecommuters dream, but tethering
> an internet connection can also eat through the expensive hotspot data plans
> extremely fast. Avoid overage charges and reduce overall data consumption
> when tethering with these helpful tips:
>
> 1) Monitor Data Usage on iPhone or iPad
>
> The first thing you’ll want to do is keep an eye on how much data you’re
> using. The easiest way to do this is directly on the iOS device that is
> sharing it’s internet connection through Personal Hotspot:
>
> Open Settings and tap on “General”, then tap on “Usage”
> Scroll down and tap on “Cellular Usage” and look for “Cellular Network Data”
> sent and received, keep a note of this, or better yet, tap on “Reset
> Statistics” at the start of a new tethering session so you can monitor data
> use per hotspot session
> You can also check data usage through AT&T and Verizon, though they don’t
> seem to update as often so they might not be the most reliable method to
> watch data.
>
> 2) Monitor Data & Network Usage on a Mac
>
> Use a free desktop based bandwidth monitor like SurplusMeter, it sits in your
> Mac menu bar and keeps an eye on data use for you. Use this in combination
> with watching data usage directly on the iOS device for best results, as
> there may be some discrepancies and it’s always better to err on the side of
> caution with Personal Hotspot to avoid an overage fee.
>
> 3) Quit or Disable Desktop Apps with Push Notifications
>
> OS X Mail checks for emails constantly in the background, quit it when the
> app isn’t in use. Mac OS X Menubar apps like Gmail Notifier and Facebook
> Notifier ping their servers constantly to look for updates. Quit these apps
> while using the iOS Hotspot. If it’s getting updates and it’s not 100%
> necessary for the work at hand, quit the app or at least disable or delay the
> updating to consume less data.
>
> 4) Turn Off iCloud and Dropbox Syncing
>
> Temporarily disable cloud syncing apps like Dropbox and iCloud, or else they
> will continue syncing changes to their respective servers, slowly whittling
> away your allocated cellular data plan. You can pause syncing from Dropbox by
> pulling down the Dropbox menu and selection the “Pause Syncing” option, and
> to turn off iCloud syncing features:
>
> Open System Preferences and click on iCloud
> Uncheck all boxes next to all iCloud choices
> Just remember to restore these options once you’re back on a normal wifi
> network.
>
> 5) Disable Mac OS X Software Update Automatic Downloads
>
> Keeping software up to date is a great general maintenance tip, but disable
> it when you’re not on a network with plenty of bandwidth:
>
> Open System Preferences and click on “Software Update”
> Uncheck the box next to “Download updates automatically”
> You can also go a step further and disable the scheduled update checks
> completely at the same option screen.
>
> 6) Disable Chrome and Firefox Automatic Updates
>
> Chrome and Firefox release updates often and both apps will automatically
> download and update themselves in the background. While convenient on a
> regular internet connection, these can blow 20MB to 100MB of data easily,
> disable those automatic app updates for your web browser and you will
> certainly save some bandwidth.
>
> 7) Listen to Music from Local iTunes Library Rather than Pandora, Spotify, or
> Streaming Services
>
> Avoid streaming music services while using Wi-Fi Hotspot and instead listen
> to your local iTunes music library. If you have a MacBook Air with limited
> disk space and don’t have much of a music library on there, just connect your
> iPhone to the Mac and play music from that through iTunes instead. Streaming
> audio is a bandwidth hog, avoid it as much as you can.
>
> 8 ) Watch Non-HD Video and Movies
>
> HD video may look leaps and bounds better, but it consumes so much bandwidth
> that if you’re not careful you can blow through a monthly data plan after
> watching a single movie or two. Ideally you’ll avoid watching video on a
> hotspot connection entirely, but if you absolutely must watch something, go
> for the low-definition version and save hundreds of MB of data. You can
> usually change from HD to SD directly on a YouTube or Vimeo video page or
> embed, and you can choose to watch lower quality video through apps like
> iTunes too.
>
> 9) Hold Off on Downloads & Streaming
>
> Downloading apps, files, or streaming anything uses tons of data, get in the
> habit of holding off on things that are not absolutely necessary. Have a new
> app you want to download? Wait until you’re on wi-fi. Want to watch a new
> episode of your favorite show from the ABC or PBS app? Wait until you’re on a
> less restricted wifi connection. Avoid downloading updates through the Mac
> App Store and Steam too.
>
> 10) Use a Data Compression and Monitoring App
>
> Onavo is a data compression app that runs in the background on an iPhone, it
> is currently for AT&T iPhones only, but it claims it can double or triple the
> amount of data you can transfer through it’s effective compression. You will
> likely notice degraded image and audio quality while using the app, and
> currently no streaming VoIP or video services work, but if you don’t mind
> that it could help reduce data use. Onavo is free on the App Store for iPhone.
>
> Reminder: Re-Enable Settings When Back on Normal Wi-Fi
>
> When you return to a regular high network, remember to re-enable all the
> settings, syncing services, updates, and other features you disabled while on
> the road with Personal Hotspot, or else you may find your apps versions
> lagging behind and you could miss out on some essential security updates.
>
> Bonus Tips:
>
> For Mac OS X, monitor network connections with Private Eye
> Watch open network connections with a GeekTool script
> List all open internet connections with lsof
> Use an Ad Blocking plugin for your web browser of choice
> Use RSS reader apps to strip down web content
> Have any tips to reduce bandwidth? Let us know in the comments!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> You are subscribed to email updates from OS X Daily
> To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email delivery
> powered by Google
> Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610
Other related posts:
- » [muglo] OS X Daily: “How to Make & Set a Retina-Ready iOS Bookmark Icon for a Website” plus 5 more - Frank Birch
