[access-uk] 28 iPad 2 tips and tricks - Digital Lifestyle - Macworld UK

  • From: Gordon Keen <gordonkeen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:57:24 +0000

        
Who said the ipad doesn't have a manual?

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?olo=email&NewsID=3265561

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 28 iPad 2 tips and tricks

Your new iPad 2 might not be as full-featured (or as complicated) as a laptop 
or desktop PC, but a few neat tricks are still hidden between the surface. Read 
on to learn how to secure your iPad, sync your bookmarks, and more.

Download the free iPad User's Guide: You may have noticed that your iPad didn't 
come with a big printed manual--that's not Apple's style. However, you can 
download the PDF version of the iPad User's Guide from Apple's website, or you 
can read it in iBooks if you have that installed (iBooks is available as a free 
download in the App Store). Make sure to download the manual for iOS 4.3.


Take a free guided tour: Apple provides video tours for each of the 
preinstalled apps, so you can get a good look at how to use them.

Use the Side Switch: You can use that neat switch on the side either to enable 
and disable audio alerts (this doesn't affect video/audio playback) or to lock 
the screen's orientation in portrait or landscape mode. You can toggle which 
function is assigned to the side switch by opening Settings from the Home 
screen, selecting General, and choosing the function you want under the 'Use 
Side Switch to' heading.

Multitask in iOS: You probably already know that you can press the Home button 
twice to bring up a list of currently running or suspended apps. However, you 
can also swipe the multitasking bar left to right to quickly access audio/video 
playback controls, a shortcut to the iTunes app itself, and volume controls. 
Also, when you choose whether the Side Switch should mute alert sounds or lock 
the screen orientation (see the item above), the function you didn't choose 
will appear in this shortcut bar.



Speed up your sentences: Double-tapping the spacebar while typing a message 
will type a period and then a space.

Don't let AutoCorrect mess you up: If you don't like the option AutoCorrect 
gives you, reject it by finishing the word as you prefer, and then tapping the 
suggestion. If you want to use AutoCorrect's choice, just type a space or 
punctuation mark, or tap Return, the moment it pops up.

Secure your backups: You can encrypt your iPad's backup data in iTunes. Just 
open the iPad in iTunes, click the Summary tab, and check Encrypt iPad backup 
under the Options heading.

Prevent automatic sync once: Sometimes you don't want to sync your iPad when 
you connect it to your computer. In this case, hold down Shift-Control (or 
Command-Option, on a Mac) in iTunes while plugging your iPad in, and iTunes 
will skip the automatic sync just once. Alternatively, you can safely interrupt 
a sync by dragging the unlock slider while the iPad is midsync.

Toggle data roaming: If you're using a 3G iPad, you can turn data roaming on in 
the Settings, Cellular Data menu in case you want to try receiving cellular 
Internet through a different provider (fees may apply). You can also check your 
data usage by going to Settings, General, Usage.

Make your passcode more complicated: iOS defaults to a four-number passcode, 
but you can turn it off by going to Settings, General, Passcode Lock, Simple 
Passcode. Now you can use any full keyboard password to lock the iPad. The 
password also helps to encrypt your mail and attachments on the iPad, so you 
probably want to make it safer than a four-digit number.

Set the iPad to self-destruct in 10 seconds: Okay, not really--but you can set 
the iPad to erase all data after ten failed passcode entry attempts by checking 
the Erase Data option under Settings, General, Passcode Lock.

Tweak AutoFill: You can choose to enable Safari's AutoFill feature in Settings, 
Safari, AutoFill. From there, you can tell Safari to fill forms automatically 
either by using your specified contact information or by remembering the names 
and passwords you've entered while logging in to Websites in the past.

Sync your bookmarks: You can use iTunes to sync your iPad's Safari bookmarks 
with your PC's Web browser. Open the iPad tab in iTunes, click the Info tab, 
scroll down to the Other heading, check Sync bookmarks with, and choose your 
preferred browser.

E-mail photos: The easiest way to e-mail photos from an iPad is to open the 
Photos app, select a photo, press the button in the upper-right corner (the 
rectangle with the arrow, not the trash button), and choose Email photo... to 
send.

Know your Web links: You can check a linked word's actual destination URL by 
touching and holding down on the link--it's a perfect way to sniff out phishy 
links.

Choose an app for e-mail attachments: You can open a file attached to an e-mail 
message by tapping the attachment in Mail, but if the default app isn't the one 
you want to use, you can press and hold and wait for a menu that lets you 
select an app.

Use the iPad as a picture frame: Not for physical photographs, silly. You can 
press the Picture icon in the lower-right corner of the Lock screen to have the 
iPad display its available photos.

Show traffic conditions: Open Maps, press the dog-eared page icon in the lower 
right, and then turn the Traffic overlay on. If your iPad has an Internet 
connection, Maps will show real-time traffic conditions in the displayed area. 
Green means traffic is going at the posted speed limit, yellow means traffic is 
slower than the posted speed limit, and red means traffic is stop-and-go.

Share podcasts with friends: Listening to a podcast that you think a friend 
would like? You can share the link while you're listening to it by pressing the 
Email button while it's open.

Don't forget your downloads: You can immediately see if your iTunes account is 
due for any incoming downloads by opening iTunes on your PC, clicking the Store 
menu, and selecting Check for available downloads. This trick can come in handy 
if your download process is interrupted, or if you missed some bonus iTunes 
content that came with an album you purchased.

Turn on Universal Access: You can enable options such as closed-captioned 
movies, VoiceOver screen reading, zoom magnification, and inverted 
white-on-black text by selecting the iPad in iTunes, opening the Summary tab, 
and clicking Configure Universal Access under the Options heading.

Forget Wi-Fi networks: So you accidentally connected to a network once, and 
your iPad remembers it for life--whether you like it or not. On your iPad, go 
to Settings, Wi-Fi, and find the network under the 'Choose a Network' heading. 
Tap the blue arrow next to the network you want to remove, and tap the button 
on the top that says Forget this Network.

Specify your Spotlight searches: The iPad uses Spotlight for its built-in 
search functions, and you can tweak it to your needs in Settings, General, 
Spotlight Search. If you have a lot of data on your iPad, for example, you can 
selectively disable search in different categories (Contacts, Applications, 
Audiobooks, Notes, Events, Mail, and so on) that you don't use so that your 
desired results show up faster. You can also simply change the order in which 
the search-result categories display by dragging them up and down, so that your 
more frequently used search categories show up at the top of the page.

Turn off in-app purchases: Go to Settings, General, Restrictions and tap Enable 
Restrictions to selectively enable restrictions that apply to your apps, 
content, Game Center, and more. If you're worried about other people breaking 
your bank account on in-app purchases, just disable In-App Purchases under the 
'Allowed Content' setting.

Switch up the fetching frequency: Your iPad automatically grabs new data, such 
as incoming e-mail. However, the iPad periodically activates apps that don't 
support iOS's Push feature so that they can go "Fetch" new data--which uses the 
tablet's battery life. You can tweak your Push and Fetch settings in Settings, 
Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Fetch New Data.

Change your e-mail signature: Don't be one of those people who leave the 
default 'Sent from my iPad' signature on all their messages. Change it in 
Settings, Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Signature to...well, anything but that.

Swap the search engine: Too good for Google? You can change Safari's default 
search engine by going to Settings, Safari, Search Engine. Alas, you can only 
choose from Google, Bing, or Yahoo--no bringing back AltaVista for you.

Take a screenshot of whatever is on the screen: Press Home and the sleep/wake 
button simultaneously. The screenshot will automatically appear among your 
photos.



I would start by grabbing what's available from apple.

Cheers

G

From glorious Devon, England.

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  • » [access-uk] 28 iPad 2 tips and tricks - Digital Lifestyle - Macworld UK - Gordon Keen