Ten Tips for New iPhone Owners

So, Santa Claus brought you an iPhone! Great news. I hope it's an iPhone 4S, with Siri. Here are ten tips that will help you take advantage of the iPhone 4S's amazing capabilities.

1. Make your address book as complete as possible. Don't stop with names and phone numbers-- fill that thing up with email addresses, home and work addresses, and birthdays. You'll thank me later. Note that you can get to the Address Book from the Phone app so if you're already using the Phone app just tap the button that says "Contacts" at the bottom of the screen.
2. Sync your address book and calendar between your iPhone and computer using either MobileMe, iCloud, or directly using a USB cable. This lets you do most or all of the work on your computer, where it is probably easier to do. It also means you'll have a backup of those important items.
3. Learn about Siri. I have a few articles for you here, and here. Look for a microphone to the left of the space bar when you are typing-- when you see that, touch it, and start talking. Say the punctuation out loud; that is, if you want a comma, say so. Like this: "I like brisket comma sausage comma and pork ribs period". Be sure Siri knows who you are (Settings/General/Siri/My Info).
4. Learn about the Maps app. For starters, that little arrowhead at bottom left will show you where you are if you tap it. (If you're asked about using your current location, say yes.) Once Maps knows where you are, use the Search mode (at bottom) to search for something or someone-- coffee, ATM, your friend Joe. Or, use the Directions mode (at bottom) to see how to get from Place A to Place B. I have more about the Maps app for you here.
5. Dim your screen and turn off Push emails. That's Settings/Brightness, and Settings/Mail, Contacts, Calendars/Fetch New Data. This will save you hours of battery life.
6. Get to know the Camera. Get to the Camera app quickly (double-tap the Home button when the iPhone is asleep/locked, and look for a little camera icon at bottom right). Turn the iPhone sideways, holding it like a "real" digital camera, and taking a picture by pressing the Volume + button. Before you take the picture, tap on the part of the picture that you want in focus. That will also be the part of the picture that controls the exposure. After you take the picture, tap the square at bottom left to see the images you've taken. Tap an image to see controls for editing (at the top right) and for sending via Email and Twitter (bottom, second icon from left).
7. Turn the iPhone sideways. Sometimes (not always) you'll get a different version of the app you're using. This works with the Calculator, the Calendar, Mail, Safari, and many others.
8. Explore the App Store. You have an icon for the App Store on your iPhone already. Tap it and see if you can find an app that interests you. There are hundreds of thousands of them, many free, so there's probably one there for you.
9. Set up FaceTime. (Settings/FaceTime.) This will let you video-chat with people using the iPhone 4 or 4S, the iPad 2, or a Macintosh with OS X 10.6 or higher. Super-fun. When you're doing a FaceTime chat there's an icon on the screen that lets you switch to the other camera (the one you use when you take pictures). That lets you show things to the other person, such as what you're looking at now.
10. Learn a few shortcuts. Double-tap the Home button to see all of the active apps, and swipe left or right to see others. Tap the one you want to jump to. Hold the Home button down until you hear a double-beep to activate Siri. When on any of the Home screens, press the Home button again to jump to the first Home screen. If you are already on the first Home screen it will take you to a Search screen, where you can search for anything on the iPhone.

Make mine Mint (dot com)

Wow, what a cool website: www.mint.com.



They call it “the best way to manage your money.” And it’s free.

Anyone can sign up for a mint.com account. You then enter information about your financial accounts-- savings, checking, investments, credit cards. Do that, and at a glance you can see ALL of your financial information in one place.

Better than that: you can see every transaction for every account, right there on the site. You can find every transaction that had to do with dining out, or gasoline, or presents for your uncle. Very handy. Download them if you want.

Better than THAT: you can get reminders emailed or text messaged to remind you to pay your credit card bill, or to alert you that a large purchase was made, or to tell you that a deposit is now available. How handy.

Better than THAT: you can download a copy of Mint for your iPhone and carry all this information around with you. It’s free. Here’s the link.

cboyce says “Check it out.”

Sneaky "Google" Scam

Google called us last week. At least, they said they were Google. Turns out they weren't-- instead, they were crooks, hoping to scam us. Luckily, we were a little suspicious and didn't get suckered into handing over our money but it would have been easy to be fooled. Here's how the scam goes-- make sure it doesn't happen to you!

First, the phone call comes from an Oklahoma area code. Google, of course, is in California. But, when they call and say it's Google calling it is sort of exciting-- "Imagine! Google is calling ME!"-- and you might not pay attention to the area code. Pay attention. They are trying to steal your money.

Then, they will rattle off some information that they say is in your Google listing, such as your company name and address and phone number. They will tell you that part of the information is wrong-- in our case, they told us that our listing showed a home address rather than the business one-- and that it should be corrected in order to make it easier for potential customers to find us via Google. Sounds reasonable. Every business wants more customers, and every business hopes that someone will use Google to search for the business, and find it. The person on the phone says that he will help you correct this information.

Early in the conversation they ask "Are you authorized?" They don't explain what they mean by that. But, they really, REALLY want you to say yes, and that's because they are recording the conversation, and they want to have "yes I am authorized" on tape.

The rest of the conversation is hard to understand. The reason it's hard to understand is that while the phony "Google" person is talking to you he is also playing a tape recording saying something like "You are authorizing XYZ company to optimize your search engine listing and for that you will be charged $70 per month for three months. The charge will appear on your phone bill as XYZ Services Inc." Then, the phony Google person says-- in unison with the recording-- "Do you understand?" If you say "Yes" it goes onto the tape, and the next thing you know they're charging you $70 per month, on your phone bill, and if you try to get your money back they'll have a tape recording of you saying that Yes, you are authorized, and Yes, you understand. Pretty clever. And pretty rotten.

Google has nothing to do with this scam. The bad guys are using Google's name to give them the sound of legitimacy. Tell the people who answer your phones to be suspicious of anyone ""calling from Google (because Google doesn't call), and while they're at it be suspicious of anyone calling from "The Online Yellow Pages" or anything like that. Rather than having a conversation on the phone, ask the caller to send you something written, in the mail. If they're legit they will, but don't wait by the mailbox. Almost all of these "Online Yellow Pages" are scams, so they won't send you anything at all. In that case, consider yourself lucky. Tell your employees, tell your friends-- don't fall for this scam.

Of course there will be another scam tomorrow but at least you're ready for these guys now.