iOS | How to Use "FIND" to search a Webpage on Mobile Safari

If you've used Safari web browser, then you know that it is simple to search the page you are on for a specific word or string of words.

On a MAC, just use the keyboard key-stroke - "CMD + F"
On Windows, use "CTRL + F"

The little finder pops up in the top right corner.  You type a word in and hit enter and it will tell you how many times it is on the page and takes you right to it.

This is very handy when a webpage is very long.  Such as race results where there could be thousands of lines of text.

But what about on the iPhone?  This could be handy on there as well but you've never been able to figure it out.

Well this very thing happened to me the other day.  I needed the "Find" function on my iPhone.  So I began scouring the internet for the answer.

In the example below, I have a webpage with a 10K race results.  There are 495 participants.  But I don't want to search the entire list one row at a time.

1. In the search bar at the top right, type the word you're looking for.

2. For this example, I typed "Roseberry"
The first list of search results you will see are google's attempts to guess what I want.
However, if you scroll to the bottom, you will see written, "On This Page (1 match)"
Then under that, "Find 'roseberry' "

3. When you click on the result at the bottom you are taken directly to the point on the webpage where this name is located.  Highlighted in Yellow.

iPhone | iOS (4.1 and above) | Put phone in Field Test mode

As many may have already read, it is possible to put your phone into "Field Test" mode.  What does this do?  It allows you to see the true signal strength in number form as opposed to just the bars you always see that mean absolutely nothing, when it really comes down to it.

It is possible to follow these steps on any iPhone running iOs 4.1 or newer.  (My understanding is...) Any phone except the iPhone 3GS.

How to Temporarily Enter "Field Test" Mode

Follow the steps below to (temporarily) put your iPhone in Field Test mode, then I will explain what it all means.

1. Dial *3001#12345#* into your phone's keypad.
2. Hit “Call” and the Field Test mode app will launch.

The first thing you'll notice is that there is now a number where your signal bars used to be.  

The second thing you'll notice is that you are looking at a weird screen that has two lines on it.  These say something to the effect of: 

• 1xEV-DO
• 1x

Each has a (go-forward) arrow next to it.  If you click on the arrows you'll see a lot of technical stuff (pictured below).  However, your screen may look slightly different depending on the phone you have and the network you are on.  I am on Sprint and have an iPhone 5.

But the important part (at least to WE the users) is the number replacing the signal bars.

NOTE:

You can toggle between Bars and dBm number by tapping the number.

Unfortunately there is a problem here.  "What is that?" you may be asking.  If you hit your Home button, you leave "Field Test" mode and the bars return.  So let's fix this. Let's remain in "Field Test" mode indefinitely.

How to Remain in "Field Test" Mode Indefinitely

To remain in "Field Test" mode indefinitely... We are going to start from scratch, as if you have exited Field Test mode (by hitting the Home Button) and are back in regular mode.

1. Dial *3001#12345#* into your phone's keypad.
2. Hit “Call” and the Field Test mode app will launch.
3. Now hold down the Power button until the “Slide to Power Off” message appears.
4. Release the Power button
5. Now Hold the Home button until the "Field Test" screen quits.

What you notice is that now your phone is back in Normal operating mode, but you can still see the true signal strength represented in Number form.

To return back to regular operating mode

To return your iPhone to normal operating mode once you have entered "Indefinite Field-Test Mode",  Just follow the instructions below.

1. Dial *3001#12345#* into your phone's keypad (Just as before).
2. Hit “Call” and the "Field Test" mode app will launch.
3. Then hit the home button.  
• This will close the Field Test app screen.  But it will also return your iPhone to regular operating mode.

The phone will remain in "Indefinite Field-Test Mode" even after restarting your iPhone (at least on mine), so this is not an option.  

What do the Numbers mean?

First you need to understand what the numbers mean. The number is a representation of dBm.

dBm = deciBels to the milliwatt. 

The numbers you see may look something like (-88) or (-105)

The numbers don’t follow a scale that makes much sense to normal people, but suffice it to say, (Thinking in negatives and positives where -100 is smaller than -70) the lower the number (in other words, the more negative) the worse the signal.  And the higher the number (less negative) the better.

• Anything above -80 is good, and would be considered full bars   (i.e.: -79 thru -0)
• Anything below -100 is bad, and would be considered few bars  (i.e.: -101 thru -120)

The purpose of this blog post was only to show you how to enter and remain in Field Test mode on your iPhone.  I honestly don't know what all of the tech jargon means on the Field Test Screen.

For a more detailed explanation of what the signal bars actually mean, visit the following website:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2011/05/cell-bars-reception/2/

iPhone | iOS 6.1 | How to Enable/Disable Facebook Events & Birthdays from Calendar app

Personally I don't like when Facebook invades my iOS "Calendar" or "Contacts".  I've already shown you how to remove those pesky Facebook friends from your iOS "Contacts".  But what about the iOS "Calendar" app.  The one other place on an iPhone where Facebook infests.

In the tutorial below, I will show you how to remove these two Facebook additions to iOS "Calendar" 

• “Facebook Events”
• “Friend Birthdays”.

Let's start with removing "Facebook Events."  There are two methods by which to do this.

To Remove Facebook Events: 2 Methods

Method 1: Turns it off within Calendar app

1. Go into the “Calendar” app

2. Click the “Calendars” button on the top left

3. Scroll down to “Facebook”

4. Uncheck “Facebook Events”

Now, when we go back to the Calendar view, the "Facebook Event" has disappeared.

Method 2: Turn it completely off.

1. Go into "Settings"

2. Scroll down and click on "Facebook"

3. Slide “Calendar” to the “OFF” position.

4. Go back into the "Calendar" app and click on "Calendars" in the top left corner. You'll see that the "Facebook Events" option is no longer available. The option within the Calendar app disappears.

Now lets get those pesky Facebook birthdays out of my calendar.

To Remove Facebook Birthdays: 2 Methods

Method 1: Turns it off within Calendar app

1. Go into the “Calendar” app

2. Click the “Calendars” button on the top left
3. Scroll down to “Facebook”

4. Uncheck “Birthdays”

5. And now all of the Facebook birthdays are gone.

Method 2: Turn it completely off.

1. Go into "Settings"
2. Scroll down and click on "Facebook"

3. Slide “Contacts” to the “OFF” position.

4. Go back to the "Calendar" app and click on "Calendars" in the top left corner.  Scroll down to where "Facebook" and you'll notice that the Facebook options have disappeared completely.

Please Note:
Subsequently, this also removes the Facebook Contacts from your “iOS "Contacts app" as is detailed in the previous tutorial.





Note:
Be aware that if you decide to re-enable Facebook events or birthdays after disabling it through "Method #2" be prepared to wait.  It will take a few minutes for the Facebook Birthdays to propagate back into your calendar.  But you'll know they are there when you go into "Calendars" app and click on the "Calendars" button at the top left of the screen.  If you see "Facebook Birthdays" then you are ready to go.

iPhone | iOS 6.1 | How to Enable/Disable Facebook Contacts in 'Contacts app'

This tutorial is a supplement to my youtube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHN7XZll1Fw

If you are anything like me, then you do not like when your 1000 random Facebook friends invade your iOS address book (Contacts app).  Sure it's nice that 1000 people like me enough to friend me on Facebook, and sure I do know, or I am at least acquainted with every one of them from High School, College, or some sort of school... But since I will NEVER use my phone to contact these people, there is no need for them to be cluttering up my address book.

If you had the same experience that I did in trying to figure out how to remove them, you know that it is almost futile to try and just navigate through your phones settings and hope you stumble upon the answer.  And searching the internet is almost as tedious. But I have found the answer.  

In the tutorial below, I have detailed, step-by-step, how to remove all of those pesky Facebook contacts from your iOS Contacts app.

There are two methods by which to accomplish this purging of erroneous friends.  The first is a quick and easy fix.  And the second is a bit more involved.

Method #1: Turn off "Facebook Group" within Contacts app.

1. Open "Contacts App"

2. Click on "Groups"

3. Uncheck “All Facebook”

All Facebook contacts are gone from “Contacts App” but the group remains.

Method #2: Turn off Facebook access to contacts completely

1. Settings

2. Facebook

3. Slide “Contacts” to “OFF”

4. All Facebook contact are gone from “Contacts App” 

5. But you will also notice that the "Group" button is gone as well.

Now keep in mind that both of these methods are completely reversible by just going back and undoing what you did.

Be aware that when you go back into "Settings" to turn the "Facebook contacts" back on, it may take a minutes or two to get the Facebook friends to propagate to your "Contacts app"

If you are just re-checking the "Group" within "Contacts" it will be instantanious.

Happy iPhone-ing!

Apple Trackpad | Change the Direction of the Scroll

I don't know about everyone else in this world but I grew up with my mouse always being oriented to the scroll bar on the right side of the browser window.  

With the old (non-scroll) mouse, you'd click and hold the scroll bar and drag it to the bottom.

With the advent of the scroll wheel, you were able to eliminate the extra step of grabbing the scroll bar and just be able to spin the wheel Up (to move the scroll bar up) or Down (to move the scroll bar down).

So when Apple release the trackpad, my mind stayed with this scrolling mindset.  Swipe up to move the scroll bar up.  Swipe down to move the scroll bar down.

But.  Then Apple had to go and change things.  With the release of OS X Lion and Mountain Lion, the default setting for the trackpad is to be oriented to the page instead of the scroll bar.  So now, when I swipe:

Down, the page goes down, in the direction of your finger swipe, so the you move toward the top of the page.  But the scroll bar goes up.

Up, the page goes up so that you continually move closer to the bottom of the page.  But the scroll bar moves down.

I'M CONFUSING MYSELF!

So to fix this, and return it back to the old-school scroll... Back to the mouse being oriented to the scroll bar and not the page, follow the steps below.

• Go to “Settings”
• Choose “Trackpad”

• “Scroll & Zoom” tab
• Either Check or Uncheck the first option “Scroll direction: natural (Content Tracks finger movements)”

When the box is checked, the mouse is oriented to the page and not the scroll bar.

You must "Uncheck" the box named "Scroll Direction Natural" for the mouse to be oriented to the scroll bar.

Now everything should be as it was in the old days.

I find the Unchecked method more natural but it's all personal preference.

iPhone | iOS 6.0.2 | How to Activate the EMOJI Keyboard

For most of us, we got our first iPhone, and the only keyboard we've ever seen is the standard Alphanumeric keyboard that everyone has. We never knew there was anything more. 

  

Now, occasionally you'll get a text message from a friend that's got one of those really cool pictures on it, and you wonder, “how did he do that?” Which is exactly what I did when my brother-in-law sent me a text with a beer mug at the end of it. So I went on my quest for the information. The step-by-step tutorial is below.

When your normal keyboard configuration is active, it looks like the picture below.

Go to “Settings”

“General”

Scroll down and choose “Keyboard”

Then scroll down again (if needed) and choose “Keyboards”

You'll see a screen with two options (pictured below)

Click on “Add New Keyboard...”

Scroll down until you see “EMOJI” in the list and click on it.

You will be taken back to the previous screen, and the EMOJI keyboard has been added to the list.

Now when you open up the text messaging app, look to the bottom left of the keyboard (next to the numbers button). You'll see a globe.

When you click on the globe you'll have 5 different collections to choose from of these fun little EMOJI icons. Just click on them and they are added directly to the text.

But there is a 5th collection directly next to the globe.  This is the "Recently Used" collection.  Any of the EMOJI's that you've most recently and most often used will be in the list.

   

And just to alleviate any of your worries, “Yes” when you send a text to someone who does not use an iPhone (although I don't know why they wouldn't be) the recipient WILL be able to see the cute little picture you just sent. I have tested this with my wife's phone (she has a Galaxy SIII which obviously runs Android). So fear not.

Enjoy!

OS X | How to Sleep, Restart, and Shutdown the Computer Using Only Keyboard Shortcuts

This tutorial is a supplement to my youtube tutorial video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXRlA-BoPh8

Today I'm going to show you how to Sleep, Restart, and Shutdown an Apple computer using only Keyboard shortcuts. I'm a keystroke person and I like to use the mouse as little as possible.

This tutorial will work with all versions of the Apple OS X operating system.  In the video I use Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8.2).  On my desktop at home, I use Lion (OS X 10.7.6).

    

For Windows computer this has always been a standard function.

1. “Windows Key”
2. Press the “Up” key
3. Choose “Shutdown”
4. A window pops up with the options, Hibernate, Sleep, Restart, Shutdown.
5. Use the “Arrow” keys to scroll through them.
6. Hit “Enter” and the task is complete.

And not once will it be necessary for your hands to touch the mouse.

It's always been that way with a Windows computer, but Macintosh's have always seemed to be lacking in the area of eay keyboard shortcuts. And as they've come out with further incarnations of the OS X operating system, the keystroke shortcuts seem to be hidden more and more.

When you use your mouse to either Sleep, Restart, or Shutdown your computer:

1. Go to the “Apple” menu
2. Drag the mouse down and choose either, Sleep, Restart or Shutdown from the list.
3. After choosing an option, click either “Cancel” or “Sleep / Restart / Shut Down” and the task will be completed.

Note:

By using the mouse, you have the option to cancel out of the task.

There are no diagrams on the menu for these three tasks (like there are with other tasks).

Now the one key that is The KEY to all three of these commands is the “Eject” key (usually located at the far upper right of the Apple keyboard).

Sleep

Option – Command – Eject

Restart

Control – Command – Eject

Shutdown

Control – Option – Command – Eject

!WARNING!

When you choose one of the tasks, you DO have the option to cancel. But be aware that when you use the keyboard shortcuts I'm about to show you, “Cancel” is no longer an option.