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Automate text entry in iOS
One attribute that all tech bloggers admire in other bloggers is the ability to point out hidden (or at least poorly documented) gems in the operating systems and apps we use. Sandro Cuccia at The Mac Observer did a great job over the weekend of showing how to automate text entry in iOS using a built-in capability that not many users know about -- Keyboard Shortcuts To use Keyboard Shortcuts, launch the Settings app on your favorite iOS device, then select General > Keyboard. Toward the bottom of the keyboard settings (seen above) -- which includes such other fun things as auto-correction, enabling caps lock and creating the "." shortcut -- you'll find a section called "Shortcuts." There's already an example shortcut listed; typing "omw" anywhere on an iOS device will expand into the phrase "On my way!" Cuccia points out that the "iOS Keyboard Shortcut feature is very, very basic." He's right; all you get is your words in plain text, with no formatting or carriage returns. But still, anywhere you have access to a text keyboard on your iOS device, you can use the shortcuts. Say, for example, that I wish to expand the shortcut "tuaw" into "The Unofficial Apple Weblog." I'll tap Add New Shortcut, type "The Unofficial Apple Weblog" into the Phrase field and then "tuaw" into the Shortcut field. Tap Save, and then the shortcut is ready to use. Typing the shortcut into any text field displays the phrase in an Auto-Correction bubble, meaning that all you need to do is tap the space bar to enter the phrase. Cuccia has many more keyboard tips available in his full post on The Mac Observer, so be sure to check out this helpful post as soon as you can.
Steve Jobs' NeXTcube on display
The Cartoon Art Museum held its annual NeXTEVNT fundraiser on Monday and one of the stars of the show was Steve Jobs' personal NeXTcube that was there on loan from Pixar. Photos of the NeXTcube on display were shot by Dave Hamilton of The Mac Observer. Hamilton attended the event on behalf of TMO, which co-sponsored the shindig with a handful of other tech companies. The NeXT Cube was brought to the NeXTEVNT event by Cartoon Art Museum board member Dr. Michael Johnson, who is a longtime Objective-C coder and Pixarian. Tickets to the event were US$200 each, and the money raised from ticket sales went to support the Cartoon Art Museum. You can read more about the event and check out some additional photos on The Mac Observer's website. It looks like some great geek fun.
Get the most out of Apple's Notes app
Notes took a great leap forward with the introduction of iCloud and OS X Mountain Lion. Once a static app that sat on your iOS device, Notes now allows you to jot down quick messages and sync them across your Apple devices. In a post from this weekend, Sandro Cuccia of The Mac Observer takes a deep dive into the Notes app and discusses how it can be immensely useful. Cuccia starts off with step-by-step instructions on how to enable iCloud syncing on all your devices. It's a simple, but critical step that ensures your notes are available on all your devices. The rest of his tutorial covers managing your notes, creating folders to organize notes and some basic text formatting tips. You can read the full instructions on The Mac Observer website.
TUAW TV Live at 5 PM: The Mac Observer's Jeff Gamet checks in
Today on TUAW TV Live I've got a real treat for you: Jeff Gamet. Jeff's the managing editor over at The Mac Observer and co-hosts a variety of podcasts, and he's well-known for his humorous guest appearances on many more shows. Jeff and I have a long list of topics to discuss today, although there's little or no chance that we'll make it all the way through in the one-hour time allotted for the show. Some of the possible topics for today's show include Final Cut Pro X (or what is being called "iMovie +" by disappointed users), iCloud, Apple's patent application for an infrared camera "kill switch" to prevent video capture at concerts, and much, much more. As usual, I'll be starting the show at 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT / 10 PM BST) sharp. To join in on the chat and watch the live streaming video, drop by TUAW about five minutes before the start time to get your instructions on how to participate. If you're unable to join us for the show, remember that you can always subscribe to the video podcast and watch the show at your leisure in iTunes or any other favorite podcatching app. The past shows are also available on the TUAW YouTube channel.
iPads were everywhere at Musikmesse 2011
If there's any one area of life that the iPad has had a huge impact on, it's the creation of music. Writing for The Mac Observer, blogger Jochen Wolters noted that iPads were everywhere at the world's largest trade show for musical instruments and audio recording technology -- Musikmesse 2011. This year's show was held April 6 - 9 in Frankfurt, Germany. Wolters noted that almost every developer of audio software and manufacturer of keyboards and mixers was demonstrating some way of using an iPad to perform or produce music. While I won't go into all of the many items that Wolters covered in his detailed article, there were a few products that deserve special mention here. The US$99 Apogee JAM is a deceptively simple-looking audio interface for connecting a bass or guitar to an iPad (it also works with the Mac, iPhone and iPod touch). It only works with GarageBand for iPad at this point, but Apogee is apparently working on supporting other iPad music apps. Our very own Brett Terpstra did a great writeup of the JAM back in March. Along the lines of the JAM is the Alesis iO Dock, a soon-to-be-released pro audio dock for iPad with XLR and 1/4-inch inputs, MIDI jacks, an assignable 1/4-inch footswitch input, and audio and video outputs. Synth software was everywhere at Musikmesse 2011 as well, with iPad apps from Reactable, Way Out Ware, Korg, and Spectrasonics catching Wolters' eye. MixVibes demoed an app that is used to remotely control its CROSS line of DJ software, while Akai had a four-octave keyboard with an iPad dock. An image of the SynthStation49 can be seen at the top of this post. You can get more details from Wolters' original post. Next year's Musikmesse is already scheduled for March 21-24, 2012. If your business is music and you want to make or produce it with the help of an iPad, you might want to make plans to attend the 2012 event.
