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Adam Christianson's great tip on how to type an Apple symbol in iOS
TUAW bloggers love writing up things that we know make life easier for our readers. Every once in a while, we see a tip on another site that makes us say "Why didn't I think of that?" That's the case with this wonderful tip posted yesterday by Adam Christianson (@maccast) over on The Mac Observer. For those of us who need the ability to type the Apple symbol -- -- on an iOS device, this tip is pure gold. I'm not going through all of the steps in the details that Adam did; you'll need to pop over to MacObserver.com to do that. But when you want to send your buddies some love or do some iPhone blogging about the watch, here's the condensed version of his tip: From a device with a real keyboard, send yourself an email or message with the Apple symbol in it. That's Option-Shift-K. If you're reading this post on your iOS device, just copy the . Open that email or message on the device you want to add to, then copy the symbol. On the device, open Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts. Tap the + to add a new shortcut, paste the into the "Phrase" field, then type a shortcut into the "shortcut" field. Adam used a comma followed by the letters apl as his shortcut, and I found it worked really well since it's not something you'll ordinarily type. Now, whenever you type the shortcut, the will appear in its place. What was interesting is that the shortcut quickly appeared on my Macs, apparently through iCloud syncing. However, that syncing did not happen between my various iOS devices, so I had to physically add the shortcut to each device. All of those iOS devices are running iOS 8 betas, so it might be a bug. I'm looking forward to using Adam's shortcut on that new iPhone 6 Plus that should be showing up next Friday...
12 great new settings in iOS 7
In all major operating system updates, there are usually quite a number of unsung improvements that don't get press attention. These are usually hidden deep in the Settings app, where it takes a while for bloggers to find the new features -- usually by accident. Dave Hamilton over at The Mac Observer has thoughtfully provided a list of a dozen new settings in iOS 7, and you're sure to find at least some of them to be quite useful. Here are a few to ponder: Dynamic Wallpaper -- finally there's a way to get an animated background on your home and / or lock screen. Visit Settings > Wallpapers & Brightness, select Choose Wallpaper, and you're greeted with a choice of "Dynamic" wallpapers or "Stills." Those dynamic wallpapers are all variations on the same thing -- floating, glowing "bubbles" that brighten and fade as they move around -- but they're attractive and hopefully point to a future where developers can create beautiful, moving wallpapers. Background App Refresh -- Hamilton notes that this feature allows "apps to work together with the OS on coalescing their updates. This is a great thing and should vastly improve network efficiency as well as battery life." If there are apps that go out to grab data way too often, you can disable them on an app-by-app basis. This is done in Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Burst Mode for Photos -- Did you think that Burst Mode was only available on the new iPhone 5s? For some reason, I did. But, as Hamilton points out, it's actually possible to use the feature on any device running iOS 7. Just hold down the shutter button when taking photos, and you can fill up a lot of your iPhone's storage with multiple copies of the same image. There's a lot more where those hints came from, so I suggest you point your browser to The Mac Observer for more settings tips.
The extra safe, extra cautious iOS 4.1 upgrade guide
In case you missed it, the highly anticipated iOS 4.1 software update was released yesterday. If you've already upgraded, or after reading that sentence you're not already downloading it now, then you obviously like to play it cool and safe. Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. Good for you! Either that, or you got seriously burnt last time. Well, when you're good and ready, Mac Observer has just the guide for you. It's so extensive, it practically holds your hand when taking your first steps to the land of iOS 4.1. From considering whether you should upgrade or not, to making sure your 'must have' apps are compatible and backed up for the new update, the walk through will guide you every step of the way, without making you run before you can walk! Seriously though, if you can't afford any mishaps, it's well worth the read. The walk through will even guide you on resetting your iTunes warnings so that the ones you nonchalantly clicked through last time will trigger again. Just make sure you read them this time, OK? Have you upgraded your iOS device to software version 4.1? Have you hit any snags along the way? Let us know how you're doing in the comments.
Apple won't be delisted from the NASDAQ
There was a chance that Apple would be delisted from the NASDAQ, which is never good for a company's stock. The issue stemmed from the investigation of options irregularities which forced Apple to restate earnings. This, in turn, delayed the filing of some paperwork, a 10Q form to be exact, therefore leading to possible delisting.Luckily, the NASDAQ stated that they will not delist Apple as long as the company files their 10Q within 2 months. Peter Oppenheimer, Apple CFO, says that if Apple is unable to meet that deadline they will file for an extension.[via the Mac Observer]
