iPhone Tips - Taking Screen Captures

I really like this feature because it works with any app, website, picture, etc. you happen to be viewing on your iPhone at the time.

Before we start: The Home button is the round button on the bottom of your iPhone. The Sleep/Wake switch is found on the top right edge of your phone. It is the same switch you press to turn your phone on and off.

To do a screen capture on your iPhone:

1. View the screen you want to capture.
2. Press the Home button and the Sleep/Wake switch simultaneously (this takes some dexterity). The screen flashes white briefly.
3. Go to your Camera Roll to view the picture. From there, you can:

• Email the photo
• Send via MMS (text message)
• Assign to a Contact
• Use as your wallpaper

One way I use this feature is to take captures of iPhone apps to use in blog postings or presentations at work. Also, if I don’t already have a picture of one of my friends, I use this feature to take a capture of their profile picture on Facebook and then add it to their Contact info on my phone. Then when they call me, their picture displays on my phone's screen. One cool thing is that once you add the picture to the Contact, you can then delete the pic from your Camera Roll to free up storage space.

iPhone App - Siri Assistant

Here is another search app for the iPhone 3GS. Siri Assistant uses voice recognition and interpretation to help you find local businesses, set reminders, and even check the weather.

After downloading the fee App, you set up an account by entering your name and e-mail address. Then you have the option to tap your request using pre-determined categories, type out your request, or speak your request into your phone’s microphone. Siri focuses on the key words in your search to find businesses that match your request. I searched using all three methods and they all worked very well. I was very impressed by the accuracy of the voice recognition feature.

Siri is integrated with other web information services. So if, for example, you search for a movie, Siri allows you to play trailers, see reviews, map it, and purchase tickets. If you search for a particular type of restaurant in a certain zip code, Siri provides restaurant details, map, reviews, and phone number.

Cost: Free

iPhone App - AroundMe

AroundMe: This iPhone app allows you to quickly find businesses that are near to your current location. Comes in handy if you need to find a gas station or if you want to quickly find nearby restaurants, banks/ATMs, hotels, and many other categories.

1. Open the app and when the list displays, tap the category you want to view.
2. A list of businesses within that category displays, starting with the one that is closest to your current location.
3. Tap an entry to view its location on a map, in relation to where you are currently located.

From there, you can:

• Tap to see the route to the place, including turn-by-turn directions.
• Tap the phone icon to see the business’s phone numbers. Tap a number to call it.
• Tap the mail icon to send the name, address, and map location to someone via e-mail.
• Tap the plus sign to add the details to your Contacts or to your Favorites list.
• Tap a button to post the info to your Twitter or Facebook account.

Version 3.5.1 of this app includes an Augmented Reality feature. After selecting a category, such as Coffee, turn your phone sideways and see what happens.

Cost: Free

Calling all Twitter users

The Setting: Phone calling is coming to Twitter.

Using a third-party tool from Jajah, Twitter users will be able to make phone calls to each other through their twitter accounts. The person receiving the call must be a followerr of the person making the call and both must have Jajah accounts.

The service is expected to work on any Twitter-enabled device, from PCs to smart phones. During the beta period, the calls will be limited to two minutes which, according to Jajah, will be the "verbal equivalent of a tweet."

Why not just make a phone call? One of the features of this tool will allegedly be the ability to make the voice calls while keeping your cell phone number private from the people you chat with on Twitter. Hmm... we'll see.

Read the article about phone calling coming to Twitter here.

Cool iPhone Apps

The Setting: One of the reasons I want an iPhone is because of the cool apps. I'm a geek, you see.

Here are some favorite iPhone apps from some tech enthusiasts. I've heard of Bump and I think it's pretty cool. I've also heard of Geocaching, although I don't fully understand it. Yet.

I scream for iPhone

The Setting: After thinking about it and thinking about it, I'm going to take the leap. Yes, I decided that I'm finally going to get a Smartphone.

My next decision is which one to get. I'm analytical so I must do my research. I asked friends their opinions about phones they've used. They let me try them out. I searched on the Internet for info; there's all kinds of comparisons charts out there. I gravitate towards the Blackberry and the iPhone. They're both obviously very cool and offer a bunch of features. Ultimately, it comes down to whether I care about being able to receive work e-mail on my phone, because the iPhone is not supported for that where I work (is it anywhere?).

I really just wanna be able to do a wide variety of things, most of which do not involve work in any way. I'm sure that time is coming, but it's not here yet, so... I am 95% sure at this point that I'm getting an iPhone. I was all ready to run to the Apple store to grab one but a new version is coming out in July. Depending on which site you read, that could be in 2009 or 2010. I'm hoping it's actually 2009 'cause I'll wait for it if I go with iPhone. Til then I have several weeks to go to the stores and try different phones out further and ask whatever questions I have, so I could change my mind before July (doubtful). I'll let ya know what happens.

Here's one of many sites that discusses the features that the Next Gen iPhone is rumored to have.

Someone Call Shyamalan

The Setting: I'm thinking we need a movie where the cell phones take over the world.

I saw something about this on TV a while back and I just read about it on the npr blog. You can load this software called Shop Savvy to your iPhone or your T-Mobile G1, and it allows you to use the phone's camera to scan the barcode of a product in a store. It then displays the cheapest price for that product and lists reviews from people who have bought the product.

The blog posting also mentions the Shazam application, which allows you to hold your phone up to a TV, car radio speaker, etc and the software identifies the song that's playing and displays a link where you can download the song. Apparently, it only works with a recording of the song; it won't work if you try to sing it (especially the way I sing).

I saw a commercial about this other technology beginning around Thanksgiving time and there is info about it on the Time magazine site. You can use your iPhone, T-Mobile Google phone, or even your Nintendo DS to download recipes and use the device as an interactive cookbook. The Nintendo DS even responds to voice commands.

I know this is just the tip of the iceberg; there's a lot of other cell phone technology out there now and some other things we haven't even heard of yet. For example, I think it was last year I heard they were working on technology where you can scan a movie poster in a movie theatre lobby and then see the preview on your phone. I wonder if that's already available? Anyway, this is all pretty cool stuff.