Tech Tuesday-Record It

Have you ever been out and wanted to record a thought? Maybe you need to give someone a message that is a little convoluted to type, but doesn't warrant a response or whole phone conversation. Use your QuickVoice app on your iPhone or iPad. I under use this app and wanted to remind everyone how convenient it can be.

The app looks like a microphone.

When you open it you get a screen with Record and Play.

Press Record and speak your mind or record something else. If you wish, you can title the message by touching the title button. If the message is just for your own use and you don't need to send it, you are finished. But if you want to send it, touch the box with the arrow in it and email it to your friend.

They will receive your recorded message.

I have friends that have used it in meetings and doctor visits. 

There are oodles of recording apps.  Many have better features than this one.  If you have SIRI, she probably does this all for you anyway, but I am still convinced she would not be able to understand me. 

Tech Tuesday- Etiquette and Keyboard Tips

A request was received last week about some email etiquette for forwarding emails and replies.

Sometimes you receive an email that you want to share with your friends. That is all well and good, but there are some guidelines to follow. Rather than just clicking on the Forward icon, you need to take a moment and clean that email up. (and if you are not willing to clean the email up before you send it-don’t forward it)

Subject- make sure it doesn’t just say Re: In fact, it is best in all emails that you send to put detailed information in the subject line. This will save your readers time. What if they have received that funny cat video five times already? This way they will know and won’t have to spend time opening the email.

Remove old addresses and any text you don’t need.- After you click on forward all the addresses are in the body of your email. Sometimes pages of addresses from all the forwards are in your email. Delete all that information. It does become a privacy issue when these addresses are forwarded on and on. 

Files- Be careful what you forward and the size. Again, you don’t want to send on any viruses. The size of your attachments can be a problem. On videos, it might be better to just send the URL rather than the video for size sake. Also, note that the IPhone and IPad do not open Flash Player. Flash Player has issues with the operating systems on these devices and will not work properly. Apple will not use it on the IPhone and Ipad until Flash Player addresses those issues.

Reply All Button- Before you use this button, ask yourself, “Does everyone need to read this?” Probably not. So either don’t reply or email the one person that needs your input. 

If someone does a favor for the group, email that person personally. Everyone does not need to see your thank you. This is the same in texting. If you receive a group text either answer back to the group the info they need to know or just the person asking the questions. Do not start a new conversation with a person in the group text and have the group wondering what the heck you are saying. It is best to use Reply All and Group Text very, very sparingly. I have learned this the hard way.

Now that you are ready to type your etiquette ready emails with your IPhone or Ipad, here is a video with some good keyboard tips to make that task easier. 

Here it is Tech Tuesday, and I have to begin with a confession. I have failed computer 101. I believe that my post Friday did not appear due to writer error. I am afraid I may not have saved the post before trying to post it. There is a little loop hole, though, in that I was using my iPad with an app, not my computer with the regular program. I would like to think that I possibly surpassed the maximum usage of the app with photos and my snappy post. We will never know, so let me begin this Tech Tuesday with a very important reminder:

Always SAVE your work. Whether that is backing up to an external hard drive, the cloud, or whatever, always save anything that you wish to keep. 

Now you should be aware of the extent of my knowledge. Tech Tuesday, may not last long.

I am going to start fairly basic and will focus on Apple products (because that's all I know). But, if you are one of my friends that has asked me a question, this is for you.

Today I am going to review adding new bookmarks on your iPad and iPhone. To let you know what my desktops look like, I have an original iPad and an iPhone 4.

Let's say you have a website that you would like to bookmark. While you are on the web page, touch the icon that is a rectangle with a right pointing arrow in it. On the iPad it is on the top of the page to the left of the web page address. On the iPhone it is at the bottom center of the screen.

On the iPad you will see this pop up window. You can choose Add Bookmark.

 Then you can choose where this bookmark goes. On this example, I have Bookmark Bar chosen. This will place the bookmark below the address box. You can touch that box and it will give you other folders or places in bookmarks to save the webpage.

Another alternative is to save the webpage directly to your Home Screen. (on a regular computer, we would just call this our desktop). 

This is what my Home Screen looks like with some websites saved to it. 

You can organize these also, but we will save that for another day. 

 The iPhone works basically the same way. The icons to do so are just in a different place. Notice the rectangle with the arrow is in at the center, bottom of the screen.

When you touch that icon the same screen pops up as on the iPad. 

When you select the Add Bookmark or Add to Home Screen, you will get the same screen as above.
Go ahead and save your favorite website, so you don't have to search for them. Share your favorites with the rest of us!

Now for an app review. Your iPhone and iPad should have the app Reminders on it. Not only can you write yourself reminders, you can set the app to remind you of your task as you leave your house or arrive at your destination. Of course, if you are using the 4S, you have Siri to do this for you.

Is this too basic? Let me know!

Thank You, Barry

Not only did I have a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family, I won a bet with Barry. In a moment of weakness, he bet me an iPad I was wrong about something. You would think by now he would know I am not wrong. You would think my children would realize I am not wrong either when I tell them something. But, I digress. Long story short, I am now the proud owner of an iPad.

However, I told Barry we would share it, so it is our gift to each other this year.

I have other things to blog about this past weekend, but I wanted to try out my iPad.