Tips & Troubleshooting
May 20, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 12:04 PM ET
This phone was made for talking (your contacts' names)
I’ve heard a few people searching for a solution that would make the iPhone audibly speak the name of their contacts. So I thought I’d pass on this tip from a reader over at our sister site, Mac OS X Hints. While it’s not automated, it does offer a somewhat...
May 13, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 10:35 AM ET
iPhone cleans out your wallet (in a good way)
The iPhone, as we know, is many devices consolidated into one: your music player, your phone, your email and Internet. But aside from meaning that you can save pocket room by getting rid of your other devices, the iPhone can also help you slim down your wallet. Blogger Albert Alberts...
Apr 11, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 2:35 PM ET
Unclog your sync (between Safari and your iPhone)
Has Safari been naughty and stopped syncing your bookmarks with your iPhone? The culprit, it seems, is the recent Safari 3.1 update. Fortunately, the fix is in, direct from Apple. According to this Knowledge Base article, running the following command in Terminal should fix all your woes: defaults delete com.apple.safari...
Apr 11, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 11:35 AM ET
Stupid tricks for your iPhone and you
Some might say there are no stupid tricks—only tricks that are, say, less smart than other tricks. I disagree. Take a look at our fearless leader, Editorial Director Jason Snell, as he demonstrates for you—in full color and sound, no less—the full range of somewhat ridiculous tricks that you can...
Mar 31, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 12:35 PM ET
Flaky IMAP may suck iPhone's battery life
Reader John wrote in to tell us of a problem he (and others) are experiencing with the iPhone's battery going dead very rapidly. Dissatisfied, John decided to do a little detective work and found that the culprit on his phone is an errant IMAP connection. Apparently, in some circumstances the...
Mar 21, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 11:46 AM ET
Become a master of all domains
One of the most useful advantages to the iPhone's software keyboard is that it can change—mutate, if you will—depending on the context in which you find yourself. Safari's location field is perhaps the best example of this: the iPhone removes the spacebar and replaces it with buttons for the period,...
Feb 26, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 11:41 AM ET
Listen to, don't watch, your video podcasts and music videos
Want to save a little battery life while listening to your favorite video podcast on your iPhone? Or maybe you just want to cue it up to listen to when you're at the gym working out, but don't need to watch the video. An anonymous tipster over at our sister...
Feb 22, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 12:14 PM ET
iPhone location as theft deterrent
I don't know if iPhone theft is a huge problem—I've had mine for over six months, and the only people who've tried to steal it are people I actually know, but I presume that, like any expensive gadget, it's a tempting target for thieves. But hey, unlike your average iPod...
Feb 22, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 11:20 AM ET
Solve the multiple camera application launch dilemma
OS X has long allowed you to specify what application gets launched when you attach certain devices, such as a digital camera, to your Mac, but sometimes this can be more annoyance than feature. For example, say you've got both a digital camera and your iPhone: you probably don't mind...
Feb 21, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 1:15 PM ET
Make your iPhone shake and rattle before it rocks and rolls
You probably know that you can have your iPhone both ring and vibrate by adjusting the options under Settings -> Sounds, but what if you want it to vibrate first, and then ring, as many other cell phones do? A reader of New York Times tech columnist David Pogue's blog...
Feb 19, 2008 - Posted by Dan Frakes at 6:47 PM ET
Make Safari stop rotating, for better bedtime surfing
I don't know about anyone else, but much of my iPhone Web surfing happens during down time: when I'm lounging on the couch or on the floor of the family room, or before I go to sleep at night. Sometimes I'm sitting up, but I occasionally lean to the...
Jan 25, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 12:35 PM ET
iPhone 1.1.3 makes its breakout appearance
It was really only a matter of time before the devoted team of iphone hackers managed to crack the latest firmware from Apple. As of last night, a jailbreak solution for the iPhone's 1.1.3 software has been released for both OS X and Windows. One caveat before you begin the...
Jan 23, 2008 - Posted by Dan Moren at 12:23 PM ET
1.1.3 is ready for iPhone apps, plus bonus speed dial hack
iPhone hacker Nate True has been digging around in update 1.1.3 and he's made a couple of interesting discoveries, most of which shouldn't come as a surprise. The changes basically add up to signifying that the 1.1.3 update appears to be all ready to support applications developed with Apple's forthcoming...
Dec 31, 2007 - Posted by Dan Pourhadi at 5:35 PM ET
Get Hotmail on your iPhone
Newsflash: People still use Microsoft's relatively-unimpressive Hotmail email service. And if you're a Hotmail user and sport an iPhone, you may have run into difficulties checking your Hotmail account on the phone via Mail. But if you're thoroughly entrenched and have hundreds of contacts, switching to a new, iPhone-friendly email...
Dec 10, 2007 - Posted by Dan Frakes at 4:01 PM ET
Tabs in Mobile Safari
One feature I miss on the iPhone version of Safari is tabs; on my desktop computer, I'm lost without the ability to open multiple Web sites in the same window. If you're in the same boat, check out Inventive Labs's Tabulate. Rather than a native application requiring you to...
Dec 10, 2007 - Posted by Dan Frakes at 2:23 PM ET
Mactracker on your iPhone
If you've ever worked in Mac IT, or even supported a small collection of personal Macs, you know how useful Mactracker can be. This handy utility, which I reviewed for Macworld a while back, provides detailed information about nearly every product Apple has ever released--from Performas to Power Macs,...
Dec 3, 2007 - Posted by Dan Moren at 2:38 PM ET
Track exchange rates in Stocks
Do a lot of traveling? Have a hard time keeping track of your pounds, Euros, kroner, rupees, etc? Wouldn't it be nice if there were an easy way to consult your iPhone and get the latest currency figures, without having to resort to digging through web pages? A clever tipster...
Nov 30, 2007 - Posted by Dan Moren at 2:42 PM ET
Replace your iPhone's battery on your own
Much has been made of the fact that your average user can't replace the iPhone's battery; Apple'll charge you $86 (including shipping) to get a new battery put into your handset. Plus, you'll have to get a loaner unit. One hopes the batteries last long enough that you won't be...
Nov 29, 2007 - Posted by Dan Moren at 2:43 PM ET
Share the love: use the iPhone's EDGE connection on your laptop
Among the laundry list of complaints some users have made about the iPhone, one is that you can't use the iPhone as a modem for your laptop. While it's convenient to have this always-on connection to the Internet, sometimes you want to take advantage of it with a big screen...
Oct 22, 2007 - Posted by Dan Moren at 2:26 PM ET
Getting your hack back on 1.1.1
So, after all the hoo-hah over the 1.1.1 update undoing SIM unlocks and third-party applications that we'd all enjoyed on the 1.0.2 firmware, does it mean the hackers have just given up? Of course not: these guys aren't about to just roll over and die; to them, it just means...
Oct 9, 2007 - Posted by Dan Moren at 3:03 PM ET
Even iTunes hates ringtones
You've done things the Apple way, eschewing hacks and products like iToner to put ringtones on your most advanced mobile phone evar. Finding a CD of your favorite artist that actually has tracks you can turn into ringtones, you've paid the $0.99 premium on all of them and you're ready...
Sep 29, 2007 - Posted by Dan Frakes at 2:53 PM ET
Custom ringtone: I'm not (completely) dead yet.
We previously reported that the recent iPhone update (1.1.1) not only bricks unlocked phones and wipes out third-party software, but also disables custom ringtones--even those installed using iToner, which had previously survived such updates. However, it turns out that the update doesn't completely break custom ringtones. Apparently, iToner-installed ringtones...
Sep 24, 2007 - Posted by Dan Moren at 12:13 PM ET
Stream movies from your Mac to your iPhone
Watching video on the iPhone is a joy: the screen is vibrant and crisp. But if there's one major problem with video on the iPhone, it's the lack of storage space. Even an 8GB iPhone can only hold a few movies at a time, especially if you also want to...
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