Facebook for iPhone Update – desktop features for the iPhone

Facebook on the iPhone has reached version 3.5… which includes a few ‘bug’ fixes in the chat area, numbers of comments on the photos (yea!) and notification speed.

For the features; there is a redesign of the Profile and Group walls… all nice. But, the ‘BIG’ news for me is I can now tag pictures with my friends and locations! When viewing an image, tap the ‘share’ button on the lower left corner then choose to tag an image… or ‘like’ or ‘save to your photo library’.

AND,  with Facebook 3.5, now there is more advanced privacy settings for your posts too. Via an interface that is very familiar to the desktop Web browser version.

 

LifeProof protecting the iPhone 4 against impacts, dirt and water

There is a new player in the super protection case for the iPhone4 world. Previously I had written about he Griffin Survivor which did very well in my tests. Now, LifeProof jumps in with a new case that has a few unique features that make it worth taking a look at.

I heard about the new case through a YouTube search for something completely unrelated. The video shows a case that comes in a variety of colors, doesn’t make the iPhone4 substantially larger and lets you drop your iPhone device on hard floor and into a cup of water. The parking lot happens for me more than a cup of water but it’s good to know your protected!! Currently I see ordering only available directly through the LIfeProof site.

Colors include Black, White and Pink:

Continue reading “LifeProof protecting the iPhone 4 against impacts, dirt and water”

Photo books and the iPhone – The Art of iPhoneography

Many picture I have taken have showed up in Apple Photo Albums I have created with iPhone. Just sync the iPhone and start adding the images to pages. The nice books show up a few days after you upload and pay.

iPhone photo books produced by other folks have started to show up to buy. If you hang out much at Instagram, you may have noticed some folks tags their photos with #iphoneography. Using that as a segue, there is a new printed book called ‘The Art of iPhoneography‘. It is actually more than a book of photos taken with the iPhone, it contains shooting tips and using apps to fine tune you photos.

 There are also books/magazines that are iPhone photos without the tips, like the Visual Musings over on MagCloud (warning: this print magazine is not “work safe”).

A couple options I have been playing with to print my iPhone photos are Blurb and Keepsy. I’ll cover both of those shortly in another post to avoid this going long.

Using your email to track tasks? The iPhone helps speed the process.

From time to time, I see posts around the Internet about how to keep your email inbox cleared out. They suggest you just delete what you don’t get handled or only handle those you can right away… they must not have jobs like I where people are expecting an answer back otherwise they wouldn’t have sent the email.

Another big ‘no-no’ in many articles is using your inbox as a ToDo list. True it isn’t a good idea to keep adding to your inbox and trying to sift through emails vs tasks. Properly handled though, the modern email software allows filtering and tagging so it can be considered to marry emails and tasks.

A feature of using your email software to manage tasks is that you don’t have to since lists, involve a cloud or sync across a network. You simply email the task to your account. This works particularly well if you use gmail. You can set up filters to handle emails that are tasks to be filed into a particular folder. With gmail, you can also move an email into a task pretty easily with their built-in tools. Available through Google apps or with any computer logging into your account.

Is creating a email that has a task in it quicker than using a ToDo app? It can be is you use the free iPhone app Task Me. The app will send emails through your GMail, MobileMe or regular SMTP account.

Once you have your email account setup in TaskMe, just launch the app, enter your task and hit ‘Send Now’. If you choose to use filters in your email software, you can key off of ‘TaskMe” as it is automatically sent in the email’s subject line.

Google+ following me everywhere on my iPhone with their new free app

If you haven’t heard, Google has released their own Social Network solution: Google+  At this time, the service is by invite only, let me know if you need an invite. The service is a little like all of the services you are already using. There is some fun extras for grouping who you follow into ‘circles’ and ‘huddling’ where you gather groups very quickly for mass texts.

The app version of Google+ for the iPhone (does not work on the iPad) just came out, and it is working very well for me!

Launching Google+ app starts off with a quick access area to the different features you can use on the Web site view.

Social media is most often thought of as the areas of streams of conversations from the folks you follow. Choose the button to gain access to the latest:

 

Sweeping your finger from side-to-side moves you through the different Google+ streams. Tap any conversation to open a page with just that thread… wish the desktop version did this rather than having to scroll through many comments to get to the next post. I’m not having the issues that Scroble is mentioning in his post below.

Tap the pencil icon in the upper left corner of the screen to create your own post. Like you see with Twitter apps, Google+ app allows you to add your location and pictures to your posts.

 

The Google+ Photos area has a quick overview of the four areas of the photo groups. The ‘From your circles’ images update automatically as people you follow add images. Tap a box to go to the photo area. Hey, no one has posted up pictures of me!

Choosing the ‘Circle’ icon from the front Launcher page gives you a list of people in alphabetic order. Their Google+ image and the Circle you have them in is included. Searching is available through the upper right corner button, which is pretty important as your list grows.

Continue reading “Google+ following me everywhere on my iPhone with their new free app”