April 26, 2010
Need a screenshot for a presentation or report, or maybe just to brag convincingly about the insanely high score you just made in a game? Simultaneously hold down the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons, then release them together. You'll hear the same shutter snap sound the iPhone makes when you use the built-in camera to take a photo, and you'll find the snapshot in the Photos app --in the Camera Roll album on iPhone and in Saved Photos on iPad and iPod touch. You can then use the Share button on your device to send it directly via email or MMS or even upload it to MobileMe Gallery if you're a subscriber. And of course you can import these screenshots to your computer with your favorite photo app and use them with any application that accepts images. Also, on iPad you can move the screenshots directly from Saved Photos into Keynote via the built in Photo Browser which lets you choose among all the images you have in the Photos app.
April 19, 2010
The Visualizer -- graphics that swoop and pulse with the music -- has been part of iTunes' DNA from the beginning. And because its creators wanted to interact with the graphics in real time as well as watch them, Visualizer includes some single keystroke commands that change what you see while it runs. But these commands are hidden by default lest they obstruct the graphics.
Use the Show/Hide Visualizer command in the View menu to turn Visualizer on and off, and use the Visualizer menu to select among the choices. If the choice you're using has hidden commands you can see them for a brief time by typing ? while a song is playing and Visualizer is visible. The keystrokes will work regardless of whether the help menu is showing, so if you memorize them it's possible to add Virtuoso Visualizer Player to your list of accomplishments. (For the Visualizer choice called Jelly, available only in iTunes for Mac, try holding the keys down, especially the number keys, for maximum effect.)
April 12, 2010
When you connect an iPhone, iPad, or iPod to your computer for syncing, it will appear in the Devices section in the left column of the iTunes window. Select it and you'll see a series of tabs across the top of the viewing area --Summary, Music, Movies, etc. -- the exact list depends on what sort of device you're syncing. In every case the tabs give you the ability to customize what gets synced for each part of your library. (And the Apps tab also gives you the ability to arrange where the apps live on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch home screens.)
The Photos tab, for instance, lets you pick where the photos you want to display will come from (by default My Pictures on Windows and iPhoto on Mac). The Info or Contacts tab (depending on your device) is where you can find contact management settings. The Music, Movies, and TV Shows tabs let you pick specific playlists, movies, and TV shows and episodes so you can manage the space on your device. Likewise the Books, Podcasts, and iTunes U tabs. And the Summary tab lets you check for software updates and choose among other options specific to the device you're syncing.
April 5, 2010
The iBooks app for iPad (a free download from the App Store) includes a built in iBookstore with access to thousands of books you can download and begin reading immediately. And because the iBooks app uses ePub, the most popular open book format in the world, you can also use it to read ePub books you get from other sources with your computer. Just drag the ePub files into your iTunes Library (or select Add to Library from the iTunes File menu), then sync your iPad with your computer (iTunes 9.1 required). The books will appear on your shelf in iBooks right alongside the ones you get through iBookstore.
