iOS 4 features: Search the Web, Wikipedia

While iOS 3 (iPhone 3.0) introduced Spotlight search for on-device information like contacts, songs, and apps, iOS 4 examples Spotlight to search the Web and Wikipedia as well.

From the main home screen, just swipe to move left to Spotlight, or click the home button to toggle to it, and start typing your search. You may see the aforementioned local results start to pop up but you’ll also see a Safari icon saying Search Web and a curiously blank icon saying ..read more

Consistency, consistency, consistency

When someone starts writing it’s not unusual for them to want to be creative, to be un-boring, so when they have a character talk, that character “intimates”, “whispers”, “suggests”, “exclaims” and otherwise enjoys every imaginable bit of literary variance the author can throw at them.

More seasoned writers tend to just stick with “said”. When a character talks, it’s “said”, “said”, “said”. Over an over again. Page after page. Turtleneck after jeans. “Said”, “said”, “said”. It’s used so often it ..read more

iOS 4 limitations: double-click Home reduced to fast app switching

Under iOS 4, if you’re using an iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS, when you double click the Home Button the UI slides up and reveals the multitasking fast app switcher “behind” the dock. That certainly fixes the problem of moving between apps quickly, but it sacrifices everything the double click did on previous iOS versions.

As recently as a few weeks ago under iOS 3 (iPhone 3.0), double clicking the Home Button would send you to Phone Favorites. Under Settings, you ..read more

iOS 4 feature: Linked contacts

When you sync contacts from more than one source (i.e. Exchange and MobileMe, on-device and Google Sync, etc.), and there are duplicates, rather than showing the same contact twice iOS 4 will instead create a single, linked contact. This works on any iOS 4 device, including iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, recent iPod touch, etc.

When you look at a linked contact, the header will show Unified Info at the top so you know it’s linked. At the very bottom of the ..read more

Pulse News Mini for iPhone – App Review

Pulse News Mini for iPhone is one of the newer RSS clients to appear in the App Store.  I happened to catch it in the featured section of the App Store and figured I’d give it a try.  Up until now, I’ve been a faithful fan of the Reeder client for iPhone.  I’m starting to think that Pulse News Mini could definitely give it a run for it’s money.

Read on for more screenshots and a walkthrough.

[iTunes Link]

The first thing you’ll ..read more

FarmVille for iPhone – app review

FarmVille is a widely popular real-time farm simulation game created by Zynga. It was originally created as a flash game for Facebook and eventually became available at farmville.com. Players can now farm on go with the most recent version of FarmVille on the iPhone.

If you have already invested a lot of time with a farm on Facebook, FarmVille for the iPhone allows you to access your existing farm via Facebook Connect. If you’re a new farmer, you can create ..read more

Apple posts article on how to fix iOS 4 Exchange sync problems

Apple has posted a knowledge base article support note for users whose Exchange ActiveSync mail, contacts, and calendars are no longer syncing post-iOS 4 update.

Here are the symptoms as described by Apple:

Immediately after updating to iOS 4, some users may notice that Exchange ActiveSync Mail, Contacts, or Calendars do not sync, or sync very slowly. In addition, some Exchange Server administrators may notice their servers running slowly.

And the solution:

To work around this issue, users should install a configuration profile from ..read more

How are you organizing your iOS 4 Folders?

One of the big new features of iOS 4 is the ability to organize your apps into folders. Each folder can contain no more than 12 apps and can be placed anywhere you like, including the dock. Folders are completely customizable and the process is simple.

Already a folders-making machine? We want to see them! Head on over to our iPhone Forum and add your screen shot to the showcase. Make sure you tell us how you’re organizing them. By category, ..read more

iOS 4 features: Safari URL bar gets “awesome”

When you tap into the Safari’s URL bar in iOS 4 and start typing, Safari starts to do a “keyword search”, i.e. display predictive results based on your bookmarks and history. Anything that contains the text you’re inputing either in the URL or history is listed below the URL field so the moment you see what you want you can just tap it and go.

This makes it easier to find something if you don’t remember the exact web page ..read more

iBooks on iPhone 3GS – app review

Finally, iBooks for iPhone arrives! I have been enjoying iBooks on my iPad for some time now. With iBooks for iPhone many more people can enjoy portable reading with their phones. How does iBooks measure up? Keep reading to find out!

After updating to iOS4 for iPhone 3GS I promptly downloaded iBooks. Apple has done a fantastic job with the application and it translates very nicely to the small screen. Let’s start off with actually getting a book on your device. ..read more

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