Camera +

Are you happy with the default Camera app on the iPhone? Check out Camera+, now available for iPhone and iPad for 99¢— I highly recommend it. (And no, I don’t have any financial investment in it!) It’s difficult to be sure your iPhone is parallel to your subject, and Camera+ has guides that help you line things up, as well as a visual zoom bar and a host of other features. You can read more on their website: http://campl.us

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today!
All content ©2011Canzani Graphics

Passbook

And here's more about Passbook, which I was looking forward to using:

When you open Passbook, you quickly discover you can't really do anything except hit the "Connect to iTunes Store" button. All day it returned a "Cannot connect to iTunes Store" message, which I thought at first might be due to busy servers. When I looked it up on Apple Support, I was very disappointed to discover NOTHING. NO helpful info at all. (Really, Apple?)

But a quick Google search found the answer in Apple Support Communities- so bizarre I had to share:

Go to Settings> General> Date and Time> Set Automatically> Off. Then set the date one year ahead. (Which brings up an amusing alert telling you you haven't backed up to Cloud in 52 weeks!) 

Passbook will now connect (you can then go back and turn auto time back on) and show you the paltry few companies that are signed on to sync with Passbook. My airline was not among them, but I will keep trying now and then to see who is rolling out the service. In the meantime, I'm staying with CardStar.

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today!
All content ©2011-2012 Canzani Graphics

How to set up "Do Not Disturb"

Having trouble figuring out some of the new features in iOS6? Me, too!

Here's how to set up "Do Not Disturb," with info direct from Apple:

You can use the "Do Not Disturb" setting while your iOS device is locked to silence calls, alerts, and notifications.

• To enable, tap Settings > Do Not Disturb. When Do Not Disturb is on, a "moon" icon will appear in the status bar. 
• To make changes to your Do Not Disturb settings, tap Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb. Optional settings for Do Not Disturb: 
• Scheduled: Automatically enable Do Not Disturb between the hours you specify. 
• Allow Calls From: Allow calls from everyone, no one, your favorites, or specific contact groups. 
• Repeated Calls: If someone calls you twice within three minutes, the call will not be silenced.

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today!
All content ©2011-2012 Canzani Graphics

Phishing Scheme?

I just came across a clever little phishing scheme, at least I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I have The Weather Channel app on my iPhone, and was looking for the radar when I noticed a blinking globe icon at the top, with a red "1" on it, similar to the 'Alert' number. It had the same color scheme, so I didn't realize at first that it was a banner ad; it was designed to look like part of the app and had opened at the same time. (The ads change and had there been a different one before that one, I'd have been reminded that the top space is for ads.) The next screen told me I had been selected for a survey and would get an iPad 2, an iPhone or a ($500) Best Buy gift certificate if I completed it. As soon as I saw the "Thank You" 'gifts,' my suspicions were raised, but I clicked through to see where it led. There were only three questions, all innocuous, and at the end, you chose your 'gift.' They even went to the trouble of saying there were only a few left of each, just to hurry me into doing something rash. When they asked for my email (I mean, how else are they going to deliver my gift?) I backed out. Very clever, very thorough, and, I'm fairly sure, crooked as a Shepherd's hook. No one pays you $500 to know whether you're Male or Female and how often you watch videos online or share them. Come on, people, if it sounds too good to be true, IT PROBABLY IS.

I've filled out a contact form for The Weather Channel iPhone app and will let you know if there are further developments.

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today!
All content ©2012Canzani Graphics

iPhone/iPad tips and tricks

iPhone ©Apple Inc.

Did you know you can take a screen shot of your iPhone or iPad screen? This little tip comes in handy; I used it to take a photo of the bottom of the "About" screen with the Serial Number on it. You must hold down the home button and the on/off button together- do it quickly in sync and release, and you'll hear the familiar shutter sound. The photo is automatically saved to your Camera Roll. (Did you know?: The Camera Roll stores photos permanently, the Photo Stream holds only your most recent 1000 pictures.)

The same key combination reboots your device when it's behaving badly. To use it to reboot, hold the keys down until you see the "slide to power off" at the top of the screen. Then release the keys and swipe across the message. Your device will shut down, showing a white 'pinwheel.' Powering it back up won't do anything instantly, but when it's ready, you'll see the white Apple icon and it will restart, all fresh and ready for use.

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today!
All content ©2011Canzani Graphics

when you can't wake your mac

I loved the old mac days when you could go into the system files and customize/tinker with them. As iPods, iPhones and iPads became more commonplace, more people moved to using all Macs (yay!) and Apple thought it advisable to hide some of the system folders to keep new users from inadvertently - or incorrectly - changing them. That’s great for families and casual users, but for pros, it meant giving up some control.

I work off a MacBook Pro connected to a Cinema display and this morning I couldn’t wake it from sleep. I had been advised to leave my laptop plugged in when using the Cinema display, but always working from direct power isn’t good for the battery, so my compromise has been to unplug my MacBook when I’m not working and it’s asleep. When I couldn’t wake it this morning, I carted it off to the Genius Bar to see if they could help me, and that’s exactly what they did- something I don’t think I could have done from home.

One of the new features of Lion is that your mac will start up every program you had open when you shut it down- a nifty feature if you tend to se the same programs every day. Your mac will start up and bring you back to just where you left off the previous session. But the more programs & windows you have open when you put it to sleep, the more your mac must remember each time. The only way to clear out all these remembered items is to actually turn the mac off and restart it, and if you never turn your mac off, eventually the space allotted for remembering items will fill up and your mac won’t wake up at all. The folder for this sleep data bank is hidden, so most users will need to bring their laptops to the Genius Bar to have the folder emptied. To avoid this eventuality, just remember to shut down your laptop sometimes and restart it, instead of always putting it to sleep.

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today! All content ©2011Canzani Graphics

You should know these numbers

I listen to CBS Newsradio 880 in the morning, and I usually catch the Small Business Report when it airs. One morning I heard an interview with Google VP and former congresswoman Susan Molinari with some stats that really struck me. She stated the 97% of people look online before the shop. 97%!! Yet 53% of NYC businesses have NO web presence; that’s slightly better than the national average of 60% of business without a web presence, but still quite a disparity between those looking for products and services and those selling them. Molinari  stated that if you put two businesses side by side, selling the same product(s), the business with a website will be twice as successful, hiring twice the number of workers and making twice the money.

The numbers in this article by WebVisible are slightly lower, but they are still startling.

“Though 63% of consumers and small business owners turn to the internet first for information about local companies and 82% use search engines to do so, only 44% of small businesses have a website and half spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online, according to research from Webvisible and Nielsen.…This disparity, according to Webvisible, clearly illustrates the reasons why consumers have difficulty finding small business information. Many consumers report that they have struggled to recall the name of a business in their area or wish to quickly check the website for store hours, directions or a phone number, Webvisible said. However, when using a search engine to find a business they know exists, only 19% of survey respondents report never or rarely encountering trouble locating that business online and 39% say they routinely have difficulty.”

With so many people now using smart phones, meaning they can search on the go, not having your company represented online is like actively turning business away. It’s not necessary to spend thousands on a website, either; a simple one page site with basic information and a contact number can be inexpensive and will pay for itself in increased sales.

If this entry has you thinking about creating a web presence for your business, or upgrading your current efforts, contact me @ Canzani Graphics and I’ll give you a free one hour consultation.

Put our knowledge and expertise to work for your business— visit our webpage and then contact Canzani Graphics today!
All content ©2011Canzani Graphics