Seriously, I just noticed this
Yeah, I don’t RTFM, so sue me. And if you don’t either, then maybe you didn’t notice you could do this in iOS 4 either.
One of the things I was missing most in iOS 4 is that in the “old days” or iOS 3 is that you could double click the HOME button on the iPhone to bring up the iPod’s music players controller when inside another app. This was a nice time saver and a necessity before iOS4’s multi-tasking allowed you to pick up (more or less) where you left off in an app. However, while double-tapping the Home Button in iOS 4 brings up the list of recently used apps, including the iPod, having to click on the iPod, then skip a track or fast forward or such, then switch back to the app was still a step back from the ease of use I had before.
However, I just finally realized this trick today, and figured I’d share it at the risk of everyone telling me they’ve know about it forever. That’s right, I’m willing to take the geek ego hit if it helps just one of you.
So here it is. Say you’re inside an app, listening to a podcast or something, and you want to skip an ad, but don’t want to exit the game. Just double tap the HOME button to bring up the list of running/paused/whatever they call them apps…
Now you can pause, or skip, or hold down and fast forward through a commercial without leaving your game. When done, just tap back anywhere in the game to resume. It’s pretty sweet, and I wish someone told me about it a few weeks ago.
======UPDATE =======
Geez guys, let me have it why don’t you.
Well, I still say there will be SOMEONE who didn’t know about this – probably an 80 year old former librarian or something who wins an iPhone 4 in a church raffle. And to her I say, “You’re welcome, Edna. ”
- The Doc
How To: Use FaceTime without WiFi (sort of)
The braniacs over at DeviceKnit Blog have come up with a pretty clever work around for using FaceTime on the road when you’re away from WiFi. The catch? You need to create your OWN WiFi using your iPhone 4, a laptop, and your $15 a month tethering plan. You have all those things, right? Then read on!
Turn on tethering in Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering on your iPhone 4 and connect it via USB. You’ll see a new “iPhone USB” connection option pop up in the Network preference pane in System Preferences:
Go to the Sharing preference pane, and turn on Internet Sharing to share your USB connection over WiFi/AirPort:
Now, connect to the network you just created with your iPhone, and you can FaceTime all you want. Hopefully when there’s a jailbreak for the iPhone 4 the laptop and tethering won’t be needed anymore. Enjoy!
So in effect you are using your iPhone to create a WiFi network which you then connect to… It’s a real “Why didn’t I think of that?” moment, except I know exactly why I didn’t think of it… I have no tethering plan, no one to talk to via FaceTime except that one Apple rep, and I’m not smart enough to think of it. Still, if you are someone who likes to LOOK at the person you’re talking to (hopefully not while driving) give it a try and let us know how it works.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Jeff for the tip!
Bang!
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Humor, Tips/How To, iPhone
Thingiverse user juniortan has created the ultimate iPhone case for any wanna be geek gangster. Behold the Ruger LCR Revolver iPhone case.
Sure, it’s a little bulkier than most cases, makes tapping the lower part of the screen a little trickier, and might send your iPhone flying if you “whip it out” too quickly, but the most important thing is looking cool, and nothing’s cooler than an iPhone with a gun handle.
via Thingiverse via Incredibleworld]
I have a feeling SOMEBODY’S mom is gonna be pissed when they get home…
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Mods, Tips/How To, iPad, video
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Florian for the tip!
Can’t afford a snowboard? Just use two PowerBooks!
Filed under: Awesomeness, Humor, Mods, Tips/How To, video
These things may not be able to run snow Leopard, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have fun in the snow!
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Florian for the tip!
[via Zweck Entfremder]
New book promises to make you as “Insanely Great” as Steve Jobs
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Steve Jobs, Tips/How To
Sure, we all want to be like Steve Jobs, but it takes more than a mock turtleneck and Pancreatic cancer to snag a Gulfstream Jet. What you REALLY need to wow auditoriums full of devoted followers is Steve’s legendary “Reality Distortion Field”. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom has it that Steve’s RDF is something he was born with, not something that can be taught… or can it?
Can you pick out which one is the real Steve Jobs?
BusinessWeek’s Carmine Gallo has penned the loquaciously titled The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience
For instance, did you know that: “Scientists are finding that the best way to communicate information is through text… AND images combined, and not text alone.”
Really? SCIENTISTS are finding that? Who’s funding this study, and where is it being conducted? Or, more importantly, WHEN is it being done? I’d guess sometime during the mid 1700’s. As a Dr. of some note myself, allow me to advance those scientists’ findings some 300 years into the future and let you know that people also like MOVING pictures too. And if you want to blow their minds, add sound, and if possible, COLOR to the video to really engage them.
While I can certainly agree there are some things one can do to make their Keynote/PowerPoint presentations visually more like Steve’s – Gallo points out you will never see a bullet point in a Steve Jobs slide – if you have a fear of public speaking I doubt a book is going to turn you into the next Billy Mays.
That is, of course, unless chapter 18 happens to be titled “BOOM”.
[via lifehacker]
How To: Use your iPhone to ditch AM Radio’s “tunnel blackouts”
Around where I live (the NYC area) there is a famous AM news radio station called 1010 WINS. While the station is famous for its “Give us 22 minutes, and we’ll give you the world” slogan, it is ALMOST as famous for its all but unlistenable signal. Despite living just 16 miles outside of NYC, somehow their signal is comprised of 80% static, not to mention 15% “fake news wire ticker from the 1930’s” background noise (yes, I think every big city has a cheesey news station like that). Yet despite the horrible signal and silly faux pre-WWII news ambiance, it must have something going for it as day in and day I out still find myself tuning in in a largely futile attempt to decipher the day’s events via the 5% of a signal I CAN get.
Of course the fates are cruel, and even that little bit of a signal is repeatedly taken away from me as I go under a series of relatively tiny bridges and overpasses, the signal cutting out, seemingly any time a bird flies overhead. While this provided a welcome break from the static, it certainly drove home the point that SOMETHING needed to change.
Above: You cannot deny that this is a cool icon
“If only there were a way for me to listen to a clear signal!” I thought. “And if only I could do it in a cool, geeky way!” I added. Sure, I could go out an buy an HD radio for my car (1010 WINS broadcasts in HD on the back of another CBS-owned station), but that would cost a lot of money and not really be all that geeky. Well, luckily for me, I accidentally downloaded an internet radio app called Tuner Internet Radio back when I was compiling my list of iPhone apps with well-designed icons. The app was pretty pricey at $5.99, but I finally found a good use for it.
Aside from having a cool icon, Tuner Internet Radio lets you listen to hundreds of internet radio stations from across the planet. Unfortunately, In general I found that maybe only about 60% of the links actually worked, as is often the case with internet radio, but one thing Tuner does that makes it pretty cool is that it allows you to add your own radio streams as well. So if the station you want to listen to is not one Tuner already knows about, in most cases (if you know the URL of the stream) you can use Tuner to stream it to your iPhone. I am sure there must be cheaper or even free apps out there that do this, (in fact, read the comments for a really simple, free solution) but if you are interested, the following steps likely apply to all players/stations.
Step 1: Find the stream
Some stations, like some of the Old Time Radio on the web I listen to, actually WANT you to listen to their streams, and make the address easy to find. Unfortunately the 1010 WINS radio player is really the CBS radio “Play.It” player, a monster of a player that streams all 500 million CBS-owned stations, and it uses Flash or something to do so, so I could not easily see the stream address. A little web poking though and I found Read more
How To: Add a bunch of useless stuff to your desktop with GeekTool, Yahoo Widgets, and more!
I’ve recently gotten into playing around with GeekTool, an add-on System Preference Pane that allows you to add a wide range of both useful and useless things to your desktop, not only to make your life easier, but to make other geeks feel inferior. Sure, you can display the current date and time in the menu bar like a noob, but why not have a GIANT clock right in the middle of you desktop? Or show CPU usage, AirPort signal strength, Processor temps, RSS feeds, Facebook updates, computer uptime, iCal events, current weather conditions, etc.?
Above: Some cool examples of GeekTool custom desktops: 1, 2, 3, 4
Despite its geeky name, setting up GeekTool doesn’t require a whole lot of geeky knowledge. Luckily for us, the TRUE geeks of the world have already come up with the necessary code and scripts you’d want, so for the most part you will simply be copying and pasting bits of code that you find by Google-ing “GeekTool code” (or at least that’s what I did). I don’t claim to be any sort of GeekTool expert, but I’ll walk you through the basics of what I did to achieve MY results, and you can take the ball and run with it. Read more
How to: Create Custom Mask Effects For Photo Booth
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Hacks, Tips/How To
Like most kids their age, faithful Macenstein readers Len and Jordan were messing around with Quartz Composer’s input parameters and Photo Booth last Friday night, and they figured out a relatively easy way to create your own Photo Booth masks. And by relatively easy, I mean even I could follow the instructions.
So, If you’ve ever wanted to put your face on Steve Jobs’ near-perfect body, read on! Read more
How To: Unlock Pocket God enemies in The Creeps!
Pocket God’s creators have been doing some sneaky cross-promotion lately, allowing their happy little Pygmy Islanders to pop up in other developer’s games as secret unlockables. The latest, and coolest such Pocket God came is is one of my favorite games, The Creeps! Whether you’re a fan of Pocket God, or if you just want a couple new Creeps to battle, this hint is sure to add hours to the already enjoyable gameplay of the Creeps! Read more
