15 Mar 2013
As much as people use distribution lists/email groups you would have figured that feature would be a native part of the iPhone and iPad by now. Many people think that creating the lists is easy and they are just missing it. Email distribution lists are not part of iOS but there is a workaround. It is not an Apple-like feature but it works.
- Open Notes.
- Create a new text note or use a separate, empty line.
- Enter the email addresses that you want in the distribution list, separating each address with a comma but no spaces.
- Select and copy the line with email addresses.
- Open Contacts.
- Create a new contact.
- Enter the distribution list name in the Company.
- Select the Email field and Paste the email addresses.
- Save the email distribution list to your contacts. The distribution list will be available for sending email.
There are a couple apps in the App Store for handling email groups. The apps are awkward for replying or forwarding messages though. Apple restrictions on what third-party apps to do with contacts and email is restricted.
10 Mar 2013
A few Chrome browser extensions stopped working recently. A couple still worked but most did not. I use Google Chrome often enough that it’s a problem. Clicking on the extension buttons in Chrome’s toolbar only showed an empty pop-up balloon.
There are a few browser extensions that are important to me and surfing the web without them sucks.
- LastPass – LastPass is a password manager that makes web browsing easier and more secure.
- Xmarks Bookmark Sync – Backup and sync your bookmarks, passwords and open tabs across computers and different browsers.
- Rapportive – Rapportive shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox.
- Adblock Plus – Enjoy surfing the web without obtrusive ads cluttering your screen!
- Flashblock for Chrome – Flashblock is an extension for the Google Chrome that blocks all Flash content from loading. It then leaves placeholders on the webpage that allow you to click to download and then view the Flash content.
Googling for help had lots of tips but they didn’t work for me.
- Tried disabling the extension and then re-enabling from the Chrome Extensions page (Tools > Extensions). That didn’t work. Tried disabling all extensions and re-enabling one at a time didn’t work either.
- Tried restarting Chrome and Windows in various combinations.
- Tried clearing browser data (Tools > Clear browser date… or Ctrl-Shift-Del).
Uninstalling and re-installing Google Chrome fixed the broken extensions problem.
- Before uninstalling Chrome I made a backup list of extensions by selecting them all on the Extensions page and pasting the list to a text file.
- I thought about deleting the hidden Chrome profile data but held off. That proved unnecessary anyway.
- When Chrome started after the re-install all the extensions were still there and worked!
YMMV!
27 Jul 2012
I thought my new iPad was broken. I thought the battery was defective. Over the last week power was draining fast enough to see the percent numbers changing. I was planning the trip to the Apple store or maybe Springboard Media.
Some research revealed tips to deal with power problems. Some Google-Fu and Apple’s Discussion forums had the answers.
-
Lower the brightness – the new Retina display uses lots of power.
- Open the Settings app and tap “Brightness & Wallpaper.
- Adjust the Brightness slider to about 50% – 60%.
-
Disable WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G/4G when not needed – these radios use a lot of power also.
- Open the Settings app. WiFi is on the left.
- Bluetooth and 3G/4G is under General.
-
Close background Apps
- Bring up the multitask manager with a double-tap on the home button.
- Click and hold an unused App until it starts shaking.
- Then tap the X to close. Repeat if necessary.
-
Completely discharge battery once a month
- Use the iPad until it shuts down on its own.
- Ignore the low power warnings.
- Keep using the tablet until it powers down on its own.
- Then plug it in and allow the iPad to completely charge to 100% before using.
-
- Hold the button for 5 to 15 seconds.
- Ignore the red swipe to power down.
- The iPad will restart.
- This resets some settings that get stuck.
Bonus tip: the iPad charges faster when powered down.
- Hold the power button until the red swipe appears.
- Swipe to power down.
- Now the iPad will charge faster.
I’m happy to say the iPad’s battery life is back to normal. Not so happy that a trip to the Apple Store wasn’t necessary though.
01 Jul 2012
“Man, we are so busy there is no time to load the damn things!”
| The busy trap |
Hacker News http://bit.ly/N2pkid |
When I read that I couldn’t stop laughing. Don’t know how many times I’ve seen that since I started working.
03 Jun 2012
When bit.ly redesigned their site recently the iOS bookmarklets stopped working.
Googling for help didn’t turn up anything that worked for the moment. The tutorials were still geared to the older bit.ly site. The bit.ly URL shortener had become a real pain on the iPad.
- I dragged the ‘+bitmark’ button to my PC browser’s button bar.
- Clicking it brings up the new bit.ly dialog for URL shortening. It’s no longer a sidebar.
- I copied the JavaScript code from the new +bitmark button and transferred via SimpleNote and copied it to the iPad/Safari’s toolbar.
- Copy the javascript below
- On your iPad or iPhone add a new bookmark (this page works)
- Go to Bookmarks and tap [Edit]
- Tap the new bookmark you just created
- Rename it to “+bitmark”
- Paste the javascript in the URL field
- Tap [Done]
===> Copy the JavaScript code below the line <===
javascript:(function()%20%7B%20var%20s%20=%20document.createElement(%22script%22);%20s.setAttribute(%22id%22,%20%22bitmark_js%22);%20s.setAttribute(%22type%22,%20%22text/javascript%22);%20s.setAttribute(%22src%22,%20%22//bitly.com/a/bitmarklet.js%22);%20(top.document.body%20%7C%7C%20top.document.getElementsByTagName(%22head%22)[0]).appendChild(s);%20%7D)();