by Liana Lehua

I was perusing my contacts today to find and coordinate with my Flickr group friends for a meetup. Having created Groups in my contact list, I found it easy to narrow down my search for the person’s name who I wanted to call. Creating and using Groups is also a great way to categorize restaurants or travel favorites (San Francisco restaurants or Chicago Movie Theaters, for example).

Try it out, you may find it helps organize your contacts in a new and useful way. If you need help in learning to create a group in your Address Book, check out this screencast I recorded for the iLifeZone.

Enjoy!

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by Liana Lehua

We were compressing an iLifeZone screencast for upload to iTunes, and everything was peachy. I mean, it was peachy until we found out that the resolution I was using while recording the screencasts was not compatible for viewing on the iPhone. I didn’t catch it during my post process either, so when an iLifeZone subscriber would sync my screencast to his/her iPhone, no video would show or play.

So, I had to check myself and make sure that my process included me recording my screencasts at an aspect ratio that would size correctly for iTunes, iPhones, and video iPods. I had a brain fart and was recording my screencasts at 1024 x 640. I need to increase my brain food during my morning meals. I have no idea where I came up with that setting - way off. When I am eating optimally and my brain is functioning properly, my ideal setting is to screencast at a resolution of 1024 x 768. That value is complimentary to the 4:3 aspect ratio, or the 640 x 480 resolution, supported by the iPhone, video iPod, and by Apple TV. This size preserves the aspect ratio that fits within the 480 x 360 landscape orientation on the iPhone. From the Apple knowledge base, the iPhone and iPod can play the following video formats:

• H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Low-Complexity version of the Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
• H.264 video, up to 768 kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
• MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

If you need a refresher, as I sure did, or, are new to video compression for your shiny new 16GB iPhone and are wondering about supported file formats and types, check out the Apple’s iPhone Technical Specs here.

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Sometimes you may need to change the SIM card of your iPhone. For example, this is required for iPhone repair, warranty service, or if you own an authorized unlocked phone (Germany and France only) and want to use a different network provider’s SIM.

Apple has provided a KNOWLEDGEBASE article on this subject at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307410.

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LBS provides your approximate location using information based on your proximity to known cellular network towers and Wi-Fi networks (when on and available). The more accurate the available information, the smaller the circle identifying your position on the map.

If you routinely do not enable Wi-Fi on your iPhone, the location information will not be as accurate as if you do. So, to better pinpoint your location, go to SETTINGS - WIFI - ON and if you’re in an area that can triangulate with Wi-Fi you’ll get a better result.

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A website is reporting that iPhones may be subject to a security threat caused by malicious Javascripts that cause a kernal panic when visiting a website with Safari. There’s no evidence that this has actually happened to anyone and there’s little that you can do about it other than turn off Java in your phone’s settings or avoid using Safari until Apple sends a patch.

I don’t intend to change anything since I only visit trusted websites on my iPhone in the first place, but forewarned is forearmed.

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by Liana Lehua

Have you ever thought about braving a road trip without your laptop, because you have an iPhone and don’t need no stinkin’ laptop? Or, maybe you dropped your iPhone into the keg and had to buy a new one. Either way, it’s probably a good idea to know where your iPhone data is backed up.

Just take a copy of the backup folder iTunes creates when you sync your iPhone, and drop it on a USB drive or other external source and keep it handy. If you need to restore your iPhone while vacationing from your laptop, you can drop a copy of your Backup folder on to another computer to restore your data (contacts and calendar). Note: Be sure to create a new account on the computer you use to restore your backup. Otherwise, you will overwrite any existing iPhone data. Your friend may not like you very well if you wipe out her precious iPhone data. Continue Reading »

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by Liana Lehua

I am loving the addition of the “Current Location” feature in Google Maps. I live in a large city and have had great success in locator accuracy. It’s when I travel that this feature has already proven useful.

When I am away from home and have a rented car that I have to park in an unfamiliar place, I use locator to pinpoint where I park. When I have to get back to my car after a day of walking around and sightseeing, for example, I can get my new location and map to my last “dropped pin”. No looking at my buddy and asking, “Dude! Where’s my car?”
How are you using locator?

Oh. I forgot to mention. Unlike GPS, I don’t have to be standing outside to use it.

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