Wednesday, September 14, 2011

How to Get Album Art for Your iPhone’s Cover Flow

iPhone’s unique Cover Flow — you know, the view in the iPod app that lets you flick through album covers — makes it all the more appealing to collect album artwork for the music you download.
Otherwise, Cover Flow will display blank album covers, which is way less impressive than having a full album collection complete with artwork.
This tutorial will guide you through the different ways to add album art to the songs in your iTunes Music Library.

If you download your music straight from the iTunes Store, the album artwork is included with the purchase. iTunes 7 also lets you “Get Album Artwork” for songs you’ve downloaded from other sources.
Get Album Artwork
To get iTunes to populate your entire Music Library with album art, go to the Advanced menu and click “Get Album Artwork.”
This helpful iTunes feature will find most of your music’s album art, but a lot of times not all of it. This could be due to “inconsistencies between [your] info and Apple’s, such as genre or year of release,” according to Mac OSX Hints.
In this case, you can search for an album in the iTunes Store and compare its info to the info that you have saved for your music file. Then select your song and go to File >> Get Info to adjust the file details.
This can be somewhat tedious, though, especially if you have a lot of songs that need adjusting. That’s why you might find it easier to use the iTunes Art Importer, which automatically searches Amazon.com for cover art and applies it to your songs.

Using the iTunes Art Importer

iTunes Art Importer
First, download the program and, if necessary, the Microsoft .NET Framework.
Once installed, open up the iTunes Art Importer along with iTunes. Now select the songs which need album art and click the magnifying glass button. The program will query Amazon and display a list of album artwork for you to choose from.
Once you’ve made your pick, select the songs in iTunes which you want the art applied to, and click the import button. To speed up the process, check off “Auto-import best guess” and click the import button. This saves time and works sort of like iTunes’ “Get Album Artwork” feature.
If the iTunes Art Importer can’t find the correct artwork, you can input a search term that will override the automatic search criteria. For example, when it couldn’t find my Dave Matthews “The Central Park Concert; Disk 1″ I overrode the auto-search with “dave matthews central park” and it found the correct album art.
If after trying any of the above methods, you still have songs left without album artwork, you can manually add the artwork to iTunes.

How to Manually Add Album Art in iTunes 7

Drag Album Art
First, bring up the View menu and click “Show Artwork” to display the album artwork pane in the bottom left corner of iTunes. You’ll notice the box says “Now Playing” by default. Click “Now Playing” to switch to “Selected Item” mode.
Now select the songs you want to add artwork to, open up the folder on your computer where you’ve saved the album’s image, and drag the image into the Artwork pane.
This works especially well, I noticed, for audiobooks that may not be searchable by the iTunes Art Importer. Just Google the audiobook name, find a cover image and drag it onto the book’s audio files.
Once you’ve got all your album art worked out, sync everything to your iPhone and enjoy a fancy album collection that you can show off to your buddies.
If you found this tutorial helpful, link to it from your site and/or send it to a friend.

iPhone Speed Dial: How to Add Speed Dial Icons to iPhone Home Screen

iPhone developer Nate True worked out a clever way to add iPhone speed dial functionality using the Web Clips feature introduced in firmware update 1.1.3.
This method for adding speed dial to iPhone is 100% legit — that is, Jailbreaking your iPhone is NOT required.
Read on for the very simple step-by-step instructions:


Adding iPhone Speed Dial

1. Open Safari on your iPhone and, in the URL field, type:
http://(the phone number).tel.QLNK.net
iPhone Speed Dial
2. You’ll get a “Call” popup. Touch Cancel.
3. Finally, tap “+” at the bottom of the screen and touch “Add to Home Screen”. Name your Web Clip and you’re done.
Now return to the home screen and you’ll see the new iPhone speed dial icon. Tap it and it requests a page on the developer’s server, which prompts the call.
For those concerned about privacy, the developer promises:
I assure you I will not use this data AT ALL FOR ANY REASON. It is entirely possible to put a similar script on your own web server, which will do the same thing without sending me any information; that course of action is recommended if you are at all concerned about your privacy.

How to Add a Photo to the Speed Dial Icon

If instead of the phone icon, you’d like to use a photo instead, add ?picurl=http://path.to/photo to the above-mentioned URL, like so:
http://(the phone number).tel.QLNK.net?picurl=http://path.to/photo
I uploaded a 40 x 40 pixel headshot of my contact to PhotoBucket and used the direct link to the image.

iPhone Speed Dial Cool, But Not Exactly Speedy

Nate True’s method is not exactly speed dial since you have to touch twice to call — once on the icon and again to hit the Call button.
Double-tapping your Home button to access your Favorite contacts is just as fast. Nevertheless, it’s a neat trick I thought I’d share. Thanks, Nate!

iPhone Text Message Privacy: How to Turn off SMS Preview

Update: The SMS Preview privacy issue is now resolved as of the iPhone 3.0 software update.
In my original iPhone review, I complained about having little privacy on the iPhone when receiving incoming text messages.
When you receive an SMS message on your iPhone, a preview of the message content pops up on the screen, and you can choose to either view it or ignore it. While this “SMS Preview” feature may be very convenient, it could be troublesome if a friend or family member is playing with your cool new gadget and a message you’d rather have remained private pops up on your screen — ouch!

iPhone SMS Preview
Well today I was browsing through the iPhone Settings menu, and I came across a “Show SMS Preview” ON/OFF button. The only problem is, the option to turn off SMS Preview is available only when you set a Passcode Lock for your iPhone via Settings >> General >> Passcode Lock.
Since I’d rather not have to deal with entering a password every time I want to use my phone, I set the Require Passcode field to “After 1 hour,” so that I’ll only have to enter it at most once an hour. Really, though, I rarely go 60 minutes without using my iPhone for something, so I’m hardly ever prompted for a Passcode.
Now when I receive a text message, the iPhone displays the name of the sender and “Text Message,” rather than an excerpt of the message content.
iPhone Text Message
I’m glad to have discovered this option, but I would really like to be able to turn off SMS Previews on the iPhone without having to set a Passcode Lock. What about you?
New: Has SMS Preview gotten you into trouble? Share your awkward or embarrassing stories here.
Update: A third-party app called Caterpillar solves iPhone’s SMS privacy issue. Click to read my review of the Caterpillar app’s Privacy feature.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

How Do I Make My iPhone Ring Longer? [iPhone Q & A]

I’m going to start an iPhone Q & A series, where I post some of the questions readers send me by email. Today’s question:
Kathy writes:
is there any way to make iphone ring longer?

Answer:

Even if your iPhone ringtone is 30 seconds long, your iPhone rings for only 20 seconds by default. To get your iPhone to ring for 30 seconds, instead of the standard 20-second ring, follow the steps below:
  1. Dial *#61# and touch Call. Make iPhone Ring Longer
  2. Jot down the phone number displayed on the screen. This is where your voicemail calls are directed to (as shown in the screenshot below). iPhone voice call forwarding
  3. Dial **61*(THE NUMBER YOU WROTE DOWN)**30# and press Call.
Your iPhone should now ring longer — that is, for the full 30-second duration of your ringtone. To verify that your voicemails are still being sent to the correct place, repeat step 1 and check that the phone number matches.

How to Find an iPhone App Developer [iPhone Q & A]

This post is part of the iPhone Q & A series. If you have a question, send it over.
Catherine writes:
Are there app program developers that you would recommend? I have heard from a couple of them (one who wrote in on your blog) but I am not really sure (besides the fee and their resume) what I should be looking for to find a good developer at a fair price. Any ideas?
I have not worked with iPhone app developers myself, but here are 6 tips that might help you find a reputable iPhone app developer for your project:

  1. Look in the App Store. A good way to find a talented developer is to see who designed the apps you like in the iPhone App Store. Look in the app description under “Company”. Sometimes this will not be the company that designed the application, but a lot of times it lists the websites of the developers themselves. If that’s the case, check out the developer’s website and shoot them an email asking if they would like to work with you.
  2. Find professionals at a freelance jobs site. Post your iPhone app project to an online services marketplace, and developers will bid on your project. Check out these sites first:
  3. Start a dialog with prospective developers. If you find an available developer, talk about the details of your project and see how he/she responds. Do they reply in a timely manner to your emails? Do they sound like they know their craft? Ask to speak on the phone. Find out what programming languages they are familiar with and what kind of projects they like to work on.
  4. Ask to see a portfolio. Find out if the developer you’re considering has made other iPhone apps. If not, what other development experience do they have? You should expect to see proof of experience — that is, completed projects — before you hire someone to work on your iPhone app. Consider the iPhone app you want developed and whether your prospective developer seems capable of completing it.
  5. Choose a developer who’s worked on projects similar to yours. If your iPhone app will be graphics-intensive, look for a developer with graphics experience and an eye for aesthetics. If your app will be information-centered, look at how the developer organized data in their past work. Choose a developer who has a skillset that matches your needs.
  6. Hire more than one developer. You may want to consider hiring more than one developer to design and code your iPhone app. Sometimes a developer is more comfortable with design, and another with code. Think about hiring a designer to conceptualize your iPhone app, and then finding someone else to code it.
If you’ve worked with iPhone app developers, tell us in the comments what your experience was like. iPhone app developers, feel free to let us know about your work and whether you’re available to work on new projects.

How to Crop Your iPhone Photos in 5 Seconds or Less

Cropping photos on the iPhone is easier than you think. You can crop photos on your iPhone in a matter of seconds without having to download any apps.
Here’s how:

  1. Go to the photo you want to crop in the Photos app.
  2. Pinch to zoom into the photo as much as you’d like.
  3. Finally, perform a screen capture by simultaneously pressing the on/off button and the Home button.
Your cropped photo will now appear in your photo album

Monday, September 12, 2011

5 iPhone AT&T Activation Tips: How to Speed Up the Process

If you’ve yet to buy or activate your iPhone, you might benefit from these 5 iPhone activation tips, based on advice given to me by a helpful AT&T employee working in the activations department.

1. Watch Apple’s step-by-step iPhone activation video to become familiar with the process.
2. Check & double-check your information. When you accidentally enter incorrect details, AT&T has to put a hold on the activation process, resulting in a frustrating experience for everybody.
3. Verify that your rate plan is compatible with the features you want.
4. If you plan to keep your current phone number but you are with a provider other than AT&T, call your carrier and tell them to port your number to AT&T. The iPhone can’t be activated until your phone number is “released” by your old provider.
5. If after inputting your personal details you get a message, as I did, telling you that AT&T is processing your activation, don’t go ahead and resubmit your information. That will just create more of a mess for AT&T employees to sort through, lengthening the time before you actually get your iPhone up and running. Plus, if a lot of people resubmit unnecessarily, it could cause a server overload, which already happened once.
Bear these iPhone activation tips in mind and you’ll take a load of stress off yourself, other iPhone users and AT&T employees. Plus, you’ll get to play with your new iPhone sooner rather than later… and I know you don’t want to wait.

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More