If you've been waiting for a iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak you're in luck. Greepois0n Absinthe 2.0 was just released with version 2.0.1 released soon after to address some bugs. You can now enjoy an untethered jailbreak on your iPhone 4S, new iPad, and several other iOS devices. If you've never used Greenpois0n before, that's okay. Hit the jump for a walkthrough!

Back up your data

Before running any jailbreak tool you should always back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch just in case something goes wrong. So make sure you have either a recent iCloud backup or iTunes backup before proceeding to the actual jailbreak process. If you aren't sure how to perform a backup, you can check out our guides:

• How to perform an iCloud backup on iOS 5 or higher
• How to perform a backup via iTunes

Update to iOS 5.1.1

You can either update your software via an OTA software update or via iTunes if you haven't already updated to iOS 5.1.1.

• How to update your iOS software over the air (requires iOS 5 or higher)
• How to update your iOS software via iTunes

Jailbreak your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

1. First download Greenpois0n Absinthe 2.0 2.0.1 to your computer from our downloads section. It is available for Mac, PC, and Linux.
2. Next, install the program and open Absinthe with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch plugged into your computer.

3. Click the Jailbreak button to begin the process.

4. This process may take a while to complete so you'll have to be a little patient. Mine took about 6 minutes total. Your device may say Restore in Progress, that's okay.
5. When you see the message Done, enjoy! on your computer you can go ahead and unplug your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
6. You're done! Cydia will be on your Home screen and you're good to go!

If you've never jailbroken before, this is a super easy tool to start with. If you have jailbroken before, you'll appreciate how easy this one is compared to previous tools. If you do happen to run into problems or need help, check out our jailbreak help and discussion forums via the link below.

Additional Resources

• Best jailbreak apps for new iPhone users
• IntelliscreenX vs LockInfo: which should you get?
• Messages+ vs BiteSMS:which should you use?
• iMore jailbreak help & discussion forums

If you watched the new iPhone 4S commercials that Apple released last night, the ones that feature John Malkovich asking Siri for jokes and about the meaning of life, you might have noticed the way in which he was asking. In short, it was short. David Chartier certainly noticed:

Joke features him speaking a series of one-word commands to Siri that practically feel like verbal equivalents of tapping on a particular app to get a particular piece of information. "Weather." "Evening." "Linguica." "Joke." Apple seems to want to remind us that, underneath the clever responses and artificial personality, Siri is a tool meant to help us get more done with less.

Talking to Siri like it's a Pixar character certainly makes it more endearing, and makes the virtual relationship seem more real. The commercial shows, however, that if you don't have time or simply aren't in the mood for pleasantries, you can get to the point with machine-like brevity.

Unfortunately, for all of Siri's context awareness, it doesn't seem to notice when your communications are rushed and respond in kind. As the commercial also shows, even one short word like "life" can return a paragraph-long reply.

For more tips, check out our latest Siri how-to series, or jump on over to our Siri forum and tell us how you prefer talking to Apple's adorable little digital assistant!

Source: David Chartier

Siri isn't just another voice control system, it remembers context and it can understand relationships. That means, for example, you can tell Siri to call your wife's iPhone, and Siri will know who that is and which phone number to dial.

Not only that, Siri can send SMS or iMessages and even email any of your friends, family, or co-workers simply by speaking their name -- or their relationship to you -- before the command.

• How to establish contact relationships with Siri
• How to manually add relationship data to Contacts
• How to get Contact information with Siri
• How to phone call a contact with Siri
• How to send an SMS or iMessage with Siri
• How to send an group SMS or iMessage with Siri
• How to send an email using Siri
• How to send an email to multiple recipients using Siri
• How to find a friend with Siri

How to establish contact relationships with Siri

Siri will need to either learn who your wife, best friend, boss, or other relationships are before it can associate them with the proper contact. You can edit the Contact to enter that information, but what fun is that? The easier, faster way is simply to tell Siri what your relationships are.

1. Hold the Home button to activate Siri.

2. Tell Siri "Dad Mazo is my father". (You need to use the exact name in your address book, so if your brother's name is entered as "John Smith", that's what you need to say."
3. Siri will then ask if you want it to remember the relationship.

4. Say “Yes” or tap the Yes button and Siri will confirm that the relationship has been added.

Now, this works well for those “unique relationships” in your life such as mother, father, husband, wife, boss, etc. It is still not perfect when the relationship is not as unique – for example your child.

My wife and I have six kids. When I ask Siri to call my daughter, she again asks me who my daughter is. The difference is that there is no “daughter” in the relationship field in the iOS Contacts app – only “Child.” So, my daughter gets put in the “Child” field.

If you have more than one child, or any multiple relationships, you will need to enter that data manually in your Contacts app.

How to manually add relationship data to Contacts

When Siri does get confused by multiple relationships, it is possible to manually add in the proper data in your Contact card so that Siri can make use of it.

1. Launch Phone and tap the Contacts tab, or launch the Contacts app
2. Scroll down and tap on your Contacts card (the one listed in Settings, General, Siri, My Info)
3. Tap the Edit button in the top right-hand corner.
4. Scroll down to the very bottom and tap the Add Field tab.
5. Choose from one of the relationships listed; mother, father, brother, sister, child, friend, spouse, partner, assistant, manager or other.
6. Type in the exact name or tap the Blue arrow to choose a Contact to put in that field.
7. When you are done, tap the Done button.
8. The contact is now stored as a relationship in your Contact card and you can ask Siri to “Call my mother” or whichever relationship you added.

This works like a charm EXCEPT for the Child category.  I found that if I said “Call my daughter,” since she is listed as the first “Child” it works fine. But I have two daughters and there is no way to get Siri to call a specific daughter. The same goes for the sons. If I say “Call my son” it goes to the first male child listed – but there is no way to differentiate between the sons.

So, Siri is not perfect with that relationship, but with others, it is a nice way to “personalize” the experience.

Privacy warning

Any relationships you add to your Contact card are now part of that card which means that if you email or message someone your contact card, all of your relationships will be part of that information. You may want to create a second, relationship-free Contact card to share with others.

How to get Contact information with Siri

Siri can quickly find you the Contact information for anyone on your iPhone -- far more quickly than tapping, scrolling, and visually picking them out typically allows.

1. Hold the Home button to activate Siri.
2. Say “[Contact/relationship name]”.
3. If you don't say the full name, and you have more than one Contact with the same first name or family name, Siri will ask you which one you want. You can save time by saying the full name to begin with.
4. Siri will then pull up a widget containing the Contact information.

How to phone call a contact with Siri

Siri can place calls to someone by name, or simply by relationship, and to any phone number you have. Especially when driving, and with a proper hands-free setup, it's incredibly easy to say "call my wife at home".

1. Hold the Home button to activate Siri.
2. Say “Call [Contact/relationship name]” or "Phone [Contact/relationship name]”
3. If the contact has more than one phone number, Siri will ask you which number you want to call. If you know you want to call to someone’s work phone, you can make it faster by saying “Call [Contact/relationship] at work.”
4. Siri will then place the call

How to send an SMS or iMessage with Siri

Composing an SMS or iMessage with Siri is very convenient; it is also the ONLY way anyone should ever send a text while driving – assuming you use a handsfree device to dictate the message.

1. Hold the Home button to activate Siri.
2. Say either "Send a text" or "Send a message." To make the process even faster, say "Send a text to [Contact/relationship name]" or "Send a message to [Contact/relationship name].(
3. If you don't say the Contact or relationship immediately, Siri will ask you for a phone number, contact name, or iMessage-associated email address.
4. Wait for Siri to ask you “What would you like to say?”
5. Dictate your message clearly.

6. When you stop talking, Siri assumes you are done and asks you if you are ready to “Send” it.
7. Just say “Yes” or “Send”, or tap the equivalent button, and your message is sent to the recipient.

How to send an group SMS or iMessage with Siri

Siri can also send text messages to a group of people. All Siri needs is to hear the word “and” in between the names.

1. Hold the Home button to activate Siri.
2. Then I say “Send a text to [Contact/relationship name] and [Contact/relationship name] and..."
3. Siri adds them all into the recipient field of the text message.

4. Dictate the message and then tell Siri to “send” it.

How to send an email using Siri

Messaging with Siri is not limited to just sending text messages; Siri can also send emails, both to individuals and to multiple recipients.

1. Hold the Home button to activate Siri.
2. Say: “Send an Email to [Contact/relationship name]”
3. If the contact has more than one email address, Siri will ask you which address. If you know you are sending an email to someone’s work address, you can make it faster by saying “Send an email to [Contact/relationship] work.”
4. Wait for Siri to ask you the subject of the email.
6. Dictate the subject of the email
7. Wait for Siri to ask “What do you want to say”
8. Dictate the body of your email and then tell Siri to "Send" it.

How to send an email to multiple recipients using Siri

Like with SMS and iMessages, you can use Siri to send out group emails; you just need to know which email address to use if your Contacts have more than one email address.

1. Hold the Home button to activate Siri.
2. Say “Send and email to[Contact/relationship name] and [Contact/relationship name] and..."
3. If you have more than one email address for any of the Contacts, Siri will ask which address to use.
4. Dictate the subject and then the body of your email, and tell Siri to "Send".

Remember, Siri is only as smart as you set it up to be, so, if you have three email addresses for one person, don’t label them all “work” in Contacts or Siri will say: “Which address, work, work or work?”

If you intend to use Siri, take the time to make sure your Contacts are set up properly -– that is all Siri has to go on.

How to find a friend with Siri

Find my Friends is a free from Apple and available on the App Store.

Free - Download now

In order for Find my Friends to work with Siri, you have to have set it up and added contacts to the Find my Friends system. Once that's done, simply ask away.

Siri will launch the Find my Friends and show you the location of your friend, family member, co-worker, etc. right on the map.

How to get more help with Siri

If you still need help with setting up or using Siri with your iPhone Contacts, or any other Siri feature, head on over to our Siri Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, configure, secure, and start using Siri

Rene Ritchie and Georgia contributed sections of this guide.

Siri is the flagship feature of Apple's iPhone 4S. Even though it's still in beta, one look at Apple's advertising shows just how important they consider their digital personal assistant. Yet despite how natural Apple intends their voice-control system to be, it can still take some getting used to, and if you're new to the iPhone, you might find you need some help setting it up.

Here are a few things you can do to help Siri along and shorten the learning curve for both of you.

• How to use Siri
• How to enable Siri in the Settings
• How to configure Siri
• How to secure Siri with a Passcode Lock

How to use Siri

Activating Siri is simple.

1. Hold down the Home button on your iPhone 4S until you hear a tone.
2. Wait for the screen to slide up and the microphone icon to appear and animate.
3. Speak your command or request clearly.
4. If you're not sure what to say, tap the i button at the right of the word bubble for a list of example.

If it doesn't work at all, you may have to turn Siri on first.

How to enable Siri in the Settings

If Siri isn't already enabled on your iPhone 4S, you'll need to turn it on first.

1. Launch Settings.

2. Tap the General tab.
3. Tap the Siri tab.
4. Turn the switch to the ON position.

How to configure Siri

Nobody likes an “assistant” who tries to take charge and doesn’t listen to you; it’s no different with Siri.  You need to configure Siri in the Settings app to best work with your voice, to know you by name and to work the way you want it to work.

1. Go to the Siri tab in Settings (see above).

2. Tap the language tab to choose the best language that most closely matches your accent or dialect.
3. Tap the Voice Feedback tab to decide whether Siri works Always or only when you are connected to a Handsfree device.  This is a great idea if you tend to your Siri a lot when you are in the car. It is much safer to use Siri over a Handsfree device when you drive.
4. Set the My Info tab to your contact information. Siri will talk to you like it knows you and refer to you by name when this tab is set to your contact card.
5. Navigate through your Contact cards and select your own card to use.
6. Turn the Raise to Speak switch to the ON position if you want Siri to automatically activate whenever you lift up your iPhone. Otherwise, you simply need to hold in the Home button to activate Siri.

NOTE: If you turn Raise to Speak to the ON position, your battery may  run down more quickly.

How to secure Siri with a Passcode Lock

Since Siri is usually activated by just holding down the Home button, it can pose a security risk for the data on your phone. If you are security conscious and have activated a Passcode Lock for your iPhone, you will want to make sure that Siri is not available to intruders when the phone is locked.

1. Launch Settings.
2. Tap the General tab.
3. Tap the Passcode Lock tab.
4. If you have not enabled a Passcode, tap Turn Passcode On and set your code.

5. Turn the switch next to Siri to the OFF position. This will not allow Siri to be activated when the phone is locked with a Passcode.

Try it –- turn your phone off and hold down the Home button and nothing should happen at all. If you want to use a Passcode but still want to be able to access Siri when the phone is locked, turn this switch to the ON position.

How to get more help with Siri

If you still need help with setting up or using Siri with your iPhone Contacts, or any other Siri feature, head on over to our Siri Forum and ask away!

• How to establish relationships and call, message, email, and find your contacts using Siri

The release date for when the iPhone 5 comes out is the most frequent question we're being asked these days. That makes sense -- some people might need a new phone and don't want to get the current iPhone 4S if the next generation iPhone 5 (or whatever Apple decides to call it) is right around the corner. Others see competing phones like the Nokia Lumia 900, HTC One X, and Samsung Galaxy S III and want to see Apple's answer sooner rather than later. Still others always want the new stuff now, now, now. The day after Apple releases the iPhone 5, they'll want the iPhone 5S. That's just how it goes.

Past behavior

Apple, of course, hasn't even announced a next generation iPhone yet, much less the release date. If we use past behavior as the best indicator of future behavior, than for the first four years of the iPhone's existence, Apple announced the release dates at their annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) and shipped shortly thereafter. The original iPhone shipped on June 29, 2007. The iPhone 3G on July 11, 2008. The iPhone 3GS shipped on June 8, 2009. The iPhone 4 shipped on June 24, 2010.

And then everything changed.

Pattern breaks

First, the Verizon iPhone was launched on February 10, 2011. Then WWDC 2011 came and went without a new iPhone announcement. Last year's iPhone 4S wasn't announced until October, and didn't launch until October 14, 2011.

Many of the readers, listeners, and viewers asking us when the iPhone 5 is coming out are hoping 2011 was an anomaly or outlier, that the Verizon launch somehow causes a momentary blip in time and space, and that this year everything will return to "normal" and we'll somehow get a WWDC 2012 iPhone 5 announcement and June release date again.

The new normal

While it's impossible to rule anything out 100%, a June 2012 iPhone 5 release doesn't seem likely. First, it would be quite early in the product cycle to replace the iPhone 4S. While it took 16 months to go from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4S, reverting to a June release for the iPhone 5 means the iPhone 4S would only enjoy 9 months in the top spot.

Also, all those previous summer iPhone launches were preceded by spring iOS developer events where new versions of iOS were shown off. Last year's fall iPhone release didn't have a special spring developer release. iOS 5 was announced at WWDC 2011.

Likewise, Apple didn't have an iOS 6 developer event last spring either. Unless Apple doesn't plan on releasing a new version of iOS 6 this year, which seems unlikely, that leaves WWDC 2012 as the next venue where it could be introduced. If Apple is only going to show off the iOS 6 beta in June, that leaves little hope that the final version running on the iPhone 5 will be released any time before the fall.

Last year, the iPhone took the place of the iPod as Apple's big holiday release. Apple didn't even announce next generation iPods during their traditional fall event, just paint jobs. It was all iPhone. And given how important the holiday quarter is to Apple, that doesn't seem likely to change.

So when is the iPhone 5 coming out already?

iMore has heard that no new iOS devices will be announced at WWDC and that Apple is currently planning to once again release the next generation iPhone in the fall.

Based on everything we've heard, and everything we've seen so far, October 2012 is when iPhone 5 is coming out.

More information

• iPhone 5 page: Where we collect the latest information
• iPhone 5 Forum: Who cares what we think, tell us what you think!
• The 4 inch iPhone: A look at how Apple could implement a larger screen
• iPhone 5 to be another Google killer -- but with a twist: Why we're liking getting an updated Maps app, among other things.
• iPad mini: The other big rumor for the fall

This week Twitter announced a new version of its "Who to Follow" feature, making it a far more personal recommendation engine. The way it works, however, is that if you're logged into Twitter in the web browser, any site that calls Twitter code -- like a Tweet or Follow button -- can report your presence on that site back to Twitter. Gadget sites. Car sites. Movie sites. Porn sites. Gaming sites. Any. Site.

We determine the people you might enjoy following based on your recent visits to websites in the Twitter ecosystem (sites that have integrated Twitter buttons or widgets). Specifically, our feature works by suggesting people who are frequently followed by other Twitter users that visit the same websites.

The cause for concern here is that it looks like it's opt-out, and not opt-in for existing Twitter users. New Twitter users will be asked on signup, but existing users have to a) know about it, and b) find it and shut it off if they don't like it.

Giving existing users a popup or overlay advising them of it would even that out. (Twitter is sending emails that include some of this and other information, but that's not as effective as a specific modal request, with the default state being off and not on.)

If you trust Twitter and would value more personalized "Who to Follow" recommendations, then you may not care. If you don't trust any big internet company, aren't interested in social recommendations, and basically think your personal information is too high a price to pay for any free internet service, then you have some options.

Log out of Twitter.com

If you rarely if ever use Twitter via the website, one way to prevent Twitter from collecting your data is to simply make sure you're logged out of Twitter.com.

1. Go to Twitter.com in your browser.
2. Tap on the Me tab.
3. Scroll down to the bottom and tap on Log Out.

(As pointed out by @marcedwards, using a good password manager like 1Password, DataVault, RoboForm, etc. makes frequent logins and logouts for privacy reasons far less onerous.)

Opt out of Twitter's personalized recommendations

Sadly, this method can't seem to be done via the iPhone-optimized mobile Twitter webapp,so you'll have to break out the full, desktop browser version of Twitter.com.

1. Go to Twitter.com in your desktop browser.
2. Click on the Account button to open the drop-down menu
3. Click on Settings
4. Scroll down and uncheck the Tailor Twitter based on my recent website visits
5. Re-Enter your password to confirm

Tell your browser not to let web services track you

Twitter supports "Do Not Track", a system that users can opt into that prevents web services from following their browsing habits. Again, it would be better to have users opt into "Allow Track" than making them figure out how to opt out via "Do Not Track" but this is currently the hand privacy is dealt.

Unfortunately, not all browsers support "Do Not Track" directly yet, including Mobile Safari on iOS. For desktop Safari 5.1 or later:

1. Click on the **Safari* menu
2. Choose Preferences...
3. Check Show Develop menu in menu bar
4. Click on the Develop menu
5. Choose Send Do Not Track HTTP Header

For information on how to enable "Do Not Track" in other browsers, when and if possible, check out Twitter's knowledge base article.

• Twitter Supports "Do Not Track"

Here's the gist:

The United States Federal Trade Commission has endorsed DNT as a simple way for users to inform integrated web services which offer content across the Internet (such as buttons, widgets, and other embedded features) that they do not want certain information about their webpage visits collected across websites when they have not interacted with that service's content on the page.

The DNT browser setting is now supported by recent versions of major browsers, including Firefox 5+, Internet Explorer 9+, and Safari 5.1+. If you are using Chrome 17.0 or higher, there is a third-party extension that enables DNT.

Conclusion

iPhone users are massive Twitter users and vice versa. If any social network was made for mobile, it was and is Twitter. Because Twitter is so mobile, and because it defaults to making most things public (unless you deliberately make your account private or send a DM), Twitter has managed to avoid a lot of the privacy blunders Facebook and Google had experienced. Until this week.

Security and privacy are always going to be at odds with convenience. It's faster and easier for social networks to simply turn things on, and it's more powerful and feature-fancy for users to let them.

The price is our personal information.

There are arguments on more than two sides about the importance of this, but at the end of he day there are millions if not billions of dollars at stake for the networks and the details of personal and private lives at stake for users. So it's worth arguing about. A lot.

In this specific case, if you're okay with Twitter offering you recommendations based on your browsing habits, leave it on and enjoy. If not, turn it off and rest easy.

Additional resources

• How to delete your Google search Web History
• iOS 6 and privacy: How Apple should draw inspiration from Android for better app permissions
• How to opt-out of (and back in to) personalized iAds
• How to review your social network privacy settings
• Social networking forum

You’ve got the new iPad, you have tried out your front facing camera with FaceTime, but now you realize that many of your friends don’t live in the iOS world. So, how can you video chat with your BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Phone friends?

The good news is that there really are a bunch of options for video chatting with Android, Windows Phone and Windows and Mac PC users.  The bad news is that there aren’t, as of yet, a bunch of great options.   We will take a look at a good cross sampling to help give you some choices in the realm of video chat. The only caveat here is that you will need to pick an app tied to a service that your friends actually use or are willing to use.

Using Skype on the iPad

Finding and Adding Skype Contacts

1.  If you are not already in Skype, tap the Skype icon from your Home screen and log in, if asked.
2. Tap the Lists key along the left hand margin.
3. Tap one of the Contacts lists displayed, then touch the the “+” icon  at the top
4. Next, touch the Search Skype Directory and type someone’s name, email address or Skype Name. Tap Search to locate that person.
5. Once you see the person you want to add, touch his/her name.
6. Check the picture to make sure you have the right individual.
7. Tap Add Contact at the top.
8. Adjust the invitation message appropriately.
9. Tap the Send button to send this person an invitation to become one of your Skype contacts.
10. Repeat the procedure to add more contacts.
11.  When you are done, touch the Back key at the top or the Skype directory key if you are not already in your Skype group.
12. Tap the Contacts group you just added top from the Lists screen to see all new contacts you have added.
13. Once this person accepts you as a contact, you will see him listed as a contact in the group from which he/she was invited.

Making Calls with Skype on Your iPad

1. If you are not already in Skype, tap the Skype icon from your Home screen and log in, if asked.
2. Tap the Lists button.
3. Tap a Contact Group to see your contacts.
4. Tap the contact name you wish to call
5. Tap the Video Call or Voice Call button. Sometimes, you don’t want to “show yourself” so a voice only call can be helpful.
6. You may see a Mobile or other phone button. Making any other kind of call requires that you pay for it with Skype Credits.

Easily switch cameras using the Skype app

Switching Cameras with Skype

Free - Download now

Fring for iPad

Fring is a popular Android video chat app that has been around for a while for iOS users.

The killer feature of Fring is that it supports group video chat for up to four users simultaneously.

Like Skype, you can call landlines and other phone numbers for discounted rates – but our interest today is in video chat. Fring also works over 3G and 4G networks as well as over WiFi.

Adding friends in Fring

You add friends in Fring by looking for their User-ID. You can also add your networks, which will bring in your contacts. You can add your Address Book, your MSN Live account, ICQ, Google Talk, Yahoo or AIM.

Add contacts from many different networks

Placing a video call

Options on a call

Tap the Group video button and select participants. You can touch the + button to add friends to the call.

Tap the Group icon to start a group call in Fring

Get Fring here:

Free - Download now

ooVoo Video Chat for iPad

ooVoo is a newer service which tried to one up Fring by enabling group video chat for up to 6 people at a time. ooVoo has apps available for smartphones and tablets (iOS and Android) and Macs and PC’s. On Macs and PC’s, you can have up to 12 people on a video chat.

ooVoo also work over 3G and 4G networks as well as WiFi.

Adding friends to ooVoo

When you first start up ooVoo you are asked to upload your address book to their servers to look for friends. You can always Deny this request and input your contacts manually – or Allow it and ooVoo will search for your friends.

Choose to Allow or Deny ooVoo to upload your contacts and look for ooVoo users

Once ooVoo finds your contacts, you can choose which ones to add to your address book.

Placing a Video call

Just select someone from your Contact list and select Start a Video Call. Once they answer, the call is in session.

Options on the call

Using the Group Call option

Choose multiple users to initiate a group call in ooVoo

Get ooVoo here:

Free - Download now

Yahoo! Messsenger for iPad

People still use Yahoo! People even still use Yahoo! Messsenger, so having the option of video chatting with Yahoo! Messsenger friends is a great option for your iPad.

With Yahoo! Messenger, video calls and chats are free to your Yahoo! Messenger contacts. Yahoo! also gives you the option of low cost calls to  landlines and mobile phones as well as free international texting to a few places.

Adding friends to Yahoo! Messenger

When you sign into the Yahoo! Messenger app, all of your Yahoo contacts will show up. You can also add contacts individually by touching the + icon at the top right of the app.

Placing a video call

Tap the video camera icon to initiate a video call on Yahoo! Messenger

Options on the call

Yahoo Messenger is available here:

Free - Download now

Vtok – Google talk video calls on iPad

If you are a Google voice user, you might want to check out Vtok as an option for video calling using your Google Voice account.

As long as your friends are Google contacts using Google Video and voice chat- you can talk to them – and see them – for as long as you’d like.

Adding Contacts to Vtok

Simply sign in using your Google sign in information and all your Google contacts will show up.

Tap the + button at the top right to add contacts individually.

Placing a video call

If your friends are online, the video camera icon turns green. Simply touch the icon to start the video call.

Tap the green video camera to initiate a video call on vtok

Options on the call

Very much like the other apps, you can Switch the camera, Mute or end the call.

Vtok is available here:

Free - Download now

Tango Video Calls on iPad

Tango is yet another variation on a theme of apps that can be used cross platform for making Video calls. Tango adds some new features, such as the ability to send free video messages as well.

Tango works over WiFi as well as over 3G and 4G networks. Tango is an iPhone app that you need to run in 2x mode to fill up the iPad screen.

Adding contacts to Tango

When you first set up Tango you will be asked to let Tango match up your address book with emails and phone numbers of registered Tango users. If you allow Tango to do this, you will see all of your contacts who also have Tango accounts when you login.

You can also touch the + (invite) icon to send an email invite to friends to join you on Tango.

Placing a video call

The Tango video chat screen

Simply touch the Video icon next to the contact you wish to call and the video call will initiate.

Options on the call

Tango options are pretty limited. You can Switch the camera view, Mute or End the call.  The one thing that Tango adds is sort of a gimmick, but it can be fun; that is called Tango surprises. Tap the icon with the stars and you can choose animated surprises -  like balloons  - to come down during the call. You can purchase more surprises in the Tango store.

Tap the Surprises icon and choose from animated options like balloons

Tango is available here:

Free - Download now

Conclusions:

After looking at all these apps, there are certainly options for iPad and iPhone users if they want to video chat with non-iOS friends and family.

The simple reality is this; if your friends and family have an iOS device, you are hard pressed to beat FaceTime for ease of use and call quality. The one downside to FaceTime is that it can only be used over WiFi.

If your friends or family members are  non-iOS users, Skype may very well be the best alternative of the bunch.  It is popular, easy to set up and use and the picture and audio quality was generally pretty good – both over WiFI and over cellular networks.

Among the other Video chat services, the bottom line come down to where your friends, colleagues and families are.  If everyone is on Yahoo!, then maybe Yahoo! Messenger makes sense.  If everyone is on Google, then Vtok might work.

If group video chat is important to you on your iPad or iPhone, both ooVoo and Fring offer easy group video chat.  The challenge is that you need to get your friends and family to join the service and learn a new app.

Tango, Fring, Google (Vtok) and Skype are available as mobile apps for most, but not all platforms. Skype is not on BlackBerry and while it is on Windows Phone, it still can’t run in the background, which limits its usability on that platform.

Since each of the apps is free, try them out, see where your friends are and then enjoy yet another feature that helps make the iPad and iPhone so incredibly versatile.

Are you currently using a Video chat app regularly on your iPad or iPhone? Have you tried any of these out and can share your experiences? Let us know in the forums.

If you've been waiting on a jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1, an untethered version should be coming soon. That's according to pod2g. But is it coming to iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV, and which versions of each?

Here's the deal.

The new iPad

There is currently no jailbreak tool available that supports the new iPad under iOS 5.1.1 or iOS 5.1. Even though jailbreak developers showed off an iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak almost immediately after the software update was released, no tool has been made available and no timeline has been talked about. So if you're using a 3rd generation iPad, you'll have to be patient.

Apple TV

If you've got a 3rd generation Apple TV (1080p) you may have a little wait as pod2g is claiming his tool currently does not support it. Seas0nPass has been updated to support the 2nd generation Apple TV (720p) under iOS 5.1.1 and they're currently working on making it compatible with the new Apple TV.

So if you've got a 2010 Apple TV you can go ahead and update and re-jailbreak under iOS 5.1.1. If you've got a 2012 Apple TV, sit tight for now.

iPhone 4S and iPad 2

If you've got an iPhone 4S or an iPad 2, you're in luck. pod2g has successfully achieved an untethered jailbreak for both Apple A5-chipset powered devices under iOS 5.1.1. The Wi-Fi versions of the iPad 2 have already been tested and are confirmed to be working. The GSM and CDMA versions haven't been tested but should also be compatible.

I'd still recommend holding off on updating until an official tool is released with an official support list. If you've currently got a jailbreak you'd like to keep, stay away from iOS 5.1.1 for a little while longer.

Phone 4, iPhone 3GS, and original iPad

The iPhone 4 and first generation iPad, Apple A4 powered devices both, are also confirmed under pod2g's untethered jailbreak. The iPhone 3GS has not yet been tested but they believe it will also be supported as an untethered jailbreak under iOS 5.1.1.

You can currently tethered jailbreak the iPhone 4, original iPad, and iPhone 3GS via redsn0w but if you're on an earlier untethered version, I'd hold off over taking a tethered version and just wait to update to iOS 5.1.1 until an untethered tool is available.

Unlocking

As always, if you depend on a software unlock for your iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, or iPhone 3GS, it's probably smart to stay away from iOS 5.1.1 until an unlocking tool has been updated. If you've already updated your iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS but saved your blobs, it may be possible to downgrade but if your baseband has been updated through a stock update, you probably won't be able to achieve your unlock again (for now at least).

So if you're unlocked, don't update your iPhone until a software unlock tool has been updated or a new one has been released.

Conclusion

Even though we have a working untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1 confirmed, it's probably several weeks away and with WWDC 2012 right around the corner, iOS 6 could put a hold on whatever tools the dev teams may be working on.

If you're currently jailbroken and just can't live without it, stay where you're at. In the mean time, I'd save your SHSH blobs in case you need them in the near future.

Additional resources:

• Can you jailbreak the new iPad, AppleTV, and iOS 5.1?
• Jailbreak terms A - Z
• Jailbreak help & discussion forums
• iMore downloads section

Having lots of Gmail, Facebook Twitter, and LinkedIn Contacts on your iPad and iPhone is great, but how do you get them all into your Contacts app where you need them?

I get to use most of the newest devices and test out all the platforms in my job. My "go-to"  phone is the iPhone 4S, but there are features I see on other devices that I really wish were present in iOS. At the top of the list of wants is rich contact integration with my social networks.

WebOS had perhaps the most elegant approach with Synergy.   If you have a contact on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Gmail –- whatever -– just log in and you get a unified contact card with all that information. Doesn’t sound so hard, right?

Now, Android does this pretty well, Windows Phone does a great job with the People hub and QNX –- the OS on the BlackBerry Playbook (and the upcoming BlackBerry 10) -- does an amazing job at this contact integration.

So, why is it so hard for iOS to get this one important feature right? Well, we will have to let the boys and girls in Cupertino figure that one out. For now, there is a way to get all this information into the Contacts app... it just takes a little extra work.

Getting your basic information into Contacts

In the old days, you needed to connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC and then sync your contacts from your Outlook, Google or native contacts app on the computer. It was messy and often inaccurate. Now, fortunately, the majority of our contacts get “sucked into” the iPhone through some sort of cloud syncing.

How to get your iCloud Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad

If you don’t yet have your iCloud contacts on your iPhone, just go to your Settings app and then touch the iCloud tab. Just turn the Contacts switch to the ON position and all your iCloud contacts will be in sync with your iPhone, Mac, iPad, etc.

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How to get your Google Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad

If you use the standard Gmail setup (IMAP instead of Exchange, see below), getting your Google Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad isn't as easy as it should be.  When you typically sign into a Google account you can choose to sync your email, calendar and notes – but not your Google contacts. The easiest way to do this is either:

1. Export your Google contacts from the Google Contacts web app on your computer.
2. Import then contacts to your iCloud account.

1. Log into your Gmail account.
2. Choose Contacts.
3. Under the More tab, choose Export.
4. Choose which format to export all your contacts and where to save the file.

Export your Google contacts into a format that you can import into another app like iCloud

To import these contacts to your iCloud account for syncing:

1. Log into your iCloud account via iCloud.com and click on Contacts.
2. Click on the Settings gear and then choose Import vCard
3. Navigate to where the exported contact file is located and import it into iCloud.

If that is either confusing or a pain in the rear, the other option is to set up your Google account as an Exchange account which will wirelessly sync all your Google account data –- Contacts, Calendars, Notes, etc with your iphone.

1. Go to your Settings app.
2. Tap the Mail, Contacts, Calendars tab.
3. Under the listing of your accounts, touch the Add Account tab.
4. Choose Microsoft Exchange from the list of options
5. Put your Email address in the Email field (youremail@gmail.com)
6. Leave the Domain field blank.
7. Your Username should be your Email address.
8. Input your password.
9. Add a Description such as “Primary Gmail” or something like that.
10. Touch the Next button at the top right hand corner.
11. On the next screen, in the Server box, type: m.google.com
12. Choose Next.
13. On the following screen, simply turn ON or OFF the things you want to sync with your Google account. For our purposes, make sure that the Contacts tab is in the ON position.
14. Select Save and your Google contacts will now sync with your iPhone contacts.

How to get your Facebook Contacts onto your iPhone and iPad

Most of us have our contacts spread out over our various apps –- especially our social networking apps. I have lots of data for some folks in my Google account, but they are not Facebook friends. The reverse is often true as well. There is a way to get your Facebook contacts into your iPhone – you just have to dig a little to find it.

First off, make sure you have the latest version of the Facebook app downloaded from the App Store.

1. Start up your Facebook app and login into your account.
2. Tap the top left hand corner to get into your Facebook options and touch on Friends.
3. Tap the Action button (the one that looks like a Send key) in the top right hand corner.
4. Choose Sync Contacts from the list.
5. Turn the switch next to Syncing to the ON position – this will had (add?) your Contacts, profile pictures and links to your Contacts app.
6. Read the scary message from Facebook saying that all contacts from your device will be sent and stored by Facebook as subject to their privacy policy.
7. If you are comfortable with that, choose Sync Contacts in the lower right hand corner and your Facebook contacts will be integrated into your iPhone Contacts app.
8. If you want to replace the existing photos of your contacts with their Facebook pictures, turn the Replace photos switch to the ON position.
9. You should now see new category in the Contact information for Facebook contacts that says: Facebook and has a link to his/her Facebook page.

NOTE: This is not perfect, after doing this several times I still have some Facebook contacts whose Facebook page is not listed in their iPhone Contact card.

When it does work, just tap the Facebook address and you can launch their Facebook page right from the Contacts app.

How to get your Twitter Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad

For many of us, we follow people on Twitter who are not our “friends.” For others, we would like to have the Twitter information for our Contacts in case we do want to follow or Direct Message them. Fortunately, this is pretty easy to do.

1. First off, download the official Twitter app from the App Store.
2. Go to your Settings app and look for the Twitter settings.
3. Touch the Twitter tab in settings.
4. Touch the Update Contacts button to get Twitter information for your contacts put into their Contact cards.

NOTE: As with Facebook, there are some privacy concerns here. Twitter essentially takes all the email addresses and phone numbers stored in your Contacts app and cross references them against their database to get you the Twitter contact information.

How to get your LinkedIn Contacts onto your iPhone or iPad

LinkedIn may be where most of your professional contacts are stored. For many of us, this is yet another completely different list of contacts than those stored in Gmail or Facebook.  Fortunately, it is easy to get your LinkedIn data into the iPhone.

1. Download the official LinkedIn app from the App Store.
2. Start up the app and login into your LinkedIn account.
3. Touch the You icon – usually at the top right of the four icons.
4. Touch the gear in the upper right hand corner which is the Settings area for LinkedIn.
5. Touch the Download Connections tab and make sure that Download Connections is turned ON.
6. Touch the Download Now button to bring in all your LinkedIn connections into your iPhone.

NOTE: I experienced some interesting things when I did this; some of my contacts, which had their Facebook page link in the web page section of the Contact card, now had the LinkedIn page instead of the Facebook page.  The Contact photo changed according to which app I used last to sync contacts. In some cases, I really wanted the Facebook photo and not the LinkedIn one, so I had to go back and sync the photos from Facebook to replace the LinkedIn ones.

If at this point you are saying to yourself “this is way too complicated” you may be right, but it is the best way to get all this data into one place – Your Contacts app.

How to deal with multiple contact entries

iOS has the ability to link Contacts, so if you had more than one Contact for the same person, you could combine them into a unify view. However, it doesn't seem to work anymore (or was removed). Hopefully this get restored or fixed in iOS 6. Until then, you will need to go to your computer and go to the web site or app and merge the contacts that then sync with your phone.

Merging your Google contacts

If you sync your contacts via Google, the process of merging contacts is not too complicated.

1. Login in to your Gmail account
2. Across the bar at the top, click on More and then on Contacts
3. Once in Contracts, click on More and then scroll down to Find & merge duplicates.
4. Google will then go through your contacts and merge those that have the same name.
5. It is always a good idea to go and check to make sure it was done correctly – but overall this is pretty easy and seamless and will clean up your multiple entries for the same contact.

Merging your Mac address book

For Mac users, Finding and merging your duplicates in Address Book (Contacts under Mountain Lion) is quite easy.

1. Open up your Mac Address Book app.
2. At the very top, click on the Card menu and then scroll down to Look for duplicates and click.
3. You should then receive a message saying that “X number of duplicates were found.”
4. Click on Merge and the cards will be combined so you only have one contact card per individual in your Address Book.

NOTE: If you currently manage your contacts through the iCloud website, there is no way to merge your duplicate contacts from the Contacts app on iCloud.

Conclusion

So, after all this, you should have all your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts along side your Google or whatever other contacts you have on your iPhone. You can launch the Facebook page of your contacts; go to their Twitter page or LinkedIn page right from their Contact card.

This is not a perfect solution as we said at the outset. We wish that you could send a Facebook message or a Direct Message like you can from other platform Contact apps. We wish you could see status updates in the Contact app like the BlackBerry Playbook. Hopefully, these things will be on the horizon for us iOS users.

Do you have other thoughts about the Contacts app on iOS? Have you found other solutions for merging your data? Let us know in the forums.

It's been almost a week since Apple released iOS 5.1.1 but not everyone seems to have heard about it right away. Some may not have received or noticed the popup notification or badge on the Settings app to advise them it was available. Others may have been waiting to see what, if anything, iOS 5.1.1. did to battery life and performance before updating. Still others aren't updating until a nicely packaged, unthethered jailbreak is available for iOS 5.1.1.

If you're in the first two groups, however, our latest reader survey shows that iOS 5.1.1. is about the same, if not a little better, when it comes to battery life and performance, so you can go ahead and update without any worries. If you still haven't received your update alert, or you missed it, or simply haven't gotten around to it yet, it's really easy, and really fast, to manually start the updating process right on your device, and over-the-air (OTA).

How to manually update to iOS 5.1.1

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap General
3. Tap Software Update
4. If there's nothing new, you'll be told just so. Otherwise, you'll be presented with all the details about the update.
5. Tap Download and Install
6. Agree to the Terms and Conditions
7. Watch the progress bar (This part depends on the speed and quality of connection. Don't be alarmed if it takes a long time, speeds up or slows down, or appears to jump around -- be patient.)
8. Once it's finished downloading, you'll be prompted to instal (and restart) your device. If you don't explicitly hit Later or Install within a few seconds, it will install on your behalf.
9. Agree to the Terms and Conditions yet again.
10. Apple will verify the install.

See our complete how to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud guide for more, and if you need any extra help, or need to trouble shoot, jump into our iOS 5 Forum.

Find the perfect iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, accessory, or app gift for the mother in your life!

Looking for just the right tech gift for mother's day? Trying to decide between an iPhone and an iPad? An Apple TV and an iPod touch? A gorgeous case or a fantastic speaker? An app she'll love or a game she can't get enough of? Or perhaps you're simply looking for a great way to send a card, some flowers, or a gift certificate? Not a problem. iMore's got you covered. Whether you're buying for your mother, or helping the kids buy for theirs, here are some of our favorite device, peripheral, and product picks for mom!

iOS device gifts for Mother's day

It's a big ticket item to be sure, but whether you're footing the bill alone or chipping in with the rest of the family, there's no gift quite like an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Apple TV.

The Apple TV starts at only $100, the iPod touch and iPhone at $200 (on contract for the iPhone), and the iPad 2 at only $400. If the mother in your life doesn't yet have an iOS device, it's the perfect time to get her one. And if she does, but she's looking for more, it's a great time to help out. With an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Apple TV, a whole world of content opens up. Watch, listen, learn, laugh, love. It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Not sure which one you should get? Not a problem! Start here:

• iOS device gift guide

iPhone and iPad accessory gifts for Mother's Day

If the mother in your life already has all the iOS devices she needs, and you still want something substantial you can wrap up and give her, accessories are a great gift idea. They can change the way her iPhone or iPad looks and works, and make mom's life easier or simply more fun. Here are some of the very best accessories for Mother's Day, picked by our exceptionally accessory-savvy senior editor -- and mom -- Georgia.

SGP Linear Blitz Case for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 review

Every iPhone looks pretty much the same. Luckily, there are tons of awesome cases that can add some personality and style, and change the look on a daily basis if we so choose. The SGP Linear Blitz is simply one of the hottest iPhone cases I've ever seen. It's bulkier than ultra-light or feather cases, but offers more protection. The Apple logo cutout is simply amazing. If you don't think the mother in your life would mind trading a little extra size for incredible good looks, the SGP Linear Blitz Case could be for her.

$31.95 - Buy now

Overboard waterproof case for iPhone and iPad

Time was, if you wanted to get away from it all, you secreted yourself in the bathroom and took a long, relaxing, sudsy soak in the tub with something indulgent to drink and marvelous to read. Getting a trashy magazine or paperback a little wet was no big deal, but for our previous iPhones and iPads, it's a deal breaker. That's why the Overboard waterproof cases are so great. They completely protect your device while still keeping it responsive to the touch. And while, with an iPad or iPhone you can certainly read your fill of iBooks, Kindle, or Newsstand, you can do more -- watch TV and movies, and play video games. Now that's relaxing!

Various - Buy now

SGP GLAS.t Screen Protector

The problem with screens is that they scratch. The problem with most screen protectors is that they feel like plastic. Not so with the SGP GLAS.t. As the name implies, this screen protector looks and feels like glass. If the mother in your life is a little less careful and a little more rough and tumble with her iPhone, this is a great way to keep it safe.

$29.95 - Buy now

BodyGuardz ScreenGuardz HD for The new iPad and iPad 2

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The iPad has an even bigger screen than the iPhone and, especially if we have little ones around the house, can require even more screen protection. It won't stop damage due to drops or impact (you'll need a protective case for that) but it will stop scratches and scrapes that happen in the blink of an eye but annoy you ever after.

$17.95 - Buy now

SGP kuel H12 Stylus Pen

Steve Jobs might have thought a stylus was yucky, but for many a mom, it can be miraculous. For ladies with long nails or in freezing winter climates, properly using an iPhone or iPad touch screen can be difficult or uncomfortable. Not so with a stylus. Any app that involves handwriting, drawing or painting can also be much easier, and much more fun with a stylus. As can gaming.

The SGP kuel H12 Stylus Pen is Mobile Nation's favorite stylus. If you think your mom might want something smaller and more compact to carry around, try the Kuel H10.

$19.95 - Buy now

Jawbone JAMBOX

The one downside to the iPhone and iPad is their small, mono speakers. If mom wants to blast some music and get her groove on, Apple isn't going to get the job done. But the Jawbone JAMBOX will. It works over Bluetooth so once it's charged and ready to go, there are no wires to get in your way. It's small and easy to carry, yet packs a powerful audio punch. It can also be used as a speakerphone which is especially great for group calls or FaceTime with families on special occasions.

$199.95 - Buy now

iPhone and iPad app gifts for Mother's Day

Apps are great tech gifts. They're not expensive but they can provide ours of use, or just plain fun. Best of all, you can gift them up until the last possible moment, and they'll still arrive at nearly the speed of email. Here are some of our favorite apps for mom, picked by our very own app editor extraordinaire -- and mom -- Leanna Lofte.

Sincerely Ink

Don't be lame and rush to the grocery store to pick up some last minute left-over Mother's Day card on the morning of -- make a custom card with Sincerely Ink! It features 32 different Mother's Day templates that can be customized to featured your photos. The convenience of making the card and mailing it directly with your iPhone and iPad is easier than going to the store and the personalization makes it more special for Mom -- it's a win-win!

Free - Download Now

The Photo Cookbook - Baking

Does your mom love to bake? Then she's going to love The Photo Cookbook - Baking for iPhone and iPad and its 60 yummy recipes and 500+ gorgeous photos! Each recipe is beautifully laid out and easy to follow and tapping on an ingredient will tell you more about it.

The Photo Cookbook - Baking is also available as an in-app purchase for $3.99 in The Photo Cookbook - Quick & Easy. So if you want to go all out, get Mom the Quick & Easy app and pick up the Italian, Asian, and Baking cookbooks available as in-app purchases.

Pro-tip: Make Mom one of the items from the The Photo Cookbook - Baking and present them both to her as gift on Mother's Day.

Baking, $4.99 - Download Now

Quick & Easy - $4.99 - Download Now

Gilt City

What Mom doesn't love to shop and get a great deal? Gilt City will be her go to app then next time she hits up the big city closest to her because it's loaded with great deals from local shops and restaurants. I actually recommend picking something up for her from Gilt City, and when she complains that you spent too much money on her with that package of four Salsa dance classes, you can exclaim "No worries, Mom! It was only $30 with the Gilt City app! Here, let me download it to your iPhone for you!" Your mom will be so proud!

Free - Download Now

Sitter Sorter

For mom's of little ones, finding a baby sitter and keeping track of her regular sitters is a chore in and of itself. With Sitter Sorter for iPhone, this chore becomes a breeze -- and maybe even a little fun. Sitter Sorter allows Mom to store the days and times that sitters are available and all their contact info, so when she's looking for a sitter, she can just type in the time and date that she needs a sitter for, and Sitter Sorter will list which sitters are available during that time. Then she can send the sitter a text, or if the sitter is also using Sitter Sorter, a request is sent to the sitter and s/he can send a confirmation right back.

$0.99 - Download Now

Cut the Rope

Every mom needs a good game for those times she just wants to relax and have some time to herself, and what a better game than Cut the Rope! It's fun, cute, and can be played for short bursts of time or for hours at time. Perfect!

$0.99 - Download Now

Last minute gift ideas for Mother's Day

If you've waited until the last minute and you forgot a gift for that special mother in your life, here are your choices: a) crash through the upstairs window, dive roll through the flowerbed, hotfoot it to the car, screech out the driveway, and hit up the QuickyMart of air fresheners and chocoblocks; or b) check out the list below, tap a few links, type a few words, sit back and wait for the smiles.

Netflix, Hulu Plus, Slacker and other subscription

Subscription are nice because you give them once but they last the entire year. For iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad using mom's, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Slacker are great options.

• Netflix
• Hulu Plus
• Slacker Personal Radio

iTunes, App Store, iBooks gifts and gift certificates

Content is king of the last minute gifts. Your mom can never have too many apps, games, music, movies, TV shows, or books to enjoy. With a gift certificate, they can find the ones that are just perfect for them!

Variable - Buy now

Amazon gift certificates

Amazon has a ton of digital content all there own, but they also have old school media -- paper books, plastic CDs and Blu-Rays, games that come on cartridges... Gift certificates let them pick just exactly the goods -- real or virtual -- they want, and Amazon will deliver it straight to their door or their device.

Variable - Buy now

Your picks?

There you have it, iMore Nation, our top tech gifts for Mother's Day. Did we miss any of your favorites? If so, tell us all about them in the comments below!

While Apple never meant iCloud to work like Dropbox or Google Drive, if you don't mind polishing up your ninja-skills you can get it to do just that!

There's no shortage of online storage solutions -- Dropbox, Box.net, SugarSync, Microsoft SkyDrive, Apple's soon-to-be end-of-lifed iDisk, and now, Google Drive. Apple's new iCloud isn't meant to be online storage at all; it's designed to abstract away messy concepts like file systems and folders and tuck everything away neatly behind apps.

But that doesn't work for everybody. Now, like my colleagues here at iMore, I think Dropbox is currently the best cloud storage solution for iPhone and iPad users. However, Dropbox gives you a measly 2GB of free storage and charges a pretty hefty premium for more.

iCloud, on the other hand, gives you 5GB for free and if you are a prior MobileMe user – you should currently have 25GB of storage space available to you. Like Dropbox, you can always buy more space if need be.

iCloud is great for automatically storing your device backups, keeping all your personal information – contacts, etc. and for uploading Word, PowerPoint and Excel files (see our ultimate guide to iCloud for detailed instructions on how to do all of that and more).  Did you know, however, that you can also (with a little tweaking) upload movies, audio files and pictures to store in iCloud for safe keeping?

Sure, you could get an extra 5GB of free storage with Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, or by combining other accounts, but if you're already an iCloud user, you may not want the extra hassle of maintaining multiple accounts. You might just want to have your iCloud cake and eat it to. So here's how.

Note: These directions are for Mac OS X users, we'll do a Windows version soon.

How to use iCloud like Dropbox or Google Drive

First, make sure that iCloud is up and running on your Mac.

1. Launch System Preferences on your Mac.
2. Click on iCloud.
3. Make sure Documents and Data is checked.
4. Close System Preferences.

Make sure Documents and Data is checked in the iCloud settings

Next we have to go to where iCloud's Documents in the Cloud live.

How to create aliases for Documents in the Cloud folders.

Use the Go to Folder command to find the hidden library folders

1. Launch the Finder
2. In the Menu click on the Go menu and then down to Go to Folder (or use the keyboard shortcut, CMD + SHIFT + G)
3. Type ~/library/ and click on Go
4. Double click on the folder called Mobile Documents (if it isn’t there – don’t panic, we will show you how to create it below).
5. Find the folders that store your Documents in the Cloud, namely:
   1. Com~apple~pages
   2. Com~apple-numbers
   3. Com~apple~keynote
6. Double click on the com~apple~pages folder.
7. Right click on the Documents folder.
8. Select Create Alias, which will put an alias for that folder on your desktop.
9. Repeat this procedure on all Macs that use your iCloud account.

How to create the Mobile Documents folder

Find the Documents sub folder in the com~apple~pages folder

If you don’t see the Mobile Documents folder, you can actually create it:

1. Launch Finder.
2. In the Menu click on the Go menu and then down to Go to Folder (or use the keyboard shortcut, CMD + SHIFT + G)
3. Type ~/library/ and click on Go
4. Click on File in the menu and then New Folder.
5. Name the new folder Mobile Documents.
6. Double click the new folder and make a series of new folders called:
   1. Com~apple~pages
   2. Com~apple-numbers
   3. Com~apple~keynote
7. Double click on the com~apple~pages folder.
8. Right click on the Documents folder.
9. Select Create Alias, which will put an alias for that folder on your desktop.
10. Repeat this procedure on all Macs that use your iCloud account.

How to use iCloud alias folders

Now that you have your Documents in the Cloud folders aliased to your desktop, all you have to do is drag and drop files into them. Drag Word and text documents into the Pages folder, Spreadsheets into the Numbers folder, and Presentations into the Keynote folder.

If everything is properly set up and working, dragging a file into the folder on one computer will automatically put it into the folder on the other computers that use your iCloud account, just like Dropbox!

How to use iCloud to store music, movies, photos, and other files

Now, this is great if you are using Office files, but what if you want to use your iCloud to store movies, audio files or pictures?

Fortunately, there is a workaround to upload any file to iCloud – not just documents.

This method works with images, videos, audio files – even full directories and stores them in your iCloud account for later retrieval.

Click on the iWork icon from your iCloud app

1. login into iCloud.com
2. Click on the iWork icon
3. Click on Upload

You'll see that you can only upload Word or Pages documents, Excel or Numbers documents, PowerPoint of Keynote documents or text files. That's where this gets tricky.

Click the gear icon and then upload and you see you are limited in what you can upload to iCloud

Here I'm going to right click on the Dark Knight file and select Compress

1. Navigate to any video, image or audio file (or even folder)
2. Right click on it and select Compress from the contextual menu
3. Add .txt to the end of the file the extension.
4. Agree to the file extension warning to confirm you want to make the change.

Warning about changing the extension of the file to a .txt extension

Now, go back to iCloud on your computer

1. Click on the Gear button in the upper right hand corner
2. Click on Upload Document
3. Select the file you just compressed and changed the extension for.

Now, when you go to Pages, you will see the file (it will look like a text file) and it should show up on every device you have connected to the iCloud account.

To retrieve the file from another computer, just repeat the process in reverse.

1. login into iCloud.com
2. Click on the iWork icon
3. Download the file
4. Go to your Downloads folder.

And there's your file. Just rename it back to .zip, uncompress, and voila!

Our movie file - renamed to a .txt file is being uploaded to iCloud for safe storage

Yes, as hacks go it's really ugly and really inefficient, but if you understand how the iCloud and Mac filesystems works, and ever really need it in a pinch, it's there for you. (Unless or until Apple changes things -- that's the risk of using any hack.)

More on using iCloud like Dropbox or Google Drive

So, that’s how you can take advantage of your free iCloud storage to store more than just the music and movies you buy from iTunes and your personal information.

Is newfound cloud storage helpful to you? Share you experiences in this forum thread.

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends
• iCloud help and discussion forum

Everything you need to know about setting up, backing up, restoring, and updating your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and managing your iTunes apps, books, music, TV shows, movies, Match, and Photo Stream in the cloud

Because the vast majority of iCloud services are free, and because they work automatically and transparently in the background to backup your data and give you access to your content, you should absolutely use it.

How to setup, backup, restore, and update your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with iCloud

With iCloud, you no longer need to plug your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC to set it up for the first time, to keep it backed up, or to upgrade the software. Now you can do all of that, and more, faster and more easily, over-the-air (OTA) on your local Wi-Fi network. Because routine tasks, like backups, happen automatically, you don't have to worry about forgetting them and then finding out you don't have one when you need it most.

• How to set up your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud
• How to create an Apple ID
• How to set up a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud (clean install)
• How to restore your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from an iCloud backup
• How to backup your iPhone with iCloud
• How to manually trigger an iCloud backup
• How to delete an iCloud backup
• How to manually manage what gets backed up to iCloud
• How to buy more iCloud storage
• How to downgrade your iCloud storage
• How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad software over the air (OTA)
• How to remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

How to set up and use iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars (and Bookmarks, Notes, and Reminders)

iCloud includes push email, calendaring, and contact services. That means whenever you get an email, it's immediately made available on all your devices. Whenever you make or change an appointment it shows up in your calendar on all your devices. Whenever you add or change contact information, its reflected in the contacts on all of your devices. You can access these services via the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, via the iCloud.com website from any desktop browser, or through popular mail, calendar, and contacts apps on your Mac or Windows PC.

iCloud will also sync Bookmarks, Notes, and Reminders.

• How to set up iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars
• How to enable or disable individual iCloud services
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars via the Web
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, and more via Windows PC
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and more via Mac

How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud

The iTunes in the Cloud part of iCloud lets you access content you've bought from Apple's iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore, re-download it to your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and to iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC, and stream your music, movies, and TV shows to your Apple TV.

• How to set up iTunes in the Cloud automatic downloads
• How to enable automatic iTunes in the Cloud downloads over 3G/4G on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• How to enable automatic Newsstand issue downloads on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• How to change the iTunes account associated with your iTunes in the Cloud device
• How to de-authorize an iTunes in the Cloud device

How to subscribe to, set up, and use iTunes Match

iTunes Match is Apple's iCloud-based "music locker" service that allows you to store copies of all your music on Apple's servers and re-download it from any of your devices, at any time. iTunes Match isn't free, however. It comes at a price -- $24.99 a year (in the U.S.). It's also only available in 20 odd regions right now.

• iTunes Match limitations
• How to subscribe to iTunes Match on Mac or Windows
• How to set up iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• How to enable iTunes Match downloads over 3G/4G
• How to see all your iTunes Match music on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

How to set up and use Photo Stream

Photo Stream is iCloud's image backup and distribution component. Take a picture (or screen shot) on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and -- when you're on Wi-Fi -- iCloud will store a copy of that picture on Apple's servers and push copies down to all your other iOS devices, as well as your Mac and/or Windows PC. On iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, iCloud will store up to 1000 photos, or 30 days of photos. On your Mac and/or Windows PC, iCloud will store all your photos. Photo Stream will also let you view your photos on the Apple TV.

• How to enable Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
• How to access Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
• How to enable Photo Stream on your Apple TV
• How to enable Photo Stream on Mac
• How to enable Photo Stream on Windows
• How to delete photos from Photo Stream

How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud

With iCloud you no longer have to fuss with traditional computer files and folders or worry about forgetting where you put a document when you go back to look for it later. For apps that support Documents in the Cloud, all you have to remember is which app (or apps) opens the type of file you want to work on. From then on, iCloud manages everything, storing any changes you make back up to the server, and pushing down those updates to every device you have logged into your account. Create a Keynote presentation on your iPad at home, get to work and it's ready and waiting for you on your iPhone.

• How to enable Documents in the Cloud on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• How to get documents into iCloud from your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• How to create a new iCloud document on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• How to get documents into iCloud from your Mac or Windows PC

How to setup and use Find my iPhone

Find my iPhone -- or Find my iPod or Find my iPad -- keeps track of your iCloud-enabled devices so you can track them down if they're lost or stolen, and even remotely message, lock, and erase it to keep your data secure.

• How to enable Find my iPhone
• How to use Find my iPhone via the web
• How to use Find my iPhone on your iOS device

How to set up and use Find my Friends

With Find My Friends, iCloud lets you easily locate your friends and family from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Whether you're on a family trip to a theme park or just want to meet up with some acquaintances for a drink, Find my Friends can make sure everyone knows where everyone else is.

• How to set up Find my Friends on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• How to add friends to Find my Friends
• How to add temporary friends to Find my Friends

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with setup, backup, restore, iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match, Photo Stream, Find my iPhone, Find my Friends, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Everything you need to know about setting up and using iCloud's location-basded meet-up service, Find my Friends

Find My Friends lets you easily locate your friends and family from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Whether you're on a family trip to a theme park or just want to meet up with some acquaintances for a drink, Find my Friends can make sure everyone knows where everyone else is.

• How to set up Find my Friends on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• How to add friends to Find my Friends
• How to add temporary friends to Find my Friends

How to set up Find my Friends on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Like Find my iPhone, Find my Friends is a free from Apple and available on the App Store.

Download now

Once Find my Friends is installed, it's easy to use.

1. Launch Find my Friends
2. Login with your Apple ID
3. Agree to Push Notifications and Location Sharing (Find my Friends is not much good without them).

How to add friends to Find my Friends

Before you can use Find my Friends on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you need to add some friends.

• Launch Find my Friends.
• Tap the + button to add friends.
• Enter the email addresses of friends you want to add and each will be sent a message

Once a friend accepts your invitation, you can always see where they are and vice versa

How to add temporary friends to Find my Friends

If you only want to share your location with a friends for a limited time, use the Temporary option

1. Launch Find my Friends
2. Tap on the Temporary tab at the bottom.
3. Choose how long you want to share your location for in hours, days, or weeks

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with setting up or using Find my Friends on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Everything you need to know about setting up, tracking, messaging, locking, and wiping a lost or stolen iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with Find my iPhone

Find my iPhone -- or Find my iPod or Find my iPad -- keeps track of your iCloud enabled devices so you can track them down if they're lost or stolen, and even remotely message, lock, and erase it to keep your data secure.

• How to enable Find my iPhone
• How to use Find my iPhone via the web
• How to use Find my iPhone on your iOS device

How to enable Find my iPhone

Before you can use Find my iPhone (or iPod or iPad), you need to turn it on.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap on iCloud.
3. Toggle Find my iPhone to On.

How to use Find my iPhone via the web

If you iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad goes missing, you can track it via the web on your Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix, or any PC running a modern web browser.

1. Go to www.icloud.com.
2. Log into your iCloud account.
3. Click on Find my iPhone.
4. If you have multiple devices on your account, choose the one you want to track.
5. Click the Information icon on the map to see your options.
6. Choose your option -- Play Sound or Send Message, Remote Lock, or Remote Wipe.

Devices that are trackable will a small green dot next to their name. Wi-Fi devices can only be tracked when they're connected to a known Wi-Fi network.

If you think you just misplaced  your iPad or that someone borrowed it without asking, you'll want to play a sound or send a message.

1. Click on Play Sound or Send Message.
2. Type your messages
3. Click on Send.
4. The alert will be sent to your device.

The sound will be played and the message will be displayed on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and will continue to play and be displayed until the device is unlocked and the alert dismissed.

If you think your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad was lost or stolen and is unlikely to be recovered, you'll want to lock it and possibly wipe all data from it.

How to use Find my iPhone on your iOS device

If your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad has been misplaced, lost, or stolen you can also track it on a secondary device, or a friend's or family member's iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad via Apple's free Find my iPhone app.

Free - Download now

How to get more help with iCloud

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

If you still need help with setting up, tracking, messaging, locking, or wiping your lost of stolen iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Everything you need to know about setting up, creating, importing, editing, and using Documents in the Cloud

With iCloud you no longer have to fuss with traditional computer files and folders or worry about forgetting where you put a document when you go back to look for it later. For apps that support Documents in the Cloud, all you have to remember is which app (or apps) opens the type of file you want to work on. From then on, iCloud manages everything, storing any changes you make back up to the server, and pushing down those updates to every device you have logged into your account. Create a Keynote presentation on your iPad at home, get to work and it's ready and waiting for you on your iPhone.

• How to enable Documents in the Cloud on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• How to get documents into iCloud from your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• How to create a new iCloud document on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• How to get documents into iCloud from your Mac or Windows PC

How to enable Documents in the Cloud on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

iCloud-enabled iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps will automatically use Documents in the Cloud to save your files, provided you've turned it on.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap on iCloud.
3. Toggle Documents & Data to On.

How to get documents into iCloud from your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

In order to use Documents in the Cloud on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, you need an app that supports it. Apps that support Documents in the Cloud include Apple's iWork apps, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.

$9.99 - Keynote Download now

$9.99 - Numbers Download now

$9.99 - Pages Download now

To move a document to iCloud from the iPad, iPod touch, or iPhone:

1. Tap the + button in the top left hand corner.
2. Choose iTunes, iDisk, or WebDAV.
3. Select the document you want to move to iCloud.

If you don’t have an existing document stored in one of these three places, skip this step and create a new document.

How to create a new iCloud document on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

To create an new iCloud document, simply:

1. Launch Pages, Numbers, or Keynote
2. Tap on the + button
3. Tap on Create Document/Spreadsheet/Presentation (depending on which app you are in.)

Once you've created the document, it will automatically show up on all your iCloud enabled devices.

How to get documents into iCloud from your Mac or Windows PC

Getting your documents into the cloud from your PC or Mac is a very straightforward process.

1. Launch your web browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.)
2. Go to http://www.icloud.com.
3. Log in with your iCloud email address and password
4. Click on iWork
5. Click on the tab at the top that represents the type of document you want to work on: Pages (word processing), Keynote (presentation), or Numbers (spreadsheet)
6. Click on the gear icon in the upper right hand corner.
7. Click on upload from the drop-down menu.
8. Browse to the the document you want to upload and select it.

That's it. Your file will now be uploaded to iCloud and accessible via Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.

How to get more help with Cloud

If you still need help with setting up or using Documents in the Cloud on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Windows or Mac PC, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Everything you need to know about setting up and using Apple's iCloud picture backup and distribution service, Photo Stream

Photo Stream is iCloud image backup and distribution component. Take a picture (or screen shot) on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and -- when you're on Wi-Fi -- iCloud will store a copy of that picture on Apple's servers and push copies down to all your other iOS devices, as well as your Mac and/or Windows PC. On iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, iCloud will store up to 1000 photos, or 30 days of photos. On your Mac and/or Windows PC, iCloud will store all your photos. Photo Stream will also let you view your photos on the Apple TV.

• How to enable Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
• How to access Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
• How to enable Photo Stream on your Apple TV
• How to enable Photo Stream on Mac
• How to enable Photo Stream on Windows
• How to delete photos from Photo Stream

How to enable Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

With Photo Stream, any picture you take with your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is automatically stored on iCloud and pushed down to any other device logged into your iCloud account. Photos are only transferred when you're on Wi-Fi (and in our tests, only when your iOS device has more than 20% battery life remaining).

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap on iCloud.
3. Tap on Photo Stream.
4. Toggle Photo Stream to On.

How to access Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Once you've enabled Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPod touch, and/or iPad, you'll be able to see any pictures taken on any of your iOS devices, on all of your iOS devices.

1. Launch Photos.
2. Tap on Albums at the bottom.
3. Tap on Photo Stream.

Photo Stream only stores and pushes photos when you're on Wi-Fi. So, if you don't see your latest photos, make sure you connect your device(s) to Wi-Fi and wait a few moments.

How to enable Photo Stream on your Apple TV

Your Apple TV can wirelessly stream all the pictures from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It's a great way to share pictures with friends and family on right on your home television.

1. Launch Photo Stream (the icon is towards the bottom).
2. Confirm your Apple ID or sign in with a different one.
3. Choose whether or not you'd like to use Photo Stream as your screen saver.

iCloud will start to populate your Photo Stream on your Apple TV. Depending on the size of your Photo Stream and the speed of your internet connection, it might take a few minutes.

How to enable Photo Stream on Mac

Photo Stream, like the rest of iCloud, is built right into OS X Lion on the Mac (or the Mountain Lion developer preview). You can access it from within either iPhoto or Aperture.

1. Launch iPhoto on your Mac
2. Click on Photo Stream under Recent in the left hand sidebar.
3. Click on Turn on Photo Stream.

iPhoto will start to import your Photo Stream photos. Depending on how many photos you have, and how fast your internet connection is, it might take a while.

Apple's higher end photo editing app, Aperture, can also be used with Photo Stream.

How to enable Photo Stream on Windows

If you've got a Windows PC, you can enable Photo Stream through the iCloud control panel.

1. Launch the iCloud control panel (log in if you aren't already).
2. Check the Photo Stream box.
3. Click Options next to Photo Stream to customize Photo Stream settings further.

Your Windows PC will start to import your Photo Stream photos. Depending on how many photos you have and how fast your internet connection is, it might take a few minutes.

How to delete photos from Photo Stream

If you have personal, private, or any photos you simply don't want to be stored on Photo Stream, you can delete them from iCloud without deleting them from your device.

1. Launch Photos.
2. Tap on Albums at the bottom.
3. Tap on Photo Stream.
4. Tap on the Action button in the upper right-hand corner.
5. Tap any photo you want to remove from Photo Stream.
6. Tap the red Delete button along the bottom.
7. Tap Delete Selected Photos to delete them.

Again, this will only remove the photo from Photo Stream, not from the Camera Roll of the device with which you originally took it.

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with setting up or using Photo Stream on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Windows or Mac PC, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Everything you need to know about subscribing to, setting up, and using Apple's digital music locker service, iTunes Match

iTunes Match is Apple's "music locker" service that allows you to store copies of all your music on Apple's servers and re-download it from any of your devices, at any time. iTunes Match isn't free, however. It comes at a price -- $24.99 a year (in the U.S.). It's also only available in 20 odd regions right now.

• iTunes Match limitations
• How to subscribe to iTunes Match on Mac or Windows
• How to set up iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• How to enable iTunes Match downloads over 3G/4G
• How to see all your iTunes Match music on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

iTunes Match limitations

There are a few limitations to iTunes Match which you should be aware of before subscribing.

• iTunes Match isn't available everywhere yet, only a few reasons. Check your iTunes Match availability by country

• iTunes Match can only handle 25,000 songs. If your library is bigger than that, iTunes will refuse to match it. About all you can do right now is create a new iTunes library on the same computer with a subset of your songs -- no more than 25,000 -- and use that library to set up iTunes Match. (Just make sure you don't copy your music into new folders, leave it in its existing folders or you'll waste a lot of disk space.)

• iTunes Match doesn't always do a great job matching every of songs. It could be an issue with metadata, if the song information is really different between the iTunes Catalog copy and your local copy. You could try updating the metadata on your local copies before going through iTunes Match, but it can take a lot of time and results may still vary. (Anything iTunes doesn't match gets uploaded to Apple's servers, so you still have access to it, but in its original form, not the iTunes Catalog copy in 256Kbps AAC with "official" metadata)

#How to subscribe to iTunes Match on Mac or Windows

1. Launch iTunes (10.5.1 or higher) on your Mac or Windows PC.

2. Click on iTunes Match under the Store menu in the left hand sidebar.
3. If you don't see iTunes Match in the sidebar, click on iTunes Store and then click on iTunes Match in the Quick Links section on the right.

4. Click on Subscribe to iTunes Match for $24.99.
5. Enter your iTunes password to authorize

6. Click iTunes Match in the sidebar again.
7. Click Add this Computer

Next, iTunes Match will go through a three step process:

1. Step 1: Gathering information about your iTunes library. Apple scans all your songs to see what's in your library.
2. Step 2: Matching your music to songs in the iTunes Store. Apple compares your library to the massive iTunes Catalog. Anything that already exists in the iTunes Catalog is immediately made available to you in standard iTunes format -- 256Kbps AAC with metadata and album art.
3. Step 3: Uploading artwork and remaining songs. Apple takes any other music in your library -- anything Apple couldn't match with the iTunes Catalog -- and uploads it to Apple's servers so it will still be available to you from the cloud (albeit in its original format, however good or bad that is)

Depending on how much music needs to be uploaded, and the speed of your internet connection, it could take a while to complete.

How to set up iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

Once you've subscribed to iTunes Match, you can easily set it up on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

• Launch the Settings app.
• Tap on Music.
• Toggle iTunes Match to On.
• Tap Enable to allow iTunes Match to replace your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad music library with your iTunes Match library. (Which should have all the same music, and much, much more.)

If you don't see the iTunes Match option, make sure you're logged into the same iTunes account with which you subscribed to iTunes Match. If you still don't see it, scroll down to the bottom of the Music Settings and enter that iTunes ID into the Home Sharing login. That should wake it up.

How to enable iTunes Match downloads over 3G/4G

iTunes Match can either be Wi-Fi only, or can also let you re-download music over 3G/4G connections.

• Launch the Settings app
• Tap on Music
• Toggle Use Cellular Data to on.

How to see all your iTunes Match music on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

• Launch the Settings app.
• Tap on Music.
• Toggle Show All Music to on.

This will make sure that your Music app shows you every song in your iTunes Match library, whether you've downloaded it to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad or not.

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with subscribing to, setting up, or using iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Everything you need to know about re-downloading apps, games, iBooks, music, TV shows, and movies from the iTunes Store and iCloud

iTunes in the Cloud lets you access content you've bought from Apple's iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore, re-download it to your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and to iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC, and stream your music, movies, and TV shows to your Apple TV.

• How to set up iTunes in the Cloud automatic downloads
• How to enable automatic iTunes in the Cloud downloads over 3G/4G on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• How to enable automatic Newsstand issue downloads on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• How to change the iTunes account associated with your iTunes in the Cloud device
• How to de-authorize an iTunes in the Cloud device

How to set up iTunes in the Cloud automatic downloads

iTunes in the Cloud let's you automatically download any App Store apps, iBookstore iBooks, and iTunes music you buy. For example, if you buy a game on your iPhone, it can automatically download onto your iPad. If you buy a song on iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC, it can automatically download onto your iPod touch.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap Store near the bottom.
3. Toggle Music, Apps, and Books to On
4. Enter your iTunes password to authorize.

An iTunes account can only have 10 devices enabled for iTunes in the Cloud at the same time. Devices include iPhones, iPod touches, iPads, as well as Mac and Windows PCs, and Apple TVs. If you reach 10, you can't add an additional devices until you remove one first. (See below.)

How to enable automatic iTunes in the Cloud downloads over 3G/4G on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

If you're not concerned about your cellular data cap or any potential overage charges, you can choose to have iTunes in the Cloud automatic downloads happen even when you're off Wi-Fi and on 3G or 4G.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap Store near the bottom.
3. Toggle Use Cellular Data to On.

If you do choose to allow 3G/4G downloads, there's still a maximum file size limit of 50MB. Any content bigger than that can only be downloaded over Wi-Fi.

How to enable automatic Newsstand issue downloads on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

If you subscribe to any magazines or newspapers in Newsstand, you can choose to have new issues download automatically to your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad when they become available.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap Store near the bottom.
3. Toggle any magazine or newspaper apps listed at the bottom to On.

Newsstand content downloads will only happen while on Wi-Fi.

How to change the iTunes account associated with your iTunes in the Cloud device

If you have multiple iTunes accounts, for example a personal and a family account, or a family and a business account, or accounts in more than one regional iTunes store, you can change which account is associated with your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap Store near the bottom.
3. Tap the email address of the Apple ID currently logged into the App Store (at the bottom of the screen).
4. Tap Sign Out.
5. Tap Sign In.
6. Tap Use Existing Apple ID.
7. Enter the email address and password for the iTunes account you want to switch to.

To guard against unfair use or illegal distribution (for example, to stop friends from swapping accounts to get free access to each other's content), you can only change iTunes in the Cloud accounts once every 90 days.

How to de-authorize an iTunes in the Cloud device

If you reach your 10 device limit for iTunes in the Cloud and need to remove a device, or if you simply lose, sell, or upgrade a device and want it off you account, you can remove it via the iTunes desktop on Mac or Windows.

1. Launch iTunes on Mac or Windows.
2. Click your iTunes email address at the top right. (If you're not already logged in, click Log In.)
3. Enter your iTunes email address and/or iTunes password.
4. Click on Manage Devices, middle right.
5. Click on Remove for any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad you no longer wish associated with iTunes on the Cloud on your account.

How to re-download apps and games with iCloud

For a long time now, The App Store has let you re-download paid apps and games without having to pay for them again. Now, however, this functionality is officially part of iCloud and iTunes in the Cloud. It means if you downloaded an app or game a long time ago, on a different device, or simply deleted it because you stopped using it for a while, you can go back and download it again, free of additional charge.

If you know the name of the app you want to re-download:

1. Launch the App Store app.
2. Tap the Search tab (iPhone and iPod touch only) or into the Search box (iPad).
3. Enter the name of the app you want to re-download.
4. Tap the Search button on the keyboard.
5. When the search results show up, find the app and tap the Install button.

Note: If you see a price button (e.g. $0.99) instead of an Install button, it means you'll be charged for the download. Make sure you're on the proper iTunes account, and that you've really bought the app previously before re-downloading.

If you don't know the name of the app and need to find it:

1. Launch the App Store app.
2. Tap on the Purchased tab tab (iPad), or Updates tab and then tap Purchased (iPhone and iPod touch).
3. Tap Not on the iPad/iPhone to see a list of apps not currently on your device.
4. Scroll through the list to find the app you're looking for.
5. Tap the iCloud download button to re-download the app to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
6. Enter your iTunes password, if requested, to confirm.

Your app will now download to the Home screen of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

How to re-download iBooks with iCloud

Just like App Store apps, you can easily re-download iBookstore iBooks to your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

1. Launch the iBooks app.
2. Tap on the Store button in the top left corner.
3. Tap on the Purchased tab along the bottom navigation menu.
4. Scroll through the list to find the book you're looking for.
5. Tap on the iCloud download button to re-download the book to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.
6. Enter your iTunes password, if requested, to confirm.

Your book will download to your iBooks bookshelf.

How to re-download iTunes music, movies, & TV shows with iCloud

Re-downloading music, movies, and TV shows is a little more complicated than re-downloading apps simply because licensing restrictions don't allow it in all areas (yet). Music is currently available in many regions. TV shows are only available in Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. Movie re-downloads are only available in the U.S.

Here's a current listing of which types of content are available for re-downloading and in which area.

• iTunes in the Cloud availability by country

If iTunes re-downloads are available in you region, you can safely restore your content to your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC without being charged again.

1. Launch the iTunes app.
2. Tap on the Purchased tab along the bottom of the navigation menu.
3. Tap the View button at the top left to choose between movies, music, or TV shows (options vary by region, not all may be present).
4. Tap Not on this iPhone/iPod/iPad.
5. Scroll through the list to find the content you're looking for.
6. Tap on the iCloud download button to re-download the content to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.
7. Enter your iTunes password, if requested, to confirm.

Your content will download to your Music or Video app.

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with re-downloading apps, games, iBooks, music, TV shows, or music to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Everything you need to know to get your mail, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, notes, and reminders syncing with iCloud

iCloud includes push email, calendaring, and contact services. That means whenever you get an email, it's immediately made available on all your devices. Whenever you make or change an appointment it shows up in your calendar on all your devices. Whenever you add or change contact information, its reflected in the contacts on all of your devices. You can access these services via the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, via the iCloud.com website from any desktop browser, or through popular mail, calendar, and contacts apps on your Mac or Windows PC.

iCloud will also sync Bookmarks, Notes, and Reminders.

• How to set up iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars
• How to enable or disable individual iCloud services
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars via the Web
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, and more via Windows PC
• How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and more via Mac

How to set up iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars

If you didn't originally set up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud, or if you want to use a different iCloud account for Mail, Contacts, and Calendars than you do for iTunes purchases, for example, or you simply want to add an additional account to your device, here's how to get it working.

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap on Mail, Contacts, & Calendars.
3. Tap iCloud.
4. Enter your iCloud (me.com) email address as the Apple ID and your Password.

How to enable or disable individual iCloud services

Whether you're setting up iCloud on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad for the first time and want to choose which services are turned on and which are turned off, or you've already set it up but want to make some changes, it's easy to configure.

You can selectively choose to enable or disable Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Bookmarks, Notes, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, and Find my iPhone/iPod/iPad.

• Launch the Settings app
• Tap on iCloud
• Go down the list and toggle anything you want to enable to On, and anything you want to disable to off

Turning off an iCloud feature on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will remove the associated data from your device, but not from iCloud's servers. So, if you change your mind again, just repeat the process and flip the switch back on.

How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars via the Web

You can access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, as well as Documents in the Cloud, and Find my iPhone/iPod/iPad from any Mac, Windows, Linux, Unix, or other PC with a modern web browser via:

• http://www.icloud.com

How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars, and more via Windows PC

To access your iCloud data via a Microsoft Windows PC, first you need the iCloud Control Panel for Windows Vista SP 2 or Windows 7.

Free - Download now

1. Click on Start to launch the Start menu.
2. Go to Network and Internet.
3. Go to iCloud.
4. Enter your Apple ID username and password.
5. Check mark the iCloud services you want to enable.

You can choose to turn on Mail, Contacts, Calendars & Tasks (Reminders), Bookmarks, and Photo Stream. The following software will then be able to access iCloud data:

• Mail: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Contacts: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Calendars: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Reminders: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Notes: Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010
• Bookmarks: Safari, Internet Explorer

How to access iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and more via Mac

iCloud is built into Apple's OS X 10.7 Lion for Mac, and will be even better integrated into the upcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

1. Launch System Preferences.
2. Click on iCloud.
3. Check mark the iCloud services you want to enable.

You can choose to turn on Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Bookmarks, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, Back to my Mac, and Find my Mac. The following software will then be able to access iCloud data.

• Mail: Mail, Outlook for Mac (via IMAP)
• Contacts: Address Book, Contacts (Mountain Lion)
• Calendars: iCal, Calendar (Mountain Lion)
• Bookmarks: Safari
• Photo Stream: iPhoto, Aperture

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with mail, contacts, or calendars on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Everything you need to know about setting up, backing up, restoring, and updating your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with iCloud

With iCloud, you no longer need to plug your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC to set it up for the first time, to keep it backed up, or to upgrade the software. Now you can do all of that, and more, faster and more easily, over-the-air (OTA) on your local Wi-Fi network. Because routine tasks, like backups, happen automatically, you don't have to worry about forgetting them and then finding out you don't have one when you need it most.

• How to set up your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud
• How to create an Apple ID
• How to set up a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud (clean install)
• How to restore your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from an iCloud backup
• How to backup your iPhone with iCloud
• How to manually trigger an iCloud backup
• How to delete an iCloud backup
• How to manually manage what gets backed up to iCloud
• How to buy more iCloud storage
• How to downgrade your iCloud storage
• How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad software over the air (OTA)
• How to remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

How to set up your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud

When you turn on your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you'll be greeted with a Lock screen that simply says "iPhone", "iPod" or "iPad". That's where we start.

1. Swipe to unlock to start setting up your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
2. Choose your language. Your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will show you the most common languages for the area in which you bought it, but you can tap the downward arrow icon to see all the choices. Tap the blue Arrow button to continue.
3. Choose you country or region. Again, your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will show you the region where you bought it, but you can tap Show more... for additional options. Tap the blue Next button to continue.
4. Choose whether you want to globally enable or disable location services. Location Services use GPS (on an iPhone or iPad 3G/4G), cell-tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi router mapping to determine the approximate location of your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad . This feature is used for turn-by-turn navigation (like Navigon, check-in games (like FourSquare), social networks (like Facebook), geo-tagging (like in the Camera app), and utilities (like Find my iPad), etc. Unless you have a particular need to globally disable it, you'll want to turn on the Location Services feature at this point. You can change your mind or selectively disable or enable these services later on in the Settings app (e.g., turn off your Camera app’s geo-tagging, but leave on TomTom’s turn-by-turn navigation). Tap the blue Next button to continue.
5. Choose your Wi-Fi network. Even if you're on 3G or LTE, your iPhone or iPad wants Wi-Fi because there may be a lot of data to move around and blasting through your data cap on setup is no fun. Enter your network password and tap the blue Next button to continue.
6. Wait for Apple to activate your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad . This could take a few minutes.
7. Choose if you want to setup your iPad as new, restore from iCloud backup, or restore from an iTunes backup on a PC. Tap the blue Next button to continue.

How to create an Apple ID

In order to use iCloud, you need to have an Apple ID. An Apple ID can be an iTunes Store/App Store account, me.com email account, Apple developer account, FaceTime or iMessage account, etc.

If you already have one of those, skip ahead to the next section. If not, you'll have to create one.

1. Choose **Create a Free Apple ID**
2. Enter your Location and Date of birth

3. A new window will open asking you to use an existing email address or create a free @me.com address

4. You can use any email address you like, including an existing gmail, Yahoo!, hotmail, etc. address. If you want a new email address, however, to take advantage of Apple's free push email service, select get a free @me.com email address
5. Fill in all your details and tap Next
6. Accept the iCloud Terms and Conditions

That’s it done, you now have a new iCloud account all set up and ready to go!

How to set up a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud (clean install)

While you can always restore your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad based on a previous backup of the same or different iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you can also set it up as new. If it's your first device, or if you simply want to start fresh to ensure optimal stability and battery life, setting up as new should be your go-to.

1. Choose sign in with your Apple ID.
2. Enter your Apple ID to login. (Enter your full email address as the username.) Tap the blue Next button to continue. (If you change your mind, you can logout of iCloud, or login under a different account later.)
3. Agree to the terms and conditions of service by tapping the blue Agree button on the bottom left.
4. Confirm your agreement by tapping the Agree button.
5. Choose Use iCloud. You need to do this or none of the other cool stuff will work.
6. Choose Use iCloud Backup. This way you won't have to worry about backing up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad manually to a computer.
7. Choose use Find my iPhone/iPod/iPad. This way, if you lose your device, you can track it down more easily.
8. Choose if you want to automatically send Diagnostics to Apple. It's anonymous and helps make Apple make better products, but if you're uncomfortable with the idea, choose Don't send.

Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad will now be set up. Because it's communicating with Apple's iCloud servers, it could take a few moments to complete.

How to restore your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from an iCloud backup

If you have an old iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and need access to your old data quickly, or dread the idea of starting from scratch again, you have the option of simply restoring your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad from a backup of your old device.

1. Choose restore from iCloud backup.
2. Enter your Apple ID to login. (Enter your full email address as the username.) Tap the blue Next button to continue. (If you change your mind, you can logout of iCloud, or login under a different account later.)
3. Agree to the terms and conditions of service by tapping the blue Agree button on the bottom left.
4. Confirm your agreement by tapping the Agree button.
5. Choose your backup. You'll see your Latest iPhone/iPod/iPad Backup listed. This is usually the one you want to choose. You'll can also see older backups, and backups of your other iOS devices on the same iCloud account.

A progress bar will show you an approximation of how long it will take to download your backup. Once it's done, your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will reboot.

Once your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad reboots, all your previous settings will be back in place, and you'll be asked to re-enter all your passwords (as a security measure, iCloud will not restore passwords).

Once that's done, your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will start re-downloading all your apps. You will need to stay on Wi-Fi for any file larger than 50MB to re-download.

How to backup your iPhone with iCloud

iCloud will automatically back up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad whenever you plug it into a power source and it is connected to a Wi-Fi network. iCloud backup requires power so it doesn't run the battery down while backing up, and it requires Wi-Fi because of the potentially large amount of data it will transfer.

How to manually trigger an iCloud backup

If you need to replace or restore your phone, or you know you’ll be traveling for a while and want to make sure the backup is done before you go, You can initiate a manual backup.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap on iCloud

3. Tap on Storage & Backup near the bottom

4. Tap on Back Up Now at the bottom.

Depending on the speed of your Wi-Fi connection and how much you have to backup, it could take a while to complete. When it's done iCloud backup will be up to date.

How to delete an iCloud backup

Since you only get 5GB of free storage with iCloud, if you don't want to upgrade and pay more, you might want to delete some older backups, or backups from iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads you no longer use, to save space.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap on iCloud

3. Tap on Storage and Backup

4. Tap on Manage Storage

5. Check out your current backups stored on iCloud. (Here you can see two iPhones, including one replaced at the Apple Store last week and so no longer needed).

6. Tap on the backup you want to remove from iCloud
7. Tap on Delete Backup

8. Tap on Turn Off and Delete

That’s it, that backup has now been removed and the space reclaimed in iCloud.

How to manually manage what gets backed up to iCloud

If you don't want to, or simply can't delete an entire iCloud backup in order to save space, you can still control what gets backed up. For example, backing up the Camera Roll can use up a large amount of your iCloud storage. Since Photo Stream captures a lot of that data anyway, and isn't counted against your total storage usage, turning off Camera Roll backup can save you considerable space.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap iCloud near the bottom
3. Tap Storage and Backup near the bottom
4. Tap Manage Storage
5. If you have multiple devices on the same iCloud account, tap on the name of your device
6. You'll see a list of apps currently being backed up to iCloud. Not all apps will be shown immediately. Too see them all, tap Show All
7. For any apps you don't really want or need to be backed up, switch the toggle button to Off

The Camera Roll above is 35GB. That could cost you quite a bit in iCloud storage fees!

How to buy more iCloud storage

If you run out of free space, and there aren't any backups you want to delete or apps you want to stop backing up, you can choose to buy more iCloud storage.

1. Launch Settings

2. Tap on iCloud near the bottom

3. Tap on Storage and Backup

4. Tap on Buy More Storage
5. Select your storage increase option -- 10GB for $20, 20GB for $40 or 50GB for $100 per year.

6. Enter your iTunes password to charge the increase to your iTunes account.

If you change your mind, you have 15 days to contact Apple and cancel the storage increase. If you're happy with it, you'll be billed the same amount, once a year, for as long as you keep the selected storage tier.

How to downgrade your iCloud storage

If you eventually change your mind and decide you no longer need extra iCloud storage, and don't want to be billed for it again when it comes time for renewal, you can downgrade to a lower tier, or back to the free version.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap iCloud near the bottom
3. Tap Storage and Backup near the bottom
4. Tap Buy More Storage
5. Tap Downgrade Options near the bottom
6. Login with your Apple ID password
7. Choose your new plan from the available options

The downgrade will take effect at your next billing cycle (one year after you bought the additional storage).

How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad software over the air (OTA)

Whether you've bought a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and an update is already available, or one comes along months later, applying them over-the-air (OTA) via iCloud is faster and more efficient than the old-school iTunes method.

If a software update is available for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, a popup notification will let you know, and a red badge will appear at the top righthand corner of your Settings app.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap General
3. Tap Software Update
4. If there's nothing new, you'll be told just so. Otherwise, you'll be presented with all the details about the update.
5. Tap Download and Install
6. Agree to the Terms and Conditions
7. Watch the progress bar (This part depends on the speed and quality of connection. Don't be alarmed if it takes a long time, speeds up or slows down, or appears to jump around -- be patient.)
8. Once it's finished downloading, you'll be prompted to instal (and restart) your device. If you don't explicitly hit Later or Install within a few seconds, it will install on your behalf.
9. Agree to the Terms and Conditions yet again.
10. Apple will verify the install.

How to remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

You can remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad at any time. When you remove the iCloud account, all the associated data will also be removed from your device. It's not deleted, however, and if you add the iCloud account back, it will restore the data to your device.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap on iCloud
3. Tap on Delete Account at the bottom.
4. Tap on Delete to confirm.

If you change your mind, you can always log back into that iCloud account again.

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with setting up, backing up, restoring, or updating your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

While some people will no doubt be thrilled that Facebook has bought Instagram, and certainly many couldn't care less one way or t'other, there will be some folks who don't like, use, or trust Facebook when it comes to their personal photos. If you're one of them, and you're now looking for a way to export your photos out of Instagram and close your account, here's how to get it done.

How to export your photos from Instagram

One of the fastest ways to export your photos from Instagram, whether it's to leave the service or simply to create a backup, is with Instaport.me. A free web-based service, it will quickly and painlessly let you download a copy of all your Instagrams right to your Windows, Mac, or Linux PC.

1. On your PC, go to http://www.instaport.me
2. Click on Sign in with Instagram
3. Enter your Instagram username and password
4. Click on Yes to authorize instaport.me's access to your Instagram photos
5. Click on Start Export.
6. Wait.

Depending on how many Instagram photos you have, it could take a while to finish. When you're done, a zip file containing all your Instagrams will be safely stores in your default downloads folder.

How to delete your Instagram account

If for some reason merely backing up your Instagram photos isn't enough and you decide you want to kill it entirely, bury it upside down, and salt the earth before Facebook gets access to your content, here's how to close your account:

1. Browse to https://instagram.com/accounts/remove/request/
2. Choose a reason
3. Click Continue

Finish up your account removal and you're done, footloose and Facebook free.

Do you really want to delete your Instagram account just because they were bought by Facebook?

Make sure you carefully, cautiously consider if you really want to delete your Instagram account just because Facebook bought them. It's easy to get swept up in emotions when something you love is acquired by someone you don't trust or dislike, but it's worth taking a moment to think it over.

Once you've decided for sure, jump into our photography forum and tell us why you decided the way you did, and what other photo sharing service or services you might be considering switching to?

Via: @SteveStreza

Apple's virtual personal assistant, Siri, can do all sorts of wonderful things, including creating and updating Notes right on your iPhone. Dave Caolo of 52 Tiger breaks down the process:

To create a new note, tell Siri, “Create a new note,” “Make a new note” or something similar. You can give a note a title at the same time, for instance, “Make a new note packing list” or “Create a new note places to visit.” That becomes the first line of the note.

Updating an existing Note is just as easy.

It's not perfect, mind you. Siri doesn't always properly understand what you're saying (and sometimes has trouble connecting to the network to find out). Apple hasn't yet giving Siri equal access to all system apps yet either (i.e. it can read you SMS but not Notes). For quickly getting a bit of information entered into your iPhone, however, Siri can be ridiculously fast.

Hit the link below for Dave's complete workflow. (I use a similar process to quickly create Reminders.)

Source: 52 Tiger

According to a leaked internal AppleCare document, Apple is currently investigating Wi-Fi problems with the new iPad. The issues appear to relate to problems with not only poor Wi-Fi speeds but also connection drops and, in some cases, the inability to even see a particular network.

The internal AppleCare document, leaked to 9to5Mac asks for contact centers and retail stores to “Capture” iPad 3rd generation Wi-Fi only devices if they exhibit any issues relating to Wi-Fi. We assume that capturing means a replacement device for the customer and the problematic device being kept by Apple.

The Wi-Fi only version of the new iPad is the only version affected by these problems according to Apple.  4G LTE models do not seem to be troubled by the same symptoms; many are speculating that this is down to the exposed antenna area at the top of these models. This also marks the 3rd year in a row new iPad models have had reports of Wi-Fi issues.

Have any of you experienced any Wi-Fi related problems with their new iPad? If so, we're trouble-shooting in the new iPad forum.

Source: 9to5 Mac

Have you ever had trouble reading, watching, playing, or otherwise using your iPhone while caught out in direct sunlight? Here's an easy workaround that's doesn't involve taking your iPad back inside

The iPad has a big, bright beautiful display that looks absolutely amazing under normal condition but, because it's glossy, can become reflective or washed out to the point of uselessness under the glare of direct sunlight. Luckily, all hope is not lost!

Here's what's going on. The iPad has an in-plane switching (IPS), light-emmiting diode (LED), liquid crystal display (LCD) that produces crisp, clear colors under normal conditions. It's not laminated the same way the iPhone screen is, so it's even slightly more reflective when it catches rays.

So, what can be done? There are various anti-glare screen protectors you can try out, but those aren't practical to put on and take off every time you're out in the sun.

Chances are, however, if you're out in the sun, you'll have a pair of sunglasses. Like any self-respecting beach boy or bikini chic, they might even be polarized. If not, pick up a pair that is. You can also use passive 3D glasses if you're geeky enough to have those handy. They can make all the difference in the world when it comes to reading the web or eBooks, watching movies or TV shows, using apps or playing games.

To explain why, we're turning to Mobile Nations' own Stephane Koenig, our very own ocular science guy!

How to use polarized sunglasses (or passive 3D glasses) to see your iPad in direct sunlight

I'll spare you the fascinating explanation (it really is a clever trick of light that facilitates passive 3d, non- reflective coatings and a bunch of other good things).

Phew! So we can skip ahead to putting our polarized sunglasses on!

If you experience a black screen with your sunglasses on turn the iPad 90 degrees... i.e. if it's black in portrait rotate it to landscape and vice-versa. (Different polarized sunglasses will work in different orientations).

The effect is dramatic, gradual and proportional to the amount of turn.

It happens because the lenses block light polarized in one dimension and LCD panels produce light polarized one (potentially different) dimension as well. Coatings on some panels reduce this effect in order to reduce reflection/glare at the cost of lower 'compatibility' with polarized glasses. Sometimes they oppose each other and no light gets through. It's sort black magic if you don't understand what happening.

Here's a simple explanation and here's a deeper explanation -- scroll down past the science bit to see examples of uses...

• Radio: AM/FM radio waves are polarized which is why radio antenna tend to be vertical for best reception and TV antennas are horizontal
• Shop windows have similar coatings to reduce ambient reflection - they want you to see the products not yourself.
• Passive 3D glasses work because the left eye only lets light through polarized one way and the right eye lets light through polarized the other way. The projector polarizes the light from alternate frames to give a pseudo-3d effect because each frame show an image slightly with perspective slightly off-set from the other. Try tilting your head during the performance to test the extent of this technology. Better yet... pop out the lens, place them on top of one another then turn one of them 90 degrees to block out all light.
• Camera lenses have coating which can remove reflection from windows (an a commensurate amount of light) in the same way that some windows have coats as above
• If you view car window through polarized lenses you can see the stress lines in the glass, manufacturers exploit this as one of the quality tests for their tempered glass.

Thanks Steph! So bottom line, if you want to take your iPad to the beech or the pool, out on a sunny street or park, or anywhere where there will be bright, direct sunlight, just bring a good pair of polarized sunglasses with you!

Bonus tip: Because of the way the iPhone display is constructed, polarized sunglasses can greatly reduce glare and increase visibility in both portrait and landscape mode!

Variable - Polarized sunglasses on Amazon.com - Buy now

Have you ever wanted to capture what was on your iPad screen? Show off a high score in Angry Birds Space or capture a masterpiece from Draw Something?

Capturing your iPad screen is easy to do, and is built right into iOS. With the touch of two buttons, anything you see on that big Retina display can be saved right to your Camera Roll and, from the Photos app, quickly shared via email, Twitter, iMessage, and more. It's a great trick and can really come in handy any time you want to remember or pass along something you see on your iPad.

How to capture your iPad screen

In the image above, look at the two buttons: the one on the front, below the screen, is the Home button. The one on the top, on the backside of the bezel, is the Sleep/Wake button. Press both buttons at the same time and you will hear the Camera sound and see the screen go white for just a second.  That’s all there is to it – your screen is now captured.

If you have trouble getting the timing just right, simply hold down one button for a second and, while holding it down, quickly click the other. For example, hold down the Sleep/Wake button and quickly click the Home button (or vice versa).

Here is my Home screen which I want to capture in a screenshot

How to find your iPad screen shots

Start your Photos app and go either to the Photos tab at the top or to your Photo Stream if it is turned on in iCloud. You will see your images right at the bottom.

In the bottom left-hand corner of the Camera roll, I see my screenshot

You can also start up your Camera app and touch the Camera Roll at the bottom left to see your screenshots.

How to use and share your iPad screenshots

iPad screenshots behave just like any other photo. You can Edit your photo, Email it, send in via iMessage, assign it to a Contact, Use it as Wallpaper or Tweet it. If you were in the Facebook app, you can also upload it to show the world you new high score or whatever it is you captured on your screen.

Capturing your screen is easy, fun and a great way to quickly share what you are looking at on your iPad with others.

Do you use the screenshot feature often? Share your experiences in this forum thread.

If you got a new iPad and immediately went to Facebook.com to play your favorite Facebook games, you may have notices they didn't work on the iPad browser. Don't panic! While Safari doesn't support the Flash plugin needed to play those games in the browser, there are several other ways to get your Facebook gaming fix on your new iPad.

Facebook games in the App Store

A lot of the popular games that you play on Facebook most likely have an App Store counterpart that you can download and run on your iPad. Many of them will even let you sign in with your Facebook account to log in and it'll bring down all your data, so you can keep playing with all your stuff, against all your friends, right where you left off.

I've actually found that I enjoy playing most Facebook games on my iPad rather than on the website. It's always been a better experience for me.

Here are some App Store equivalents of your favorite Facebook game:

Angry Birds - $0.99 - Download Now

Bejeweled Blitz - Free - Download Now

FarmVille - Free - Download Now

Fruit Ninja HD - $2.99 - Download Now

Words with Friends HD - $2.99 - Download Now

Diamond Dash - Free - Download Now

While these are nowhere near all the games available on Facebook, these tend to be some of the most popular ones. If you play another game on Facebook, odds are a quick search for it in the App Store should bring up an iPad version. Most of the games listed above also have a light or ad-supported free version as well if you'd like to try before you buy.

If it doesn't, there may still be a way to enjoy your favorite Facebook game from your iPad.

Facebook games with iSwifter

If you can't find your favorite Facebook game in the iPad App Store, you can try the iSwifter app. It lets you access a lot of popular social games that don't have App Store alternatives.

Free – Download now

Additional Resources:

• How to use Facebook on your new iPad
• Even more tips and tricks for new iPad users
• iMore Facebook and Social Networks forum
• iMore new iPad discussion forums

More often than not, email just simply “works” on your iPad. You input your account information when you setup the iPad and email is received flawlessly.  Occasionally, however, problems do arise and need to be fixed.

Sometimes, it is an issue with the email server, sometimes it is a connectivity issue and sometimes you are just missing a key piece of information in the account setup.

Usually, the solution is simple like a wrong password or switch. We will try to walk you through potential problems and their fixes.

The iPad can’t get your mail

iPad gives an error message when trying to retrieve mail

Sometimes, you will start up the Mail app and receive an error message that your mail could not be retrieved.  If this happens to you, the first thing to do is to make sure you are connected in some way to the internet.

Look on your home screen for the WiFi logo and/or the 3G/4G indicator or LTE indicator, depending on what type of connection you're using. If you do not see either of these then:

1. Go to your Settings app
2. Touch Wi-Fi (for Wi-Fi only iPads) and make sure that Wi-Fi is ON
   1. Then, make sure that there is a check mark next to an available Wi-Fi network.
   2. If there is no checkmark, touch an available Wi-Fi network and “join” the network.
   3. Input a passcode if prompted.
   4. On 4G iPads, touch Settings and then Cellular Data
      1. Touch View Account and make sure that your login information is correct

Verify that Wi-Fi is ON and that you are connected

If you are still having trouble getting email or getting an error message, it is time to go to the actual email settings for the account in question.

1. Touch the Settings icon
2. Touch the Mail, Contacts and Calendars tab
3. Touch the specific email account that is giving you trouble.
4. Touch the Account tab on the next screen.
5. Verify that the Email and Password fields are correct. It is sometimes easiest to simply retype them and see if in the verification process this fixes the problem.

Make sure user name and password are correct

When you re-input your Email and Password, you should either see the word “Verifying” at the top and then, hopefully, see some checkmarks saying that the account is working.  If you get another error message or if the screen seems to hang on “Verifying” you will  need to perform the additional steps.

1. Go to the Mail, Contacts, Calendar tab as you did above.
2. Touch the Account that is giving you trouble.
3. Make sure that your account is listed as ON if it is a POP 3 account (like Comcast)
4. Make sure that Mail is turned on in IMAP accounts (like Google.)
5. If you still can’t get mail – try to Delete the Account and then re-set up
   1. If the account is a Google or other IMAP account, all your messages are saved on the server and they will be reloaded when the account is set up.
   2. After re-setting up the account, make sure that you see the “Verified” check marks during set up and you should be fine.

Account is verified, so problems should be fixed

The iPad can’t send your mail

iPad can't send mail

Sometimes, your iPad will receive mail fine, but it won’t send mail.  This is a different kind of problem that involves the SMTP – or outgoing Mail server. To try to fix this issue, do the following:

1. Touch the Mail, Contacts, Calendars tab as you did above.
2. Touch the Account that is having trouble sending mail.
3. Touch the tab that says SMTP under Outgoing Mail Server.
4. Make sure that the primary mail server associated with the email account in question is turned On
5. If it is turned Off, touch the tab that says Off and turn the switch to On.
6. If there are other mail servers listed, you can always try to turn one of them On and retry sending your mail.  Usually, if mail is unsuccessful in sending from one server, it tries the other listed servers.
7. If the serer is On and you still have trouble, touch the Primary Server listed and see if in the greyed out field you can see that there is a Host Name, User Name and Password listed. We will show you how to adjust these in the next section.

If SMTP server is OFF, try turning it ON to solve the problem

If you have verified that your account is set up and your SMTP server is On and you still can’t send mail – then we need to dive into the Advanced settings to see if there are any more adjustments to be made.

1. Touch the Account from the Mail, Contacts, Calendars tab as you did earlier.
2. Touch the Account tab and then touch the Advanced tab under the SMTP tab.
3. If the Use SSL switch is OFF, turn it ON
   1. Consequently, if it is ON, try turning it OFF
   2. Touch the Authentication tab and set it to Password
   3. Look at the number next to Server Port
      1. For Gmail, this is usually set to 993
      2. For Comcast and other POP email accounts, this is often set to 110
      3. Other servers use 995 or 587 – check with your ISP if you are not sure.
      4. For iCloud accounts, you won’t even see this listed.
      5. Make sure that the S/MIME switch is set to OFF. This is for Secure/Multi-Purpose Internet Mail extensions used by government agencies and some high tech companies. Chances are, that if you need this to be ON you know what it is and that you need it – most of us don’t.

Check the Advanced settings if problems persist

Once you make changes to your settings, touch the Done button and you should be all set to go. Go back to your Mail app and try to fetch your email and then try to send a new one. Hopefully, you will be fixed and working.

If you still have trouble sending or receiving email, it is possible that either the port settings or one of the other advanced settings needs to be adjusted according to the settings for your ISP.

Source: Motorola Global

Did this solve your problems? Are you still struggling with email settings? Check out out this forum thread for even more advice.

Multitasking gestures are quick, multitouch shortcuts for navigating around your iPad. You can enable or disable them in Settings (to avoid, for example, swiping in Fruit Ninja and suddenly ending up in Mail). When they're on, however, and you're used to using them, you can really fly between your iPad apps.

How to use multitasking gesture shortcuts to navigate the iPad homescreen

Some things are just easier to show rather than tell. Here's a quick video highlighting what the gestures are and what they look like when you do them.

Here's the full list of available gestures.

• Swipe up with four fingers to open the Fast App Switcher
• Swipe down with four fingers to close the Fast App Switcher

• Swipe left with four fingers to move from the current app to the previous app (according to the order presented in the Fast App Switcher)

• Swipe right with four fingers to switch move from the current app to the next app (according to the order presented in the Fast App Switcher)

• 5 Pinch with four fingers to exit an app and return to the Home screen (like clicking the Home button)

Now get navigating!

Think of gesture navigation as the keyboard shortcuts of the Home screen, or as the alt+tab or cmd+tab of app switching. A way to get around quickly when you need to.

Additional resources:

• Everything you need to know about your new iPad
• How to use the iPad Home button to navigate, access the fast app switcher, take a screenshot, and more
• How to rapidly enter special characters, punctuation, and other keyboard shortcuts on your new iPad
• How to copy, paste, and perform basic text editing on your new iPad
• Even more tips & tricks for new iPad users
• New iPad discussion forums

Your new iPad is a great way to stay organized and focused on the activities and events that matter to you most. The built in Calendar app has a lot of great features and tools to help you create, edit, manage, and share your schedule, including event invitations.

iCloud and Exchange

Before you can start creating and accepting proper event invitations you need to have set up either a free Apple iCloud account (@me.com address), or a Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync account (including a Gmail account set up as Exchange).

• How to set up a free iCloud account on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

How to share a Calendar event

iCloud allows you to share an event when you create it, or share it later if you choose to.

1. If you've already created event you'd like to share with someone. Tap it and tap Edit, then skip down to step 4.
2. If you haven't created the event yet, tap the "+" sign in the bottom right corner of your calendar app, or tap and hold on a time spot on the calendar, to create a new event.

3. Fill out at the information you need to about the event.
4. Tap the Invitees button.

5. If the person is in your address book, just start typing their name. If they aren't, type in their iCloud (@me.com) e-mail address.
6. Once you're done adding people, tap Done.
7. Now save the entire event by tapping Done again in the upper right hand corner.
8. iCloud will send the event invites to everyone. Once they accept or decline, you'll see their name and status within your calendar.

While users with other types of accounts will receive your invites, they won't be able to accept them into their Calendar and see your changes to events if they aren't using iCloud as well.

How to accept an event invite

If someone has sent you an event invite, you can accept them straight from your iPad with just a few taps. Depending on your settings, you might get a popup notification or email alerting you when a new invitation comes in. Your Calendar app icon will also be badged with a number representing any outstanding event invitations (similar to how Mail shows you the number of unread email messages.)

To accept an invitation:

1. Launch the Calendar app.
2. Tap the Invitations button to view the pending invites.

3. You can either accept, decline, or say maybe. Your RSVP status will appear for the creatore of the event as well.
4. You can always change your status on the event by going back into the event in your calendar.

Additional resources:

• Everything you need to know about your new iPad
• Even more tips & tricks for new iPad users
• How to set up and send e-mail on your new iPad
• iMore new iPad discussion forums

There are many ways you can access Twitter from your new iPad, including the official Twitter for iPad app, some great alternatives like Tweetbot and Twitterrific, and even the Twitter.com website directly from Safari. Twitter integration is even built into iOS 5 so you can tweet pictures, for example, from right inside many other apps.

Whether you're a power user or just an occasional browser, there are a lot of great ways to get tweeting from your iPad.

If you don't already have a Twitter account but want to join up and see what all the "tweeting" and "trending" fuss is about, sign up here:

• twitter.com

To get all the latest news, reviews, and help from iMore right on Facebook, make sure to follow us as well!

• iMore on Twitter

To find more iMore Twitter friends, check out our Twitter name thread:

• iMore Twitter name exchange

Twitter for iPad

The official Twitter for iPad app can be installed right from the Twitter Settings of your iPhone. The current version has one of the most audacious, forward-thinking interfaces of any iPad app, using sliding panels to show multiple layers of content. Unfortunately, Twitter hasn't put a lot of time and effort into adding features to it, and there's a lot it simply doesn't do. Since Twitter is busy redesigning all their apps to match their new website, it's likely this version of Twitter isn't long for the world either.

Still, it's free, visually impressive, and a great way to look a lot of Twitter content quickly.

Free - Download Now

Tweetbot for iPad

Tweetbot is an iMore staff favorite. It's a powerhouse of functionality and includes the best push notifications of any Twitter app, and great features like muting people, hashtags, and other tweets (so you don't have to unfollow your boss or avoid Twitter so it doesn't spoil a movie or big game for you.) If you're looking for a beautiful client with tons of functionality, look no further than Tweetbot.

• Tweetbot for iPad review

$2.99 - Download Now

Twitterrific for iPad

Twitterrific is the original iOS Twitter app, and it was the first Twitter app out for the iPad as well. It features a unified timeline so you can see all your followers' tweets, your mentions, and any direct messages all in the same place and in order. That makes it a great reading experience and a nice way to get started for brand new Twitter users. It's also free for single account use.

Free - Download now

How to access Twitter from Safari

Maybe you just don't need to use Twitter all that often and only feel the need to poke around when you're bored or reading news. If that's the case you may not want notifications or a native app cluttering up your homescreen real estate. Safari works just fine for Twitter. They've actually got a mobile website that allows you to navigate around quickly and easily.

1. Open up Safari on your iPad
2. Navigate to twitter.com
3. Sign in to your Twitter account

You can tweet, reply, check notifications, view profiles, and do pretty much the same things you'd be able to do from the computer based version of Twitter straight from your iPad. I have noticed the mobile web version of Twitter is a bit laggy at times. I recommend downloading the native Twitter app for free over using Safari if you plan on browsing Twitter regularly.

Additional resources:

• Everything you need to know about your new iPad
• Even more tips and tricks for new iPad users
• iMore new iPad discussion forums
• iMore Twitter and Social Networks forum

What's your favorite way to use Twitter on your iPad?

The new iPad is simply one of the most enjoyable ways to keep up with your Facebook friends, share your status and location, post pictures and videos, and more. It's instant-on, it has a big, beautiful screen, and the multitouch interface makes it a lot of fun for social networks where ever you are, whenever you're in the mood.

If you don't already have a Facebook account but want to join up and see what all the "friending" and "liking" fuss is about, sign up here:

• Facebook.com

To get all the latest news, reviews, and help from iMore right on Facebook, make sure to like us as well!

• iMore on Facebook

To find more iMore Facebook friends, check out our Facebook name thread:

• iMore Facebook names

Facebook for iPad

While you can always access Facebook.com directly through your iPad's Safari browser (see below), due to the way iOS works, there are certain things you just can't do over the web -- like upload pictures and video. In order to do those things, and to get a more native, iPad-like experience, there's the official Facebook for iPad app.

Download Facebook for iPad from the App Store (link below), sign in with your Facebook username and password, and you're all set. You'll receive push notifications and be able to update your status, add photos and videos (here's how, check-in to places, and view all your friend's profiles and activities as well.

While the Facebook for iPad app is extremely convenient, Facebook has an unfortunate reputation for buggy apps on iOS and all sorts of annoying issues remain unfixed. (Most recently, tagging photos or statuses). If you run into issue with the official Facebook for iPad app, you can check out some alternative suggestions below.

Free - Download Now

Alternative Facebook apps for iPad

While the Facebook app is free and is a decent solution, the interface may simply not be to your taste or you may be running into one or more of their infamous bugs. If that's the case, you can always try some of the alternative Facebook apps available in the App Store.

MyPad for iPad

MyPad has been around for quite a while and, before Facebook released their official iPad app, filled the gap quite nicely. It's also got Twitter integration and some other features that may make it more convenient for you than the official app.

Personally, I prefer the overall layout of the official Facebook for iPad app, but MyPad has been more stable and less buggy for me. They've got a free version available as well as a premium version with no ads.

Free - Download Now

$0.99 - Download Now

Friendly for iPad

Friendly for iPad is similar in terms of Facebook functionality to MyPad but the layouts are quite different. Friendly doesn't feature the same integration that MyPad does to other social networks such as Twitter, however, so if that's important to you, MyPad is probably the better choice. If it's not, choose whichever one looks more visually appealing to you.

Just like MyPad - Friendly has a free version as well as a paid version with no ads.

Free - Download Now

$0.99 - Download Now

How to access Facebook from Safari

While the Facebook for iPad app has more functionality than the mobile web version, your iPad can actually load the full blown Facebook.com website. I've actually relied on it several times when the actual application wasn't working well or kept timing out.

To access Facebook on the web from your iPad, just do the following -

1. Open Safari on your iPad
2. Go to facebook.com
3. Sign in to your account.

That's it. You'll be able to browse Facebook, comment on statuses, pictures, and more. The catch with using the web version of Facebook from your iPad is that you won't be able to play games, upload photo, video, and other content like you can from the actual application.

How to play Facebook games on the iPad

Neither the Facebook.com website nor any of the Facebook apps will let you play your favorite Facebook games on the iPad. Fortunately, a lot of Facebook games can be found right on the App Store and downloaded and enjoyed right on your iPad. In many cases, you can even log into them and keep them in sync with your Facebook account so you don't miss a friend or a turn.

Just head on over to the App Store and search for the name of your favorite Facebook game.

iSwifter

If you can't find your favorite Facebook game in the iPad App Store, you can try the iSwifter app. It lets you access a lot of popular social games that don't have App Store alternatives.

Free – Download now

Additional resources:

• Everything you need to know about your new iPad
• Even more tips and tricks for new iPad users
• iMore new iPad discussion forums
• iMore Facebook and Social Networks forum

What's your favorite way to use Facebook on your iPad?

This week our iPhone Photography series is going to be a little different. Instead of exploring a new technique for taking better photos, we're going to dive into the digital darkroom of iPhoto to improve an image we've already taken. It's always worth capturing the best possible photo you can with your camera. Thanks to photo editing apps like iPhoto, however, when and if something goes wrong -- the framing is a little off, the white balance or exposure isn't perfect, the levels just don't look right -- there's a lot you can do to fix it.

Perhaps you recall seeing this image in our lesson about negative space. I admitted to editing it a bit. What I didn't admit to was how much editing I did. Sure, I did crop to a square and apply an Instagram filter like I mentioned, but I also fired up Photoshop to darken parts of the image even more.

Well, this is an iPhoneography series, so instead of using Photoshop for our edits, we're going to use Apple's new iPhoto app for iPhone and iPad. I'm going to use the iPad because I enjoy using the larger screen, but the same process can also be done on the iPhone.

• iPhoto for iPhone and iPad, $4.99 - Download Now

Before we get started, download the full resolution version of the original image so that you can do the edits with me. (Hold down your finger on the image and tap Save Image. This will save it to your Camera Roll.) Here's what it should look like.

Huge difference from the final image I used, isn't it? This is why learning how to edit your photos is also an important part of photography, especially for iPhoneographers who don't have the luxuries and control that come with shooting with a DSLR.

Critique your image

When you decide you want to edit an image, the first thing you should do is sit back and critique it. What do you want it to look like? Why does it even need to be edited in the first place? You don't just want to start blindly editing photos with a "we'll see what happens" approach. This will result in images that look processed and overdone. This shouldn't be your goal. (Side note: that type of look does have its place, but it's not what we're going to focus on and, it too, should also be planned and deliberate).

When I look at my original image, I see a lot of flaws. First, the orientation is wrong. To bring the viewer's attention to the flame, my intended subject, it would be better cropped either horizontally, or as a square. Notice that I said my subject is the flame, not the candle. This is important. Know your subject.

Second, there's a lot of distracting elements in the frame -- especially the people and balloons. Note, however, that I intentionally composed the shot so that the flame, itself, didn't have a person behind it.

Now that we've determined what's wrong with the photo, we know what we want to fix. We need to crop the image with a landscape orientation and get rid of the distracting elements. The most natural way to do that is by darkening those areas.

Crop

We're going to start by cropping the photo so that it has a horizontal orientation. There are many different ratios to choose from, and for this image, the important thing is to make sure that the ratio you choose doesn't cut off the dripping wax as this is an interesting element of the photograph. The best choice for this image was 10x8.

To crop the image, tap the crop icon in the lower left corner. Then tap the settings icon on the bottom right and swipe to the 2nd page to select 10x8. To make sure the image is straight, adjust the dial at the bottom until the grid lines are perfectly lined up with the candle. I went about two degrees in the positive direction.

Adjust contrast and shadows

Next up, we're going to adjust the contrast and shadows. This will darken the background a bit before we jump into using the darken tool.

To adjust the contrast, tap the exposure icon. It's the one directly to the right of the crop icon. This will show you a line with some icons across the bottom of the screen. The first and last icons adjust the shadows and highlights, the middle icon adjusts the exposure, and the other two adjust the contrast.

Now let's make our adjustment. Tap either one of the contrast icons and slide it away from the center. This will increase the contrast. You'll notice that this will darken the background and make the flame and candle "pop" a bit more. Adjust this to taste. I went about a third of the way between the shadows icon and the exposure icon. I recommend moving it to where you think it looks good, then going a little bit less than that.

Finally, we'll adjust the shadows. Again, adjust to to where you think it looks good. I went about halfway between the zone on the left. This edit made my background even darker.

At this point, our image has already greatly improved. Trigger the button next to the Edit button in the upper right hand corner to compare with the original. Already a great improvement! But we can do even better. Specifically, I want to get rid of the remaining evidence of someone sitting on the right and darken that white shirt on the left as much as I can.

Darken

Now we're going to eliminate the remaining distracting elements by darkening those areas of the photo. To do this, select the Darken brush from the Brushes menu (4th icon in the bottom left corner). Next, tap the Settings icon in the lower right corner and toggle Show Strokes to ON. This will allow you to see exactly where you're applying the brush.

Start painting the areas around the flame with your finger. Your strokes will show up in red and you'll notice that the opacity increases the more times you go over an area. Make sure you go over the areas that are far away from the candle as much as possible. Also do your best to blend the opacity level of your strokes as you get closer to the candle. Otherwise, there will be an obvious line where you stopped applying the brush. Be patient. Take your time. Tap the undo button if you make a mistake. You can also use the eraser tool to erase your strokes.

Pay special attention to the area to the left of the candle and pinch to zoom into the photo to make sure you're precise. Also make sure you cover the area with the shirt good since it's so light.

When you're done, trigger Show Strokes to off and take a look at your results. Then adjust the slider all the way to the right to make the area you painted even darker. If you notice any areas that need to be fixed, turn Show Stokes back on and make your adjustments. Turn the stokes back off and compare with the original photo again.

Looking much better! But notice that you can still still the shirt on the left side of the candle and the windows are also a bit distracting. Unfortunately, the Darken tool couldn't completely take care of it. That's why we're going to see if there's a filter that'll help us out.

Filter

Feel free to experiment with the different filters, but I have narrowed it down to the two I think are best.

The third choice in the Artistic category does a great job of dimming the windows without drastically changing the look of the candle. However, the white shirt on the left is still fairly visible.

The third choice in the Vintage category almost eliminates the shirt entirely and also dims the windows a little bit. But it also reddens the already very red candle.

I think both of these filters make very fine choices. However, I wasn't completely satisfied with either, so I went with the one in the Artistic category, saved it to my Camera Roll, then edited the saved image by just darkening the area with the white shirt.

Final result

Look at the difference! To see a larger comparison, just tap/click the image.

Now, that wasn't too hard, was it? Usually, a few small edits can have a major impact on your images.

Assignment

Your assignment for this week is to edit your photos! Remember, the first thing you want to do is critique your image and decide on the changes that need to be made. If you need help, feel free to ask the iMore community for some suggestions. After you've made your edits, head to the iMore Photography forum and share your results! Make sure to include both the before and after shots!

According to some recent reports, the new iPad battery level indicator seems to shows a full tank two hours and ten minutes before it's actually charged to full capacity. This news means, contrary to appearances, it really takes about 9 hours to get a full charge from scratch. The tests were run by DisplayMate, the fine folks that analyzed the display on the new iPad.

If accurate, this would be the second time an iOS indicator was found to be misreporting state. During the antennagate controversy, Apple admitted that the cellular signal indicator on the iPhone 4 was showing an erroneously high cell signals, and issued an update to fix it.

However, it seems that misreporting battery state is something that a lot of tablets actually suffer from, since the power status is figured out through an algorithm which can have flaws in it.

Despite having a higher-capacity battery, the new iPad's power adapter is the same as the iPad 2, so it's natural to expect charging to take longer; odds are most of us were going to be charging new iPads overnight anyway, when an extra two hours isn't going to make a huge difference.  

How much power does your iPad have before you plug it in at night? Will an extra two hours charging time throw off your routine with the new iPad?

Source: PCMag

Did you just get a new iPad and new Apple TV, and are you wondering how to use Apple's AirPlay feature to wirelessly beam your music, videos, games, and even FaceTime chats to the big screen? Whether you're with the family or at the office, AirPlay lets you share everything from movies in the living room to Keynote presentations in the board room quickly and easily.

Overall, AirPlay is a pretty awesome feature to have included with iOS. If you've never tried it before, then check out the video above to get a better idea of what it is like to use. Music, Movies, Games, FaceTime and more can all be AirPlay Mirrored through an Apple TV.

How To Enable AirPlay on your Apple TV

Setting up AirPlay is a fairly simple process. It's just a matter of ensuring a few options are set on your Apple TV and you're up and running. First, you'll want to navigate to the settings menu and then, navigate down to "AirPlay".

Once you've navigated to the AirPlay menu, you will see the option to enable the services. Go ahead and set it to on.

You'll also noticed you can password protect your AirPlay functionality. If you're using AirPlay at the office or in a public meeting room or even dorm room, you might want to turn this on. If it's just you and your family, you can leave it off.

How to enable AirPlay on your iPad

Keep in mind, both your Apple TV and your iPad need to be on the same Wi-Fi network. So, if you're iPad is on 3G or LTE, switch back to Wi-Fi first.

If you're using an app that has a standard Apple media control, like the built in Movies or YouTube app, then there will be an AirPlay button immediately to the right of the play/pause and other buttons. Tap it, choose Apple TV, and you're off and running.

If you don't see an AirPlay button on the media control, you can double tap on your Home button to bring up the fast app switcher.

Swipe all the way to the left until you see the AirPlay icon appear. You can then tap on it and choose the Apple TV which you wish to connect to.

Just change the setting from iPad to Apple TV and then you'll be connected to your Apple TV.

Sure, the Apple TV has built in YouTube (and Netflix, and other services), but if you're on your iPad and you find a great video you want to share, it's much faster to simply AirPlay it then to start switching around and searching for it on your Apple TV.

Watching Youtube or NetFlix will push the video and audio to your Apple TV, listening to music will push the audio to your Apple TV but if you're looking to play games or use FaceTime with video and audio you'll need to go one step further and enable AirPlay Mirroring.

How To Enable AirPlay Mirroring

Enabling AirPlay Mirroring is just as easy as playing video over AirPlay. One again go to your Fast App Switcher dock and where you enabled your Apple TV Connection and slide the mirroring button to the on position.

Now, your whole iPad will be displayed on your TV, where you can make use of AirPlay enabled apps to their maximum potential. Keep in mind though, your iPad when displayed on your TV will not take up the full screen.

Only when AirPlay Mirroring is in use with fully supported apps will it ever go to full screen. A great example of this would be Asphalt 6 HD, where the game goes full screen on your TV and your iPad acts as your heads-up display for the game.

Conclusion

If there was one significant reason I had to highlight as being one of the core deciding factors in my purchase of an Apple TV, AirPlay capability is it. So that's it, hopefully if you never tried it before this guide will set you on the right path.

Cloud storage services are a great way to extend and expand the internal storage of your new iPad. Many of the files you store on a cloud service like Dropbox, Box.net, SugarSync, or any other popular cloud service can be accessed both from within their own, dedicated apps and from other software like password apps, note taking apps, document editing apps, and more. Many of them also offer free accounts for a decent amount storages, so there's not cost involved in trying them out.

How to use Dropbox with your new iPad

If you've already got a Dropbox account, you can download the free Dropbox app from the App Store. Of course you can always visit Dropbox.com from Safari on your iPad but the native app is a much more pleasant experience and gives you more features than Safari allows.

If you don't have an account, it's free to set one up at dropbox.com. You can get 2GB for free and up to 100GB for $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year.

Once you've downloaded the Dropbox app, just sign in with your Dropbox login and give your iPad a few seconds to bring down all your files from the cloud. Once it's done you'll see all your files and folders listed just like a computer directory (yes, on your iPad!). From there you can view any file type supported by the iPad, and even send files to other apps for better viewing and even editing. (For example, you can send a Numbers document to Numbers for editing.)

I've found Dropbox to be the best cloud storage app for iPhone. It's also my favorite for iPad.

Free - Download Now

How to use Box.net app with your new iPad

Box.net is another popular cloud storage app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It's designed with more of a business-user in mind but is available for anyone. It's especially good for users who need to collaborate with others or make frequent options.

Box.net offers a free app via the App Store. All you'll need to do is download it and sign in to access all your files instantly. You can browse them and send them to any other apps that supports them.

If you don't have an account, you can head on over to Box.net and get 5GB for free, and up to 50GB for $19.99 a month.

Free - Download Now

Other cloud options for iPad

While Dropbox and Box.net are two of the most popular choices - there are certainly other options out there for you to choose from, including SugarSync. (Apple's iCloud is a different kind of service, which is fantastic but which doesn't do quite the same things in the same way, so we're not including it here.)

If you've already got a cloud storage service you use and like, stick with it. Odds are, you'll probably find an application in the App Store to compliment your cloud storage service of choice.

The advantages of the cloud

Once you have your preferred cloud storage service and app set up, there's a lot of great things you can do with it.

• Store music, videos, images, documents, and other files on the cloud that you don't need immediately and always available (i.e. locally on your iPad), but would like to be able to get to when online.
• Always have an up-to-date copy of files that you edit a lot on your Mac, Windows, or Linux PC, right on your iPad. (Some of us keep our PC home directory in Dropbox so it's always in sync and backed up on multiple machines, and getting to those files while mobile is sometimes a life-saver.)
• Quickly move a file from your Windows, Mac, or Linux PC to your cloud storage folder when you need to have it available from your mobile but don't have time to transfer it over locally.
• Make sure collaborators, friends, family, clients, etc. can always see the most up-to-date version of any project.
• Easily share a file you have in your cloud storage by getting a link to email to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Conclusion

If you're debating between choices, whether or not they have an app for iPad should probably be a factor when choosing a service. The Retina display on the new iPad will definitely increase application size so cloud storage can help move some files off your iPad and in the cloud to free up space for even more applications.

Do you plan on using cloud services to free up some valuable space on your new iPad? Which cloud service are you using?

We've gotten a bunch of emails and some tweets from readers experiencing problems trying to download content from iTunes in the Cloud -- Apple's service that lets you access previously purchased movies, TV shows, music, iBooks, and apps on iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, and iTunes on the desktop. According to Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web, Apple is aware of the problem and is working on a fix.

We contacted Apple Support on the phone and the support person acknowledged the issue, telling us that the first occurrence they had heard of the issue was about 3:30 PST, which is around when we first saw it as well. The support person said that the problem, as far as they know, has to do with the iTunes cloud or its servers and that there was currently no ETA for a fix.

According to Apple Discussions, the error message users are getting is along the lines of:

item cannot be downloaded on this network...must be connected to a wifi network or purchase on computer

Another tech support note pegs the problem as occurring on content over 15mb. Based on the emails we've received, people seem to be having the most problems with TV show streaming on the Apple TV in specific.

Since the problem sounds like it's on Apple's end, there nothing we can do but wait for them to get things running again. So as much as you may want to reboot, re-login, or keep hitting download just hoping the next time will be the charm, take a deep breath, play something else, and keep an eye out for updates.

If you're currently experiencing a problem with iTunes in the Clouds re-downloads or streams, let us know what type of media you're trying to re-download, and when. If it starts working for you again, let us know that as well.

Source: The Next Web, thanks @mjperljam

The new iPad has a virtual keyboard, along with all sorts of tips and tricks to make typing easier and faster. Because there are no CTRL or CMD keys, however, you can't copy, cut, or paste like you can on a Mac or Windows PC. Instead, there's a popup menu that appears at the tap -- or double tap, of a finger. There's a lot of functionality packed into it to, though how much exactly varies from app to app.

How to cut or copy text

Your iPad allows you to easily copy text from most apps and web pages, and cut text from apps that support text entry (like Notes or Mail). They work the same way. Cut is useful when you want to move text from one place to another. Copy is useful when you want to share text with someone or move it into another app.

1. Double tap in the area you would like to copy.
2. You'll now see the popup and blue anchors on your screen. You can drag these blue anchors to select the exact text you'd like to copy.
3. One you're done adjusting your selection just tap Copy or Cut.

You can also opt to select all the text on a give page.

1. Tap the screen
2. When the popup menu appears, tap Select all.
3. Choose Cut or Copy.

How to paste text

Once you're done copying or cutting text, you'll be able to paste it into an email, text message, into a form on the web, a Pages document, or any other app on your iPad that allows text entry.

1. Double tap on the screen where you'd like the text to be.
2. A menu will pop up. Click Paste.
3. If you don't see a paste option, you may not have any text on your clipboard or the text you tried to copy may not be able to be copied.

How to get the definition of a word

If you're reading on your new iPad and run across a word you don't know, you can quickly and easily consult the built-in dictionary.

1. Double tap the word you aren't sure about.
2. A menu will pop up and you can tap Define to view the definition, pronunciation, and more.

Other text editing features

While the above features should be present throughout all of iOS, some apps choose to implement other text edit features.

If you are reading a book in iBooks you will also have the option to highlight text as well.

When composing an e-mail you'll have the option to increase or decrease the quotation level, or apply other Rich Text formatting like Bold, Italic, or Underline.

Additional resources:

• Everything you need to know about your new iPad
• Even more tips and tricks for new iPad users
• iMore new iPad discussion forums

The new iPad is really an amazing communication tool. In addition to all the regulars; email, iMessage and FaceTime, the iPad also works with Skype. In fact, most of the great features we love about Skype on our PC or Mac work great on the iPad.

How to download Skype to Your iPad

Log in to the Skype App

After you create your account, you’re ready to log in to Skype on your iPad. To do so, follow these steps:

1. If you are not already in Skype, touch the Skype icon from your Home screen.
2. Type your Skype Name and Password.
3. Touch the Sign In button below the Password field.

Skype login screen

Finding and Adding Skype Contacts

Once you have logged into the Skype app, you will want to start communicating with people. To do so, you will have to find them and add then to your Skype contacts list:

1. If you are not already in Skype, Touch the Skype icon from your Home screen and log in, if asked.
2. Touch the Lists key along the left hand margin.
3. Touch one of the Contacts lists displayed, then touch the the “+” icon  at the top
4. Next, touch the Search Skype Directory and type someone’s name, email address or Skype Name. Touch Search to locate that person.
5. Once you see the person you want to add, touch his/her name.
6. Check the picture to make sure you have the right individual
7. Touch Add Contact at the top.
8. Adjust the invitation message appropriately.
9. Touch the Send button to send this person an invitation to become one of your Skype contacts.
10. Repeat the procedure to add more contacts.
11. When you are done, touch the Back key at the top or the Skype Directory key if you are not already in your Skype group.
12. Touch the appropriate Contacts group from the Lists screen to see all the newly added contacts.
13. Newly invited contacts will show up as Pending until they accept the invitation, then you will see them as a regular contact.

Search for Skype contacts

How to make Skype calls on your iPad

So far you have created your account and added your contacts. Now you are ready to finally make that first call with Skype on your iPad:

1. If you are not already in Skype, Touch the Skype icon from your Home screen and log in, if asked.
2. Touch the Lists button.
3. Touch a Contact Group to see your contacts.
4. Touch the contact name you wish to call
5. Touch the Video Call or Voice Call button. Sometimes, you don’t want to “show yourself” so a voice only call can be helpful.
6. You may see a Mobile or other phone button. Making any other kind of call requires that you pay for it with Skype Credits.

Touch the contact and then choose Video Call or Voice Call

Switching Cameras with Skype

Simply touch the Camera key along the bottom row of icons and choose whether you wish to display the Front Camera, Back Camera or No Camera on the screen.

If you choose No Camera, Skype will still work, but you will just have a voice call without any video image.

Choose Front Camera, Back Camera or No Camera to change the camera view

Using the My Info tab

From this section you can:

1. Change your Status
2. View your profile
3. Set your Call Forwarding options.

Touch the icon of yourself to see the My Info screen and options

How to use Skype call history on your iPad

Recent calls or chats are usually listed with the contacts icons along the left-hand margin of the Skype screen.

Below those icons is the History icon. Touch this to see your recent Skype history. Skype keeps a history of your Skype IM discussions and call logs which is very useful in order to retrieve potentially important information.

Touch the History icon to see your Skype history

How to buy Skype credits or a monthly subscription

Skype-to-Skype calls are free. However, if you want to call people on their landlines or mobile phones from Skype, then you will need to purchase Skype Credits or purchase a monthly subscription plan. This can be done on the Skype web site from the Safari app or from your Mac or PC.

How to IM with Skype chat

In addition to making phone calls, you can also chat via text with other Skype users from your iPad. Starting a chat is very similar to starting a call; follow these steps to do so:

1. If you are not already in Skype, touch the Skype icon from your Home screen and log in if asked.
2. Touch the Lists icon along the left-hand margin.
3. Touch All Contacts, iPad Contacts, Online Contacts, Skype Contacts or any other list to see your grouped contacts.
4. Touch the name of the contact with whom you want to IM.
5. Touch the IM button.
6. Type your chat text and press the Send button. Your IM will appear at the top of the screen.

Use Skype IM to quickly communicate with friends and family

Skype for iPad supports:

• Instant messaging
• Skype-to-Skype calling
• Calling phones and mobiles
• Receiving Skype calls and calls to Online Numbers
• Sharing screens
• Participating in conference calls
• Skype SMS
• Call forwarding
• Contact list filtering via groups
• Voicemail
• Bluetooth devices

Group video chat and sending files are not supported on Skype for iPad.

Are you using Skype of your iPad? How is it working for you? Let us know in this forum thread.

Whether you just happen to be surfing the web, reading a news article, or viewing a document on your new iPad and you want to print out, or you're doing actual work, for work, and need a hard copy, AirPrint makes is easy to print just about anything right from your iPad -- as long as your printer is compatible.

How to see if your printer is AirPrint compatible

To be able to print from your iPad you'll need a Wi-Fi enabled printer that supports AirPrint. To see if your wireless printer is supported, you can view the following list on Apple's website -

• List of AirPrint enabled printers

Apple adds new printers to this list regularly. If your printer shows it's compatible but your iPad doesn't find it, make sure your printer is running the newest firmware version. In order to upgrade your printer, you'll need to check your manufacturer's specifications. Most of the time it's as easy as checking for an update straight from settings and letting it update.

How to print from your iPad using AirPrint

Once you've got your printer configured to support AirPrint, you can print straight from your iPad.

1. Navigate to the document you'd like to print.

2. From the navigation menu, choose the additional options menu which looks like a box with an arrow coming out of it. It may be located in different positions based on what app you're trying to print from.
3. Choose Print.

4. Now you'll need to choose the printer you'd like to print to.

5. Adjust the number of copies you'd like to print and then tap Print.

That's all there is to it. Your content should print directly to the printer with no computer required.

Troubleshooting AirPrint issues

If you run into issues printing something from your iPad, try performing the following steps and see if they resolve your problems -

1. Make sure your printer is updated to the latest firmware and supports AirPrint (you can refer to the list above provided by Apple or ask your manufacturer).
2. Check to ensure that your printer is connected to the same network as your iPad is. Your iPad won't recognize your printer if it isn't wirelessly connected and on the same network.
3. Make sure you are selecting the correct printer name. If you have more than one printer in your home by the same manufacturer it can be hard to tell which is which so check the exact model numbers.

Once you've got your new iPad and printer paired up you'll be able to wirelessly print documents without ever touching a computer. It's a great feature to utilize when you aren't in a position to hop on a computer or don't want to boot one up just to print something. I actually find myself printing from my iPad and iPhone more than I do my actual computer these days. What have your experiences been with AirPrint?

One of the huge disappointments of Pages for iPhone and iPad is there are only two paper sizes available: US Letter and A4. Even worse, is that you can't even create a document with these sizes in landscape! However, if you first create the document in Pages for Mac and open it with Pages on your iPhone or iPad, the document size and orientation will remain unchanged.

This workaround works fine for users with a Mac and iWork, but what about Windows users or even Mac users who want to create a document without planning ahead and creating the appropriately sized document first? That's where we come in!

I've created blank templates of all the popular document sizes and added them to my public Dropbox folder for iMore readers to download directly to their iPhone or iPad. Just simply tap the links with your iPhone or iPad and select Open in "Pages" for each one you want. Yes, it's a bit tedious, but unfortunately, this is the best we can do for you.

• Grab the Pages templates via the iMore Forums

After picking up the ones you want, I recommend grouping them up into a folder so they don't clutter up your main document screen.

When using any of these templates, make sure you duplicate it first before making any changes so that you don't lose the original template.

So there you go! Hopefully this makes Pages for iPhone and iPad more useful for you.

See also: Pages for iPhone and iPad review

Trying to figure out how to watch Flash videos on your new iPad? Unfortunately, Apple has never supported the Adobe Flash Player plugin (or any web browser plugin) for a number of stability, security, and other reasons, and Adobe has recently discontinued their attempts to get Flash to work properly on mobile devices in general. (It was designed for big, powerful computers, not highly portable, low power phones and tablets.)

But all hope is not lost! There are still a variety of ways to watch Flash videos on your iPad. (Some of these also work for Microsoft Silverlight content, like Netflix.com!)

The HTML5 alternative for Flash on the iPad

Many websites that use Flash on your Mac or Windows PC offer the exact same video in HTML5/H.264 format for your iPad. YouTube.com is the biggest example. Go there on your PC and you get Flash, go there on your iPad and you get HTML5/H.264. It "just works". The same is true for many other sites as well, from popular video sharing channels to adult entertainment.

Before you try anything else, simply try going to the website in Safari. And if it doesn't work automatically, look for link for "Mobile version" or "iPhone/iPad optimized", use it.

The App Store alternative for Flash on the iPad

Instead of converting their videos to HTML5 on the web, some sites have chosen to offer apps instead. For example, if you want to watch the streaming video for our iPhone & iPad Live podcast on your Mac or Windows PC, you're watching it in Flash at Ustream.com. If you want to watch it on your iPad, you simply download the Ustream app from the App Store and you're good to go. Same for Netflix, Hulu+, and many, many others.

Likewise, a lot of popular Flash games have versions of the same game in the App Store, ready for you to play with full native graphics and performance. Most of the time they'll even sync back to the same games you're playing on Facebook or Google+.

If a Flash video or game won't play in Safari, go to the App Store and search for the name of the website or the name of the game. Often they'll have an app for that.

The proxy browser alternative for Flash on the iPad

Instead of trying to render Flash video on the iPad, there are a few alternative web browsers on the App Store that render Flash on their own servers, then convert it to HTML5/H.264 video and stream it live to your iPad. Generally, you tap the Flash video you want to watch, it takes a few moments to start processing in the cloud, and then the video starts to play.

It doesn't work 100% of the time, and only works with Flash video, and not interactive Flash apps or games, but it does work for a large percentage of content not yet converted for the iPad.

There are a few different alternatives.

Skyfire is great for general-purposed browsing.

$4.99 - Download now

iSwifter builds in a lot of popular online games.

Free - Download now

The VNC remote-computing alternative for Flash on the iPad

This is the nuclear option, but it's still an option. If you really need to access a full Flash site on your iPad, one way to do it is to establish a remote VNC connection to your laptop or desktop Mac or Windows PC. The only drawback, and it might be a deal-breaker for things like listening to music or videos, is that there's no sound -- only video. And, if your connection isn't good, even the video can be choppy.

If you really need it, though, there are a lot of great apps for this. Our current favorite is Screens.

$19.99 - Download now

If you have any other ways, or if you like a certain way better, to watch Flash content on your new iPad, let us know!

One of the greatest features of the new iPad and all iOS devices is FaceTime.

FaceTime is free over Wi-Fi video calling that allows you to see the caller on the other end of the conversation through the iPad's front-facing camera. You can also “swap” cameras and show the caller what is around you using the rear facing camera.

A FaceTime chat with my wife using the new iPad

Setting up FaceTime

1. Touch the FaceTime icon (it’s usually located on the first Home screen of the iPad).
2. Sign in  using your Apple ID or your iCloud user name and password. If you don’t have an account just touch the Create New Account button
3. Once the account is set up, you can choose the email address you want to use for placing FaceTime calls. You can also add other email addresses to use with your FaceTime account.

Enabling FaceTime Calling on your iPad

1. Go to your Settings icon.
2. Look for the  FaceTime option tab along the left-hand column.
3. Toggle the FaceTime switch to the ON position.

Make sure FaceTime is enabled in your Settings app

Once FaceTime is enabled, you can place a FaceTime call from the FaceTime app or from the FaceTime button at the bottom of a contact entry.

You can also initiate a FaceTime call from the Contacts app

FaceTime will only work, however, if the other caller is on an iPad 2, new iPad, iPod touch (with front facing camera), iPhone 4, or iPhone 4S.

To initiate a FaceTime call, follow these steps:

1. Touch the FaceTime icon (initially on the first Home screen) on your new iPad.
2. Choose a Favorite, a Recent, or a Contact who is capable of a FaceTime call. The app will ask the caller on the other end to Accept the FaceTime call.
3. Remember that you can call iPhone phone numbers using the FaceTime app.

Initiating a FaceTime call

Accepting a call from someone else is also easy; simply Accept the FaceTime call from the other caller by touching Accept button or by Sliding to Answer if the iPad is locked.

Accepting a FaceTime call

When you are on a  FaceTime call, the following options are available to you:

1. Touch the Switch Camera button to show the FaceTime caller you are looking at. The Switch Camera button will now use the standard camera on the back of the new iPad.
2. You can move the small image of yourself around the screen to a convenient spot.
3. Touch the End button to end the FaceTime call.
4. Touch the Mute button to temporarily mute the call.

My image is now in the lower left-hand corner

Setting Favorites in FaceTime

1. Start the FaceTime app as you did previously.
2. Touch the Favorites key at the bottom.
3. Touch the “+” sign and then add a contact to your Favorites.

Set Favorites in order to place FaceTime calls quickly

Facetime is a great way to stay in touch – for free – with friends and family. Remember that you need to be on WiFi.  Even if you have a 4G LTE edition of the iPad, you still need to be on WiFi for Facetime! (You could tether your iPhone to your iPad Personal Hotspot, or vice versa, to get around this, but how silly is that?)

Additional resources:

• How to use FaceTime on your big screen HDTV via AirPlay Mirroring
• How to deal with FaceTime activation problems

How is FaceTime working for you? Let us know if this forum thread:

You just spent a good deal of cash to purchase the new iPad. Have you given thought as to what you would do if it were lost or stolen?

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to “track” your iPad and know exactly where it was at all times? Well, fortunately, there is. If you signed up for Apple's free iCloud service (and we all should) you have an easy way of always locating your iPad –- Find my iPhone.

Yes, it the app is called Find My iPhone, but it finds any iOS device or Mac that is registered with iCloud.

How to sign up for Find my iPad

Find My iPad is ON in iCloud Settings

First, either create or login to your iCloud account when you set up your iPad.  If you chose not to create or sign into an iCloud account, you can always:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Touch the iCloud icon along the left hand column.
3. Touch Account and sign into iCloud.
4.  Make sure that the Find My iPad switch is set to the ON position.

How to use Find my iPad via the web

On your Mac, Windows, or Linux PC, go to the iCloud website – www.icloud.com - and log into your iCloud account.

You will see the iCloud icons on the screen – click on Find my iPhone.

Click on the Find My iPhone icon in the iCloud interface

The next screen will show you all your iOS devices. Those that are discoverable have a small green dot next to the name of the device. If you see a green dot next to your iPad – you are in luck.  If you have a WiFi only version and it is “offline” – you are out of luck (at least for the moment.)

Click on the device you wish to locate – in our case, it is your iPad – and an the map will show the location of your iPad and when it was last located.

Click on the iOS device you wish to locate and it will be shown on map

Touch the “I” icon next to the name of your iPad and you will have three options listed:

1. Play Sound or Send Message.
2. Remote Lock.
3. Remote Wipe.

Options available after iPad is located

If you think you just misplaced  your iPad or that someone borrowed it without asking, click on Play Sound or Send Message.

You will then see a dialogue box for you to type in a message. When you are done, just click the Send button.

Type in a message to be displayed on the iPad

What happens next is that the message is displayed on the iPad – wherever it is and a sound is played. The message is visible when the iPad is locked and is displayed again when the iPad is unlocked.

Message is displayed on the iPad Lock screen

The message can be as detailed as you like – in this example, I assumed someone just borrowed my iPad.  If I thought it misplaced or I didn’t remember who I lent it to I might give my contact information. If it were lost – I might even offer a reward for returning it.

What if you know or think your iPad was stolen? This is where the Remote Lock and Remote Wipe feature comes in. You may not get your iPad back, but you can take steps to make sure that your information is not stolen along with your iPad.

Click Remote Lock and the dastardly appropriator of your iPad will find the iPad useless – the won’t be able to unlock it.

Click Remote Wipe and all the information will be deleted from the iPad – a great security feature.

If your iPad is “offline” you still have the options to:

1. Play Sound or Send Message.
2. Remote Lock
3. Remote Wipe
4. Email you when iPad is found

Options available to you in your iPad is offline

I would recommend that you enable either Remote Lock or Remote Wipe and as soon as someone tries to take your iPad online, it will become useless to them. (Assuming it was stolen.)

Find My iPad is guaranteed piece of mind that in the event your iPad is lost or stolen you can both locate it (for possible recovery) and lock or wipe it (for security.)

How to use Find my iPad on your iOS devices

If you have another iOS device, like an iPhone or iPod touch, or secondary iPad, you can even use Find my iPad when you're mobile. Apples makes an app for that:

Free - Download now

Just download it, login, and you have access to all the same features and can track and secure any devices on the the same Apple ID.

Do you use Find my iPad? Have you ever located a misplaced device this way? Share your experience in this forum thread.

Additional resources:

• The new iPad - everything you need to know
• Even more iPad tips
• New iPad help and discussion forums

iMessage lets your new iPad send and receive SMS-like text messages, and MMS-style multimedia messages just like a phone. Instead of a phone number, however, it uses your email address, and it only works with other Apple devices, like other iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, and the recently released Messages for Mac beta.

Before you can start using messages, and sending texts, photos, videos, voice memos, locations, and contact cards, you need to set it up.

How to check and see if iMessage is already set up

If you set up your new iPad using iCloud, there's a chance iMessage will have automatically been turned on and configured for you using your iCloud email address.

• Launch the Messages app

If it works, and you see the screen below, pick a Contact to message and you're good to go.

How to set up iMessage

If iMessage isn't set up already, or if you want to use a different Apple ID (for example, if you use a different Apple ID for home or work, or for family and personal, or for iPhone and iPad), you'll need to set it up.

Note: You'll need an Apple ID to use iMessage. This can be your iCloud ID or your iTunes ID if you have them. If you don't have an Apple ID yet, you'll need to create one first.

If you want all your devices to get the same iMessages at the same time -- i.e. if you want your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and or Mac to all show you iMessages from the same account, make sure you login with the same Apple ID on all your devices. If you want to keep each device separate, so friends can choose to iMessage you on your iPhone or iPad, make sure you create and login with different Apple IDs on your different devices.

1. Launch Settings
2. Tap Messages in the sidebar on the left
3. Toggle iMessage to On (if it isn't already)
4. Toggle Send Read Receipts to On (if you want people to be notified when you've actually seen, not just received their messages)
5. Tap Receive AT if you want to change the email address associated with your iMessage account, or add additional email address to your iMessage account (for example, work and home).
6. You'll need to Login to the new address, if it's an existing Apple ID. If not, Apple will ask you to register it with them as an Apple ID.
7. Toggle Show Subject Field to On if you want to add an email-style subject line to your iMessages.

How to activate iMessage

iMessage is a service run on Apple's servers, and the first time it connects it needs to activate and register the Apple ID you're using with the device you're using. The way it does that is by having you login with your Apple ID. If the connection is ever lost for some reason, it may ask you to do it again.

If for some reason it looks like iMessage is stuck on the Activation screen, wait for a few minutes, then try the following, in the following order:

1. Turn iMessage off and then on again, wait a few minutes
2. Turn Airplane mode on and then off again, turn iMessage off and then on again, wait a few minutes
3. Make sure your iPad is on Wi-Fi, reboot your iPad, turn iMessage off and then on again, wait a few minutes
4. Wait and try again later -- Apple's servers can get overwhelmed or experience outages just like anyone else's

If none of that works, jump into our iPad help forum and we'll troubleshoot with you.

That's it. Once iMessage activates you can send and receive texts and multimedia messages with other Apple users just like SMS and MMS.

Additional resources:

• The new iPad - everything you need to know
• iPad email help and discussion forum
• Even more iPad tips

Once you have your new iPad all set up, you're going to want to get your contacts sorted out so you can email, iMessage, FaceTime, Skype, and otherwise stay in touch with the people that matter the most to you.

How to sync your cloud contacts to your iPad

When you set up a cloud-based email account, be it iCloud, Gmail, Hotmail, Exchange, etc. all your contacts will be synced over as well. Everything that you have online and on your other devices, like your smartphone, or on the Web, will just show up, and will stay in sync no matter where you make changes.

• How to set up and send email on your new iPad

How to add a contact on your iPad

1. Open your Contacts app from your homescreen.

2. On the left page at the bottom right, you'll see a "+" sign. Tap on it to add a contact.

3. From here you can start inputting info about your contact. Fill out all the fields necessary and then tap Done in the upper right hand corner.

How to edit or delete a contact on your iPad

1. Find the contact you'd like to delete and select it.

2. On the right hand page at the bottom you'll see an Edit button. Tap it.
3. If you're editing the contact, just make the changes you need to and tap Done in the upper right hand corner when you're finished.

4. If you're deleting someone entirely you can just scroll all the way down and you will see a Delete Contact button. Tap it and it will ask you to confirm that you'd like to delete that contact. Tap Delete again to confirm.

That's all there is to it. Contacts will automatically integrate with Mail and other default apps so you don't have to type in email addresses or phone numbers. Just type the contact name and it should pull just exactly the right information, as long as it's in your contacts. And if you're synced with iCloud, ActiveSync, or any other type of cloud service for contacts, your changes will also be reflected on any other iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch you have set up as well.

Additional resources:

• The new iPad - everything you need to know
• iPad email help and discussion forum
• Even more iPad tips

The new iPad has a built-in Camera app that not only lets you shoot 5 megapixel photos, but does a surprisingly good job at recording 1080p video as well. What's more, the built-in Photos app lets you trim your videos right on the iPad. And if you need more powerful editing, complete with titles and transitions, there are a couple of great App Store apps for that!

How to record video

Recording video with your iPad is very simple.

1. Tap the Camera app on your iPad's home screen
2. On the bottom right had corner you'll find a toggle to switch between photo and video mode. Tap it to switch it to the right and under the video icon.
3. To the right of this switch, you'll see the button that switches between the front, FaceTime camera, and the rear, iSight camera.
4. I recommend holding the iPad with the home button on the right so that your hand doesn't obstruct the view of the camera.
5. In the middle of the right side of the screen (and right next to the home button) you'll see the record button. Tap this to start recording. Tap it again to end recording.
6. To watch the video you just recorded, tap the thumbnail in the lower left corner. You can also find the video in your **Camera Roll* in the Photos app.

How to trim a video

Apple has included the basic editing ability of trimming your videos with the iPad. Any other editing will need to be done on a 3rd party app (see below).

1. Access your video from either your Camera Roll in the Photos app, or from the Camera app by tapping the thumbnail after recording a video.
2. If you don't see the bar at the top of the screen, tap anywhere (except on the play button)
3. In the middle of the toolbar at the top of the screen, you'll see a timeline for your video. The curser in the middle indicates which part of the video you're watching (or will watch if you hit play).
4. Surrounding the timeline is a gray border with ends that have little handles. Tap one of these handles.
5. The border will turn yellow and you can drag the handles along your timeline.
6. Hold your finger down on one of the handles to zoom in to the timeline for more precision.
7. Once you've adjusted your endpoints as desired, tap the play button to the left of the timeline to preview your selection.
8. When it's exactly how you want, tap Trim in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
9. You'll then be prompted to select Trim Original or to Save as a New Clip. Tap your choice.

How to edit your videos

If you want to edit, add titles or transitions, or otherwise make your videos even more fantastic before uploading, you can do that right on your iPad with either Apple's iMovie or Avid Studio.

• iMovie for iPad and iPhone review
• Avid Studio for iPad review

How to share you videos

Once you're done and your videos are perfect, the iPad also makes it really easy to share them in a number of different ways.

1. If they're in your Camera Roll, you can sync them with iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC, and from there, do anything you want with them.
2. If you have an Apple TV you can use AirPlay to wirelessly beam them to your big screen HDTV for full on home theater viewing experience.
3. If you have the Apple HDMI adapter, you can plug your iPad directly into any HDTV or display that has HDMI ports and get the same results.
4. If you want to share them with the internet world, you can upload your videos directly to YouTube or Facebook with just a few taps.

Additional resources:

• All new iPad tips and how-tos
• New iPad help and discussion forums

The new iPad includes a tethering feature called Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot which lets you share your iPad's 4G LTE or HSPA+ Internet connection with your laptop or any other device that can connect to a Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot depends on your carrier, however, so while some carriers like Verizon and Rogers offer it, AT&T currently does not. (Insert pitchforks and torches here.) Even when it's offered, however, Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot may not be enabled by default and it's not obvious how to turn it on.

How to tell if Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot is enabled

If you're not sure whether or not Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot is enabled, it's easy to tell.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Look at the top left.
3. If you see Personal Hotpot right at the top (between Wi-Fi and Notifications), you're good to go
4. If you don't see **Personal Hotspot, you'll need to enable it first.

How to enable Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot

If Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot isn't enabled, you'll have to go digging for it.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap General
3. Tap Network
4. Tap Personal Hotspot
5. Toggle Personal Hotspot to on

Once you've turned it on for the first time, you'll get Personal Hotspot in the top level Settings list and won't have to dig for it again.

How to change your Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot password

Apple provides a default password for your Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot but you can easily change it if you like.

1. Launch Settings
2. Tap Personal Hotspot
3. Tap Wi-Fi Password
4. Enter your new password (it needs to be more than 8 characters and should be something that's not easily guessed)
5. Tap the blue Done button at the top right.

How to use Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot for tethering

You can use your Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot to share your iPad LTE or HSPA+/EVDO connection with any device that has Wi-Fi, including Mac, Windows, and Linux laptop and desktop PCs, handheld and console gaming machines, smartphones on slower networks, and more.

Just keep a close eye on your data usage because it can go fast!

First, start up Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot on your iPad

1. Launch Settings
2. Tap on Personal Hotspot
3. Toggle Personal Hotspot to On

Next, go to the device you want to connect.

1. Check for available Wi-Fi connections.
2. Your Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot will have the same name as your iPad (iPad by default). Click on it.
3. Enter the password as it appears on your iPad.
4. A blue bar will appear across the top of your iPad so you know Wi-Fi Personal Hotspot in connected, and the number of connections will be shown on the right.

Different carriers allow different numbers of connections, typically from 5 to 8 total.

Additional resources:

• All new iPad tips and how-tos
• New iPad help and discussion forums

While the new iPad doesn't include Apple's Siri virtual assistant -- probably for a number of reasons -- it does include the speech-to-text Dictation feature. However, Dictation may not be enabled by default, and if it's not, it's not at all obvious where to go looking for it.

How to enable iPad Dictation

The settings to turn on Dictation are a little hard to find. Here's what to do:

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap on General
3. Scroll down to the bottom and tap on Keyboard
4. Toggle Dictation to On
5. Tap Enable to agree to Apple's privacy notification
6. If you're worried about the privacy notification, tap About and read the details
7. Tap Done when you're satisfied.

Like Siri, Dictation is a server-side service that transmits your voice to Apple's datacenter where it's processed and the text is returned. Properly figuring out human speech isn't easy, and it takes the power and access to millions of voice samples that, currently, only a data center can provide.

How to use Dictation

Once you've enabled Dictation, a microphone key will appear on your iPad keyboard. (Note: it won't always appear on specialized keyboards, for example, it won't appear if you're entering in a website address URL, but it will appear on any keyboards meant of standard text entry.)

1. Tap the Dictation key to start
2. Say what you want to type
3. Tap the Dictation key again to finish

Try to speak at a steady pace, and enunciate as clearly as you can. If Dictation gets confused about any of the words you speak, it will underline them in blue on the screen. If the word is incorrect, tap it to get a popup menu with alternatives. Tap an alternative to switch to it. You can also simply edit voice dictation text like any other text.

Additional resources:

• All new iPad tips and how-tos
• New iPad help and discussion forums

The new iPad has a much improved camera -- so much improved you might even find it convenient to take quick, fun videos to share with family and friends on YouTube and Facebook.

Luckily, iOS and iPad apps make this really easy to do.

How to share an iPad video on YouTube

iOS for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch has YouTube integration built right in, which makes sharing videos you take on your new iPad easier than ever.

1. Tap on your Photos app and select the video you'd like to share.

1. In the upper right hand corner, click the arrow icon and tap Send to YouTube.

1. If you aren't already signed into YouTube, you'll be asked to sign in.

1. Next, fill in all the information about your video from the title to description, tags, and category. You can also choose whether you want to upload the standard definition or high definition version. Most will probably want to tap HD. It will take longer to upload though, so if you're in a hurry, standard definition will do.

How to share a video on Facebook

To share a video to Facebook you'll need to have the Facebook for iPad app installed first.

Free - Facebook for iPad

Once you've got the free Facebook app installed, you're ready to upload a video (or photo, the process is the same for both).

1. Launch the Facebook app from your iPad homescreen.
2. Sign in to your Facebook account if you haven't already done so.

1. Along the top under the main navigation bar you'll see an icon that says Photo. Tap on it.
2. You'll now have the option to either take a new video or select one from your library.
3. We will choose to select one from our library. You can, of course, choose to take one instead.

1. Navigate through your photos and videos to select the one you'd like to upload and select it.

1. You can now add a description to the photo and change a few settings before posting. You don't have to include the following information if you don't want to. If you don't want to change settings, just tap Post in the upper right hand corner.

1. If you'd like to tag someone in your photo, click the icon with a person on the left and start typing their name. When they pop up, just tap their name.

1. Tap the second icon to add a location to your photo. Tap the location to include it.

1. Tap the little gear in the right bottom corner to adjust what people or lists can view your media.

1. Once you're done setting everything the way you'd like, just tap Post and you're done!

How to edit your videos before uploading

If you want to edit, add titles or transitions, or otherwise make your videos even more fantastic before uploading, you can do that right on your iPad with either Apple's iMovie or Avid Studio.

• iMovie for iPad and iPhone review
• Avid Studio for iPad review

Now you know how to share videos to both Facebook and YouTube so you can get out there and start testing out the new camera in your brand new iPad.

Additional resources:

• All new iPad tips and how-tos
• New iPad help and discussion forums

Creating amazing playlists of your favorite songs, right on yournew iPad ensures you're always listening to great tunes that sound great together. Whether you synced your music over from your iTunes library, re-downloaded it using iTunes in the Cloud, or gone all in on Apple's music-locker service, iTunes Match, playlists let you keep it organized and harmonized.

How to create a custom playlist

1. Launch the Music app on your iPad

1. Go to the playlist tab and tap New in the upper right hand corner.

1. You'll be prompted to enter a name for your playlist. Name it whatever you'd like and then tap Save
2. Now you can tap any of the tabs along the bottom to look for music you want to add to the playlist. Simply tap the plus sign next to an album or song name to add them to your playlist.
3. Once you are done adding music, tap Done in the upper right hand corner.
4. If you need to edit your playlist (delete or add songs), simply go into the playlist and tap edit in the upper right hand corner.

How to delete playlists

If you don't want a playlist on your iPad anymore, you can easily delete it directly from your device.

1. Find the playlist you don't want anymore.
2. Hold your finger down on it and a black "X" will appear in the left hand corner of the playlist. Tap it to delete it.

How to create a Genius Mix

iTunes can automatically generate playlists based on your current song selection. These are called Genius Mixes, as they use Apple's Genius recommendations engine.

You can simply pick a Genius Mix to start listening to it and you'll automatically hear great music that sounds great together. You can also create your own Genius mix by picking any song in your iTunes library to play. Once the song starts, just touch the Genius icon next to the song tile of the current track. If there are ample songs in your library, iTunes will build a new Genius playlist based on the current song.

Additional resources:

• How to download movies, tv shows, and music to your new iPad
• How to subscribe to magazines to your new iPad
• The new iPad - everything you need to know

This is an oldie but a goodie. Scratch that, greatie! Since your new iPad's keyboard is multitouch and not physical like a laptops, it can change and transform beneath your very fingertips. That means it can also do a bunch of really cool things to speed up your typing, like letting you more rapidly switch from letters to numbers or punctuation and back without hunting and pecking for the ABC and 123 buttons.

Here are some of our favorites:

• Tap the space bar twice to end a sentence with a period and start the next word with a capital letter.
• Touch the shift button and slide to a letter to capitalize it (faster than individually taping shift then the letter).
• Touch the 123 button and slide to the number or punctuation you want to enter, then let go to enter the number and immediately switch back to letter (ABC) mode.
• Touch and hold down a key to see variant characters. For example, hold down on "e" to see "è" "é" and more, or "$" to see
• Touch the exclamation point button (!) and flick up to quickly enter an apostrophe (')
• Type a double character at the end to auto-correct in contractions. For example, weree by default will autocorrect to we're, saving you from having to type the apostrophe.
• Put two fingers on the keyboard and pull them apart (like you do when you want to zoom in on a web page or photograph) to split the keyboard in two and make it easier for thumb-typing. (Pinch your fingers to bring the keyboard back together again).

While your new iPad keyboard might feel awkward at first, especially if you're a touch-typist on a physical keyboard. If you play around with it a little, however, you become pretty fast and efficient. Simply learn to trust your muscle memory and Apple's autocorrect.

• More new iPad tips, tricks, help, and how-tos

Once you've got your new iPad and it's all set up, you'll want to add your email accounts to it. Reading and responding to email from an iPad is a great experience on its own. Whether you've got iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, Hotmail, Yahoo! or another type of mail, or no mail account at all yet, it'll only take you a few minutes to get all set up.

Setting up a free iCloud mail account

If you don't have a mail account yet, you'll need to set one up in order start emailing as well as do things like buying things from the App Store with an iTunes ID.

Apple allows you to create an iCloud account for free that comes with your own @me.com email address. If you're not sure how to do this, you can check out our guide below to set up your account before proceeding.

• How to set up a free iCloud account

Setting up an existing email account

If you've already got an email address, odds are it's compatible with iPad. iOS supports the following email types natively -

• iCloud
• Microsoft Exchange
• Gmail
• Yahoo
• Aol
• Hotmail
• MobileMe (will be converted completely to iCloud this summer)

If you are already using iCloud to sync everything else and have already signed in under iCloud, odds are your mail account is already configured for you. Just pop into the Mail app to confirm this.

Everyone else can follow these steps to configure existing email accounts -

1. Go into Settings on your iPad.
2. Now tap on Mail, Contacts, & Calendars.
3. Tap Add Account... under Accounts.

4. Click on the type of email account you have. For this example, I'll use Gmail.
5. If you've got another type of email account than the options listed, you can click "Other". You may need some additional settings from your IT administrator or from your email account provider in order to finish configuration.

6. Fill out the fields your iPad will prompt you for including name, email, password, and description. Your description can be whatever you want to nickname your account.

7. Your iPad will when verify your account. From here you may have some different sync options depending on your account type. As you can see, I can sync mail, calendars, and notes. I can tick off items I don't want to sync with my iPad. Since I use iCloud for my calendars and notes, I'll just turn off calendar and notes syncing for Gmail.
8. Tap Save in the upper right hand corner and you're done.

You should now be able to go back to your homescreen and tap the Mail icon. Upon first launch, it may take your iPad a few minutes to bring down all of your folders and messages.

How to send an email

1. Tap on your Mail app to launch it.

2. In the upper right hand corner you'll see a pen and paper icon. Tap it.
3. This will open a new email. You can either type in an email address or type the name of the contact you'd like to email from your address book.
4. Fill out the subject and email body and tap send in the upper right hand corner and your message will be on its way.

That's really all there is to it. If you'd like more tips on using email on your iPad, check out the links below.

Additional resources:

• How to add a custom mail signature to your iPhone or iPad
• How to mark multiple emails as read on iPhone or iPad
• Even more email tips

You've just gotten the new iPad, and now that it's in your hands and you just can't wait to see see what your favorite videos look like on that high density Retina display. In other words just can't wait to load it up with all kinds of content including movies, TV shows, and music. All of the above are available in the iTunes Store directly from your iPad.

How to download and watch a movie or TV show

In most countries, iTunes has a great selection of movies and TV shows to choose from that you can either purchase or rent straight from your iPad, no computer needed. Follow these steps to download or rent a movie directly from your iPad.

1. Open the iTunes app from your homescreen.
2. Click on either the Movies or TV shows tab along the bottom. Here you'll see a list of new and featured movies or TV shows in iTunes.
3. In the upper right hand corner you can search for any movie or show you'd like.
4. Once you've found what you're interested in, tap on it in order to view a larger description. You can also preview movies via the preview button.

5. When you find something you'd like to rent or buy, you can choose to purchase or rent the standard definition (SD) or high definition (HD) version. Once you've decided which one you want, tap it twice to purchase it. TV shows will only allow you to purchase from your device. Movies will allow you to rent them as well as purchase.
6. You'll be prompted to enter your iTunes password and you're done! Your download will begin.

To watch your content:

1. Go back to your Home screen by tapping your home button.
2. Find your Videos app and open it.
3. You should see all your tv shows and movies. Tap on the one you'd like to watch to see a description and more info. When you're ready to watch it, just tap the Play button and enjoy!

You'll also be able to access most of your iTunes purchased movies from any iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV linked to your account via Movies in the Cloud. You can do this with TV shows you've purchased as well.

How to download and listen to music

1. Open the iTunes app from your homescreen.
2. Click on the Music tab along the bottom. Here you'll see a list of new and featured music. You can also use the tabs at the top to view Featured, Top Charts, and Genius. Genius will look for music based on your current collection that it thinks you may like.
3. In the upper right hand corner you can search for any song or album you'd like.
4. Once you've found a song or album you're interested in, tap on it in order to view a larger description. Tap on the track number to preview a song.
5. You can either purchase individual songs from an album or purchase the entire album in one go. Tap on the price to purchase.
6. You'll be prompted to enter your iTunes password and you're done! Your download will begin.

To listen to your newly downloaded music, follow these steps -

1. Go back to your home screen by tapping your home button.
2. Find your Music app and open it.
3. You should see all the music you've synced to your phone. Just search for the song or album you've just added. You can also go under playlists and "recently added" to see all the music you've recently added.
4. Tap play and you're good to go!

How to re-download your previously purchased music, TV shows, and movies

Most of the content you download will be available for use on your other devices as well. Music, movies, and tv shows can be re-downloaded and watched on any iPhone, iPad, or computer you have authorized on your iTunes account. Movies and tv shows can also be streamed to your Apple TV while music can be accessed if you subscribe to iTunes Match or have your computer running on the same network.

How to stream movies from iTunes on Mac or Windows PC

If you'd rather keep your content on your Mac or Windows PC and just watch them on your iPad, that's easy to do with Home Sharing. As long as you're on the same Wi-Fi network, everything on your computer can be beamed straight to your iPad.

• How to use iTunes Home sharing with your new iPad

Other ways to get movies, TV shows, and music onto your new iPad

There are a variety of other options for getting great videos and music onto your new iPad. Netflix and Hulu bring you TV and movies new and old. A lot of TV networks and some cable networks have dedicated apps where you can watch your local shows. Air Video will transcode on the fly and stream MKV, AVI and other videos from your home PC to your iPad. Slacker will provide you with internet radio channels. And there's a lot more too.

Take a look around the App Store, you'll be amazed how many apps there are for exactly that!

Additional resources:

• How to set up your new iPad with iCloud or iTunes
• Access iTunes movies in the cloud with your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV
• Movies, TV shows, and videos help and discussion forum
• Music, DJ, and Jamming Forum

Reading magazines and newspapers is an amazing experience the new iPad thanks to its retina display. Newsstand is Apple's built-in way or ogranize and manage all your issues and subscriptions, so your magazines and newspapers are where you want, when you want. They'll even download over night so new editions are ready for you right when you wake up!

Note: Newsstand isn't really an app, it's a special folder on your Home screen, and magazines and newspapers are actually apps just like any other app or game. Newsstand just makes it easier to find them and keep them organized.

There are actually two ways to get magazines and newspapers onto your new iPad.

How to get magazines and newspapers from within Newsstand

1. Tap the Newsstand app on your homescreen.
2. You'll be presented with a virtual bookshelf. This is where your subscriptions will show up.
3. To start subscribing tap the Store icon in the top right corner of Newsstand.
4. Browse and download magazine and book apps just as you would any other app. If you're brand new to the iPad, here's how

How to get magazines and newspapers from the App Store

1. Launch the App Store.
2. Tap the Categories tab on the bottom.
3. Now tap on Newsstand

Regardless what method you use, you'll still end up in the same place. Now we can browse for things we want to subscribe to and start filling up our shelves.

1. Browse all the offerings in Newsstand in one of two ways - at the top you can choose between featured and release date.

2. Once you've found something you'd like to subscribe to, you can check out the rates by scrolling down a bit. While most items are free to download, you'll need to purchase a subscription as an in-app purchase. Some publications also let you purchase individual issues as well (we'll cover that in a minute).

3. To subscribe, just tap the price underneath the cover picture.

4. The button will turn into an "Install App" button. Tap it once more.

5. You'll be prompted to enter your iTunes password. Click Ok and your subscription will start to download to Newsstand.

How to get a subscription with an in-app purchase

1. Tap on the publication you just downloaded to Newsstand in order to open it.
2. Every publication is a bit different but you should see a section where you can subscribe or purchase individual issues if they offer it.
3. Choose the subscription or issue you'd like and tap the price just as you did previously to install the publication.
4. Enter your iTunes password if prompted and you're done.

If you subscribed for a certain time duration, Newsstand should automatically download your new issues as soon as they're available. You can also enable automatic downloads in order to sync your subscriptions across all your devices.

Enabling automatic downloads

If you've got multiple iOS devices, namely an iPad and and iPhone or iPod touch - you'll be able to access your subscriptions on both without purchasing them again as long as you're signed into the same iTunes account on both.

1. From the homescreen of your iPad, tap your Settings icon.
2. Now tap Store.

3. From here you can choose to turn automatic downloads on for music, apps, books, and any magazines you are subscribed to. Just toggle them on or off for the items you'd like to sync across your devices.

That's it! You'll now be able to read all of your subscriptions straight from your iPad or any other iOS device you own. Hit the links below for even more iPad tips and tricks.

Additional resources:

• How to set up your new iPad with iCloud or iTunes
• How to re-download previously purchased apps, songs, and books in iTunes
• Even more iPad tips

Now that you've got your new iPad in hand and it's been set up just the way you want it, it's time to get to find some great apps and games from the App Store. If you're new to iPad, no worries. We'll have you flinging birds, finger painting with productivity, slicing fruit, and making the perfect pictures in no time.

How to download an app or game

1. First thing you'll need to do is pop into the App Store App from your iPad.

2. You'll notice a long list of tabs along the bottom. This is where you can browse through featured apps, top charts, and more. You can also use Genius to find new apps that may interest you. The App Store will pull up apps it thinks you'll like based on what you've already got installed. If you know the app you're looking for by name, you can also search for it in the upper right hand corner.

3. If you find an app you'd like to take a better look at, just tap its icon. You'll now see a description of the app as well as screenshots.

4. To buy the app, tap the price. It will then turn into a "Buy App" button. Tap it once more to purchase it.
5. You'll be asked to type in the password for your iTunes ID. Type it in and click ok.

That's pretty much all there is to it. You're app will begin downloading and show up on your homescreen. Once it's done you'll be able to tap it to launch it.

How to turn on automatic downloads

If you've got multiple iOS devices, namely an iPad and and iPhone or iPod touch, you'll be able to use universal applications on both without purchasing them again as long as you're signed into the same iTunes account on both.

There's actually a very easy way to set your devices up to keep your apps in sync. If you'd like the same apps to install on all your compatible iOS devices, you can enable automatic downloads inside settings.

1. From the homescreen of your iPad, tap your Settings icon.
2. Now tap Store.

3. From here you can choose to turn automatic downloads on for music, apps, books, and any magazines you are subscribed to. Just toggle them on or off for the items you'd like to sync across your devices.

That's all there is to it. If you're looking for all the best apps and games to download, hit the app reviews link below. Now get to downloading!

Additional resources:

• iMore best apps
• Everything you need to know about the new iPad
• iPad apps and games help and discussion forum

Now that you've got your new iPad and you've set it up perfectly, you'll definitely want to check out how awesome it is to read books on the gorgeous new retina display. Text looks better than ever and reading on an iPad has never been more enjoyable. Whether you want to use Apple's own iBooks service, Amazon's Kindle powerhouse, or something different, we've got you covered.

iBooks

Apple's own iBooks and iBookstore are a great way to purchase and read books as well as save PDF documents from the web. Many free and paid books are available directly on your iPad through the iBookstore.

From the latest novels to the best non-fiction to high school textbooks to cartoons like Bloom County and comics from Marvel, you'll think you're looking at digital paper.

iBooks is a free download from the App Store.

Free - Download Now

Once you've got iBooks installed, it's simple to download books.

1. Open iBooks and tap Store in the upper left hand corner. The bookshelf will turn around to show you the iBooks bookstore. You can browse for books from here just as you'd browse for apps or any other type of media in iTunes or the App Store.

2. If you find a book you think you may be interested in, you can download a preview before buying if you'd like via the Get Sample button.
3. Once you've decided to buy, just tap on the price and it'll ask you to tap it again to confirm the purchase.
4. Enter in your iTunes password and your book will begin downloading.
5. When you go into the iBooks app, you'll now see your new book on the book shelf. Just tap into it to start reading.

Kindle for iPad

iBooks isn't the only way you can read eBooks from your iPad. The Kindle app for iPad is a free download from the App Store and if you've already got a Kindle collection built, you'll probably want access to those books. Simply download the app and sign into your Amazon account to access all your purchased books. Best of all, it's just been updated for Retina on iPad.

Free - Download now

Additional resources:

• How to read eBooks as white on black
• How to re-download previously purchased apps, songs, and books in iTunes
• Books, magazines, and comics help and discussion forum
• Everything you need to know about the new iPad

If you just got your new iPad, you're going to want to set it up and get it working just as quickly and effectively as possible. With iCloud you can do that right on your iPad, with no computer or cables involved. If you prefer the old-school approach, you can also set up your new iPad using iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC.

For most people, most of the time, we recommend iCloud, but we'll walk you through both of them below.

How to setup your new iPad

When you turn on your new iPad, you'll be greeted with a Lock screen that simply says "iPad". That's where we start.

Note: None of the default choices pre-checked for you. You can't simply keep hitting Next to speed through. You have to look at the choices and tap one to check it before the Next button will even activate. Apple is forcing you to pay more attention than is often required on the web or in apps.

1. Swipe to unlock.
2. Choose your language. Your iPad will show you the most common languages for the area in which you bought it, but you can tap the downward arrow icon to see all the choices. Tap the blue Arrow button to continue.
3. Choose you country or region. Again, your iPad will show you the region where you bought your iPad, but you can tap **Show more...* for additional options. Tap the blue Next button to continue.
4. Choose whether you want to globally enable or disable location services. Location Services use GPS, cell-tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi router mapping to determine the approximate location of your iPad. This feature is used for turn-by-turn navigation (like Navigon, check-in games (like FourSquare), social networks (like Facebook), geo-tagging (like in the Camera app), and utilities (like Find my iPad, etc. Unless you have a particular need to globally disable it, you'll want to turn on the Location Services feature at this point. You can change your mind or selectively disable or enable these services later on in the Settings app (e.g., turn off your Camera app’s geo-tagging, but leave on TomTom’s turn-by-turn navigation). Tap the blue Next button to continue.
5. Choose your Wi-Fi network. Even if you're on 3G or LTE, your iPad wants Wi-Fi because there may be a lot of data to move around and blasting through your data cap on setup is no fun. Enter your network password and tap the blue Next button to continue.
6. Wait for Apple to activate your iPad. This could take a few minutes.
7. Choose if you want to setup your iPad as new, restore from iCloud backup, or restore from an iTunes backup on a PC. Tap the blue Next button to continue.

How to set up your new iPad as a new iPad (clean install)

To set up your iPad as new (basically like doing a first or clean install of your computer):

1. Choose whether you want to sign in with your Apple ID or create a free Apple ID. If you're not sure what that is, and don't know if you already have one, it can be any of the following: iTunes Store account, , me.com email account, Apple developer account, FaceTime or iMessage account
2. If this is the first time you've ever used an Apple product or service or just want a new one, you can create an Apple ID.
3. Enter your Apple ID to login. (Enter your full email address as the username.) Tap the blue Next button to continue. (If you change your mind, you can logout of iCloud, or login under a different account later.)
4. Agree to the terms and conditions of service by tapping the blue Agree button on the bottom left.
5. Confirm your agreement by tapping the Agree button.
6. Choose if you want Setup iCloud. If you're not sure, choose to setup iCloud. The basic service is free and makes your iPad infinitely more usable. Use iCloud.
7. Choose if you to use iCloud Backup. Again, you really, really do. It keeps all your data safely backed up and let you restore or easily switch to a new or additional iOS devices later. Use iCloud Backup.
8. Choose if you want to use Find my iPad. Also free, also incredibly useful to track down your iPad if you ever lose it or have it stolen. If in doubt, Use Find my iPad.
9. Choose if you want to automatically send Diagnostics to Apple. It's anonymous and helps make Apple make better products, but if you're uncomfortable with the idea, choose Don't send.
10. Wait while iCloud is setup.
11. Start using your iPad!

How to restore your new iPad from an iCloud backup

For the smoothest experience and longest battery life, we always recommend setting your new iPad up as new (see above). If you have an old iPad or other iOS device, and need access to your old data quickly, or dread the idea of starting from scratch again, you have the option of simply restoring your new iPad from a backup of your old device.

1. Choose restore from iCloud backup.
2. Enter your Apple ID to login. (Enter your full email address as the username.) Tap the blue Next button to continue. (If you change your mind, you can logout of iCloud, or login under a different account later.)
3. Agree to the terms and conditions of service by tapping the blue Agree button on the bottom left.
4. Confirm your agreement by tapping the Agree button.
5. Choose your backup*. You'll see your Latest iPad Backup listed, and this is usually the one you want to choose. You'll also see older backups, if available, and if no iPad backup is available, backups of your other iOS devices on the same iCloud account.

A progress bar will show you an approximation of how long it will take to download your backup. Once it's done, your iPad will reboot.

Once your iPad reboots, you'll be asked to re-enter all your passwords (as a security measure, iCloud will not restore passwords).

Once that's done, your iPad will start re-downloading all your apps. If iTunes in the Cloud is available in your country, it will also re-download iTunes music, movies, TV shows, and iBooks. will restart, all your settings nicely back where you left them, and iTunes will begin to re-download all the apps you had installed when the backup was made.

You will need to stay on Wi-Fi for any file larger than 50MB to re-download.

How to update the software on your new iPad

Depending on when you buy your new iPad, there may be software updates available. Small updates might simply fix bugs and improve performance (for example, iOS 5.0.1). Medium updates might add a few new features or support new devices (for example, iOS 5.1 released in March of 2012 with the new iPad). Large updates might add significant new features (for example, iOS 5, released in October 2011 with the iPhone 4S).

If a software update is available for your new iPad, a popup notification will let you know, and a red badge will appear at the top righthand corner of your Settings app. If you connect your iPad to iTunes on the Mac or Windows, iTunes will also popup a notification to let you know when there's a software update waiting.

Just like setting up your new iPad, you can either do software updates directly on your device, over-the-air (OTA) or by plugging into iTunes on your PC.

OTA on-device updates are faster and more convenient since your iPad will only download the changes and update in place, so once it's done and rebooted, you're good to go.

iTunes updates backup your iPad, download the entire software install from Apple (typically over 500MB), replace the entire operating system, then restore from backup.

• How to update your iPad software over-the-air (OTA)
• How to update your iPad software with iTunes

More new iPad how-tos

Setting up your new iPad is only the beginning. You still need to get apps and games, books, TV shows, and movies, set up your email, get iMessage and FaceTime up and running, and much much more. iMore has tips, tricks, and how-tos for all of them.

• All new iPad help and how-to guides

Need help?

If you run into any problems or need any extra assistance, don't hesitate to ask. We've got a special, dedicated thread set up in our forums to deal with any issues you may have.

• New iPad setup help

If you're having issues with the proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, or earpiece speaker on your iPhone 3GS or iPhone 3G, the proximity sensor cable may just be the actual culprit. Luckily, a proximity sensor cable is inexpensive and relatively easy to replace.

Symptoms

• Your earpiece speaker cuts in and out or you can't hear unless you have speakerphone activated (this can also be caused by a broken earpiece speaker)
• Your ambient light sensor doesn't work - in other words, even if you have auto-brightness enabled your iPhone still isn't adjusting by itself given different lighting scenarios
• Your proximity sensor isn't working - this is the sensor that turns your screen off when in range of your face so you don't hit buttons while on a call

Disclaimer: As with any repair, iMore nor PXLFIX can be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It’s also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don’t feel comfortable opening your device, don’t. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device.

What you need for a DIY proximity sensor cable replacement

PXLFIX recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like eTech Parts. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• A sad iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS
• A replacement proximity sensor cable - iPhone 3G & 3GS prox sensor cable - As a side note, some parts suppliers may refer to this part as an induction flex cable. So if you can't find a proximity sensor cable, try looking for an induction flex cable. They are one in the same.
• A #00 Phillips screwdriver
• A suction cup
• A plastic pry tool or spudger

This repair will be performed in exactly the same manner regardless whether you have an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS.

Power off your iPhone

Before performing any repair or removing any screws or parts, always power off your device.

Remove the dock connector screws

Using your #00 Phillips screwdriver, remove the 2 screws located on each side of the dock connector.

Remove the digitizer & LCD assembly

This part can be a bit tricky so please do this with extreme care so you don't tear any cables during the process.

The easiest way to remove the digitizer assembly is by using a suction cup.

1. Position the suction cup on the screen directly above the home button.
2. Using your other hand, hold down the frame while gently pulling up on the suction cup.
3. The goal is to get the bottom of the digitizer loose. Do not pull directly up. There are 3 cables attached in the top right of your iPhone. You do not want to tear these. Just pull up until the bottom of the assembly pops out.
4. After you have the bottom up you can remove the suction cup.

Remove the cables that attach the digitizer assembly to the logic board:

Once you have the bottom of your digitizer assembly popped up we can remove the cables attaching it to the logic board.

1. Gently lift up your digitizer enough to have a clear view of the 3 cables in the top right of your iPhone.
2. With your plastic spudger or pry tool, you'll need to pry up the first two cables that attach the digitizer and LCD. They should be labeled with orange stickers numbered 1 and 2. Simply pop them off the logic board gently.

3. Underneath these cables you'll see one other labeled as cable 3. This one is a bit trickier as it is clipped down. You'll need to gently pop up the clasp holding it into the fastener. It is a tiny white clip. Simply pop it upwards and the number 3 cable should then slide right out.
4. Remove the digitizer & LCD assembly.

At this point you can set the body of your iPhone aside and flip over the front screen assembly, which is what we'll be removing and replacing the proximity sensor cable on.

Remove the LCD assembly

This step is optional and not required but I recommend it. Removing the LCD will allow you to get a better view of the induction flex you'll need to remove. It'll also give you more room to maneuver your pry tool around. If you don't remove the LCD, make sure you don't apply any pressure to it when removing the induction flex and speaker assembly.

1. There are 6 screws holding the LCD in place. They are all the same size. Three on the left side of the frame, 2 on the right side of the frame, and 1 on the top right holding down the induction flex. Remove all 6 screws with your #00 Phillips screwdriver and set them aside.

2. Next use your pry tool to slowly work the LCD out of the old assembly on the left and right sides. It should come out fairly easily. Just take special care not to scratch it while removing it. The LCD and back plate will remove in one piece as they are glued together.

Remove the bad proximity sensor cable

We will need to remove the proximity sensor cable from the front assembly in order to put in the new one.

1. Use your #00 screwdriver to remove the one screw in the top right that's holding down the flex cable and your LCD. (If you removed your LCD, you will have already removed this screw.)

2. Next, use your pry tool or spudger tool to gently pry the cable on the right side. You don't want to try and pry it all the way off as it is still clipped on at the top. We just want to loosen it.

3. Next take the pointed end of your spudger (or you can use another plastic pointed object if you don't have a spudger) and pry up the 2 clips at the top holding the cable down. It should now easily lift from the assembly to reveal your earpiece speaker.

Replace the proximity sensor cable

You'll notice that the proximity sensor cable is attached with some adhesive to the metal clip that holds it in place. To remove it, gently peel the cable off the metal clip. You'll notice dotted lines that are printed onto the cable to assist you in lining it up correctly when placing the new one onto the clip. If you need to, you may apply more adhesive. Your replacement cable may have come with adhesive pre-installed already.

Reassemble your iPhone

Once you've replaced the proximity sensor cable, you'll just need to reassemble your iPhone by following these directions in exact reverse order. You can also watch the video above as it contains re-assembly instructions as well. As a side tip, take care to snap in the induction flex cable carefully. There's a clip towards the bottom you'll need to make sure snaps in all the way or you'll have issues putting the assembly back together.

And... done!

That's it! You probably saved quite a bit compared to what it would cost to buy a new iPhone. While the cable name may sound scary, the process to fix it wasn't that bad, now was it?

If you do run into problems, make sure to check out our DIY and mod forums below. If you don't feel comfortable opening your device on your own, you can always contact PXLFIX about mail-in repairs as well.

Additional resources:

• How to remove an iPhone 3G or 3G earpiece speaker
• iMore Mod and DIY forums
• Even more DIY repairs and mods

Movies in the Cloud is the latest addition to iTunes in the Cloud, the iCloud service that let's you re-download previously purchased iTunes content on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Mac or Windows PC. While apps, iBooks, music, and TV shows have been available for re-download for a while now, movies are brand new and seem to be causing some confusion, namely where they're available, how to access them, and how and when they work with digital copies.

Here's the deal...

Movies in the Cloud availability

As of now, it seems like Movies in the Cloud is only available in the U.S. TV Shows in the Cloud started off as U.S. only at first as well, and then later rapidly expanded to over a dozen other countries, so it's possible Movies in the Cloud will follow suit. It's also possible movie licensing deals are more complicated than TV and it will take a while. Either way, if you're not using a U.S. iTunes Store account, you won't have access to Movies in the Cloud.

Also, only movies purchased through iTunes are available for re-download.

Before we get into what iTunes Movies in the Cloud is, here's what it isn't.

Movies in the Cloud isn't home sharing

Home Sharing connects to your PC iTunes library while Movies in the Cloud connects to Apple's iTunes Store.

Home sharing lets you stream any movie in your Mac or Windows PC library to your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Apple TV over your home Wi-Fi network. It doesn't care if you bought the movie on iTunes or ripped it from a DVD, transcoded it, and added it to your iTunes library.

Movies in the Cloud does. It will only show you movies that your bought through the iTunes store, using the same iTunes account that you're logged into on your device.

Movies in the cloud isn't part of iTunes Match

Movies in the Cloud is a download service, not a media locker.

iTunes Match will scour your PC iTunes library, take note of all your music, and if it can find the same song on Apple's iTunes Catalog, provide you with a 256kbps copy you can re-download from any iOS, Mac, or Windows device.

The keyword there is music. iTunes will not match any other type of content for you.

If you have movies in your iTunes library that you didn't get through the iTunes Store, iTunes Match won't help you. You'll have to use Home Sharing (see above) or an app like Air Video to get to them.

Movies in the Cloud doesn't work with all Digital Copies

Some Digital Copies come in the form of iTunes redeem codes. Others... are nightmares.

How and when Movies in the Cloud works with Digital Copies has been the source of some confusion. The non-simple answer is that it depends on how the company distributing the movie decided to provide a digital copy.

If you open up your Blu-Ray or DVD and the digital copy consists of an iTunes code to redeem an iTunes copy of the movie, you're golden. Just redeem your code and your digital copy should automagically show up in iTunes, and Movies in the Cloud will let you re-download it across all your devices for download.

If you're digital copy requires you to log in to some other kind of service to redeem your movie it may get a bit complicated. I recently bought a movie that made me download the Flixster software in order to play it. Needless to say I wasn't very happy about this. I purposely buy movies that have digital copies in order to be able to play them from all my devices and from iTunes. What am I supposed to do with a movie that I can't play without a player that isn't supported by anything else?

If you find yourself in this situation, it never hurts to contact the vendor and ask for an iTunes code instead. Some movie cases are very deceiving and don't give you very much information on the type of digital download they're giving you. If all else fails, just ask.

But the bottom line is, if you didn't get the Digital Copy through iTunes, you won't be able to re-downlown it through Movies in the Cloud.

Movies in the Cloud doesn't work for all movies

Apple doesn't have deals with all major film studies yet. That means certain movies from certain companies, such as Universal and 20th Century Fox, aren't currently available for re-download through Movies in the Cloud.

Some of this has to do with the "HBO window", some of it with old-school studio thinking. Apple, HBO, and the studios are apparently trying to work this out. In the meantime, when a movie is airing on HBO, it could disappear from Movies in the Cloud.

How to re-download movies on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad

Previously purchased movies can be found in the iTunes app alongside music and TV shows.

To re-download movies you've previously purchased from iTunes on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

1. Launch the iTunes app.
2. Tap the Purchased tab at the bottom (if you don't see it, tap the More tab and then check there).
3. Tap Movies from the selection list.
4. Tap on the iCloud icon beside any of your previously purchased movies to re-download.

How to stream movies to Apple TV

Previously purchased movies can also be streamed on the Apple TV

Because the Apple TV doesn't have much internal storage, it streams previously purchased movies instead of re-downloading and storing them on-device. To stream a movie to your Apple TV:

1. Navigate to the Movies icon on the right and click on it.
2. Navigate to the Purchased tab at the top and click on it.
3. Scroll up or down to the movie you want to stream and click on it.

Conclusion

Movies in the Cloud is currently a great way for users to re-download some movies purchased from the U.S. iTunes Store to iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads, and stream them to the Apple TV.

It's not part of iTunes Match, it doesn't work for all movies from all studios, and it doesn't support Digital Copies unless they were acquired through an iTunes Store promo code, but hopefully some of those limitations will soon be things of the past.

With the new iPad around the corner, there are lots of people wondering if now is the time to jump into the wonderful world of tablets. Of course, the new iPad will be the first one many first timers will look at. Many savvy shoppers, however, will also take a look at the alternatives before taking the plunge. That's especially true of low-cost alternatives like the BlackBerry PlayBook, Amazon Kindle Fire, and smattering of other bargain bin Android tablets (like the $100 ZTE Optik). The question is simple: how much are you willing to spend, and what value can you get for your money?

Screen size

Other tablets might be smaller and cheaper, bigger and more expensive, or just different. Which one gives you what you need?

The most obvious sacrifice you tend to make when it comes to budget tablets is screen size, which might not actually be all that much of a bad thing if you're looking for something portable. The PlayBook, even with its 7-inch display, can still handle HD video playback respectably. The Amazon Kindle Fire is the same size, and is tied into all of Amazon's book, video, and music services.

The advantage of the smaller screen size is that you can fit it into a jacket pocket, and hold it for longer periods of time without getting tired. It's closer to a one-handed tablet than the two hands typically required for an iPad.

The down side is that a smaller screen restricts the type of apps you can run. As a result, with 7-inch tablets you typically get scaled up smartphone apps rather than the bigger, tablet-specific apps you get on the iPad. Also, for some bigger really is better when it comes to watching video, gaming, or reading.

If portability is your primary concerns, check out the PlayBook and the Kindle Fire. If screen size matters to you, check out the iPad.

Media and Apps

It's not just screen size that matters, but the quality and quantity of apps and media available to fill that screen

There's no other way to say it: compared to the iPad and the App Store, the BlackBerry PlayBook App World ecosystem is sorely lacking. This is the next sacrifice you make when aiming for budget tablets. Even within the massive Android market, Android tablet apps have been very slow to appear. On both platforms you can run Android smartphone apps, but the experience isn't even close to the same. (Just like running iPhone apps on the iPad is doable but not especially enjoyable.)

For games and really big name apps, it probably won't matter. You'll find what you need to get by. But if you want really great software and more importantly, a choice of several really great apps in any given category, it's something to consider.

Media -- books, TV shows, movies, and music -- varies more from platform to platform. Amazon, of course, is a content power house and there's an argument to be made that the Kindle Fire is as much a portal to the massive Amazon store as it is a tablet. The only catch is, Amazon media is almost entirely exclusive to the U.S. You can find Amazon MP3 in a few other countries, but compared to Apple's international iTunes availability, depending on where you live, the Kindle can end up being little more than a paperweight. Media on the PlayBook is more of a mixed bag, with apps and sync filling in some of the gaps, but nothing to compare with the content offerings from Amazon or iTunes.

If you're happy with the basics and already have a lot of your own content, you can go with a cheaper tablet. If you want the best choice of the best apps and an easy way to buy more content, go with the iPad.

Performance and user experience

How well a tablet runs its software and how much you enjoy using it should be weighed against how much money you can save

Although the PlayBook saw significant price cuts due to slow sales and adoption, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 runs really well on the hardware. Amazon has also fixed a lot of the bugs and performance issues that plagued the original Kindle Fire release and the user experience is now much smoother and more enjoyable.

Budget Android tablets tend to be more problematic. Delayed OS updates, wonky manufacturer customizations, and sketchy hardware performance can all make for a poor time on Android.

With the iPad you get what you pay for. A really smooth, really polished user experience that almost always keeps you focused on what you're doing without the distractions of poor or glitchy performance. It's a cliche but it just works.

One thing PlayBook and Android can boast over iOS, however, is a more open ecosystem, at that combined with a lower pricetag may be worth sacrifice if you're willing (or eager) to tweak your device.

If you want a good mix of performance and price, the Playbook followed more distantly by the Kindle Fire is worth checking out. If you value price over performance, budget Android tablets are worth a look. If you put a premium on performance and user experience, you'll ultimately enjoy the iPad more.

The budget iPad

While the iPad 2 doesn't have Retina display, LTE options, or a real camera, it's $100 cheaper

There's another choice worth considering in the budget tablet debate: the iPad 2. While it hasn't reached the $199 level of the BlackBerry PlayBook or Amazon Kindle Fire, Apple did keep last year's iPad 2 around at a discounted $399 price. If you don't mind missing out on a Retina display, faster graphics, LTE options, or better cameras, give it a look.

• iPad 2 vs the new iPad: Which should you get?

Apple also offers refurbished iPads, currently both first generation and iPad 2, via their online store. So if you're on a budget but have your heart set on an iPad, Apple's refurbished iPad store is worth a look.

Any questions?

Overall, if you're on a budget, you can typically find a decent (if not great) tablet alternative to the new iPad for $300 less. You're sacrificing app selection, screen size, and resolution, but you're gaining a wider variety of options when it comes to hardware configuration and software accessibility. Personally, it's easy for me to side with the new iPad -- I can only imagine that the disparity in gaming performance with anything else is going to be huge.

If money is tight, however, it can be really difficult to decide how much you can or will spend on a tablet. Lower cost doesn't always translate into better value, but the reality it, tablets aren't as critical as phones or computers, and there's only so much gadget money to go around. If you've already tried out the BlackBerry PlayBook, Amazon Kindle Fire, or another budget tablet, share your thoughts. If you have more questions or want more opinions, we're here to help.

• New iPad help forum

Everything you need to know before buying the new iPad, including how to pick your model, storage capacity, color, and 3G or 4G LTE carrier!

Considering the new iPad but interested in more information before taking the plunge? Should you buy the 2012, third generation iPad at all, or would you be better off with last year's, discounted iPad 2, or another tablet entirely? If you do decide to buy the new iPad, which model do you need, 16, 32, or 64GB? Which color, white or black? And if you go for the 4G LTE version, which network is better, AT&T or Verizon?

This is our 2012 iPad buyers guide. If you have questions, iMore has answers! And if you already know what you're getting, keep think link handy to mail, tweet, or Facebook your friends and family -- we'll help them out so you don't have to!

Should you buy an iPad?

The new iPad contains an almost staggering amount of cutting-edge technology in a minimalist package at a frankly unbelievable price. It's got a 2048x1536 Retina display that packs more pixels than a 1080p HDTV into a compact 9.7-inch screen, 4G LTE networking if you want it, a super-fast Apple A5X dual core processor with quad-core graphics, a new, high-quality 5 megapixel iSight camera, and the best app, media, and accessory ecosystem on the market.

If you're in the market for your first tablet, for most of the people, most of the time, the new iPad is a great choice. But it's not the only choice. For original iPad owners, it's a great upgrade. For iPad 2 owners, one or more of the new features have to be compelling enough to warrant the upgrade, otherwise waiting for the 2013 iPad next year could be a better bet. For owners of other tablets, from BlackBerry to Android to webOS, or for those looking to upgrade to netbooks, there are more factors to consider.

No matter which category of buyer or potential buyer you fall into, we've got your complete break down for you.

• Buy vs upgrade vs skip: Should you get the new iPad?

And if you want to sell you old iPad or old tablet before upgrading, here's what to do.

• How to sell your old iPad before upgrading to the new iPad

When should you buy an iPad?

Timing is everything when buying a new iPad from Apple. Get it at launch and you have a year of fantastic use ahead of you before the next new model is released. Buy it at the wrong moment and Apple will announce a new one, often at the same price, and while it won't make the iPad you have useless, it will mean you didn't get the most for your money.

Here's the deal

Buy in March or April

For the last three years in a row, for as long as they've been making them, Apple has released new iPads in the spring. If it's March or April, it's likely Apple has a new iPad model ready to hit the store shelves, and it's absolutely the best time to buy.

Stay away in January or March

If you're reading this right after Christmas, it's best to hold off because Apple is probably getting ready to announce that next generation iPad just like we mentioned above. It might even be tempting to hold off buying iPads for Christmas if you really want to make sure you get the latest and the greatest in the New Year, but if a loved one really wants it, that can be tough.

In between, buy when you need

If you're reading this in the fall, right at the 6 month point, and wondering if you should pull the trigger on a new iPad or wait for the next model, ask yourself whether you need it or just want it.

If you've broken your current netbook or tablet, lost it, or otherwise simply have to get an ultra-light, ultra-portable computing appliance now, now, now, get the new iPad and have no regrets. There will always be something new on the horizon but that won't help you if you need an iPad urgently.

If you don't need it but just want it, wait as long as you possibly can wait then buy the best iPad available when you can't wait any more.

Which iPad should you buy?

Once you've decided to get an iPad, you have two major options to choose between, last year's iPad 2, with fewer features at a discounted price, or this year's new iPad with full features at full price.

The iPad 2 doesn't have Retina display, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G LTE networking, or an Apple A5X processor, and only comes in a 16GB model, but it also only costs $399.

The new iPad had everything the iPad 2 doesn't, and comes in 16, 32, and 64GB models, but starts are $499 and maxes out at $829.

That's quite a lot of choice at quite a large price range, and lowest cost isn't always highest value. Here's our complete breakdown.

• iPad 2 vs the new iPad: Which should you get?

Which 3G + 4G LTE iPad should you get?

If you live outside of North America, there's only one 3G iPad to choose from right now. Yes, it's frustrating there's no international 4G LTE, but the new iPad will work on HSPA+ up to 42mbps. If your carrier supports it, that's fast.

If you're in the U.S., you have two different 4G LTE carrier options to choose from (and neither is Sprint or T-Mobile). Unless you have any special deals or discounts, the decision will come down to 3 things: coverage, pricing, and tethering. Here's how the plans shake out.

• AT&T vs Verizon: Which 4G LTE new iPad should you get?

If you're in Canada, you can choose between Rogers, Telus, and Bell for your 4G LTE iPad, and while the considerations are the same, the plans are quite different.

• Rogers vs Bell vs Telus: Which 4G LTE new iPad should Canadians get?

How much storage do you need for your iPad?

The iPad comes in three storage sizes -- 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, and each step up in size costs an extra $100. Saving money and running out of space is no fun, but neither is paying for space you don't end up using.

How many photos and videos you want to keep with you, how many apps and games, and how many TV shows and movies you want on your iPad will determine how much space you need. Also, online storage like iCloud or third party services like Dropbox, SugarSync, or Box.net might change the equation.

Here's how the different price points work out, and what you need to consider when choosing between them.

• 16GB vs 32GB vs 64GB: Which new iPad storage capacity should you get?

Black or white, which iPad color looks best?

The new iPad comes in any color you want, as long as one of the colors you want is black or white. Most of the time your own personal tastes will make the choice easy, but there are a few things to think about before making your final choice. Is white going to distract you from games or movies? Will black show more smudges and fingertips? Does either color hold up better over time?

We've got some experience with both color options, and here's what we've found.

• Black vs white: Which new iPad should you choose?

Where to buy?

That's it. You know you're getting a new iPad, you know when, and you know on which carrier. You've done your homework, you've made your choice, and now it's time buy. But where you should you buy it?

Apple Retail and Apple Online

If you have an Apple Retail Store in your area you can go there, and if it's in stock, leave with your new iPad right away. They also offer help with your purchase and will even help you get set up free of charge. If you're worried about protecting your investment, they can also get you setup with AppleCare, and their Genius Bar can help you with hardware problems in the future. Corny as it sounds, It's not just shopping, it's an experience. Apple Retail has the best customer service in the business and it shows. There are no discounts, however, not ever.

If there's no Apple Retail store near you there's also Apple Online in many countries. Again, no discounts but you're dealing directly with Apple.

Carrier Stores and big boxes

If you want brick-and-morter but don't have an Apple Store, some carriers might sell them directly. Drop buy or get it shipped to you.

Big box and chain retailers, everything from Best Buy to Walmart the Shack to Tesco are already, or will likely be carrying the new iPad in the future. If you have loyalty points or they're just super convenient, check them out as well.

Buyer beware

Shady operators also try to sell discount iPads, sometimes devices that aren't even really iPads but cheap -- and highly breakable -- knockoffs. It goes without saying you should avoid those. Any deal too good to be true probably is. If you save money only to end up with a tablet that doesn't run iOS and may not even run at all you really just wasted your money.

After you buy

Once you've gotten your new iPad and are ready to set it up, get apps, get accessories, maybe get jailbroken, here's how to get going:

• iPad glossary: What everything means
• iOS 5 for iPhone and iPad walkthrough
• iPad tips and how-tos
• iPad Live! podcasts (with video!)

Need more help?

No article can cover every detail or address every unique circumstance or concern. Luckily iMore also hosts the iPad Forums, a vast community where users can ask questions, give feedback, and get help. Check them out:

• iPad discussion and help forums

Provided you've settled on color and storage capacity, In the U.S., you've only got two choices if you're hunting for an LTE-enabled new iPad. In Canada, things are a bit more complicated. During Apple's event yesterday, Rogers, Bell, and TELUS, the big three service providers up here in Canada, featured prominently. Two LTE models would be launched to make sure every able carrier would be able to offer LTE, though there's lots of 3G compatibility for elsewhere, too. The new iPad lands in Canada on March 16, and no doubt many are wondering which carrier they should go with for data service. We've chewed through the plans and coverage, and have a fairly definitive answer.

There are two caveats, mind you. For one, we don't have a lot of data on speed comparisons. You'll want to ask around to see who's offering better speeds in your area. Secondly, we're assuming that The Big Three won't be switching up their iPad plans before launch day, which is entirely possible. The new iPad is big enough that there could be promotions across the board, so make sure to double-check before committing.

LTE availability

In Canada, those LTE centres are still fairly limited, which actually makes your pick of carriers for the new iPad a lot easier. Bell and TELUS share their LTE network, so coverage will be fairly interchangable between them. They've got LTE in Toronto and the surrounding area, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Yellowknife, Quebec City, and smaller regions like Belleville, Cambridge, Waterloo, Guelph, Hamilton, Dartmouth and London. By comparison, Rogers only covers  Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa. Rogers did recently expand to St. John's, Newfoundland, and they're expecting to cover Halifax in the next couple of months, but on the whole, Bell and TELUS have a distinct edge on coverage. It's also worth noting that Bell and TELUS are supporting dual-cell HSPA+, which means you might still be able to get up to 42 Mbps outside of LTE areas. What about pricing?

Pricing plans

Rogers offers similar fixed and flex plans. For $15/month, you get 250 MB, and for $35/month, you get 5 GB, which is way better than TELUS's stand-alone static tablet plans. The Flex plans for Rogers iPads are a little weird, since they've kindly bundled in all of the taxes in with the fees; I guess they're worried about getting dinged by the CRTC for misleading prices like Bell did in June. For $6.93/month, you get 10 MB, which is bumped up to $16.93/month for up to 250 MB if you go over, $21.93/month for 500 MB after that, and $36.93 for 5 GB and $0.02/MB after that. So the flex pricing on Rogers is pretty much identical to TELUS, except for the different $10 tier has been bumped up to $25 for a bit more data. Rogers also offers shareable data add-ons for smartphones that are separate from their usual offerings (though no more expensive);  you get 1 GB across both devices for $30/month, 3 GB for $45/month, and $60/month for 6 GB. The sneaky part here is that it looks like you wouldn't be able to access LTE if you opt for the bottom-tier plan, which is downright dirty. Bell and TELUS don't mention anything about this, so I can only hope that they aren't doing anything similar.

With all of that said, I would have to side with TELUS if I was buying one of the new iPads with LTE. They've got the broadest national coverage, the best spread in flex rates and free sharing of data with smartphones. Obviously, if you're in St. John's, you'll pretty much be forced to go with Rogers, but for everyone else in Canada, it should be a pretty clear decision.

Will you be able to jailbreak the new iPad and can you jailbreak the just-released iOS 5.1 software? If you're a jailbreaker like me, that's probably the first question you asked yourself following Apple's big even yesterday. I know it's the question a lot of you are asking us.

Here's the deal.

The new iPad

As of now, we really don't know much other than there probably won't be a jailbreak ready for release. Considering the new iPad comes with an upgraded A5X processor, we can safely assume any existing tool would need to be heavily updated to support it. Given how long it took to jailbreak the iPhone 4S and iPad 2's A5 processor we could be in for quite a wait. There's just no way to tell until jailbreak developers get their hands on the new iPad and get to work.

Bottom line, don't buy the new iPad expecting to jailbreak it day one.

The current and new AppleTV

If you've got a current generation AppleTV2 and you update to the newer firmware, you'll lose your jailbreak. If you've got your blobs saved, you'll be good to downgrade though if you'd like your jailbreak back.

While we aren't sure yet when it comes to the 3rd generation AppleTV, FireCore seems pretty certain they'll be able to issue an update to jailbreak the new iteration of the AppleTV as well.

Will aTV Flash (black) be compatible?

The short answer is: Yes! There will undoubtedly be a few obstacles to overcome in order to get everything up to speed, but based on our past experiences and progress thus far we're confident we can put the pieces in place to make it happen.

Again, don't expect to be able to jailbreak it day one but odds are, you'll have a jailbreak sooner rather than later.

iOS 5.1 for iPhone 4S and iPad 2

If you have an iPhone 4S or iPad 2 (which both use the Apple A5 chipset) and want to keep your jailbreak, I highly recommend staying away from iOS 5.1. As soon as Apple stops signing iOS 5.0.1, you will not be able to downgrade even if you have your SHSH blobs saved.

The only exception to this is if you have an iPad 2 that has blobs saved for some version of iOS 4. You will be able to downgrade to those. iPhone 4S users will not be able to downgrade.

If you want to stay jailbroken, stay away from iOS 5 for now.

iOS 5.1 for iPhone 4 and original iPad

The Dev-Team has released a tethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1 via redsn0w 0.9.10b6 that works with the iPhone 4 and original iPad. If you are dying to upgrade to iOS 5.1 and you're okay with being tethered, you can go right ahead.

I'd highly recommend staying untethered on iOS 5.0.1 until an untethered version for iOS 5.1 is released, however. For those not familiar with what tethering means, you'll basically have to connect to your computer any time you want or need to reboot your iPhone or original iPad. That means any time your devices turns off or runs out of power, you have to go back to redsn0w and perform what is called a tethered boot.

The up side is that you will be able to downgrade back to iOS 5.0.1 or earlier iOS versions, unlike iPhone 4S and iPad 2 users, as long as you have your blobs saved.

Again, unless you really need iOS 5.1 now and don't mind a tether, stay away.

iOS 5.1 for iPhone 3GS

If you've got an older boot rom, you can update to iOS 5.1 and enjoy an untethered jailbreak. Newer boot rom devices will be tethered just like the iPhone 4 and original iPad.

Unlockers

If you rely on using a program like ultrasn0w for a software unlock, I'd suggest holding off. If you really fancy having iOS 5.1, you can do so but you'll need to create a custom IPSW in order to upgrade so your baseband will remain in tact. You can do this with the newly released version of redsn0w available in our downloads section via the link below.

Conclusion

If you really love your jailbreak and all the apps, hacks, and utilities stick with iOS 5.0.1 or earlier an iPad 2 or earlier.

While tethered jailbreaks are tolerable, I really don't think iOS 5.1 added enough features that would warrant moving to a tethered jailbreak or losing your jailbreak altogether. Unless you are dying to check out new software like iPhoto for iOS, most users will be perfectly fine on iOS 5.0.1 untethered for now. And if you really want a new iPad, get it and enjoy it stock for now.

Additional resources:

• iOS 5.1 tethered jailbreak via redsn0w
• iMore downloads section
• The new iPad - everything you need to know
• Jailbreak help and discussion forums

If you don't have an iPad, should you make the new iPad  your first? If you already have an original iPad or iPad 2, is it worth upgrading to the new iPad? How about if you're using a BlackBery, webOS, or Android tablet, or a Windows netbook? To buy, to upgrade, or to skip and wait for the next one (or something else) is the bottom line for all of us. Is the new iPad just an iterative update or a must have, and for whom?

Here's what to consider.

Should you buy the new iPad as your first tablet?

The new iPad really is an unbelievable amount of incredible technology at an amazing price.

Yes.

That's not being facetious. If you're in the market for a tablet, there are smaller options, cheaper options, and option that even do one or two very specific things better.  As a complete devicee, however, no one else is giving away this much technology in this easy-to-use  package at this good a price. Not even close.

• If price is an issue, consider the $399 iPad 2. You'll miss out on some fantastic specs, but it's ease of use and supporting ecosystem are second to only one.
• If price and size are an issue, consider a $199 BlackBerry PlayBook or Amazon Kindle Fire. You'll miss out on the ecosystem but get a lot of bang for your buck.
• If you really need a certain feature the iPad lacks, like a more desktop-style interface, consider one of the many Android tablets or wait for Windows 8 slates. Less ease of use, smaller ecosystem, but typically more flexible and configurable.

But seriously, if you're considering your first tablet, get the new iPad.

Should you upgrade from the original iPad?

If your original iPad still works fine, great! If it's more frustration than fun, consider an upgrade.

If you're currently using the original, 2010 iPad and have absolutely no problems with it -- you're not annoyed by Safari reloading pages when it runs out of memory, you're not annoyed by the latest graphically-intensive games and video or photo editing apps crashing or just plain refusing to run, if you don't need to ever take photos with it, then you're fine. Keep rocking the original iPad until it gives out.

If you're original iPad is starting to feel a little long in the tooth, however, you may want to consider an upgrade.

There's 4x the amount of RAM in the new iPad, which makes everything last longer and go smoother. The optional HSPA+ 42mbps and LTE 72mbps radio literally runs rings around the old GSM radio. It has a good rear facing camera as opposed to none at all. And that Retina display will be like taking your smudged up old glasses off and cleaning them for the first time in years.

You'll also have access to all the latest, greatest, most cutting edge apps with nary a compatibility issue to frustrate or stymie you.

Unless you're an incredibly low-maintenance user, the new iPad is a no-brainer update from the original.

Should you upgrade from the iPad 2?

iPad 2 users should only consider an upgrade if they really need Retina display, LTE, faster gaming, and/or a better camera

If the iPad 2 is currently your weapon of choice, you have the biggest dilemma on your hands, and the hardest decision to make.

Physically the new iPad looks almost exactly the same as the iPad 2. If you're an average user who simply has an iPad for some light reading, browsing, emailing, gaming, video watching, etc. and you enjoyed it enough on the iPad 2 yesterday, you'll likely keep enjoying it the same on the iPad 2 tomorrow.

If you had any pain points, however, especially any big ones, it's worthwhile to consider the new iPad.

• If you're a hardcore gamer or productivity maven whose tolerance for lag is less than zero, the 2x RAM boost and quad-core graphics boost likely make it a done deal
• If you're a photo and video enthusiast who really wants a real camera, that 5mp, F2.4, 1080p lens might tempt you to upgrade.
• If you've gotten used to dictation on the iPhone 4S and want it on your iPad, you'll find it on the new iPad.
• If you live on mobile data and need the fastest 4G LTE speed possible, you'll be screaming on the new iPad (at least in Canada or the U.S.)
• If you do nothing but read and wish the iPad screen looked as good as the iPhone 4S, you've got a Retina-equipped upgrade coming your way.

Most people will be fine sticking with the iPad 2 most of the time. If any one of the new features, or a combination of the new features solve a significant problem you've been having  -  it's a worthwhile upgrade.

Should you upgrade from webOS, Android, or BlackBerry?

Other tablets might be smaller and cheaper, bigger and more expensive, or just different. Which one gives you what you need?

If your current tablet of choice runs Android, webOS or is a BlackBerry PlayBook, here's where it gets tricky.

• The iPad isn't as customizable as Android unless you Jailbreak it (think root), and that's not always possible at first when a new device comes out.
• The iPad won't play Flash videos, only H.264 HTML5 videos. So if you absolutely have to have Flash, you're out of luck.
• The iPad has a slick interface and excellent user experience, but in terms of multitasking and notifications, it's still not as elegant as webOS on the TouchPad. (Then again, they aren't making TouchPads any more.)
• The iPad only comes in one style and screen size. 9.7-inches slab. No minis, no maxis, no clamshells, nothing fancy.
• No Sprint support, no LTE support outside North America. (Though it does support HSPA+ 42mbps)

But the iPad has a lot going for it as well.

• The iPad has multiple layers to it; the first layer is that it is so incredibly easy to use that the most non-tech savvy of people, people who find computes too complex or intimidating, can pick it up and get going with it immediately. At the same time, it's highly appealing to expert and veteran users users who want to spend their time getting things done, not getting their tablets to do things.
• Apple was the first to put a usable web browser on a tablet and absent Adobe Flash; Safari is still the most powerful HTML5 browser in the business. Likewise, the built in Mail app shows rich content with pictures. VPN, ActiveSync, and other enterprise-friendly features are also built right in.
• It's become a cliché but there really is an app for almost everything on the iPad. While other platforms are struggling to field tablet-optimized apps, the iPad App Store is drowning in them. Pretty much every major app and currently all the best games are easily available in the App Store and are so functional people actually use them more than the great web browser these days.
• iTunes and now iCloud, which does a lot of what iTunes used to but without the cable, lets you easily sync your existing content and also gives you access not only to the App Store but iTunes music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, iTunes U (University) and overall more content in more parts of the world than any other service.
• Google services, Microsoft services, Dropbox, and other services are also well supported by Apple and/or apps.
• If you live near an Apple Store, and you have a problem with your iPad, there's no passing the buck between retailer and manufacturer - there's no sending your tablet away for lengthy repairs. You make a Genius Bar appointment, you show up, they fix your iPad or swap it for a new one (if you're still under warranty or Apple Care). They'll also help you set it up and teach you how to use it. If you're new to tablets, this is the single best reason to go Apple.
• Apple also creates a ton of other products to supplement the iPad, including Mac computers, software for Mac and Windows, and together with their partners provide more cases, chargers, docks, car kits, and accessories of every kind. No other smartphone has the quantity or quality of extras, from fashionable to functional, that iPad has.

If you've only been using another platform because you were waiting for the 2012 iPad to make the jump... jump!

If there's something your current platform does that you know for sure the iPad doesn't do, then stick with your current platform, you'll only frustrate yourself.

Should you upgrade from a netbook?

This is more difficult to answer and a lot will depend on your personal use case. Flippantly, I'd say "yes, in a heartbeat". Netbooks have failed as a product category because aside from being small and cheap they were simply really bad computers.

For specific things like surfing the web (sans Flash), email, watching hi-def video, playing games, reading eBooks, etc., the new iPad simply smokes a netbook. Add a Bluetooth keyboard and you can even pound out significant amounts of content just as well as netbook.

About all you can't do is run Windows or Office. If those two things are vital to you (and they are to a lot of users), you'll be happier with a netbook.

If you don't depend on Microsoft and apps that run on Microsoft, get the new iPad.

Any questions?

If you've already decided to get the new iPad, let us know which one you got and why. If you need more advice or want some other opinions, just ask!

• New iPad forum

So you've decided to take the plunge and get the new iPad and you've chosen both the carrier and the color you want, but you aren't sure which storage capacity size to go with? The difference between 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB isn't just how much stuff you can put on it, but $100-$200 in up front costs, so it's worth thinking about.

Here's the breakdown.

Price for storage

The current US prices for the new iPad are (not counting the $130 surcharge for 3G + 4G models):

• 16GB: $499 or $31.19/GB
• 32GB: $599 or $18.72/GB
• 64GB: $699 or $10.92/GB

It looks like you can pay $200 more (20% more) the price for 4x the storage, which makes the price per GB fall really fast. Still, Apple is getting you to pay $100 for an extra 16GB of storage and $200 for an extra 48GB of storage. That's not a great deal, given what SD cards go for these days. That's probably where Apple helps increase their margins.

So if giving Apple an extra dime irks you, the 16GB baseline model could be the way to go. But there are other things to consider first.

iCloud and other online storage options

iCloud gives us unlimited online storage for iTunes purchased content -- iBooks, music, movies, TV shows, and apps, and 5GB of additional storage for backups, data, etc. If that's not enough, you can pay for more.

• 10GB: $20/year
• 20GB: $40/year
• 50GB: $100/year

This might make it tempting to save some $$$ up front on onboard storage and make up for it with the free 5GB iCloud, with the option to buy more storage as a safety blanket.

It's not a crazy idea but it's important to remember that online storage isn't always as available, fast, and convenient as onboard storage. For example, you can't just play a movie from iCloud, you have to download it at the same time you watch it, which means you have to have enough space available on your iPad to handle the download. If you want to watch a lot of movies, you may have to watch, delete, watch, delete, over and over again.

iCloud also doesn't give you a file system like Dropbox or Box.net, so you can only really store what Apple lets you. If your movies and videos don't come from iTunes, iCloud is no help to you. Also, in our tests iCloud's free 5GB could get filled up pretty quickly by photos and especially videos.

So iCloud means you can get away with storing less content on your device, but you still want to have enough local storage for what you need, when you need it.

5 megapixel photos and 1080p video

Storing a lot of photos or videos on your new iPad means you'll need to have a lot of space available.

The new iPad actually has a good camera on it, and that means it takes good 5 megapixel photos and 1080p video. That also means you need room to store 5 megapixel photos and 1080p video.

For example, I take a ton of photos and videos on my iPhone 4S and with 16GB I'd quickly run out of space. Since it's a pain in the butt to have to go through and figure out what to delete if I'm not near my computer, I opted for more storage.

Unlike an iPhone, however, an iPad probably isn't your go-to camera, and isn't the camera you always have with you. In other words, I don't think most people will take and store as many photos or as much video with their iPads as they would their iPhones (or other smartphones).

That being said, I store a ton of photos and video on my iPad. It's just a great way to show and share those special moments with friends and family. If you want to keep a lot of home movies and photos available, you'll need space for them.

Content

Big games, 1080p movies, tons of TV episodes, and gigantic music collections also need a lot of space.

The other thing that can fill up our iPad quickly is content.

• Games can be big, and with the new iPad's 2048x1536 Retina display and Apple A5X processor, we might see even bigger ones with more textures and richer environments. Some games were already getting close to 1GB, how big will the Retina iPad games be?

• iTunes movies can be 1-3GB in size for SD depending on the length. If you prefer watching HD, they can be 3-5GB. If you want to take advantage of the Retina display to watch 1080p movies... Watch out.

• iTunes TV shows can be a quarter to half the size of movies, but more than make up for it by the number of episodes typically available.

• If you get your movies and TV shows from somewhere other than iTunes, you're still looking at about 400MB an hour for SD and over 1GB (sometimes way over) an hour for HD.

• Music files are generally quite small but can add up as well, especially if you have lots and lots of albums you want to keep with you everywhere.

Who should get 16GB

If you don't use a lot of apps, if you don't want to have a lot of movies and TV shows, or a huge amount of music, if you don't intend to shoot and keep very much 5 megapixel photos or 1080p video on your iPad, you'll probably be okay with 16GB.

Some people like to keep their iPads light and either stream or surf the web for content, and some people manage their photos and videos very well, transferring them to their computers regularly and reliably.

If you keep your iPad lean, you can probably save yourself some cash and get by on 16GB.

Who should get 32GB

If the iPad is your primary device, if you play games on it and watch movies and TV shows on it, if you have a decent sized music collection you want to keep with you, and if you shoot an average amount of photos and videos, 32GB is probably your sweet spot.

Some people like to have one device that, while it doesn't do everything all the time, is capable enough to do most things most of the time. As long as there's some extra space to give extra time to managing apps and content, it's a great compromise.

If you do a fair but not overwhelming amount of stuff on your iPad, your probably better off going for 32GB.

Who should get 64GB

If you're a power user who wants to keep as much as possible for as long as possible, if you have a large amount of apps and games, TV and movies, and a huge music collection you simply have to have with you all the time, or you shoot photos and video almost non stop and don't want to have to bother transferring it all the time... we'll, you've probably already ordered a 64GB iPad and cursed Apple for not giving you a 128GB option!

Some people really do want their iPad to do everything, all of the time, and never (or rarely) have to worry about running out of space. If you really feel like you need it, you probably didn't need me to tell you so, and you've already decided you're getting 64GB. Enjoy!

What if you choose the wrong size?

Remember, in most places you have time to try out your new iPad and return it if you don't like it. Make sure, as soon as possible, you put your new iPad to realistic use. Load up all the apps and games you want with you, load up your movies and TV shows, go out and take some photos and shoot some video. Give it a complete and thorough workout and see.

If it feels like you got too much storage, say 64GB and you haven't even gone past 2GB, or if you got too little, say you're already at 15GB of 16GB, then take your iPad back and exchange it for one that better suits your needs.

If you come to this realization too late, after the exchange period is over, remember you can buy additional iCloud storage, or look at other options like Dropbox which will let you keep your stuff available online and potentially free up some much needed space on your iPad.

Any questions?

If you've already decided which storage capacity is perfect for you, 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB, leave a comment and let me know!

If you're still not sure, if you want advice or more opinions, just ask!

• New iPad forum

Picking between one of two color options, black or white, for the new iPad might seem trivial to some or simply a matter of personal taste, but it's a question we get asked a lot. Once you've decided to get a new iPad, settled on your storage capacity, and chosen between AT&T and Verizon if you're going 4G LTE, color is what's left. While the black and white iPads are otherwise identical in terms of size and weight, storage capacities and carriers, there are a few points to consider.

Note: Unlike the black and white iPhones, iPads all have the same aluminum back plate so it's really only the front bezel border that changes.

Is white more distracting?

A white bezel tends not to blend away into the background, so some find it more distracting than black.

Imagine if your TV set had a white bezel instead of black, would that distract you from the show or movie you were watching? The game you were playing? If the goal of the device is to get out of your way so you can become totally immersed in the content, black has traditionally been a much safer color choice for manufacturers to go with.

Many people feel the same way about the iPad. Black disappears. Even if the content is white (like an ebook or web page), the environment around us usually isn't. So black melts out of the way and once the screen lights up it's all but forgotten.

The same can happen with a white bezel, but it depends more on the individual. White is definitely more noticeable than black. For some that means it's a lot more distracting and actually takes away from the viewing experience. For others, it's enjoyable, frames the viewing, and provides a two-tone look that's more fashionable than black.

I've had both a black and a white iPads and have never been distracted nor irked by either one. If white catches your eye a little too much, however, you might want to stick with black.

Will white discolor?

Black will show smudges more, but could theoretically maintain its color for longer.

Rumor has it Apple delayed the launch of the white iPhone 4 in order to improve the UV protection and prevent discoloration. That's just a rumor, however, and white iPads have shipped day and date with black iPads since they were introduced in March 2011. That also means white iPads have been on the market for almost a year now, and there haven't been any widespread accounts of discoloration. My own white iPad 2, bought in March 2011, still looks as crisp and clean as the day I unboxed it.

In 5 years time some more obvious aging issues may present themselves, but 5 years is an eternity in consumer electronics. If it concerns you, stick with black.

On the other hand, black shows fingerprints and smudges more dramatically and don't disappear when the screen is lit up, so if those annoy you, white is a better choice.

Does white look better?

Black iPads let accessories be the star while white iPads compete with or complement them more.

Some people just love the look of a white device, whether it's an iPad, an iPhone, a BlackBerry, an Android, or whatever. They sometimes get shipped later or come in more limited quantities so there's an air of exclusivity about them.

That's not the case with iPads.

White tends to stand out more and can be more obvious with brightly colored cases. Is that something that appeals to you? Or do you want the content and the accessories to be the star?

If you like the idea of a blank canvas, stick to black.

So which color should you get?

At the end of the day, the only real answer is get the color you like better. Everything else is manufactured anxiety at this point. Just close your eyes, picture your iPad in your hand and carefully look at what color you're picturing.

Then buy that.

Any questions?

If you've already chosen, let us know which one you went with and why. If you need extra help or want extra opinions deciding whether you should get, black or white, don't hesitate to ask.

• New iPad forum
• iPad 2 forum

You've decided to get an iPad, but you're not sure if you need to spring for the $499+  new 2012 iPad, or if you'd be okay with the older, $399+ 2011 iPad 2.  First, yes, those names are wicked confusing,  but the names aren't the only confusing thing. There are a lot of factors to consider. Let's go over them one by one, and help you decide.

2012 iPad product line

While Apple has left older iPhone and iPod touch models on the market several times, this is the first year they've left an older iPad model on the line. It may be a year old, but it's still a respectable device and it's $100 cheaper than the cheapest new model.

iPad 2 (2011) 16GB - $399 Wi-Fi, $529 Wi-Fi + 3G

The 2011 iPad 2 with 16GB of storage is the first "budget" iPad designed to ease the barrier of entry for price-concious first-time buyers and for bulk buyers like schools and businesses. It doesn't have the crystal clear, high density Retina display or 4G LTE data, or the new, super-fast Apple A5X processor, and the cameras are terrible, but it runs the same iOS 5 operating system, and has access to the App Store and Safari, and can do most everything the new iPad can do. And it looks almost identical.

If price is more of a concern to you than getting the latest and the greatest, and $100 makes a big difference in your budget, the iPad 2 is still a great choice.

• Full iPad 2 review

New iPad (2012) - $499 and up Wi-Fi, $629 and up Wi-Fi + 3G + LTE

The new iPad (no number) is the new king of the tablets, and Apple's latest iOS device. It has everything last year's iPad 2 had, and a lot more. Notably, the screen is a double-resolution Retina display at 2048x1536, which is more pixels than a 1080p TV scrunched down into a 9.7-inch size. In other words, you can't see the pixels. Speaking of 1080p, it supports both 1080p video playback, and has a 5mp camera on the back that can shoot 1080p video. (It looks like the iPhone 4 camera with the iPhone 4S photo processing software)

Apple offers the new iPad Wi-Fi at three price points depending on the amount of storage:

• 16GB - $499
• 32GB - $599
• 64GB - $699

If you want it with 3G GSM/CDMA, and 4G LTE in the U.S. and Canada, the prices go up $120:

• 16GB - $629
• 32GB - $729
• 64GB - $829

If you know you want a top of the line iPad, with the latest and greatest features and every bit of cool technology Apple has to offer, then get the new iPad.

Any questions?

If you're still not sure, hit up our iPhone Forums to get the help you need to make up your mind.

• New iPad forum
• iPad 2 forum

Once you've decided to get a new iPad, picked out your color, and settled on your storage capacity, if you're going with the 4G LTE model of the new iPad in the US, the question becomes -- AT&T or Verizon, which carrier should you choose? For most of us, the decision will come down to two factors - coverage, pricing, and tethering.

Here's how it breaks down.

Pricing plans

Here's the pricing comparison chart that Apple displays on the ordering page for the new iPad. All plans are commitment free and paid month-to-month -- you can cancel at anytime.

So with regards to cost, you need to ask yourself how much data you plan on using. Realistically, if you have Wifi at home, work and school (if you're a student), you can probably get by just fine with AT&T's 250MB per month plan and save $5. On the other hand, for only $5 more, you can jump up to a full GB of data with Verizon.

The most popular plans will be the $30 plans, and at that price, AT&T gives you an extra gigabyte -- that's 50% more than Verizon's 2 GB. The $50 plans are identical on Verizon and AT&T.

In reality, these plans are fairly similar and pricing shouldn't be the sole-determining factor. It's more important that your carrier offers the data you want in the area you live your life.

LTE availability

In addition to price, you must also consider where each carrier offers coverage and if you're within that area. Here's a side by side comparison of Verizon's and AT&T's coverage maps (left is Verizon, right is AT&T).

Clearly, Verizon has much more LTE availability (green dots vs orange dots.)  If you live in an area where Verizon offers LTE and AT&T does not, your best bet is to probably go with Verizon, providing that their network is pretty solid in that area. If you're not sure, ask your family, friends, and coworkers who have LTE phones on Verizon's network.

If LTE is not available to you on either network, the next thing to look at is 3G coverage. If you live somewhere that only gets EDGE on AT&T (light blue on AT&T's map), Verizon is the way to go.

Most of you, however, will be in one of these last two categories: an LTE available area on both Verizon and AT&T, or, in a 3G, but not LTE available area on both Verizon and AT&T. For those of you in this category, I'm inclined to recommend AT&T, provided that the 3G network is stable in your area. Again, ask your friends, family, and coworkers for their experience.

Why AT&T, you ask? Because AT&T's HSPA and HSPA+ 3G networks are faster than Verizon's CDMA 3G network. It's all about the speed.

You can get a closer look at AT&T's coverage map here and Verizon's map here.

Tethering

If you want to have the ability to tether your iPad's network connection to your computer, then Verizon in your only choice. Verizon includes tethering in their data plans and does not come at an additional cost.

As of right now, AT&T does not offer this functionality.

Making the choice

So which one are you going to choose? Personally, since AT&T's LTE network is not available in my area, but Verizon's is, it was a no-brainer for me to choose Verizon (even though my iPhone is with AT&T). What about you?

• New iPad forum
• AT&T forum
• Verizon forum

The iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS are some of the easiest iOS devices to DIY repair. With the right tools and parts, swapping out your bad LCD for a brand new one is a pretty easy and much cheaper than purchasing a new iPhone.

Disclaimer: As with any repair, iMore nor PXLFIX can be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It’s also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don’t feel comfortable opening your device, don’t. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device.

Symptoms

• Screen is very dim or you can barely see an image
• Lines or pixels distorting the screen
• If your iPhone seems to work aka you can hear system sounds, slide to unlock, but can't see an image - your LCD probably went out

What you need for a DIY LCD replacement

PXLFIX recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like eTech Parts. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• A sad iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS
• A replacement LCD - iPhone 3GS LCD, iPhone 3G LCD
• A #00 Phillips screwdriver
• A suction cup
• A plastic pry tool or spudger

This repair will be performed in exactly the same manner regardless whether you have an iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS.

Power off your iPhone

Before performing any repair or removing any screws or parts, always power off your device.

Remove the dock connector screws

Using your #00 Phillips screwdriver, remove the 2 screws located on each side of the dock connector.

Remove the digitizer & LCD assembly

This part can be a bit tricky so please do this with extreme care so you don't tear any cables during the process.

The easiest way to remove the digitizer assembly is by using a suction cup.

1. Position the suction cup on the screen directly above the home button.
2. Using your other hand, hold down the frame while gently pulling up on the suction cup.
3. The goal is to get the bottom of the digitizer loose. Do not pull directly up. There are 3 cables attached in the top right of your iPhone. You do not want to tear these. Just pull up until the bottom of the assembly pops out.
4. After you have the bottom up you can remove the suction cup.

Remove the cables that attach the digitizer assembly to the logic board:

Once you have the bottom of your digitizer assembly popped up we can remove the cables attaching it to the logic board.

1. Gently lift up your digitizer enough to have a clear view of the 3 cables in the top right of your iPhone.
2. With your plastic spudger or pry tool, you'll need to pry up the first two cables that attach the digitizer and LCD. They should be labeled with orange stickers numbered 1 and 2. Simply pop them off the logic board gently.

3. Underneath these cables you'll see one other labeled as cable 3. This one is a bit trickier as it is clipped down. You'll need to gently pop up the clasp holding it into the fastener. It is a tiny white clip. Simply pop it upwards and the number 3 cable should then slide right out.
4. Remove the digitizer & LCD assembly.

At this point you can set the body of your iPhone aside and flip over the front screen assembly, which contains your earpiece.

Remove the LCD assembly

For this step, you'll need to remove 6 screws that hold the LCD in place. If you've replaced your digitizer before, you should be familiar with the screw locations and how to remove the LCD.

1. There are 6 screws holding the LCD in place. They are all the same size. Three on the left side of the frame, 2 on the right side of the frame, and 1 on the top right holding down the induction flex. Remove all 6 screws with your #00 Phillips screwdriver and set them aside.

2. Next use your pry tool to slowly work the LCD out of the old assembly on the left and right sides. It should come out fairly easily. Just take special care not to scratch it while removing it. The LCD and back plate will remove in one piece as they are glued together.

Remove the frame from the old LCD

Most LCDs will not come with a new back frame so you'll need to remove the frame off your old LCD and place it on the new one.

1. Using a pry tool, spudger, or razor blade edge - run your tool between the frame and old LCD to break the adhesive. There isn't a ton so you won't have to pry very hard.

2. As the frame separates from the LCD, separate the 2 completely.

Place the frame onto the new LCD

Peel the backing (protective cover) off the new LCD and place the frame onto the back of the new LCD. Most replacement LCDs will come with adhesive already installed. If not, you can use any type of electronic adhesive you'd like. I personally prefer using a universal double-sided adhesive

Reassemble your iPhone

Now that you've gotten the new LCD placed onto the frame, it's time to reassemble your iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS. To do so, simply follow these instructions in reverse order or watch the video above for a walk-through of reassembly.

And... done!

When you power your iPhone up you should now have a fully functioning LCD again. If for some reason the LCD doesn't work, first check the cables and make sure they are secured to the logic board correctly and securely. If you run into any other issues, check out our mod and DIY forum links below for even more help and tips.

Additional resources:

• iMore Mod & DIY forums
• How to replace an iPhone 3G/3GS digitizer assembly
• Even more DIY repairs and modifications

The placement of your subject or subjects is incredibly important when it comes to creating powerful iPhone photo compositions, but just as important is everything around and between them -- the negative space. We started out our iPhoneography series by introducing the rule of thirds. Now we're going to explore that other two thirds, how it defines the forms, leads the eye, and helps create more balanced, more visually interesting work.

The positives of negative space

Rubin's Vase is a classic example of the power of negative space. Do you see two faces in profile, or a vase?

If every pixel in your photograph was filled with important information it would be impossible to know what to focus on. In other words, if everything is special or important, nothing is. Just like the silence in between the notes defines the music, the negative space around the subjects of your photograph defines the composition.

Don't think of negative space as "empty" space, because that's not always the case. Negative space can be filled with clouds or forests, it could be out of focus or in stark contrast, it could be lost in motion or frozen in stillness. Think of negative space as something that balances out your photos, the supporting player that really lets your subjects shine.

It's a difficult concept to grasp, and sometimes not an obvious one, especially now that we have 8 megapixel, million color cameras on our iPhones. Rubin's Vase (above) is a classic example of the power of negative space, and breaking things down into extremely high contrast (i.e. black and white) can help you get the hang of it.

Lead the eyes into negative space

Here the coin is composed using the "rule of thirds" and, in black and white, it's easy to see how the negative space defines that composition.

Until now, many of you probably didn't even think about the negative space and how it can impact your photography. Most people are focused on the subject and ignore everything else when composing their photos. Simply being aware of the negative space will immediately improve your photographs.

The best way to relate your subject and negative space is to compose your shots so that an element of your subject leads your eyes into the negative space. We talked about this briefly with portraits when we mentioned that you want to keep the negative space in front of your subject.

Dramatic lighting with harsh shadows is a prime opportunity for using negative space. Compose your shots so that the shadows are moving into the negative space because your eyes will naturally follow it.

This next photo is another great example and I want to walk you through my thought process with producing the final image.

I settled on this photo when I finally managed to get the flame to lead the eye into the negative space.

I took about 5 shots of this photo because of the moving flame. I settled on the above photo because the flame leads your eyes into the negative space. If the flame was pointing toward the left, it would still be a nice picture, but not have the same impact as this one.

Now, this candle was actually sitting on a table that had a lot of people sitting around it. I positioned myself so that no one was behind it, shot in portrait mode, and used the rule of thirds with the candle to the left. I used portrait orientation because I wanted to keep the people out of the shot, but in the end, the composition wasn't working for me --it should've been taken in landscape. That's why I decided to use Instagram to crop the photo to a square and applied a filter that darkened my background and eliminated the distractions. The square crop dramatized the negative space and brought the focus on the flame.

This photo is a great example of using a uniform color for your negative space and how it can positively impact your photo. I considered tilting the lens so that the leaf of the Apple symbol would lead the eyes into the negative space, but in the end I decided to leave it straight because the bite out of the Apple plays that role nicely. I also cropped it to a 16:9 ratio to dramatize the negative space by making it appear longer.

I've also seen uniform negative space done nicely with the sky as the background, by looking up at a tree or flower, and on portraits with a solid colored wall or backdrop behind the subject.

Examples

One of iMore's friends specializes in the use of negative space in his photography and iPhoneography. Check out some of Martin Reisch's (aka *safe solvent™) work on Instagram or on his website http://safesolvent.com/

Some great examples of negative space from Martin Reisch, aka *safe solvent™

Critique yourself

Composition is hard to master and is a skill that takes a lot of practice and patience to develop. In addition to the assignment this week, I challenge you to seriously critique every image you take that you're proud of. There are many elements to a photo that need to be critiqued, but for this week, pay special attention to that negative space and ask yourself how you could have made better use of it.

For example, take a look at the very first image of this post.

I'm going to critique the photo that is being taken on the iPhone. There are two different light sources hitting the 8-ball, casting two different shadows. The choice of negative space is good -- the 8-ball is in its element on the pool felt. However, even though I have the longer shadow leading the eyes into the negative space, The composition could still use a little tweeking. What make this image a little different is that there are two shadows, and together, they lead your eyes in a different direction than if the long shadow was by itself. When I look at that photo, my eyes keep falling into the bottom right corner, which then I fight back by jumping up and looking at the bigger space in opposite corner. This is bad.

How should I fix it? My first thought was to position the iPhone so that the shadows work together to lead my eyes into the bottom left or bottom right corner. But when I actually attempted it, the angle of the shadows wasn't really working. So I decided the move the 8-ball entirely, so that only one light source was casting a shadow on it. Then I cropped to 16:9 ratio to make the shadow seem longer. Here's the result.

Much better!

Now go out and shoot! And critique!

So your assignment this week is to not only make good use of negative space, but to give your photos a good honest critique. Then head to the iMore Photography Forum and share both your photos and a critique of each photo you share. Then ask your fellow iMore iPhoneographers for their critique and offer up your own constructive criticism to their photos as well. Let's grow as iPhoneographers, together!

When I decided that I wanted to learn how to play the guitar, I wasn’t sure where to start –- so I turned, as I always do, to my trusty iPad.

I’m not the most spontaneous person in the world – my wife and kids would say that is a huge understatement. I am a bit programmed and disciplined and really work on “trying new things.”

So, in my disciplined way, I decided that at 48 years of age, it was time for a mid-life crisis. Since I’m not terribly spontaneous, I have an amazing, beautiful wife and six great kids, my mid-life crisis needed to be something out of the norm.

I thought about getting a motorcycle, but my family seems to think I lack the proper coordination and that it might end very badly for me if I tried that. Then it dawned on me – what I wanted to learn how to do was play the guitar. I have been playing the piano since I was about six, I knew music theory and I played in bands in high school; but what I really wanted to do was learn the guitar.

I found my goal, and set upon my journey with iPad 2 in hand to start my adventure. The first thing I needed to do was buy a guitar. I fired up my eBay app to see if I could get a good used one. When nothing jumped out at me, I launched the PriceGrabber app and looked for a guitar that got a great write up in Guitarist Magazine that I had just read using iOS 5's Newsstand.

The PriceGrabber app let me look for a guitar that got a great write up in Guitarist Magazine that I had just read using the Newsstand app

PriceGrabber - Free - Download Now

I ordered my new guitar and started looking for apps to teach me how to use it. I was very surprised that when I did a search for “Guitar” in the App Store, I found over 800 iPad apps and close to 2000 iPhone apps. Where to start? I narrowed my search to “Beginner Guitar” to narrow the field a bit. Pay dirt!

To better cope with the quantity of apps in the App Store, I narrowed my search to “Beginner Guitar” to narrow the field a bit. Pay dirt!

Beginner Guitar Songs - Free - Download now

I found Beginner Guitar Songs from GuitarJamz.com. Marty Schwartz, who is an amazing guitar teacher, showed me how to hold the guitar, how to hold the pick, basic strumming patterns and then introduced easy chords to learn. I quickly progressed through the Beginner Lesson Series and advanced to Important Guitar Chords. After an afternoon, I could play an E minor, A major, D major, G major, E major, A minor and C major chords –not bad for the first day.

Beginner Guitar was so much fun and I could really see some progress.

The next morning of my first weekend with a guitar, I fired up the Beginner Guitar app again and went through the Strumming Patterns and tried to learn some songs from the Easy Guitar Songs section. This was so much fun and I could really see some progress.

One thing that Marty did mention in the lessons was keeping your guitar in tune. I had forgotten about that. I touched base with some musician friends and read up on line. It seems that the “purists” like to use a tuning fork, the “realists” like to use an analog chromatic tuner and the “techies” like the digital chromatic tuner. I just couldn’t see dropping close to a hundred bucks on a tuner when I knew there must be “…an app for that.” Back to the App Store – this time searching for Guitar Tuner. I came across many options, but I settled on Cleartune Chromatic Tuner. For $3.99, I figured it would be worth a shot and it is great. Play a note on the guitar and the “analog looking” dial shows you how far off from the actual note you are. I just tuned my strings and kept plucking and tuning until the guitar was in perfect tune.

Play a note on the guitar and the “analog looking” dial on Cleartune Chromatic Tuner shows you how far off from the actual note you are.

$3.99 - Cleartune Chromatic Tuner - Download now

Now I was ready to learn more chords – I had about seven under my belt and I wanted more. I found the Howcast Guitar Lessons app and found over 140 video lessons – mostly chords and progressions. I spend the better part of the day learning more chords. I continued each day; adding a new chord and then reviewing the ones I had learned. By the end of the first week I had about 10 chords I was comfortable with. By the end of the second week, I had about fifteen I could remember and play. The Howcast app also taught me how to play scales and I learned the Pentatonic scales and the Blues scale and felt like I was ready to dive into some music.

I found the Howcast Guitar Lessons app and found over 140 video lessons – mostly chords and progressions.

$1.99 - Guitar Lessons from Howcast - Download now

I so enjoyed the GuitarJamz app that I looked for more stuff from Marty Schwartz and found Blues Licks, Solo Guitar and 100 Lessons and I downloaded all those apps. I then saw that in addition to the apps and the website, Marty had hundreds of lessons for free on his YouTube channel. I watched, learned and experimented to see what I could do. I had to remember, I was only a little over two weeks into my new hobby.

What I learned was that some of my favorite classic rock songs were pretty easy. America’s “Horse With No Name” – two chords. The Beatles’ “Let it Be” – four chords. Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train” – four chords. I could do this.

Over the next few weeks – and now after about four months – I have been watching YouTube videos, using the Chromatic Tuner app and downloading guitar sheet music via the Songsterr Plus app. The guitar learning apps showed me how to read guitar tablature and chord diagrams – so I can do that as well.

The Songsterr Plus guitar learning app showed me how to read guitar tablature and chord diagrams – so I can do that as well.

$9.99 - Songsterr Plus - Download now

As I write this, I have just learned the guitar solo to Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” – something I never envisioned I would be doing four months into learning how to play the guitar. Now, I still need lots of work and I’m sure my technique needs improving. Thanks to a Valentine’s present for my first “in-person” guitar lesson, I hope to work on those things and more. However, the reality is that I really did learn how to play the guitar using my iPad.

Have you learned how to do something new using your iPad? Let us know by posting a comment below or joining this discussion thread in our forums.

You've decided you're going to buy an iPad 3, sight unseen, the moment Apple lets you give them your money.  Do you also  want to get a jumpstart on selling your old iPad before the market gets saturated? No problem! If you're not handing it down to a friend or family member, or keeping it around the office as a backup device, why not get some cash back and put it towards the purchase of Apple's next big tablet device? It's a relatively straight forward process, but there are some things to be careful about, so here's how to get started.

Getting more for your old iPad

You'll never get back all the money you poured into your current iPad, but there are some things you can do to maximize the value before you sell.

1. Jailbreak: This isn't as important as it is with selling old iPhones, especially since 3G iPads are unlocked by default, but a jailbroken iPad can still do things a stock one can't and some buyers will value that. If you are new to jailbreaking we suggest checking out the jailbreak starters guide for the best resources.
2. Condition: The better your iPad looks, the more you'll get for it. That almost goes without saying, but the difference can be a good chunk of change. Make sure you give it a good cleaning before you offer it up for sale, and if you're still under AppleCare or warranty, and are having any issues, take it in for repair or replacement immediately. Most fixes are free and will add a lot of value to your iPad. (Even if you're no longer under warranty, Apple will still sometimes help you out, so it's always worth trying.)
3. Wipe your data: Before you end up selling your old iPad, you absolutely have to run a full data wipe on it to make sure none of your data is available to the new owner. We've done a quick How-To post to help you with the process.

Putting your iPad up for sale

There are several different ways to sell your iPad, ranging from personal deals between friends, colleagues, or acquaintances, to local classified services, to online auctions. Each one has its pros and cons. Here are some things to consider:

eBay

Selling your iPad on eBay is a pretty simple process. However, there are still some things to keep in mind when using eBay to sell your iPad. For instance, eBay charges fees for each auction based on the item you're selling and how much it sells for, among other things, so here are five quick tips to help you get the most out of your auction:

1. Only ship to the buyer's confirmed Paypal address if using Paypal.
2. Price competitively if using Buy It Now as an option.
3. Take the best looking photos you can. Humans are drawn to nice looking things.
4. Make sure the pictures include any physical blemishes on the iPad and be up-front in your description.
5. Use a fast shipping service and make sure you include that in your item description.
6. Use keywords in your title and in your item description to attract more potential buyers.

You may also want to consider insuring your iPad in case anything goes wrong during shipping. Watch out for low-feedback buyers and also keep in mind that Paypal charges processing fees as well.

Craigslist

Selling on craigslist is something to consider if you'd rather deal with people locally and meet face-to-face exchange your iPad for cash. I've used Craigslist to sell a number of things around the house, and always follow a few basic rules:

• Don't ever put your personal or home address in an ad. Ever!
• Putting a personal phone number in an ad is okay, but that's up to you.
• Some find it easier to text rather than email.
• Meet in a public place, preferably in the daytime.
• Bring a friend or several friends; better safe than ripped off.
• Watch out for email scams, something for which Craigslist is notorious.

It's always a good idea to use caution when dealing with Craigslist. I've heard some pretty crazy stories so really, bring a friend and meet in an open, public area to avoid any problems.

Gazelle

Gazelle offers a service that lets you easily turn most electronic devices into cash. Simply send in your iPad and Gazelle will send you money after confirming the condition. The first thing you'll need to do is tell Gazelle what you're selling and what condition the item is in. You can choose from poor, fair, good or excellent condition It's important to be honest when rating the condition so there's no hiccups or snags along the way. It also helps if you have the box and original documentation and cables with your item, and the service will check for any water damages before giving you a quote.

The process takes about a week, and although you're not getting as much money in the end it's a great service if you don't want to deal with a lot of hassle. You can have your payment delivered through Paypal among other methods. You can also submit multiple items if you're looking to get rid of a few more things while you're at it.

SellYourMac.com

SellYourMac.com offers a similar service to Gazelle by letting you send in your old iPad for payment with little to no hassle involved. In a nutshell, they'll buy your old Mac or iOS device. You're required to provide pictures along with a serial number next to your item description and condition. Once SellYourMac.com receives your iPad they clean it, inspect it and verify that it's in working condition before they turn around and sell it on eBay. Users can receive payment via Paypal and SellYourMac.com even says they give higher quotes than competing services like Gazelle, so you'll definitely want to compare before making any final decisions.

Apple Recycle Program

If selling your old iPad on any of the services mentioned above doesn't sound appealing, and it's not in good enough condition to give away, Apple has set up an iPod and Mobile Phone Recycling Program.

Personal transactions

Just because all these online services are available, it doesn't mean you can't still sell your old iPad the old fashioned way -- person to person, likely to a friend or acquaintance. Just be sure to follow all the tips suggested above, and remember that accessories like Square can even let you take credit cards right on your own device now, if cash isn't as convenient.

Bonus tip

Include all packaging, cables and adapters if possible. If you have any extra cases or accessories you want to throw in the deal it can usually net you a higher selling price as a bundle instead of trying to sell them individually.

Any questions?

Whether it's eBay, Criagslist or any other method for selling your old iPad we hope this article will help you along the way. As always, let us know if you have any questions or additional suggestions in the comments below!

You can also check out our Marketplace Forum for more iPad buying/selling action.

There's nothing like getting up close and personal, and that holds true for photography, even iPhoneography. Life is full of small, interesting things -- a flower, an insect, your newborn's tiny toes -- and these things make for great photography.

This week's iPhone photography project is, you guessed it -- macro! Macro simply means close-up photography -- not zoomed, but the lens being physically close to the subject. The keys to good macro photography, even on an iPhone, are becoming familiar with the focus distance of your lens and nailing that focus, light, composition, and making your subject stand out.

Don't get too close

Macro photography is, by definition, close-up photography, but that doesn't mean you can get as close as you want. If you get too close, the lens will not be able to achieve a focus. I don't know the exact distance, but somewhere around 4 inches is the minimum focus distance of the iPhone's lens. So if you're struggling with locking a focus, back up.

Use AE/AF lock

How many times have you attempted to focus on your subject only to have the the lens tease you by immediately losing focus or losing focus while you're busy perfecting your composition. This is why taking advantage of the somewhat hidden AE/AF lock feature is so helpful with macro photography.

When enabled, AE/AF lock preserves the focus and exposure on the lens so that you can recompose your shot without either of these settings being changed. To enable it, just hold your finger on the screen at the spot you want to be in focus until the blue square pulsates. When you release, "AE/AF Lock" will appear at the bottom of the screen.

I recommend always use AE/AF lock when taking macro photos for composing your shots, but you can also use it as a way to combat those times when your iPhone refuses to focus. When this happens, find something else that your iPhone will focus on (keys usually work and are something I always have with me) and trigger AE/AF focus on this object. Then remove that item from the frame and move closer/further to your subject until it's in focus. Then fine tune your composition and trigger the shutter!

Don't block your light source

Light is the most important element to good photography, but since macro photography means you're getting close to your subject, it's very easy to accidentally block your light source. Be aware of this and make it a priority to allow as much light as possible to fall on your subject. Sometimes this means positioning yourself in a very awkward way, but trust me, it's worth it.

Use shallow depth of field to add interest to your photo

You may have heard of terms like "bokeh" and "depth of field" thrown around in regards to photography. Bokeh refers to the part of the photograph that is out of focus (more specifically -- the quality of the out-of-focus area) and the range of focus is called "depth of field". A photo with a shallow depth of field means that the range of focus is very small. This is often times a very desirable trait for a photograph to have.

Obtaining a shallow depth of field is a combination of focal length, aperture, and distance to your subject. With an iPhone, the only thing you can control is distance and since the closer you are to the focused area, the shallower the depth of field, macro iPhoneography is your opportunity use the out of focus area to enhance your photograph.

One thing that people commonly forget is that the surroundings and background of your photo have a great impact on the final image. If the out of focus area of your photo is related to the main subject, it ties everything together nicely and makes for a more interesting photo.

Now go out and shoot!

Your assignment for this week is to go out and take some killer macro shots then head over to the Photography Forum, ask questions, share your results, and offer feedback to your fellow iPhoneographers!

Google can keep track of everything you've ever searched for using their Web History service, even if you've cleared the browser history on your iPhone, iPad, or PC. Now that Google is changing their privacy policy -- which some view as an excellent simplification and standardization and others see as a disturbing data grab -- it means your search results won't be kept separately but potentially shared with each and every other Google service.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has this to say:

Until now, your Google Web History (your Google searches and sites visited) was cordoned off from Google's other products. This protection was especially important because search data can reveal particularly sensitive information about you, including facts about your location, interests, age, sexual orientation, religion, health concerns, and more. If you want to keep Google from combining your Web History with the data they have gathered about you in their other products, such as YouTube or Google Plus, you may want to remove all items from your Web History and stop your Web History from being recorded in the future.

If you choose to disable Google Web History, here's how:

1. Log into your Google account
2. Go to http://www.google.com/history
3. Tap on Remove all Web History

Once you remove your Google Web History, Google will also stop recording it going forward (unless or until you re-enable it via the same page).

Google has been under increased scrutiny lately when it comes to online user privacy, for the heavy handed way they've used Search and Gmail to push their social networks like Google Buzz and Google+, and more recently for the discovery they've been circumventing Safari's third party cookie protection.

Via: EFF

We love to take pictures of the people we love. It's one of the primary reasons we buy cameras, and it's one of the primary reasons we use our iPhone camera. Our friends, our families, our children, whether it's for something special like a card or graduation, an event like a trip, a party or, or family get-together, or just a chance encounter, we always have our iPhone with us so we can always grab that perfect portrait of that important person.

But how do you take a great looking portrait with your iPhone? Lighting, camera level, pose, and the "rule of thirds" we went over last time all play a role.

Lighting

If you're using an iPhone to take portraits, you likely do not have (nor want) access to a professional lighting studio, but you can still control some aspects that will have a major impact on your photos.

Avoid the sun

Moving your subject into the shade will provide much softer and more appealing light.

I've heard a countless number of people exclaim about a beautiful sunny day being such a great day to go out and take photos. This couldn't be further from the truth. Direct sunlight is a photographer's worst nightmare -- it provides harsh, unforgiving lighting and makes your subject squint. In fact, the best type of day for taking portraits is an overcast one. This isn't something you can control, though, so if you find yourself taking portraits on a sunny day, head to a shaded area.

Natural light is the best kind of light

Natural light is much prettier than indoor, incandescent light.

Most indoor lighting is horrible for photography because cameras struggle with accurately interpreting the colors -- or in photography terms, choosing the correct white balance. A big reason for this is because when indoors, you usually have more than one light source (including natural light) and each source may be emitting a different color of light. If you've noticed that your indoor images have a yellow tint to them, this is why.

So what is this magical "natural light"? It's simply light that's produced by sun, but not direct sunlight. To improve your indoor portraits, turn off your indoor lights and head to a window or sliding glass door to use as your light source. Experiment with placement, as well. Placing your subject at a 45 degree angle to the source is a good place to start.

Catchlight

You subject's eyes will stand out with catchlights.

Ever notice that in some portraits, the subject's eyes stand out more than in other portraits? Sometimes there is some post-processing involved, but most of the time it was just clever placement of lighting -- and it's so simple. To make your subject's eyes stand out, you need catchlights.

A catchlight is simply a reflection of the light source in your subject's eye. Given this definition, it should be easy to understand that you want the light source to be somewhere in front of your subject, preferably above eye level, to get the desired results. This is happens naturally when seeking out a light source, like a window, but takes a little thinking on your part when outdoors.

The best way to get catchlights with outdoor portraits is to make sure they are posed in a way that allows the light to hit their eyes. Since the light is coming from the sky, make sure your subject is not looking down or wearing a hat that shades the eyes. If you're photographing a girl with thick bangs, you may consider taking her photo from above and have her look up at you. If it's an overcast day, make note of the sun's location and position yourself so it's behind you and in front of the person you are taking photos of. This is good for both catchlights and lighting in general.

Get eye level with your subject

Getting down (or up) to your subject's level will provide better results.

Sometimes, all it takes is a simple repositioning of the photographer to transform an image from being a simple snapshot, to being a nice portrait. The trick is to get to your subject's level. For babies, this means getting down on the floor, possibly laying on your tummy. For small children, crouch down or get on your knees. And the one I have to constantly remind myself about -- get to higher ground for people who are taller than you. This is actually pretty easy with an iPhone since the viewfinder is your screen. All you need to do is hold the iPhone above your head, at your subject's eye level, when taking the photo. The screen is big enough for it to still be easy to frame the shot and trigger the shutter.

Remember, though, that rules are meant be broken. If done right, portraits shot from above or below the subject can come out rather stunning.

Posing

Pose your subjects in a natural, comfortable way.

Posing your subject is definitely one of the hardest things about portrait photography and we could focus an entire article on just this topic alone. For today, we'll just hit a couple main points.

Keep your subject's attire in mind when choosing a background. For example, if your subject is wearing a Hawaiian shirt, you'll probably want to avoid posing your subject in front of a bunch of palm trees. You want the background to compliment your subject, not distract away from them.

Try not to put your subject into specific poses as this often makes them feel awkward which translates into an awkward photo. Stick with poses that are natural and not forced. Aim to give instructions that naturally result in a nice pose. For example, tell your subject to lean against a wall and play with his phone while you respond to an important email. This will result in a completely natural pose because your subject doesn't even realize they are being posed.

For smiles, the last thing you want to do is say "smile!". For most people, this results in a very awkward, forced smile. Again, the goal is for your subject to look natural and comfortable, so try to evoke a natural smile by making them laugh or think of something that makes them happy.

Rule of thirds and empty space

When using the rule of thirds, it's better to have the empty space in front of, not behind, your subject.

Don't forget about the rule of thirds! This can be applied to every area of photography, including portraits. But with portraits, we're going to expand on the idea just a little bit more.

If your subject isn't directly facing you, frame your shots so that the front of their body is facing the empty space -- or, the two-thirds of the photo that does not have your subject. Our eyes naturally look in the direction that the subject is facing and it feels awkward to the viewer if the empty space is behind the subject.

Now go out and shoot!

Your assignment for this week is to go out and take some killer portraits. Practice makes perfect, so solicit your friends, significant others, and if you're feeling brave, strangers, to hone your skill. Then head over to the Photography Forums, ask questions, share your results, and offer feedback to your fellow iPhoneographers!

Just because Apple never made colored iPhone parts doesn't mean you can't find good ones if you know what you're looking for.

If you have an iPhone 4 and you want to swap out the standard Apple black or white backplate for something more colorful -- like red or blue -- it can be a challenge to find the best, high quality parts. Backplate swaps especially are an easy DIY project, but you want to pay careful attention to the supplier, the materials they're using, the specific model of iPhone 4 you're ordering for (AT&T/GSM is different than Verizon/Sprint/CDMA), and that you have all the tools you need for the job.

Only order iPhone 4 parts from a reputable supplier

Make sure the back is made of glass, not plastic

As tempting as it can be to order colored parts on eBay or Amazon because of the low price tag, keep in mind that it'll cost you more to replace your iPhone 4 if faulty parts cause something to go wrong. Spending a couple extra bucks for parts that are high quality and backed with a warranty is always your best bet.

Not to say there aren't some reputable sellers on both websites. Just make sure you're reading comments and customer reviews. If you see negative ones that should be a red flag and you should steer away from that seller altogether.

The best place to get colored or replacement parts is from a supplier that specializes in iPhone or iPad repair. I use eTech Parts for almost all my repair needs. They offer a warranty that I can pass down to my clients and are always willing to answer any question I may have regarding the quality of their merchandise.

Note: eTech Parts, like many suppliers, have switched to selling non-logo back plates to avoid issues with infringement. While some suppliers continue to sell color modification kits with the Apple logo, some will sell them without the logo. If the supplier doesn't specify, inquire before ordering. We will probably see a lot of suppliers start to sell blank back plates as this is something Apple has been combatting.

Some suppliers only sell colored parts to businesses and repair shops. If you plan on ordering colored parts from a repair center or online supplier like PXLFIX in the form of a DIY kit, don't be afraid to ask them who they get their parts from and if they back them with a warranty. If they are hesitant to give you that information, I'd probably find somewhere else to order them.

What to look for when buying colored parts

Several websites offer a variety of DIY color kits. There are certain things you're going to want to look for before ordering so you're sure you get the best parts you can.

Backplate checklist

If you are DIY replacing a back panel, you'll want to make sure you pay close attention to the following when buying parts.

• Make sure the back is made of glass and not plastic.
• Order the correct back replacement as GSM and CDMA backs are different. The hinges are placed differently and they are not interchangeable. This goes for both a back and a front assembly.

Inspect the screw holes carefully. They should be metal, not plastic.

• Check the screw holes on back replacements and make sure they are assembled from metal. These should ALWAYS be metal, not plastic as shown in the picture above. It's much higher quality and decreases the chance that they will strip over time. The back I've pictured above with plastic screw holes was stripped after removing the screws only 2-3 times.
• Watch out for aluminum or brushed metal backs. They can mess with your reception.

Front assembly checklist

If you're swapping out or repairing an iPhone 4 screen, you'll definitely want to make sure your parts are high quality as you'll be ordering a whole new digitizer and LCD assembly.

Make sure you inspect the brackets and that they are metal, not plastic

• Just as with the back, the brackets "are" different for CDMA and GSM models. Make sure you're ordering the correct part.
• There are brackets that run along both sides of the assembly. These should be made of metal, not plastic. You have to screw these down with washers and plastic is brittle and normally too thick. You'll have issues getting the screen to sit flush.

Inspect all sensors and make sure they are similar to your stock iPhone 4 parts

• Check sensors and make sure they look how they're supposed to. A good guide is that any colored parts should have visible sensors similar to the stock white iPhone 4. If they look different than that, don't buy them.

What to look for after you have your parts

Once you receive your colored replacement parts you'll want to check all of the following before attempting a full color swap or any modification.

Inspect all cables and make sure they are the same as stock iPhone 4 digitizer parts

• Check the sensors and cables on the front digitizer assembly. A good way to gauge the quality of colored parts is to examine the cables and sensors on your stock digitizer assembly to the new parts. Make sure they feel similar in thickness and that the sensors are located in the same spots. It is common that replacement fronts won't come with the plastic front-facing camera ring or the speaker mesh. That's okay. You'll just remove them from your stock assembly and place them on your colored assembly.

• Also check the back panel for blemishes on the lens cover. Run your finger over it and make sure it sits flush with the glass backing. This is a common problem with many knock offs. They are either scratched or don't sit flush. This will effect image quality greatly. Most quality parts will come with a plastic protector on the inside and outside of the glass panel to protect the lens.

Wrap-up

Even though colored iPhone parts aren't available from Apple doesn't mean you can't find good ones if you know what you're looking for. The ones I order for my clients are just as good as the OEM parts Apple uses in most regards. I just made sure I chose wisely when selecting a supplier.

As long as you do the same, you'll be sporting a colored iPhone that should serve you well for a long time to come. If you're considering a color swap and need detailed walkthroughs on how to replace your front assembly, rear panel, and home button - be sure to check out our guides below (CDMA guides coming soon).

And if you decide it's not a repair you're comfortable performing on your own, you can always contact PXLFIX, or similar online source, about a mail-in color swap.

Additional resources

• How to replace an iPhone 4 rear casing
• How to DIY replace a GSM iPhone 4 front assembly
• How to DIY replace a GSM iPhone 4 home button
• iMore DIY and mod forums

Jailbreak apps and tweaks have to updated just like apps you buy from the official App Store. While the process is a bit different, Cydia, the jailbreak app store, makes it pretty simple.

Much like the App Store, Cydia will let you know when you've got updates available for any apps installed on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. If you see a little red badge on your Cydia icon, it probably means you've got updates waiting to install.

To install jailbreak app updates:

1. Launch Cydia
2. Tap on the Changes tab.

3. Look for Available Upgrades to see what's pending.
4. Tap on the Upgrade button at the top right to begin.
5. Restart your springboard, if needed, or return to Cydia

All of your apps and utilities should now be up to date and ready to go.

Note: If developers provide them, always check out the change logs before doing an update. There have been certain situations where an update may only be recommended for a certain device or firmware version. It doesn't happen often but it's always a good practice to read any release notes that come with any update a jailbreak utility may have.

That's it! You've updated your jailbreak content to the most current versions and you're good to go! If you run into any issues or have any questions, be sure to check out our other jailbreak resources below.

Additional jailbreak resources:

• Jailbreak news, how to's, and guides
• Genreal jailbreak help and discussion forums

Everything you need to know about using your iPhone Camera to take great, memorable photos

With the new iPhone photography -- or iPhoneography -- series we're running on iMore, we have a lot of new iPhones users, and burgeoning photographers joining us. So, Leanna and I thought it would be a good idea to team up, take a moment, and go over the basics so that everyone gets up to speed just as quickly as possible. If you're new to the iPhone or new to taking pictures, here's everything you need to know to get started. Bookmark it. If you're already an expert, save the link for a friend, and jump right into our iPhoneography Forum and share your work!

The iPhone 4S camera

The iPhone 4S has an 8 megapixel camera. A megapixel is 1 million pixels, so that means the iPhone 4S camera captures images that are 3264x2448 pixels in size. That's enough to print an 8x10 picture at 300 dots per inch (dpi), or fairly high quality. (Low quality color images print at 150-300dpi, high quality at 300-600+ dpi)

The aperture on the iPhone 4S camera is f/2.4. The f stands for "focal ratio" or "f-stop". The lower the f-stop (which is actually a larger aperture), the more light that can be let in so you can get better pictures in a wider range of settings. For example, combined with the iPhone's macro abilities, you can be obtain a shallow depth-of-field (where the subject is in focus, and elements in front of and behind the subject are blurred). The iPhone 4S also has 5 elements in the lens, helping to keep photos sharp.

An infrared (IR) filter helps produce more accurate color, and combines with software that optimizes dynamic range and white balance. So, you basically have a camera that could previously only be found on a dedicated point-and-shoot, built right into your phone.

• iPhone 4S camera hands-on

Quick Camera access

Quickly launch your iPhone camera by double clicking home then tapping the camera button

With iOS 5, Apple's made it easier and faster than ever to access your camera when you need it, even when your iPhone is locked, and even if you have a passcode set.

• Double click the Home button
• Tap the Camera button

That's it. Two clicks and a tap and you're in the Camera App and ready to shoot.

• Yes, this does leave you open to pranks

The Camera app

Tap the Camera icon on your iPhone Home screen to launch the Camera app. The Camera app is the built-in, default way to take photos on your iPhone. Even in other apps, like Messages, if you tap the camera button to take a photo, you'll be taken into the Camera app.

The Camera app opens to a live-view screen, similar to the LCD display you see on a point-and-shoot or DSLR camera. Controls are available right on the screen to take a photo, set the flash, access advanced options, and switch to the front-facing camera. Other controls are also available, including a hardware shutter and digital zoom. We'll walk you through all of them.

Geo-tagging

When you first launch the Camera, you'll be asked for permission to use your current Location for geotagging

The first time you launch the Camera app, it will ask for your permission to use your current Location. That's because, if you let it, your iPhone will store the GPS coordinates of every photo you take, so you can always easily refer back to it later. This can be great for keeping track of vacation shots, but not so great if you're posting pictures online and don't want the entire internet to know your address.

Whether you choose to enable geo-tagging for now or not, you can always change your mind later.

• How to to geolocation on or off for your iPhone Camara

Taking a photo

To take a photo, either tap the Camera button or click the volume up control

There are two ways to take a photo with the Camera app. Both of them will fire the shutter and save a picture to your Camera Roll library.

1. Tap the Camera button on the live view screen
2. Click the volume up hardware button on the side of your iPhone

Bonus tip: If your iPhone headset has a volume up button, you can use it to take pictures remotely!

Pinch to Zoom

Pinch to zoom activates the digital zoom, and shows you the zoom slider

The iPhone has a mediocre digital zoom but if you absolutely have to zoom in, it can be very slightly better than nothing.

• Touch your thumb and forefinger to the screen and pinch them together to zoom in.
• Spread them apart to zoom back out.

Once you've activated the zoom feature, a slider will appear giving you linear control, if you prefer it.

Macro

You can automatically take macro shots by getting in close... though the focus seems glitchy on close ups

The iPhone will automatically adjust for macro photos. Just bring the camera close to the object you want to shoot and take the picture.

Note: There appears to be a glitch in iOS 5 that causes problems focusing extremely close for macro photos. It locks for a moment, then blurs again. Hopefully Apple is fixing this for the next update.

Changing auto-focus and auto-exposure

To focus and set exposure on an object, just tap on it. The square indicates the current target.

The iPhone camera has automatic focus, exposure, and facial recognition. It will always try to take the best possible photo it can, but it may not always know which area of the photo you want to target.

Changing the target is simple.

• Tap the screen

That's it. Any area you tap will be surrounded by a white square and your iPhone will automatically refocus and re-balance the exposure for that area.

If your iPhone detects a face -- or up to 10 faces -- it will put a green square around it and automatically refocus and optimize the image around the face.

Locking auto-focus/auto-exposure

Sometimes the auto-focus and auto-exposure on the iPhone is more blessing than curse. For example, when there's a lot of movement, or when the center of the photo you want to take is exceptionally bright or dark. When that happens, you can lock both the auto-focus and auto-white balance so that, when you move the camera around, they no longer change.

• Place your camera one the area that has the focus and exposure you want to lock onto to
• Tap the square to make sure the focus and white balance are set.
• Hold the square with your finger until it turns blue and pulsates.

The words AE/AF Lock will appear at the bottom the screen to confirm you've done it correctly. Move the camera and take your photos without worrying about the auto-focus or auto-exposure balance any more.

To remove the AR/AF Lock, just tap the screen outside the square.

• More on how to use the iPhone AE/AF camera lock

Setting the flash

To toggle the LED flash between On, Auto, and Off, tap the current setting at the top left of the live screen

Your iPhone has an LED Flash that can be set to off, auto, and on. It's not a great flash and as will any point-and-shoot camera, light is your friend -- especially lot of daylight. If you're in a really dark place, however, and really want or need a picture, it's easy to turn the flash on.

• Tap the Flash button at the top left of the live view screen.
• Tap the On button to turn the flash on, or the **Auto button* to put it into automatic mode.

Taking HDR photos

To enable High Dynamic Range, tap Options, then toggle HDR to On.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and involves taking a series of pictures, one right after the other, both slightly overexposed and slightly underexposed, and combining them together to reveal more light and shadow information than a standard single-exposure photo would allow. So basically, you can see detail in the bright sky and in the shadow under the tree, rather than having one blown out or the other lost to black.

• Tap the Options button at the top center of the live view screen.
• Slide the HDR toggle to On.

The bottom of the screen will show HDR so you'll know it's enabled.

Note: The multiple exposures take a short amount of time to combine, so after you take an HDR photo you'll see a your iPhone say "Saving HDR". If you need to take a lot of photos quickly, you'll want to make sure HDR is set to Off.

An example of a regular vs. HDR photo, with the HDR photo on the right revealing far greater detail in the sky

Displaying the grid

The grid allows you to use the "rule of thirds" to better compose your photos

The grid is useful to help you align your photographs and achieve better compositions. For example, by using the "rule of thirds".

• Tap the Options button at the top center of the live view screen.
• Slide the Grid toggle to On.

Two sets of vertical crossed by two sets of horizontal lines will divide your screen, and you'll be ready to compose your shot.

• How to use the "rule of thirds" to better compose your iPhone photos

Camera Roll and Photo Stream

Photo Stream is a great way to backup and instantly get all your photos onto all your Apple devices... just handle with discretion for now.

Once you've taken a photo, it gets stores in your Camera Roll, and optionally your Photo Stream.

To access the Camera Roll from inside the Camera App:

• Tap the Thumbnail button next to the camera button.

To access the Camera Roll from the Home screen:

• Launch the built-in Photos app
• Tap the the Camera Roll tab.

Photo Stream is part of iCloud and keeps the most recent photos from your Camera Roll, up to 1000 of them and for up to 1 month, in a special album that's stored up to Apple's servers and pushed down to your other iOS 5 devices. It can also stream photos to an Apple TV 2 without keeping any local copies, and will store all your photos, without limit of number and time, in iPhoto or Aperture on Mac, and on a Windows PC.

Think of it as a photo only (no video) duplicate of all the Camera Rolls of all your iOS devices -- including photos you've saved to the Camera Roll from email and the web -- all in one place.

Unlike Camera Roll, however, you currently can't delete photos from Photo Stream (that will change with iOS 5.1 later this spring). That means if you take any risqué photos you don't want store online, you'll have to reset your entire Photo Stream via iCloud.com in order to get rid of them.

Photo management and editing

You can manage your photos, including emailing, tweeting, iMessaging, deleting, creating and filing into folders, and even basic editing like red-eye removal, rotation, cropping, and auto-ehance, right in the built-in Photos app. There are also several excellent photo editing apps in the App Store.

We'll cover more on that in a future article. For now, we just want you to focus on taking photos.

Other Camera apps

A sampling of Martin Reisch's (@safesolvent) awe-inspiring Instagram gallery.

While the basic, built-in iPhone Camera app is all you really need to get started, there are several other well regarded Camera apps in the App Store. They typically provide more or better features than the built in app. Here are two of our current favorites.

• Instagram is a popular, free iPhone app for applying distinctive filters to your photos, squaring them, and quickly sharing them to the Instagram network, as well as via Twitter and Facebook. You can also see some amazing examples of other people's iPhoneography. Read more - Download now
• Camera+ has a lot of great features, including separate focus and exposure settings, image stabilization, enhanced zoom, scene modes, and a bevy of sharing options. - Read more - Download now

What's next

Now that you have a basic idea how the iPhone camera works, go shoot some photos. Shoot tons of photos. Still life, portraits, landscapes, wild life, sports, anything and everything that catches your fancy. The secret to success here is definitely practice!

• Check out our weekly iPhone photography projects to learn more
• Share your work, tips, and advice in your iPhone photography forum

Our challenge this week was to find an app that would allow my parents, who are taking a Spanish class together, to create flashcards of vocabulary that could be shared on two iPhones and one iPad. With the Spring semester well on it's way and the first round of tests approaching, my parents surely are not the only our student readers that looking for ways to be better, more efficient studiers.

With over half a million apps for just about everything, you’d figure there’d have to be at least one in the App Store for this. But with so many apps, it can be hard to find the one you want. That’s where we come in. We’re sorting through the App Store and we’re going to help find just exactly the app for that.

App for that: gFlash+/gFlashPro - Flashcards & Tests

gFlashPro has turned out to be the perfect solution. First, you create a spreadsheet with Google Docs where one column is the vocabulary term, and a second column is the definition -- or in my parents's case, the English and Spanish versions of the words. Each row in your spreadsheet then gets transformed into a flash card after you connect gPlushPro to you Google account and download the spreadsheet. Since the flashcards are tied to Google, they are easily shared on multiple devices. If you wanted, you can even share the Google documents with your classmates, so that they, too, can download the flashcards for studying on the go.

There are two version of this apps: gFlash+ and gFlashPro. The former is free to purchase and supported by ads. gFlashPro is ad free and includes addition features like the ability to Delete, "forget", and move cards in the deck. You also get free access to more than 50 million cardsets from Quizlet and StudyStack.

• gFlash+, free - App Store link
• gFlashPro, $3.99 - App Store link

Thanks to my parents for the question. Anyone else have any App for That suggestions for them? Let them — and all of us — know in the comments below.

Having trouble finding what you need in the app store? Head on over to our App for That Forum and let us know what you're looking for. The iMore community will do our best to find you just the right App for That!

The Apple TV remote that comes with the latest Apple TV 2 is very small and can be very easily misplaced or lost completely. Luckily, Apple has included a very easy way for you to use a third-party remote control as an alternative. Sure you could use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and the Apple Remote app but if you don’t want your kids, friends, or spouses, bugging you every time they need to change something on the Apple TV, you'll want something dedicated.

Here's how to set it up, and you should do it now before you lose your current remote.

• Power on your Apple TV
• Go to Settings in the main menu
• Click on General and then Remote
• Choose Learn Remote

• Select Start
• Apple TV will display icons that represent the six buttons on the Apple Remote with the "Up" or "+" button highlighted first.
• Using your third-party remote, press and hold the button you would like to use to control the "up" function until the blue progress bar is full as shown below.
• Apple TV will then select the next button function. Repeat the above step using a different button
• After you have programmed all six button functions, you can now use your third-party remote to control Apple TV. You can optionally setup specific playback buttons for Fast-forward, Rewind, Next chapter, and more.

If you see the "Button Already Learned" error message, this means one of the following:

• A different, previously learned remote, has a learned button with the same IR code as the current button that you are trying to program.
• A previously learned button of the current remote has the same IR code as the current button that you are trying to program.

That is all  there is to it, a very easy way to use a third-party remote as a backup for your Apple TV remote!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@imore.com.

Source: Apple Support Article

You've got yourself an iPhone equipped with arguably the best camera this side of a high-end point-and-shoot. It's so good there's a whole movement that's sprung up around it called "iPhoneography", or photography with the iPhone. It proves the old saying, "the best camera is the one you have with you", and in this case, that camera is also pretty darn good. But it takes more than just a great camera or lens to produce great photography. That's where iMore's new iPhoneography segment comes in. We're going to go over all the basics and work together to transform simple snapshots into photographic art.

And if you're already a seasoned photographer or iPhoneographer, we welcome you to join us. Sit in on the articles and in our new Photography Forum, lend us your eye, and share with us your experiences.

Now on with our first project! One of the most important, yet most difficult, elements in creating beautiful photographs is composition - where your subject is placed and how it's related to its surroundings. A great starting point for developing this skill is to understand the rule of thirds.

What is the rule of thirds?

Take a close look at the vertical lines in the image above. These two lines divide the image into thirds. Similarly, there are lines that divide the photo horizontally in thirds. Together, these lines form a grid over the photo and divide the image into 9 equal parts. The rule of thirds is simply a guideline that states that a photo is compositionally more interesting if the important elements of the image lie on one of the grid lines or their intersections. In the above photo, I have placed my daughter on the far right vertical line.

Luckily for you, the iPhone has the option to turn on this grid so that you don't have to estimate where the lines fall while taking your photo. To do so, while taking a photo just tap options and switch the grid to on. Until you feel comfortable with your ability of using the rule of thirds, I recommend leaving the grid turned on.

Landscapes and horizons

When photographing landscapes, it's important to make sure the horizon is not in the dead center of your photo because it is compositionally boring. Using the rule of thirds on the horizon will instantly improve your results. Make sure the more interesting piece, the sky or earth, is what makes up two thirds of your photo. In the example above, I chose to highlight the sky. Notice that I used the rule of thirds twice, both on the horizon and sun. I decided to change things up a little in this next photo.

After taking a few photos with the horizon on the bottom third of the frame and the sun on the left grid line, I wasn't too thrilled with the results and felt my pictures were a little bland. The sky wasn't particularly interesting on this day and there wasn't anything that made my photos special. So instead of making the predictable decision with the horizon on one of my horizontal lines, I placed the sun on the bottom grid line. In fact, in the above image, the sun lies on the intersection of the bottom and left grid lines. By pure luck, a bird decided to fly into the frame and I waited until he was flying past my right grid line to snap the photo. These two changes suddenly made this photo a lot more interesting.

I made a simliar decision for the following photo.

When taking photos of sunsets, it's alway more interesting to involve a silhouette, so that's what I decided to do with this tree. Most of the time, you would want your silhouette to fall on one of the grid lines, but it wasn't working with this tree -- there was something awkward about it. So, instead, I decided to use the rule of thirds on the sun. Again, it's lying on the intersection of the bottom and left grid lines and the photo came out great.

Portraits

The important element of just about every portrait is your subject's eyes, so make sure the eyes fall on one or more of the grid lines. When shooting in portrait orientation, you may want to center the subject with the top grid line passing through your subject's eyes. When shooting in landscape orientation, take advantage of both horizontal and vertical grid lines by placing one of your subjects eyes on the intersection of two grid lines.

Rules are meant to be broken

Keep in mind that this so-called rule is only a guideline and does not need to be followed to a tee. For example, if there is a lot of symmetry in your scene you may want to highlight the symmetry by centering your subject. Or perhaps moving your subject even further off center will have a greater impact and improve your photo. Be creative and don't limit yourself.

Now go out and shoot!

Now that you know how to use the rule of thirds, here's your first assignment: go out and practice. Turn on the iPhone camera's grid and shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. Then head over to the Photography Forums, ask questions if you have them, and share the great shots you got demonstrating the rule of thirds. Go!

We can't wait to see them!

Have you ever come across a PDF file while surfing the web in Safari and wondered how to save a copy to iBooks for later viewing? Whether you need to save an important forms, an eBook, a user manual, an insurance policy, or something as simple as a nutritional information sheet for your favorite restaurant, your iPhone and iPad have the ability to save to iBooks built right in. And using iBooks to store and manage PDFs is much, much easier than saving tons of bookmarks and waiting for them to re-load each time.

Here's how to do it.

Note: Make sure you have Apple's free iBooks app installed on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. If you don't, you can get it from the App Store.

• Free - Download now

1. launch Safari
2. Go to the PDF link you want to save.
3. Tap the screen once to bring up the overlay menu beneath the address bar.
4. Tap Open in iBooks.
5. iBooks will launch, and in a few moments, it will add the PDF to your collection.

You can find your PDF any time simply by launching iBooks and taping the Library button in the upper left hand corner. Your PDFs will all be on your shelf.

You should be able to do this with any standard PDF you find in Safari and decide to keep.

Bonus Tip: If you have iBooks installed on more than one device, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and iTunes on Mac or Windows, and iCloud syncing enabled, all your PDFs will automatically be downloaded to those other devices as well.

Activator allows you to launch apps or utilities on your jailbroken iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with a quick swipe, tap, or button press. Swipe up from the bottom of your screen to quick compose a text, double tap the status bar to bring up SBSettings, or shake your device to take a screenshot. Setting up an Activator gesture takes just a few seconds and the possibilities are endless.

Install Activator

Activator can be found in your Settings app. If you're jailbroken, chances are you already have Activator installed whether you know it or not. Many utilities and applications in Cydia, the jailbreak app store, support it, and will install it as a pre-requisite to using the app. SBSettings, which lets you quickly toggle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Airplane mode, among other things, is an example.

If you don't see an Activator your Settings app, you can install it for free via Cydia.

1. Launch Cydia and tap on the **Search** tab.
2. Type in **Activator**
3. Tap on **Activator**
4. Tap the **Install** button in the upper right hand corner.

Your device will require you to re-spring (restart the Springboard, or Home screen app) after installation. Then you're good to go.

How to configure a gesture in Activator

1. Launch the **Settings** app.
2. Tap **Activator**.
3. Choose how you want to trigger an actions.
4. Choose what you want the action to do.
5. One the supported apps show up, choose the one you want.

We typically recommend you allow Activator gestures to work from anywhere. However, you may not want this if you're setting a gesture that slides in from the bottom or top of the screen as it can conflict with the controls of some games. There's nothing like trying to slice in Fruit Ninja only to suddenly find yourself in a different app!

There are plenty of action options to choose from. For example, you can set up double tap on the status bar to bring up quick reply for Messages+.

Once you're done, you'll be able to perform any gesture you've specified, or call up any supported app or command on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Under iOS 5 you can even set up Twitter gestures and other system gestures like activating Siri.

If you have any favorite or especially cool Activator gestures set ups you'd like to share, let us know in the iMore apps, hacks, and themes forum.