Customizing Notification Center

Better notifications has been one of the longest running demands of iOS users, with maybe the exception of wireless syncing. Apple has done an amazing job of making notifications more useful. To view all of your latest notifications, swipe downward from the top of your screen at any time. Right away you’ll see how useful this brand new interface is for getting information quickly, and soon you’ll wonder how you lived without out it. You’ll see the weather (which can be swiped left or right to display the forecast), missed phone calls, texts, reminders, notifications from your apps, and scrolling stock quotes.

The lock screen now shows all of the notifications you missed since last checking your phone. You can even jump straight to an app by swiping the icon across the screen the same way you’re using to swiping the bar at the bottom.

There are lots of options to play with under “Notifications” in the Settings app, so you aren’t stuck with the defaults. You can choose exactly what notifications to display, the order to show them in, and the alert style. When you’re changing the settings for an app’s notifications, you’ll notice options for different alert styles. Selecting “None” means no alert will be shown for that application’s notifications, but they can still be seen in notification center, show a badge on the app, or play alert sounds. Choosing “Banners” presents a less intrusive style of alerts new to iOS 5. The banners will appear at the top of your screen and disappear after a few seconds if ignored, leaving you uninterrupted if you’re in the middle of something. The last option is “Alerts,” the style we’re all used to from versions prior to iOS 5. This style might seem useless now, but it’s still handy for things like reminders that you don’t want to accidentally miss. Here are two suggestions I have to improve your notification experience:

Disable the Stocks Widget

Some people might love seeing their stock quotes in Notification Center, but if you’re like me you don’t really need it. To hide the stock widget, just go to the Settings app, then “Notifications”, then select “Stock Widget” and flip the switch to off.

Show Email in Notification Center

I love being able to see my latest emails in notification center. Go to the Settings app, then “Notifications”, then select “Mail” and flip the switch on. I also chose “Banners” as the alert style so I can see email as it comes in without interrupting what I’m doing.

Enable Wi-Fi Sync

Syncing over Wi-Fi is easily one of the best new features in iOS 5. To enable wireless syncing, connect your phone to your computer, click on your phone in the iTunes sidebar, check “Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi,” then apply the settings and sync your phone. Now whenever you charge your phone it will automatically sync with your computer as long as they’re on the same Wi-Fi network.

So if you’re always adding new music to your library and forgetting to sync, or if you just want to be sure your phone is being backed up on a regular basis, Wi-Fi sync is sure to make you happy. All syncing now takes place in the background, so you’ll see the spinning arrows in your status bar when your phone is syncing over Wi-Fi.

Use Reminders

There are already tons of options out there for to-do apps, but Apple has done a great job of creating a clever but simple app for iOS users. You can organize reminders using lists, view tasks by due date, and automatically sync between devices. One of the coolest features of reminders is the ability to assign locations to tasks. I always seem to remember things when I’m somewhere else, so now when it happens I can just set a reminder for when I get home or when I leave class. If you’re always forgetting things and haven’t settled on a to-do app yet, Reminders is definitely worth a try. With Siri, voice commands will make setting reminders even easier.

Twitter Integration

Twitter apps have been around for awhile on iOS, but now tweeting can happen more naturally thanks to Twitter integration in iOS 5. Once you sign in to Twitter under the Settings app you’ll be able to sync photos and information from Twitter to your contacts plus tweet links and photos from included apps like Safari, Photos, YouTube, and Maps. Just use the share button (the rectangle with the arrow pointing out) to bring up a list of options that should now include a tweet button.

This single sign in can also be used by app developers, so no more hassle of entering your Twitter information in every app that wants it. Apps won’t be able to tweet without your permission, and you can disable Twitter for specific apps at any time from the Settings app. It’s very easy for developers to implement the new tweet interface, so expect to see it show up in more apps soon.

iMessage on Multiple Devices

iMessage is a new feature built into the messages app that will automatically be activated for any conversations between you and other iOS 5 users. Some of the benefits are longer texts, group messaging, better quality pictures and videos, the ability to see when when someone’s typing.

For those of us with more than one iOS device the best part of iMessage is the ability to pick up a conversation on your iPad right where you left off on your iPhone. Not only can you see the full conversation on both devices, but when you go back to a different device it’s smart enough to know which messages you’ve already read. The one drawback I’ve found with iMessage is that because an iPad or iPod touch doesn’t have a phone number, you’ll have to have get the conversation started through your email address before you can switch between devices. On your iPhone go to the Settings app, then “Messages,” tap “Receive At,” then “Caller ID.” Select your email address and now your outgoing texts to iMessage users will be sent from that address, which can be tied to both devices.

If most of the people you text with are iOS users, you may even be able to save some money by downgrading your text messaging plan since iMessage is free and unlimited.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Making things quicker and easier on a device is something a software update should always try to do, and one new feature that can save a lot of time is the ability to add keyboard shortcuts. Using TextExpander on the Mac I have keyboard shortcuts like “nname” and “hhome” that will be replaced with my full name or home address whenever they’re typed. Now that this same functionality is built into iOS, you can save yourself some typing when you’re on the go. In the Settings app, go to “General” and then select “Keyboard.” At the bottom of the keyboard settings page you’ll be able to add your own shortcuts for whatever you need. The very first thing I added was my email address with a 3 character shortcut, which is constantly saving me several seconds. It might seem crazy to obsess over a few seconds, but they really do add up as you get used to it and add more shortcuts.

Other quick tips

Show Week View in Calendar

Turn your phone sideways in the calendar app to get a view of your week that’s great for finding free time in your upcoming schedule.

Camera Improvements

We’ve all run into a situation where we wanted a photo but couldn’t get to the camera fast enough. Now when your phone is locked you can double press the home button to reveal a camera icon. If you use a passcode on your phone, you’ll probably appreciate this even more because it saves precious seconds but keeps your phone’s existing data secure. Once you’re in the camera, actually taking photos is easier too. Pinching the screen now adjusts the zoom, and the volume-up can be used to take a picture. Apple has even made it easy to make simple edits to your photos without using a 3rd party app. Just tap “Edit” when viewing your photo to use auto-enhance, the cropping tool, red-eye removal, or rotate.

iPad Multitasking Gestures

I’ve written about gestures before, and I’m glad to see the new gestures for iPad in iOS 5. Using four or five fingers you can swipe up to show the multitasking bar, pinch to get to the home screen, and swipe left and right to quickly switch between apps. Unfortunately if you’re using the first generation iPad this feature seems to be left out.

Local Weather

Apple’s built-in weather app now includes the option to show the local weather. Instead of adding a new location each time you travel, just turn on local weather after tapping the “i” icon.

Enjoy

If you haven’t already upgraded, go do it now! There’s a lot more to iOS 5 than I’ve covered here, but you can find out about more features like iCloud, Photo Stream, and Newsstand on Apple’s site. Let me know what your favorite features are and any tricks that you’ve discovered.

At first I was extremely skeptical of Apple’s attempt to incorporate more gestures into the OS, not because I thought they were a bad idea, but because I was already using so many gestures that I didn’t want Lion interfering with. After getting my Magic Mouse for Christmas back in 2009, one of the first things I did was look for a way to extend its functionality. At the time Apple only supported a few gestures, so I turned to a great app by Andreas Hegenberg called BetterTouchTool. Soon my custom gestures became second nature; making it effortless to trigger Exposé, use Spaces, zoom in Photoshop, show the Dashboard, switch tabs, and perform all kinds of other tasks I had previously used keyboard shortcuts for.

The Defaults

When Lion launched I decided to give Apple’s default gestures a shot. I not only wanted to see if they were enough to fit my needs, but also to have the benefit of being able to hop on any Mac and instantly know the gestures. The first thing you’ll notice is that scrolling has been reversed to match the scroll behavior from iOS. It’s a little disorienting at first, but it’s already starting to feel natural. The next thing I noticed was that the gesture options for a Magic Mouse are more limited than the options for a multi-touch trackpad. My guess is that Apple decided to limit the mouse because of its narrower dimensions. The only default gesture for the Magic Mouse I decided not to use was the double tap to launch Mission Control, the Lion combination and replacement for Exposé and Spaces. I use Mission Control all the time, so a double tap didn’t make sense when there are so many single tap gestures available.

I highly recommend taking a look at your Mouse/Trackpad settings and doing a little practice. Launch an app with full screen capabilities, like the latest iTunes or Safari, then click the full screen arrows in the top right of your window. Now you can switch between your desktop and full screen apps by swiping left or right with two fingers on a mouse or three fingers on a trackpad. You can even add a second desktop to swipe between by launching Mission Control (by clicking the dock icon or swiping three fingers up on a trackpad) and then moving your cursor to the top right of the screen and clicking the window with the plus that should slide out. Using multiple desktops is a great way to separate work and play or organize several tasks you might not want cluttering up a single desktop. With Lion it’s easy to add, close, and navigate between multiple desktops using Mission Control, so there’s no reason not to give it a shot along with full screen apps.

Even if you don’t planning on using any of the tips below, check out your default mouse or trackpad settings and try getting used to using them, it might take some practice but eventually you’ll wonder how you used a computer before gestures.

Becoming a Power User

You may have already learned enough from trying out the defaults, but if you still want a little more here are my tips for becoming a power user. As a Magic Mouse user I’m a little more limited by default than trackpad users are, so some of the tips may not apply to trackpads or may need a little tweaking.

To get started with these tips, you’ll first need to download BetterTouchTool. Once it’s downloaded extract the zip file and drag the app to your Applications directory. Launch the app and then make sure it’s set to launch on startup. You should notice a new icon in your menu bar for BetterTouchTool that gives you access to changing your preferences.

The interface might be a little intimidating at first, but it’s actually pretty simple. A column in the left lets you manage your gestures by application. You’ll want to set system-wide shortcuts under global, but you can also set app-specific gestures by clicking the “+” button at the bottom of the column and selecting the app. To set a gesture just click the “Add new gesture” button, choose the gesture, then assign a keyboard shortcut or predefined action. BTT may prompt you to enable access for assistive devices. It should lead you to this setting, but if not it can be enabled under Universal Access in System Preferences.

Three Finger Tap – Exposé/Mission Control (Magic Mouse)

Even though it still says Exposé in BetterTouchTool, this gesture will actually launch Mission Control on Lion. For Magic Mouse users who are forced to double tap two fingers by default, setting a three finger tap makes it a lot quicker to access Mission Control. Another nice benefit of using this custom gesture over the default one is that you can tap three fingers, hover your cursor over the window you’re looking for, then tap three fingers to exit Mission Control with the window you wanted already on top. For some reason the built in gesture doesn’t do this. Update: Just discovered that there’s a default gesture to spread out grouped windows in Mission Control. Once you have Mission Control open, hover over the group of windows you want to Exposé and slide up with two fingers.

Three Finger Swipe Down – Application Exposé (Magic Mouse)

Because Mission Control now groups application windows together, you may find yourself wanting to use Application Exposé when you have several windows open in the same application. Lion allows trackpads to slide four fingers down to launch Application Exposé, but doesn’t offer the same option on the Magic Mouse. To solve this I set a Three Finger Swipe Down to launch Application Exposé.

Two Finger TipTap Middle – Close Window or Tab

You’re probably familiar with using Command + Q to quit an application, and you may even be familiar with using Command + W to close a window or tab. Now you can just place three fingers on the touch surface and tap the middle one to close the current window. This is really useful browsing the web when combined with the next tip.

Two Finger TipTap Right & Left – Change Tabs

In Chrome and Safari, I’ve set Two Finger TipTap Right to Control + Tab and Two Finger TipTap Left to Shift + Control + Tab. This lets you leave three fingers down and tap your left or right finger to switch back and forth between tabs. If you’re like me and always have tons of tabs open, you’ll love how much faster you’ll be able to jump a tab or two over.

Single Finger Swipe Right & Left – Back/Forward in Chrome & Safari

You might have noticed that the latest Safari in Lion responds to a single (or double on a trackpad) finger swipe right or left to go back or forward. Update: Originally I had included a tip to add a gesture for Chrome, but now Chrome includes the same functionality.

The Wrap-Up

These gestures are designed around my own computing habits, so some of these gestures may need to be tweaked to fit your device or preferences, but they should at least give you some ideas of the types of tasks you’ll want to define gestures for.

Even though I don’t think there are enough gestures by default in Lion, I still think it is one of the best new features. Most users won’t jump straight into all the gestures I use, but hopefully Lion will help them get used the idea and be ready as developers start including more gestures in their desktop apps.

Feel free to share your thoughts on Lion’s gestures along with any tips or gestures you’ve created.

Now you’re thinking with gestures.

I personally know that a lot of content funded by the CPB has value in it. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was one of my favorite shows as a child, and this clip makes me wish he was still around, just not making the same argument.

Now to my argument, which is a response to this post by talented Montgomery photographer Luke Lucas.

The reality is that the type of programming created by public broadcasting would not cease to exist without federal funding. Yes, some would probably disappear, but I believe that the people creating the shows which have some demand would find a way to survive. The incredible rise in technology has made most of the costs associated with creating and distributing a show virtually nothing.

No longer does a show need a distribution channel like CNN, Fox, or MSNBC to reach viewers. The internet has made it possible for anyone to distribute content they produce. In 2010 about 77% of the US population, nearly 240 million Americans, were using the internet (source). I know that not all of those people are going to watch or listen to a show sitting in front of their computer, but other advancements in technology are bringing us internet content everywhere. 100s of millions of Americans now have iPods, cell phones, Rokus, Apple TVs, and other devices that help them enjoy content where they want it. NPR has seen this opportunity and is already taking advantage of it by offering internet streaming via the web or applications on mobile devices.

Now there are going to be other costs that don’t fall as dramatically – but still are falling. The bad news is that a certain amount of time and effort required putting together each episode before recording and the creators will probably need some money to survive if they make it a full-time job. The good news is that the internet makes a lot of research easier and creates a way to offset the cost of spending time working on a production. Most of the shows I enjoy online are either prepared by the guests who have compiled links or done a little research themselves, or make use of their fan base for gathering the resources needed. Some of the shows are supported by a little advertising (like the TWiT Network) or entirely by donation (like the No Agenda Show). So whether or not you think advertising is good or bad, there’s a way to do it and still make money.

I’m not going to use this to argue if Public Broadcasting should have ever been created to begin with, but I do want to point out that circumstances of the time were much different than they are now. Today’s world doesn’t need the help of the federal government to fund the type of content public broadcasting provides.

Believe in your favorite content creators and support their efforts, but don’t let your appreciation of the end justify the mean. Today’s world has made it feasible for anyone to create a show, and while a lot of trash can come out of this, the cream will still rise to the top as people share and talk about their favorite finds.

P.S. Comments are disabled because this is my personal site and don’t really want to deal with that whole possible mess. If you’d like to post a response elsewhere, I’d be glad to link to it.

Children with autism often struggle with the ability to follow directions, play on a team due to the lack of social skills, and many require activities to be performed on their own terms. Skateboarding and autism just fit! No team, no coach, rip solo.

Skateboarding is awesome, and watching the kids learn the basics of skateboarding was really inspiring. To find out more about A.skate you can visit their website or follow on twitter. Check out more photos on Flickr.

There’s nothing spectacular about this photo, but I really like it. I think it’s about a year old, and it shows Audrey enjoying the afternoon sun coming through the window. Enjoy.

This photo turned out to be my favorite of the trip. It was shot from Freedom Plaza looking down Pennsylvania Avenue at the Capitol. Shortly before this was taken we visited the Old Post Office clock tower, which you can see on the right.

So what is ThinkUp, and what does it do? Well, it’s open source software that “stores your social data in a database you control, and makes it easy to search, sort, filter, export, and visualize in useful ways.” It’s a great tool for a Twitter power-user, but even more useful for businesses who want to really connect and learn from their customers using social networks.

So how did I get involved? Well, the project is hosted on GitHub where development is open to anyone willing to help. I saw very small bug listed, fixed it, and submitted the change. A few days later I saw another minor issue I thought I could handle, and again fixed and submitted. After a few days I was very encouraged when I noticed my name in the “contributors” section despite my “contributions” being very small.

I’m hoping I can continue to learn more and make bigger contributions, but until then I’ll be taking on all the small tasks I can. I’ve always appreciated open source software and it finally feels good to have something to contribute to. Thanks to Gina and the ThinkUp community for a cool app to play with, I’m looking forward to seeing what I can learn.

If you’ve always wanted to learn how to build websites, don’t hold back! There are tons of resources like W3Schools that make it easy. If web development isn’t your thing, you can still give ThinkUp a shot if you have a web host or server.