40Tech

On iOS, you can configure your notifications on a per app basis to appear in different ways. One type of notification drops down in a thin box from the top of the screen. Occasionally, this box can get in the way. If you’re typing a web address for example, you might think that you have to wait for the box to disappear to continue your typing. You can actually dismiss the box.

Are you like me – a bit of an iOS app addict? I’ve never found Apple’s App Store to be particularly helpful in discovering new apps. A recent tweet by Adam Christianson of the MacCast mentioned something called Applr, which I had never heard of. It turns out that Applr is a web app that helps you find new iOS apps, by following other people and seeing what they’re using. Other users can also follow you, to see your favorite apps.

Katie Floyd is the host of one of my favorite podcasts, the Mac Power Users, and over on her blog she highlights an app that could help you out if you ever lose your iPhone or iPad. Contact Lockscreen Info is an app that makes it easy to add your contact info to the lock screen of your iOS device.

Moving is a tough and stressful process. You need to coordinate your things, throw items away, hire movers, switch off your utilities, and make sure everything is ready to go in your new home. It’s not easy.

We wanted to put together a list of smart phone and iPad apps that take at least some of the sting away from the stress of moving. After all, these smart phone apps seems to be able to do anything, so it’s about time that they started to help with the moving process.

More people buy WiFi-only tablets than tablets with 3G or 4G capability. This is partly because WiFi-only tablets are cheaper; in the case of the iPad it’s £100 (UK) or $130 (US) cheaper. In addition to this, if you want to actually use 3G or LTE on your iPad you’re looking at between £10 to £15 (UK) or $15 (US) a month extra for the data plan. So it’s easy to see why some users would just opt for the WiFi-only option.

However, all is not lost. There are many ways you can make the most of your WiFi-only tablet when away from a WiFi hotspot.

What a crazy world we live in, thanks to the copyright police. An article over on Ars Technical shows just how screwed up our copyright system is here in the U.S., thanks to the DMCA. One example – it is legal to jailbreak your iPhone, but not your iPad.

If you hadn’t already heard, Google Chrome for iPhone and iPad was released this week — and it promptly became the #1 free app on the app store. This is something that we’ve been waiting for with baited breath, and something that I, personally, was never sure would happen properly due to the rivalry between Apple and Google.

Have no doubt, though, it’s here — and it takes the best of Google Chrome’s desktop browser and jams it neatly and prettily into your pocket.

One of the limitations of the iPad is that it normally can’t print to just any old printer. If you want to print from your iPad, you usually need an AirPrint compatible printer. If you’re like me, and bought your printer before Apple introduced AIrPrint, or if you just own a printer that isn’t AirPrint compatible, there is a way to print from your iPad to your current printer.

An iPad without a functioning digitizer screen is pretty much worthless. Unfortunately the screen is a fragile component that is easily damaged. Even a fall of a few feet is usually enough to shatter the delicate glass.

Damaged or broken digitizer screens are one of the most common problems encountered by iPad users. According to warranty company SquareTrade, ten percent of iPad 2 owners reported damaging their iPads within the first 12 months of ownership, with the number increasing to 20% within the first two years of ownership. Many times when the touch screen becomes cracked or broken, the LCD screen beneath is unharmed. If that’s the case, you don’t need a new iPad – you just need to replace the digitizer screen.

Dropbox is a great tool for moving files between different operating systems, but it isn’t perfect. If you use the Dropbox iPad app, then you may have noticed one glaring weakness: if you download images to your iPad’s Camera Roll via the app, you’ll find that the image quality is horrible. Yes, the Dropbox iPad app downconverts your images, leaving you with, in technical terms, crappy photos. There are at least a couple of workarounds, though.