Category Archives: Technology

What You Need to Know Before You Get an iPhone

With everybody talking about the release of the new iPhone, you might have forgotten that it is absolutely possible to get older, more affordably priced models like the iPhone 3GS smart phones. In fact, this can be a good time to purchase this phone, as AT&T is offering a special promotion for it right now. However, before you make your decision about this or any of the other smart phones it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the primary features that are there.

If you love to read books, though, you should know that there is a great and new way to read books on your iPhone 3GS. The Apple App Store has the iBooks app for free and it gives you immediate access to more than 200,000 books. Many of these books are free, but even the ones you have to pay for are a lot cheaper than buying a hardcover or paperback. You can also get a Kindle app, which works for books available on Amazon Kindle. This means that when you have an iPhone 3GS you do not have to buy a Kindle or any other e-book reader because your phone works the same way. The one drawback, of course, is that the screen is a lot smaller, so if you’re an avid e-book reader you may still want a Kindle, or perhaps an iPad for this purpose.

Editing and sending photos is one of the top features on the iPhone 3GS Smart Phone. Regardless of how you do it, photos on this phone can be organized based upon who they are of and where they were taken. To make your photos look better than ever, download apps that can help you with editing and processing your images. Crop for Free is an application that you can download that allows you to crop an image that you want. Another application is iRetouch Lite which can help you do even more to your images. There are many other photo and video apps as well, allowing you to edit and group the photos on your iPhone any way you want.

Frugal thinkers might believe that it is possible to upgrade their iPhone 3GS at a later point with the 4 or 5 version of the iOS; you cannot do this for a variety reasons. Later iOS versions may be downloaded with no problem, however, this does not mean that the iPhone 3GS will operate just like the more expensive models. You cannot expect the capabilities of an iPhone four or five to operate on an iOS 3 system – it is a completely different phone. For example, you cannot enhance your multitasking capabilities on the iPhone 3GS simply because you downloaded the iOS4 to your older phone. Since upgrades are not possible with the iPhone 3GS, just buy it because it is a great deal, and not because you want to upgrade.

Advanced cell phone technology, especially that found with the iPhone 3GS, is difficult to find at such a low price. Though there are many appealing features on the iPhone 3GS, some people will not be satisfied unless they have the latest model with all of the features even if it cost them 10 times as much.

Guidelines for a More Efficient Computer

Do you use the Windows operating system? If so, do you use all the shortcuts and other features that it has to offer? Even though we’re discussing Windows 7 in this report, if you have an earlier version of Windows you can probably apply the tips as well. You can easily learn some tricks from Windows that will make your PC run faster and the performance of your tasks more convenient.

The themes and wallpaper that are included in Windows 7 are based on your geographical location.

Nonetheless, if you want to choose from among the other theme packs to get a more exotic look for your PC, you can change them. If you go to your C drive and type ‘globalization’ in the search box and, after clicking on the search results, you type in MCT in the search box, the results will be the five geographic theme sets. You will then have a list of the five different country specific files. They will be for Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, South Africa, and America. You may want to change the look of your desktop from time to time, and if you know how to find them, your computer already contains a good selection of patterns to choose from. Windows 7 comes with some great themes called Aero Glass.

As lovely as these themes are, they do tend to use up memory and cause your PC to function at a slower speed. Many users find that after enjoying this theme for a few weeks, they’d prefer to do without it and enjoy better performance instead. You don’t have to do anything special to disable an Aero theme. All that’s necessary is to go to the Control Panel and choose Change a Theme under Appearance and Personalization. Nonetheless, a lot of people love the Aero themes and if you are one of them, by all means enjoy these beautiful themes. Changing to a Basic theme is just a way to speed up your computer.

Perhaps you use your computer in a way that would benefit by using the Calculator applet that Windows includes with its operating system. It has a lot more abilities than you can see at first glance. It’s not just a simple math calculator. For instance, it has several modes such as Standard, Scientific, Programmer, and Statistical. Most folks won’t need anything except the standard calculator mode; however, if you work in a technical field, such as Statistics, the calculator can be a big help. You will find a selection of worksheets that help you with gas mileage. It also has a feature that helps you figure out the number of days, months, and years between two dates. This is really helpful if you have deadlines.

If working with numbers is part of your daily routine, no matter what you do, you will love the ease of use of this calculator. There are countless techniques and options when using Windows than most people even realize. Don’t forget Microsoft’s goal of making Windows user friendly. Even folks who have never owned a computer before have no trouble learning how to use their computer and the world wide web. Most people become at ease with the basic uses of Windows, and it only stands to reason that they are then ready to add some of the tips we’ve talked about here into their routine.