Locate Your Missing Or Stolen iPhone, iPad Or iPod Touch With Find My iPhone

Locate Your Missing Or Stolen iPhone, iPad Or iPod Touch With Find My iPhone: "

Up until the recent iOS 4.2 update of Apple‘s mobile devices, if you wanted a way to locate your lost or stolen iPhone, you had to be an MobileMe subscriber, which means forking over $99 per year. But now every owner of a mobile device can get a powerful MobileMe feature called Find My iPhone, for free by simply signing up.

As a MobileMe subscriber, I’ve used Find My iPhone for almost a year now, and though my iPhone has never been stolen, it has located the device on the floor of my car, behind my bedroom bedside table, and in the dirty clothes hamper, more than a few times. So believe me, Find My iPhone is definitely worth installing on your iPhone and/or other Apple devices.

Requirements & Setup

If you have own any model iPhone, iPad, or 4th generation iPod touch, you can use the Find My iPhone service and app.

You will need to download the free Find My iPhone app (iTunes Store link) for all your qualifying Apple iOS4 devices. If you don’t have the app on your device, then of course you can’t use the service to locate it.

Next, you need to launch the app and sign up for an Apple ID account, which also in the process registers your device. Note, if you’re a MobileMe member, you will not be able to use the other services in the control panel shown on the page, just the Find My iPhone feature.

If you’re already a MobileMe subscriber, you don’t have to sign up again for the Find My iPhone service, but you will have to go through the setup again via your devices in order to sync it with the new Find My iPhone update.

How To Use It

If your iPhone is ever lost or stolen – not just simply misplaced around the house – you will want a quick way to activate the service.

I set up a bookmark to my MobileMe account for quick access. The bookmark is not buried in a folder, for if I need a family member to download the account page, I want it to be easily and quickly found.

So when you need to use the service, you need to go to www.me.com/find and sign in.

Note: if your device does not show up on the page or if it says “Location services are disabled“, launch the Settings app of your mobile device, tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars > your email account. Then set the Find My iPhone button to on.

If your device is connected to an Edge, 3G or Wi-Fi network, a blue circle shows its estimated location on the map. A smaller circle means a more precise location.

Actions To Take

If your device is lost or stolen, you want to act quickly. You have the following options:

1. Display Message or Play Sound: You can type out a message about where you can be reached for returning your device. And/or you can have a sound played on your device. The message will appear or the sound will play even if your device is locked or set to mute.
2. You can also send a new passcode to your device which remotely locks it. Be sure of course to send a code that you remember so you can unlock the device after it’s retrieved.
3. If you‘re worried about someone accessing important information on your device, you can have all the data permanently deleted, which in turn restores it to factory settings. As the instructions say, “Once wiped, your iPhone (or other device) will no longer be able to display messages or be located“.

In most cases, the Find My iPhone service has located my phone in less than a minute, but one occasion it took almost ten minutes. But out of the handful of times I’ve used it, it’s never failed to locate the device.

It seems as though the now free Find My iPhone service means Apple may be in the process of making some other MobileMe features (syncing bookmarks, contacts, and data) available for free in future upgrades of their devices or the iOS. But for now, Find My iPhone is a must-have app and service – probably the best and only way for retrieving your device if it’s lost or stolen.

So let us know if you have used Find My iPhone to find your lost iPhone. Has it ever helped you get your phone back? Are there other features you wish would be included? Let us know.

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Make Pro-Rubber Stamps

Make Pro-Rubber Stamps: " Hi, last year, my friends gave me a nickname "Humorist"
because of some of my jokes nobody understand (I admit it's quite fair).
But I realised that I'm not the only one to make strange jokes and
sometimes I want to approve some of those jokes! So why not creating
my own LABEL? And I we...
By: jovolomo

Continue Reading »"

GooReader updates to version 2.0, now a sexier way to read Google Books

GooReader updates to version 2.0, now a sexier way to read Google Books: "

We showed you GooReader back in August, and it was already a very slick way to read Google Books titles on your Windows desktop. It's now been updated to version 2.0, and GooReader is looking good and more functional than ever before. In addition to getting a bit of a facelift, GooReader 2.0 lets you highlight blocks of text or draw little notes on a page. There's no text tool this time around, but don't be surprised to see that functionality in a future build.



GooReader will pick up where you leave off when you close an e-book, but bookmarking specific pages isn't supported. Exporting to PDF is still limited to the paid version -- Google Book Downloader offers the functionality for free, if you'd rather download now and read later.

Continue reading GooReader updates to version 2.0, now a sexier way to read Google Books

GooReader updates to version 2.0, now a sexier way to read Google Books originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FilerFrog: add a slew of useful functions to your context menu

FilerFrog: add a slew of useful functions to your context menu: "

FilerFrog is a free program that can install a wide array of useful tools into the Windows context menu, in the vein of such useful context-menu based apps as Lammer Context Menu and Freewaregenius favorite FileMenu Tools. It works with both 32bit and 64bit versions of Windows

This program offers a wide range of commands, including many of the usual file management operations, but it also offers an interesting list of image manipulation functions (resizing, publishing lists of images to PDF), and a unique “desktop sorting” tool designed to organize the desktop.

FilerFrog enables you to pick and choose exactly which functions you want and to remove others. This is especially useful if you find a handful of functions useful and want them easily accessible but do not want to clutter your context menu with a host of other commands which you do not care for or see yourself using.

First off, a quick presentation of the various functions, then a list of my favorites:

The desktop sorting function: sorts your desktop icons by type, and draws rectangles on the desktop wallpaper to provide a visual organizational tool (see screenshot to the right). You will either like this or not, but one good thing about it is that no matter how much your desktop changes you could always get it re-organized at the press of a button. (Note: the rectangle colors and gradients are user customizable).

The file management functions: publish a list of selected files to HTML (in a variety of ways), encrypt/decrypt files, split and join files, and a mass renaming tool (which, I must say, is not as sophisticated as the mass renaming functions in the other context menu tools mentioned in the first paragraph above).

Also offers file organization functions which to me are the more interesting of the bunch, including: extract files to/from folder, move files up one folder, delete empty folders, and “touch”, which reverts the “date created/modified” for selected files and folders to the current time.

The image manipulation functions: add a logo to an image or images, resize images by percent, or a custom resize by pixel. Also quickly convert to JPG (but, interestingly, no option to convert JPGs or other images to other image types). I especially like that it lets me quickly change the percent of compression for JPGs without changing anything else.

Other image functions: converting batches of images into PDF “albums”. I found this to be somewhat strange and hard to control, but if you want it it’s there I suppose. If you want to convert images to PDF’s in general I would recommend you use JPG to PDF.

My favorite FilerFrog functions: see these in the screenshot to the right. I put the desktop sort function in there because of its originality alone, even though I don’t anticipate ever using it

The verdict: this is the kind of all-in-one toolbox that I like. Its not as powerful as the infinitesimally customizable FileMenu Tools, which includes a handful of the file management commands that FilerFrog offers but not the image manipulation or the desktop sorting functions.

In a nutshell: FilerFrog provides a very nice range of potentially very useful tools, and I highly recommend it.

Version Tested: 2.1.0

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7. 32 bit and 64 bit supported

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 1.56 megs); download the appropriate version 32 bit or 64 bit.

Note that this software just recently became freeware, and some of the pages on the site still contain out of date text that makes it seem that this is for-pay software (it isn’t anymore).

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3 Things Pro Gmail Users Have Set Up In Their Accounts

3 Things Pro Gmail Users Have Set Up In Their Accounts: "

Have you been using Gmail for a while, but you’re still overrun by an overflowing inbox? Time to sort you out! There’s a few simple tricks pro users use to make very good use of Gmail. We’ll make it clear for you.

Most of us here at MakeUseOf use Gmail, whether we then import that mail to a client on our computers or not. The point is, Gmail makes things easy for us — especially by doing a lot of work before our email even gets to our eyes. I personally can’t imagine life without Gmail’s spam filter — I’d probably give up on email altogether without it.

Let’s take you through some of Gmail’s most awesome features and how you can become a pro user by making use of them.

1. Filters, Filters, Filters

Gmail’s priority inbox might be enough for some people, but others prefer to keep track of their own filtering. This involves filtering email into relevant folders (for when they do want to read them) and archiving so that the email doesn’t clog up their inbox.

Set up filters for everything you refer to or need to separate from everyday reading (basic instructions here):

• Filter and archive out your bacn.
• Filter and archive out social networking notifications and blog responses.
• Filters to highlight work email.
• Filters to highlight email which requires an immediate response.
• Filters to highlight email from your partner, family and friends.
• Other cool filters, like grouping together family photos sent to you, funny emails, recipes or links to read later.
• While you’re at it, set up filters to teach Gmail’s priority inbox: set some things as high priority, some as low priority and add stars to things you will want to refer to later.

Most importantly, you need to keep adding to these filters. If some bacn finds its way to your inbox, the only way to stay on top of it is to set up a filter to remove it straight away. Else, next time you see your inbox it will be full of email that could already have been filtered out. Just do it whenever you process your email.

2. A System To Process Email Regularly

Whether you archive email after reading or simply leave it as read, you still need a system for noting that you’ve read your email. That, and you need to do it regularly — once per day is good. Pro users know this processing is a pivotal point and ensure they do so religiously.

Personally, I make sure I read all of the email arriving in my inbox briefly. I either respond straight away and do any associated tasks, or I label it as “@To Do” for later (usually after sending a quick message saying it will be done soon). Yes, this means also having a system to process the email labelled as “@To Do”, but I don’t want to have important unread email sitting around.

Also make good use of Google Calendar tie-ins, and enter dates into your calendar straight away. Don’t forget to also use Google Calendar features like “Find a Time“.

3. The Best Labs Features & Add-Ons

Gmail has some amazing Labs features and add-ons which you can use easily to make your life more simple. Here’s some pro user favourites.

RTM Gmail Extension Or Gadget

For those who organise their To-Do list with Remember The Milk, it would be a potential problem to leave another to-do list hanging around in Gmail. So, try using the RTM Firefox extension to automatically add tasks to RTM whenever you label an email as “@To Do”. Saves headaches!

If you don’t use Firefox, try using the Labs RTM Gadget and setting up a filter or a “canned response” (also in Labs) to forward mail to RTM as a task.

Whatever you do, your life will be much easier if you keep your tasks together.

Multiple Inboxes

There’s a labs extension which allows you to view multiple inboxes (to use, enable it in labs settings, then you’ll get your own settings area for multiple inboxes). I thought I would never need such a thing, until I considered the searches I could use for each inbox.

Make good use of OR statements (using “|”), brackets and the is:unread search.

For instance:

label:professional AND is:unread
(label:family | in:inbox | label:@to-do) AND is:unread
label:!-blogs---networks AND is:unread

I find this set-up keeps me from worrying that I need to check the filtered-out labels too often, since I can see if the last nine emails to fit the criteria are pretty mundane. It also allows me to quickly spot work email if I’ve been away from my email for a while.

Google Translate

If you ever get email in a language you don’t normally speak, Google Translate in Gmail is a life saver. In settings, language is the first option. Choose: Enable Translation.

Then, whenever you get an email which might need translation, you have a handy link within the email to translate it. Then you can even toggle to the original and back. This is incredibly useful when you’re new to a country or still learning a language.

Google Docs & Google Calendar Labs Widgets

If you refer to Gmail more often than Calendar or Docs, it’s handy to have these gadgets showing in Gmail which give you quick access to your agenda and latest documents (find them in Labs).

Pro Users Always Look For More Tips & Tricks

There’s always plenty more pro user Gmail tips and tricks to be found around here.

• 6 Little Known, Yet Useful Gmail Tips
• Gmail Craze: 40 + Tools and Hacks for Gmail
• How To Set Up Email Filters In Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo
• How to Link Multiple Gmail Accounts Together in 4 Easy Steps
• 6 Gmail Productivity Tips You Need To Know
• What’s new in Gmail: Imports, Images, Previews, Translations and more
• Gmail Cheat Sheet [PDF]
• Gmail’s Priority Inbox Solves The Bacn Problem
• Evolve Your Gmail Inbox Nightmare Into A Streamlined Messaging System
• 4 Alternative Uses For Your Gmail Inbox
• How To Turn Gmail Into A Multitasking Machine (Part 1)
• How To Turn Gmail Into A Multitasking Machine (Part II)
• How To Turn Gmail Into A Multitasking Machine (Part III)

Let us know your favourite Gmail tricks and Gmail Labs uses in the comments!

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