How to take a screenshot of your iPhone screen

Found out this trick while writing up some of my other blogs, where I needed screenshots of what was being displayed on my iPhone. This trick could be useful not just for blogging purposes but also to share among friends where to find a particular setting on the iPhone or to capture an error message on your iPhone and say send it to a friend or customer support by email. The images that you capture get stored on your "Camera Roll" which you can browse and then email the picture (of your iPhone screen) to whomsoever you want to.

Here is how it goes. Simply press and hold the Sleep button (button on top right side of the iPhone's upper edge, used to turn the iPhone on sleep, as shown in the pic). After 3-4 secs, while you are still holding the Sleep button down, press the Home button (Round button with a square on it, used to go to the home screen). You should hear a "click" sound as you hear when taking a picture. The image will be stored in the iPhone's camera roll which you can email or downlaod via iTunes.

Use your iPhone's GPRS/3G data plan, on your laptop

Yes this is possible, with something called iPhone tethering, available in the latest iPhone OS3.0 and above. With this feature you can use the data plan on your iPhone (GPRS or 3G), and use it to connect to the internet via your laptop/desktop. The data transfer happens either via bluetooth (will reuqire your laptop to have a bluetooth module as well) or the classic USB cable that comes with the iPhone. Activating this feature is pretty simple. Go to Settings >> General >> Network >> Internet Tethering. Turn this option ON. It would ask you how you would like to connect your iPhone's internet connection (ie. via bluetooth or USB). Choose the option you want and you are all set. A Blue band appears (see picture) on the top section of the iPhone indicating that the internet connection is being tethered to another device.You should also see the network available on your laptop/desktop and you can enjoy internet anytime, anywhere as long as you have GPRS/3G coverage in that area.

PS: There have been issues with certain operators in some countries on not allowing internet tethering and it would be advisable to check with your operator for any legal issues on using internet tethering on the iPhone.

How to save iPhone battery life

Tips to save iPhone battery life

1. If you are on IPhone OS 3.0 and have push notifications turned on (for instant messengers like AOL or eBuddy), then turning them off would help preserve battery life.

2. Turn off 3G if your operator does not support 3G. This will avoid unnecessary searching of a 3G signal. This can be done from Settings >> General >> Network

3. Keep wifi off when not in use, to avoid continuous scanning of wifi signal at all times. This can be done from Settings >> Wifi. If you have a jailbroken iPhone with Cydia installed use SBSettings to quickly toggle services like 3G, Wifi and Location Services.

4. Similar to wifi turn off Location services (from Settings >> General >> Location services). This will help conserve battery power when you do not need GPS services.Again SBSettings can come of great help here.

5. Turn off Push notifications on your email, and turn it to manual delivery option or to an option so that your email is retrieved in fixed time intervals. This can be done from Settings >> Mail, Contacts, Calendars >> Fetch New Data. In the same options you could choose Advanced and configure specific email retrieval options for different email accounts (eg your work email may require a more frequent retreival interval than your personal gmail/yahoo account).

6. Reduce screen brightness (from Settings >> Brightness). This again can be managed from SBSettings.

7. When clicking on the Home button not all apps actually close, and some continue to run in the background, and keep consuming your battery juice. Again SBSettings comes to your rescue which comes with a process explorer which you can use to kill apps you do not want running.

Hope the above tips help you conserve battery life. I have found significant savings in battery life (my battery lasts 3-3.5 days easily with normal use of internet, emailing, sms and voice calls).

Have attached a picture of SBSettings, so that first time users can get a feel of what it looks like.

Guide to Unlocking iPhone 3g

Thanks to Simon from http://www.simonblog.com we now have a very easy and precise documentation of how someone could jailbreak and unlock a locked iPhone (2g/3g/3gs) using ultrasn0w, which is the software solution to unlock the iPhone from the "Dev Team" (http://blog.iphone-dev.org/). I have tried this myself and it works like a walk in the park. I had my iPhone 3g unlocked with the new OS3.0 in 10 minutes flat. Jailbreaking gives you Cydia (an alternative to the App Store) in your iPhone which you can use to install other applications being developed by iPhone developers. Some of the useful Cydia apps that I would recommend are

1. SBSettings (easy way to toggle settings like wifi,brightness, power off etc right from the home screen)
2. Battery % display (Displays the battery remaining as a %)
3. Cyrocorder (video recorder for iPhone 2g/3g)
4. Five column springboard (2 can see icons in 5 columns instead of the default 4)
5. Five Icon Dock (Add a fifth icon in the dock on the home screen)

Disclaimer : jailbreaking and unlocking voids your warranty and hence this should be tried at your own risk only.

How to sit infront of a computer

Aaaaah ! My back....ooooh my neck....damn my wrists hurt....why are my eyes so itchy.

I am sure all of us at some point have spoken the above words. Fact is learning to sit and work ergonomically is a "soft skill" necessary for modern day work life. I too have faced various aches and pains due to horrible ergonomic positions in my work life and after working 10 yrs in my industry I have finally been able to get an ergonomic position I am comfortable in. Here are some tips.

1. Unclutter your workspace. Your workspace should help you do your work better, and not hamper it. Things like the phone, monitor and documents should be at arms length distance from where you it.

2. "The chair". Getting the right chair is very important. A good chair should have height adjustment, a height adjustable arm rest and a good adjustable backrest at least.Having a 5 wheel chair is also helpful to move around your workspace.

3.Your back (the most important part). Your back should be straight and at 90-110 degrees with the seat of the chair. Try not to slouch or lay back on the chair.

4. Your feet should be flat on the floor and the back of your knees should make a 90 degree angle. The same is true for your elbows, with your arms resting on the armrest of your chair.

5. Your key board should be at a height just below (or at the same height) your armrest so that your arms do not stress while typing on the keyboard. Make sure your wrists are not turned upwards or too downwards and lie straight on the keyboard. Your mouse should ideally be close to your keyboard (preferably on the keyboard tray itself).

6.Finally the monitor should be at arms length distance away from your eyes. The top of the monitor should be at eye level. Make sure the monitor is nice and clear (resolution and brightness wise). If you are near a windows, blinds would help in better viewing. Also adjusting the screen resolution based on your liking should help.

Last but not the least frequent breaks are recommended (5 mins every hour) to rest your body. Get up from your desk every hour and take a small walk. Have a bottle of water ready with you at your desk and aim to finish at least 2 litres of water during your 8-10 hour work schedule (remember the human body actually needs 3 litres of water a day).

Here are some links (I referred) that should also help you get the right posture for your computer use.

http://www.ergonomics.com.au/pages/400_useful_info/420_how_to_sit.htm

http://www.macworld.com/article/53297/2006/10/ergo_workspace.html

Good bye neck pain !