HELP: Manually Restarting your BlueBolt

Some of the systems we deploy have power supplies that are automated. One of the systems we offer is called BlueBolt. This system allows us to remotely login and restart individual components in your equipment rack. It also allows us to automate the bluebolt to restart your network devices such as cable modem, network router etc - when it senses an internet outage.

​Sometimes​ you will still need to manually reboot your systems. If that is the case, locate the main power switch on front of the blue bolt. Switch it off for one minute, and then switch it back on. Wait 10 minutes, and then test your system again.

Manually ​Restart Bluebolt

HOW TO: AirPlay from iTunes

You can stream audio directly from your itunes app on your mac, to your airplay enabled stereo or Apple TV.

This example shows how to use it with iTunes 11. The same concepts work in prior versions of iTunes but the buttons are located in different places.

In iTunes 11, when you are playing music, you will see the AirPlay icon on the top left corner of iTunes right next to the volume slider. In older versions -  you will see the AirPlay icon on the bottom right corner of iTunes.

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One of the advantages of streaming music from iTunes instead of your iOS device is that you can stream to multiple AirPlay devices at once.

When you click on the airplay menu in itunes, choose multiple, and then check off the zones you want to stream to. That simple.

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HOW TO: iOS Keyboard Shortcuts

If you type certain phrases often on your iPhone or iPad, theirs an easy trick to make your life slightly easier. You can create keyboard shortcuts for anything you want. A great trick is using @@ for your email address. Now anytime you type in @@ in iOS it will automatically insert your email address. It might not make sense yet but read on below for the how to.

Goto the settings app, choose General, Keyboard. Scroll to the bottom and you will see keyboard shortcuts. At the very bottom you will see the ability to create a new shortcut.

For the phrase - put your email address.

For the shortcut - put in @@

That's it. Hope you can take advantage of this hidden feature as it helps day to day with any phrases you type out often.

 
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iphone-20121215211805-0.jpg
 

UPDATE 1

A client of ours commented saying that he uses around 100 keyboard shortcuts, and they were one of the deciding factors in him switching from a blackberry to an iPhone. Though i do recall he had a palm before the iPhone. Here is a screenshot from his phone.

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UPDATE 2

I have been using too many email accounts with these shortcuts, so i revised my shortcut structure. If you only use one email adress then @@ should work great for you. I've taken on a new structure - ml@ mo@ in@ su@ etc.. Basically the first two letters of the email address followed by @. Doing it like that makes it much easier for me to keep track of.

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UPDATE 3

I also realized that if iOS often autocorrects specific words for you that you dont like, just create a new shortcut. So if iOS corrects thanx to thank, you can create a new shortcut. Use thanx for the prhrase and thanx for the shortcut. You will never be autocorrected again for that word.

That's just an example, i personally do not write thanx : )

UPDATE 4

A good app that does a similar thing on that mac called DashExpander. Free on the mac app store.

UPDATE 5

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It also seems that once you pass a certain amount of shortcuts, iOS puts them on their own screen with a more advanced layout including search and an alpha index bar.

I should have noticed this earlier when our friend sent us his screenshot above of his list.

UPDATE 6

Yes the shortcuts do sync between iPad and iPhone. I'm assuming via iCloud. Question via our UK AV buddy @impett 

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HOW TO: iViewer Remote Updating

Open the settings app on your iOS device. Scroll down and choose iViewer.

You will have to fill in the "File URL" with the specified URL we sent you. This URL will usually only work for a week or so. In the future your URL will likely be different.

An example URL might look like: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/712586/cf/iphone.gui

Find the URL we sent you, copy and paste it right in to the "File URL" field. Note the field highlighted in Red below. That is the File URL.

After pasting in the URL, you also need to make sure to turn both "Reload GUI" fields to ON. They are below in the blue field.

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Return to the home screen and launch iViewer. When iViewer launches, it will use the URL we pasted earlier to download the latest iViewer files. Wait for the app to load fully, when it does you will need to return to the Settings app.

After the app loads correctly, return to the settings app, scroll to iViewer again, and set both "Reload GUI" fields to OFF.

After those two fields are set to OFF, you're good to go! 

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HOW TO: Stream Audio via AirPlay

You can wirelessly stream audio from your iOS device or mac directly to any AirPlay enabled device. 

AirPlay devices can be an Apple TV, the Airport Express, or other 3rd party audio devices that implement apples AirPlay technology. 

To stream audio to an airplay enabled device, launch any audio app on your iOS device such as the music app, pandora, or spotify. Start playing some music.

  • Swipe your finger from the bottom of the screen upwards. This will bring up the "Control Center" which will allow you to adjust your brightness, turn wifi on and off, choose your AirPlay source, among other handy settings.
  • Click on the AirPlay menu, and choose which AirPlay device you want to stream to.
  • If it's an Apple TV, you can turn on "Mirroring" to see your device's screen mirrored to the apple tv. 
  • When you want to stop AirPlay streaming, repeat the process, but this time when pressing the AIrPlay menu, choose your device at the top of the menu, or just stop the music as you normally would.

Updated instructions and images for iOS 7

HOW TO: Subscribing to Calendars on iOS

You can find and subscribe to calendars on your iOS device by following these steps.

  • Visit either Apple's Calendar Site or iCalShare to find your calendar. ShareCal seems to work a bit better.
  • Search for the calendar you are looking for.
  • Choose Subscribe.

For more detailed information, or to find out how to remove a subscribed calendar, click here.

HOW TO: Upgrading to iOS 6

Well, iOS 6 is finally here!   Some time tomorrow -  on 9/19/12, you can finally upgrade your iOS device. The update can hit at any time tomorrow, but will likely be 10am PST / 1pm EST.

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It's fairly easy to upgrade​ but you want to make sure you take the right steps.

  • ​Make sure you are properly backed up. Click here to find out more on backing up.
  • Make sure your iOS device (iPad, iPhone, iPod touch) has enough of a battery charge. At least 50%. If possible plug it in to a charger while doing this.​
  • You should be able to upgrade your iOS device without connecting it to a computer.​
  • ​Open up your Settings App, choose General, then choose Software Update.
  • You should see an update available. If you don't see the update available, come back later or try iTunes.
  • In the case you do not see the update available in the settings app (which might be so for various reasons), then you can connect your iOS device directly to iTunes on your mac or PC.​
  • iTunes would alert you to an update being available.​
  • After iOS 6 installs, the iOS device will ask you a few set up questions.
  • If it asks you to set up as a new device, or to restore from backup, its very important you choose restore from backup. Otherwise you will lose all your saved settings, files, apps, etc.. 

To learn whats new in iOS 6 click here. Its 2 pages, so at the bottom make sure to click on page 2 to see all the new features.​

For Apple's official page on whats new click here.​

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Enjoy!​

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​Related Articles:

Regarding the iPhone 5​

Backing up your iOS Device​

HELP: My iPhone is warning me "Not enough storage, Can't Backup"

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​With your free iCloud account, you get 5GB of storage at no cost. Your device backs up nightly to iCloud and is eating away at that 5GB limit.

You have a few options. The best one being to upgrade your iCloud account. You can pay to upgrade it by going to your settings app, choosing iCloud, scrolling down to Storage and Backup.​ You will see "Change Storage Plan". You can upgrade from there and it will charge your iTunes account.

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The other option is to adjust what your device backs up nightly. Your photos is likely taking up most of the space.  If you want to go the free way then i recommend connecting your device to your computer, importing your photos and then deleting photos from your phone. You should be doing this occasionally.​

You can tell iCloud not to backup your photos at all.​

Goto settings app, iCloud, Storage and Backup, ​Manage Storage. 

Then you want to choose a backup to edit (iPhone or iPad). ​

At that point you will see all the apps that is backed up nightly. Uncheck all the apps you dont care about. The photos app is usually the biggest one.​

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HOW TO: How do i backup my iPhone with iCloud?

You want to make sure your iPhone or iPad is backed up at all times. You can do that by either connecting your device to a computer, running iTunes, and letting it back up, or via iCloud.

The downside of doing it through iTunes is that you only backup every time you connect to your computer. So if you don't connect for a month, you don't have a recent backup.

iCloud backup backs up your entire device nightly to apples servers. Lets get to the setup.

  • Turn on your iPhone (same for iPad), open up the Settings App. Scroll down until you see iCloud. Choose it.
  • You will see the screen on the right. You want to create a new iCloud account. Its free and takes less then five minutes. Choose a new iCloud email address and password, and make sure to write that info down somewhere.
  • After you set up the new iCloud account, make sure to check all items to ON in the list. More importantly though, scroll to the bottom and choose Backup and Storage.
  • On the next screen, turn iCloud Backup On.

Now every time you put your device to charge, and wifi is on, it will back up your entire phone daily.

If you ever lose your device or need a new one, when setting up the new device it will ask you if you want to set it up as a new device, or if you want to restore a backup from iCloud.

Choose restore from iCloud and you will see your backups from your old device. It will then restore everything back on to your new device.

​iCloud Settings

​iCloud Settings

iCloud Backup​

iCloud Backup​

HOW TO: How do i view my iPad on my TV?

Great question.. and very easily if you have an Apple TV!

  • Make sure you are on your homes wifi network.
  • Turn on your TV to your Apple TV.
  • Double click the iPads home button (physical button below screen).
  • You will see a row of icons (recent apps) on the bottom of the screen;
  • Scroll to the far left of this row to reveal the AirPlay icon.
  • Click the AirPlay icon, choose your Apple TV from the list (if you have more then one apple tv, you will see them in the list).
  • When you choose the Apple TV, you will see the option to Mirror. Turn that on.
  • Viola! You should now see an exact mirror of your iPad on your tv.
  • When you are done, follow the same instructions above, but turn mirroring Off.
AirPlay icon circled in red.​

AirPlay icon circled in red.​

HELP: My internet doesn't work!

This is a common issue. Several times a year, the cable modem that your cable company supplies needs to be restarted. If you find that your internet is not working, locate your cable modem and restart it. You can restart it by simply unplugging the power cord from it, waiting 30 seconds and plugging it back in.

If this happens more then 4-5 times a year then you will need to schedule an appointment with the cable company so they can evaluate the issue.

Alternatively, we deploy specific systems that sense internet outage automatically restart your cable modem, and other network devices. This system keeps your systems online more consistently, and work in the background - never needing your input.