Are we a community? As I look around the world of Apple users, it is very apparent we are not just people who use Macintosh computers, iPods and iPhones.

We are a group of people who share a common interest in products produced by a company, Apple Inc. We read many of the same magazines, books and web sites. We listen to podcasts featuring the authors of those items. We also use software produced, created and inspired by them. Some of us even attend events such as Macworld, MacMania cruises, and even user group meetings that feature the works of that group.

Over the years, I have read a Web site, MyMac.com. When the authors of that site began their podcast, I began listening to it. When I found out that one of the hosts of that program lived in my area, we invited him to do a presentation for our user group--and then I was invited to “appear” on the program. In recent months I have been following the latest adventure of Tim Robertson, the founder of MyMac,com.

He had an idea for a piece of software for the iPhone. He envisioned an application that would allow the user to display a visual message that would be large enough to be seen across a room.

Now, Tim is not a programmer, but he is a member of this Macintosh community and members of our community have helped him turn his idea for Big Words into a reality.

The best thing about our community is that we are not constrained by physical distance. Tim’s project involved people around the world. I am sure many of them have never met in person, but together they have turned his idea into a reality.

To learn more about Big Words, read Tim’s column on MyMac.com or check out this story on AppMinute. To buy Big Words, go to the iTunes App Store. Now that Big Words has been released, I am sure Tim will talk about it on his next podcast.

Big Words is now on my iPhone and I am sure I will find myself using it to send messages in a crowd or across a room.

--Pat

When I got my new iPhone back in July, I was amazed how quickly I could run the battery down! Just talking to a few people, watching a video, playing a game and checking my calendar left a dent in my battery. A day of heavy use meant I had to go running for my charger.

It was time to get energy smart! Although each successive version of the iPhone software has caused the battery to go longer between charges, I quickly found that some power management techniques would go a long way in assuring I had enough battery life to not worry about my iPhone going dead.

Here are some things you can do to increase the battery life of your iPhone. While doing all of these things will give you the longest running time for your iPhone, just implementing one or two will help. For each technique, I will list all the steps, so some pictures, particularly those of the home screen and settings window will be repeated several times.
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Okay – I will admit it – I am not a member of the under 20 crowd, I am not a member of the under 30 crowd, I am not a member of the under 40 crowd. But that is as far as I will go.

My five children fall into some of those age groups, and they are much more likely to embrace new technologies a bit more quickly than I do. However, being a technologist means that I have to stay current to help you.

One of the newer things is text messaging. Everyone under 30 seems to just get it, and those over 50 probably need a little help in figuring this one out.

Three of my children don’t have land line telephones. Their cell phone is the only way to reach them. They also attend lots of meetings and appointments when having their telephone ring is not appropriate… Read More...

There is a bug, either in the software for the iPhone or in iTunes that may cause applications on the iPhone not to update properly. I started to write this post several weeks ago, but decided to wait until the iPhone 2.1 software update was released to see if it fixed the problem. The new software has been released – and I am still having issues, so I suspect some of you are too.

This is the easiest way I have found to get iPhone and iPod Touch applications to update properly… Read More...