Archive for category iphone

How to add a ‘Note in Reader’ bookmarklet to your iPhone

Apr 23

Posted by Prasanna in bookmarklet, google reader, iphone, note in reader, note to reader | 7 Comments

RSS readers are becoming much more than just that. Google reader in recent times has been focussing more and more towards the social networking aspects. Sharing, Comments and notes have been great, so it has become a breeze to let your friends know what you are reading and what you think about them.
Although, this was limited to just your subscribed feeds. Last May, Google released a nice little bookmartlet that allowed us to share or note any page in the wide web.
Bookmarklets are little snippets of code (usually javascript), that stays in your bookmark bar, and when clicked does a particular action on the page you are on. In this case, it nicely adds it to your Reader notes along with any comments, and an option to share it. Quite nifty.
That is precisely why its such a pity Google provides no obvious way to add this feature to iPhone.
Here is the workaround. It is easy, and once done, any website you are viewing on your iPhone is ready to be shared right from your bookmarks.
  • To get yourself started open this page you are reading right now in your iPhone. (You might want to mail yourself this link and click on it to make it easier for you)
  • Click on this link to open it in a new mobile safari tab.
  • Do not worry about the contents of the webpage. Click on +.
  • Now tap Add Bookmark.
  • Change the Name to ‘Note in Reader’ and tap Save.
  • Now tap the Bookmarks icon and locate the Note in Reader bookmark you just saved.
  • Tap Edit on bottom left corner and Select Note in Reader.
  • Keep the name field unchanged. Tap on the link field get to the left most part of the link by tap hold and moving your finger left.
  • Make sure the cursor is between ‘?’ and ‘j’ in javascript. Delete everything to the left, by pressing the backspace button, so the link starts with ‘javascript’. Tap done. Then ‘done’ on the Bookmarks window.
You are ready to go now. To note any page in Reader, select Bookmarks icon from the page and select ‘Note in Reader’.
A small window opens up to give you the options to jot the site down in Google Reader.
You might want to zoom in by pinching so you have a good view of the box.
If you do not wish to share the item, uncheck the box, and add any comments you wish to add. Press ‘Post Item’.
The page you have noted is ready to be read at your leisure or for your friends!

Now, the all important last step, do leave your comments, suggestions or blasphemies in the comment section!

Free Edge

Dec 12

Posted by Prasanna in apple, apple store, iphone, melbourne | No Comments

Apple Store came to Melbourne in June this year, only third in all of Australia and first in Melbourne. For years before then, the only place to get Apple products has been resellers, of which there are very few around.

There is one in particular, My Mac right in the city. It is just opposite Federation Square and across the road from Flinders Street train station. Arguably the best location one could have asked for in Melbourne, only next to where the Parliament now stands.

I had never been to an Apple Store before it came to Melbourne. While Melbourne is an extremely hospitable city and most shops have great service, I was pleasantly surprised by the service at the Apple Store first time went there, and I have visited the shop many times since.

On one of my visits, I told the guy at the Genius Bar about some of the dropped calls I was getting since I bought my iPhone. He connected the phone to a computer, made some tests and about 5 minutes later, handed me a brand new iPhone in replacement for the old one. And I didn’t even suggest it!

Cut to the My Mac store. I have been to this store a few times, simply because there were no alternatives. While you can get what you want, the staff are not there to better your experience in the store. They are there to bill you. Every time a customer asks a question, the answer is given, albeit in a tone that makes it clear that the customer has just wasted a few precious moments of the staff.

They might still get away with it, simply because they boast a great location, but what a waste? For years they have had the opportunity to build some great customers with nearly no competition, and unlike the location and the size of the store, this would have been free of cost. And they blew it.

How to get the best out of your iPhone

Oct 17

Posted by Prasanna in apple, iphone, technology | No Comments

Mobile gadgets are my favorite type of gadgets. You can be in contact with all your friends from anywhere you want, take all the music and movies you need with you, and more importantly if the gadget is cool enough you can show off quite a bit with it too!


So, when my old windows mobile had been used to its maximum capacity, after a couple of battery swaps, I decided to look for a new phone. I have an idea that if you want to find the best product around in any field, all you need to do look around for the product that is being copied frantically by all the competitors. That, obviously would be an iPhone. From Nokia to Google’s android everybody seems to want a piece of the iPhone pie right now!

So, when Apple’s iPhone was released in Australia this June, I was among the first to pick it up. After nearly 4 months of heavy usage, I must say I am a very pleased user. I can confidently say that this is easily the best phone I have ever used. The ease of use and the internet capabilities are unparalleled. But, I think there are some things that a user can do to get the best use of the phone. With these tips, I hope some of you will have an even better experience with the phone. I will try not to get into the specifics of any particular application here. This applies generally to the phone and its usage itself. So, here goes..

  • This is the most basic of all tips, but probably the most useful. Even though you can hold it in your hand, the iPhone is still a small computer. Like in any computer, the first thing you want to know is what to do when something goes wrong. As stable as it is, it can sometimes stop on its tracks. The first thing to try if an application freezes and would not respond to the press of home button, is to force quit the application. Anybody who has used Mac OS X will immediately recognize this command. This is the equivalent of End Task in windows, but one that will work everytime. iPhone has a simple of calling this command. Press and hold the home button for about 6 seconds. If the problem is something simple and specific to the application, the application will quit completely and you should go back to the home screen and when you open the application again, it should start afresh.
  • Sometimes the problem is not as simple as that. If the previous tip doesn’t work, try restarting the iPhone. To do this, press and hold the on/off button on top for about 6 seconds. You will see a slider bar named Slide to Power off. Slide and the device would be turned off. Just press the on/off button a couple of seconds to turn it back on.
  • If you think the phone is really messed up and it doesn’t respond to either techniques, you might have to reset the phone. This one, always works! Press and hold the home button and the on/off button on top together for about 6 seconds. The phone turn itself off and then on again. You should be ready to put the phone to spin again.
  • Alright, with the crisis management out of the way, we can work on getting some productivity on the phone. This one relates to the 3G network that makes the iPhone such a fast internet browsing machine. As great it is when it works, 3G is still a very new technology in many parts of the world. In Australia, I have seen users have dropped calls, because of this, and when I contacted Optus, my phone service provider, they actually confirmed there were indeed 3G issues. So, the tip is, turn 3G off when not needed. There are a couple of advantages to this. First, my dropped call rate dropped from more than 5% to 0% overnight, after I turned 3G off. Thats a lot of difference. Also, the 3G chip is very battery intensive and turning it off will make your iPhone run for much longer. To turn 3G off go to Settings>General>Network>Enable 3G, and slide to turn it off. If you need high speed internet you can turn it on quickly of course (Internet still works, just that it is slower).
  • While many apps that are available for the iPhone are great and adds to the experience of the phone, it must be realized that a very large percentage of them are developed by third party developers. It means that they are not all stable, and some of them might be more battery consuming than others, simply because of bad coding sometimes. So, when you install a new app, try it out and if it freezes your phone, you would want to wait until a bugfix is released. Bugfixes are rather quick if the developers are keen, and shouldn’t take too long.
  • If you do not need mails pushed to your phone, and you can open the mail app to read them, turn off push notifications, this might have a major impact on the battery life as well.

I am sure there are many more, but these tips I hope will make it using the iPhone a better experience for you!

Do share any tips you can think of in the comments section, or about anything in the world for that matter. Thanks for coming!