Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is just around the corner, and with it comes the promise of new goodies.
Starting on Monday the 5th June, Apple will take to the stage and introduce the exciting lineup of gadgets and gizmos we’ll be able to get our hands on relatively soon.
Whilst it’s expected that Apple will be showing off major features of iOS 11 at WWDC, the rumour mill has been pretty quiet on what else to expect.
There’s been some speculation about the release of iOS 11, as well as iOS 11 being a bit more iPad friendly.
WWDC will hopefully bring a flurry of new exciting products, and new features that we won’t be able to live without.
WWDC runs from June 5th to June 9th.
If you would like a little more info on WWDC, you can visit Apple’s webpage here.
iOS widgets can put loads of useful data at your fingertips. A simple swipe to the right on your iPhone’s Home screen brings up the Today view. A place where widgets live and give you a quick glance at info from your favourite apps
If you’re using iOS 10 and you’ve never taken the time to customise your widgets list, you’re missing out. Here’s how to set up iOS widgets and keep your day on track.
How to access iOS Widgets
Accessing your Today view can be done from two places in iOS: the Lock screen and the Home screen. From either of those, simply swipe right to see the Today view.
How to add new Widgets
If you want to add new widgets to the Today view, you can.
Underneath the last widget you should see an ‘Edit’ Button. You may need to enter your passcode to unlock your device if your phone is locked whilst doing this.
In the ‘Edit’ menu, you should see a list of all the available widgets for you to add. The widgets you currently have installed are listed at the top.
Simply tap the red ‘-‘ symbol to delete a widget, and the green ‘+’ to add a widget If you wish to reorder them, touch and hold the grey horizontal bar icon and drag to the desired place in the list.
Tap ‘Done’ and any changes you’ve made will be saved!
Some handy widgets
Activity widget
The Activity app’s widget is a great way to help keep on top of your daily activity (especially if you own an Apple Watch). You can quickly get a glance at how busy you have been that day — and also how far you have to go to complete your move, exercise and stand goals.
Weather widget
Weather widget shows you current conditions and gives you a glance at what to expect during the next few hours. Handy if you are out and about or planning a trip.
Calendar widget
The Calendar widget gives you a broader look at your schedule. Tapping on the Calendar widget will let you view your entire day.
Google Maps
The Google Maps widgets in iOS 10 are a great addition. It includes the ability to see current traffic information without launching the app itself.
Moleskine’s Timepage is a great Calendar replacement. It serves up information in a very visually pleasing way — and the number of widgets it offers is unprecedented!
As our Mac Aid team expands a little, we thought we’d introduce you to the fresh new faces you’ll be seeing around the office.
Ricky
Ricky is one of the newest members to join our tech team.
Being a gamer since a young age, Ricky has always been interested in tech.
So much so, he has custom built PC machines for himself and a few friends.
Ricky is quickly earning his stripes in the office workshop (it’s a little different to a PC environment), and helping with all of our in-house service clients.
He is looking forward to learning all there is to know about pulling apart machines and seeing what makes them tick.
Mac Aid couldn’t be happier to welcome him to the team!
Asher
Asher (not to be confused with Ashley!) is the newest addition to our admin team.
She joins the Mac Aid team as a part-time admin gal, and full time uni student.
With a bubbly, bright personality, Asher is more than happy to help answer your questions as best she can.
She is quickly becoming a master at booking appointments for clients, and we are so excited to welcome her to the team!
As iOS gets more feature-packed, it is fairly easy to miss a cool little tidbit here and there.
Apple’s sneaky engineers do continue to cram awesome features into every iOS after all.
Listed below are 5 handy tips that you didn’t know you needed until now.
1. Close all safari tabs
There are those who complain that they have too many tabs open in their safari app, and wish they could close them all at once.
Little do they know, you can…
Hold down the tabs icon at the bottom right within Safari, and the options will appear!
You can close all of your tabs or none. Totally up to you!
2. Adjust flashlight brightness
The flashlight brightness can be adjusted using 3D Touch. Being able to adjust the brightness is perfect for those that don’t wish to blind others with their flashlight (it can be pretty bright!).
A firm press on the Flashlight icon within the Control Centre will reveal low, medium and high settings for the flashlight. Pick whichever you think appropriate.
3. Get Siri to announce who’s calling
If you’ve always got headphones in, it can be a major pain to pull your phone out of your pocket all the time to see who’s calling.
Luckily, Siri can help you out there, by announcing who’s calling.
To enable Siri’s help:
– Go to Settings
– Tap Phone, and then Announce Calls
– From there, pick whichever floats your boat.
4. Hide your number
This one is more for the pranksters among us.
If you want to hide your number when making a call, simply dial #31# before starting your call.
Your number won’t be visible to whoever picks up on the other end.
5. Apple Pay shortcut
The Apple Pay users will already know that you can open the Wallet app or double tap your iPhone’s Home button when using Apple Pay for transactions. But did you know that you didn’t need to?
You can simply hold your iPhone next to a compatible payment terminal, and your phone will open Apple Pay for you. Much simpler.
For those who are still running Microsoft’s Office 2011 for Mac rather than 2016 or Office 365, it’s probably time to bite the bullet and upgrade your software.
Microsoft has announced that they will no longer be supporting Office 2011 after October 10, 2017.
Those who are currently running Office 2011, might want to think about upgrading their Office suite to either 2016 or Office 365.
Both have the base products such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and One Note. However, Office 365 does offer online storage and the option of installing on various devices (basic info found in the picture below).
If you would like more information on Office packages, you can visit Microsoft’s website here.
Alternatively, you can give our office a call.
We would be more than happy helping you upgrade your software.
