Thursday, July 28, 2011

How to Set Up a New iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad [Emailable Tech Support]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5825052/how-to-set-up-a-new-iphone-ipod-touch-or-ipad

How to Set Up a New iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPadSo you've finally splurged on a new iOS device for yourself, or gotten it as a gift from the Apple lovers in your life. Sadly, you can't just open the box and start using it—it requires a bit of set up. Here's what you need to do.

If you don't already have iTunes, you'll want to head to apple.com/itunes, download it, and maybe even rip a few CDs while you're at it. When you're ready to start using your device, though:

  1. Grab your sync cable (the one that came with your device) and plug your device into your computer. If iTunes doesn't start up automatically, start it up and click on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad in the left-hand sidebar.
  2. How to Set Up a New iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPadWhen prompted, pick "Set Up as a New iPhone/iPod/iPad". From there, you'll be able to choose whether you want to automatically sync music, photos, apps, or all of the above to your device. Hit the Done button and it will start syncing your media. This will take awhile, so go get a cup or ten of coffee and wait for it to finish.
  3. When you're done, you'll be able to use your new device. If you had music in iTunes when you set it up, you should see it in the "iPod" app on your iPhone or iPad, or the "Music" app on an iPod touch (note that your music won't be in the "iTunes" app on your phone, that's only for buying new music—yes, it's a little confusing).

If you chose to sync any apps you had downloaded, those will appear on your device on the home screen. Now that you've got everything working, though, you can buy apps at any time from the blue "App Store" icon, or buy music from the purple "iTunes" icon.

How to Set Up a New iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPadIt's also worth noting that you can sync more than just music, photos, and apps to your device. If you plug it back into iTunes and click on it in the sidebar, you should see a row of categories on top of the main pane ("Summary", "Info", "Apps", etc.). If you click on "Info", you can sync contacts, calendars, and email accounts from Outlook, Apple Mail, and more. You can also sync your bookmarks from Internet Explorer or Safari.

By clicking on the Apps, Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Books, and Photos tabs, you can selectively sync certain artists, playlists, or genres to sync to your device, if you don't have enough room to sync everything. Whenever you make changes to your device's preferences, just be sure to hit the "Apply" button at the bottom of the iTunes window to sync it again using your new settings. Enjoy your new device!

Emailable Tech Support is a tri-weekly series of easy-to-share guides for the less tech savvy people in your life. Got a beginner tech support question you constantly answer? Let us know at tips@lifehacker.com. Remember, when you're just starting out computing, there's very little that's too basic to learn.


You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
 

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Enable Direct2D and DirectWrite Hardware Acceleration for Better Graphics Performance in Firefox [Firefox]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5825280/enable-direct2d-and-directwrite-hardware-acceleration-for-better-graphics-performance-in-firefox

Enable Direct2D and DirectWrite Hardware Acceleration for Better Graphics Performance in FirefoxWith a few about:config tweaks, you can turn on Firefox's built-in hardware acceleration and improve both graphical performance and the look of your fonts.

If you have a decent graphics card (DirectX 10-capable) and Windows 7 (or Windows Vista with the Vista Platform Upgrade), you can make graphics processing a bit more efficient with these tweaks:

  1. Type about:config into your address bar and promise Firefox you'll be careful.
  2. Type render in the search box, and find the following two keys:
    gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled
    mozilla.widget.render-mode
  3. Double click on the gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled entry so that it's set to true.
  4. Double-click on the mozilla.widget.render-mode entry and set the value to 6. If you can't find this key, right-click anywhere in the window, hit to New > Integer, set it's name to mozilla.widget.render-mode, and value to 6.
  5. Restart Firefox

Now, you should notice that your fonts look a little bit nicer, and certain pages (like Google Maps) move a little bit smoother. To revert back, just go back into about:config, disable gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled, and set mozilla.widget.render-mode to -1. Hit the link below to read more.

How to Enable Direct2D & DirectWrite Hardware Acceleration in Mozilla Firefox | Tweaking with Vishal


You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
 

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Enable Direct2D and DirectWrite Hardware Acceleration for Better Graphics Performance in Firefox [Firefox]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5825280/enable-direct2d-and-directwrite-hardware-acceleration-for-better-graphics-performance-in-firefox

Enable Direct2D and DirectWrite Hardware Acceleration for Better Graphics Performance in FirefoxWith a few about:config tweaks, you can turn on Firefox's built-in hardware acceleration and improve both graphical performance and the look of your fonts.

If you have a decent graphics card (DirectX 10-capable) and Windows 7 (or Windows Vista with the Vista Platform Upgrade), you can make graphics processing a bit more efficient with these tweaks:

  1. Type about:config into your address bar and promise Firefox you'll be careful.
  2. Type render in the search box, and find the following two keys:
    gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled
    mozilla.widget.render-mode
  3. Double click on the gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled entry so that it's set to true.
  4. Double-click on the mozilla.widget.render-mode entry and set the value to 6. If you can't find this key, right-click anywhere in the window, hit to New > Integer, set it's name to mozilla.widget.render-mode, and value to 6.
  5. Restart Firefox

Now, you should notice that your fonts look a little bit nicer, and certain pages (like Google Maps) move a little bit smoother. To revert back, just go back into about:config, disable gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled, and set mozilla.widget.render-mode to -1. Hit the link below to read more.

How to Enable Direct2D & DirectWrite Hardware Acceleration in Mozilla Firefox | Tweaking with Vishal


You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
 

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Online Accounts, Search and Replace, and Tag Pages [From The Tips Box]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5825307/online-accounts-search-and-replace-and-lifehacker-tag-pages/gallery/

Online Accounts, Search and Replace, and Tag PagesReaders offer their best tips for keeping up on the online services you use, searching and replacing text in certain programs, and navigating to Lifehacker's tag pages.

Don't like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.

Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, email it to tips at lifehacker.com, or share it on our tips and expert pages.

Online Accounts, Search and Replace, and Tag Pages

Use Your Birthday to Catalog Your Online Accounts

Photo by Will Clayton.

Jryan727 discovers an easy way to take stock of the online services you're signed up for:

So, today's my birthday, and many of the services, forums, and other miscellaneous websites I belong to are sending me Happy Birthday e-mails, which made me realize that your birthday is a great day to take an accounting of what services you belong to. If you were planning on compiling a list, or spreadsheet, your birthday is a great day to start! I've already gotten e-mails from more than a few that I had long forgotten I even had accounts with.

You probably won't get emails from all those services, but you'll probably get a few from ones you had forgotten about. This is also probably a great time to unsubscribe or remove your account from a few of these services if you don't use them anymore.

Online Accounts, Search and Replace, and Tag Pages

Search and Replace Text in Any Program with AutoHotkey

Slpk shares an AutoHotkey script perfect for bloggers and other writers:

I created this Autohotkey script for those situations when you need to work with text on applications that lack a basic search&replace function.
Use it to have Ctrl+Alt+R give you a search&replace wherever you need.
^!R::
Gui:
Gui Destroy
Gui, Add, Text,, Search:
Gui, Add, Edit, r1 w210 vSearch
Gui, Add, Text,, Replace:
Gui, Add, Edit, r1 w210 vReplace
Gui, Add, Button, x+-50 y+5 gReplace Default, Replace
Gui, Show, W230 H130, Ctrl+R Everywhere
return

GuiEscape:
Gui Destroy
return

Replace:
Gui Submit
previous := % clipboard
Sleep 100
Send ^a
Sleep 100
Send ^c
newtext := RegExReplace(clipboard, Search, Replace, count)
MsgBox, 4, %count% occurrencies., %count% occurrencies. Continue?
IfMsgBox Yes
clipboard := % newtext
Sleep 100
Send ^a
Sleep 100
Send ^v
clipboard := % previous
IfMsgBox No
Gosub Gui
return
return

Online Accounts, Search and Replace, and Tag Pages

Keep An Eye Out for Tag Page Links All Around Lifehacker

Conflicted commenter Java-Princess shows us an easier way to navigate Lifehacker tag pages:

If you're on the #tips page and want to go directly to #openthread, a similar collection of user-submitted stuff then instead of hitting the Lifehacker title image to get to the links and then clicking #openthread, consider the uses of adversity. A lot of commenters double post their stuff in both #openthread and #tips, something I find annoying. But, you can just go to the nearest tip and click the #openthread link the user inserted for you in his/her comment.

We've put a bunch of tag pages on the front page in the new design, but this is still faster for certain tags. For example, I've also put a link to #tips at the end of each post I write, for easy access, and you can always click on the lead tag of any post as well. It's just another way to get around.

Online Accounts, Search and Replace, and Tag Pages

Distract Runaway Dogs with a Squeak Toy Instead of Treats

Photo by Ali Milteer.

Pinecone99 lets us know a foolproof method for getting your dog's attention:

Dog owners - if your dog runs off and won't come when you call even if you try luring him/her with treats, try a squeaky toy.

My dog occasionally escapes from the yard and decided early on that it was more fun to explore the neighborhood than listen to my voice calling him. The squeaky toy catches his attention and he comes running toward me. Of course he'll gladly accept treats at that point too.

Strangely, I never though to try this, but it makes sense: your dog is probably more excited about a squeaky toy than your own voice, and it can actually tell you have one from far away, unlike treats.

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A Wall of 250 Canon Cameras Flashing Their Lights Is a Seizure Waiting to Happen [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5825294/a-wall-of-250-canon-cameras-flashing-their-lights-is-a-seizure-waiting-to-happen

Be warned though, the music ain't for everybody. [Androp.jp via Fast Company]


You can keep up with Casey Chan, the author of this post, on Twitter or Facebook.

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