TextExpander for iPhone & iPad Adds 12″ iPad Pro Keyboard Layouts

Smile, the developer of productivity applications for Mac, iPad and iPhone, has released an update for TextExpander for iPhone & iPad, the mobile version of the popular typing shortcut tool for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Windows (in beta). Version 4.1 adds support for keyboard layouts in English, French, and German on the 12″ iPad Pro.

This update also brings improvements to the snippet editor, adding all fonts to the font list, improving color picker selection, and adding tables and formatted lists to the insert menu.

What is TextExpander?

TextExpander is your typing shortcut tool for Mac. Save time at work or at play, whether replying to email or filling online forms, by typing abbreviations which expand to snippets of text, whole paragraphs, images and more.
Create short, expandable abbreviations for email signatures, standard greetings, formatted text and pictures. TextExpander comes with autocorrect libraries in English, French, and German to correct your typing in all apps. Even make snippets to fix your personal typing foibles.
Create more advanced snippets with fill-in-the-blank areas, paste in copied text, insert the current or future date, choose the final cursor location, and run scripts.

(more…)

Read More

[updated] 01/01/1970 was a great day.. Unless you’re an iPhone

A bug in iOS has meant many people have ended up with a ‘bricked’ phone after falling for an online prank, offering a retro iOS Easter egg. 

Setting an iOS device clock to midnight on 01/01/1970 ends up in a divide by zero error – resulting in an un bootable device. 

It’s believe to be caused by the fact the time is stored on the device in GMT, then an offset applied of seconds since 1970, depending on your location. As the above essentially sets the devices clock to zero thus causing the error. 

There’s no “Easter egg” of a retro apple symbol in the OS. So don’t risk trying to find it, unless you’re short of paper weights. 

EDIT: A video has since been published on YouTube explaining how to fix your phone should you have fallen for this “trick” 

Read More

Hide stock iOS apps

One bone of contention for many iOS users is the ‘forced’ stock apps which come bundled with the iPhone/iPad and its mobile operating system. 

I’m not just talking about the stocks and shares app either.. Power users may chose alternatives to the email, calendar, notes, reminders and maybe even messages apps. 

Personally I just bury the stock apps away inside a folder, on a tab I rarely visit. However if you prefer to keep your iDevice spotless you can follow this video tutorial to temporarily make them disappear.. That is, until a reboot occurrs, then you’ll have to follow the steps again. 


As a side, Apple are planning on changing the way stock apps work in a future release of iOS which will mean you’ll be able to remove at least some of them ‘permanently’. 

Read More

50% off PDFpen for iPad & iPhone

PDFpen-iPadSmile, the developer of productivity applications for Mac®, iPhone® and iPad® is offering a 50% discount on PDFpen for iPad & iPhone, the mobile PDF editor, from now through Sunday.
“Administrators, students, small business owners, everyone deals with PDFs,” stated Philip Goward, Smile Founder. “In the end of year bustle, we want to offer a little something to help these busy people. What better way than discounting a tool tailored to speed them through their digital paperwork.”

Use PDFpen to edit your PDFs right from your iPad and iPhone. Sign year-end agreements directly on your iPad, skip the faxing. Scribble notes and highlights as you proof your final draft. Correct typos right on your iPhone before sending out your invoices. PDFpen for iPad & iPhone gives you the flexibility to handle your PDFs from wherever you call your office, whether a coffee shop or an airport terminal.
PDFpen for iPad & iPhone is regularly £13.39 on the App Store. It is discounted to £7.99 from Thursday, December 17 through Sunday, December 20th.

(more…)

Read More

iPhone owners take heed – a new phishing scam has landed

A new scam targeting iPhone owners has been spotted out in the wild, the phishing scam entices users to click through to a link – claiming their devices have been hacked and data is being stolen. The scam presents its self in a pop up message purporting to be from Apple.

The message requests the user hand over £50 or risk loosing all of their devices data. The user is prompted to dial either 0800 6524895 or 0800 2796211. Should a user fall for the message and submit their card details, nothing will change on their device, but the users bank balance will deplete by at least £50.

There are a few important things to note; firstly Apple would never contact iPhone owners using push messages, secondly they’re unlikely to pick up on the fact someone is stealing your data. Whats more, it would be almost impossible (unless jailbroken) for someone to connect on remotely and steal data stored on iPhones

The message seems to have foxed some users, however its quite an easy fix to get rid of it without having to pay the premium.

From the home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the iPhone then switch the device to Airplane mode. Now, head over to Settings and Safari, scroll down and tap ‘Clear History and Website Data’. Now scroll back up the screen and swipe to turn on ‘Block Pop-ups’ this will prevent any future pop-ups occurring.

Thanks to Ben Mortimer for the heads up on this one.

Read More