In fact, everything you are reading right now has been “written” with dictation.

“Writing” this post with dictation could go either way, it could be fun and useful or just an outright pain, I’ll let you know how it goes at the end.

Dictation Tips

• By default dictation is activated by pressing the “fn” key twice.
• Talk at your own pace (preferably slowly), take the time to get your wording right before you say it.
• The better you e-nun-ci-ate, the better the result.
• If Dictation has trouble picking up what you’re saying, talk slower. (finding this out for myself right now).
• Dictation records up to 30 seconds of what you say before it has to be transcribed.
• Dictation is smart, as you continue to use it, it learns your accent and how to better understand what you’re saying.
• When you finish saying what you have to say the recorded audio gets sent to Apple’s servers, translated and then sent back to your Mac. This means you need an active internet connection on your computer to use it.
• The purple meter on the mic signifies the volume of your voice, the higher the volume bar the better the chance of it being translated correctly.
• If you don’t want to yell your computer move the mic closer (or your face closer to the screen). Actually, I’m speaking with my normal voice and it’s working just fine.
• Dictation also uses the contacts in your contacts app to correctly spell names.
• A high-quality mic works better than the built-in Mac mic (although the built-in mic is actually pretty good).
• Don’t expect dictation to get everything right, proofread everything!
• You can change the default hotkey by going to Settings -> Dictation & Speech.
• You can also change the language settings by going to Settings -> Dictation & Speech.
• Make sure you are ok with its privacy settings, a lot of information gets sent to Apple. To view the privacy settings open Settings -> Dictation & Speech -> “About Dictation and Privacy”.

Dictation “Tricks”

• To insert a punctuation mark, simply say the punctuation mark you want.
• Use it when you don’t know the spelling of a specific word.
• Dictation understands basic text commands.
• To have dictation emulate pressing the enter / return key, simply say “new line”.
• To make it capitalize everything, say “all caps”.
• Dates and dollar amounts are automatically entered correctly. For example, saying three dollars and 45 cents will automatically be adjusted to $3.45.
• To add a temperature just say the temperature. For example, 13°C [13 degrees Celsius].
• If you want to add a single number as a digit, in that case the number 8, then say “numeral 8″. If you just say the word “eight” it will show up as “eight”.
• Math equations work by just saying it. Example [eight plus eight equals sixteen] will automatically translate to “8+8 = 16″.
• Creating a new paragraph is easy, just say “new paragraph”.
• Dictation even understands measurements. Example: 2′ x 4′ [two feet by four feet]
• Call a sign what it is. + [plus sign], = [equal sign].
• If you don’t want dictation to automatically turn something like [plus sign] into an actual “+”, then pause between the words. Example [plus (pause for a second or two) sign]
• Dictation even picks up on things like smiley faces (emoticons). For example [smiley face].

Full Dictation Command List

Command	Result
question mark	?
inverted question mark	¿
exclamation point	!
hyphen	-
dash	–
em dash	—
underscore	_
comma	,
open parenthesis	(
close parenthesis	)
open square bracket	[
close square bracket	]
open brace	{
close brace	}
semi colon	;
ellipsis	…
quote	“
end-quote	”
back quote	“
single quote	‘
end single quote	’
double-quote	“
apostrophe	‘
colon	:
slash	/
back slash	\
tilde	~
ampersand	&
percent sign	%
copyright sign	©
registered sign	®
section sign	§
dollar sign	$
cent sign	¢
degree sign	º
caret	^
at sign	@
Pound sterling sign	£
Yen sign	¥
Euro sign	€
pound sign	#
smiley face (or “smiley”)
frowny face (or “sad face”, “frown”)
winky face (or “winky”)
cap (for example, “this is a cap Test”)	Capitalize next word
all caps (for example, “this is a all caps TEST”)	Type in all caps
caps on	Caps lock on
caps off (for example, “this is caps on A VERY IMPORTANT TEST caps off tomorrow”)	Caps lock off
no caps(for example, “what time is my meeting in no caps boston today”)	All lowercase
new line	Insert new text line
next line	Go to the next text line
new paragraph	Begin new paragraph
next paragraph	Go to the next paragraph
no space	Do not insert a space after the next word
no space on (for example, “the new car is no space on reallyreallyexpensive”)	Do not insert any spaces between words
no space off	Resume inserting spaces between words
space bar (for example, “this restaurant is first space bar class”)	Type a space
numeral (for example, “he starts from position numeral 5″)	Type the numeral, such as 5 instead of “five”
Roman numeral (for example, “in January it’s Roman numeral MMXIII”)	Type the spoken as a Roman number

Final thoughts on using Dictation

Dictation

Well this was a fun article, I’d say around 80% of everything written here was done through dictation (excluding the Full Dictation Command List). Around half of the 20% that I wrote with my keyboard was words that dictation couldn’t get right, mainly minor things though. For example, when I said “mic” it would transcribe it as “Mike”, this isn’t really dictations fault though. The remaining half was fixing grammar and other minor things.

There is even currently construction going on outside, however it is doing well at filtering out that noise and listening directly to my voice. It also had no problem cutting out the long gaps in my speech. If I took a couple of seconds to figure out what my next word was going to be, it would simply glide over that pause with no issue.

So will I continue to use the built-in dictation feature to write these posts? Probably not, while it was different and somewhat fun, I could see those aspects wearing off eventually. However that’s not to say that it is useless. For things like sending tweets, or short messages it works great. However if you are planning on writing long emails or even lengthily articles like this, it’s just easier (in my opinion) to type on the keyboard. Maybe this is just me though, in my younger years I did get fairly quick and good with my typing skills thanks to Mavis Beacon (that brings back memories).

Dictation really stands out if you or someone you know is bad at typing. For instance my father and a friend from work both type with just 2 fingers. It’s actually pretty funny watching them. If you know someone like that, do them a favor and introduce them to dictation. Another great use of it is to enter symbols that you can’t remember how to enter on the keyboard, like the © [copyright sign].

What are your thoughts, do you have any hidden tips and tricks for dictation that hasn’t been included above? Do you even use it, or are you content leaving it turned off?

The post Exploring all the features of Dictation on a Mac appeared first on AppDucate.

This was confusing at first because you are able to view grouped contacts on an iOS device, even able to hide and view the groups. It would seem that Apple hasn’t given us the ability to group contacts on either an iPad, iPhone or iPod. If you do want to organize your contacts into groups then you’ll need to have a use the icloud.com website, the Contacts app on a Mac or use a different browser on your iPad.

Group Contacts using iCloud.com

Group Contacts Together in iCloud

First thing you’re going to want to do is to go to the www.icloud.com website. Unfortunately you will need a computer to view the site (there is a work around for your iOS device located below). On a computer you’ll be able to log into your account, however on an iOS device with Safari you’ll instead just be shown instructions on how to setup iCloud. Why Apple?

Anyways, once logged into your icloud.com account click the Contacts app. At the top of this page is a little red ribbon hanging down. That’s the groups button, click on it to open up your groups.

On the left page at the bottom there is an “Edit” and a “+” button. Click the “+” button to create a new group. Once you’ve created your new group just drag any contacts from the right page into one of the groups on the left.

If you have iCloud sync enabled on your iOS devices (Settings -> iCloud) then all the changes you make on icloud.com will sync to all your devices. If it doesn’t sync right away open up the Contacts app on your iOS device and tap the Groups ribbon, then tap the reload button.

Sort Contacts into Groups on a Mac

Sort iCloud Contacts on a Mac

Even sorting the contacts into groups on a Mac is somewhat hidden. Open the Contacts app and you should be presented with something that looks something like the adjacent screenshot. If it doesn’t look like that and you don’t have the 3 panes then you need to change the app view. Go to the Menu Bar and click View -> Groups.

There isn’t a predominant button to click that allows you to create new groups. You’ll need to hover your mouse over one of the group title bars. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Check the screenshot, it’s circled in red. Once the group is created just drag and drop any contacts your want to have sorted.

To remove a group, click on it and go to the Menu Bar -> Edit -> “Delete Group”.

How to access icloud.com on an iOS device

Mercury Browser on an iPad

To start off, there isn’t anything difficult about getting into icloud.com from your iPad. The thing limiting the iPad is simply the Safari browser. The way I get around this is to use an alternative browser, for this I use the free app called Mercury Browser. There are a quite a few alternative browsers out there, I like Mercury though so I’ll use it for the remainder of this guide.

Once Mercury is installed and opened, you’ll see a little icon that looks like 3 dots and 3 lines located at the upper right (circled in red in the screenshot). Tap this icon to drop down a little window, in this window you’ll want to click the “User Agent” icon.

Basically what this lets you do is “fool” a website into believe that you are using a different browser. On your iPad select Safari (Mac OS X). This will reload the page and “trick” the icloud.com website into believing that you are browsing the site on a Mac.

This method isn’t ideal for smaller devices such as an iPhone or iPod though. The icloud.com website doesn’t allow you to zoom or move around. So if you try this on your smaller iOS device you won’t be able to log in simply because you can’t move the screen around enough to get to the Apple ID and Password input fields.

Hopefully Apple makes grouping contacts on an iOS device easier in the future. What do you think? Is grouping the contacts important enough that it should be incorporated into iOS 7, or is best left as a somewhat hidden feature?

The post How to Organize iCloud Contacts into Groups appeared first on AppDucate.

Basically it’s a hub for all your magazine and newspaper subscriptions.

In this article I’ll go over how the Newsstand app works, how to download and subscribe to magazine / newspapers and also how to hide the Newsstand app (if you want to). Apple has prevented the Newsstand app from being able to be deleted or even tucked away in a folder. This bugs some people, so at the bottom of this article I’ll also go over some ways of hiding it.

Not everybody likes Newsstand, however, some of the magazines are amazing. For instance, in a real magazine there are only images and words. In the magazines in Newsstand however, it doesn’t have to just be an image. For instance, as I’m typing this I have a magazine on my iPad open. The current image that I’m looking at is of Rio De Janeiro in Brazil. Instead of being just a simple image though, it’s actually a full 360 image that I can move around and zoom.

How does the Newsstand app work?

Newsstands folder view

The way that Newsstand works is actually pretty simple. When you tap on it, it expands into a virtual bookshelf. This bookshelf (or folder view) stores all of your downloaded magazines and newspapers, as well as your subscriptions.

The magazines and newspaper act a lot like any of the other apps on your home screen. When you hold one down they start to wiggle around, allowing you to do the usual like move them around and delete them.

Each Newsstand app has its own menu system, means of navigation and its own way of subscribing, so each one could be slight learning curve. It can be a little confusing if you have many different subscriptions and have to remember how each one works.

The Newsstand magazines and newspapers also support push notifications. This means that once they publish something new, you are notified right away and it is downloaded to your device. I have push notifications enabled for my local newspaper, whenever a new publication goes out it is delivered straight onto my iPad and iPhone.

How to Download & Subscribe in Newsstand

Download and Subscribe

On the upper right of the Newsstand bookshelf there is a little button, the “Store” button. It takes you to a special section of the App Store where all the Newsstand content is located. You may be shocked at first to see that pretty much everything is free. It’s a lie though, well not really… I’ll explain.

Newsstand uses In App Purchases as the means of selling you magazine / newspaper issues or subscriptions. So for instance, if I wanted to get the latest issue of Popular Science, I’d download the magazine app for free. Once it finishes downloading I’d open the app and it would present me will the option to buy its issues one by one, or by monthly or even yearly subscriptions.

Not everything costs money though, for instance my local newspaper offers its daily issues for free.

I hate the Newsstand app, how do I remove or hide it?

Some people have no desire to use the Newsstand app and just want to delete it. Apple doesn’t want you to be able to delete it or even tuck it away in a folder. So if you’re one of those people who just want to get rid of it, here are 3 ways to hide the Newsstand app. One method requires your device to be jailbroken, another method requires you have a PC or Mac and the other method requires patience and fast finger agility.

Jailbroken Method

The jailbreak method is pretty simple, first of course your device will have to jailbroken. Open Cydia then search and install a tweak called NoNewsIsGoodNews. Basically what is does is hides the Newsstand app, if you have any newspapers or magazines they will be forced onto the homescreen and be presented as regular apps.

PC or Mac Method

StifleStand

This is by far the easiest method, it doesn’t even require your device to be jailbroken, however the after effects aren’t optimal. Hiding the Newsstand app with this method is stupid easy, all you need to do is download and run StifleStand. It is available for Mac and PC, all you need to do is download it, open it and click the one and only button it has. Conveniently that button is the “Hide Newsstand” button.

After the app has finished hiding the Newsstand app, it is hidden in a folder called Magic. Heres the problem however, if you had any newspaper or magazine subscriptions you can no longer access them without moving the Newsstand app out of the folder. If you do click the Newsstand app while it is the folder then your device will crash / respring (loads right back up). If you never want use the Newsstand app ever again then this will work fine for you.

Fast Finger Agility Method

This method has got to be the most frustrating ways to hide the Newsstand app (for me at least). This method does not require a Mac or PC or even that your device is jailbroken. Basically you want to tap and hold the Newsstand app at the same moment as you press the home button, and then quickly swipe to the second homescreen page, then tap a folder and press the home button again… But first the Newsstand app has to be on the 3rd homescreen page, because when you press the home button it goes to the 1st page, which then you need to quickly swipe to the 2nd page.

What?

Ok, so I tried it multiple times and it was a no go for me. I couldn’t do it and I simply got frustrated trying. Fortunatly Mr. @Iain_Bryce was willing to help out. So without further ado, here’s a video where he shows how easy it is to do. Also I’m sure he’d appreciate it if you’d like the video or follow his twitter account.

This method has the same effect as using the StifleStand app, if you try to open Newsstand while it’s in a folder then your iOS device will crash / respiring. So if you’re like me and don’t have ninja like finger reflexes, just use the PC / Mac method above.

The post Understanding and Using Newsstand on an iOS Device appeared first on AppDucate.

So do I need to use an Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware app on my Mac? Well I suppose it depends on you. Are you the kind of person who wildly installs and runs any program they randomly come across? Or are you the kind of person who comes across an app and first goes and does quick google search about it? Apple has implemented a few ways to protect yourself, and Mac OS X itself is very secure.

In this article I’ll go through some ways to make sure your precious Mac is safe and secure, as well as how to use some of the security features built into your Mac. And finally I’ll quickly go over the Anti-Virus client that I currently use on my Mac.

Built in Security – GateKeeper

Built-in Security

Mac OS X is very capable of protecting itself from viruses and malware, however it also gives you control of some of the security features. For instance all Macs that run Mountain Lion (10.8+) and OS X Lion (10.7.5+) have GateKeeper. Think of it this way, GateKeeper has a list of approved guests (apps), when one of those guests show up they are allowed entrance to the party (Mac). When an uninvited guest comes along and tries to sneak into the party, GateKeeper asks for its ID (Developer ID). After not being able to provide any means of ID, GateKeeper will shut the gate in its face.

As you can see in the screenshot, under “Allow applications downloaded from:” there are a few options from that let you choose how GateKeeper runs.

If you select “Mac App Store and identified developers”, then only applications from the Mac App Store and apps have gone through the process of getting verified with Apple can be installed. It’s very unlikely that Apple would randomly verify and approve a virus or malware, so with this option selected you should be pretty safe.

Unidentified App

You may eventually come across an application for your Mac that is not verified by Apple. The app may be perfectly fine and simply just hasn’t bothered getting verified by Apple (or can’t get verified). For applications like that, I can only suggest that you do a quick google search on the app and make sure you download the app from the apps homepage instead of some random download website.

GateKeeper will warn you if it finds an unidentified app. If you decide that you want to run the app despite Gatekeepers warning, then you can still run or install it, however you’ll have to enter your password.

To get to GateKeepers settings, Open System Preferences ->  Security & Privacy -> General tab -> looked under “Allow applications downloaded from:”.

Built in Security – SandBoxing & Runtime Protections

Sandboxing is another security feature on you Mac. Basically it makes the app that you’ve downloaded play only in its own sandbox by isolating its access to other apps sandboxes. So basically even if the app is malicious and tries to escape its own sandbox and mess with another app, it can’t because it is restricted.

There are also other runtime protections (running all the time) that are built right down to the very core of your Mac and runs on every level of it. It has a strong wall between the data and memory used for executable instruction. Basically this prevents malicious software from tricking your Mac into treating the data the same way as it treats an app, which could have been used to compromise it.

It even randomly changes the memory locations where different parts of the app is stored. This stops an attacker from being able to find and record certain parts of app to make it do something it wasn’t intended to do.

Built in Security – Anti-Phishing

Anti-Phishing

Most browsers have some form of Anti-phishing. There are sites out there that will try to steal sensitive information such as your usernames and passwords. Sometimes these sites will try to trick you into believing that they are a legitimate websites that you can trust. Meanwhile they are simply trying to get ahold of your credit card and other sensitive information. If you use Safari on your Mac then you’ll be warned the moment you come across a suspicious or harmful website.

Anti-Phishing in Safari can be enabled by going to its preferences -> Security tab -> make sure “Warn when visiting a fraudulent website” is checked.

Don’t leave it all in your browsers hands though, if you come across a site asking for personal information and it seems sketchy then do some quick research on it. Google can help here.

So do I need an Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware app?

The above may make you feel safe enough to say that you don’t need an Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware app. And if you do feel safe enough then that’s perfectly sensible, Mac OS X is very secure and has quite a few safeguards against most of these threats and exploits. If you are safe about what you install and what websites you go then it’s unlikely that you will get a virus.

However, before you close this page let me point one thing out. I’m pretty techie, I’ve had a large interest in computers and other technology since I was young and have become somewhat versed in things like instantly spotting out malicious sites and even possible viruses; and still, I currently have an Anti-Virus solution on my Mac.

So if there are viruses and malware out there that can harm a Mac then why doesn’t everyone use one? Well the most common issue with having an Anti-Virus program is that it is constantly running (realtime scanning). Realtime scanning means that as apps (and other “stuff”) are opened they are being scanned by the Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware app. Basically everything is scanned as it is processed. This is a good thing and a bad thing. Since it’s always scanning, it has a really high success rate of stopping any threat the moment it appears, however since it’s always scanning it’s also taking a toll on your computers speed and resources.

ClamXav

The solution (for me anyways) is to use app that doesn’t have realtime protection (or can have it disabled). I use ClamXav because it’s free, simple, smart and does what it says it does. When I close ClamXav, it stops using my Macs resources and when I need it, it’s there right away. My favorite feature is the ability to right-click (control-click) any file and be given the option to immediately scan the file.

There are tons of Anti-Virus / Malware apps and solutions out there to choose from, some are free, some cost money. It’s up to you to decide on what you feel safest with.

For example, if you look up in your browser and see a whole bunch of toolbars and have no idea how they got there then you should probably use a really good realtime solution. If you’re smart about what you do and install on your Mac, then you most likely don’t need a realtime protection solution.

Without realtime scanning your Anti-Virus / Malware app is useless unless you do manual or scheduled scans.

Manual and Scheduled

Most Anti-Virus / Malware clients allow you to set up scheduled scans and do manual scans. For this example I’ll use ClamXav, as it’s the app I currently use and like.

Have you ever downloaded something and been hesitant on opening it? Sometimes I can be hesitant on opening up zipped (.zip / .rar) files. Luckily with ClamXav on your Mac all you have to do is right-click (control click) the item and click “Scan with ClamXav”. It will perform an instant scan on the files and show you the results when done.

Scheduled tasks are pretty important if you plan on using ClamXav because it does not have realtime scanning (Mac App Store version). Setting up a scheduled tasks is really easy, the most difficult part of it is deciding when you’d like to have it run. Personally I have it set to run on the weekends at 9:00 am, this is because it’s the weekend and I know that I’m not going to be up before 9. Try to choose a time when you know you’ll be away from your computer. You can still of course use your computer while a scheduled scan is going on, it just may run a little slower since when scanning, a lot of your Macs resources are being using to complete the scan.

It’s also important to have your virus defections updated regularly, preferably right before a full system scan is done.

There are two versions of ClamXav, the Mac App Store version and the version you can download from the apps homepage. The version that you can download from the apps homepage has more features.

Features not included in the Mac App Store version of ClamXav:

1. It does not have realtime scanning – the version from www.clamxav.com does.
   
2. It does not have the bundled ClamAV engine used to build your own installation.

The best advice I can give you is to be smart about what you do and what you download. Don’t just install anything without knowing what it is. When installing an application don’t blindly click the next button. This is usually where you are asked if you want to install other promoted software. For instance, do you have a bunch of uninvited toolbars in your browser? This is most likely how they got there.

Be safe out there.

The post Should a Mac use an Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware App appeared first on AppDucate.

Well first, I’m hoping you have a general idea of what’s causing the iTunes sync to take so long. Some people have an issue with the backup taking hours, some have issues with iTunes deciding that it needs to sync the entirety of the genius suggestion collection every time it syncs. Even if you aren’t sure what’s causing the issue I’ll try to cover as much as I can in this article, hopefully you’ll find what you are looking for.

Speed Up by – Backing up to iCloud instead of iTunes

Backup to iCloud

I’ll start with the most common culprit. As I’m sure you know, backing up is very important, however backing up to iTunes is not the only way of backing up. To make iTunes sync faster you can have your iOS device backup to iCloud instead. Usually after syncing your new media, iTunes decides that it should also update the backup. This often takes up a bit to much time. I won’t go into detail on how to setup iCloud backup since I’ve already gone through it in another article: 2 ways to backup your iPod, iPhone and iPad

Speed Up by – Syncing Smaller Media Files

Sync SD Videos

Here’s a really cool feature I like about iTunes, that defiantly makes iTunes sync faster! Have you ever purchased a movie or TV show from the iTunes Store and noticed that it downloads an HD and an SD version? If you are transferring that video onto your iOS device then there really isn’t that much of a need to have the large HD version transfer over as you’re most likely not even going to really notice any quality difference because of the screen size on the iPad, iPhone or the iPod Touch.

To decrease the sync time, go into your iOS devices summary page in iTunes on your computer and under “Options” check off the box that says, “Prefer standard definition videos. As an added bonus, you’ll also see a large amount of extra available space saved.

I’ve heard people say that setting the option to “Convert higher bit rate songs to” a lower quality song also speeds up the syncing process. I’m not sure how they came to that conclusion as basically what this means, is that each song will have to go through a conversion process (the songs in your iTunes library on your computer remain untouched). If anything this simply makes iTunes take way to long to sync. I canceled it before ever 2 (out of 852) songs finished converting. It does have the benefit of saving a ton of space on your iOS device though.

Speed Up by – Disabling Genius

Turn off Genius

Genius can be one of the most frustrating syncing steps, mainly because it can take ages to complete especially when you have a large library. I personally never use Genius and actually have it completely turned off and have noticed that iTunes syncs so much faster now. Disabling genius is really easy. Just open iTunes, go to the menu bar -> click “Store” -> Turn off Genius.

But wait, what if that option to turn off Genius isn’t there? Do you have iTunes Match enabled? I hate to be there bearer of bad news, however if you use iTunes Match you can not disable genius. Apple has decided that if you use iTunes Match then you also must want to use Genius and hasn’t given the option to use Match without Genius.

You can disable Genius but you’ll also have to disable Match, here are the instructions:

1. Open iTunes on your Mac or PC.
2. In the menu bar click “Store”
3. Click “Turn Off iTunes Match”
4. Once Match has finished turning off, click the store menu again and then click “Turn Off Genius”.

Speed Up by – Not Syncing Wirelessly

Disable Sync over Wi-Fi

Syncing wirelessly is a pretty useful feature, however it does take longer to sync over Wi-Fi than by syncing via USB cable. How much faster is USB? Well actually quite a bit faster. To speed up the syncing process by disabling syncing over Wi-Fi:

1. Open iTunes on your computer.
2. Go to your iOS device Summary page.
3. Under “Options” uncheck “Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi”.

Personally I still use Wi-Fi sync just because I much prefer it than syncing over USB cable. However it’s up to you to decide what fits your needs best.

Speed Up by – Not sending Diagnostic Information

Disable Diagnostic Information

I noticed a slight speed increase by disabling the option to send diagnostic and usage information to Apple. When something crashes on your iOS device it creates a log of it; this information is useful to Apple because it tells them what they need to fix when they release a new update to iOS. It also logs some usage information that Apple finds useful because it lets them know how the device is being used. They do have a strict privacy policy so none of your personal information is sent but it can make the iTunes sync take a while longer. To disable it:

1. Open Settings on your iOS device.
2. Go to General -> About.
3. Scroll to the bottom and tap Diagnostics & Usage.
4. Tap “Don’t Send”.

Nothing Works!

“Nothing works, iTunes is taking forever to sync and I’m going bald from ripping my hair out!” I’ve heard of some people having issues where nothing they do makes iTunes sync faster. If you are one of these people who are unfortunately stuck with an iOS device that is taking hours to sync then there may being an issue that can only be resolved by restoring. Make a backup first. Restoring may seem a bit drastic, so before you do that, try simply restarting your device first. Ask any IT guy or gal and the most common solution to tech issues is a simple restart.

The post How to Speed Up iTunes Sync on an iPhone, iPod and iPad appeared first on AppDucate.

As the name would imply, it’s a center place for all your games.

Game Center brings a social aspect to the way you play games and keep track of achievements as well as the leaderboards.

Game Center on iPad

All you need to do to activate Game Center is to open it and log into it. On a Mac it can be found in Applications/.

Once you’ve logged in, you’ll be presented with the default “Me” tab. This specific tab gives an overview of your account; showing the number of games you have stored in Game Center as well as the accumulated points and finally how many friends you have. On this tab you can also choose to set a status, as well as change your profile avatar.

The Next tab, “Friends” gives you a view of all your friends, as well as the games you have in common. Game Center add a competitive element by comparing gaming scores against your friends. I have this one friend who constantly has to just have a slightly higher score than me in Street Fighter IV Volt, and this is pleasant reminder of that…

Achievements

My favourite feature about Game Center is the ability to challenge your friends. So say for instance I feel like showing off some of my new skills in Street Fighter to my buddy. I would tap on his profile, select the game, and then tap the play button. This would load up Street Fighter on my iPhone, and send him a notification say that he’s being challenged. If he were to open that notification it would launch the game and start a match between us.

This same thing can be done for specific achievements. For example, there is this one achievement that we both don’t have yet. It is to win 15 matches without SP Move Assist on by playing in the online mode. I could tap this specific achievement and send him a challenge.

Onto the next tab, the Games tab. This tab simply shows your games and stats as well as other game recommendations. Nothing interesting here so lets go to the next tab.

The Challenges tab shows any challenges you may have received. To accept or decline the challenge simply tap on it.

And lastly the Requests tab. This is where you can view and accept or decline any friend requests. Of course you’re also able to send a friend request by tapping the “Add Friend” button. You will need to know their Game Center nickname or their email address in order to send the request. You can also customize a message to be sent along with the friend request, once it’s sent it’s simply a waiting game until your friend accepts.

There is another way to send friend requests, while in Game Center select a game then tap the “Players” tab. This will show people who you’ve previously played against. Simply tap their username and then the “Send Friend Request” button. Game Center can also use your Contacts and even Facebook account to suggest friends that you may like to challenge or add as a friend.

Find Game Center Games

Don’t have any Game Center enabled games? Go to the Games tab in Game Center, scroll to the bottom and select “Find Game Center Games”. This will open the App Store to a special game area with all the games being Game Center enabled. Alternatively, here’s a link: Game Center Games

If you’re new to the Apple devices/Game Center world or looking to get into it, just thought I should mention that Game Center is not required to play games. It does add a couple nice touches and defiantly brings a social effect to the games though. It comes pre-installed on iPhones, iPods, iPads, and since it can’t simply be removed it may be worth checking out, especially if you enjoy playing games.

The post How to Use Game Center on an iOS Device and on a Mac appeared first on AppDucate.

The item you’ve requested is not currently available in the Canadian [your location] Store, but it is available in the U.S. Store [or whichever location].

The reason certain apps, TV shows, music, movies, ect, say that you have to change your iTunes Store location is because of licensing terms and other legalities that I won’t go into. It’s the same why reason you can’t watch Hulu outside of the US. However if you’ve recently moved to the US or simply just want to attain certain US apps then you can just change your iTunes Store location.

A Few Important things to Understand

Before you start though, there are a few things I should be clear about. If you change your current Apple ID accounts location, you’ll only be able to update/download the apps that are available for that new location. So if you already have apps on your device and then change the store location, those apps will have re-downloaded from your new store location. Now if you want to continue using and updating your current apps, and still be able to download apps from outside your country then you need to create another account. This will allow you to log out of your current Apple ID and log into your other Apple ID account located in a different country or region. If you simply want to view the app, you can just log out of your account, choose a temporary location and view that location specific app.

So there are 3 different ways to change your store location and all of these methods work, whether you are using iTunes on a computer or on an iPad, iPhone or iPod.

Permanently Change Store Location

Change Location on a Computer

This method should only really be used if you’ve actually moved to a new location. Lets say you are moving from the UK to Canada. All you really need to do is log into your Apple ID account and change your location. You’ll need to update your address, and payment information.

On a Mac or PC open iTunes and go to the iTunes Store page. Click on the “Account” link under “Quick Links”. Log into your account if it asks you to and click on “Change Country or Region”.

You can also change your location while in the App Store, just like you would in the iTunes Store.

Switch Store Location with a New Apple ID

Create new Apple ID

In order to create a new Apple ID account you need to either have an iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch with iOS 5 or later, or a Mac with OS X Lion (10.7.4) or later. Setting up a new Apple ID account (iCloud email address) is super easy. On an iOS device, go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Add Account -> Tap on the iCloud button. Here you’ll be given the choice to log into your current iCloud or “Get a Free Apple ID” account.

Once you tap the “Get a Free Apple ID” button, you’ll be required to enter the standard profile information to create the account. When you get to the area where you are required to enter in your location, simply choose whichever location you desire. You may be required to enter in a zip code (postal code), if you can’t think of a proper zip code for the location you want to add just go to google and type in something like “US zip codes”.

Now lets say you wanted to download an app with a new location specific Apple ID account. Since it’s an app you’d go to the App Store, log out of your current account, then log into your new location specific account. Once you successfully log in, an alert will pop-up saying, “This Apple ID is only valid for purchases in the U.S. [your desired location] iTunes Store. You will be switched to that Store”.

On a Mac go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts & Contacts -> click iCloud -> Create Apple ID.

Temporarily Change iTunes Store Location

Temporarily switch Store Location

This method is handy when you simply want to view an app or iTunes Store item. You can’t download the item with this method, you can only view it. To download the item, use one of the above methods.

Open up iTunes on your computer and go to the iTunes Store page. At very bottom of the page on the right hand side is an icon. The icon will represent your current Country or Region, click on this little icon to bring into view all the other locations that you can view.

From this window you can choose from quite a few different locations from all over the world. Once you click a location you will be automatically logged out of your currently store location.

The post How to Change your App Store and iTunes Store Location appeared first on AppDucate.