iPad Tricks and Tips (part 2)

Five more cool things you can do with you iPad (the first 5 are linked here):

Selectively prevent automatic sync: If you have lots of music in iTunes on your PC, it will overwhelm your iPad memory very quickly.  Hold down Shift-Ctrl (or Command-Option, on a Mac) in iTunes while plugging your iPad in, and iTunes will skip the automatic sync just this once. Alternatively, you can safely interrupt a sync by dragging the unlock slider on your device while the iPad is midsync.

Create custom shortcuts for common phrases: Great for addresses, or commonly used phrases. Make AutoCorrect work for you by teaching iOS to transform shorthand (such as "omw") into common phrases (like "on my way") using iOS 5 shortcuts. Simply navigate to Settings, General, Keyboard, and select Add New Shortcut. Type the phrase you want to shorten in the Phrase field, and then type the shortened version you want to use in the Shortcut field.

Restrict mature content: Go to Settings, General, Restrictions and tap Enable Restrictions to selectively apply controls on your apps, content, Game Center, and more. You can use this setting to limit mature content on your new iPad by disabling explicit-language recognition, blocking podcasts that have the "Explicit" tag, or blocking movies, TV shows, and apps that are rated for mature audiences.

Sync your bookmarks: This is my favorite.  You can use iTunes to sync your iPad's Safari bookmarks with your PC's Web browser. Open the iPad tab in iTunes, click the Info tab, scroll down to the Other heading, check Sync bookmarks with, and choose your preferred browser.

Download the free iPad User's Guide: iPad doesn't come with a printed manual. However, you can download the PDF version of the iPad User's Guide from Apple's Web site, or you can read it in iBooks if you have that installed (iBooks is available as a free download in the App Store).

IPad Tips and Tricks (part 1)

Five cool things you can do with your IPad:

Screenshots: Take a screenshot of whatever is on the screen: Press Home and the sleep/wake button simultaneously. The screenshot will automatically appear in your Camera Roll.

Multitasking: You likely already know that you can press the Home button twice to bring up a list of currently running apps. However, you can also swipe the multitasking bar to the right to quickly access audio/video playback controls, a shortcut to the iTunes app itself, and volume controls.

URLs: You can check a linked word's actual destination URL by touching and holding down on the link.  It's a smart strategy to help you insure the link is legitimate.

Web Shortcuts: Head to the webpage you want to create the shortcut to, tap the “+” sign at the top of the page and select “Add to Home Screen.” This will then create a shortcut icon offering one-click access to your favorite sites.  

Multiple spaces: I don't know if this is useful, but it sure is cool.  The spacebar will create as many spaces as there are fingers on it, so one finger will produce one space, two fingers two spaces and so on.

Five more cool tricks next week!