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If you have updated your iphone to OS4 (available today and way cool)…You MUST learn about multi-tasking and how to close apps! If you don’t exit apps completely, they will keep running in the background and drain your phone battery in just a couple of hours.

Multi-tasking is the feature that allows you to keep one app running while you do something on another app.  Say you are surfing the net on Safari, and you want to check an email, you can have both running at the same time.  When you go back to Safari, the page will have loaded in the background.

(Previously, you could be on a phone call and check your email, but couldn’t switch back and forth between two apps.  Note: only certain apps that have been updated for OS4 will work with multi-tasking.)

With OS3, until today, when you pressed the round home key below the main screen, you exited the app you were in.  Now, it doesn’t necessarily exit. And running more than one app at a time will EAT UP your battery life (drain it faster).

There are no manuals so here’s

HOW TO USE MULTI-TASKING

From any screen–the home screen or while in an app–double press the home button  (the home button  is the rounded square button below the touchscreen).

This will bring up the multi-task app dock at the bottom of the screen.

You’ll notice that the home screen and icons will appear faintly in the top half of the screen. (In the picture above, you notice that OS4 lets you use a photo–like the one of us at the falls–as a background on your home screen that sits behind your icons.)

You want to pay attention to the apps at the bottom.  All apps that are running will appear here in the multi-task dock.

Here you can switch between apps by single tapping the icon. Be sure to swipe left or right to see more than the four icons at the bottom if you have more than four apps running.

To switch back to another program, double press the home key to bring up the multi-task dock and tap on the app you want to return to.

More importantly, you want to close all apps you are not using! Because they are wasting precious battery.

To check which apps are running and close those you don’t need:

1. Bring up the multi-task dock by double-clicking the home key.

2. Tap and hold any icon (like you do to move icons around the home screen).  A minus sign (-) will appear near each app icon.

Tap on any app in the multitask dock..then press on the app you want to close

3. Tap on the minus (-) sign to close the app.

I can’t emphasize enough to close all apps that you are not presently using.

That should do it.

so…I’ll keep giving you tips as I learn them…

Next up:  Easy iPod and Pandora control.

Featured, how to, iPhones, IPads, ITunes & Gadgets on the Go, iPhones, iPads, iPods, iTunes, iphone »

Another brilliant app for the iphone! I’m all for one less trip to the bank. I use Direct Deposit when I can, but for those business consulting checks, personal checks and for those giving me checks for my sideline Avon business (hey, I love their products), I usually have to make a trip to the bank.

Because I work at my home office, I don’t get out some days. While Chase employs a 24-hour hold on funds for all checks deposited,(whether you bring them to the bank or use the new iPhone app deposit), once you add in how many days until I get out and actually go to the bank, it could be a week before I see my money! So, you can see why I’m so excited about the updated Chase Bank iPhone app! Using your iphone, simply photograph the front and back of the check and within 24 hours the funds are available.

Here’s How to Deposit Checks into your Chase Account:

REQUIREMENTS to start:

• A bank account at Chase bank (If you had a WAMU account, it was converted.)
• Online banking access to your accounts (go to Chase’s Website to set up your accounts if you don’t have online banking).
• An iPhone with firmware OS 3.1 or later (if you have an iPhone 3G or 3GS, consider updating to OS 4)

Here’s how to set up Chase Mobile if you don’t have it:

1. Sign up for Chase Mobile –follow the directions, click on the confirmation link in the email they send you.

2.  Go here to get the Chase app for your iPhone and follow the instructions. (You can also search the app store on your iPhone or in iTunes. Type “chase mobile banking” in the search field.)

3. If you downloaded the app into iTunes, connect your phone and sync it so the Chase Mobile app is transferred to your phone.

4.  Tap on the app to open it.

5. Tap on “Log On .”

6. Enter the email address and password you use for your online banking.

7. The first time you do this you will need to get an identification code.  A window will pop up on your phone. Choose to have the identification code texted to your phone.

8. When the text comes in, jot down the identification number.

9. Go back to the Chase app and log in again (it doesn’t multitask yet).

10. When it asks for the identification number after you log in, type in the number.

Now you are ready –How to Deposit a Check with Your iPhone:

1. Open the Chase Banking app on your iPhone (see steps 4 & 5 above).

2. At the bottom of the screen tap on the check icon “Deposits”.

3. Tap on Deposit to and choose the account to which you want to make the deposit.

IMPORTANT NOTE for those who have JOINT ACCOUNTS: You can only deposit to accounts where you are the primary account holder –another words, if your spouse’s, or significant other’s,  name appears first on the account, you can’t make the deposit with your iPhone.  You will receive a message saying that the account is not available for Quick Deposit.  The primary person will have to make the deposit in the usual manner or on their iPhone.

4. Tap on the Deposit Amount line and type in the dollars and cents you will be depositing. (Chase’s support representatives instructed me that the deposit won’t go through if the amount you type in doesn’t match the amount of the check exactly.)

5. Tap on “Check Front.” This will open your camera within the Chase app.  You will see a blue box onscreen.  Place the check, face up, on a black non-reflective background (I use my iPad case or a black binder I have). Position the check within the box so that the whole check is fully visible. Tap on the camera icon. Even though you pressed the camera to shoot the photo of the check, the photo isn’t taken until the app determines that you are holding the iphone steady.

Once the photo is shot, double tap on the check image.  If it appears to be in focus, tap on “Use.”  If it’s blurry at all, it is best to tap on “retake” to reshoot the photo of the check.
The photo of the check will now appear on the Quick Deposit screen next to “Check Front.”

6. Tap on “Check Back.”  Repeat Step 5, this time turning the check over so the back of the check is face up.  (Don’t forget to endorse the check before shooting the photo!)

7. Tap on “Next.”  The Verification Screen will appear.  It is ESSENTIAL to check the routing number and checking account number listed onscreen against what’s on the check. If either are incorrect, you can correct them on this screen. If these numbers are incorrect, the deposit will not go through!

If the photos aren’t clear enough, it won’t be able to read the scanned check amount, and an window will pop up telling you that the photo isn’t clear enough.

TIP:  Take the photo where there is a LOT of light– under a lamp, near a window– because even though the picture may be clear, without enough light it may be too grainy.

8. Press “Submit.” This will take you to the final screen where you can deposit another check if you have one.

You should now be able to see your pending deposit.

9. Go to the accounts page by tapping on the “My accounts”  icon at the bottom of the screen.  Press on “see Activity’ in the account box. This will bring up the recent transactions for that account. In the “Online Deposits” section, you should now see the check amount listed as a pending deposit.

IMPORTANT TIPS:

Be sure you have enough light to take the photo of the check so it won’t be blurry or grainy.

Place the check on a dark, non-reflective background when taking the photo.

Absolutely compare the routing number and checking account number in the Verification screen to those on the check (Step 7 above).  (I already have found it made a mistake).

KEEP THE CHECK for your records and in case the deposit doesn’t go through.

Like any other way you may do your banking, always double check all of your work so the money is there as expected.  I recommend that you check your account transactions again after 24 hours to be sure there wasn’t a problem with the deposit.

Now I may never get out of my pajamas and leave my home office! So much for knowing my bank tellers…

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iTunes 10 became available this morning.  iTunes didn’t automatically update when I opened my iTunes but I got it here.

A major new feature of iTunes 10 is “Ping.”  Ping is social networking for iTunes.  It looks a lot like Facebook with a listing of posted activities by you, your friends, and artists you like. But it’s all related to music and iTunes.

But why would you want yet ANOTHER social network when it’s hard enough to keep up with the ones you are already using?

And what about privacy?  Can everyone see what I’m doing?

Exactly…What is Ping? (and why would I want to bother?)

In the newest version of iTunes (iTunes10), you’ll notice another listing in your left hand column– “Ping.”  Ping is all about sharing your likes, comments, opinions on the music you are listening to and buying.  Ping lets keep you keep up with your favorite artists to find out about new releases, concert dates, and get behind-the-scenes photos, videos, comments and more.

Ping also makes it easier to buy new songs, those recommended by friends, or tickets to concerts.

Why Bother?

• Find new music you’ll like with
• Less hassle than surfing around iTunes store – just browse through posts
• Click on a recommended song to buy it
• Get reviews of new albums from friends
• Share your favorite songs and albums
• Get insider info and more scoop on your favorite artists
• Create a community of people who like the music you do
• See a top ten list based on your community – what is the must-have music?
• See what concerts are coming up and directly buy tickets
• 160 million people have accounts on iTunes

You don’t have to be a music fanatic…  I like music and want to keep up on what’s new.  I like to add new songs to my library–especially from those artists I like.  I want to hear what’s new without having to spend a lot of time perusing the iTunes store.

There are a lot of ways I discover new music: I get some suggestions by noting new songs I like when I listen to one of my Pandora stations;  or I’ll hear a song in a movie or on a TV show (or iTunes commercial); I’ll regularly use the Shazam app or SoundHound app to find out the name of the song and artist that I hear when I’m in a restaurant or store, or a song playing on the radio.

But ultimately, when I feel like new music, I click on iTunes.  With Ping, I can get suggestions from friends or other like-minded music lovers that are easy to scroll through.  Or get a list of the top albums and songs that you and your community of friends like or are buying. Yes, I can share my purchases on Facebook, but this consolidates it.

Ping is a little like using Daily Mile to share your interest in working out.  You have a community there.  It gets shared in your Facebook profile too.

How to Get Started on Ping

Ping comes with iTunes 10 and simply by clicking on Ping in the left column, you will be guided through the registration process.  But here’s a step-by-step to walk you through:

1. Download iTunes 10.  When you open your current version of iTunes, it may let you know an update is available and you can click okay (if you have “check for new software updates automatically” checked in the General section of your iTunes Preferences).  Many have let me know that it isn’t working on iTunes 10. So, you if the update doesn’t show, go here to download iTunes 10. Click on the blue “download iTunes” button.

2. Open iTunes 10 and either click on “Ping” in the left column or click on the iTunes store and then click on Ping.

from iTunes window

OR

3. The following screen should appear.  Click on “Turn On Ping.”

4.  Create your profile.  You will be using your real name (as you would on Facebook).

5. Add a photo. If you are afraid of being recognized or that weirdos might stalk you, use a disguised photo or an avatar comic of you or even a picture of a flower or something.  Many people shy away from following people that don’t put up pictures.  We wonder what they have to hide.

then  …

You can see from the buttons here that you can shoot a photo if you have a camera on your computer, or you can pull down a different folder at the top, or you can click on “choose” to find another photo on your computer that you want to use.

Press “set” when done.  If you get an error message, try again.

6. Fill out a little about yourself, particularly if you want to be found by a lot of followers for a bigger community.  Also, pick your top three favorite music genres.

Press “continue” when done.

7. Click on your privacy choices.  You can either be fully public and let anyone follow you, or you can choose to approve who can follow you, or you can choose to not let anyone see anything about you (stealth mode, eh?).   Click on “done” when you’ve made your choice.

What level of privacy do you want?

Is Ping Private Enough for You?

Privacy is a hot issue.  With Facebook and other social websites sharing more than we’d like, we want to control who gets to see information about us.

As you see above,  Ping gives you control over what information others can see about you.

If you choose one level of privacy but want to change it later, you can change your privacy level by clicking on your email account in the upper right corner of the iTunes window. Then scroll down to Ping, and “Edit Profile.” Here you can make changes to your original profile setup including changing your privacy settings.

If you choose to require approval before friends can follow you, here is what others will see when they click on your name…

If you have gone to the page of someone who restricts followers, you’ll see this when you press on “follow.” Press “Request” to ask to follow that person.

If you’ve restricted access and someone else drops by your page and wants to follow you, you’ll get an email with a link to approve them.  They will not see your information until you click on the link in the email and approve them.

I’m feeling pretty comfortable about the privacy.  But then, I don’t feel I have much to hide.

Getting Started — Using Ping

Start Following — Finding Friends and Artists to Follow…

You’ve turned on Ping.  You set up your profile. You made your choice of privacy level.  Time to get started using Ping…

Here’s what you will see:

If you want to follow other artists, use the search button at the top of the page.

OR

You will find that iTunes has suggestions of Artists and people for you to follow.  Go ahead and click on “follow” for some of the artists or people and you’ll see the very Twitter-like  button turn to “followed.”

You may also see a “featured” page to find people and artists to follow.

I’ve seen that others have had a “connect with Facebook” on their welcome page.  I use a different email address for my Facebook account so maybe that’s why I didn’t see it.  If you have that button, iTunes will search your Facebook friends to see if anyone else has signed up for Ping.

Otherwise, you can search for friends who are on Ping…

Or you can invite friends via email. Click on “email” and it’ll bring up a dialog box where you can enter the email addresses of friends and you can enter a message.

Then click on “invite” to send the email.  Remember to put a comma between email addresses.

Start Exploring…

Time to cruise around.  If you are visit an artists page, it’ll look like this…

There might be a list of their upcoming concerts based on where you live. (I live in a small town…no notifications of concerts for me!)

You may also see photos, videos, or songs on their page.

Clicking on a photo will bring up a window with the photo enlarged along with the other posted photos below it.

As you can see on the left, a Lady Gaga video showed up in my recent activity list.  I clicked on it and it played the video in an enlarged window.  (Close windows using the “x” in the corner.)

You may also see a song posted by an artist or a friend.  You can click on the song to hear a preview or you can buy it right there and then.

One fun feature is that iTunes will look at the songs and albums that you and your friends are buying and create a top ten chart customized to your community.  You can now see what’s popular among your people.

To navigate around Ping so you can see your recent activity feed or go to your profile, etc., use the pull down menu under “ping” on the top iTunes navigation bar as you see here:

Sharing What YOU Like…

In your recent activity feed, you will see a links that say “comment,” “like,” and “post.”  There is no status post in your profile like there is on Twitter or Facebook.

Click “comment” under any of the activities in your feed and you can comment on what others are doing.

Click on “post” to announce a message to your followers. Like this:

When tripping around iTunes, you’ll notice some new buttons on album pages.

You can “like” a song or album and it’ll show up on your follower’s feeds…

Or click on “post” to send a message…

Ping for iPhone, iPad, iPod

When you next go to iTunes on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch you’ll notice a new button on the bottom of the screen that will take you to Ping.  If you have set up Ping in iTunes 10, you will see your recent activity feed.

Click on the “People” tab for a list of those you are following. Then choose a person to see their recent activity.

Click on “my profile” to look through the stuff you have posted.

You can interact with Ping. Click on “like” or “add a comment” to any postings.

Clicking on “comments” under someone’s activities to see a list of all the comments made about that posting. (See it  under Jack Johnson’s post below?)

Scroll to the bottom of the comments to post your own comment.

Click on an activity to go to that person’s page or go to the “people” tab.

And now you are ready to Ping!

When I downloaded iTunes at 7 am this morning, some people already had 55,000 plus followers.  Will this catch on?  Will you ping?

Feel free to follow me by searching for Barbara Gonzalez.  Let’s create a community and have a community with great harmony!