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How to Send a Group Message From Your iPhone or iPad

By
Kelly Hodgkins
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Both the iPhone and the iPad allow you to send a message to more than one person at a time. This group messaging feature allows you to send messages to multiple recipients and provides everyone in the group the opportunity to reply. All responses are automatically sent to everyone so they can track the conversation even if they are not actively discussing the topic at hand. It’s a great way to communicate with a bunch of people at once.

Creating and Sending a Group Message

Sending a group message in iOS is very similar to sending an individual message. Just open the Messages app and start adding recipients to your message as follows;

  1. Tap the new conversation button in the upper right corner.
  2. Enter multiple recipients by typing in their name or using the + button.
  3. Each new recipient will be separated by a comma.
  4. Enter your message at the bottom of the screen.
  5. Tap Send to forward the message to the selected recipients.

Managing Group Message Participants

Once you have an active group discussion, you can add new recipients or remove existing participants with just a few taps. To remove a person from the conversation, simply tap the iMessage conversation and then tap “Details” to access a list of participants. You then can remove a participant by swiping from right to left on their name and then selecting delete.When viewing these conversation details, you also can add a new contact by tapping the “Add Contact” button underneath the list of participants.

Muting or Leaving the Conversation

One drawback to a group conversation is message overload. With multiple people sending and receiving information, you could be quickly inundated with messages and notifications. If you no longer want to receive messages from the group, you can easily leave a group discussion by opening the conversation and tapping Details. You then can scroll to the bottom of the details screen and tap “Leave this Conversation.” This option to leave the conversation is only available when there are three or more participants. You may also have difficulty leaving when group members have sent MMS messages.

As an alternative to leaving, you can remain part of the group, but cut down on notifications by enabling “Do Not Disturb” for the conversation. Just tap Details when viewing the conversation and then turn on “Do Not Disturb.” When this feature is enabled, you won’t receive all notifications, but you still can view the incoming messages in the Messages app.

Do you use this group messaging feature? Do you have any messaging tips or tricks to share? Please let us know in the comments.

How To Setup Calendars For iCloud, Mac, PC

By
Henry McIntosh
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Some of us struggle with organisation. When, for example, was the last time you physically wrote in a diary or Filofax what your plans were?

Even if you do that frequently, there’s an easier way to keep yourself organised via the iOS Calendar.

Whichever side of organised you situate yourself mastering the iOS Calendar will improve your scheduling immeasurably.

Why do I think it’s better than a conventional diary? Because if you lose said diary everything’s gone. Whereas the iOS Calendar has the benefits of being able to sync across your devices.

So wherever you are, you’ll always have access to your schedule.

On the downside you’ll no longer have any excuses for being late…

So here’s a few points to get you started with Calendars for iPhone and iPad.

Setting Up Calendars with iCloud

Be it Google, Microsoft or Apple, set up Calendars with iCloud to make sure your schedule is always handy whichever service you use:

  • Open Settings –> Click ‘iCloud’ –> Enter your iCloud account email and password –> Click ‘Next’ –> Turn on sync with Calendars.
  • Access your Calendars through the web, Microsoft or Mac.

There’s not much point syncing Calendars to iCloud if you don’t know how to access it with whatever device you choose to use. So here’s the process for accessing Calendars for web, Microsoft or Mac.

  • Web:
  • Open any browser –> Access iCloud.com –> Log in –> Now you can access any documents saved to iCloud
  • Microsoft:
  • Download ‘iCloud for Windows’ free from: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204283 –> Open your computers ‘start’ menu –> open ‘Network and Internet’ –> open iCloud –> Enter your username and password –> Enable the iCloud services including Calendars
  • Mac:
  • Open ‘System Preferences’ in the Apple Menu –> Open iCloud –> Enable Calendars.

Finally, here’s how to set up Calendars on your iPhone and iPad:

  • Open Settings –> Click ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars.’ –> Click Add Account –> Complete relevant information form –> Choose services to sync –> Click Save.

While just setting up Calendars doesn’t make your organised, using it might just help you keep to those appointments and events you’ve got!

 

 

 

Choosing a Textured Background Theme for Your Website

By
Kelly Hodgkins
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Starting with the Zune in 2008 and continuing with iOS, minimalistic design has become all the rage. The adoption of flat styles in lieu of gradients and glossy style effects may be widespread, but all that solid color has a drawback — it can be displeasing to the eye, especially on large monitors that fill the display with the website background color of choice. To break up this monotony, some website designers are using textured backgrounds instead of a plain color. When applied subtly, these textured designs can take a plain background and make it stand out from the crowd. Read on to find out where you can download some of the best textured background themes for your own site.

Applying a textured background is a two-step process. Just find a suitable pattern and then upload it or assign it as a background image according to your website platform. It’s beyond the scope of this post to walk you through the process of assigning a background as each CMS handles this differently. We will, however, point you to several sources where you can find textured themes that are worth downloading.

Transparent Textures

Transparent Textures has a simple array of textured backgrounds, but it has one killer feature — it allows you to choose a pattern, pick a color and then demo the texture on the site. It’s very useful to see the background in action. When you have selected your texture and color, you can use the “download” link to save the image file for use on your site.

Bgfons

Bgfons has a large repository of textured backgrounds that are categorized by type such as materials (concrete, wood, etc), patterns, nature and more. There are thousands of backgrounds, and all are available for free for use on your website.

Lost & Taken is a website dedicated to “Textures and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The site adds new textures on a regular basis and offered unique collections such as the subtle grunge and bokeh. The site has a comprehensive gallery

If you need some inspiration, you also can check out this list of websites that feature textured themes. Each site is a bit different and shows how you can add a bit of splash to a site and still keep a minimal design. Do you have any favorite textures or texture background websites? Please share them in the comments.

How to Setup ‘Reading List’ in Safari for iPhone and iPad

By
Henry McIntosh
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We’ve all been guilty of procrastinating when we should have been working, studying or doing anything remotely more productive.

Normally, the cause of this procrastination is online sources.

Whether it’s an article or video that’s got you surfing through links at a rate of knots, there is a way to help keep yourself productive as you browse on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.

Known as the ‘Reading List’ this in-built Safari functionality allows you to bookmark articles your about to spend fifteen minutes browsing, bookmark them and then return to them later when you’re actually free; not just procrastinating.

The best part? The Reading List will sync itself to iCloud so you can catch up on your bookmarked articles from whichever device suits you.

Whether it’s reading a particularly engaging article via your iPhone during the morning commute or using your iPad to find that delicious looking recipe you spotted whilst at work, the Reading List feature will help you stay productive. Here’s how to access and use it:

How to Access the ‘Reading List’

  • Open Safari –> Click on the Bookmarks icon -> Click this icon à Welcome to the Reading List –> Click the article you would like to read and procrastinate away!

But there’s not much point accessing your Reading List before there’s anything to read within it. So here’s how to add articles to your Reading List:

How to Add Articles

  • Open Safari –> Browse for the article you wish to add –> Click on the ‘Share’ Button –> Click ‘Add to Reading List’

 

Hopefully, the Reading List will help you stay productive when you need to and save you time searching for that article you were ‘meant to read later’ during your downtime.

 

Use AirDrop to share photos, links and more between Apple devices

By
Kelly Hodgkins
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0

iOS ships with AirDrop, a handy feature that allows a user to share a variety of content between iOS and OS X devices. Instead of a cloud-based repository like Dropbox, AirDrop utilizes a device-to-device transfer system that copies a file or a link and sends it to another iOS device. Because it is a direct transfer, the item is sent and received immediately.

Enabling AirDrop

If you’ve never used it before, AirDrop is simple to turn on and even easier to use. You can turn on AirDrop from within Control Center as follows:

  1. Swipe upwards from the bottom of the screen to access Control Center.
  2. Tap AirDrop to enable the feature.
  3. Choose whether you want to turn off AirDrop, share content with only your Contacts (Contacts Only) or share with everyone who has AirDrop enabled.

Now that AirDrop is enabled, you can begin sharing files and more with other iOS and even OS X devices in just a few steps.

Sharing content via AirDrop

AirDrop works only with select stock iOS apps such as Photos, Safari, and Contacts. The full list of shareable content includes photos, videos, contacts, passbook passes, notes, voice memos, URLs, links to apps in the iOS App Store and map directions. You need to launch an app that has content you want to share and then follow the steps below to send those item(s) to the recipient.

  1. Tap the content, such as a photo, that you want to share.
  2. Tap the Share button.
  3. Tap AirDrop.
  4. Tap the name of an AirDrop user or the name of an AirDrop-enabled device.
  5. An alert will be sent to the recipient, and they can choose to accept or decline the transferred item(s),

For AirDrop to work, the two devices must be on the same local Internet connection and Bluetooth should be enabled. It also helps if the devices are physically close to one another.

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