December 19, 2011
iBooks 1.5 includes new fonts and ways to customize your reading experience, including a night theme which switches the display to white text on a black background. Besides providing you with excellent readability in low light, it also significantly reduces glare than might distract your "ready to go to sleep" companion if you're reading in bed. To activate it, tap the Font icon in the controls at the top of the page, then the Themes button, and then Night (if the controls at the top aren't visible, tap the page. Tapping it again will hide them). On the iPad there's also a Full Screen switch at the bottom of the Themes list which hides the graphical elements that frame the text within a virtual book and gives you a few more words to the page.
December 12, 2011
With iTunes gift cards and certificates your friends and family can pick from a huge selection of music, apps, movies, TV shows, books, and more. The top two Quick Links on the right hand side of the main iTunes Store page on your computer let you buy gifts for others and redeem gifts others have bought for you. The Buy iTunes Gifts link takes you to a page from which you can buy and email or print gift certificates, and also buy gift cards you can have sent directly to yourself or others. You'll also find a link there to a page that tells you how to give specific music, apps, TV shows, movies and audiobooks by using the downward pointing triangle next to the buy buttons throughout the store and choosing the Gift option.
If you've received an iTunes Gift Certificate or Gift Card, use the Redeem link to go to a page where you can enter your code and credit the amount to your account. If you don't already have one, you'll be given a chance to create an account, with or without a credit card number. You can also redeem the codes directly on the iPhone and iPod touch in iTunes with the buttons at the bottom of the New Releases page in Music, and the Movies and TV Shows pages in Videos, and on the bottom of the Featured pages in the App Store and iBookstore. On the iPad, there are redeem buttons at the bottom of the Music, Movies, TV Shows and Audiobooks pages in iTunes and at the bottom of the Featured page in the App Store and iBookstore.
December 5, 2011
iTunes in the Cloud now gives you Internet access to all the music, apps, and books you've acquired from the iTunes Store, plus the ability to automatically download new store purchases to your devices without syncing, no matter which one you use to make the purchase. To download your purchases to devices they're not on yet, use the Purchased link on iTunes' main page on your computer, or at the bottom of the iTunes Store on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. To turn on automatic downloads on your iOS device, go to Settings and select Store.
A subscription to iTunes Match ($24.99 a year) adds everywhere access to the music you've imported from CDs and bought elsewhere. Match first determines which of those songs are for sale in the store and automatically adds them to your iCloud library, no uploading required. It then uploads any music it didn't find a match for. The result is your complete library in the cloud, playlists and all, with a minimum amount of upload time required to get it there. You can keep up to 25,000 songs in your library--songs purchased from iTunes don't count against that number. To activate the service use Turn on iTunes Match in the iTunes Store menu on your computer.
November 14, 2011
iOS 5 includes a new built-in folder on your Home screen to contain apps for magazines and newspapers you subscribe to. It's called Newsstand and you can browse magazine and newspaper subscriptions from within it by using the Store button on the upper right. The apps are generally free, allowing you to download and install them to look at sample contents and the available subscription plans before buying. If you decide to subscribe you can do so within the app and then launch new issues in the Newsstand folder when they're delivered; you'll be alerted when new issues for you are available. To manage your subscriptions, go to Store in Settings.
On iPad to see all the subscriptions currently being offered, tap the Release Date tab at the top of the Newsstand category page. If you download an app from the Newsstand category on any iOS 5 device, it will automatically be placed in the built-in Newsstand folder.
November 7, 2011
If you forget your Apple ID password or simply want to change to a new one, use Safari on your computer or any of your devices to go to iforgot.apple.com where you can enter your Apple ID and begin the process. You'll be asked to choose whether you want to confirm your identity via an email to the account associated with your Apple ID or by answering the security question you put in place when you first created it. As you create your new password, you'll see an indication of its relative strength in the area below the form. You can keep entering and editing until you achieve your ideal password strength. When you're satisfied, confirm your password and tap or click the Reset button.
You can use your Apple ID in iTunes, iChat, iCloud, the Apple Online Store, Apple Retail Stores and at Apple.com Support. If you don't have an Apple ID and want to create one, go to appleid.apple.com.
