Ever since version 1.0, the iPhone has automatically backed itself up every time an iTunes sync was started. The feature makes sense on a phone and has definitely saved my bacon quite a few times. However, with the iPhone 2.0 update, the backup feature has gotten arguably out of hand. Most users report obnoxiously long backup times which make it extremely frustrating to refresh your iPhone’s information.

So if you’re tired of automatic backups that take forever, here’s how to disable them.

For Windows users:
First, grab a copy of Notepad++. The standard apps that come with Windows won’t work well for editing the iTunesPrefs.xml file.

To apply this hack, you’ll be editing the iTunesPrefs.xml, which is generally found at C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes. You may need to enable hidden folders if you don’t see the “Application Data” folder.

1. Quit iTunes
2. Make a backup of iTunesPrefs.xml. If you mess up, you’ll wish you had a backup, so it’s a good idea to make one.
3. Open iTunesPrefs.xml using Notepad++
4. Search for “User Preferences” without the quotes and you should find something like “<key>User Preferences</key>”
5. Right below the first <dict> that comes after “<key>User Preferences</key>”, paste the following:

<key>AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled</key>
<data>
dHJ1ZQ==
</data>

Your results should look something like this:

   6. Save the file and open iTunes. If all went well, your iPhone will sync, but it won’t back up. To back up manually, right click your iPhone in the source list and choose “Back Up”.

For Mac Users
Things are a little easier here. :]

1. Quit iTunes
2. Open Terminal (HD -> Applications -> Utilities)
3. Paste in the following and hit return:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

4. That’s it! Next time your iPhone syncs, it won’t back up. To back up manually, right click your iPhone in the source list and choose “Back Up”.

To re-enable automatic backups, follow the same steps only use this instead:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes AutomaticDeviceBackupsDisabled -bool false

How sweet is that? We recommend doing regular backups of your iPhone anyway, but this should be good for those who miss the ability to quickly sync before you run out the door.

via http://www.iphonealley.com/tips-and-tricks/how-to-disable-automatic-iphone-backups?s=01e827a2526e1638f7161e417e9b8604

Posted on September 2nd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

       I found out read today that there is a work around for the iPhone’s Passcode, making the iPhone not as secure as I once thought it was! It seems that when your iPhone is locked and you are prompted to enter your Passcode, you can select Emergency Call and then double tap your Home Button and it will launch your double tap settings. Meaning, if you have your Favorites set as your Home Button double tap (your iPhone’s Home Button double tap is set automatically to your Favorites so, if you have never changed it in your Settings, that it what it is set as), people are able to get into your Favorites even if your iPhone is locked. At first this may not seems like an issue. So, they might call a few of the people on your Favorites list. Well, it also means that if you have an address, email address, Safari link, etc in any of the info for your contacts they can get into all of that as well. If you have an email address set for one of your favorites, it can be clicked on which then opens a blank email if they were then to select Cancel it would bring them into your email’s inbox giving the person full access to all of the your emails, contacts and info. So, when at first it doesn’t seem like an issue that someone would be able to get into your Favorites, it leaves room for them to get a lot of personal information.

It seems that the only way to prevent this from happening is going into your Setting on your iPhone and then General and changing your Home Button to Home or iPod. If you set your Home Button as iPod, it will launch your iPod from your Lock Screen. A person couldn’t do a ton of damage from your iPod but, they would technically be “in” your iPhone. However, if you set your iPhone’s double tap to Home…it will not allow the person to get into your iPhone from the lock screen. Even if they were to select Emergency Call and then double tap, it will just bring them back to the Passcode screen. So for now, until this glitch is worked out (which I assume it is a glitch with firmware 2.0.2), the only way to keep people out of your iPhone is to set your Home Button double tap to Home.

via http://www.appleiphoneschool.com/2008/08/27/iphone-passcode-not-as-secure-as-we-though/

Posted on August 29th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

GreenMyMac discovered and published a security vulnerability for iPhone 2.0.x at MacRumours last night. The security flaw affects iPhone users who use the password protect feature when locking their keypad, but using this very simple trick gives anyone full access to your cell phone’s private information in Mail, SMS, Contacts, and even Safari.

To recreate this exploit yourself, password protect your phone and lock it. Next slide to unlock and do the following:

1. Tap emergency call.
2. Double tap the home button.

You should now be in your favorites. Seems like a convenient feature feature at first, but the security problem here is scary. Anyone who picks up your iPhone can make a call to anyone in your favorites and can access their address and for some service providers this will let a stranger access your voice mail.

Let’s go a little further down the rabbit hole now:

• If you click in a mail address, it will give you full access to the Mail application. All your mail will be exposed.
• If there’s a URL in your contact (or in a mail message) you can click on it and have full access to Safari.
• If you click on send text message in a contact, it will give you full access to all your SMS.

Until Apple addresses this security threat, there is an easy work around to secure your personal information.

1. In ‘Settings’, select ‘General’.
2. Select ‘Home Button’.
3. Select either ‘Home’ or ‘iPod

via http://www.iphone-hacks.com/2008/08/27/iphone-20-security-vulnerability-and-safe-guard-published/

Posted on August 28th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

A number of users have reported an issue in which movies previously playable movies are suddenly unplayable after an iPhone sofware update.

One user writes:

“I had the same issue with some of my Videos that were converted using Visual Hub. Once I upgraded my iPod Touch to 2.0 they stopped working. I eas confused at first as all of the the ones that still worked were in 4:3 aspect ratio. Anyway after trying many different solutions and settings. I found that if I used ffmpegX instead of Visual Hub to encode I had no problems with any of the resulting my videos-both 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratio and different frame sizes.”

Per the above user’s commentary, re-encoding movies may be the most viable fix for this issue. Try using an alternative video encoder or a lower resolution/bitrate.

via http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/08/26/iphone-error-this-movie-format-is-not-supported/

Posted on August 27th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

This post is going to be divided into several parts:

1. How To Sync Outlook Tasks With Your iPhone, For Free
2. How To Sync Outlook Tasks Between Two or More Computers
3. How To Get Alerts for Tasks on your iPhone

Let’s start with how you can sync your Microsoft Outlook Tasks to your iPhone for free.

I have read several articles about how to do this but I found the process to be convoluted. Let me make it very simple.

Step 1. Set up a free account at Toodledo.com The direct link for a new account is right here.

That should have taken you about 15 seconds. Let’s move on to step 2.

Step 2. Close Outlook, download Chromatic Dragon’s Toodledo Sync Application and install it.

Almost done! The sync application will want your Toodledo ID number. Leave it open on the tab that wants the ID number.

Step 3. Log into Toodledo and from the menu on the left select Account Settings. On that page you will see your Unique ID, simply copy and paste it into the sync program that you left open.

On the Synchronization tab you can change your Automatic Synchronization to whatever works for you. I don’t add tasks very often so once every 60 minutes is fine for me. To close the Options window select File -> Close. You will see a green checkmark icon in your tool tray. Right click it and hit Manual Sync.

Outlook is now synchronized to ToodleDo.

Ready for the iPhone part?

Ok, 2 ways to do this. The Free Way and the $10.00 way.

The free way? Toodledo now has an iPhone optimized version of their powerful, easy to use task manager. Just point your iPhone webbrowser to http://www.toodledo.com/slim and book mark it to your iPhone Home Screen. (Hit the + and select Home Screen, I renamed mine to “Tasks”)

Now you have the tasks that were in Outlook right there on Your iPhone screen!

Make a change on your iPhone and it will sync back to Outlook!

There is also a third party iPhone / iPod touch application that will synchronize with Toodledo and allow you to work offline. This application is called Todo and is available from Appigo on the iTunes App Store for about $10 but to be honest I don’t see the advantage of paying for it.

Do this for me, use the free way I described. I have the Todo software and will write another post later about the differences and let you know if it’s worth the $10.

So look for 3 more articles coming up:

1. How To Sync Outlook Tasks Between Two or More Computers
2. How To Get Alerts for Tasks on your iPhone
3. ToodleDo Free Link vs. the ToDo $10 application.

Questions? Let me know and I’ll answer them in the comments for this posting

via http://danielcurran.com/freeware/how-to-sync-outlook-tasks-with-your-iphone-for-free/

Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

This is a sweet hack if I’ve ever seen one! I would love to have this on my 3G! So far this info is only for the 1st Gen iPhone. Below is a video of the end result (warning, not in English). It makes your Apple logo glow! I checked a little deeper and found out they are a company in Russia and it’s actually running separate from the light from the screen (battery drain?). They also provide custom designed backs, memory upgrades, and laser engraving. Now only if this was maybe a flash for the camera, flashlight, changed color, interacted with apps… Tell us what your ideas are!

Visit their site at www.gpda.ru (English translation)

Visit their site at www.gpda.ru (English translation)

via http://www.appleiphoneschool.com/2008/08/19/apple-logo-light-mod/

Posted on August 21st, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Videos, iPhone Tips | No Comments »

    Ok so here’s just a quick thing I found out just now with a little bit of playing around. It might be obvious, but it certainly mystified me for a while. So there’s this little setting under Settings –> Fetch New Data –> Advanced where you can tell your Exchange account to only sync manually. This is fine for Mail with its refresh button, but what about Contacts and Calendar?

The key here seems to be just loading the programs up, which seems to start the sync process. The thing is, since you don’t initiate the thing, there’s no easy way to tell (AFAIK) when your sync is done. So beware of times when you’ve done a lot of work on your desktop calendar but haven’t opened Calendar on the iPhone. Maybe leave Calendar/Contacts on for a few minutes to make sure everything gets downloaded.

That’s all for now, folks. Hope that helps a few of you out there looking to save a bit of juice. I like Nuevasync for push PIM with Google, but I don’t need contacts and events updated live. My life’s just not that fast .

via  http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/2008/08/12/manual-exchange-syncing/

Posted on August 13th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

Well we got an iPhone 3G this past week and noticed a few problems. One of which was the fact that all the old songs we had, we were not able to convert them to a ringtone. Now considering one has to hand over $199 or even $299 and not even have this option was quiet surprising (keep in mind it’s not the phone price that will hurt your bank account, but the heavy monthly increased plans). So we did some digging on the Internet and wanted to find the best tutorial for our readers and here is what we came up with.

Step 1. Make sure your iTunes is up to date.

Step 2. Choose the song you want to convert.

Step 3. Listen to the song and write down where you want the ring tone to start and end (cannot exceed 40 seconds and you cannot skip areas)

Step 4. Right click on the song and select “Show in Finder.” Once you have clicked, a window will come up which will show you the song (do not close this folder, simply put it to the side or minimize)

Step 5. Right click on the same song again and select “Get Info.”

Step 6. Click on the “Options” tab

Step 7. Input the start and end time (if you want the song to start from the beginning, simply adjust the ending) (format: Minutes: Seconds: Milliseconds)

Step 8. Press Ok.

Step 9. Right click on the song and select, “Convert Selection to AAC” (If you have another format selected proceed to the iTunes preferences and click on the “Advanced” tab. Where it says “Import using:” select “AAC Encoder” and then press Ok.)

Step 10. Right click on the new file that has been created (will be the smaller file) and right click on the file and select “Delete.” (When prompted, please select “Keep File”)

Step 11. Go to the folder you minimized earlier and you should see 2 copies of the same song. Select the file with the extension m4a and rename the extension to m4r.

Step 12. Double click on the file, and you will notice that the file will placed in your ring tones folder (just sync your iPhone and you are set!)

Enjoy your new iPhone 3G (May want to turn of the 3G feature to get normal reception. If you have it on, it somehow sucks all the reception away )

via http://www.eugenef.com/cool-wallpapers/2008/08/make-custom-iphone-ringtone/

Posted on August 8th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Ringtone, iPhone Tips | No Comments »

           I’ve had my 3g for about a week now and really love it. After a few hours of use, I noticed the keyboard and contacts start to lag tremendously. I updated to the 2.0.1 firmware and still experience the problem. After a little testing over the past few days I’ve come to a realization; The iPhone is like a little mac. If I run too many apps at once, the system starts to be less responsive. On larger machines, this isn’t really a problem but if you use a mac mini or an older G4 then you’ll know what I mean. Anyway, launch the Maps or iPod application, play a few songs and mess with the GPS a little bit. Maybe check your email and play around as you normally do and you’ll start to get the lag. So the question I asked myself is, what would I do on my mac if this were happening? Force quit some apps maybe? For a while I had been shutting down the phone and restarting until I figured out that if I launch an app, say Maps for example, then hold down the “home” button for 6 seconds, the app is forced to quit. Keyboard and contacts lag seems to be remedied for now. So, I guess keeping my iPhone happy may require me to treat it a little less like a phone and more like a little mac, but in the end it’s still a badass little phone.

  via  http://www.caseylee.com/blog/2008/08/solution-to-iphone-keyboard-contacts-lag/

Posted on August 6th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Tips | No Comments »

As much as I love the iPhone 2.0 release on both my 1st Generation iPhone and my new iPhone 3G, it has problems. The biggest problem I have with 2.0 is how fast it can chug down a full battery. While some of the new features that consume all this power are absolutely great, to be honest most of the time you don’t really need them running. So why not learn how to quickly turn them on and off to get all that battery time back.

1. Pause Push

The push feature is great, I’ve figured out that I get email on my phone faster than it hits my inbox on my computer. But do you really need to get it instantly, are emails from facebook really that critical? You might think so, but honestly think about how often you look at your email on your phone. If you’re like me you can afford to turn Push off on your personal mail. Here’s how:

1. Open “Settings”
2. Select: “Fetch New Data”
3. Flip the “Push” Switch from “On” to “Off”.

By default, this turns the “Fetch” feature to “Every 15 Minutes”. This is the default for how the previous releases of the iPhone managed it. If you want to conserve even more power consider increasing that to 30 minutes, an Hour, or even manage it Manually. I personally have it set to “Every 15 Minutes.”

2. Wi-Fi, Why?

With Wi-Fi turned on, your iPhone will search for access points at all times. If it finds an access point that it has connected to before in the past, it will automatically connect to it, even if you don’t plan on using internet features in that area. All this searching and constant connecting and disconnecting drains power.

So turn it off when you aren’t using it and then when you take your phone out to really surf the internet, flip it back on. Here’s how to turn it off if you don’t know how:

1. Open “Settings.”
2. Select “Wi-Fi.”
3. Flip the “Wi-Fi” Switch from “On” to “Off”.

If however, you’d prefer to have your Wi-Fi feature turned on, you can still conserve a bit of energy. All you have to do is turn the “Ask to Join Networks” feature off. This way when the phone is not connected to a Wi-Fi access point, it won’t be trying to get you to connect to networks you don’t know. 

1. Open “Settings.”
2. Select “Wi-Fi.”
3. Flip the “Ask to Join Networks” Switch from “On” to “Off”.

This will also prevent those annoying popups that happen when you are driving around and it finds networks.

3. How Bright You Are.

Don’t you love that great, bright screen of the iPhone? Sometimes it’s so bright you should wear sunglasses, right? Well, why not turn the brightness down? It’s saves power and you don’t need to wear sunglasses at night any longer. Here’s How:

1. Open “Settings.”
2. Select “Brightness.”
3. Slide the “Brightness” Slider to the left. Down to something that is still comfortable and usable for you.

You can take it one step further and turn the “Auto-Brightness” switch to off. This will power down the light sensor and prevent the device from adjusting the screen brightness depending on the brightness of then environment. Personally I leave this option On.

4. Gee 3G.

This last one is for iPhone 3G users only. Like Wi-Fi, the 3G feature is a constant data connection to the internet. But you aren’t constantly on the internet, so why have it on all the time. Just turn it off when you aren’t using it. Here’s How:

1. Open “Settings.”
2. Select “General.”
3. Select “Network.”
4. Flip the “Enable 3G” switch from “On” to “Off.”

This feature is such a power drain that Apple even mentions it on the “Network” screen. Something else that I have figured out by having 3G turned off is that my reception goes up and I get fewer dropped calls. Why exactly this is happening I don’t know. My educated guess though is this:

Not every cell tower in an area is 3G enabled in any given area. The iPhone was programmed to first look for a 3G tower and then any tower if a 3G one doesn’t exist in that area. This means that you could literally be standing next to a tower that isn’t 3G enabled and it still won’t connect to it, cause it wants the 3G one first.

5. The Last Resorts

There are two options, that are guaranteed to conserve your battery power when you are in a dire situation and you need to make sure that you can make calls and sends messages.

• Turn On Airplane Mode.
• Turn iPhone Off.

The iPhone is a great device. It’s really the new crackberry. The only problem with the release of iPhone software 2.0, it won’t even last till the end of the day on a single charge. Apple clearly has some work to do, to get it back to where it was. In the mean time it, with the 5 tips above, your iPhone will last a lot longer. Try them out and let me know how much longer your iPhone lasts in the comments below. 

BTW: If you know of another tip on how to save power on your iPhone, let us know in the comments below.

via http://www.w3source.com/2008/08/04/tip-5-ways-to-power-your-iphone-longer/

Posted on August 5th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Battery, iPhone Tips | No Comments »