Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Move music from iPod to Macbook after a crash

When I had to recently wipe off my Macbook to fix an error, I ended up losing my music in iTunes. Of course I had a lot of music on my iPod, but it doesn't let you just sync it back to your computer. I reloaded a lot of my CDs and downloaded my purchases, but was still missing a lot of music on CDs I can't find at the moment (like all my Christmas music)! I finally found really good instructions on the web, so here is a link with great instructions! (The article also has instructions for Windows or other versions.)

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Favorite and Best Recipe software

Another one of my favorite pieces of software is Paprika Recipe software. I have purchased this for my Macbook, iPad and iPhone because it is that good, and 99% of the apps I use are free, so that should tell you something!

It is impossible to highlight all the great features of this software, so I suggest you go to their website to see all the features. Here are a few highlights:

  • Bookmarklet that lets you click to save a recipe on many websites, which puts all the items in the proper places!
  • Quick highlight ingredients and click "ingredients", directions, cook time, etc. if the recipe does not import with the bookmarklet
  • Create a Meal Plan and Grocery List right in the software
  • Sign into your cloud account (through the software) and all your recipes sync between devices!
  • I can pull up any recipe while shopping to see what ingredients I might be missing.
  • Scale recipes up or down in the app! 
  • Create your own categories and put recipes into more than one category or mark as a favorite.
  • Print a recipe if you need to, but I just use my iPhone or iPad when cooking and look at the recipe right in the software, which even has a built-in timer!
  • Quickly email a recipe to a friend right from the software! If they also have Paprika, they can click on the attached icon in the email and import it directly into their Paprika software!
Available for Apple, Androids, Kindle Fire and Nook Color, Mac and PC computers! And their tech support is out of this world! Email a question, software bug or idea for improvement and they will address the problems!

While you do have to purchase the software for each device you want it on, once you do that, all upgrades are free for life!

I found this video on YouTube that shows a brief overview.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Grocery IQ

I have a favorite app to make my grocery or store lists on. It is called Grocery IQ and it is free! There is a barcode scanner on it as well and most items I scan are already in the database!

Again, my husband and I are both signed into the same account so that whoever is at the store can see the items we need, and either one of us can add things to the list.

Loyalty Cards on smart phone

If you are like me, you like to save money by using the loyalty cards at various stores! But I do not like to carry around a huge ring of them or dozens of cards in my wallet! So for the last several years, I have been using an app called KeyRing. When you create an account, it will save all your cards so that if you get a new phone, you only need to download the app and log in!

Also you and your spouse can log in with the same user name and password so that you only need one set of reward cards!

Set up Apple devices to sync with Google Contacts

Set up Apple devices to sync with Google Contacts

1. Open the Settings application on your device.

2. Choose Mail, Contacts, Calendars from the Settings menu.

3. Select Add Account... from the Mail, Contacts, Calendars menu.

4. Choose Other from the Add Account page.

5. Select the Add CardDAV Account option.

6. Fill out the form with the following information and tap Next to continue.
  • Server: Enter “google.com"
  • User Name: Enter your full Google Account or Google Apps email address.
  • Password: Your Google Account or Google Apps password. (If you’ve enabled 2 Step verification, you’ll need to generate and enter an application specific password.)
  • Description: Enter a description of the account (e.g. Google Contacts).
7. Turn OFF all other contact syncs so that only CardDAV is used to sync Contacts.

Do the above on all your Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac).

All your devices should now sync and keep your Contacts updated on all and not create duplicates.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Calendars

Many of you have kids that will be going back to school soon. My #1 suggestion is to use an electronic calendar, and my favorite is google calendar! When you receive the school calendar for the year, take the time to sit at your computer right away and enter all the days off, late starts, early outs, conferences, etc. This is a tremendous help later on when things get super busy!

Most people have a smart phone these days, and it is very easy to link your google calendar to your iphone or android. When you are away from home, you can always pull up the calendar on your phone and see what is coming up so you don't overbook.

My favorite tip is to start a different calendar for each family member and use the different colors available so that you can look at a glance and know who has a sports practice or gets out of school early. If you and your spouse both have calendars, share them so you see each other's appointments. Then create one for each child, and share with your spouse. If your kids are old enough, they can start putting things on their own calendars as well.

Use the Settings on each calendar to make a default notifications, like 30 minutes or an hour ahead, or default two notifications.

Using one calendar is key! Having everything showing up on the same calendar, color-coded, works great! You can also print a week or two or month at a time, if you want, and post it on the refrigerator.

Other suggestions:
  • Create a menu calendar where you put what you are making for dinner each night. In the notes you can put the whole recipe, or where to find it
  • Subscribe to sports calendars
  • Some schools, churches and organizations may have a gcal or ical link you can subscribe to, which puts the events right on your calendar for you!
When you make a reservation, put it right on your calendar with the text of the information in the notes. Then when you go to the hotel or flight, you will have the confirmation #, phone # and address right with you!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Notes on iPhone and iPad

I use Notes extensively! Anything I might need to know or have with me or keep for future reference is in a Note and backed up to iCloud. Here are some examples:

combinations, furnace filter size, battery sizes, when you changed the oil, medications you take, wifi passwords (to routers), movies you want to see, gift idea lists, phone conversation, who you talked to, date. 

Have iPhone or iPad read books aloud (without audio version)!

I just came across this article on techradar on how you can put your settings to have your iPad or iPhone read your ebook to you aloud while you are driving or hands are busy! I want to save these directions for future use!

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/phone-and-communications/how-to-make-ipad-or-iphone-read-books-aloud-1297675

Saturday, July 4, 2015

iPhone shortcuts

One of my favorites is under Keyboard Shortcuts
General>Keyboard>Shortcuts
You will see a few defaults there.

The one I use the most is completing my email address without manually typing it every time. Use the + sign at the top right of the screen. 
Under Phrase, type your complete email address.
Under Shortcut, type @g, for example. Now when I'm typing a text or completing a login, all I have to type is "@g" and my gmail address types out in full! If you have more than one email address (work, home, junk), just assign the other ones with a different letter after the @ sign!

Other examples are your mailing address, phone number, work, title, phrases like "talk to you later" (I just type ttyl and it types it all out).
 

Back up your cell phone!!

I can't tell you how many times I have had to wipe off my cell phones, and if I did not have a backup, I would be VERY lost! Nowadays, so many people keep a lot of important information on their cell phones, so it is very important!

I have an iPhone and use both the iCloud backup AND sync it to my iTunes on my MacBook Pro at least once a month.

I do not backup my calendar, mail or contact to the Cloud because I use gmail, google calendar and google contacts, which have those items stored online already.

The best setting for contacts in google to sync without errors between your iPhone, iPad and online is to use CardDAV and ONLY CardDAV for contacts. The default settings on iPhone and iPad will have your contacts sync with main settings, but you need to turn those OFF and only use CardDAV. This prevents duplicates!

First go to Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars. For each account you have, turn OFF Contacts syncing.
Next create an account using CardDAV as the type of account.
     Server:  google.com
     User name: put in your full email address, including @gmail.com
     Password: your email password
     Description: Gmail CardDAV

Under Advanced settings, make sure "Use SSL" is turned on and the Port is 443.

Now, whenever you change, add or delete a contact (on any device), it will update it in all those places within a few minutes instead of making a duplicate!

For another safety setting, you should back up your contacts from google contacts at least every month or so.

Happy 4th of July!

It's been more than two years since I wrote on here. My last post is about my youngest son starting college! Well I'm proud to say he finished that 2.5 year degree two months ago, and graduated with honors! He also was hired for a job the same day he graduated!

I am very thankful for the sacrifices our soldiers made to give us the freedoms we have today. Praying that the current "powers that be" stop giving away those freedoms by making choices that our country's forefathers built into our Constitution.