5ThirtyOne

Tips for stuffing your face with food

Derek — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:48:45 +0000

Good tips for the buffet line or any upcoming Thanksgiving feasts. Bottomless piles of food are no match. Note that the tips provided are for informational purposes only… A sane person would probably not follow all of these tips (via Consumerist).

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3 Enhancements worth Jailbreaking your iPhone for

Derek — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:28:29 +0000

Every four months or so, I get the urge to do one of two things:

If the iPhone is running an official OS build from Apple, I jailbreak it citing reasons of (a) flexibility, (b) customization, and (c) access to enhancements Apple either blocks from the App Store or blocks developers from offering users.
If the iPhone is running an unofficial build (jailbroken), I restore it citing reasons of (a) poor battery life, (b) application incompatibility, (c) instability, or (d) having to wait for the green light to upgrade safely.

Three weeks ago I restarted the cycle, downloaded a copy of PwnageTool, and 15 minutes later found some real gems inside Cydia (the App Store for jailbroken iPhones). For those who have returned to the non-jailbroken side since the early iPhone OS releases, Cydia has matured considerably now offering free and paid for apps which I believe has lead to quality releases. Great developers should be rewarded right?

It didn’t take long for me to find some really useful iPhone OS add-ons. Enhancements which I know I would miss when I return to an official iPhone OS build.

01. Move over Apple copy ‘n paste for Action Menu Plus

Expanding on the copy ‘n paste functionality baked into iPhone OS, Action Menu Plus Pack ($2.99 in Cydia) by Ryan Petrich offers a handful of new actions to the popup tooltip menu. Highlighted features include:

History: Action Menu maintains a history of items copied to your clipboard.
Lookup: Highlight a word or phrase in an email, note, or web page and lookup definitions, similar words, Wikipedia entry, or translations.
Tweet: Copies selected text for Tweeting in your native Twitter client – Tweetie, Tweedeck, and more supported.
Favorites: Maintain a custom list of frequently pasted clips accessible from any application. Customized inside the Settings.app.

Although having access to clipboard history is incredibly useful, the best feature is the ability to create and maintain a list of clipboard Favorites – great for saving frequently used signatures or other longer chunks of text.

02. SpotSMS, Spotlight extension for SMS / MMS

The iPhone Spotlight search offers quick access to applications, emails, calendar events, contacts, media, and notes. Thanks to SpotSMS (free in Cydia), you can add text messages to the list of indexed items. You can tweak SpotSMS settings to search both sent and / or received messages, specify after which character to begin searching, and the ordering of search results.

This Spotlight extension adds much needed functionality – especially for those who send and receive hundreds, if not thousands of messages in a single month.

03. QuickReply to messages without leaving your current screen

I’ve tried a few applications which promised quick replies to text messages but none performed reliability like QuickReply for SMS ($2.99 in Cydia) by Gaurav Khanna. No matter what application you’re running, QuickReply offers four options inside of the new message notification:

Close: Standard behavior which closes the message notification.
View: Standard behavior which opens the messaging app.
Call: Optional action to replace the View button. Upon receiving a new message, you now have the option to immediately dial the number associated with the message.
Reply: Overlays the screen (or the application you are currently using) with a messaging dialog + keyboard. Compose your reply, press send, and resume without ever leaving your current app or opening the messaging application.

Stable and incredibly useful. QuickReply settings also offers the option to double tap message notifications on the lock screen for replies without unlocking or opening the messaging app.

Extra: Teehan+Lax Lock Screen coming soon

Recently announced lock screen project by Teehan+Lax and Jay Freeman (man behind Cydia App Store). More reason to consider jailbreaking your iPhone.

Running a Jailbroken handset?

What are some of your favorite apps or utilities? Have you ever had a bad experience with Jailbreaking software? Did you notice decreased performance or instability after jailbreaking your handset?

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AmazonBot w/ new UI, marketplaces, and language support

Derek — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:39:45 +0000

Pushed some new updates to the AmazonBot. I know I know, Google Wave isn’t open to the general public… But when it is, WithWaves will be ready.

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I hate automated customer service recordings

Derek — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:06:56 +0000

I loathe the very thought of having to call customer service. Why? Because intelligent automated call center systems irritate me. Next time you have to call customer service, check if Get Human has a direct phone number to an actual phone rep via @evanmeagher.

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The Basement

Google Wave invites on WithWaves

Derek — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:19:08 +0000

Looking for a Wave invite? Check out WithWaves for an invite giveaway.

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Minimalist Gmail

Derek — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:56:15 +0000

Hands down. The best extension / add-on for reducing the visual clutter in Gmail. Firefox-only.

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Looking for Google Voice? Voice invites inside

Derek — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:58:44 +0000

I managed to get my hands on a GrandCentral phone number before the service was acquired by Google in 2007. Armed with a truly mobile "mobile" virtual number, I’ve managed to maintain better control and organization of my personal and non-personal phone calls – almost granular depending on who may be calling.

Although I have not yet made use of the option to ring multiple lines – home, work, or cellphone – with an incoming Google Voice call, I have made use of some of the other useful features. Features like voicemail transcription & delivery via email (bonus option to listen to VM attachments) or SMS, customized voicemail groups, and smart screening are all features a typical wireless carrier would enjoy seeing you dream about.

As I continued using the service, I’ve realized that Google has truly changed my view of the phone number. There was a period when I considered changing my voicemail greeting to instruct callers to email instead of leaving a message.

Has your view of the boring "old school" phone number changed after reviewing what Google Voice offers?

Naturally, privacy nuts will challenge the security and safety of personal privacy by entrusting Google with yet another data rich form of communication. What are you thoughts? Personally, I’ve warmed up quite a bit to the Google suite of services.

Two Google Voice invites up for grabs

Most of my contacts are using Google Voice already which leaves me with extra invites to share with readers. To claim one of the two invites, simply post a comment below. Bonus points for sharing how you think Google Voice will help you. Winners will be selected on Wednesday Nov. 4th.

Update: Invites passed out to two lucky readers. Hopefully the emails used in the comments were legit. Check your inboxes for a confirmation people.

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Tokyo photography tips for iPhone users

Derek — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:50:40 +0000

"The iPhone has a single-focus lens with no zoom, and this simplicity keeps me devoted to only composition and the perfect photo opp, [...]"

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Cool toys for parents & kids

Derek — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:35:54 +0000

Online magazine helping kids and parents find all of the best things – toys, games, gear, clothes, movies, and more.

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Browse & bid on eBay auctions with Google Wave

Derek — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:27:27 +0000

Add eBayBot to your Google Wave conversation(s) and receive links to current eBay auctions for matched products. Alternatively, embed a eBay auctions browser inside of a Wave.