Google Apps Status
September 1, 2009 12:53:00 PM PDT
We’re aware of a problem with Google Mail affecting a majority of users. The affected users are unable to access Google Mail. We will provide an update by September 1, 2009 1:53:00 PM PDT detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change.

Having nervous ticks due to Google’s Gmail service being down? Read on…

Gmail Labs’ Offline feature
Gmail has an interesting feature called “Offline” that allows you to read, view, search, reply, and compose email without being connected to Google, or the Internet at all for that matter. In the Settings tab, enable “Offline” from Gmail Labs. You can be completely disconnected and still use Gmail. (Keep reading for more setup information.)

How does “Offline” work?
Google has an interesting free service called Google Gears, which allows you to utilize Gmail’s offline feature. Simple visit the link and install Gears. Then, within Gmail, enable the “Offline” feature. Then all your email messages start to download to your hard drive, making search, compose, etc available to you even if Gmail’s servers are down.
Note that you should not install Gears on a public computer or a computer that is not yours. You personal info IS stored on the local hard drive.

Install Gears today!
Once Gmail is back up, install Google Gears and help overcome the panic that sets in from not being able to access Gmail!

How to verify that it’s not just your connection:
A great site that I used to check if Gmail was having issues. Useful for other sites as well.

UPDATES:

Google Apps Status
September 1, 2009 1:02:00 PM PDT
Google Mail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users within the next 1.2 hours. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change.

Google Apps Status
September 1, 2009 1:02:00 PM PDT
We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by September 1, 2009 2:16:00 PM PDT detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.

2:18 PM PST: Gmail appears to be back online, for me at least. The Google status page still reports it being down, so it may not be back for everyone yet. Down for everyone or just me is also reporting that Gmail is still down.

Google Apps Status
September 1, 2009 2:13:00 PM PDT
We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by September 1, 2009 3:13:00 PM PDT detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.

Gmail users may also like my previous articles:
5 Tips to Fix Gmail Slow Load Issues
and
6 More Tips to Fix Gmail Slow Load Issues

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Back in January, I wrote an article called 5 Tips to Fix Gmail Slow Load Issues. Since then, it’s become the most visited article on this site, with the majority of the traffic coming from Google searches. Due to the popularity of that article, I have decided to expand on this topic and bring 6 more tips to help speed up Gmail.

Some background of the problem: Gmail tends to load slowly when you first log in and it’s also slow when switching between folders – Inbox to Spam, and after clicking “Send” or “Archive,” etc. To re-cap the previous article, here are my original 5 ways to speed up performance:

1. Decrease the number of experimental “Gmail Labs” settings that you have enabled.
2. Decrease the number of browser extensions or plugins.
3. Use HTML mode.
4. Use Mobile mode.
5. Use a third-party email client, such as Thunderbird.

For more in-depth explanations of the above 5 points, please review the original article.

And now, 6 more tips:

1. If loading up Gmail is the slowest aspect of your entire Gmail experience, this tip will significantly help:
   Add the ?nocheckbrowser argument to the URL: https://mail.google.com/gmail?nocheckbrowser. This is an extremely easy and effective hack that makes a dramatic difference to the initial page load.
2. Disable the experimental labs features. This is much like point number 1 from my previous article, but can be very useful. Adding the ?labs=0 argument to the URL can help you get back to a usable Gmail window. Think of it as an ejector seat for Labs. This is a shortcut step to disabling features one by one, as explained previously.
3. Disable chat. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the “standard without chat” text link in the footer. Bonus: if you never use chat, take it one step further and disable the chat history feature on the settings menu under the “chat” tab.
4. Show fewer messages. Reduce the number of ‘conversations’ shown on each page by adjusting the ‘maximum page size’ option to “25″ under “General” settings. It should say: “Maximum page size: Show 25 conversations per page.” This will get Gmail ready faster.
5. Remove the Skype Add-on. If you are a Skype user and are running Firefox 3.5 with the Skype add-on, it is known to causes sluggishness. Remove the add-on, and you will see a speed improvement. Please note that other extensions/add-ons/plug-ins can cause speed issues, but the Skype add-on using Firefox 3.5+ is a known issue by many, so it’s a great one to start with.
6. Clear your browser’s cache. Sometimes the simplest thing works wonders. A stale browser cache may leave some unnecessary remnants behind. Flush the browser cache and start with a clean slate. Most browsers have this in the “Options” or “Preferences” menu.

These tips should help you to increase Gmail load times and make the transition time between folders faster. If you have any other tips to share, please leave a comment.

If you are browsing a web page in mobile Safari on your iPhone, you can fast scroll to the top of the page simply by tapping the clock in the “titlebar” at the top edge of your screen.

This is very handy, especially when reading an extremely long web page. It sure beats sweeping your finger repeatedly.

That’s all there is to it! Tap the clock! I told you it was quick and easy.

Do you have any iPhone tips, tricks, or suggestions? Please leave a comment below. Thanks for reading the site.

From your iPhone’s home screen, tap “Settings.” You will see this screen:

Figure 1: iPhone Settings

Next, tap “General,” and you will see:

Figure 2: General iPhone Settings

You may change or set “Auto-Lock.” I have mine set to 2 minutes. With this setting, my screen will lock after 2 minutes and save some battery life for me.

To set a password (or passcode) to unlock the screen, tap “Passcode Lock”:

Figure 3: Set your passcode

It will ask twice, to make double-sure that the code you choose was entered correctly. You will then see the following screen, which outline options for changing the passcode or disabling it at another time:

Figure 4: Passcode options

For now you can leave these settings alone, or change them if you wish. It’s your iPhone, I’m not the boss of you.

Do you have an iPhone tip or trick that you’d like to share? Please leave a comment below. Thanks for stopping by the site.

Ready for the tip? OK, brace yourself: Put your undesirable or unwanted applications on your last home page. OK, so it is not the most ideal way to do it, but it will keep those apps out of your way at least.

For a more in-depth solution see Macenstein’s “How to: Delete Apple’s Apps from your iPhone – aka ‘the Hidden 10th iPhone app screen’” article. Macenstein’s method puts applications on a hidden overflow page. The problem with that method is that it only works until the iPhone is shut off.

A third option is to jailbreak, your phone, which is both sketchy and possibly illegal. Not to mention that your expensive iPhone may turn into a paperweight or a brick. If you want to go the jailbreaking route, Google search programs like Poof or Sbsettings.

Apple really should have a “Hide” or “Look & Feel” option in the General Settings menu that allows you to hide applications without removing them completely from the iPhone.

Do you have any iPhone tips or tricks to share? Please leave a comment below and thank you for stopping by.

DiskAid is a great program that allows your iPhone (or iPod Touch) to go into “Disk Mode.” In other words, your iPhone becomes visible like a USB disk – drag and drop files to and from it. Note that this program works on Windows (XP SP2+, Vista, 7) and Mac OS X (10.4 or higher) and requires iTunes 8.2.1.

UPDATE: I just noticed that this is a 14 day trial, so keep that in mind. The previous version that I downloaded did not have a time restriction. If you like the program, their website lists the license cost at $9.90, which isn’t too bad. Please note that I am not affiliated with the company, DigiDNA in any way.

Do you have any iPhone tips or tricks to share? Leave a comment below. Thanks for stopping by.

Instead of entering the passcode, double-click the home button (the only physical button on the face of the iPhone.)
You will see a screen similar to this:

Figure 1: Locked Screen on the iPhone with Podcast Controls

The controls let you pause or go to the previous or next track or next podcast. Of course you can also control the volume at any time using the up and down buttons on the side of your iPhone, even when the screen is black.

That is all there is to it. You can now control your music and podcasts without entering in your passcode to unlock the screen.

Do you have any other tips or tricks to share? Please leave a comment below. Thanks for coming by.

So you have an iPhone, and it takes decent pictures. But when emailing directly from you iPhone, your photos get resized automatically to 800×600. This is usually not really a bad thing since the file size is smaller and can be emailed faster, but sometimes you want to send the original full resolution photo. Here’s how to do it:

1. Go to your Camera Roll.
2. Press and hold your finger down on the image you want to email until a Copy balloon appears. Click “Copy” – the balloon should turn blue.
   

   Figure 1: Copy the picture from the Camera Roll

3. Bonus: If you want to select multiple photos to email, from your Camera Roll, click the box/arrow icon in the lower left corner of the screen. Select the photos you want, and then tap the Copy button.
   

   Figure 2: Copy Multiple Photos

4. Use the home button to return to the home screen.
5. Start up Mail and compose a new email.
   

   Figure 3: Compose the email and select Paste

6. Paste the photo(s) into the new message.
   

   Figure 4: The full res photo in the email

That’s it! Instead of small, automatically resized pictures, you will have the full resolution versions.

If you’re wondering how to do screen captures from an iPhone, check out the previous post: Grab a Screen Capture / Screenshot of your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Do you have any other tips or tricks to share? Leave a comment below. Thanks for stopping by.

First, be aware that you need at least firmware version 2.0 to take screenshots. If you don’t already have at least version 2.0, you can connect your device to iTunes and update the firmware.

Easy directions:
1. Hold down the home button and then press the top button.
2. The screen will flash as feedback that the screenshot was taken.
3. Go to your camera roll to view the screen grab.

Image depicting the procedure:

The no-nonsense way to take a screenshot on your iPhone / iPod Touch