Google

Apr 29 2013

Google Now Launches on the iPhone

Owners of Android devices have had access to the Google Now service for a while and it’s proven to be a popular hit with it’s users.

Google Now detects your location and provides context sensitive information which has been personalised for you. Information cards are presented on screen containing information about your local weather, sport news, traffic and public transport. It’s a great personal assistant app.

On Android devices Google Now is integrated into the operating system but on the iPhone it’s integrated into the Google Search App which can be downloaded from the App Store.
Whilst the information isn’t as readily available as it is on Android it does bring the useful service to the Apple devices.

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Google Now running on the iPhone

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Feb 4 2013

Updated Procedure to Synchronise your iPhone with your Google Mail, Calendars and Contacts

In this previous article I covered how you could Synchronise your iPhone with your Google Accounts, however Google recently ended support for Exchange style synchronising for new accounts, and recently that email synchronisation was no longer in near real time, instead mail was being batched into hourly updates.

However Google are still supporting recognised standard ways of connecting to their services, and these are described below:photo

To synchronise your email and calendar with your iPhone:

  1. Open the Settings App
  2. Select mail, Contacts, Calendars
  3. Select Add Account
  4. Select the Gmail option
  5. Enter your name into the top box
  6. Enter your Gmail (or Googlemail) email address into the second box
  7. Enter your password into the next box
  8. Select Next
  9. Make sure that the Mail and Calendars options are turned on

To synchronise your Contacts with your iPhone:

  1. Open the Settings App
  2. Select mail, Contacts, Calendars
  3. Select Add Account
  4. Select the Other option
  5. Select the Add CalDAV Account options
  6. In the server box enter google.com
  7. Enter your Gmail (or Googlemail) email address into the second box
  8. Enter your Gmail Password into the Password Box
  9. Select Next
  10. Make sure that the “Contacts” option is turned to on

Following this procedure you will be able to synchronise all your Google services with your iPhone.

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Sep 21 2012

How to install Google Maps on iOS6

With the launch of iOS6 apple have replaced the existing Maps App, with an entirely new Maps application.
The new Maps app uses a different source of data and many users have found that the Maps are no longer of the same quality, and some key functionality is missing.
The original App used source data from Google and they also have a Web App version of their Maps App, which offers the same maps and similar functionality to the old style iPhone Maps App.
Until Google formally launch their official iOS Maps App, many users may prefer to switch to the Google Maps Web App.

To install the Google Maps Web App on your iPhone:
1) Open the Safari Web Browser
2) Navigate to http://maps.google.com in the browser
3) You’ll see a box inviting you to install the Google Maps Web App

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Installing the Google Maps Web App

4) Tap the Arrow Icon
5) Select the Add to Home Screen option

The Google Maps Web App will now be installed to you iPhone’s home screen. Those familiar with the old iPhone maps App will have no problem in using the App.

 

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Apr 29 2011

How to Edit your Google Docs on the iPhone

Google Docs is a popular free office suit from Google, providing a web based interface and cloud based storage to let you create and edit Documents and Spreadsheets through any online device With a web browser.

It is possible to access your Google Docs files using the default browser on the iPhone but it’s a little restrictive on the iPhone’s small screen, but there is a free app which makes this process easy.
NoteMaster Lite is a free word processor for the iPhone which is easy to use and provides Google Doc synchronisation.

NoteMaster Lite is a Competent word processor in it’s own right with the ability to add pictures, bullets hyperlinks and numbering to documents.
In the settings section in the App you can add your Google Docs login credentials, this will create a new sync folder in your Google account and when you click on the app’s sync button any document in the sync folder gets copied to your iPhone and any updated document gets copied back to your google docs folder. The facility to email documents is also provided.
This also allows you to work on your documents offline without an active data connection.

The iPhone might not seem like a natural choice for document creation or productivity but NoteMaster lite with its Google docs synchronisation provides the ideal tool for working whilst on the move.

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Apr 21 2011

How to get Traffic Information Free of Charge on the iPhone

The ability to receive upto date traffic formation whilst on a journey is a fantastic tool, and with it’s built in mobile data and GPS the iPhone provides the perfect device to receive traffic information.
There are several apps in the app store that will provide traffic information to your iPhone, but these tend to cost money, and the iPhone provides a great tool free of charge already installed.
The maps application that is provided with the iPhone provides access to Google maps and Google provides upto date traffic information as part of the App.
The App works well, especially when combined with Google Maps satellite images when it becomes a useful mobile route planning tool.

The image below shows the same Google map with and with out live traffic information, the different colours show the different levels of traffic.

To activate live traffic updates in Google maps, select the Options icon on the bottom right hand corner of the screen to display the Apps option menu, and Selection the option to show traffic.

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Mar 29 2011

How to Synchronise your Contacts Across all iOS Devices with Gmail

Like many iPhone users I use Google Gmail (aka Googlemail) to provide email, calendar and contact facilities. Gmail is good because it’s free and it can be configured to be presented like an Exchange server so that the information can be synchronized across different devices.

In a previous article I’ve covered How to Synchronize your iPhone with Google Mail, Calendar and Contacts and generally this works well. However recently I started to noticed that whilst any entries I made to my contacts when using Gmail on my computer  synchronized with both my iPhone and iPad, if I entered new contact information on either of my mobile devices, the contact information didn’t synchronize back to Google and therefore not with my other devices.

This is because there is an extra setting which needs to be altered on the iPhone and iPad as by default both devices use their local contact list as the default information store for contacts, and don’t synconise new contacts with Google. 

To configure the iPhone and iPad to use Exchange as their default source for contacts:

  • Open the Settings App on your iPhone or iPad
  • Go to the Mail, Contacts & Calendar Section
  • Under Contacts change your default account to Exchange.

Any new contacts that are created on your iPhone or iPad will now synconise with Gmail and all other devices that use the Google Service.

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Feb 11 2011

How to Track your Location with Google Latitude on the iPhone

Google Latitude is a popular GPS positioning application which allows authorised users to track your location easily through the online widget on their iGoogle home page.

Google Latitude running on iGoogle

It’s taken a while for Latitude to be released for the iPhone, but with the advent of the iPhones new Multitasking operating system, Latitude is now available free of charge from the App Store.

The application doesn’t run as a service like on other Mobile Phones but runs as an application, which means that you need to keep the application open for it to work properly, which is fine as long as you have a version on the iPhone that can Multitask.

The Application uses the GPS Hardware in the iPhone to update your position on latitude at regular intervals over the mobile data networks, but it is worth noting that this does seriously impact on the battery life of the phone.

You can also use the App to track the location of your friends or colleagues that also use Latitude through your iPhone, this is useful if you need to track the location of your work teams or want to find friends for a social event.

If you are a Latitude user and can live with the shortened battery life that comes with it then, the Google Latitude App is really useful.

Latitude running on the iPhone

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Jan 20 2011

How to add security and child friendly restrictions on the iPhone 4

If you have given your child an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch as a present, you might be concerned and worried about what they are looking at on the Internet or what they are downloading on to their handset.

The iPhone has a number of security options built into the operating system which can help you protect your child, to access them launch the Settings App on your handset and select the General Option.

Within the settings section select the Restrictions Option

In this section you can set various restriction options, perhaps you want to Block YouTube, or the Web Browser or perhaps you want to block the Installation of new Apps, the options are all in this section.

There is a further step you can take to protect your child whilst web surfing, Google is the most popular Internet Search Engine and it’s possible to configure it on the iPhone to only return child safe search results.

Open the WebBrowser and go to Google Search Engine. Towards the bottom of the screen you will see a preferences link, click on it.

In the settings section Select the Strict option, and scroll down to the bottom of the page and select save.

Google will now only return family safe Internet results.

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Jan 18 2011

How to quickly access your Google Analytics Stats on your iPhone

In this post I described how iSpy Analytics can be used to interrogate your Google Analytics account from your iPhone, but I’ve been made aware of an alternative solution, an app called Quicklytics.

Quicklytics provides a very quick and easy method of accessing your Website traffic, it’s certainly quicker to get access to your Stats  then iSpy especially if you just want to see your hits over the current day, previous day and week, and you can quickly flick the screen to scroll through your sites.

You can also drill down into your analytics stats  and pullout detailed information, although the strength of the app is in the speed that it can deliver you your vital traffic overview.

Quicklytics can be found in the App Store, it isn’t free but it is isn’t expensive. If you are a blogger or run a way site and like to follow your Web traffic on the move then this might be the app for you.

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Jan 11 2011

How to check your Google Analytics Account on the iPhone

Google Analytics is a fantastic free web based tool from Google which allows Web Masters and Bloggers to track the Traffic to the sites. The level of detail into which Analytics goes is incredible, for example it provides the sources of your traffic, the country that your readers came from and even which OS they use, amongst many other details.

Unfortunately as it uses Flash the Google Analytics WebSite does not work on the iPhones Web Browser, however there is an App which solves the problem.

The App is called iSpy Analytics, is free and works brilliantly, proving access to all your Analytics stats, with it’s simple to use and easy interface you will soon find your way around the App.

This App is a God Send for those of us that like to keep a close eye on our website Traffic, but it goes without saying that you shouldn’t purchase this app unless you have a Google Analytics Account. To install iSpy search for ispy analytics in the App Store.

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