Sterling Creations

. I mused that perhaps new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, despite coming out of the industry he now regulates, would have some kind of crisis of conscience and do what is ever so clearly the right thing to do: Preserve the open Internet. I didn’t have much hope that this would be the case, but it was worth a shot. Sadly, there was no crisis of conscience to be had. Wheeler has stepped right in line with his telecom lobbyist roots and has proposed something actually far worse than doing nothing at all. He wants to actively promote a tiered Internet through a dual fast-lane and slow-lane approach. This is no form of regulation or control over an increasingly monopolistic industry, this is going the other direction entirely — this is the U.S. government actively promoting the death of the open Internet. [ InfoWorld’s Robert X. Cringely defends the FCC’s Net neutrality approach, and InfoWorld’s Serdar Yegulalp explains what’s in the proposal. Visit this link to check out the proposal. http://www.infoworld.com/t/net-neutrality/4-no-bull-facts-you-need-know-abou t-the-fccs-net-neutrality-proposal-241338?source=fssr Pick up expert networking how-to advice from InfoWorld’s Networking Deep Dive PDF special report Found here; http://www.infoworld.com/d/networking/download-the-networking-deep-dive-repo rt-507?source=ifwelg_fssr and Technology: Networking newsletter, found here: http://www.infoworld.com/newsletters/subscribe?showlist=infoworld_network &source=ifwelg_fssr All of these sources provide much more information regarding the closed internet that is proposed. There isn’t language strong enough to fully register my displeasure with Wheeler’s proposal and with Wheeler himself. The FCC’s previous chairman, Julius Genachowski, was not effective enough to land true Net neutrality regulations, but he did at least try, and his position on the matter was aligned more with reality and sanity. Wheeler’s position is aligned directly with the interests of the very communications industry that he is supposed to be regulating. And these corrupting interests are just so outrageously blatant — they truly don’t even care to hide it anymore. To state this plainly, we have given the big communications companies literally billions of dollars in taxpayer money over the past few decades to build massive networks. Not only have they repaid none of that, but they are consolidating control over the Internet and charging ever-higher prices for mediocre services. At the same time, they are succeeding in removing any sort of regulation over their industry, and they are pocketing massive sums of money rather than improving and extending their networks — their profit margins are much higher than in most other industries, in fact. They’re winning. They are winning, and their goal is to turn the open Internet into AOL, with themselves as the gatekeepers. Preventing such outcomes is why the government’s authority over the airwaves and telecom utilities exists in the form of licenses and communications regulations. They are designed to prevent a few providers from controlling the playing field. But what we are looking at now is a complete abdication of that responsibility by the U.S. government, through the very office designed to prevent such things, as well as through Congress and local governments. Public opinion on this matter is muddled at best. Heavy spin by various interest groups has destroyed the actual meaning of the term “Net neutrality,” leading some people to believe that it’s the exact opposite of its actual definition. Others don’t think it’s a big deal or don’t understand anything about it. It’d be simpler and easier for lay people to digest if we refer to this whole mess as the open Internet versus the closed Internet. We have enjoyed an open Internet since its creation, but Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, and AT&T want a closed Internet. They want to enforce their own decisions about what people read, see, and hear on the Internet — not so much about the content itself but the maximum price they can get for it. They want to get paid coming and going , by both content producers and content consumers, funneling all of that traffic through circuits paid for in large part by the very taxpayers who are also their customers. This isn’t business, this is just bald-faced extortion and double-dealing. Back in his 2008 presidential campaign, then-Senator Barack Obama appeared to grasp the threat of a closed Internet , saying that companies like Google and Facebook “might not have been started if you had not had a level playing field for whomever’s got the best idea, and I want to maintain that basic principle in how the Internet functions.” He said Internet service providers should not “charge different rates to different websites” because that “destroys one of the best things about the Internet.” More damning, he also said that he would “make sure that that’s the principle that my FCC commissioners are applying as we move forward.” It’s more than abundantly clear that Wheeler, Obama’s current FCC chairman, is trying to do the opposite. We all know how fragile campaign promises are, but the future of the U.S. and by extension the world rests on this decision. That’s no exaggeration: We are at the cusp of a massive change in how we perceive freedom of information and freedom of ideas. We are about to ensure our continued technological, financial, and societal progress — or actively destroy it. Wheeler is on the side of those destroying it. After seeing his proposal, I believe that he should step down from his position or be replaced if he refuses. It’s clear that he is not at all suitable for his job. This story, “]]>

, Sunday, May 11, 2014 a 9:39 am By default your iPhone uses two quick vibration pulses for a text message and a continuous steady pulse vibration for incoming calls. All other Notification Center alerts receive a single vibration. But what if you want something different so you can easily tell what kind of notification you’re receiving without even looking at your iPhone? As it happens, you can do just that by creating and assigning your own vibration patterns. Here’s how: . . . * How to delete custom vibrations on iPhone How to create and assign custom vibration patterns on the iPhone 1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone. 2. Now tap on Sounds. 3. Under the Sounds and Vibration Patterns section, choose the type of alert you’d like to create a custom vibration pattern for and tap on it. In this example, I’ll use Ringtone. 4. Now scroll all the way to the top and tap on Vibration. 5. Towards the bottom, tap on Create New Vibration. 6. Now tap the center of the screen in the sequence you want the vibration to be. Hold your finger down for a continuous vibration. Lifting it up creates a pause. 7. Once you’re done, tap on Stop. 8. Play back the pattern to make sure you are happy with it. If you are, tap on Save. 9. Now go back to the previous screen and assign it as your vibration pattern for that alert type. Description: Description: http://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/xlarge/public/field/image/ 2014/05/vibration_alerts_iphone_howto1.jpg?itok=47FK_BtrDescription: Description: http://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/xlarge/public/field/image/ 2014/05/vibration_alerts_iphone_howto2.jpg?itok=resx3TlcDescription: Description: http://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/xlarge/public/field/image/ 2014/05/vibration_alerts_iphone_howto3.jpg?itok=xAJONzH1 You can repeat the above process for all the alert types you’d like to change the vibration pattern for. Keep in mind you can create custom vibrations inside the vibration option section of any alert. Anything you’ve created will then show up under the Custom Vibrations section for all alert types so you can reuse them if you’d like. *How to disable vibration alerts on a per-app basis 1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone. 2. Now tap on Sounds. 3. Under the Sounds and Vibration Patterns section, choose the type of alert you’d like to disable vibrations for and tap on it. 4. Scroll all the way to the top and tab on Vibration. 5. This time scroll all the way to the bottom and tap on None. Description: Description: http://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/xlarge/public/field/image/ 2014/05/vibration_alerts_iphone_howto1.jpg?itok=47FK_BtrDescription: Description: http://www.imore.com/sites/imore.com/files/styles/xlarge/public/field/image/ 2014/05/vibration_alerts_iphone_howto4.jpg?itok=WNOtsv_9 That’s it. The alert will still play a sound when not in silent mode, it just won’t create a vibration. *How to delete custom vibrations on iPhone 1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone. 2. Now tap on Sounds. 3. Under the Sounds and Vibration Patterns section, select any alert type. It doesn’t matter what you choose if you’re just deleting. For this example, I’ll choose Ringtone. 4. Scroll all the way to the top and tap on Vibration. 5. Tap on Edit in the upper right hand corner. 6. Delete the custom vibrations you don’t want anymore and then tap Done in the upper right hand corner. 5 Maintenance Tips for iPhone & iPad: The Simple and Essential iOS Cleanup Guide Note from Dan: The start of each tip is marked with an asterisk. Spring is well under way, which means it’s high time to do some essential maintenance for your iOS hardware. Yes, we know that cleaning isn’t the most fun thing in the world, but these are all simple tasks, and really it’s the type of regular maintenance that every iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch user should develop into regular habits. but just in case you haven’t gotten there yet, we’re here to help. So get out that iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and follow along to keep things running smoothly. Let’s get going! *1: Delete Apps You’re Not Using. & Shouldn’t Be Using All of us have some apps laying around we don’t use. Maybe it’s a time wasting game, maybe it’s some app your friend told you about that you never got around to trying, maybe it’s all the junk you downloaded in your first two weeks of iPhone ownership and the App Store felt like a candy store, or maybe that brokerage app to watch your 401k – how many times have you traded securities on your iPhone? 0? That’s what I thought. Delete all the unused apps! They’re taking up space and doing you no favors. Description: Description: Delete unused apps in iOS Don’t worry, you can always download them again later if you’re having Clash of Clans withdrawals. *2: Throw Less Used Apps & Junk into a Folder Though iOS ships as a generally spartan experience (particularly compared to some of the alternatives out there who junk out their smartphones with carrier crud) each of our iPhones and iPads comes with apps we undoubtedly don’t use, yet can’t uninstall. Sure, you can hide them through restrictions, but a better approach is to just toss them into a folder and put it on a secondary or third Home Screen and forget they exist. My “Less Used” folder is all Apple stuff and looks like this: Description: Description: Toss unused apps into a folder and forget they exist And I basically never visit this folder, ever. Putting the unused stuff here helps to clean up the Home Screen though, so it’s better than nothing. *3: Back Up Getting into the habit of regularly backing up your iDevices is essential, but few people do it as often as they should. Backing up is essential for so many reasons, from easy recovery in case of a software update gone bad, a lost iPhone, an upgrade, whatever it is or whatever motivates you, just back up! What are you waiting for? You can backup iOS devices to iCloud or iTunes, or both. Read more regarding backing up your Iphone here “How to backup your IPHone: http://osxdaily.com/2010/06/22/how-to-backup-your-iphone/ iCloud is super easy but it’s easily overloaded if you have more than one iPhone or iPad on the same Apple ID. iTunes basically allows for unlimited backups because it goes to your computer hard drive instead, which means even if you don’t have a huge hard drive, you can copy those backup files to another location like an external drive to save some disk space and access them later. Read exactly how to do this here: http://osxdaily.com/2014/05/07/make-copy-of-ios-backup-files/ You see where I’m going with this. there is no excuse not to make regular backups. And here’s to hoping that Apple becomes a bit more generous with iCloud storage so that it becomes a more reliable backup solution for everyone, fingers crossed! *4: Update iOS Updating to the latest version of iOS is important because each release includes bug fixes, security updates, and often new features too. Don’t be left behind on an old version of iOS when there’s new versions available. Updating the system software on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is super easy through Over-The-Air (OTA) update and only takes a few minutes: The directions on how to do this are found at this link. How to Use Over-the-Air (OTA) Software Update on iOS http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/12/how-to-use-ota-update-ios/ 1. Back up the device first, but you already did this, right? 2. Open Settings and go to “General” 3. Choose “Software Update” and if there’s an update available, select “Download and Install” This Easy, and it’s generally completed in a few minutes. I’m always surprised how few regular people regularly update iOS. Sure, us geeks are updating the moment a new version arrives, but the average person doesn’t notice and probably doesn’t care either, often lingering around several releases behind the latest version of iOS available, missing out on important fixes and handy features. Update! *5: Update Apps Speaking of updating software. your apps also need to get updated. Do this after you’ve cleaned out and deleted the junk apps you no longer use so you don’t waste your bandwidth or time. 1. Open the “App Store” app and go to “Updates” 2. Choose “Update All” to update every app that has a new version available Description: Description: App Store Icon If you’re bad at remembering to update your iOS apps, you can rely on Automatic Update to do it for you. Super easy, and it’s entirely automated and goes on behind the scenes, insuring your apps are always at their latest version. I like this feature a lot, particularly for novice and/or lazy users, but just remember that it can waste battery, so many users turn it off to keep their devices lasting longer without being charged up.]]>

Margaret C Mullings]]>

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