Per agreement that Renaissance has with the University: Please do not enter any classroom until the appointed seminar start time. We are guests at this university and it is beyond rude to enter when an instructor is meeting with students. Do not knock on the door or otherwise intrude on faculty. Also, my bad, we should not enter an empty classroom either. In the AIRC there are gathering spaces with chairs, tables and even whiteboards where we can meet ahead of class, near the bathrooms on the first floor.
Remember, you need to know your Apple ID and the password to download new apps and make some changes to your device. If you cannot remember your Apple ID or password then it is time to call Apple or visit the Apple Store for help. Try this step to find your Apple ID & password:
Settings > Passwords and Accounts > Websites > Apple
For all of the apps we demonstrate in class, I hope you go home and “touch every button” to explore each app and find the common elements and the differences for searching, writing, games, photographing and more.
Tom presented today on News, Podcasts and Books (also Kindle and Libby). He also mentioned you can look for deals on recent iPads at discount stores. These iPads will not have the newest chip (processor) but for reading emails, messages, and surfing the Internet these devices might be a significant upgrade to your current model.
The News app is on your device (unless you deleted it) and will show articles from various sources. News presents articles as boxes with headlines, brief text and sometimes photos - tap a box to read more. As you read an article, the News algorithm begins to learn more about your interests and soon more of that topic will appear in your “news feed” or “channel” as an item in the News app. You can also control the channels that appear in your News app - press and hold on on a box to see the many choices for control over what is presented on your screen. News will look very different on the big screen of an iPad over the narrow screen of an iPhone. The User Guide for iPad and iPhone include a chapter on the News app. Read about “following” or “blocking” a channel.
On an iPad, look for the button to show/hide the sidebar where you can easily jump to topics or sources. At the top of the sidebar is a Search field. Try typing in a couple words based on your interests. The sidebar list changes to show Stories, Topics and Channels that relate to your search. Explore. This is a great app.
News+ is a $10/month subscription service that opens up magazines, current and recent past issues, for reading on your iPad. Think of the convenience of having Consumer Reports delivered to your screen. Many other magazines are available through the News+ service. Your first month of subscription is free, after that it is automatically billed to the credit card associated with your Apple ID. News+ subscriptions are included in Family Sharing just like apps. [What? Read about Family Sharing chapter in the User Guide.]
Have you been to your local public library branch yet? Go, now! Libraries in the Sacramento Valley are members of a consortium offering books and magazines through apps like Libby, Overdrive, Hoopla and Flipster. You need a current library card and a PIN number to access these free services. (My favorite way to garden is with Libby playing back an audiobook.) You might not need to subscribe to News+ if the Library resources include the magazines you are most interested in reading.
Apple Pay and Wallet app were mentioned briefly today and will be covered in more detail when Tom presents again in a couple weeks. This is a service used on your iPhone or Apple Watch when purchasing at a retail store, where your physical credit card is not used. This is a very secure way to pay for shopping items. Read about Apple Pay in the User Guide.
For security purposes, it is a good idea to set the Auto Lock on your devices to 3, 5 or 15 minutes. Do this in Settings > Display & Brightness > Auto Lock > touch the time listed before your device goes into sleep mode and will require Face ID, fingerprint ID or your device passcode to unlock. You do want your device to lock and require you to unlock it so a thief cannot steal your personal information.
Listening to music, videos and podcasts can use the built-in speakers, wired speakers, wired ear buds, wireless Bluetooth ear buds or wireless Bluetooth speakers. Bluetooth range is about 25 feet between ear buds and iOS device. Other Bluetooth connections might be to your car, hearing aids, blood pressure monitor, Home Pod or an Echo Dot.
The Podcast app by Apple is a purple icon. Listening to podcasts is another way to get ... audio content! Most podcasts are free and you can subscribe to automatically download the next episode. The player can adjust playback speed -1/2X, 1X, 1 1/2X and 2X speed. Both professionals and amateurs create podcasts for others to enjoy. While podcasts are often just audio, some are also video episodes, like TED Talks. Video episodes take up more space on your device than audio episodes. Some common radio shows are also presented in podcast form - search for NPR to see how you might never miss “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” every again!
Many RenSoc seminars cover topics that you want to know more about. Search for those as podcast topics. Are you learning a foreign language? Search for “News in Slow French” or “Italian for Beginners” to name two.
There are other apps to use when you become a podcast expert. Explore this universe by searching “podcast” in the App Store.
[One reason why I continue to be a part of the iOS Basics team is because there is always something to learn. In exploring Apple Podcast app for this report I found Rick Steves’ Edinburgh Royal Mile Walk. But wait, there’s more. On my iPhone I can scroll down to see a description of the podcast episode and chapters! Whoa! The chapters have timemarks that jump to segments in this episode. Not all podcasts have this feature, but I’m happy to have made this discovery as preparation for my trip in the fall. ]
On an iPhone, using iOS 13, touch and hold on a podcast block to bring up a menu of options including: Subscribe, Play Next, Delete, and Share.
Are you worried about podcasts (or anything) taking up too much space on your device? Keep track of your iPhone/iPad Storage! Settings > General > iPhone/iPad Storage ... Now wait for this screen to refresh and show the details. Podcasts do show up as taking 27GB of space on my iPhone. Touch Podcasts on the list to see specific details about the episodes stored on your device. Scroll down to see the Edit link. Touch a red (-) button to delete the episode.
Apple Books app is a hidden gem. After downloading a book, touch-hold-swipe to turn a page with an animation like ... turning a real page! For your comfort, set the text size and page color to minimize eye strain. If you are reading a book in single page view, consider turning on Auto Scroll instead of page turning.
The Books app was probably on your device at purchase, but you might have deleted it because ... who reads online? Go back to the App Store, search for Books and re-download this app. It is free, but some books you will need to purchase. Remember earlier hearing about Family Sharing? Purchases in Apple Books can be shared.
There are several views to using the Books app: Reading Now, Library, Book Store, Audiobooks and Search are buttons at the bottom of the screen. When you are viewing a page it is uncluttered - no icons or buttons. But to see the buttons, tap the center of the page and details appear at the bottom of the screen and button controls appear at the top of the screen.
Actually, explore words on the page, explore a page:
- Touch and hold your finger on a word. A pop-up menu appears with options: Copy, Speak, Look-Up, Highlight, Note, Search, Share and Spell. Touch an option to see what happens.
- Touch and hold and swipe your finger across a phrase or sentence to automatically add a highlight.
- Tap on highlighted text to see a pop-up menu with an option to add a Note.
- Tap the center of the screen to reveal the top button controls: Return to Library view, Table of Contents, Font Size - Fonts - Page Color - Scrolling View, Search and Bookmark.
Sounds simple, yes? Don’t overlook a book’s Content page’s tabs: Contents, Bookmarks and Notes, plus the Share button. How would you use these features?
Try to keep two things separate: search and search. You can Search the Book Store to find authors or new titles. You can search the content of a book and view feedback on how your search term fits in context. Tap on a reference to jump to that page in your book.
When browsing for books you will find a Download Sample option and you will find some free books. Better yet, search for “Project Gutenberg” to see the vast array of free books - released from copyright. Find your favorite authors: Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christie, Robert Lewis Stevenson and many more.
Tom’s best trick about Books is to download the manuals for any appliances or devices you own. Use Safari to Search for the product by model number and brand, find the manual as a PDF file and look at the Sharrow button options for Save to Books.
Organize your Books Library into Collections. Remove books you’ve read - by deleting them - but know that you can download them again because each purchase is tied to your Apple ID.
You have other free choices for reading and listening to books - go to your local public library and talk to librarians about Libby, or Overdrive or online trends in service to patron needs. Do you live near the county line? Many libraries offer non-resident library cards for the checkout of physical and online materials. Scroll up to find direct links, marked with a green highlight, to the App Store for Libby, Overdrive, Hoopla and Flipster.
There are issues libraries face in providing services to patrons - to us! Show you care, download the apps.
A few semesters back Dierdre Wolownick spoke to our Forum group about her new book, The Sharp End of Life, and her famous son, Alex Honnold - featured in the rock climbing documentary Free Solo. Dierdre's audiobook is available in Libby - under the Always Available listing.
Not for Everyone: An interesting question came up about how to do iOS updates when you don’t have WiFi at home - just unlimited cellular data? This one stumped me. A quick look at Settings > General > Software Update > Automatic Updates > ON might be helpful. Or make a visit to either the Apple Store to use their WiFi or visit a store for your cellular provider and ask them how to stay updated. Maybe it is time to visit a friend for a couple hours who will allow you to log into their WiFi and complete the download/install. (Take flowers or a bottle of wine...) It would be best to use a WiFi that required some type of login, maybe at a public library. iOS updates require your device over 50% charged and to be plugged in during the update process. There are two phases to an update, the download and the install. Read the comments at Ask Different.