If you’ve ever been out and about with your iPhone and laptop and wanted to get online, your only choice was to use the (albeit very capable) mobile browser on the iOS device to get to your favourite sites. Other smartphones could use their 3G connections to create a small Wi-Fi hotspot which would let them browse the web in full size through their laptop, and now (well, since the introduction of iOS 4.3) the iPhone can do it too.

One of the most exciting things about this update is that it almost entirely removes the need to buy an iPad with both Wi-Fi and 3G data if you have an iPhone. You can create a Personal Hotspot with a password of your choice and use the data from your iPhone to browse the internet using your iPad.

Step 1: Setting up
Fire up your iPhone’s settings app, you’ll see the Personal Hotspot tab right near the top of all of the different available options.

Step 2: Keep it secret
By default, the Personal Hotspot is turned off, and you will have been given a randomly generated password other devices need in order to connect.

Step 3: Choices, choices
If Wi-Fi is turned off you can still use Bluetooth or a USB connection to share data. You will be asked which to use when you turn the hotspot on.

Step 4: Randomised?
You can leave your password if you wish, as there will be a mix of numbers and letters to make the connection as secure as possible.

Step 5: Keep it safe
Changing your password will help you to keep things a little more private, and remember to make it something memorable to save time later.

Step 6: The thin blue line
Once you’re set up and another device has connected to your Personal Hotspot, a bar at the top of the screen will show the data being used.

Click on the image below to zoom in on the annotations.

One of the great things about Apple is that they are very good at integrating features across platforms and devices. A perfect example of this is the way that you can create a ringtone in GarageBand, send it to iTunes and sync it with your iPhone in less time than it would take to most Windows users to boot up and dismiss all of their virus warnings.

Of course, you need to know what you are doing, but that’s why we’re here. All you will need to complete this tutorial are your Mac and your iPhone, and in just a few minutes you can have a whole batch of catchy new tracks to alert you to incoming calls. And they will be uniquely yours.

Step 1: Load it, love it
Load up GarageBand and in the file-choosing window click on iPhone Ringtone in the left-hand pane. You then get presented with three possible options.

Step 2: Make your choice
There are two main choices – Loops or Voice. As we’re not great at singing, we’re going to opt for the Loops. Click on this so it turns blue, and then hit Choose.

Step 3: Properties
In the next window you need to pick a place to save your project. You can also make changes to the properties for the track you are about to make.

Step 4: Track
The ringtone track is set up especially to loop at the correct length of a ringtone and fade out too, to give you the gap between rings.

Step 5: Find it
Use the helpful guide in the Loops browser to narrow down your search for the perfect ringtone loops. Here we’ve started with All Drums.

Step 6: Build it
Drag and drop loops into the arrangement, having already previewed them in the bottom window of the Loops browser. They will play at your selected tempo.

Step 7: Quick copy
A quick way to copy loops across the arrange page is to hold the Alt key and drag a new copy out of the old one. Repeat steps 5, 6 and 7 until your song is done.

Step 8: Share when ready
After you’ve built your song, click the Share option in the menu bar and then select Send Ringtone to iTunes. GarageBand will convert and add the file.

Step 9: In iTunes
Open up iTunes and click on the Ringtones tab in the left-hand pane. You will now see your newly created ringtone, which you can sync to your iPhone.

Click on the image below to view the annotations in detail.

]]> http://www.icreatemagazine.com/tips/ilife-tips/ilife-tutorial-create-your-own-iphone-ringtone-with-garageband/feed/ 1 http://www.icreatemagazine.com/general/news/iphone-tutorial-edit-images-with-adobe-photoshop-express/ http://www.icreatemagazine.com/general/news/iphone-tutorial-edit-images-with-adobe-photoshop-express/#comments Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:30:12 +0000 Freddie Harrison http://www.icreatemagazine.com/?p=9645

The iPhone’s camera, although certainly not the most highly specced, is nonetheless capable of taking some superb photos, which with a bit of basic tweaking often have the potential to be really spectacular. The default factory set of apps doesn’t include any kind of photo editing tools, however, meaning that in order to get the best out of the on-board camera, users are faced with downloading a third-party app to do the job for them.

Happily Adobe, producer of the omnipotent Photoshop, has released a basic iPhone version for this very purpose. Photoshop Express, available free from the App Store, allows you to perform some of the more basic editing techniques. Cropping, tinting and altering exposure and contrast are included, and it’s really easy to use, making full use of the iPhone’s touch-screen interface. Here we show you how to get started with it, and how to use it to perform some of the more common functions you might need when tweaking your pics.

Step 1: Launch app
To begin editing, tap the Photoshop Express icon on your home screen to launch the app, then touch the Edit tab at the bottom of the screen.

Step 2: Choose import method
Tap Select Photo to use an existing image from your Photo Roll, or take a new one by tapping the Take Photo button to launch the camera.

Step 3: Select photo
From your Photo Roll, tap the thumbnail of the photo you want to edit. It will then appear full screen in the app’s main Edit window.

Step 4: Crop image
The top-left button has options to crop, straighten, flip and rotate. Select Crop, then drag the corners of the rectangle into place to frame your selection.

Step 5: Exposure
Exposure, contrast and other adjustment controls can be found under the button pictured. This image needs brightening, so choose Exposure.

Step 6: Adjust exposure
To adjust the exposure, slide your finger left and right across the screen. Left decreases the value, right increases it. Tap OK when it looks correct.

Step 7: Sharpen
The menu pictured here contains focus-related controls: soft focus, sketch and sharpen. Select a tool, then slide left and right to make adjustments.

Step 8: Beneath the stars
The starry button in the top-right reveals the Border/Effects menu, where you can choose from a selection of one-touch special effects and borders.

Step 9: Save options
When you’re done, tap Save in the bottom-right corner. Save and Exit saves a new edited copy to your Photo Roll, leaving the original intact.

]]> http://www.icreatemagazine.com/general/news/iphone-tutorial-edit-images-with-adobe-photoshop-express/feed/ 1 http://www.icreatemagazine.com/reviews/app-review-minigore/ http://www.icreatemagazine.com/reviews/app-review-minigore/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:39:46 +0000 iKungFu http://www.iphonekungfu.com/?p=2355

Developer: Chillingo/Mountain Sheep
Category: Games
Price: £0.59/$0.99

Pick up and play gaming has returned to the iPhone at last. While we’re always excited to see apps that push the boundaries of portable gaming, there’s still a lot to be said for games you can instantly get involved in when you have a spare five minutes. Minigore is one such game; simple, effective and great looking. After a load time of a few seconds, by comparison to the tea break-length startups we’re begrudgingly getting used to, one tap of the screen drops you straight into the action.

You take on the role of John Gore, a kind of square-headed Chuck Norris, whose sole purpose is to defend himself from onrushing creatures named “furries” of which there are several different types. One bite from a Furry sees damage done to your character, allow a second and you’re Furry food.

Control-wise, Minigore provides two pads at the lower left and right of the screen when held horizontally. The left controls the character’s movement while the right fires and aims your gun. As game controls go, this is the perfect method for the type of frantic survival tactics you’ll need when playing Minigore and the game reacts well and plays fluidly. While you have the option to turn the pad displays off to avoid distraction, it’s all too easy to miss an on-rushing Furry hidden by your thumb which can, especially in the latter stages of the game, become very frustrating. 

Concentration, Red Bull-fuelled reactions and a cool head are what you’ll need to score highly in Minigore as the Furries get bigger and more numerous. Four different enemies are ready to take a bite out John Gore: the Minifurry, Furry, Giant Furry and the Firefurry. While the Giant Furry is a worry due to the way it spits out more Furries when shot, the Firefurry is the one you need to look out for and use all of your available powerups before you become surrounded. As you progress through the game you’ll discover four-leaf clovers which, when you collect three, offer you a burst of invincibility for a few seconds of sheer carnage. Aside from your machine gun which, thankfully, never runs out of ammunition, you can also collect a shotgun which does a decent amount of damage. Weapons appear as crates which you’ll find scattered around the landscape periodically and they can also be used as a handy explosive device when repeatedly shot which can reduce the pressure as things get more hectic.

Online highscores, provided by the excellent OpenFeint, show the top Minigore players hitting above the 20,000 point mark while we struggled to break two thousand in the first few hours of play. An Expert mode is available on the Settings screen to crank things up from the start once you get good.

The music in Minigore is great (although somewhat repetitive) but, now we’re all OS 3.0 crazy, the option to pick tracks from your own iPod library is also available. We did find it occasionally sluggish when browsing tracks, but it’s nice to be able to handpick individual playlists of tracks rather than simply play a whole album through.

As we said, this is a true pick up and play game. Easy to get into, difficult to put down. When you start playing, you may think you’ll tire of the same map, weapons and features but, just wait until you realise Minigore has taken so much of your time you haven’t eaten, shaved or showered in three days. Regardless, the game is due for an update anyway, with episode two already submitted to the App Store boasting new abilities and save/restore features and Episodes 3 and 4 are on their way with multiplayer among other updates.

All this and the application is still only 59p ($0.99), which makes Minigore even easier to get hooked on.

Longevity: 8.9

Fun Factor: 9.0

Practicality: 6.0

Value For Money: 8.8

Kung Fu Verdict: 8.8

The second installment in our iPhone App Directory bookazine series has hit the shelves.

With over 270 reviews of the latest apps for iPhone and iPod touch, the book also covers new iPhone 3GS and OS 3.0 apps with many great new features. Reviews in the App Directory are divided by App Store categories so you can quickly find just the app you’re looking for and the prices are listed in Dollars and Pounds.

Volume one of the App Directory sold like hotcakes so if you’re looking for the best advice on your next App Store download, make sure you bag a copy quickly.

You can find out more and buy the book at the Imagine eShop

Developer: Firemint
Category: Games
Price: – £0.59

You can tell when an app has got the world’s attention because all of a sudden a ton of very similar apps appear to try to take a cut of its profits. That’s exactly what happened with Flight Control and though the developers were probably a little annoyed at the copycats they should just be flattered. In Flight Control you take charge of an airstrip and have to land the planes that come your way by dragging a line from them onto the runway. By default there are four aircraft types; small jets, fast jets, light aircraft and helicopters. Each type of flying machine has its own runway designated by colour and each moves at a different speed.

As more and more planes arrive on the screen you have to  make more elaborate flight paths for aircraft to fly in order to avoid crashes and ensure that the slow movers make way for the speedier jets. The more planes you land the better.

A recent update has seen new airstrips and craft and even an aircraft carrier level for you to test your air traffic control skills on.

This game is brilliantly simple, addictive, frustrating and rewarding. There is a multiplayer option but it doesn’t quite match the frantic excitement of beating your high score in the single player game which can be uploaded to share with others. Scores are shown for your local area which serves to let you know how well you’re doing by comparison to your neighbourhood and also let them know how much time you’re wasting landing virtual airliners.

The attractive design and simplicity of Flight Control is worth more than the meagre 59p asking price and makes it easy to understand why this app has dominated the App Store charts.

No iPhone should be without this superb bundle of portable fun.

Longevity: 9.0
Fun Factor:  9.0
Practicality:  5.0
Value: 9.0

Kung Fu Verdict: 9.0

Developer: Backflip Studios
Category: Games
Price: Free

The best games aren’t the ones with the most advanced 3D graphics or the ones that have the best frame rates. They are the ones that make you scream with frustration and force you to play them over and over again in order to beat your last score. Paper Toss is one of those games. The idea is simple; use a flick of your finger to send a balled up bit of paper flying towards a bin. The idea is to land the ball of paper in the bin, a pretty simple goal, apart from the fan that is blowing across your flight-path. So, you have to judge the wind-speed and your aim accordingly. Then just get as many balls in the bin as possible. It’s great fun, very addictive and very frustrating. You can’t really fault Paper Toss but it would be nice to have some other obstacles and some different levels of difficulty. That said this is a free app so we can’t expect too much. Great fun all round.

Longevity: 5.5

Fun factor: 9.0

Practicality: 4.5

Value: 8.8

Kung Fu Verdict: 7.8

Developer: Rodrigo Neri
Category: Education
Price: Free

Kids these days don’t know they’re born. Not only do they get to live in the age of the iPhone and iPod touch but some of they’ll even be able to use one of these great products to record their homework on. This app is a great little free option for said students. It lets them add assignment titles, the class that the assignment is for and they can then add the date its due and add notes. There is a colour scheme for due items. Those in orange are due in the next day, those that are red are late and those in blue are still pending. Other cool features include different calendar views and the ability to swap assignment details with others. This is another great example of a sole developer making a cool, functional application that they could be charging for but are happy to let go for free.

Longevity: 8.8

Fun factor: 4.6

Practicality: 7.8

Value: 8.9

Kung Fu Verdict: 8.5

Let me start by saying: I don’t normally do this.

I rarely follow a wave of opinion, especially when the opinions are voiced via reviews on the App Store.

Today, however, I agree with a whole bunch of people slamming EA’s The Sims 3 for iPhone.

All I want to do is get my Sim to “Woohoo” with another Sim (are there many more reasons to play?) but I can’t because the insufferable app crashes every 5-10 minutes.

If it were any other game or a lesser developer I’d probably have discarded the app and felt a little peeved that I forked out almost six pounds for it. But, you can tell that The Sims 3 is a really good game between the crashes.

I’ve done everything recommended to avoid the game dropping out to the iPhone home screen at random intervals but nothing has remedied the glitch. Everyday since buying the app I’ve checked for an update with the magic words “bug” and “fix” included and have so far been disappointed. EA, what’s going on?

Ben and Jimmy discuss iPhone OS 3.0 apps including AIM, Michael Jackson’s posthumous iTunes dominance and why the iPhone 3GS and Burger King Texican Whopper aren’t for everyone.

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