Marty Edwards

<p>No matter how reliable and fast your Internet is, there are times of unexplained slowness or times when you simply cannot connect reliably to a website. Often the culprit is not on your end or even in your Internet service provider. The issue can be in one “hop” or connection between Internet connections. </p>

<p>Fall is here and Halloween is only a little over a week away. Many people enjoy decorating this time of year whether it be jazzing up homes and yards or one’s iPhone. Customization has long been limited on the iPhone but with iOS 10, Apple greatly revamped iMessages to allow various effects and stickers. Stickers are apps that can be downloaded from within the Messages app itself. I have always enjoyed the built-in emojis provided by Apple, but with the introduction of stickers, the selection of fun is now limitless.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">iOS has included a Do Not Disturb feature for a long time. With this option enabled, any contact you have designated as a “favorite” causes your iPhone to ring while other calls are silenced and sent to your voicemail.</p><p>One Do Not Disturb feature I have often wanted is for text messages from favorites to make a sound when Do Not Disturb is enabled. Apple delivered this option with Emergency Bypass in iOS 10, which must be set up manually for each contact you want to be alerted to. To do this:</p>

<p>The iPhone is often lauded as being the best phone for users with various special needs. In June 2016, <a target="_blank" href="https://appleworld.dreamhosters.com/blog/2016/6/30/apple-to-receive-an-award-from-the-american-council-of-the-blind" rel="noopener noreferrer">The American Council of the Blind announced that Apple would be receiving its Accessibility Award for the accessibility features in iOS</a>. The settings in Accessibility are extensive and one can customize the iPhone to help with any needs you might have.</p>

<p style="margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px">Find My iPhone is a default app included with iOS and it can be used for much more than simply finding a lost iPhone.</p><p>The app is at the core of Apple’s phone security if you lose your iPhone or it is stolen. You can log onto Find My iPhone from another iOS device signed into your Apple ID or with a web browser at <a href="http://www.icloud.com">http://www.icloud.com</a>. After launching the app or clicking on Find My iPhone on the iCloud website, you’ll be asked to log in with your Apple ID. If you have two-step authentication enabled for your Apple ID you will be asked to enter the secondary passcode.</p>

<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.apple.com/ios/ios-10/" rel="noopener noreferrer">iOS 10</a> will be available to everyone tomorrow, September 13, 2016. If past history holds true, the new operating system will be released around 10 AM Pacific Time. In some ways, the release of iOS 10 is as exciting to me as the new iPhone announcements. My old device becomes “new” and does many different things that it couldn't just a few moments ago. As is always a good practice, today would be a great time to make sure your iPhone or iPad is backed up. Though unlikely, something could go amiss or you may simply decide that iOS 10 is not for you at this point and want to revert back to iOS 9.3.5 after the update.</p>

<p>Sometimes Apple's Voice Memos app is perfect for quickly grabbing a spoken word note or recording a meeting. On the other hand, it's quite limited in capability, so users may find themselves wanting more. <a href="http://Voice Record Pro 7 Full by Dayana Networks Ltd https://appsto.re/us/hBK6W.i">Voice Record Pro 7</a> (US$3.99) is a viable replacement to Apple’s native voice memos app, providing more options to record, playback, and upload to cloud storage. </p>

<p>Hi, I’m Marty Edwards, a longtime computer user and experimenter. I saw my first computer during my senior year of high school in 1978, a <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80" rel="noopener noreferrer">TRS-80</a> at Radio Shack. I graduated from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.fhu.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer">Freed-Hardeman College</a> in 1982. That year I purchased my first computer-- a <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A" rel="noopener noreferrer">Texas Instruments 99/4a</a>. I soon acquired an <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer" rel="noopener noreferrer">IBM PC</a>. I still have a fondness for those large, loud keyboards and I use a comparable one even now.</p>