Tuesday, November 27, 2012

8 healthy ways to boost energy - CNN.com

8 healthy ways to boost energy - CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/26/health/healthy-energy/index.html


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Your food and beverage choices can have a big effect on your energy levels throughout the day, an expert says.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Energy drinks can contain excess sugar and high caffeine
  • Staying hydrated is important in avoiding fatigue, expert says
  • Eating breakfast and consuming protein can also help energy levels

Editor's note: Tiffany Barrett is a registered dietician at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute.

(CNN) — As our energy levels decrease because of our overstressed lifestyles, many people look for a quick fix to combat fatigue.

Energy drinks mask the symptoms of fatigue and dehydrate the body. The majority of energy drinks contain excess sugar, high levels of caffeine and other stimulants.

Recently, the 5-hour Energy shot and Monster Energy drink have come under fire.

The Food and Drug Administration said this month that 13 deaths have been reported after consumption of 5-hour Energy. Last month, the parents of a 14-year-old girl filed suit, alleging that she died after drinking two Monster Energy drinks in a 24-hour period. Anais Fournier's underlying heart condition was complicated by caffeine toxicity, according to the death certificate.

Watch this video
FDA checking reports about 5-hour ENERGY

Relying on caffeine and energy drinks makes us feel worse in the long run by causing our system to crash.

Continued fatigue decreases the immune system, making us more susceptible to depression and illness.

So what to do? Exercise, sleep and reducing stress are important in fighting fatigue. But our eating habits also directly affect energy levels. And nutrition can affect energy levels throughout the day.

Here are some tips on healthy ways to boost your energy:

Drink water

The body needs water — multiple glasses a day.

Being hydrated is an easy and inexpensive way to increase energy levels. You don't need vitamin water or sports drinks; they only add extra unneeded calories. Keep a fresh water source with you at all times and drink throughout the day. Add lemons, limes or oranges for taste variety.

Eat breakfast

This is the meal that sets the stage for the entire day. Studies show that breakfast helps keep you alert, starts your metabolism for the day and keeps you satisfied until lunch.

But a healthy breakfast is the key. Good options include whole-grain cereals, breads, fruit and lean protein instead of doughnuts, pastries and white breads. A hard-boiled egg sliced into a whole wheat pita, oatmeal with fruit, and whole-grain toast with natural peanut butter are all healthy choices.

Don't forget protein

Not consuming enough protein during the day can be a primary reason for fatigue. Protein-based foods provide the body with fuel to repair and build tissues. Protein takes longer than carbohydrates to break down in the body, providing a longer-lasting energy source. You can find protein in poultry, fish, lean red meat, nuts, milk, yogurt, eggs, yogurt, cheese and tofu.

Keep your carbs smart

Carbohydrates are the body's preferred source of fuel. Pick whole grains like cereal, brown rice and whole wheat bread, and avoid sweets, which cause energy to plummet. Many processed carbohydrates contain little to no fiber. Always read the nutrition label.

Snacks are important

If you let yourself get too hungry between meals, your blood sugar falls, and you get lethargic. Keep your blood sugar and energy level steady during the day by consuming snacks. Choosing the right snacks prevent peaks and valleys in energy.

Combine complex carbs with a protein and/or fat for lasting energy. The protein and fat slow the breakdown of sugar into the blood, preventing fatigue. Snacks also can prevent overeating at mealtimes. A few examples of smart snack choices are yogurt with fruit, mixed nuts, veggies with hummus, pears with almond butter, whey protein shake or blueberries with a cheese stick. Plan ahead!

Omega-3 fatty acids

Studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation, combat depression and improve mood and memory. Try to focus on omega-3 fats from food rather than supplements. Excellent sources include salmon, tuna, walnuts, flax seeds, leafy greens and hemp seeds.

Magnesium

Almonds, walnuts and Brazil nuts are rich in magnesium, a mineral important in converting carbohydrates into energy. Other good sources of magnesium include whole grains and dark green vegetables.

Don't skimp on calories

Skimping on calories decreases your metabolism and causes you to feel lethargic. Keep your energy levels high and increase metabolism by meeting your caloric needs each day. Whole foods are preferred over supplements to obtain protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals instead of one or two single nutrients. Consume a variety of foods for overall health but also to keep your energy levels high.

 


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Monday, November 26, 2012

Windows Update Error

Windows 7 and couldn't update the computer to save my life.  Dug around and found out about the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver from Intel.  Updated it and voila, Windows Updates worked again!

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?lang=eng&DwnldID=15251

 

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Tutorial: How to save time when editing in iMovie

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Tutorial: How to save time when editing in iMovie

Editing is often the trickiest part of building a home movie - which is rather inconvenient, since this is the one task that takes up the most time when working with video.

As a result, the way you interact with your footage is crucial: if it's too tricky, you'll most likely give up in frustration and move on to the other things you have to do in your day.

Calling editing 'fun' depends on how fascinated you are in the process of picking clips, trimming them and putting them together to tell a story. Even if you feel resentful at having to do any of that, but have to get that movie ready for others to enjoy, you'll find that iMovie does its level best to make the process as organic and intuitive as possible.

In fact, Apple had such confidence in the way editing worked in iMovie that when Final Cut Pro was rewritten, that very concept migrated from a consumer program to a professional one. The advantage here of course is that once you've outgrown iMovie, moving to Final Cut will feel like a natural progression.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves; this tutorial shows how some of the basic editing concepts work in iMovie, and we'll hopefully teach you that editing with precision can indeed be fun.

1. Skim and preview

step 1

Start a new project (Command+N) and select an Event from iMovie's Event Library (lower left). Move the cursor over one of the clips to see it appear on the main preview section (upper right). Skim through your footage to find the right piece you need. When you have, click on it.

2. Multiple selections

step 2

This automatically selects four seconds of footage which you add to your project by dragging it over. To choose a different amount, click and drag on your clip, or use the handles to fine-tune your selection. Add multiple clips to your project and slowly build your story.

3. Reorder and insert

step 3

The order of your clips isn't set. To change it, drag a clip and a green bar previews where it will end up. You can also add a clip in the middle of another: drag one from the Event onto an existing one in your project. A menu appears; select Insert. This cuts the existing clip in two.

4. Replace existing clip

step 4

There's another option called 'Replace'. This replaces the existing clip with the one you're dragging in. It won't match the existing clip's duration, but removes it and adds the new one instead. Think of it as delete and replace; to just delete a clip, select it and hit the key.

5. Trimming your clip

step 5

With a clip in your project, you may need to make fine adjustments so it fits better within the flow of your story. To do this, move your cursor over the clip and a cog icon appears. Click on it and select 'Clip Trimmer'; the whole Event section is replaced with another tool.

6. Work with Clip Trimmer

step 6

The Clip Trimmer shows all the footage available from the selected clip. You can use the yellow handles to resize your selection as you did when you first chose the clip or you can drag the highlighted portion to select an entirely different part.

7. Add or remove frames

step 7

If you just want to extend or reduce your clip's duration by a few frames, you don't need the Clip Trimmer at all: hold down Option+Command and move to a clip's edge: it turns orange. With those keys still pressed, you can add or remove up to one second by dragging that edge.

8. New buttons on the clip

step 8

If you're not a fan of keyboard shortcuts, go to iMovie's Preferences (Command+,), select the Browser tab and tick 'Show Fine Tuning controls'. This adds a new button on either side of the clip your cursor's over. Clicking on it enables you to trim that edge without having to press any keys.



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Tutorial: How to install a personal web server

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Tutorial: How to install a personal web server

Paying someone to host your website can be tempting. There's usually a point-and-click installation for any services you require, plus cheap monthly prices that include storage and maintenance, and there are often generous bandwidth allowances too.

It's not much fun though, and if you want to add any advanced features - such as shell access to your server or a non-shared host - costs soon ramp up.

Serve yourself

The solution to all of these problems is to run your own server, and it's not as difficult or insecure as you might think.

With the latest version of Ubuntu, for instance, you can install the Apache web server with just a couple of clicks, and because this is the LTS (or Long Term Support) version, you'll receive five years of security updates for free (the desktop version is only supported for three years). As long as your system is up to date and your passwords are secure, it's highly unlikely that anyone will be able to break into it.

Combine this with the upload speeds many people enjoy at home, and you've got a viable alternative to cheap shared hosting that's fun to install, gives you more control over the configuration, and is better suited to the low-bandwidth sites many of us like to run as a hobby.

You'll also learn a lot in the process. That's why we're going to show you how easy it is to create a Linux server, install a LAMP stack into it, get Apache running and serving web pages, and then install the world's most popular content management system - WordPress.

Ubuntu Server

After that, world domination is up to you and your cookery/1980s platform games/analogue monosynth blog. Unlike the live desktop CD that most regular users use to install Ubuntu, the server edition gets you prepared for life on the command line by keeping to it.

This isn't as bad as it sounds, because it's really just a series of menus. You're also asked almost exactly the same questions as for the desktop version, so there's no extra skill required.

Boot from the Ubuntu server CD and choose 'English' and 'Install Ubuntu Server' from the options that appear. Now choose your language again, your timezone, and your keyboard layout.

After a brief configuration delay, you'll get to the networking section. First it asks for a hostname; you just need to make sure this is a unique name rather than letting all the machines on your network use 'ubuntu'. Now enter a username and password. You want to make these as secure as possible - using an unpredictable name and a difficult password, for example - because you don't want someone guessing the values if you run SSH for remote access.

Partitioning

Partition disks

The next major step is disk partitioning, and the most straightforward approach is to give the server a complete disk. We also recommend the second option from the disk partition menu, as this formats the complete disk with an LVM configuration.

LVM is a disk management system that creates virtual partitions from one or more disks, and it means you can easily expand them as your needs grow, without the tedious tasks of migrating data from one drive to another.

Answer all further questions with their default values. Be warned, this will remove any data on your chosen drive.

Leave the package management proxy question blank, but in the following question, we suggest 'Install security updates automatically' is a better choice than the default one, especially if you're going to leave the machine running and connected to the internet.

Pick a server

LAMP server

The final stage of the installer lets you pick and choose any of the servers you might want to install. This is so Ubuntu can manage the processes from boot time without any further interaction from you, so it's a good idea to at least install the basic packages.

We'd recommend selecting the OpenSSH Server and LAMP Server as a good starting configuration. OpenSSH is one of the most powerful tools available for Linux because it lets you access the command line securely from any remote location, as long as port 22 is forwarded to your machine through any firewall. It also means that you can disconnect the keyboard, mouse and screen after you've set up your server machine on your local network, because you'll be able to do everything else using a remote SSH connection.

You've probably heard of LAMP. It stands for Linux/Apache/MySQL and PHP, and these four technologies have helped transform the world wide web for companies like Facebook and Twitter.

Apache is the web server itself, allowing you to host sites and for them to be accessed from across the network.

MySQL is a database server, commonly used by the likes of Wordpress to store things like posts, comments and forum chatter. It might sound a little 'enterprise' to be installing something like this on your humble server, but it's a service that runs well on slower machines and can scale to meet your needs.You can give the installer a root password for this, which we recommend if you're going to use it online.

PHP is the programming glue that binds this together. Don't let talk of programming put you off, though. You usually install pre-baked PHP packages rather than coding your own solutions, so you'll never need to touch the code.

Port forwarding

With your servers selected, continue with the installation. After a few minutes, the final question will ask whether you want to install the Grub boot loader into the master boot record. You should select 'Yes' unless you're running your server alongside a Windows installation. You'll then be able to restart your machine and remove the bootable disc.

After restarting, you won't see a desktop or graphical login screen. Instead you'll see a monochrome command prompt asking you to log in. Use the account credentials you created from the installer to log in, and you'll find yourself at the command line.

We first want to discover the IP address of the server, and this should be displayed as part of the login overview you see above the command prompt. Look for the line 'IP address for eth0'. This IP address is important because you want to run your machine as a server. On most networks, it will be given to your machine by a DHCP server running somewhere on your LAN, usually tucked away on your router or modem. Most of the time this address will be the same, but there's no guarantee because it's allocated dynamically according to demand.

With the server up and running, the easiest solution for most routers is to use its web interface to give our Ubuntu server a static address. Each router is different, so we can't provide instructions, but the task is usually straightforward.

While you're in the web interface, you will also need to open a couple of ports in your firewall and then forward these to your Ubuntu server. These ports will depend on which servers you're running, but for a web server and OpenSSH, it will be ports 80 and 22 respectively.

Check out the server

Apache works

This is all the configuration that's needed. You can now point a browser at the internet-facing IP address provided by your ISP, or your server's IP address on the LAN. The infamous 'It works!' message will be delivered by Apache.

Your server is now ready for your web masterpiece. This isn't the place for a tutorial on HTML or PHP, but the /var/www/index.html file is a good place to start, because this is what's read to create the 'It works!' messages served by Apache. Edit this file and your website changes.

The other server we installed was OpenSSH, and you can also make use of this from any SSH client - Putty on Windows, for example, or the ssh command from any Linux machine. Type ssh followed by the IP address of your server and you'll see the same login screen you do when you start your machine. Log in and you'll be able to do everything you can from the machine, only remotely. This means you can now hide your server away somewhere and use a remote connection when you need to change things, either from the internet or from your LAN.

Most people don't build a website from scratch (although the world might be a better place if more people had to), so we're going to install a pre-built web framework that should make it easy to get your content online from your own server.

The software we're going to install is WordPress, which is probably the world's most popular blogging platform. There's more to it than blogs though - it's a comprehensive and easy to use content management system that can be easily augmented and themed using its fantastic plug-in system. All it needs is Apache, MySQL, Linux and PHP - all of which we've already covered.

Install Wordpress

Wordpress

The first step is to grab the Ubuntu packages for WordPress by typing sudo apt-get install wordpress. Unfortunately, this doesn't include any configuration.

Once the packages are installed, we first need to create a symbolic link from the folder where WordPress is installed to the folder that Apache is using to serve content.

This can be done by first removing the old www folder with the command sudo rm -rf /var/www, and then replacing it with the link by typing sudo ln -s /usr/share/wordpress/var/www/.

We now need to run a script that will create the MySQL database for us automatically. This can be done with the following command: sudo bash /usr/share/doc/wordpress/examples/setup-mysql -n wordpress 192.168.133.54

Here, 'wordpress' is the username for the database, and '192.168.133.54' is the IP address of the server from which you need to access it. If you want access from the internet, it needs to be your connection's IP address rather than that of the server on your LAN.

With a bit of luck, when you point your browser at the server, the 'It Works' message will have been replaced by the WordPress installation screen.

The final steps are to walk through this easy installation to build your required setup. Just enter a site name, email address and password. A few moments later, you'll find yourself with a fully fledged WordPress installation. Log in and start playing.



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Friday, November 16, 2012

In Depth: 50 Android Jelly Bean tips, tricks and hints

TechRadar: All latest feeds In Depth: 50 Android Jelly Bean tips, tricks and hints

In Depth: 50 Android Jelly Bean tips, tricks and hints

ICS tips and tricks

Jelly Bean may not be the same huge leap forward as Ice Cream Sandwich, but it still brings a lot of new features and functionality to the operating system.

Many of these are improvements to the smoothness of rendering on the device - it even briefly boosts the CPU when the screen's turned on to make things super slick and speedy. Google dubs these little performance and software improvements as being "buttery", assumedly referring to some nice spreadable Lurpak rather than a solidified hunk of congealed milk.

The other big addition here is Google Now. This adds personalised recommendations and information based on your browsing history. Some people love its perceptive usefulness, others hate its pervy, intrusive nature.

One thing's for sure though: the Siri-like voice search feature is awesome.

As ever, these tips are based on the vanilla installation of Android, so your mileage may vary depending on how many layers of extra "features" have been added by your phone or tablet's manufacturer.

1. Say "Google" to search

If you're in America, you can open Google Now and say "Google" followed by your query to search the net. If you're not in America, you can trick Android into thinking you are. Open the settings on your device, choose "Language and input", then switch Google Voice Typing's language from "Automatic" to "English (US)". Next go to Google Now's settings and again change the language to "English (US)". You should see "Search or say Google" in Now's search bar. Faking an American accent: optional.

Android Jelly bean tips

2. Now settings

You can open now in two ways - either swipe up from the Home icon, or swipe the lock icon up when the screen is locked. When you first start it, Now will run through the basics of what it does, and even show you some example cards. In Now's settings, you'll find each card has its own notifications settings, which apply to both the Now homescreen and the Notification shade. Standard means that new cards are accompanied by a ringtone and vibration, Low priority places them at the bottom of the list without any notification, and off, well, turns them off altogether.

Android Jelly bean tips

3. Talk to Google Now

Google Now also includes Siri-like functionality, supplying spoken answers to your inane questions. Try things like, "what time is it in Kuala Lumpur?", "when's Tom Cruise's birthday I want to send him a card?", "how do I get home?" or "will it be sunny tomorrow?" and Now will speak the answer back at you or search the web for relevant pages.

Android Jelly bean tips

4. Get more Google Now cards

Google Now presents relevant information such as weather and places on "cards". To begin with it may be a little sparse, but searching the web from any device will give you more. Just make sure your web history is enabled: visit history.google.com, hit the settings cog and ensure that Web History is on and not paused. Next, search Google for favourite football teams, planned flights and destinations and the relevant cards will pop up automatically.

Android Jelly bean tips

5. Notification Shade

We previously referred to it as the "pully-down menu thing", but apparently it's officially called the "Notification Shade". Niftily, certain notifications in the shade can be expanded by sliding two fingers outwards on them, giving you an overview of the subject headers in your email inbox, for example. Moving two fingers inwards on a notification neatly contracts them, too.

Android Jelly bean tips

6. Rotation lock

You're sitting on a plane watching a vid in horizontal orientation. Suddenly, the plane banks sharply to the left and - oh no! - the video changes orientation. This worst-case-scenario can be avoided by tapping the rotation lock in the Notification Shade, which keeps the screen in its current orientation. Tap it again to unlock the rotation.

Android Jelly bean tips

7. Turn notifications off

Install enough apps and the notification bar at the top of your Android device becomes the digital equivalent of an unending stream of ticker tape. In fact, Airpush is an entire advertising company that makes money in this way. Fortunately, each and every app you install in Jelly Bean has the option to turn this off. Go to its info page under Apps, uncheck the box labelled "Show notifications" and enjoy your empty notifications bar.

Android Jelly bean tips

8. Equalise your music

The ability to adjust those all-important bass and treble settings has been sorely missed on Android devices - so much so that a bunch of apps have been made to enable it. It's fixed in Android's stock music player, though. Open a music file in the stock player, hit Settings then choose Equaliser. Here you'll find manual sliders, a load of presets and bass and 3D effects. Unfortunately it doesn't work for the whole device, but it will give your tunes a little more oomph.

Android Jelly bean tips

9. Rearrange your home screens

Long-press on any icon or widget on your homescreen and you can move it around, and other icons and widgets will shift out of the way to fit it in. Bigger widgets can also be resized by long-pressing and releasing them, and then dragging the circles that appear on the edges. It's actually quite fun and satisfying. We just spent three hours doing nothing but this.

Android Jelly bean tips

10. Fling to remove

Homescreen app clutter (surely the worst of all types of clutter) can be quickly and easily defeated. Long-press an icon or widget, then fling it upwards and it'll ascend into shortcut heaven. This won't uninstall the app, though - it'll still reside in your app drawer.

Android Jelly bean tips

11. Owner info

Wait! Put down that blunt rock you were about to use to chisel your contact details into the back of your Android device! Jelly Bean includes the ability to display a few lines of contact details on the lock screen, such as your email address, name and phone number. You'll need to enable a screen lock from Security, and then you'll see the Owner info option appear. This information is mirrored across all Jelly Bean devices, too.

Android Jelly bean tips

12. Access App info

The all-important App info screen - which allows you to uninstall, stop and disable apps - can be accessed in a completely new way with Jelly Bean. Pull down the notification shade, long-press on an open task and you'll be taken straight to the settings page for the relevant app. It's handy if you don't know which app displayed the notification.

Android Jelly bean tips

13. Volume controls

You can now set the volume for all the noisiest bits of your Android device individually. Press the volume up or down key and you'll the familiar little slider with a settings icon to the right of this. Tap this and you'll see separate sliders for media, and notifications and ringtones. Bonus tip: each of these sliders can be, er, slid, with your finger.

Android Jelly bean tips

14. Talkback

Designed for blind and low-vision users, Talkback provides an ongoing narration of what's displayed on your phone or tablet. You can turn it on via Accessibility, and then you'll be taken through a tutorial of its functions. It's a very different way of navigating your device, and quite interesting to experience. It also supports braille input and output devices via USB and Bluetooth.

Android Jelly bean tips

15. Blink to unlock

While face unlock is smart and quick, more paranoid users may worry that a ne'er-do-weller could somehow steal an image of their face - or their actual face - and use it to access the device. Android's Liveness check requires the user to blink before the device is unlocked, preventing access if a quick eye-shut isn't detected.

Android Jelly Bean tips

16. Offline speech-to-text

Being able to dictate long and rambling texts to loved ones is quite an old Android feature, but it's just got a whole lot better with an offline mode. Go to Google voice typing settings under Language & input and choose Download offline speech recognition. Now you'll be able to dictate that great novel without being distracted by Reddit.

Android Jelly Bean tips

17. Beam it across

Android Beam works with near-field communication (NFC) to enable fast data exchange between two devices. You'll need to make sure it's enabled first - you'll find it under Wireless & networks. You'll also need to know where the NFC area is on your device. This isn't a problem for phones, but it can be just about anywhere on the back of a ludicrously large tablet, so do a quick Google to find out where it is.

Android Jelly Bean tips

18. Simple secure pairing

Simple secure pairing works alongside NFC to provide a quick and easy way to connect Bluetooth accessories such as headsets, speakers and keyboards. You don't actually need to do anything other than activate NFC to use it, but make sure whatever you're pairing with is Simple secure pairing-compatible.

Android Jelly Bean tips

19. Calendar notifications

Any events you've been invited to via Google Calendar will show up in the notifications blind. From here you can expand it and quickly send a pre-defined response (Such as "I'll be there in 10 minutes") or type your own. Quick responses can be edited from within the General settings of the Calendar app itself. Perfect for you social butterflies.

Android Jelly Bean tips

20. Gallery views

Android snappers will love its new gallery features. Pinch on photos to zoom out into a filmstrip mode, where all your pics are displayed side-by-side. Swipe left and right to browse all your snaps quickly, and slide up and down on individual images to delete them. The gallery then gives you just enough time to realise you've canned the wrong thing and undo your delete.

Android Jelly Bean tips

21. Wi-Fi savings

It's all too easy to run up costs when you're on public or mobile WiFi. Tethering a tablet to a phone can suck a surprising amount of data, and public WiFi, such as that found in hotels, sometimes have ridiculously strict usage policies. In Jelly Bean's Data usage settings you'll find the option to designate certain WiFi networks as Mobile hotspots, which stops background apps accessing data and could save you lots of cash. If there's another Jelly Bean device on the same network it'll pick up its Mobile hotspot settings, too.

Android Jelly Bean tips

22. Try the stock keyboard

The Swiftkey keyboard is enormously popular among Android users, and for good reason: it monitors your typing and grammatical style uses this to predict words. Jelly Bean's keyboard now offers the same functionality, using bigram prediction and correction to complete words and sentences. We've found it to be every bit as good as Swiftkey, and even slightly faster and slicker.

Android Jelly Bean tips

23. Reboot to safe mode

Ah safe mode, the saviour of so many Windows PCs. Thanks to the sheer amount of dodgy apps on the Play Store it's on Android now, too. Long-press the power button, then long-press the Power off option. Choose OK to reboot in safe mode, which completely disables all third-party apps on your device. Then hunt down and destroy that nefarious bit of software..

Android Jelly Bean tips

24. Reset app preferences

Android gives you loads of different options for each installed app, and on the whole this is a very good thing. Sometimes it can be a bad thing, though: you may find your phone playing up because a crucial app has been disabled, or you've changed the notifications for something important like emails. In the apps drawer, you'll find Reset app preferences under the settings. This resets all your apps on a global level, returning actions and data settings to their original levels.

Android Jelly Bean tips

25. Add emojis

"Emojis" are the Japanese version of emoticons, and like most things from Japan they're much better and cooler than their western counterparts. You can enable emoji support for the default Jelly Bean keyboard by choosing Language & input in the settings app, then going to the settings for the stock Android keyboard. Here, choose Add-on dictionaries and select Emoji for English words. When you next type certain words (there's a complete list here) you'll see its symbol appear in the predictions bar. It's like Wingdings never died.

Android Jelly Bean tips

26. Sound search

The good news: Google has created its own version of Shazam. Known as What's that Song?, the widget works in much the same way, matching snippets of music to its database and providing you with the artist, track and album. The bad news: due to licencing restrictions it's only available in certain countries, and we don't live in one of them. Keep an eye on your widgets tray when you update, though - Google could well re-implement it in the future.

Android Jelly Bean tips

27. Add accounts

Android devices - especially tablets - are great for passing around and sharing. But until now switching between various Google accounts has involved wiping the whole device and starting again. Jelly Bean's handy Add account feature takes pride of place in the settings app, making it easy to add multiple Gmail addresses to your device. There's still no quick way of switching users, but it is a step in the right direction.

Android Jelly Bean tips

28. Take and share screenshots

The number of times we've pressed the power button and volume down to take a screenshot is truly astonishing. It gets even better in Jelly Bean - as soon as you've taken a screenshot, you can expand its notification from the blind and share it from there. Perfect for showing off just how handsome and brilliant Android is to your iOS friends.

Android Jelly Bean tips

29. Device encryption

Paranoid users with sensitive materials on their devices love encryption: it basically scrambles all your content so it can't be read by hackers or thieves. It's been a part of Android for a while, but Jelly Bean gets it spot on, even periodically reminding you to encrypt your device. You'll find Encryption under your phone or tablet's security settings.

Android Jelly Bean tips

30. Voice searches on the go

Plug an Android-compatible headset into your device, then long press its button and voila: Google voice search. You'll get spoken results and answers straight into your brain, and it comes in especially useful if you're lost but don't want to stop listening to your banging, disorientating tunes.

Android Jelly Bean tips

31. Add quick controls to the browser

One of the options buried beneath the Labs section of Android 4.0's web browser is the Quick Controls option. This adds a pop-out menu to the browser, which pulls in a little semi-circular collection of shortcuts to the main browser features, removing the URL bar and giving you more screen to play with. Also, holding down the Back button is the Android standard way of bringing up the bookmarks and history tool, too. But that's been around for years.

Quick controls

32. Long-press to uninstall

Long-pressing on an app within the app drawer lets you drag it to a Home screen, but it also pops up a couple of menus along the top of the screen. App Info gives you the boring technical stuff about how much memory it's taking up, or you can fling it off the other way to uninstall it.

33. Flying Android screensaver

One odd undocumented little secret within Android 4.0 is this strange little collection of flying Androids, which you can... look at. Look at for as long as you like. To activate it, head into the phone's About screen and hammer away at the Android Version tab and it'll all happen.

Flying Androids

34. Save your eyes with inverted rendering

Inverted rendering is a posh way of saying it makes the pages black and turns the text white, so it looks like you're reading the internet from 1997. It also supposedly saves battery, plus is easier on the eyes if you're reading in the dark. It's under the browser's settings tab, within the accessibility area - and there's a contrast slider, too.

Inverted rendering

35. Set a custom rejection text message

When your Twitter action is rudely interrupted by someone actually telephoning you, there's a polite way to give the caller the boot. Android 4.0 lets users ping a rejection text message to callers - and you're able to customise this too. Just answer a call and ping the lock screen notification up to access to custom rejection messaging area.

36. Stop app icons automatically appearing

One of the many new ICS features is the way Google lets apps automatically add shortcuts to themselves on your Home screen when they've finished installing. It's useful, but if you're a control freak and wish to remain 100% in charge of your Home layout, head to the Google Play app's settings tab and untick the Auto-add Shortcuts toggle.

Home Screen

37. There's a Settings shortcut in the Notifications pane

That little settings icon in the ICS notifications area isn't just art to fill the space. It's a shortcut to your phone or tablet's settings area. So use that instead of giving it a Home screen icon slot all to itself.

38. Manually close apps

Google's lovely new recent apps multitasking menu also lets you close apps quickly, should you suspect one's gone rogue. A Long-press within the Recent Apps listing lets you visit the app's info page, from where you can easily force close it.

Multitasking

39. Remove the lock screen

It's possible to entirely bin your Android 4.0 lock screen, making the phone instantly turn itself on when you press the power button. It's a security nightmare, but if your phone lives entirely on your desk and you demand instant access without any unlocking, head to Security > Screen lock and select none. Then be very careful.

40. Folders in the dock

Android's new official love of folder formation makes it dead easy to combine app shortcuts and make folders, simply by dragging one icon on top of another. You can make these groups of apps even easier to access by dragging a folder onto the ICS floating dock, meaning you can squeeze stacks more content on to each creaking Home screen.

Dock

41. Take photos while recording video

The Android 4.0 camera app that arrived with the Galaxy Nexus has one cool little extra feature - the ability to fire off still photos while recording video clips. Simply tapping the screen takes a shot at full resolution, which is saved to the phone's gallery while the video's still happily recording away.

Video

42. Bin animations and transitions

Hidden within the Developer Options section of the Ice Cream Sandwich software are quite a few nerdy ways to adapt your phone. Most won't be of any use to those who are just using their phone as a phone, but if you want it to feel faster, or at least look a little different, the scrolling, zooming effects on windows and menus can be edited in many ways.

43. Take a grab of your phone

Screen grabbing of your phone's display is finally in Android. On the Galaxy Nexus, it's activated through holding the power button and volume down switch. On HTC's new models it's done by holding the power button and pressing Home. Other phones had different techniques for doing this before Ice Cream Sandwich, but it's good to see this now becoming part of the standard Android feature set in Android 4.0.

Screenshot

44. Long-press dotted words

When typing on the Android 4.0 keyboard, you may see some suggested words appear with the "..." icon beneath. Doing a long-press on this one will pop up a much bigger window of suggested words, letting you bail out on some of that tedious typing a little quicker.

45. Add additional faces

The ICS face unlock feature, as found in the Galaxy Nexus, lets you unlock it by scanning your face with the front camera. Which is great, but what if you haven't shaved for a month? The software can actually store multiple images of your face, so you can do left parting, right parting, shaved, unshaved - or even add a trusted a friend to the visually verified user list.

Face unlock

46. Experiment with GPU settings

Another hidden little gem found within the Development options tab is the hardware acceleration 'Force On' toggle. This makes ICS attempt to boost the performance of any apps that don't already use the feature. It may also break them in the process, though, so it's something of a trial and error fiddling exercise to do on a very rainy day.

47. Type like an adult

Make a stand for grammatical standards in this day and age by long-pressing on the stock Android 4.0 keyboard's full stop button. This brings up such doomed punctuation as commas and speech marks, plus even a semicolon for the extra brave mobile typist.

Adult typing

48. Nick wallpapers off the internet

Found a lovely photograph of some stars, a pretty computer generated planet or even the mighty Professor Brian Cox himself? Long-pressing on any image in the web browsers lets you instantly set it as your wallpaper, without the hassle of saving it, finding it, and setting it the long way.

49. Limit background process

If you fancy an even more serious bit of fiddling, the same ICS developer area contains the option to "limit background process" demands by the OS. You can use this to stop your phone or tablet storing so many apps in memory. Whether this has any effect of the actual battery life of us users is up for debate, but again, it's something to play with and see if it suits your phone use patterns.

50. Quickly access Notifications

Here's a simple yet huge change Google's made in Android 4.0 - the Notifications pane can be accessed from the lock screen. Press power, touch the Notifications area, then scroll down to read your latest messages. Obviously it's a bit of a security risk and lets anyone access your messages, so best be careful.






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