All jokes aside, I discovered, by accident¹ of course, that you can create a group text by separating people with “and”, like this:

Siri: Do Do
Me: Send text to Girlfriend and Chiyin and Jason and Miguel and Tom and Monica
Siri: What do you want to say to these six people?

It has worked well for me on my test, getting all the names right, but if you aren’t sure, you can just tap the message inside Siri to open up the Messages app with all the names populated.

1. I was trying to text my girlfriend Nicole, “Mother nature cleaned my car”, but instead Siri understood, “Text Nicole, And mother nature cleaned my car” as ” Text Nicole and Mom, Nature cleaned my car”.

(via @mrgan)

I originally wrote the article to clear up the confusion about the unique type of multitasking on iOS devices. The main myth surrounds the fast app switch bar, which people assume shows all running apps that they must constantly close to save battery life…this is not the case.

iPhone OS 4 multitasking explained, again

Gruber noticed the trend (pictured above) of user having issues logging into MobileMe on their iDevices after upgrading to iOS 4.2.

Tip 1

He then retweeted the following possible fix from @rtw5twins:

@gruber Looks like they want your full email, i.e. JohnDoe@mac.com (or me.com). I used to login w/ just my username: JohnDoe.

Tip 2

@stephencelis also adds the following tip:

I had to consolidate my Apple ID and email address by logging in here: https://appleid.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyAppleId.woa

Tip 3

@garrettmurray points out that this is a known issue that Apple is working on currently:

MobileMe Account
Some MobileMe members receive an authentication error when attempting to use MobileMe. Normal service will be restored ASAP. We apologize for any inconvenience.

What’s New In This Version: “… Multitasking is available only with iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.”

That’s right, Skype thought it would be a good idea to not allow the 3rd gen iPod, which can run the new iOS 4 without issue, to run in the background.

Skype has seen the error of their ways with update 2.1.1:

- You can now disable IM alerts.
- The dialpad is now more responsive.
- The behavior of the volume, when Skype interacts with other Apps, is now much better.
- When your status is set to Do Not Disturb, notifications are not shown when Skype is in the background.

Multitasking is available only with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod 3rd Generation running iOS 4.

Thanks Skype, now how about some video calls?

Source now available for anyone interested:http://github.com/comex/star

What sucks is, for it seems Apple has dropped all support for first gen iPhones and iPod touches. So they are left vulnerable unless they jailbreak and install the community created fix.

UPDATE Here is the security fix for first gen iPhone and iPod jailbreak community.

(via modmyi)

iFixYouri has posted a YouTube clip showing the correct procedure after dropping your phone in the water. I’ve been giving similar advice on this issue, on a person by person basis, but thought it might be a good idea to post it up for all to see. iFixYoui gives the same advice I’ve been giving for the last couple years and just recently in this tweet:

@skeetobite Ouch! Leave it off for 24 hours. Throw it in a ziplock back with some dry white rice and stick it in the fridge.

One thing they don’t mention is sticking it in the fridge. I know someone that did rice + fridge trick with the iPhone 3G and it solved the issue, although the camera was a bit flaky after that. The fridge makes sense as it acts as a dehumidifier, although a dehumidifier in a small area with the phone would be even better I assume.

(via 9to5Mac)

Hopefully this makes it to the final release.

Test Conditions

• Started with completely dead iPhone.
• Wall outlet charged on standard US 120 Volt / 60 Hz using Apple include plug adapter and USB cable
• USB charged on late 2008 13″ aluminum MacBook.
• iPhone was checked quickly (1-2 seconds of screen time) every 5 minutes for it’s current charge. This was done for both test so even if it had a minimal impact on charge time, the comparison would still be equal.
• iPhone screen was kept at very dim level to lessen the impact of checking charge.
• WI-FI was kept off.
• iPhone 4 was active on AT&T  3G during charge. I had some activity on the phone while charging, but it was very minimal and should not impact the results.
  • During outlet test I received 2 text, a phone call (canceled call), and 1 voice-mail from the canceled call.
  • During USB test I received 1 text.

Click to enlarge

Conclusions

Stating the obvious, the iPhone 4 takes longer to get a full charge on USB than an outlet. What you may not have realized is how big the difference was, an extra 30 minutes! That’s 23% longer to get a full charge on the USB. If you’ve ever had a completely drained iPhone, you know it takes a bit of time before it turns back on. Plugged into an outlet, it took 3 minutes 11 seconds to come back to life. On USB it took almost 2 minutes longer, 4 minutes 49 seconds.

Obviously the convenience of USB charging is great, but if you’re in a rush to get charged and get out of the house, always go for the outlet.

Compared to the 3G

The 3G took 90 minutes for a full charge on outlet, about 31% faster than a full charge for the iPhone 4′s 130 minutes. On USB the 3G took 140 minutes, about 13% faster than the iPhone 4′s 160 minutes. Keep in mind that the iPhone 4 has about a 20% larger battery, so it makes complete sense that it takes longer to charge.

This is a When Will Apple public service announcement: Do not buy a iPhone 4 LED flashlight app, it’s already included free of charge. If the app is free, have at it, but please don’t spend even 99 cents on any of these apps.

UPDATE Ok, if they add in a strobe light that might be worth 99 cents, I mean who doesn’t like a strobe light?

Today MacRumors reports:

D’Ulisse contacted Apple about the delay and was told that such apps would be rejected as “inappropriate use of hardware”. The developer then reached out to Apple’s Phil Schiller who promised to meet with the App Review department to review their policy. D’Ulisse’s arguments must have been convincing as after some consideration, Apple has approved MoreBluSky’s Flashlight – For iPhone 4 app as well as the many other iPhone 4 flashlight apps in their approval queue.

To access your free LED flashlight app, just open the camera app and toggle to video mode. Then turn on the LED by tapping the lighting bolt icon in the top left and selecting “on”.

(via iClarified)