The Very Best Hidden iOS 7 Features

Your first impression of iOS 7 may have left you loving (or hating) the new features included in the latest operating system for iPhones and iPads. But only after spending some time with it do you begin to appreciate the fun, secret features as well.

Or at least we did. Here are the best hidden features of iOS 7 that we found. We think they'll make you wonder aloud, "I didn't know my iPhone could do that?!"

1. Make Your iPhone Vibrate However You Want

Just like custom ring tones, you can now create custom vibrations for individual contacts with a few taps on the screen. Just go to "Settings" and then "Sounds." From there, hit "Ringtone," where you'll see "Vibration." Under "Vibration," scroll down to "Custom" and hit "Create New Vibration." To make a new vibration, you just tap the screen in the pattern you like.

2. Undo Email Delete With A Shake

Few things are more frustrating than accidentally deleting an important email. But iOS 7 gives you a simple way to undo it in the default Mail app. Just shake your iPhone to bring up the option of undoing an email deletion.

3. Control Your Device By Moving Your Head

You can now control your iPad or iPhone with your head. Not your brain (yet), but your head. iOS 7 can use your front-facing camera to detect head movements. This feature is likely meant for those with limited mobility in their hands, but it's impressive nonetheless.

Go to "Settings," then "General" and then "Accessibility." From there, find "Switch Control" and turn it on. There you can add different "Switches," or physical cues to control your phone.

For example, under "Switches," you can make your phone select something when you tilt your head to the right. A blue square will scroll over each line of apps on your home screen, and one row will be selected when you tilt your head. Then it will scroll through each individual apps, and you can select again.

4. Use Your Flashlight For Alerts

For those of us who have a hard time responding to alarms, this new feature could be crucial. You can make your flashlight flash on and off when you get an alert by going to "Settings," then "General" and then "Accessibility." From there, scroll down and turn on "LED Flash for Alerts." Now when an alarm goes off, your flashlight will flash.

5. Never Miss A Link Your Friends' Tweeted Out

Safari now syncs up with your Twitter feed to show you all the tweets in your stream with links in them. When you're in Safari, go to the bottom of the window and hit the Bookmarks button (the one that looks like a book). Then press the "@" symbol to see all of your Twitter feed's recent links.

- Huffingtonpost.com

Computer chemists win Nobel prize

The Nobel Prize in chemistry has gone to three scientists who "took the chemical experiment into cyberspace".

Michael Levitt, a British-US citizen of Stanford University; US-Austrian Martin Karplus of Strasbourg University; and US-Israeli Arieh Warshel of the University of Southern California will share the prize.

The trio devised computer simulations to understand chemical processes.

In doing so, they laid the foundations for new kinds of pharmaceuticals.

"The Nobel Laureates in Chemistry 2013 have made it possible to map the mysterious ways of chemistry by using computers," said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

"Today the computer is just as important a tool for chemists as the test tube.

"Detailed knowledge of chemical processes makes it possible to optimise catalysts, drugs and solar cells."

- BBC.co.uk

Watchdog warns Spain of impact of cuts on children

The Council of Europe, the continent's main human rights watchdog, has warned Spain its austerity programme could have a devastating impact on children.

Child poverty reached 30% in 2011 and cuts in welfare, health and education have left some children homeless and malnourished, its report said.

Disabled people also face poverty and increasing marginalisation as state help is withdrawn, the Council found.

But Spain's government said investment in education for all had risen.

Headline, October10, 2013

''' !!! THIS WRETCHED AND BLOODY 

SIN OF POVERTY !!! '''

Where do the world's poor subsist?! The most obvious answer : In poor countries. But in a recent series of articles, Andy Sumner of Britain's Institute of Development Studies showed:

That the obvious answer is wrong. Four fifths of those surviving on less $2 a day, he found, live in middle income countries with a gross national income per head of between $1000 and $12,500, not poor ones.

His finding reflects the fact that a long but inequitable period of economic growth has lifted many developing countries into middle-income status but left a minority of their populations mired in poverty.

Since the countries involved include giants like China and India, even a minority amounts to a very large number of people. That surely matters a lot because these middle-income countries can afford to help their own poor.

If most of the poverty problem lies within their borders, then foreign aid is less relevant to poverty reduction. A better way to help would be to make middle-income countries domestic policies more ''pro-poor''.

Now this argument faces a real challenge. According to Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution and Andrew Rogerson of Britain's Overseas Development Institute:

''By 2025 most absolute poverty would once again be concentrated in low-income countries.'' They argue that as middle-income countries continue to make progress against poverty, its incidence there will fall.

However, the number of poor people is growing in ''fragile'' states, which the authors define as countries which cannot meet their populations expectations or manage these through the political process  (sounds like some European Nations, too) The pattern that Mr Sumner describes,they say, is but a passing and temporary phase.

Messers Kharas and Rogerson calculate that the number of poor in ''non-fragile''  states has fallen from almost 2 billion in 1990 to around 500m now; they think it will go on declining to around 200m by 2025.

But the number of poor in fragile states is not falling  -a testament both to the growing number of poor, unstable places, and to their fast population growth. This total has stayed flat at about 500m since 1990 and, the authors think, will barely shift until 2025.

As early and as imminent as this year, the number of poor in what are sometimes called FRACAS : Fragile and conflict affected states-  could be greater than the number in stable ones 

That would imply something different to Mr Sumner's view : instead of being irrelevant to poverty reduction, foreign aid will continue to be vital, since fragile states  -unlike middle-income ones- cannot afford to help the poor but instead need help themselves.

So a very very important question arises?? Can these two accounts be squared?!! .  

And does it also mean that  ''working out''  how to help the world's poorest depends on where they live??!! 

The honour of this post and the ''voice of the voiceless continues''. Don't miss the next one as we shake things up.

With respectful dedication to ''Shame''.

See Ya on the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

!!! ^^^ ''' The Free Honour Exchange !!! ^^^ '''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

Headline, October09, 2013

''' !!! ELECTIONS APPS -AND- 

SOUR GRAPES >? ^^^ '''

To reason and understand what makes the cell phone such a uniquely powerful tool for community organizing and activism, consider three facts about text messaging;

It is almost completely spam free, it's personal, and nearly every message gets read.

Websites, e-mail, paper-mail and phone calls don't come anywhere near achieving this trifecta.

''It's close to reaching everyone as anything   -here and every where else in the world,'' says Jed Alpert, co-founder and CEO of Mobile Commons. Alpert is a leading voice in the growing field of mobile activism: using cell phone technology   -mostly text messaging   -to dispense information, raise money and advocate for political and social change.

Mobile Commons, based in a former Box factory in Brooklyn, works with clients including Habitat for Humanity, Planned Parenthood and was also fully involved in President Obama's reelection campaign. 

In exchange for monthly fees   -$2000 to $30,000=  depending on the usage, clients can use Mobile Commons software to send mass text messages but only to those who opt to receive them, collect and mine data, and even route phone calls to lobby on behalf of political agendas.

It's particularly effective at engaging young people. ''DoSomething.org, a U.S. nonprofit that encourages teens to participate in community service, saw its text-message list of 500,000 members surpass its e-mail list. With Mobile Commons software, 

DoSomething.org uses geographic data to text teens about nearby volunteer opportunities.

It also recently conducted a campaign to send quirky messages to teens from an imaginary cell phone baby  -''I'm up now and need food'' -to emphasize the challenges of unintended pregnancy. 

Half of teens contacted through the campaign said it made them realize that caring for a baby is harder than they thought.

So, Mobile Digital campaigning is also changing political advertising, allowing candidates to woo voters while they wait in line at the supermarket and to target people when they attend large gatherings 

The last campaign's mobile app: Obama for America, allowed users to find local rallies and polling sites, sign-up for voter canvassing duty and get registration information from their smart phones.

Just how much will the mobile revolution affect the future of politics? Hell of a lot, for sure!! For example in U.S., after 2010 midterms, a wave began building. According to a PEW study, 14% of American adults used their cell phones in that year to tell the others that they had voted, and 12% of adults used phones to keep up with political news.

The larger inference is that this technology is changing politics in every broader sense, altering and facilitating the way Americans engage in self governance. And the hidden thing about it is just, that it is so damn cool!!

The mobile phone has become a kind of super extension of ourselves  -faster, brainier, more reliable and always always on. A Smart phone today has more computing power than Apollo 11 when it journeyed to the Moon. And that is what !WOW! should never forget.

With respectful dedication to all the future Student Leaders of the World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

''' !!! The World Students Ecosystem Of Accomplishments !!! '''

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless