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Ignore Unwanted Text Messages by Showing Notifications from Contacts Only

Ignore unwanted text messages on iPhone by showing alerts from Contacts only

Nobody likes unwanted text messages, whether it's one of those mass spammy texts that everyone seems to inexplicably receive at random, or the group text from a friend of a cousins sisters friend that you sort of once kind of knew on Facebook years ago. Really if you think about it, there's a good chance the only people you want to actually receive a text message alert from is someone already in your Contacts list, right? With iOS 6 onward, you can choose exactly that:

  • Launch "Settings" and tap on "Notifications"
  • Choose "Messages" and scroll down to find the section titled "Show iMessage Alerts From:" and choose "My Contacts Only"

Show iMessage alert notifications from Contacts list only

As you probably guessed, now only text messages and iMessages coming from people in your Contacts list will alert you in Notification Center and show up on the lock screen. Everyone else won't get through to bother you.

To be clear, this isn't going to prevent you from receiving unwanted text messages, it just lets you easily ignore them by removing the Message notification both on your lock screen and on the home screen badge. The text message (or iMessage) will still show up in the Messages app however, so if in the odd event that someone you know is texting you from an unknown number, it's not completely lost.

Another approach for temporary relief from all text alerts is to flip the iPhone onto Do Not Disturb mode or turning off the vibration alert at night so you can get some peace and quiet.

There isn't yet an option to automatically ignore calls from people not on your Contact list, but the silent ringtone may be the next best thing if you're getting hammered with random calls.






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Your Guide To The Awesome New Features Of iTunes 11

features of itunes 11Apple recently released the 11th version of its popular media player iTunes, and its re-design and new features have gained lots of praises from critics of the older versions of iTunes who found the player bloated with features, and difficult to browse.

The new version is still a cross-platform Mac and PC player, and it contains nearly all the features of the previous version of iTunes. But the new re-design puts focus on the most used features of iTunes, while tucking other secondary features out of the way. You can now browse their iTunes library as well as parts of the iTunes Store at the same time, and a new MiniPlayer enables you to navigate iTunes using the same features found in the larger main window.

This guide will take you through the new features of iTunes 11, as well as the new Remote iOS app for the player.

From iTunes 10 To 11

After you download iTunes 11, it opens in the Albums view, presenting the contents of your entire music library. This view is not that different from the album, grid view of iTunes 10, except now the old, but once novel, cover flow feature has been removed.

features of itunes 11

The new user interface is one of the ways Apple is suggesting you navigate the new iTunes. However, if you want to get back to the old iTunes, you can do so by simply clicking on View > Show Sidebar, and you will discover that all your playlists and the old door to the iTunes Store and your mobile devices are still there.

itunes 11 new features

But let's get back to the new interface of iTunes (which requires you to hide the old sidebar to fully use the new interface). Notice alongside the Albums view of the new iTunes, you can view your iTunes library content from one of five other views - Songs, Artists, Genres, Videos and Playlists. The latter will reveal the traditional playlist sidebar that you're familiar with. More about that later.

itunes 11 new features

Notice also to the right of these views are two other buttons, one for accessing your supporting iDevices, such as the iPhone; and clicking the other one takes you out of your music library and opens the iTunes Store.

itunes 11 new features

The New Interface

You can control all the main features of iTunes from this new interface. So now when you click on an album in your library, it reveals all the songs in that album. Notice also that the background color for the expanded album view matches the colors of the selected album itself.

itunes 11 new features

You can play, shuffle, and rate songs in the expanded view, and if you want to view other songs and albums by a selected artist or group, you can click on the "In the Store" button and that content will open without taking you outside of your music library.

itunes 11 new features

There's also a pop-up menu that you can access by clicking on the arrow button in the expanded album view. This menu includes features for creating a genius playlist using a selected song, adding a song to the "Play Next" list (more about that later), locating the song in the iTunes Store, or linking to the selected song in Artist view.

itunes 11 new features

Up Next

Another new handy feature in iTunes 11 is Up Next. When you're playing a song in a playlist or album, clicking the Up Next button next to the player controls will show you just that, the songs or other iTunes items that are coming up next. There is also a little clock icon which shows a list of the most recent songs, podcasts, or TV shows, etc, that you have played. It looks as if that list continues to grow until you clear it.

Up Next iTunes

Up Next is useful for say skipping to a different song in the list, but you can also select and re-arrange tracks in Up Next or delete a track from from the list.

Viewing & Creating Playlists

If you have created a lot of playlists in iTunes, you probably will want to browse and navigate your library in that view. Selecting the Playlist view will reveal its contents of a currently selected playlist, but it will also reveal a sidebar list of all your playlists, similar to how it was setup in iTunes 10. But this sidebar will not include your iOS devices or the link to iTunes Store – just your playlists.

ITunes playlists

In the Playlist view, you can use the View button on the upper-right to browse a selected playlist in the List, Grid, or Artist view. You can also click the Edit button to add songs to a playlist. Just drag the songs to the playlist. This new interface also makes it easier to edit your current Smart Playlists. When you select one of your Smart playlists, the Edit button will replace the Add To button in the upper-right.

ITunes 11 Playlist View

When you want to create a new playlist or smart playlist, just click on the plus button at the bottom-left of the interface. You must be in the Playlist view to access this feature.

New playlist

Notice also under the gear button, Apple also has resurrected the ability to burn a playlist to a CD, as well export the data of selected tracks.

ITunes burn playlist

When you're in the expanded view of a selected album, you can also drag one or more songs to the right side of the iTunes interface, and add that content to an existing playlist or to one of your iDevices. The right sidebar will only appear when you drag a track to the right side of the interface.

Add to playlist

The Mini Player

The other major new feature of iTunes 11 is the Mini Player. It mirrors the features of the main user interface of iTunes. You can switch to the MiniPlayer by clicking on Window > MiniPlayer, by using the keyboard shortcut, Option+Command+3; or you can click the MiniPlayer button on the top-right of the main interface.

When you hover your cursor over the MiniPlayer, it will reveal controls for playing, pausing, and skipping forward and backwards between tracks and other items.

ITunes Mini Player

You can also do searches using MiniPlayer, as well access the Up Next feature. The little arrow to the right of the currently playing track reveals the same menu items described above.

ITunes menu

You can also access AirPlay in the MiniPlayer as well. To get back to the main iTunes interface, you need to click on the little square button on the left side of the MiniPlayer (see screenshot above).

Remote

Following the release of iTunes 11, Apple also released version 3.0 of its free iOS Remote app. The newest features in Remote provide expanded ways to browse and control all the shared iTunes libraries on your network.

features of itunes 11

It nearly mirrors all the new features of iTunes 11, including player controls, Up Next lists, and the ability to browse playlists, albums, genres and other content. As with the old Remote you can also use it to control your Apple TV. One significant difference between the iPad and the iPhone version of Remote is that you can't rate songs in the iPhone version of Remote, which is kind of a bummer.

Overall, the new re-design and features of iTunes 11 feel cleaner and more user friendly. However, if you're new to iTunes, or you have always found it bloated with too many features to wrap your head around, the update may not make such a huge difference to you.

But let us know what you think of iTunes 11.




Official YouTube App Comes To iPad & iPhone 5, Now Supports AirPlay [Updates]

Following the recent release of the official YouTube app for iPhone and iPod Touch, Google has launched a significant update for the app, which is now compatible with both the iPad and the iPhone 5. Aside from the interface change and the added device support, the official YouTube app now supports AirPlay, and comes with many features that were not present on the old built-in YouTube app.

On the iPad, the new YouTube app offers categorized feeds and and some popular videos to watch. Unlike the old built-in app, you won't get much else without signing in, but once you do, many new options such as playlists, history, a watch-later list, uploads and favorites will appear. Through the app, you can easily subscribe to channels, comment and like videos, and add videos to various saved lists. The search also supports speech recognition.

The new app's interface is significantly different from that of the old iPad app – a difference that is mostly for the better. One glaring oversight in the new app, though, is in the information density department. While each search in the old built-in app yielded 12 results without even having to scroll, the new app barely shows four. It does, however, include advanced sorting options for search results, making it easier to find exactly what you're looking for. You can also easily share videos through Google+, Twitter, Facebook, email, or copy a link to your clipboard.

Download the new YouTube app for free from the App Store.

What do you think about the new YouTube app?

Source: YouTube Blog