Quick Event tips and tricks

In the top left hand corner of the Calendar is the “Create Quick Event” plus button.

This box allows you to type in natural language, as if you were asking your secretary to make an appointment for you. Use terms such as “Dinner tomorrow night” or “Lunch with Bob 2pm Friday 19th“.

The phrase “Lunch with Bob 2pm Friday 19th” gives us the following entry:

We can also enter date ranges. Typing “Holiday 21st to 28th August” gives us the following entry, a week blocked out:

The Quick Event button generally gives us a one hour long event by default, but we can specify a time range if we wish. Typing “Meeting 2pm to 4pm Thursday” gives us the following:

Mastering the Quick Event button can really speed up your Calendar entries – experiment for yourself to see what phrases work for you.

When you search for a Wi-Fi network on your iOS device, you will notice some have a small padlock icon, and some don’t. The padlock means the network is secured with a password. So that must mean that any without a padlock are free to join, right? Well, not necessarily…

Free Wi-Fi isn’t always free!

In many bars, cafes, restaurants and hotels you will find what appear to be free Wi-Fi hotspots. They will show up on your device as a network with no password. Your iOS device will appear to be connected but if you were to jump straight in and check your email, the chances are nothing will happen. This is because although they don’t have a password to join the network, to actually gain access to the internet you may require an account or a login voucher.

With companies such as BT, many of their existing customers can gain free access to their BT Openzone hotspots by logging in to a webpage that appears when you load up Safari on your iPhone or iPad. If you are not a BT customer you may be able to buy vouchers for internet access on that same page.

Why would connecting to a BT Hotspot but not using the internet be a problem?

iPhones and iPads have a very handy feature that automatically remembers Wi-Fi networks you have joined. This is great at home or at work as it will automatically connect to Wi-Fi when possible to save on your mobile phone data charges. However, this can be frustrating if you have joined a BT hotspot in the past as your iOS device will automatically try to connect to a BT Hotspots as you walk around town.

To make matters worse, BT use a clever system where nearly all of their home customers’ Wi-Fi boxes broadcast a public network for their customers to share. On some streets your iPhone can be connected or trying to connect to a BT hotspot for the whole length. Some people resort to turning their Wi-Fi off but there is an easier way.

Tell your iOS device to “Forget this Network”

With a couple of clicks we can stop your iPhone or iPad from trying to connect to a particular network automatically.

Step 1 / Tap on “Settings”

Step 2 / Tap on “Wi-Fi”

Step 3 / Tap on the blue arrow next to the network name

You either need to be connected to the network you wish to forget or previously have connected to the network for this to work.

Step 4 / Tap on “Forget this Network”

That’s it! Your iPhone or iPad will no longer join that network automatically when you are close by. If you ever need to connect to the network again in the future you can still pick it from the list of available networks.

When you take a photo, instead of tapping the little picture icon in the bottom left, or indeed leaving the Camera App and jumping to the Photos App, simply swipe from left to right. This will take you straight to your most recently taken photos.

So simple!

Where is the Delete key on a Mac?

The Delete or Backspace key on Mac works from right to left – you place your cursor at the end of the word of phrase and delete backwards. The Delete key on a PC works the other way, from left to right, effectively deleting forwards. This is easily done on a Mac keyboard by combining the Function or fn key in the bottom left of the keyboard with the normal Backspace key in the top right. Simply hold down the fn key with your left hand and tap the Backspace key with your right.

Where are the Home and End keys on a Mac?

We can replicate these functions by using the Command key along with the Arrow keys.

Command and the Up Arrow – this takes you to the top of the page or text.
Command and the Down Arrow – this takes you to the end of the page or text.
Command and the Left Arrow – this takes you to the start of the current line.
Command and the Right Arrow – this takes you to the end of the current line.