A great new feature of iOS 5 and iCloud is the ability to back up your iOS device wirelessly to the cloud. This ensures that your data is always protected in the event that the device is lost or damaged.

Unfortunately, there are two considerations that users must now address. First, when you enable iCloud backups, the device will stop automatically backing up in the traditional manner when connected to iTunes. While cloud backups are more convenient, there may be times when a user wants the added security of a local backup.

Thankfully, there is an easy way to initiate a manual local backup. First, connect your device to iTunes. Once it appears in the iTunes sidebar, right-click (or CTRL-click) the device’s name and select “Back Up” from the pop-up menu. This will initiate a full local backup that can supplement your incremental iCloud backups. Read the rest of this entry

If you’re utilizing Apple’s iCloud backup service and are running low on those free five gigabytes of storage, you may wish to delete individual backups and free-up some space. Fortunately, deleting individual iCloud backups is easy to do. Read on, and we’ll explain the entire process.

First, you need to launch the Settings app, and then touch the “iCloud” tab.

Here, there will be a list of iOS applications that are currently hooked-up to iCloud. You can toggle particular apps on and off, and also enable or disable Photo Stream, “Documents & Data” and Find My iPhone.

However, the section we’re interested in is right at the bottom of this screen: a tab called “Storage & Backup”. Touch this, and information on how much storage you have used will be displayed. Touch “Manage Storage”, and you’ll be taken to a screen that looks rather a lot like the one at the head of this article.

The “Manage Storage” screen outlines how those five gigabytes of free iCloud storage are being spent. For example, 4.1 gigabytes of my five gigabyte allowance is being spent on iCloud backups for my iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and iPad 2; 12.3 megabytes is being used for “Documents & Data” and the Mail app is taking up a minute 16.9 kilobytes. Read the rest of this entry

How do you persuade your prospects of the quality of your product? Use this strategy: Show the work that went into creating the product.

This can take two forms:

1. Show the work that went into inventing the product
2. Show the work that goes into creating each individual product.

For example, if you were selling Rolex watches, you could tell the story of how the watch was designed, or you could describe the painstaking process by which each individual watch is manufactured. Or you could do both.

The advertising legend Claude Hopkins used this strategy to revolutionize the sales of Schlitz beer in the early 1900s. He did so simply by being the first to describe how beer was made. He toured Schlitz’s operations and noted down all the aspects of their process that he found interesting. In particular, he highlighted those that supported Schlitz’s main claim: that their beer was pure. The campaign was a huge success. Within a few months, Schlitz went from fifth place to being joint-first in the market. Read the rest of this entry

Apple IPhone 4S was a disappointment for those expecting a redesigned iPhone 5, but in the grand scheme of things the launch of the iPhone 4S may be Apple’s Chamber of Secrets.

Forgive the Harry Potter reference, but the Chamber of Secrets is the second book in the series of seven Harry Potter books, and while it is generally at the least favorite books among Harry Potter fans, when you arrive the final book you realize that the House contained critical information that predicts events.

The fact that the iPhone 4S is a hardware upgrade and lacked a progressive new design has largely overshadowed his unique revolutionary function that could shape the future of Apple: Siri voice commands and voice-activated search.

Apple has limited Siri functions on iPhone 4S, probably it is due to the fact that the app is still in beta testings. Due to the fact that Siri requieres a connection to the cloud it limits Siris’s spread and allows Apple to stress-test its data centers.

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Google has announced a series of updates to its Google Search app for the iPad to entice users to search via its service rather than the device’s native Safari tool.

These include its Google Instant search capability to display results as the user types and improved visual displays for image searches by creating a carousel to let users swipe through images that are displayed on a dark background.

Google has also added a new search history system that is designed to make it easier to find old searches on the iPad, as Google’s software engineer for the iPad, Daniel Fish, explained in a blog post.

“Often you may be looking to find something you have seen before or are continuing research on a topic. But on a tablet, typing can be a challenge. That is why we have created a visual way to explore your search history,” he said.

“Swipe right to view snapshots of pages you’ve visited, stacked and organized by search term. You can also manage your search history from this new view.”

Google has also integrated elements of its Google+ tool by including a +1 button that allows users to recommend pages while searching. The update is available now across all regions and runs on iOS 4 and above.

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