How to zoom in on your iPhone’s entire display?

You probably know how to zoom in on a web page in the iPhone’s Safari browser by “pinching” the page with your fingertips, but what if you want to magnify the entire iPhone screen, including even the digital clock and battery icon at the top of the display?

The trick, as it turns out, is a three-finger tap—but you’ll have to tweak a key iPhone setting first.

Just change this one setting on your iPhone to magnify its screen with a three-finger double-tap.

Ready to give it a try? Here we go…

1. From your iPhone home screen, tap Settings, General, Accessibility, Zoom, then switch Zoom to “On.”
2. Now double-tap the screen with three fingers at once, and well … zoom!
3. Want to pan around your zoomed-in iPhone display? Just swipe around as your normally would, expect using three fingertips at once rather than just one.
4. You can also adjust the magnification level by double-tapping and holding with three fingers (it’s a “tap” and a “hold,” not a double-tap and then a hold), then dragging your fingertips up (to increase the zoom level) or down (to decrease the magnification).
5. Had enough? Double-tap the screen with three fingers again to make it jump back to the normal view.

Note: This tip also works on the iPad and the iPod Touch.

why DVDs and Blu-ray is still important?

Streaming is all the rage when it comes to home video, but that doesn’t mean DVDs and Blu-rays are dead—or at least, not to me it doesn’t.

Sure, I’ll rent the odd feature from iTunes or stream a TV show from Netflix’s instant streaming catalog; after all, it beats slogging to the local video store in a snowstorm. But I’m still partial to good old-fashioned discs, even if it means waiting a day or two before pressing “play.”

Why trek to a Redbox kiosk, drive to Blockbuster (yes, they’re still around), or wait for a red Netflix envelope to arrive in the mail when you could stream a movie rental with a single mouse click? Well, there are at least five good reasons I can think of, starting with…

1. DVDs and Blu-rays never buffer

Once in a blue moon, I’ll get a scuffed DVD from Netflix that skips just as you’re about to find out whodunnit—and no, that’s not cool.

Far more aggravating, though, are the times when the movie I’m streaming grinds to a halt, usually due to a choppy broadband connection. (Anyone with a cable modem who’s tried to stream an instant Netflix video on a Saturday night—precisely when everyone else on the block is also trying to stream a Netflix movie—will know what I’m talking about.) Sure, the video stream usually resumes after “buffering” for a few seconds, but the interruptions can be jarring, not to mention frequent.

2. Blu-ray picture quality can’t be beat

Several streaming-video services now offer HD instant movies and TV shows at full 1080p resolution, but not all 1080p video is created equal. Indeed, even the rock-solid high-def videos you’ll see from the likes of Vudu, Xbox Live and Netflix look a little soft compared to the razor-sharp picture on the best Blu-ray discs.

For my money, “Avatar” looks more astonishing on Blu-ray than it did in 3D at my local IMAX theater, and I was equally impressed by the theater-like image quality of “The Tree of Life” on Blu-ray.

A recent viewing of “Moneyball” at 1080p over Xbox Live’s “Zune” video store looked … well, just OK (maybe somewhere between DVD and Blu-ray quality). Now, “just OK” might work fine for a straight-ahead drama like “Moneyball,” but it’s a shame when it comes to an epic like “Tree of Life,” or the newly restored “Gone With the Wind.”

And while some of the videos in Netflix’s instant catalog look surprisingly good (take “Black Hawk Down,” for instance), too many are marred by VHS-quality transfers that have been cropped to fit your HDTV screen.

3. You want it, you got it

Probably the biggest complaints I hear about Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” service is that the selection stinks—and specifically, that the 25,000-odd streaming titles on Netflix are continually being shuffled in and out, seemingly at random. And while the video catalogs of à la carte streaming services like iTunes and Amazon tend to be a bit more stable, individual titles may still be yanked in deference to the home-video “windows” of such premium-cable channels like HBO and Showtime.

On the other hand, a quick glance at Netflix’s DVD and Blu-ray catalog reveals a staggering number of movies and TV shows—more than 100,000, all told, including just about every movie ever made.

And while the big movie studios have started holding back their latest releases from Netflix, Redbox and Blockbuster for a month or more (to boost streaming and pay-per-view rentals, or so the theory goes), you can at least be fairly confident a DVD that’s available for rent today will still be available tomorrow, next week, and the following month.

4. Subtitles and alternate audio tracks

More and more streaming-video services are offering subtitles and closed-captions for their instant-watch titles—particularly Netflix, which only recently began adding English subtitles to its streaming collection. Still, too many streaming-video services fail to offer subtitles or alternate-language tracks for their rentals, which can be particularly annoying for a) hard-of-hearing viewers and b) those of us who’d rather not hear Gérard Depardieu speak in badly dubbed English.

DVDs and Blu-ray discs, on the other hand, typically offer a generous selection of subtitle and audio options—perfect for, say, non-English speakers who want to watch the new “Star Trek” movie with Portuguese subtitles, or movie lovers who like hearing the actors in French films speak, you know, French.

5. Bring on the extras

For the most part, the movies and TV shows available for streaming come without any documentaries, deleted scenes, audio commentaries, or any other “extras” at all, save for a few exceptions on iTunes and Vudu.

Granted, most of us don’t really care about extras or bonus features when it comes to popcorn-munchers like “Friends with Benefits” or “Captain America.” But if you want Roger Ebert to give you an audio tour of “Citizen Kane” (and I highly recommend you do), you’ll have to rent the DVD or the new Blu-ray to listen in.

So, what about you? Are you still renting movies and TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray, or are you ditching discs for streaming?

What is Google Cloud Print?

Google cloud print is based on the idea that printing can be more intuitive, available & useful. Cloud Using Google Print can make your printers are available from any web enabled Google Print cloud, desktop or mobile applications. To start printing by Google Cloud Print, connect a printer to your account. Google is compatible with printers prepared & classic clouds.

What is Google Cloud Print?

Replicate complex printing architectures of traditional PC systems operating in these new class of devices is not desirable & often not feasible. Nobody in the printing ecosystem – users, developers, manufacturers of printing – wishes to extend the GCP eliminates the necessity for drivers & provides all the printing functions to a new generation of mobile applications & web-based “driver’s disorder .. ”

There are significant trends in computing today, the shift towards web / cloud-based applications & the proliferation of networked mobile devices. As these web applications & mobile devices have become more capable, users expect the same capabilities they have on their PCs, & the impression is at the top of the list.

This is accomplished by using a print of clouds. Applications no longer depend on the local operating technique (& drivers) to print. In lieu, as shown in the diagram below, the applications (whether a native desktop / mobile app or web application) the use of PCBs to send & manage print jobs. GCP is responsible for sending the print job to the appropriate printer, with particular options chosen user, & provide the job status of the application.

google cloud print

Google Cloud Print Components

Applications

Any application can use Google Print Cloud, including web applications (like Gmail & sure third-party applications) & native applications (eg, a desktop word processor or a tool Android / IOS). These applications called Google Print Cloud API. You can use these APIs to collect the knowledge necessary to demonstrate their own user interface for custom printing options or basically use the common print dialog box that offers Google Cloud Print (see “User Interface” later in this page). There’s also APIs to query the status of the print job. Cloud Google Print is now integrated with Gmail for mobile rings & Google Docs & will integrate with more applications in the approaching months. Third Party Application developers can use Google Print Cloud on your web, desktop & mobile applications.

Google Cloud Print Service

Cloud Google Print is a web service offered by Google. Users associate printers with your Google Account. The printers are treated the same way that the documents are in Google Docs: it’s easy to share printers, along with co-workers, friends and family anywhere in the world. No need for complex network configurations for the print job sharing! In addition to associating printers with a Google Account user, GCP also stores the capabilities of each printer model to the appropriate print options can be shown to the user before sending a print job. Once the service receives a print job is sent to the printer. The service also receives regular updates on the status of the print job from the printer and makes this state can be obtained from the application.

Printers

Print Cloud Google removes the ambiguity between the two types of printers: printers ready and not cloud the cloud.

Cloud Ready Printers

Printer Prepared cloud are a new generation of printers with native support for connecting to the cloud of printing services. A cloud prepared printer does not need a PC connection or for any print driver. The printer is basically registered in or more services from the cloud of printing & print jobs waiting. They think that the impression of clouds has giant benefits for finish users & industry, & will increasingly come to be expected of users, given the speedy transition to cloud-based applications & knowledge warehousing & mobile computing. They also think that the only way that the benefits of cloud printing can be done is if the protocols are open, apply freely &, when feasible, based on industry standards. They hope you print multiple cloud services, & users ought to have an option in which the services they use, & printers that are connected to each. HP has launched its line of prepared ePrint clouds that can connect to Google Cloud Print, & more prepared cloud models will be announced in coming months.

Non-cloud Printers

Most printers obtainable today fall in to this section. This section includes printers connected directly to the PC (eg by a USB cable) & network printers (Ethernet or WiFi). This section also includes the recent crop of “connected to the Web” printers that offer users access to definite web services (such as maps & film tickets) directly from the LCD screen on the printer. While these are “connected site,” are not prepared printers clouds as described above, because they don’t have the ability to communicate directly with a print of clouds in search of print jobs.

They wish users to print to printers do not cloud through Google Print Cloud. This is accomplished by using a connector, a small piece of program that runs on a PC where the printer is installed. The connector is responsible for registering the Google Cloud Print printer & wait for print jobs from the service. When a jobarrives, the connector is sent to the printer using the operating process program of the PC original printer &job status sent back to the service.

So far, they have developed a connector for Mac & Windows, & are developing for Linux. To help users avoid the trouble of installing other program on their PCs, these connectors are shipped with Google Chrome. By basically installing Google Chrome on your PC & activate the function (which is disabled by default), users can print by Google Cloud Print clouds to lack of printers. obvious disadvantage of this approach is that the PC must be turned on & connected to the Web for print jobs to reach the connection (& therefore the printer). The current requirement that encourages enthusiasm for working with industry to build native support for printing services of clouds in the next generation of printers. They are also waiting to see clever people in the community to build small hardware connectors factors (such as routers with print server capabilities) to permit users to get all the benefits of connection without leaving your PC on.