Do you have children? Would you like to configure your home network to easily block adult content? Here’s an easy and affordable way to setup adult content filtering for all Macs, PCs, iPhones and iPads on your network. Sign-up for OpenDNS’ free FamilyShield service.

In recent years, when I’ve been asked to setup adult content filtering, I’ve recommended applications like Intego’s ContentBarrier which now appears to be part of Intego’s Family Protector product. This application gets installed on each computer on which protection is needed. This solution is no longer affective if you have iPhones, iPads or iPod Touches on your home network since ContentBarrier or comparable applications do not exist for the iPhones and other iOS devices. This is where FamilyShield comes in handy.

FamilyShield works by modifying the configuration of your wireless router. All network traffic in and out of your home network travels through your wireless router. Thus, by reconfiguring your wireless router, you affect all devices on your network, including computers, mobile devices and gaming consoles like XBoxes.

I should mention the protection offered by FamilyShield can be pretty easily defeated by somebody who understands how networks work. So it’s not a perfect solution if you have a savvy teenager who wants to get around it. However, FamilyShield could be an appropriate solution for younger children. OpenDNS also offers a paid service named OpenDNS Home VIP which might be more difficult to defeat, but because OpenDNS’ site doesn’t do a good job of highlighting the additional features included with this paid service, the degree of increased protection is unclear. It’s also possible that over time FamilyShield might become more robust.

I’m also watching a couple of other products that provide content filtering for your entire network. They included two wireless routers, the iBoss Home Parental Control Router/Firewall and Pandora’s Hope. iBoss has a range of other network products for home and business users so they appear to be a well-established company, but reviews of the iBoss are mixed, like this one and this other one. I couldn’t learn much about the Pandora’s Hope router or the company that makes it. This PR article indicates that the company started selling products in 2009 and that the current model was released in 2011. I couldn’t find any reviews by computer industry reviewers. The iBoss and Pandora’s Hope cost $40 and $160 respectively and then have recurring annual costs of $60 and $20 respectively. I’m not convinced that this money is well spent in comparison to the free FamilyShield service.

None of the solutions that I could find are perfect, but, for the time being, if you want to prevent children using computers, mobile devices and gaming consoles in your home from accidentally or intentionally finding adult content, I would check out OpenDNS’ free FamilyShield service. If I find a more robust solution, I’ll update this article.

It’s helpful to know how to truly quit an app on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Some times apps stop working properly. When this occurs you can force the app to quit or close. In iOS version 4 and higher, here’s how to force an app to quit:

• Rapidly press the Home button twice in a row. The Home button is the round button on the lower part of the face of the iPhone.
• The multitasking bar appears at the bottom of the screen and shows you the most recently used apps. Tap and hold one of these app icons. (Note when the multtasking bar appears you can swipe from right to left to see more apps.)
• When the app icons start to jiggle tap the red and white icon that appears in the upper left corner of the app icon to force that app to close.
• Press the Home button again. Tap on the misbehaving app’s icon to open it and see if it now works properly.
• If your app continues to misbehave then I recommend restarting your device.

Apple has an article which describes this same process and will be updated more often than this web page if the process changes over time.

On a related note, a widely-held misconception is that the applications listed in the multitasking bar are using some of your device’s memory and processor, thus slowing it down. This isn’t exactly correct. Read this excellent article to learn more about iOS multitasking features and how non-active apps are handled.

Do you know how to turn off your iPhone or iPad? People often think they are turning off the iPhone when, in fact, they are only putting it to sleep. The same button is used for both functions. The On/Off/Sleep button is circled in red in the image below.

It’s important to know how to turn off your iPhone since it’s a fundamental troubleshooting technique. If your iPhone is acting oddly, one of the first suggestions I have is to turn it off then back on and see if now behaves correctly. Here’s how to use the On/Off/Sleep button:

1. Press and release the button to turn off the iPhone’s screen and put the iPhone to sleep. (To wake up the iPhone press the Home button which is the round button on the lower part of the face of the iPhone.)

2. To fully turn off the iPhone, press and hold the button until the screen displays the “Slide to Power Off” message, then slide your finder across the area displaying those words. If you’ve swiped properly then the message will disappear and you’ll see a small white spinning icon in the middle of the screen. Wait about 20 seconds for the screen to go fully black and the iPhone or iPad to turn off.

To turn on the device again, press and hold the button for a second or two and then release. If you’ve turned on the device, a white Apple logo will appear in the middle of the screen.

Have you noticed how dirty the screen of your iPhone or iPad gets? Finger smudges and other stuff accumulates quickly. Even though we don’t touch our Macintosh laptop screens as much as an iPhone, the screen still gets dirty. I recommend using a microfiber cleaning cloth for quick cleanings. Additionally, use a cleaning spray like OmniCleanz or iKlear for more thorough cleanings.

iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch screens have an oleophobic (oil-resistant) coating on them. This is supposed to make it easy to wipe off smudges. Thus a quick rub with a microfiber cloth can make the screen look pretty good. I clean my iPhone and iPad screens this way a couple of times each week. For a more thorough cleaning I use cleaning spray on a microfiber cloth. Apple Stores currently sell a Bausch + Lomb Cleaning Kit. iKlear is one of the most widely sold cleaning sprays. I tend to use OmniCleanz.

Product descriptions for these cleaners tend to tell you more about what the product doesn’t contain rather than what it does. None of the products list their ingredients, so I can’t compare them. Product descriptions tend to indicate that they are alcohol-free, ammonia-free and detergent-free. Based on this dearth of information, I tend to buy OmniCleanz because it’s the least expensive and works well for me. If you’d like to clean the screen on your Mac laptop, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, try one of these products. Also, please follow the cleaning guidelines Apple provides. Their most important guidelines are to turn off your device and unplug all peripherals. Then avoid getting any moisture into any openings and don’t use detergents, alcohol or harsh cleaners.

Update Jan 2013: Apple released the iPad mini last fall. Of course, this smaller iPad requires smaller keyboards. GadgetReview has a comparison of 11 of these diminutive keyboards.

Would you prefer to type on your iPad using a real keyboard instead of the on-screen, virtual keyboard? This week’s tech tip gives you an overview of some iPad cases that include keyboards.

The iPad is a great device for reading information such as email messages, web pages and ebooks; listening to music or podcasts; and watching movies. However, it’s not the best device if you’re trying to type an email, take notes during a meeting or work on your novel. While some people may think it’s anathema to add weight and bulkiness to the lithe iPad, I think there’s a time and place for connecting a wireless, bluetooth keyboard to an iPad. Thus, I’ve been keeping an eye on iPad cases that let you easily connect an iPad to a keyboard when you want it, but also easily detach the iPad when you don’t need the keyboard or the added bulk. Here are a list of iPad cases with keyboards that caught my eye. This is by no means a complete list of all iPad cases with keyboards.

• Logitech makes a couple of appealing keyboard cases including the solar keyboard folio and the ultrathin keyboard cover. The solar keyboard folio has a solar-charged keyboard, feels solid and let’s you pick from a couple of viewing angles. The ultrathin keyboard cover is diminutive and is not a protective case, but it’s stylish.

• Zagg makes an appealing iPad holder with keyboard. It doesn’t protect the back of the iPad, but its aluminum design feels sturdy. It holds the iPad but lets one easily detach it.

• Another choice is Adonit’s Writer Plus. It looks sturdy, stylish, well designed and is available in a few colors. It can be adjusted to any viewing angle.

• Another case on the market is the Clamcase. It appears to have a versatile design, including a hinge that can be adjusted to any viewing angle, easy release of the iPad and other cool features.

Be aware that some keyboard cases will work with any version of the iPad while others only work with one or two of the three iPad models that Apple has released to date.

You may also like to read an April 2012 CNet review of stand-alone keyboards and assorted iPad cases.

Would you like your iPhone to give you audible driving directions? If so, you should check out MapQuest. It is a free, turn-by-turn GPS navigation app for the iPhone and iPad. MacWorld wrote an extensive review of GPS apps in 2011. After reading the article, I purchased Navigon for $40. (It price has now risen to $60.) I used Navigon for a few months and liked it, but found the interface cumbersome. After a client praised it for its easy-to-use design, I tried MapQuest. It had also been highly rated in MacWorld’s review of GPS apps. While MapQuest doesn’t have all of the features offered by Navigon, I prefer it for its relative ease of use.

Do you have a lot of apps on your iPhone? Do you find it difficult to locate the one you need? By grouping related apps into folders you can find your apps more easily. By setting up folders you can reduce the number of screens that you have to flip through to locate your apps. For example, the iPhone can typically display 36 apps on two screens. I have 90 apps on my iPhone, and they fill less than 2 screens.

You might want to create a folder to store apps that you rarely use. Apple doesn’t allow you to remove the core apps they install on the phone. It’s likely that you don’t use all of these apps, so you could create a folder to store these apps together.

Here are instructions on how to create folders on your iPhone or iPad:

Tap and hold the icon of any one app on your device. After a couple of seconds all of the icons on your iPhone or iPad will start to jiggle side-to-side.

Tap and drag the icon of one app on top of the icon of a second, related app, then release the first app’s icon. (You need to have just the right touch. Otherwise, your iPhone or iPad will think that you’re just re-arranging your apps and it’ll just move the second app to the left or right.)

This first app’s icon will fall onto the second app’s icon and a folder will automatically be created. In the image below you can see that I’ve dragged the KOMO News app onto the SeattleCrime app. My iPhone automatically created a folder and proposed a folder name of News. I can either accept this name or tap on the name to edit it.

That’s it! You’ve created a folder. Press the Home button on the lower section of the iPhone’s face to stop the icon jiggling and indicate that you’re done organizing apps into folders.

You’ll now see the folder icon, which is a square with teeny-tiny icons of the apps that it contains inside the square. The image to the right shows the many folders that I’ve created on my iPhone.

It’s useful to know that a folder can hold a maximum of 12 apps. A folder can not be put inside of another folder.

Chances are good that you’ll want to add many apps to a given folder or create many folders all at once. If this is the case, after you’ve dragged one app icon onto another to create the folder, you can simply tap anywhere outside the folder to return to viewing all of your apps. At this point, you can then drag additional apps into the folder you created. You could also drag another app on top of yet another app to create a second folder. You get the idea.

At some point, you’ll want to remove an app from a folder. Guess how you do it? You tap on the folder’s icon, it opens, then tap and hold on any of the app icons to get them to jiggle. Then, simply drag the app’s icon out of the folder. You’ll see an animation of the app icon jumping out of the folder and back onto the iPhone’s main screen. When you remove the last app from a folder, the folder automatically deletes itself.

I’m surprised how often I’m asked how to remove an app from an iPhone or iPad. Consequently, I decided to write this short tech tip since there are, no doubt, many other people out there wondering the same thing.

There are numerous ways to remove an app, but here’s one simple method:

Tap and hold on the icon of the app that you want to remove. After a couple of seconds all the icons on your iPhone or iPad will start to jiggle side-to-side.

Tap the X that appears in the upper-left corner of the app. The X is a delete button. It will remove the app from your iPhone or iPad.

For example, let’s imagine that I want to remove the app named Navigon from my iPhone. I would press my finger on the Navigon app (see picture below) icon and hold it there. After a second or so, all icons on my iPhone start to jiggle. I can then tap the X button to remove Navigon.

Note: This technique only works for third-party apps that you’ve added to your iPhone or iPad. Apple doesn’t let you remove the core set of apps that come with the iPhone or iPad. If there are some Apple-provided apps which you don’t use often, the best you can do is to put these apps into a folder. What? You don’t know how to create a folder for your apps? I guess that’ll be next week’s Tech Tip.

Update: A reader asked how to remove an iPhone or iPad app when it’s listed in iTunes on your Mac. Here are two methods. The first method is remove the app from your iPhone or iPad as described above. Then, sync your iPhone or iPad to your Mac by connecting the USB sync cable to connect the two devices. As long as app synching is enabled the app will be removed from your Mac since you deleted it from the iPhone or iPad.

If this first method doesn’t work, here’s another option. Open iTunes, on the left-hand list click on Apps. Select the app you want to delete by clicking on it. Go to the Edit menu and select Delete. Click the “Move to Trash” button to fully remove the app from your Mac.

Update: December 2012. JCD Repair has opened a Bellevue store which is located near the intersection of I-405 and I-90.

Does your iPhone have a cracked screen, a broken camera or need to have its battery replaced? If so, you might want to consider JCD Repair. JCD Repair offers affordable, quality repairs for iPhones, iPad and iPod Touches as well as some Verizon Droid phones.

If your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch is under warranty, you should obviously take it to an Apple Store. However, if your device is out of warranty or the damage wouldn’t be covered by warranty, then you should consider JCD Repair. In recent months, I’ve had a couple of clients get their iPhone 4s repaired by JCD Repair and they were very pleased with the service and results.

JCD Repair  has 3 stores in Seattle, WA; Chicago, IL and Madison, WI. The Seattle store is in the Wallingford neighborhood. If you don’t live in Seattle or these other two cities, JCD Repair also offers mail-in repair service. Most in-person repairs can be done in about 45 minutes. Schedule an appointment via their web site or by phone. They prefer that you schedule an appointment but apparently walk-in visits are allowed. Their web site lists all of the repair services that they offer as well as the cost including parts and labor. They are open 7 days a week. Their repairs are covered by a 90 day warranty.

Check out JCD Repair and post your comments about your experience.

This week’s Tech Tip is written by our guest blogger, Elizabeth Bowman, President of Innovatively Organized.

Are tasks slipping through the cracks? Feeling overwhelmed by all the responsibilities on your plate?  There are lots of tools to help you manage your to-do list, but how do you know which tools are best?  You’re in luck!  At Innovatively Organized we have put together a list of 4 tools to help you manage your to-do list electronically.  Now, you will be able to access your tasks from home, the office, or on the go from an Internet browser or your mobile device!

Keep in mind, it’s not about having the perfect to-do list, it is about picking a tool that will work for you and using it consistently.

1. TeuxDeux

Compatible with:

• iPhone or iPad

• Internet

• Mac or PC

Highlights:

• Simple design

• Basic list tracker

• Cross out tasks when complete

• Moves un-finished items to the next day automatically

Toodle Do's Interface

2. Toodledo

Compatible with:

• iPhone, iPad, Palm, Blackberry, Droid

• Internet

• Ability to sync with Outlook & TaskAngel

• Has ability to print to-do list neatly

Highlights:

• Comprehensive and robust features

• Offers ability to delegate and email tasks directly

• Can filter and run reports on tasks

• Includes a timer to help you stay on task

3. TaskAngel

Compatible with:

• Native PC software download

• Ability to sync with Toodledo

Highlights:

• Matches Toodledo’s comprehensive task tracking details

• Runs fast on your PC helping you stay productive easily

• Can export your to-do list to Excel

4. 2Do

Compatible with:

• iPhone & iPad

• Ability to sync with Toodledo

Highlights:

• Option to color-code tasks by category

• Provides tabs in the interface on an iPhone and iPad

• Has lots of fields to enter your tasks easily from a mobile device

For more organizing and productivity tips, check out the Innovatively Organized blog!

Do you listen to either music or audio books on your iPhone or iPad as you fall asleep? If so, you could set the iPhone or iPad’s timer to stop playing music, then let the device go to sleep on its own a minute or two later. Here are the instructions:

• Open the Clock app on your iPhone or iPad. (These instructions should work on an iPod Touch, but I don’t have one so I can’t test it.)
• Tap on the Timer button.
• Spin the hour and minute dials to the desired time, such as 30 minutes or 1 hour.
• Tap on the “When Timer Ends” button if you have an iPhone or the “Sounds” button if you have an iPad. Then scroll to the bottom of the list of options and select “Sleep iPod.” (Note: In newer versions of the iOS software, Apple renamed this option to “Stop Playing.”)
• Tap the Start button to begin the timer.
• Press the Home button to exit the Clock app.
• Open the iPod app and listen to your music or audiobook.When the timer ends, your device will stop playing your music or audiobook. Then, based on your device’s Auto-Lock settings, it will go to sleep a few minutes later. (Note: In newer versions of the iOS software, Apple renamed the iPod app to Music. Furthermore, in iOS 6 they added a separate app named Podcast. This Timer function works in both the Music and Podcast apps.)

Are you looking for an easy way to share files with your colleagues who use a mix of Macs and PCs? There are many online file sharing and storage systems, but I use and recommend Dropbox. I’ve tried a handful of systems including MobileMe’s iDisk, SugarSync, Windows LiveMesh, Box.net and GoogleDocs. While I use several of these services on an on-going basis, I think Dropbox is the most versatile and has the best mix of features that I use and care about.

Here’s a list of some of my needs:

• I want a fast, affordable, easy-to-use and secure system. I want to keep the files locally on my computer and have them get copied (synced) to my colleagues Mac or PC.
• I want to be able to share different folders with different people.
• I want to be able to access the shared folders and some of the files from my iPhone and iPad.

Dropbox meets all of these needs and has many other handy features. Here are some highlights:

• It provides status indicators when files are getting synced and optional on-screen notification messages when files have been added, deleted or edited.
• It saves older versions of files so you can retrieve a previous version.
• It lets you view your shared folders and files from their web site, so you can access any file from any computer which has an Internet connection.
• If two people simultaneously edit the same file, it’s smart enough to save both copies and point out this conflict.
• Files stored in Dropbox can be accessed on iPhones, iPads, Blackberries, Android-based phones and tablets.
• There is a special Public folder which can be used to share a file with the entire world, if you want. Any file in the public folder has a “public link” which can be put in an email or on a web site to provide an easy way for others to download this file. This is a handy way to share a file that is too large to send as an email attachment.

Dropbox is capable and versatile, but it’s not as robust as a full-fledged file server to which you might be accustomed. In particular it’s important to know that you can’t share a folder inside another shared folder. Instead you would need to create a separate shared folder outside of the shared folder. Anyone you’ve invited to a folder can then add, delete or change files within that folder. Anyone you’ve invited to a folder can then invite others to join the folder. As the owner of the folder you can see the list of people who have access and you can revoke somebody’s access privileges at any time.

You can try Dropbox for free. A free account includes 2 GB of storage space. If or when you outgrow that 2 GB of storage space you can buy more storage space. 50 GB of storage space costs $100 per year or 100 GB of storage space costs $200 per year. Give Dropbox a try. I think you’ll like it.

If you chose to sign-up for Dropbox, please consider using this link to do so since I’ll earn a referral bonus. Thanks.

As expected, Apple announced their first tablet computer in January. They call it the iPad. What is the iPad able to do and how is it innovative compared to PC tablets?

The iPad is a new class of device at least for Mac users. It’s a tablet computer, and it fits somewhere in between a smartphone and a laptop. PC manufacturers have made tablets for over a half dozen years. These tablets typically required users to use a stylus or an on-screen keyboard for input and never sold well since they cost as much or more than a comparable laptop. The iPad differs from these PC tablets in two obvious ways. The iPad is a touch-input device and it costs less than a Mac laptop. The price range for iPads is $499 to $829 depending upon features and storage capacity. One primarily uses finger gestures and an on-screen keyboard to control the iPad.

The iPad is a versatile device that could replace a laptop for some users. This initial model’s strengths are in entertainment. It’s oriented towards consuming data not producing data. It’s capable of letting you listen to music, view photos and watch movies like an iPod and read books like a Kindle. It also has the ability to send and receive email messages and view web pages like an iPhone or a laptop. It also lets you view web sites and access your email. To increase typing speeds one can buy a special full-size external keyboard or use an external bluetooth keyboard. For a thorough description of what the iPad can and can not do, please refer to this MacInTouch article.

There are some important limitations and omissions based on the information that Apple has currently released about the iPad. While it will let you view and compose email messages, it’s unclear if you’ll be able to edit attachments. Apple has not indicated that it will be able to print. Curiously, it does not include a camera though it seems likely that this will be added in the future.

The iPad’s ability to handle Word and Excel documents is unclear. Not surprisingly Microsoft has not had time to develop versions of Word and Excel for the iPad. Apple has announced special iPad versions of Pages and Numbers, but their versatility remains to be seen. It’s unknown if they’ll be able to open and edit Word and Excel files.

Over the coming years the iPad will evolve and eventually could become a suitable replacement for a laptop for business users if these shortcomings are addressed. Currently, however, it only seems that it’ll replace a laptop for more casual users whose primary uses for a laptop are personal email, viewing web pages and handling music, photos and movies.