The Apple TV remote that comes with the latest Apple TV 2 is very small and can be very easily misplaced or lost completely. Luckily, Apple has included a very easy way for you to use a third-party remote control as an alternative. Sure you could use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and the Apple Remote app but if you don’t want your kids, friends, or spouses, bugging you every time they need to change something on the Apple TV, you’ll want something dedicated.

Here’s how to set it up, and you should do it now before you lose your current remote.

• Power on your Apple TV
• Go to Settings in the main menu
• Click on General and then Remote
• Choose Learn Remote

• Select Start
• Apple TV will display icons that represent the six buttons on the Apple Remote with the “Up” or “+” button highlighted first.
• Using your third-party remote, press and hold the button you would like to use to control the “up” function until the blue progress bar is full as shown below.
• Apple TV will then select the next button function. Repeat the above step using a different button
• After you have programmed all six button functions, you can now use your third-party remote to control Apple TV. You can optionally setup specific playback buttons for Fast-forward, Rewind, Next chapter, and more.

If you see the “Button Already Learned” error message, this means one of the following:

• A different, previously learned remote, has a learned button with the same IR code as the current button that you are trying to program.
• A previously learned button of the current remote has the same IR code as the current button that you are trying to program.

That is all  there is to it, a very easy way to use a third-party remote as a backup for your Apple TV remote!

Daily Tips range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@imore.com.

Source: Apple Support Article

Get custom signatures, notifications, and highlights for iPhone Mail with Mail Enhancer for jailbreak

Mail Enhancer adds a great deal of extra functionality to your jailbroken iPhone, including the ability to set custom signatures for different accounts, tailored notifications, advanced mail sorting options, and account highlighting. If the stock version of iOS simply doesn’t meet your needs, and you’re looking for more and better functionality, give Mail Enhancer a try.

iOS lacks the inability to have more than one e-mail signature. (That’s why we all see “Sent from my iPhone so often.) If you have a different account for home and office, for example, you’re forced to include the contact information for both and delete the inappropriate one each time, or neither, and enter it in manually on a case by case basis. If you remember. Mail Enhancer allows you to add as many mail signatures as you’d like. Not only can you set them per account, but you can take it one step further and also have separate signatures for composing, replying, and forwarding.

Set quiet hours and account priority

Mail Enhancer also has advanced notification controls built-in. You can set mail accounts as high priority and low priority and adjust notifications accordingly. For example, you can set up high priority email to use popup notifications but have them turned off for low priority email.

Set different colors for mail accounts with message highlighting

If you’re the type of person that likes to view all of your e-mails in one thread, Mail Enhancer makes it easy to set highlight colors for each account. That way, even when you’re viewing the unified inbox, you can still easily identify which account each email was sent to, without having to tap into each one individually. You can also add a bar to the top of your Mail app that allows you to easily toggle between all your messages and just unread messages.

Mail Enhancer is already available in Cydia, the jailbreak app store.

$4.99 – Cydia Search Link

Additional jailbreak resources:

• Jailbreak news, guides, and how to’s
• Jailbreak apps, hacks, and tweaks forum
• General jailbreak discussion forums

“All the thrill of running with scissors without any of the danger or mess, Cut the Buttons for iPhone and iPad is unique, challenging, and most importantly, fun.”

Now here’s a game that takes advantage of the iPhone and iPad’s multitouch screens to create something truly unique. In Cut the Buttons, your goal is to control a pair of scissors with two fingers, like you would in real life, and cut the buttons off pieces of fabric that come flying by. I swear it’s not as easy as it sounds!

Removing the buttons is not your only goal in Cut the Buttons for iPhone or Cut the Buttons HD for iPad; you must also collect them in the the cup at the bottom of the screen by controlling it with your other hand while simultaneously cutting as many buttons as you can. Once you miss 3 buttons, the game is over.

But that’s not all! Some buttons are bolted down and must be avoided. You wouldn’t want to dull your scissors, would you? Accidentally attempting to cut the bolts results in loss of points.

I was instantly drawn to Cut the Buttons because of it’s beautiful graphics and bright, vivid colors. But the creators at Open Name put more than just looks into the design of this game. For example, I quickly discovered that the best approach wasn’t to cut each button individually by fully closing the scissors. Just as with real scissors, if you have motion behind your scissors, you only need to slightly close them to make a successful cut. This is a great technique for cutting many buttons at once.

Cut the Buttons also has a multiplayer mode where you pair up with a friend to grab a second pair of scissors and hopefully double your button-cutting experience. It’s all the thrill of running with scissors without any of the danger or the mess, Cut the Buttons for iPhone and iPad is unique, challenging, and most importantly, fun.

Cut the Buttons HD is well worth the $1.99 sticker price. I have not played the iPhone version, yet, and can’t imagine it being as fun with the smaller screen, but it’s currently on sale for the price of free, so it’s definitely worth trying it out as well!

Free for iPhone – Download Now

$1.99 for iPad – Download Now

Rene recently wrote an editorial about the current controversy surrounding Apple and the working conditions in the Chinese factories where Apple — and almost every other consumer electronics company — has their products made. It was a nice editorial, but I disagree with it completely. Well, almost completely. I do agree that it’s an important issue and that the discussion is good. He took a position and argued it well, that China was the story, and Apple merely link-bait. And it’s that position I disagree with.

First of all, just because almost every other consumer electronics company uses the same factories in no way lets Apple off the hook. If anything, it just means those hooks are awfully crowded.

Each and every one of those companies, including Apple, are accountable for their own actions, or lack of action, concerning the working conditions in the factories where their products are made.

If Apple were to pull out of these factories, it’s true that a lot of other companies would remain, but so what? Apple will have done something, and even more pressure could be exerted on the ones that remained, and they’d look even worse because they remained.

Change often comes from a single, courageous act that disrupts the status quo and sets into motion a new course of action that others simply must follow.

If staying engaged proves to be a better strategy, however, Apple could still be a greater agent for change. They could see to it workers were paid more, for example, or insist upon more reasonable working schedules.

Of course, Apple can’t just give the factories more money. It would likely disappear long before it reached the workers, as money often seems to. But Apple could make worker wages a condition of their contracts. It would take time, and require enormous oversight to make sure the factories followed through, but it would be worth it.

Apple makes incredible profits. That’s their job as a company. Using those profits to elevate the wages of Chinese workers isn’t a net loss, however. It’s an investment. Just like Henry Ford insisted on paying his workers enough so that, one day, they could become his customers, Apple would one day benefit from the more rapid establishment of greater customer base in China.

Yes, we in the Western world went through our own industrial revolution, and the working conditions were deplorable, but now we have labor laws and minimum wage, access to health insurance or health care. Unemployment and homelessness remain a huge problem, of course, and there’s suffering and abuse of the system to be sure. But in general we as a society face a far, far higher standard of living than that facing Chinese factory workers.

And it’s not okay to exploit that difference.

When the media reports on Apple’s role in the Chinese factory system, when organizations plan protests, rather than say it’s link-bait or opportunism, I see it as a call to action.

Apple is one of the wealthiest and most influential companies in the world. With that money and power comes responsibility. While having razor-thin profit margins certainly doesn’t excuse the Dells or HPs, having hefty profit margins absolutely puts the burden on Apple to lead the way. They can afford to pay more. Customers like me might even be proud to know that Apple is paying more.

I buy fair trade coffee. I’d certainly buy an iPad proudly produced by fair labor.

Things won’t change over night. They never do. The people who run the factories in China won’t wake up tomorrow and suddenly start paying their workers better, or start making their working conditions more palatable.

But demanding change will make it come faster.

The more the media reports on working conditions in China, the more people are informed about it, the more the outcry that follows, the more companies like Apple fear the bad press and public perception, the more their brand or reputation suffers, the more they’re motivated to take action, to speed up the change.

Apple gets the spotlight because of their size and their impact. They dent the universe. Instead of just denting it with better phones or newer tablets, why don’t they really wind up and dent it by making lives better?

Tim Cook purportedly said, in response to these stories, that Apple “cares about about every worker in their worldwide supply chain.”

Great. It’s time for them to prove it.

“Whether you’re a student or teacher, an intern or executive, if you have an iPad and you take notes, get Noteshelf.”

Noteshelf is currently the best way to take and share handwritten notes on the iPad. Why would you want to do that? Well, we live in a digital world and it’s become much, much easier to carry a single, multifunctional iPad around than a heavy stack of books, grocery lists, calendars, journals, notebooks, scrap papers, sketchbooks, and stickies. Sure, the iPad comes with a keyboard based Notes app built in, but there’s still something to said about writing by hand. Call it therapeutic. Call it efficient. Call it necessary. There are simply more things to take note of than are currently possible with a keyboard alone.

For example, asking a math instructor to quickly type out an equation on her iPad and mail it to a student is absurd. Asking an executive to rapidly brain storm a new workflow and share it with the team is cumbersome. But sketching them out with Noteshelf? Now that’s not only quick and easy, it’s enjoyable.

Noteshelf is a note-taking app for your iPad –- or shall I say: a beautiful note-taking app for your iPad — that’s based on freeform handwriting. You can write with your finger or, better still, a pen-like device called a stylus. It comes with 17 digital inks, 20 note templates, 15 covers, and much, much more.

If you’re new to the idea of a free-form notes app, it’s really simple to get started. Just treat your iPad like a blank piece of paper and start writing, drawing, and charting. Almost anything you can jot down with a piece of note paper, you can jot down with Noteshelf.

Simplicity does not necessarily imply feature-lacking, however; Noteshelf is jam-packed with an assortment of features that makes note taking not only easy, but exciting!

Noteshelf includes 17 pen colors and 21 different levels of thickness.

Color addicts rejoice! Noteshelf includes 17 different pen colors with 21 thickness choices, and 8 highlighter colors with 41 different sizes. The combinations are nearly limitless and allow you to really customize your notes to fit your purpose and style.

All Emoji symbols are accessible and can be added to your notes. You can also add pictures.

You can also annotate pictures. Noteshelf lets you import photos from your iPad’s library, or if you have an iPad 2, you can quickly snap a photo with its built-in camera to send directly into your notes.

If you love Emoji — the Japanese pictograms and emoticons — you’ll be happy to hear that Noteshelf is equipped with a button that lets you quickly add Emoji symbols to your notes. Unfortunately, the symbols are not sizable.

Noteshelf lets you get detailed with text, eight highlighters, and small writing.

Now, the first time I saw this feature, I though it would be annoying to have to constantly move the rectangle to the area of page I wanted to write, but Noteshelf has implemented some smart, automatic actions into this feature. When you reach the far right side of the magnified area, the rectangle will automatically jump to the right so that you all you need to do is start from the beginning of the rectangle to continue your writing. When you reach the edge of the page, it will automatically skip to the next line for you.

I typically use Noteshelf to write solutions to math problems for my students and thus normally want to head down the page while zoomed in, not across. Instead of relying on Noteshelf to automatically move the rectangle, I just hit the tab/enter button that pushes it down for me. There are also arrow buttons for those who may want to manually move the magnified area, say, after finishing a sentence.

Noteshelf also offeres a “Wrist Protection” feature that allows you to rest your hand on the iPad without your wrist polluting your notes with a bunch of unwanted marks. You can specify which area of the screen needs to remain mark-free and Noteshelf will automatically adjust this location as you move down the screen.

Notes can be exported as images or PDFs directly to email, iTunes, Dropbox, Evernote, ot iPad albums, as well as shared to Facebook or Twitter. You have the option of exporting individual pages or entire notebooks.

Your notes are neatly placed on a wood noteshelf where you can edit titles, papers, and book covers.

Your notes are displayed as notebooks on a wooden shelf and can be arranged to your liking. You can also stack the notebooks on top of each other other to create folders — or more accurately, sub-bookshelves. You can also edit the title, paper type, and book cover for each notebook from this screen.

More covers and paper types are available as in-app purchases.

If you’re not happy with the paper and cover choices included in Noteshelf, more options are available as in-app purchases for $0.99 each. Personally, I have picked up the designer covers and plan to grab the striped ones next.

The good

• Lots of colors and pen sizes
• Zoom feature for smaller, more detailed notes
• Ability to insert photos
• Wrist protection works great

The bad

• Extra paper and covers are in-app purchases and can add up quickly
• Cannot import PDFs for annotation

The conclusion

Noteshelf is a phenomenal app for those looking to take handwritten notes with their iPad. Believe it or not, Noteshelf actually improves the look of your handwriting by smoothly interpretation of your annotations. Whether you’re a student or teacher, intern or executive, if you have an iPad and you take notes, get Noteshelf.

$4.99 – Download Now

• Cool iPhone 5 Mock-Up
• Music Artwork issues
• Using iPad for music creation
• iCloud and Pages
• Transfer iPhone Music to iTunes Library

If you’re not already a member of the iMore Forums, register now!

You come home, tired and frazzled, reach into your mailbox to get the letter you’re expecting or the bills you’re dreading, and all you come out with is a fist-full of… junk mail. Well, PaperKarma is here to put an end to it. And it’s as simple as taking a photo.

When a piece of unwanted junk mail shows up to your home or office, be it a magazine, coupon book, flyer, credit card book, or phone book, all you have to do is open PaperKarma, snap a photo with the offender’s name clearly visible, and hit send. That’s it. PaperKarma will take care of the rest and submit a request to unsubscribe on your behalf.

It’s like playing whack-a-mole with junk-mail. Click. Done.

Unfortunately, PaperKarma is U.S. only right now, but hopefully it, or similar services, spread internationally. Not only is junk mail annoying and intrusive, it also has a massive negative impact on the environment. Taking a few seconds out of your day for each piece of junk mail you receive will not only help de-clutter your life, but help save the Earth. And PaperKarma makes it fast, easy, and fun to do.

Free – Download Now

If you’re looking to be picking up a new iPhone on AT&T any time soon, you’ll want to note that the upgrade fee will be doubling on February 12. As the folks over at Android Central noted based on the screenshot above, the new fee will be a sizable $36.

Wireless devices today are more sophisticated than ever before. And because of that, the costs associated with upgrading to a new device have increased and is reflected in our new upgrade fee. This fee isn’t unique to AT&T and this is the first time we’re changing it in nearly 10 years.

But what does that even mean? The cost of keeping us as customers, taking our money for a new device, and charging us for ongoing service for many more months to come has… gotten higher?

There’s no “upgrade fee” when we buy new televisions, new toasters, new Wi-Fi routers, new bicycles… should we go on? What beyond the price of the new phone and the monthly fees from the new contract should AT&T really need or be entitled to?

Now, a $0 iPhone 3GS is really $36. A $100 iPhone 4 is really $136.

For some, an $18 increase may not mean a whole lot but considering you’re essentially doing AT&T a favor by upgrading your device and staying with them, any added cost is sure ruffle a few feathers. Now that information is out there, we’ll have to wait and see if AT&T sticks to their guns or cancels their plans.

How do you feel about paying it the next time you upgrade to an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5?

Source – Android Central

While we’re still hearing conflicting rumors about super-fast LTE 4G networking for iPad 3 this spring or iPhone 5 this summer/fall, you’ll be happy to hear that AT&T is preparing to replace their current microSIM card stock with LTE compatible versions.

Now the Andorid-powered Pantech Burst and the Windows Phone Nokia Lumia 900 are the likely targets, but there has been an awful lot of solid-ish talk about the iPad 3 lately, and even if we don’t see an LTE iOS tablet soon, WWDC is looming along with the possibility of an iPhone 5. Whatever comes out next, it’s hard to imagine it not having at least one model with LTE connectivity, and even less likely that they’ll ditch the micro SIMformat.  

Verizon switched to LTE microSIM cards in October for the Samsung Stratosphere, so they’d be all set to go with any new Apple hardware as well. Sprint is still getting its feet wet with LTE through the Galaxy Nexus, so they may be next in line to start offering LTE microSIM cards — we’ll be keeping an eye out.

If there’s no LTE in your area, we can understand if this doesn’t matter very much to you… yet. But when it does come, and you start pulling 20-50mbps of data, you’ll probably start to care a lot more.

Source: PhoneArena

We’re into the second week of Mobile Nations fitness month and it’s time to get more serious about your strength training. If upper body strength is on your want list, Hundred PushUps is the perfect app to help get you results. It’s a six week program whose ultimate goal is to get you to successfully complete 100 consecutive pushups in a row.

Now, as someone who struggles to complete only 10 pushups (where 5 of them are the girly kind!), I understand how you may instantly feel discouraged by this seemingly insurmountable task. But that’s where Hundred Pushups comes in!

With Hundred PushUps’ highly acclaimed plan, you will succeed. All you have to do is not give up, and invest a mere 30 minutes a week.

Giveaway

Since it’s Mobile Nations fitness month and we want you to be as successful as you possibly can be, so we’re gifting away 5 copies of Hundred PushUps to you, our awesome, motivated, and dedicated readers! For a chance to win, just tell us how many pushups you can do now, today. Everyone has to start somewhere! (Must have a US iTunes account to win. Apple’s rule, not ours!)

$1.99 – Download Now