If you prefer using the features of an Android operating system but are stuck with an iPhone or any other iOS for that matter then you are not completely out of luck.  There are several things you can do to make the features on your iPhone work like Android features.  Here are some tips and tricks found on lifehacker that we will pass on and share.

Locking up your iPhone screen widgets

customizing your iPhone home screen is actually much simpler than it would appear.  Follow the directions in this article in order to customize your iPhone lockscreen features.  There you will find a nice set of instructions for setting up a custom lockscreen that is simple, sleek, and provides you with time and date and other simple things that you need when looking at your phone at a quick glance.

Unobtrusive Notifications

iOS seriously fails at handling notifications. No matter what kind of notification you get, iOS gives you the same annoying blue dialogue box that interrupts whatever you’re doing. Tired of  these?   MobileNotifier is an excellent solution.  This is a jailbreak hack, so you’re out of luck if you’re sticking with a jailed device. If you need a reason to jailbreak, this is a good one.

MobileNotifier handles notifications similarly to the way Android does—by keeping them in an always-accessible drawer and by notifying you without interruption so you can continue doing what you’re doing. When you receive a text message, for example, a little bar will pop up top to let you know that you’ve received a notification. You can leave it up there for as long as you need and dismiss it (or act on it) whenever you want. To see all of your notifications (or to clear them), you just need to double tap the home button and you’ll see your notifications drawer (as well as multi-tasking mode). If you’d like to set up MobileNotifier (and you should), follow these instructions on Lifehacker.

Getting Google Apps on your iPhone

Here are some Google Apps that you can get on your iPhone:

• The official Google Mobile App
• Google latitude
• Google Earth
• Google Voice
• GoogleReader (use Google  docs?  Super useful and worth the $5 or so that it costs)

You may prefer to use the mobile webapps provided by Google over the original options, so make sure you put them on your iOS and bookmark them if you do.  Just make a bookmark on your homescreen that links to them.

Turn on Google Sync

So you’ve never been able to do this before, but now there is a way.  Google Sync for iOS will let you push your contacts, calendars, and mail to your iOS device and it’s really easy to set up. It’s almost identical to setting up MobileMe, except it uses the Microsoft Exchange protocol. Google Sync requires iOS 3.0 or higher, but iOS 4.0 or higher will let you add multiple Exchange accounts (so you’ll want to make sure you’ve upgraded if you need multiple Exchange accounts on your device). If you want to get Google Sync set up, Google has some instructions here: Setting up Google Sync. Once you have it up and running, you’ll have your Google data pushed and syncing over-the-air to your iOS device just like you would with Android.

Improving Voice Recognition

iOS’ VoiceOver is what it is. For some it’s helpful and for others (like myself) you just forget it even exists until you accidentally hold down the home button for too long. While there aren’t any great improvements to iOS’ voice recognition capabilities, there are two things that can help. First, if you haven’t already download the you should, if only for its voice search capabilities. Additionally, you want to get your hands on a copy of the Dragon Dictation app, which will let you create notes as well as send email and SMS text messages with your voice. Both apps are free in the iTunes App Store so you really have every reason to give them a shot.

Here are some blank maps of different countries and continents around the world.  I’ve found them useful on several different occasions.  Enjoy!

Blank Map of The World

Blank Map of The United States

Blank Map of South America

Blank Map of Russia

Blank Map of North America

Blank Map of Middle America

Blank Map of Japan

Blank Map of Europe

Blank Map of China

Blank Map of Australia

Blank Map of Asia

Blank Map of Africa

1. You step in something wet while you’re wearing socks.
2. You stop at a stop sign and wait for a car to pass.  As they approach the intersection without a stop or yield sign, they stop and then look at you wondering why you aren’t going.  Come on.
3. You’re waiting to turn right at a red light, but you can’t because there is one car in front of you that waits until the light turns green to also turn right.
4. You are walking down the hallway and you turn down another hallway at the exact same time as someone else coming from a different direction.  Now there you are, walking right next to this person at the exact same speed as if synchronized walking.  You don’t know them, but you feel like you should say something.  Of course you don’t say a word because all you can think of is how much you want them to not be there.  What could you say? “Nice hallway, eh?” No, that is weird, almost as weird as the situation that you’re in.
5. You are attempting to open your can of soda discretely, but you always fail.
6. You are invited to hang out with a girl (or guy) and you expect it to just be you two.  To your dismay, you arrive and there are several other people there, invited by the same person, and they hadn’t told you because if they had you probably wouldn’t have shown up in the first place.  This probably only bothers me when I’m in introvert mode.  Who am I kidding, this always bothers me.
7. Foreigners shout on their cell phones in gibberish while indoors.
8. Doing anything that involves contacting your cell phone or cable provider.
9. Paying for monthly insurance on your cell phone, then when it breaks and you proudly storm into the store to eagerly claim what is yours you are told: “Sorry, the insurance will not cover this.  I’m sorry that your phone no longer turns on or can’t retain a charge, but there is a scratch here on the side which means there is physical damage.”  If this ever happens to you, lose your mind and argue with them for hours until the manager gives in just to get you out of the store, it worked for me.  This is very specific, but I feel like this happens to everyone.
10. Someone with zero web design experience tells you what they think their site should look like.

Very cool!

Pink Glove Video

For the remainder of the month, Engineersphere.com will donate $3 to the American Cancer Society for every guest post that is made.  Engineers can help in more ways than you thought!

You can donate too at the above link. Or to any of these foundations.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/don/don_0.asp

http://www.relayforlife.org/

http://www.acscan.org/

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This is the first post at EngineerSphere.com, I’ll consider this a landmark.  The goal of EngineerSphere.com is to bring the technical community together to make things easier on everybody.  There will be frequent informative posts on a multitude of electrical / computer engineer-related subjects.  As time goes on, other focus’ will be added on to better accommodate the entire spectrum.  Whether you are an undergrad, graduate, or even a professor, everyone can find something useful here.  If there is a subject that you would like covered in greater detail send an email to Jeff@engineersphere.com and an admin, a knowledgeable poster, or myself will gladly elaborate on given subject.  Don’t have time for that?  Sometimes we don’t either, but someone reading does, simply post your specific question in the Q & A section of the website and enjoy free help.  If you are bored or need a 5 minute break from that Fourier Transform, log in and answer a few questions!

The ‘Vault’ Section of the website is for specific members only and is available by invite only.  If you would like access to the The Vault, email jeff@engineersphere.com and just let me know.  The Vault will contain a large database of solutions manuals that users have collected over the years.  A separate, public vault will be available to the community that will consist of freeware type software such as p-spice, visual studio, and PCB artist.  Again, if you have something you would like to contribute to the public or private vault, or are looking for something in particular, make it known and it shall be done.

That is all.  Enjoy.