Be Real.
It's been a crazy few months writing code but it's finally time to unveil Be Real.
Be Real is a mobile destination where you can get help, ask questions, or share your stories with others. We all come from different walks of life where some are more fortunate than others. I believe that everyone should have the chance to have a normal life even when they’ve gone through a lot. I would love to see Be Real be a centralized place not only for those who need help but those who want to help others.
Be Real has been designed not only for webkit-based smartphones and tablets, but also for WAP feature phones.
Be You. Be True. Be Real.
To start the experience of Be Real, go to http://m.bereal.me on your phone
More preference settings are needed for iMessage
iMessage is by far the best feature added to iOS 5.
I use it all the time and every single day. Before iMessage was around I rarely used text messaging because, quite frankly, I didn't want to pay more for a highly priced text messaging plan.
Although iMessage is awesome, I do wish it had more preference settings, specifically in dealing with sending text messages when iMessage is, for some reason, unavailable.
The preferences for iMessage are bundled under Messages in the System Preference app.
iMessage by default is off, but once it's activated the only other option is "Send as SMS" which will make the phone push a standard SMS (where regular text messaging rates apply), which is on by default.
I turn this feature off because I don't want to use text messages, but Apple should add more granular preferences.
1. Give me an option to differentiate between US and International text messages.
This is important because there are times when I don't mind using text messages in the US but I can wait a few minutes for iMessage to work correctly for international messaging. Allow me to "Send the iMessage when the service becomes available".
2. Allow me send as an SMS on a per-basis situation.
The phone should attempt to deliver by iMessage but it can't, so ask me if I want to send it via SMS or wait until iMessage is available.
These are two simple adjustments to iMessage which will really give me the control of how my messages are sent and allowing me to control my costs.
Text to Speech tip
Mac OS X has Services that you can use throughout the Mac. When you right click to get the Contextual Menu, you can often see these options towards the bottom of the menu. Things like, "Tweet", etc. One new option they've added recently is "Add to iTunes as Spoken Track". You can select any text on the screen, whether it be in Mail, or a web browser, select this option, Choose the voice and name the track and Boom, it's in iTunes. If you hit play, all the text you selected will be read out to you.
Just think of the possibilities. You don't have time to read the latest article online, so you quickly select all, "Add to iTunes as Spoken Track", sync and off you go. You can then listen to the article on your iPhone or iPod.

