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How to set up Do Not Disturb on iOS 6

When Apple unveiled iOS 6 last June at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, a new feature called Do Not Disturb was one of the key functions highlighted.

Do Not Disturb, when turned on, will not only completely silence your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, but it will prevent the screen from turning on when an alert is received.

To enable or disable Do Not Disturb (DND), launch Settings, where you'll find a toggle switch. Alerts will then be silenced until you return to Settings and turn DND off. But there's more to it than that. Since you're … Read more

Apple delivers iOS 6

As expected, Apple today began pushing out iOS 6 to iPods, iPhones and iPads.

The update began going out to users this morning. Users can get it by plugging their device in and launching Apple's iTunes software, or -- if they're running iOS 5 -- over the air from within the settings menu.

According to Apple, the update adds "over 200 new features," to iOS 5, which was released last October. Chief among them is an entirely new maps application that uses Apple's own data, changes to Siri that add more information about movies, restaurants, … Read more

As iOS 6 debuts minus YouTube, video apps fight for attention

When Apple users start upgrading to iOS 6 this morning, it'll be missing an app that's been baked into the operating system since the release of the first iPhone: YouTube. For the first time, consumers will have to search for a video app on their own -- and that has developers eager to get their attention.

Most consumers will doubtless start by simply downloading the YouTube iPhone app that Google released last week. But for now, that one's iPhone-only -- an iPad version is months off. In the meantime, makers of other so-called video discovery apps are … Read more

5 things that surprised me about the iPhone 5

After a week of using the iPhone 5, I've posted my review of Apple's new phone on CNET. Which brings me to wondering: how much can a familiar-looking device that we've seemingly known about for months be capable of surprising anyone, much less a tech editor?

For me, the iPhone 5 surprised in the following ways.

The weight Shaving about an ounce off a phone's heft doesn't sound like a lot, and I've always been skeptical of incremental reductions (20 percent lighter!), but the first thing that shocked me when I picked up the … Read more

IoSafe unveils disaster-proof, Synology-based dual-bay NAS server

If you want the best network-attached storage (NAS) experience, get a Synology NAS server like the DiskStation DS412+. But if you want to guard data from even the worst disaster, an IoSafe storage device, such as the Solo G3, will fit your needs. In fact, you can use those two combined for the best of both worlds.

Now, what if you just need a single device that offers both a great user experience and top-notch data security? There's something you can look forward to: the N2 that IoSafe announced today.

This is a new NAS server, which the disaster-proof … Read more

App Store snub? Apple leaves YouTube off list of top video apps

Apple is leaving YouTube off more than its new operating system.

A new featured section of the App Store called "TV Time" launched yesterday to showcase top video apps across a range of categories: networks and services, shows, and sharing tools, among others.

But while there are dozens of video apps on display there, the most popular one is nowhere to be found. YouTube's standalone app, which it released Tuesday, is missing.

The news comes on the heels of Apple saying it would no longer include YouTube as a preinstalled app on iOS devices, a position YouTube … Read more

Developers scramble to ready apps for iPhone 5

As rumors of a big-screen iPhone 5 intensified late last month, engineers at the read-it-later app Pocket went into hacking mode, scouring the Internet for ways to tweak the iPhone's official software development kit so they could redesign their app for a bigger screen.

Ever since Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, widespread speculation has held that the next iPhone would boast a 4-inch screen. For hundreds of thousands of developers, that posed a potential problem: Would their apps look strange on a bigger screen? And how would they build mock-ups when the official iOS simulator showed the … Read more

YouTube launches new iPhone app ahead of iOS 6 release

Days before iOS 6 lands on iPhones without the familiar pre-installed YouTube app, Google has released a new version with some significant upgrades. (Grab the app here.)

Tens of thousands of additional videos can now be played through the iOS app, notably major-label music videos. That will be made possible by advertising, which was forbidden in the original Apple-designed app. The new YouTube also includes an easier way to browse any channels you've subscribed to -- just swipe right from the left side of the screen to see a list of them -- and new options for sharing videos … Read more

What I'd like to see in the iPhone 5

I've owned an iPhone every year since its 2007 debut. Every one. The reward for such reckless upgrading has been a sense of the iPhone's evolution over those years. What started as a device that had not many apps to speak of, but dripped futurism, has become an always-on, location-aware, frighteningly integral part of my nervous system.

While I've listed what we expect out of the next iPhone, I haven't told you what I want. So, here's my own personal list of what matters most...to me.… Read more