SAN FRANCISCO, MACWORLD/IWORLD 2012 — One of the closing events from the first day at Macworld / iWorld was the RapidFire session. If you wanted to learn about one cool thing about a variety of Apple-related stuff, it was the place to be.
Each presenter delivered a quick-paced talk that offered information, tips and tricks that shed some light on a little known or understood piece of software or hardware. The scope of the talks ranged from unconventional uses of Photo Booth to how to fix some of your Apple devices on your own, but here were the ones that I felt were the best of the bunch.
- Serenity Caldwell: 5 Things You didn’t Know About your iOS Device. Highlights of this RapidFire demonstrated how you could make Spotlight an app launcher by adjusting your iPhone’s settings, implementing Text Shortcuts that both solved “weird words” and fixed autocorrect issues and how to get Safari links to open open links in background. A lot of what was offered involves spending a bit of time in the Settings area of the iPhone, but the results you get by spending that time is worth it.
- Karen G. Anderson: The 10 Wildest Things People Do With Their iPhones. From navigation on bodies of water to discovering where Girl Guide cookies are being sold near you with the Cookie Locator app, this RapidFire had the audience not only paying full attention, but laughing at some of the things people do with their iPhones. A fun presentation that added some levity to the mix.
- Dan Frakes: 20 LaunchBar Tips That Will Make You 20% More Productive. I’m a big fan of LaunchBar — and of applications that enhance productivity as well — and this RapidFire was by far the most useful for me. I’d wager that a lot of people who were in attendance are either getting much more out of whatever launching utility they use, and others are finally starting to use one because of the tactics that were suggested.
There were a lot of talks that were delivered during the RapidFire session, many of which are either available online now or will be shortly.
