Q.Is there a way to make the text bigger in the iPhone mail app, and is there a screen magnification feature for apps that don’t zoom in?
A.The iPhone software does include controls for both making the screen text larger and magnifying the entire screen. To get to these controls in iOS 6, tap the Settings icon on the Home screen. On the Settings screen, tap General and on the next screen, tap Accessibility.
On the screen of Accessibility options, in the Vision area, tap Large Text and select a bigger point size from the samples shown. In this same settings area, you can also turn on the Zoom feature that allows you to magnify the entire screen by double-tapping three fingers on the glass. Apple’s site has more information on its other Accessibility settings.
Many Android smartphones also have accessibility settings for making the screen easier to see, but the steps for adjusting them depends on the phone model, carrier and version of Android. On a Samsung Galaxy SIII running Android 4.0 and later, you can fiddle with the font size by tapping the Menu button and then Settings. Scroll down and tap Display and then tap Font Size, where you can select a larger option.
Some versions of Android also include a screen-magnification feature and other options in the Accessibility area of the Settings menu. For older versions of Android, third-party software like the Big Font app can help make the screen text easier to see.
Accessibility options are built into most major smartphone platforms. Microsoft has information for Windows Phone 8 users here and BlackBerry owners can find out more here.
A version of this article appeared in print on 02/07/2013, on page B8 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Making Your Phone Easier to Read.
Tom Quinn/University of Washington Sockeye salmon migrating from saltwater to fresh water.
Every summer, millions of sockeye salmon flood into the Fraser River in British Columbia, clogging its shivering waters with their brilliant blushing bodies.
Scientists and spectators alike have long been awed by the sockeye’s audacious struggle to swim upstream to spawn. And while it has been known for years that a salmon can smell its way up the river to find its natal stream, no one has been able to explain just how these beautiful and economically vital fish find their way back from the open ocean, 4,000 or 5,000 miles away, to the right river mouth.
Now, research from Oregon State University provides the first evidence that sockeye are guided home after two years at sea by a memory of the magnetic landscape of the river. The results of the study appear in the latest issue of Current Biology.
Current Biology The homing route of salmon is determined by recognition of a magnetic field.
Many animals including seals, sea turtles and some migratory birds have all been shown to use magnetic fields to navigate. Just last summer, scientists discovered tiny iron crystals in the nose of rainbow trout, a close relative of the sockeye, that allow the fish to detect the changes in the earth’s magnetic field.
Nathan Putman, a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State and the lead author on the study, took advantage of 56 years of fishery data and the unique geography of the coastline of British Columbia to show that sockeye recognize what home should look like, at least, magnetically speaking.
“When sockeye have gotten nice and fat out in the Pacific and start heading home to spawn, they have to decide which way to swim around Vancouver Island,” Dr. Putman said. “There’s this 300-kilometer [185-mile] piece of land blocking their entry into the Fraser River from the ocean, and they either have to swim north by way of the Queen Charlotte Strait, or south through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.”
The fishery data Dr. Putman examined tracks whether salmon return by way of the southern waterway, which is shared by the United States and Canada, or the northern route, which is the exclusive economic property of Canada. Hidden in all the numbers collected by fishery officials for divvying up the catch, Dr. Putman discovered that when the magnetic field of the northern passageway was similar to what was experienced by the fish two years ago upon leaving the Fraser, more of the salmon chose the north route. When the magnetic field of the south was more similar, more went that way.
“When the sockeye leave the Fraser as juveniles, that first encounter with saltwater is like a kick in the face,” Dr. Putman said. He said that it was as if to say: “This is important You have to remember this magnetic map. And they do.”
“As the sockeye swim southward along the coast on their way back home, they are looking for a magnetic signal that is close in intensity to what they remember from years ago,” he said.
Other factors like food availability and especially water temperature can also affect the path taken by the sockeye, but Dr. Putman said he was surprised by the degree to which the magnetic fields seem to be controlling the route.
“I know it might seem fantastical to some people that fish have evolved compasses in their noses,” he said. “But remember, a sockeye only gets to do this once. They have just one chance to spawn and pass on their genes so there is huge selective pressure for them to get it right.”
Great article! :-)
Excellent price on this printer ($599 after rebate). I buy toner cartridges from this company.
An unusually funny post from Andy Borowitz. :-)
While I’m not a road warrior, I easily log 50 flights a year for my job. I’ve had to travel with equipment all over the world for both photo and video projects. Traveling just gets more and more expensive these days. Here are a few rules that I apply to getting there safely with my sanity and equipment intact.
Carry It
I always carry these things onto the plane.
- A roll-on bag with all my lenses and camera bodies. I have had luggage stolen, the thieves know what gear bags look like.
- A laptop shoulder bag. With laptop, power supply, 2 TB of portable storage, and spare cables for all items.
- The Internet. I have an iPad, an iPhone, and a Wireless Modem. Why do I have 3 internet connections at all times? Because its cheaper than paying for WIFI at the airport and hotel. Plus its much more reliable than counting on clients and coffee shops.
- A change of clothes. Because your bag will get lost at the worst time.
Check It
When it comes to checked luggage, here are some tips to try to stretch your budget.
- Weigh your bags. Weigh your bags before you fly. A simple bathroom scale is worth keeping near your gear.
- Prepay. Some airlines offer annual passes for baggage, while others give you a free bag with their branded credit card.
- Choose wisely. One of my favorite airlines is Virgin America. Not just for their lovely service and planes (with Internet), but for their $25 per bag and up to 10 bags policy.
- Pack a bag. Overweight bags are more expensive than checking another bag. I carry a very lightweight bag inside my suitcase for “overflow.”
- Skycaps are your friend. Those great folks out front of their airport are often nicer than the folks inside. Just walk up and hand them a five or ten dollar bill with your driver’s license.
Rent It
Don’t feel you have to lug all your gear with you. All those bags can sure add up.
- Hire local. Find a local crew person or assistant for the market you’re traveling to. These can be a lighting assistant or someone to help with gear on the shoot.
- Find a peer. Use the ASMP Find a Photographer app or site to find a colleague to rent gear from.
- Look for a grip house. We typically rent lighting equipment and support gear. from a grip house, which are used by the video and motion picture industries.
Why all this hubbub? These days every dollar counts. Clients don’t really look at your rate plus expenses, they just see the bottom line. In my experience, the better a traveler I am, the more money left over to go in my pocket.
______
This Post Sponsored by:Viewbug – Fun Photo Contests
EPSON® Signature Worthy®. High-quality fine art papers. 30% rebate ends 12/31
ShootProof – Use code BOURNE20 to save 20% off the first year of any level plan – even monthly
Image Wizards – Save 20% Off Your 1ST Order – Promo Code: SB20PF
We don’t award these coveted trophies to the best products of the year; everybody does that. No, the Pogies celebrate the best ideas of the year: ingenious features that somehow made it past the lawyers, through the penny-pinching committees and into real-world tech gadgets — even if the products overall are turkeys.
So now, for the eighth straight year — the FedEx envelopes, please!
SMART STAY On Samsung’s Galaxy S III phone, the front-facing camera looks for your eyes. When you’re not looking at the screen, it dims to save battery power. It brightens right back up when you return your gaze.
POWER NAP Most of the world’s laptops do exactly one thing when you close their lids: sleep. All other activity stops.
But Apple asked: Why? Why can’t network activity keep chugging away even when the lid is closed? Why can’t your laptop keep backing itself up, downloading e-mail and syncing its online data (calendars, calendar notes, reminders, photos)?
That is the idea behind Power Nap, a feature of OS X Mountain Lion that works on recent MacBook models. You can wake up, grab your laptop and head out, confident that it is backed up and has the latest mail downloaded.
SLIPSTREAM On Amazon’s 8.9-inch Kindle HD, something ingenious happens when you call up a big-name Web site: It pops onto your screen fast, all at once. It’s almost as though the Kindle’s browser is loading a JPEG screenshot of a Web page, rather than the dozens of individual graphics, text bits and other elements that constitute a Web page. And that’s exactly what it is doing. Behind the scenes, Amazon’s servers grab frequent screenshots of the most popular Web sites; when you visit one, what you see first is that JPEG image (with live links in the right places, fortunately).
While you are studying that image, the browser continues to fetch the component pieces of the page — and after a few seconds, a blink (and occasionally a shifted element) lets you know that you are now looking at the real deal. It is a sneaky, logical, brilliant trick that saves you time and costs you nothing.
CYCLORAMIC Just when you think that nobody could possibly have another fresh idea for a phone app, Cycloramic ($1) makes 360-degree panoramic videos — without a tripod or swivel.
You stand the phone upright and tap the Go button. Incredibly, the phone, balancing on its end, begins to rotate itself. Freakiest darned thing you ever saw. Great for winning bar bets or establishing new religions.
If you’ve ever seen a phone scoot itself along a table when it is in buzz mode, you get the principle. The app triggers the phone’s vibration module at exactly the right frequencies to make the phone turn on the table. The phone’s sensors figure out how far it’s rotated.
It works only on shiny surfaces like glass, polished granite or laminated wood (like desks), and only the iPhone 5 has exactly the right balance. It’s a jaw-dropper.
ELECTRONIC LEASHES The Ciago iAlert and Cobra Tag are Bluetooth keychain fobs that communicate with your iPhone or Android phone. Once you’re 30 feet away from the phone, the keychain starts beeping, as though to say, “You’re leaving your $200 phone behind, you idiot!” It works the other way, too; the phone beeps if you leave your keys behind.
In practice, these fobs are cheaply built and, if the Amazon reviews are to be believed, not always reliable. But remember — on the night of the Pogies, it’s the idea that counts.
BLUETOOTH 4.0 Bluetooth is that wireless technology that connects gadgets within 30 feet — your phone to your headset, for example — and kills your battery charge. Right?
Actually, it doesn’t anymore. Bluetooth 4.0, built into the latest iPhone and Android phones, is also called Bluetooth LE (low energy) for a reason. For the most part, it uses power only when it has data to exchange. The rest of the time, it sleeps.
Next Page »
- 1
- 2
E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com