You can also read this post on Jen’s Blog.

This afternoon I’m attending “iOS Tips & Tricks” with Don Orth and Carl Hooker. Having seen both Don and Carl present individually, I’m excited to see what they do together. You can follow the Today’s Meet Backchannel. This is focused primarily on iOS 7.

Not Carl’s shopping list.

Carl’s starting with his wife’s shopping list on “Reminders.” One of the great features is that you can set reminders not only for time, but for geography as well. You can remind yourself driving past the grocery store to pick up milk or to grab your computer when you leave work. It’s a great feature! Unfortunately it’s not yet available for the iPad only the iPhone.

Another feature in iOS is pop up notifications, handy much of the time but not great when you’re using your iPad for presentations. This is when turning on “

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Do not Disturb” can be a great tool. You can set it from the control center for on the spot or even schedule it (for bed time). I have mine set to go on automatically at 10:00pm until 7:00 am. My favorites (parents, siblings, best friends) can ring through but otherwise I will get that notification in the morning. This can be a great way to avoid the temptation of checking that text or email. Not only does it silence sound, it turns off vibration.

If you’re like Don and an appaholic (there will be meetings and a reality show soon), then the new search feature (single finger drag down) pulls up the search window. The search feature is quite robust and will allow you to search for applications, names, documents, images, etc. You can also see the folder it is stored in on your iOS device.

Another cool feature with iOS is clean web browsing. When reading articles on the iPad you have adds and other distractions. By using Apple’s reader tool in Safari on the iPad, you can clean all the adds and clutter off your web browser! This is a great way to remove those featured adds that show up as a result of your browsing history. Another way to remove distractions for teens and toddlers is to enable guided access. This will lock the user into an app or a tool (e.g. iBooks) or a part of the page (if you want a child to stay on one website). It’s too time demanding for multiple students but a great feature for your own child or very small groups.

The next thing Don and Carl demonstrate is screen gestures: four finger swipe up, four finger swipe to the right, close fingers gesture, and four finger swipe to the left. These are all features that you can use to multi-task. Gestures are key on the iPad to speed up your activity and productivity on the iPad. While not as great as the iPad aerobics that Don and Carl demonstrated, here’s a good video with the same features:

One of the best new features in iOS 7 gestures is the easy way to close applications. You can even close two or three applications simultaneously!

Another cool feature in Apple’s App store is that it will allow you to gift apps. This is great for the Apple Fan Girl/Boy on your list! In order to gift the app, you just need the user’s email address. It’s an instant process. Very cool! I wish they allowed wish lists that I could send to people…

iOS 7 comes with a new camera app as well that is incredibly robust. You can take speed images (a lot of images in a single shot), panoramic images, in image cropping, zoom video, etc. There is a lot to explore in the new iOS 7!

Special thank you to Kathy Schrock for capturing this video of iOS Aerobics!