Wifey's Wifi | Discovering (THE FREE!) iPhone Personal Hotspot App

Hubby gave me an iPhone...

My first such phone, yes. Although I'm not a self-professed techie, I do love going online (with a "the world's my personal library" sort of delight)--so it did not take much convincing from hubby for me to try out the iPhone's Personal Hotspot app.

For the uninitiated (which is what I was, technically, up until 20 minutes ago):
1. On your iPhone, go to Settings.
2. The first set of settings should be: Airplane Mode | Wi-Fi | Bluetooth | Personal Hotspot | Carrier. Tap on, well, of course, Personal Hotspot.
3. Turn it on. Or slide it on, if you'd rather call it that.
4. Plug iPhone into your computer. (Yes, the charger's other end can be detached from the plug and inserted into your computer's USB port.)

5. On your computer, choose iPhone from the list of network services.
6. If prompted for a password, check your iPhone's Personal Hotspot display. There's likely a "Wi-fi Password" heading (below the "Personal Hotspot" heading), to the right of which is an alphanumeric password.
7. Rejoice and thank God for creating the person who designed this particular app, and then
thank God some more that it's still being provided for free.

Then log on to your favorite sites (for example, www.creativekuripot.blogspot.com)...

That's about it. See you online.



"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act."
Proverbs 3:27
(As cited in http://bible.cc/proverbs/3-27.htm)

Cable Capable | Found: a 25-cent cable tie option

Cable management has remained a concern for me. I'm not much into wireless everything yet. I haven't had the time to scout around my favorite Japanese shops as well, so it was a bit of a pleasant surprise, as I was going on an errand, to come across this thingy: one of several types of ponytail bands I found being peddled on the ubiquitous Philippine "bilao" (that flat round woven tray favored by itinerant vendors), somewhere along an uber-busy sidewalk in Cubao.

One website I saw describes it as a "telephone cable headrope." At only ten Philippine pesos a piece (roughly 25 US cents), it seemed a cheap enough option for taming my digital spaghetti of mouse cable, laptop power cables, headphone wiring and similar stuff. This is especially true for my laptop and extension cable, which I've been lugging around everywhere (read: different branches of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Starbucks).

Likes: (1) not as easy to lose as a piece of twist-tie; (2) kind to cables with its friction-free, sharp-free surface); (3) relatively unobtrusive aesthetically, as most of my cables are black anyway; and (4) cheap enough to stock up on, in case time proves it to be a durable enough cable management tool. | Disclaimer: I've used several since November 2012. One of them (shown in first photo) has begun to show signs of reduced elasticity.

At any rate, Creative|Kuripot is all about exploring ways to save money, time or other resources (including sanity) and sharing whatever good I come across, particularly information, tips, bargains. So feel free to try out this idea. Or share whatever substitute or option you've come across.

A cable-happy day to you. :-)

..................................

And now, a Word from the Ultimate Creative: 

Let all things be done decently and in order.

1 Corinthians 14:40 
 (King James Version, courtesy of biblegateway.com)

Make something. Save something.

I had just received a lovingly gentle but undoubtedly firm reminder from my hubby Edel. He had patiently listened and looked as I ran through the list of things I thought we urgently needed to buy. I thought it was a pretty impressive list; for a moment I fancied myself as an amateur procurement officer of some sort.

The moment sped faster than I could scroll halfway down the list.

"All these things...the printer conversion, the new cabinet...are good. But they will have to come from your own income, from whatever you will make. And our priorities have already been set," he said with Gandhi-like equanimity. For a split-second I would have preferred a Santa Claus-like indulgence.

The truth stung and stunned.

Later that day, as I attacked a fresh document pile on my workdesk at home, I engaged God in friendly banter. Actually I was making feeble attempts at negotiating: Can You provide this item for free...or maybe that...what if...

God came back with, well, a reverential silence worthy of God.

As I worked some more, light began dawning, albeit foot-draggingly slow. "OK, I guess I can do without this for the next six months. OK, this one...maybe that could substitute for this." After about five minutes of such ruminations, a lightning strike of inspiration came.

"Yeah, I guess I could make something like this out of what I already have. After all, I'm a creative kuripot."

And since I'm only kuripot* when it comes to shopping money, but not when it comes to sharing good stuff with people, I thought I could blog about my attempts, or share ideas, and hope that somewhere out there, someone would pick up a useful idea or two, and, yes, make something and/or save something.

Oh, and contrary to common perceptions about "kuripot" people: sometimes we just like to scrimp on things we would have liked because we'd rather splurge on people we want to bless :-)

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.-Proverbs 11:25

Looking forward to sharing,
MM





*Pinoy for stingy