This weeks tips are for the iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad, with some helpful tidbits on how to save money on your AT&T bill, type faster, discover Safari's hidden Bookmarks Bar on the iPad, and add bookmarks to the Bookmarks Bar. 

Drop Your Texting Plan and Save Money

We know--you're scratching your head about the headline on this tip, but seriously, you can drop your texting plan and still "text" your friends using e-mail instead of SMS/MMS. You are, after all, using an iPhone, so why not take full advantage of its mandatory data plan?

Here's how you can send a text message to your friends on AT&T and other carriers. Simply send them an e-mail as follows:

AT&T: phonenumber@txt.att.net 

Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com

T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net

Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com

Make sure you tell your friends to send future text messages to your e-mail address after canceling your texting plan.

Tip: If your friends don't do as you ask and continue to send you traditional SMS text messages you may incur charges. Therefore, you should ask AT&T to block all incoming or outgoing SMS/MMS text messages. Be sure to tell your friends, who are not lucky enough to own an iPhone, that this tip will even work for them on different carriers.

Compatibility: iPhone 

Zippy Fast Typing with Double Spaces

Typing a period at the end of sentence is so last century. These days, you can type a lot faster on any iOS based device by double-tapping the space bar. This will automatically enter a period followed by a space.

Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad 

Enable the Bookmarks Bar in Safari for iPad

The Bookmarks Bar in Safari on the iPad isn't turned on by default. So, we'll show you how to turn the book marks on using the following steps: launch Settings > Safari > tap Always Show Bookmarks Bar to turn it ON.

Compatibility: iPad 

Adding Bookmarks to the Bookmark Bar

Once the Bookmarks Bar is turned on you can add your own bookmarks to it by completing the following steps: Launch Safari on your iPad, surf to a website you want to bookmark (i.e. Maclife.com), then tap the plus sign (+) to add a bookmark in the pop-up tap Bookmarks, tap Bookmarks Bar, and finally tap Save.

Your new bookmark will appear on the Bookmarks Bar for quick and easy access.

Compatibility: iPad