iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Whether you're a fan of over-the-ear headphones or tiny, wireless earbuds, our 2019 Buyer's Guide to Headphones has the set for you. There's something here for everyone, from noise-canceling headphones to fast-charging earbuds, from more expensive and well-known vendors like Sony and Apple, to more affordable options that offer excellent audio quality, comfort, and fit. Let's find out what sounds good this year for your workout, commute, or just lounging around the house.

There's a device for everything these days, and that includes smart monitors for blood pressure, heart rate, weight, air quality, and much more. Whether you're looking to eat a healthier diet, find a smart helmet for your bike commute, work a little isometric exercise into your daily routine, or even start meditating, our 2019 Buyer's Guide has just the tool you need to help you meet your goals. Let's get started reviewing ten of this year's top health and fitness devices that will help you improve your wellbeing.

BaseLynx Charging Modules: Scosche’s Customizable & Stylish Charging Solution

(Sponsored Post) By Erin Smith on Thu, 01/07/2021

The BaseLynx Modular Charging system by Scosche is a creative and fully customizable way to power your devices without having to use several separate chargers. Why end up with a tangle of cords and cables when you can select the exact number of chargers you want and connect them seamlessly into one attractive charging station? These modules can be arranged and rearranged as you see fit, and are certified safe for your devices.

A bag with a bonus!

By Anonymous

Here’s a bag with a bonus! The Cocoon Innovations Messenger Sling bag not only protects and transports the iPad, but it also contains an extremely functional insert, the GRID-ITTM. The GRID-ITTM is designed to hold pens, a stylus, earphones, flash drives, notepads, business cards, charging cord, small electronics and other accessories. Customize it any way you like with the woven elastic grids that hold the accessories in place. The back of the GRID-ITTM even doubles as a mouse pad.

Stuff Breaks.  So says SquareTrade, the folks who offer an extended warranty for your iPhone and iPad, among other devices.  It's true, and perhaps even more so with the abundance of glass on the iPhone 4.  I have always kept my iPhone in a case, because, frankly, I'm clumsy and prone to dropping it.  However, the new iPhone 4 is so slim and elegant that you might want to keep it unveiled. Case or no case, you should check out the SquareTrade offer.  For $99 you get two years of coverage (or you can be billed $5.99/month).  That represents a 20% limited time offer.  You can transfer or cancel at any time and get a prorated rebate.

The iPad's onscreen keyboard approaches the dimensions of a full-size keyboard (in landscape orientation, at least), but the layout of the keys is not completely standard. One of the most maddening things about the default keyboard is that it lacks an apostrophe key. I'm used to the apostrophe's position on a standard keyboard—all the way to the right just before the Enter key. I keep reaching for it with my right "pinkie" finger and end up hitting the Return key instead. I can enter an apostrophe from the "symbols" keyboard, which is accessed by tapping on the ".?123" key.

I actually got an iPhone 4, yesterday, a day early due to some lucky mail fluke. Today I tried FaceTime with blogger Todd Bernhard. Todd will probably write about it here and/or in our next issue. I also used the flash in the camera. I liked both features, although both have a ways to go. However, what I was most impressed with based on what I will get the most use of is the ebook reading experience.

A bit of news for the would be iPad recording artist and an article correction/update to our recent issue. The amazing Yeti USB mic from Blue Microphones can be used with the iPad (using a connection kit). The Yeti is an excellent recording mic, but combined with the iPad and Blue FiRe app, you can have the makings of a lightweight recording rig. I also need to print a correction to my recent article on recording with Blue FiRe. I said that BF only recorded in mono, but in fact supports both mono and stereo. Read on for more press info about the Yeti + iPad hookup..

Connecting iPad and Yeti...

With all of the wireless products coming out these days, doesn’t it seem pretty old-school to have to fumble around with cables and synching with a desktop or laptop to get your data on a mobile device? The Palm Pre may have been a marketing flop, however it showed us a glimpse of the near future where we no longer have to link up to a PC to keep our contacts, calendars and such up to date and at the ready.

The last few updates to iTunes and even the Apple mobile OS’s have allowed for some synchronization with information sources other than iCal and Address Book, however it seems that for the time being, Apple wants us tethered to our PC’s with our mobile devices.

I love the Slacker and Pandora websites — free services that let you create your own radio stations that only stream music that you like. Both are very popular, and both have iPhone apps. Now Slacker has taken an interesting — and timely — new direction. Given the constraint on data usage in AT&T's new plans, the ability of Slacker Radio 2.0 (released today) to cache songs can be a convenient and money-saving feature.

 

JBL released their On Stage Micro II last week. This is one of their portable speaker docks, which works with the iPhone, iPods, as well as some other devices. They were kind enough to send me a loaner unit (Thank You), which I have been using for a few weeks. Want to know what I think about it, then please read on.

MultiSearch is a free app that lets you search multiple search engines simultaneously. These include Google, Bing, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, YouTube, Flickr, iTunes, AppStore, Last.fm, Panoramio, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, and FriendFeed. You can choose which engines you want to search, and all the results are displayed in a single, browsable view. Plus, you can enable geolocation such that the search results are related to your current location.

Very cool this... If you use Ubuntu, the latest version (10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx), is finally out-of-box compatible with the iPhone OS, meaning no jail-breaking or compiling of anything to connect to your Ubuntu desktop. I'm likely in the minority on our blogs that use PC technology (both at work and play). I have an iPod touch, but I follow and post on just about anything tech-related. This post is for iPhone PC people, interested in the free and easy to use Ubuntu Linux OS. You can run it from a USB stick, and now it's more compatible with your Apple devices.

I love RTS (real-time strategy) games, especially when they provide a brigade of options, smart enemies, and adaptive play. I hate reviewing them, however, because it requires a ton of screens and mucho things to describe (hint: skip to the end and watch the embedded video). When I found out LASW from Isotope244 hit the App store, I knew I would just have to suck it up, and review it.

So you are looking for an easy way to convert all those home movies you have on VCR tape or camcorder? Want to carry those keepsakes around with you on your iPad? I’ve got just the accessory for you, then. The Elgato Video Capture device. It connects to a Mac (or PC*), and allows you to record from your analog sources quickly and easily. I had a chance to try out the device, but my son actually did this review on his Mac… As I’m still a “PC” I tried it out on my home computer as well.

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