iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

RapidX has come up with a clever way to distinguish its MyPort portable charger ($79.99). The company sent me a review unit of its latest battery pack and it stands out, literally, because it works as a stand or a horizontal Qi charging pad or via a USB-A port. The battery pack charges by just being placed in the included dock, which charges via USB-C. There is an included USB-A to USB-C cable. This is a nice touch that helps deliver fast wireless charging at 10 watts from the 10,000 mAh battery.

In every issue of iPhone Life magazine, we feature the iPhone Home screens of people from different walks of life, so our readers can see how they use iPhone apps to meet a variety of needs. In our Spring 2020 issue, we featured preschool director Rebecca Bellonci, who uses her iPhone for parking, visiting museums, fitness, and more. If you have a story and apps you'd like to suggest, email Tamlin Day, and we may feature you in an upcoming issue of the magazine!

As an avid fan of the quality programming found on the Food Network, I was ecstatic to find that the TV giant had released an app for the iPhone and iPad that would allow me to access their vast library of recipes while working away in my own kitchen. The app is excellent in almost every way one could hope for, but it does have a few quirks that keep it from being as great as it could be. 

 

Wondering what to get that special someone?  You know, the guy who has everything?  Well, you can be pretty sure he doesn't have a JackBack because they just became available for pre-order!  JackBacks are custom wood replacement backs for your iPhone 4, available in cherry, maple, walnut or mahogany.  You can have your JackBack laser etched with a custom design for only $10 more than the $89 base price for a truly unique gift.

Today's batch of press releases brings yet another app for my in-progress article on creative uses of the iPhone camera. Money Scan x2 ($0.99) is an app that helps you detect counterfeit money. What will they think of next? The description says that it works with all currencies. It appears to simply magnify and illuminate the currency, rather than itself detecting counterfeit bills.

Review: Powis iPad Case

By Louis Senecal

Not too long ago, I was reading the accessories Forums on Macrumors and I spotted a post where a few people were wanted to review a Powis iPad case. The Powis iPad cases were released not too long ago. In this particular instance though, the requestor was iCasesOnline.com, who is a company who provides iPhone and iPad cases. They were recently selected to be an authorized Powis seller. I was waiting to see how many people pounced on an opportunity like that. As you know, I love trying out new accessories, so I imagined there would have been a lot of requests. I stopped by the forums the next day and there were no takers yet, so I decided to put my name in the hat and got the opportunity to test drive it.

If you're shopping and wonder whether the item you're considering could be more cheaply purchased via Amazon, a new app helps you do just that. Price Check by Amazon (free) lets you search for the product you have in mind in four different ways: you can say the name of the product, use the iPhone's camera to read the bar code, take a photo of the item, or enter the name of the product. The app uses the same voice recognition technology that powers the popular Dragon NaturallySpeaking. (iPhone 4 and 3GS only)

On November 26th you’ll be treated to a new distance running game in the form of Dino Rush, and I have to say that the game does a decent job of setting itself apart from similar games.  You play a little dinosaur that has a series of missions to complete, but it just so happens that you’re always hungry.  To keep your strength up you must consume all the fruit you can find, as well as avoid all the other nasty dinosaurs and things like quicksand and lava.  You’ll receive various power ups like a spiked helmet, fruit magnet and super-dinosaur suit that will help you in your quest (and are often imperative to your survival).

Over at inspirationfeed.com, Igor Ovsyannykov has collected 40 incredible iPhone wallpapers. Here are a few of them, all of them are 320x480 so you can right-click and download them. However, as Igor notes, they might not look as gorgeous on a 4th generation devices like Generation Touch or the iPhone 4 which have that 960x640 retina-display. To get the rest visit this link.  

Heart Rate - Free is a newly released app that actually measures your heart rate using the iPhone 4 camera. (The app only works with iPhone 4.) You simply put your finger over the camera lens, and the app measures the minute changes in skin color caused by the ebb and flow of blood in your finger. They say that the app isn't intended for medical use (standard disclaimer) but that it provides an accurate measure of your pulse. This is one more app for my forthcoming article on the innovative uses of the camera.

Several sources, most importantly the Wall Street Journal, have reported that today's Apple announcement will be that Apple will bring the Beatles catalog to iTunes. If so, it will be bring to an end the longest running Apple "rumor" of the Jobs' era, and may be somewhat of a disappointment to those hoping for something a bit more substantive.

Upon reflection an announcement like this might make more sense.

Board Games — All in One ($1.99) now has an English version. You get 10 classic games for your iPad: checkers, chess, Chinese checkers, backgammon, tic tac toe, peg solitaire, Ludo, and more. I like the idea of having all of these games in one app for the iPad. They're attractively designed, and can accommodate up to 6 players. These are pretty basic. You won't be able to play against your iPad, though, as in other chess apps, for example. And to have access to the instructions, you'll need an Internet connection, since it simply accesses the info on Wikipedia.

Update: Apple has cancelled the Airprint feature from iOS4.2...:(

 

The web is now abuzz with the impending release of this long overdue update to the Ipad. Having been long accustomed to features such as multitasking and folders on my iPhone 4, the limitations of iOS 3.2 has become painfully obvious and unbearable. As I reflect upon the past few weeks, the following 4.2 random thoughts must be constantly nagging every geek and will no doubt dominate thousands of pantry room discussions in the next few days (what else???):  

 

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