Singing in the shower just got a whole lot more fun!

I received the Homewerks Ventilating Bath Fan with Bluetooth Speaker ($139 at Home Depot) for review a few weeks ago, and while I couldn’t wait to test it out, I was feeling a little lazy about the installation process. We finally got sick of stepping over the box, so I bit the bullet and designated a Saturday morning to the task. I regret to inform you that my procrastination was unwarranted and I could have been enjoying music in the shower a lot sooner! Curses!

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is part 30 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here. 

For the vast majority of apps that you build, it makes tremendous sense to make sure your app can be sold to as many iOS users in as many countries and languages as possible. The App Store is available in over 150 countries in 40 languages and automatically handles international payments and current conversion for you. All you need to do is make sure your app can support a variety of languages. I'll show you the basic steps in this post as we make the iAppsReview project multi-lingual. 

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is part 29 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here.

As we continue to move the iAppsReview app forward, we now come to a point where we have to climb the learning curve on one of the more advanced Objective-C concepts—blocks. This discussion comes at an unlikely place. This week I'm going to show you how to take the image of a review that you have created in the Write Review scene and display it in the My Reviews scene. This seems like it should be pretty straightforward, but as you will see, it involves using the iOS Assets Library and using Objective-C blocks.

Earlier this year I was invited to meet with members of Apple's iBooks Store (formerly called the iBookstore) at the Book Expo America conference in New York City. At that meeting I talked about my major complaint with iBooks—you couldn't read them on a Mac. You could only read them on the iPad. This gave the appearance that Apple was more interested in selling iPads than in supporting the iBooks ecosystem. So I was delighted when Tim Cook announced at the special event in September 2013 that Apple was making a version of iBooks for Mavericks, the new operating system for the Mac! This is a huge win for readers. Now you can read your books on the larger Mac screens (there is even a full screen mode) and iCloud keeps your current page, highlights, notes, bookmarks, and collections up to date on all devices. 

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is part 28 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here.

Just about every app has the need to store and retrieve settings that are specific to the user. User settings include information such as name, ID, email address, password, high score (for games), preferences, and so on. 

It was only last month Apple unveiled the new iMacs and iPhone 5s and 5c, and released its redesigned mobile operating system, iOS 7. But Apple is not through for the year yet. Last week, the company officially announced a special event to take place tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pacific time at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. The invitation, adorned with colorful fall leaves, simply says “We still have a lot to cover.” Here's a roundup of the refreshed products Apple is most likely to deliver in time for the holidays.

And of course, check back with us tomorrow at 10 a.m. Pacific time or 1 p.m. Eastern time for live coverage of the event.

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience  how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 27 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here.

In many of the built-in iOS apps, such as Settings, you are able to edit information directly in the cells of a table view. This is a nice feature, because you the user doesn't have to navigate to a separate scene just to enter a value. This is especially important when setting up email where there are several values that need to be entered.

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 26 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here.

In my previous post we went through the steps of converting the Write Review scene in iAppsReview to iOS 7 and Xcode 5. In this post we're going to update a few more scenes and learn even more important information about Auto Layout, iOS 7's default edge-to-edge content, and how to specify a global tint for your app!

Do you have an idea for an app but lack the programming knowledge to begin building it? In this weekly blog series, I will take you, the non-programmer, step by step through the process of creating apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Join me each week on this adventure, and you will experience how much fun turning your ideas into reality can be! This is Part 24 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here.

In my previous column, I talked about some of the great new changes in Xcode 5, Apple's tool for creating iOS apps. In this post, I am going to move the iAppsReview project to Xcode 5 and iOS 7 and we'll talk about some of the challenges you will encounter as you move your apps forward. 

When I take my mountain bike out on the trails, besides getting a good workout, it relaxes me. For me it's a mindful experience being out in nature with only me, the bike, and the trail.

However, because I live in Colorado, when the snow starts falling my bike finds residence in my garage until the sun starts shining again, I can shed my North Face coat, and the trails start drying out.

During the winter, I usually find myself hanging out on the couch instead of getting the exercise I need. I absolutely hate going to the gym. 

So, that's why I was happy to hear about a fellow Colorado resident who developed an app designed to quiet the mind and make working out at the gym like being outdoors.

Is the iPhone 5C for Kids?

By Becca Ludlum

Apple released details about the new iPhone 5c today and with its plastic exterior, reduced price, and colorful case combinations it is easy to assume it's geared towards... dare I say it? Kids.

I know my son would give almost anything for the green model, and with a $99 price tag for the 16GB version it's a great addition to my holiday gift list for him. Is this what Apple had in mind when they designed the 5C?

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