Todd Bernhard is a bestselling (6+ million downloads) award-winning (AARP, About.com, BestAppEver.com, Digital Hollywood, and Verizon) developer and founder of NoTie.NET, an app developer specializing in Talking Ringtone apps including AutoRingtone. And his profile photo is of the last known sighting of Mr. Bernhard wearing a tie, circa 2007!
An iPhone is almost always attached to his hip or in his pocket, but over the years, Mr. Bernhard has owned an Apple Newton, a Motorola Marco, an HP 95LX, a Compaq iPaq, a Palm Treo, and a Nokia e62. In addition to writing for iPhone Life, Mr. Bernhard has written for its sister publications, PocketPC Magazine and The HP Palmtop Paper.
What goes up must come down, and it's happening to Nintendo stock. The hoopla over Pokémon Go has subsided a bit and now investors are paying attention to the fact (and admission by Nintendo) that Nintendo doesn't get all the profits from the app, and may only end up with 10 to 13 percent of those profits, meaning Apple and Google are pocketing more than the video game firm will.
By Todd Bernhard
Pokémon Go has invaded the App Store and our society's consciousness, and as with any such trend, there are good, bad, and ugly elements. We've seen the good news—people getting out, socializing, getting exercise. It's even breathed new life into small businesses who have seen increased traffic due to players searching for characters to catch.
By Todd Bernhard
It's summertime and that means beaches, pools, and other watery adventures. None of those are good for electronics. Fortunately, there's the Catalyst Case ($69.99) for the iPhone SE, and other iPhones. I tried it with my new iPhone SE, and I plan to use it on my upcoming trip to Disney World. I normally use a less rugged case, but the Catalyst Case will protect against water damage and more, while it won't add too much bulk. After all, I chose the SE because I wanted a smaller phone, so I don't want to add a much thicker case.
By Todd Bernhard
Thanks to Apple's predictive text feature, called QuickType, your iOS device will suggest words that it thinks you want to use next so you don't have to type them yourself. While AutoCorrect guesses at a word, based on the letters you typed, QuickType predicts what word you might type next based on the context of your message or document. If you find QuickType's context-based suggestions creepy rather than cool, you can easily hide the feature, or you can turn it off completely. Here's how to turn off predictive text completely on your iPhone.
The new Apple TV has a lot of promise, thanks to its ability to run third-party apps. As more developers wrap their heads around how to write (and play)Apple TV gaming apps, it could become a more compelling purchase. One such developer is Happy Labs, which makes a few such Apple TV apps, including Happy Swordplay ($2.99).
By Todd Bernhard
Privacy and security is a hot topic, but most people don't know how to secure their desktop computers, laptops, and mobile devices. If you use PCs, Macs, Android, and iOS devices, each has its own software and settings to manage things like privacy and ad blocking. That's where the eBlocker Pro ($133.61). comes in.
By Todd Bernhard
As a kid, I loved playing with walkie talkies. I even had a set that I wore as a headset, to keep my hands free. In many ways, cellphones have become the new walkie talkie. However, they don't include the push-to-talk feature that made Walkie Talkies so cool.
Apple's computers, smartphones, and other gear are all pretty cool, but lately Apple has been working building on its most outrageous and cool item to date: its new campus. The office building will be larger than the Pentagon and is designed with the latest technology. The building is longer than a mile in length and will house 13,000 employees in 2.8 million square feet of office space. Check out the video at the end of this post.
I had the opportunity to try a few VRS Design cases for my new iPhone SE, including their Crystal Bumper Series Case ($32.99). While most iPhone 5s cases will "just work" out of the box, VRS deliberately created new versions for the iPhone SE. The result is, while the phone has the hard, flat edges of the iPhone 5 and 5s, when ensconced in cases from the Crystal Bumper Series or High Pro Shield Series or Thor Series, they resemble the soft, curved edges of the iPhone 6 and 6s. If you like that, then these cases can make the iPhone SE feel like the 6 series.
By Todd Bernhard
Apple has released a plethora of Apple Watch bands to let users give their Apple Watch a personal touch, but a low-cost option dubbed iPops goes even further. You insert an iPop into one of the holes in your Apple Watch band and have your own Pandora-style bracelet that tells a story. iPops are like emojis that you wear.
