Todd Bernhard

Author Details

Todd Bernhard's picture

Author Details

Todd Bernhard

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.

I've adopted wireless charging throughout my home and am always looking for the ideal Qi charger for the car. The MagMount Qi ($44.99) that Pitaka sent me to review is a leading contender. First, it's quite compact compared to many other competing models, so it won't obstruct too much of your dash or vents. And it has a built-in cooling fan so it won't overheat. The charger's surface uses aramid fiber plus a chrome exterior so it will look right at home in any sports car.

Security and privacy is in the news, as it should be based on recent breaches, so SecureData has a way to help you keep your private stuff private. The company sells a variety of hard drives in capacities from 1 TB using a mechanical hard disk drive (HDD) all the way up to an 8 TB solid state disk (SSD) although they get expensive at that size. SecureData sent me their SecureDrive BT (starting at $285) to try.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, in January 2019, I got a sneak peak at the Pivo Tracking Photography Mount ($179). The Pivo is a slick automatic phone or camera mount that can rotate via Bluetooth controller. The free companion app allows the mount to automatically track a user by face or action. I was really impressed, and now that the Pivo is real and I've tested a sample unit, I can finally vouch for it. 

There are a bunch of Bluetooth trackers out there to help you find your purse, or backpack, or keys; but the folks at Breadcrumb have found an underserved niche: outdoor enthusiasts. If you want to find your favorite hunting spot or you're a hiker looking for your base camp, you might want to check out their Bluetooth Location Marker ($39.99). Breadcrumb sent me the marker to try. It has a lot of unique features.

I have been going to trade shows like the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every year for decades now, to try to find the best consumer gadgets to review. I also try to go to shows like Comic-Con, as today's toys are increasingly intelligent and connected. So I was glad to see the Audio Pet Animal Bluetooth Speaker ($39.99) from My Audio Life at the most recent New York Comic-Con. The company let me try the adorable Narmony, a Narwhal that would be at home under the sea, or more accurately, submerged one meter for up to 30 minutes according to it's IPX7 waterproof rating. 

I wrote this review on the anniversary of the moon landing. It's about time we had a space dividend for iPad users! Enter the Capsule Case ($59.99) that Phoozy sent me to try. The case is sold in a gold or silver finish that looks like something an astronaut would carry. For those who don't want that kind of attention, Phoozy also has a modern camouflage design or basic black. I prefer the gold, myself.

If you consider an iPhone case a fashion statement, you can now make a new statement every month without breaking the bank. The folks at Casely gave me a sneak peak at one of their cases of the month, via their Case Club (starting at $15/month). It's a novel idea. Many of us like to change cases periodically, but that can get expensive. With the Casely subscription box, you can have a new case every month for as little as $15 per month, with free shipping.

In my ongoing quest to find the best wireless car charger, I tested the Airframe Wireless Charging Car Mount ($59.95), which Kenu sent me. I appreciate that it works with any case (or case-free iPhone) with no special cases or magnets required. In fact, it should handle even the biggest phones in the most rugged cases thanks to the wide spring-loaded arm design.

I travel a lot, so I'm always looking for the perfect portable charger. I think I may have found it with the Powerstation Hub ($99.95), which Mophie sent to me to review. It checks so many of my boxes. First, it has a 6,000 mAh battery. That's typically enough to either charge an iPhone twice or top off four devices. Mophie claims 36 hours of battery life, but that depends on the devices that are plugged in. The hub can charge up to four devices at once, via two USB-A ports, a USB-C port, and a built-in Qi wireless pad. The USB-C port supports power delivery for fast charging with 18 watts of power while one of the USB-A ports supports 15 watts and the other supports 5 watts. The Qi wireless charger uses 5 watts.

I travel a lot, often by airplane, so I am always looking for a good workhorse set of headphones, ones that have a long battery life, the option of using a 3.5 mm cable when I forget to charge them, and over ear-design for comfort plus noise cancellation to drown out the airplane noise. Taotronics sent the SoundSurge 46 Wireless Headphones ($89.99) to review and they check all the boxes; plus, at under $90 (currently on sale from $110), they won't break the bank.

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