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.
By Todd Bernhard
I love the freedom of grabbing my iPad from its dock and getting to work, and then plopping it down back on the dock to charge. But I use a Windows laptop often and wish I could have the same convenience. Kenginston gave me the opportunity to do so when it let me try its SD400 Universal Docking Station ($229.99).
By Todd Bernhard
Apple is pretty secretive about sales figures, especially with a new category like the Apple Watch, but they are required, as a public company, to update analysts with regular financial calls. On July 21, Apple held a conference call to go over their third-quarter earnings. This was the first earnings report since the Apple Watch became widely available and Apple revealed some interesting news. CEO Tim Cook said "the feedback from Apple Watch customers is incredibly positive and we've been very happy with customer satisfaction and usage statistics." Apple cited the Wristly survey, which iPhone Life covered the other day (and, for full disclosure, which I participated in.) The survey showed 97 percent of Apple Watch owners are satisfied with their purchase. Those numbers are better than the satisfaction rates for the original iPhone or iPad!
By Todd Bernhard
While Apple loves to design away buttons and keep things as simple as possible, the Home button takes up a lot of space on the iPhone. But when Apple incorporated Touch ID into the Home button, it looked unlikely that this button would ever be designed away.
By Todd Bernhard
By Todd Bernhard
It was probably a given, but the lower-end iPods are not able to take advantage of Apple Music's offline syncing capability. The iPod shuffle and iPod nano, even though they were just introduced yesterday, July 15th, well after the Apple Music launch, are still designed to play purchased music. If you thought an Apple Music subscription could cut down on your purchased music bill, and still allow you to workout to tunes on your smaller iPod, think again. You will need a more full-featured iPod touch or iPhone for that.
By Todd Bernhard
Apple may have revolutionized the world of apps, but Microsoft is the first to offer an App Store that consolidates desktop, tablet, and mobile apps in one place. It helps that Windows computers can use touchscreen apps, so it's possible and practical to write apps that work across the Microsoft product line. By comparison, Apple's desktops and laptops do not use touchscreens and there are no short term plans to do so. The result is that Apple has a split personality, with Mac OS apps and a Mac App Store separate from iOS apps and the iOS App Store.
By Todd Bernhard
Originally, beta versions of iOS and Mac OS were only available to developers. This gave developers early access to new features and allowed them to test existing apps for compatibility. As a developer, this was a great opportunity as many apps can break when a new version of iOS is released. Apple also gets expert feedback from developers and I've submitted formal bug reports to Apple when needed. Now, however, Apple is putting the beta version of iOS and Mac OS in the hands of the public and this is causing issues for some developers.
By Todd Bernhard
A larger iPad, dubbed iPad Pro, has been rumored for years, as iPads take market share away from small laptops. More powerful apps have made it increasingly plausible to replace a laptop with an iPad and they are a lot easier to travel with. Apple has built hooks in to iOS to accommodate a variety of screen sizes and to allow for a multi-window environment, where two different apps could be on screen at the same time. The signs are right and the timing is right to see a new iPad Pro in the fall.
Spotify's paid subscription (without Taylor Swift) costs $9.99 per month. Unless you sign up through the Spotify app, in which case it is $12.99 per month. This is because Apple charges developers 30 percent of any in-app transactions. While Apple dropped this to 15 percent for Apple TV subscriptions like HBO NOW, service providers like Spotify are still paying the full percentage. The launch of Apple Music with Beats 1, at $9.99 doesn't help. Unlike Apple, Spotify offers a free ad-based tier, while Apple only offers a three-month free trial. But Apple has used its leverage, and pocketbook, to bring on Taylor Swift, who pulled her songs from Spotify, increasing the pressure on Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, and other streaming services.
By Todd Bernhard
During a recent taping of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart's guest, Jon Hamm, received a text message on his Apple Watch. I attended a taping of The Daily Show just last month, and attendees have to keep their cellphones off. I guess that doesn't apply to celebrity guests! Stewart noticed his guest's notification about five minutes into the interview and spent some time ribbing Hamm about it. I half-expected him to reply to the sender with an audio recording by the two Jons. Whether Hamm had his iPhone in the dressing room nearby, or on his person, it was a great example of how convenient the Apple Watch can be. The wearer can choose to ignore the notice, or respond with voice either as an audio recording or trasncribed via Siri, or select from assorted preconfigured messages.
We've been busy at iPhone Life creating new guides and updating our existing ones. With all the ongoing changes to the latest iPhone operating system, we've been updating our guides with fresh steps, videos, and screenshots! The Notes app is a core app for iPhone users, and the 2022 Guide update is available to help you stay organized and experience a productivity boost. This updated in-depth guide is available exclusively to iPhone Life Subscribers later this month.
Hearing well can transform the way we experience the world, and with Eargo 6, no compromises are necessary. These virtually invisible hearing aids are comfortable, water-resistant, and easy to charge, and automatically optimize your experience for changing sound environments! The new Sound Adjust feature with Eargo 6 identifies background noise and automatically reduces it, which helps the wearer hear speech more clearly without extraneous noise. It also adapts to loud environments and lower-volume situations. Start listening to your full potential with Eargo 6 today!
Have you ever taken a photo and wished the sky turned out bluer? Or regretted not taking the time to put on concealer? Luminar Neo is here to save the day! This free app empowers iPhone users to take their photos to the next level. With the help of built-in AI, you can easily emulate the golden light of sunset, automatically detect and remove skin imperfections, and even simulate weather effects like fog, all with the click of a button. Start enhancing your photos today with Luminar Neo.
