iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear
6 Quick Fixes for When Apple Watch Won’t Swipe Up
By Rhett Intriago
Has your Apple Watch screen stopped responding to your touch? Having trouble swiping up or down? Whenever your devices are behaving out of the ordinary or don’t respond how you would normally expect them to, it can be extremely frustrating. Let’s get to the bottom of why your Apple Watch won't swipe up.
How to Type an Upside-Down Exclamation Point on a Mac
By Olena Kagui
Upside-down exclamation marks, also called Spanish exclamation points or inverted exclamation points, are used in Spanish, Asturian, and Waray languages. They are used at the beginning of an emphasized sentence, and there is a right-side-up exclamation mark at the end. I'll teach you how to do upside-down exclamation marks easily on your Mac!
- ‹ previous
- 279 of 2378
- next ›
Swift 101 - Classes, Variables, Properties & Methods
By Kevin McNeish
As promised, here is my first installment on learning to program in the new Swift language!
Defining Classes in Swift
The following code shows an example of a Swift class definition:
To declare a class in Swift, you use the class keyword followed by the name of the class. If it has a superclass, you add a colon and the name of the superclass. The beginning and end of the class are indicated by the opening and closing curly braces.
8 Reasons Swift is Easier to Learn & Use than Objective-C
By Kevin McNeish
Over the years I have literally taught tens of thousands of people how to write code in Objective-C through training classes, conferences, online forums, and my book series. Based on the mountain of feedback I have received, I can tell you some key points that make Swift much easier to learn than Objective-C.
If Objective-C is the only language you have ever coded in, I have one thing to say about moving to Swift. Welcome to the 21st century.
Apple Loosens up its NDA for iOS 8, OS X, and Xcode
By Kevin McNeish
Apple, notorious for its secrecy, has loosened up its restrictive NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) for the beta versions of iOS 8, OS X, and Xcode 6. In the latest version of the iOS Developer Program License Agreement, they have added the following statement in the Confidentiality section under the topic 10.1 Information Deemed Apple Confidential:
WWDC 2014 - 7 HUGE iOS 8 Advancements for App Developers
By Kevin McNeish
When Tim Cook opened up by saying that iOS 8 accompanies the biggest release of the Apple SDK since the launch of the App Store, I thought it might just be hyperbole. It wasn't. There are tremendous changes in store for iOS app developers that will drastically change the way you create apps. I'll start with the biggest change first.
WWDC14 Wrap Up: A Stunning Display of Innovation
By Jim Karpen
If there was a common theme for WWDC 2014, Tim Cook articulated it at the end. He said what's great about Apple products is that their operating system, devices, and services work together in harmony, creating a seamless experience for users. And that seamless experience was expanded in dramatic fashion today, with the announcement of new technologies such as HomeKit, HealthKit, iCloud Drive, and Continuity. Apple also announced a ton of new features for built-in apps in iOS 8 such as Mail, Messages, Photos, and Safari.
Unleash Your Inner App Developer Part 41: Logging In With Facebook
By Kevin McNeish
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 beginner app developer, 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 app ideas into reality can be! This is part 41 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series at this link.
These days, more and more iOS apps offer users the option of logging in with Facebook. If you want your app to go viral, this is a great first step. In fact, 80 percent of the top-grossing iOS apps use social media logins. As stated in the Facebook documentation:
Hot Right Now on Kickstarter: Lifelogger POV Video Camera
By Adam Harvey
I love cruising around on Kickstarter for the latest and greatest in innovation. It makes me feel good to help a company with a great product get a leg up! Today, I came across the Lifelogger POV video camera and I want one. Badly.
Check it out.
When it came to the iPod, I was an early adopter. And boy was it emancipating to no longer tote around CDs in my car or carry a Discman with me on the run. In fact, it was incredible.
At the time that the iPod emerged, smartphone apps were science fiction, like flux capacitors and hoverboards. But now, smartphones are not only ubiquitous, they are boasting more flexibility and nearly as much storage capacity as iPods. Could it mean the death of the iPod in the coming months and years? Maybe…
Honestly, I Want to See Microsoft be Brave
By Todd Bernhard
As much as I love Apple, I like what Microsoft is trying to do. But, heaven help me, I can't stand their commercials. "Honestly" starts each actor's fake testimonial. As if it wasn't obvious that these are primarily actors (except Seattle Seahawks player Russell Wilson) reading someone else's lines, by using the same words and format, Microsoft is being phony from the beginning in commercials that start and end with the word "Honestly." It insults the intelligence of the audience. Not to mention the valid charges of sexism. Interestingly, when searching using Yahoo (powered by Microsoft's Bing) none of the negative articles about the commercials show up, but under Google, they do. Whose search engine is being honest, now?
How to Find Out What Those Emojis Are Called
By Sarah Kingsbury
Emoji symbols add a touch of whimsy to text messages, notes, and emails. But did you know that they have names besides "the pink flower," "the other pink flower," "dead dudes one and two," and "the not-quite-full moon—is it waxing or waning? I can never remember"? The easiest and most hilarious way to find out what the Emojis' official names are is to have your iPhone read them out loud to you.
If you're a music lover or an iOS gamer, you already get this, but it's hard to appreciate the full scope and flavor of our media when relying solely on our iOS device's speakers. Even if the extent of your media consumption on your iPhone or iPad (or laptop or desktop) doesn't stray beyond watching movies and videos, you'll have to admit, the in-built speakers these gadgets come with don't necessarily broadcast the most stellar audio. For crystal clear, pristine sound reproduction we have to look to the world of headphones and external speakers. With that in mind I'm always on the lookout for great headphones and speakers to share with iPhone Lifers. This week we'll be taking a look at Skullcandy’s Crusher over-ear headphones ($99.99).
To help you prepare for your warm weather adventures with all of your devices in tow, I recently compiled and reviewed some of the best, rugged, Bluetooth speakers currently on the market. All of the speakers featured in that particular roundup were of outstanding quality and durability, but one thing they all had in common was the fact that they were all too large to comfortably tuck in your pant’s pocket or clip on your belt loop or backpack. Many adventurers these days would appreciate having a more portable Bluetooth speaker solution, and with that in mind, the following roundup features some of the best portable bluetooth speakers available.
Scroll through Your Books on iPhone & iPad
By Sarah Kingsbury
Apple's Books app allows iPhone and iPad users to purchase, save, and read books and PDFs. The Books app offers a page-turning animation to mimic the experience of reading a hardcopy book, but you can also switch to a scrolling mode so you don't have to worry about constantly turning pages. Here's how to scroll in the Books app on iPhone.
Tip of the Day: Introduce Yourself & Others to Siri
By Sarah Kingsbury
If you haven't already, you should take a moment to introduce Siri to your family. Once you have done so, you can quickly ask Siri to message or call your wife or your brother without having to say their full name. If your spouse's full name is a multi-syllabic mouthful like my husband's, this can be pretty handy.
But first you're going to have to introduce yourself to Siri.
Unleash Your Inner App Developer Part 40: iBeacons Step By Step
By Kevin McNeish
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 beginner app developer, 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 app ideas into reality can be! This is part 40 of the series. If you are just getting started, check out the beginning of the series here.
One of the hottest technologies to come out of iOS 7 is iBeacon. In case you haven't heard, iBeacon is Apple's trademark for what it calls "a new class of low-powered, low-cost transmitters that can notify nearby iOS 7 devices of their presence." This new technology solves one of the biggest problems with Location Services on iOS devices—pinpointing the location of a device when it's indoors. Unlike GPS technology that determines a device's absolute location in terms of latitude and longitude, the iBeacon technology measures a device's relative distance to an iBeacon in an established location. Since iBeacons work without the need for a WiFi or cellular connection, it makes them ideal for indoor use.
Why I Switched From Google Docs to Apple iWork
By Mark Struczewski
I have been a fan of Google Drive for a while now. I mean, how can you go wrong with 100 GB of storage for $2 a month? I don't think you can.
And if you don't know, part of Google Drive is their software suite that includes Docs (documents like MS Word) and Sheets (spreadsheets like MS Excel) to name two. At first glance, I loved this set up. Everything was in the cloud for me, accessible wherever I had an Internet connection.
Houston, we have a problem
But then I purchased a Wi-Fi iPad Air. That's when I discovered that there is a huge flaw in Google Drive: no Internet, no access!