iOS

The best browser is the one you have with you. In the days of yore, I would find myself browsing the web on my iOS device and think to myself, “I should really be looking at this on my Mac,” and so I'd email myself a link to the site that I was viewing, jump…

Turning on Airplane Mode will generate a recognizable symbol in the Status BarTurning on Airplane Mode will generate a recognizable symbol in the Status Bar Our readers are a smart lot, and I suspect that most who delight in using their iPhones understand the difference between Cellular and Wi-Fi communications. Let's face it, though, there…

If you want to see how a bit of science has morphed from a laboratory curiosity to something so common we don't even think about it anymore, take a long hard look at radio waves. Back in the 1800s all but a handful of scientist even knew waves of electromagnetic force existed. It's was something…

There are two things that I can expect when I receive a new product from Just Mobile  — it will be unique and it will be made from high grade aluminum. The AluCup proved to be no exception. Just Mobile AluCup It is a multi-purpose desktop stand, sculpted from a single piece of high grade…

Apple gave the public its first preview of iOS 7 last week during its annual World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco. A beta version just for iOS developers was released the same day, and it found its way to many people outside of that group who promptly started complaining about stability issues, non-functioning features,…

Being the parent of a toddler, who just loves to get his grubby little paws on my iPad, Guided Access has become one of my best friends. Let me show you why. Here's the scenario: The family is on a roadtrip, and the toddler needs some entertainment in the back seat. He just loves to…

Each year at WWDC, TMO interviews a few Apple developers who want to tell their story. The result is usually a number of serious insights into the state of mind of the developer community. In our fifth interview, Dave Hamilton chats with Dave Peck from Cloak. _________________________________ Dave Hamilton: I’m here at WWDC with Dave…

You have lots to do each day, and that's what lists and To Do apps are for. But when you get that brilliant bolt from the blue, or two, it needs a special place to hibernate while you fill in the details. Vesper does that with grace, focus, and simplicity. Vesper, named after the character…

Any reasonable person will readily admit that reading and writing text messages on a smartphone while driving, regardless of how large the phone's screen or the text is, is a dangerous distraction. There are statistics on the number deaths and injuries caused by distracted drivers, but I've covered some of that in an earlier article…

“You need a very product-oriented culture, even in a technology company.” – Steve Jobs, 2004 Sir Jonathan Ive I've been thinking about Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company's design guru, Sir Jonathan Ive. It started when former VP Scott Forestall was fired and Sir Jony was put in charge of the look and feel of…

Apple's AirDrop feature makes it easy for Mac users to share files without any special setup, and while there was speculation that it would be a feature in iOS 6, it never materialized. Now there's word that Apple has been testing AirDrop for iOS 7 and it may finally show up on the iPhone, iPad,…

Clicking on a field header within the Contacts app on your Mac gives you all sorts of handy-dandy things you can do. For example, if you click where it says “mobile” or home” (or whatever) in front of a phone number… …here are the choices it'll give you: The options depend a bit on what…

In the current mobile climate apps can make or break a platform. Just ask Blackberry. While Android phone manufacturers can undercut Apple on price, it is in this app ecosystem that I believe Apple still has a major advantage over its key competitor. Apple's unified system is a key draw for developers The unified nature…

If you mention zombies to most learned folks they will likely roll their eyes and sigh with sympathy for another mind given over to the current fringe fad. They may offer a few patronizing words about the origin of the zombie lore and something to the affect that the undead are no more real than…

The first delicious rumors have emerged on what Sir Jonathan Ive is doing to iOS 7. 9to5Mac reported that unnamed sources have described the new look and feel for iOS 7 as “black and white and flat all over,” a play on the old-school riddle about newspapers*. The sources also said that iOS 7 will…

A lot was made of Scott Forstall’s departure from Apple, with Jonathan Ive taking control of all design. The first major product we are going to see in the wild as a result of this changeover is iOS7. We know that Ive is no fan of the skeumorphic, textured, designs that Jobs continually pushed for,…

Everyone who's into theatrical movies knows the drill: what do I want to see next? What have I already seen? What's available now in theaters? iTunes? What's coming out soon? Let's view the trailer. And so on. ToDoMovies is an iPhone app that manages all that beautifully, and it's a must for movie fans. The…

As TMO's Jeff Gamet pointed out yesterday, iTunes has been updated to version 11.0.3. In this article, we're going to go over what's new with the MiniPlayer (and what you may not have known you could do with it before!). If you haven't updated your version of iTunes yet, be sure to pop over to…

Personal assessments of what technology to adopt and what to ignore is what we do these days. Developers develop, technical columnists experiment and report, and individuals decide “yea or nay.” Basing those decisions on old-fashioned or emotional preconceptions in increasingly unproductive. iOS is Aging Technology When the iPhone was first conceived and derived from Mac…

Your iPhone or iPod touch makes for a handy camera, and both can take nice images. That doesn't, however, mean you won't need to make some quick adjustments on the go. You can turn to a long list of apps designed to help with that, including Apple's own iPhoto, but if you only need to…

Satellite Safari is a realtime, visual guide to hundreds of satellites in orbit. This universal iOS app will tell when they pass overhead and where they are right now. You can follow along in orbit, with the satellite, see what it looks like, look at the ground track from space or watch it pass overhead…

Women like to say that men have it easy. We don't give birth, we're unburdened by an abundance of estrogen, and the world, in general, is a lot less scary. While I will readily agree that giving birth looks like something I'd happily leave to the girls to do, and whereas I find it hard…

It's no secret that apps on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch can track your location, but you may not realize Mac apps can do the same, too. You can, however, control which apps know where you are on both platforms, and it's easy to do. iOS Location Services To see which apps are using…

We already know that when we purchase a new Apple product, we don’t get an owner’s manual any more. Who reads them anyway? I have a confession to make. As an Apple Consultant, I have made money providing answers and fixes just by RTFM (Reading The Friggin’ Manual). I feel bad about this. So, to…