Is the iPhone 5C for Kids?

By Becca Ludlum

Apple released details about the new iPhone 5c today and with its plastic exterior, reduced price, and colorful case combinations it is easy to assume it's geared towards... dare I say it? Kids.

I know my son would give almost anything for the green model, and with a $99 price tag for the 16GB version it's a great addition to my holiday gift list for him. Is this what Apple had in mind when they designed the 5C?

For our family vacation next year, we've decided to take a trip to Costa Rica. I know it's still 10 months away, but I'm already dreaming of gorgeous beaches and zip lining through the jungles.

The problem is, most of our vacations have been to English-speaking destinations. So I've decided to learn Spanish.

Besides a one-year course in high school (which was a long time ago) and words I've picked up here and there by living in the Southwestern United States, I am not even close to communicating with someone whose only language is Spanish.

MEELECTRONICS Air-Fi Matrix AF62 Stereo Bluetooth Wireless Headphones ($149.99) are lightweight, comfortable, and provide great sound quality.

I'm usually an earbud kind of music listener, but these headphones have changed my mind. I loved not having any cords to get tangled in, and the ear pads are soft and cushy. They also provide wonderful sound isolation, which is a luxury in my noisy household.

The Matrix is a full feature set, providing wireless Bluetooth connection for smartphones and tablets that includes multipoint, voice prompts, and NFC connectivity.

Before you invest in a fancy macro lens for your iPhone, you may want to try this do-it-yourself project first.  

Here's what you'll need:

1. An old point-and-shoot camera (to harvest a lens);

2. Kneaded Rubber Eraser (from stationery or art supply store);

3. Super Glue.

Here's the camera I purchased at a local thrift store ($1.99).

This article is intended for advanced photographers and, of course, programmers.

As an imaging and iOS programming pro (see my latest Nokia Lumia 1020-specific article), people often ask me about the photo and video capabilities of iOS. While I'm currently working on no less than four major tutorials & roundups (panorama, HDR, low-light, and action shooting) I'll publish in the near future, I've decided to dedicate a “quick” separate article to a forum question HERE. Note that my HDR (High Dynamic Range) shooting article will build on the information in this article so that advanced users know how exposure compensation can be done in the best way on iOS.

Note that I'm discussing both bracketing and, generically, exposure compensation. The former is based on the latter—you generally shoot more than one exposure-compensated shot to get a bracketed series of shots, typically, for future (HDR etc.) processing. This also means that, as long as you understand what exposure compensation is, you'll also easily understand what bracketing is.

I have four regrets in my life:

1.  A tattoo of an arrow that starts under my right armpit and runs down my side, past my hip. It’s big, bold, and will most certainly look like a crumbled, smeared watercolor painting when I’m 60;
 

2.  The tattoo I got one Saturday night in Soho during a two-week trip to London circa 2004. This tat-ta-roo on my ankle of a heart the size of a fist looks like it was drawn by a 4-year-old with a permanent marker and underdeveloped motor skills;

3.  Letting my parents develop the disposable cameras from that trip. (My mom still can’t look me in the eye.);
 

4.  Dumping my iPhone 5 for the Galaxy 4. 

There are many compelling reasons to teach children sign language at a young age. For some, it is a valuable skill they will have for the rest of their lives. For others, it is a necessity due to a medical condition or developmental delay. No matter the reason, there are apps out there that help teach little ones sign language. The icing on the cake is that all of these apps are free, which makes them accessible to anyone with an iPhone. 

VLC for iOS Returns to the App Store

By Werner Ruotsalainen

VLC is probably the best all-in-one multimedia player for both Mac OS X and Windows. It also has ports on mobile platforms (or will have when Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 are concerned).

The iOS port, which was released back in 2010, had a stormy history. Shortly after its release, it had to be removed from the App Store, only to return almost three years later, this week VLC for iOS (free). Before, the only VLC version available on iOS was from Cydia, the jailbroken App Store. The Cydia version of VLC has always been the same as the 2010 (initial) version of VLC.

The removal of the initial version of VLC has understandably caused quite much uproar because people tend to think of VLC as the best of all players no matter what platform it's running on. This, unfortunately, hasn't been the case of the initial (2010) version – actually, it has been one of the absolute worst players in terms of compatibility, features, and efficiency. As I've always recommended in all iOS forums, you simply didn't want to use the then-current (2010) version of iOS VLC, because it was plain inferior to the top App Store players (GoodPlayer, It's Playing, AVPlayerHD, nPlayer, HD Player Pro (currently unavailable), RushPlayer, BUZZ Player HD. etc.), and Cydia ones (XBMC, RushPlayer+).


Apple is preparing to upgrade its mobile operating system to iOS 7, and with that, we can expect to see a host of new features on our iDevices as well as significant improvements to already-existing features and apps. One of the things I'm excited to see is how mobile gaming evolves with iOS 7. On that note, it seems appropriate to feature a serious gamer’s headphone. Hardcore gamers and audiophiles alike will appreciate the quality of sound of the V-Moda Crossfade M-100s ($310) over-the-ear headphones. 

While many companies develop great headphones, very few pour as much time, energy, and resources into research and development as has V-Moda. The Crossfade over-the-ear headphones are very much the product of extensive crowdsourcing and feedback from a variety of audio experts and connoisseurs.

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