iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear
How to Add Extra Money to your Apple Cash Card
By Rachel Needell
You may have heard of Apple Cash, the digital debit card that is located in the Wallet app. Apple Cash is great because it allows you to send and receive money directly from your Messages or from the Wallet app. Additionally, because it works just like any digital card, you can use it to pay for things online and in stores. Let's learn how to add money to your Apple Cash card.
Is AppleCare Worth It for Macs: MacBook Warranty 101
By Olena Kagui
Adding AppleCare Plus is not always in the budget when you're already spending thousands of dollars on a new or refurbished Mac. But it should be. In this article, I will go over Apple Limited Warranty, AppleCare Plus cost and coverage, and out-of-pocket Mac repair costs. I will also share my recent experience fixing my out-of-warranty MacBook Pro for a third of what the device originally cost.
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The Watch Designed to Improve Your Health
(Sponsored Post) By Amy Spitzfaden Both on Thu, 11/07/2024
Selecting the best DVD player app & an It's Playing bugfix
By Werner Ruotsalainen
UPDATE (08/09/2012): in the comments section below, I elaborated on deinterlacing. Note that I'll devote a complete article / tutorial to these subjects (using X.264 / HandBrake / Episode to deinterlace etc.) some time. Before that, it's mostly HandBrake's (default) decombing that will be your best friend.
UPDATE (08/04/2012): THIS thread has a lot of discussion of the subject. Remember to prefer my statements to ones that state the opposite! (The thread is full of factual errors.)
Original article:
Combined article update: iOS 5.1.1 iPad 3/2 Cydia compatibility list
By Werner Ruotsalainen
UPDATE (07/07/2012): I've run some VERY serious CPU usage tests (see THIS for the methology; I used "top" on my iPad 3) and found out the following:
The InfiniDock and Springtomize 2 combo (can be used together to give the highest configurability; see below for related remarks) does not add any CPU usage when
- the device shows SpringBoard
- 10 icons are put in the dock, even with card roll and scrolling (via InfiniDock) enabled
- the maximum number of icons are displayed in each row
Playing Back WMV Videos – the Complete(!) Roundup
By Werner Ruotsalainen
UPDATE (02/21/2013): I've re-tested the current versions of XBMC and compared it to the current AVPlayer(HD) versions on both the iPad 3, 4 and the iPhone 5. AVPlayer and AVPlayerHD have proved out to be considerably better, which means XBMC is still not recommended for WMV playback.
Of XBMC, I've tested the following versions:
- official 12 Eden (currently available from their official repo as the default version)
- the iPad Retina-friendly version (more info)
- the latest (21/Feb) nightly build (13 alpha)
More info & discussion HERE.
5 Of The Top, Rugged iPhone Cases In Review: Welcome to a review of heavy-duty cases by someone who really puts his iPhone's case through some vigorous testing! My iPhone accompanies me on many an outdoor adventure, and like me, has had its fair share of spills and thrills. So I have a good idea of what makes a "good rugged case", a good rugged case.
Review: Multimedia Player PlayerXtreme
By Werner Ruotsalainen
UPDATE (24/05/2012): the new (2.3) version has just been approved by Apple. It has, among other things, improved UPnP support:
In my tests, directory listing indeed worked with Majestic. However, streaming didn't (all I saw was a black screen) and downloading have turned out to be VERY slow - more than an order of magnitude(!!!) slower than with GoodPlayer, under exactly the same circumstances. That is, UPnP-wise, this app still has a lot to be improved...
Watching videos taken to the max: Roundup of MKV to MP4/M4V video converters
By Werner Ruotsalainen
UPDATE (08/20/2012): as far as the latest OS X version (10.8 Mountain Lion; ML for short) is concerned, I have some bad news.
The All-in-one Photo Viewer Roundup (+70% price drop on the best image viewer!)
By Werner Ruotsalainen
In the last few days, I've participated in several discussion threads in the Phone Cameras / Tablets & Apps forum of DPReview. (See for example THIS, THIS and THIS). In order not to have to repeat the same facts again and again in future discussions, I've decided to dedicate a complete article to the question of using the iPad as a photo frame.
Multimedia player RushPlayer updated: quick change review - UPDATE: RushPlayer+ review & comparison
By Werner Ruotsalainen
While, in the last week, several multimedia players have been updated (including my favourite, GoodPlayer, which, among other things, has clearly improved its DVD playback support in the current, 5.0 version), one of them I've already (quickly) reviewed (see THIS and also the comparison videos HERE), RushPlayer has received the most updates and new functionality. This is why I'm dedicating a separate (quick) article to it (but, currently, no other players).
The new iPad (3) for 2K(+) video playback? Definitely!
By Werner Ruotsalainen
You might have heard of 2K video. It delivers (horizontally – but not vertically, at least not in the widescreen mode!) a little bit more resolution (2048) than Full HD (1920).
This is how you can convert your DVB recordings' subtitles to iDevice-friendly MP4 subtitles
By Werner Ruotsalainen
UPDATE (12/Sept/2012): in the meantime, Subler, one of the best remuxer and MP4 editor tools has also received OCR capabilities. It has some advantages over the character recognition of SubRip, introduced in the article below. Please read THIS for a full tutorial.
Playing back 1080p60/i60 (M(2))TS videos right from your camera? - UPDATE: desktop converters tested
By Werner Ruotsalainen
Over at DPReview, answering a question (thread HERE), I've elaborated on playing back both 1080i60 and 60p videos created by the new, highly recommended and popular Panasonic FZ150 camera so that this info can also be included in my forthcoming iOS Multimedia bible. As the info can be of interest to people before the Multimedia bible is finally published (which takes at least one additional week or two), I dedicate a separate article to the question. (Note that this article applies to all other cameras producing MTS, M2TS or TS – and not MOV / MP4! - files.)
Making the stock Videos application play every MP4 file possible
By Werner Ruotsalainen
I've dedicated several articles (latest one HERE) to converting videos into MP4 (M4V / MOV) files so that they can be played back by the H.264 decoder of even older-generation iDevices. In the current one, I elaborate on how how you can play the output files with the built-in, stock Videos application. This article also belong to my Multimedia article series, in which I plan to publish a “Streaming multimedia over your local Wi-Fi” in the next few days and, then, finally, the real Multimedia bible.
10 best free apps for using AirPlay with an Apple TV
By Jim Karpen
I have a second-generation Apple TV set-top box, and really enjoy using AirPlay to stream movies from my iPad to my 42-inch HDTV. It's fun how simple it is. If you have an iOS device and Apple TV on the same WiFi network, you simply start playing a video and tap a button that gives you the option of playing the movie on your TV instead of your iPad. If you need to go out and want to continue watching the movie, you simply toggle back to the iPad and continue watching.
Test videos of my forthcoming Video playback bible: deinterlacing, Full HD MKV, MP4 and subtitle playback comparisons
By Werner Ruotsalainen
In order not to have to update it much, I've been waiting for the (new) iPad (3) and postponing the publication of both updates of my previous major PDF reader / Web browser roundups and also new, iPad-specific articles like multimedia playback. Now that the iPad 3 is here, I, at last, start publishing all these articles, starting with the long-promised video player roundup.
Before it gets published (which will take at least a day or two, as I still want to add stuff like network share support and video output to external monitors / AirPlay clients), however, I publish a quick article comparing the
Playing back high definition video from outside the iTunes store on (also) the new iPad - UPDATE: RushPlayer + demo videos
By Werner Ruotsalainen
So far, I've preferred using my high-end 17” Macbook Pro for watching full HD (1920*1080) videos as the screen is able to natively, without downsizing the picture, play back the content. With the new, high-resolution, Retina iPad, playing back even Full HD video has become much more desirable than even on a high-end Macbook Pro: far better screen quality (vastly superior IPS technology vs. TN film, even if the latter is of pretty good quality), no fan noise, no need to connect it to the wall plug (playing back even the most demanding 1080p H.264 videos at max brightness only decreases battery charge by about 18% an hour and doesn't really heat up the iPad 3), mobility, no annoying overheating etc.
XSKN Booth Showed Innovative Accessories at Macworld
By Anonymous
As you wander around Macworld, you see many variations on a theme. Vendor after vendor with iPhone caes in every configuration possible were there. You saw several vendors selling the new gloves that work on the iPhone or iPod touch screen at several booths. App vendors were everywhere. But I came upon one booth that was selling some new and innovative items which made them stand out from the rest. The company was XSKN.