iPhone Life - Best Apps, Top Tips, Great Gear

Customize Someone Else's Contact Poster on Your iPhone

Contact Posters are one of the most fun new features to play around with, but you might not always want to use the picture someone else has picked out. Whether it's a painful reminder of an ex's new relationship or a picture you find a bit off-color, knowing how to change someone's Contact Poster is a handy tip as your friends go wild with customization. Let's learn how to do it.

This article is highly recommended for programmers and people interested in shooting video.

As of iOS 7 beta 2, the built-in Camera application can't make use of the extra pixels of the sensor when zooming. Only custom-written, third-party apps currently can do that. Hopefully Apple fixes Camera in the final version of iOS 7; before that, should you want to use zooming while shooting video, avoid using the Camera app and make sure you write or install an iOS 7-specific video recorder application for best results.

Many of my readers have asked for a complete elaboration on the brand new zooming features of iOS 7, both in the stock Camera application and the programmatic API support (AVCaptureDevice.videoZoomFactor and the related, highly useful properties AVCaptureDevice.activeFormat.videoZoomFactorUpscaleThreshold and AVCaptureDevice.activeFormat.videoMaxZoomFactor).

Ever since the social app Snapchat debuted on the App Store two years ago, parents everywhere have been hyper aware of the downsides of their teens downloading and using the popular app.

Parents are concerned about enabling their children to receive (or send) sexually inappropriate photos or videos, photos that bully, or images taken in bad taste. If parents think they can routinely check their teen's phone to look for signs of these behaviors, Snapchat puts an end to that. When you take a photo in the app, it's not saved to the camera roll, and when you view a photo in Snapchat, it's available to the viewer for less than 10 seconds, and then it's gone forever. 

Welcome to my iPhoneography workflow. Here, I'll share the images I create with my iPhone and the hand-picked, trial-and-error methods I use to capture and edit them with.

This image I took recently, titled "Sunday Serenity," is a very easy-to-approach iPhoneography photo. I want to share a few quick tips first off. Using your iPhone to take professional-looking photos involves a little manipulation. Trying to get those far-away landscape shots with your iDevice can be difficult compared to using a DSLR camera.

In this photo, the sun was about to come up, which is THE BEST time to catch sunrises (for sunsets, the best time is right after the sun goes down). It all relates to lighting, and colors are more intense before or after the sun makes an appearance.

The rugged, waterproof case market has exploded this year, and now that summer is in full effect, people keep asking me, “Which waterproof iPhone case should I get?”

This time last year, Lifeproof had excellent offerings, and... well, that was really about it in terms of quality waterproof iPhone cases. This year, however, there is no shortage of top-quality waterproof cases for your iPhone. Read on for a quick roundup of the best of the best available. And while I can't tell you which one is best suited to you, I can turn you on to some great options (some of which you may not have known about), and let you decide.

This article is intended for readers suffering from the narrow field-of-view of iPhones starting with the iPhone 4 and for programmers offering any kind of video recording in their apps.

As you may know already, recent iDevices use image stabilization during video recording. Unfortunately, not even the latest-and-greatest iPhone 5 has optical stabilization, only electronic, unlike the Nokia Lumia 92x. This, unfortunately, means part of the sensor is used for the stabilization itself, further narrowing the already limited field-of-view (FOV). I recommend you watch engadget's iPhone 5 vs. Nokia Lumia 920 videos so you can see how immensely better optical stabilization is.

In this age of multi-device households, sharing accounts with family members can be a little stressful. Add a tween or teenage into the mix, and it might be enough to push you over the edge. If you’ve ever had your phone ring with a FaceTime call from your 12 year-old’s best friend or received the “iCloud is full” error message after adding a new device to your household, this article is for you.

First, it’s important to know a little bit about your Apple ID and iCloud. Your Apple ID is what gives you access to iCloud, FaceTime, iMessage, iTunes, the App Store, and Game Center, among other services. Since these are the most-used services in my house, they are the ones I’m going to talk about here. Some families choose to share an Apple ID for some services and use separate Apple IDs for others. There is no “one size fits all” cure for family device management—it all depends on your family's preferences. If you forgot your Apple ID, here's how to reset your password.

This article will be useful for anyone planning to display the output of Keynote on an external screen. I've clearly marked sections meant for advanced users or ones with jailbroken devices; they can be safely skipped by other users. This article contains a lot of information on video/TV output in general and the multitasking/backgrounding JB tweaks, which may also be of interest to readers who aren't Keynote users.

Apple's Keynote app ($9.99) is by far the most widely used iOS application to play back presentations. In this writeup, I present you with a complete discussion of everything related to displaying its contents on an external screen or projector (from now on, for brevity, I'll call TV).

If you don't know the name Gary Rayner, chances are still good you know the company he built from the ground up. Rayner is the visionary genius behind the phenomenally successful and multiple-award winning Lifeproof protective cases. Over the years, I've had several opportunities to write about Mr. Rayner, his demanding standards of quality, and the Lifeproof line of cases, arguably some of the best iDevice cases on the market.

Last week at the CTIA Wireless Association convention in Las Vegas, not only did Lifeproof win three trophies at the iPhone Life Best of CTIA Awards, it also played a significant role in a major announcement from Brian Thomas, CEO of Otterbox. Live on the iPhone Life iZone stage, Thomas made the announcement that Otterbox had acquired Lifeproof in a move that according to iPhone Life CEO David Averbach “adds substantially to the Otterbox legacy and solidifies the company’s hold on the case market.”

Disney has recently released a set of interactive storybook apps for children based on several of its best-selling movies: Tangled, Cinderella, Wreck-It-Ralph, Monsters Inc, Monsters University, and Brave. Packed with puzzles, games, read alouds, and coloring sheets, these apps are sure to delight your little ones. 

1. Tangled: Storybook Deluxe ($6.99)

Read along to the story of Rapunzel and Flynn, or tap the icons for activities such as coloring pages, games, and puzzles. When in storybook mode, character voices can read to your child, or she can explore the text on her own or record her voice reading. 

After seeing A Knight's Tale the movie, I seriously wanted to get in a time machine and go back to the Middle Ages (though I'd likely end up a lowly field peasant instead of a knight)! It would be awesome to see knights with swords clashing, gleaming armor, damsels in distress and well... jousting! Jousting has to be the coolest sport ever, am I right? Think two medieval maniacs thundering toward each other set on knocking the other into oblivion! Want some of that action today in modern times? Get the most excellent Knight Storm (Free) now!

The following article is for people using any kind of external display with their iDevices, and for programmers who would like to provide as good of external display output in their apps as possible.

People have a lot of misconceptions regarding Tv output from iDevices; most importantly regarding the black borders on the left and right sides of the external image and also on the top and bottom. As an engineer well versed in video technology, engineering, and iOS programming, I found it necessary to get the facts right in a manner digestable for advanced iOS users (and all programmers).

This article explains how you can output still images to your external display (TV, projector etc.) from your iDevice and what you should do to maximize quality. While some of the material requires advanced knowledge (including having read my previous multimedia-specific articles), the “All in All” section at the bottom is digestable for beginners (at least I hope it is).

Apple's stock image slideshow implementation output is, unfortunately, half-hearted. (iDevices utilize the native TV output while playing slideshows. Apart from Retina iPads, it is the only way of making full use of the more advanced output types, namely, HDMI and VGA.)

A few weeks ago I reviewed an amazingly cool 3D golf swing analysis app for iOS called SwingTIP. Afterward, I managed to get out on the links with a friend for the first time in a long time. Not surprisingly, my scoring was pretty abysmal, so I figured I needed some help. I found two apps you may want to check out, especially if you also have been away from the game for awhile. Tiger Woods: My Swing ($4.99) will show you the spectacularly perfect swing of the master himself along with Tiger's priceless golf insights and other exclusive content. 

I recently had the opportunity to speak via Skype with Iliya Yordanov, one of the founders of SilverWiz. The company is the maker of the well-regarded personal finance app, MoneyWiz, which competes with Quicken, Microsoft Money, and iBank to name a few. Yordanov is a four-time entrepreneur, and is currently focused on scaling SilverWiz.

MoneyWiz is the company's sole app, and it’s available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac OS. While pricey as far as iOS apps go, it's $4.99 price tag is nominal compared to Quicken and Microsoft. The app has hundreds of great reviews, all four and five stars. I asked Yordanov what his secret was!

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