Catalyst is a sleek thin case that barely hides the design of the iPhone 6, considering how protective the case is. It is drop proof to 2 meters (6.6 feet), water proof to 5 meters (16.4 feet), dirt proof, snow proof and works with Touch ID.
What happens if you are out and about and happen to find an iPhone? You happen to be a good person and want to return the iPhone to the original owner, but the phone is locked with a passcode. You might think you are stuck, but actually you can use Siri to find out who owns the device.
Find My iPhone was first released in June 2010 initially for the iPhone. Now, Find My iPhone allows you to track the location of your device, be it an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, in case it gets lost or stolen. This is a great benefit because when you locate your device using Find My iPhone, the device makes noise until it is found and will show you were it is located using Apple Maps. Recently, the police used Find My iPhone to track and save a woman’s life. However, Find My iPhone did require the device to be turned on and connected to the internet in order for it to work completely. New with iOS 8, you have the option to automatically send the location of the device to Apple when the battery is critically low. In this how-to I will discuss how to set up Find My iPhone, and how to use Find My iPhone.
With Yosemite and iOS 8 you can use AirDrop to share files between your Mac and iOS devices. This is one of the features of Continuity, which further integrates and connects your Mac and iOS devices. Continuity also includes Handoff, Instant Hotspot, iPhone Cellular Calls and SMS Relay.
Initially AirDrop allowed you to share files between two Macs or between two iOS devices. Now, AirDrop allows you to share files and information between Mac and iOS devices. It is a device-to-device transfer that works even when the devices don’t have internet access, although Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have to be turned on. This includes sharing photos, videos, music, iWork documents, notes, contacts, links, directions and location data. Many third-party iOS apps like Dropbox, Runkeeper, eBay, Deliveries, and PDF Expert support AirDrop. Apple just added support to Logic to share files via AirDrop. When receiving a file, the recipient receives a notification, allowing them to download the file.
If you are stuck on last minute gift ideas for the Apple person in your life and you do not want to go out in cold weather or fight shopping mall traffic, giving an iTunes gift card might be the easiest thing to do. Best of all you can do this using Siri on your iOS device so it is fast easy and convenient.
When the new year rolls around, a lot of us have New Year’s resolutions to become a healthier person and plan to exercise more. Last year I set my New Year’s resolution to do just that. However, last year was the first year I really used technology and wearables to help me with my journey, and I successfully lost sixty pounds. These gadgets helped me with my weight loss journey. They can keep you focused, inspire you, motivate you, and carry your gear.
With Cyber Monday coming up, a lot of us shop online, as opposed to going out to the store. It would be nice if there was an easy way to track all of your packages. Of course you could set up mail rules to filter any emails that contain the words, “the tracking number,” but all that does is put all of your emails into a folder without notifying you of any changes in the status of your package. After initially receiving the email most forget about it and never track their packages, which happens all the time to me causing me to not pick up my packages for weeks. Or you can be the type of person that can obsessively track your package by constantly pressing the refresh button hoping that there’s an update to no avail. Well there’s an app that can track your tracking numbers and keep you updated about the status of your order. Deliveries is powerful, handy and easily notifies you of your packages.
Sometimes you may need to print something from your iOS device. In this how-to article I will discuss how to wirelessly print from your iOS device.
First of all you need an AirPrint compatible printer. Apple does not make printers. Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, HP, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Samsung, and Zink offer a variety of AirPrint printers differing on printer speed, printer resolution, type of cartridge and functionality. For a complete list of AirPrint compatible printers, visit Apple’s support page. You also need to make sure that your iOS device is connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your printer.
The Jawbone UP bracelet has been on the market for three years receiving improvements every year. The Jawbone UP 24 received a major update: Bluetooth LE. Initially to sync the data onto the phone, the user had to plug the band into the phone’s headphone jack and wait, typically about fifteen seconds, for the data to sync into the app.
Now, since the UP 24 has Bluetooth LE capabilities, it is compatible with the iPhone 4S and later, the fifth generation iPod Touch, the third generation iPad and newer as well as the iPad Minis. Jawbone has made the UP 24 to be compatible with Android phones. Bluetooth LE allows the band to automatically connect with the Jawbone UP app.
People have been enjoying using Apple Pay. Apple Pay is Apple’s mobile payment system that allows you to pay for things in stores and through apps with different banks and credit cards. Using Apple Pay is more secure than swiping your credit or debit card because your card number, identity and CVV code are not visible to the merchant. Instead, with Apple Pay each card is assigned a unique Device Account Number that is encrypted and stored in the Secure Element, a dedicated chip in the device. Setting up Apple Pay is relatively straightforward and it is done through either Passbook or Settings. In this how-to article I will discuss how to remotely remove your credit cards from Apple Pay in case your iPhone or iPad gets stolen.
New in OS X Yosemite is Dark Mode. Dark Mode allows for further customization of the appearance of the Mac. When enabling Dark Mode, it turns the translucent dock and menu bar from light grey and switches it to black. In this how-to I will discuss how to enable Dark Mode, the limitations of Dark Mode and a way to overcome the limitations of Dark Mode.
With new Senior Vice President of Retail Angela Ahrendts in charge of operations, Apple is further blurring the lines between its online and physical retail store services. We reported earlier this year on Ahrendts’s plans to more seamlessly integrate both paths of Apple retail, and now the Cupertino-based company is rolling out a revamped Genius Bar and product support reservation system.
The new system eliminates the pre-existing separation between getting support for Apple products online and in-store. Previously, users could use Apple’s online support panel to receive phone, chat, or forums-based support. The creation of Genius Bar in-store appointments was handled via a separate system…
Now that iOS 8.1 is out, with iOS 8.1 running on your iPhone, you can use your iPhone as a Instant Hotspot for your Mac (running Yosemite) and for your iPad or iPod Touch (also running iOS 8.1). This is one of the features of Continuity, which further integrates and connects your Mac and iOS devices. Continuity also includes Handoff, iPhone Cellular Calls, SMS Relay, and AirDrop.
When you are in an area with your Mac, iPad or iPod Touch that does not have Wi-Fi, they can connect to your phone’s personal hotspot when your iPhone is nearby. Now you do not even have to set up a personal hotspot on your iPhone and enter in the Wi-Fi Password for your personal hotspot. When you join the Wi-Fi network on your Mac, iPad or iPod Touch, the name of your phone will be listed automatically. All you have to do is join it. When you aren’t using your phone’s hotspot, your device will disconnect automatically to save battery life. Your device will remember the fact that you used your phone’s hotspot and the next time you want to go online when you do not have Wi-Fi, it automatically rejoins the hotspot.
iOS 8 brings support for third party keyboards. This allows the user to further customize their device and they are no longer forced to use Apple’s keyboard. Now that we have been using them for a while, it would be nice to even further customize the order in which the keyboards appear. In this how to article, I will discuss how to choose the order in which the keyboards appear as well as how to disable Apple’s QuickType feature.
Now that iOS 8.1 is out, with iOS 8.1 running on your iPhone, you can set up SMS Relay. This is one of the features of Continuity, which further integrates and connects your Mac and iOS devices, running Yosemite and iOS 8.1. Continuity also includes Handoff, iPhone Cellular Calls, Instant Hotspot, and AirDrop.
With iMessage, when you are messaging people using Apple devices they appear in blue bubbles. Those messages sync onto all of your Apple devices so that way you can text someone from your Mac, iPad or iPod Touch. Previously, the people you texted in green bubbles were not using iMessage because they were not on Apple devices. Those conversations were not syncing over to your Mac, iPad or iPod Touch, which forced you to respond back to them only on your iPhone. Now with SMS Relay, your non-Apple using friends’ messages will sync to your Mac, iPad or iPod Touch while all connected to the same Wi-Fi Network, so you can respond from whichever device you prefer.
Now that Yosemite is out, with iOS 8 running on your iPhone, you can send and receive phone calls from your Mac and your iPad (also running iOS 8). This is one of the features of Continuity, which further integrates and connects your Mac and iOS devices. Continuity also includes Handoff, Instant Hotspot, AirDrop and SMS Relay (as part of the iOS 8.1 update).
Sending and receiving phone calls from the Mac and iPad is a benefit because sometimes when your iPhone rings it’s not where you are, but instead you are on your Mac or iPad. Now you can pick up the phone call directly from the Mac or iPad and don’t have to worry about stopping what you are doing to rush and find the phone. In this how-to article I will discuss how to set up and disable Phone Relay, how to send and receive iPhone Cellular Calls.
Now that Yosemite is out, with iOS 8 devices you are now able to use Handoff. Handoff will allow you to seamlessly start a task on one device, and pick it up on another device. So for example you start writing a paper on your iPad and then you want to continue it on your Mac, or you start writing an email on your iPhone and want to finish it on your iPad, this is what Handoff does. When signed into the same iCloud account and Bluetooth is turned on, Handoff will allow you to transition your work flow from one device to another.
On the Mac, you will have an additional dock separate from the main dock indicating what is running on the iOS device. On the iOS device on the lock screen you will have an icon indicating the app that is being used on the Mac. Currently it works with Apple’s apps including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Safari, Reminders, Messages, Maps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Developers can also add Handoff to their apps as Things and other apps have already done. In this how-to article, I will discuss how to set up Handoff and how to use it.
If you missed all of the humor and jokes from today’s event, launching the iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3…
Apple’s latest desktop operating system, OS X Yosemite, is available today. In this post, we’ll take you through the steps required to protect your data by backing it up, upgrading the OS, and getting started with the latest version of OS X.
Before you get started, you’ll want to make sure you have everything you need. To backup your data, you’ll need an external hard drive or a Time Capsule with at least the same amount of storage as your hard drive. You’ll also need to make sure your Mac is capable of running Yosemite (we’ll show you how below), and you’ll want to make sure you have an iTunes account to purchase the update.
With high demand for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, getting your hands on one has been rather difficult….
In iOS 8 the Camera app now has the ability to have a self timer. This can be beneficial for several different reasons. For example, you can take the ultimate selfies using the better quality camera, being steady while taking the photo and can avoid looking ridiculous and buying a selfie handheld stick pole.
To set up the timer, tap on the clock icon second from the right in the upper right hand corner. When you tap on the clock you have options to have a 3 second or a 10 second timer.
When you use the timer, on the screen there is a countdown that occurs.
When using the self-timer on an iPad or iPod Touch there is no visual indicator to let you know how much time you have until the photo is taken due to the lack of LED flash. Using the iPhone while you are actually taking the picture, the LED flash goes off indicating when a second has past, and in the last three seconds the flash gets faster.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyOUY-CfJio?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360]
For those that are using the self-timer on an iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, doing so automatically enables burst mode and it will take ten pictures very quickly.
With iOS 7, Apple added a new feature in iBooks, iTunes and the App Store that allowed users to scan iTunes gift cards with the device’s camera rather than manually entering the string of characters on the back of the card. Now in iOS 8, you can use the device’s camera to scan and enter credit card information.
To add your credit card for purchases open up Settings and tap on Safari.
A day after Fitbit announces it has no plans to develop iOS 8 Health app integration, Withings Health Mate app adds HealthKit support. Withings, the makers of the Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor, Smart Body Analyzer scale, Aura an advanced sleep tracker, Pulse and Pulse Ox activity trackers adds extra measurements to the Health app.
With the Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor, you are able to track diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure. With the Smart Body Analyzer, you are able to track body fat percentage, body mass index, heart rate, and weight. With the Aura, you are able to analyze sleep. With the activity trackers Pulse and Pulse Ox you are able to track active calories, oxygen saturation, resting calories, sleep analysis, steps, and walking and running distance. Even if you do not have the Pulse or Pulse Ox, with the Withings HealthMate app you are able to track steps with the iPhone. In the latest update there were improvements made in activity tracking. Also, with the app using the camera you can measure your heart rate.
Since there is a lot of data that this app is tracking, you can now protect your data with Touch ID, which is a new added feature.
Withings HealthMate is available for free on the App Store.
In iOS 8, the Camera app has a lot of the same functionality as in iOS 7. In iOS 8, you are able to manually control the exposure levels in the photo. This means you can easily adjust how light or dark the photo is.
To do so open up the Camera app. Then you are going to tap on the focus point. The focus point is the subject point of the picture. When tapping to focus, a yellow square appears around the subject. To adjust the exposure level, tap on the yellow sun and slide it up and down. Sliding the sun up will make the picture lighter, and sliding the sun down will make the picture darker.
This same technique will work while using a filter.