If you often find yourself using your hand to hold your iPhone while you film or photograph, please allow me to introduce you to the Woxom Slingshot ($15), the neat little gadget that makes it a snap to hand-hold your iPhone while you use its front-facing camera.
Having the ability to connect to the ‘net over a cellular network from almost anywhere is a huge asset, and one of the best things abput the iPad (if you have the 3G/4G version — which you should). But there’s nothing like the shock of suddenly discovering a $300 bill for data overage to make one extremely skittish about ever using data again — which completely ruins the whole point of getting a 4G iPad in the first place (unless, of course, you just bought it for the GPS receiver).
To banish this evil conundrum, you’ll need DataMan Pro for iPad ($4), an app that watches your data usage like a hawk and alerts you when you’re gobbling data too quickly. It’ll even tell you which apps are the most data hungry.
When Apple first showed off the iPad Smart Cover, the idea was simple: what’s the point of owning a device as beautiful as the iPad if you’ve got to cover it all up in a bulky case so no one can see it? What’s the point of the iPad even being designed to be so slim, so pleasant in the hand, if you’re immediately going to slap a half pound of plastic or leather sheath on top of it?
The Hex Code Folio Case for iPad is the exact opposite kind of case. It’s a professional-style case made for professionals who want to make their iPad part of their business folio. It’s beautifully made and looks quite handsome, but if you’re not the sort of person who spends hours every day in business meetings wrestling with sheaves of print-outs, this isn’t the case for you.
We covered Pix & Stix back in May, when they were just a Kickstarter project looking for funding. A year on, they’re now in full production.
The rubberized drumsticks and guitar pick are designed to make iPad apps like GarageBand a much more enjoyable experience, allowing you to rock out on the drums or on guitar just like you would in real life, without brusing your finger tips. But are they any good?
Sennheiser’s VMX 200 is one kostspielig little Bluetooth headset. Its $150 MSRP is higher than the other guys’ flagship mobile-phone headsets, like the Motorola CommandOne, Jabra Supreme and BlueAnt Q2, all of which are good-to-stellar performers, and stuffed to the gills with features.
Taking the pricing into consideration, one might expect the VMX 200 to have near-perfect manners, and at least as many bells and whistles as its competitors, if not more. Right?
The Somersault ($90), from iBackFlip Studios, is a sling-style backpack built to give you quick, on-the-go access to the tablet it is also sworn to protect: your iPad.
It works like this. While traversing life’s urban landscapes, you keep the Somersault on your back, iPad stowed safely within. When you want to use your iDevice, you simply swing the bag around to your chest, unzip the iPad storage pocket, and now your iPad sits perpendicular to your stomach, ready and waiting for all your oily finger-poking.
Those of us over a certain age have a lingering hangover from the days before digital: actual photographs. If you’re lucky (and extremely well organized), yours are neatly displayed on the walls and in labelled albums. If you’re unlucky (or plain lazy, like me), they’re shoved in cardboard boxes and left in cupboards to rot. That’s not how it should be, is it?
Triggers is a fascinating new idea for simple input-and-output programming on your iOS device. It gives you access to the system-level controls for various bits of hardware, and control what they do in a limited way. If you’ve ever used If This Then That, you’ll get the idea immediately.
The AC1 RythymVOX ($60) is more than a little guitar amp you can jam on. Built into its circuits are the drum beats of many popular musical genres, all at the ready to accompany you while you practice or play.
Like its monitor-calibrating cousin, the Spyder4Pro, the Spyder4TV HD ($125) from Datacolor is used to fine-tune the color profiles in your life. But as the name implies, the Spyder4TV isn’t for your Mac’s monitor; this Spyder wants to correct the color on your HDTV.
Today’s Best Thing Ever has to be InstaCRT, an iPhone photography app that turns all your ideas about iPhone photography upside-down.
Storyful for iOS says it can help you “separate the news from the noise.” It plucks interesting news stories from social media networks, spotting the stuff that’s trending and turning it into a news feed. That all sounds great, until you start trying to use it – although it’s a great idea with great promise, it’s let down by too many performance problems.
With the release of the iPhone 4S and its super incredible camera, point-and-shoots were supposed to be dead. What’s the point of buying a compact digital camera if it only takes photos that are the same, or slightly better than the iPhone in your pocket? For the most part, I think we’re right in saying that the point-and-shoot is destined to become a relic. However, there are certain exceptions to that rule.
I love my iPhone 4S so much that I don’t want to endanger its gorgeous glass body. I also love hiking in the summer and water activities, and even if I buy a military grade case for my iPhone, I still get scared when taking it on outdoor adventures. That’s where the Olympus TG-820 point-and-shoot comes in. It’s waterproof and shockproof, and ready to go where you’re too scared to take your iPhone.
Don’t Panic is one of the better names I’ve seen for a GPS navigation app. It’s not a cheap app, but neither is it any more expensive than some of the other premium on-road satnav apps. The UI is a little quirky, but generally speaking it does the job well.
Every now and again you find something on the App Store that brings a smile to your face because you know it’s new, it’s different, and it does something that no other app has done before. Hueless is a one dollar black-and-white camera app that meets all those criteria and more, and after just a day of shooting with it, I think I’m in love.
So far it’s been pretty consistent: Each time we review a set of Ultimate Ears ‘phones, the bar leaps up a few notches as our expectations regarding the outfit’s offerings rise. After reviewing the 350, 700, and especially the 600vi — which garnered a best-in-class verdict — we were expecting the TripleFi 10 ($400) to slay vampires and cure cancer.
Of Ultimate Ears’ more serious offerings — and by serious, I’m referring to UE’s armature-equipped models, which start at $100 — the TripleFi 10 is by far the most serious, with three drivers and a crossover in each ear, pro-level detachable leads, the thickest cable we’ve ever seen on an IEM, Comply foam tips (the best tips, period) and a sound signature that’ll have you madly running through your entire music catalog with a big, gleeful smile plastered all over your face.
Another day, another all-singing and all-dancing photography app. This one is called Fotor, priced at one dollar. Do we need more of these? Probably not. Is this one any good? Yeah, mostly. But it doesn’t stand out in the crowd.
Ideally, we’d all carry our iPhones as God intended — naked. But just as our pink and delicate human bodies need protection from the elements, so does the iPhone. Sometimes all it needs is a skimpy Speedo, other times a full suit of body armor, but you can be sure there’s a case for every occasion. Here’s our roundup of the best iPhone cases out there.
What!? Neither Cult publication has ever reviewed Monster’s famed Turbine earphones, even though the IEMs have been hanging on Best Buy end caps for the last several years? Well, that’s an injustice we won’t let stand another day — after all, these are among the best recognized, and most iconic IEMs on the market.
The Turbine is the base model in Monster’s Turbine lineup; though with an MSRP of $180, “base model” seems like a relative term (the two higher models, the Pro Gold and the Pro Copper, are $300 and $400 respectively and are apparently better at reproducing a wider range than the plain-wrapper Turbines reviewed here).
The Cygnett Alumni canvas iPad case ($50) may look pretty, but you should know by now that you can’t judge a case by its cover.
One of the first things about the iPad that caught people’s attention was the touch screen, and it goes without saying that some of the first apps to start taking advantage of that touch screen were handwriting/note taking apps. Apps that let you write, draw, sketch—-and sometimes type–notes on your iPad. Something that combined technology with the age-old practice of scribbling notes on paper.
Since there are so many apps to choose from, and I’ve tried virtually all of them over the past couple years, I thought I’d give you a jump start on switching to virtual paper with my top 5 favourite note taking apps.
BackUp Gmail does what you’d expect: it backs up your Gmail account to your desktop computer. It’s a simple Menu Bar app that works in the background. It’s only $2 in the Mac App Store, but does have a few problems.
In my neverending quest to find the perfect iPad case, I’ve been giving the DODOcase a spin with my new iPad for the last several weeks. I’ve used Incase’s book jacket for the longest time on my iPad 2, and I wanted to change things up when I got the third-gen iPad.
Based in a bookbindery and wood shop in sunny San Francisco, DODOcase has been an award-winning brand for iPad cases since 2010. Built with pinpoint precision for the newest iPad, the DODOcase lineup blends nostalgia and the cutting edge into a charming combination.
What’s Snabbit? I’ll tell you what it is: it’s Snake, all over again. Is gaming still all about collecting stars? This game is.
Ok, I’ll admit it: I still haven’t kicked my RSS addiction. As hard as I try to just use sources like Twitter and Flipboard to get my news, there’s something about having every article from every site I follow in one place. And in my line of work, it’s very important to stay on top of the news cycle.
For the longest time I’ve used Reeder to scan RSS feeds on all of my devices. The iPhone, iPad and Mac apps are about as good as it gets for RSS, but I’ve been longing for some competitive apps to come on the scene. On the Mac, a RSS client called Caffeinated may have way it takes to dethrone the reigning champion, Reeder.