Category: iPhone

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Are camera phones the new point and shoot cameras?

cellphonecamera

I have two cameras that are with me 99% of the time. One is a Canon Powershot ELPH 870IS the other is my iPhone. Of course I have a couple great DSLRs (Nikon D700 and D5000). It goes without saying that when it's an important event I'm shooting with a DSLR. However, when it's just casual just out and about you would think that I pull out my Canon ELPH, but the reality is that I pull out my iPhone, take the shot (edit it in the FREE Photoshop.com Mobile App if need be) and share it immediately via Facebook/Twitter/Flickr/Email using the Best Camera App. 

You would think that more camera manufacturers would take the hint and be looking to add wi-fi (if not 3G capabilities) to their point and shoot cameras and redesign the interfaces on them for easier image sharing. 

Honestly I can't remember the last time I used my "Point and Shoot" camera. Sure I realize that your best or only camera may be your Point and Shoot camera and that you may use yours all the time. However, for me my best camera is my DSLR and for everything else I use my iPhone. Apparently I'm not alone! Look at this interesting set of stats on the 400% increase in mobile photo uploads to Flickr via the iPhone 3GS. What about you?

tplight

For those interested in more Flash/Light for low light photos, that's one thing I love about my Truepower IV iPhone external battery. Not only does it double my battery life but it also provides a bright LED light on the back for photos.

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Best of 2009: Terry’s Top 10 Gadget Picks

Happy New Year! It's that time once again to take a quick look at my favorite gadgets of last year. The gadgets I've chosen were the ones that I used the most and that had the most positive impact on my day-to-day life. These gadgets were either introduced in 2009 or had significant updates in 2009. These are the gadgets that I would recommend to a friend without hesitation. So let's get to it…

 

iPhone 3GS

iPhone 3GS

Anyone that knows me knows that the iPhone 3GS is my communications device of choice. The 3GS made my life easier this year with more memory, a faster processor, and graphics to run apps that I never dreamed of right from the palm of my hand. I use my iPhone quite a bit in my day to day routine. I actually get a ton of work/communications done with this device.  I get both work and personal email, SMS and MMS messaging, productivity and business apps, and yes even the ability to make calls. This is the one gadget that I now couldn't imagine being without. See my original iPhone 3GS review here. Learn more about the iPhone 3GS here.

See my Must Have iPhone Apps here.

See my favorite iPhone and iPod touch accessories here.

 

Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote

When I am at home and not producing content, I enjoy my home entertainment systems and home theater. The one remote that has worked for me better than any other remote I've tried is the Logitech Harmony One. This remote is configured from your computer to do exactly what you want. Anyone with more than a couple of entertainment components should do themselves a favor and check out the Harmony One. See my original review here. Get the Harmony One Remote here.

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Sony and Nintendo should be very afraid

It was widely reported that Apple's App Store downloads jumped over 1,000 percent on Christmas Day and that for the first time, iPod touch app downloads outpaced iPhone App downloads. While this is all certainly good news for Apple, App Developers and the platform as a whole, it's a telling sign that companies like Sony and Nintendo should be very afraid. 

09ipodtouch

 

The Handheld Gaming Pricing Model has changed!

The reason that these two gaming giants should be afraid is that they have built their handheld gaming businesses on a model that includes selling a moderately priced device and charging a significant price on games.

Safari

A quick look at bestbuy.com reveals that the lowest priced game for the Nintendo DS is $9.99.

Safari 2

However, their best selling games are starting at $19.99. Now you could look at this and say that people will spend more for a game that they really like and there's probably some truth to that. However, the games for the iPod touch range anywhere from FREE to $1.99 on average with $9.99 being considered to be an "expensive game." 

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Check out this Blog on your Mobile Device

techblog

One new feature of my Tech Blog is a NEW improved interface on your Mobile Device. Although the iPhone/iPod touch does a great job of viewing websites as they are formatted, that doesn't mean that you get the most optimized experience. This is especially true for those who are on slower EDGE networks. So thanks to a WordPress Plug-in called WPtouch that my buddy and web designer Erik Berskiold turned me on to, this blog and my MacNews blog are now optimized for mobile viewing too.

techblog1  techblog2

The post are automatically reformatted to fit your display nicely and of course even the YouTube videos will automatically open up the YouTube app on your device if you tap them.

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MobileMe is working for me (now)!

mobileme

In light of yesterday's post about ratings, I decided to return to a product/topic that I wanted to give everyone an update on. With each iPhone OS update that has come out since Apple switched .Mac to MobileMe I've tried to use it to wirelessly sync all my data between not only my Macs, but my iPhone as well. Each attempt in the past has lead to problems. One of the most frustrating problems I had over and over was the loss of ringtone associations with the 50+ contacts that I assigned custom ringtones too. Since you still can't assign ringtones to a group of contacts, I would have to manually go in and reassign them each time. I would typically get so frustrated that by the 3rd time this would happen, I would go back to syncing manually in iTunes. 

 

Now it works!

Apple has been tweaking (ie. fixing bugs) MobileMe all along. So I tried it again when the iPhone OS 3.0 update came out. It's been working fine ever since. I've not once lost my ringtone/contact associations and it's been syncing flawlessly between my iPhone 3GS and various Macs. For me, it's finally working as advertised and I'm happy! 

Much too often people are quick to tell you that something doesn't work! So I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell you that MobileMe does work.

 

Yes, there is still room for improvement

Although MobileMe syncing is now working for me as advertised, that doesn't mean that the service itself couldn't be better. For example, I'm still stunned that to this day the iPhone doesn't support syncing of To Do items in iCal/Outlook without a 3rd party App (I use ToDo) and even more stunned that although you can finally sync Notes from Mail, that you can still only do so via the USB cable and iTunes. Notes themselves seem to sync up to the MobileMe cloud so why is it that we still have to plug in to get them to sync on the iPhone/iPod touch?

I could go on and on about things I would like to see implemented or improved, but for the most part I'm happy that it finally works the way it's supposed to.

You can get MobileMe here at a discounted price. It works on both Macs and PCs.

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Creative Ways to Showoff Your Photography – Gelaskins

Yesterday I talked about showing off your Photography with Moo Cards. Today it's all about skins. My guess is that you have a cellphone, mp3 player, laptop or gaming device if not all of the above. So why not add some custom bling to your electronic devices.

gela

Gelaskins has been around for a while selling all kinds of creative looking skins for your various devices. Honestly I'm not really a skin kind of guy. The reason is that I usually don't find an image that I like so much that I want it on a device that I use/look at every day. However, once I found out that they now allow you to use YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY, I couldn't get the site fast enough. 

gelaskins-c

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My New MacNews blog

As many of you know I'm a Mac user and usually a fan of Apple's products. There a many times that I would post more about Macs, iPhones and such here, but I try to keep an even balance because I realize that there are a fair number of Windows users here too. So unless it's a hot new product introduction or major update, I tend to just let it go by. 

Back in August of 1986 (yes that's 23 years ago), I founded MacGroup-Detroit. I've been the president of this organization for 23 years. It's a very active Michigan based users group with roughly 500 members. For the last 20+ years we've had a monthly newsletter called "MacNews". About a year ago we went from a printed publication to a PDF online only publication. This was working OK, but the more I thought about it the more I started to wonder "why?" Why go through page layout just to deliver electronic information electronically? So a couple of weeks ago the monthly newsletter was converted into a daily blog. This way, the writers can post content whenever it's ready, the information can be more timely and the members can subscribe via their favorite RSS readers.

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Sony FM/AM Clock Radio Digital Picture Frame with iPod/iPhone Dock Review

ICFCL75IP

How's that for the longest product name in history? Oops, I forgot to stick in the model number: ICF-CL75iP. Ahhh, that's better! Wait, I forgot Dream Machine. OK, that's it.

A couple of months back I saw a pre-announcement that Sony was coming out with an Alarm Clock that had a built-in iPod/iPhone dock – YAWN! I know, who cares right? There are so many options out there, what's Sony going to bring to the table? Well there was one thing that got my attention and that's the built-in digital picture frame. This clock radio, iPod dock has a nice big 7" display. 

Rather than spending a lot of time trying to describe it, here's a video I recorded:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE0otgu9UWQ

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Sony DR-BT101 Bluetooth Headphones – Video Review

BT101

Earlier this year when Apple announced that the iPhone 3.0 and iPod touch 3.0 OS updates would now finally support stereo bluetooth headphones I began the search for the best ones. Unfortunately there was no one claiming to have found the best ones. All of the reviews I’ve found for the various models varied widely in opinions. I guess when it comes to audio everyone’s tastes and tolerances are quite different. So I decided to bite the bullet and start my own research project for the best ones. I’m starting with the Sony DR-BT101 Bluetooth Headphones. The only reason I’m starting with these is because they were very reasonably priced compared to the others I saw. Enough with the words, see my video review here:

 

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Nike+iPhone – (Nike+) Shoes = Flexibility

myshoes

I’ve been a fan of the Nike+iPod kit since day one. Although I don’t consider myself to be a runner. I am a  walker and therefore like to keep track of my walking goals and progress. When the Nike+iPod kit first came out it was a two piece kit sold by Apple and Nike. What you got in the box was a sensor that went into a special compartment in the sole of your Nike+ shoes and a receiver that attached to the dock connector on the iPod nano.

nikesensor

With this combination you got music while you ran or walked, voice prompts let you know your stats and distance to go and stats that would automatically get uploaded to your Nike+ account on the web each time you’d sync your iPod. It’s GREAT!

nikeinshoe 

I’m an iPhone user though

When the iPhone came out two years ago I wasn’t really interested in carrying both an iPod and my iPhone. After all the iPhone has an iPod built-in. So I kinda got away from using my Nike+ kit. Sure I was still walking, but I just wasn’t keeping track anymore. Well when I upgraded to the iPhone 3GS, I was very happy to see that like the iPod touch (2nd gen), Apple had built-in support for the Nike+iPod integration. Now I could carry just the one device and I would no longer need the receiver attached to the dock connector. Cool! I still have my original Nike+ shoes and I started using them again. This is when I realized that I’m not always going to want to wear these shoes everywhere I go. I have nothing against Nike shoes (you should see my closet), but I just didn’t want to be limited to the one pair of shoes every time I wanted to walk and track my progress.

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