IpadBookFinder.com

2012-06-28T15:06:00.000-07:00

The iRig is a great tool/interface for the iPad, iPhone and iPos (2nd generation). You can play your (bass) guitar through this littke device with almost no latency and great sounding virtual amps. The cheapest way to order? Through this website: www.gitaarspeakers.nl

Top iPad apps

2012-05-08T13:18:00.003-07:00

App Store Official Charts for the week ending May 7, 2012: ___ Top Paid iPad Apps: 1. Angry Birds Space HD (Rovio Mobile Ltd.) 2. Ski Safari (Defiant Development) 3. Pages (Apple) 4. Draw Something by OMGPOP (OMGPOP) 5. Kingdom Rush HD (Armor Games Inc) 6. Where's My Water? (Disney) 7. Notability - Take Notes & Annotate PDFs with Dropbox Sync (Ginger Labs) 8. Tips & Tricks — iPad Secrets (Intelligenti Ltd) 9. Infinity Blade (Chair Entertainment Group, LLC) 10. Cut the Rope HD (Chillingo Ltd) ___ Top Free iPad Apps: 1. Socialcam Video Camera (Justin.tv) 2. Logos Quiz Game (AticoD) 3. Skype for iPad (Skype Software S.a.r.l) 4. Draw Something Free (OMGPOP) 5. Deer Hunter Reloaded (Glu Games Inc.) 6. iBooks (Apple) 7. The Weather Channel for iPad (The Weather Channel Interactive) 8. Facebook (Facebook, Inc.) 9. Cannon Cat (Loqheart) 10. Netflix (Netflix, Inc.) ___ (copyright) 2012 Apple, Inc.

The iPad. Pricing, strategy and competition

2012-01-24T13:41:00.000-08:00

When Apple releases its earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2012 late Tuesday, we’ll learn just how much the tablet market has changed since the release of the Kindle Fire in November — one of the main reasons tablet ownership shot up over the holiday season.

With its bargain-basement price ($199) and the plethora of Amazon services on tap, the Kindle Fire was a hot gift this holiday, and Amazon says it sold a record 4 million Kindles in the holiday (thought it doesn’t separate ereaders from tablets in those figures).
Just how many people opted to buy a Kindle Fire instead of an iPad? At least one investment bank has already weighed in, and we’ll have a better idea in a couple of hours.
Looking back a year, iPad sales over the 2010 holiday season were 7.3 million, up from 4.2 million the previous quarter — a 73% increase. Last quarter Apple sold 11.1 iPads, so to match the previous year’s spike, Apple would need to have sold 19.3 million iPads.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that if Apple comes up short of that figure that iPad sales have completely tanked, though. Demand for Apple products is so high that the company regularly has issues keeping up supply, so just being in the neighborhood of that mark will be quite an achievement. But if it’s appreciably short — say, by 3 million units — then Apple has a problem.
A lackluster iPad figure would mean that Apple is seriously challenged by this new low-priced competitor. That would be a big blow to what otherwise is expected to be a big earnings season for Apple, since whatever happens with the iPad, the iPhone 4S is widely expected to give the company its best iPhone sales ever.
It might also give a hint as to Apple’s strategy with iPad 3. For the first two generations of the product, Apple has been consistent in keeping the price stable, just adding features and performance. If the Kindle Fire is seriously cutting into iPad sales, though, that could change.
If its new competitor is a real threat, we might see Apple focus more on aggressive pricing, with merely incremental upgrades to the design. Such a revamp could possibly delay the release. Or perhaps Apple might take the iPad line in two directions — the original, high-end model and a smaller stripped-down version that will give anyone considering a Kindle Fire reason to head to the Apple Store instead.
Of course, there’s also the very real possibility that iPad sales were barely affected by the Kindle Fire. That would mean tablets have become a two-tier market, with Apple dominating the top and Amazon gobbling up what’s left on the bottom. Anyone thinking about competing (Microsoft, take note) will need to first figure out where they want to take their fight.
Wherever iPad sales end up, we’re going to learn something new about the tablet market, and if we’re lucky CEO Tim Cook might even let slip a hint or two about iPad 3. Mashable will have complete coverage of Apple’s earnings, which the company’s due to release at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Source: mashable.com

iPad3 in production

2012-01-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

iPad 3 Production Begins, Report Says

Apple's manufacturing partners have begun production of the iPad 3, which will have a faster processor and work with LTE networks, a report has claimed.
Bloomberg reports that production of the device began this month and will reach full volumes some time in February, according to a source.
The report, which focuses on claims made by three separate anonymous sources said to be "familiar with the product" also claims that the third-generation iPad will use a quad-core processor and support LTE (long-term evolution) networks.
According to one source, Apple wants to put an LTE chip in the iPad before the iPhone because the larger device's more capacious battery will be better able to handle the power demands of the new chip.
The display of the iPad 3 is also said to have a greater resolution than its predecessor, and is said to have "more pixels on its screen than some high- definition televisions". There is a better graphic processor, too, which means that videos will start playing almost "instantly", one source claimed.
Mass production began at the start of January, with production lines in some of Foxconn's Chinese factories running for 24 hours a day, the report says. Manufacturing will stop temporarily for the Chinese New Year later this month and then restart in February, apparently.

Source: PCWorld.com

iPads and iPods 'are helping our pupils learn without realising they are doing it'

2011-10-30T14:49:00.000-07:00

Teachers at a south Wales school say investing in smartphones and MP3 players has helped pupils improve their literacy skills

Pupils' literacy skills have improved because of working with iPads, say teachers at Ysgol Glannau Gwaun in Fishguard. Photograph: Dimitris Legakis for the Guardian

Teachers at Ysgol Glannau Gwaun, a primary in Fishguard with stunning views across Cardigan Bay, are convinced their pupils are benefiting from their iPads and iPods. The school invested in 16 iPads and 20 iPods specifically to improve literacy skills among its 247 pupils, thinking the boys especially might react positively to the technology. Irwyn Wilcox, the headteacher, said: "We were looking to beef up technology and find ways of engaging the pupils in different ways. I'm convinced it's having an impact." It has been a steep learning curve for the teachers. "This time last year I'd probably not have been sure what an iPad was," said Wilcox. "And we often have the children telling us how to do things we don't know about. But it's great that is happening." Pupils beaver away on iPads in the classrooms and post their work to a secure virtual area run by Pembrokeshire, the local education authority. Teachers can look at pupils' work within that space. They have an "app of the month" suggested by pupils, and an iClub in which year 6 pupils – 10 and 11-year-olds – teach younger children. Camron, 10, said: "I like teaching the younger kids. It's fun to help them out and pass things on to them." Camron and his friend Conah are dipping into virtual books on the iPad they are sharing. They like the version of Michael Rosen's Tidy Your Room and also the spoof sci-fi book Star Bores (May the Farce be With You). "I still like ordinary books and comics," said Conah, "but it's great that all these books are on the iPad, too. There's a load of choice of things to look at and read." Their friend Ioan, 10, is playing a game called Bingo Bugs on the iPad he is using. If he answers a certain number of sums in a set time he gets to play a game. "It's cool, I love this game," he says. Rachel Morgan, Glannau Gwaun's ICT co-ordinator, said children were "learning without realising they were learning". "A lot of the boys especially don't like writing," she said. "They feel pressurised if they are asked to write down a story." Instead, they use applications such as Storyrobe, which allows them to use still images and video to create a story. They can add their own voice to tell the story rather than writing it down. "They can quickly share it with their peers, and they like doing that," said Morgan. Mollie is using an app called Puppetpals to create a cowboy story. "I like writing in ordinary books, but I also enjoy making a story on the iPad," she says. "It's really exciting." Perhaps, tellingly, there have been no breakages or damage since the iPads arrived in February. The pupils seem to take great care of them. Teacher Gareth Owen said he had noticed some of the "more challenging" boys, particularly, enjoying the technology. "They feel this is something they know about, something they can do," he said. "I've seen some of the tough guys teaching the younger children with real sensitivity. I hope we can get 20 or 30 more." First, though, the school will have to prove the iPads are raising standards. Wilcox thinks it will. Glannau Gwaun has moved into new buildings with all sorts of technology to make sure it is as environmentally friendly as possible, he said. "What's the point of having all sorts of clever things for the building and old technology for the kids?"

Source: guardian.co.uk

Great website

2011-09-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

Life goes strong. A great blog about tech, lifestyle et cetera. Lots of attention for nice gadgets, such as the iPad end Kindle.

Visit www.lifegoesstrong.com for more info.

Sale

2011-09-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

www.ipadbookfinder.com, i-bookshops.com and www.i-bookworm.com are for sale. Great domain names for companies that sell books online or publish content for the iPad. Info: tjiemeel@gmail.com

For sale

2011-08-29T14:48:00.001-07:00

This domain is for sale. Info: tjiemeel@gmail.com

How to run iPad apps on your iPhone

2011-04-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hackers just unveiled a remarkably easy-to-use tool that puts iPad apps on your jailbroken iPhone 4.
It's not perfect--apps often crash and have problems displaying content on the iPhone's smaller screen--but it's worth a shot if you're curious.
The application, called iTelePad2Pod, requires your iPhone to be jailbroken and have OpenSSH installed (an app from Cydia that allows your computer to communicate with your iPhone.)
All you need to do is download iTelePad2Pod, move it to your Mac's Application folder, and run the app.
Mount your iPhone as an external drive using OpenSSH, and iTelePad2Pod will walk you through the process. Essentially, all it does is change a small piece of code in the iPad app telling it that it can run on both an iPad and an iPhone.
See below for a tutorial video:
Don't Miss: The 11 Best Jailbreak Tweaks That Will Supercharge Your Current Apps

Source: businessinsider.com

Sony unveils its first tablets in bid to compete with Apple's iPad

2011-04-26T01:45:00.001-07:00

Sony revealed Tuesday two Google Android-based touchscreen tablets, which will released this fall in an attempt to catch up to Apple's year-long head start with the iPad.

The tablets, dubbed S1 and S2, were unveiled at a media launch in Japan, Reuters reports. Sony will attempt to leverage its successes in the gaming industry to drive sales of the tablets, as both the S1, which sports a 9.4-inch display, and the S2, which features two 5.5-inch displays, will be compatible with select PlayStation games.

Sony deputy president of consumer products and services Kunimasa Suzuki indicated that the devices will run the tablet-designed Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, as he pulled a prototype from a jacket pocket at the launch.

In an effort to distinguish itself from the growing list of Android-based iPad competitors, such as the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab, Sony has developed two unique form factors for its tablets. The S1 has an "off-center of gravity form factor," while the S2 features a foldable dual-screen setup.

The two devices will be marketed under the "Sony Tablet" brand and will feature heavy cross-promotion of Sony's Qriocity media suite.

The S1 will feature a Tegra 2 processor, Wi-Fi and 3G/4G cellular data capability. IT will also include an IR port for AV controls with Sony's line of Bravia televisions and support for the Sony-initiated Digital Living Network Alliance standards. Sony held off on revealing further details on either the S1 or the S2, disclaiming that "design and specifications are subject to change without notice.

The devices are slated for a global release in the fall of this year.

In January, Sony surprised attendees of the Consumer Electronics Show when the company declared its intentions to take the No. 2 spot in the tablet market within a year, despite not having released a tablet.

Earlier this year, Sony unveiled the next-generation version of its PlayStation Portable, dubbed the NGP in hopes of striking back at Apple, whose popular iOS devices have quickly begun cannibalizing Sony's share of the gaming market.

The Japanese electronics giant also took the wraps off a partnership with Google and other Android handset makers that will produce the PlayStation Suite, an Android-compatible content platform that will bring both classic and new PlayStation games to the mobile operating system.

"Users will be able to enjoy PlayStation content on an open operating system for the first time in PlayStation history," the company said in a statement in January. The move is a break from precedent from Sony, which has preferred its own proprietary formats over open ones.

Sony faces an uphill climb against Apple, which has attracted crushing demand for the iPad 2. Apple COO Tim Cook told investors last week that the iPad 2 is experiencing "the mother of all backlogs." Supply constraints caused Apple's quarterly sales of the iPad to decline to 4.69 million in the first quarter of calendar 2011, but Apple is still expected to sell 40 million iPads this year.

In April, research firm Gartner revealed that it expects Apple's iPad to continue to dominate the tablet market through 2015. The market is expected to grow to 294 million tablets in 2015, with Apple maintaining an estimated 47 percent market share.

Source: appleinsider.com

iPad2 commercial launched

2011-04-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Apple’s released its first iPad 2 television commercial. We Believe keeps it simple, rather than dwelling on specs and technology. It focuses on the experience and the simplicity of the iPad’s user interface.

This is what we believe. Technology alone is not enough. Faster, thinner, lighter. Those are all good things, but when technology gets out of the way, everything becomes more delightful, even magical. THat’s when you leap forward. That’s when you end up with something like this.

While some geeks may moan about this ad being too simplistic, it’s exactly what Apple and its competitors should be doing more of. This iPad 2 commercial portrays the tablet as approachable. Apple’s surely employed some behavioral experts along the way, as the commercial includes images of perhaps the three things that matter to the masses: kids, health and money.

Source: gottabemobile.com

Apple iPad 2 Launch, March 2nd

2011-03-15T02:34:00.000-07:00

Is Apple finally ready to roll out its next-generation iPad? The Cupertino company will hold a media event on March 2--just over a week from now--to unveil its new tablet, according to a Tuesday report from All Things D. The Wednesday event will likely take place in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple's preferred location for major product announcements.
The new tablet, which many Apple watchers are calling the iPad 2, has been a hot rumor-mill topic for weeks now. Reports from numerous sources claim the upcoming iPad will be thinner and lighter than the current (and original) model, which began shipping last April.
Apple's second-gen slate will reportedly feature a dual-core processor, a better screen, more RAM and storage, a front-facing camera, and possibly a rear-facing camera. It'll run on both GSM and CDMA networks. And it'll ship late...or perhaps not. As if that weren't enough, iPad 3 gossip is now the rage, with some stories predicting a late-2011 launch for Apple's third tablet.
Whew! Pick and choose whichever predictions you find most believable. But if today's All Things D story is correct, we'll only have to wait a few more days to learn the truth about the iPad 2.
Unlike the original iPad, Apple's new tablet will face real competition in both the consumer and business markets. Motorola's highly-touted Xoom, one of many Android 3.0-based slates expected to ship this year, will be available this week from Verizon Wireless. The Galaxy Tab 10.1, a larger version of Samsung's original 7-inch tablet, debuted last week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It also runs Android 3.0 and will ship in some markets in June.
Meanwhile, Research In Motion (RIM) plans to launch versions of its 7-inch PlayBook tablet for LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and 3G HSPA+ networks by the end of the year. WiMax and Wi-Fi editions of Playbook should be available next month. And Hewlett-Packard will ship its WebOS-based TouchPad tablet this summer.

Source: www.pcworld.com

iPadBookfinder and i-Bookworm

2011-02-16T01:11:00.001-08:00

These domains are for sale. Contact the seller via tjiemeel@gmail.com

iPad or Kindle?

2010-11-20T12:32:00.000-08:00

Each year, two things signify the start of the holiday season for me. First, there’s the ceremonial Two-Month Ban of Every Store And Business That Airs A Holiday Ad Before Halloween. There’s even a lovely ceremony in which I interrupt the mall’s tree-lighting ceremony to berate the store representatives in person.
The other traditional kickoff is the arrival of the first email from a reader who’s decided to buy a certain kind of tech product as a gift but needs some advice. I’m all over it. It’s part of my mandate, it’s an opportunity to perform a good deed during a period when Santa is known to be monitoring my activities closely, and unlike my other holiday tradition, it’s unlikely to cause me to appear in a YouTube video entitled “Idiot Gets Tasered By Mall Security.”
I’ll be doing a few of these over the coming weeks. Let’s kick things off with ebook readers.
This is definitely the year when ebooks crossed that invisible threshold and became a true mass-market way to buy and read books. Readers are affordable, very easy to use, and provide a great reading experience. More importantly, the library of titles is finally ready to play in the big leagues. When commercial ebookstores first appeared, you were lucky to find 2,000 titles. Then it jumped to the range of an airport bookstore.
Right now, it’s like a huge chain bookstore in a mall. If it’s a new release, you can almost count on finding it, and you can also be optimistic about backlist titles. The fact that hundreds of thousands of public-domain texts are also available almost compensates for the fact that you can’t find that book about the engineering and development of the Apollo Lunar Module.
Actually, that’s a fine example: “Moon Lander” by Thomas Kelly isn’t available as an ebook, but an equally obscure, nerdy and exciting book about the engineering of the LEM guidance computer is. That’s usually the case: even when you can’t find the exact book you’re seeking, a search will turn up something similar that’s just as interesting.
So yes: this is a great year to buy someone an ebook reader. But the new credibility of ebooks has complicated the marketplace this year. There are four front-runners in the race: Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook reader, the Sony Reader line, and the iPad. There are others, and many of them cost far less, but they require a slightly higher level of user expertise and they lack a directly-linked bookstore that makes browsing and purchasing so simple.
If you want a one-sentence recommendation, go with the Kindle. Amazon backed e-publishing early and as a result, the Kindle Store is…well, it’s the Amazon.com of electronic books. The company is also extremely aggressive in extending the Kindle’s reach into every electronic device of any significance. If you buy a book from the Kindle store you’ll be able to re-download and read it on your iPhone, Android phone, your Blackberry, your laptop, and yes, even your iPad.
You don’t even need to own a Kindle device itself. But the reader is by no means an afterthought: it’s the best purpose-built ereader on the market. The Kindle itself is almost crazy-thin and light (he said, admiringly), delivering a big advantage over physical books and other ebook readers. The screen is super-high-contrast and is so close to print-quality that you can practically smell the soybeans.
The price is certainly right: $139 for the cheaper of the two models.
If you can afford $189, I recommend going for the 3G edition, however. It comes with free mobile broadband for the life of the device, and coverage is global. There’s no setup, either. The user switches the Kindle on and seconds later, he or she can browse and download books. That’s a key advantage in a device that’s meant to acquire new content via a wireless connection.
Another big bonus: the Kindle comes with a web browser that’s based on the same web engine as the browser that comes with the iPad and Android devices. The browser is only limited by the fact that the hardware has been optimized for turning pages of static text, as opposed to the dynamic content and webapps that an iPad or an Android phone eats for breakfast. But for optimized services like Google Reader, it works a treat.
Those fifty extra bucks mean that the recipient of this gift will be able to read all of their favorite blogs wherever they go for free. From your own selfish point of view, though, it means that you won’t spend Christmas Day on the phone with a technophobic relative 1,200 miles away, walking them through the process of connecting a WiFi device to a wireless network.
(Or worse: telling them to wait until December 26th and then drive to a Starbucks or a Panera Bread with free WiFi. Don’t assume that everyone has WiFi in their home.)
The Kindle’s closest direct competitor is Barnes & Noble’s Android-based Nook. Recently, they gave it huge upgrade: $249 now buys you a reader with a full-color touchscreen. In a world without a Kindle, it’d be a hugely-attractive device. But in practice, the new Nook comes across as a deluxe book reader instead of an affordable tablet computer. And as a ebook device it doesn’t deliver $110 worth of added value.
The bigger concern is the new Nook’s 8 hour battery life. Compare this to the Kindle, which goes on for so many weeks between charges that you’ll flip it over to see if there’s a Mr. Fusion machine bolted to the back of it.
I like Sony’s devices for their aggressively open stance. Sony has their own ebookstore, but the device will happily work with content from multiple sources and even alternative ebookstores.
But not the Kindle Store. They’re lovely devices, but they could only truly succeed if Amazon made some serious mistakes that Sony could exploit.
Which leaves us with the iPad. Its only drawback is that it’s the very best ebook reader you can buy.
No kidding. You can purchase books from Apple’s own iBookstore, the Kindle Store, the Nook store, or any independent store that sells content protected by Adobe DRM (meaning: most of them). Toss any PDF or Office file on there. Any ePUB. There are apps that will read ‘em all.
It’s by far the best screen. The Kindle screen is about as good as print. But the iPad’s is backlit, and it’s about twice as large. You won’t need a reading light and you won’t be constantly turning tiny, paperback-sized pages. The larger screen and superior font handling makes it easier to adjust type styles and sizes to suit every kind of vision.
I have both an iPad and a Kindle. I buy almost all of my books from the Kindle store but read practically none of them on the Kindle device itself. It’s just a far more comfortable reading experience.
Er, except for the iPad’s weight and size, of course. The Kindle will fit in almost any jacket or back pocket. The iPad will fit ... in any shoulder bag. If the bag is large enough.
I wish the iPad were lighter, but truth be told it’s no harder to hold during marathon reading sessions than a conventional book. I have to score “size and weight” as a specific advantage of the Kindle rather than a disadvantage of the iPad, if you follow.
Overall, it’s probably unfair two compare the two devices directly. The Kindle’s brilliant because Amazon decided to focus on just building a kick-butt device for reading electronic books. The iPad’s a huge success because Apple invented a new class of computer that’s well suited for all forms of media, and that can even sub for a notebook in many situations. I travel a lot and love the fact that for shorter trips, the iPad is the only big device I need.
The iPad has an obvious gotcha: the cheapest one is $500. If that’s really your budget for this friend or relative’s gift, you should ask yourself “Would this person rather have a 3G Kindle plus a box containing $321 in cash?” The iPad is meant to be much, much more than a book reader and it’s priced accordingly.
Plus, if Apple remains true to form, they’ll soon update the entire iPad line and sell them for the same prices as the current models. That’s just speculation, and I wouldn’t expect new iPads to ship any sooner than Spring, but it’s something to keep in mind if you have the kind of friends and relatives who don’t care if you’re several months late with a present.
Either way, it’s a good idea to make this particular decision sooner rather than later. Both Apple and Amazon have had problems keeping up with heavy demand and if you wait until December to make your purchase, you might wind up gift-wrapping an I.O.U. instead of a spiffy and shiny gadget.

Source: suntimes.com

Domain for sale

2010-11-19T02:51:00.000-08:00

Hell yeah! This domain name is for sale. More info: tjiemeel@gmail.com

Want to read news about iPads? See the news items below.

iPad loses weight. Crash course diet!

2010-11-19T01:35:00.000-08:00

Apple has applied for a patent that appears to be a tacit admission of a common complaint about its magical and revolutionary iPad: the Cupertinian slablet is just too damn heavy. Apple's solution: a light-but-rigid body made not of aluminium, but of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP).

The patent application, "Reinforced Device Housing", issued Thursday by the US Patent and Trademark Office, doesn't mention the iPad specifically, but its illustrations make its target device unmistakeable:

Add an Apple logo and you've got an iPad.

It must be said than the iPad's aluminum body doesn't account for all that much of the iPad's 680 to 730 gram heft, but seeing as how Apple's tablet has been derided as too weighty by geeks and normal humans alike, every gram counts.
The filing describes a body for "an electronic device or other object" that consists of a rigid CFRP frame — or "spine" as the filing describes it — over which a CFRP skin is stretched.
The skin is described as being created of multiple CFRP layers in a cross shape, with the arms of the cross to be wrapped around the spine. To increase rigidity and help prevent the skin from cracking, the layers would have their fiber's "grain" running in alternating directions.

Successive layers of skin would have their fibers aligned in different directions

In addition to CFRP, the filing mentions the possibility of using other fiber-in-matrix materials, including aramids such as Kevlar, polyethylenes such as Dyneema and Spectra, polypropylenes, and "others."
No matter what material is used, anything that can put the porky 'Pad on a diet is to be welcomed.

Source: theregister.co.uk

Hyundai meets iPad

2010-11-18T01:16:00.000-08:00

Hyundai is going to equip every Equus luxury car, on sale next month, with a 16-gigabyte, Wi-Fi-enabled iPad. Owners will get it when they return to the dealer where they bought the car for a "reconnect visit," a chance to ask more questions about the car after they've lived with it for a few day

The iPad is increasingly finding its way into cars. BMW, for instance, has created a docking station on the back of front seats of its X3 crossover so an iPad can be used as the rear-seat entertainment system.

Including an iPad with an Equus is considered such a big deal that Hyundai plans to feature it in its Equus ads. Hyundai plans to create similar owners-manual apps for its other vehicles, although not with an iPad as part of the deal. "We're very excited about it," says John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai Motor America.

Editing Google Docs on iPad

2010-11-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

Google Docs editing on Apple's iPhone and iPad and any Android smart phone or tablet is coming in "the next few days," Google said Wednesday. The Google Docs update will be available for devices running the tech giant's Android operating system version 2.2 -- also known as Froyo -- or any iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad running iOS 3.0 or newer.

Android users will get one slick feature not available to Apple owners: the ability to edit text in a Google Doc using voice recognition. No matter the device, Google Docs editing won't be done in an app.
Instead, users simply have to visit www.docs.google.com in their phone or tablet's Web browser to get started editing existing files or create new documents all while "your friends can jealously follow in real time at home," Google said. For now, only English-language documents can be edited by way of a mobile device, but Google said it plans to add editing for other languages at a later date.

Reading will get cheaper on your iPad

2010-11-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

Just a little survey I did. Apple iPad is an awesome device for reading PDF documents and ebooks – the screen is brilliant, the text and graphics are perfectly legible and it almost feels like you reading a real book. The problem is the format. There's some applications that allow you to read different formats on your iPad.

A well-known one is the one from Amazon. Amazon often offers cheaper books than the sources Apple provides: follow this link.

Another good one is GoodReader. Also available through iTunes: follow this link. You can transfer PDF files from the computer to Good Reader on the iPad via iTunes or using your local Wi-Fi network if you have one. The software can also connect to your online accounts at Google Docs, Dropbox, etc. so you can download PDF files from these locations directly on to the iPad and read them even while you are offline.

GoodReader is a fantastic app for reading PDFs but there’s only one downside. When you turn a page, the next page is not rendered instantly and this lag become slightly more evident when you are flipping heavy pages (that contain graphics).

The next good choice for reading PDFs on your iPad is the Cloud Readers app – it’s both free and simple. You can either use a USB cable or your wireless network to copy PDFs from the computer to Cloud Readers.
There are two things that I really like about Cloud Readers – one, it renders documents really fast and second, there’s a unique “Two Up” view so can you display two pages of a PDF side-by-side (see screenshot).

Another PDF reading app that you should seriously try on your iPad is Stanza from Amazon, yes that same company that also develops the Kindle e-book reader. Like Cloud Readers, Stanza renders PDF pages extremely fast but there’s more.
Stanza has an integrated dictionary so you don’t have to quit the app to find a word meaning, you can easily arrange books in categories* and it also display thumbnails of books and magazines. If you don’t like the default cover image, grab a new one from the web.

The iPad has built-in support for the PDF format. For instance, if you get a PDF document as an email attachment or if you happen to click a PDF link inside the Safari browser, you can read the contents of that file inside the iPad without requiring an external PDF reader app.

Oprah on iPad. 'O'Pad?

2010-11-17T04:53:00.000-08:00

You know that when Oprah comes to the iPad she will bring to it her video persona, and that is precisely how the new $3.99 tablet iteration of the magazine opens. In a full-screen video Oprah draws a long blue curtain to the side and introduces her app. Published by Hearst, the Oprah Magazine App follows the recent lead of Esquire on the tablet. Rather than render the December issue page by page, the app features much of the content of the print version, highlighting the features that are conducive to enhancement on a touch interface.

The issue opens with a holiday “O List” of gift ideas from Oprah herself and her usual cast of characters (Drs. Oz and Phil, Suze Orman, et. al.) These product pages offer a good helping of tap and show functionality as well as sharing tools and a buy button that brings you directly to manufacturers’ e-commerce sites. There is some clever interactivity with the product shots. Some items offer a 360-degree view and some books flip open with a swipe. In most cases these are just touch gimmicks that enhance the tactile experience without adding information. A feature on best books of the year does include extended excerpts from each and links to buy from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The lushly illustrated feature on homemade foods for the holidays have pop-up full page recipes. While charter advertisers Lexus and Disney embed videos in their respective ad units, there is not a lot of emphasis on multimedia in this app. An Oprah interview with Tyler Perry has a behind the scenes clip, but much of this app seems to be about text and images nicely formatted for the iPad platform.

The folks at Hearst have tried to deal with usage rates in digital magazines by creating a sweepstakes feature to encourage regular returns. The "12-Day Holiday Give-O-Way" lets app users (along with Web site visitors) enter a contest daily by typing in a code that is generated on each of 12 days starting November 29.

While unremarkable in most respects as a magazine app, O does include one interesting wrinkle that Hearst has been adding to the digital magazine ad model is its recent releases. This magazine limits the number of advertisers in the issue but the ad units for Disney and Lexus are interruptive rather than passive. While they appear in a specific place in the pagination of the app, they units also appear as interstitials when the user navigates to some pages. This is an interesting way to ensure that an advertiser gets seen and even guaranteeing a set number of impressions per user.

Overall, Oprah Magazine for iPad is a pleasant enhancement of key content elements from the holiday issue of the magazine. There are some bugs. The opening video does not always load as expected, and we got kicked from the app on occasion. Page loading also can lag behind navigation, which intrudes on the fast swipe-through experience. Nothing innovative here – just a few nice touches.
Source: minionline.com

Latest iPad build of iOS 4.2 ships November 24th

2010-11-16T12:41:00.000-08:00

I was skeptical when I heard rumors that a new iOS 4.2 GM Seed had been released. First off, usually when you hit GM Seed, you don’t need another version. Second, Apple had yet to alert any of its developers in its “official” way that a new GM Seed had been released.
After doing some digging it does seem to be that Apple has kicked out another iOS 4.2 build (8C134b). The interesting thing is that this build has only been released for iPad, with the iPhone remaining on build 8C134.

Apple has not officially confirmed this to its stable of developers, but The Telegraph is reporting that the official release of iOS 4.2 is now slated for November 24th.
I’ve heard from a number of sources that the latest iOS 4.2 on iPad build is much more stable than previous releases. Those same people were not suffering from any known Wi-Fi issues, though, which is the apparent cause for the need for Apple to release another GM Seed.
If you’re wondering why everyone is so excited about iOS 4.2 for the iPad, the release will put the iPad on par with the iPhone, allowing it to multitask and also take advantage of the new AirPlay features, which will let users stream audio and video from the iPad or iPhone to any compatible receiver. At this point the only known receiver is the new Apple TV, but deals with other manufacturers are believed to be in the works.
I can’t wait for the AirPlay feature. I tend to shoot a lot of photos and videos with my iPhone and the ability to instantly show those on my TV via Apple TV is something I’m really looking forward to. I would also assume that an Apple TV update will show up soon, too, since right now you can share photos and videos from your computer running iTunes, but there’s no specific AirPlay capability being highlighted.

Source: zdnet.com

Time Magazine picks iPad for top 50 inventions

2010-11-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

The iPad was recently picked for the top 50 inventions of 2010 by Time Magazine! The articles notes carefully word that the iPad is not a new invention though but more so a reinvention of a product that had been unsuccessful in the past. Tablet computers are obviously far from a new invention. Looking back on it, the pen tablet was developed in the mid 80s at a Boston-area startup, and touchscreen PCs have been around since the early part of this century – however the technology never actually caught on. Harry McCracken, the Times correspondent wrote in his article, ‘the iPad is merely a follow-up to such resoundingly unpopular slate-style computers as Microsoft’s Tablet PC.” He did observe that Apple was good at reinventing the category that many of its competitors had given up on. As a result, Apple ended up achieving success with the iPad because they were “the first company that designed finger-friendly hardware and software from scratch rather than stuffing a PC into a keyboardless case.”

Aside from the iPad itself, three out of the six best inventions in the Technology section had to do with Apple’s iOS. Among them were The Flipboard app, which is an app that combines updates from Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feeds in a graphically appealing magazine style layout. Another was the Square credit card reader for the iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android as one of the year’s top innovations.

Source: mygadgetnews.com

Corporate executives embrace the iPad

2010-11-16T02:09:00.000-08:00

TECH chiefs are struggling with Apple's iPad as more and more senior managers turn up with the device at work.
The problem is that the iPad was developed as a consumer gadget and not for corporate networks and their rigorous security and application protocols.
Nonetheless, when the boss lugs in an iPad and asks for a log-on to the corporate intranet, it's hard to say no.
"This is the first time a device has come in at the top of the food chain and been pushed down," said Gartner analyst Robin Simpson, speaking at the Gartner Symposium 2010 in Sydney today.
"What's happening with the iPad is senior executives are buying the things themselves and saying do it," said Mr Simpson. "For the first time senior executives have finally found a computer they can use -- the user interface is obvious -- you turn it on and it works."

But there are problems with the iPad.
Gartner's Nick Jones believes enthusiasm with iPad deployments is often running ahead of corporate security requirements.
"The pressure to allow choice is so great people are getting ahead of themselves," he said and included the latest Google Android tablet PCs in the too-fast basket.
"Android is like the CIO's worst nightmare -- it's fragmented, it's immature and it's popular -- how bad can it get," he joked.
"We are going to see some interesting and alarming data losses with these devices which will push people to manage them better," said Mr Jones.
Despite the risks, two CIOs at the Symposium Event today were keen on the iPads and other tablets PCs appearing in their organisations.
Corporate Express CIO Garry Whatley said about a dozen staff so far had iPads but expected that within 12 months tablets could be in use with a majority of the firm's 600 sales staff. Tablets were fine for running the cloud-based Salesforce.com application, he said, although he cautioned against using them just yet for security sensitive areas such as legal.
At Curtin University, CIO Peter Nikoletatos has more than 200 staff with iPads and the number is growing rapidly. Within 18 months he believes about a third of the university's 6000 staff could be using tablets.
The gadgets were used as document viewers in place of printing on paper and for less compute intensive tasks such as browsing and social networking and some corporate apps. Mr Nikoletatos saw a strong future for tablets hosting web-based applications where the heavy compute tasks were carried out in the cloud. "These are conduits to the cloud," he said.

Source: theaustralian.com.au

TV on iPad?

2010-11-15T12:34:00.000-08:00

Comcast has launched its Xfinity TV iPad and iPhone app in Apple's app store.
The application, which is available for free, allows Comcast customers to browse or search for TV listings from Apple's tablet or smartphone. Once the user finds what they want to watch, they can tap on the show in the app and immediately change the channel of their DVR to that station. If a show isn't on yet, they can also program their DVRs to record the episode or series.
Next month, Comcast plans to make television shows and movies viewable from its application. The app will boast shows and films from "the top premium networks," Comcast said. Over time, the company will add "thousands of additional entertainment choices."
Comcast also plans to double down on its mobile application development going forward. The company revealed today that the Xfinity launch is "the first in a series of scheduled app releases" for iOS-based devices. In addition, it plans to make "several" Android apps available this year, as well as programs for the BlackBerry and other mobile devices.
Comcast isn't alone in its desire to expand its offering through the iPad.
Earlier this year, Time Warner Cable unveiled an iPad app prototype that shows current programming and full TV listings. The cable provider indicated at the time that its goal is to give users the ability to watch shows when away from home on their iPad, and once they get home, resume watching the show on their television.

Source: news.cnet.com

Will bookstores survive the Google, iPad and Kindle attack?

2010-11-15T02:11:00.000-08:00

The Wall Street Journal reported that Google will start selling e-books by early summer, putting them in direct competition with Amazon, Apple and Barnes and Noble.
It’s not exactly been a secret that this was coming.
Last August, Google announced they were offering free downloads of more than one million books hat are in the public domain and then in October, they revealed that they would be launching Google Editions with about 500,000 additional titles.
And last month, in The New Yorker, reporter Ken Auletta laid out some of the details:
“Google Editions will let publishers set the price of their books (the head of Google Editions) said and will accept the agency model. Having already digitized twelve million books, including out-of-print titles, Google will have a far greater selection than Amazon or Apple. It will also make e-books available for bookstores to sell, giving “the vast majority” of revenues to the store.”
In the beginning, though, it appears that that the only books Google might only be able to sell are those in the public domain.
They are still involved in a long-running court battle, trying to get approval to move forward with their plans for Google Books, which would display books that are copyrighted but out of print along with with books that have eetered the public domain.
Google’s plans had been challenged by the Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers. While there was a settlement, it has not been approved as the judge considers objections including some from the Department of Justice, which has concerns over several issues including anti-trust.
And even if they get approval, there does seem to be at least one more hurdle — last month several groups representing visual artists announced plans to challenge Google’s plans.
Another issue is that it’s being reported that Google does not yet have deals in place with publishers.
Regardless of potential roadblocks, this development has the potential to be tougher on Amazon than on Apple because Google Editions seems closer in design to Kindle than IPad in that while the IPad is a device, Kindle is software that works on multiple devices.
But — even more at risk from this latest news are actual bookstores, you know the kind you walk into where you can handle the books and interact with people.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for books being available for purchase online (just check my bank statements). At the same time, I am concerned that the more book sales take place over the Internet, the less they are taking place in stores.
And when that happens, you start reading about bookstores closing.
From Miami to Seattle to Omaha and Boston, the same story is being written: bookstores are closing.
So, as Google Editions gets set to launch and IPad and Kindle and Nook battle it out and new readers keep coming on the market, try to break away from the screen every once in a while and head down to your local bookstore (if you still have one, if you don’t a chain will do), peruse the shelves, buy a magazine, a book, something.

Source: trueslant.com