iPad Tricks and Tips

Reset Progress Level in Candy Crush Saga Using iOS or Android Devices

2013-09-15T04:47:00.002-07:00

Reset Progress Level in Candy Crush Saga Using iOS or Android Devices

Recently one of my reader post a comment question on my post “Tips how to change your facebook account using iPad or iPad Mini” asking how to reset the Candy Crush Saga progress to level 1. I don’t know exactly if there’s a way to reset Candy Crush progress to level one, so I grab my phone and launch candy crush to check if there’s an option to reset the game, in the settings I saw the “Reset Progress” option. Here’s how you can reset your Candy Crush progress using your iOS and Android devices, please note that reseting your progress will logout of Facebook but your progress will be restored if you reconnect.

NOTE: You can use this instructions for both iOS and Android Devices, in the screen shot below I used Nexus 4 with Android 4.3 Jellybean.

After you open Candy Crush App, on the left bottom part of the screen you see a shield like gold color option, tap on that and the settings option will appear, if you can’t see the green settings button, tap on exit first it should be red button on the same place of settings then repeat the process, see the screen shot below.

You will now see the “Reset Options”

After you tap on reset progress a confirmation window will appear like the one below.

Lightning Speed iPad Mini Charging

2013-01-06T00:46:00.002-08:00

Lightning Speed iPad Mini Charging

That innocuous looking little fella above is proving to be quite a handy companion for my iPad mini. It’s an Apple 12W USB Power Adapter. I use it in tandem with the Lightning to USB cable that came with the iPad mini and I’m seeing very quick charge times with it.

When I let the iPad mini run all the way down until it powers down automatically, I can get it charged from zero to 100% in under 3 hours. I’ve done this a number of times and consistently seen it take around 2 hours and 45 – 55 minutes.

That feels pretty fast to me – especially as I’ve seen some people online mentioning 5 and 6 hour charge times for their iPad minis.

I’m feeling like the $19 investment in the 12W power adapter was well worthwhile.

For those of you with iPad minis, how fast is your charging typically? Are you using a 12W adapter?

The New iPad to be Released March 2013?

2013-01-05T22:04:00.003-08:00

The New iPad to be Released March 2013?
With the launch of the iPad 4 several months ago, Apple did indicate that it was trying something different with the year-long rotation of its product lines. Now if a new report coming out of Asia is to be believed, the Cupertino tech giant is preparing the fifth generation iPad with a release date scheduled for as early as next March.

Japanese blog Macotakara reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Apple would release a thinner and lighter version of the 9.7-inch iPad in March 2013. The report also added that the device would come with a new look, closely resembling the iPad mini that featured the iPhone 5’s black/slate and white/ silver designs.

Here is an excerpt from the report:

“However Chinese news ZOL (CBS Interactive) reported next iPad mini in AppleInsider's article, according to my inside source, iPad (5) may be released in March 2013. Source told that, design of this new iPad will be like iPad mini in detail, and be thinner and lightweight [sic].”

The report also stated some dimensions for the fifth generation iPad iteration: “4mm in height, 17mm in width, depth 2mm.” As 9TO5Mac pointed out, although “these numbers are obviously unrealistic expectations for the fifth-generation iPad’s actual size, these numbers would make sense in the context of being millimeters smaller in all of the iPad’s physical dimensions than the current iPad.”

Given that the existing fourth generation iPad comes in dimensions of 241.2mm by 185.7mm by 9.4mm, subtracting Macotakara’s numbers “would point to a thinner iPad that is slightly shorter and narrower.”

If the rumors turn out to be true, the next-generation iPad could be as thin as the 7.2mm iPad mini.

The March 2013 release of the fifth generation iPad would definitely be aggressive by Apple's standards. But blasting out new iPad updates every six months would help the company “to make sure Microsoft, Google, Samsung and Amazon can't catch up in the tablet market,” Business Insider has pointed out.

While Steve Jobs’ focus was on visionary products, CEO Tim Cook, with his expertise in managing the supply chain, could differentiate Apple “by launching premium products that are continuously refreshed,” the report added.

The Macotakara also claimed that a second generation iPad mini was also being prepared. The smaller iPad would likely feature an all-new 7.9-inch Retina display with the same resolution as the third and fourth generation iPads (2048 x 1536 pixels) and an A6X processor.

In November, DigiTimes also reported that the upcoming version of the iPad could be released in the "Middle of 2013,” boosting “demand for ICs– in particular communication-related chips– during the latter half of the first quarter.”

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A Quick Fix When Your iPad Won’t Connect to Your Wifi Network

2013-01-05T20:48:00.002-08:00

A Quick Fix When Your iPad Won’t Connect to Your Wifi Network
The iPad is a great device even when its offline, but like nearly all computing devices these days it is much greater when it’s connected to the web. For most of us, most of the time that means connecting via a WiFi network when possible. So it is terribly frustrating when an iPad won’t connect to a home WiFi network.

So I thought I’d share some basic troubleshooting tips for when your iPad won’t connect to your WiFi network, and some potential quick fixes.

If your iPad doesn’t connect to your home wireless network the first thing to do (apart from ensuring that WiFi is turned On via Settings> WiFi) is check to see whether it is able to connect to any WiFi network. If you have a friendly neighbor see if they will let you do a quick test. If not, take your iPad to a local coffee shop or a similar location with free WiFi.

Assumptions:

For the purposes of this article I’m going to assume that when tested your iPad is able to connect to other WiFi networks successfully, but just has difficulties connecting to your own home (or small office) WiFi network. If it doesn’t connect at all to any wireless networks then see the bottom of this post for some quick advice on how to handle that.

I’m also going to assume that you have checked and confirmed that other devices – your PC, an iPhone or similar – can connect successfully to your wireless network – from the same general area of the house as the iPad is trying to connect from. If that is not the case, then you may well need to troubleshoot the network itself rather than an iPad-specific issue.

If you know that your other devices can connect to your wireless network and that your iPad can connect to other wireless networks, here are some potential quick fixes to try to get your iPad working on your network. I’ll list them starting with the quickest and easiest, then the next easiest, and so on. If you try one of these and the iPad connects, there’s no need to carry on with others unless the issue re-occurs soon after.

– Turn WiFi off and back on via Settings > WiFi.

– Restart the iPad. Press and hold until you see the ‘Slide to Power Off’ prompt and slide to do so.

– Try a hard reboot of the iPad. To do so hold down the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button simultaneously for around 12 seconds – ignore the ‘Slide to Power Off’ prompt and keep holding down both buttons until you see the screen go dark and then see the Apple logo appear as the iPad powers up again.

– Restart your wireless router. This is usually done by just pulling its power adapter out of the router for around 15 seconds and plugging it back in.

– Try a reset of network settings on the iPad – via Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

– Try a reset of all settings on the iPad – via Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings.

– Change the passphrase on your wireless network. This will mean you’ll need to re-join the network with the new passphrase from all your connected devices, but it is quite often a good, quick fix for this sort of issue. If you don’t use any security on your network, well then this an excellent time to correct that. Switching the network from unsecure to secure (whichever level you choose) will have the same effect as changing the passphrase.

One of the above steps should resolve the majority of issues with an iPad that’s not able to connect to a WiFi network. If none of them do, then some less quick solutions need to be looked at. A full restore of the device is one possible next step, though if your iPad is within its warranty period or has an Apple Care plan attached to it then you should probably contact Apple for other suggestions before doing a restore.

Saving Images in the iPad Safari and Mail Apps

2013-01-05T20:30:00.003-08:00

Saving Images in the iPad Safari and Mail Apps

Here’s another basic but very handy tip for those of you who are new to the iPad. You may often receive a photo in an email that you want to save and keep on your iPad – or spot an image in a web site that you’d like to save.

It’s very easy to do this on the iPad – hit the lovely little read more link to see how …

To Save an Image in an email, within the iPad’s Mail Application

– Tap and hold the image within the email. A dialog will pop up with two options – Save Image and Copy. Save Image will save it to the Saved Photos album in the Photos app. Copy will place it on the iPad’s clipboard, available to be pasted wherever you want (in a new mail or a word processing app for example).

To Save an Image on a Web Page in the iPad Safari Application

– Same as above really. Tap and hold on the image. You’ll get a popup dialog with four choices. The first two – Open and Open in New Page – relate to the web page itself. The next two choices though are the same as in the Mail app – Save Image and Copy, and will get you the same results.

It’s as easy as that. Again, a very basic and simple tip – but one that is hopefully handy for those of you just getting to know your new iPad.

ESPN SportsCenter Feed

2013-01-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

ESPN SportsCenter Feed
One of the best things about using an iPad is all the great apps that we can run on it. There are excellent apps for just about any purpose you can think of. Better still, there are lots of great free apps for the iPad.

This week’s pick is ESPN SportsCenter Feed, a great little app for sports fans – and especially fans of major US sports. This app provides real-time sports news that you can easily customize to match your personal tastes.

I’ve tried a few ESPN apps for the iPad in the past, and I have to say this one is by far the nicest to use, and the easiest to sign into – as you can sign in with an ESPN ID or just use your Facebook account.

As soon as you sign in you are prompted to start letting the app know about your favorite sports and teams.

The app’s UI is all about the feed, as the name would imply. The default view shows a stream of latest feed items in a left sidebar that occupies about 1/3 of the page. When you tap an item it is displayed on the right in the remaining 2/3 of the page. A single tap on the control button at the top left of the screen will toggle an additional left sidebar visible or hidden. On this sidebar you tap to choose which news you want to see in the feed. You can select to see all, single sports, just your favorite teams’ news, Top Stories, Most Popular, video content, or favorited stories.

The feed offers a nice variety of types of stories and pieces, including a good amount of multimedia content and videos and ESPN Radio clips in particular. The sports currently covered with individual feeds are NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NCAA Football, NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball, NASCAR, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, Racing, Boxing, MMA, Olympics,and the WNBA.

You can save articles as favorites and share items via email, Messages, Facebook, and Twitter.

My only gripes about the app are that a few articles require an ESPN Insider account to view (though these are relatively few) and that the coverage could doing with being a little less US-centric, especially in the Soccer section.

Here’s an App Store link for ESPN SportsCenter Feed; it’s a universal app designed to run on both iPad and iPhone.

How To Setup a New iPad, No Computer Required

2013-01-05T05:15:00.003-08:00

Are you getting a new iPad for a loved one or friend this holiday season? Or maybe receiving one as a gift yourself? If so, you may find it handy to know how to go through the basic setup to get your shiny new iPad ready to start being used.

Luckily, this is a very simple process and does not require a computer. Here’s how it goes:

– Wake the iPad up by pressing the Home button or Power button, and slide to configure as prompted on the screen.

– Choose your language on the next screen.

– Choose your country next.

– Next you’ll need to choose a local WiFi network to join, and enter a password if required for the network.

– Next you’ll see a screen that says ‘Activating iPad’. It advises you that this may take a few minutes and it usually does.

– Once activating completes, you’ll see a screen where you can choose whether or not to enable location services. Generally, it is a good thing to enable these as they are useful for a variety of purposes – including tracking your iPad if it is lost or stolen, helping Maps and other apps determine your location, and allowing photos apps to export full details along with your images.

– Next you will choose whether to setup as a new iPad or restore from either an iCloud or iTunes backup. We’re talking here about setting up a new iPad – so you just choose the ‘Setup as New iPad’ option.

– The next screen will ask you to sign in with an existing Apple ID or create a new one. This is an important step as this ID is used to download and install apps, music, books, and movies on the iPad. It is required even for installing free apps and items. Although you can skip this step, it is worth taking the time to sign in or create a new ID so that the iPad is ready to use to install apps and content.

– Next you’ll need to agree to Apple’s terms and conditions.

– After agreeing to the T&Cs you’ll get to choose whether or not you would like to use Siri. Siri is the intelligent voice assistant for the iPad. She can be used for voice dictation in apps and looking up useful information for you. You can choose to turn the feature on and off later in the Settings app too once the iPad setup is finished.

– Finally you’ll be asked whether or not you would like the iPad to send diagnostics information as you use it. Though this is useful to assist Apple in discovering and fixing any software issues, I tend to leave this turned off in the hope it will improve battery life and device performance.

That’s it. Now your iPad should show you this screen confirming that setup is complete and your iPad is ready to use, and then the iPad home screen itself.

Once you tap ‘Start Using iPad’ you’ll see the iPad home screen shown at the top of this post and your iPad is all ready to go.

How To Identify Which iPad Model You Have

2013-01-05T02:49:00.001-08:00

How To Identify Which iPad Model You Have? There are a number of reasons why it might be important to identify which iPad model you have, or which iPad model you are considering buying. For starters, it might well influence what price you are willing to pay or can expect to receive when buying or selling an iPad.

Luckily, it’s a very easy thing to do. Here’s how to identify which model an iPad is:

– Look at the back of your iPad. Down towards the center bottom you’ll see the word iPad, and below it the amount of storage space it has (16,32, or 64GB). Below that you’ll see some fine print about the iPad. The first line begins with ‘Designed by Apple in California.’ At the end of that line you’ll see ‘Model’ and a 5 character model number beginning with the letter ‘A’. For example, my iPad is Model A1430 – an iPad 3rd gen 64GB WiFi + Cellular model.

– Once you have your 5 character model number you can check it against Apple’s listing of all iPad models, found here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5452

Apple’s listing will tell you which generation your iPad is, when it was released, and whether it is a WiFi only model or WiFI + Cellular.

That’s it. That’s all you need to know in order to identify which model an iPad is.

Best iPad Tips and Tricks

2013-01-05T02:45:00.003-08:00

You know that your new iPad will let you easily watch movies, browse the Internet, or play games on the go, but there are many advanced features hidden beneath the surface of iOS that can improve your tablet computing experience even further. To help you become an iPad master, we've compiled a handy list of tips and tricks for new iPad users. Read on if you want to learn how to multitask, take screenshots, encrypt your backups and more.

Set the iPad to self-destruct in 10 seconds: Okay, not really--but you can set the iPad to erase all data after ten failed passcode entry attempts by checking the Erase Data option under Settings, General, Passcode Lock.

Don't let AutoCorrect mess you up: If you don't like the option AutoCorrect gives you, reject it by finishing the word as you prefer, and then tapping the suggestion. If you want to use AutoCorrect's choice, just type a space or punctuation mark, or tap Return, the moment it pops up.

Create custom shortcuts for common phrases: Make AutoCorrect work for you by teaching iOS to transform shorthand (such as "omw") into common phrases (like "on my way") using iOS 5 shortcuts. Simply navigate to Settings, General, Keyboard, and select Add New Shortcut. Type the phrase you want to shorten in the Phrase field, and then type the shortened version you want to use in the Shortcut field.

Download the free iPad User's Guide: You may have noticed that your iPad didn't come with a big printed manual--that's not Apple's style. However, you can download the PDF version of the iPad User's Guide from Apple's website, or you can read it in iBooks if you have that installed (iBooks is available as a free download in the App Store). Make sure to download the manual for the version of iOS you're currently using!

Use the Side Switch: You can use the switch on the side either to enable and disable audio alerts (this doesn't affect video/audio playback) or to lock the screen's orientation in portrait or landscape mode. You can toggle which function is assigned to the switch by opening Settings from the home screen, selecting General, and choosing the function you want under the 'Use Side Switch to' heading.

Take a free guided tour: Apple provides video tutorials on setting up iTunes, as well as a complete rundown of all your preinstalled apps so that you can get a good look at how to use them.

Speed up your sentences: Double-tapping the spacebar while typing a message will type a period and a space.

Multitask in iOS: You probably already know that you can press the Home button twice to bring up a list of currently running or suspended apps. However, you can also swipe the multitasking bar left to right to quickly access audio/video playback controls, a shortcut to the iTunes app itself, an AirPlay button that lets you wirelessly mirror the iPad display on an Apple TV, and volume controls. Also, when you choose whether the Side Switch should mute alert sounds or lock the screen orientation (see the tip above), the function you didn't choose will appear in this shortcut bar.

Secure your backups: You can encrypt your iPad's backup data in iTunes. Just open the iPad in iTunes, click the Summary tab, and check Encrypt iPad backup under the Options heading.

Swap the search engine: Too cool for Google? You can change Safari's default search engine by going to Settings, Safari, Search Engine. Alas, you can choose only from Google, Bing, or Yahoo--no vintage Metacrawler for you.

Take a screenshot of whatever is on the screen: Press the Home button and the sleep/wake button simultaneously. The screenshot will automatically appear among your photos.

Selectively prevent automatic sync: Sometimes you don't want to sync your iPad when you connect it to your computer. In that case, hold down Shift-Ctrl (or Command-Option, on a Mac) in iTunes while plugging your iPad in, and iTunes will skip the automatic sync just this once. Alternatively, you can safely interrupt a sync by dragging the unlock slider on your device while the iPad is midsync.

Toggle 3G/LTE data roaming: If you're using a 3G iPad, you can turn data roaming on in the Settings, Cellular Data menu in case you want to try receiving cellular Internet through a different provider (fees may apply). You can also disable LTE service if you're trying to conserve bandwidth, and you can check your data usage by going to Settings, General, Usage.

Restrict mature content: Go to Settings, General, Restrictions and tap Enable Restrictions to selectively apply controls on your apps, content, Game Center, and more. You can use this setting to limit mature content on your new iPad by disabling explicit-language recognition, blocking podcasts that have the "Explicit" tag, or blocking movies, TV shows, and apps that are rated for mature audiences.

Make your passcode more complicated: iOS defaults to a four-number passcode, but you can turn it off by going to Settings, General, Passcode Lock, Simple Passcode. Now you can use any full keyboard password to lock the iPad. The password also helps to encrypt your mail and attachments on the iPad, so you probably want to make it safer than a four-digit number.

Tweak AutoFill: You can choose to enable Safari's AutoFill feature under Settings, Safari, AutoFill. From there you can tell Safari to fill out forms automatically, either by using your specified contact information or by remembering the names and passwords from previous website login sessions.

Sync your bookmarks: You can use iTunes to sync your iPad's Safari bookmarks with your PC's Web browser. Open the iPad tab in iTunes, click the Info tab, scroll down to the Other heading, check Sync bookmarks with, and choose your preferred browser.

Email photos: The easiest way to email photos from an iPad is to open the Photos app, select a photo, press the button in the upper-right corner (the rectangle with the right-facing arrow, not the AirPlay or trash can button), and choose Email photo... to send.

Test your Web links: You can check a linked word's actual destination URL by touching and holding down on the link--it's a perfect way to sniff out phishy links. Choose an app for email attachments: You can open a file attached to an email message by tapping the attachment in Mail, but if the default app isn't the one you want to use, simply press and hold and wait for a menu that lets you select an app.

Use your iPad as a picture frame: Not for physical photographs of course, but you can press the Picture icon in the lower-right corner of the lock screen to have the iPad display your photo stream as a slideshow.

Show traffic conditions: Open Maps, press the dog-eared page icon in the lower right, and then turn the Traffic overlay on. If your iPad has an Internet connection, Maps will show real-time traffic conditions in the displayed area. Green means traffic is going at the posted speed limit, yellow means traffic is slower than the posted speed limit, and red means traffic is stop-and-go. Share podcasts with friends: Listening to a podcast that you think a friend would like? You can share the link while you're listening to it by pressing the Email button while it's open.

Don't forget your downloads: You can immediately see if your iTunes account is due for incoming downloads by opening iTunes on your PC, clicking the Store menu, and selecting Check for available downloads. This trick can come in handy if your download process is interrupted, or if you missed some bonus iTunes content that came with an album you purchased.

Turn on Universal Access: You can enable options such as closed-captioned movies, VoiceOver screen reading, zoom magnification, and inverted white-on-black text by selecting the iPad in iTunes, opening the Summary tab, and clicking Configure Universal Access under the Options heading.

Forget Wi-Fi networks: So you accidentally connected to a network once, and your iPad remembers it for life--whether you like it or not. On your iPad, go to Settings, Wi-Fi, and find the network under the 'Choose a Network' heading. Tap the blue arrow next to the network you want to remove, and tap the button on the top that says Forget this Network.

Customize your Spotlight searches: The iPad uses Spotlight for its built-in search functions, and you can tweak it to your needs under Settings, General, Spotlight Search. If you have a lot of data on your iPad, for example, you can selectively disable search in different categories (Contacts, Applications, Audiobooks, Notes, Events, Mail, and so on) that you don't use so that your desired results show up faster. You can also simply change the order in which the search-result categories display by dragging them up and down, so that your more frequently used search categories appear at the top of the page.

Turn off in-app purchases: Go to Settings, General, Restrictions and tap Enable Restrictions to selectively enable restrictions for your apps, content, Game Center, and more. If you're worried about other people breaking your bank account on in-app purchases, just disable In-App Purchases under the 'Allowed Content' setting.

Switch up the fetching frequency: Your iPad automatically grabs new data, such as incoming email. However, the iPad also periodically activates apps that don't support iOS's Push feature so that they can go fetch new data--which uses the tablet's battery life. You can tweak your Push and Fetch settings in Settings under the Mail, Contacts, Calendars menu by toggling the Fetch New Data option. Change your email signature: Don't be one of those people who leave the default 'Sent from my iPad' signature on all their messages. Change it in Settings, Mail, Contacts, Calendars, Signature to something more interesting.

Master multitasking gesture controls: Enable multitasking gesture controls in any iPad running iOS 5 or later by navigating to General, Settings and toggling Multitasking Gestures on. Now you can place four or five fingers on the screen at once and swipe them left or right to switch between open apps, or swipe up to display the multitasking bar. You can pinch your fingers together on the screen to return to the iPad home screen.

Sync your iPad wirelessly: To set up iTunes wireless syncing, plug your iPad into your PC, make sure both devices are connected to the same wireless network, and then boot up iTunes on your PC. On your iPad, navigate to Settings, General, iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, select the computer you want to sync with, and tap the Sync Now button. Your iPad should sync wirelessly with your computer, and will now do so automatically whenever you have it plugged in and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your computer.

Penny Arcade The Game: Gamers vs. Evil

2013-01-05T00:19:00.001-08:00

Penny Arcade The Game: Gamers vs. Evil is Simple but Excellent Deck-Building Action

Playdek is a developer that's caught my eye recently. They're the folks behind what I think are the best card games on the App Store, including the great Ascension (which Gary Games, now called StoneBlade Entertainment, actually designed but Playdek brought to iOS), as well as the excellent Nightfall and Summoner Wars. Their latest title is an adaptation of Cryptozoic's deck-building card game based on the Penny Arcade webcomic, and just like the other titles, it's a full-featured, well-made game that feels right at home on the iPad.

The game is not the best deck-building game I've ever played. The process, if you've never seen it before, is that you spend some currency cards to buy other cards, which then add in to your deck and unlock various actions and extra currency for you every turn. It's essentially a board game, though you're moving cards around, and Playdek more or less just sticks to digital versions of the analog cards rather than adding a lot of extra digital fluff to the game. But this company is now so familiar with these types of games that the tutorial is great and all of the movement is very intuitive as you play. The added theme of Penny Arcade can be a little off-putting if you don't like the comic or its dark and often gross humor, but the core game itself is solid and fun.

Just like all of Playdek's other games, there are multiple options for playing the game itself, and you can play with any number of AI players at various difficulties, or go online to play against other humans. I would like to see a few more cards in the mix, but just like the real-life card game, the proceedings are very expandable, and so you can expect to see some more packs added in the future, probably via in-app purchase. Even with just the included content (available for US$4.99 on the App Store), this is probably one of the most accessible games of this type out there. Try this to see what you think, and if you like it as much as I do, you can move on to a more complicated game like Nightfall, or the very impressive SolForge, set for a release later on this year.

How to Buy an iPad: A Buyer's Guide to the iPad

2013-01-04T23:39:00.002-08:00

There are now two different sizes, three different memory models, two different data network models and a Wi-Fi only version of the iPad and an entry-level iPad, bringing the total number of different iPad configurations to nineteen. Yes, nineteen. But don't worry, as intimidating as that number might sound, it isn't too hard to narrow your choices in buying an iPad down to a more reasonable number based on how you will be using the iPad.

The iPad 4 vs iPad Mini

The iPad now comes in two sizes: the 7.9-inch iPad Mini and the 9.7-inch iPad 4. It also comes in two radically different price tags, with the iPad 4 starting at $499 and the iPad Mini priced at $319 for the lowest end model.

The iPad Mini has the same processor and screen resolution as the iPad 2, but improves upon the second generation iPad's dual-facing cameras (the iPad Mini sports the same cameras as the iPad 4) and uses 4G LTE for data connectivity. The 7.9-inch display is slightly larger than other 7-inch tablets, though significantly smaller than the full-sized iPad.

So what do you get for the extra $170 spent on the 9.7-inch iPad 4? A Retina Display, for one. The 2,048 x 1,536 resolution display features 264 pixels-per-inch (PPI), and according to Apple, the display is so clear that the human eye cannot differentiate one pixel from the next. The iPad 4 also sports Apple's newest processor, which is several times faster than the iPad Mini. This represents a significant boost in both graphics and firepower.

The iPad 2 vs Refurbished iPad 3

For those wanting the full-sized iPad but hoping to save a buck, the iPad 2 is a solid choice. It can do everything the iPad Mini can do, though it won't take quite as good photos. The iPad 2 only comes in one model: the 16 GB Wi-Fi model, but it's $100 cheaper than an iPad 4 and only $70 more expensive than the iPad Mini.

But the best deal comes from the refurbished iPad 3. If you don't mind refurbished units -- and buying refurbished from Apple still grants you a one-year warranty -- you can snag an 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad 3 for cheaper than the iPad 2. And because the iPad 3 has the Retina Display, a faster graphics processor and better dual-facing cameras, you are getting more for less.

Which iPad is right for you?

The iPad Mini is a great choice for those most interested in watching movies, listening to music, reading books and playing casual games. It will run all the same apps the full-sized iPad will run and comes with most of the same features, including access to Siri. But for those who want to do more, especially those interested in using the iPad for productivity or most interested in non-casual gaming, the full-sized iPad is just right.

Bargain hunters will love the deals available for the iPad 3, but those interested in an iPad 2 should use caution. If you can't find or don't want a refurbished iPad 3, the iPad Mini actually has everything the iPad 2 has and more. It's also cheaper. So the iPad 2 is only the best buy for those who really want that larger screen.

How Much Memory Do You Need?

The last thing you want to do is get stuck with an iPad with too little memory. But due to great features like Home Sharing, you actually don't need near as much storage as you might think, especially if you are mainly going to use the iPad in the home. The ability to stream music and movies to your iPad from your PC means you can use most of your iPad's memory on great apps and games and still not use the full 16 GB of the low-end model.

For those that are going to be traveling more often, especially those who want to take a few movies along with them, the 32 GB model is a perfect upgrade. It has enough storage for around 20 feature length movies, which should be enough to keep you entertained.

Do You Need 3G/4G or Just Wi-Fi?

The 3G and 4G versions of the iPad doesn't just come with the ability to connect to a 3G/4G network. They also contain an A-GPS chip, which allows for more accurate location services than the iPad with Wi-Fi only. They also cost $130 more.

Is it worth it?

Most hotels come with free Wi-Fi, and it is easy to find a Starbucks or other coffee shop with Wi-Fi access, so getting on the Internet without 3G/4G won't always be a problem. The main areas where the data connection comes in handy are in the car and at places without Wi-Fi hotspots, like at a picnic or at a park.

For families that are going to enjoy road trips, the 3G/4G version is great as a source of entertainment for kids. It can also act as a GPS device, thus saving you from buying a dedicated GPS.

For the price, it is well worth it. But if you know you are mainly just going to use it at home -- and many of us fit into that category -- the Wi-Fi version is perfectly fine.

EverClip: Great Little Utility App for Evernote Users

2013-01-04T23:26:00.006-08:00

EverClip is a cool little app that should proved very handy for iPad and iPhone Evernote users. Here’s a little piece of its App Store intro: EverClip is the easiest way to collect websites, texts and images to Evernote. Start EverClip and switch to your favorite apps. Copy any texts and images, EverClip will save these clippings in background. When you finish your work, return to EverClip. Organize clippings freely and send them to Evernote.

I’ve been a heavy user of Evernote for years now. It’s among my most used apps on my MacBook Pro and often used on my iPads as well. So when David Allen gave this app a mention in the iPad Apps community on Google+ I was keen to give it a shot right away. I’ve been trying the app out today and I like it quite a bit. There’s no iPad version of it yet, but for what this app does I think it’s just fine to use it in 2X mode on the iPad.

The app lets you clip text from just about anywhere you can select it and clip images from anywhere you can invoke a copy command. You can also create your own quick little notes, and add a new or existing photo from within the app.

It supports tags and notebooks – though it’s worth noting tags can be modified on the fly on each clipped item while you need to select a default notebook in the app’s settings. I’m OK with that, as I’ve created a new,dedicated notebook in Evernote for these clippings.

One awkward feature of Everclip is that it only stays active in the background for a short time, then pops up an alert to let you know its background session has ended and you need to relaunch it to make clippings work again. I imagine this is due to an iOS restriction rather, but it would be nice if the developers could find a workaround to make it stay active longer.

I’ve only been using EverClip for a short time, but so far so good. I can see myself using this on the iPad in a similar way to how I use the Evernote clipping bookmarklet in my desktop browser.

Here’s an App Store link for EverClip; it’s priced at $2.99.

How To Update iPad OS Software When You Don’t See Software Update in the Settings App

2013-01-04T23:08:00.001-08:00

Keeping the iOS (operating system) software up to date on your iPad is nearly always a good idea. Each major update to iOS (those that are .0 updates) brings a wealth of impressive new features to the iPad. The ‘point updates’ (5.1 or 6.0.2 for example) tend to offer important bug fixes, security patches, and general performance enhancements.

It is now very easy to update your iOS software right on the iPad itself, with no need to connect to a computer. But … in order to be able to do a wireless, over the air update to iOS you need to already be running at least iOS 5.0. If you’re not yet running iOS 5 then you won’t see the ‘Software Update’ section in the General section of the Settings app, which is where new updates are shown and installed from.

A quick way to check which version of iOS your iPad is running is to go to Settings > General > About and look at the ‘Version’ field. If it shows anything lower than 5.0 then you will need to update via iTunes on a computer one time before being able to do over the air updates in future. Here’s how you go about this:

– Connect your iPad to a PC (Windows or Mac) with iTunes installed, via USB and your sync/charge cable. If you are prompted immediately to update your iOS software you should choose to Cancel and not do that right away.

Four Main Reason For Choosing The iPad

2013-01-04T22:08:00.001-08:00

Four Main Reason For Choosing The iPad

1. Differentiation - the opportunity to provide the exact skill level of instruction through apps is fantastic. So many apps give different skill levels for a students ability and allows ability growth based on completion of tasks. In addition, there are so many different apps that allow for the completion of the same tasks. For example, I have six different note taking apps that meet different needs. These apps could be provided to the students and they could use the app that best suites their needs. The opportunity to choose from so many developed apps is really what provides differentiation for students.

2. Engagement - Placing a 1:1 digital device in a student's hands puts the world at their finger tips!

3. Hardware - there is NOT another device on the market that allows for efficient use of a 44 minute classroom as much as the iPod/iPad does. In the past, we would need to work around so many technical issues in order to accomplish a task. The iPad/iPod rarely has any technical issues.

4. Content Creation - Students are able to create drawings, text, and audio items to display their learning and collaboration. The iPad is NOT just a consumption device.

5. Durability - On a lighter side, an iPad that was run over still worked.