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News, Reviews, & Opinion
The Competition
Apps & Services
Accessories
iPod Deals
These price trackers are updated every month.
News, Reviews, & Opinion
Use Any Bluetooth Keyboard with Your iPad
Lifehacker's Adam Pash says that the iPad's an undeniably fun
device, but you can't take great notes with it until you hook it up to
a proper, full-sized keyboard.
However, if you don't want to pony up $70 for Apple's iPad keyboard
dock that you simply plug into your iPad and start typing, Pash
explains how to use a regular Bluetooth keyboard.
Link: How to Use a
Real Keyboard with an iPad
Retina Display 'iPad 2 Plus' Coming This Year?
International Business Times reports that Apple may be working on a
successor to the iPad 2, and it isn't
the iPad 3, but rather a new tablet device to be known as the iPad 2
Plus for launch as soon as late 2011, at least according to FBR Capital
Markets analyst Craig Berger in a note to clients.
"We now hear that component makers have received request-for-quotes
(RFQs) from Apple for an 'iPad 2 Plus,' though no production schedule
has yet been confirmed with suppliers," IBT cites Berger
commenting.
Indeed, Taiwanese IT industry-watcher site DigiTimes' Yenting Chen
and Joseph Tsai reported last week that various Taiwan-based companies
upstream in the supply chain for iPhone 5 and "iPad 3" have begun
ramping up production of components for the new devices.
The buzz from Berger is that that Apple could bump the iPad's
display resolution from its current pixel density of 132 pixels per
inch (ppi) to 250-300 ppi for the iPad 2 Plus.
Link: Apple May Launch
'iPad 2 Plus' in Late 2011
iPad Shows Unique Usage Patterns Compared to Other
Platforms
ReadWriteWeb's Brian David Eoff, a PhD student at Texas A&M
University, endeavors to determine whether the type of device that we
use changes the way that we consume and create information and/or alter
the types of content we look at. By examining week of bit.ly click
data, Eoff found that for the most part, users of traditional computing
platforms such as Windows, Linux, and Macintosh follows a similar
pattern, demonstrating that your habits don't really change regardless
of which operating system you choose. He found device usage at its
lowest during the early hours of the morning, rising as the world
wakes, and after 10 a.m. a slow increase during the workday, with usage
dropping again in the evening.
Android devices followed a similar pattern, while BlackBerry and
iPhone grow only slightly after 9 a.m. and drop off in the late
evening, with smartphone usage and browser usage surprisingly
similar.
iPad vs. other platform usage during the day based on bit.ly
statistics.
However, Eoff found that iPad usage patterns are drastically
different, dipping after breakfast, remaining low during traditional
working hours and not peaking until much later in the evening, although
during weekends iPad usage between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. is higher than on
weekdays at those same hours, while no other device sees a heavy
increase of use during the weekends.
Other interesting tidbits are that Windows devices are used in all
222 distinct countries surveyed and Macintosh computers in 215. While,
according to Apple, the iPad is officially available in 39 countries
worldwide, Eoff observed iPad usage in 203 countries during the course
of the week and concludes that the iPad is different from the other
devices, not so much in content consumed, but in the hours of the day
and the days of the week in which consumption occurs.
Link: iPad Usage
Patterns Different from All Other Devices
I Never Wanted an iPad Until I Got One, Now I Can't
Live Without It
Run Around Tech's Sahil Arora says:
"I'll be honest, when the iPad was
first announced back in January of 2010 I was one of the people who
passed it off as being a big iPod touch and I decided I didn't need nor
want one....
"I finally got my iPad 2 from my parents as my 18th
birthday/graduation gift and as soon as I started using it I was,
simply put, shocked. Not just by the hardware and operating system, but
by the developers and all the amazing apps they've made for the bigger
display. Before I used carry around my MacBook Pro with me to do
whatever I needed to on the go, but now I leave it at home."
Link: iPad 2: I Never
Wanted One Until I Got One, Now I Can't Live Without It
Breathe New Life Into Your Old iPhone or iPod
touch
Lifehacker's Adam Pash says you've got several options for speeding
up an old iPhone and shares a few of them, including installing
Whited00r (recently reviewed here by Simon
Royal), downgrading to an earlier version of iOS, and tweaking
iOS 4.
Link: How Can I
Breathe New Life Into My Old iPhone (or iPod touch)?
iPad Dominates Consumer Tablet Sentiment with 48%
of Positive Customer Comments
PR: Tablets seem to have launched on a wave of consumer
optimism, and currently the iPad is dominating online conversation,
according to online market research specialist DigitalMR.
Customers' views on tablets are overwhelmingly positive. DigitalMR
measured over a million positive comments for slate devices across
Jan-Jun 2011, compared with just over 100,000 negative ones. Apple has
a commanding 48% share of these positive comments and 52% of the
smaller group of negative comments. Next placed is Motorola with 16% of
positive mentions and 18% of negative.
Results are based on comments posted by consumers on the major
tablet brands made by Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Blackberry, HTC, LG,
Barnes and Nobles, ASUS, Archos, and ViewSonic, across Jan-June
2011.
DigitalMR's analysis (powered by SocialNuggets) is based on comments
posted via a range of relevant websites and open access social media
platforms. It measures, not only the number of comments posted by
consumers on the Internet, but also their sentiment whether posts are
positive or negative in nature.
Managing Director of DigitalMR, Michalis Michael commented: "Tablets
seem to have launched on a wave of consumer optimism and currently the
iPad is dominating online conversation. It is critical for brands to
leverage their goodwill online, to create greater impact as the battle
for second place intensifies."
The popularity of tablets shows no sign of abating. For example
according to the Consumer Electronics Association, 17 million were sold
in the US alone in 2010 and its latest prediction is 42 million units
to be sold in 2011. (Source: twice.com)
With sales booming, and many more consumers intending to buy, what
do consumers actually think about slate devices?
Net Sentiment
All the brands measured, achieve a positive Net Sentiment Score
(NSS) for Jan-June. NSS provides an overall percentage score of net
positive posts. A positive score means a tablet attracts a higher
proportion of positive than negative posts.
The average NSS taken across all brands measured is 41% - very high
compared with other industry sectors. This is very encouraging for the
tablet PC industry as it shows customers are generally very happy with
their devices and are keen to share the good news online.
Apple has an NSS of 38%, slightly below average, but given its
dominant position in the market customer expectations are likely to be
higher. However it still generates more than twice as much positive
online buzz as negative. New entrants to the market (with a much lower
base of online conversation) achieve higher NSS, such as Viewersonic
78%, Blackberry 65%, LG and HTC both with 57%.
Positive and Negative Posts
Apple accounts for 48% of all positive posts among consumers on the
Internet across Jan-Jun 2011. The next highest performers are Motorola
16%, followed by Samsung and Blackberry, both with 9%.
Of all negative posts measured, Apple accounts for 52%. Motorola is
next with 18%, followed by Barnes and Noble with 11%.
Features
DigitalMR measured thousands of customer posts across Jan-June
regarding the features that tablets offer. The overriding negative
feature is Size of device. As seen in the customer quotes below, this
can include weight, overall size and screen size. Devices that can be
too large for some users are often not big enough for others, because
of the way size preference is related to type of use. This is likely to
become a key differentiator for tablets as the market develops.
Size attracts 20% of all negative comments but only 9% of all
positive ones. Conversely the feature of Video on slate devices is well
received, attracting 15% of all positive comments, but only 9% of
negative ones.
How Can Tablet Brands Use Social Media to Their Advantage?
Tablets can use analysis of data from websites and other social
media in the following ways:
- Engage in a one-to-one dialogue with their customers and respond to
negative comments.
- Invite some of the customers to join online forums and chat groups
to further express their views
- Positive sentiment can be leveraged in advertising
- Operations can learn about and fix specific retail and product
performance issues
- Products can be adjusted, and new ones designed to meet customer
needs
DigitalMR produces a monthly tablet report which monitors thousands
of customers online conversations through comments posted on
open-access social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook,
forums, blogs, microblogs and commercial websites, for comments
regarding tablet services.
The report is available on annual subscription with updates provided
on a quarterly, monthly, or weekly basis. Results will be updated to
the press on a monthly basis.
Link: DigitalMR
You Can Finally Jailbreak Your iPad 2
BusinessInsider's Dylan Love says those who've been itching to
jailbreak their new iOS device can rest easy - JailBreakMe 3.0 for the
iPad 2 and iOS 4.3.3 have gone live.
Link: Patience
Rewarded: You Can Finally Jailbreak Your iPad 2
iPad 2 Jailbreak Takes Your iDevice Out of the
Walled Garden
Hard Reg reports:
"iDevice owners, including folk with an iPad 2, can now jailbreak
their iDevices with a simple visit to a website.
"The site, www.jailbreakme.com, is once again up
and running - coder comex last had it live a year ago - to open up
iPads, GSM iPhone 3GS and 4s, and 3G and 4G iPod touches, all running
iOS 4.3, 4.3.3 or anything in between."
Link: Coder Cracks iPad
2 Jailbreak Block
WWDC 2011 Videos Viewable Only in Safari and
iTunes
9 to 5 Mac reports that WWDC
2011 session videos released by Apple a week ago can't be viewed using
Google's Chrome, Firefox or Opera on both Mac and Windows.
Link: WWDC 2011 Videos
Not Viewable in Google Chrome; Safari and iTunes Only
The Competition
5 Features Apple Should Copy from HP's TouchPad
and WebOS
Fast Company's Austin Carr says he's been playing with HP's new
TouchPad for a week. He presents the top five features of HP's TouchPad
that he'd like to see Apple steal.
- Better Multitasking
- Swipe To Quit
- Email Notifications
- Touch To Share
- Inductive Charging
Link: Five Features
Apple Should Steal from HP's TouchPad, WebOS
Tablet Deathmatch: HP TouchPad vs. iPad 2
InfoWorld's Galen Gruman notes that putative "iPad killers" are
getting like the proverbial boy who cried "wolf," with the majority of
promised Android tablets never seeing the light of day (and the few
that did never should have). He observes that the Motorola Mobility
Xoom made a respectable showing but fell short in too many areas, and
he deems the disastrous BlackBerry PlayBook from Research in Motion "a
study in how not to design a tablet," while more recently, the Samsung
Galaxy Tab 10.1 showed some strength, "but undermined itself with that
mix of innovation, bald-faced Apple 'inspiration,' and uneven execution
that has come to define the Android platform."
But now there's the long-awaited Hewlett-Packard TouchPad, based on
the exPalm WebOS, taking a swipe at the iPad. Gruman says despite some
compelling innovations, the TouchPad is hampered by the same kinds of
fit-and-finish issues that mar some Android devices, as well as some
odd design decisions that result in a poky, limited performer. Plainly
put, the TouchPad is a mediocre tablet that poses no threat to the iPad
or to Android tablets such as the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or Xoom.
Link: Tablet Deathmatch:
HP TouchPad vs. Apple iPad 2
HP TouchPad Seems Dated, but WebOS Shows
Promise
The Globe and Mail's Chad Sapieha had the opportunity to spend about
a week with the TouchPad, which launched in the US last weekend and
will launch in Canada on July 15. He found it to be an original take on
tablet computing, though it has some growing pains that need to be
worked through, especially in the hardware department, and when viewed
alongside the svelte forms of an iPad 2 or Galaxy Tab 10.1, the portly
TouchPad doesn't do a great job of selling itself.
Sapieha notes that the real draw of HP's tablet is its WebOS, the
critically acclaimed but slow-to-catch-on operating Palm-derived
operating system that powers HP's Pre phones that excels at true
multitasking, also featuring the Just Type search box that lets you
type in whatever you happen to be looking for and the tablet will
return results from the Web - and WebOS runs the latest version of
Flash.
Sapieha says the TouchPad's form-factor is way too April 2010 (the
month the original iPad was released) to pose much threat to the
competition, but WebOS as a tablet operating system is worth keeping an
eye on.
Link: HP TouchPad Has
Bright Spots but Seems Very 2010
Apps & Services
Bing for iPad Is Here
PR:
Bing is a decision engine that's been designed to work beautifully with
the iPad. Bing for iPad brings you closer to what you're looking for by
delivering a visually rich, touch-enabled way to search and browse
news, movies, Bing homepage images, local businesses, popular searches
and much more.
Features:
- Swipe through our touch enabled movie listings, news articles,
trending topics, local businesses and other rich, immersive search
results.
- Stay current with the latest news, traffic, weather, stock quotes,
movies and popular searches from the main screen.
- Bing Local and Map integration to help you find the places you are
looking for from directions with real-time tracking to immersive road,
traffic, aerial and birds eye views.
- Follow the latest news and trending topics with beautifully iPad
optimized results with rich images and magazine inspired layouts.
- Tell Bing what you are searching for with voice activated
search.
- Wonderful touch friendly, grid view of image searches, with source
site details and full page preview.
- Easily navigate between Bing results and websites as Bing frames
the site to make it easy to return the search or to launch a new
one.
New in
Version 1.1
- This new version introduces several user experience updates and a
patented gesture based way to make searching easier with lasso.
Simply lasso a word or phrase with your finger to do a search instead
of copying and pasting into the search box. Search the way it was meant
for the iPad.
- Bing for iPad now has also a dedicated blog (link below)
Publisher's note: Although Google totally dominates search, Yahoo!
Search is the #2 search engine bringing visitors to Low End Mac,
followed by Bing. Yahoo! got its start in February 1994, three years
before Google launched - and three years later, Google was powering
Yahoo! searches.
Excite, launched in mid-1993, was the first popular search engine
and was widely used as people began to discover the Internet. 1994 saw
the launch of several popular search engines, including AltaVista,
Lycos, and WebCrawler. Yahoo! began as a site directory, not a search
engine, yet it has always been a big player in web search.
Bing began as MSN Search in 1998, became LiveSearch in 2006, and
adopted the Bing name in mid-2009. One month later Yahoo! signed a
ten-year deal with Microsoft to have Bing power its searches, which
means Microsoft will power the #2 and #3 search engines. (At LEM, 95%
of search engine traffic comes through Google, and Yahoo! and Bing
combined account for 4% of the remaining 5%.) dk
Link: Bing
for iPad (App
Store link - and
link for iPhone version of Bing)
Simplenote Free Cloud Note Taking and
Synchronization Service
PR: Simplenote is an easy, free way to keep and sync notes,
lists, ideas, and more on the web, from mobile devices, and
computers
- Stay organized - Find notes quickly with instant searching and
simple tags.
- Work together - Share a list, post some instructions, or publish
your thoughts.
More good reasons to use Simplenote:
- Access your notes everywhere -Your notes synchronize with your
mobile device, your computer, and any modern web browser. It's
automatic and secure.
- Sharing and publishing - Keep a shared grocery list with your
family or housemates. Or publish some notes from your class or
meeting.
- Go back in time - You can access multiple backups of your notes.
Just drag the version slider to go back in time.
- Organize using tags and pins - Apply tags to your notes so you can
browse them as folders, or pin important notes to the top of your
list.
- Instantly search your notes - Type whatever you're looking for, and
your list updates instantly. You'll never misplace an important thought
again.
- Enjoy plenty of space - There's lots of free storage for your
notes.
- Use a growing variety of extras - Simplenote is an open platform.
People are building lots of cool things you can use to extend your
experience.
- Excellent ads - Simplenote have partnered with the amazing Fusion
Network to bring you minimal, relevant ads that don't suck. Premium
subscribers have the option to disable them.
- Secure transfers - Your notes are encrypted when they synchronize.
Don't settle for anything less.
- It's free! - Completely
After signing up for a free Simplenote account, click the App Store
link (below) and download Simplenote for your iOS device and your
computer.
A Simplenote app can be downloaded for free from the App Store. For
OS X support you'll need a Simplenote compatible text app, a free one
that supports Mac OS X 10.4 through 10.6 inclusive being
Notational Velocity.
Link: Simplenote (App
Store link)
Link: Notational Velocity
Link: Windows and Mac
apps compatible with Simplenote
Spotify Coming to the US
PR: The award-winning music service that's taken Europe
by storm will soon be landing on US shores. Millions of tracks ready to
play instantly, on your computer and your phone.
Any track, any time, anywhere. And it's free!
You can sign up for early notification on the Spotify website.
Link: Spotify
(App
Store link - UK store, as US version is not yet available)
Padder for iPad, a New Magazine for iPad
Users
PR: Padder: on the iPad, for the iPad, about the iPad is
a bold experiment. It's not a print magazine or website hastily ported
onto the iPad, but a magazine for the iPad - designed and built
specifically for it.
It's a fully interactive, smooth-scrolling digital magazine
featuring the latest news, features, App reviews, product reviews, and
inside information
Padder doesn't look or read like a computer magazine, and has a
witty, insightful voice
It's edited by Chris Brennan, an ex-MacUser, Macworld, and MacFormat
expert
There'll be new issues released every 2 weeks from Dennis
Publishing publishers of MacUser, PC Pro, Viz, Maxim, Auto Express and
The Week
The content:
- Discover products that will change how you use your iPad
- Highlights - The best apps found for you
- Thirty amazing apps of one kind. In Issue 1: Games
- Hardware - Tests and reviews of products to use with your iPad
- How - Get more from your iPad
- Rant and Rave - Expert columnists
- Inside - The best in iPad how-tos
The first full issue is completely free!
System requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or
later
Link:
Padder for iPad (App
Store link)
Paint FX for iOS: Precise Image Enhancement
PR: Sprite
Labs has announced Paint FX 1.0, claiming to be the first app to let
users selectively apply photo enhancements, filters, visual effects,
and colors to specific parts of a photo, simply by painting them with
the fingers, giving users complete control of where they want those
effects and enhancements in a photo and where they don't. It is also
unique in allowing a combination of multiple effects in different areas
of the same photo.
There are several apps in the App store which provide a wide array
of photographic effects and filters, but all of them constrain the
users in applying the enhancement to the full photo. Most of the photos
require a fix or an enhancement to a specific part of the photo only,
while needing a totally different enhancement in another part. For
example, a dark area in a scene may require brightness improvement
while another area with high exposure may need a contrast and a
reduction in brightness.
Similarly applying a visual effect selectively on a subject
instead of the full photo can bring attention to the subject. Users can
even go up a notch and combine and layer different effects on the same
photo creating unlimited possibilities for for creating stunning
masterpieces in minutes with the simple, intuitive and natural touch
interface. Check out a demo video of the app by following the video
link below.
"We partnered with acclaimed usability and user interface experts
and spent several months in getting each button just right, each pixel
perfectly placed, and help and hints provided at each step, so that
users can start having fun without scratching their heads and spend
their time on creativity instead. We are really looking forward to see
what users come up with, with the creative control that Paint FX
provides", says Nikita Sawant, creative director at Sprite Labs. For a
quick demonstration watch the video demo online.
With this one app,
you can do so many things and many more:
- Apply precise HDR effects by controlling Brightness, Contrast, and
Saturation with pinpoint accuracy
- Perfect for Tiltshift (Miniaturization) effects by adding Blur
Exactly where you want it
- Completely erase backgrounds for a brilliant studio-style portrait
photo
- Have fun, by giving yourself a tan or changing the color of your
hair and clothes
- Artistic filters like Sketch, Hue, Cartoonize, and Threshold easily
turn your photos into professional looking pieces
- A complete paint brush set is included to really manipulate your
photos - The options are endless
Device Requirements:
- iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
- Requires iOS 3.0 or later
- 17.0 MB
Paint FX 1.0 is $1.99 (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and
available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the
Photography category.
Link: Paint FX
(App
Store link)
SpyderGallery iPad Display Calibration App
PR:
Datacolor has announced the release of its SpyderGallery iPad app
version 1.1 available for free download on the Apple App Store.
Originally introduced to the market by Datacolor last month,
SpyderGallery is the first-ever color calibration app to allow for
custom color profiling of iOS devices and is the first to provide a
viewer to apply custom color corrections to images. To date, the app
has received thousands of downloads.
The improved
SpyderGallery 1.1, in addition to its earlier app features, offers more
reliability for RAW and large JPEG image file support, faster thumbnail
generation, display and scrolling, and no longer requires Location
Services to be enabled, which was the number one request among current
users. When disabled, SpyderGallery will use the standard photo picker
to browse albums and select images from the iPad photo
"Following
the initial success of the SpyderGallery launch, we began making
developments to enhance its user features based upon our customer
feedback," says Knut Fenner, Vice President, Imaging Color Solutions,
Datacolor. "It's our continued mission to meet the needs and
expectations of professional photographers and the new version of
SpyderGallery solidifies this undertaking."
"More and more of our customers are using the iPad as a tool to
display their portfolio. With SpyderGallery we offer them the assurance
that their intended colors are displayed correctly on the iPad," says
Doris Brown, Vice President, Marketing, Datacolor. "We're proud to be
the first to bring our color calibration technology to the tablet
market."
Datacolor's SpyderGallery version 1.1 is available for free download
from the App Store.
Link: SpyderGallery
(App
Store link)
Accessories
Turn Your iPad 2 into a MacBook Air with Aluminum
Keyboard Case
PR: Chinese based Website M.I.C. Gadget's Chris
Chang says that if you're dreaming about a notebook form factor device
that runs the iOS, Apple's MacBook Air with Lion may be a good idea,
but that there's never been a better time to turn your iPad 2 into a
notebook with the Aluminum Keyboard Case - a highly portable Bluetooth
keyboard for use with an iPad 2, that acts as a case to protect the
screen and sides of the iPad.
Chang says he's pretty sure enthusiasts will be
interested in learning what the thing feels like, and how's that
keyboard, and more importantly, does it look like a MacBook Air? (The
Keyboard Case is made from aircraft-grade aluminum with a bead-blasted,
anodized finish matching the design, look and feel of the iPad). He has
the answers to those questions and many more in his full review, but
asks that readers watch two videos first, an ad and a guide.
Of particular note, on the keyboard's bottom row, there's
a Command key supporting several vital shortcuts, such as press the
Command key and the c key at the same time to copy words, press the
Command Key and the v key to paste words, press the Command key and the
a key to select all words, just like what we do on our Macs and
PCs.
Chang summarizes that The Aluminum Keyboard Case for the iPad 2 does
exactly what it promises, offering a compact wireless keyboard for use
with an iPad; however, it's a better keyboard than it is a case.
The Aluminum Keyboard Case for the iPad 2 is in stock for $49.90 at
the M.I.C. Store.
Link: Turn Your iPad 2
into a MacBook Air (with Video)
