iPad - page 194

I really love these poignant ads for the Brazilian iPad magazine app, Veja, all of which feature a single finger “dipped” in a different news story after loading up the app. A story about an oil spill features a digit dripping with crude, while a story about genocide coats the finger in blood. The effect is more subtle for the third ad, which shows a pruned finger being held up after a story on a flood.

Not only are these ads gorgeous to look at, but the dripping finger metaphor is a poignant one, not only for the way the iPad has changed the way many of us experience news, but for the immersive power of iOS as a whole.

Beautifully done. Here are the other two ads.

The concept of shared data plans has been floating around in the U.S. mobile industry for a while.  So far, however, only Verizon has announced plans to offer them. This idea of shared data plans is based on the various family and business plans available from almost all major carriers in which multiple lines and corresponding devices are bundled as a single plan on a single account. That allows all the devices share the same pool of minutes.

While it seems like shared data would function in a similar manner, the issue isn’t quite so clear-cut from the perspective of mobile carriers. In fact, according to AT&T CFO John Stephens, carriers still aren’t sure how to configure shared data options or how much money they would make or lose by implementing them.

Apple’s meticulous focus on design and usability is one of the hallmarks of its products. That attention to detail is evident in almost every Apple product, but iOS devices epitomize Apple minimalist approach and its goal of removing any barrier between the user and a great user experience. Unfortunately, not all iOS developers or mobile web developers get to that same level of minimal and effortless design.

There are probably hundreds of small ways that developers can miss the mark when designing iOS apps or creating content designed for mobile devices, but Gartner research director Johan Jacobs notes that most mobile app/experience design failures boil down to ten common mistakes.

Dolphin is widely regarding as one of the best third-party web browsers for the iPad, and it’s a particular favorite of mine, firmly stuck to the first page of my home screen on all of my iOS devices. With version 5.0 for the iPad, Dolphin gets even better, with the ability to save passwords; autocomplete browsing history, bookmarks, and searches; share URLs via email, and more.

Over the past two decades, WIRED has been looked at as one of the premier technology publications in the world. They’ve been churning out amazing tech content before some of our readers were born, yet they’re still going strong. The iconic inaugural issue of WIRED debuted in January 1993, but WIRED announced today that they are reissuing it on the iPad as a free download, filled with annotations and perspectives on how the magazine came about.

May is Mobile Management Month at Cult of Mac, where we will be profiling a different mobile management company every weekday. You can find all previous entries here  and read our Mobile Management manifesto here.

SOTI provides an interesting mix of mobile device and PC management solutions. On the desktop, it offers Windows PC management as well as remote access and screen sharing tools useful to many help desks. From a mobile perspective, it provides a range features including device and app management. Its on-device software and SDK support a range of useful features for iOS devices including two-way chat with users and remote access options. MobiControl SDK also includes a file sync solution for managing content and internal enterprise app data on iPhones and iPads.

While most new stories covering Internet piracy talk in terms of the entertainment industries and major associations like the MPAA and RIAA, software piracy is often part of the discussion and debate as well. While entertainment companies collectively call for extreme legal measures like SOPA and ACTA, software companies also battle piracy outside the legal arena by using extreme anti-pirating measures built into their products (and their accompanying license agreements). Microsoft is probably best example of a company that goes to great lengths to limit pirating of its products.

With digital piracy being a major issue in many countries over the past several months, the Business Software Association added user surveys to its annual piracy study. The results show that, despite measures from software makers, existing anti-piracy laws, and pending legislation, more than half of all Internet users admit to pirating at least one piece of software.

The hardest part of vacationing, for me, isn’t the crowds or the time in airports, or long lines at travel destinations. That’s what I have an iPhone for, anyway, right? Killing time? What’s most difficult in my world is the deal searching. Getting the best hotel, car, airfare deals is tricky and time consuming, and I just wish I could hand it all off to an assistant and be done with it.

Fortunately, there is an app to help with this sort of thing.

DC Copy is a new app that does one thing. It lets you copy your photos and videos to your iPhone’s camera roll via iTunes? "What?!" I hear you shout. "We can do that already!"

Well, yes, you kinda can, but it’s a testament to the true horror of using iTunes that this app exists at all, and that — furthermore — you’ll probably be downloading it by the end of this short post.

Netflix announced an updated version of its iOS app on Thursday for customers in the U.S. and Canada. The update is centered around improving the overall user experience while streaming movies and TV shows to an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. One important improvement beyond that, however, is the ability to control mobile data use and avoid expensive overage fees.

Echoing a report from last week, the The Daily has followed up its original scoop by saying that Microsoft will launch Office for iPad on November 10th, 2012. The Daily originally leaked images of the iPad app, but Microsoft denied the report by saying that it was “based on inaccurate rumors and speculation.”

Today The Daily gives a specific launch date for Office on the iPad. According to the report, the app is in the “hands of a usability team” at Microsoft and will be submitted to the App Store soon.

Apple’s iPad Smart Cover is a wonderful product. Not only is it pretty much the most minimal yet versatile iPad case around, it’s fun, attractive aesthetic — inspired by Japanese bath covers — hides some serious engineering beneath the surface thanks to its 30+ odd magnets.

So it’s a great product. Did you know that for Apple, though, Smart Covers alone are a $2 billion a year business?

A pair of new job listings on Apple’s website confirm that the company is seeking two engineers to overhaul the existing 30-pin dock connector currently employed by its iOS devices. The listings strengthen rumors Apple will introduce a new dock connector with its sixth-generation iPhone later this year, that will be significantly smaller than its predecessor.

Angry Birds Space is continuing to make its $0.99 price tag look like an absolute bargain with yet another update that brings a brand new, food-themed planet with ten brand new levels to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Paper, the hugely popular iPad drawing app by FiftyThree, just got a new update that finally allows you to export your sketches as PDF documents, and introduces an increased “Rewind” history.

“If you see a stylus they failed.” That might be everybody’s favorite Steve Jobs quote about touch screens, but the fact is the finger is terrible at both drawing and writing — just look at your kid’s scrawlings up on the refrigerator door if you don’t believe me.

If you want to make pictures and words that the rest of the world can recognize as such, you need a little help. Luckily, iPad accessory makers also ignored Jobs’ complaints and set out to fill the world with wonderful iPad pens. Here are the best you can buy.

iStorage 2 in action

IStorage 2 is the coolest iPad file manager I have yet seen. It has a bunch of missing parts, and a few UI weirdnesses, but this DropBox-and-iCloud-connecting app uses the iPad’s touch interface and graphical horsepower to bring us the iPad file manager we always wanted.

One of the challenges that the BYOD and consumerization trends are creating for IT departments is employee use of public and/or personal cloud services. We’ve covered some of the big challenges this presents in terms of data security and ownership as well as the potential business continuity problems stemming from multiple versions of documents stored across different cloud services by multiple employees.

IT concerns may be more common and well-known, but there are cloud-related issues that employees need to consider as well – particularly if they use a work email address to register for a service, access a service from work, or use a service to store or transfer work-related files.

This post is brought to you by Chase — a strong supporter of TRANS4M Boyle Heights, a program that provides multiple social services that address Boyle Heights’ particular needs. Learn more here.

Summer school has never been this cool: kids in a Los Angeles neighborhood will spend four weeks using iPads and MacBook Airs in a digital storytelling class.

The class is part of a three-subject curriculum — they’ll be boning up on English and math skills, too — to boost the chances of 65 ninth graders to get into college.

It’s the first offering of the Trans4m Boyle Heights Initiative, backed by a $7 million, three-year commitment from Chase and lead by will.i.am, who grew up in the neighborhood. His charity,  i.am angel foundation, and College Track, co-founded by Laurene Powell Jobs, are teaming up for the project.

As technology and always-connected devices become more pervasive in our daily lives, companies, think-tanks, government agencies, non-profits, and other organizations have access tremendous new pools of information about virtually anything on the planet. The challenge of such a “big data” world is how to aggregate that information, analyse it, make substantive conclusions, and then package in a useful form.

Making sense of data and communicating the results in a concise and effective manner is such a big challenge that many organizations will pay research firms and think-tanks to analyse and package data form them – often as static snapshots  with pages of text and charts and accompanying PowerPoint files.

The ability to access real-time data in a useful way is one of the things that makes MeLLmo’s iPad app Roambi a great business intelligence tool. Today, however, the company announced that it’s taking Roambi a step further and allowing companies to turn the Roambi’s dynamic and interactive data dashboards into full-fledged iOS apps in their own right and market them in the App Store.

There weren’t many iOS 5.1.1 devices that the Absinthe 2.0 and Rocky Racoon jailbreaks didn’t support from day one, but one of them was the iPad 2,4 — the latest Wi-Fi iPad 2 that Apple released alongside the third-generation iPad earlier this year. Thanks to their latest updates, however, that’s all changed.

I love my Apple Wireless Keyboard, but I don’t love changing its darn batteries every couple of weeks. But the Logitech K760 Wireless Solar Keyboard could soon be taking its place on my desk. Powered entirely by ambient light (it doesn’t even need batteries as a backup), the K760 will run for three months on a full charge with eight hours of use a day.

It’s ideal for those with Mac and iOS devices, because it allows you to connect to three devices simultaneously and quickly switch between them using the function keys.

During the Q&A session at D10 today Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked an interesting question about how his company names its products. While many have speculated as to why Apple called the fifth-generation iPhone the “4S” back in October, Cook confirmed that the smartphone was named after its flagship feature, Siri.

Apple names its products each generation by either a flagship feature or design change. When a certain product establishes itself, naming conventions are usually dropped altogether, like the iMac and iPod Shuffle.

Talking with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher today at the D: All Things Digital conference, Tim Cook explained why the iPad wasn’t the same as the Mac.

“The tablet is different,” said Cook. “It can do things that aren’t encumbered by what the PC was. We didn’t invent the tablet market, we invented the modern tablet.”

Spotify updated its universal iOS app today with some new features, including push notifications. The app store description says it all:

What’s New in Version 0.5.1
• New: Push notifications. Receive notifications when your subscribed playlists are updated, you get new subscribers, and more. You can choose which notifications to receive in Settings.
• New: Intro guide for new users.
• Fixed: Missing retina graphics on log in screen (iPad).
• Fixed: Retina album art is now always synced when you offline sync playlists.
• Fixed: App could sometimes become unresponsive after scrolling and navigating at the same time.
• Other improvements to Facebook login, screen locking when offline syncing, performance and stability.

Spotify, last updated on May 2 and available in 15 different countries, allows access (for subscribers) to its Premium music service on iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. There’s a two-day trial available for free, after which you’ll have to choose a Premium plan or cancel. You’ll still be able to listen to wirelessly sync songs from your Mac, edit playlists, and see Spotify’s catalog of music without a subscription, but you won’t be able to stream to your iOS device.

Source: iTunes App Store Via: iPad Insight