iPad - page 221

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Futulele. It’s a crazy electric ukelele made of iPads and stuff.

Stock of the Apple TV has been quickly dwindling across Apple retail stores in the U.S. in recent months, fueling speculation that the device will soon be replaced by a new model with the “J33” codename that recently popped up in the company’s iOS 5.1 beta software.

One report claims that 98% of Apple retail stores in the U.S. now have no Apple TV stock at all.

What if Apple launches the iPad 3 tomorrow and it doesn’t ship for another week and a half? The company could lose almost $1bn in sales. Here’s how:

We’ve seen Find My iPhone lead to some pretty funny arrests over the past few years, but one thing we haven’t seen Apple’s device tracking software do is lead the police to a haven of narcotics. Until now that is. San Jose Police were tracking down a single stolen iPad when they accidentally came across one of the biggest piles of crystal meth the county has ever seen.

The consumerization of IT is about more than just a handful of users bringing their own devices into the office. That’s the big take away from the first morning here the CITE Conference in San Francisco. The real story is that movement may have started out with people taking their iPads to work and and checking Twitter throughout the workday, but it has become something much much greater.

At heart, this movement isn’t so much about devices, social networks, or cloud services – it’s about how these technologies have changed the relationship that people have with technology. Apple and other companies have made most people comfortable with technology and shown them an experience of solutions that just work.

We’ve got another great Cult of Mac Deals lined up for our readers this time around, offering 7 inspiring Mac apps for only $50 that will help you take your ideas from concept to reality with elegance and ease.

Among the apps you’ll get as part of The Mac Designer Bundle is acclaimed calendar app Fantastical, the stellar website creation tool RapidWeaver 5 and the time-saving keyboard shortcut tool, KeyCue. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

If you love Apple and LEGOs then here’s a project you’ll want to get behind – The Lego Modular  Apple Store. With roughly 800 pieces, the Lego Modular  Apple Store seeks to replicate your shopping experience by helping Lego fans build an Apple Store replete with iPhones, iPads, iPods, MacBooks, iMacs, and even a little Steve Jobs Lego man.

Matthew Emmi is a twelve year old boy that probably won’t get to enjoy some of the milestone events in life that you and I might take for granted. His autism has severely limited his ability to read, write and speak sentences. But even though his family and friends never know exactly what he’s thinking, they do know that he likes going to synagogue, and with the help of an iPad, Matthew’s parents and educators were able to give Matthew a full bar mitzvah.

With an update to v4.0, the Mac AirPlay server AirServer has gotten the ability to mirror the display of your iPad on your big-screen Mac. This is pretty big, as you can now not only send video and music to your Mac as you could before, but you can make presentations and even play games, wirelessly.

CineXplayer, the go-to iOS app for playing pretty much any kind of video you can throw at it, has been updated to include virtual surround sound. This gives you surround sound in stereo speakers or headphones instead of mixing Dolby Digital 5.1 surround down to a plain stereo signal.

Apple issued a press release this morning to confirm that more than 25 billion apps have now been downloaded from its “revolutionary” App Store by more than 315 million iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches worldwide. The company also announced the lucky winner of its $10,000 iTunes gift card.

Square, the iOS credit-card company, wants to replace lame old cash registers with sleek iPads sporting its little square white credit card-reading dongle. The new Square Register app for iPad aims to do just that.

Is Apple getting into the car business? No, Apple isn’t building a car. But it makes perfect sense that Apple would be working on an in-dash system.

The car blog Jalopnik said this week that a Chinese head-hunting firm is apparently helping Apple hire someone expert in the manufacturing of car parts. The recruiter apparently placed the position in the automotive section of LinkedIn. The listing said:

“Apple(China) Looking for SQE/NPI with over 4 years Mechanical engineering background familiar with CNC/die casting/stamping/plastic injection, can use APQP/ PPAP/SPC to control product quality.”

PatentlyApple.com has reported over the years multiple patents held by Apple for in-car user interfaces.

The circumstantial evidence suggests that Apple is at least thinking about getting serious about the automotive dashboard business.

And getting into the car business just makes sense for Apple. Here’s why. 

The iPhone and iPad have been core players in the so-called consumerization of IT. This trend that is transforming whole industries is both a challenge and an opportunity for IT professionals, managers, and individuals in just about every field out there.

The first ever Consumerization of IT in the Enterprise (CITE) conference and expo as it kicks off this weekend in San Francisco. The conference is a unique opportunity to hear from IT and business leaders from every industry was well as vendors, experts, and end users that have jumped in and seized the reins of this new workplace phenomenon. On tap will be stories about innovation, case studies in successful mobile initiatives, and much more.

Many pundits have made the argument that the iPad’s days in the business and corporate world will be numbered once Microsoft releases Windows 8 and Windows on ARM (WOA) tablets later this year. The biggest rationale behind this argument is that corporate IT departments will feel much more comfortable deploying and managing Windows devices and that they will already have the skills, tools,  and resources needed to setup, secure, and roll out Windows-powered iPad competitors.

That argument lost a lot of credibility this week when Microsoft acknowledged that WOA tablets cannot be managed like other Windows variants including Windows 8 on PCs and x86 tablets or PCs running Windows 7, Vista, or XP. This makes the iPad much more suited for business than Windows on ARM devices.

iPad 3 talk has reached a fever pitch leading up to Apple’s announcement on Wednesday, but have we all been calling the device by the wrong name? Some people seem to think so.

Apple could very well call the third-generation iPad the “iPad HD.” The device is expected to sport a super hi-res Retina display and feature faster internals. It certainly wouldn’t be out of place for Apple to change it up and break the traditional naming convention, or would it?

Unlike most computers, the iPad isn’t designed to be a multi-user device. iOS doesn’t support multiple user accounts or profiles – that essentially means one set of device and application settings along with a personal collection of information like notes, email, browser bookmarks, and stored passwords for different online services. Sharing a device with that much personal data makes it easy for someone to snoop while using another person’s iPhone or iPad or on an iPad that is commonly shared between multiple users.

Passtouch is a web browser for the iPad that’s designed to offer at least some multi-user capabilities as well as to secure web-based information like bookmarks, cookies, and stored passwords. It doesn’t offer whole-device accounts or profiles but it does offer some extra security for devices that are regularly shared.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — This year I decided to cover the Mobile World Congress without a computer. Or at least, without my MacBook. I live in Barcelona, so I knocked out a couple of posts on my iMac when I was at home, but on the show floor and in the press lounge I relied solely on my iPad. And amazingly, it was up to the task. There are some annoyances, but with a combination of perseverance (or just stubbornness) and the right apps, I got a pretty easy system going.

One of the big trends at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has been announcements regarding NFC. While NFC has been supported in a handful of Android phones and BlackBerry models, till now there haven’t been many real-world applications for it. With several announcements around NFC, the technology’s time may be finally be coming.

Despite rumors, Apple has never shown an interest in adopting NFC in the iPhone or iPad.  Could Apple’s lack of NFC support could stick out like a sore thumb despite the fact that it managed to upstage every company at MWC with yesterday’s iPad 3 event announcement.

With baseball season nearly upon us, now is the time to download MLB’s brand new iOS app. MLB.com At Bat went live in the App Store for free this morning with some great features and better pricing options.

Instead of having to pay $30 for the separate iPhone and iPad apps like last year, MLB is offering a free, universal download with a season-long in-app subscription for $14.99, and there’s more options available.

These days, the App Store is where it’s at. And if you don’t act fast, you may miss your opportunity to learn how to build an iOS app from scratch! This deal ends tonight at Midnight PST, so make sure to check it out.

If you have a great idea for an iPhone or iPad app, the only thing that’s stopping you from getting it out there is the actual coding of the app itself. But what if you’re the “idea person” and not a coder – and you have no desire to be one? It’s a pretty extensive process, and as you’re learning how to code you could be letting valuable time slip away – not to mention the fact that someone who CAN code might beat you to the punch. And while outsourcing the coding is an option, that’s often a costly approach – and a lot of back and forth between yourself and the coder that slows the process down even more so. So…what to do?

Well, this latest offer by Cult of Mac Deals is just what you need to get your app idea from vaporware to “actualware” with absolutely no programming. Period. And for a limited time you can save 80% off the regular price to boot – as it’s only $99!

Some people will use any excuse to go green, just like some nerds will use any excuse to wear a Darth Vader mask. So umm, why not just satisfy both parties at the same time and make a breath-powered iPhone charger that looks like it should be worn by Lord Vader or Bane? The AIRE mask is a silly looking contraption designed by Joao Paulo Lammoglia to recharge iPhones using the power of your lungs. Utilizing tiny wind turbines the AIRE mask converts your deep sighs and frenetic breaths into usable electricity to power your iDevice.

There is certainly no shortage of Photography apps in the iOS store that promise to do magical things to your snapshots. Users can turn their photos into vintage looking pictures via Instagram, transform faces into comic book art with Halftone, or do weird things with Percolator, but this latest app is a bit different from all the rest. Pxl is a new app available for iPhone and iPad that transforms pictures into cool pieces of abstract art.

Despite RIM’s reassurances to developers at this week’s Mobile World Congress, the mass exodus of its government customers continued as another U.S. federal agency announced that it would ditch BlackBerry in favor of the iPhone. The agency in question is The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which announced that it will be abandoning the BlackBerry and RIM services beginning this month.

As the agency revealed its plans, RIM attempted to cast a softer light on the situation by playing up it’s overall standing with the U.S. government.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — Snapily is an app that lets you snap 3-D photographs with your iPad or iPhone, and then view them with 3-D specs. You can even order 3-D lenticular postcards from the app and have them sent to your home. It would be amazing: if it worked.