Everyone knows that Apple creates products that are great for creating. But part of what makes that statement true is the deep selection of third-party gadgets that make the most of artistic impulse. We’ve painted this next section, Gifts for the Imagination, with examples that’ll help nourish the next Pissarro, Satriani or Cartier-Bresson.
Never in the history of consumer electronics has there been a computer more universally desirable than the Apple iPad.
Market share numbers — 83% of the market — hint at the popularity and market dominance of the iPad.
But here’s the most interesting fact about the iPad’s incredible success that most people overlook: The qualities that make iPad desirable are replicable on bigger platforms — and may even be magnified by them. Which is why it’s perfectly reasonable to predict dominant market share for the iOS-like Mac desktops of the future.
First, let’s understand the unprecedented popularity of the iPad.
For those of us setting out to catch the lunar eclipse early tomorrow morning — here’s a great piece in the Christian Science Monitor on why it’ll be so spectacular out here west of the Rockies — there’s nothing like an iPad armed with a great astronomy app. But according to Tim DeBenedictis, developer of SkySafari 3, his app is the only one that can predict this — and any other — eclipse. That’s fine with us, since he’s offering his app for free all this weekend.
It could easily be imagined that the bookbinding industry is struggling to survive these days. As books cross over in ever-increasing numbers into the digital world, the demand for physical books have disappeared — and with it, the niche crafts that help create them. Ironic, then, that what’s breathing life into the industry now is that which began to kill it: e-books, e-readers and tablets (and in this case, the iPad 2 specifically).
Like the FieldFolio case Killian reviewed last week, Pad & Quill’s Contega Case for iPad 2 ($90) is a devilishly handsome iPad case that harnesses the mystic craft of bookbinding to create a stylish book-like home for the iPad 2. Unlike the FieldFolio though, Pad & Quill has given the Contega a large dose of practicality.
When we have an iOS device stolen, thieves don’t just obtain our precious iPhone, but they also obtain all the information that’s stored on it. Our devices are filled with personal data such as names and addresses for our friends and family, and for our convenience, they save usernames and passwords for all kinds of different services.
That’s why we secure our devices with passcode locks. But did you know you can use an alphanumeric passcode to make it even more secure?
Japan’s Sharp, maker of huge-screen televisions, voiced confidence Thursday as it told reporters Apple isn’t much of a concern. What about the almost incessant chatter that the tech giant will enter the TV manufacturing market with an iTV in 2012? “It’s not something we’re studying very hard,” an executive claims. Unclear whether this is bravado or whistling past the graveyard, but perhaps Sharp missed class the day Apple mangled a whole string of industries thought to be untouchable.
News aggregators designed to give you maximum reading pleasure on the iPad’s 9-inch screen are scaling down for iPhones. Case in point: Zite just launched a version providing all the news that’s fit to scroll on your iPhone.
Back in November, iOS hacker Pod2g announced in a message on Twitter that he had discovered a bug in the iOS 5 software that could provide an untethered jailbreak. To backup his claims, Pod2g has posted a video to YouTube that demonstrates the hack in action, but he’s yet to provide any indication as to when the jailbreak might go public.
Samsung has a hit on its hands. Unfortunately, it involves being thrown out of court — this time in France. To add insult to injury, not only did a French panel call an attempt to ban iPhone 4S sales “disproportionate,” but ordered the South Korean smartphone company to pay Apple’s legal bills.
When it comes to Apple’s iTunes Match, profit motive goes out the window — indeed it’s “immaterial.” Although Apple is most known for iTunes and the App Store, the Cupertino, Calif. company remains a hardware company — and very profitable one at that. The real value of the iTunes Match service is as the latest member of Apple’s vast iTunes ecosystem, acting as a honeytrap for hardware purchases.
It had to happen: Apple’s workhorse, the iMac, is expected to relinquish its title as best-selling all-in-one computer in 2012. What with its success in smartphones, tablets and notebooks, Apple appears ready to throw the PC industry a bone — a very limited one, however.
Reading the news on the iPad is one of the absolute best experiences you can have on Apple’s magical tablet device. So when news hit yesterday that our two favorite iOS news reader apps came out with updates, we were pretty stoked. While you probably heard a great deal about the other reader app, we wanted to tell you about the awesome news reader you might be missing out on. It’s called Flud, and it was just completely redesigned yesterday.
Besides sporting a major facelift, what’s spectacular about Flud is its new ability to make reading the news a social experience. Rather than relying solely on an app to recommend websites and content to you, Flud users have the ability to see what their friends are reading in the app and share content back with them rather than spamming their Facebook or Twitter feed with the 15 news stories they’ve read throughout the day. Giving each user the ability to create a “news personality,” Flud aims to change the way we consume news much in the same way that Spotify and Rdio have changed the way we listen to music, by allowing users to inspire and be inspired by others based on what they consume.
Although AT&T provided few details on how many iPhones the carrier sold this quarter, several analysts are upping their estimates based on consensus that Apple will report record-breaking sales. The Apple smartphone has “general strength across the board” with sales hovering around 30 million units for the three-month period.
We’re huge fans of OnLive’s terrific cloud gaming service here at Cult of Mac, and we’re even more excited to hear that it’s coming to iOS devices. The company has announced that an OnLive app is on its way to the App Store, which will allow users to play top-tier console-quality games on the go.
Apple’s iTunes 12 Days of Christmas promotion is becoming an event that European users can depend on every year. A new app for its Christmas 2011 giveaway hit the App Store yesterday, and will offer iTunes users a free download every day between December 26 and January 6.
This has been a banner year for the iPad in U.S. education – with tots to teens and university students using Apple’s magical device to learn.
How effective iPads are as a teaching tool is open to debate.
A small study, carried out by Michelle Riconscente, an assistant professor of education at the University of Southern California, offers some promising results, even with the necessary caveat that it was funded by the Motion Math app with a grant from the Noyce Foundation.
Here’s another sign we’re edging closer to a world without paper money: Chase bank has added a feature to its iDevice apps that lets its customers transfer money from their Chase accounts to any bank account in the U.S. (both Chase and non-Chase alike).
Sales of the iPhone and Mac are topping analyst expectations for the holiday quarter, eating into Android marketshare. On the flip side, despite reaching new record sales, iPad demand is described as “a little light,” one analyst told investors Wednesday. In the kind of bad news rivals could only hope to have, iPhone demand continues to outstrip supply and those soft iPad figures are partly due to increased interest in another Apple product: the MacBook Air.
Apple has issued an update to its iBooks app on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Version 1.5 of iBooks brings two major additions: a nighttime reading theme and full-screen mode.
The update also brings several new fonts, more covers for public domain books, pop-up footnotes, and a redesigned annotation palette.
We received some interesting insight into the contentious courtroom war between Apple and Samsung, thanks to a technical slip-up from the U.S. District Court in charge of the patent-infringement case. What was revealed appears more intriguing than the actual ruling denying Apple’s attempt to quickly block U.S. sales of Samsung’s Galaxy phone and tablet. Not so well hidden behind sloppy redaction was Apple’s own internal analysis finding Samsung’s devices would steal more Android than iOS users.
Did Apple conspire with major publishers to increase e-book prices? The European Commission has launched an antitrust probe of Apple and five publishers amid claims the industry was “terrified” by Amazon’s $9.99 e-book push. At the heart is Apple’s iBookstore and the tech giant’s “agency model” that a California lawsuit charges inflated book prices.
At Cult of Mac we’re huge fans of going to the movies. Few experiences can compare to seeing pretty boy Ryan Gosling beating the crap out of Ron Perlman on a towering 70ft x 30ft screen. As long as the film doesn’t feature Shia LaBeouf then we’re down to watch it (sometimes we’ll even make an exception for the former Even Stevens star). The only problem is that showing up to the movie theater in your underwear is frowned upon in most countries. Thankfully, Epson makes some pretty kick ass projectors that bring the movie theater experience to your home so you don’t have to bother with those weird things called “pants.”
This week we’re really lucky to be teaming up with the awesome folks at Epson to give away a brand new iPhone-compatible projector. $700 is already a pretty awesome price for their superb projector, but because it’s Christmas, they’re generously letting us giveaway their brand new MegaPlex MG-50HD Projector for free! Without a doubt this is the coolest projector we’ve ever gotten our hands on. It comes with two built-in 10-watt speakers, a dock for your iPhone or iPad and is incredibly portable so you can take the fun with you wherever you go.
Speaking from experience, watching Home Alone and Elf on this thing will make the holidays 50 times more pleasurable no matter which of your annoying family members decides to pay you a visit for Christmas.
Here are the rules on how to enter the giveaway:
In late 2010, Steve Jobs commented on the sudden influx of 7-inch tablets by calling them ‘tweeners. He said that Apple had considered 7-inch displays for the iPad, but after extensive testing, a 7-inch screen was too small to really be useable.
Android tablet makers, of course, scoffed… then rushed to market with their own 10-inch tablets once they discovered that Steve Jobs was telling the truth. So how long until Amazon updates the Kindle Fire to 10-inches? The results of Kindle Fire usability studies are in, and the 7-inch Kindle Fire is an ugly, hideous mess of missed taps and users screaming out of frustration.
Toys R Us won’t even start selling the Nabi Kids Tablet until next week, but it’s already sold out in pre-orders.
Billed as the first full-featured Android platform made especially for kids, the 7-inch $200 tablet comes loaded with about $150 in games and uses “kid-friendly” software. (Apparently they haven’t seen how adroit the tykes are with grown-up versions.)
The device, designed by FUHU and manufactured by Foxconn, is being marketed to parents who want their kids to stop messing around with their iPads.
Ever since Electronic Artists (EA) started investing in the mobile games scene, the company has produced a flurry of titles that have been a big hit with Apple fans. With the combination of console to iOS ports (FIFA 12, NBA JAM, Dead Space) and original content made exclusively for iOS (Max & the Magic Marker, Fantasy Safari), EA has become one of the hottest game developers for the iPhone and iPad.
Now that we’re rolling into the holiday season, EA is starting to feel the Christmas spirit and has created a “Daily Deals” page that highlights new deals on their most popular games.