An upcoming line of toys from Disney is about to take the iPad’s multi-touch display to a whole other level. “Disney Appmates” will be a series of interactive games that use the iPad’s display to enhance the experience of playing with physical toys.
Initially, characters from the Cars 2 movie will be sold with an accompanying App Store app. 6-year olds everywhere are about to have a new obsession.
Foxconn workers at the company’s plant in Yantai, a city in the northeastern Shandong province, have had to evacuate the building today as another fire and possible explosion engulfed parts of the factory in smoke. Thankfully, it seems no one has been injured.
Quit your worrying. That’s essentially the message coming from one Apple watcher on Wall Street following a day of hand-wringing over a report Apple had reduced by 25 percent iPad 2 orders from suppliers. Improvements in the tech giant’s supply chain and inventory still mean plenty of tablets for the anxious hordes of iPad customers.
Have the salad days of Microsoft passed? Insiders say CEO Steve Ballmer was greeted with yawns at a recent annual meeting replete with reportedly “painfully flat demos and lifeless speakers.” Ballmer, who once derided the Apple iPhone market share as a ’rounding error,’ is now on the defensive, adopting the mantra “Windows Cannot Lose.”
A retirement center in Florida says an iPad pilot program started in July is helping keep residents young at heart.
The iPad’s large touch screen and light weight are helping healthy residents socialize more — as they play with puzzles and games — and it’s been “pretty amazing,” the home director says with re-educating stroke and dementia patients.
Los Angeles-based TRTL BOT turned to Kickstarter for the latest project: A massive, multi-use iPad 2 case/stand called The Shell, with a nod to keeping an iPad safe during brutal use. Like when it’s in the hands of kids.
Moving swiftly to take advantage of a rapidly changing debacle – err, situation – Scoopertino reports today that HP has just launched a new CEO Swapper app for the iPad. Using proprietary CEO Seeker™ technology, the app allows desperate HR Departments and Boards of Directors to search for possible CEOs by category and compare results right at your fingertips.
Amazon’s upcoming Kindle tablet may have cracked one of the toughest nuts facing companies hoping to compete with Apple’s lean, mean iPad supply machine: cost. The Internet retailer may rely heavily on the cloud to store ebooks, as well as stream music and video, weekend reports suggest.
Samsung could wait even longer to begin sales of its Galaxy Tab in Australia. A Federal Court judge hinted she may okay a “brief” injunction while she studies Apple’s patent-infringement claims. The suggestion came during the start of a two-day court hearing on whether sales by the Korean tablet manufacturer should be halted in Australia.
Apple is reportedly planning to introduce curved glass displays to its iOS devices as early as next year, according to a new report. The Cupertino company has reportedly invested in glass polishing hardware for its suppliers that will allow them to produce launch the first curved glass device in the first half of 2012.
In a move that even took analysts by surprise, Apple has recently slashed iPad orders by 25 percent for the fiscal fourth quarter. The cuts, which surfaced over the past two weeks, could indicate renewed urgency for the iPad 3 or a plot to corner tablet suppliers. Or it could mean that even Apple’s not immune to an economic downturn.
Seems like a formula for success: Take a fine, Napa leather iPad 2 case (like Sena’s Folio for iPad 2), add a compact Bluetooth keyboard and an executive touch or two, and the result is the Sena Keyboard Folio for iPad 2 ($150) — an executive-grade miniature office.
We had high expectations for the Keyboard Folio. Sena just upgraded the keyboard, ditching an error-prone, rubber keyboard for a hard-shell Hippih Expression keyboard — and we were the first publication to receive one for review.
Yes WordPress, you’ve finally given the WP iOS app a bionic injection — an upgrade that’ll make it an order of magnitude more useful (certainly for bloggers like me, anyway). Finally, I have a whole row of commands to easily insert links, quote marks and the like. But why did it take so long?
I love iPad 2 accessories that follow the guiding principles of the gadget they were built for. I mean, c’mon — d’you really want to lug around a case the size of a large waffle skillet just to have some keys to type on? Of course not.
The Logitech Keyboard Case by ZAGG for iPad 2 ($100) follows those principles to the letter: It’s light, super-functional and ultra-portable, just like the gadget it was made for.
Note: Although this iCapsule only fits the original iPad, we thought we’d include it anyway; why should iPad 2 users have all the fun?
The Rocketfish iCapsule Keyboard ($49) is a big bulky blob of a hardshell case. But it’s probably the best case on the market for turning your iPad into a laptop.
Android-based tablets have become the technology equivalent of Charlie Brown, constantly warning Apple to ‘wait’ll next year’ following disappointing showing after depressing headline. Now research giant Gartner has weighed in on the issue and their advice: keep waiting. Apple’s iPad will be the most popular tablet through 2015, the research firm announced.
Samsung is asking a Dutch court to force Apple to pay patent licensing fees or impose a ban on iPhone and iPad sales. The lawsuit announced Friday comes on the heels of the South Korean company warning it will be more aggressive with the tech giant.
Samsung, once regarded as a “frenemey” of Apple, is quickly turning into just an enemy. The South Korean chipmaker who also competes with the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant’s iPhone and iPad is now threatening to get medieval on Apple.
If there’s one thing that seems to go hand-in-hand with struggling tablets, it’s generous price cuts. As Apple’s iPad continues to gain overwhelming popularity, tablets that attempt to fight the beast are falling short, and manufactures are being forced to drop their prices to shift their stock.
Most of us work, right? Because Apple makes great stuff, but most of it isn’t free. Which means you need money, and that means you’ll need to get paid for your time. That’s where HoursTracker Lite, and its iPad equivalent, HoursTracker HD Lite, come in handy.
Adonit’s humble origins as a Kickstarter project hasn’t stopped the outfit from taking the iPad-accessory world by storm. Adonit’s Jot styli were radical standouts in our stylus shootout a few weeks back, and their version of an iPad 2 keyboard case, the Adonit Writer for iPad 2 ($100), sparked similar “whoa”s as I marveled at its design.
To lure budget-weary U.S. lawmakers to into a session about saving federal research, organizers titled it “Deconstructing the iPad: How Federally Supported Research Leads to Game-Changing Innovation.”
Congressional sponsors of the forum, a trio of Republicans — U.S. Randy Hultgren (R-Il.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) — must have known they had their work cut out for them.
It seems that Apple’s iOS devices have become so popular that one department store has installed vending machines to sell them. Macy’s now has machines — just like those that sell you snacks — full of iPod nanos, iPod touches, and iPads.
The next time you visit the corner coffee shop, you may see iPads rather than cash registers. The trend is happening across the country. One Michigan retailer, Mighty Good Coffee Roasting Co., has become an enthusiastic supporter of iPads in business. In fact, customers call the company a “coffee shop meets the Apple Store.”
When I go on vacation and I want to take my notebook and iOS devices with me, I have to pack a bunch of white cables into my case — all of which seem to be tangled up with each other by the time I take them out again. However, Apple is developing a universal all-in-one data & power cable that will charge both your Mac and your iOS devices, and allow you to transfer data between them.