iPad - page 265

Apple’s iPad has become the latest fall-guy for PC makers seeking a reason for falling sales … and the ground’s coming up fast.

I’ve seen a lot of iPad and iPhone cases over the last few years and the iSkin Summit is the first iPad case that makes me want to scratch my head in disbelief. It’s so different that I just have to call it weird and the garish red color of the sample I was sent only made it worse.

It may not be as pretty as an Apple product (but seriously — what is), and at $180, it’s almost double the price of the ATV. But Elgato’s HDHomeRun comes in swinging for the fences with a trick Apple’s little black coaster doesn’t have: the ability to stream live TV, in HD, to your Mac or iPad — even over a 3G connection.

The company that helps build the Kindle reportedly is expanding their office in Cupertino, Calif. But Lab126 is unlikely to get a congratulatory fruit basket from their rival neighbor Apple.

Faced with the incredible juggernaut of Apple’s iPad, Amazon may have no choice but to gang-tackle Cupertino with an “entire family” of Android-based Kindle tablets.

Why is the iPad winning the tablet war? Look beyond the sexy package to the nitty-gritty of Apple’s retail and marketing expertise, offers Nvidia’s CEO. Despite many rivals, the iPad in your hands isn’t likely to become endangered soon.

Seagate is set to launch a new addition to its GoFlex range called the Satellite – a battery-powered hard drive that connects to any device equipped with Wi-Fi, including your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Apple is offering free repairs to those with Macs and iOS devices who had their equipment damaged in the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan back in March.

Looking for a cool new case to protect your magical iPad from slime, scratches, termites, and falling debris? Yesterday we published our review on the beautiful, wooden BrudaCase and now we’re giving our readers a chance to win a Cherry BrudaCase for free (retail value $150).

We’ll select one reader at random as the winner of the giveaway and have a BrudaCase mailed out to you. The contest will run from Friday, May 13th til Monday, May 16th at 12PM PST. Limit of one entry per person.

Green Farm is Gameloft’s answer to popular farming sims such as Farmville. It’s a free, online ‘social game’ that can be played on your iPhone, iPad, or through Facebook. It boasts a fresh design and huge variety that attempts to “take farming apps to the next level.”

Hector is the hugely entertaining detective from Telltale Games who’s been solving crimes on our iPhones for some time — and now he’s brought his foul mouth and vulgar wit to the iPad. We Negotiate with Terrorists is the first episode of this law-enforcement comedy in HD.

Find out more about the applications above and check out MetalStorm: Online and Samurai Girl below.

Rumors are circulating about a new design feature in the upcoming iPhone 5: An edge-to-edge screen.

The scuttlebutt originated a couple of months ago with a post on iDealsChina, and has been re-enforced by the appearance of a case for such a design on AliBaba, a disreputable online clearinghouse for buying cheap crap from China.

It all sounds pretty shady, but these kinds of sources predicted other Apple products in the past. Even more compelling is that the Wall Street Journal claims a source that has seen a prototype of such a design.

The rumor is either true or false. Who knows? Regardless, an edge-to-edge screen makes sense. If it’s possible to engineer, it’s likely to be built.

Here’s why: There is a fundamental tension in mobile design between minimum case size and maximum screen real estate. For the overall size of the phone or tablet: the smaller, the better. For the size of the screen: the bigger, the better.

Something’s gotta give.

Google announced this week the June 15 launch of its shiny new Chromebook product. People are comparing it to the Apple iPad, with some even saying the iPad doesn’t stand a chance.

The Chromebook is a laptop designed to run only browser-based applications. The idea is that nothing resides on the device. Everything is in the cloud. The Chromebook is cheap, gets great battery life, and because data resides in the cloud, idiot users can’t screw up.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said that with PCs, “the complexity of managing your computer is really torturing users… It’s a flawed model fundamentally.”

True enough. What you didn’t hear anywhere in the Google announcement is the dreaded “i” word.

The iPad has already solved the problem for consumers that Brin talked about. And that’s the biggest reason Chromebook will fail.

Go here to read the whole story.

At the top of this week’s list of must-have iOS applications is one of our favorite instant messaging tools: IM+ Pro. It has already featured in our list of the ‘Best iOS Apps for Instant Messaging‘, but the introduction of its new Neighbors service meant we couldn’t help but shout about it again.

TweetyPop is a super new Twitter application from TapFactory that allows you to view and interact with your tweets in a unique new way. It throws away the chronological list you get with every other Twitter client and delivers a 3 dimensional Twitter space.

Adobe first announced its first three Photoshop Touch applications at Photoshop World back in March, and they’re now available to download from the App Store. Color Lava, Eazel and Nav are all designed for the iPad and aim to enhance your desktop Photoshop experience with the help of a touch-based device.

Find out more about the applications above and check out OmniOutliner – this week’s final must-have – after the break.

(Update: Many — but not all — of the users in the Apple Support Communities are now reporting that the activation servers are back online, and their devices working again.)

Looks like the Lion Beta 3 Preview might not be the only problem Apple’s dealing with this morning.

As of last night, an ongoing problem with Apple’s activation servers seems to be leaving many iDevices recently updated or restored to iOS 4.3.3 bricked around the world.

In addition to unveiling a display today that could give the iPad 3 a Retina Display, Samsung has just debuted a new foldable AMOLED display that could be used to make your next iPad fit into your pocket, your next iPhone an iFlipPhone.

If you thought Android would be the choice of the pin-stripe business crowd, think again. Turns out the iPhone is the pick for the cubicle, as well as the art studio.

Samsung is preparing to launch a new 10.1-inch display next week which will boast a resolution of 2560 by 1600, making it the first ‘Retina’ display to be announced for tablets. But will it be making its way into the iPad 3?

Ok, we’re a little baffled why this dude is pulling out an iPad in this sitch. Last-minute conditions-check? Confused about the term “surf the web”?

What’s pretty clear though, is that the blindingly yellow G-Form iPad Extreme Sleeve case ($60) he’s peeling off his iPad is now shipping. We love talking about this case; partly because we’re fascinated with the extreme-sport-derived protective material it’s made from, and partly because we’re mesmerized by the crazy videos G-Form keeps releasing to demonstrate the Extreme Sleeve’s protective ability — which seems formidable.

Right now, it’s only available (thankfully, also in black) from G-Form directly.

If you can imagine an iPad the size of Apple’s largest iMac, with the iOS multi-touch interface plus the power of OS X, then you can imagine the next generation of computing.

You’ll use it tilted at an angle on your desk like a drafting table. Or, you’ll tilt it up for TV or presentations, or flat for using it as a table. Or you’ll use it as a coffee table or a kitchen counter top. The point is: You’ll use it.

Apple has a gazillion patents for their version of this technology. Microsoft has already promised a consumer version of Surface. The third generation of desktop computing (after command line and GUI generations) is coming.

But Google has already announced the operating system for their giant desktop multi-touch PC of the future.

Amazon is preparing a tablet of their own to compete with the iPad, and no lesser a higher-up than CEO Jeff Bezos has all but confirmed it.

Illustration student Rachel Walsh was assigned a seemingly impossible design task by her professor: explain the concept of the Amazon Kindle to Charles Dickens. Her solution is ingenious, and applies just as well to iBooks, but just imagine if she’d been asked to explain the iPad to Dickens instead.

If you’re so inclined and mad enough to try it, you can install Google’s Android operating system on your original iPhone, iPod Touch or iPhone 3Gwith a minimum of fuss, but later iPhones like the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, as well as the iPad? A much stickier wicket.

The BrudaCase for iPad 2 is a sleek, elegant case made out of wood to protect your iPad while still maintaining a classic look that is truly worthy of holding your favorite tech treasure. With its nod to the past, while still looking to the future, the BrudaCase is one of the most beautifully manufactured iPad cases I’ve come across. Handcrafted in the heart of Amish Country Pennsylvania, the case doesn’t set out to be just another piece of beauty, as it also brings a lot of thoughtful functionality with it.

The case is made from slabs of cherry or maple wood that have been precision trimmed, sanded, and finished by an Amish cabinet-maker. The two pieces are held together by two discrete hinges inside the case. Padding lines the interior cavity to protect your iPad 2 from scratching, while four magnets secure the two sides together to prevent the case from opening accidentally. One of the neat things about the BrudaCase is how they addressed the need for different viewing angles. Two different notches inside the case allow the user to adjust the viewing angle of the iPad based on preference or the need to do some typing. The typing angle didn’t feel that comfortable though as the angle of inclination was a bit greater than that of a SmartCover, and to achieve the typing angle the iPad is recessed a bit too far back in the case for my liking.

For years, publishers have been fighting Apple for the ability to collect user data from iOS subscribers without their consent. It turns out, though, they don’t have to: over half of all subscribers give up their personal details willingly.

Sources in Apple’s supply chain have revealed that Foxconn Electronics is currently facing supply and labor shortages that could delay shipments of both the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 during the second quarter.