iPad - page 270

According to several reports from various sources recently, it seems there could be a nasty ‘virus’ lurking in dodgy internet adverts that wipes your iOS device when you tap on them. Users searching for jailbreak and unlock methods on their devices are the ones currently at risk.

When performing a search for these hacks on an iOS device, false adverts are returned that claim to unlock your device for free. Tapping on them takes you to a webpage that shows an animation lasting 10 to 15 seconds, followed by a message that says: “DOWNLOAD UNLOCK 2 NOW FREE.” By this point the device is completely wiped of all your information.

Despite recent speculation that a third generation iPad will launch later this year, component makers in China have ruled out the possibility of two iPads in twelve months, and claimed that although Apple has released its plans for a higher resolution tablet, the device is still in the “initial planning stage.”

Sources said they do not see the iPad 2 as a transitional product, and pointed out that the launch of an iPad 3 so soon after the release of the second generation device would simply cut off interest in the iPad 2. Component makers confirmed that they are yet to receive any notice for next generation iPad components, and with such a strong demand for the iPad 2, an update won’t appear anytime soon.

Touch panel makers also revealed that Apple may be considering an AMOLED panel for the iPad 3, which would be a “great risk” for the Cupertino company since AMOLED technologies are currently largely controlled by Samsung. It may mean Apple could no longer have priority over the key technologies used in its devices, and meeting demand for the device could prove even more difficult.

[via DigiTimes]

The hiring of a Senior Composites Engineer at Apple has fuelled more speculation that the company could move away from aluminum for building future devices, choosing to use carbon fiber instead. Kevin Kenny began work at the Cupertino campus this month after spending 14 years building carbon fiber bicycles for Kestral Bicycles, where he was the President and CEO.

This isn’t the first time Kenny has worked with Apple; a patent called “Reinforced Device Housing” filed by the company in 2009 had Kenny’s name on it, and depicted an outer casing for electronic devices made from ultra-strong carbon fiber. The patent reveals Kenny was clearly working with Apple for a long time before he became a full-time employee.

It’s no secret that the iPad 2 should open the floodgates of the augmented reality experience — and here’s another example of what the iPad 2 can do with AR.

No doubt in anticipation of Yuri’s Night, Vito Technology has just released an AR-equipped version of their venerable star-watching iPad app, Star Walk ($5). Just hold the screen up to the sky and the app will superimpose constellations and all sorts of other info onto a realtime image of the sky being viewed through the iPad 2’s camera. And that’s on top of all the other cool features, like a satellite tracker, night mode and a time-machine function that lets you see what the sky looks like on any given day or time.

Still saving for an iPad 2? That’s ok, the iPhone version has the same features (but not the awesomeness of the iPad’s giant screen), and it’s on sale for a buck till April 12 — which, not coincidentally,  is Yuri’s Night.

We’ve written about how iPads are used in schools and pilot training, but it’s fascinating to see how they are changing the plays on the basketball court.

From playbooks to bus schedules, a number of NBA teams are making sure players don’t miss a beat by using iPads, according to a detailed piece in slamonline.

“We use it for everything. We put our whole playbook and rulebook on it,” said Washington Wizards assistant coach Ryan Saunders, whose father, head coach Flip Saunders, unofficially made the team the first known NBA franchise to use iPads for team operations. “Our whole calender is mapped out. Guys can know when buses are leaving, when planes are leaving.”

Italians use the same word – filibustiere – for long-winded attempts to slow down legislative sessions, now they are using the iPad to combat boredom at work.

These pics were snapped during what was apparently an endless session about shortening trials.

According to a source for Boy Genius Report, Apple is working on the next release of iOS and planning to release the firmware to the public during the next two weeks. iOS 4.3.2 will include a few enhancements, address security issues, and fix several bugs that have effected some users.

Unfortunately the details handed over to BGR are a little limited, so we’re unable to report what enhancements or bug fixes will be made in the next iOS release. Although, issues with Wi-Fi that effects users with certain routers, and a problem with the taking photographs on the iPad 2, have been picked up in iOS 4.3.1.

BGR sources seem to have been consistent with their information in recent months, revealing on March 21st that iOS 4.2.1 would launch within two weeks – 4 days before it went live.

As always, we’ll let you know when iOS 4.3.2 is available to download.

Retro gamers can now enjoy 100 classic Atari titles on their iOS devices thanks to the launch of Atari’s Greatest Hits. The application is a free download that comes bundled with Pong, and through in-app purchases users can download additional game packs at $0.99 each, or the entire collection of 100 games for $14.99.

The collection of classic hits includes 18 Atari arcade games and 92 Atari 2600 games. But the fun doesn’t stop there; the app also boasts head-to-head multiplayer over Bluetooth and original cabinet and box art.

Check out the entire list of games available – and those that support Bluetooth multiplayer – after the break.

We’ve been keen followers of developments at CloudEngines, the outfit behind the Pogoplug network-attached storage device, ever since we reviewed the first one back in late 2009. This month, a little over two years after the Pogoplug debuted, brings a whole raft of new offerings from the company — including one that may bring a big surge to NAS popularity in general.

The iOS 4.3 update enabled third-party applications to take advantage of AirPlay and stream content to the AppleTV and other compatible devices. Since it went live, developers have been updating their apps to include AirPlay support, and we’ve put together a list of the top 10 iOS apps that are currently AirPlay ready. We’ve chosen apps to keep you entertained, up to date with the latest news, and even one to help you workout.

Check them out after the break!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isUFXNYT80k

You’ve got to watch this video. I know April Fool’s Day is long gone, but this one is worth it. It’s the perfect set-up: a local news team prepped a segment about a new app that emits smell and taste via “piezo-electrics.” The other anchor, who’s in on the joke, tells his colleague that amazingly, it works. Skeptically, she tries it out, and everyone cracks up. Very funny.

Via NextRound

I wondered how long it would take for someone to release a song or album that had been recorded using GarageBand for the iPad. Well, not even a month after its launch, pop punk band The Ultramods are the first to record all instruments and vocals for their 12-track album using the $4.99 application.

In an interview with The Loop, the band – which writes “pervy pop punk” and “technologically obsessed new wave” music – said that all of the instruments used on the album were those included in the GarageBand app.

If you’d like to hear their album, ‘Underwear Party’ is now available in the iTunes Store for $10, or you can listen for free on the band’s website.

Though The Ultramods are the first to record an album with GarageBand, English band Gorillaz announced back in November that their upcoming album ‘The Fall’ was recorded entirely on an iPad using a range of third-party apps. The album was released to the band’s fan club in December, and is currently available for pre-order through iTunes with an expected release date of April 19th.

Speaking at a keynote session at Storage Network World in Santa Clara, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was asked how tablet devices had changed the computer industry – his answer was that these devices are for ‘normal’ people – not geeks. Woz told the audience of enterprise storage engineers that:

The tablet is not necessarily for the people in this room. It’s for the normal people in the world.

Woz also said that it was also Steve Jobs’ intention to create products that were normal consumer appliances:

I think Steve Jobs had that intention from the day we started Apple, but it was just hard to get there, because we had to go through a lot of steps where you connected to things, and (eventually) computers grew up to where they could do … normal consumer appliance things.

If you’re on holiday in Madrid, Spain, and missing your iOS device, a new service developed by PadInTheCity means you can rent an iPad to use on your trip. For €39 (around $55) per day, visitors can rent a 3G iPad, with unlimited data access, and nearly 30 pre-installed tourism and business apps to help them make the most of their trip.

A couple of screenshots have just leaked of Microsoft’s Windows 8 tablet user interface.

Currently in pre-beta, Windows 8 is Microsoft’s shot at building a UI that’s suitable for both tablets and PCs. Windows 7 is not being ported to tablets. Early versions of Windows 8 have reportedly been shipped to Microsoft’s hardware OEM partners. So far, the UI hasn’t been seen, but two new screenshots indicate it is based on tiles, very much like Windows Phone 7.

The screenshot above shows the home screen, which features Microsoft’s Bing search engine front and center. Underneath are big tiles for shortcuts to Web apps or Web pages. Each app opens in a full-screen version of Internet Explorer, according to Within Windows, which first published the screenshots (The site is currently down. The screenshots have been republished at WinRumors)

The screenshot below shows a new e-reader app that includes built-in support for Adobe’s PDF format. Looking at the diagrams in the screenshot, it will include page scrubbing (to quickly scrub through a document) and multi-touch pinching and zooming. Apple may not like that.

Microsoft appears to be pushing a new file format called AppX (.appx), which will reportedly allow Windows Phone 7 developers to repackage apps in AppX and offer them through an app store that will be built into Windows 8. Sound familiar?

Our take? It looks OK. The tiled interface is pretty good on Windows Phone 7, but why are there still scrollbars if the interface is full-screen?

Gift Plan – (Free for today – usually $0.99) iPhone – Productivity

Gift Plan is a fantastic little application for the iPhone that could save you a lot of trouble. Usually $0.99 – but free for 24 hours – it will remind you of special occasions and ensure you never miss a birthday or anniversary again.

The Apple iPad turns one year old today. The first day the iPad was available was April 3, 2010. That was the day that I had  the Wi-Fi only model in my hands. It wasn’t until near the end of April 2010 that I finally got a hold of the Wi-Fi + 3G model. My life and the life of countless others hasn’t been the same since.

The iPad was met with some skepticism when it was announced in early 2010. The “magical and revolutionary” device was ridiculed, laughed about, and even mocked. People cried about it and the impact it would have on their businesses and Adobe cried about it. However, all that ended when people and developers got one in their hands.

Initial reviews like the one from Cult of Mac’s very own Leander Kahney were very positive and even first impressions were good. People loved it so much one of them even wrapped it in chocolate — only to give it away again to someone they loved.

The iPad proved itself again and again finding niche and mainstream applications for it at home and at work. The iPad may very well be the most popular Apple computing device in this decade. Although the iPhone may give it a run for its money. We’ll see. Maybe there will be a tie for that title.

The introduction of the iPad 2 last month will keep the iPad juggernaut moving along well into the 21st century. Frankly I cannot wait to see what Apple comes up with next!

Happy Birthday iPad! Congrats Apple.

It’s hard to recall now, but the number-one complaint about the iPhone when it first came out was the on-screen keyboard.

Engadget’s Ryan Block asked: “Will the iPhone be undone by its keyboard?” People talked about how on-screen typing would destroy the iPhone in the same way that the hand-writing recognition system helped kill the Newton.

Even more incredibly, one of the main iPad criticisms when it first came out was the visibility of finger smudges on the screen when you turn the power off.

These concerns seem quaint now, textbook examples of the limited human-ape mind trying to grapple with novelty. It’s like people complaining about their new “motor car” a hundred years ago by saying the infernal contraption fails to slow down when they say, “whoa, Nellie!” and won’t speed up when they whip the fender with a riding crop. “It’ll never catch on!”

Many annoying tech pundits (including and especially Yours Truly) bitched and moaned about Apple’s global ban on the sale of third-party physical keyboard and refusal to create one of their own.

I believe Apple deliberately used its red-hot iPhone product to force the world to accept and learn to appreciate on-screen keyboards, and break them of their physical keyboard habit. When Apple released the iPad a year ago, it was usable with two Apple keyboards (the standard Bluetooth keyboard and a new cradle keyboard). But no matter. The on-screen keyboard idea had already been accepted by a critical mass of users.

Despite widespread acceptance, people are still divided on whether on-screen keyboards are good or bad, and most still prefer a physical keyboard. But let’s look at the big picture.

Supplies of the first-generation iPad are now beginning to dwindle away as Apple sells off the last few units of its original tablet. Since the launch of the iPad 2, the original model has been sold at a discounted price through the clearance & refurbished sections of the Apple online store, and on Thursday the 16GB Wi-Fi model disappeared completely.

32GB and 64GB models of the Wi-Fi iPad are still available in the refurbished section, but there are only 3G models left in clearance.

Despite the launch of the iPad 2, it’s expected that the remaining iPad stock won’t stick around too long thanks to the generous reductions Apple has made to their price tags. The 16GB model was previously listed at $349 before it sold out – $150 below its original asking price – but the cheapest model now left is the refurbished 32GB Wi-Fi at $429.

So, if you’re not happy with a 4-week wait for the iPad 2, and you’re happy to settle for the first-generation device, you’d better get your order in quick before the device is no longer available from Apple.

[via Electronista]

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFJxt8lZQjg

Jason Bradbury, the self-proclaimed Apple Expert, has discovered a simple hack that allows owners of the iPad 2 to take X-Ray style photographs through clothes. By applying a filter after blasting a subject with infrared light, the iPad 2’s camera can see through clothing. The best part of the hack is that you don’t need any type of training in radiology as it is incredibly simple and utilizes everyday household objects (infrared light and cellophane) to make it work.

The steps are quite simple:

1: Flood a subject with infrared light. Bradbury recommends using a digital camera with a night vision mode, or a children’s toy that uses infrared light. The infrared light penetrates the clothing and will be able to be picked up with the right filter.

2: Cover the camera on your iPad 2 with two layers of cellophane. The cellophane acts filters out the natural light enough to wear the infrared light comes in stronger and is picked up by the iPad 2’s camera lens.

3. Start snapping pictures. With your infrared source in place and your filter setup you are now ready to start taking some amazingly cool photos.

So you just got your iPad, and have loaded it up apps. Now what? It may seem like a hassle to hunt around for the apps you want and to page through all of those home screens. Well, there is an easier way. In this video, you’ll find out the best way to arrange your apps on your iPad.

Now here’s a relationship that’s off to a good start. 9to5Mac reports on a couple of lovely geeks – or a couple of geeks in love – who just got engaged with the assistance of an iPad 2 and Apple’s custom engraving. Lucky groom-to-be Jordan wrote to tell them the story:

I stayed up all night to order my iPad with the inscription “Will You Marry Me?” Received mine this Monday, Took my then-girlfriend, Jessica, up to the National Redwood Forrest in Northern CA. After having to cross a river on a downed Redwood and dealing with the intermettant rain I found the largest tree in the world I kneeled down and gave it my best!

Whether it was something I said or “Apple’s Magic” in action she gushed and said YES, now give me my iPad!!

Congrats to the happy couple, and good work Jordan! Another reason to order your iPad online and avoid standing in line.

[via 9to5Mac.com]

There’s been a lot of press lately about Time Warner Cable’s foray into portability by offering its subscribers access to their programming via their iPads.

The lines for the iPad 2 have been long and dragged on for weeks the launch. Many have lamented that they haven’t been able to get one, despite the wait .

Cult of Mac founder Leander Kahney was interviewed by NPR on the iPad 2 shortage and how he went about getting his hands on one just hours after launch.

Y’know how you’ll be chugging along on a game and get to a point where, for hours, the gameplay is just sod-awful boring? And you want to get up and watch TV, but don’t want to leave the game for fear something actually exciting — like crashing into a mountain — might happen? Well, there’s an app for that. In some instances, anyway.

In this case, clever app FSXFollow saves countless faux pilots from the numbing monotony of piloting their faux Cessnas over the Midwest, by shunting all the data to their iDevice, so the pilot can walk off and get a latte or watch TV. Definitely limited appeal to this app (and frankly, if the simulation or pilot is too hardcore to employ a simple time-lapse feature, I’m not sure getting up to watch TV or do laundry in the middle of a flight is any better; but then I’m not down with all the current FAA rules), but the concept is cool — using a handheld as an integral part of a much larger experience on the desktop.

FSXFollow works with apps like the superb X-Plane and Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X and costs $6. There’re more examples of this kind of mobile/desktop symbiosis, of course; anyone got a favorite?