U.K. councillors in Croydon have been named and shamed for using an iPad during a council meeting to keep track of the score in a soccer game.
And — wouldn’t you know it — as with every other time something like this happens, senior Labour councillors John Wentworth and Pat Ryan claim that they were just “momentarily” taking a break from the important meeting they were in.
The iPad lineup has seen a ton of changes since Apple introduced its first tablet in 2010. Not only have the form factors evolved ever so slightly, but the internal components have pushed the product line from a cool reading/gaming device into a powerhouse machine that can replace your laptop.
To see just how much iPad has progressed, EverythingApplePro created a speed test using every iPad ever made. It’s no surprise that the iPad Pro comes out on top, but the original iPad off a shocker by beating some of its successors.
Check it out:
The fifth-grader who just last year was at least one grade behind in math is now a year ahead and helping his classmates. Sebastian Johnson’s grasp and meteoric understanding of math did not happen because of the tutor he met with twice each week.
It was, his father Fred said, because of an iPad app called Tabtor Math, a tutoring program that assesses skills, analyzes learning snags and designs a personalized curriculum to raise math proficiency in students grades K-8.
A painting by artist Jorge Pardo is taking work away from bull-slinging gallery explainers.
The piece, which is currently showing at Art Basel in Miami, depicts an impressionist version of the artist on a slide at a water park. It comes from a photograph his daughter took and looks really cool, but that’s not the most interesting part of the work.
That honor belongs to the iPad set into the lower-right corner of the piece that can let anyone who walks by connect to Pardo via Skype.
Candy canes are great and all, but in this day and age we’ve come to expect something more when digging into our stockings. Thankfully some of the neatest stuff for stockings, whether portable power, phone-mounted lasers or hands free mounts — is also super affordable. The following are just a few of the awesome stocking stuffers we’ve gathered at Cult of Mac Deals.
Despite the fact that they frequently contain things we should be concerned about, it’s rare that we pay much (if any) attention to what we’re agreeing to when we hit “Accept” on the Terms & Conditions section of some new app we’ve downloaded.
However, a fun viral video by YouTube prankster Jena Kingsley shows why we should read a bit more carefully, with members of the public unknowingly “agreeing” to do everything from adopting a child (who’s standing right there!) to giving up an organ — all in the name of trying to win an iPad.
Check it out below:
Gabriella van Rij thinks we all need to be kinder to each other — especially online. To that end, she’s leading a kindness movement aimed at eliminating the cyberbullying that can happen when kids get their mitts on the hottest gifts around: smartphones and tablets like the iPhone and iPad.
“The truth is,” says van Rij, “smartphones can be weapons in the wrong hands.”
We’ve written about how the overwhelming majority of Thanksgiving mobile shopping was done using iOS devices, but Apple devices themselves were (perhaps unsurprisingly) highly in demand during last week’s big U.S. holiday.
According to one report, Target managed especially impressive sales of both iPads and Apple Watches during Thanksgiving — with Apple’s debut wearable device proving very popular, while iPads sold at the rate of one per second throughout Thursday.
Xiaomi latest iPad mini clone got its grand unveiling today, and it has a neat trick up its sleeve. The 7.9-inch Mi Pad 2, which would look right at home in the Apple Store, can run either Android or Windows 10 — and it starts at just $156.
Apple might have once owned the tablet market, but Microsoft is making rapid advances in sales — and may even be approaching iPad numbers by 2019, according to a new “Tablet Operating System Forecast” report by Strategy Analytics.
Summarizing the first nine months of 2015, and extrapolating the trends to try and predict the next few years, the report reveals how sales of Windows tablets are up 58 percent compared to 2014, and are on track to sell 22 million this year. That’s 10 percent of the market, compared to Apple’s 22 percent.
Attention, foodies and nutrition-istas! Successful Kickstarter SITU, a smart scale for iPad, has just added a couple of neat new features for its iOS app — while also getting a reduction in prices ahead of Black Friday.
Given that ex-Apple employee creator Michael Grothaus credits Cult of Mac readers with making the invention a reality, how could we not cover it?
Apple Pay has finally made its way to iPhone and Apple Watch users in the Land Down Under, but only if they’re using American Express.
One day after the mobile payments service launched in Canada, Apple has flipped the switch for Apple Pay in Australia, allowing iOS device owners to make payments at any retailer that accepts Amex contactless payments.
Here are some of the stores participating in the launch:
Apple slapped the Pro tag on the gigantic new iPad Pro, which should mean it packs the best display ever, but it turns out that the company’s smallest tablet display is actually the most impressive.
DisplayMate Technologies put the iPad Pro, iPad mini 4, and iPad Air 2 through their extensive lab testing measurements. All three iPad displays were rated ‘unrivaled’ by the firm, but the iPad mini 4 came away triumphant in nearly all of the tests.
If you’ve had an iPad for at least a couple of years now, you’ve probably noticed one of the major ergonomic issues with it: there’s no perfect way to hold it. You can hold your iPad to use it which always feels just slightly awkward, place it on a table which hunches you over and strains the back of your neck, or put it on your lap and fold your legs up which just feels ridiculous. A Kickstarter project called the Tstand aims to solve this problem.
The Tstand is a new, adjustable tablet stand that can dramatically decrease muscle tension when you’re trying to do something as simple as watch a show on Netflix. The stand has a foldable, clamshell design that can match any viewing angle you need.
The iPad Pro is being hailed as “a new kind of computer,” but as some have noted, it’s really the top half of a new kind of computer. Missing is the bottom half — the keyboard.
Apple has a solution for that — the $169 Smart Keyboard, which turns the iPad Pro into a laptop lookalike. But there’s a fantastic alternative: Logitech’s Create keyboard and case.
Logitech’s Create has several advantages over Apple’s Smart Keyboard. First, it’s a keyboard and a case that turns the Pro into a proper faux laptop (Apple’s keyboard is half a case that covers only the iPad’s screen). Logitech’s keyboard has fantastic chicklet keys, versus Apple’s hated low-travel flat keys; and it’s backlit, an essential requirement for any keyboard.
All in all, Logitech’s $150 backlit keyboard turns the iPad Pro into a MacBook — but a MacBook with cool extra features like Touch ID and a touch-sensitive screen.
In what seems to be less of a rare occurrence these days, Chief Design Officer of Apple Jony Ive gave an interview about the iPad Pro for launch day. Specifically, he talks about the infamous optional accessory called the Apple Pencil. Being that most people at first glance will see this as an overpriced, $100 stylus, it’s fair that Ive wanted to state his case.
We fit all the music in the world in our pocket; if only we could also carry around a great way to listen to it. Enter the Soundfreaq Pocket Kick Bluetooth Speaker, a pocket-size brick that brings the beat and fits anywhere you can keep your wallet. And you won’t have to empty your wallet to get one, either: Right now you can get a Pocket Kick for just $59.99.
Google is in talks with chipset manufacturers with a view to designing its own processors and other components for future Android devices, according to a new report.
The company is said to be interested in following Apple’s footsteps in an effort to make Android “more competitive” at the high end of the market, and to “solve other major problems.”
All of us iPhone users know the feeling of having to pull the plug and get out the door before the battery’s done charging. The sleek white charging block that comes with our phone channels the charge but can’t carry it, but with the NomadPlus it can. Designed to snugly fit Apple’s USB hub, it’s a great way to turn your average wall charger into a portable battery for just $24.99.
The iPhone 6s is a huge hit, China is still doing great, and Android users absolutely love switching to iPhone.
Those are just some of the details Tim Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri revealed during this afternoon’s earnings call with investors that revealed Apple managed to top Wall Street’s expectations thanks to the iPhone 6s.
Here are the top takeaways from Apple’s latest record-setting quarter:
Is merging iOS with OS X a good idea? For the longest time, the answer to that question has been a resounding no from anyone who appreciates good software — but with iPad Pro on the horizon, there may well be a growing case for it.
The iPad Pro has the potential to be the ultimate 2-in-1 — a laptop that could really replace a notebook when you need to get stuff done. But in many ways, it’s being held back by iOS, which is still very much a mobile platform without many of the basics we have on our desktops — like a file manager.
So, is there now room for a new platform that delivers the best of iOS and OS X, perfectly suited to a tablet that doubles as a notebook?
Join us in this week’s Friday Night Fight between Cult of Android and Cult of Mac as we battle it out over that very question!
Want the new iPad or MacBook for Christmas? You’re not alone. Big box store Best Buy found the iPad the most desired tech gift this holiday season, according to a survey of 2,000 people.
The MacBook came in third behind the Bose QuietComfort noise cancelling headphones. Of the 15 tech items listed, the Apple Watch ranked 12th.
A sure sign that solar energy is growing is in the small devices it’s showing up in. ZeroLemon’s SolarJuice 20,000 mAh Battery can power up anything that charges via a USB cable — iPhones, Android, and beyond — all with energy it soaks in from the great power outlet in the sky. This is a great way to ensure as long as you’re within reach of the sky, you’re always within reach of a charge, for just $49.99 at Cult of Mac Deals.
Looking to get a new computer this Fall? Microsoft thinks it has an unbeatable offer with its new Windows Tradeup program offers customers $200 to trade in an old PC and buy a new one at a Microsoft Store.
The deal is even sweeter if you got a Mac though, because Microsoft says it’s willing to toss you an extra $100 your way to get you to defect from Apple.
These days, it’s all too easy to feel vulnerable whenever conducting a transaction, sending a message, or even just idly surfing the web. One way to feel secure is with a secure virtual private network, and for those of us without the IT chops to set one up ourselves there’s proXPN VPN. Right now you can get a lifetime subscription to proXPN’s VPN service for a full 98% off the normal price, $39 at Cult of Mac Deals.