Just kidding. Of course it doesn’t suck. Just the opposite.
The first reviews are in, and they range from enthusiastic to downright giddy. Everyone raves how light and thin it is, and what a big difference that makes in a tablet. Across the board, the reviewers say Apple has made a great device greater, and it’ll be difficult to beat: on design, performance, experience and price.
The only knocks are the screen (last year’s spec) and the cameras, which are functional but not great.
As predicted, iOS 4.3 has just dropped and is ready for download now onto supported hardware, running the gamut of third and fourth generation iOS devices from the iPhone 3GS to the iPad 2.
Changes in iOS 4.3 include faster web browsing thanks to the Nitro JavaScript engine, personal hotspot functionality for AT&T iPhones and iTunes home sharing, allowing users to stream their iTunes libraries directly to their device. Full details are available here.
Dejavu All Over Again? Microsoft and RIM plan to launch iTunes rivals.
Haven’t we seen this movie before? Companies drool over the success of Apple’s iTunes. Companies announce iTunes alternatives. Alternatives gather dust, eventually vanishing from the consumer consciousness. Now come PlayBook tablet maker Research in Motion and Microsoft both hoping to launch new services that rewrite the way most of these tech stories end.
For its part, RIM wants to include the UK-based 7digital music store on its as-yet-to-be-released PlayBook tablet, while the software giant reportedly plans a music and video service codenamed “Ventura” to replace its beleaguered Zune.
TiVo’s not doing so well these days. A gadget I once considered it nearly impossible to live without has since been buffeted by streaming set-top box competitors like the Apple TV and Roku Box, even as more and more HDTV manufacturers bake DVR functionality right into their sets. Last year, TiVo actually lost $84.5 million while simultaneously running up a deficit of nearly $800 million, so needless to say, they need to pull something out of their posteriors quick if they want to stay in business.
It looks like that “something” might well be repositioning the TiVo box as a streaming device that will pump its recorded content straight to your iPad. TiVo is asking customers how they feel about the option to “stream live TV, DVR recordings and TV shows from a cable company’s On Demand library to one’s iPad” from both the comfort of their home and while they were out on the road.
That sounds like a pretty killer feature to me, especially given the feature paucity of the current TiVo remote app. Unfortunately, I don’t know if TiVo can pull it off: TiVo announced that HulU Plus would come to its DVRs “soon” way back in September of last year, and that functionality still hasn’t arrived. TiVo needs to be sprier if they want to stay relevant.
The University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy has launched an 18 month trial evaluating the value of Apple’s iPad in professional graduate education. The entire school – students, faculty and staff – will use the iPad for tasks ranging from graduate seminars and courseware to admissions and student recruitment. The goals are both practical and forward thinking:
“With Facebook and Twitter empowering opposition movements in Iran and Tunisia, and the U.S. drawing a line in the cyber-sand in defense of Internet freedom, effective statecraft today demands mastery of new communication tools. 21st century diplomacy increasingly has a digital and high-tech edge – diplomatic training must too,” said retired Ambassador and Patterson School Director Carey Cavanaugh.
Approximately 50 Patterson School students, faculty, and staff began the iPad trial in February, and another 35 students are expected to join once the 2011 entering class is chosen.
Like a lot of people, I have mixed feelings about Craigslist. It’s like Ikea: in theory, you’d rather patronize mom-and-pop shops or get your stuff elsewhere. But somehow on a rainy Saturday afternoon: there you are.
Craigslist can be a pain to use or search – but if you’re looking for a garage sale, love connection or that elusive floor lamp with a table in it – you end up there.
Yesterday, BGR made a SNAFU and claimed that iOS 4.3 was due to be pumped down to users in just a couple of hours. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple has iOS 4.3’s actual release pegged for later today.
That’s looking increasingly likely. Earlier today, and less than a week after releasing iTunes 10.2, Apple has released iTunes 10.2.1 through the usual channels, which is solely a release paving the way for iTunes 4.3.
In fact, it appears to be mostly a small bug fix release, as Apple’s release notes state that iTunes 10.2.1 offers the ability to sync with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 4.3, as well as improved Home Sharing, letting users browse and play from their iTunes libraries with Home Sharing on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 4.3. That’s the same as iTunes 10.2.
No other features or bug fixes are mentioned in the release notes, but you can bet that if Apple didn’t feel that a new version of iTunes so shortly after the last version’s release was critical, they wouldn’t have pushed out so quickly. Expect iOS 4.3 to drop in a few hours.
Although Apple’s next-generation iPad 2 won’t be released until Mar. 11, experts are already warning rival tablet makers more than half of their devices could be left unsold. Recalling images of the Internet bubble of 2000, one analyst predicts an “increasing risk of a bubble burst” for iPad competitors during the second half of 2011.
Improvements announced in the iPad 2 “make it tougher for the first generation of competitive offerings to play catch-up, meaning actual shipments could fall well short of plan,” JP Morgan Research analyst Mark Moskowitz told investors Wednesday.
At last week’s iPad 2 launch event, Apple surprised many of us by failing to announce anything in regards to iOS 5 or the forthcoming MobileMe revamp. In retrospect, it makes sense: although comparatively modest an update, the iPad 2 event was jam packed as it is with sales figures, new software, new accessories and hardware improvements, all of which needed their presentation time. iOS 5 is going to need an entire event all to itself.
So when will Apple debut iOS 5 and MobileMe? German site Macerkopf is citing a source that says Apple plans an early April media event to introduce iOS 5 and the new revamped MobileMe.
The easiest way to tell what Apple is going to do in the future is look at what they’ve done in the past. Last year, Apple held their event debuting iOS 4 on April 8th, 2010, giving developers two or three months to get on board with changes in the operating system before the release of the iPhone 4 in late June pushed it out to end users. It would make a lot of sense if Apple did the same this year with iOS 5 as well.
We start the day with two hardware deals under the spotlight. First up is a number of Mac Mini desktop machines from the Apple Store, starting at $599 for the 2.4GHz model. Next is a deal on iPads with $120 shaved from their original price, including a 32GB Wi-Fi tablet for just $429. The spotlight wraps-up with Apple’s iLife ’11, a suite of home productivity applications, for just $30.
Along the way, we also check out new cases for your iPod and iPad, as well as a replacement front screen glass lens for your iPhone 4. As usual, details on these and many other items can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.
