Seth Weintraub

If you weren’t able to snag an iPad today, there are still some options to gettting an iPad pronto.  Ebay is your answer if you live outside the US or don’t mind spending a slight premium to get it before Apple releases the next round in mid April.  

If you are in the US, your best bet is probably still to road trip it to an Apple Store or wait until Best Buy gets a new shipment on the 11th.

Even the weather apps for iPad are looking pretty hot.  Weather Channel Max- Free

From BoyGeniusReport:

Obviously updates are coming, software clues or not.  Maybe iPhone 3,2 = AT&T and iPhone 3,3=Verizon?

Also, why is there still an iProd when it was later discovered that the iProd was the iPad?
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iPad 3G module

A lot of you (arguably smarter) people out there aren’t participating in iPad unboxing day today because you’ve ordered the 3G iPad. You are patiently waiting until later this month to get your 3G iPads and will smugly point out how much more awesome they are than the Wifi only versions.  

Little has been said so far about the 3G version’s hardware, but today iFixit posts pictures of the internals which shed some light on Apple’s parts selection:

• Infineon PMB 8878 X-Gold baseband IC.

• Skyworks SKY77340 Power Amplifier Module

• Three Triquint power amplifier / filters.

• Infineon U6952

• Numonyx 36MY1EE

  TriQuint power amplifiers: TQM616035A, TQM666032B, and TQM676031A. These are the same three chips that Apple used in the iPhone 3G nearly 2 years ago.

More images below from iFixit:

The 3G module resting in its place along the top left of the iPad

Modified 3G iPad casing and antennas:

Apple has added a page to their website profiling a list of 11 iPad apps.  Not only are there descriptions of each app (example shown below), but Apple took the time to post videos of a user interacting with the app (very similar to their Guided Tours).

The list of apps is included below:

• The Elements
• Real Racing HD
• Marvel Comics
• The Wall Street Journal
• Epicurious
• MLB’s At Bat 2010
• E*TRADE Mobile Pro
• Asphalt 5
• SCRABBLE
• F1 2010
• Labyrinth 2 HD

Here’s the Marvel Comics app profile (which we discussed yesterday):

As people all over the US wait in line to pick up their iPads, Apple is updating its site to showcase the different usage scenarios of the device. Apple’s ‘iPad in Business’ sites covers the business uses:

read more

Apple updated its site last night to reflect the enormity of the iPad launch.  The lead up to people finally being able to get their hands on one has been something to see.  Some have said the launch  “will make iPad the biggest cultural phenomenon since The Beatles”.  We aren’t quite ready to back that up but it has taken popular culture by storm like no other product in memory, including the iPhone.

iPads have shown up at the Grammys, all over late night TV, and even have been the subject of primetime television shows (below).  Experts expect Apple to sell anywhere from 3-10 million this year.

Today, hundreds of thousands of people will get their hands on one for the first time.  We’re interested to know what you think.

http://www.hulu.com/embed/NXvQj4GZkGabR1TN_BW8aQ

I believe this is the first 3G iPad we’ve seen.  He describes it as “iPad delight…wow this is better than I ever imagined!”.  Woz has been camped out at a Valley Mall with the commonfolk all night.

News today is that Apple has purchased another processor company called Intrinsity. Apple purchased PA Semi two years ago for almost a quarter of a billion dollars. Now they’ve purchased another big semiconductor player.

read more

Update: Take a pass on this one for now, our commenters and others are saying the software isn’t ready for prime time yet.

iDisplay is a $5 app/ Mac Application that will turns your iPad into a second (or third) display.  It doesn’t mention anything about being able to use the iPad as a Wacom tablet like the Mimo does, however.  Still, for $5, it is nice to have an additional display.  Oh and it also works on iPod touches and iPhones.

We can imagine that more than a few of you will want to check Time Magazine’s new iPad-format with the inaugural issue featuring an hour long chat with Steve Jobs.  It’ll cost you a 5-er.

Wonder no more, Kindle has just popped up on the App Store (free) with an update to 2.0 that supports iPad.

Funny, they mention that they didn’t get an iPad to test on. 

iFixit looks at the FCC filings for the iPad and has some interesting observations:

1. This is likely a pre-production board so suppliers could have changed.  Notably, Apple is known to source Flash from multiple vendors including Samsung and Toshiba.  Toshiba shows up in this particular model.

2. More glue than usual is holding down chips.  This indicates that it is more rugged than a normal laptop would be.  Much more so.

3.  The battery isn’t soldiered onto the motherboard.  That means replacing the battery isn’t rocket science, though Apple still requires a full iPad replacement to replace the battery.

4. This motherboard was made by AT&S. 

5. To save space, Apple put the Wifi and Bluetooth boards on the cable that connects the 30pin interface with the motherboard.  This will also make for easy updating of that part.  No GPS parts are on this cable

6. The Bluetooth/Wifi board that Apple used on the iPad is the same BCM4329 chip that Apple used in the 3rd Gen Touch. The product code X17B ES2.0-A4, APN 339S0107,USI 20091207 is engraved on the cover.

7.  The display looks to be an LG Phillips LP497X82. 

8. The battery is a huge 24.8 (Apple advertises 25) watt-hour battery.  It is closer to a MacBook Air (40WH) than it is to an iPod Touch (4WH).   The battery is actually two separate 3.75V lithium polymer cells that run in parallel.

9. The USB power supply had to be enhanced specifically for the iPad. It’s a 10W unit manufactured by Foxlink Technology, Ltd., part #A1357 W010A051.

10 Like on the new iMacs, the iPad uses the Apple logo as a window for the Wifi antenna.  Otherwise the back is a solid piece of aluminum.  The other antenna is on the bottom left corner under the glass bezel

11. The manual is here (PDF)

For all of you Gmail users out there, Google just announced that they are optimizing their web-based mail service for the iPad.  Hoping over to mail.google.com on your iPad will show you the new interface.  It looks very similar to Apple’s native ‘Mail’ iPad app with two panels (one for your inbox and one for the selected message).  Most importantly for diehard-Gmail users, it gives the user ALL Gmail features, including ‘Archiving’ and ‘Starring’.

In our opinion, this thing looks pretty darn good for an “experimental user interface,” as Google refers to it.  Check out a screenshot below:

Also of note, Google says they’re working on optimizing the ‘Google Mobile’ app for the iPad.  We’ll let you know when they show off that interface…

Truphone is the first VoIP application to be accepted into the iPad App Store (though you can probably use any of the iPhone VoIP Apps

Did he get to keep the one from the Grammys?

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:268823

Yeah, Comedy Central isn’t on the “iPad ready”, non-Flash list.  Here’s a lesser quality Youtube version for International/iPhone users.

The iBookstore is now live on the App Store (free) and comes with Winnie the Pooh and the ability to sample of any book in the store before buying.  US-only and iPad-only for now, global editions are expected in the near future.  

It isn’t certain if Apple will build versions of the iBookstore for Mac and iPhone/iPod touch like Amazon has built with the Kindle but it would certainly be welcome.

You can also drag free ePub books manually into iTunes as demoed here.

The times, they are a changin’.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKynwgUOZJo&w=700&h=545]

via boingboing

Hot on the heels of the release of the Netflix iPad app, ABC’s ‘ABC Player’ has appeared in the App Store (iTunes download link).  As with the Netflix app though, it doesn’t look like iPhone/iPod touch users will be seeing this functionality anytime soon.

From the looks of it, with CBS and ABC now on-board, it would appear that a Hulu app might not be needed if this pattern continues throughout the networks.  Then again, that’s a BIG “if”.

Check out some screenshots below…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEU0EmiZcAk&w=700&h=400]

As we start filling up our still-in-the-mail iPads, we’re finding some pretty interesting apps in the store.  Here is a good-looking drawing application for the iPad called Drawing Pad.  I really like the sliding interface on the right. It’s $2.  

If you want Free, Erica Sadun has Draw, which is much more basic.  There are bunches of others as well.