iPad (2021)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yXdD-2wJUac]

There were leaks last month showing what might have been our first look at the Spotify iPad app, but today the company officially launched its long-awaited app with a blog post and the video above. The free app has already landed in the App Store as a universal download (an update for users of the iPhone app), and the service offers a 48-hour free trial for non-Premium subscribers with the ability to increase it to 30 days.

Our iPad app looks great. We’ve included Retina graphics and high-definition album art to make browsing a pleasure. Enjoying all the world’s music instantly on your iPad has never been easier. And with the brand new full-screen view and AirPlay integration, Spotify and your iPad are perfect for each other, both as your pumped-up living room stereo and your lean, green music machine when you’re on the move.

Compared to Spotify’s iPhone experience, the iPad app has been completely redesigned with a layered UI more familiar to Facebook iPad app users and packs most of the service’s features apart from the recently launched Web apps. It also includes a new full-screen mode with Retina graphics to take advantage of the device’s display and AirPlay support. Missing is “Collection” view and few other features only accessible through the online service.

The full set of features, as described by Spotify community manager Andres Sehr, is below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

There has always been a strong connection between Apple and the Walt Disney Company. Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs served on the board of directors for Disney and was the head of Pixar, which Disney purchased to create some of the most memorable animated films ever. Jobs also used his knowledge from when he created the most profitable retail chain in the world to help Disney rejuvenate its stale retail experience. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger also now sits on Apple’s board.

Disney and Apple are set to grow even closer as Disney park employees are given iPads to handle guest relations.

[tweet https://twitter.com/#!/DisneyProjects/status/197114633402843136]

The iPad will be the centerpiece for Disney’s revolutionary next-generation “FastPass” system. The current system allows Disney park goers to receive passes, return to popular attractions at a future time, and then bypass the lengthy lines. Today, Disney World employees began training on a new system that will utilize RFID technology and the iPad to take the park goer experience to the next level.

[tweet https://twitter.com/#!/DisneyProjects/status/197124536334954497]

[tweet https://twitter.com/#!/DisneyProjects/status/197121231470870529]

Over the next couple of weeks, guests selected —in advance to their trip— will help Disney test this new process. The guest will book popular rides and attractions for specific times in the future—even before they leave for Florida. According to @DisneyProjects, when guests arrive at the ride for their reserved time, they will then wand their RFID band by a sensor, which will subsequently send their reservation information to a nearby Cast Member’s (Disney Employee) iPad.

This pilot program will run for the next couple of weeks, which is enough time for Disney to gauge its effectiveness. There is no current timetable for a full rollout. However, you can be sure it is coming, because Disney went through the effort of installing RFID zones at several key attractions. Disney has used the iPad in revolutionary ways before, like when it introduced “AppMATes.” This is just another connection between the two great American companies.

Expand
Expanding
Close

An admittedly biased source, Techbargains conducted a survey of mothers on their upcoming special day presents prospects. According to the survey, 91 percent picked an iPad over flowers.

While the iPad is a bit pricier than your garden-variety bouquet, you can save $100 and get her an iPad 2 (let’s face it, mom’s eyes are no longer going to need the Retina pixels – j/k!).

Speaking of bargains, moms were not quite as interested in the $199 Kindle Fire (18 percent), as they preferred the iPad (58 percent) when the devices were put head-to-head.

See the whole survey below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Pedro Franceschi’s Quasar jailbreak adds window app management to the iPad, which allows a user to operate and view multiple apps by entering and exiting full screen, resizing, changing orientation, and rearranging them simultaneously.

The above video demonstrates the tweak, and it should surely entice those whom are sick of double-tapping the iPad’s home button to switch between a dozen open apps. It also looks enticing for iPhone-optimized apps on the iPad that lack a tablet counterpart. However, it may seem useless for a slew of apps that require full screen usage.

The jailbreak is available for, well, jailbroken iPads only (obviously excluding iOS 5.1). The Cydia Store has it for $9.99.

Any chance Apple does something like this for iOS 6?

Screenshots are below.

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ldq2tNLRDwA]

Samsung just officially denied any involvement with the “Wake Up” protest held outside of an Australian Apple Store earlier this week.

According to SlashGear, the company stepped forth today and rebuffed any ties to the affair: ”Samsung Electronics Australia has nothing to do with the ‘Wake-Up Campaign’.”

For currently unknown reasons, a puzzling demonstration with anti-Apple cues occurred outside an Apple Store in Sydney April 22. A black bus boasted the phrase “WAKE UP” and a slew of paid picketers with coordinating signs paraded along George Street while chanting, “Wake up!”

The staged fuss accompanied a series of billboards posted around the city, as well as “WAKE UP” written on the bottom of Bondi Ice Bergs’ pool, and a baffling website at wake-up-australia.com.au that features a focal point countdown. The URL is registered to ad agency New Dialogue, which underwent rebranding and now goes by the name “Tongue.”  

Expand
Expanding
Close

In its Q1 2012 report of device activations by platform, multi-platform software company Good Technology analyzed thousands of activated smartphones through its network of enterprise customers. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook noted this week during Apple’s Q2 earnings call that the iPad was now being deployed or tested by 94 percent of the Fortune 500s and 75 percent of the Global 500. Good Technology’s numbers show the iPad and iPhone together continue to dominate Android in the enterprise market with roughly 73.9-percent of all smartphone activations and 97.3-percent of tablet activations during Q1. Apple’s iOS devices together took 80 percent of total activations, which is up 10 percent from last year.

Among iOS, iPhone 4S is the clear leader with 37 percent, representing four times the amount of activations of any other device. In the graphic of the Top 10 Devices above, we see iOS take up six of the top 10 spots with iPhone 4S and iPad 2 accounting for the majority of activations during the quarter. Good’s numbers, however, do not include RIM or Windows…

Expand
Expanding
Close

We told you earlier this month about the “NoteBook Case” for iPad—a bluetooth keyboard case that does a good job of turning an iPad into a MacBook-looking netbook. That case is now available in the United States and Europe through CPeel, but today we look at another impressive keyboard case currently on Kickstarter called “Brydge.”

Like the NoteBook Case, the Brydge iPad case gets much of its design cues from the MacBook Pro line. The differences include aerospace-grade aluminium, optional built-in speakers, and a patent-pending “click-in” hinge providing close to 180 degrees of positioning freedom. The hinge is made of “metal alloys and magnets, with a thermoplastic elastomer shell.” By all accounts, at first glance, this appears to be one of the better made keyboard cases we have come across.

The Kickstarter project is currently at just $2,855 in pledges from 16 backers, but it still has 39 days to reach its $90,000 funding goal. A $150 donation will get you the model without speakers, while a $180 donation earns a model with speakers. If the project reaches its funding goal, the company plans to ship the first units by October. A full gallery of close-ups and the different models is after the break.

Expand
Expanding
Close

With the announcement of the 2012 Worldwide Developer Conference today, Apple also opened its Apple Design Awards nomination page for iOS and Mac developers. Apple announced last year that the annual awards would now only apply to Mac and iOS apps residing in the App Store, which appears to be the case this year as well.

Through the website set up for WWDC, developers can sign up and nominate apps for inclusion in the awards. To be considered, the app must be on the App Store or Mac App Store by May 1. Note: Apps that are not nominated can still win an Apple Design Award if they catch Apple’s eye.

Last year’s winners included iPhone apps Infinity Blade, Cut the Rope, and Golfscape GPS Rangefinder, and iPad apps djay for iPad, Osmos, and Our Choice. For Mac developers, apps including Capo, Pixelmator, and Anomaly Warzone Earth took home last year’s awards. At WWDC 2011, Apple also handed out awards to student developers, which will likely happen again—especially given Apple’s new scholarship program for the 2012 event.

Winners will get an Apple Design Award trophy and usually some Apple gear or prizes that have not been announced. Apple broke down the criteria for apps considered for the awards:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple just announced during its Q2 2012 earnings call that it currently has $110 billion in cash reserves, which is up from $81.5 billion in September 2011. Apple was also up in every other segment with $18.4 billion in short-term marketable securities (up from $16.1 billion) and long-term marketable securities at $81.6 billion, which is up from $55.6 billion in the previous six-month period ending September 2011.

Other numbers that Apple reported today for the quarter:

iTunes and App Store:

-$1.9 billion in iTunes revenue (a 35 percent YOY increase)

-600,000 apps (200,000 iPad specific apps)

iOS devices:

-365 million iOS device sales

-$22.7 billion in revenue from iPhone and accessories

-6.6 billion in revenue from iPad and accessories.

-7.7 million iPod sales

-94 percent of Fortune 500 and 75 percent of global 500 testing or deploying iPad

iCloud:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple’s iPad trademark dispute with cash-strapped display company Proview has continued to drag on despite the Chinese company claiming it was in negotiations with Apple as recent as February. Today, several reports suggested Apple and Proview are now involved in court-moderated mediation with senior officials who are boasting Apple could lose the right to the iPad trademark in China. The mediation would be the first confirmation of settlement talks between the two companies. The Associated Press reports:

Apple Inc. risks losing the right to use the iPad trademark in China, a senior official suggested Tuesday, as a Chinese court was seeking to mediate a settlement between the technology giant and a local company challenging its use of the iPad name… Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of the National Copyright Administration, told reporters in Beijing that the government regards Shenzhen Proview Technology as the rightful owner of the trademark for the popular tablet computers

If Apple and Proview are unable to come to a settlement in the talks, Guangdong High Court in southern China will rule over the case in the months to come. According to Deputy Director of China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce Fu Shuangjian (via The Wall Street Journal), Proview is still the legitimate owner of the iPad trademark in the country:

“Currently, Proview Shenzhen is still the legitimate registered owner of the IPAD trademark,” Mr. Fu said. But he indicated that officials are waiting for the Guangdong court’s final judgment, after which the industry and commerce sector “will deal with the case according to law.”

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mPWWDOjtO9s#!]

Using a development environment/ app called Codea (formerly Codify), Two Lives Left created a free iPad game called Cargo-Bot. It is now available in the App Store.

Cargo-Bot is a puzzle game where you teach a robot how to move crates. Sounds simple, right? It features 36 fiendishly clever puzzles, haunting music and stunning retina graphics. You can even record your solutions and share them on YouTube to show your friends.

The app itself looks good but where it gets interesting is that it was made entirely on an iPad using Codea ($9.99 App Store). Codea uses the Lua programming language and has called the GarageBand of iPad coding for its visual ease of use. Until now, apps built using Codea were only able to play inside the app.  Using a preview of a new Open Source exporter tool, Codea exported the Cargo-bot app and submitted it to the App Store where it was recently approved.

It’s the first game of its kind, prototyped, programmed and polished on iPad. Cargo-Bot was created by Rui Viana, a Codea user who developed his initial prototype and shared it with the Codea community. Two Lives Left reached out to Rui in order to turn his prototype into a published App Store game. They also enlisted the aid of Fred Bogg, a composer who developed a music library for Codea, to create the music for Cargo-Bot.

Coinciding with the release of Cargo-Bot, Two Lives Left is releasing the Codea Runtime Library source code under the Apache License Version 2.0. Registered Apple iOS Developers will be able to export their Codea projects into the Codea Runtime Library in order to release them as standalone apps, just like Cargo-Bot.

How long until iPad game creation is mainstream? Xcode for iPad certainly couldn’t be too far off?

Press release follows:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Following the launch of Microsoft’s SkyDrive iPhone app, the company gave a preview of its refreshed SkyDrive service for Windows 8 and OS X. Today Microsoft has launched a new app for both Windows and Mac that brings Dropbox-like file management to the service. Of course SkyDrive is seen by many as a direct competitor to iCloud and other alternative cloud services. The tool essentially allows you to manage content stored in your SkyDrive by accessing files from your desktop, dragging and dropping them to the cloud, and organizing files in familiar folders.

The release comes following rumors that Google is prepping a Google Drive Mac app for its upcoming cloud service.

SkyDrive for Mac is the easiest way to access your SkyDrive from your Mac. When you install SkyDrive, a SkyDrive folder is created on your computer. Everything you put in this folder is automatically kept in sync between your computers (Mac or PC) and SkyDrive.com, so you can get to your latest files from virtually anywhere… Almost 70% of Mac users also regularly use a Windows PC. Since we want every customer to be able to rely on SkyDrive to access files anywhere, it’s important for SkyDrive be wherever they are. 

Microsoft has also updated its iOS SkyDrive app today bringing support for iPad, Retina displays, the ability to open SkyDrive files in third-party iOS apps, and much more. The new application is available for download on your Mac here, and a full description of features from Microsoft is below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

The one-off, handmade case above featuring the original Apple Newton logo engraved in thick premium leather was commissioned by Reddit user 44oz.  The logo featuring Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree with the text “Apple Computer Co” is said to have been designed by Apple’s third cofounder Ronald Wayne. Handmade by Attila Acs in Australia, the one-of-a-kind case sports black kangaroo leather bands to hold the iPad in place and red suede lining. The whole process of carving the design into the leather is documented on Snapguide, and you can learn more on the creator’s website at Highonglue.com.

This is a handmade iPad cover made from 3.5mm thick premium leather, suede lining, kangaroo leather spine and parts.

Expand
Expanding
Close