iPad (2021)

Although there are a few unofficial apps in the App Store that allow you to access content from the Khan Academy, the online education portal just launched an official iPad app. Available free in the App Store now, the app provides access to the organization’s 2,700-and up educational videos. The videos cover a range of subjects from K-12 math and science to history and finance. The biggest difference between the new official app and those from third-party devs is that you can now log in to your Khan Academy account; get credit for watching videos, and track goals and achievements from within the app. The app also provides fully subtitled videos with the ability to browse by subtitle, an enhanced video scrubber, and lets you download videos and playlists for offline viewing.

Spend an afternoon brushing up on Statistics. Discover how the Krebs cycle works. Learn about the fundamentals of Computer Science. Prepare for that upcoming SAT. Or, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, learn how fire stick farming changed the landscape of Australia.

The app does not currently include actual exercises offered through KhanAcademy.org to go with the videos, but the service promises they are “coming soon.” According to FastCompany, there is also a feature to sync progress between devices. You can grab the free Khan Academy app here.
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Ship times for Apple’s new iPad slipped again this evening to two to three weeks in the United States, which was previously March 19 across the board. Many European Stores have been at two to three weeks for a few days now.

Meanwhile, Apple told USA Today:

“Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts and the quantity available for pre-order has been purchased,” Apple said in a statement. “Customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date.”

Remember, those “charts” are the iPad 2 charts, and that thing was already a big success. Apple sells a new iPad once a year and keeps its price controls consistent. Many consumers (present company included), who know the same model iPad will cost the exact same as it costs now in another 360 days, always buy Apple products right when they are released. That is bound to cause a bit of a spike.

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We are all familiar with the intricacies of the Best Buy inventory system’s loose lips. Sure, sometimes it is just employees playing pranks, but other times it reveals honest to goodness new stuff.

On that note, Sprint 4G (“new”) iPads have appeared in this system, and they were screen-grabbed for all to see. This one makes some sense for a few reasons:

1. Sprint and Apple are now partners with the iPhone 4S, so the relationship is already in place.

2. Sprint is building a LTE network that will be compatible with the iPad, but it has not released even one device on that network yet, including the LTE Galaxy Nexus that it already announced. Apple likes to release on finished products.

3. Apple would not pre-announce something months away when people could buy something now on AT&T or Verizon (or in a few days).

4. We heard about Sprint testing iPads.

If you are a die-hard Sprint customer, you might have an iPad option in the near future.

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Yesterday, we told you the iPad 2 was discounted by $100, as announced by Apple during the new iPad unveiling, through a number of retailers including BestBuy and RadioShack. According to one tipster, Apple retail stores are also offering the discounted iPad 2. However, in the case of the West Farms Apple Store in Connecticut, Apple discounted at least one Wi-Fi + 3G 32GB iPad 2 (White, AT&T) by $200. As you can see from the receipt above, store employees mistakenly added an extra $100 discount to the already discounted iPad 2.

The 32GB iPad 2 presumably dropped from $729 to $629 following Apple’s announcement, but it sold for $529 (the new price of the entry level 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad 2) to at least one surprised customer. It was likely a mistake on Apple’s part due to an employee not noticing the discount had already been applied.

However, is it possible Apple is offering a special promotion on Wi-Fi + 3G iPad 2 models (other than the 16GB model) leading up to the new iPad launch on March 16? Apple never mentioned the 32 or 64GB iPad 2 during its event.

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From 9to5Toys.com:

Today only, Amazon offers the Kensington KeyFolio Pro  Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard for $39.99 with free shipping.  That’s 60% off of list and the lowest price we could find for this 4-star rated keyboard for iPad 2. It offers both landscape and portrait use.

This will likely also work with Apple’s new 3rd Generation iPad as well (though Bluetooth 4.0 Keyboards could start showing up soon)

We haven’t tested this model but we’re fans of the similar Zagg Keyfolio keyboard case, although it is over double the price. 
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So about two weeks ago we got a tip from a reliable source that Apple was going to call the iPhone 5 (or whatever)- the new “iPhone”.

That seemed a little nuts at the time but what a difference a Keynote makes. As Christian explained, Apple chopped the suffix off if the iPad as part of a branding makeover that will likely expand.  Just like iMac is not called iMac 1,2,3 it looks like Apple won’t be doing the numbering on iOS devices (though it never did with the iPod touch).

So that tip –That the next iPhone is simply the new “iPhone” – seems a lot more plausible now.

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Get yours via Software Update or here.  Included is the ability to play 1080P iTunes and improvements for iTunes Match.

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Apple said today at the new iPad unveiling that the device runs iOS 5.1, which is an unreleased version of its mobile operating system featuring Siri in Japanese, several camera app tweaks, and other little nice-to-haves. Interesting, this update also “addresses bugs affecting battery life.” Other features include new podcast controls for playback speed on iPad, the redesigned camera app on iPads, the always-visible camera shortcut on the lock screen, updated AT&T network indicator, Genius Mixes and Genius playlist for iTunes Match subscribers and more. We are guessing iCloud users will appreciate that they can finally remove photos from their Photo Stream directly on the device without having to go to iCloud.com on their computer.

Depending on your location, the update might not have hit iTunes, but you can always download the right firmware for your device using direct links here. Of course, you can also bring your device up to date over-the-air by hitting Software Update under the General section of the Settings app.

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In what many might call a long overdue move, Apple finally ported the photo management application iPhoto to iPad. The release of the software completes a trio of the most important iLife apps that are now available on the iPad: iMovie, GarageBand, and now iPhoto. The app supports images up to 19-megapixels. It also sports many familiar and popular features, including the auto-enhance tool, social sharing through Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, email, and more.

The iPhoto app is aimed at people who “want to do more with your photos.” One aspect immediately becomes clear: iPhoto for iPad is gestures-heavy (per an extensive live demo Apple’s Chief Architect for Photo and Video Randy Ubillos gave on stage).

You can use the new bezel gesture —a first for an Apple-made iPad app— to swipe from the left side of the screen to look at other images in the album. From there, just tap on an image to bring the editing interface up. When you want to bring in the thumbnail view, just swipe from the side again.

Another cool feature: Double-tapping a single image tells iPhoto to scan your entire library and compare all the images to find the ones that look similar. You can also beam photos between devices over-the-air, tap a specific area to adjust it, touch, and drag to brighten or tweak saturation, and more.

However, when it comes down to heavy image editing, the iPhoto app does not disappoint. For example, brush palettes include tools such as red-eye, saturation, and lighten. Other notables include sharpen, soften, darken, and a general repair tool. Meanwhile, the effects gallery includes black and white, vignette, tilt-shift, watercolor, and more.

More information is available below.

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Apple just finished the new iPad presentation at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Now we have full tech specs, and the new Retina Display is its defining feature, but what about the little things? Per pre-event rumors and whispers, the new iPad is a tad heavier and thicker than its predecessor is.

The new iPad is 9.4mm thin and weighs 1.4lbs. As for the iPad 2, it is 8.8mm deep and weighs 1.33lbs (Wi-Fi model). This makes the new iPad 0.6mm thicker and 0.07lbs heavier. However, we somehow doubt anyone other than the most eagle-eyed fans will notice the difference.

As for its battery, the new iPad maintains the same 10-hour battery life as both the original iPad and iPad 2. Steve Jobs highlighted battery performance at the iPad 2 unveiling by underscoring how iPad 2 features the same “legendary” battery as the original model. “We don’t want to give that up,” he said, “This has been tried and tested by many reviewers.”

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Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

From the beginning of today’s iPad launch event at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple executives referred to the new iPad simply as “the new iPad” slide after slide. No “iPad 3” moniker or “iPad HD,” as the bloggers called it. So, what fancy new name did Apple come up with this time?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g88ufDHEYpY]

The truth is but a click away.

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Apple just announced at a media event occurring in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts that an updated Apple TV set-top box is capable of 1080p video output. Of course, 9to5Mac was the first to call that one. What is better: iCloud now streams movies in 1080p—an upgrade from the previous and often criticized 720p video resolution. Even more importantly, you can now access purchased movies in iCloud any time you want, just like with music and television shows.

Also updated is the Apple TV’s user interface. It is now more streamlined and taking advantage of the full 1080p video resolution. The new interface takes clues from iOS with its shiny new icons and the beautiful Cover Flow view. The new Apple TV has the same low price of just $99 and is available for pre-order today with shipments beginning March 16. In addition to the new Apple TV, Apple has tweaked its pricing matrix for movies and television shows on iTunes to reflect 1080p content. More on that below.

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Apple is having a media event underway at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco to unveil its third-generation iPad tablet. The company’s CEO Tim Cook just took the stage to share news about the new iPad. The executive noted that Apple has three post-PC products: The iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad.

“Now any company would be thrilled to have just one of these devices,” he said. “At Apple we’re fortunate to have all three.”

In total, 172 million post-PC devices were sold last year, accounting for 76 percent of Apple’s revenue. He remarked:

We have our feet firmly planted in the post PC future.

Apple now has 362 retail stores that greeted 110 million visitors just during the holiday quarter of last year alone. The company sold a whopping 62 million iOS devices last quarter and 315 million in total—the same numbers Apple shared while announcing the winner of the 25 billionth App Store download.

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Liquidmetal Technologies just announced it has begun shipment of commercial parts to unnamed customers around the world. The announcement of the Delaware-headquartered company is conveniently timed just two hours before Apple unveils its third-generation iPad at a media even in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

The press release reads:

Liquidmetal Technologies today announced that its manufacturing operations are currently in the midst of shipping commercial parts to several of its customers world-wide. Parts delivery began this past December with continuing shipments scheduled for the months ahead.

CEO Tom Steipp noted that customers could use his company’s amorphous alloy technology to deliver “stronger, lighter, and more corrosion resistant parts.” Although no customer has been named, Apple is known to have obtained exclusive worldwide rights to use Liquidmetal’s patented metallic glass substance in consumer electronic products.

Specifically, Liquidmetal Technologies granted all of its intellectual property to Apple in 2010. There has been some speculation that the iPhone maker is already using the alloy in batteries and the SIM removal tool, but no compelling evidence has been produced to support those claims. With that in mind, the Cupertino, Calif.-headquartered consumer electronics giant has yet to make a jump from aluminum to metallic glass in its gadgets.

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We’ve gotten a few more tidbits about tomorrow’s Apple TV announcement (Oh, there will be a new iPad too!).  The Apple TV J33 model, MD199LL/A – J33 BEST -USA, which we’ve covered before will come in at the same $99 price point (and similar prices globally).  We know from previous reports that it will have updated hardware internally including Bluetooth 4.0 Broadcom chip as well as a higher powered processor capable of 1080P video. 

It will likely look the same as the current Apple TV with similar ports otherwise, though that hasn’t been confirmed.

Also, the new mystery B82 accessory part just got a price as well: $39.  We’re still not sure what exactly it is (Dock, A/V cable – currently $39, remote – currently $19, etc.).  We’re not expecting anything too spectacular however under $40.

Finally, MacRumors confirms tips that we’ve been hearing today.

Apple appears to be making a similar transition for the iPad with tomorrow’s introduction of the iPad 3, rolling out a $99 AppleCare+ for iPad warranty that would replace the current $79 standard AppleCare package.

AppleCare +, which also covers accidental damage with a $49 deductible, for iPad has shown up on a number of occasions in EasyPay as a $99 option leading our tipsters to believe that it will debut tomorrow.

We’ll be covering all the action tomorrow live, so make sure you stop back.

As always, thanks Mr. X!
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We’ve been told by an Apple Store source who has been reliable in the past that preparations are being made for a big Apple Store event which will culminate on Friday, March 16th.  Naturally, this points to an iPad 3 launch on the Friday just nine days after tomorrow’s announcement.  We’ve previously noted that an Apple Store in London at the world famous Harrod’s will open on that date as well as a new Store in Houston, Texas.

Speaking of Texas, Apple will NOT be putting up a temporary store at SXSW in Austin this year according to the The Austin American-Statesman.  Last year, Apple built a temporary Store at the event that coincided with the launch of the iPad 2.

Last year, Apple’s then-CEO, Steve Jobs, announced the release of the iPad 2 on March 2. The pop-up store opened at the start of the SXSW Interactive Festival on March 11, 2011. The store, at the Scarbroughs building on Congress Avenue and Sixth Street, sold the tablet, as well as accessories, during the festival.

The show runs from March 9-13 this year.

Yesterday, two simultaneous reports came out stating the name of Apple’s new product would be the ‘iPad HD’ and recently more and (iM)ore evidence points to an LTE version being announced. Today, Verizon began teasing a “Something is Coming” campaign.

Interestingly, we were told that there would be a subsequent launch event a week later but he had no further information on the the subject matter.  This could be a separate Apple product (AppleTV?) or perhaps additional International launches of the iPad.

We’ll have live coverage of tomorrow’s event as it unfolds.
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Backing up rumors that Apple’s next-generation iPad—set to be unveiled tomorrow, March 7—would be LTE-capable, Reuters reports “a source familiar with the product” confirmed it “will be capable of operating on a high-speed 4G LTE” network:

The newest iPad will be capable of operating on a high-speed 4G “LTE,” or Long-Term Evolution network, according to a source familiar with the product. At speeds roughly 10 times faster than current 3G technology, that may go a long way toward banishing the sometimes shaky video quality of older devices.

Reuters said Apple hopes customers will be more inclined to “pay extra” for a LTE iPad due to high-quality video. Adding to the reports, iMore claims the same source that called the March 7 unveiling date also informed them the “iPad 3” will include “4G LTE networking.” Both reports support The Wall Street Journal’s sources who said in February that an LTE-equipped next-generation iPad would land on Verizon and AT&T.
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It is interesting how little Verizon has to provide, yet the splash page they put up today still screams “iPad!”.

Notably, the graphic image file name is:766x385_HP_pre_NO_optin.jpg but somehow we don’t think Verizon’s big surprise is the recently discontinued HP Pre.

Update: Now AT&T has their version up:

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According to both CNET and VentureBeat, Apple’s new iPad won’t be officially called “iPad 3,” but rather “iPad HD.” The “HD” suffix is a nod to the new iPad biggest upgrade: the high-definition Retina Display. The Verge reported last year that the new iPad would be called the “iPad HD,” so it’s worth taking a look at their surrounding iPad HD rumors from last year.

We’re not entirely buying the new name.

The Verge’s report called for some new professional software for the iPad HD, and also said the device would be marketed as a new high-end iPad, and the iPad 2 would continue to sell. However, our sources have been saying that most iPad 2 models will be discontinued, and the new iPad  will keep the iPad 2 price points. The new iPad will also include a faster chip and improved cameras, and Apple’s media event is this Wednesday.

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A new national study indicates the iPad nearly quadrupled among the small business market in 2011.

The Business Journal is a Charlotte N.C.-based solutions platform for companies targeting business resolution makers. Its recent study, which is fully available on March 31, highlights Apple’s iOS tablet as “the fastest growing technology among the SMB market” due to usage growing from 9 percent in 2010 to 34 percent in 2011.

More information is available below.

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iPad 3 price matrix will be the same as iPad 2, above

One of the remaining mysteries ahead of the iPad 3 launch next week are the prices and configurations.  If you don’t like surprises we have good news.

There was a rumor last week that gained traction which indicated that the US prices would increase by $70-$80.  That doesn’t appear to be the case.

We’ve gotten word that iPad pricing is going to be the same across the board as the current iPad 2 models which should be no big surprise given Apple’s history – they rarely raise prices.  Even better, some countries with currencies doing better than the US dollar should expect to see marginal drops in prices.

While we’re squashing, the configurations appear to be the same as current 16/32/64GB.  One of the strange succession of posts from Digitimes this week said that Apple would move to 8GB/16GB/32GB.  That appears even less likely than before, if that is even possible.

Update: This has no bearing on LTE one way or another

As always, thanks to Mr. X!

iPad Model numbers are as follows:
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