May 31

Apple sells over 2 million iPads so far

By Brian News 1 Comment »


Apple has just announced on their site that they have sold over 2 million (!) iPads in less than two months since they launched the “magical” device on April 3rd. It’s most certain that Apple enjoyed a nice bump in sales once the iPad went international and shipped to 9 more countries starting last week.

More iPad tablet devices in the hands of consumers is good for everyone. Apps for the iPad are still far more sparse than the abundance available for the iPhone — we refuse to fully accept the 2x feature on the iPad as a viable solution for running iPhone apps — but with so many iPads out there, it’s a sure bet that more iPad apps will make their way to the App Store in the coming days and weeks.

If you were one of the iPad buyers that helped Apple pass the 2 million mark over the last few days, let us know what you think of the iPad. Is it as “magical” to you as Jobs says it is?

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May 30

Monkeying around with my iPad (at the zoo)

By Brian News 11 Comments »


I decided to take my iPad to the zoo today to test its 3G capabilities and to see if I could successfully blog from the zoo. I’m very certain I would never take my laptop to the zoo. My iPad travels along comfortably in my satchel (man-purse), from monkey cages to rhinos and elephants. Lions and tigers and bears (and iPads), oh my! I’m taking a break at a picnic table, enjoying an ice cream cone, and blogging — all on a beautiful spring day at the zoo. It doesn’t get much better than this. The iPad makes it easy to monkey around no matter where you go.

So where are you taking YOUR iPad?

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May 28

iPad goes international!

By Brian News 1 Comment »

It’s official — the iPad’s passport has been approved, stamped, and is rolling out internationally as I type this. Nine countries will now get to swipe, glide, and tap their fingertips on the expansive multitouch glass of the “magical” iPad. Beginning now (Friday), the following countries, in no particular order, will be selling the iPad:

Canada, UK, Australia, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Japan.

If you’re one of the fortunate ones to pick up an iPad internationally, let us know what you think about your new tablet. Which iPad did you get, and was it worth the wait?

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May 27

Barnes & Noble launches eReader for iPad

By Brian Apps, News 3 Comments »

Barnes & Noble had just made their ebook reader available for the iPad, so if you’re coming over from the Nook you can now download and read your library of books on your iPad. The B&N app offers some nice features — adjust the page, text, link colors and highlighting, to name a few — and the app is free in the App Store. The app offers some additional features not found with Apple’s iBooks, like viewing book jacket art, searching your library, and a cool feature called LendMe which allows you to lend a book to a friend for up to 14 days at no charge. For the fast reader, LendMe could be an excellent way to save a few bucks.

In my opinion, there are a couple downsides to using the B&N eReader. First, the page-turning lacks the animation of Apple’s iBooks. For me, this isn’t a huge deal, but if you enjoy at least the visual aspect of turning the pages of a book, you’ll be disappointed in this eReader. A future update might enhance the page-turning experience. Second, and of vastly greater importance in MY book (no pun intended) is the lack of in-app purchasing. If you want to shop for books by tapping “Add Books”, you’ll be whisked away from the app and into your browser to the B&N website. Again, this will likely be addressed in future updates.

I’ve tried out the app and it seems solid, albeit lacking some polish. I’ll likely just stick with iBooks mainly due to the ability to purchase books in-app without jumping to Safari, but for a first effort by B&N to bring their eReader to the iPad, it’s a good start.

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May 26

Apple edges out Microsoft as top tech dog

By Brian News No Comments »

With a little help from the stock market today and a lot of help from folks like you and me buying Macs, iPhones, and most recently, the iPad, Apple edged out Microsoft today to become the top tech dog — the most valuable technology company in the world. Just to give you a little play-by-play of how this happened today, today’s trading resulted in Apple shares rising 1.8 percent and Microsoft shares dropping about 1 percent, resulting in market capitalization of $227.1 billion (yep, billion with a “B”) and $226.3 billion, respectively.

Ultimately, by the end of the trading day, both stocks fell along with the rest of the market, but Apple stayed on top with a market cap of $222.1 billion and Microsoft ended with $219.2 billion. This amazing turn of events comes after Apple was on the ropes, a pulse faintly felt, merely a decade ago. Now, they lead with products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad (not to mention their gorgeous notebooks and desktops) while others play catch-up.

Well done, Apple. Let’s hope that Apple continues innovating (RIP, Palm) and that virus-peddlers continue to keep their focus on Microsoft.

[New York Times.com]

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May 26

“Wired” offers digital magazine for iPad

By Brian Announcements, News 1 Comment »

Even after all the hub-bub between Apple and Adobe and the iPad not supporting flash, Wired magazine is now available digitally for the iPad and was developed with the help of Adobe and Conde Nast. In fact, due to lack of flash compatibility, the app had to be re-written in Objective C so it could be viewed on the iPad.

According to Wired:

The tablet is our opportunity to make the Wired we always dreamed of. It has all the visual impact of paper, enhanced by interactive elements like video and animated infographics. We can offer you a history of Mars landings that lets you explore the red planet yourself. We can take you inside Trent Reznor’s recording studio and let you listen to snippets of his work in progress. And we can show you exactly how Pixar crafted each frame of its new movie, Toy Story 3.

It certainly sounds exciting to have a high-tech publication like Wired on a high-tech gizmo like the iPad. If you give the app a go, let us know about it.

[MacRumors]

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May 25

How is the iPad impacting netbook sales?

By Brian News No Comments »

According to a Retrevo Pulse study conducted recently among netbook, laptop, and iPad buyers and customers, the iPad is having a significant impact among potential netbook purchasers and has already gobbled up an impressive amount of buyers who may have been leaning toward netbooks but then jumped on the iPad instead. In fact, it’s possible that around 30% of would-be netbook purchasers held off and bought the iPad.

Even more impressive is now that the iPad 3G is available and the consumer has a choice of either Wi-Fi only or 3G along with all the memory configurations, among the potential customers surveyed who were considering either a netbook or iPad, 78% are leaning toward buying an iPad. What about you? If you haven’t bought an iPad yet, are you struggling between the choice of iPad or netbook? Or, if you’ve made the decision already, which one did you go for and why?

[retrevo]

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May 24

Simple Elegance on the iPad

By rob Apps, How To, Reviews No Comments »

Our quest for network utility apps has turned up another gem, this one simply and aptly named “SSH Terminal.”    The beauty of this little tool is in its simplicity and low overhead.  There are no bells and whistles to this app, just the bare essentials necessary to provide a robust, and at only $.99, an inexpensive client for telnet or ssh access.  There are only four configurable parameters:  Hostname (or IP), Username, Password, and Port.  If you want to telnet to a device, just change the default ssh port of 22 to the telnet port 23.

There are other telnet/SSH utilities out there, for example iSSH.  But at $9.99, iSSH is a little pricier, and it includes features I don’t necessarily need at the moment, such as a VNC client.  With the bare-bones, no frills console app, SSH Terminal, I can remotely access any device running the ssh or telnet service from a command line.

If you’ve tried other ssh or telnet clients for iPad, feel free to chime in!  We’re always looking for competing apps and alternative solutions.

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May 24

First ever eulogy created and delivered with iPad?

By Brian Editorial, News 5 Comments »

I searched the internet (Google) and found nothing about this, so this is certainly not a scientific proclamation or a definitive exclamation, but it’s very likely that I have both created and am shortly going to deliver the first-ever eulogy solely from an iPad. As part of my travel mini-series, I prepared for a funeral eulogy both last night and this morning on my iPad using Pages and both the on-screen keyboard and a small, folding portable Bluetooth keyboard I brought with me. I wrote the entire eulogy on my iPad and will use the same iPad to read the eulogy at the funeral in about an hour. Clearly the iPad, for me, has been versatile, useful, and it just plain delivers.

One of the tremendous benefits of delivering the eulogy from the iPad platform is the ability to edit on the fly. There is still another family member that I’ve yet to meet with that may wish to add a few words of their own, and since my Pages document on my iPad is electronic, it is easy to edit and add their words, fitting it nicely into the flow of the eulogy, even moments prior to delivery. The actual reading of the eulogy could not be accomplished with the clamshell design of a laptop, but the tablet design of the iPad will make it a breeze.

So, here I am, about to deliver the world’s first eulogy from an iPad. Thanks, Apple, for making even funerals easier to handle and eulogy delivery an easier task, all due in large part to the iPad.

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May 23

More traveling with my iPad: using LogMeIn

By Brian Apps, Editorial, How To No Comments »

Just a couple days ago I wrote about traveling for the first time with my iPad, which consisted of setting up my flight reservations, downloading a book on iBooks that I’ve been wanting to read, and now my iPad has been more useful along the way. I have a lot of work that I need to do during my travels, so LogMeIn has been invaluable.

I left my work PC running at the office, knowing I would need to access certain files while on the road. Using LogMeIn requires that the computer you’ll be accessing needs to be up and running. Even though I’m more than 600 miles from my office, I’ve been able to securely log-in to my work computer, check email, access and manipulate spreadsheets, and do just about anything I need to as if I were sitting at my desk in front of my PC. LogMeIn works for Macs also and renders well on the iPad, looking a little fuzzy when viewing the entire host screen at once but sharpening up well when zooming in using the iPad’s multitouch display. The app is much more enjoyable to use on the iPad vs. the iPhone because of the much larger screen on the iPad.

At $29.99, LogMeIn Ignition is a little pricey as far as iPad and iPhone apps are concerned, but for the power it gives you to remotely access your computers, it’s worth every penny. All you need is to sign up for an account online at www.logmein.com, purchase and install the app on your iPad and/or iPhone, and you’re ready to compute long-distance from the comfort and convenience of your iPad.

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