Wednesday: May 12, 2010
- HTC asks for ban on Apple products after filing patent complaint.
Engadget is taking a deeper look at just what patents are involved here between the two companies and the implications of the federal lawsuit (which HTC has filed along with their patent suit). Should be an interesting battle - or about as interesting as Nokia versus Apple.
Monday: May 10, 2010
- An interesting writeup on iPad usability from Jakob Nielsen.
This post contains most of my reasoning as to why I haven't purchased an iPad just yet. I can't seem to rationalize how the device fits into my overall usage scheme. The iPhone seems to do everything I would use an iPad for - and it does a heck of a good job at everything it already does.
Thursday: April 15, 2010
- Daily Grind: Caffeinated
Name: Vin (aka hyper-hypo)
Occupation: Webmaster / Procrastinator / Dad
How Vin feels today: Caffeinated @ 12:51:25 PM
What Vin really wants today: To remind self the next time I order a medium coffee at the local coffee shop that its quite large rather than medium. Enjoy unnecessary caffeine boost, attempt to post additional links to make up for yesterday.Music Stuck in Head: Big Bang Baby / Stone Temple Pilots
Any song that mentions Orange Crush in the lyrics is OK in my book. And by book I really mean magazine. And by magazine I really mean pamphlet. And by pamphlet I mean - whatever, the list is short.Stuff to do today:
- Go to Apple Cube over on Fifth Ave
- Remark that overall feeling and general consensus of the iPad was... underwhelming
- ...its kinda heavy for everyday use - especially as an e-reader
- ...typing on the device is not exactly a joy either
- Interface was pretty neat but if you have an iPhone you've been there
- On the other hand, that newly updated MacBook Pro is quite awesome
- ...and freakin' fast (even the base Intel i5 model screams)
- Save money for next major purchase
Monday: April 12, 2010
- Google already hard at work on an Apple iPad competitor device.
Well surprise, surprise - Google wants in on the tablet market as well. Actually, it's not much of a surprise at all but it'll be interesting to see how this all progresses in terms of the continued rivalry between Apple and Google.
Friday: April 9, 2010
- Multitasking and several other features coming to an iPhone near you.
That certainly was a whopper of an Apple presentation yesterday bringing tons of interesting features to iPhones, iPads, and iPods. I'm very curious to see how their iAds platform does once it is fully available. You can watch the entire presentation over on Apple's website.
Tuesday: April 6, 2010
- Turns out that most iPad owners already own an iPhone or another Mac. Who knew?
About 66 percent of those surveyed said that they currently own an iPhone. A whopping 99 percent of those iPhone owners say they will use their handset in conjunction with the iPad.
Monday: April 5, 2010
- The ten most surprising things about the Apple iPad according to Yahoo.
Today, though, I was finally able to put Skype on the iPad to the test: I loaded it up, logged into my (for-pay) Skype Out account, and dialed 777-FILM. The next thing I heard? 'Hello, welcome to Moviefone!
- Yes, the Apple iPad has already been jailbroken - it only took one day.
A jailbreak was virtually expected following the iPad's launch, but the rapid discovery has shown that the iPhone 3.2 firmware used on the device hasn't patched all of the security holes that were present in the 3.1.3 code.
Thursday: April 1, 2010
- Walt Mossberg's review of the Apple iPad now online.
It's qualitatively different, a whole new type of computer that, through a simple interface, can run more-sophisticated, PC-like software than a phone does, and whose large screen allows much more functionality when compared with a phone's.
Tuesday: March 30, 2010
- Apple posts several guided tour videos for the soon to be released iPad.
Want to know just whats it like to read a e-book on the new iPad? Want to know how you'll be checking your email? Apple now has eleven videos online that demo pretty much everything you need to know and they show off a great deal of the interface and overall aesthetic of the device.
Friday: March 26, 2010
- The iPad to start with 30,000 free e-books thanks to Project Gutenberg.
Always dreamed of experiencing the thrill of reading Huck Finn on a certain magical unreleased tablet-type product? This news should make you quite happy. At least there won't be a shortage of stuff to read.
Wednesday: March 17, 2010
- Google's Nexus One phone considered a flop due to lagging sales.
Turns out that the Google has only moved about 135,000 of these units. This is staggering when you take into account that Apple had already sold a million iPhones by the same time in that product's life cycle.
Monday: March 15, 2010
- This time around Apple says if your iPad battery fails, you get a brand new iPad.
Sure, it's a minor inconvenience when the battery in your Apple device won't hold a charge but in this case at least you'll be getting an entirely new device when and if it actually fails. The swap will set you back $99 bucks (plus shipping).
Wednesday: March 10, 2010
- Three reasons as to why the iPad won't see a quick price drop after it's release.
This should be pretty easy to figure out especially if you happened to be an early iPhone adopter (such as myself) from way back in 2007. One would conclude that Apple y wouldn't repeat the same mistake although it was nice quite nice to get some free Apple money.
Monday: March 8, 2010
- New iPad commercial accidentally reveals some book pricing information.
It's easy to miss just by viewing the ad but the folks over at The Unofficial Apple Blog have spotted a frame of the commercial that indeed shows off some pricing. So, want to know what you'll be paying for books on the iPad? Probably around $12-$14 bucks a pop.
Friday: March 5, 2010
- Apple's iPad will be officially available on April 3rd to those willing to camp out to get it.
Ok, so maybe there won't be as much of a demand as there was for the iPhone to warrant people camping days before the actual release but one can never tell. I'll stop by the great glass cube on Fifth that day and let you know.
Wednesday: February 24, 2010
- Support for front-facing camera found hidden within the iPad SDK code.
Along with the references to camera in the code, others have even discovered GUI elements that reference it as well. Perhaps there are still some suprises in store for the iPad or maybe this is just for future-proofing version two.
Friday: February 19, 2010
- Turns out that Steve Jobs is not a big fan of Flash. Who knew?
...a source of 'security holes.' He also referred to Flash as dying technology, likening not supporting Flash on the iPad to Apple dropping support for floppy drives, ditching legacy data ports, and replacing CCFL backlighting with LEDs.
Thursday: February 18, 2010
- Five things that will make e-readers a whole lot better in 2010.
Here are the Cliff's Notes for the lazy folks: touch capability, color, flexibility, better software and more contrast. I'd like to add the word 'iPad' in there as a sixth thing that will be a contributing factor to making these devices better as well.
Tuesday: February 16, 2010
- Yes, digital books on the iPad will be wrapped up in FairPlay DRM.
Cheer up, once you download one of the books you can always re-key it, re-typeset it and then import back to iPad. See? There's always an easy way to get around digital rights management.
Thursday: February 4, 2010
- Amazon decides to acquire flexible touchscreen company. Wonder why?
Yes, you may be seeing the end of boring black and white e-ink on your beloved Kindle at some point in the near future. I could be wrong though, maybe black and white multitouch screens will be all the rage. The possibilities!
Wednesday: February 3, 2010
- New Apple patent may bring touch sensitive bezels to future iPads.
I actually am quite addicted to using hot corners functionality on my beloved copy of Mac OS X for various tasks. This seems like it would be an absolute perfect fit for the iPad's overly thick bezel.
Friday: January 29, 2010
- Telltale might be porting all of their games over to the Mac in the near future.
This is great news for Mac users if this turns out to be true. It's a little annoying to switch over to my Windows partition just to enjoy these games. There are also rumors that we may see Telltale on the iPad as well.
- Adobe decides to chime in on the iPad's lack of Flash capability.
The lack of Flash support for the iPad - and, for that matter, for the iPhone and iPod touch as well - is Apple's doing, not Adobe's. Adobe, for its part, has been eager to get Flash onto Apple's handhelds for quite some time.
- Nintendo President not impressed with the new iPad at all.
Satoru Iwata would have liked more 'surprises' from Apple in regards to their latest product. Also, he doesn't think that 3D video gaming (a la Avatar) will ever catch on. Now go buy a Nintendo DS.
- Netflix streaming won't be coming to the iPad anytime soon says CEO.
If you want to watch Netflix via InstantWatch you are better off doing so on your large screen than your soon-to-be acquired small screen. Or you could just buy/rent movies through the iTunes Store, but who does that really?
- Ten things missing from the newly released Apple iPad.
Don't worry, I'm sure all of these issues will be resolved by the next revision of the iPad. FYI, you may be seeing more iPad stories on GeekLikeMe as I have been out of touch for the past few days and sort of missed iPad mania.