After taking over the world – in the form of an extremely popular multi-platform game, followed by toys and accessories, even baby clothes – Angry Birds will venture where no dissatisfied feathered creature has gone before: into space.

An Angry Birds plush toy, as well as two Apple iPads, will be sent to the International Space Station with two upcoming Russian space launches.

The iPads will be sent with the next unmanned resupply flight later this month. The toy doll of the red bird from the popular game will be sent with three crew members, which are due to fly to the ISS next month.

The cosmonauts will use the iPads for entertainment purposes, but the plush toy will actually have a mission – it will signal the escape from the clutches of Earth’s gravity field when it starts to float.

[via collectSPACE]

More About: angry birds, International Space Station, ipad

Facebook has quietly released a new feature in Facebook for iPhone 4.0 update that could create new opportunities for marketers. If users click or enter a URL that uses the fb://page URL scheme and have the official Facebook for iPhone/iPad app installed, the corresponding Facebook Page will be opened in that app. Before the 4.0 and later software updates, fb://page URL scheme links would load a blank screen in the apps.

For example, if you click the link of or enter the URL fb://page/7844589738 in an iOS device that has Facebook for iPhone/iPad installed, that app will launch and bring up t he official Facebook Page for InsideFacebook.com (7844589738 is the Facebook ID of the Page for Inside Facebook). Marketers could distribute URL scheme-linked text via email or mobile site, and users wouldn’t notice the strange URL, they’d just click on a link and suddenly see the Facebook app open.

This new functionality could let marketers instantly bring users to their Page where they can Like it or write on its wall, rather than forcing them to open the m.facebook.com site where they might not already be logged in. Marketers could attach this link to a QR code to promote their Page and gain Likes from iOS device users. The fb://page URL scheme could become even more important if users gain the ability to access Page tab applications from mobile devices in the future.

 

iOS URL schemes allow specific first- and third-party iOS applications to be launched with special URLs. They can also be used to immediately perform certain functions such as setting a recipient for a new text message, showing directions in Google Maps, or add a shortened URL to a tweet in Tweetie or Twitterific. However, if the user doesn’t have the corresponding app installed, neither the app or a browser version will load.

Previously, URL schemes could be used to open a specific photo album, Event, or user profile in Facebook for iPhone. With the latest major Facebook for iPhone and iPad software updates, official Pages and Places Pages can now be opened with URL schemes as well. Page use the “fb://page/[Page ID]” URL scheme while Places use “fb://place/[Place ID]“.

There may be a URL scheme suffix that allows the info or wall tab to be loaded specifically, though none of the logical suffixes I tried worked. Android devices have their own URL scheme, and some developers have found ways to open user profiles in the Facebook for Android apps, though I haven’t seen a solution for opening Pages.

Facebook for iPhone/iPad has 52.3 million daily active users and 92.7 million monthly active users according to AppData, many of which stay logged in on the app at all times. This creates a large audience that can utilize the Facebook Page URL scheme to quickly gain access to a Page from a logged in state, allowing them to Like it or leave a wall post.

iOS app developers could use the Page URL scheme to send their users out of their app and to their Page so they can gain Likes. Similarly, marketers could distribute a Page URL scheme as an “iOS only” link to gain Likes.

In the physical world, marketers could also tie the URL scheme link to their Page to a QR code and display in their brick and mortar store or distribute through print materials. Users could then scan the QR code to launch their Facebook app and Like the Page. This could become a way to speed up in-store promotions where users who show they’ve Liked a business’ Page get a discount or free gift.

Those trying to take advantage of the URL scheme functionality should be sure their audience is likely to have an iOS device with the Facebook app installed. Otherwise providing a standard browser link that’s accessible across devices and to those without the Facebook app is a safer bet, even if it means users may have to log in to Facebook again before they can Like the Page.

Facebook recently launched its mobile app platform that allows users to access canvas apps built in HTML5 from their mobile devices. Page tab applications cannot be accessed from mobile yet, judging by the fact that some Page tab app developers such as RootMusic have begun building in HTML5. Once Page tab apps are opened to mobile, Page URL scheme links could become a powerful way to drive traffic to them as well as helping Pages gain Likes.

[Thanks to Sam Cornwell for the tip]

Apple sold a lot of iPhones, iPads and Macs during the most recent quarter, yet Wall Street is very displeased. Since Apple announced its fourth quarter 2011 fiscal earnings of $6.6 billion in profit and $28.7 billion in revenue earlier Tuesday the stock has been pummeled by investors, sending it down $28 or about 6.5 percent. While Apple’s numbers were slightly below what those analysts had expected, it’s still above what Apple had forecast. So what gives? Based on the questions from analysts during the company’s investor call Tuesday, concern seems to center on the number of iPhones Apple sold during the quarter: 17.1 million versus the 20.1 million the previous quarter.

Here’s why that number concerns them and why it’s likely just a minor blip:

Apple says that this was a “record” September quarter for them. You would think that would mean record iPhone sales too. Sure, 17.1 million is a lot, but it’s still fewer than the 20.1 million iPhones Apple sold in the previous quarter, and perhaps more importantly to those keeping score on Wall Street, below the 18-21 million smartphones Samsung is believed to have sold last quarter. Samsung is Apple’s chief competitor, in many ways, and any sign of a slip is going to resonate with the investors who are closely watching Apple and its competition.
Apple, not surprisingly, said they saw this dip in iPhone sales coming. On the earnings call, CEO Tim Cook, looking on the bright side, said people were holding out for the iPhone 4S:

[It was] much less of a reduction than what we were expecting and that was a large factor in our revenue exceeding our guidance…We knew that there was great anticipation of a June or July new iPhone because that was the pace we had been on for the last several years. As we predicted, that sell-through decline did occur, but not really to the extent that we thought. So we significantly beat our guidance.

But besides the established schedule for a new iPhone, Cook, along with CFO Peter Oppenheimer also lay some of the blame at the feet of Apple rumor bloggers. ”The reduction [in sales] happened largely in the back half of the quarter as speculation hit extreme highs,” said Cook. Oppenheimer later added, “The biggest impact was the rumors, which were very pervasive, especially at the end of the quarter.” In other words, it seems that the crush of Apple rumors and speculation recorded by blogs that drive up intense and frenzied interest in the company’s products are a double-edged sword for the company.
No matter who’s to blame, are lower-than-expected iPhone sales a harbinger of Apple being off its game? Very unlikely. Some things to remember: The company sold 4 million iPhone 4S units alone in the first three days it was available last week. So there’s clearly a demand for the new iPhone. About 25 million iOS devices were updated in the first five days the iOS 5 update hit Apple’s servers, which means older model device owners are keeping their products up to date with the latest software. And really, we’re talking about the slowing of sales of a 13- to 15-month old phone. Things could be worse.

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Flash analysis: Steve JobsMillennials in the enterprise, part 1: strategies for supporting the new digital workforceConnected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes

With the popularity of the iPad, operators in a few different countries have been experimenting with subsidized tablets as a way of hooking users in. Last year Japanese operator Softbank started offering the Apple tablet for free with a contract, while in Britain many operators sell 3G iPads below the normal retail price in exchange for long-term contracts.

In France, subsidies are being targeted on a very specific market: students.

With a publicity push from the country’s Ministry for Higher Education, college kids from Paris to Perpignan are being offered a slew of deals to tempt them onto tablets. First market leader Orange started offering iPads and Samsung Galaxy Tabs for just €1 ($1.30) as part of an education package; now Bouygues Telecom, France’s third-largest mobile operator with around 10 million subscribers, is running its own version of the deal.

The Bouygues offer, which is being launched in partnership with the French government’s ministry for higher education, isn’t for those mainstream tablets yet — but instead focuses on the Archos 80 G9, an 8-inch tablet running Android’s Honeycomb OS.

The device itself is only so-so: one CNet reviewer said that while it’s not bad, users should “consider very carefully whether the relatively low price is worth the design and performance problems”. But it is now officially dirt cheap: for €19.90 each month (that’s about $27) students can buy the Archos –which usually costs $299 — for a single euro, and get 1GB of 3G data and unlimited access to the company’s network of Wi-Fi hotspots.

With similar iPad deals on offer, it seems unlikely that deals like this will help competitors like Samsung and Archos wrestle some market share away from Apple, but it may help increase the overall market for tablets, which still has plenty of room to grow. And that is particularly important for Android devices, because while it can claim 30 percent market share on paper, the reality is likely to be far lower, as Kevin pointed out this summer.

This is not to say that subsidies are a slam-dunk, however. When Orange UK started offering cut-price iPads with a 24 month contract at the end of last year, it expected massive take up: in fact, it reportedly sold less than 1,000 contracts in the first week.

But targeting the student market is smart. It’s a big group of potential buyers: in France, around 1.4 million people are enrolled in universities out of a total population of 62 million. And cash-conscious college goers are happy to amortize the costs of a device over the lifetime of a contract, rather than pay up front. And they are voracious consumers of technology: you only have to look at the prevalence of Apple products in universities to see how brand matters to them — plus, if you get them hooked and they may stick around.

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Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continuesThe rise of tablets in the enterpriseMobile Q1: All Eyes on Tablets, T-Mobile and AT&T

Check this- this baby does not understand why the touch screen on this issue of Marie Claire is so sluggish.

[via]

[Video] Strange Paper iPad Confuses Baby is a post from: The Inquisitr

Check this- this baby does not understand why the touch screen on this issue of Marie Claire is so sluggish.

[via]

[Video] Strange Paper iPad Confuses Baby is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook for iPad (click to enlarge)

Facebook for iPad is finally here. On Monday the social networking company debuted its long-awaited native application for the iPad, capping off months of speculation of the whens and hows of the potential launch.

The app’s interface is made to be especially fitting with the iPad experience, particularly when browsing photos. “Give the screen a swipe to page through albums. Pinch a picture to zoom in,” Facebook mobile engineer Leon Dubinsky wrote in a blog post announcing the launch. “Photos really shine on the iPad. They’re bigger and easy to flip through, like a real photo album.”

The app, which Facebook says is available in the Apple App Store now, also has a few new features for the iPad, including the ability to chat with friends, play Facebook games in full-screen mode, and watch high-resolution videos in the app.

Along with the iPad app launch, Facebook said Monday it has made several improvements to Facebook for iPhone and Facebook’s mobile website, m.facebook.com. “In your next update, you’ll see a simplified navigation, faster search and access to more games and apps,” Dubinsky wrote.

Here are some screenshots of Facebook for iPad (click to enlarge):

    

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Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continuesWhat Amazon’s new Kindle line means for Apple, Netflix and online mediaTablets wars: Apple is from Venus, Amazon is from Mars

Trigger-happy investors have historically been prone to trading on Apple whenever news about its head honcho, Steve Jobs, arose. But in the wake of his death yesterday, shares of Apple have only risen 1.5 percent as of 7:30 a.m. today, only dropping 0.12 percent at their lowest level from the company’s opening price.

Apple, the most valuable technology company in the world, is back to vying with Exxon-Mobil to claim the title of most valuable company overall, although it’s value fell on Tuesday when the company unveiled an incremental upgrade to its iPhone smartphone lineup instead of a much-anticipated major upgrade.

Apple is also noticeably absent from the options market, where a move like this would typically send traders into a frenzy of speculation over what direction the company will go in. Only two significant put orders (a bet that the company’s share price will fall) crossed the Chicago Board Options Exchange as of 7 a.m. Thursday — each for fewer than 700 shares and at a modest strike price. At the same time, a much larger call order has already crossed the wire at a strike price of $385.

“This is business as usual for Apple, it would be a mistake to count them out,” Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told VentureBeat. “Yes, the tech world has lost a significant icon and a visionary, but Apple is more than just one person — Jobs built something truly special that was much greater than himself.”

Jobs was known as a visionary, creating products that he knew people would be fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on. They were products you didn’t even know you needed: the tablet market was basically non-existent before the introduction of the iPad, and the iPhone is now one of the most popular smartphones in the world and is an industry standard. Jobs arguably jump-started the smartphone revolution with the iPhone and its associated App Store. ”It’s a phone, it’s an iPod, and it’s an Internet communicator — are you getting it yet?” he said on stage when he unveiled the iPhone.

His track record is undeniable. As VentureBeat’s Dylan Tweney wrote yesterday, “The Macintosh was the first commercially successful computer to use a graphical user interface and a mouse, a decade after the technologies had debuted at Xerox PARC and SRI. The iPhone threw out the book on how to make a smartphone and reoriented an entire industry around touchscreens and apps, well after touchscreens first appeared in PDAs like the PalmPilot. The iPad succeeded in making a popular tablet computer after Windows-based computer manufacturers had tried to do so for nearly a decade.”

Apple regularly smashes expectations for its quarterly performance and its press events are almost Hollywood-esque, with live reporting and glamour. In Silicon Valley, working for Apple — like Google, Twitter and others — is worn as a badge of honor, like attending an Ivy League school.

“There are few people who could build something so successful and so magical and do more than (Jobs,)” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told me. “It’s humbling as an entrepreneur, more than anything else, to see what he’s done.”

Filed under: mobile

It looks like just on the edge of unveiling the new iPhone, hackers across the Internet have already gotten on the ball and prepared a jailbreak for the device that allows tethering.

The jailbreak program is named Redsn0w (updated version 0.9.9b2) but it does require that the smartphone be tethered to a computer running the program on boot in order to access the jailbroken interface. The jailbreak affects the Gold Master build of iOS 5 which means it affects iPhone, iPad, and iPod devices running that version of the software.

The jailbreak has been confirmed by notorious iPhone hacker @MuscleNerd’s Twitter feed. “redsn0w http://is.gd/6eek4Y can already tether JB 5.0GM (select beta7 IPSW for now though, til update) http://is.gd/SXCEi4.”

It is available at several URLs being released at several different URLs (although the one in @MuscleNerd’s Twitter post is currently down due to excessive volume.)

Tutorials on how to jailbreak your iPhone 4S are already cropping up across the Internet. Good luck.



Jailbreak Utility for iPhone Redsn0w Ahead of the Game with iOS 5.0 GM for iPhone 4S, iPad, and iPod is a post from: SiliconANGLE

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In the same vein:Cook Inherits Apple, What Happens to the Ensemble Now?Mobile Roundup: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Kick Starts More Tablet Wars From Autism to Mosquito Repellent, Mobile Apps Find Unique UsesU.S., Far East and China Will Lead Mobile Entertainment to $54B Revenue in 2015An Apple For Everybody: Mobile World Congress 2011KPCB Mobile Course: The Movers, Shakers and the Will-Be-Forgotten

On Monday, it was noted the Microsoft removed reference for Zune HD on their site which people took that Zune is already dead but Microsoft Zune Team member Michael Yaeger stated that it was just a mistake and the reference is now back up.  But the Zune player and support service page tells the real story.

“We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.”

The death of the Zune wasn’t a surprise, since the device wasn’t really a popular choice for music lovers. The Zune’s developments were always outdated and lacked several features compared to Apple products.  Last March, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft will stop releasing new models of Zune, which Senior Business Development Manager for Zune Dave McLauchlan quickly refuted the news, and stated that what Bloomberg reported was not an official statement from Microsoft and people shouldn’t believe everything they read.

Though the Zune.net page still features the Zune HD, it can be noted that the focus is more on the software, Music Pass, Zune on Windows Phone and Xbox LIVE.  This is where Microsoft will truly be able to compete, even though Apple has a pretty good handle on the personal cloud as far as music media goes.  As cloud technology reaches more consumers, however, the service will matter less and access will become the priority here.  That means a great deal more cooperation will have to take place across devices and services, so Microsoft’s software goals make sense for the Zune.

At present, portable music players aren’t that big of a deal anymore.  Most smartphones offer music listening features just like any MP3 or MP4 player out in the market.  Even the glorified iPods are taking a backseat to the iPhone and iPad.  Music has become an integrated feature rather than a selling point, and that’s generally a good thing.



R.I.P. Zune HD: Apple Will Take Things From Here is a post from: SiliconANGLE

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In the same vein:Despite Recent Anti-Zune Sentiment, The Zune HD Still Has an Opportunity to DominateMango Update News Lost on iPhone 4S Launch DaySamsung Furthers Diversification Beyond AndroidMicrosoft, Nokia Guide Symbian Developers to Windows Phone PlatformMicrosoft Mango Gets Voice-To-Text, Releases .NET GadgeteerMicrosoft Gives Augmented Reality a Booster Shot with Windows Phone OS and Kinect Updates

A handful of code in iTunes 10.5 beta 9 suggests that Apple may soon start allowing customers to rent apps from the App store, according to The Tech Erra. If a rental system were put into place, it could cut down on money spent on apps that customers never use, which could reduce resentment customers feel toward developers when an app doesn’t work the way they thought it would.

A few strings in the iTunes beta code appear to be pop-up messages to notify customers about the state of rented apps: "Apps are automatically removed from your iTunes library at the end of the rental period" and "This app will be deleted from your computer" are a couple of the included statements.

A rental system through the App Store would be similar to the try-before-you-buy program that Amazon currently offers in its own Android Appstore. None of the language uncovered in the iTunes beta indicates whether rentals would carry a price or be free for their limited run.

The text does suggest that Apple will favor the consumer in rental transactions, in that customers won’t default into an app purchase at the end of a rental period; instead, the app will be removed from their devices. When so many negative reviews focus on an app not doing what a buyer expected it to (through either misdirection or misunderstanding), rentals could create a more positive app shopping experience.

But even with fewer negative reviews, developers could still lose out. Most iPhone users never use an app after the first download, according to a (now aging) study, so customers could dip in and out of apps they only need once without any monetary consequences.

The report is unconfirmed by Apple, as the company did not respond to Ars' requests for comment. If Apple plans to launch a rental program, we’ll likely hear about it at the iPhone event scheduled this week. Ars will be reporting live from the event Tuesday at 10AM PDT.




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Thanks to Corvida on Google+ I ran across this rather cool how-to post that will let you experience Windows 8 as it should be experienced – on a tablet, and iPad at that.

The how-to is over at AppAdvice and involves an application called Splashtop Remote Desktop for iPad, an iPad, and Windows 8 installed on your computer; but here’s some basic info:

Steps:

Step 1: Install Windows 8 on your computer. Follow this guide to install it on your PC system or follow this one to set it up on a virtual machine.
Step 2: Purchase and download Splashtop Remote Desktop for your iPad ($4.99 on sale, usually $19.99).
Step 3: Install the Splashtop Streamer companion app on your Windows 8 machine.
Step 4: Set up Splashtop Streamer on your computer and set a password.
Step 5: Launch Splashtop Remote Desktop on your iPad.
Step 6: Select your computer when it appears on the list and have fun!

Here’s a video of it in action:

 

[Cross-posted at Winextra]



Windows 8 Finds a Comfy Home on the iPad is a post from: SiliconANGLE

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In the same vein:Windows 8 to Bring New File Copy, Delete, and Move UIMicrosoft to Show a Pre-Beta Windows 8 on July 10More Details Regarding the Windows Store Coming in Windows 8No App Store for Windows 8, it’ll be Just Plain Ol’ Windows StoreWindows 8 Leaks – Screenshots are Nice but Details are BetterMetrofying the Desktop

Are you ready to unleash the power of the Pyramid?

Our good pals at micro-cap regional paper and office supply company Dunder Mifflin have just taken the wraps off their latest offering, the Sabre Pyramid, a tablet to end all tablets.

Weighing in at a husky three pounds, this triangular titan comes with chic accessories, including a battery pack and memory booster (which should help to supplement the device’s “50L” of onboard memory).

While some may scoff at the tablet’s potentially painful form factor and ludicrous specs that wouldn’t satisfy an infant, we’re sure it will perform about as well as any of the other non-iPad tablets on the market right now. Barring that, it will surely make for an effective and conversation-sparking doorstop.

Filed under: offBeat

Samsung has agreed to make a number of changes to its Galaxy Tab 10.1 to keep the devices from getting banned for sale in Australia before the holiday shopping season. During hearings in Sydney, lawyers for the company agreed to remove two multitouch features patented by Apple in order to get the device on the market as soon as possible. On Friday, Samsung also offered Apple a proposed settlement agreement, which would let Samsung sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as soon as next week.

Apple and Samsung are currently embroiled in as many as 23 lawsuits globally after Apple accused Samsung of "slavishly copying" its designs for the iPhone and iPad in its Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablets. Apple has been been requesting preliminary injunctions in a number of markets where it has filed claims against Samsung, including the US, the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia.

So far, Apple has been awarded preliminary injunctions against the Galaxy Tab in Germany and against some Galaxy S smartphones in The Netherlands. The hearings this week in Australia concern Apple's request for a preliminary injunction there, which could be decided as early as next week.

Throughout the proceedings, the numerous claims Apple brought were essentially reduced to three patent infringement issues, including two for certain multitouch-related features and one that relates to how multitouch-capable touchscreens are manufactured. Samsung agreed on Thursday to remove features that use certain heuristics to filter out "accidental" touch input as well as the "zoom bounce" effect that the iPhone uses when zooming past the minimum or maximum zoom level.

On Friday, Samsung told the court that it also made proposed settlement offer to Apple. The settlement, if Apple agrees to forgo its request for a preliminary injunction, would allow Samsung to launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as early as next week. The details haven't been made public, but it could at least bring a temporary truce while Apple presses for a full hearing by the end of the year. Apple's attorneys said of the proposed agreement that "[o]ur friend's inconvenience would be minimised and we would be comforted."

The hearing will continue again on Tuesday, and the judge has encouraged Apple and Samsung to settle the issue before her final decision is entered tentatively by the end of next week.




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Now you can complement your collection of Angry Birds games, cases, cookbooks, plush toys and baby clothes with these speaker docks, decked out as your favorite feathered friends — and particularly compatible with iPods, iPhones and iPads.

The Red Bird speaker lets you connect any audio device with an auxiliary cable while propping up that device in its own stand that looks like it’s already taken a couple of direct hits from those avian aggressors.

The helmeted pig can charge up an iPod or iPhone with its protective headgear while playing back its audio with two stereo speakers and a subwoofer, while our favorite Angry Birds character, the powerful and explosive Black Bird, charges up an iPad and plays audio in a similar fashion.

Can’t wait, Angry Birds addicts? All three are set to smash into Apple Stores and gear4.com later this fall.

Get pricing details and a close-up look at the trio here:


Red Angry Bird


Red Bird speaker ($79.99) works with any device with an auxiliary audio output.

Green Helmet Pig


This loathsome pig (sound effects not included) will cost you $99.99, and is compatible with iPhone and iPod for charging and playback.

Black Angry Bird


Of course the Black Angry Bird, also $99.99, is powerful enough to charge up an iPad, and you can park your tablet in its special halfway destructed holder.

More About: angry birds, ipad, iphone, iPod Docks

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is what everyone expected: A small tablet, mostly for consuming media, watching video, playing games, reading Kindle e-books, browsing the web, and goofing around in apps. It is also cheaper than expected, at $199 — less than half the price of Apple’s iPad.

There are some nice touches, like the “Silk” web browser, which does some of the page-crunching in the cloud, so web pages should theoretically load faster. And the software actually looks decent. Amazon isn’t screwing around.

So: How big of a threat is the Kindle Fire to the iPad?

I don’t see the Kindle Fire significantly disrupting Apple’s iPad business. I think both devices will sell well, and can easily coexist. I don’t think Apple will have any trouble finding iPad buyers, and I think the $199 price tag will attract many people to the Kindle Fire.

For now, the Kindle Fire isn’t as useful of a device — it’s a simple entertainment pad, whereas the iPad is already shaping up as the PC of the future. They will probably attract different buyers, and right now, the market is so small and nascent that there is easily room for both of them. Some people may buy a Kindle Fire instead of an iPad, but many others will want the richer iPad experience, and some may buy both and use them for different things.

Looking forward, we’ll have to see how much Amazon can do with the Kindle Fire software platform — both the OS and app ecosystem — and how tablet pricing shakes out.

My hunch is that Apple will remain well ahead of Amazon in software, hardware, and ecosystem, and therefore the iPad will continue to be the “premium” tablet indefinitely. Amazon may help force Apple to lower entry-level iPad prices, and Apple may even have to make a smaller iPad someday. But Amazon is not likely to take over Apple’s spot at the top of the tablet market.

Bottom line: The Kindle Fire isn’t much of an iPad threat yet. The real trouble will be for companies like Barnes & Noble, RIM, and Samsung, which are trying to sell 7-inch tablets that either cost considerably more or have poorer content and apps ecosystems.

Also: 500 days with the iPad

The Facebook iPad application has become a hostage in a tense negotiation between Apple and Facebook.

Data is in demand on college campuses, and it’s putting a strain on shared school networks. The iPad is partly to blame, according to University of Missouri-Columbia IT director Terry Robb (via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch), but it’s mostly acting as a gateway drug for the real culprit: online video.

The report from the Dispatch describes slow or severed connections that students at the University of Missouri-Columbia experienced when coming back to classes this September. At that U.S. school, the number of wireless devices active on the network at any one time maxed out at 900 last year. Already in 2011, it’s hit 8,000 devices actively using the school’s connection at once.

The iPad is the biggest change in terms of the mobile connected-device landscape in recent years. Apple’s tablet still owns the market for that category of device, and it’s an optimal device for consuming streaming video, since it features a much larger display than smartphones, but is much simpler to turn on and hold than a cumbersome notebook computer. The iPad alone was already equal to Android’s share of online mobile video consumption back in May, and Apple’s other devices occupy a huge slice of the pie, too.

While Apple’s iPad may have multiplied the problem, iPhones and other smartphones have already significantly affected demand for Wi-Fi on college campuses. Students now expect strong on-campus Wi-Fi as one of the perks associated with going to school–it factors into their feeling of satisfaction over what they pay in tuition. Washington University’s Andrew Orstadt, who is the associated vice chancellor for information services and technology, says the demand for high capacity should be met within reason, no matter what students end up using the bandwidth for. He told the Dispatch that since students live on campus, schools should “make sure they are doing what they want to do” with their recreation time, too.

The challenge now is for schools to be able to meet the growing demand for reliable Wi-Fi with a growing population of connected devices with increasing technical specs. Next-gen devices will be able to stream higher-quality video to and from the web, and do more than one task at a time without as much of a cost on battery life or processor power. Students two years from now could likely be streaming one full HD video to their tablets while downloading another two equally high-bandwidth files in the background.

Apple’s devices may only be fuel for the fire that is demand for college Wi-Fi Internet access, but the iPad’s success and the rise in connected-device usage seen by the University of Missouri-Columbia in the wake of its introduction is a good sign that as far as fuel goes, it’s the rocket-powering kind.

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Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continuesWeb Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits Right NotesBuilding a better paywall: strategies for monetizing news content

Now That's a valid point #iPad

An awesome app for your iPad to aggregate links, photos, videos, etc. posted by your friends on Facebook and Twitter. If you don't have an iPad yet, check out the video. As an advertisement, it is as cool as it can get. I'll try it out and probably post a review.

"Thanks to some apps like Brushes, these artistes can upload their masterpieces directly online to social networking sites like Deviant Art, Facebook or Flickr. They also created some awesome videos teaching you how you can do that too.

Below are 20 Piece de Resistance (which means masterpieces) that are painted only with iPad."

"As soon as I read the detailed specifications for the iPad, I had a suspicion that most people were ignoring one of its more notable features: namely, that it was likely to be sporting the best display that had ever been put into a portable device."

"Mount an iPad, iTouch or iPhone to USB disk mode on a Mac. Phone Disk is a tiny program which runs in the system tray of your Mac. When it finds an iPod Touch or iPhone it seamlessly mounts it to your file system so you can directly access files on it using Finder or any other program."

"A 1982 Supreme Court ruling emphasized that the right to exclude is "one of the most essential sticks in the bundle of rights that are commonly characterized as property." It's the right at the heart of the patent system (a patent gives you the right to keep others from using your innovation without your permission) as well as the concepts of copyright, trademark and other forms of intellectual property (IP)."

"The application, Pulse News Reader, was developed by Akshay Kothari, 23, and Ankit Gupta, 22, a pair of Indian-born graduate students at Stanford University’s Institute of Design. The two developed the service in the Launch Pad class, which asks budding entrepreneurs to develop and introduce a product in just 10 weeks."

"While WIRED journalists and graphic designers are still at the top of their game, the typography and the interaction design of the iPad app doesn’t come even close. Here is a short, evil rundown of how iA sees the new WIRED app."

"Ego gives you one central—and lovely—location to check web statistics that matter to you. You can quickly view the number of visits to your website (including daily, hourly and monthly numbers), feed subscription totals and changes, how many people are following you on Twitter and more."

"Size matters, which is why a swimming pool is not just a big bathtub."

"Apple should not charge to put applications you’ve written onto your personal iPad (or iPhone, for that matter). If you purchase one of these devices, you should be able to install software of your own creation on it without any intervention or approval on Apple’s part, other than creating a free developer account. Essentially, take today’s iPhone/iPad developer program, and make it free."

It was hyped and ripped before it even had a name, and after it was announced, it was both praised and panned. Apple’s iPad has been the subject of debates about the future of technology and media, and massive speculation about whether people will really want to buy and use it.

"Apple did not provide details of opening day sales. But Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who had predicted as many as 300,000 iPads would be sold this weekend, dramatically revised his numbers upward Saturday to between 600,000 and 700,000 units purchased just on the first day. That contrasts with 270,000 iPhones sold during its initial launch."

"If someone builds a better iPad/OS then 100% of my money will go to them."

There is a netbook that does this, right? #iPad

"It disappoints me to see commentators on TV today dinging the iPad for a lack of multitasking."

Volume on the music is decent. You can hear it across the room. #iPad

.@Ashweeta 's first tweet from the #ipad. Tweetdeck looks awesome

No unboxing video but first-impressions pics here #iPad

"The iPad App Store is open! Here are the best of the apps so far—the ones you'll actually want when you finally get your iPad."

"Buy a new Apple iPad for more than $50,000, get a free Hyundai."

"You're not an idiot for buying an iPad on April 3."

"AppSlice data indicates that only 16,700 iPhone apps have been certified as iPad-compatible so far."

this is about the user interface conventions and considerations which apply to creating software for the iPad platform (and touch-screen tablet devices in general). It is not a technical discussion of iPad-related APIs

Air Video can stream videos in almost any format to your iPhone and iPod touch. You don't need to copy your videos to the device just to watch them.

"Hulu is working on an iPad-friendly version of its site that should be ready by the time the iPad hits the market." So now will you miss Flash?

The coming battle between Apple and Amazon will occur on many fronts, but place where Apple can really hurt Amazon is on pricing. Just as Apple initially did with 99-cent songs on iTunes, Amazon imposed a uniform $9.99 price on bestsellers in the Kindle Store. A single price helps to establish markets for new product categories, especially when that price is at a discount to the physical alternative.

Jonathan Zittrain famously argued in his book "The Future of the Internet, and How to Stop It" that we were headed for a future in which general purpose computers would be replaced by locked-down computing appliances. Apple's new iPad will put Zittrain's thesis to the test.

This prompted me to check my usage, which you can do in the Settings app by tapping General > Usage, and then scrolling down to the Cellular Network Data section and adding the two numbers there.

For Apple, it’s not about killing off tinkerers, but ensuring that not everybody who wants to use a computer has to be a tinkerer.

The sun isn't setting on tinkerers; their desire to crack things open intensifies when faced with something that's closed by design. The challenge is part of the appeal. Likewise for the iPad. If you want to hack it, it can be done.

We can sit here in our geeky little dorkosphere arguing about it all day, but as much as Apple clearly enjoys our participation, the people Jobs wants to sell this to don't read our rants.

The bet is roughly that the future of computing:

has a UI model based on direct manipulation of data objects
completely hides the filesystem from the user
favors ease of use and reduction of complexity over absolute flexibility
favors benefit to the end-user rather than the developer or other vendors
lives atop built-to-specific-purpose native applications and universally available web apps

That's why I have seen people carrying stones around and chiseling away in coffee shops

You can already hear the sound of hundreds of collective gears turning to chart gaming's future course. So we present the thoughts of all the above developers, with -- as a bonus where applicable -- off-device screenshots that blow up to their iPad-native 2x resolution when clicked, for a preview of what the device's scaling simulator will look like when it lands in March.

What bothers me is that in terms of openness, the iPad is the same as the iPhone, but in terms of form factor, the iPad is essentially a general purpose computer. So it strikes me as a sort of Trojan horse that acculturates users to closed platforms as a viable alternative to open platforms, and not just when it comes to phones (which are closed pretty much across the board). The question we must ask ourselves as computer users is whether the tradeoff in freedom we make to enjoy Apple’s superior user experience is worth it.

All that said, the real story here isn't the hardware, for at the end of the day, Amazon doesn't care about the hardware that much. What it wants to do is sell e-books, which don't take up warehouse space, require trucks to be delivered, or an expensive customer service team to support. And it wants to sell lots of them.

What's dangerous about the iPad is that it's much closer to a "real" computer than the iPhone is. If you dock it with the keyboard accessory, it really is just a sort of low-powered franken-laptop. And yet this is a computer over which you have absolutely no control. And the question is: If we all continue to buy Apple's locked-down products hand-over-fist (Jobs went so far as to talk about Apple as a mobile device company yesterday), what reason does Apple have not to keep moving forward with that model—a model that, to many, is defective by design.

Apple is obviously leaving money on the table here. They could easily charge $999 as the starting price and have hundreds of people lined up outside every Apple Store ready to buy one on day one. Then they could drop the price later in the year, as the holiday season approaches.

Clearly they’re more interested in unit sales than per-unit margin. The mobile computing landscape is in land-grab mode, and Apple is trying to stake out a long-term dominating position.

If the iPhone is any indication, this thing is going to be great for kids. Ollie likes playing games and looking at videos on the iPhone but the larger screen size of the iPad allows for more collaborative play...one kid + one adult or two kids using it together. The iPhone is for solitary use; the iPad can be collaborative (or at least collective).

In the end, Apple has done something with the iPad that I didn't think they were capable of: made it worth my while to look around, or possibly even wait, for a better, more open alternative. I'm ready to buy an ARM-based, thin-client tablet computer—I'm just not ready to buy this one.

All of the above being said, I'll buy an iPad anyway because it's my job to be up on this kind of thing. It'll probably also be the first time that I "jailbreak" a device.

“You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.” - Steve Jobs

Today's announcement by Apple Inc. of the iPad tablet has education watchers predicting a wave of student purchases, major textbook publishers rejoicing, and at least one college saying it will consider giving them to all incoming students.

Whether the iPad is revolutionary or evolutionary is still hotly debated, but what we do know is that the computer, despite its elegance and blazing fast speed, is a decidedly first generation device. Although one day after the product's announcement may be too soon to discuss what's coming in the next version of the iPad, we've already come across several reasons to wait

Pentagram’s Luke Hayman, designer of, among others, Time, New York, and Travel + Leisure, was asked how this new format would change the world of magazines and came up with five ways off the top of his head.

How much easier it is to distrust, to doubt, to fold the arms and say “Not impressed”. I’m not advocating dumb gullibility, but it is has always amused me that those who instinctively dislike Apple for being apparently cool, trendy, design fixated and so on are the ones who are actually so damned cool and so damned sensitive to stylistic nuance that they can’t bear to celebrate or recognise obvious class, beauty and desire

How the iPad was actually designed. In one night.

Buy and iPad or go on vacation

Apple today unveiled its iPad, after years of rumors that the company was building a tablet-like device. Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the device today during a special media-only event, saying it is "way better than a laptop, way better than a phone. It's the best web experience you've ever had."