They hinted at it, and now they’re delivering the goods. SlingPlayer is coming to the iPad in all its video slinging glory. According to Sling “the video quality is better than any mobile app we’ve ever done”, so that’s something to be excited about. You can channel surf by flicking up and down on the iPad’s large display. But I won’t give away all the sleek, cool features. Hit play and watch the nearly five minute demonstration above. Expect the app to release soon for $29.99.
[Via Engadget]
Light painting meets stop motion in this creative video designed by BERG and Denstsu London. Using only a camera and multiple iPads, the team was able to capture illuminated 3D typography in real space. I could blab about how they used multiple long exposures to create the awesome effect, but you should really just watch the video embedded above to see the final product and learn exactly how it was done.
[Via Engadget]
Let’s travel back in time, shall we? The year is 1984 and the Macintosh Classic is all the rage. 9” (512×342) display, 8 MHz Motorola 68000 processor, 1MB of memory, no HDD, $999. Flash forward to 2010 and you’ve got the $499 iPad. Leave it to a mac enthusiast and do-it-yourself guru to gut the Mac Classic and shove an iPad inside it. Which happens to fit almost perfectly where the original display would sit.
And let’s do it one last time. The year is 1999 and the iBook classic reinvents the laptop scene with a clamshell design. 12” (800×600) display, 300 MHz PowerPC G3 processor, 32 MB of memory, 3.2GB HDD, $1599. Now it’s 2010, so why not remove the display and place a brand new iPad inside. And while you’re at it, take out the janky old keyboard and install a current Apple keyboard in its place.
Ah, the awesome-ness that results when retro and modern unite. Hit up the source links for more images and peek after the break for a video tour of the Mac Classic + iPad.
[Via Hirac; AppleNoir] Continue reading iPad finds a home in Macintosh Classic & clamshell iBook
It seems like it was just yesterday when we received news that Apple sold one million iPads in a matter of 28 days. Oh wait–that did just happen. Time for another milestone in the history of the iPad. Shortly after launching the iPad in international waters (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK), Apple can proudly claim that they’ve sold two million iPads in under 60 days since its US launch on April 3. Says Apple CEO Steve Jobs: “Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do. We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.” And let the good times roll for Team Apple. Full PR after the break.
[Via Apple] Continue reading Apple sells 2 million iPads in under 60 days
Two of mankind’s greatest inventions, together at last.
[Via Gizmodo]
That voice and those words sound strangely familiar…look after the break. Continue reading Apple lets loose new iPad commercial
On Friday, May 28 the following nine countries will join the U.S. with iPad launch festivities: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. Eager customers who can’t wait to get their oily hands all over the magical device can preorder it online on Monday, May 10. Apple pledges to release the iPad in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore sometime in July. Look after the break for the full PR and price listings.
[Via Apple; Engadget; Mashable] Continue reading iPad goes international on May 28
What happens when you give a two and a half year old one of the most technologically advanced gadgets to come out in quite some time? Telstar Logistics founder Todd Lappin decided to find out for himself by conducting this fun experiment. Here are some of his findings:
As you can see, after geeking out on my Sutro Tower homescreen, she took right to it — including figuring out how to enlarge some of her favorite iPhone-legacy apps to 2x to display full-size on the iPad screen. If you’re good at understanding kid-speak, you’ll also notice that she immediately saw its potential as a video-display device. She lamented the lack of a camera, and wondered about its potential for playing games.
On the downside, she had the same frustration as many adults, where touching the screen-edge with your thumb while holding the iPad blocks input to all home screen icons. Notice also that she was confused by the splash page for FirstWords Animals, her favorite spelling game: Because the start button looked like a graphic, rather than a conventional button, she couldn’t figure out how to start the game.
Oh, here’s one he forget to mention: She’s so freakin’ cute!
[Via LaughingSquid]
The LapDock turns your iPad into a laptop. Just dock your iPad into the LapDock, add a wireless keyboard, and bingo – instant laptop!
Besides the addition of being enclosed in a wooden case, you could bypass this less than intriguing alternative and simply purchase Apple’s iPad Keyboard Dock which comes with a keyboard and stands it in the upright position. The iPad is not a laptop, and so you shouldn’t treat it that way.
[Via iPadLapDock; Engadget]
Today Apple unveiled the developer preview of iPhone OS 4, the next major release of the iPhone operating system. OS 4 includes over 1500 new APIs for developers and over 100 new user features. Of these new features, Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Senior VP of iPhone Software Scott Forstall talked about seven “tentpole” features. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
1. Multitasking: Apple has finally figured out a way to implement multitasking for third-party apps that preserves battery life and overall performance of the iPhone. The user interface for multitasking is simple. When you are inside an app, just double tap the home button to raise the window and reveal a new dock at the bottom of the screen. This dock houses all of your running apps, and you can jump in and out of them by clicking on them. When asked about how to close applications, Forstall replied, “You don’t have to. The user just uses things and doesn’t ever have to worry about it.” Though that sounds nice and cheery, there actually is a way to close out of an app if you are not using it. Tap and hold an app in the multitask dock and tap the minus button that appears; this confirms the app is now closed. Seven multitasking services were detailed:
Background audio – Now you can listen to third-party music players in the background just like you could with iPod. At the keynote, Pandora was demoed and worked without a hitch. While listening to your custom playlist in Pandora you can jump into Safari to browse a site or jump into Mail to check your inbox for new messages. Also, if you are in the lock screen you can double tap the home button and use the audio buttons to control Pandora.
VoIP – Now you can receive and hold onto VoIP conversations even if you jump out of the VoIP third-party app. At the keynote, Skype was demoed. Once a call is initiated, you can leave the app and jump into another without losing the call. A double-high status bar appears at the top of the screen that shows your still on the call. Also, you can still receive Skype calls even if you are in the lock screen; a notification bubble alerts an incoming call.
Background location – Apple says there are two classes of applications that like to use your location in the background: turn-by-turn direction apps (like TomTom) and social networking apps (like Loopt). With an app like TomTom becoming location-aware in the background, now you can leave the app and still receive turn-by-turn directions. For example, you can set and begin your route, jump into iPod to select a song, and TomTom will still read aloud the directions using GPS. Turn-by-turn direction apps are fairly power intensive apps, but most users have them running in the car when their device is connected to a power source. An app like Loopt, which is used more often when an external power source is not charging the device, will use cell towers rather than GPS to find your location. Privacy concerns are also addressed. Today, whenever an app wants to use location services, a notification bubble asks you to approve the service. In OS 4, a new status icon (shaped like an arrow) will appear in the status bar at the top of the screen to inform you exactly when an app is tracking your location. In the settings menu you can enable or disable location services per app. Also, an icon will appear next to the app name in the settings menu if that app has tried to access location services within the last 24 hours.
Push notifications – We already know all about Apple’s Push Notification service. A third-party sets up a server, they send their notification to Apple’s Push Notification server, then Apple sends it to the phone. Building on push notifications is a new service called…
Local notifications – These are just like push notifications except you do not need a server. The notifications can come right from the phone. For example, a TV Guide app can alert you to the premiere of a new TV program you wanted to be reminded of, and all this can be done right on the phone instead of going through back-end servers.
Task completion – This service works just like Xbox’s Active Downloads feature. Say you are uploading photos to your Flickr account. Today if you were to exit the Flickr app, the upload would stop immediately. With OS 4, if you leave the app the photos will continue to upload in the background.
Fast app switching – This is what allows an app to pause and save its state in the background when you leave it for another app. When you return to it, the app will resume exactly where you left off. So if you are playing a game of Tap Tap Revenge and decide to check your missed calls, when you return to the game it will start right where you left off. All this is done without using any CPU power. Continue reading Apple details iPhone OS 4: Multitasking! & more
