So it begins; bag designer Tom Bihn announced today the release of two new iPad specific products, a messenger bag and a dedicated sleeve style case. → Read More
When the iPhone first launched in 2007 I was sure I wasn’t going to buy one. Then I played with one. 15 minutes later I was $600 poorer. It was arguably the best tech purchase I’ve ever made. After the Apple event today, I got a chance to play with the new iPad for quite a bit of time. My takeaway? The thing is beautiful and fast. Really fast. If you’ll excuse my hyperbole, it felt like I was holding the future. But is it a must-have? That’s a complicated question.
The quick and dirty answer is: for many people, right now, no. Unlike the iPhone, which filled an already well-established need (cellular telephone usage), there is no existing need the iPad fills. That is, unless you’re an iPhone or iPod touch user. If that’s the case, the iPad does fill a couple of needs — it’s the best way to use apps, and more importantly, the best way to browse the web in a style that is likely your preferred method: by touching it. → Read More
Google has just posted a set of core privacy principles to its official blog, in honor of tomorrow’s International Data Privacy Day. There’s nothing revelatory here, but it’s a bit reassuring all the same given just how much Google knows about most of us. If you’re interested in more of Google’s privacy stances, they’ve got an entire portal dedicated to them here.
- Use information to provide our users with valuable products and services.
- Develop products that reflect strong privacy standards and practices.
- Make the collection of personal information transparent.
- Give users meaningful choices to protect their privacy.
- Be a responsible steward of the information we hold.
Now that the iPad is finally official, any publisher that wasn’t already figuring out how to bring their content to a color, touchscreen device is probably scrambling to do it now. That’s a bit easier said than done though — while it probably wouldn’t be too tough to simply scan in text and present it in a static format, converting it into something that actually takes advantage of the new platform is going to prove difficult. That challenge is giving rise to some new startups looking to help publishers make the transition from paper to digital.
One such company is called Inkling, a small startup that’s raised $1 million in seed money from Ram Shriram, Mitch Kapor, Aydin Senkut, and other angel investors. Inkling is looking to help textbook makers convert their content into digitized versions that are more than just static reproductions of the original text. In other words, they’re helping spur the kind of innovation that could change the way we learn (but could take publishers a long time to figure out if they’re left to their own devices). → Read More
This Woot Off is going on day three and I still haven’t been able to buy a LeakFrog. The thing is legendary on Woot and always makes an appearance during its firesales. Who knows, maybe it was shown sometime today between 11 am and 4 pm EST. I was a little distracted. But anyway, Woot Off! → Read More
I’m actually very curious what you guys thought of our live stream. It wasn’t perfect but I thought it went well. Do you want to see more of that? Less? Thoughts? → Read More
Apple spent a good deal of time today selling the world on the iPad’s ebook skills. It has a nice 9.7-inch screen, 10 hour battery life, and ebook store. But how does it stack up against the current reigning ebook king, the Kindle? It’s time to call in a massive chart. → Read More
Lucky reader Andrew S. was picked by our sophisticated random number generator as the winner of our show us your office contest! Andrew tells us that “the only work that gets done is usually fueled by caffiene and any random snacks I have on hand.” That pretty well describes my own work ethic, so good on yer, Andrew! → Read More
Surprised that the iPad doesn’t have a camera? Yeah, so are we – and if these screenshots of the just-released iPad emulator are any indication, so is someone on Apple’s software development team.
Tucked away within the iPad’s contacts application is an “Add Photo” button, purposed with.. well, adding photos. Everyone likes having photos assigned to their contacts, and there’s more than enough space on this thing to sync photos of all your friends – so nothing too strange there. What is odd, however, is the prompt that pops up: → Read More
Mvix’s Ultio Pro looks suspiciously like a commercial version of an HTPC. Designed with 1080p decoding, network media playback from a NAS or PC, and the option to add a PVR, I might have to get one of these to replace my old Xbox Media Center. → Read More
By now you’ve probably seen the videos on Apple’s site showing the iPad. But those aren’t always indicative of the way it actually works in real life. Luckily, Apple had plenty of iPads in a demo pit area after the event today and we captured some footage of a few applications actually being used.
In the video below see Apple’s new Keynote app (built specifically for the iPad), as well as the new iBooks app, in action. As you can see, the device is very fast. Also note the Apple employee talking about using the iPad to make calls. → Read More
Strikeforce will air, for free, an MMA fight on the EA Sports MMA Web site this Saturday. It’s Jay Hieron vs. Joe Riggs, which is just one fight that’s part of a much larger card, one headlined by Nick Diaz vs. Marius Žaromskis. Presumably Mr. Diaz has put down his pipe long enough to pass the required tests. → Read More
New York (CNN) — We were right all along. It’s called the Apple iPad, and it’s a smallish, $499 computer (for the entry-level model, that is) that can best be described as a big iPhone or iPod touch. It will be available in 60 days. Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs made the announcement today in San Francisco, California, an event that had provoked the usual, but always startling, over-the-top anticipation and speculation. Years from now, maybe people will be asking, “Where were you on January 27, 2010?” in the same way they ask, “Where were you on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 first kissed the surface of the moon? → Read More
Ariel “Sass-master 2000″ Adams has some great shots of the new Panerai monster. This watch, just for reference, costs more than ten of my cars.
The watch is made of black ceramic and it uses Panerai’s tourbillon calibre behind a skeletonized face. You’ll notice a second’s hand, an AM/PM indicator, and a GMT hand front and center. It is 48mm wide and limited to 30 pieces. → Read More
Okay, so it exists. What do your favorite tech personalities, the CrunchGear team, have to say about Apple’s latest opus? Join us as we pass judgment on the device sight unseen — though of course more in-depth analysis is forthcoming. → Read More
Another year, another release of iLife. This time, though, with full iPadsupport. Yes, Apple showed off iLife 2010 at its big press conference today, and the updates are about what you’d expect from the application suite: incremental and filled with one or two things that make you say, “Wow, neat.” That being the multi-touch support. → Read More
While Apple is being lamented here and there for not supporting Flash on its shiny new iPad – boy does Cupertino have a strong dislike for the platform – Adobe has already responded to the news on the official Flash Platform blog.
The blog post, unambiguously titled “Building iPad Applications with Flash”, is mostly just to remind people of the company’s Packager for iPhone product, which will enable developers to make Flash apps function on the iPhone / iPod Touch through a work-around whereby Flash apps can be easily converted into iPhone apps using Creative Suite 5 (CS5). Adobe also published a post on its Adobe Flash Platform blog addressing the apparent lack of Flash support in the iPad. → Read More
This eight minute video should answer any remaining questions you have about the iPad. Watch it in high-res at Apple. → Read More
Don’t you worry about the iPad lacking an SD card slot and USB port. Apple has you covered with adapters! How nice of Lord Jobs. Instead of building in two industry standards, users are forced to buy extra items with their new iPad. It’s not like the these standards are large and would take away from the oh-so-important design.
But it really is ridiculous that the iPad doesn’t have an SD card slot built-in. USB port, fine. Apple is sticking with its massive dock connector, but an SD card slot — or microSD card slot — would actually open the iPad to some niche markets. → Read More
Editor’s note: This a guest post written by Joff Redfern. Redfern is the co-founder of FlattenMe.com, a site for creating personalized storybooks. He was formerly a vice president of product at Yahoo, where he managed Yahoo Buzz and Toolbar.
I’m a recent Kindle fan boy. I like the instant access to earth-friendly books, the paper-like display and the way it fits in my hand like a paperback. I’ve also deeply admired the crispness of the Kindle vision—“any book, any language, in minutes”. But with Apple’s iPad announcement the playing field on which the Kindle competes shifts and the disruptive technology itself gets disrupted.
If I were running the Kindle I would answer this question today: “Are we innovating the publishing or the entertainment industry?” Is the Kindle just for my reading entertainment or is it for watching, listening, gaming, browsing, sharing photos, and communicating with friends & family too? Ultimately the answer is shaped by consumer preference, competitors and time measured in years.
As a product guy this is a really intriguing question to try to unravel—which path should Amazon choose? → Read More
