Happy Valentine’s Day lovebirds! Here are today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!
Posts in iPad
#MacStoriesDeals - Monday
Help Desk Service Zendesk Releases iPad App
The web-based help desk service Zendesk has today rolled out a spiffy iPad app to allow companies and their employees to manage customer help desks on the go. The iPad application joins the existing offerings of iPhone, Android and BlackBerry apps that have a total of over 80,000 downloads.
The iPad app contains similar functionality to those existing mobile apps with some additions such as the ability for users to view a real-time list of tickets assigned and bookmark tickets for later response or reference. Zendesk’s CEO Zack Urlocker said to TechCrunch that he believes the iPad app will become their most popular mobile application as companies adopt the iPad in their businesses.
Three UK + Ireland Block Cydia Servers
Customers of Three in Ireland and the UK might wake up today with a little bit of a shock when they hear that Cydia has seemingly been blocked by the carrier, leading those who jailbreak their iOS devices unable to access certain content from Cydia when on the Three network. The block seems to be for Cydia’s servers so whilst the main page is inaccessible, Three users in the UK and Ireland should still be able to access other repositories and download from them.
Super PLS To Be iPad’s Next Display Technology?
Samsung’s cheaper to produce but ultimately superior new panel technology, Super PLS (Plane to Line Switching), is rumored to make an appearance in Apple’s next iPad. While an increase of resolution is unknown (and unlikely), Super PLS costs 15% cheaper to manufacture than the iPad’s current IPS technology, while offering 10% greater brightness for viewing. If Apple is known for one thing, it’s their early adoption and implementation of new and powerful display technologies.
Samsung’s PLS technology is superior to IPS in many regards. The viewing angles provided by PLS are improved as the display actually shifts the shape of the individual pixels so they are displayed brighter and with better contrast from more angles.
iFixYouri and 9 to 5 Mac’s proposed unveiling of Apple’s next display technology is reportedly produced by LG, but Apple typically uses multiple display manufacturers to meet demand.
[via 9 to 5 Mac]
#MacStoriesDeals - Friday
Fingerprints and iPads - No Two Are Alike
George Kokkinidis, from Design Language News, recently did an interesting study called “Remnants of a Disappearing UI”. He studied the fingerprint patterns on the surface of his iPad using different applications, and the results are visually interesting.
Because the primary input method of the iPad is a single piece of multitouch glass, developers have incredible flexibility to design unique user interfaces. It’s hard to appreciate the variety of UIs though, since turning the screen off removes virtually all evidence of them. To spotlight these differences, I looked at the only fragments that remain from using an app: fingerprints.
George’s method involved cleaning the iPad’s screen before use, using a specific app for a short amount of time, then turning the iPad off. Then he photographed the iPad, imported the images into Adobe Illustrator, and placed them inside a vector-based iPad mortise. His technique helped the fingerprints emphasize his “touchy” data. Read more
Echofon For iPad & iPhone Update to 4.0
How could Echofon’s magical sync-a-bilities get anymore improved between Echofon on the desktop and your favorite iOS devices? How about the addition of user streaming to the iPad, global push notifications for direct messages, and the ability to temporarily mute tweet happy users? User streaming is something I’ve wished for in all clients as long as it continues to retain your place on the timeline (Twitter for iPad is good at this), and not too many have successfully took a swing at Echofon’s syncing features. There’s nothing more annoying that re-reading a garbage bin full of old tweets - pick up where you left off with Echofon, and download the free updates in the iTunes App Store via the links below.
[Business Wire: UberMedia: Echofon 4 Press Release via The Next Web]
#MacStoriesDeals - HUGE Thursday
The third day in a row for extra great savings! Here’s today’s deals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get ‘em while they’re hot!
MacStories Product Review: Ten One Design Pogo Stylus
Many people would tell you that you don’t need a pen to enjoy touchscreen devices. For the most part it’s true: the iPad shines as fingers flick photos into sharing bins and users check off another todo item in Things. Pen input is old fashioned, and quite frankly there isn’t a successful way to do it on a capacitive touchscreen. Though what would happen if we took the pen away from a poet, or a brush away from a canvas painter? Ten One Design defies finger philosophy with an elegant solution for the iPhone 4, iPod touch, and iPad with the popular Pogo Stylus.