The Time Is Now! iPad 2 Is Online

The iPad 2 has officially launched in the Apple Store for United States shoppers, and if you don’t know why or what you’re getting into, quickly get the rundown from our iPad 2 roundup. It’s available in eighteen different models between white & black, storage capacities, and carrier compatibility, and they’re all up for grabs. Don’t forget about the iPad 2’s must have accessories, including those delicious Smart Covers (which I think are genius), the Apple iPad 2 Dock, the Apple Wireless Keyboard and the AV Digital Connector for HDMI out. Lastly, don’t forget about AppleCare!

Shipping Updates:

  • iPad 2s are shipping within 3-5 business days (limit two per order).
  • Smart Covers are shipping within 1-2 business days.
  • The iPad 2 Dock is shipping within 1-3 weeks.
  • Digital AV Adapters are shipping within 1-2 business days.

Apple will recommend a lot of these goodies at checkout. Once you add your iPad to the cart, the most common accessories (recommended for you) should help you checkout with a full basket faster.

If you’re considering some optional upgrades, the Apogee JAM is available as a companion for GarageBand, and will ship within 3-4 weeks.

Update: iPad 2 shipping times in the US are already up to 5-7 business days from 3-5 business days last night.

iPad & Tablets Bring 200,000 New Subscribers to WSJ

There’s been quite a debate around the implementation of Apple’s new subscription policy for publishers (we’ll see the real consequences in June) and the problems faced by newspapers and magazine apps for the iPad, which most of the time don’t offer anything users couldn’t find already for free online, or in previously released printed formats. The funny thing is, sometimes the digital version costs even more than print, has a clunky purchase and download system and less content than the magazine. Newspapers, on the other hand, offer less news at a slower rate than a website. For this reason publishers have struggled, and Apple hopes to invert the situation with an easy to use subscription system that’s the first step towards a wider adoption of magazines and newspapers for the tablet. But in the meantime, the Wall Street Journal reports some interesting numbers.

The publication announced they added 200,000 new subscribers from tablets like the iPad, Nook, Kindle and Android devices in the past year. Now I’m no WSJ insider, but I guess most of these subscribers come from the popular WSJ iPad app, which is available for free in the App Store and requires a login for paid subscribers.

The 200k figure is a combination of News Corp’s paid subscriber base on all tablet-size devices, including the iPad, Android tablets, the Kindle, and the Nook. In contrast, the print edition currently represents a circulation of approximately 1.6 million.

The company hasn’t provided numbers for smartphones. With the iPad and Kindle being the ideal reading devices for many, lower performances on iPhones and Android devices wouldn’t be a surprise at all. [via Electronista]

Blue Planet Casts Shadows On Your Mac Desktop

A couple things are very telling of an individual when you first analyze how they use their Mac. Desktop wallpaper in particular is very personal, and Blue Planet for the Mac transforms the desktop into a world theater cast in shadow. Perhaps someone who paints their desktop with glow of sleeping cities finds it almost calming that the world continues to turn as time intended it. Blue Planet covers your desktop in a map of the Earth, overlaying one of four different topographic maps, and enables you to pinpoint your location if location services are enabled. In real time, you can witness the passing of the sun as day turns to night for the small price of $4.99 in the App Store.

What’s New In iOS 4.3 for Apple TV→

What’s New In iOS 4.3 for Apple TV

iLounge has posted its usual rundown of what’s new in the latest Apple TV software update, and this time it looks rather huge. One problem, though: why does Apple keep naming ATV software releases inconsistently with the rest of iOS devices? Internally the Apple TV displays “4.3”, but Apple calls it “4.2 software update”. This is beyond my understanding.

Anyway, the new sports applications baked into the ATV look great, especially the MLB.TV one with all those fancy graphics, interactive menus and HD video. I’m not baseball or basketball expert (but I like an NBA game every once in a while), but these apps seem really well done.

MLB.tv is available in all countries where iTunes Movie Rentals are offered, specifically the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the U.K. and Japan.

NBA League Pass on the Apple TV is available only in the United States. Although the NBA offers an International League Pass on its web site, this is different from the U.S. League Pass and cannot be used on the Apple TV—a U.S. League Pass account is required to login.

Together with the NBA and MLB.TV apps, a new redesigned keyboard with a “recent” option for quick input, new slideshows themes, time zone and HDMI output settings and the much-talked AirPlay support also made it into this update.

iOS 4.3 for Apple TV is a solid update. Check out the full roundup at iLounge.

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Flickpad Pro 2.4 Launches: Visual Updates & The Return of Flickr Explore Grid

Flickpad is an immersive way to browse Flickr and Facebook photos with flickering fingers, and the latest Flickpad update brings an update interface (new app icon and wood background), introduces advanced search capabilities, and brings back Flickr Explore in a grid-tastic format. We reviewed Flickpad a while ago, and it’s still a fantastic way to browse through photos by flicking them off the screen, browsing the latest photos as a slideshow, and to comment on inspiring photographs. You can download Flickpad Pro on your iPad for only $0.99 from the App Store.

Instapaper 3.0 Is Out: You Can Now “Follow” Other Users

Instapaper, the most popular “read later” tool for the web, iOS and Kindle, received a major update a few minutes ago that brings it to version 3.0 and adds a whole social layer to the app. In Instapaper 3.0 you can now follow other Instapaper users to see the articles they “like” (a new name for “starring” an article). You can find friends via Facebook or Twitter through a simple login or directly from your local Address Book.

The app is faster with a new engine that finally grants perfect quality images, and you can now search all articles (the downloaded ones, at least) for title or content. Sharing to Twitter, Facebook, Pinboard, Tumblr and Evernote has also been implemented natively, to work offline as well. This is a great improvement over the previous versions that didn’t let you share articles that easily. I love this new feature.

Other new functionalities include a “smart rotation lock” that can understand whether the change in rotation was accidental or not (it really seems to be working) and several new tweaks in the Preferences and bug fixes. Also, you can browse for articles in-app or choose from the Editor’s Picks recommended list of content.

The app also now has a completely rewritten web browser built in, so you can browse to any website, find the articles you want to read later, and save them directly from the app. And there’s a new Editors browser, featuring the best human curators on the web who recommend great articles for Instapaper reading.

With these great new additions, many customers won’t even need the bookmarklet anymore.

Instapaper 3.0 is a free update available here, and it’s a terrific new version you should go download right away. Check out more screenshots of the iPad version below. Read more

iOS 4.3 Is Jailbroken, Untethered [Video]

Well, that didn’t take long. iOS 4.3 was released yesterday and here comes the first video, courtesy of Daily iPhone Blog, that shows a jailbroken iPad running an untethered 4.3 jailbreak with Cydia installed and working. Build is the final one, iOS 4.3 8F190 and the video looks legit.

We don’t know when a proper jailbreak tool for iOS 4.3 will be released but it looks more like “soon” at this point. Check out the video below. Read more

The HandStand: The iPad Case With A Hand Strap

HandStand

HandStand

Similar to the Meglio whose Kickstarter we promoted yesterday, we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about The HandStand for your iPad. A velcro strap secures the iPad to the palm of your hand, and allows the iPad to rotate a full 360 degrees for comfort and mobility. It offers a slight typing angle with its studded back, and provides full protection against scratches and dings. It might not be as functional in the movie stand or hanging shelf department, but this could be a better alternative for iPad walk-a-roos. You can get one for $49.95 if you’re holding on to your original iPad (an iPad 2 version is coming in the Spring).

The HandStand iPad Holder