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The iPad: So Magical, It Does 3D Now

The iPad is so magical it even does 3D now. Sorta. Aircord Labs have released a video showing an iPad that outputs 3D images visible to naked eye thanks to a specially designed projector that beams images into a pyramid-like screen thing.

Take a look at the video below. It looks like those images are real, floating in real space and answering to human’s feedback like clapping hands. I don’t know if we’ll ever see an iPad doing this stuff by default or if this technology will actually turn out to be any useful in real life (maybe), but just the fact that it’s possible sounds great to me. I mean, think about tweeting in 3D. Or arranging icons. Or moving notes around.

You get the idea.

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Apollo News for iPad - It Could Have Been So Much Better

I’m just going to state this up front: visual news readers are the next (and current) big thing on the iPad. Pulse was featured in the The New York Times, then made its way to the iPhone, too. My Newspapers. The Early Edition. Blogshelf, featured in many other blogs.

But the thing that surprises me most, is that people actually keep on buying these apps. They’re willing to try something new. They’re spending their bucks every single week for the new kid on the block of visuals news readers just to, perhaps, change their habits again the next week. I have the feeling this kind of applications are what Twitter clients were for the iPhone in the early days: a goldmine. Just like people discovered that tweeting from a phone (from the iPhone, especially) could be a highly enjoyable experience (sometimes even better than on the desktop), now they’re looking for a better, new way to consume news. It’s the natural circle of things: a developer comes around and reinvents a genre.

It is a few ones’ job to fine-tune it, just look at how Loren Brichter waited to develop his Twitter client, eventually acquired by Twitter itself.

Developers are coming out with these visual news readers. Should we give them a new name? Let’s say visual feeds, because that’s what they are now. Plus some adjustments to browsing and navigation, that is.

Can Apollo News claim the throne of the best new app in this new category?

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Coda Notes for Safari

In a few weeks Apple will launch the official Safari extensions gallery, so you’d better hurry and go submit yours now. But in the meantime, unofficial Safari extensions websites have flourished all over on the internet.

The current state of Safari extensions? There are a few great ones, lots of cool ideas, hundreds of stupid and buggy userscripts ported to Safari. Last night the Panic team offered an exclusive Twitter preview of their upcoming Safari extension, Coda Notes, which they previewed at the WWDC in June.

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Griffin Releases Loop - Best Stand for iPad Yet?

I still have to buy a stand for my iPad. I have a leather case, but I didn’t buy the additional keyboard - so I didn’t buy the stand either. But, a few days ago I was thinking about trying a keyboard + Simplenote setup, and a stand would be absolutely necessary for that.

I think I’ll give a try to Griffin’s latest release, Loop.

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US Mac Sales Grow 11% in June

How do you end a good fiscal quarter? By announcing that US Mac sales have grown 11% this month. While they’re merely estimates at the moment, the NPD Group revealed that Macs have been selling quite well, which should foreshadow positive results with this evenings release earnings report. As reported by AppleInsider, Analyst Gene Munster said that likely puts Apple on track to announce sales of between 3.1 million and 3.2 million in its quarterly earnings.

Mac sales were up a strong 35 percent stateside in May, following the introduction of the iPad in both Wi-Fi and 3G models. Those sales figures have been interpreted to suggest that Apple’s new portable multitouch device will not cannibalize Mac sales.

The iPod has taken somewhat of a hit, decreasing at rate of 10% year over year, which should result in an estimate of 9 to 10 million iPods sold.

[via AppleInsider]

Apps, Apps, and More Apps

What are the exact numbers behind the App Store? And the Android marketplace, or Palm’s one? What’s the most downloaded paid app ever? And average app prices? Here’s a interesting “infographic” for you, courtesy of Online MBA.

“They have become a filter for out world. Through them we can access information, games, entire virtual worlds. Not the internet, nor our computers, not tablets or laptops – just little programs on our phones. Millions of little programs. What are the real numbers behind these programs, and why are there so many of them?”

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