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Posts tagged with "iPad"

iPad & iOS 4: A Match Made In iPhone

The rumors were right: the iPad is getting iOS 4 in November. iOS 4.2, precisely, which will unify the operating system across all Apple’s mobile devices. From what we saw earlier today, iOS 4.2 seems to be the solution to our iPad-related problems: it’ll bring wireless printing (huge for business users), multitasking, folders, widget controls. It’s also got a new feature which I’m extremely excited about: AirPlay. Together with iTunes and the new Apple TV, AirPlay will allow you to easily stream content back and forth between your mobile device, computer and Apple TV. One click media sharing. It looks great.

But there’s one thing Apple didn’t with iOS 4 for iPad: they didn’t change it. They didn’t took the same iPhone codebase and revamped the experience to take advantage of the iPad’s unique features. They made it bigger. And it turns out, I was wrong.

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Your Alternative iPad Browser Sucks

I tried many alternative browsers on my iPad. So many, in fact, that I can’t even remember the last time I deleted one. Maybe it was Super Prober, or Atomic Browser. I really can’t remember. My problem with you, developers of alternative browsers, is that you’re not Apple. You’re not even close to being able to implement features and think - just think - that they could work better than Safari’s.

I’ve seen many bloggers and people I follow on Twitter claim that they found a browser better than Safari. In the past months I read dozens of articles about “I ditched Safari for Atomic Browser” or “I needed tabs so I installed this on my iPad”. Early and quick excitement is bad for the internet:  your words will stay there for the months to come as a living sign of your past ramblings. You said you ditched Safari, and now your homescreen.me profile lacks any alternative.

Step your game up, people. You don’t need to write about alternatives, because they all suck.

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Here’s The Most Minimal iPad Stand

We covered some interesting iPad stands in the past. I personally think the Compass is the best one, but I still have to actually try one. As for the iPhone, I just got my Just Mobile Xtand and I’m looking forward to trying it later today. Here comes a new kid on the block though, and he plays the minimalism card: the PadFoot aims at becoming the simplest and most elegant iPad stand you could ever have.

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The iPad Orchestra [Video]

I don’t know what app these guys are using (update: Seline HD), but man this video is awesome. Four iPads, one song, great footage: take a look at the iPad orchestra below. Just in case you were still wondering about the “iPad is for consumption” thing.

[Thanks, Koe]

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FLUD, “Sexy News Ecosystem” - More Like A Pulse Clone.

Oh boy. Another visual newsreader on MacStories. Yeah, sorry about that guys - but I had to cover this. I know that you’re probably getting tired of reading about this new trend of visual newsreaders (where by “visual” one means squares with titles and thumbnails, arranged in a list) and that you’ve had enough with dozens of clones of clones in the App Store, but this one had to be covered.

Rememeber Pulse? That Pulse. Remember its UI? Remember its features? FLUD is embarassingly similar to it, in a way that I wonder how Apple approved it.

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Stash: All-in-one Private Browser & File Manager for iPad

In case you still haven’t noticed, the iPad has no default file manager. Apple decided to hide the entire filesystem on it (and on the iPhone, way back in 2007), and they’ll keep rolling with their decision for quite a while, I guess. Apps are the new folders, each app database a file manager. iFiles, 1Password, Gusto, Fast PDF: if you want files on them, you either import them from the cloud (Dropbox, anyone?) or transfer them using iTunes.

Now, if you’re a Mac user I guess you’re pretty used to hearing the term “anything bucket”. As explained by Shawn Blanc, an anything bucket like Yojimbo is an application capable of capturing every bit of information and store stuff in a single place. A place that you can organize with tags, albums, smart albums and user-based criteria. On iOS such a thing is not possible: there’s no way to quickly send data to other applications, not until Apple implements a proper services menu. As things stand now, you can forget about having stuff like OmniFocus’ quick entry panel or Yojimbo’s capture shortcut on the iPhone.

Still, developers are trying to build something similar to what we have on OS X. Stash is a new iPad app by Hedonic Software that can collect any kind of file and even lets you create multiple libraries, either public or private ones.

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Folio, Universal PDF Reader - 3 Codes Up for Grabs

When the iPad came out, GoodReader sold like hotcakes. It was one of the very few apps that allowed iPad users to read .PDF documents on their new device, and it was priced at $0.99. It still is, actually. GoodReader was full of features, maybe too much for an app that didn’t really care about having a “plesant” UI and user experience. For weeks, people were forced to use GoodReader - there was no better alternative.

Eventually Apple shipped iBooks with PDF support, and a couple of new interesting 3rd party readers were released in the market. Fast PDF, for example, is the app I’ve been using all along to transfer documents on my iPad (and iPhone) and read them.

Folio, universal for iPhone and iPad, aims at becoming your default choice for importing documents, read them and organize them.

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iPad Accessories Of The Day: iPADock, KeyCase iPad Folio

These are two interesting peripherals I’ve stumbled upon today which I’d be interested in trying out. First, the iPADock: even if the manufacturer is still looking for a ditributor in the US (and we’ll keep you posted about that), the dock already looks great. Basically, it allows you to charge and dock multiple iDevices in one single place: two iPads, and iPad and two iPhones, four iPhones simulateneously. It’s also got seven USB hubs and memory card slots.

The KeyCase iPad Folio (as first spotted by Engadget) turns your iPad into a complete netbook: it packs a keyboard inside a leather case. Maybe it’s not the most elegant solution ever but hey, you have an Apple netbook.

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