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Archive for September, 2010

blackberry playbook

Blackberry playbook to rival the Apple ipad?

September 28, 2010 by iPad Weekly

Just as expected, today BlackBerry tech giant RIM debuted the PlayBook, its long-awaited entry into the tablet wars. This tab is aimed at business use, and as RIM exec Mike Lazaridis put it, “Every successful professional has a great PlayBook.” The PlayBook sports a 7” screen, Flash-capable video and both front and read cameras.

Obviously, these make the playbook more suitable for videoconferencing than the iPad. The PlayBook will be less-app dependent and focus more on presenting the web as a computer does. Will corporate CEOs embrace the PlayBook? RIM certainly hopes so, since their stock has dropped 30% this year

blackberry playbook

blackberry playbook

Google Announces Document Editing for the iPad

September 23, 2010 by iPad Weekly

Google announced on Monday that it would be releasing a version of its Google Docs editing software for the iPad which will allow users to edit documents directly from the device.

The announcement was posted by Google Enterprise President Dave Girouard on the company’s official blog for Google Docs. Google noted that more than 30 million users have “gone Google” by making use of the Google Apps platform.

The new capabilities for Android users and iPad users were demoed on Monday at the Google Atmosphere cloud computing event in Paris. The company did not offer much in the way of details about the release, but Girouard confirmed that new versions could be coming to the platforms in the coming weeks.

“In the next few weeks, co-workers around the world will soon be able to co-edit files simultaneously from an even wider array of devices,” wrote Girouard.

Apple has since enjoyed strong demand for its iWork suite for the iPad, however, a cloud-based document editing tool from Google which syncs with other devices will have a compelling advantages over Apple’s Pages and Numbers applications which do not have the native ability to sync to other devices.

Google Inc. maintains an index of Websites and other online content, and makes this information freely available through its search engine to anyone with an Internet connection. Its automated search technology helps people obtain nearly instant access to relevant information from its online index. It generates revenue primarily by delivering online advertising. Businesses use its AdWords program to promote their products and services with targeted advertising. In addition, the thousands of third-party Websites that comprise the Google Network use its AdSense program to deliver relevant ads that generate revenue and enhance the user experience. In September 2009, the Company acquired ReCAPTCHA Inc., a spin-off of Carnegie Mellon University’s Computer Science Department. In February 2010, it acquired Aardvark. In February 2010, it acquired On2 Technologies, Inc. In August 2010, it acquired Slide, a social technology company. In August 2010, it acquired Angstro.

Shares of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) traded up 3.70% during mid-day trading on Monday.

App Reviews: Official Twitter App for iPad

September 08, 2010 by Chris Chester

One of the most conspicuously absent apps since the early days of the iPad has been an official Twitter app. Sure, Twitterrific  has helped assuage the needs of free users and Twittelator seems to have become the favorite of paid users, but for those demanding the official twitter touch, there was little recourse. Fortunately, Twitter finally deigned to grace the iPad with an official app this week, and their efforts have proved to be quite satisfying.

What distinguishes the official Twitter app from its third-party ilk is in the interesting paned user interface it utilizes. On the left side of the app is a sort of home row, with the account name and icon, Timeline, Mentions, Lists, Messages, Profile, and Search. When you open your timeline, a list of the most recent tweets opens on the right side of the screen.  When you select a specific tweet, another overlapping pane opens up either showing the Tweeter’s profile, opening a browser window to the URL they’re linking, or opens the conversation they’re participating in using a hashtag.

What works so well about the interface is that it manages to keep the entire Twitter experience, including the back and forth conversations and linking out to outside content, contained within the app itself. It can get pretty busy if you start following links and tweets in several layers deep, but the use of the panes allows you to jump back to your starting point with a few flicks of your finger.

The app is a smash in its own right, but using it correctly, especially for those who aren’t overly familiar with the Twitter experience, requires some tweaking. Outside of your direct stream of tweets from people you’re following, the biggest sources of content generally come from saved searches and lists to which you can subscribe. Unfortunately, users actually have to visit Twitter itself to save searches and subscribe to lists – the functionality is not available in the app itself.

For those who are completely new to the whole idea of Twitter, the app actually does hold your hand pretty well. It offers a list of subject areas into which one can dive without ever having to follow a single person. Why this option is available to registered Twitters is somewhat baffling, but it’s worth checking out if you’re still skeptical about the Twitter phenomenon.

In all, the official Twitter app provides most of the bells and whistles you’d hope from an official app, including an intuitive and exciting interface, for the low price of Free. Users of paid alternatives may be too entrenched in their old habits to make the switch, but it still comes highly recommended.

Apple Press Conference Holds a Couple iPad Gems

September 01, 2010 by Chris Chester

Few people knew what to expect when the lights dimmed on Apple’s highly-anticipated press event Wednesday. The rumors that ran rampant prior to the event scarcely scratched the surface of what turned out to be an extremely iPod-focused affair. Steve Jobs announced new iterations of the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, and iPod Touch, as well as taking the wraps off iTunes 10, which will integrate an interesting social networking feature called Ping into their music service. The rumors did manage to predict the second generation of Apple TV, which should start making in-roads into the cable market when it releases next month.

With all this fanfare, iPad owners could be excused for believing that they had been left in the dust entirely.

The details were few and far between, but they were there. While the iPad is being temporarily left  in the lurch as it concerns iOS 4.1, Steve Jobs announced that the iPad would be brought up to speed in November, when it receives the iOS 4.2 update alongside its iPod Touch and iPhone cousins. Some of the wilder speculations about what would be included in this update seem unfounded, but the addition of multitasking, wireless printing, and wireless streaming of music, movies, and photos should more thoroughly flesh out the iPad experience. And contrary to prior reports, the update will be free.

Perhaps the most intriguing addition, however, is Game Center, which is coming to the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. Like the Xbox Live service on video game consoles, Game Center will act as a social dashboard for gaming on iOS. You’ll be able to track what games your friends are playing, utilize player-to-player matchmaking, and accrue achievements across multiple games.

As if the prospect of multiplayer gaming on the iPad weren’t intriguing in its own right, they also released a free tech demo called Epic Citadel. Created in just eight weeks by a small group of Epic Games programmers, Epic Citadel is far and away the most visually stunning thing we’ve ever seen rendered on the iPad. Granted, it’s just a passive world to explore with no actual gameplay or inhabitants to slowdown the performance, but when you see the brilliant-looking engine on the big iPad screen, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was an Xbox 360 game.

Epic Games President Mark Rein was serious when he told an industry panel that he wants to bring Triple-A games to the iPad platform, and Epic Citadel is the proof in the pudding.