Tag: iPad

Thoughts: the Google+ iPad App Is Underwhelming So Far

This evening I noticed that the Google+ iPad app was available in the App Store. I downloaded the app immediately and gave it a thorough spin. After playing with it for about 20 minutes I have come to the verdict that it’s underwhelming, at least on user-friendliness. It has quite a number of design flaws in my opinion. Although it looks very slick at first glance, I was longing back to the tablet-optimized Google+ browser version that I have been using on my iPad in the past few weeks.

A couple of things I don’t like about the Google+ iPad app: Continue reading Thoughts: the Google+ iPad App Is Underwhelming So Far

Thoughts: Retina Screen of the New iPad Alone Is Worth the Upgrade

After using the new iPad 3 for a day, I can tell you that I adore the new Retina screen. This improvement alone is well worth the upgrade.

Text is so crisp and clear, even tiny letters on zoomed out webpages are still very easy to read. Because of this, reading for a longer period of time on the new iPad is far less tiring for the eyes. I have also noticed that I haven’t touched the ‘Reader’ button in the address bar of Safari once until now, while I did this all the time on my previous iPad for better readability.

An other improvement that I like very much is the better upscaling of iPhone apps on the new iPad. I still use some iPhone apps on my iPad because there is no (good) iPad alternative. On the new iPad, these apps are a joy to use and very readable, especially when you open a webpage in an inline browser.

Apple’s View of the Future in 1987: the Knowledge Navigator

A device called the Knowledge Navigator is presented in the video linked below which looks very familiar compared to some devices and apps that Apple released in the last few years and even very recently in the iPhone 4S. It’s amazing to see how close their predictions came to the present day!


Apple’s Future Computer: The Knowledge Navigator

 

4 Must-Have Books for Beginning iPhone and iPad Developers

Photo by Blake Patterson
In April 2010 Apple launched the iPad: the first tablet computer that was embraced by a large audience around the world. The moment I saw the keynote video where Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, I knew this device was going to be a big hit. I knew I wanted one. And I would have to wait until July before I could get my hands on one myself.

A few weeks after that keynote I also knew something else: that I would love to be able to develop apps for the iPad. After doing some research and visiting a seminar on mobile application development I realized that there was an awful lot to learn. First I would have to learn a programming language that was totally new to me: Objective-C. Then I would have to dive into the iPhone SDK and learn how to work with Xcode, Apple’s development tool.

Continue reading 4 Must-Have Books for Beginning iPhone and iPad Developers

HootSuite for iPad: My New Favorite Twitter App for iPad

Until recently, my favorite Twitter client for the iPad was Tweetings for iPad. It’s a great app with many features and lots of hidden options under the surface which you learn know and appreciate as you are working with the app for a longer period of time.

But! A new Twitter app for iPad saw the light of day yesterday: HootSuite for iPad. And it rocks! It looks and feels great. And best of all: it’s free!

Continue reading HootSuite for iPad: My New Favorite Twitter App for iPad

Adobe Demos Flash-to-HTML5 Conversion Tool

The fact that Apple does not allow Flash on iOS devices is gradually becoming a problem for Adobe. Very slowly, sites are enhancing and updating their content to make it compatible with HTML5 so their rich content can be viewed on the Safari browser of the iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Creating HTML5 content is much harder currently than creating Flash content. Needless to say that engineer Rik Cabanier’s demo of a utility that converts a Flash file into an HTML5 webpage delivered him a huge round of applause at the Adobe MAX 2010 event.

Note that this is a tech demo, which does not promise implementation in the next version of Flash Designer. Anyway, we got an important glimpse of the direction Adobe is heading into.

Check out what engineer Rik Cabanier showed (just a tech demo, no promises, etc.) during MAX sneak peeks Tuesday night:

 

Are you surprised? Don’t be. As I’ve written many times, Adobe lives or dies by its ability to help customers solve real problems. That means putting pragmatism ahead of ideology.

Link : John Nack on Adobe – Adobe demos Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool

iPad Adoption Rate Fastest Ever, Passing DVD Player

The good news about iPad sales keeps coming in with new numbers and statements released almost every week. Here is a new article that states that the adoption rate of the iPad is even faster than that of DVD players.

Apple’s iPad sold three million units in the first 80 days after its April release and its current sales rate is about 4.5 million units per quarter, according to Bernstein Research. This sales rate is blowing past the one million units the iPhone sold in its first quarter and the 350,000 units sold in the first year by the DVD player, the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product.

“The iPad did not seem destined to be a runaway product success straight out of the box,” said Colin McGranahan, retail analyst at Bernstein Research, in a note. “By any account, the iPad is a runaway success of unprecedented proportion.”

Link : CNBC – iPad Adoption Rate Fastest Ever, Passing DVD Player

Best Buy CEO Says iPad ‘Cannibalizing’ PC Laptop Sales by 50 Percent

The statements of Best Buy’s CEO don’t surprise me. Considering that the tablet era has only just begun, I think that the market share of tablets will grow even more in the future. The iPad won’t be the only contender in this market. In the fourth quarter of 2010 and in 2011 a lot of new tablets will be introduced. Most of them will be based on Google’s Android OS. Examples that I have played with at the IFA Trade Show are the Dell Streak and Samsung Galaxy S tablet.

Continue reading Best Buy CEO Says iPad ‘Cannibalizing’ PC Laptop Sales by 50 Percent

An Impression of the IFA 2010 Trade Show in Berlin

Last weekend I went to the 50th edition of the IFA trade show which took place at the Messe in Berlin. This is one of the biggest trade shows (if not, the biggest) in Europe for consumer electronics and home appliance. Spanning over 160,000 m2 and an interlinked network of 26 fair halls there is an awful lot to see and check out. Needless to say I was able to fill up the better part of two days walking around at the IFA and still did not see everything that was going on at the Messe. In this post I will discuss my highlights of these two days.

Samsung Hall

Visually Stunning Exhibition

The big and most influential brands of course had the biggest booths. Some of these companies even had a complete hall at their disposal. Among them were Samsung, Sony, LG, Phillips and Panasonic. No expense was spared by these big companies to show off their trade in visually stunning ways. I have included a few pictures at the bottom of this post to give you an idea, although I realize they cannot get across what I have seen with my own eyes.

Continue reading An Impression of the IFA 2010 Trade Show in Berlin

Loic Le Meur’s Take on App Developer Earnings

People who are familiar with Seesmic, a company that is specialized in creating third party clients for Twitter, may have stumbled upon the name Loic Le Meur, the founder of Seesmic. Because Seesmic creates apps for all kinds of platforms, both desktop and mobile, I think that his opinion matters on this subject.

Recommended reading! (And don’t forget to check the comments for opinions of other people that operate in this business.)

Amplify’d from www.loiclemeur.com

How much can you really make developing mobile apps?

There is a huge buzz around mobile applications and app stores such as the AppStore and the Android Market which look more and more as a new Eldorado. Of course everybody starts dreaming when an app like Angry Birds shares that 6.5 million units have been sold generating $4.5 million for the developers after Apple’s cut. But how many Angry Birds are there?

Read more at www.loiclemeur.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/8rmp

TeamViewer: My Program of Choice for Remote Access

Ever needed to connect to a different PC in your network for a remote session or to transfer some files? Or wished you could control the computer of a family member over the Internet without too much fuss because they called you for the umpteenth time for your much needed support? There are numerous applications to choose from that can support you doing these kind of tasks. One of them is TeamViewer, and I like it very much. It runs on all the major platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and even on your iPhone or iPad.

Continue reading TeamViewer: My Program of Choice for Remote Access

Reading on an iPad: My Experiences

Photo by Chirantan Patnaik
A couple of weeks ago I became the happy owner of an iPad. One of the many ways to use an iPad is for reading. Electronic books, web pages, PDF files, Word documents, you name it. It is all possible with the help of a couple of apps. In this blog post I will discuss my experiences I had with reading on an iPad. I will focus on reading bigger documents like e-books and PDF files.

The apps I have been using the last few weeks for reading are iBooks (which is installed on your iPad as a default app), Kindle for iPad and GoodReader for iPad. I’ve been using the first two for reading e-books and GoodReader for reading PDF documents and Word documents.

Continue reading Reading on an iPad: My Experiences

Getting an iPad on Launch Day in the Netherlands Not Hard At All

Today Apple launched the iPad in seven countries including the Netherlands, the country where I live. As a person who likes gadgets I was looking forward to getting an iPad myself. But I would never have thought that I would hold one in my hands on launch day.

In the morning various news sites on the Internet talked about long lines at the doors of the Apple stores and other official Apple resellers like MediaMarkt. But around noon, Dutch site Bright mentioned that numerous stores still had a lot of iPads in stock. So I decided to drive to Amsterdam to try and get one. It turned out that Bright was right: the store where I bought my iPad had dozens in stock. iPads of every type were still available. And I didn’t even have to get in line to get one! Lucky me!

Now if you will please excuse me. I have some apps to check out…! 😉