Iphone

Sunday, December 19, 2010

iPads going for $399 at TJ Maxx stores

According to a couple of tips sent into Engadget today, some TJ Maxx stores in the US are selling the Apple iPad for $399.

our tipster Aaron sent us these pics he took of a 16GB WiFi iPad that he found at a TJ Maxx in Vernon, NY — and not just because they’re going for a relatively reasonable $399.

There have been other locations advertising the iPad for sale throughout the country as well. At $100 lower than what it sells for from Apple directly, $399 seems like a steal.

We made a few calls to the local TJ Maxx stores in our areas, but were unable to come up with any locations carrying the iPad. Any readers out there seeing this in their area? Let us know in the comments!

[Engadget]

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Apple iPhone, iPad Software Update servers down – Start your iOS 4.2 rumors?

Looks like the Apple software update servers are acting very oddly this morning. They are sporadically going down, then back up. Could this mean iOS 4.2 is imminent? As we near the end of November, it isn’t unreasonable to think that Apple is getting close to releasing iOS 4.2. As of now, I’ve had the update servers tell me twice the update servers couldn’t be contacted. Once it told me my software is up to date. We’ll keep checking!

And a friendly reminder to jailbreakers, make sure you save your SHSH blobs and don’t get too update button happy. If you’d like to keep your jailbreak, make sure you don’t upgrade to iOS 4.2 until a jailbreak released.

[via Macrumors]

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John Carmack and id Software release RAGE for iPhone and iPad!

by Farbod, Thursday, Nov 18, 2010,

From the creator of the classic first person shooters Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake comes RAGE for iPhone and iPad. John Carmack and id Software have just released their first game designed solely for iOS. This gory FPS has all the blood, mayhem, and edge-of-your seat action that fans have come to expect from Carmack. The game has been designed with jaw dropping graphics and has a special HD version specifically made for the iPhone 4’s retina display.

RAGE comes to your mobile device with the hit of the wastelands, Mutant Bash TV! This intense first-person rail shooter casts you in the starring role of a post-apocalyptic game show where you’ll be stalked by hungry mutants while you scour pulse-pounding levels for ammo and cash pick-ups. Make a deal with J.K Stiles, the show’s menacing host, and see if you have what it takes to survive this carnage-filled carnival of death!

A universal binary for the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad, RAGE can be had in SD (standard definition) for $0.99 or HD (high definition) for only $1.99!! Will this be the killer iOS game of 2010? Check out the pictures and let us know what you think after the break!

[$0.99 - RAGE SD iTunes link | $1.99 - RAGE HD iTunes link]

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Steve Wozniak: Android will be the dominant platform

In an interview with a Dutch newspaper, Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak made quite the statement about Apple’s main competition, saying Google’s Android would be the dominant platform in the future.

Woz told the newpaper that Android smartphones (yes Android is not a phone but an operating system), not the iOS powered iPhone would become the dominant smartphone on the market much like Windows was and still is the dominant PC OS. He also added that he believes Android phones have more features that users want and gives users more choices overall. He also believes eventually Android quality, consistency, and user satisfaction will match that of iOS.

Update:

Woz says he gave the De Telegraaf reporter a lengthy demonstration of voice commands on iOS and Android, pointed out that Android offered the ability to say “Navigate to Joe’s Diner,” and suggested that Apple would catch up through its purchases of Siri and Poly9. According to Steve, that’s about it — he says he’d “never” say that Android was better than iOS, and that “Almost every app I have is better on the iPhone.” Woz did say he lightly prognosticated that Android would become more popular “based on what I’ve read,” but that he expects Android “to be a lot like [Engadget]

The Woz also had some interesting insight into the beginning of the iPhone. He told a story of how back in 2004 Apple worked with a well known Japanese electronics company to produce a phone that would be ahead of its time. It obviously never came to market because, as Woz stated in his interview, they liked the build quality but wanted something that would simply amaze the world, which in turn ended up coming a few years later in 2007.

Steve Wozniak has some interesting points and we want to know what you think about his comments and we want to know your thoughts on the whole Android vs iOS debate. Just keep it above the belt in the comments below!

[ Engadget ]

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iPads in China come standard with 2-year AppleCare protection plan

The two-year AppleCare protection plan now comes standard on iPads purchased in China. In all other countries, the iPad comes with a one-year warranty for repairs and 90 days of telephone support. AppleCare extends this warranty and support to two years and can be purchased for an additional $99. Why is China so special?

The Chinese government has classified the iPad as a laptop computer, and in China, it is required by law that a two-year warranty be included with the purchase of any computer. This is extremely interesting because there have been many debates on whether the iPad is “good enough” to replace a computer or laptop. China says “yes!”

Anyone think that 2 year plan should be standard internationally?

[Bloomberg]

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Skyfire for iPhone – app review

Skyfire for iPhone is a web browsing application that converts Adobe Flash to HTML5/H.264 so you can view it on iPhone or iPad touch. Seeing as Apple chose not to implement Flash into iOS, a lot of videos on the web still can’t be watched on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Skyfire steps in to try and bridge this gap and while it’s a nice feature to have, but not always the best experience.

iTunes Link

While having access to Flash content may be useful to some, the overall process can be daunting. A lot of times, I found that the app would take a while to convert the content. If you are on wifi, the process seems to be a bit smoother, but on 3G it was definitely noticeable. I will give them a little bit of a break here seeing as they sold a ridiculous amount of copies and had to pull it due to their servers being overwhelmed. This may be part of the reason streaming is taking a while.

Either way – in my experience, once the content did stream, it seemed to be quite choppy and broken up. I’m hoping this is something that will get better as Skyfire adds more server bandwidth. A lot of the times I noticed the audio streamed pretty quickly but the video portion would struggle to keep up with the audio or fall behind. Seeing as viewing Flash content is the main feature of the app, I’m really hoping we see major improvements in the near future.

As for the rest of the app, I actually quite enjoyed using it as a browser. Settings will give you an option to browse privately, which is nice. It also gives you the option of desktop or iPhone mode. To me, this is much easier than having to toggle individual sites from mobile to desktop view. It will save you a bit of time and you can just switch with two clicks instead of searching a site to figure out how to toggle mobile views on or off.

Sharing is also easy within Skyfire – you simply click the little plus symbol in the bottom right corner of the screen and you can share directly through Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail. There is also a feature called Facebook Quickview which allows you to view your Facebook profile and stream from within Skyfire. It’s a nice feature but not something I really see a need for. I’ve never been a fan of the Facebook for iPhone app so I suppose having access to the mobile or desktop site in one click may come in handy here and there. It’s still not something I see myself personally using very often.

Skyfire also has a feature that allows you to search for video and content on any term you choose. When you click the search icon, it brings up suggestions of what you may search for based on the page you’re currently viewing as well. This is an extremely neat feature but sometimes it would throw out weird suggestions that had nothing to do with the site you’re browsing. If this feature is refined a bit more, I could see it becoming something I’d use frequently.

Bookmarks can also be added just like they can in Safari, so you should feel right at home if you’ve become accustomed to using bookmarks in Safari. It would be nice if your already existing bookmarks from Safari could be imported into Skyfire. Other than that, the overall browsing experience is great. I’m just not sure the main selling feature of the app is quite up to par yet.

Great overall browsing experienceAdds a bit more functionality than Safari currently offersToggling between desktop and mobile mode is easy and more convenient than switching on individual sitesFlash to HTML5 converting to streaming process can be quite daunting and slow at timesAudio and video do not always sync up after streaming to HTML5Experienced a few crashes on 3G while trying to convert and stream videoSearch suggestions can be a bit off at times

TiPb iPhone 3.5-star rated

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Tip: Send your digital booklets to iBooks

Ever wonder how to get your digital booklets into iBooks? All of us probably have some sort of digital booklet we received as part of an album in iTunes, right? To be honest, I never really viewed them because I would typically be on the go when the mood struck, not necessarily sitting on front of a computer.

Well, did you know you can “convert” your digital booklets in iTunes to make them viewable in iBooks? This is so easy, it should be illegal. We’ll show you how after the break!

First, find the digital booklet in your iTunes libraryNext, right-click to get to the “Get Info” option and click itNext, click on the “Options” tabLast, change the “Media Kind” to “Book”

In your device menu, go to books and make sure your booklet is check-marked and sync. That’s it! If you want to place the digital booklet back into iTunes, just change the media type back to “Music” from the Books section in iTunes.

That’s it. You’re done! If you have any questions or know any addition cool iBooks tips, leave them in the comments below!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

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